Farewell 2008

This will be a year of exceptional memories...our daughter arrived into our world! I reflect back at what an amazing transformation our family has completed in 366 (leap year) short days. At the beginning of the year I was pregnant and patiently waiting to know what blessings were to come. I had such apprehension about the birth of our daughter, I was nervous about being a mom...would I be overly protective? God works such miracles...Our lives changed so fast, there was hardly time for a second thought.

February was incredible. No one in this world can describe to you the wonder and amazement that comes when you meet your child for the first time. We had family come and go almost the entire month. We are grateful for the help! It was quite a cold, snowy month...we didn't venture out too often...it was also a bad cold and flu season. I left my job to work part time so I could enjoy extra special time with Ava. It's been a challenge but the gifts we've enjoyed are well worth it.

When the weather warmed up, we got outside to walk and meet all the neighbors that had moved in during the winter. We learned that God had given us some wonderful friends to get to know. There were 9 babies born between August 07 and July 08 that will all be in the same class at school - in our corner of the subdivision alone!!

We've watched Ava grow and experience many firsts...a trip to Nana's at 2 months, baptism at 5 months, a trip to the airport to pick up Grandma and Grandpa, visiting with friends and family in many places (Quincy, IL - Mobile, AL - Murphreesboro, TN - Lake of the Ozarks, MO - Hattiesburg, MS). We even became evacuees from a hurricane in September. Ava learned to roll over, sit up, eat baby food, crawl, walk with the furniture, and make lots of sounds. I am sure that as time passes these things will fade in my memory as they are replaced with new and wonderful accomplishments, but they are for now my proudest remembrances.

Our wish is that you all have a safe, happy New Year filled with many blessings and much happiness.

Christmas 2008

We spent Ava's first Christmas visiting with all the family - almost. Out of all our travels, we somehow missed Uncle Mark and Aunt Nancy. Here are some pictures from each visit.


On the 20th we celebrated with Grandma and Grandpa. Ava wasn't sure what to think about the packages. She didn't dive into them, but she loved playing with the paper after the gifts were unwrapped. She even played with her toys in the boxes.


On Christmas Eve we went to have communion at Church then had dinner and gifts in Mississippi with my aunts and uncles. Santa came to see my cousins but left Ava's stuff at Nana and PawPaw's.


Christmas morning was no big deal for Ava. She watched and loved to play with the paper and bows. She got some fun gifts and really enjoyed inspecting her new treasures.


Hope you all had a Merry Christmas. We are very much looking forward to moving past the past month...it has been a crazy one for us. But we are very thankful for all the blessings in our lives and hope that 2009 is just as wonderful and fulfilling as 2008 has been.


Our love to all!

Santa Baby

We met Santa!! Ava was an angel...of course she really didn't have to look at him, just smile for the camera. It was a great night to go, we only had to wait for one family to finish up in front of us. We are headed down south for Christmas this year. It looks like Ava will miss her first "white Christmas"...oh well, we'll hope for another one soon.

The cutting room floor...

Well, getting a picture for the Christmas cards was a challenge this year. I never realized how hard it would be to get a good shot...here are some that didn't quite make the final cut! Merry Christmas...

10 months

Look at you!! How big you are...10 months have gone by really fast. I am amazed at all you have accomplished.

Today you are able to stand alone, you can walk behind your doll stroller and climb the stairs. I think that you would climb into your crib and into the bathtub with a little more practice...slow down, what's your hurry??

You are still about 19 pounds. You have started to eat corn and chicken with sweet potatoes. You aren't real crazy about fruit but I am sneaking it into your cereal in the morning...sneaky huh? You love to drink from a sippy cup. You love to have a few sips then pass it to me...you like to share. You love to eat the Gerber puffs, you humor me and try the fruit pieces but you don't care much for them!

You like to play peek a boo, so big, and pat a cake. You love to listen to me (of all people) sing Row Row Row your Boat in the car. At night, we lay you down in bed and you go straight to sleep...I couldn't ask for more!!

Here are some fun pictures from today...
You love your doll stroller, especially now that you can walk behind it!


Standing up all by yourself...holding a favorite - the remote :)


Although you are starting to learn about walking, this is still your favorite way to get around. You can almost tell by this picture how fast you are!


Believe it or not...you are actually laughing in these pictures. I just got you in the middle of waving your hands. You were "talking" to Lily, she was playing with her rope and you wanted to play too~

Splish Splash

We have a special night time routine that starts with your bath...Here's how it goes!

First, Ava plays while we run her bath water. Mostly that means she crawls over to her crib to stand up and try to pull out her paci and dolly. She gets the biggest kick out of that little game and laughs out loud...


Next we go into the bathroom to check the water. She loves to push her ducks into the water. Again, that's a really funny part of her day. I love to hear that laugh. I think if she could crawl into the bathtub by herself she would-


Splashin' around with some toys...



Getting dried off. I know this sounds kind of mean but I love the way she gets a chill and shivers... That's too cute.

"Walking"

Ava is practicing for her next milestone...walking!! She is really good at standing alone and has started to go back and forth between the chair, the table, and the couch. She is so proud of her new independence and she loves to clap for herself. Of course we are exstatic that she is learning so many new things. Here's a short little video of her walking behind her baby stroller.

Family Photo

Our Sweet Family...Isn't this a great picture!!??

More antics...

Tonight at bath time, Ava copied my actions. This was a first and of course - NO camera!! What kind of mother am I??? She took the wash cloth and dipped it into the water and wiped her left eye, dipped the cloth back into the water and then wiped her right eye...how sweet!

Last night she did laps around the coffee table. It must have gone on for about 10 minutes. It was really funny, she would do a couple laps then sit down like it was rest time then she would get started again. Funniest thing...after each rest break, she would start going in the opposite direction!

I didn't realize how much she likes to follow a routine until nap time today. Ava likes to sleep with a "dolly". Well, I noticed that hers was getting a little more smelly than I'd like. I washed it...tried to put her down several times while it was in the wash with no luck. Tonight when it came out of the dryer I gave it to her immediately...which means she got it downstairs before heading up for bed. She was so happy to see her "dolly"...she laughed and hugged it very tightly. It wasn't until I went to check on her just now and she is still clinging to it that I realized we need to have a couple extra of those on stand by!

Well, now I'm off to bed...hoping my rest is as wonderful as Ava's seems to be!

Happy Baby-

Happy Baby! She is such a sweet and happy girl!! We are so blessed...Just some cute ones I wanted to share.

So Big!

Ava loves to show off...today I was able to capture a quick moment of her innocently showing off. Of course, I enjoyed her entertainment for about 5 minutes before I remembered that my camera makes short video...duh... She initiated a game of peek a boo with her bib, I couldn't get her to do that again but she did "so big" on cue so that's what we have! You can hear Lily bark and see how quickly she turns her head, nosey little thing - just like her momma I guess ;) And then at the very end you hear her doing a little talking...Enjoy...