Santa

My sister, Jennifer, and I took our kids to see Santa yesterday. I thought Ava was too young to be scared of Santa, but I was wrong!! Obviously, she was not a fan...

Halloween (late) and Much More!!!

I know...once again it has been a while. I really intended to post Halloween pictures on Halloween, but both Ava and I were sick and we are just now starting to feel better! My sister's family got us sick (if you read her blog, you have heard all about it) and it has been a challenge to get over it. I feel like Ava has been sick since we moved!

Anyway, I just wanted to share some cute pics of Ava and her cousin, Caleb, in their Halloween costumes. First, I need to explain Ava's costume. Early on, Kurt started calling Ava "Sugar Bear". We don't really know why he chose that nickname, but it stuck. We decided she should be a Sugar Bear for her first Halloween, so here she is...

I know I am her mother, but isn't she cute???

Here are some more pictures. Caleb was a very cute lion for Halloween. He even roared like a lion. :)

Caleb is "roaring" for the camera in this picture.

We told Caleb to kiss Ava, but it looks like the lion is eating the bear. :)

A lot has happened since I last posted. Ava is crawling now! She has been doing this for about two weeks and she is into everything!!!! It look her a while to figure it out, but once she got the hang of it, she was off. She is also pulling up on everything. She was pulling up before she learned to crawl, but now she has more choices. She is starting to "cruise" along the furniture and toys a bit, but she isn't quite strong enough to walk yet. She used to love to stand before she learned to crawl, but now she prefers to sit down so she can go where she wants to go.

Ava also got her first FOUR teeth last week. She cut all four teeth in two days! She has definitely been a trooper though. She has been a little fussy, but nothing near the horror stories I have heard about teething.

The last major change since I posted last is that Ava is 100% on table food. We officially gave up baby food last week. She has been eating table food for a couple of months, but baby food was really for my convenience. We were going through at least six jars of baby food a day, so I figured it was time to finally make the switch. She is doing great! She loves eating off of Mommy and Daddy's plates.

I am so excited about her first Thanksgiving this week! I can't wait for her to taste all the Thanksgiving food. We are having family pictures taken this week, so that should be fun too. Of course, I'll post them on here as soon as I get them. We will be using some for our Christmas card, so you'll have to wait to see that one!

I am also VERY excited about decorating for Christmas. I always do that the weekend after Thanksgiving. I can't wait to see Ava's stocking hanging on the mantle and her Christmas presents under the tree. Most of all, I love the radio station that plays non-stop Christmas music until Christmas Day. I am going to pull out all of my Christmas CDs and blast them throughout the house for the next month. Ava loves music, so I hope she loves them as much as I do. If you can't tell, this is my favorite time of year!

Ava will be 10 months tomorrow. I can't believe my little girl is growing up so fast!!! I just want to keep her a baby forever!!!

9 Month Pictures

Here are a few of the 9 month pictures we had taken of Ava. We had some taken in her Halloween costume, but you'll have to wait until next week to see those! :)

9 Months

I can't believe it, but our little baby is 9 months old already. The time is going by too fast!!! We had her 9 month check-up yesterday and the doctor said she is doing great! She now weighs 16lbs. 11oz. (15%) and is 29in. (90%)! I still can't believe she is in the 90th percentile on height. I knew she was getting tall and outgrowing all of her clothes, but she was in the 50th at both her 3 month and 6 month check-ups. The doctor said he thinks it is just her body type to be tall and thin. You can't beat that!

Ava is still trying to crawl, but she hasn't quite figured it out yet. She gets to where she wants to go, but it is by a combination of crawling, rolling, dragging, etc. She is at such a cute age! She is into everything!!

We are having Ava's 9 month pictures taken today, so I will have more pictures to post soon. However, here are some pictures we took of her this weekend at the pumpkin patch by our house. She didn't want to smile for the camera, but she had such a good time playing with the pumpkins.

Future Aggie...

This will have to be short because I am dealing with a sick baby that does not want to be put down! I just wanted to share some pictures of Ava in her "Aggie" gear watching the A&M game this weekend.

I'm an Aunt....again....

Okay, so I am almost a week late on this post, but I figured I better put it up here. Last Thursday, my sister, Jennifer, gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. Here he is...

Levi James
8lbs. 3 oz.
19.5 in.

I had the time to post on my sister's blog, but hadn't had a chance to post here. Caleb, my nephew, is being such a good big brother. He loves to kiss and hold Levi. Here are some more pics. I posted these same pictures on my sister's blog, so if you read both, they will be repeats. I am going to visit tomorrow, so I should have new pictures to post.

Caleb Kissing Levi

The Whole Family

Ava napping on Grandma while waiting to see Levi

Ava has been a mess today and has not wanted to take a nap ALL DAY!!! I finally got desperate and tried to get her to nap in her swing. I think she may have outgrown the swing...

Yes, we are alive!

Wow, it has been such a long time since I have posted. So many things have happened in the last month. We did get moved and are finally getting settled in. Moving was so much easier before Ava. This house would have been put together weeks ago, but Ava knows she runs the show. She has definitely kept her mommy busy!

It took a little while for Ava to get adjusted to the new house. I'm sure she felt our stress, but she didn't sleep very well for the first week or so. Kurt and I have been so tired! Ava was actually sick with allergies when we moved in. All the trips back and forth from city to city really did a number on her. Her allergies are terrible where we live now, so the doctor put her on allergy medication. The medicine has really helped and we are getting our sweet little Ava back.

I took Ava to the doctor today and he said we need to start her on table food. How is my baby already starting table food??? The doctor kept reminding me that she is a big girl now since she is 8 months old. I don't even want to think about it. I don't want Ava and big girl used in the same sentence. I want to keep her my little baby forever.

Beginning table food should be interesting considering Ava gags until she throws up when she is fed anything with a little texture to it. The doctor said if we don't start now with different textures and more solid food, I will end up with the child that will only eat chicken fingers and tortillas. For some reason, this comment makes me laugh every time I think about it. However, I will not be laughing when I post on here in two years frustrated that we can only eat at Chick-fil-a and mexican food restaurants. The doctor said with Ava's issues he is about 99% sure she will be the adult that can't swallow a pill to save her life. My poor baby! Hopefully, she will overcome all of these texture issues. Of course, she has a daddy that can't eat cottage cheese because of the texture and a mommy that can't eat pickles on a hamburger because I don't like crunchy things on foods that should be soft. Maybe she was doomed from the start!

I have received multiple emails requesting pictures of the new house. We are finally about done with it, so I will try to post some pictures this weekend. Again, this has been a very slow process. It is driving me crazy. I am very ready to have everything done so we can just enjoy the new house.

My sister is having her baby on Thursday, so check back to see pictures of the newest addition to the family. This may be a big week for my blog...my first post in over a month, pictures of the new baby, pictures of the house...

It is now officially my nephew's birthday, so Happy 2nd Birthday Caleb! We love you very much!

Let Me Clarify...

Hi sweet people. It's Jennifer again.

I just wanted to let you know that I did not redesign Kimberly's blog! Thanks for your confidence in me, though. :-) Right after I fixed a few things that actually brought a template back to life here, Jules from Everyday Design had Kimberly's redesign ready. She gets all the credit, not me. And if you're looking for a new design, check out her stuff. I only wish I were that talented!!

Kimberly and I did decide to give the blog a new name since they already have their miracle child in their arms!

Say a little prayer for Ava today. She's not feeling well. They are on their way back to their old house to finish packing and will be back here tomorrow moving into their new house. It's been a long few weeks, and I think Miss Ava is feeling the effects of it all.

I'm hijacking the blog...

It's Jennifer...I'm hijacking Kimberly's blog today to make some changes to her template and let y'all know she hasn't been posting since they are in the process of moving. It's been pretty crazy for them lately, with trips to their new house (4 hours away) every week or so. After this weekend, they should be settled in their new place and hopefully life will begin to calm down soon. We're both excited about having family close by; I know Levi will love his Uncle Kurt and Aunt Kiki just as much as Caleb does!

I'm sure Kimberly will have lots to say once she finally has the time to sit down!

6 Months

I am a little late with this post, but Ava is now 6 months old. I can't believe she is 6 months already. She is definitely growing up too fast. She is getting so big! At her check-up, she was 14 lbs. and 26 in. long.

Ava is developing such a little personality, and she is definitely a Daddy's girl already. Her little laugh is so adorable. She is learning new sounds each day and talks non-stop! One big accomplishment is that she learned to sit up this week. We are a little late on that one, but she was very proud of herself. She is getting better and better at it each day.

We had her 6 month pictures taken today. They took so many cute ones that we had a hard time choosing. I wish we could have ordered them all, but we are running out of room! Before we know it, we'll be taking her in for her 9 month pictures.

Anyway, here are a few of the new pictures. Yes, I know her bow is really big, but we thought it was cute! :)

We're Moving!

It's official. We're moving. It has all happened so fast that I still can't believe it. In five days we sold our house and put a contract on a new one! If everything works out the way it should, we will be moving over Labor Day weekend.

The new house is great. It is everything I wish I had in this house. I really think you need to live in one house before you REALLY know what you want. It is a new house that will be completed at the end of August. They had already started the house, but it was like they were building it just for me all along. I can't wait to move in. I think Ava really likes it too. :)

The best part is that we will be closer to family. My sister will only be 20 minutes away. It will be nice for our children to grow up together. Kurt has lots of family in the area too, and his parents will be about 45 minutes away. Or I think they will be 45 minutes away. I really have no idea, and I am completely guessing about that. If you can't tell, I am going to be very lost in our new city. I told Kurt that I am going to have to program our home address into the GPS just so i can get home. I have NO sense of direction!!!

I never say where we live on here, so I am not going to say where we are moving. If you would like to know where we are moving, feel free to email me.

I have SOOO much to do in the next month. Labor Day seems so far away, but I know it will fly by. I can't believe I have to pack this entire house! I don't even want to think about it....

Mommy Brain

I started going crazy and losing my memory during pregnancy. I thought it would end there. Unfortunately, Ava is almost 6 months old and it is only getting worse.

Kurt had a softball game tonight, so by the time we got home at 9:15pm, we had to feed Ava her cereal and vegetables, hang up the laundry, and nurse Ava to sleep. The load of laundry that was in the washer was a load we do not dry. I do put it in the dryer on low heat for a few minutes to get rid of the wrinkles before I hang it up.

Well, I put the clothes in the dryer before I went upstairs to nurse Ava. After Ava was tucked away in bed I realized the clothes were still in the dryer (a good 30 minutes later) and I ran downstairs. I found Kurt hanging up the nearly dry clothes, so I just turned around and walked back upstairs. The next time I came down Kurt informed me that he had found a bottle of Dreft stain remover in the dryer. He said it was making so much noise that he thought our dryer was going out.

Yes, somehow I managed to put the whole spray bottle in the dryer with the rest of our clothes. I have no idea why I would have done this. I wasn't washing Ava's clothes. I hadn't even used the stain remover today. It wasn't in the washer with the other clothes. Apparently, I just decided to add it to the load of clothes before I started the dryer.

I had gotten used to doing things like putting the milk in the pantry and the cereal in the refrigerator, but this is an all time low. Does it ever get any better???

4th of July

Wow...I feel like it has been a really long time since I have written on here. I really think I need a second blog. There are a lot of things I would like to post about, but this is really Ava's blog.

Anyway, Ava has been up to a lot since I posted last. She is rolling over now. I have it on video, so I'll try to post it soon. She doesn't like to perform, so I am not sure people really believe us that she is rolling over. She is also trying very hard to sit up. She just doesn't have the balance yet. She would be completely happy if she could have me hold her in the sitting position all day. She is getting very tired of her bouncy seat or anything else that reclines. She wants to sit straight up like a big girl.

Oh...you are not going to believe this!!! Ava is sleeping in her own room now! It only took 5 1/2 months, but she has been in there for a week now. Daddy did bring her back into our room one night, but was overly tired and very fussy that day. I have to admit that it was much easier to let her sleep in our room that night.

I didn't post for a while, but Ava was sick for two weeks after we got back from our cruise. She had bronchitits and then strep throat. She is finally feeling better after a round of antibiotics. She was very needy for those two weeks and really didn't even want me to put her down. She is finally playing again, sleeping 11-12 hours a night again, and acting like her old self.

Also, Ava has started eating solids. It is so cute! She loves her rice cereal and attacks the spoon. Of course, she gets it all over her face. She has also tried peas and squash. We just started squash last night, but she really seems to prefer the peas. Maybe she just needs more time.

I can't believe our little girl is getting so big! She will be six months next week. That doesn't seem possible! I just want her to stay little forever.

Here are some new pictures!

Ava with Aunt Jennifer and Caleb

It was impossible to get both Ava and Caleb to look at the camera at the same time.

Ava with Gigi and Pops (Kurt's parents)

Ava with Gigi and Boompa (Kurt's grandpa)

I just thought this was a sweet picture.

Ava in her 4th of July outfit

More Pictures

Here are some more pictures of our cruise. I have more to write and a video to post, but Ava is ready to go play. I'll try to post more later today.

Vacation Photos

We are back from vacation. We had a great time! Here are a few pictures. I'll post more later...