Easter

I have tons of Easter pictures, so I'm just going to get right to them.

Ava in her Easter dress


We really only got one good one before Ava started "modeling" in front of our house which consisted of her spinning around different ways and lifting the layers of her dress


Ava and her Easter basket


Ava loves helping us in the yard, so she was excited about her new "gardening" supplies. Those are kids gloves, but still huge on her!!


Yummm...chocolate!!


See Daddy...






Can I have this one too????


A quick picture of Mommy's belly on Easter


Ava's Easter basket from Gigi and Pops


The Easter egg hunt!








Ava is the only great grandchild on Kurt's side, so his cousin, Corrie, was nice enough to hunt with Ava. Ava loved it!


Yes, Kurt was the one who hid the egg for the 2 year old on the "island" in the pool


Kurt's cousin, T.J., helping Ava carry her basket once it got too full




A not so great family photo


Oh wow, there is candy inside!


Ava and Boompa (Kurt's grandpa)


Kurt's cousin, Chelsey, and I holding up fingers to show how many months we are pregnant. Yes, I am well aware that I look like a cow next to her!

The baby is thirsty!

Ava has been so cute lately! She always loves on my belly. She'll gently pat or rub "the baby" and talks to her. So adorable. She'll lay her head softly on my belly and say, "hi baby." The funny thing is that she is just like her daddy. Both Kurt and Ava talk to Audrey (and Kurt did with Ava) through my belly button like that is a direct path to the baby. :)

Anyway, yesterday Ava pulled up my shirt and stuck her sippy cup straw in my belly button before I could stop her. I asked her what she was doing and she said, "the baby is thirsty!" Of course, I couldn't stop laughing to try to explain anything to her. She just looked at me like I was the crazy one for trying to stop her. We're definitely going to have to watch her once little Audrey arrives. I know I keep saying it, but she is going to be the BEST big sister!

Swimming

Okay, these pictures didn't turn out as well as I had hoped, but oh well! Ava has been in semi-private swimming lessons since January, but she was the only child in that lesson. The max is two students per instructor. This week, they put another boy in her class who was terrified of the water, so it was really the worst week for me to bring my camera. Ava didn't really get to do alot, but she had fun anyway. I took the majority of these pictures through dirty glass, so the quality isn't that great.

Before swimming (look at that hair!)






Waiting to swim while the other boy screams at the top of his lungs :)


This is where they sit on the edge and fall into the water. I didn't get any action shots.


Ava hangs on to the side and goes all the way back to the steps all by herself!


This is just a funny picture from our drive home from my parents' house this weekend. She was tired!

Over Half Way There...

Wow, time really is flying by! I can't believe I am already over half way through my pregnancy. Crazy! Since finding out we're having a girl, we've ordered Audrey's baby furniture and bedding! I am so excited to get started on her room. I was going to share the links to what we picked out, but I think I'll just make y'all wait for pictures of her nursery. I am really excited about it. We're having friends/family (they can be both, right?) in this weekend and then we're starting on her room! It is all beginning to seem so real now.

I can't remember if I've mentioned it before, but we're moving Ava to a "big girl bed" soon. Actually, she should already be in there, but we cannot find white rails for her bed anywhere! We've seen lots of blue and a few pink that are not the right color pink. Ugh, we are so frustrated. I hope we can find some soon because I'm dying to put Ava's new bedding on her bed. I've had it for a couple weeks now and anyone who knows me knows it is killing me for it to sit there in the box! :) I like things done now. I think I got that from my grandma! She always says she doesn't want things done now, she wanted them done yesterday! :)

Anyway, there should be lots of pictures up here in the next few weeks. Everyone pray Ava doesn't figure out she can get out of her new bed! :) She is such a good sleeper, and I am terrified of messing that up. Unfortunately, she is a couple inches too tall for the safety limits on her crib and I know it will be easier for us to do this before the new baby comes.

If Ava stays asleep long enough, you'll get two posts in one day. (Gasp!) I'm about to upload her swimming pictures.

Ava's going to have a....

Little Sister!!! Apparently, Ava was right! We are so excited! We had our ultrasound this morning and the baby looks really good! She is measuring right on track. I can't wait to start getting her nursery together. We'll be doing that much earlier this time. Neither one of us want to be stressed out that it's not finished when this baby arrives.

Many people have already asked, so I'll put it on here. We are naming her Audrey Kate. I just love Ava and Audrey together!

We didn't get any great profile shots, but here are a couple pictures from out ultrasound today.

Definitely a girl!


Here is a cute picture of her foot.

Ava's Gender Prediction

This morning I was telling Ava that we are going to the doctor tomorrow to see the baby and find out if the baby is a boy or a girl. She immediately said "girl". I asked her if she thought mommy was having a boy or a girl and she said "girl" again. Then she pointed to my stomach and said, "baby girl, yeah, baby girl." I guess we'll see if Ava's gender prediction is correct. :)

Then, I was telling her that she is going to play with Gigi while Mommy goes to the doctor tomorrow. She told me she wanted the baby to stay and play. Yes, the baby in my tummy. Obviously, she gets that there is a baby, but she can't figure out why it won't come out and play with her. :)

I can't wait to tell her about all of these sweet comments when she is older. She is so sweet to the baby. She will come up, rub my belly, and then give "the baby" a big kiss. Ava is going to make a great big sister!

Well, it's time for Ava's swimming lesson. I really need to take my camera and get some pictures of her. She is doing so good!!

Oh no...

A few minutes ago, I was in the bathroom putting on my makeup so Ava and I can go to the grocery store. Ava grabbed my hand-held mirror off the counter, looked at herself in it, and said, "wow, I'm cute!" Of course, I died laughing as she was running around the house with the mirror less than an inch from her face staring at herself. What have we done?? Maybe I should quit telling her she's the cutest girl in the whole wide world? ;)

Our "big" ultrasound is one week from today!! I can't wait! If you're wondering how Ava is feeling about this pregnancy, I think this picture will sum it up.



Yes, that is my pregnancy journal and she scratched out the pregnant lady on the cover. Here is a closer picture.


The scary thing is that she found a pen, went into my room, found the journal, and started writing on the front. There were several other books right with that one and she didn't write on any of those. :)

1 Week 6 Days...

Until we find out the sex of our baby!! I am soooo excited! I had a check-up today and we got to schedule our "big" ultrasound. I hope the next 2 weeks fly by! It will be so nice to say girl or boy and call the baby by name!! Also, my check-up went fine. The baby's heartbeat was nice and strong. This baby is acting just like Ava and hanging out really, really low!! I am tall and have plenty of room for these babies, but they like to snuggle up right at the bottom! :)

We also had Ava's 2 year check-up last week. She is also doing great! Here are her stats:
Height: 37" (>95%)
Weight: 25 lbs. 8 oz. (35%)

She is really tall!! She is "off the charts" for her age. The doctor kept commenting on her height. I thought she might be taller than average because other moms always comment on how tall she is when they find out her age.

I've been waiting for her to turn two because there is this cool height predictor on babycenter.com that you can use when your child turns 2. They take their height and weight at age two along with the mom and dad's height and tell you how tall your child will be at 18. I just did this and it says Ava will be 5 ft. 11 in.! The disclaimer says there is a 50% chance the child will be within 0.7 in. of that height and a 90% chance that the child will be within 1.7 in. of that height. It will be really interesting to see how accurate the predictor turns out to be. Our pediatrician thinks she'll be really tall, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

I need to take a new belly shot and post pictures of Ava's second birthday party. I may try to do that a little later.