Children's Museum and Swimming

Wow, two posts in the same month. I told y'all this blog would get a lot more active. I need to try the new program Kathryn suggested, but for now I'll continue with the uploader I am using now.

Today my sister, some of her friends, and I took our kids to the Children's Museum. It was so much fun. There was much more for Ava to do than I anticipated. Here are some pictures of Ava playing in the "tots room".







Ava's favorite thing to do is close doors!!




She thinks she can still fit in the bumbo.


My nephew, Levi. He didn't know what to think!


Once again, Ava wanted to dress herself. She was insisting (hold it out and grunting) I put this hat on her.



You can see how well it matches her outfit.


Ava swimming in her car. She had to have one hand on the wheel and one arm out the window.


Ava and Daddy


When Caleb was at our house last, he decided he needed to wear Ava's bow and play with her baby dolls. I think this may end up in a wedding video one day.


Finally, the last time we went swimming, we saw this baby deer. Isn't it cute? Yes, we really were that close to it. It didn't get scared until Ava started walking up to it.

Long Time...

Wow, this is going to be a big day for my blog. Lots of people have reminded me that I haven't updated since Easter, so I'll try to fill everyone in on what has been going on since then.

I don't look forward to updating my blog because it takes forever to upload pictures. Well, thanks to my good friend, Katie, I think I've found a faster way. If this works, you'll be seeing a lot more of us on here.

Anyway, back in April, we took a trip to Florida to meet up with some of my friends. Many of you know the story, so I won't go into that again here. We had a great time. It was so nice to see everyone and meet all the babies. I guess they aren't really babies anymore, but we can pretend. Here are some pictures from that trip:

Ava and Daddy at Daytona Beach


Ava and Mommy (of course she wouldn't keep on her matching hat)




Ava loved the water!




Well, she loved the water until she fell face first into the sand


We also went to the zoo in Florida










Here are a few more random pictures from our trip








Ava spent most of the plane trip in my Beco Butterfly (the best baby carrier ever!!)




Here are just a few random pictures of Ava at home:


Ava loves her daddy




In her PJs


For those of you who know how much Ava hates her bows, this is a funny picture. Kurt put about 5 bows on her head


Ava insisted that Daddy put these two shoes on her while she carried her purse around the house


A couple weeks ago we took Ava to her first Aggie baseball game. Here is a picture of her with Boompa (her great grandfather).


Finally, Kurt's aunt and uncle let us hang out at their new house on Memorial Day so Ava could swim in their pool. She loves their waterfall! We all had a great time! We took some cute video of Ava swimming, but I can't figure out how to upload the video to my computer. I'll work on that and maybe post that a little later.








So the new way of uploading is much faster, but the pictures are smaller and the quality is not as good. Oh well, maybe I'll find a better way. This will have to work for now.

Easter

Ava is about to wake up from her nap, but I wanted to get some pictures up here. Here are some pictures of Easter and St. Patrick's Day.

St. Patrick's Day (Sadly, this is the best picture I could get)

Before the hunt began

She didn't understand that the eggs should stay in the basket, but she was willing to share!

Ava and her cousin, Claire, trying out some of their Easter candy. She didn't know what to think!

Ava fell asleep on the way home from church. This pretty much set the mood for the rest of the picture taking.

Ava did not like sitting, standing, walking, etc. in the grass.

Ava with her two cousins, Caleb and Levi

Ava loves Levi!

Ava and her Easter basket

After all that, she was done with Easter...

Update on Ava

Since Ava is now 13 months old, I guess it's about time I post her one year stats. At her one year check-up, she weighed 18 lbs. 5 oz. (10%) and was 30 in. (75%) long. She is doing really great. She has definitely caught up and doesn't look like a preemie anymore!

Other big news is that Ava started walking this week. She has been taking a couple steps at a time for a few weeks now, but this week she has taken off. She can take 10+ steps in a row. It won't be long before we are running after her trying to keep up. Of course, like everything else, she does not like to walk for other people. I don't think anyone believes us when we say Ava is doing something new. It's usually another month before she will show off her new "trick".

About a month ago, Ava also started going to Gymboree and taking swimming lessons. She still isn't too sure about the gym, but she loves swimming! She even "swims" under water and it doesn't seem to bother her. We can't wait to start taking her to the pool this summer. She is at such a fun age!!

I know most people only visit here for the pictures, so I'll post a few. I feel the need to explain them though. A couple nights ago, Ava threw up while eating dinner. We stripped her down and cleaned her up, but she was still acting a little hungry. We put her back in her high chair (without the tray) and she was definitely relaxing while she enjoyed a few cheerios.