Hunter's 2 yr. Birthday Party

We went to Mobile yesterday for Hunter's Birthday party. He will be 2 years old on Dec. 26th. I can't believe how fast he is growing! He is such a big boy now. The party was a blast. Ava had so much fun playing, and Hunter got lots of great gifts!

Birthday Party, bye-bye ba-ba & Shots

This past Saturday, Dec 13th, was a big day for us in a couple of ways. First of all was, obviously, Ava's first birthday party. It was a "smashing success". We had a great crowd of family & friends, and Ava received tons of goodies! She had such a good time playing with everyone and everything. Here are just a few of the many pictures taken.












The next milestone that took place Saturday, was saying "bye-bye" to the "ba-ba". We officially cut out the bottle Saturday! We had been down to just one bottle at bedtime for a week or more, but Saturday night we ended that. When bedtime rolled around, I just went and laid Ava in her bed, turned on her lullaby, and walked out. She did not make a peep! She went straight to sleep without one word, fuss, whine, or cry. It has now been 4 nights of no ba-ba, and she still has not made one fuss when I put her down for bed!!!

Yesterday, we went for 12 month shots. We had to have 5 shots this time. 2 in each thigh, and one in the right arm. It went as well as could be expected. Ava screamed from the time we laid her down, until we were done and I picked her up. I hate having to hold my child down while she is screaming in pain. That is the most horrible thing I have had to do in the past year. This was our fourth round of shots, and it just gets harder and harder for Ava & Mama each and every time!

We are off to Hunter's 2 yr. birthday party this weekend. It should be fun!! Will post on that next week.

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Ava, 1 year ago today:

Ava, now:


Today is Ava's first birthday. I was looking back at the pictures taken in the hospital the day she was born, and I just cannot believe that it has been a whole year. She has conquered so many milestones in this first year... rolling over, crawling, pulling up, walking, talking (somewhat)...

And now she is saying her own name!!! She just started this in the past couple of days, but today she has really taken off with it. The daycare called me this morning and said everything she looks at, she says "Ava". I am so proud of her. She is such a beautiful and intelligent little girl. We can't wait to celebrate many many more birthday's with her!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AVA! WE LOVE YOU!

The beginning of a very eventful month

Between birthday's and Christmas, we have a very eventful month ahead of us. It was kicked off Saturday with christmas in Barrytown. This was with my dad's side of the family. We don't get to see everyone very often, so it was nice to catch up with everyone. We had a great time!







The great-grandchildren opened gifts. Surprise surprise, all Ava wanted to play with were the empty boxes and paper from everyone else's gifts.




Ava latched on to Daddy's pants the other morning, and would not let go. She followed him around everywhere! It was so adorable.



Ava has gotten so into her cartoons. She will talk to them, scream at them, and dance along with the music. It is so adorable!



Get ready for many pictures over the next month. Ava's first birthday party is next weekend, followed by our nephew Hunter's 2nd birthday the weekend after that, then a packed full Christmas week. If I make it to New Year's with my sanity in tact, I will be amazed! Merry Christmas everyone!

Belated Halloween, Thanksgiving, Ava's new "toy", and start of the Christmas Season...

Wow, what a busy time of year!

I have finally uploaded the pictures from Halloween. About time, huh? Most of you know, Ava was sick on Halloween, so she looks very pitiful in most of the pictures.







We celebrated Thanksgiving at my grandmother's house, with the Toomey's. We got to see several cousins that we haven't seen in many months. Ava had a blast. My camera died early in the day (after the group shots), so I didn't get many shots of her playing, but I assure you she did ALOT of it!







I really don't know why we even buy Ava toys. She has played with the box shown below, for 2 days straight. It is pretty much the only toy she has touched since I gave it to her. She will push it around our entire home. She will even pick it up and carry it around everywhere with her. It is really pretty funny.






I put up our Christmas tree today. I just knew we would be telling Ava "no no" every 30 seconds for the next month because of it. However, to my surprise... 6 hours after putting it up, she has not even attempted to touch it. She just points at it and gives her "Ooooh" face. I am so proud of her! *Knock on wood*

Happy 11 Months Ava!

Ava is 11 months old today. My how the time has flown. It seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital.. and now in exactly a month she will be turning a year old. WOW! You never believe it when people tell you, but it really does go by so fast.

Ava and Sidney

Todd's parents kept Sidney this week. Ben and Alisa took Linlee to Disneyworld, and Connor stayed with the Berteau's in Hattiesburg. Ava and Sid had some playtime together a few days this week at the office. Ava wasn't too sure about her to begin with on Monday. I don't think she liked having another little girl invading her territory at the office.




Ava warmed up to her after a few minutes though, and they played pretty well together.







The last picture is from yesterday. Ava and I stopped by on our way home and played with Sid for a little while. She is such a little doll. She has such a pleasant temperament, and is just so much fun to play with.

Sick Baby

Ava has been so sick this week. I took her to the doctor Tuesday. He said it was a cold that is going around. He gave her cough medicine and an antihistamine. Her pour little eyes have been watering so much that when she wakes up from a nap or from the night, her eyes are matted shut. She is doing a little better, but still not great. The picture above is from this morning at daycare. She finally went back today, although after seeing how she looks in this picture, I'm wondering if that was the best idea. We are going to try to do a little trick-r-treating with her tonight since it's her first halloween, but it will probably be limited to just the grand & great grandparents' houses in Aquilla. Will post Halloween pics over the weekend.