Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Ava 5 months 3 weeks

The past few months have been wonderful! It seems every couple of weeks we get a three day weekend. This past weekend was another one of those wonderful weekends! It was Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday.

Saturday was wonderful! Ava went over to Aunt Billie and Uncle Steve's house and played with her cousins Luka and Juno. Aunt Billie was awesome watching all three kids!Ava enjoyed watching her cousin Luka jump around. She thought it was very entertaining and laughed a lot.
I went and got my nails done with my mom. Ava has only been left with three people her entire life. My parents, she went to her other Grandma's house once and she has now stayed at Aunt Billie and Uncle Steve's house. After getting my nails done I went to pick up Ava and Billie and I talked for a long time. Then I went to the store and then picked up food and dropped off my mom's coat. It was a fun day out with Ava.

When I came home Phil was wonderful and he helped me make Ava's first home made baby food. We decided to start with bananas. I cut the bananas in three spots and put them in a bowl with a little bit of water then I put them in the microwave for about a minute. Then I put the bananas in the food processor until they were creamy. After they were all blended together I put the bananas in ice cube trays and froze them over night. The next morning I took them out and placed them in a labeled plastic bag. Now I just pop one banana cube in a bowl and microwave it for about 23 seconds and she has a meal! Its great.

Sunday was a very busy day. I got up early and I thought about going to a new church by our house because I knew someone from work was going to the early service that morning. Phil went riding with his friend and Ava slept in. I decided not to wake Ava up and I went ahead and cleaned the house. I did all the dishes and started the laundry. I showered and got dressed. Then when Ava woke up I fed her, put her in her swing then vacuumed and gave her a bath and got her dressed. We got in the car a little after 11 and went to Starbucks. I had no idea what to do after that so I decided, hey what the heck we'll just drive by the church. I saw lots of people coming out of the parkinglot but then I saw a line of cars to go in so I got in line and decided I could turn around in the parking lot if they didn't have an 11:30 service. As I entered the parking lot, the sign said 11:30. So I was in luck! I found a parking space and got Ava out of the car, along with her diaper bag and my purse. I entered the church. Its a church I've never been to before. It was quite an experience. I honestly thought I was in a small mall. There was a full decked out coffee bar complete with everything from hot chocolate to mochas and everything else under the sun. There were kid areas and a sunday school and a teen room. There was even an information desk! So I went up to the information desk and asked where I could drop Ava off. Up until this point three people have watched Ava. I was very nervous about leaving our precious daughter in the hands of someone I didn't know. Especially at a church I've never been to. It looked like a nice place and I felt really good about everything that morning. I dropped Ava off at daycare and I headed into the church. It was a big church. A full band was on the stage and there were three giant sections where people sat. I found out after the service began that I could have brough Ava in with me, but I really needed that break to focus on my connection with God. It was wonderful. Before the church service began, the pastor came around and greeted everyone (well everyone on the isle sea, and I was on the isle because I was worried about Ava). So the pastor shook my hand and said "welcome to our church and thank you for being here today". It amazed me. The entire experience was amazing. I normally feel so out of place, especially in a place I don't know, then add several hundred people to the mix and we are talking about a disaster. I felt so at peace. I felt at home. I didn't feel like I had to sit in the back or hide away. I sang the songs and I listened to ther sermon (although I must admit at that point I was starting to really worry about Ava). It was so awesome. It was such an incredible experince. I look forward to going back.
After church we ran home, I swept the driveway then talked to our neighbor (who is 14 weeks pregnant!) for a few seconds then headed out again. I got some food then went to the library to try and sneak up on my mom who was in a meeting there. Unfortunately I got there just as they were leaving and Ava was hungry. I was still able to surprise my mom but it was by yelling at her from my car instead of finding her inside the librabry which I had hoped to do. After Ava ate we went back in the library and for the first time since moving to Reno I checked out some books for Ava. Then my mom and I went to Costco to find some outfits for Ava.
Yesterday was another day off from work! WAHOO! I got to sleep in until 8:30am. It was very nice. Then Ava and I got ready and we went to visit Ava's new freind Addison born two weeks ago. Addison's mom is Cheryl. Cheryl and I talked for several hours. It was really fun to hang out. I enjoyed it. At the end I was able to take a few pictures of Addison and Cheryl.


After that Phil, Ava and I hung out at home most of the afternoon. It was wonderful. Ava is such a trooper. I put her in her bumbo seat on her counter. She figured out how to climb out of it so right as I turned around to put something in the cabinet I her this loud *THUNK* and I turned around and Ava is face down on the kitchen counter. When I quickly picked her up she screamed. Poor girl. She had a pretty big knot on her head. I put an ice pack on it and kept an eye on her the rest of the night.


Today Ava went to Grandma and Grandpa's house. She had a blast. Grandpa taught her how to stand holding on to the couch...




Sunday, January 10, 2010

Five and a half months!


Ava is already five and a half months old. This week was a full week back at work. I enjoyed the break while the students were gone. My weeks were short because of the holidays and we worked 5 hour days. I'm so happy I got to spend the extra time with Ava. She's a lot of fun.

This week was fun and exciting too. Two days this week Ava came to visit me at work. I enjoyed having her come and meet some of the nice people I work with. She enjoyed meeting them too and gave them lots of smiles. Ava continued to make new sounds this week.

This week Grandma and Grandpa took her out and about! They went to a few stores to go shopping then they went to UNR to go to the bookstore. And on Thursday they went to the library. Every Thursday from now on Ava will be going to Wee Story Time at the library. She enjoys books so she'll have a lot of fun.
One of the new things Ava can do is scoot backwards. Ava is now becoming mobile....OH NO!
Phil, Ava and I have been enjoying our weekends at home. We enjoy hanging out around our house and enjoying our time as a family. Its been fun. I guess if the weather was nice we would be doing more stuff outside. Its been fun hanging out at home, watching movies and such.

Today we had the joy of watching our niece, Juno. She is a great baby. We had lots of adventures today. We changed diapers, fed two babies, hung out and then went on two drives. One was just me and the babies and the second one was all four of us. We decided to have an adventure. We took a road that we've never been on and we ran into really thick fog. We've been having some heavy fog in Reno and Sparks for the past week. Its very strange. In the six years I've been here I've only seen fog (actual fog, not smog) about 3 or 4 times. We've had an entire week of it! Its been crazy!

Check out some of the videos I uploaded to Youtube!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyKTnjPu14w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUQYBv1G6DQ

Sunday, January 3, 2010

First few days of 2010



Well on a personal note I would just like to say that I am feeling so much better! I'm not sure if its because its a new year, or maybe because it reached over 50 degrees this weekend, but this has been a wonderful start to a wonderful new year!
The new year started out with a day off which meant that I got to spend time with my wonderful family! I've had so much fun spending time with Phil and Ava in our home. It has been wonderful. This weekend we did more of the same.
I actually got motivated and did the laundry, cleaned the house, worked on Thank You cards and I even felt motivated enough to take Ava's 5 month pictures. I haven't taken photos of Ava like that for a very long time (maybe just after I went back to work). I even began the process of sorting through her clothes. It has been so awesome.
I feel really good about this year. It should be awesome.
Ava is doing really well. This week we are working on Sweet Potatoes for her first "Real" food experience. She absolutely hated them! So this evening I tried her with them again (thinking maybe she just needed a nap earlier or maybe she just needed more time to get used to the taste). She did better. I gave her a small portion and she ate all of it. After that I did give her oatmeal. She loves her oatmeal. So we have bumped up her "Real" food experience to twice a day. Once in the morning and once at night an hour before bed. It has been awesome because she sleeps 7 hours at night now. She goes to bed around 7pm and wakes up around 2 or 3am and sleeps until 7am. She is such a great little girl.
I am very excited about 2010. I have a feeling this is going to be a wonderful year.