Wrap up Christmas

Adam, Ava, and poppa dub

Riding her new toy

All those boxes are Ava's gifts!!

The girls playing with the train

Daddy playing

Uncle Andy playing with Ava

Opening her gift

Andy and Rachel

Playing with Pawpaws camera

We are on our way home from our last Christmas. I feel guilty saying this but I am kind of glad. I am so ready to get home and just have everything back to normal. This last week or so has been so hectic. So anyways, we had a great Christmas with PawPaw and Nanadette. Ava got SO many gifts. She got so much I was overwhelmed so I know she was. The hard part is taking it all home and figuring out what to do with it all. We really enjoyed our time even though it was short. We would have stayed longer but Adam has training in the morning so we had to go home.

I included pictures from the Christmas yesterday and today.

Christmas 2009

The elves hard at work :)

My grandma with Ava

Christmas morning

Playing Christmas morning

Presents!!!

Chillin with pawpaw

Mom and her kitchenaid mixer

Adam with his rifle mom and dad got him

Jeremy cheesin

Me with my baby

Opening all her gifts

Playing with Nanas little tree

Playing with more stuff

Ava's first Christmas was so awesome!! Thursday we went to mom and dads. We ate and did presents. She got so much!!!!!!!! She just played and played for a long time. Dad went overboard with his toy buying for her. It was funny because he didn't realize some of the toys had to be assembled. I have a pic of Adam, Dad, and Jeremy all working like little elves putting together toys. I thought it was funny. We hurried home Christmas Eve night to get Ava in her Christmas pajamas and into bed. We all woke up early Christmas morning. Adam had this breakfast recipe he wanted to try so he cooked that while I got Ava fed and changed. Me and Adam exchanged gifts while she took a nap. He got me a gift card to Anthropologie(a store I love to shop in) and gift cards to the Westin Spa at Bridgestreet. I am SOOO excited to use those gift cards. He said he would keep Ava while I enjoyed a day to myself. I will so hold him to his words. LOL I got him cologne, a gift card and some other stuff. So to the main event, Ava woke up and played with her toys. She loved them all but really loved the box they came in :) We went to my grandmothers for Christmas. It was such a good day.

I will apologize in advance for the all the pictures.....I get carried away. And these are just some from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I will have to upload all the rest later.

Today we went to Aunt Brenda's house for the Estes Christmas.

We are on our way to ATL for a quick overnight trip. We are doing Christmas with Adams parents and family tomorrow.

Pics

I almost forgot to share the link to Ava's pictures. I was just so rushed to get these pics back and ordered for Christmas Cards. To all that are reading this if you didn't get a Christmas Card I am sorry. We only had 25 cards and it was VERY hard narrowing the list.

Check out the pics. Go to ajpbaby.com. then click on Proofs, find photos, Nicole then the password is Estes.

We had a really hard time picking from these pictures. We loved them!!!

We have an exciting and busy week ahead. I can't wait for Christmas this year!!! We finished our shopping up yesterday so I am ready to get all the fun started.

Ava is 9 Months

Today my little baby is 9 Months old!! Wow how did we get here so fast?

I remember being pg and thinking about her first Christmas. Now its only days away, and I hope and pray me and her are both well by then. We are both still suffering with runny noses and coughing. She finds it funny when I cough and blow my nose. She freaks out when she even sees me get the tissue to wipe hers :)

I have a feeling we aren't far from her first steps. She is pulling up on EVERYTHING. She is so independent too.

Honestly I am ready for the Christmas tree and presents to be GONE. Those are her new found curiosities. She is in them every time I turn around. Yesterday I turned my head for a moment and she had a present in her hand almost ripping in half.

Missing Christmas Program

I can't help but be a little heart broken this morning. Ava is still sick and she is going to miss her First Christmas play tonight. I know she has no clue what it is but it was something I was looking forward to. I even had the cutest little Christmas outfit for her to wear. I just feel like she is missing out on so much her first year. We didn't go to the Christmas parade because she was starting to get sick that night. I make the Christmas programs, and last night as I am typing all the names It was so hard not to put hers down too. She was going to be a little angel. It was funny actually, the director of the play asked me about Ava being baby Jesus when it all started. I laughed to myself and told her NO. I think you want a baby Jesus that lays in the manger very meekly. Ava would be playing with the hay (probably eating it), and crawling over to see what the wise men were doing. :)
My main concern is that Ava gets better.

Dr. Update

So after another awful night of throwing up and coughing I called the Dr. We made an appointment for today. Ava has a bad cold and ear infection in one ear. Bless her heart!!! It was actually time for her 9 month checkup so they went ahead and did that today. She is growing good and weighing in at 17 lbs 2 oz. She had two shots and they took some blood. I feel so sorry for her. Its bad enough being sick but then getting shots too. I just tell myself its for her own good. I know by now she doesn't even remember it.

Thanks to my WONDERFUL mom who took off half a day today to take care of Ava and give me a much needed break. She is keeping her tonight and tomorrow. I sure hope the meds the dr. prescribed starts helping ASAP!!!
I am feeling better as far as being achy but this cough is really bothering me. I might go to work tomorrow if I feel ok. Considering I haven't worked any this week :)
I am really trying to avoid going to the dr. myself. I guess wishful thinking is it will go away on its own. Maybe this once?

UGH...the sickness bug has hit us

That is me and Ava. We have both been showing symptoms since last week but yesterday we both were really feeling bad. Last night was horrible. Ava was awake more than she was asleep it felt. She was sneezing up all that junk and it was making her throw up. We were up a lot during the night tending to her. Even worse I felt awful so it was very hard staying awake. I normally have a strong stomach when it comes to her, but when she would throw up I would gag too. I guess already feeling bad didn't help. We woke up at 6:30 and I was suppose to work today. I decided I better stay home since Adam didn't go to bed till 4. I am SOOO thankful for a husband that helps me out. Its bad enough having a sick baby but when you are sick too its SO hard. All my life when I have been sick I just take some meds and go to bed. Sleep is my remedy for most things that ail me. Since Ava has been born that just isn't possible. She is the first priority!! So today has been a day of naps, wiping noses, and coughing our heads off. I sure hope this passes really fast. I can't stand her being sick. I feel so helpless as a mother.

Our Christmas has started

touching the ceiling...she loves to do this

Baking cookies with the girls and Nana

Opening her first Christmas gift

Rachel and her baby bump

Giving Nana sugar

Jenny and jameson

Playing with the girls

Our first official Christmas gathering was this weekend....so the madness has begun. We stayed the weekend in ATL with Nana and Pawpaw Estes. Sunday we had Christmas with Papa (Adams moms dad) and all that side of the family. Papa took us out to eat at Buckners. You just have to go to understand. Its great home cooking and they just keep filling the bowls on a lazy Susan. After lunch we went back to Aunt Teresa's to open gifts. Ava got her first Christmas present, a cute stuffed bear that sings and talks. We are on our way home now. Adam is off work till Friday so we decided to make another day of it. Today Nana watched Ava so we could do some Christmas shopping and eat a yummy lunch at a local Mexican place.

Unfortunately me and Ava are both sick. Ava is really congested and coughing. She started this last week but it has got worse. Therefore we aren't going to the Christmas parade tonight. :( I was looking forward to taking her to her first parade, but I just don't want to risk making her worse. Not that this parade is something to see but its all we got :) LOL

Pictures and Snow

Friday we went to Huntsville for Ava's 9 month/Christmas pictures. I had originally wanted to take pictures outside with the Christmas lights. As my luck would have it, Friday was the coldest day we had yet. We decided to do them all in studio. Especially since Ava had a cough too. She did great. We got some good shots. I will share as soon as I get them.

We woke up Saturday to snow!!!!!!!!!!!! Ava's first snow! I let her look out the window at it. I wanted so bad to wrap her up in her snow suit (yes she has one) and take her outside. My Aunt bought it in California. I didn't though because all I could think about was her getting sick.

We left Saturday to go to Atlanta. Our Christmas gatherings have officially started. We have Christmas with Adam's grandpa on Sunday. We are staying till Monday.

Thanksgiving 09

Me and Jeremy

Mom carving the turkey

We had a great Thanksgiving. We celebrated at moms house this year. As usual we ate too much and ate multiple times :) Ava took a very long nap while we all ate. She missed most of the day due to her nap. It was so chilly on Thanksgiving. We tried to walk but I froze. We were trying to make ourselves feel better about going back to eat more pie :)

Me and mom did our annual Black Friday shopping trip. We LOVE it!!!!!!!!!! My Friend Martha kept Ava for me. We had a great day of shopping and eating our favorite, Olive Garden.

Adam got all my Christmas stuff down yesterday so today that is part of what I have to get done. I have a baby shower to go to at 2. Plus Jeremy is leaving today so I hope we can sneak in some time with him before he heads back to ATL.

Gatlinburg 09

We had such a good trip. We left Thursday around lunch time and had a good trip. Ava did so good. She slept most of the way and played the rest. We made good time and I only had to stop once for her. Thursday night we checked in our hotel and met up with Adams parents. We ate dinner at the Peddler and it was sooo good. We shopped in Gatlinburg after dinner. Ava loved the lights and people. We bundled her up as you can see in the pics. It was very cold that night but not as cold as it has been in past years. It was our first time staying in a hotel with Ava. That was a experience. :) I am a germaphob so I didn't want her touching the floors or comforters on the bed. I brought a blanket and we let her play on that or we held her. She didn't sleep good that night. I might have got 5-6 hours. Friday morning we woke up early and ate breakfast at the Pancake Pantry. YUMO. We shopped at Tanger in Pigeon Forge. I got a lot of stuff for her and some stuff for me. We all met up at the cabin late Friday night. We ate dinner there and just chilled. Saturday the guys and girls went and rode horses. YEAH, not my thing at all so we went to Gatlinburg while they did their thing. SHEW they stunk too. I made Adam put his clothes and shoes in a bag to take home. They had fun though and had some funny stories to share. We all went back to Pigeon forge to eat lunch and shop some more. Saturday night we had a late dinner at the cabin. It was good though. Ava was exhausted. Sunday morning we woke up and packed up to leave. We had breakfast at the Old Mill and then shopped on the way home. It was nice trip. Ava had so much fun with everyone. She loves all that attention. Rachel is pg and due in February so it was odd thinking I was pg with Ava this trip last year. So next year we are all looking forward to having Ava and Gabriel with us. It should be fun :)

We got home around 6 Sunday night. We had so much to unpack and organize.

Today I am covered up with laundry and cleaning.