So much going on

This week I worked Thursday only. Adam is working the outage so I will probably only work one day a week from now till April sometime. I am actually disappointed....wow does that sound lame? I enjoy getting dressed in something other than casual clothes and interacting with adults. It gives me a much needed break. Oh well.

So this morning I am letting Adam get so much needed rest and I have been up with Ava since 7. She is in full play mode right now. I have so much to do that it was hard going to sleep last night. My mind was just going crazy!! I am planning Ava's birthday party and YES I am over analyzing every detail. :) I have her outfit, the cake ordered and the invitations ordered. I have so much left to do though. Aside from that I am redoing the bedroom so I need to be ordering a mattress, getting my comforter, and painting. Yeah, all this needs to be done in 3-4 weeks before the furniture comes in. I guess I will be painting myself because Adam doesn't have the time off. That doesn't bother me. I love to paint....I know I am weird.
OK, so then I have the thought of Easter lurking in the back of my mind too. I need to buy all 3 of us outfits. Adam's mom bought Ava a dress that I might let her wear if I can find me and Adam stuff to coordinate. Wait.....I am not even sure Adam is off Easter. I need to check on that.

Yesterday I remembered about Ava's 1 year pictures. Thankfully I remember and emailed the photographer. We will also have her 1 year Dr. appt. to go to between now and then.

Tonight I am going to Shogun with some friends. I am sooooo excited!!!! I am looking forward to a nice dinner that I can fully enjoy. We will probably do some shopping too. Maybe I can talk them into letting me get some errands done.....like checking out mattresses....LOL

I finished a book.....

The first real book I have read since Ava was born. Aside from the book I read on our vacation to St. Croix. That doesn't really count because I can read a ton at the beach with no kid. It was empowering to accomplish that. I know it sounds very stupid but since her arrival things are sooo different for me. I was used to enjoying books, vacations, silent dinners, long showers (longer than 5 minutes now), etc. Don't get me wrong she is is a blessing and I love her to death but life sure does change with a child. Now it took me a few weeks to finish it but I did it.
I love to read. I love letting my mind get so caught up in a book that I forget the world....well that is until Ava hits my knee with a McDonald's penguin and I realize she needs me. :)
OH well I am excited about lots of books to come. I have a list of books I would like to read. Any suggestions....let them be known!

On another note we are enjoying time with Adam these last couple days. He starts working an outage this week so that means lots of hours at work and little time for us. These only occur usually twice a year so thats ok....part of the job (which we are so thankful for). The good thing about it is I think I am finally getting a new bedroom suite. We have been talking about it for years but just never broke down and bought one. I am very excited!!!! I think we might go to Dogtown today to look.

Ava turns 11 months and our trip to ATL

In pawpaws boots :)

Walking with some help

Giving Gabriel some love

Sunday afternoon we packed up and headed to Atlanta to see our new nephew, Gabriel Andrew. Monday we went over to Uncle Andy's and Aunt Rachel's house to see the new member of our family. He was sleeping so good. We stood at his crib and admired him. He is so tiny. Its hard to remember those days even though they were almost a year ago. We took some pictures and oohed and awed. Ava didn't really know what to think of him. she was sweet with him though. Tuesday we met Aunt April, Mackenzie and Shelby at Chick-Fil-A for a great breakfast. I had never been to a dwarf house. It was super neat! We had a great day of shopping. I went to a store that I fell in love with!!!!!!! Lets just say its a good thing everyone was waiting on me or I could have spent hours in there :) Ava had a blast with her cousins. We had a great dinner that night with the family. Ava got to spend some time with her great grandpa and actually let him hold her. She usually cries when she is around him. Today we got up and spent some time with Nana and went to my favorite Mexican place for lunch. We are headed back home now.

Oh and Ava turned 11 months yesterday. I took some pics. Her one year birthay is sneaking up on us.

UAH Shooting

I wanted to post this morning because I am devastated over the recent shooting at UAH. I know it sounds so cliche but I just didn't think it would happen so close to home. I attended UAH for 2 years and I LOVE that school. I always felt so safe there!! I guess all of these acts of violence are just signs of the time we are living in. Its so scary though! My heart goes out to the victim's family. I understand so far 3 faculty members are dead and 3 are injured. The shooter was an actual faculty member that didn't get tenure. I just can't even imagine!!
I hope and pray that God comforts those that lost their loved ones and the family of the shooter. Can you imagine how hard it would be to know your family member was responsible for multiple deaths?? So awful.

Baby Gabriel is here!!

Baby Gabriel was born this morning. He was 5 lbs and 12 ozs and 21 inches long. I wish I had some good pictures to post. I will post some when we go down to see him in a few days. I just wanted to let everyone know he was born and everyone is doing ok. I am excited to see him!!

Ava is still sick too. She is coughing with a runny nose!! If she is still sick when we go to visit we are going to have to arrange something because I don't want her near the baby. I know how I felt when Ava was born. I was scared to death of germs and sick people. :)

Kyndall's party and sick again

Yesterday we went to our dear friend Kyndall's 5th Birthday party!!! Ava LOVES Kyndall. Kyndall doesn't even have to try and Ava laughs and just adores her. I think its so sweet! Ava started getting a cold this past week so she hasn't been feeling great. Her nose is runny and she is coughing. I hope it passes faster than her last cold that seemed to last a month or longer. She felt ok yesterday so we went ahead and went to the party. It was a carnival theme and oh so cute. Ava had her first taste of cotton candy and a cupcake. She wasn't so sure about the cotton candy at first but once she got you were suppose to eat it, she loved it. She also got her face painted....a lady bug. Well it was suppose to be a lady bug but Ava only let him paint the red circle and one black dot. :) It was still adorable.

We had such a fun day! The adults were exhausted but thats what we do for our kids :)

Cry it out

Cry it out.....those words sound so harsh. I thought so before I understood them. We have rocked and held Ava from day one. The only way she would go to sleep was that....or so we thought. I heard the "Cry it out" method and it caught my attention. It seemed like every time I wanted to try it everyone found reasons to not. Ava was sick a lot during December and the first of January so I kept holding off on it. So finally last Sunday night I told Adam this is the night. I made sure she was fed, changed and ready for some sleep. I put her down and walked out of the room. It was hard.....not going to act like it wasn't. I was prepared for her to cry for hours, maybe more. I just think she is very strong willed and I imagined it was going to be a very hard task. She cried maybe 30 minutes and then I heard the best thing......silence :) WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!! So from then on I have been laying her down at night and for her naps. No parent wants to hear their baby cry, but when you know they are ok and its best for them its not so hard. I can't even tell you how better it makes me feel. Let me just explain. Ava wasn't the child that enjoyed being rocked where she would cuddle and let you rock her. She would fight me to no end....EVERY time. I would walk out of her nursery feeling totally exhausted. This is best for us!!! Now she sometimes doesn't even cry....other days it might be 10 minutes or so.