VACATION!

Finally, it's Christmas break! Three weeks of only having one job: Mommy! Okay, two jobs: Mommy and wife. Well, Mommy, wife, housekeeper, cook. Nevermind, I still have eight hundred jobs, teaching just won't be one of them for the next few weeks. Except for my two workdays...you know what? Forget it. There's no such thing as a vacation.

Anyhow, I have been enjoying the last few days with the family: Craig and I have had a chance to catch up on TV shows together, and both of us have spent a lot of time snuggling with/chasing/reading to/building things with Ava. She's still randomly crying in her sleep but usually stops after a minute or so, and it's usually only once or occasionally twice a night: the fact that she's finally got two of her 2-year molars poking through (which means two more on their way soon) could be the reason...but she makes up for it by sleeping until 7-7:30 each morning...woohoo! We've also gone to lunch twice and she's been perfect...just to the Village Deli, but it gives me hope that we could try other places as well. We'll see...we should have a chance to test that theory sometime in the next few weeks. :) I'm LOVING Christmas as a parent right now...we're not getting Ava much right now since she doesn't know any better and has the attention span of a hummingbird on speed, but each of the gifts I've found for her have probably caused more excitement for me than they will for her. As much as I love the Christmas season and everything it entails (except for shopping), it's been hard to really get into some things: I have a wreath on the door and a rather sad looking tree, but that's the extent of our decorations...I just could not get out to do lights or anything else this year. Ava rips the ornaments off of the tree or runs in circles around out, tripping over the cord to the lights and knocking pine needles everywhere (Craig has promised me a nice, big, fake, pre-lit tree next year). I also would really like a sound system for our house, because I love me some classical Christmas music...I usually get my fix in the car thanks to Sirius radio but Ava is insistent on always listening Tom Petty. (She yells, "Tom-tom Petty! Free!" That means Tom Petty, Free Fallin' I guess, but she says the same thing for every song. Her latest favorite seems to be Don't Come Around Here No More...she especially likes yelling out, "STOP!" when Tom Petty says it in the song. HA!) But anyhow, we're looking forward to watching her open gifts, to see if she actually gets it this year.

Ava is still talking up a storm and every day we understand a little more. My favorites right now are when she laughs (or fake laughs) and then says, "That's funny!" Or when she hurts herself and we give her a kiss, she says, "All better!" And her most recent--when we sit down she climbs on our backs, hugs us around the neck, and says, "Hang tight!" Of course we then have to give her a piggy-back ride, but that's okay, it's too cute not to.... :) On a bad note though, she has been slapping me in the face when she's mad or wants me to pay attention to her, which usually just gets her a spanking, so hopefully that turns around soon.

Anyhow, to wrap things up, the last few weeks have been very stressful for a variety of reasons and very sad: a former student of mine who was diagnosed with ALS just about six months ago died on December 9th. Ben was one of my favorite students and one of the nicest people I've ever met. He had such a good heart and will be greatly missed...I'm glad I got to attend a beautiful memorial service in his honor last week. I'm including a couple of videos that were taken before his death because it's just amazing and inspiring that he was able to face his illness with such grace, courage, and faith in God.

Winding Down

This morning, I woke up feeling happy and well-rested. I didn't get any extra sleep or even a full eight hours (although the sleep I did get was uninterrupted so that had to help) and nothing in particular happened to make me happy, so I have no idea where it was coming from but I'll take it! It's been a crazy couple of weeks: Ava recovered pretty well from the pneumonia but still has a cough and a runny nose...last week I took her for her first H1N1 vaccination, which was a nightmare because the pediatricians decided to do it clinic-style at the Raleigh office, which is nearly an hour away. Ava had dinner at 4pm, we rushed and got there before the 5:30 start time and were #208 in line...what the heck???? Waited for 1 1/2 hours IN A LINE OUTSIDE IN THE DARK, and she had meltdowns the entire time....did I mention Craig was out of town and I was alone? I couldn't be mad at her, it was past her bedtime and she was screaming "Night-night!" because she just wanted to go to sleep. Looks like they're going to run it the same way for part two of the vaccination process....WONDERFUL!!! Because, you know, it worked so well the first time. I normally love our doctors but that really sucked on their part. Also, I had to cancel her seasonal flu shot for the third time since it just happened to be the same day as the clinic, and I didn't feel comfortable doing both at once (I've heard mixed opinions regarding doing them at the same time) and plus there was no way for me to do both appointments, the regular one was at the Wake Forest office. UGH!!!! I really hate inefficiency!

Anyhow, speaking of winding down, I think my body has finally stopped going insane from stopping the pill, which is nice. Had I known it was this easy to not get pregnant I'd have saved my money the past few years, jeez! At the same time, my stomach has been bad again thanks to the stress of the last few weeks, but hopefully that'll stop as well. At least now I have meds to help. The students have lost their everloving minds this year and are already acting like it's fourth quarter with their attitudes and slacking off but oddly enough, working is one of the things that keeps my stomach happy in spite of that: it's being on such a rigid schedule that helps. At any rate, I'm finally starting to feel like myself again, which hasn't happened in awhile, mostly I've just felt unhappy and stressed and generally insane.

All right, enough about me. In Ava news, her vocabulary and the things she's learning continue to amaze us every day. I don't even count the number of words she knows anymore! She's starting to put two and occasionally three words together, and sometimes she'll hold an entire conversation with me in gibberish, though I can pick out a few words here and there. :) Tonight she took my face in her hands, looked me in the eye, and let out a string of babble that ended with, "Shhhh! Dada fweep!" So I think I was getting lectured about being quiet so Craig could sleep. (No, Ava, Dada was killing zombies on his computer, not sleeping.... ;o) She sings along with me when I sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," and it sounds like, "Bababababa star! Babababababa sky! Babababa star!" She counts to ten, tries to share her snacks with the cats and with her Duckie (she's not big on dolls yet, but is very motherly towards her Duckie, which isn't even a real stuffed animal, just a duck head attached to a little blankie. But she brushes his beak with her toothbrush, combs his head with her comb, and tries to get him to eat and drink out of her sippy cup.) and of course loves feeding us. Lately, she also pets our heads and says, "Nice Mommy! Nice Dada!" LOVE IT!!
In addition to learning good things, she also is learning some not-so-good things: for example, if I fuss at her about something, she will lay down on the ground and cover her eyes, because she thinks I can't see her that way. Today she did something she knew she wasn't supposed to do, and she looked at me and covered her butt with her hand--SHE KNEW IT WAS WRONG AND THAT SHE'D PROBABLY GET SPANKED!!! She'll also do things--like throw Duckie or her sippy cup--and exclaim "Oh no!" in a really exaggerated voice so we'll think it was an accident...nice try, kid. Naturally she also throws tantrums but if she does it at home (where most of them happen, thankfully, as long as we're not waiting in stupid lines past her bedtime) I just put her in the crib for a minute or two and she mellows out immediately...I have to keep it brief though, she's about big enough to start climbing out of the crib and I saw her testing it out one day after she was put in there for punishment....EEEEEK! I have no idea what we will do when that day comes, maybe buy a really big dog kennel for her? ;o) Luckily she seems content enough to stay in at bedtime, even though more often than not she screams and cries out for Mommy when I put her to bed...at least she just lays there and doesn't try to get out. I'm telling you, it was so much easier to let her cry when she couldn't call for me! :( It breaks my heart leaving her, but it does help that usually after a minute the cries sound so forced it's almost funny, and then she stops.

All right, it's bedtime for me now...and I am NOT going to cry or attept to escape! Bring it on! :)


Ava, reorganizing the cabinets: she lined up all of the lids, counted them, and then put them away.


Eating a snack and looking cute....I love this dress on her!



Watching Dada hang something on the wall.



Dressed up as a Chicago Bear for Halloween 2oo9



DA BEARS!



A shot of the leaves changing in our backyard--I love autumn!

Pneumonia

Last Saturday night, I was hanging out at the house with a neighbor and watching movies when Ava woke up, sobbing, and saying, "Uh-oh, Mommy! Uh-oh, Mommy!" This is not normal waking-up-and-fussing behavior so I ran up to her room to find her, and her crib, covered in throw-up. Disgusting, but surprisingly I wasn't as grossed out as I think I should've been...we were too concerned about Ava to think about it I guess. Craig stuck her in the bathtub and I cleaned up the mess (isn't it amazing what parenthood can do? There is NO WAY I could've handled puke clean-up duty a few years ago....actually it's probably just because it's my kid that it isn't so bad, but still.) Anyhow she only threw up that once (well, she did spit up some water on Craig but I don't think it really counts) but was fevery, so we figure that's what caused the upset stomach. Called the doctor the next morning when her fever was about 102, and they said she probably had the flu. Ugh. However, she was in a good mood, ate well, and the fever went down all day and the only other issue was a wet-sounding cough so we ruled out the flu. I kept her home with me Monday and she went back to Christina's Tuesday after having no fever (but a not-so-good night due to the cough)....however, I got a call shortly after I got to work that the fever had returned so I called the doctor and took her in after work. The verdict? Pneumonia in her left lung. I have no clue where she got it, but luckily we caught it early and have antibiotics. Last night was ROUGH....she fussed so much I brought her to bed with me, that resulted in her thinking it was play time, and then finally I gave her some Benadryl--it helped--and got about 2.5 hours of sleep. Ugh. On the upside she does seem to be improving a little so I'm hoping for a better night tonight! That's it for now....I'll do a better update some other time. Nite!

What's new this week....

Words:
--fan
--bite
--froggie (she can sort of make the associated sound, a bunch of gibberish that sounds vaguely like "ribbit")

She can also identify the letters A, B, C, O, and S. (Although she doesn't say "C", she makes a hard C noise that sounds like "kuh." And for the letter S she says "snake.") I think I have to stop keeping record of these things, because she's picking up so much these days I can hardly keep up with it!

New cutest thing--she now says "thank you" when you bless her after sneezing! Too cute! We were laying in bed the other night and this happened:

Ava: *sneezes*
Me: "Bless you!"
Ava: "Kank-yoo!"
Me: "You're welcome!"
Ava: *sneezes*
Me: "Bless you!"
Ava: "Kank-yoo!"
Me: "You're welcome!"

It almost made up for the fact that she was in my bed because she was REFUSING to sleep and screamed and cried so much I had to bring her in our room to avoid waking all of the house guests....

Anyhow, we've all very much enjoyed the grandparent visit: yesterday all four of them and Craig took Ava to the North Carolina state fair (I stayed home, as my stomach has been bothering me all week) and everyone had a great time...we never did make it to the pumpkin farm, so I'm thinking next week. Craig's parents left a couple of hours ago and mine leave Tuesday, so we'll miss everyone but it will be good to get back to a normal routine for awhile.

And so it begins!

Tomorrow begins two weeks of grandparents with the arrival of my mom....should be fun! I spent the last two days cleaning like crazy and am so sore....today I even crawled out on the roof so I could clean the windows from the outside. It wasn't steep and the fall from there couldn't have killed me, although it would not have felt very nice. I survived, and the windows look great! ;o)

Ava has finally started going to sleep without freaking out on me, she either gets annoyed as I'm leaving and tries to have a conversation with me, or she cries for about ten seconds, and that's it...then she stays asleep the entire night. Yesterday she didn't get up until 7:45am!! I heard her talking to herself on and off for about an hour before she finally called for someone to get her. ("Mommmmmmyyy! Daaaaadaaaaa! Tom-Tom!") If she wakes up crying or just sort of talking to herself I leave her alone: I read once that if babies wake up crying, it means they haven't gotten enough sleep and to leave them alone and for the most part this has been true for Ava. If she's just talking to herself, more often than not she'll end up dozing off again for awhile...it's when she's yelling and actually calling for us that I know she's up and wants to get out. Knock on wood, but she's not quite figured out how to climb out of the crib yet. I find this pretty amazing considering how much she likes to climb on things and considering how devious she can be: remember that part in Jurassic Park where the guy talks about raptors and how smart they are, and how they were constantly testing their enclosure for weaknesses? That's Ava. So needless to say, I'm extremely thankful she's not figured out the crib! There's no way she could do a "big girl" bed right now, she would never stay in it...I really think she needs at least another year in the crib...or maybe I'll just keep her in it until she's too long for it. Whatever works!

All right, I need to shower and go to bed. There's just no excuse for me being up this late....

Conversations with Ava

We have a routine at bedtime: bath, sometimes TV, and then reading/prayers/singing/cuddling in the rocking chair in Ava's room. If Craig is home he does the bath and usually TV time, I do the rest. After I've read and done prayers and sung (I am a horrific singer but she seems to like it, it's a combination of Sunday School-type songs, Tom Petty, and lullabies...lately she's been requesting "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"), we cuddle for awhile and I talk to her, I mostly just rock her and tell her how much I love her. Last night it went like this:

Me: "Ava, do you know how much I love you?"
Ava: "Mmph" (she kind of just grunts at me)
Me: "I love you so much, honey. I don't know what I'd ever do without you."
Ava: "Mmph"
Me: "You are the best thing that's ever happened to me and your Dada, you know that?"
Ava: Pulls away from me , points to her head, and says, "Da doggie! Da doggie!"

Well. Alrighty then. I know she doesn't really understand 100% what I'm saying, but it was the strangest response....haha!

To be fair, she's been OBSESSED with talking about our neighbor's dog for about a month now....we went over there to say hi one afternoon and she was petting their very good dog and saying, "Nice doggie!" But she couldn't help herself and got over-excited and pulled the dog's tail, the startled dog jerked away and Ava fell over and bumped her head. I picked her up of course but told her it was not nice to pull Doggie's tail and she scared him...I felt like a huge jerk for not comforting her more but she needs to know! If she thinks it's okay to pull dogs' tails, she could really get hurt sometime. Anyhow, at the most random times she'll try to tell people (usually me) about what happened, which is a lot of babbling, pointing to her head and saying, "Da doggie!" and once she even added some fake crying for effect. HA.

That's about it...we went to Fresh Market today (good thing it's far away, I like that store way too much) and when Ava gets up from her nap we'll do a run to Target...among other things, I seriously need a Pumpkin Spice latte (it's a Super Target with a Starbucks....Best. Idea. EVER.) Not very exciting but it's cool and rainy out (yay fall!) and this will get us out of the house for awhile. And I have two more words for the list: "Apple" and "yogurt." She asks for yogurt at breakfast and identifies apples wherever we see them: in her ABC book, at the grocery store, etc. Good stuff!

Just the girls!

Well, Craig headed up to...okay, I have no idea. Somewhere for a wedding and then a few days of work, so it will just be Ava and me. We miss him already but will still enjoy our time together! This morning I tried to take her for a walk but she was NOT having it with the stroller...don't know why, usually she's all about it but not the past few days. Hmmmmm. So we played outside and then she took (unfortunately) a short nap while I started cleaning. We are going to have a crazy two weeks coming up: my mom arrives Wednesday, Craig's mom on Saturday, my dad arrives the next Tuesday, and then Craig's stepdad arrives that Friday. His parents leave Sunday, and mine on Tuesday. Whew...it's going to be CRAZY having everyone here, but fun! In that time I also have a two day teaching conference (not overnight) in Chapel Hill, and we're going to try to squeeze in a date or two while we have an abundance of baby-sitters on the premises...we're also going to take everyone to the pumpkin farm, since Ava no longer seems to hate pumpkins we should have a good time. That's all for now! Something pooped (Ava? Jack? Toby?) so I have to go change a diaper or scoop a litter box. BLEH!

I can't keep up with her...

So, after I posted the last list I had to edit and add a few more words that I've heard Ava say....since then, I've also heard:

--key
--sky
--sock
--night-night
--"OH NO!"

The last one is my favorite....she busted it out during an episode of Thomas the Train (surprise, surprise). A river was flooding and a train was washing downstream and she was distraught. She's said it quite a few times since then and it cracks me up every time! I saw something on TV advertising a real-life Thomas at the NC transportation museum but it's this weekend and apparently about 2 1/2 hours away....so sorry Ava, not going to happen! ;o)

I'm going to try posting a few pictures although the majority will still show up on Facebook, so if you aren't on FB I'm sorry! It's just too much of a pain to get pictures on this page and there are more people on FB than on the blog so it's the most efficient way. :-) I'll try to do a few though....apparently Bubbleshare is going under so all of my past albums will be lost....oh well.

Here are a few shots of Ava in her Bears gear last week....love it!

Ava's Words

All right, I made a list of all of Ava's words/phrases/sounds...maybe nobody cares, but I wanted to know, so I did it. ;o) It came to fifty-something...

Mommy
Dada
Papa
Will
kitty (meow)
doggie (woof woof)
duckie (quack quack)
snake (ssssssss)
bunny
bug
butterfly
Tom-Tom (choo choo)
Uh-oh
Woo doh? (Where did it go?)
Hi
Bye bye
Please (also does the sign)
Thank you
More (also does the sign)
Water
Book
Read
Star
Rock
Shoe
Blue
One, two, three!
Snack
Milk
Free (she tries to sing along with Tom Petty's "Free Fallin")
Yummy
Light
Nice
Moon
Egg
Cheese
Ball
Bubble
Eye
Elbow
Nose
Mouth
Cheek
Chin
Ear
Boob
Potty
Popsicle
Nemo
Monster
Elmo
Yay
Yeah!
Baby
Shhhhhh!
Swing
Slide
No
Mine

Her phrases so far are "Nice kitty/doggie/Dada/Mommy" and "More rock!" The second one she started saying recently at bedtime, trying to insist that I rock her more in the rocking chair instead of putting her in the crib. Yes, it totally worked, I'm a huge sucker. :) Oh, she also says, "Shhhhhh! Dada!" when I get her up in the morning, apparently she's reminding me that Craig is sleeping and I should be quiet. Thanks kid.....

What is this "blog" of which you speak?

I know, I know, it's been two months! I wish I could say I'll be a better blogger but I make no promises.....I'll try to get on here a little more often though. Part of the problem is that I'm mostly on Facebook....it's easier to communicate and post pictures there but on the downside it's less private, so I can't say how I really feel sometimes. ;o) ANYHOW, I'll just do a bulleted update and hopefully be a little better about posting....maybe once a week? Maybe not? We'll see....

• My stomach issues: I do NOT have Celiac Disease, woohoo! The doctor has placed me in the vague category of having IBS, which I think means, "We have no clue what is wrong." Ugh. But he did give me some meds to help calm my stomach when it goes crazy, and I quit taking birth control pills which has helped a lot as well. (Needless to say, natural family planning is working just fine...I should have done this years ago considering it took me awhile to become successfully pregnant while actually trying...avoiding it has been pretty easy. But it's only been 3 months.)
  
• Work: Yes, I have learned all of the kids' names and it wasn't that bad.... ;o) This group is okay but I miss the kids from last year. Not sure why but I really felt like I bonded with them, they were definitely one of the sweetest groups of kids I ever taught! Anyhow I'm on fall break right now and am enjoying the down time.
  
• The house: After next week we will be pretty much done with the inside! We just ordered more bedroom furniture for the downstairs guest room: we moved the guest furniture (full sized bed, dresser, night stand) to the empty bedroom upstairs, and that furniture will become Ava's when she's ready for a "big girl" room. Right now it's a second guest room. Anyhow the new furniture for downstairs will include a queen sized bed. We also got a "chair and a half" and an ottoman for the sitting room in our bedroom, and a loveseat for the family room. I'll have to pick up a few more lamps this week, we want to have some more of Craig's Nana's paintings framed, and we're good to go! Henceforth we will concentrate on landscaping, and probably expanding the deck.
• Craig: He now has an Associate's degree! He finally decided it would be a good idea to go to college a few years ago and in between working and being a husband and father, he's been taking classes. I think he has something like all As and one B...WOW! I'm so proud of him! He's now working towards a four year degree...we're hoping that sometime in the not so distant future, this will enable him to get a good job that does not require traveling, or at least this much of it.

And last but not least...the whole reason for the blog...AVA! ;o)

• I tried to count the other day and I think I figured out she's saying around 40-50 words, and has recently started to come up with 2-word phrases. I will have to list all of her vocabulary skills in a later post (which could be tomorrow or three years from now.... ;o) Considering she lost 4-5 months due to ear infections, I think that's pretty good. But, I don't know....to paraphrase my mom, everybody thinks their kids are brilliant but in reality, everyone else's kids are doing the same things... ;o) There IS something about watching the helpless infant you gave birth to develop into a little person though.
  
• She has a very strong personality: she's tempermental and impatient (yes, I know where she gets that from) and can be very serious and focused, but she's also a wild woman. Yesterday she invented a new game, which was standing on the ottoman and hurling herself at me.....OWWWW! She thought this was hilarious and I just did my best to catch her so I wasn't getting the full force of a 30 lb toddler in my gut! She is also very affectionate and gives kisses and hugs to me, Craig, her stuffed animals, the cats, other kids, etc. She's also friendly; we've spent a lot of time running errands (oh okay, and going to the mall) and she always says, "Bye-bye! Thank you!" to the cashier when we leave. LOVE IT!!!!
  
• She's going to be a reader like her parents: she's taken to handing us books lately and saying, "Read! Read!" Occasionally after making this request, she'll take the book back and attempt to "read" it to us instead.
  
• She's obsessed beyond reason with Thomas the Tank Engine and is constantly asking for "Tom-Tom" and saying, "Choo choo! Choo choo!" I swear I will never have that stupid music out of my head...yet, it's better than Barney. Craig downloaded a few episodes from that awful show for her and we can take about five minutes of it before turning it off. Barney is one bizarro dinosaur.
  
• I'm going to have to post a pic or two of Ava in her Chicago Bears Urlacher jersey...it's awesome and fits perfectly this season! (Thanks again Christie! :o)
• She no longer fears grass or pumpkins. So that's good.
• For almost two weeks she's been sleeping TERRIBLY at night and naptime....screams bloody murder when I leave (that's new, she rarely did that before) and wakes up multiple times at night, and it takes her about an hour to fall asleep at nap time. Not sure what's going on--I was blaming teeth but I'm not so sure although I haven't ruled it out--but I definitely think that being spoiled with lots of Mommy time while I'm on trackout is playing into it. Not much I can do about that so whatever, I hope it passes soon.

Speaking of the devil, she appears to be awake so that's all for now! Hopefully more catching up in the next few days.

A Very Brief Update

School started up last week, so the week before that I was preparing like a madwoman....now I'm recovering from a cold and because I'm a kind, thoughtful, and selfless individual I have lovingly shared that cold with Craig. How nice of me! :-\ Anyhow, it's pretty busy around here....Craig and I actually went on a date last weekend to the Melting Pot, which was cut short because I became--big surprise--dizzy and nauseated. My stomach ruins everything, all of the time. The doctor called during the week and given the results of one of my biopsies he's concerned I have Celiac disease and I have to go in on August 3rd for some bloodwork. Wonderful....seriously.....WONDERFUL. If you aren't familiar with it, Celiac disease is an intolerance to gluten that causes the small intestine to attack itself, resulting in a number of symptoms but it can cause malnutrition because it prevents the body from absorbing nutrients. Basically you can eat and eat but possibly still starve to death (though I highly doubt I have anything that severe.) Gluten is found in wheat, barley, and basically any food that actually tastes good....so if I have to go on a gluten-free diet, I'm going to have to change 99% of what I eat. Or pay someone to shoot me in the face...I'm still undecided on that one.

ANYHOW Ava is doing well, I'm tired and not really wanting to go through the whole process of learning the names of 90 new kids and training them in the ways of the Haynor classroom but they seem like a really good group so I can't complain too much.... ;o) It's not their fault that I resist change...

...and that's about all I really want to type at the moment. Ava is lugging around a giant diaper on her backside that I should probably change, due to the fact that when I took her in the pool earlier she spent more time sticking her face in the water and drinking it than actually playing. Good times! At least it was the baby pool in the backyard so she wasn't drinking chemicals and other people's germs....

18 month stats

28 lbs, 10 oz (90th percentile)
35 in (still off the chart)

Ava is right on target with development, the doctor says she's healthy and doing well! She didn't get any vaccinations this time (HOORAY!) but was very apprehensive of the doctor. She gave him mean looks and shoved the instruments he was trying to use (stethoscope, otoscope, etc) away and whined when he tried to feel her stomach, etc. Can't really blame her, since every time she's been to the doctor it was for a bad ear infection or to get a bunch of shots. :-/ Anyhow, they are spacing the appointments out more now and we don't have to go in until she turns 2! Yay!

In other news, the next two days are going to suck for me...I've had persistent stomach problems for about a year now (I've always had a wonky stomach but it's gotten really bad), among other things I get stomach bugs at the drop of a hat, am constantly nauseated, and have started losing weight as a result. So I went to a GI doctor who has decided that I need an endoscopy (stuff shoved down my throat), and a colonoscopy (stuff shoved...nevermind). Thankfully, this requires being under general anesthesia (oh goody! Another bill from an anesthesiologist! This one BETTER work more than my stupid epidural) but being put under scares me. I have to be on a liquid diet today and then drink something tonight that will entirely flush out my system. I'll spare the details but it's not going to be fun. From about 6pm tonight until Saturday morning, Craig will be running the show, since I'll either be trapped in the bathroom or sleeping off the sedatives. Come to think of it, maybe a forced resting period will be nice...hmmm...not sure I really want to be probed but whatever. Hopefully they can find--and correct--the problem.

Continuing the word list

Bubble, wow, and whoa. And she says, "YEAH!" when you give her a high five. :) Doc appt today so it'll be interesting to get those stats!

I almost forgot...

I KNEW there were more words in Ava's vocabulary!!! She's recently learned to say "No" and sometimes actually uses it correctly, though I think it's just coincidence....she mostly just likes to say it randomly. She also says--and identifies--the following body parts:

• Eye
• Mouth ("mow")
• Nose ("no")
• Boob ("boo")
  

...that last one is totally my fault. She developed this fascination with looking down my shirt and I kept saying, "Can you please stop looking at mommy's boobs?" It wasn't a big deal until she looked down my mother-in-law's shirt....I don't want her to think that they're BAD, but I also don't want her to think it's okay to peek under people's clothing. Oh well. As long as she's not doing that when she's, like, twelve years old or something...

She can also identify ears and belly buttons but does not say the words.

Also, speaking of Thomas the train from my previous post, I found this completely random video on YouTube the other day: clips of Thomas set to Michael Jackson's "Thriller." Um...weird, but amusing! (Mary...this is for you! ;o)

Ava at 18 months

I'm a very, very bad poster. I know. I didn't even post once in June. I'd promise to post more but maybe I won't...most of my updates are on Facebook nowadays...it's just easier. ANYHOW...here's an update, if anyone still comes around! ;o)

• Ava has her 18 month checkup on Wednesday....just a guess, but I'm thinking she's still off of the height chart, in the 90+ percentile for weight, and if there was a foot size chart, she'd be off of that as well. Poor kid is destined to have giant duck feet like her mother. :-\
• She does not respond to spanking. Keep in mind, she doesn't get "real" spankings yet as I don't think she's old enough to really get it. Just swats on the butt or hand. And she doesn't care. She either screams in my face or laughs, so I rarely even bother. What does work? Being banished to her crib...she HATES being forcibly isolated and on a bad day, one or two trips to the crib will get her back in line! It's funny though...I was terrified of spankings as a child.
  
• She says the following words/phrases: Mommy, Dada, bye-bye, hi, doggie, duckie, where did it go ("woo doh?", complete with hand gestures), thank you ("nankoo!"), ball, popsicle (pop-po), kitty (keekee), water (wawa), and either poopy or potty (poppy), but we haven't figured out which one she means when she says "poppy." We're taking preliminary steps to potty training...when she has a dirty diaper, we empty it into the toilet and she helps us flush, and we tell her "poopy goes in the potty!" Sorry if that's TMI. We need to do something...I have a feeling we're going to be in way over our heads with the whole potty training thing. Okay, sorry for the tangent, she also says Thomas ("noh-nah") in reference to the utterly bizarre children's show, Thomas the Tank Engine. I think there are a few more but I don't remember at the moment....she does a LOT of babbling with words mixed in and seems to believe she's having full-on conversations with us. ;o)
  
• She has a scream that sounds remarkably similar to a dentist's drill and is about as painful
• She gives kisses...sometimes she actually puts her lips on us, sometimes they are just air kisses, but they're always accompanied by an exaggerated, "mmmmmmuh!" SO. CUTE.
• She loves babies and animals and both can expect to receive many hugs and kisses from her. Except poor Winston, the pug belonging to Craig's grandparents. She tried to touch his eyeball and pull out his tongue when we were up visiting in NJ last month.
• She is extremely inquisitive, unafraid, and stubborn. I wish she'd be a *little* afraid of things, like maybe strangers or water. When she sees a pool, she tries to jump right in, regardless of the fact that she cannot swim
• She is tough, more what I would expect from a little boy. Unless she's in a mood, she can take a pretty good spill and cries very little or not at all. She doesn't get that from me...I'm a wuss.

We are having so much fun with this little person of ours! Sometimes it makes me sad that she's not a baby anymore, but mostly it's so cool watching her grow and learn that I don't think about it too much...however, that has not gotten us any closer to a verdict on if/when we will have a second child. Sometimes when I think about it I feel really guilty, as if having another kid would somehow betray Ava. I know it's ridiculous, because she'd be thrilled with a sibling (she LOVES other kids) and we'd still love her as much as we do now, but I can't help it...I have no idea why I feel that way. I never felt betrayed or any less loved when my brothers were born....weird. Having said that, if we do have another one....I really, really want a girl! :o) I just think having same-gendered kids would be nice (and we're not having more than two kids, period)...if Ava had been a boy, I'd probably want another boy as well.

ANYHOW--in non-Ava-related news, we are settled into the new home, have just arrived back from our annual trip to Chicago, and I have one more week of trackout before beginning another school year, which I am just not ready for. Bleh. Also, I'm having some procedures done on Friday to see if the doctors can figure out my ongoing stomach problems...I'm not looking forward to it but am hoping for some answers!!

That's it for now....pictures eventually. I'm trying to find something better than Bubbleshare because it's annoying that I have to individually resize and then individually upload all of the pictures, and it can take HOURS. Any recommendations would be welcome!! I tried Picasa but could not figure out how to work it. Ugh.

We've Moved!

Our new address is:

Craig, Melissa, and Ava Haynor
125 River Watch Ln.
Youngsville, NC 27596

We still don't use a house phone, and our cell phones will stay the same....we're only 15 min or so from our old house. I will start doing regular updates and posting photos again once we're settled in, it's just been too hectic the past few months to keep up with everything! :) Ava LOVES the new house, especially running around and screaming (it makes a really annoying echo when she does it, she apparently thinks it's great) and licking the windows. Yes...licking the windows. I'm not sure why. Ahhhh.....toddlers! ;o)

I'm not being purposely neglectful...

....it's just crazy, crazy busy right now. We're moving in 13 days (was supposed to be 5 days but, oh, SURPRISE, they screwed up AGAIN and we're moving the day before my mom has to leave. Note: she's flying down to help us move, based on the closing date of the 18th that they ASSURED us was accurate. CRAPWEASELS!!!!!) So anyhow we're busy with packing, wheeling and dealing with realtors and home-buyers, working, and Ava-wrangling. She's getting her eyeteeth and has turned into Damien the devil child. She's thrown a number of tantrums to the point of not being able to breathe for reasons such as:

• not being allowed to climb on the table
• having her diaper changed
• having her teeth brushed
• not being allowed to eat inedible things that could cause her to choke (rocks, computer parts, dead leaves, garbage, etc)

A few days ago she got so mad at me while she was in the bathtub that she took revenge by SHOVING HER HEAD UNDER THE WATER. Which caused her to choke and cough and subsequently barf in the tub. I swear to you, if anyone gets on my case about the likelihood of a baby #2, I will probably punch them in the head.

It's not all tough though....on Mother's Day, she started saying "mommy" which was pretty freakin' cool. (Doesn't hurt that Ava and Daddy gave mommy a trip to the spa for a facial this Saturday!) She loves to snuggle on the couch with me, and I LOVE chasing her around just to hear her laugh. I can't believe how fast she's growing up! Not just physically--we're up to 27 lbs--but she's such an independent little girl: now, at bedtime, she doesn't usually like it when I rock her. We read, we say prayers, and more often than not when I try to rock her she squirms and reaches for her crib, just wanting to go to bed! :-( On one hand it's kind of sad, but on the other hand, we must be doing okay if we're raising a kid who is capable of (and enjoys) going to bed! Even if she's the demon-spawn while awake...... ;-)

I'll get around to pictures eventually, probably after we move, and I can include house pictures. Don't know if anyone even reads this anymore but if so, I owe you some pics. :)

Little Miss Personality

In addition to hitting all of her milestones on time and growing like a weed, Ava has developed *quite* the personality at the tender age of 15 months. She may look like her daddy, but her attitude is all mommy's...that's not necessarily a good thing! I was hoping that by some genetic miracle, maybe she would end up not being strong-willed with a bad temper and the desire to get into everything, but alas, no miracle. Here's a sampling of what I see from her:

• Randomly decides she doesn't want to get in the car seat and stiffens her body like a board and SCREAMS. The only thing that calms her down? I have to sing "Ten Little Monkeys" over and over again. I don't even have to do it correctly...she just needs to hear something that sounds vaguely like it.
• Enjoys coming into the kitchen when I'm cooking and grabbing things off of the counters, climbing on top of the stove via the handles on the oven, and crawling through my legs. I think she gets that one from the cats....she also like to attempt to move me around the kitchen by pushing on my legs and yelling.
  
• After eating a full meal and being placed on the floor to play while I finish eating MY meal (which is now cold from taking care of her), she will then run up and steal food off of my plate. Yesterday she grabbed a giant slice of roast chicken and was running around the living room with it, laughing and attempting to eat it. Note: she refused to eat the chicken I placed on her tray during dinner.
  
• She tries to climb on EVERYTHING. A few weeks ago, she pushed a giant diaper box next to the piano and tried to climb. Last night, she pushed her toy fire engine thing over to the back of the couch, climbed on top and balanced on the STEERING WHEEL while trying to climb the back of the couch.
  
• She knows that I'm "mama." She can say "mama." She refuses to do so. I'll say, "Ava, where's mama?" Or "Ava, say mama!" and she'll give me a sly look and say, "DADA!" Every now and then she'll do it but really I think she likes to torture me.
  
• She LOVES going outside now that the weather is warm. A couple of weeks ago we got home from somewhere and I took her over to some flowers we have in the front yard (light purple phlox....it's very pretty) and she was enthralled. Except now, whenever we arrive home from someplace, she expects to get to run around outside and look at the flowers. If I don't allow her to have a substantial amount of time before I carry her inside, she screams.
  
• "Out of sight, out of mind" rarely works anymore. She knows darn well when we've taken something from her and goes crazy trying to get it back.
  
• She is fascinated with spit. The other day I watched her spit repeatedly on the coffee table and then smear it all over the place. Yes, I stopped her. Yes, I Cloroxed the coffee table. ;o)
  
• For a kid who is so reckless and mischievous, she has a lot of very bizarre fears: pumpkins, balloons, the dustbuster (but she loves the vacuum), and a ball popper toy that plays music and shoots balls into the air. I think she's also afraid of the cute little jelly sandals I bought her recently, she screams if they get near her feet and swats them out of my hands. Well guess what, I lost the receipt so we'll be working on conquering her fear. ;o) The funny thing is that when noisy things scare her (like the dustbuster or ball popper), she runs TOWARDS them instead of AWAY. Hmmmmm.
  

On the other side of it, she also does some incredibly cute things:

• Yesterday she got a framed wedding photo of Craig and me off of the sofa table and sat on the floor with it, saying, "Mama, Dada! Mama, Dada!" It was really cute...and more proof that she CAN say "mama"...
  
• She says "hi" and "bye" to anyone and everyone. And anything, come to think of it. The other day she was playing with my car keys and kept hitting the "lock" button, which causes the car to beep its horn. Every time she heard the beep, she looked up and waved and said, "Hi!"
  
• She hugs her dollies, gives them bottles (she used to stick the bottle in their ears, like she was giving them ear drops...we blame her numerous ear infections for that one. Poor kid.), and carries them around. She also attempts to give them kisses, which in Ava-land means putting her mouth right up to their heads and spitting on them.
• She still loves to cuddle with us on the couch when she first wakes up in the morning. I will never get tired of this.
  
• She loves feeding us her food. Usually snacks. Sometimes already half chewed. But it's the thought that counts.... ;o)
  
• If she sees a camera, she gives a big cheesy grin. If she sees a video camera she runs up to it and starts "talking" (a few words mixed in with lots of babbles that are almost words)...she's either very vain or destined for television in one way or another! Actress? News anchor? Who knows....
• She loves closing doors. Can't stand when they're open. Sound familiar? ;o)
  

Finally, here are a few pictures from Easter. Enjoy!

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15 month stats

Height: 34.25" (off the growth chart)
Weight: 26 lbs. 1/2 oz. (90th percentile)
Head Circumference: I have no idea but it's in the 90th percentile.

She is right on target for development, the doctor said crying out at night is normal (she could just be crying out in her sleep, or trying various cries to see what will get us to come running), her tubes look great, and she's a happy and healthy little girl...we couldn't ask for more! :o)

Nobody's a Stranger

Something that's both good and bad about Ava is her ability to warm up to perfect strangers. In February when she got her tubes put in, we handed her off to the doctors and she let them carry her back to surgery without even a fuss. Sometimes she'll hide her face initially when meeting someone new; but now, more often than not she waves and says "hi" or "bye" (the two are interchangeable in Ava-land) to everyone we see. A few days ago we met up with a friend at Starbucks, and sat out front. Ava waved goodbye whenever a car pulled away, and waved hello to anyone who passed by. I have to say, it was pretty charming. Until we got up to leave and she ran up to some random man and tried to climb onto his lap. Oh, and did I mention she whacked him in the crotch in the process? I almost DIED....not to mention, it's a little scary that strangers don't worry her. Maybe a lot of little kids are like that, I don't know. I'm pretty sure I remember my little brother Billy talking to anyone and everyone. I'll just have to be very careful to talk to her about it constantly until she understands that sadly, you should not trust strangers. On the cute side of it...today we were at the doctor's office so I could get a routine physical (my first since college...and I am happy to announce I didn't flinch or get the slightest bit dizzy when they drew blood!). In the waiting room there was a very old man....he seriously had to be about 90 years old. Ava waved to him so he waved back and said hello, and then she ran right over and gave him a hug. It was SO SWEET. The man looked so happy and started telling me about his little great-grandson, who is just a little older than Ava. I know....I have to teach her about strangers and I will, and I watch over her like a crazed momma lion, but it really was adorable. :)

For those in need of pictures...

We still don't have a charger cord for the camera, so I have attempted to take pictures on my camera but they never turn out very well. :-\ However I will post a few since it's been FOREVER since I've put any up.

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Ava is doing well these days...we rescheduled her ear checkup and everything looks great! Next week is her 15 month checkup so I'll have new stats, but I'll tell you right now she's still huge. ;o) This week she's had a lot of fun identifying my belly button, and occasionally her own. Twice I even heard her say, "But-ton!" She also pokes me in the eye and says, "Eye!" We play "peek" with her (like peekaboo without the "-aboo") and now she'll cover her face, uncover it, and yell, "GEEK!" Either she means "peek" or she's expressing an opinion about her parents. ;o)

Anyhow, we're still really up in the air about whether or not Ava will ever get a sibling...if so, it won't be for awhile yet. I mention this because I've been thinking lately of things I would do different the second time around. I think these are the biggest ones I've come up with thus far:

1.) I will take an SNS kit to the hospital so that the poor baby doesn't dehydrate while my milk takes its sweet time to come in. :-\ And I will not meet with any lactation consultants in the hospital because last time, every single one gave me different information...I really wish they'd all been on the same page. I think I know enough from my first experience to figure out what to do and I'll just call someone if I have a problem.

2.) I'm sending the next kid to the nursery so I can sleep when I'm in the hospital, since I know I won't get any at home. Someone gave me that advice last time but unfortunately I only listened the second night. The nurses still bring the baby in for the feedings every three hours so why not?

3.) Two words: VIDEO MONITOR. I thought that was stupid the first time around, and a waste of money....how lazy to not just get up and check on the baby! Oh, if only I had known how much I'd regret that.... ;o) It would be SO nice to be able to peek in without disturbing the baby so that I can see if (s)he needs something or is just fussing.

4.) Breastfeeding/pumping after going back to work: been there, done that, over it. It was great while on maternity leave and I'll still feed the kid at night for a couple of months if my milk sticks around once we cut down to once a day but everything else will have to be formula. I know some people think it's child abuse to not breastfeed but frankly, I don't really care...they can stage one of those protests outside my door if they want. ;o) When Ava nursed it was like she was sitting down for a seven course meal, it usually took about 30-40 minutes (and she didn't mess around, she was EATING) and if I have a second child, I'm not going to be able to do that. (Besides, we both got spoiled once she started downing full bottles in 5-10 minutes...Ava was just as much over it as me!) Don't even get me started on pumping...I had to stick to doing it during planning periods and if I had a meeting or parent conference, it's not exactly like I could whip out the pump and take care of business in front of everyone.

5.) I'd really like to stick with baby-sitters instead of day care. What still bothers me about day care was the lack of a separate room for naps....probably other day cares have them though and it was just the one we were at.

6.) I'm starting Mylicon immediately if the kid shows even a hint of being gassy. Forget that! She was in pain and I was losing my mind from the screaming.

But like I said, it's still up in the air...sometimes I just don't know if I can go through another year of killing myself, between nine months of pregnancy followed by three months of newborn baby! We shall see. My feelings are towards a new kid are most positive when we've had a full night of sleep!

Mommy of the Year

That title is completely sarcastic. Two days ago--on Tuesday, March 24--Ava had a follow-up appointment for her tube surgery. Which I remembered last night at 9pm. I nearly had a heart attack...I even cried (yes, it was probably an overreaction and I'm way too emotional and I don't think my hormones have regulated yet)...you don't understand, I'm the person who shows up obnoxiously early to appointments, I'm never even late so missing one altogether is completely off the chart for me. I feel horrible for wasting the doctor's time, for missing out on something that's important to Ava's health, and am not thrilled about the no-show fee, either. I know, I know...it's not the end of the world and we managed to reschedule for next Monday but STILL. This is going to haunt me for a long time (if you know me, that should not surprise you). I swear, it's like I go on break and I can't keep it together...if I'd been at work, I'd have been checking my calendars daily and would not have missed it.

Anyhow, we still don't have a camera so there still are no pictures, but in Ava news there's not too much to report, except that she frequently quacks now. Yes, quacks. I figured out it's because of her Duckie blankie, ever since she started using Duckie about a year ago, we'd always say things like, "Ava, look, it's Duckie! Quack, quack, quack!" and now she'll quack when she picks him up, or if you say the word "Duckie." It's actually pretty adorable. In not-so-cute news, she launched a brutal attack on my knee last night. I have no idea why....I was sitting on the couch and she ran over and bit my kneecap. HARD. Like, hard enough that I was in tears and it hurt for about 20 minutes. And if that's not bad enough, she kept coming at me and biting my knees! I tried pushing her away, reprimanding her, I even resorted to a pop on the backside and NOTHING. She just laughed and kept attacking. It was really, really weird. Please someone tell me that their kid has done something at least remotely as bizarre as that....

We made it!

I apologize for the bad blogging the past few months: I've been trying to hang on until spring break and it's finally here!! Ava's ear tubes seem to be working as she hasn't had an infection in quite awhile (the last one was the one that required treatment with Rocephin) but she's had what seems to be a nasty cold the past couple of weeks, resulting in yet another case of not sleeping. Last night she finally slept again and I hope that's the last illness for awhile but knowing her, something that will cause us to lose sleep is lurking around the corner....maybe more teeth, etc. ;o) Anyhow we're mostly doing well! Ava is running everywhere and is trying so hard to talk: so far we have Dada, bye-bye, kitty kitty (sounds like, "key key!"), uh-oh, and when the mood strikes her, she actually says Mama! She looked right at me, smiled, and said it the other day and hasn't done it since. I am telling you she is doing it on purpose to make me crazy.

In other news, we're making steady progress on the new house: they just put up the drywall and I FINALLY settled on some paint colors, the siding is up, and closing will be early to mid May. We also finally locked in an interest rate, which was my biggest concern and can only be done 60 days out from closing. It worked out extremely well: it's about 1.5% LESS than what we'd planned for originally so our mortgage (including all insurance and taxes) will be a few hundred under budget....woohoo! It'll be nice having that cushion.

Finally, I'm sorry to say there will be no pictures at least for awhile....we lost the charge cord for the camera and can't take any or upload any until it is replaced--Craig ordered one but when it arrived it didn't work so no luck. :-\ I have a few on my phone that I'll put up in another day or two but they're not that great--a few of the house and of Ava doing her latest trick which is to climb INTO her doll carriage with the dolls. You can thank Craig for encouraging this, he thinks it's hilarious..... ;o)

Good news, bad news

Bad news first: I'm at home right now with some kind of stomach bug and by the end of this week will have used up all of my sick days for the YEAR. Lovely!!! I used to have days left over at the end of each year...in addition to being out a couple of days for Ava, I seem to have no tolerance whatsoever for stomach bugs anymore. She must've knocked something out of whack on her way out because I've had something like three bugs and one case of food poisoning since her birth. I have no idea why, but it SUCKS. I'd rather have headaches, fevers, ANYTHING.

Good news: the bug seems to have done a hit-and-run on me and already seems to be on its way out, and the reason I'm using the rest of the sick days this week is because my last one will be spent with Ava on Wednesday when she FINALLY gets tubes in her ears! Thank goodness! Naturally I'm a little nervous but I know the end result will be a happier, pain-free kid and that's worth it.

Anyhow, that's about it here I guess...we're currently at war with our realtor and the building company because our realtor is selling our house but also selling US the house that we're building so naturally the builders are more important to him and we're left with no real representation. So when we pointed out to the builders that they were in breach of contract since they'll be 2-3 months past the closing date and per THEIR CONTRACT would end up owing us upwards of $6K, we asked if they could build a fairly basic deck off the back of the house instead of paying us the money. I thought this sounded fair, but for some reason, this makes us morally bankrupt criminals....or at least that's what one would think from the scathing, unprofessional, looks-like-it-was-written-by-a-12-year-old-girl-using-textspeak email we got from the realtor. The person who was supposed to be representing our best interests. But instead has tantrums because we're not naive kids like he thought and we actually READ the contract and intend to hold them to it. So, that's an issue...but they're still working on the house so that's good. We're still hoping to negotiate something with the builder, even if they just knock a couple grand off of the price of the house, SOMETHING to show they're willing to admit they're in the wrong (that's actually what a lawyer suggested we do, since a lot of builders are hurting right now and can't cough up the money to pay someone to build a deck. That's fine, we understand.)...the whole reason we're delayed is because it took them forever to get their loan from the bank. In that time, not only did nobody bother to call us (from the builder or the realtor's office) to keep us up to speed, nobody had bothered to return our frequent calls either. Had they done that, and been forthcoming about everything, we'd probably overlook this contract thing. I still have no idea how we're supposedly in the wrong here, but whatever...we got one more pathetically unprofessional tantrum from the realtor (our responses have always been calm and professional) and he is now refusing to speak to us. Lovely! He's just pissed off because he's so arrogant, he said he'd buy our house from us if it didn't sell...he hasn't managed to sell it and now he's going to have to buy it (who cares? He's profiting because we're buying a more expensive house through him, and if he can't turn around and sell ours, he can rent it out until the market improves. He wins either way.)

ANYHOW...that's the drama. Can't wait until it's over and we're in the new place! One of these days I'll post pictures of the progress. :)

Ava's Ears

I'm going to try to keep this brief because I would really, really like to get some sleep tonight! This past week has been ridiculous with the ear infections: on Jan. 24th we made our second "emergency" trip to the doctor on a Saturday. (I say emergency because there aren't regular office hours on weekends but they run the office somewhat like an urgent care and if you call ahead and have a pressing need--like a raging ear infection--you can get in.) The doctor prescribed an antibiotic called Suprax, supposedly the strongest oral antibiotic you can take (well, at least for babies, not sure about adults) and then he referred us to the ENT even though it was only infection #5 and they wanted us to wait for #6. I think it was a combination of pity (his kid had lots of ear infections) and realizing that at the rate at which Ava was getting infections there was no sense in waiting. Long story short the Suprax did nothing so on Friday--after another rough night that included a screaming baby and a sick mommy (I ate an Arby's salad for dinner because I was home alone and didn't feel like cooking and it did not agree with me apparently) we took her back to the doctor, who told us to continue the Suprax (not sure why) and prescribed an ear drop as well. Saturday night was another horrible night, any time we layed Ava down she would thrash and scream and arch her back and kick her legs...so we got her in again Sunday morning and they went to the last resort: antibiotic injections. It's a series of three so we had our second set today (it was actually two shots, one in each leg, because the dose is so big) and they're going to see if they can get the ENT to fast-track our appointment, originally set for Tuesday, Feb. 10th. These shots are MISERABLE. They're very painful so they mix Lidocaine in with the antibiotic to make it hurt less, but Ava apparently remembered yesterday's shot because when I took her in today she screamed as soon as we layed her down. Poor baby! It does seem to be helping a lot though, so that's good. Last night she only fussed twice, when she managed to somehow contort herself into a rather uncomfortable sleeping position and couldn't figure out how to untangle while half asleep. :o)

Since I feel like I mostly post negative things, I have to say that in spite of the ear infections and subsequent fussiness, she can be so much fun! I love doing ridiculous things to make her laugh. For instance, yesterday I jsut went up to her and said, "meemeemeemeemeemeemee!" She thought this was hilarious wouldn't stop laughing. She also cracks up every time I say, "Porkchop sandwiches!" (It's from a parody of G.I. Joe that's on YouTube--yes, I love nonsensical internet humor--so if you don't get it, just don't ask.... ;o) She also says "Uh-oh!" all the time, and usually in the correct context, like when she drops Duckie or throws a sippy cup at mommy's head. (In her defense, I was on the floor picking up food she'd dropped so my head may not have been the intended target.) She's walking like a pro (okay, more like a drunk) and can toddle all over the place, carrying things. On Saturday, she was carrying around a big, empty plastic bucket that, when full, holds 38 lbs. of kitty litter. It's almost as big as her!

That is about it. Craig's parents are coming this weekend for a visit so it will be great to see them, they were sick a few weeks ago and unable to come to Ava's birthday party and we really missed them! I don't have a whole bunch of pictures to post but I'll put up two: the first one was taken by Christina (Ava's baby-sitter) and I swiped it from her blog because it's too cute! The second one was when she was playing in the kitchen (you can see the litter bucket in the picture) and the happy expression on her face is her sweet personality poking through in spite of all the pain she's been in lately. :o)

I'm not posting for any particular reason...

...I just came to my blog so I could see some Ava pictures, since I miss her cute little face when I'm here at work. :-) Just because staying home makes me crazy it doesn't mean I don't miss her! That's all. I got cute video footage of her saying "Uh-oh!" yesterday and I'd love to say I'll post it in the future but we all know that's not going to happen. Oh well. ;o)

I no longer work for a living.

At least, that's how it's starting to feel...last week we only had two days of work due to a holiday and snow days. I'm starting off this week by staying home today with Ava, who in addition to her latest ear infection, now has a fever and is throwing up. It's most likely a chain reaction: the ear infection caused the fever, and the fever made her sensitive to milk and formula, which she's thrown up twice. On a good note, the fever is down to 99.0 (I let the Motrin wear off so I could get a new temperature before giving her more drugs) and she can eat anything aside from dairy and keep it down. She might even be okay with the formula and milk now but I really don't want to test the theory! I am going completely out of my mind at home and am looking forward to business as usual tomorrow. Ava is upstairs boycotting her afternoon nap--it sounds like she's dismantling her crib. Good grief.

Happy Birthday, Craig!

Yesterday (Jan. 23rd) was Craig's 35th birthday. We had an extremely low-key celebration: Craig doesn't like to go out (too much time spent away from home, eating in restaurants, due to work) and he told me not to get him anything--so I made him dinner and bought him a pair of jeans (he was in desperate need, only has one pair and pretty much wears them six days a week) because I figure a practical gift doesn't really count. ;o) From Ava he got a book about haunted places. Anyhow, for dinner we had lemon chicken, potatoes mashed with cream cheese and then baked, sauteed spinach with garlic, and then angel food cake with almond whipped cream and raspberry sauce. We attempted to watch the season premiere of "Lost" but were thwarted by a hyper 1-year-old who didn't want to go to bed...she finally went down and then around 11pm woke up SCREAMING and would not stop. I nearly panicked but luckily we finally got her to calm down with some Motrin, ear drops, and a bottle. I didn't even give it any time, just called the doctor's urgent care line and got us yet another appointment on a Saturday. It's so pathetic....we're on a first name basis with one of the nurses now, we're in so often. :P Long story short, Ava's right ear is infected AGAIN--we weren't even off of the last antibiotic for two weeks!--so we're on a stronger one and most importantly, we finally have a referral to an ENT. I called and left a message so hopefully we can get Ava in shortly and resolve this stupid ear mess. I feel so bad for her, constantly in pain. Luckily she went down easy tonight (fell asleep while I rocked her....after only SEVEN MINUTES. She rarely falls asleep when I rock her at night, and never that quickly) and we're hoping for some good sleep, we're all exhausted from a rough night and then not being able to nap today due to the doctor appointment and then having to vacate the house for a showing (the stupid people never showed up....this trying to move thing is getting so old).

Speaking of the house....they've finally started construction! Only about four months late! We were originally supposed to close on Feb. 27 but obviously that will not happen now...we're looking at May I think. It sucks. I don't want to complain too much because we're fortunate to be able to build a nice house in a beautiful neighborhood, but yeah.

That's it for now...I'm so going to bed.

Snow Day(s)!

For the second day in a row, I'm home due to the weather. Yesterday it was nice but now it's just getting annoying, because we're pretty much trapped inside and my lesson plans are getting completely messed up! ;o) Luckily it seems as though enough of the snow and ice has melted to make driving doable, so when Ava gets up from her nap I'm packing her up and we're going to Super Target. Among other things, I completely forgot to get my dear husband a card (gifts have been purchased already) for his upcoming birthday, and I would love to get something from Starbucks. (On second thought, I think we'll just go up the road to the grocery store and to the new coffee shop that opened...why not?) ANYHOW here are some pictures taken yesterday with all of the snow--enjoy!

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Ava's first birthday party

I would have LOVED to have a huge bash for Ava's first birthday: for years before I even had kids, I had envisioned a first birthday barbecue in the backyard with tons of friends, neighbors, and family. However, Ava decided not to cooperate and was born in the dead of winter so that idea went right out the window. ;o) Due to space and money constraints, we ended up with a very small party which was just fine. A few family members and friends, some cake, and we were good to go! Ava was a little cranky at the party, probably because she's not used to so many people invading her space but for the most part seemed to enjoy herself, especially with the cake. At one point I was trying to come up with a good, somewhat healthy alternative for her and then I thought, the heck with it, you only live once. ;o)

Anyhow, here are a few pictures from the big day (and a few other random shots). I'm finally getting a chance to post them because we have a snow day today, woohoo! Naturally, the pictures from today won't be posted for awhile. :o)

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AVA CATHERINE! :o)

Dear Ava,

Exactly five minutes ago on this day last year, you finally made your appearance and nothing has ever been the same! You are without a doubt the greatest joy in our lives and we love you more than we could ever describe. It's been such a pleasure watching you grow and learn new things during your first year and even though we don't want you to grow up TOO fast, we look forward to seeing what's next. Happy birthday sweet girl!

love always,
Mommy and Dada