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

Psycho Baby

Babies can be unpredictable, but with Ava, there are a few things you can count on:

1.) If you take something away from her that she should not have (a lamp, power cords, cat food) she screams like she's just been set on fire.
2.) She LOVES to eat her veggies, especially the green ones. A handful of peas or green beans and she's a happy camper.
3.) If you hide behind something and then peek out at her and say, "Rarrrr!" she will giggle uncontrollably and crawl toward you at top speed, only stopping when she bashes her skull into yours. (Assuming you are crouched down.)
4.) If you give her Duckie, she'll immediately stop whatever she's doing and cuddle him while sucking her fingers.
5.) She may be a loud sleeper (crying out, whimpering, moving around, etc.) but other than when she's congested or has an ear infection, she takes two naps per day at least an hour each nap, and sleeps for roughly 10 1/2-11 hours a night.

Well. #5 was completely blown out of the water yesterday when Ava launched a full-on sleep boycott. It started off fine: she took a good nap in the morning, we went to the mall, and at 2:00 I put her down for her P.M. nap. She would not go. I went back into her room after 15 minutes to check for poop or a lost Duckie (the only two things that prevent her from going right to sleep are a dirty diaper or losing Duckie over the side of the crib), she had a clean diaper and she had Duckie. For nearly two hours we let her fuss and talk to herself until fianlly it was pointless and we brought her downstairs. Predictably, she got tired around dinner time and dozed off for about 15 minutes, so I woke her up, fed her, bathed her, and had her down at 6:30. I figured she'd go down easy because during the entire getting-ready-for-bed process, she was fussy; rubbing her eyes and sucking her fingers.

She would not go down. We checked for Duckie, checked her diaper, repeatedly. We tried rocking her. We tried cuddling. We tried letting her cry. At one point she started screaming and crying so hard she threw up all over the crib. So, we cleaned her up, brought her downstairs, and let her play. I don't want her to think she can "win" like that--I'm a firm believer in not letting the kid run the show--but what can you do when the kid cries so much they throw up? And we only left her for 5-10 minutes, it's not like I'm some evil, coldhearted jerk who let her kid scream for five hours or something. Anyhow, as soon as she rubbed her eyes I gave her a bottle and some cuddle time on the couch, and at 10:15--TEN FIFTEEN!!!!!!--she finally went down. Did some screaming in her sleep about an hour later (no idea what that was about so I just rubbed her back for a few minutes until it stopped). Craig was certain she'd sleep in this morning (I highly doubted she would) but sure enough, she was up at 5:45. I'm actually grateful because it means we have a chance of getting back on schedule: she took a normal--but short--morning nap, and has been down for nearly an hour this afternoon.

I almost went completely crazy--Craig kept telling me that if I was tired just to go to bed and he'd handle it, but that wasn't it, I was freaking out because of HER lack of sleep. I was sure she'd never go down and just die of exhaustion or something. I know, totally irrational, but that's exactly how it felt. I seriously hope we have a better night tonight! Oh, and that she doesn't pull that business when I'm back at work. That would NOT be cool.