Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I know it's a little late, but I was back home with no computer for all of Thanksgiving week! It was great! I took a few days off from work and was able to be on vacation for the whole week! Patrick and I took a quick trip to NYC sans baby for a little alone time (which was so great! We ate good food and shopped)! Ava stayed with Bobbi and Grandpa Mike and had so much fun! They went to ride the carousel at the mall, went on lots of walks, and went to the park! Any grandkid would be lucky to spend the weekend with Bobbi, Grandpa Mike, and Aunt Sarah! Patrick and I came back on Monday and got to hang out with family and friends the whole week! It was great! We took Ava to the Georgia Aquarium for the first time ever! It was a family affair- Keegan, Emery, Uncle Ian, Aunt Booj, and Michee went too! Ava was pretty interested in most of the fish. Some of the stuff there is pretty awesome! It was a lot of fun! Michee took pictures, but I don't have any yet. I'll post some when I get them!

My camera is still out of commission, but I was able to use Michee's camera while I was home! So here are just a few pics! ;)
What a sweet smile that is. Doesn't it just make YOU smile?!

Ava always loves her time with her Aunt Sarah!
Hangin' out with Pop!
Ava had rosy cheeks so much this past week. Sometimes I think it was the cold air hitting her face, but others....maybe she had some wine in her sippy cup?!?
Ava and Uncle Ian!
Ava is just growing so fast and looking older and older every second. I saw this picture and wondered where my little baby went?! Where has the time gone????

Ava and Keegan hanging out! Look at their feet crossed!!
Bobbi got Ava a little baby stroller to push around. She LOVES it. She also likes to sit in it too...she barely fits! When she sits there, we tell her to "hold on," and this is what she does! She holds on to her OWN hands! How cute!! Here are some more pics of Ava's Thanksgiving!! Enjoy!

I love popsicles!!!

15 months!

I feel like it's been forever since I've posted about Ava! Although, I do have to admit that this new I-only-post-once-a-month thing is great. I almost forgot how time consuming it is!! But, I'm glad to update you now! So, can you freaking believe she's already 15 months old!! WOW! She's becoming sweeter and sweeter in her old age. Well, actually, I don't know if you can get sweeter than a newborn, but you know what I mean. She's still so lovey with me...and she still favors me over everyone else. I know this wont last forever, but I sure am enjoying it now! Everyday when I come home from work, she runs (I mean, really runs!) to me saying "mama, mama." Then I'm greeted with a great, big hug! Many times, Patrick and Ava are standing in the front yard when I pull up, then Patrick lets her run up the driveway to me. :) I just really love it. This next picture really captures how lovey she is right now. She's constantly putting her head on my shoulder and giving me hugs....I don't even have to ask! Awwe...look at her!
Ava is doing just great! I don't know exactly how many words she is saying now (I guess I need to try and count), but there are many! Some things are pretty clear, while others are very hard to understand unless you hear them a lot and pay attention to what she's doing...then you can figure it out. Some of the pretty clear ones are: ball, up, bye-bye, hi, mama, dada, nana (banana), eye, nose, and hot. The not so clear (but Patrick and I understand) are: all done, open, Sa (Salsa), and help. There are others, but I can't remember them! ( I really should write them down)! She really likes to stack things...blocks, cups, etc. She loves to open all the cabinets and take stuff out and sort them into piles. She also likes to step in and out of our shower (stand up shower) and move the shampoo bottle in and out. She's got a thing with the drain too...she likes to stand on it! :) She still loves reading her books. She spends a LOT of time at the park...mostly on the swing, but also walking around. April (babysitter) takes her everyday at least once, and sometimes Patrick or I will take her again. She's got some friends that she sees on a regular basis there! She had her 15 month check up the other day. She got 3 shots. :( I didn't go because I had to work, but Patrick was there and said it was really sad. Up until the shots, though, he said she was perfectly happy and walked around the room touching everything (eww!) the whole time. She did great, though, and was perfect the rest of the day! No fussiness! She weighed 19 lbs 10oz and was 3o inces long. 10% for weight and 75% for height! Wow! I wonder where she got that from! Doc said everything looks great! She's been eating a little better lately, and we've re-introduced milk into her diet. She'll drink some of it...not a lot, but we're working on it! So, anyway, she's healthy and wonderful! Can't ask for more than that! We're very lucky!

Here's a series of pictures that I really love. Her skin is seriously porcelain!

That smile is infectious! I see this and I can just hear her laughing!

Ava had two very important visitors this month! Michee came one weekend and Bobbi came another!! They had so much fun! I wish Ava could see them more often, but it's nice that they come down pretty regularly. Just 7.5 more months left...then we'll be home...with all the grandparents!! I wasn't able to get any pictures with Bobbi :( but I got a few with Ava and Michee. Here's one of them being silly!Patrick, Ava, and I went to visit our friends in Tampa for a quick overnight trip to watch the Georgia/Tennessee game. We were able to make it to Tampa bay for a few mins to let Ava check out the beach! She loved it!
She likes pinecones. Even though she moves her fingers around and I can tell it kinda hurts her hand. She doesn't drop it...just keeps carrying it!
"Wanna see my hands? Here they are!"
So, my camera has been giving me some problems...so, I've sent it off to have it looked at. I have no idea how long I'll be without my camera...it's been almost a week now. I don't usually miss it so much during the week...but it'll be hard not to have it during the weekend! So, I'm not sure how many pictures I'll get this month, but if it's an emergency picture, then I'll use my little dinky one. But it doesn't take that great of pictures, so I don't really like using it too much. I think camera places usually are pretty slow...so, I'll keep you updated!

Click here for more pics of Ava's 15th month!

BraceFace

So, yeah. I got braces. Again. Many of you already know, but I wanted to warn you before I just started posting pictures with these hideous metal things on my teeth. I look like I'm 12 years old, and it really changes the way I look. I'm trying not to be too bothered by that, though. You probably think I'm crazy, but I decided to do it again because I've had some of my teeth shift because I didn't wear my retainer, so I'm fixing them once and for all! I've had them for a little over a month. My orthodontist said he thinks I'll have them for 9-12 months!! I'm REALLY hoping for and pushing for 9 months! Blunted roots, here I come! (A little dental humor). Hopefully, I'll have them taken off right at the end of my residency before I start private practice! Keep your fingers crossed! So, that's that! Here's a shot of Ava and me. The first time she saw my braces, she stared and touched them for a few minutes...then she was over it. :)

Stacking blocks with Daddy

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

So, Ava's first Halloween (that she actually participated in) was really fun...but before that...of course, it was chaos. :) Ava's babysitter (April) came to see her all dressed up, and right when she got here, Salsa escaped out the door and down the street, Patrick went running after her, Catcher was trying to run after Patrick, April's boyfriend (who we just met 30 seconds earlier) was given the job of holding Catcher by the collar so he didn't run after Patrick, I was trying to dress Ava (who was pretending to be a slippery noodle), Patrick had returned to get his bike to continue looking for Salsa- asking everyone if they'd seen a crazy golden retriever running around, April finally came back with Salsa (although, Patrick didn't know this and still looked for another 10 minutes), then I gave April the job of videotaping the chaos so I could get Ava in her costume (which she was trying to rip off), trick-or-treaters were ringing the door bell, which made the dogs bark, Catcher was still looking out the window for Patrick to come back, I finally got Ava in her costume (minus the hat- she ripped it off so fast I couldn't even take a split second picture!) and was trying to take pictures of her in the front yard, but she just wanted to moan and get out of her costume. Ugh. (If you click on the next picture and look at Ava, you'll get an idea of what these first few moments were like)!

BUT, we finally decided to put her in her red car and started walking around. Well, she was MESMERIZED by everything!

Patrick snuck the hat on while we were pushing her around, and she just left it there! For the rest of the night!! She had a little Elmo basket for her candy that she held the whole time....dragging him on the street out the side of the car. Poor Elmo got a little street burned.

This is Ava trying to eat her very first piece of candy...it still had the wrapper on, and she didn't quite get it, but she sure was getting excited about the whole thing!

At the end of the night, about about 30 mins of trick-or-treating to about 5 or 6 houses, we got back to out house. She got out of the car and actually walked up to the door, holding onto her Elmo basket. SOOOO FREAKIN' CUTE!!!

She's really concentrating here! Check out those TIGHTS!!!

The very last house...Ava knocking on the door. I mean, COME ON!!! It DOES NOT get cuter than this!!! We had such a fun time....after the way it started, I just figured we'd go to one house and be done with it, but she could have done it for another 30 minutes!! We had a blast! Next year will be so fun at home with everyone!!!

Here are more pictures of Ava at Halloween!!