Happy 3rd Birthday Ava!!

So, Ava turned THREE today! Isn't that kinda crazy how fast she's grown!?!? I think so. Lately, she is seeming SO grown up. Kinda cool, but a little sad that time has to go so fast. :) It's actually been more like a birthday week. We celebrated her birthday with a popsicle pool party with our extended family at my parents house this past weekend. She had a BLAST!! She always does when she gets to swim with her cousins, aunts, uncles, and daddy! She swam and swam and swam for the entire afternoon and had SO much fun!

She had a cupcake tower for her birthday cake. She asked for sprinkles and M&M's (because Keegan had M&M's on his cake a week earlier! And she LOVES her some Keegan)!

Some cute little party favors....

Here she is while we're singing her "Happy Birthday"- look at her sweet face. And her cousin, Keegan, is being such a sweet boy too!!

A birthday family picture. (Of course, Bella wasn't able to be there, but we thought about her a lot).

A sweet one of Ava and Patrick. I love her face here. After this picture, she proceeded to put that pink princess birthday hat on his head!!

Had to show off her super cute birthday dress I got at Baby Gap for next-to-nothing. It was like the best sale ever! :)

At first, she wouldn't dream of jumping off the diving board like this. But after seeing Keegan fearlessly jump 500 times, she got the courage. Then she couldn't stop!
And jumping to Aunt Sarah!

This is her opening on of her most favorite presents- a Dora microphone that plays all sorts of songs and also lets you karaoke into it. It's very loud...and there's no way to turn it down! (Thanks Grandpa Mike and Bobbi)! ;) It was one of the very first gifts she opened- after that she just wanted to play with it. It was all we could do to make her open the rest of her presents. (Which, by the way, everyone did such a great job getting her things that she loves!! Lots of activities, some great books, games, dress up clothes...all sorts of good stuff)!
She didn't want to let go of her microphone. She didn't want anyone else to hold it for her while she finished looking at her presents....look at her holding it in one hand while opening her present with the other! That's talent. :)Giving us a little show! :)
Eating a popsicle (a red one, of course, to match "her pretty red hair")!

Today, on her actual birthday, she decided she wanted to go on a boat ride and "swim in the middle of the lake." Well, we told her why it's not really a good idea to swim in the middle of the lake, but she was perfectly happy beaching the boat and playing in the water there! We went to the local marina, and she got to pick out some treats...anything she wanted from the whole place. She picked a bag of pretzels and a Tootsie Pop! I love this girl. She's so much fun. :)
Enjoying her birthday treat!

Later- Pop, Michee, and Bobbi (Grandpa Mike was out of town for work) came over for dinner and birthday cake. We were singing here, and she was just SO excited to blow out the candles!! Of course, as soon as the candles were blown out, her finger went right into the icing!

So, Ava has had a BLAST this birthday week. I can't believe she's three! For the past 6 months, she's been talking about how she's gonna stop sucking her "taggie" when she turns three. (She has a blanket that has a tag that she sucks and nap and bedtime. It's totally gross after about 2.5 years of kid slobber on it)! Anyway, once she realized she was almost 3, she said, "I switched my mind. I'm not gonna stop sucking my taggie when I'm three. I'm gonna stop sucking my taggie when I'm 10 or 20 years old." No joke! Totally came out of this 3 year old's mouth! Hahaha! Made me laugh. :) It's been a fun, but busy week.

The day Ava turned 3 years old is the same day that Bella turned 3 weeks old. We're sad that Bella had to miss all the fun, but we will have another celebration when Bella comes home! I cannot WAIT for that!! She's doing great- eating much better. She's finished a few of her feedings completely by mouth, which is so awesome. And she's doing great with nursing! And that makes me so happy. I know it'll be a long road to transition her to exclusive nursing, but I'm gonna work very hard to make that happen. Hopefully, Bella is up for it! Her doctor things she'll be able to come home this coming week....so, I'll keep you posted! Meanwhile, here are a few pictures:I just think she's so beautiful. But I'm a little biased. :)

Uncle Steve came for a visit and got to hold her for the first time! For those of you still reading, thank you! It takes a great effort to do these blog posts, and I love hearing that people are still reading! Leave a comment when you come by, I LOVE reading them!