What's New in the Neighborhood

Well it's been awhile since I've posted anything and so here's a quick update from me!

2009 has been pretty busy so far. After returning from our Christmas trip/adventure to Florida Tony and I spent 7 days in bed sick with the most horrendous cold. Ava didn't get sick though, which was great since we could barely keep up with blowing our own noses let alone hers.

Tony recovered in time to join a group of guys from GFA in a "Cool Guys Camping Trip" ("cool" referring to the temperature outside - obviously ;o) ). And then the following weekend he went to Florida for a conference for GFA. While he was gone Ava and I started the tradition of having a girls slumber party the first night that dad is gone. It's quite the production since I'm a little bit of a paranoid parent to begin with. It starts by taking off our duvet and laying it on the floor at the foot of the bed and then putting a couple of thin blankets on the bed (so she can't smother). Next I surround the two sides of the bed with pillows and tuck blankets into the bed frame for padding in case she rolls off the bed. Then I lay additional pillows along the sides of the mattress so that she can't roll off the bed to begin with. Then we read stories and play in bed until she's sleepy. Then she falls asleep and I try to sleep too, but I wake up about every 30 minutes to check on her or because I heard a noise or she moved or . . . But it's lots of fun just the same. Ava thinks it's a blast getting to play with mommy until she falls asleep and I never sleep well the first night Tony's gone anyway-so we might as well have fun with that. One of my favorite childhood memories is getting to sleep with my mom when my dad worked swing shift.

At the end of January Ava and I went on our first solo adventure to Washington to see my grandma who had broken her hip and was not doing well. I was very nervous about flying with her by myself. She wants to explore everything now and trying to keep her on my lap for the flights seemed like a pretty daunting task. But the Lord was very gracious to us and she had her own seat on both flights. It was still a challenge keeping her entertained but she was very good and each flight ended with the people around us saying what a good and quiet baby she was. Whew! (Thanks Dad and Mom for making it possible for us fly up!)

We had a really good time in Washington too, even though we both missed Tony a lot. It was really nice to see everyone and to spend some time with my Grandma Dottie. Ava had a top tooth come through while we were there and did a lot of practice crawling with Papa Jim and Grannie Margie. Thanks to their hard work I had to clear off all the bottom book shelves and childproof the cupboards when we got home. She also learned to wave "Bye-bye" and even said it a couple of times while we were there. She can now say, "mama" "dada" "clap" and "bye-bye". Ava was SO excited to see Tony when we got home. She chattered nonstop for a couple hours after we got home even though it was late and she was exhausted. And for a good couple of weeks after we got home she'd go ballistic every time he'd walk in the room. She sure is a daddy's girl!

February is full of special ocations for us with Tony's Birthday, Valentines Day and our Anniversary. . .and then my birthday on March 11th. Our friend Rachael stayed with Ava on Saturday night so we could go out together and then on Monday night our friends Matt and Amy offered to host a surprise birthday party for Tony. Under the guise that we were going over there to watch a movie and eat some dessert. Tony was very surprised, especially since he got doused with several cans of silly string when he walked into the living room. Amy made two amazing ice cream cakes (Tony's favorite) too. Good times. For Valentines Day a couple of the interns at GFA volunteered to watch Ava so we could go out. We used the Olive Garden gift card Tony got for his birthday and went to dinner and then just hung out at Barnes and Noble for a couple hours talking and looking through magazines. It was a really nice time. We get so used to always having Ava with us that we forget what it was like before she was here. We love her but it sure is nice to have some time alone too! When we got home the girls had also made us yummy chocolate chip cookies while we were gone. Talk about amazing babysitters!

Our three year anniversary is coming up this next week. We're going to celebrate by going to a one day marriage seminar in Ft Worth. Ava is coming with us, so we're not sure how much we'll be able to participate in, but we're still looking forward to learning what we can and just spending the day together as a family.

Many of you have been praying for Ava's eye and we really appreciate it. Her left eye lid has been drooping, especially when she's tired, since the beginning of January. I called her pediatrician when I first noticed it, but I think the message to the nurse got a little mixed up. She called me back and very sweetly said, "So they told me that when Ava gets sleepy her eyelids start to droop?" I tried to explain that it was just one eyelid and it wasn't just because she was starting to fall asleep, but I think the damage was already done and I'd been put on the list of crazy moms. . . I continued to watch her and it seemed her eyelid was drooping more and more often and also that eye sometimes drifted inwards. We took her to the pediatrician and he agreed that her eyelid did droop and her eye crossed a bit and advised us to go see a pediatric opthamologist as soon as possible and that she might need to have an MRI. This caused some worried tears on my part (which I'm sure were just the first of many as she grows up)! We took her in the next week. The opthamologist seemed to think that nothing was wrong at all, no droop or crossed eye and gave us a bit of the crazy parent treatment too. But he told us to have her rechecked again in a few months-and we will, just not by him. So thanks for praying. I'm sure if anything serious was wrong with her eye the opthamologist would have picked up on it even if he doesn't have the greatest manners. We would appreciate your continued prayers that the muscles in her left eye would continue to strengthen and that it would be perfectly normal when we get it checked again.

So that's a quick recap of the last month or so. Ava continues to grow and explore and delight us with her funny faces and endless chatter. Her favorite new tricks are clicking her tongue on the top of her mouth, making snorting sounds through her nose and raising both hands in the air when we say "Praise Jesus!". And of course perfecting her crawling/scooting skills and putting anything she can find in her mouth . . .