Birthday party, 12 month check-up and the last of the WA pictures

Well it's Tuesday and Tony and I have been down with a cold for the last couple of days. No fun. We finally just took Ava's birthday decorations down this morning. Ava loved them and tried to grab at the crepe paper when ever we walked through a doorway, but it's nice to have the house back to normal.

Her party was a lot of fun. About 20 people, including kids, came to watch her eat her first cake, or not really eat it as the case was. I made a giant sized cupcake for her (whole-wheat, low-sugar banana cake with reduced sugar cream cheese frosting, for those wondering what I decided to do about the cake). It turned out pretty cute, I think, for my first ever attempt at cake decorating and the cake itself tasted amazing if I do say so myself. Tony and I are glad she wasn't too interested in it because we've been eating on it ever since. I think Ava was a little overwhelmed by the size of it and everyone watching her. Plus, she's a very neat eater. She never throws her food, rubs it in her hair or any of that and likes to take nice, neat little bites. So plowing into a cake face first like we all hoped she would isn't really her thing. Tony stuck one of her hands in the frosting and just held her hand out to the side the whole time with a palm full of frosting like, "Great, thanks Dad. Now I've got this sticky stuff all over my hand and if I'm not careful all get it all over my dress."

But I did give her a tiny slice later that evening when the party was over and she did enjoy that. It was cut up in nice little bite sized pieces . . .

I didn't make the rest of us eat "healthy" cake. I made lemon curd filled cupcakes with strawberry butter cream. They were pretty yummy too.

After cake and present opening, the babies went swimming in Ava's little pool in the backyard. It was fun to see them splashing together. Ava LOVES her pool.

Pictures of the party are forthcoming. . .

Ava also had her one year check-up yesterday. Dr. P said everything looks great. I left my sheet with her measurements on it at the office but she was 90% in height and 75% in weight and I think she was 30 inches tall and 22 pounds and some ounces. Or something like that. He said that physically she's right where we want her to be and developmentally she's excelling. Thank you Jesus!

Her newest tricks are pointing out our nose, mouth, eyes and hair. Her favorite is the nose because she likes to grab it with her whole fist, with a few fingers up our nostrils and then pull up. Yeah, we're teaching her self-defense tactics already. . .

She is also really into carrying her baby doll around and feeding it it's bottle and pretending (I think) to put it to bed in her toy basket. At least that's what it appears to be, who can really know?

One last thing. The other day I was putting laundry from the washer into the dryer and she was standing beside me in front of the open dryer door. I put one handful in and dropped a pair of her pants and she bent down, picked them up and put them in the dryer. And then reached out her hand for some more. And so I gave her a few things and she put them in. And that game continued until all the laundry was in the dryer. It was cute to have her help me. And plus, I think it will only be a few more weeks until I can teach her to fold the laundry and then my goal in becoming a parent will be complete.

Here's a last few pictures of our trip to WA last month. Better late than never right? Next post, the birthday party pictures . . .

We went and visited my dad at his fire station. Ava was really tired but she had fun playing with Papa on his big fire truck.

Ava likes to pretend to drive. She really does.

Notice Ava crying in the background. For some reason she was terrified of the fire helmet. I suppose it is rather intimidating looking.

Aww. . . .

Seconds before she started crying . . .

My brother Tom and sister-in-law Liz's daughter Bonnie helping Grandma Margie with the Easter baking. She loves helping Grandma!

Please take a close look at Ava's face. Eli, the younger cousin and not so steady on his bum yet, had fallen on her a few times already and she had just about had enough.

Yay! Eli is sitting upright!

And going down again. . .and again, both Ava and cousin Bonnie are not to happy about it and certainly not going to help the poor guy out.

Eli can't take the abuse from his mean girl cousins any longer.

Good thing his Mama was there to comfort him!

Ava and my brother Jed. I love this picture of them.

Happy Birthday Ava!!!

In about an hour Ava officially turns one year old (10:59am). She's napping so the momentous occasion is likely to pass unnoticed.

Last night I was putting her to bed and feeling a little sad and nostalgic that "this was the last night she'd be a baby and tomorrow she'd officially be a toddler." I was sitting in my chair with her in her room and usually she won't sit there with me at bed time, but wants to be put in her crib right away so she can go to sleep. But she was feeling unusually affectionate and was playing on my lap, grabbing my nose and saying "nose, nose, nose", laughing and making silly face and I was just thanking God for giving me this special time with her. Then she started holding onto both my hands and leaning back as far as she could (she was sitting facing me) and then throwing herself face first into my chest and hugging me, then laughing and doing it all over again. She repeated this about 10 times and then all of a sudden while she was sitting up, she threw up out her nose and mouth all over both of us. It startled her and me and she started crying. I think she was a little too full from dinner for all that leaning and falling onto her tummy. So much for special moments. . .

Here's a few pictures of her when she was tiny in honor of her first year.

She sure slept a lot more then . . .

Nose

Yesterday Ava learned how to point to her nose and ours. She even tries to say nose, but is comes out "no". Last night we went to prayer meeting and we ran into the Schwartz's in the parking lot. Benjamin and Josiah came up to Ava and she was giggling at them. I said, "Ava, where's his nose?" And she leaned down and touched Benjamin's nose with her finger and then did the same thing to Josiah. So cute. After that there was no more nose pointing out, not even this morning. She likes to hold back on her talents so that we don't take them for granted.

It's hard to believe she'll be one tomorrow. This time last year I was in labor and Tony stayed home from work to be with me. That seems so long ago and yet it seems impossible that we've been parents for a whole year! She is becoming a little girl though and not a baby. Last weekend I turned around to find her trying to give her baby doll a drink from her sippy cup (actually sticking the spout in it's mouth), rocking it and kissing it. We never showed her how to do any of these things. I guess it just comes naturally for little girls.

Here's some pictures from Tony's families visit a few weekends ago. Some of them were posted before, but Tony did them quickly and didn't like the way they turned out. So here's the new and improved. I love the ones of the cousins in their Redskins gear.

Tony's sister Danielle, her daughter Morgan and son Adam and of course Ava.

Tony and his Dad

Austin

As we mentioned previously, a few weekends back we took a overnight trip to Austin with Ava. Here are the pictures Tony took while we were there. I think they are some of my all time favorites of his pictures and of Ava. They make me feel like I'm in a warm sunny place eating ice cream, instead of at my desk at home listening to the rain pour down like I actually am . . .

Ava looking out the window in our hotel room at the swimming pool below. Got to love those legs.

Just waiting to go swimming. . .

And swimming. She sure loves the water!

We went to Barton Springs to walk around and play in the water. We thought Ava wouldn't like playing in the spring water because it was cold. Wrong. She loved it, especially picking up the pebbles and stacking them on a bigger rock in front of it. I think she could have happily sat there for hours.

We started out just dipping her toes in, but that wasn't enough for her.

She wanted to walk in it.

Then sit in it. Notice her stack of rocks. She's brilliant.

Mom trying to keep her from eating any rocks.

She sure loves her Dad.

We also visited the Botanical Gardens. There wasn't a whole lot blooming at the time, but it was still nice. And free.

Our little butterfly.

Ava tasting her first ice cream. She wasn't sure what to think at first, but once the cold wore off, she wanted more!

Playing on the swings at the park.

Beautiful. This one makes me get a lump in my throat.

Giggles.

And these are just a couple shots of her the other day, playing under the desk. One of her favorite spots.