#29...The Birthday That Lasts Forever!

Last week, I turned 29!  How is that possible?!:)  Everyone always says that they are celebrating the __ anniversary of their 29th birthday so I figured I better make it one to remember!  Ha!  My awesome husband did a great job of making it a fun day.  He even took the day off of work!  He knows that I just love to spend time with my people.  The night before my birthday he surprised me with my very favorite cake...from the hospital!!  Parkview gives these little cakes to moms after they have babies and they are SOOOOOOO good!  He managed to buy me one and brought it home for my birthday!  Yum!!!

The weather was just perfection on my birthday so we decided to go to the zoo!  We stopped to see the monkeys jumping around first!

We thought that we might let Alexis ride a pony for the first time, but she wasn't really into it.  She liked the ponies until she realized that Daddy was going to put her on one!  Maybe another time.

She rode the carousel with Daddy instead!  She loves to ride on a carousel.

Mama and Avey hung out while they were riding!

Daddy and Lex checked out the tree house!

Alexis played around in Little Poof, too.

We got to the sea lion area just in time for the show.  It was crowded at first, but people started to clear out and we got a good spot by the glass!

Me and my babies!:)

Bry got me zero-gravity chairs for my birthday!  I LOVE them!  I have been saying for a long time that I wished that I had something more comfortable to sit in while I am reading outside.  They are awesome!  In fact, I am blogging from one right now.:)

After our fun day with the girls, Bry had arranged for his parents to keep them for the evening so we could go on a date!  We went to Tucano's again and it was yummy!  I love spending time alone with my man.

We ended the day with a trip to DeBrand's!  It was a really awesome day filled with time with my family.  I couldn't ask for anything more!

Ava: 6 Months Old!

Miss Ava Lynn is now 6 months old!  She is already halfway to one year...I can't believe it! 

I had to include this picture because it really shows what she looks like a lot of the time right now...with her tongue sticking out!:)

Ava, here's what you are up to this month:

• Your 6 month well-check is scheduled for next week so I will update then with your stats!  *Updated: We had your 6 month check on June 5th.  You weighed 16 lbs. 7 ozs., which was 50-75th percentile.  You were 26.5 inches long, which was 75th percentile.  Your head circumference was 43 cm!  You are a healthy, growing girl!:)
• You are mostly wearing 6 month clothes, with some 3-6 month and some 9 month stuff mixed in!  Summer clothes are so forgiving on size so we can get away with wearing some stuff a little smallish or a little biggish.  This works well for hand-me-downs from Lex! 
• You wear size 1 shoes still.  I sort of think your feet are a little on the small side?
• You are wearing size 3 diapers.
• You nurse every 3 hours during the day and go 11-12 hours at night.  If you take a bottle of breastmilk, you drink 4 ounces at a time.  You drink a bottle every night at bedtime.
• You sleep from 8pm until 7 or 8am.  You have been waking up around 6:30am for the past few weeks and you end up going back to sleep!  You are learning that the day doesn't start until at least 7am around here.:)  If we are at home, you usually nap in your bouncy seat for 15-20 minutes around 9am.  Then, you take a nap in your bed around 10am for 1.5-2 hours.  You take another nap in your bed around 2 or 3pm for 2-3 hours.  And you usually snooze in your bouncy seat for another short nap around 7pm!  You like your sleep!  You must take after your mama.:)  You are very good at going with the flow if we are out and about.
• A big milestone last month was that you tried solids for the first time!  You started with green beans and loved them!  You've also tried carrots, sweet potatoes, and bananas and you've gobbled up everything!
• You are verrrrry close to being a sitter!  You have gotten to the point where I will let you sit on your own with a pillow behind you.  You can do that for 5-10 minutes sometimes!  If you are tired or particularly excited, you get wobbly and topple over pretty easily.  I would expect that you'll be sitting 100% in the next few weeks!
• You still don't roll over much at all.  I think that you are perfectly capable, you just don't mind staying in one spot!  I don't mind it either!:)
• You L-O-V-E your sister.  You think she is so funny and you love when she bounces up and down in front of you.  She's happy to oblige!:)  You seem to miss her when she's not around.  She isn't always the most gentle with you, but she loves you so much right back.  Just this morning she was "reading" her new animal picture book to you...it just melts my heart to watch you two together!
• You have finally started to like your exersaucer!  You still like your bouncy seat for quick naps in the morning and evening.  You will sit in the swing very occasionally.  You still like to play with your activity mat, mostly when you are sitting.  You love to play with any toys that you can put in your mouth or shake around! 
• You are such a happy, happy girl.  Fussiness is rare for you and can usually be attributed to hunger, tiredness, or a dirty diaper!  You smile so easily and your laugh is the most beautiful sound! 
• We still call you Ave, Avey, and Sissy a lot!  You probably don't even know that your name is actually Ava.:)  Daddy likes to call you his sweet tart.  Grandpa gave you a new nickname last week...Frenchie!  He calls you that because that tongue is always present when you give kisses!  Ha!  He also gave Lex the nickname "Taz" like the Tazmanian Devil...as they say, if the shoe fits!:)

Avey-wavey,

You are a precious gift from God.  Life is better just because you're in it!  Half of your first year is over and we have the second half to go.  You are getting so fun right now and I can't wait to watch how you change between now and your birthday.  Your daddy and I love you more than you will ever know...until you have your own sweet baby someday!

Lex's First ER Visit

Alexis had her first trip to the emergency room!  Honestly, I am thankful that we have made it this long without a visit to the ER with our wild child!  Ha!  On the Tuesday night before we were to leave for vacation on Friday, Alexis was coughing in her sleep when Bryan and I were getting ready to go to bed.  It was about 11pm and she has been having a dry cough for weeks and weeks at night so this wasn't anything unusual.  Bry decided to take her a drink of water before we went to sleep and he ended up bringing her back down with him.  Her breathing was very raspy and she was having a hard time getting a breath.  We both kind of thought she was having an allergic reaction to something because she had no other symptoms that indicated a respiratory issue.  We tried to comfort her and decided to give her Benadryl.  We let a few minutes go by and I asked Bry if we should take her to the ER and he said we should!  We were afraid that her breathing was going to get worse and we didn't want it to happen at home!  We quickly decided to leave Ava at home and called Tabby to come over and stay with her until my mom could get here.  Bless her heart, Tabby popped right out of bed and was here in no time!  I called my mom on the way to the hospital and she quickly made her way over to our house to stay with Ave.  Bry proceeded to drive 85mph (no joke!) down Broadway towards the hospital.  Alexis was still breathing badly and was somewhat upset. 

When we got to the hospital, they got us in a room very quickly and got her changed into a hospital gown.  The ER doctor came in and diagnosed her with croup within about 30 seconds!  She said that it is common for it to come on out of nowhere.  They gave her a breathing treatment and a steroid shot and asked us to stay to be monitored for 4 hours afterwards.  This was fun in the middle of the night.:)  They said that on the off chance that the distressed breathing returned that it would be worse than the first time.  We didn't want to risk being home if that happened so we were happy to stay!

Alexis did really well, all things considered!  Actually, it was significantly better than her 2 year well-check with Dr. Landrigan!  She was somewhat dazed and confused since she was sound asleep before all of this started, but she maintained her spunk the whole time.

She looked pretty stinking cute in her hospital gown, too.:)

Bryan had to work early the next morning, but didn't want to go home since he was going to have to come back and get us around 4am.  I sent him to the car to try to get some sleep and tried to get Lex to settle down in the hospital bed.  She never sleeps with us and assumes that it's party time if she's in bed with Mama and Daddy!  After a while, she finally calmed enough to snuggle up with me and go to sleep.  We got a short amount of sleep before they discharged us.

She never had another problem after we got home!  You would have never known that she was in serious distress during the night.  We were thankful that it was a short-lived issue, that there were no police officers present on our drive to the hospital, and that our family is so quick to help us out! 

Some Firsts!

Daddy was off work today...yippee!!!  We love when we have Daddy home on a weekday.  It just seems like we don't have to compete with tons of other things for our family time.  Ava has been showing a ton of interest in our food when we eat and she is nearing the half-year mark so we decided to give solid foods a go! 

She was so happy and didn't even know why!:)  She loved sitting in the highchair like a big girl!

We decided to start with green beans!

She made a little bit of a face at first...

...and quickly decided that she was a fan!  You would have thought she's been eating from a spoon her whole life. 

She was just so happy with herself and those yummy green beans.

This bite must have given her a little bit of a reason to pause!  Ha!!!

Not 100% sure here, but still trucking away! 

Mama did most of the feeding!

Daddy helped, too!  She did so well.  She gobbled up almost all of every bite with very little tongue thrusting.  I think she'll be looking forward to her next meal!:)   A funny side note...Alexis was eating her lunch at the same time.  She kept squealing and asking for bites of Ave's food so I offered her some.  She eagerly ate it (keep in mind that she NEVER eats veggies...ever) and proceeded to gag hard!  Twice!  Ha!  She didn't ask for anymore after that.:)

Our other first for the day was that the girls took a bath together for the first time!  Ava actually loved it which was a nice change from the usual and Alexis seemed happy, too.  This may be the new arrangement around here!  It will be a lot easier when Ava can sit up on her own, though.:)

Mother's Day 2014

We had the most wonderful day for Mother's Day!  The weather was warm and sunny...just perfect! 

It was my first Mother's Day as a mama of two sweet girls!  The only thing fuller than my arms is my heart!:)  I am so, SO thankful that God has allowed me the privilege of being mama to these precious babies.  They are my world! 

I wouldn't be half the mama that I am without their awesome daddy.  He makes it possible for me to stay home with them every day and I will always be grateful to him for that gift!

Me with my sister, grandma, aunt, and mom!  I have no idea where I'd be without these women.  Each of them has played a huge role in making me the woman and mom that I am today!

My little family spoiled me with some fun coupons for Mother's Day!  I told Bry that I didn't want him to spend much money on me so he got creative!  I got coupons for a visit to the nursery for flowers, a foot rub, a back rub, a laundry by daddy day, a dinner by daddy day, a shopping-by-myself day, and a dust job by daddy (that's how I know he REALLY loves me...he hates dusting:).  I sure love my people!!!

Walk for Water

Our family had the privilege of being involved in the Htown Walk for Water on Saturday!  My uncle Ned started an organization called Jubilee Village Project.  This organization has been working in the village of Kager, Kenya in Africa for several years.  They have many initiatives that they are working on including a project to bring safe, accessible water to the villagers.  My awesome sister and her family went and participated in the Indy Walk for Water last year and she felt God calling her to organize one in Huntington! 

Our little family and Linda walked together as a team!  We carried a 5 gallon bucket from Hier's Park to the Little River, had it filled (halfway), and carried it back to the park on our heads, like the Kenyans.  All participants raised money that will be used to continue installing the wells and purification system in the village of Kager. 

Little miss Ava got in on the fun, too!  She slept for most of the walk.:)

Alicia, Jana, Kate, Ty, and some friends walked together!

Shane, Shannon, Teresa, Lane, Mia, Peyton, Zaya, and Lily all walked together!  Mom and Dad walked, too, but I didn't get a photo of them!

My hubs was the rock star of our group!  He carried the bucket most of the way.

I tried it out!  I was surprised that it made my arms hurt more than my neck!  I cannot imagine doing that multiple times a day to provide water for my family.

Linda carried it for a while, too!

Alexis was a trooper for most of the walk, but ended up falling asleep for the last little bit.  She stayed like this for quite a while!:)

She had fun watching the closing ceremony!

Me and my girl!  I love that the girls were able to participate in this event with us. 

Me and my sisters!  Their hearts for serving are inspirational to me!  The goal for the walk was to raise $10,000 and we ended up with over $20,000!!!  God is so good!

First Zoo Trip of 2014

When we got home from vacation, one of our first priorities was to visit the zoo!  It opened for the year while we were gone and we were anxious to go see all of our favorite animals!

This was Ava's first trip ever to the zoo!  The girls were super excited.:)

We went in the late afternoon and we were practically alone!  We checked out the start of the Australian Adventure renovation and headed to our favorite ride...the log ride!

Avey was a fan!

We checked out the aquarium, too!

It was so empty that we decided to take advantage and go on a train ride, as well.

I love the train ride!  It's so relaxing to sit in the shade and feel the breeze around the lake!

We had a little time left before the zoo was going to close so we headed back to the African Journey.  Lex got to take her time driving the safari car!

The hyenas were active right by the glass so Lex got a kick out of that!

Bill and Ina were up and moving, but way up on the bluff.  We still had fun saying hi to them!

Ava had so much fun that she wore herself out!:)

We packed a picnic and ate supper outside the zoo.  It was a gorgeous day!

Our girls at one of our favorite summer spots!  We can't wait to go back!