Summertime Pics!

We are really soaking up our summer around here!! I'm super excited that the weather is finally "August-like" again. I love hot, hazy, sticky, thick summer air!! And then I love the transition to cool, crisp, chilly sweater weather of the fall!! Football season is just around the corner--wooohoooo!!

We are staying busy that's for sure. Eric has been working his tail off at work and also trying to finish some home improvement projects that have been on hold for awhile ... and may continue that way for a little longer. :)

I have been busy trying to find time to help with our garden ... that I live an hour and fifteen minutes away from ... it's been interesting. :) My sister and I have learned a lot from our first gardening experience!! That thing has vegetables growing uncontrollably!! Peas, green beans, squash, carrots ... oh, everything is coming on!! We're still waiting on our tomatoes--my absolute favorite. :) We froze corn last week--a good and long 12 hours or so hours of shucking, washing, blanching, cutting, and bagging 500 ears of corn. WOW.

And Ava has also been growing uncontrollably lately! Somebody sprinkled some fertilizer on that girl!!! She is really taking off--crawling all over the place, getting into everything her little fingers can get ahold of--including Portia's food & water bowls... sooo gross. She pulls herself up on the stairs, my lap, the coffee table, the baby gates, in her crib--everywhere. We've seriously baby proofed this place!! She's saying kitty & dog--not incredibly understandable, but we know that's what she means. "Kitty" sounds more like "keey" and "dog" is more like "doe"--but we get the idea. :) I'll save the rest for her 10 month update coming soon!

Here are some random pictures--Enjoy!!

Ah yes, exploring the vacuum!

She finds all those places I forget to look while going around the house putting things like these out of baby's reach ... thanks for reminding me about these picture frames Ava! hee hee.

She LOVED eating the corn on the cob!! I could barely keep these out of her mouth!! Pretty cute!

There she goes--digging through the cobs--about to find a good one and chew on it!

Yay!!! New carseat!! Finally!! I think she likes it :)

Couldn't resist getting a shot of these rosey baby feet!! Soon enough she won't have these sweet little baby feet anymore!

This picture cracks us up!! Ava's grandma face. :)

She's not extremely happy in this picture, but it showcases her two cute little teeth! :)

My sweet sunshine!!

Our little family--who do you think Ava gets her baby blues from? Not me for sure! :)

Crawling!!

This video is of Ava from last week. She looks like she's getting around great in this video and now she's even more into E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G!! I love watching her chubby buns crawl around--even if she is harder to keep an eye on. :)

A Quick Post ...

Just a quick post with a few pictures with my NEW camera!! We ended up getting a Canon Powershot ELPH--a very awesome point-and-shoot camera so far!! Bonus: it's Buckeye Red!! :)

Anyway, enjoy!

I can't get enough of these rolls!! CHUBBY WUBBY!!

Uh-oh! Caught in the act ...

Always striking a silly pose for the camera ;)

I don't know what's going on with this face ... but that left cheek seems to be hanging pretty low.

Daddy and Ava ... two seriously cute people that I'm totally in love with!

Cereal shot





Bath time! Ava's favorite! You think she's getting a little too big for the mesh tub seat? I agree :)

A Day at the Beach!!

We went to Alum Creek Lake today so Eric could play around on his jet ski and Ava could get her first dose of sand between her toes. We thought she needed a preview of the "beach" before we go on our real vacation to the beach in September! She enjoyed every second of it! We had a great time! The weather was fantastic, too.

Enough jabber ... enjoy the pictures!!

Don't you just wanna smooch those cheeks! OouuWee!!

Blowing razzberries ... with a very runny nose--Ha!

This beach is no Siesta Key -- but, it's the best Columbus has to offer! ;~)

She loved feeling the waves come up over her toes!! Unfortunately, pictures only show so much of her reaction--she flapped her arms and hands so fast I was pretty sure she was going to approach lift-off! Huh-larious!!

She liked clapping her hands with the sand---notice daddy has buried her chubby feet in the sand. I have a feeling these two are going to be a handful when she gets a little older. ;)

She's kinda lookin' like, "Uhhhh dad, what are you doing to my feet?"

Going for a ride!!

Silly Willy :)

I cannot get enough of this girl. 0:)

Happy 9 months Ava!!

It feels like just yesterday that I posted about Ava's 8 month milestone! Summer is flying by waayyy too quickly ... I'm sure it's because this is my favorite season. :) It's almost August and we have yet to make it on vacation!! Anyway, back on topic ... Ava has been a BLAST this month! Even through teething. :) Thank goodness I'm keeping a journal for her (well, and me ;) to look back on at how sweet of a baby she has been!! I just want to quickly say that bringing a baby into this world and experiencing the joy & intense love I feel for her has been the most awesome experience of my life! If my heart was filled with any more love than this I'm sure it would explode! With that said, I wouldn't wish a baby for anyone who wasn't completely ready to shower that baby in love, affection, attention, and patience! Babies (and kiddos) deserve to feel every ounce of their mommies & daddies love for them and for each other!! Yes, okay ... that's all. :)

So, Ava has finally cut a couple teeth!!! I knew they were coming!! Two sharp lil teethers are poking through on the bottom! I'd say they are about half way up. They are the cutest lil things! About a week of sleepless nights (okay, it wasn't that bad, she woke up once or twice a night...so I guess that's not sleepless) and a rather grumpy baby for a day or so just before those 2 teeth erupted. We feel more are coming ... and you can guess why.

My favorite new thing this month is Ava giving kisses!! Oh My Gooooooodness! Melt my heart!!! I say, "Can I have a kiss?" and she leans toward me with a big wide open mouth with her tongue hanging out to give me a kiss!! Sweetest. Thing. Ever. The best kisses come in the morning when I pick her up out of her crib ... I barely get the words out and she's already leaning over to give me a big wet kiss!! She gives Eric kisses, the kitty, tries to give them to Portia, but never really succeeds ... she even tried to lay one on her babysitter with a mouth full of sweet potatoes! She is a natural lovebug. ;) Gosh, I love it!

Ava loves clapping and giving high-fives, especially while she is in her highchair! She really loves listening to pat-a-cake and watching your hands do the "rolly-rolly-rolly" part. She giggles every time. And boy is she a razzberry blower!

Eric's favorite thing to do with her when she wakes up in the morning is bring her to our room and let her hang out in bed with us for awhile. She grabs the tv remote and fiddles with it for a bit ... then she crawls all over us and gets lost in the blankets. Portia, of course, sleeps in our room at night, so while Ava is on the bed with us Eric will say, "Ava, where's Portia?" and she'll get all excited and crawl up on daddy's chest so she can see down to the floor where Portia is laying...then she'll flail her arms in the air and say something like "dododabahlalado!!!" She loves that dog. :) It's really neat how she's learning and associating our words with actual things.

Ava went to her well-baby checkup this morning. Fun times. :) She is 21 lbs (80th percentile) and 28 inches (90th percentile). Chubby Wubby ;) I'm not sure where she's getting her 'height' from since Eric and I are both pretty average, but Dr. Brown said she'll plateau after her first birthday, most likely.

She still has a clogged tear duct ... I feel like a broken record. I'm really avoiding intervention on this because she will have to be put under some type of anesthesia, obviously because babies do not hold still while they're being probed in the eye. I am not down with the anesthesia part. Nooo, thank you. It really bothers me to think about it so, I'm hoping and praying that it opens on its own. Unless I hear an option that doesn't involve anesthesia, I will not be hopping on the bandwagon with this one. I am thankful that this is Ava's only medical issue so far! A very minor issue at that!

Ava still takes about two, sometimes three, naps a day and then goes to bed around 8:00. Lately, due to teething issues I'm sure, she's been getting up a couple times a night. Usually, if she gets up twice and it's early in the night I will give her some Motrin. She seems to have trouble relaxing and falling back to sleep, which I've been blaming on teething pain. The Motrin always helps and she's able to sleep untill morning then.

Something Ava and I have really enjoyed lately is the walking group we've joined called Mommies & Munchkins. It is tons of fun!! A friend of mine introduced me to the group about a month ago. We all get together on tuesdays & thursdays (just tuesdays for me & Ava since I work thursdays) and meet up at different parks in the Dublin/Hilliard area and get some exercise & socialization! It's a christian-based group, so we start out the morning with Summer (she's the creator of the group) reading a devotion and then we stretch our muscles before the walking and exercising begins. We do lunges ... lots of lunges ... and then I'm sore for days!! The soreness process starts over the following week ... when we do MORE lunges & crunches and yada yada yada. So, picture this---a group of about 6-10 moms with their munchkins in strollers power walking around the park ... stopping every so often to get down and do some crunches ... and then back up to do some lunges ... and then we do various other exercises as well ... and this goes on for about an hour. Then at the end, we get our munchkins out of their strollers (if they're big enough) and do circle time ... so, we sing "Ring Around the Rosey," "Head, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes" and recite the memory verse of the month! This month's verse is, "We love because He first loved us." John 4:19. There are munchkins there from the age of 3 or 4 months to 8 years old! It can be a little elementary at times, but I think it's a pretty awesome group. Ava loves getting in on the action, too!! Eric gets a kick out of my group and says, "You guys have got to be a sight out there strolling around the park doing exercises with your strollers!" I agree--we are a sight to see, I'm sure! The old folks at the parks love watching us! ;) We are having a Mom's Night Out soon which I'm really excited for! Thank You Jess for introducing me to M&M! :)


Enjoy the pictures from my seriously lame old 3.2 MP digital camera!! :)

"I'm coming to get you, Momma!"

"Hi there, Smiley Bear!"






"Wait, is that a butt cheek hanging out? Or just another chubby roll?"

"I'm wearing shoes!! For the first time--real shoes!!"

"Soooo Big!"

Today ...

I'm on the hunt for a new camera today!! Let's hope I can find a good one that will last and hold up to being thrown in my purse or diaper bag on the run! And of course it's gotta be one that's on sale, right!? My posts will be much more interesting once I find a camera... I promise ;)

Food, Inc

I highly recommend this movie to all!! It's not a huge budget film, so naturally it isn't playing at all theaters, but I'm sure you can find one close to you! As you probably know by now, I have become a HUGE natural & organic food advocate, so this movie couldn't have been released at a better time! I know some of you (okay, a lot of you) don't give a flip about watching a movie that details how the most important substance of your existence is produced, but keep that in mind--FOOD is the most important substance of your existence!! I think this movie will surprise and inspire you!

Enjoy the trailer at least!!

Houston, We Have a Problem ...

BIG problems over here in the Williams' household --- my camera BROKE!!!!! This is bad news, bears!!!!! (SIGH) I told Ava that she's not aloud to do anything cool until I find a replacement--no funny faces, no crawling, no really cute sleeping poses, no teeth, no NOTHING basically until I get a new camera! I think she understood ;) At least I have my camera phone in the meantime ...

A New Favorite!

Ava's newest favorite activity is going to the park where she can swing and watch kids play! Too cute!

Here she is watching the kids play on the playground toys -- probably wishing that she was playing with them!

Baby smiles ... gotta love 'em!!

Woohoooo, Ava's having FUN!!

Had to throw this one in there--sleeping babies are precious--I just wanted to crawl in that crib and snuggle up!! Now that would be a picture ;-)

Privacy Ahead!

Attention all of our Wonderful Friends, Family, Coworkers, Neighbors, and Faithful Williams Family Happenings... Blog Followers!!

After much thought and discussion with my husband, I am pretty positive that we will be setting our blog to private sometime here in the next few weeks. I want to give everyone a chance to get their email address to me so I can give you access to continue following our blog! Shoot us an email at eric-liz@hotmail.com sometime in the next few weeks! Don't forget! ;)

I love that our blog is so open to friends and family to freely browse right now, but I am wigged out at the number of people who may follow our blog that we have no control over. I'm a pretty open person and like blogging about what's happening in our daily lives and such but am not necessarily fond of the number of weirdos out there. You know they're out there! Kinda creepy! I was watching the news the other day and there was a story on there about a family who had their pictures stolen from their blog and used for advertising purposes. I think their pictures were enlarged and advertised on some store front. I don't know, but that's the kind of thing that weirds me out, ya know? If I had a different type of blog I don't think I would be as protective, but I sometimes pour my heart out on this thing and smother it with pictures of my family life. I love sharing with our friends and family, but not really with that stranger in Chicago ... or St. Louis ... or Canada ... or the sex offenders ... or the super-nosey people who have no clue who we are, but still want to snoop around our lives. You never know who's looking and lurking!! Ok, maybe I'm paranoid. ANYWAYS, just wanted to let all our faithful and trusting followers know!

If you follow our blog and want to continue keeping up with Williams Family Happenings... please send me your email address to eric-liz@hotmail.com so I can add you to our list of followers! For those of you who aren't familliar with viewing a private blog--you will just have to log in using the email address that you gave me and create a password to open our blog and view it. No big deal :)

I will keep reposting this information for the next few weeks to a month or so to keep reminding those who are interested!! Eric is a bit concerned that we will lose some valued followers by going private--but we hope not!!