Happy 1st Birthday Ava !!

I meant to have this post out by Monday...but then my computer froze up, and then I got sick. Disgustingly sick. I've been cooped up in my bedroom for the past day and a half, only making short trips to the bathroom and back...several trips, that is. I'm on the mend now though, so I thought finishing up this post would be the least strenuous task I could complete today ;) Hope you enjoy! And Please Wash Your Hands---A Lot!! There are some ugly bugs going around.

Where do I even begin ????? So much has happened over the last week that I'm not even sure what day of the week it is ...

Well, I'll start by saying that our boo-bear turned 1 WHOLE YEAR old last week!! Dude, this kid rocks. She is a little person now...no, really...not just a pooping, babbling, eating, drinking, crawling, drooling baby...but a real little person with her very own outstanding little personality and her very own unbelievable temper at times. As laid back and nonchalant as she is, she still throws down an incredible tantrum when she wants to--she can be a feisty little one!!! But she can also be oh-so-snuggly. She loves to still be held and loves to snuggle her little head betweeen my neck and shoulder. She simply rocks our world.

**Just a couple things**

Ava has accumulated quite the "bag of tricks" over the past few months. She plays peek-a-boo & loves it! We say, "Where's Ava?" and she quickly covers her eyes with her hands and then "PEEK-A-BOO"--"There she is!!" This is a great game to play in the car ;)

Another "trick" from her bag is, "Where's Ava's belly!?" She grabs her belly with both hands--ok, it's more like her chest, but we let it slide :) We're working on her ears & nose. We ask where her ear is and she has to think about it a second, but usually points to her ear. When we ask where her nose is, she points to her nose...more like in her nose because that's where her finger ends up everytime. Nice. What have we started? Sometimes we get excited and ask her too many all in a row and then she gets really confused and points at all of them and claps! ;o)

Tell her to "Shake your booty" and she goes to town wiggling her hips and shaking her shoulders! At the first beat of music this girl is shakin' her booty! It's the cutest ..... :)

She is going to be walking soon. Everyday she gets braver and braver, which is how she ended up with an enormous bruise on her cheek the day after her birthday. She thought she could make it from the couch to the coffee table and sooooo did not make it. :( Hate when that happens. Plenty more bruises to come I'm sure, but each one stinks as bad as the last. She walks all over the house as long as she can hold onto something!

Let me tell you the most exciting thing about her turning one year old. No More Formula!!!!!!!! YAY!!!! Just good 'ol organic whole milk for this lil girl!! I love whole milk myself...I don't love what it does to the adult waistline, but I do love how thick & creamy & yummy it is!! Eric & I will stick with our 1%...but I might accidently pour myself a glass of the full-fat wholesome white-stuff now that we'll have it in the house.... accidently. ;o) However, as good as it sounds, switching from formula to whole milk that is, Ava has not graciously accepted the change--so in the meantime we're doing 1/2 whole milk, 1/2 formula until the rest of the formula runs out. She's onto us though ... she sees right through our little trick, but manages to get past the first couple strange gulps before lapping it right up.

She's into cartoons more as well. She loves Sid the Science Kid, Super Why, Blues Clues, Wonder Pets, & Yo Gabba Gabba (which I find to be the STRANGEST chilren's show around, but she absolutely loves watching those goofy guys dance around and sing silly songs). It's pretty cute to watch her get into her shows .... ;)

Alright, I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking ...

(we're working in a backwards fashion here--gotta love blogger)

Fancy-schmancy highchair decorations :)

Silly cake face! Surprisingly she didn't dig right in...she kind of took her time exploring this super sugary treat!! Most of the icing on her face is from her Grams. ;)

"For me? Whoa!"

Playing with her new toys with Aunt Tammy. She got lots of 'big kid' toys so she can put those thinking skills to work! And lots of books too!

It was pretty hard to keep her attention on opening gifts...she pretty much wanted nothing to do with it ;)

Yay! She got a wagon!

Dad & munchkin :)

She takes her blankie everywhere!

My failed attempt at a butterfly cake ... clearly I don't perform well under pressure--YIKES!

Ava likes to "help" put the dishes away ;o)

Here's her peek-a-boo face!!

Being silly ... as always ;)

She loves to stick that tongue out!

Playing on Portia ... Ava likes it a lot more than Portia does ;)

LEAVES!!

Pretty in pink.

I'm In Love ...

You thought this was going to be another post about stinkerbelle over here, didn't you? ... well, of course I'm in love with her too, BUT ..........................................................................

I came across a site the other day that I know I can't live without--and I have got to share it with you all!!! This site is spectacular!!! You have to check it out!! I will be experimenting with her awesome digital scrapbook supplies & FREE super-cool fonts in the very near future--very near as in like as soon as I put my 1 year old down for bed tonight, trust that I will be conjuring up some fun projects and will share them ASAP!! Amanda has everything on this site .... recipes, digital scrapbook supplies, free fonts, crafts & projects, fantastic tutorials on how to use all these fun things, home decor & gardening tips ... I downloaded her FREE Fall Collection 2009 this morning & what else is there to say ... I'm. In. Love ...

I hope you'll check her site out!! Look out folks, this blog is about to have a face-lift!! =)

Just a Reminder ...

Daily reminders that we have a toddler in the house ... it's official ... and the messes are never-ending ...

I think this face SAYS IT ALL! I mean, that's one ornery face!!

All that tearing apart magazines and taking all the pillows and blankets off the couch really wore her out ... tough work being an ornery bug.

Nice Ava. Not only did you crawl into the suitcase, but you have to play with the night light too? Thankfully it's "heat free" ...now I see why these are a necessity.

The coffee table looks like this almost all day everyday--it has a few clean minutes after I wipe it and before she gets her cruddy lil fingers on it. These are mere minutes folks.

Discovering the towel drawer ... an everyday occurrence.

OH--here she is showing off her temper--that's a pretty side of her. That temper can be one ugly monster.

And in the towel drawer again...different day, same story ;)

The bib and plastic bag drawer is right above the towel drawer so guess what ... yep, she's into every drawer now.

Despite the daily madness...I wouldn't want it any other way! :~)

Punkin Farm

We made our way to the Honey Haven Farm (aka THE pumpkin farm) in Ashland yesterday. Perfect weather, fantastic kids, yummy food, delicious pumpkin ice cream ... just a great day all around! I Love Fall.

Ava & Tammy checking out the piggies!

Everyone found their 'perfect' pumpkin! Who's that goofball in the back with the pumpkin on his head? OH--that's Drew! Of course ... hehe.

These black beauties took us to the pumpkin patch.

First family trip to the punkin farm!

All my nieces & nephews--each one of them is cute as can be :)

Eric shooting the Corn Canon--he won 3 free ice cream cones!

The ground was a little mushy from the recent rain so it was hard for these guys to get any traction to pull back the sling shot--so they wised up and each grabbed a side and ran hard and fast as far as they could and let the pumpkin filled sling shot go flying!! They were aiming for an empty trailer in the field about 100 yds away!

Momma & munchkin--yes, I dressed us alike for the day :)

Davis Reunion

Eric's mom hosted the Davis Reunion this past Saturday, so we headed down there and spent the day with family! It was very nice seeing everyone--especially those that we haven't seen since our wedding! Ava got a kick out of watching all the kiddos play... she even joined in on the fun. :) The food was delicious, karaoke was great, and weather was fantastic! What a fun October event!

Miss Ava and her lil punkin ...

The Grandkids

Davis offspring & their little ones ...

Corn-hole!!

Eric & Chad

Our neice Halee ... cutie pie.

Ava (making her infamous face) and Halee ...

The football players ...

And the cheerleaders! :)

Ava-cakes O:)

I just wanna squeeze her .... and do quite often!

S.t.i.n.k.e.r

11 Months & Growing!

We have met the 11 month mark (a few days ago :) and I'm pretty sure I have the smartest kid alive! Haha!! I remember before I had Ava, moms around me would be so impressed with seemingly insignificant developmental milestones reached by their little one, thinking their baby was destined to discover the cure for cancer or develop some other miraculous invention using their obvious magnificent mind that was most certainly bigger & better than any other babies' ... & I remember thinking, "Don't all babies do that?" Well, here I am, in that boat myself, convinced that I have the smartest baby alive. :) Ooooh, it's too funny...babies are incredibly smart in general and learn so much in one single year...it really blows my mind! I am awe-struck everyday when I watch Ava do something new that she has learned from observing us (which can be a little scary:) or discovering on her own. This parenting stuff rocks!!!

Some milestones for the lil munchkin ....

Ava has been tearing our kitchen apart!! First, it was the pots & pans cupboard that she learned how to open and drag everything out of, and now she's working on the towel & washcloth drawer. You know, it does keep her quite entertained though while I'm cooking dinner...so go ahead Dora--explore & entertain yourself! She's also fascinated by the dishwasher, oooh & the refrigerator! If she hears you open the fridge, it doesn't matter where she is, she drops everything and bolts to the kitchen, just in time to see me close the fridge door ;)

The child is a monkey. Plain and simply. She used to crawl up just a couple stairs at a time and then slide or slip back down a measly two little stairs--NOW, she crawls from the first floor to the upstairs bathroom in the amount of time it takes me to brush my teeth! We have a baby gate that swings open & closed at the bottom of the stairs, but I haven't been keeping it closed b/c she hasn't been too curious about the stairs--but that has changed. She also likes to climb into her old carseat that has been just laying around here. Oh, and she'll climb up on "Maggie" her butterfly rocker when she wants to as well. M.o.n.k.e.y.

She is starting to want what we're eating instead of her babyfood. We had blueberry pancakes for breakfast this morning and she went bananas for them! That was after her oatmeal & yogurt breakfast. I've had to start hiding what I'm eating--especially if it's something she can't eat, like chips & salsa or something, because she practically climbs up my leg trying to get some of my food!! We try to base all of our meals now on food that she can easily eat. She's had spagetti, some shepard's pie at my mom's, mashed potatoes, some rice from my Chipotle yesterday, pastas, my gosh she loves anything she can snatch up from my plate really! She likes white grape juice and every now and again I'll give her a few spoonfuls of milk from my cereal or something. I can't wait until we're done with formula! Good for baby, hard on my wallet. ;)

Ava is starting to wave bye-bye. Pretty cute! She doesn't do it everytime, but just lately she has started to do it a lot more. She's getting stingy on giving those kisses I love though--probably because everytime she turns around I'm in her face asking for another kiss!! Ha!

She's a good hide & seeker. We'll take something away from her, like ooh let's say the screwdriver that Eric was using to change the batteries in her dancing doggy last night, and she searched like crazy trying to find where we hid the thing!! She spent a good 10 minutes looking all over the place for that screwdriver! She's very curious about where things go when they're out of her sight!

Here's where the totally smart part comes in--The other day she was playing in her toy box, just rummaging through, throwing things out and making a complete mess when she came across the case to her thermometer (why it was in the toy box I have no idea). It's just a small clear tube with a lid. The lid happened to be buried further down in the toy box at the time, so she just played with this little tube for awhile until she got bored & flung it somewhere. She goes back to rummaging through the toy box and comes across the little clear lid to the thermometer case. She looked at that lid for a minute or so, fiddled around with it in her hands for a bit and then looked over where she threw the tube earlier. Can you believe that she then crawled over there with the lid still in her hands, picked up the tube and PUT THE LID ON THE TUBE!! Wholly Mackeral!!! I about peed my pants in complete shock at her ability to use deductive reasoning skills!! That thermometer case just randomly ended up in her toy box, we don't use it often, but she thought the two looked like they would fit together so she tested her hypothesis and confirmed that, Yep-these two fit together just like I thought they would! Whoa, I know, I'm getting too deep here, it might've been coincidental, but it's so much more fun to think she used some reasoning here!!! Oh my word, smartest kid alive. heehee.

She has totally given up her 3rd nap of the day. She naps around 9am and then again around 2pm. Since giving up the 3rd nap, she's been going to bed a little earlier, around 7:30 and has been sleeping like an angel:) Aaahhh that's what I'm talkin' about!

She has been taking to the sippy cup much better. She still has a morning bottle with her breakfast, a bottle around 3:00 with a snack and then a bottle at bedtime. I made the hole a little bigger in the nipple of her juice bottle so she could learn to manage the bigger gulps a little better to help with switching over to the sippy. I think it helped, she's getting most of the juice in her belly instead of on her shirt :)

We went apple-picking last week with some of our Mommies & Munchkins group! Ava just loved watching the kiddos pick apples, and my arm about fell completely off my body while I picked with one hand and held Ava and the apple bag in the other. My left arm, I've concluded, has grown to about twice the size of my right arm since having Ava ... 4 arms would've been helpful that day...what am I saying...4 arms would be helpful every day!!!

That sums it up I think!! We're beginning to plan Ava's first birthday party!! I can't wait!! One year old already!!!

If I Had One Wish ... More Hours in the Day!!

I feel like I've neglected this blog lately ... it's a shame really, because I have a lot going on in my life that I'm squirming to share!

First things first, I got a new job! What a blessing!! I applied & interviewed for a Labor & Delivery nursing position about a month ago. I found out last week that they were offering the position to me! Very excited to get off my current floor. The downside (there is always a downside isn't there!?) is that the position is for a day/night rotator .... which means that I could work up to 2 weeks every schedule on nightshift. But I'll Take It Anyways!! I'm feeling kind of stuck in a rut right now with work. I've always had advancement goals to look forward to -- you know, graduating nursing college, landing a nursing job, buying a house, getting married, having a baby ... these are all ways I've grown over the past several years ... and now ???????? Maybe I'm experiencing a mild moment of ADD, I don't know. I feel like I've just been hanging out, twiddling my thumbs ... doot-doo-doo ... just waiting on something exciting to happen with work, some opportunity to come up that will challenge my nursing abilities. I'm bored with and burnt out on med-surg nursing. Ugh. I need a new challenge, new goals, new opportunity for growth! Recently, after a loooooong, unfulfilling 12 hours of work I drove home thinking--THIS is what I spent 4 agonizing years on and a whole lotta money for?? To do this? Ya gotta be kiddin' me. So, next step--apply for a job elsewhere! I have always been interested in Labor & Delivery nursing and neonatal intensive care nursing. I will be working with laboring women, helping to bring brand new homo sapiens into this big, complex world of ours! That should settle my desires for now ... I'll keep you posted. :)

Next endeavor--Embellish'd Candle & Gift Co.!! Woohoo! My favorite pursuit at the moment! That's right, I'm trying my hand at starting a home-based candle and gift company! And this happens to be the major contributor for my sleep deprivation lately...not because of the infant in my house. My idea for this stemmed from several things--one, when my mom, sister and I decided that this year we are hand-crafting gifts for each other and everyone else in the family for Christmas-- all gifts must be handcrafted! So you know everybody in my family is getting one (or two!) delicious smelling, sweet & sassy embellished candle for Christmas! Plus, I just have the biggest passion for scents--I just like things to smell wonderful! I think that boils down to my love of the reminiscence that comes from all fragrances. Our olfactory system is a powerful wonder--fragrances change your mood, make you hungry!, remind you of your childhood or loved ones, fragrances can take you places--it's amazing! It's a hobby that I love and I want to share my creativity with others. I have all kinds of new fragrances that I want to try out--Oreos & Milk is one--but you'll have to stay tuned for more of my fragrances! I carry a notepad & pen with me at all times nowadays--you never know when an idea will strike!! This candle & gift business will fulfill my need for advancement in many ways I think. Which is why I need many, many more hours in the day! You're all gonna love these candles & gifts. :) I wanted to get these up on my candle website by Christmas--but I think that is an unreasonable goal--that's only 2 months away!! My reasoning on Christmas time is partially due to the fact that I'm coming out with a separate line of candles called "Flicker of Hope" and 100% of the proceeds from this line will go directly to charity. I thought that would be a great sales incentive for folks right around Christmas. I'm not completely set on a charity yet, but I'm leaning towards March of Dimes or Susan G. Koman. Now, I don't want to give everything away right here-- so, there you have it--all inquiring minds should be settled, yet curious enough to keep checking my Embellish'd Candle & Gift Co. website for further updates, pictures, information, etc.! Hope you'll check it out. :) This is what my soul has been searching for!

I'm inviting each and every one of you to join me on my journey--I hope you will!

Blog Revamp ...

I need to do some serious cleaning up and reorganizing of this blog! It is a MESS! Soooo, I don't know how I'm going to organize this ... but I'm going to start working on it soon! So prepare yourselves for the change! :) I also need to share my newest life endeavors ... stay tuned!

What is with this face!?

What in the world, girl!?