Ahhh…The P-A-R-K

Ava absolutely loves going to the park and we are amazed at how independent she has become. It’s so hard for me to just let her go and let her take risks. I’m so scared she’s going to get hurt, but I know that this is also part of being a parent. I can’t always be there to catch her when she falls, I can’t always protect her from being hurt and I can’t be so overbearing that she doesn’t learn to stand on her own two feet. Learning comes from experience, not just words. So I let her climb the stairs and go down the slide alone. I let her run around without holding my hand. I let her put sand in her mouth so that she can learn that it tastes like crap. It’s part of her learning experience and I’m trying not to stand in the way of that. I try to only step in when I see she’s in danger. And as far as I’m concerned, eating sand might not be a bad thing. I’d like to think she’s exfoliating her insides. Here’s a great shot of her climbing through the tunnels.

Loving Her New Couch

So my mom and Mark gave Ava a gift card for Christmas and since the child has everything, we couldn’t decide what to buy her. She doesn’t need clothes, she doesn’t need toys. So we were at a loss until a couple of weeks ago when she took to liking sitting on the couch. It was so cute. She would just sit there and look back and forth at Mike and I so proud that she was sitting on the couch like mommy and daddy do. We’d ask her if she was sitting on the couch and she’d nod her head yes and get a big, cheesy smile. So the lightbulb went off in my head (stop laughing…it happens every once in a while) and I decided to get her a little couch with that gift card. Well, it turned out to be a good purchase…she LOVES it. Here’s a few shots of her hanging out on her new couch. Thanks Grandma & Grandpa!!!

Sitting Pretty

Legs Extended!

All Stretched Out!

Cream Cheese Lovin’

Ava had us cracking up the other day. Mike and I were eating bagels and Ava wanted a bite. We know this because she walks right up and says “Mmm, bite?” So I gave her a bite and she loved the cream cheese. She wanted to lick it off the top of the bagel. So we decided to give her a spoonfull. She just kept asking for more!

New Orleans Party!

A couple of weeks ago we went to a wonderful New Orleans Party at Ricky & Roya’s house. It was so great seeing them and seeing how big Anthony has gotten. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of the three of the kids together but Ava had a great time passing out oranges from their orange tree in the back yard. Such a little helper! I’m proud to report she didn’t get any beads at this party.

Soup Nut!

You know…in our house the camera always has to be handy. We never know what we might catch. Sunday afternoon and Mike and I are both in the kitchen. He’s on his laptop, I was washing some dishes. Ava kept coming in and out of the kitchen. I wasn’t really paying much attention to what she was doing. She kept walking in and out, in and out. I get done and walk into the living room and this is what our coffee table looks like:

Yes…it’s items from our pantry. Here she is caught in the act:

Baby Crack

In Ava’s world bathtime is a great time, but what she really goes crazy for is LoLo (lotion). This video is a must-see. It’s baby crack to her.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5154948892452304420

Brotherly Love

Drew was in town in February and Ava LOVED him. Her whole goal while she was around him was to see how cute and charming she could be. She kept walking over and picking out books and bringing them back to him to read. She would sit right next to him on the couch and repeat the process when the book was finished. Here’s a couple of pictures of them together and a link below for the dancing video we filmed.

The Dancing Queen:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7139011266316522751

I Have a Blog?

I know…I haven’t updated in forever. So bear with me while I update everyone for the month of February. My mom and Mark came out for a visit. They hadn’t seen Ava since she was 6 months old so they were in for a real treat. She loved them both instantly and the first night they were here she did plenty of showing off. She would run back and forth from the living room and hallway and kept saying hi and blowing kisses. My daughter loves an audience…I have no idea where she gets it from!

The first weekend they were here we took Ava to the beach for her first real beach day. Mike and I weren’t really sure what she would make of the sand since I personally can’t stand sand. Apparently she takes after Mike in that respect. She couldn’t get enough of it. We put her down and she took off straight for the water. No fear in this little girl at all. She ran right in…the water hit her feet and she looked up at me like, “Oh crap!” The water was freezing but that didn’t stop her. She enjoyed just watching the her little feet make impressions in the sand. It was quite cute.

Then Daddy and Papaw started building sand candles, which she quickly learned to seek and destroy. You can watch her destruction here:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7207533341889065773

Then of course she spotted all the seagulls. She trotted all the way over to them, saying “Bir, Bir, Bir” the whole way there. Once she got there she made friends with the family who had (smartly) remembered to bring bread and charmed her way into getting a piece to feed the birds with. I love this shot of her feeding the birds.

Then Sunday we decided to take her to the Acquarium of the Pacific. Hmmm…I don’t know if I would recommend doing this with a 14 month old. She kicked her shoe off into the shark tank and generally wasn’t very interested in looking at the fish. She just wanted to run around like a madwoman. Unfortunately you can’t reason with a 14 month old about how much money you just spent in order for her to look at fish and not watch her feet running on the ground. It might be a little much expecting her to understand logic at this age.

The rest of their visit was spent visiting and just relaxing. It was a wonderful visit for us and we’re glad they got to see the little girl that steals our hearts on a daily basis. Below is a link to all of the pictures we taken for the past month.

Month 14 Pictures: share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AatXLFk1btmQX

Ava Hearts Costco

Ava LOVES going to Costco. She shakes her head yes and gets really excited when we ask her if she wants to go to Costco. I mean, she gets more excited about going to Costco than going to the park. I finally figured it out. She loves the free food samples. She can sniff them out and will point at the little lady serving up the food until she gets her bite. Unfortunately for her, she’s like her mama and it’s all going straight to her butt and thighs.