Chase and Cat food

Ava's new favorite game is chase. She takes off and then looks back to make sure you're going to chase her. It's so precious and she gets so excited. Sometimes she gets so excited she just bounces up and down and claps her hands. She especially likes it when she thinks dad is chasing her.

Ava also had her first piece of cat food. It didn't go over very well. She has been eating puffs and LOVES them, but since then she thinks she can eat whatever she wants. This includes carpet, paper, and now cat food. Yesterday, Ava snuck past me to the cat food bowl. This is the second time she's done this and I quickly caught her and emptied her hands of cat food. I shut the door so she couldn't get to it and put her back down. A few moments later, she starts coughing. Her hands are at her mouth and I immediately know she's put something in her mouth. I tried the finger swipe and failed to find anything. So I just picked her up and started patting her back, trying to get her to stop choking. Talk about scary!! I kept patting her back and she finally threw up all over me and what was in it...one piece of cat food! Yum. Luckily Kelsey was here to help with Ava while I changed from my puke drenched clothes. Awe the joys and worries and adventures of being a mother. I'm just glad she was okay!

She just keeps changing...

In the past two weeks Ava has decided to take off. She has started crawling. At first it was funny, because she didn't realize she could crawl and would only crawl for things that were a short distance from her and something she desperately needed (like her puffs). Now she has figured out that she can get anywhere by crawling. This means one thing, my life as a stay at home mom just got a lot busier. On top of that, she also decided to pull herself up on anything and everything as well. This has resulted in tears, smiles, bumps, and pictures of course. As of yesterday, she is now standing up in her crib anytime she doesn't want to go to sleep. So every time I lay her down for a nap she automatically rolls to her side, then her stomach, relaxes for a half second before realizing I'm leaving the room, panics and sits-up, starts crying, and then pulls herself up into a standing position. I have to go back in and lay her down in order to get her to fall asleep. Although it is tiring during the ordeal (probably for both of us), it's quite hilarious watching it happen.

Ava received her first birthday invitation today...Ella is turning one and I'm pretty sure Ava can't wait to celebrate with her. (Or I'm excited to go hang out with Maria haha).

Dustin and I have been planning all our meals out to help save money and eat healthier. We've been doing a pretty good job, but this last week we ate shake 'n bake on two separate nights and I had it only salads for lunch. Needless to say, any easy, cheap, healthy recipes would be appreciated!

Really Christina...

While at Uncle Bobby's, Christina noticed I had written my name on my cup and thought she should do the same. So she grabbed a permanent marker, walked to the table, and started writing Aunt Christina on a cup. The whole situation seemed normal until she stated..."I wasn't drinking milk... I didn't even have a cup!" She had written her name on someone elses cup! This was followed by Dustin saying "Who drinks milk with their Thanksgiving dinner!". In the end no one claimed the cup and Christina's only option was to write Not in front of her name. It was quite hilarious and this might be a situation you had to be there for, but it was so stinkin funny! Thanks for making us laugh Not Aunt Christina! You're the best!

Ava enjoyed her yummy squash for Thanks- giving. Luckily for Dustin and I, squash was not on our Thanksgiving menu!

Ava Marie-Thanksgiving

Ava's new moves...

Ava continues to amaze me. It seems like just yesterday we were waiting for her to smile or coo. Now she squeals like a true girl, gives big gummy smiles, and so much more. For example...about three weeks ago Dustin was holding her and I was next to him and she reached for me. Talk about the best feeling ever! (I cried a bit). Since then she's learned to hold her arms up anytime she wants up. She is rolling from her tummy to her back and back again. She is never quite content though. Forever she wanted to sit up by herself. She can do that easily now, but the only thing she wants to do now is crawl or stand up (she can't do either on her own yet, but we're very close!). She is getting good at going from a sitting position to a crawling position but quickly falls to her stomach. If she does manage to keep her stomach up, it's because she's in a bear crawl position with her face planted in the carpet. It's quite humorous to watch. I am really enjoying being around to see all of her changes. God has truly blessed us with a beautiful little girl and so much more!

Ups, Downs, and Everything in Between...

The past month and a half have been crazy for our family. To begin, Dustin was offered a job at Chesapeak. We were thrilled because he knew this was a place he could grow and hopefully eventually begin his graphic design again. And what an AMAZING company to work for!! With the decision to move came a lot of stressful decisions. We had to decide when I'd move down there. I had already begun teaching this year, so I would have to break my contract. (Luckily, the school was wonderful, supportive and very encouraging). Next we had to figure out what I was going to do when we got here. Now that we have our precious little Ava, was I going to stay home? Could we afford to do that? Should I find a job, which of course meant finding care for Ava. Could we afford that??? haha. We finally made some decisions; I would move 5 weeks after Dustin started and I would stay home for now...I guess until we want to eat again. :)

Now, the fun part begins...or something like that. Less than a week before Dustin is leaving, we wake up to a really loud bang outside. Dustin jumps up as I am trying to wake up. I look out the window and see my husband running down the sidewalk. A neighbor was also out looking to see what happened. I hear Dustin say to the man (the man that lives at the crack house across the street) "they definitely hit something!" The man responded "Yeah, your car!" At that, I jumped out of bed and went outside too. My little red Nissan was totaled. They had pushed in the back tire so far it had broke the back axel. So we spent the next hour talking with the police and trying to figure out how I was going to get to work. The really great part came when the police told us we had to have the car off the road in 48 hours. We now have no car, and have to pay to move it! The police found the car that hit ours (it didn't make it very far), but the man had fled and didn't have any insurance. We decided at that point, laughing was the best option. We still crack up when we think about where we lived in Leavenworth and that we didn't get out before being in a hit and run. AWESOME! Luckily for us, Dustin's great grandpa is no longer allowed to drive and loaned me his mini van...sweet ride, I know. I am actually a huge fan of all the space. Babies take up so much room!!

So the month without Dustin begins. It actually goes pretty well. Ava had a variety of wonderful people watching her. Dustin got to come back on the first couple of weekends. I went to visit on the 3rd weekend and we found an apartment to live in. The next two weeks went by pretty quickly, and then it was time to move. So everything was as good as it could be except that Ava decided to get up 3 times a night instead of sleeping through the night and got her first cold. Oh and I was left to pack up the house by myself with a 4 month old. I guess that's where the emotional roller coaster began. I did get to work with my replacement, Heather, and we had so much fun together. I wished we would have been working together the whole time! The last month of work was pretty stressfull; trying to figure out what info I needed to leave Heather, teach class, and pick up Ava right after school. There were 3 fights in the gym during that month and I had a student pretend like he shot me with a riffle...nothing happened to him of course, because he has some special needs. I did not feel safe there after that point. It was time to leave. So the last Friday finally came, my mom (my lifesaver) flew in that evening and Dustin got back for the big move. Saturday and Sunday was full of wonderful people, we owe huge thank you's too for helping us move. So, THANK YOU!!!! We seriously couldn't have done it without you! I didn't arrive in Edmond until Tuesday because I had a doctors apt and got to spend some wonderful time with my mom.

So we finally made it and one box at a time, we will eventually be unpacked. I am looking forward to the night of sitting on the couch without boxes around and watching a movie with my wonderful husband. For now, I am more than content to be back in Edmond! God continues to bless us...