ENT appointment

Ava's had lots of issues with her blocked tear ducts but every single time we would go into the doctor for anything they would check her throat and test her for strep. Everytime it comes back negative. I decided it was time to have the Ear Nose and Throat doctor look at her.

She numbed Ava's nose and scoped her so she could see her adenoids. Her adenoids are huge and are likely the cause of her snoring and mouth breathing and dry throat.  She also looked at Ava's tubes in her ears and we learned that both tubes are still in her ear canal but the left one is already out and the ear drum has closed and the right one is almost closed. So we are now in the waiting game to see if she will start getting ear infections again or not.

Within a few minutes the doctor asked if we had ever talked to a speech therapist or if I noticed that she is hard to understand. "well ya I noticed!" and no we hadn't talked to a speech therapist.  Ava knows tons of words, she repeats everything, she sings along with songs in the car but if she is creating her own sentences its impossible to understand her and I interpret for her whenever people talk to her. Being my first and only I just assumed one of these days she would be easier to understand.

I'm grateful that this is something we can get Ava into and that she can improve her speech and be easier to understand :)

Fotofly 2012 Santa photos

Everyone's Thankful for Ava ;)

Thanksgiving

Its starting to feel a lot like Christmas

Last year we got a little 5 foot tree from a tree lot and set it up in our house.... however this year we have NO room for a tree. The spot we had it last year now has Ava's play kitchen and its not something I want to move.

So we decided that we'd enjoy a tree at Mark and Kathy's but we wouldn't do one this year. That was getting me a little sad since Ava loves Christmas trees so much (random yes but she does) I then saw all the felt Christmas tree posts on Pinterest. I thought well that wouldn't be so bad and she could decorate and undecorate it herself. I still love real trees but this is the perfect little toddler Christmas tree!

We bought 1 yard of Green felt at Joanns for 3.50. Could probably have gotten away with like 3/4 a yard. I already had a ton of felt on hand from other projects but I bought a few extra colors. I ended up using 12-16 sheets and at .25 cents a sheet thats like 4$

I used my glue gun for the presents and I did actually glue gun it to our window (it peels right off glass) but if you do it on a wall, poster tac works well.

Took about 2 hours. I put a movie on and got to work while Ava was asleep. She woke up from her nap and was so excited for her tree!! I made hers a little too tall but other than that I'm happy with it :)

Facebook :/

It's with a little embarrassment that I say this. I had to delete a bunch of Facebook friends this last week. Well over 100. I'd love to delete Facebook all together but I have to use it for both my forms of income.

I've been struggling a lot with both friends posting about their pregnancies and general posts of friends with lots of kids (meaning more than 1 in my book) and either the stress of it or the joys. Either seem to get me down lately.

I feel bad because I did delete tons of people i do like but either their pregnant (sorry yes that was a big one and I know they won't be pregnant forever) or mostly the post they like or comment on often can have a negative effect on me... thanks to facebooks new settings I now see tons more pregnancy baby annoucements than I'd ever like from people I don't even know simply because my friends like or comment.

This all sounds horribly selfish but at this point in the journey I need to be. i have been struggling greatly with depression and I need to get some of my mental health back. I need to earn an income and Facebook is part of that. So instead of being able to delete Facebook I just had to turn it into family book and call that good enough.

So if you happen to read this blog and aren't on my Facebook anymore. I'm sorry. I'm doing the best I can right now with what I have. I hope I don't always feel like this. I hope someday life doesn't feel so overwhelmingly hard that I can't socialize with hardly anyone because this is not how I pictured my life.

Ava update 32 months

Just 4 more months till our sweet girl turns 3!! I remember back when we moved to Utah with Ava and she was 4 months old and all the I15 construction signs said "complete in December 2012" and thinking to myself "that is so far away!!! My baby will be nearly 3!" Well here we are!

Ava went to the doctor today. She's had problems with blocked tear ducts pretty much her entire life but they have been horrid the last 2 1/2 months. We are finally doing surgery and hopefully having her adenoids out at the same time because her throat is almost always swollen. :/ should know here in the next few weeks when her surgery will be.

Ava measured in at 37.5 pounds and 39.5 inches. She's gained a pound and an inch in 2 months?!

She's little miss talkative even though I know most people don't understand her. One of her latest sayings is loudly exclaiming "oh my gosh!!" Not my proudest parenting moment since in Utah that can be sometimes considered a swear but oh goodness is she funny.

She also recently learned knock knock jokes. I've never seen her laugh so hard at her self in her entire life. It's the sweetest thing!

First Snow of the year

The snow got much worse in the afternoon and I had an anxiety attack driving and got the van stuck.... oh the joys. One day and we already had more than ALL of last winter. 

Weight Loss

I'm having amazing results with my weight loss right now! Its a matter of staying focused and changing my mental views about weight loss and food.

I set a goal when I started 6 weeks ago and so far I'm 1/4th of a way to that goal time wise AND weight wise! I'm excited to be on track towards this goal and the progress keeps me encouraged.

I'm looking forward to what is to come. We are praying constantly that this weight loss will help with our struggle with infertility and make infertility treatments possible for us.

I'm blogging more detailed on this whole journey at my pcos blog but I am so excited today about this that I couldn't help but share that in this aspect of my life I'm doing well right now!

Halloween

Ava really enjoyed Halloween this year :) The night before halloween we carved 2 pumpkins and Ava had very little interest aside from taking the top off and putting it back on. she spent most of the pumpkin carving running up and down the hill and throwing leafs on our blanket!

She totally got the "trick or treat" aspect and that if she said it she would get a piece of candy. We went trick or treating at Dan's work and Ava got a fun little bucket full. After we went to Dan's parents and she got to eat 3 pieces of candy and we put the rest away. She had so much fun as Jessie the cowgirl :) she walked around saying "yehaw" and "ride like the wind bullseye" she is hilarous!