The Calkins

Asher Elliott Calkins

2012-02-11T23:34:00.001-07:00

Mr Asher Elliott Calkins arrived last night at 10:18 pm on 2/10/12 He weighed in at 6 pounds 12 ounces and 19 inches long, with the cutest light brown fuzzy hair!

I wish we were in Texas and could snuggle his cute little self but so far we are enjoying him via picture messages :) Caroline ended up having a c-section last night after a long induction dealing with pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes. She's a trooper for getting through it all with little to no sleep.

Asher is perfect and so thankful he arrived safe and sound! They have been wanting kids for years, thats one of the first things I learned about them when I met Dan. As soon as I saw them, I remember thinking how cute their kids would be! 4 1/2 years after meeting Dan I'm so thankful Asher is finally here!

ALSO I'm very excited that my brothers wife, Kate, is expecting their first by the end of August!!! I can hardly stand it, I'm so excited! This will be our first niece or nephew on my side of the family. Kate is 11 weeks right now and I'm SO looking forward to finding out if we will be getting our 1st niece or our 3rd nephew :)

Only 2 weeks at most till we leave for AZ!!! I'm so excited, I didn't even realize it was that close!! AH

January 2012

2012-01-31T22:14:00.003-07:00

I cannot believe January is already over! I feel like we spent the first 3 weeks of it sick. We haven't been able to work on any of our goals yet for the year really. We have started going to the gym more this last week which has been great but I'm having a hard time watching what I eat at home. I need to lose weight this year. I'm dying for a 2nd baby and this feels like our one chance right now.

On another note changing Ava over to a toddler bed has gone great. No big deal now :) which makes me happy when we go to Arizona she will be able to sleep on her own twin bed and I won't have to worry.

We also took Ava to see her first movie this month :) She did great until the very end when she just wanted to clap and sing but the guys in front of us didn't love it. But it was the Muppet movie.

Here are some pictures from this month:

Big Girl Bed! Part 2

2012-01-23T14:03:00.002-07:00

Well Ava had been in her "big girl bed" for 1 week now! The first night she got up I think 5 times before she finally fell asleep, not bad, took an extra 2 hours for bedtime. The next night she got up 1-2 times and then went to sleep. By the 3rd night she just stayed in bed but it took her about 20 minutes of chit chatter before she fell asleep...

then on the 3rd night she woke up with a fever of 102 :( so that wasn't fun. But after she was feeling better she went back to sleeping great! She goes and gets in bed now when she wants to go to bed!! Big plus she is staying in bed!

Naptime was a bit different. She hadn't been napping, her room was just too fun. But the last 2 days we have put her in a sleep sack and she has stayed in her bed and just taken a nap!!!

SO happy it turned out to be an easy transition!

Big Girl Bed!

2012-01-16T21:12:00.008-07:00

Tonight is Ava's first night in her "big girl bed" OH wish us luck!!
We decided a month and a half ago (well at Thanksgiving) that it was getting close to time. She weighs over 32 pounds now and lifting her out of her crib has been causing my back pain to be excruciating. We ordered the little toddler rail for her bed since it was 50% off on amazon and decided around new years after family had left we would give it a go.
Well new years came and went and since Ava and I both got sick we didn't change her bed over. Since we decided we are heading to AZ in a few weeks I realized I either needed to switch her now or buy some sort of "toddler tent bed" for our trip because shes way too big (tall and heavy) for her pack n play, it was a stretch to use it 6 months ago but now we definitely can't use it.
We did our usual bedtime routine (after I spent over an hour setting up her bed and baby proofing the room) and got her to bed around 7:30 (2 hours ago)... She stayed in her bed for 50 minutes! I thought we were home free but since then in the last hour shes gotten up 4 or 5 times and came to the door trying to open it. We have the baby monitor on as well. I hope we some how get some sleep tonight and we figure this thing out. I'm giving it a few nights and if it doesn't work we are going back to the crib.

Arizona!!

2012-01-15T19:38:00.002-07:00

I am beyond excited! We have decided to come to Arizona for Ava's 2nd birthday!! We weren't going to come down again till the last week of May but we talked and I felt that was just too long! By March it will already have been 7 months since our last visit.

Ava and I are driving down on the 5th and Dan is flying down on the 14th. Ava's birthday is the 15th and we are having her party on the 17th and all drive back together on the 19th! I hope it will be a fun filled 2 weeks :)

Asher's Baby Shower

2012-01-07T14:04:00.005-07:00

Lisa was the mastermind of this baby shower (for Caroline and Asher) and boy did she do an awesome job!!! She designed everything, down to the invitations and it was beautiful! I was hoping to help a LOT more than I did because I was sick during the week of the shower :( But I did take these photos to remember the shower by :)
I cannot wait for Asher to get here! He is due on Feb 22nd!! Just a little more than 6 weeks max till we get to finally see Dave and Carolines cute baby! From the moment I found out about Dave and Caroline (4 1/2 years ago when I met Dan), I was told that they had been trying to have a baby. At that point it had been a couple of years with no success. I remember feeling very emotional about this because of my own issues with PCOS and a very strong attachment to the idea that they needed to have the first grand baby in the Calkins family.

Fast forward to now, Asher may not be the first grand child but have we all been waiting faithfully for his arrival for a very long time! I'm also so thankful to have Caroline in my life, even more so now that we have been going through infertility for over a year now. She gave me quite a few words of wisdom as we talked over the Christmas break. Having children has not been easy for any of my sister in laws. Not a single one of us has had it "easy", I'm not thankful for this fact but I'm thankful to have women in my life who understand the pain and joy that comes with bringing children into this world.

New Years

2012-01-07T14:02:00.001-07:00

So we are 1 week into the new year and so far we have been sick the whole time :( Ava got sick right before the new years and I got sick right after her. Boy has it been an eventful 2012... not how I like to start off a new year but OH well, I'll pretend tomorrow is my real new years start :)

New Years Eve

2011-12-31T21:00:00.002-07:00

Honestly the years go by 10 times faster when you have a kid, can't imagine what it will be like when we have a handful of kids!

We have had a lot happen this year, not all has been that great and sadly enough a lot of the things I wanted to accomplish DID NOT happen, but Ava changed a lot and that was my favorite part!

Ava has:
Gained 8 pounds this year
Grown 5 1/2 inches
Gone from 12-18M clothes to 3T

1 year ago Ava was still army crawling and had JUST started pulling herself up on things. She had 0 teeth and could say 1 word?

She was my little chunky baby 1 year ago and now she's my energetic toddler!

I've worked a TON this year. Brittybird has gone really well and I've stayed extremely busy. We are almost up to 1000 sales on Etsy!! I have been busier than I had ever planned. For most the year I kept telling myself that I needed to work more so that we could pay for things like infertility treatments but I've decided to take less orders this year and focus more on changing myself and losing weight and then hopefully we won't actually need to pay for infertility treatments.. (hopefully).

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my work. I want to make new projects this year that I haven't tried before and with more time that should be possible. I've already started this year off with a new project, recovering my friends car seats!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-29T22:23:00.002-07:00

Christmas with a nearly 2 year old was a ton of fun!! She suprised me with how much she was interested with everything else going on but not exactly unwrapping her gifts. She wanted to wander from one person to the next to see what they were doing :) She only focused on her own stuff for a little bit. This was our first Utah Christmas however I was totally sad that there was NO snow and that it has only snowed 2 (maybe 3) times this year... not even an inch each time. UM yes this is ME saying this! I guess I wanted a little bit of a winter wonderland for the year I'm not traveling... Now that Christmas is over we have our countdown till Little Miss turns 2!!! 2 1/2 more months (which also means spring will be here in 2 1/2 more months!) I am excited about that!

2011 in Photos

2011-12-20T13:25:00.004-07:00

If you haven't noticed this is my yearly tradition (since 2009) seen here, and here..

So another year has come and gone and we are heading into 2012 now!!! Can't believe it! Our baby girl will be 2 soon and she is the light of our life... hence why the following pictures will pretty much all be of her!

January: Spent most the month indoors away from the cold cuddling with this little girlFebruary: Celebrated Ava's first Valentines Day
March: Celebrated Ava's 1st birthday!!!
April: Ava got her first tooth on April Fools Day
May: Ava finally started walking!
June: I turned 25 (and these photos were my birthday present :)
July: Ava got tubes in her ears! SO thankful for tubes!
August: Lisa Ava and I went to MONTANA!!
September: Ava turned 18 months and started nursery :)
October: Family photos and Ava's 2nd Halloween
November: 2nd Thanksgiving
December: 2nd Christmas

No truer words

2011-12-09T22:48:00.004-07:00

We've hit 1 year since we have wanted a 2nd baby. 1 year and no closer to baby number 2. I thought we'd be having a baby in January. Mothers day weekend I had 3 positive pregnancy tests (yes I kept taking them) but lo and behold I'm not pregnant and not having a baby next month. Chemical pregnancy/early miscarriage, whatever you call it, I call it heartache. I pray with all my heart that by this time next year we will indeed be pregnant expecting our 2nd. Ava truly is a blessing from the start and continues to be the greatest gift I've ever been given.

Santa photos

2011-12-01T23:25:00.005-07:00

Awesome Santa vs FAIL Santa

The first photo was taken at Fotofly (at thanksgiving point) and the other at the mall!! AH! We had plans all along to just do the Fotofly photos but we were at the mall over the weekend, and decided to see how Ava would do with Santa so stopped by and saw him. EPIC FAIL! So don't go see the scary Mall Santa! Go to Fotofly at Thanksgiving point! (SIDE NOTE: fotofly pics were taken on a NO nap day!!!! unbelievable!)

Thankful days 16-22

2011-11-23T10:19:00.002-07:00

16: I'm thankful for my sister in law Lisa for coming to save me when I was having a mini meltdown
17: I'm thankful for my own intuition to take Ava to the doctor when everyone was telling me she was fine. Her hand was not fine and I'm glad we got her in.
18: Thankful that Ava was happy at the doctor today and we didn't have to hold her down like yesterday.
19: Thankful for Dan and how much he helps me even when I'm covering our house in fabric and crafts
20: I'm thankful for entire days in PJ's
21: I'm thankful for modern medicine and the help it is to us!
22: I'm thankful for my talkative little girl. She amazes me with all the words she can say and I love it! Today she was counting and being adorable like usual :) Also thankful for 4 hour naps :)

Day 8-15 oops

2011-11-16T01:27:00.009-07:00

Ive been thinking about these but being lazy
8 I'm thankful for our mini van and that it gets us where we need to go safety. Also for my education and knowledge of car seat safety. If I ever help one person keep their child safer then all my annoying posts and comments are worth it!!!
9 I'm thankful we got to have a fun family outting today to yo gabba gabba live.
10 I'm thankful Dan and I could go on a group date tonight!
11 I'm thankful for the kindness of strangers even if it's just over something silly.
12 I'm thankful for cute clothes. Shallow yes but I love dressing my doll up ;)
13 I'm thankful I got to help Kara pick out sommers sewing machine for her 10th birthday. Her face when she opened it was priceless. Thankful that Kara and her kids are our family.
14 I'm thankful for wonderful understanding supportive friends!
15 I'm thankful for the fact that we still have the hospitals bulb syringe. Only one that ever worked and 20 months old today and very much needed it tonight.

Day 7

2011-11-07T17:20:00.002-07:00

I'm thankful for the fact that I know someday I will be able to have another baby be it through pregnancy or adoption. Even though we have been trying for almost a year I know that somehow we will be parents again. Even if it takes a few more years. I know that the tears of sadness I cry today will be replaced with tears of joy.

Day 6

2011-11-06T14:12:00.001-07:00

I'm thankful for Dan and the fact that he is so supportive loving and helpful! He is the best Dad I know. He puts Ava first 110% of the time! I love him so much!

Day 5

2011-11-05T22:45:00.000-07:00

I'm thankful that Dan is getting up with ava tomorrow so I can sleep in :)

Day 4

2011-11-04T22:39:00.000-07:00

I'm thankful for Lisa and Kara :) and a night out of the house!!

Day 3

2011-11-03T14:20:00.002-07:00

I'm thankful for the fact that Ava is an awesome sleeper. She still has some 'bad' nights but even then it means I get to rock her back to sleep which I LOVE.

Day 2

2011-11-02T21:00:00.003-07:00

I'm thankful for our rec center gym that I work out at and that I've been everyday in November so far ;)

30 days of gratitude: Day 1

2011-11-01T22:06:00.001-07:00

I'm thankful for my sweet baby girl! She is the greatest gift God could ever give me. Today she learned a couple of new words like "rain" "snow" "a clue" and "excuse me" ... She amazes me every single day!

19 Months old

2011-10-24T23:09:00.007-07:00

Yay Ava is 19+ months old now! I haven't blogged in over a month! Oppps!!!

Little miss Ava is as busy as ever! She has 8 teeth now, 6 in front and 2 molars, with 3 more coming in soon we hope. She's our little curious girl. She loves to be outside and look at all the plants and trees and examine them. She is very interested in animals and books and anything she can study for a little while.

The girl also LOVES to color. She can say 'please' now when we give her a crayon and she will take herself over to her little desk in the corner of our living room and draw (even if there is no paper there!) thankfully the desk is easy to clean and she has never drawn on any walls (yet).

She's a smart little cookie, she only needs to see something done once and she can copy it... sometimes not the best thing for her parents but she is very observant! The other day she spent at least 20 minutes trying to buckle her baby doll into her old infant carrier car seat! I couldn't believe it! It was darling!

I've also been extra busy lately. Brittybird.com has been going REALLY great but can also be tiring. I love what I do and am so thankful for the money it brings in and hoping to start using it to pay off some bills and save for our house (that we desperately need because of my shop)

We have been slacking off on doing weight watchers which is really disappointing... I've been really enjoying working out when I can but I've not had a lot of time. I'm hoping to find a better balance so that I can work out and focus on eating better. Without losing weight theres not a lot of hope in getting pregnant. We are coming up on a year since we decided to have a 2nd. Its very hard not to have our second baby in our arms yet (or my belly) but we pray that it won't be too much longer that we have to wait. Whenever they do arrive they will be so loved and worth the wait I am sure. I've developed more patience than I could have ever imagined and feel like a better mother than I would have been without this journey.

My mom came up to visit us 2 weeks ago! It was so much fun to have her here and I wish so much that she lived here! We love her and we were able to do something REALLY fun with her while she was here! We did our family portraits for the year and got to include my mom in some with just Ava and Ava and I. I adore them and am so grateful for what a wonderful woman she is!

18 Month Book

2011-09-22T11:54:00.001-07:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

18 Month Update (long and for my records)

2011-09-15T23:23:00.004-07:00

"We are incredibly blessed to have such an amazing little girl. I don't take her for granted for one single second. I wouldn't wish any of my time with her away to be doing anything else. My patience with her has grown exponentially in the last year. Struggling with secondary infertility has been an emotional trial for me but oddly enough a blessing at the same time. I am so grateful for Dan and Ava."

I posted that today on my facebook status. Exactly sums up what I've been feeling for a while now!

Our sweet little Ava turned 18 months old today. That may not seem very old but it feels like she has been in my life forever! I can't imagine it without her! I'm so thankful for her and the joy she brings to my life. I love being a mom and want nothing more than to have more children. It has been a struggle emotionally and physically. However I'll talk about that more another day.

We took Ava to her 18 month appointment today. I think this was by far our best doctors appointment ever! Normally we find something wrong with her ears or lungs or eyes... This time all we discovered is she is allergic to grass....... no big deal right? lol she promised me it wasn't.

Ava's stats today were

34 3/4 inches tall (99.5%)
28 lbs 3 oz (91%)
19 inch head (90%)

She is just growing like a weed lately!! She's wearing 2T and some 3T clothes. I still haven't had the heart to put away all of her 24 month clothes yet however. I keep getting them out too! They are all summer clothes and too small but I love them! Its turning into fall very quickly here. I think we've entered 70 degree weather for good and dropping. Gotta pull out the sweaters soon! She also wears 5/6 in shoes... probably closer to a 6 but once again, I don't want to put away the 5's! TOO much cute stuff! Oh and we finally moved her up to size 5 diapers! Its pretty tough getting any diaper on her wiggly self so we figured the bigger the better!

Our doctor also was very happy with Ava's speech. We were stretching for maybe 5 words back when she was 15 months, and now she has well over 50! She can count to 10 and no longer skips 8 and will even count by herself sometimes. She always cheers for herself at the end :) She also says really funny phrases like "what are you doing" "how are you" "whose there" (always after knocking on something) and "ready set go" in which she always has to run after!

She can name all the Yo Gabba Gabba characters (her favorite tv show), she knows what a dog and a snake say :) she loves animals, especially dogs! She can play this game called "wiggle wiggle hold still" and she dances and holds still when we say. She also knows all the signs to "popcorn popping" "itsy bitsy spider" and "patty cake"... we even found her trying to sing along with one of her shows the other day. So cute. She'll do a lot of the same signs as her shows or talk along with them (probably means we have the TV on too much)...

Lately her favorite things are to color, play outside, play with other kids, read books, open and close everything, sing songs... she's very easy going and generally happy!

She has 7 teeth in as of today! 5 in front and 2 molars on the ride side. Hopefully the other 4 coming in come in quick! Ava still sleeps 12+ hours a night. 7:15p-7:45a usually and then takes 2-3 hour nap in the middle of the day. She is very much a schedule girl and we like it that way!!

She's totally off the bottle and has been for awhile. She drinks great from a sippy cup and is starting to drink from a real cup too at dinner! She's also doing much better at feeding herself with a spoon and fork! Her favorite foods are watermelon, peaches and graham crackers (and milk). She also thinks ketchup is a food... but we will ignore that for now.

Ava still has a binky at night, at naps, and in the car. I don't feel like taking it away yet so I won't. I used to hate the binky but since she doesn't have to have it all of the time I don't really care if she wants it to help her sleep.

Ava also is still rear facing in her car seat! We <3 extended rear facing and will keep her that way till she is too tall for her seat to stay that way... I'd really like her to stay rear facing till 3 or 4 at least, I know people think I'm crazy but I'm okay with that! If they had gone through my major and were anxious about driving anyway, they would feel the exact same way!

Ava is a very sweet and loving little girl. She loves to give kisses and hugs, she'll kiss and hug her baby dolls and she even gave the doctor a hug today and said "awww" while doing so... It is just crazy to see all the things she mimics. All of her little phrases are things I say all of the time and I say "awww" a ton. She also does a little happy sigh after she drinks (does that make sense)... then I realized I do that too!

I love her. She's better than any little girl I ever dreamed about having as a little girl :) She's perfect.

Fall

2011-09-05T11:20:00.002-07:00

I can't believe September is already here! I LOVE fall in Utah! Its so pretty and the weather is nice through Halloween... then it starts to get too cold for my blood.

Yesterday at church we had a heck of a time keeping Ava entertained for 3 hours... I am SOO ready for her to go to nursery, but sooo not ready to leave her there! We decided we would take her next Sunday and I'd stay with her. I'm sure she will do great, she's been to nursery a couple of times when we've been traveling.

I am excited for her to get a chance every week to play with other little kids her age and I hope I can finally figure out who in the ward has kids her age so we can start playing with them during the week. Especially when it gets snowy I won't feel like going out as much so it would be nice to have little kids in the neighborhood for her to play with.

I started some new medications this week to help me in my struggle with PCOS and hopefully on our way to having another baby! We've been doing weight watchers together for a month now! I've lost 7 pounds this month and Dan has lost 11. I'm happy with it, its not fast but its something!

End of Summer

2011-08-26T20:01:00.003-07:00

Summer is winding down and so we wanted to use one of the last hot days for Ava to swim! We went to Grama and Grampa's and she swam in the baby pool in the front yard then ran up and down the street (with one of us of course) it was fun!

Cup

2011-08-24T20:24:00.004-07:00

Ava has been off the bottle for a few months now and now we are leaning towards getting off a sippy!

Today was day 2 of no sippy at dinner. I'm surprised she's doing so great! Dan kept trying to keep her from spilling but I told him its the only way for her to learn.

Counting

2011-08-21T13:22:00.003-07:00

We discovered on Friday that Ava can count with us to 10. Sometimes she'll repeat the number after we say it and other times she will say the next number in line. She also skips 8 which is funny and gets excited about 9 and 10. We went swimming on Friday and counted in the pool with her she thinks its so funny. When did my baby get so grown up!?

(16 &) 17 Months Old

2011-08-18T20:22:00.000-07:00

Ava is 17 months old!! I somehow missed writing a 16 month update for Ava with getting tubes last month but here we are and she's already 17 months old!! 1 more month and she's off to nursery and will be 1 1/2!!! How is this possible!

She's talking a LOT more since she got the tubes in her ears. I keep track of her words and phrases in my phone and its AMAZING to see how many shes developed just since getting tubes! I honestly think she said about 5 or so words before she got tubes. That day we got home she said 2 new ones and has been adding tons since.

I'm writing this list for me for future reference so enjoy lol and this is about the order she learned them... but not totally

Words:
Dada
Mama
Wow
Hi
Num
Ya
Bye
Kenji
No
Uh Oh
Down
Thank You
Up
Nice
Eyes
Nose
Go
Papa
Night
Share
Baba
Whose there
Hello
One

Has said before but not as easy to get her to repeat:
Lisa
Dortha
Yes (ya-sss)
Ya I do
Doggie
Grandma
You
How are you
Food
Two

If you ask her want a snake says she says "SSSSS" Its cute, she'll sometimes do kitty right and we are working on what a dog says now :)

Ava is wearing 2T and even some 3T clothes now but I haven't had the heart to put away ANY of her 24 month clothes... I need to though. She is wearing 5/6 in shoes. We went and got her shoes the day she turned 1 and those were a size 4 and now her 5's barely fit, so I think we will be in 6's full time here real soon. Why can't she stay tiny!!! We have a ton of clothes we have been storing and I have even more stored coming up for her to wear... Girl has way too many clothes!

Ava has 6 teeth now, and 5 or 6 more coming in soon! She's got 5 teeth in front and 1 molar on top :) Everytime I try to get my finger in her mouth to feel she tries to bite me! Thankfully she doesn't bite otherwise.

She is such a well behaved little girl. Ava and I traveled 4200 miles in 3 weeks through Az, Ut, Id, Wy, Sd, Nd, and Mt. She was perfect the entire time. She sleeps, she eats, we get out a couple of times when we get gas, she plays with some toys, she doesn't whine or fuss or cry. Its sooo nice to travel with her! If she didn't travel well I'm sure I'd never make the drive anywhere because I hate driving!

I'm really impressed with how easy she is. She loves other kids and is such a sweet heart. I am so grateful for what a blessing she is in our life. I've wanted another baby in our home for 9 months now. Unfortunately we know the wait to have one is going to be a lot longer. Its hard for me to think that getting pregnant with Ava was so simple, if this 2nd child was like Ava I'd be giving birth in a week.

This already shows me that every child is different and although my plans were to have another child already, that's not necessarily gods plan for us. I've learned a lot in the last 9 months, and 17 months for that matter. I am looking forward to the day that we find out that I'm pregnant again and pray that it all works out and our battle with secondary infertility will end soon enough. I need to go back to my doctor and talk about some more medical options because so far I haven't seen much changes with the meformin I've been taking.

Here's to more exciting updates in the future :)

Savage Montana

2011-08-09T21:15:00.001-07:00

Arizona Trip

2011-07-31T16:36:00.013-07:00

ITS HOT HERE! Ok now that I stated the obvious, lets move on to fun stuff!

We got here a week ago Saturday. We decided to split up the trip into 2 days and stop in Saint George over night and see Dan's Grandma! Ava got to see all her animals and loved them! It was fun to stop to see her!
We stayed in a motel but since it was pioneer day weekend motel prices were nearly double (75$) for 1 night!!! NOT FUN! And Ava decided to only sleep for 2 hours. She started getting a cold right when we were heading out on Friday and I didn't want to cancel because of it so it made the trip a bit more interesting. I ended up staying up with her the whole night that night and by 5 am we just gave up and got on the road. We ended up getting into Tempe just after noon. We were exhausted.

Grandma bought Ava this little slide and at first she loved it... not so much after the first fall, but it will be fun to have a grandma's house our next visit!!

Kate and Kirk came over the first day right after we got in and we immediately started in on projects! Kate and I did this crayon melting project that took 2 days... this was the first half
We decided Ava needed her own week long project :) She did 7 paintings while we were here! She loved playing in the paint!
Sunday we got to go to my moms ward which I always love doing! Ava dressed up in "corona colors" and looked adorable. She spent the whole time walking around or coloring. Her 2 favorite things!
We sat our crayons outside all day Sunday
Ava made more art
Monday we hung out and I ran errands :) and we went to my Dad's for dinner. Ava also enjoyed playing Grandma's piano while we were down
Tuesday we took Ava to the splash pad, which she loved!!! This girl is a busy little bee!
Tuesday night we went to a BBQ at Lonna's mom's house and got to see a lot of our friends.

On Wednesday we went to lunch with my friend Tera and took Chloe and Ava to play at the mall playground. I was chasing Ava the entire time because she thought it was so much fun to run out of the play center so I had to catch her! Still cute but exhausting!
Thursday I woke up with horrible back pain, probably from Wednesday. We took it easy that day, not to mention Ava's lungs were sounding really bad. Either from the cold or from asthma. It was NOT fun! I hate when she gets wheezy and I don't have all her medicine with us. We still went and had dinner with my dad that night and after getting Ava to bed finally went and saw Harry Potter.
On Friday I met up with my cousin Melissa and helped her find some hair flowers for her wedding (11/11/11) It was fun catching up with her.
On Saturday I worked on projects most of the day... etsy onesies and headbands and bows. Dan and my mom watched Ava most of the day. It was Kates birthday so we went to an aquarium to celebrate with her.

Update

2011-07-17T20:39:00.002-07:00

I don't feel like I've written in a while! We've had a few things going on!

First we've been talking about doing tubes in Ava's ears for months now! We almost did them in March but because of a bad cough we kept postponing till we finally cancelled all together.

After our last trip to AZ Ava got another ear infection and her ear drum burst. We realized we had to move forward with tubes. We were trying to get Ava into a doctor in Salt Lake when we found out our health insurance was going from pretty good to very bad, all starting August 1st. The doctors in Salt Lake couldn't get us in for surgery before the 1st but thankfully a doctor closer to home could get her in!

We took her in on Tuesday this week. Thankfully she was 2nd for the day and from the time we walked in till we left was 2 hours exactly. There was a little boy that was a little older than Ava that was going before us. They took both of us back at the same time to wait in a little hospital room with a curtain dividing us. He screamed and fussed the whole time before he went back. Ava just hung out with us and we watched "Wonder Pets" They took the little boy back first and he was back there for a long time compared to what they told us.

They finally came out and told his parents he was done and they took Ava back. Then the screamer came back, but this time he was screaming like someone was murdering him and did so for the entire hour till we left! It was probably the worst part of the whole experience, so thats pretty good.

Ava was only back for 15 minutes before they came back and told us she did great, passed her hearing tests and would be coming to us in a few minutes. This was the part I wasn't prepared for. I had no idea how sad it would be for her to come out of anesthesia. When the nurse handed her to me she was crying so hard and had her eyes shut. She was totally out of it. We gave her a bottle of formula and she chugged it since she hadn't had anything to eat since midnight.

Unfortunately the nurses or doctors didn't tell us that we shouldn't bring her milk. We should have brought her juice...... She then threw up on Dan :( We took her home and she threw up 1 more time and then started going back to normal.

We can already tell a difference the tubes are making just in her hearing alone! She's said more words since Tuesday than she has in any other week. She also is responding to us a lot faster than normal when we speak to her. She is up to 15-20 words! Its crazy!

I need a baby boy!

2011-07-07T13:36:00.002-07:00

Happy 4th of July

2011-07-05T11:19:00.001-07:00

Question Time with Ava

2011-07-05T11:18:00.000-07:00

Working on our words

2011-06-29T12:41:00.000-07:00

This week Ava has started saying more things. She has said things that sound like "Hello" "Thank You" "Kenji" and "Bye" with a few others, the only one she says clearly for me in the video is Bye but its sooo cute

Getting help

2011-06-22T23:50:00.004-07:00

Yesterday the pain from my throat was too much to handle. I finally remembered the name of the doctor I saw (that I liked) 4 years ago when I had mono. She got me in and told me I had strep and ear infections. I'm now on antibiotics and hoping that the pain goes away ASAP!

I happened to ask her if she had any suggested about an OBGYN in the area that had experience working with women with PCOS. Turns out she herself is a specialist in the area, I had no idea! I almost started crying I was so excited. One of my biggest hurdles of starting down this path was to actually speak to a doctor about it since the last times I have done so it hasn't been received well.

This was the opposite case with this doctor. She is very supportive and encouraging! She was also understanding of why its been so hard for me to lose weight, it goes along with the PCOS and Insulin Resistance. She has started me on Metformin (which I'm going to start next week once i'm feeling better) and we are hoping that starts to help me lose some weight, use insulin better and to get my body back to "normal"

She also made a point to tell me what a miracle it was that we were able to get pregnant with Ava and have a healthy pregnancy. I'm so thankful for Ava and I know now what a miracle she is. There is a reason she is here with us and that she came when she did.

Summer is here!!

2011-06-22T20:58:00.002-07:00

Happy Fathers Day

2011-06-20T13:02:00.006-07:00

15 Month Appt

2011-06-16T17:41:00.002-07:00

Weight: 25 pounds 11 ounces (85th %)
Height: 33 inches (98th %)
Head: 19 inches (94%)

Ava didn't get any of her shots today because she needed more antibiotics for her ear. Her eardrum is ruptured :( and has been bleeding. We have to take her back on Saturday to look and see if she needs more antibiotic and to see how her ear is doing.

We go back in 2 weeks to do a weight check and to get her shots. She has lost 2 pounds (which could be from having the flu this weekend) so we just want to make sure her weight starts going back up because she was nearly 28 pounds at 13 1/2 months old.

We are going to do tubes in her ears and we are going to get her tear ducts probed... hoping to get her into the doctor soon so we can get this all done asap.

15 months goes fast!

2011-06-15T20:28:00.001-07:00

15 Months Old

2011-06-15T11:42:00.003-07:00

Ava is 15 months old today!! Ava started walking full time 2 weeks ago and has been go go go ever since! I LOVE it. Everyone told me to enjoy the non walking days... I'm sorry this is great. I'm guessing most of those people didn't have a big 14 1/2 month old that they had to carry around. Now I can stand Ava up next to me while I try to find my keys to get into the door, I can walk with her outside and not have her get filthy from trying to crawl on the ground... LOVE IT!

She's talking a little more. She is saying dada, mama, num, hi, and wow consistently. We have been working on doggie and bye bye :) A couple of times I've heard her say "hi dada" when pretending to talk on the phone (which is a current favorite activity)

Ava is wearing 24 month clothes and some 2T now. Clothes have become increasingly frustrating the last month. She is getting taller but not rounder. 24 month pants won't stay up on her waist, even elastic waist pants. We just stick with leggings so they stay on!

Ava has 4 teeth now, 3 of which came within just over a week of each other. I haven't checked in a while but I don't think she has any other teeth coming in right now.

I love Ava so much, its hard to imagine that things just keep getting more and more fun! She loves to play games and look at books. She also loves swimming. She is such a doll and I am so thankful I get to stay at home and spend everyday with her!

On the not so fun front, yesterday Ava was having a really hard time. When we got home from our friends house I realized she was burning up. I took her temp and it was 102.6! I immediately called the doctor and they got her an appointment for 10 minutes from them. We drove straight over and they told us she has an ear infection :( this is her first one since before her birthday. Looks like we are back on track for getting tubes. We just need to do it though.

We also learned yesterday that Ava weighs less than she did at 1 year. We will find out more tomorrow about that but I hope the doctor isn't too concerned. Ava isn't the greatest eater. I am trying harder to get her to eat regularly with lots of snacks. So far today I have offered her food every 2 1/2 hours and she's eaten a little each time so thats an improvement!

We took Ava to nursery in my mom's ward 2 weeks ago just for fun and I stayed with her. She had so much fun!! 3 more months and she will be in nursery! that will be crazy!

Happy Flag Day ;P

2011-06-14T21:39:00.000-07:00

Ava and the mirror ~ June 11th

2011-06-11T21:29:00.002-07:00

Hand Phone ~ May 30th

2011-06-11T21:28:00.002-07:00

Ava dancing and walking ~ May 28th

2011-06-11T21:27:00.001-07:00

Pig ~ May 26th

2011-06-11T21:26:00.001-07:00

Memorial Day Trip to AZ

2011-06-07T23:42:00.004-07:00

Ava and I got back from our trip to AZ yesterday. We were hanging out with my friend Stacy and her baby Brynlee the Thursday before Memorial day. I mentioned that I had wanted to go down to AZ but decided not to go even though Dan was going to the Indy 500 for 5 days. She talked me into going and I immediately packed up our stuff and left the next morning!

We did the whole drive in 1 day even though I was sure I couldn't make it. Thankfully Ava is an angel in her car seat and doesn't give me any trouble. My mom was so excited to see us! I was so happy to be there as well! Almost immediately after we got out of the car Ava started up and walking! She had at this point gone 6 or 7 steps and that was just the day before. (her first steps were almost 6 weeks before however). She was standing at my moms back door, she turned around and just started walking. She's been walking pretty much non stop ever since.

Everyone told me not to wish for her to walk. I don't know if any of those people had ever had a 14 1/2 month old that weighed 27 pounds that they were bending over to pick up off the floor and carry everywhere???? Its painful on the back, let me tell you that much. Anyway, Love love love that she is walking now. So nice. I did have the moment of "time won't ever go back" which it never does anyway, but still. My baby is very much a toddler now.

We spent a ton of time out at the pool or somehow in water. It was great and Ava loved it! That girl was made for water! She showed off lots of cute tricks while we were there. Her little hand phone answer when the phone would ring. My mom still doesn't believe me that I don't talk on the phone very much. I hardly ever talk on the phone actually. I have no idea where Ava picked that up.

We ended up spending about 10 days down in AZ. We decided to head back home to Utah yesterday. That drive really is a killer. I get really tired when I drive so we end up stopping a lot and I end up drinking lots of soda. I was almost certain we were going to stop in Vegas and stay the night but Dan talked me into at least getting to St George. Once I was there I felt like I was "basically" in Orem and finished the last 4 hours.

Happy to be home and don't plan on going back to AZ till at least the end of the summer. I'm going to enjoy staying put for a bit. I'm also currently undertaking the huge task of reorganizing our house. I was able to accomplish great things in our living room today, as well as our dining room and Ava's room (thanks to my mother in law for coming over)! We now have more room which is always a bonus. I've spent the last 5+ hours working on my office and it doesn't look like its changed much... which is very sad, I did however get rid of a ton of stuff in our storage closet and pack it back full of fun things :)

Memorial Day Trip Part 2

2011-06-07T23:34:00.002-07:00

AZ Memorial Day Trip (so far)

2011-06-01T12:43:00.003-07:00

She can walk!!

2011-05-28T16:34:00.002-07:00

Ava took her 1st steps while we were visiting my mom in AZ 5 weeks ago! Now 5 weeks later she has gone from first steps to finally walking part time :) Still favorite mode of transportation is crawling but dang 2 days ago she walked 5 steps for the first time and that was the most she had ever done. Now its just no big thing for her!

We have been joking for a while that she would just up and start walking as soon as Dan went out of town to the Indy 500... while Dan was on the plane, Ava just started walking! So at 14 1/2 months we have a little walker :)

Here's the video :)

I want 10 Ava's!

2011-05-23T21:47:00.003-07:00

This may be one of those famous quotes that goes down in the history of our family as hilarious (well others in our family find them hilarious)! Dan only has 1 famous quote which will forever be "I'm married, I have no problems" ~ said the day after our wedding and very quickly regretted I'm sure.

2nd famous quote in our family "I just want her awake and screaming" ~ said by me the night before Ava was born. I still stand by that one!!! I was a very nervous pregnant lady who often feared the worse and nothing brought me greater happiness than the realization that soon I would have Ava and I'd get to hear her and know all was well with the world. The second I heard her first noise was like the weight of 10 million pounds and 9 months of stress being lifted off of my shoulders and into my arms.

Lastly (and I say this one all of the time) "I want 10 Ava's" I hope and pray I can stand by this one the rest of my life as well... those teen years will probably be tough, maybe I'll only want 5 but still. She makes me so so so happy! She exudes so much love and joy I can only imagine how wonderful it would be to have 10 little Ava's to love. I will never know what its like to actually have 10 of her but I guess that's what makes the 1 so special!

14 Months Old

2011-05-18T11:40:00.002-07:00

Ava was 14 months on Sunday. She started taking steps the day before Easter. Everyone said she would be taking 6-8 steps within a week of her first steps.... nope! It took her 3 more weeks to work up to 3 steps in a row. She now takes a couple of steps each day trying to get from one piece of furniture to the next. Its very cute :)

She is starting to say a few more things. Number 1 word is "dada" after that she loves to say "hi" and "num num" and every so often we can get her to say "mama" and "wow". The cutest thing is when she 'pretends' to eat and says num num! She knows 3 signs now. "more" "all done" and "eat" It is so adorable when she signs! I want to teach her more.

Ava is getting so big. She is wearing 24 month and 2T clothes. Seriously how can she be this big? I haven't been able to get good measurements of her weight or height. I think she is 33 inches tall but she is wiggly! Lol.

Ava got her 3rd tooth yesterday! She's catching up in the tooth department! She got her first tooth April 1st but it took nearly 6 weeks to get her second and then 6 days after that to get her 3rd :)

She is so much fun and I am excited (no matter what people tell me) for her to start walking full time!

Thank you Ava

2011-05-08T20:28:00.006-07:00

My first Mother's Day:
My Second Mother's Day: Today should be a day to celebrate my little Ava for making me a Mom. It has been exactly 2 years since we decided we wanted to start trying for a baby. I remember coming home from church on Mother's Day crying and devastated that I had been recently told that I A) shouldn't get pregnant and B) probably couldn't get pregnant. Within the week after mother's day we decided that we weren't going to go along with what the doctors were telling us and that was the best decision of our lives! I pray for the day that we will be able to get pregnant again and although its not as 'easy' as it was last time I know our next child will be worth the wait.

The Luckiest

2011-05-05T11:28:00.003-07:00

I find it hard to put into words how much I love Ava. Every time I listen to the song "the luckiest" by Ben Folds, my heart gets full because that's how I feel about Ava (even though technically I know he didn't write that about his child).

I feel like I have made so many many mistakes in my life and somehow everything I've done has brought me to this moment. This moment where I'm a mom and Ava is my everything. I am the luckiest. I'm thankful for every mistake, every tear, every hardship I've had to face. Everything I've had to go through growing up has shaped me into a better person, for her.

This Mother's day I'm so thankful for my mom and for my future little mommy, Ava. I know she came first in our family for a reason. She loves other children and she already acts like a little mom at 1. I can't wait till she's a big sister.

Easter Ava

2011-04-24T14:49:00.000-07:00

Ava's 1st Steps!

2011-04-24T14:28:00.000-07:00

Ava took her very first steps yesterday! 2 to be exact! I always thought kids walked by 1... nope not Ava. I then found out its totally normal for them not to walk till even as much as 18 months... OH so not okay. Ava weighs about 28 pounds and it really really hurts my back to carry her around all the time.

Ava is pretty timid about standing on her own. She has only been doing it for a little while. She will let go of things and stand there for a minute or so, maybe. Yesterday we gave her Grandma's phone to play with and while she was playing with it and standing there she took 2 steps towards me! I started screaming I was so excited, and of course my mom started crying!

The day before Ava was sitting on the floor playing with a toy carrot. She started picking pretend pieces of off it and eating them while saying "yumm" both my mom and I started crying on that one. I could not believe she was old enough to pretend like that! It was so cute.

Speaking of being around my mom, we made a quick impromptu trip to see family here in AZ. I was having a hard time thinking that it would have been 5 months between visits if we waited till the end of May so I couldn't do it. I had to come for Easter.

Ava has been having so much fun here in AZ. She has a lot more room to play and lots of people to see! She went swimming in a baby pool for the first time and LOVED it. We will have to do that more when it warms up in Utah. She also went to the Phoenix Zoo for the first time! Thanks Aunt Kate and Uncle Kirk :)

I think we will be staying another week here, so we look forward to seeing people and 'enjoying' the heat. I will say, I have become accustom to Utah weather and AZ is SOOO hot to me now!

13 Months

2011-04-16T18:20:00.003-07:00

Ava's 13 months old now! Dang time goes way too fast. Still no walking but she is standing on her own more and more often. She will let go of things and wave or clap or play "so big" and then go back to holding onto whatever piece of furniture it is.

She is playing more games now, she's had 'patty cake' down to a science for a while but now if you ask her how big she is she will throw her arms up and we say "so big" and she will also do "popcorn popping" and if you ask her to do "popcorn" she will pop with her hands. Its so cute!

She still doesn't say any words other than make noises like "mama" and "dada" but she's got time. I'm trying to get her to say "ba" lately, she used to say it more but now I'm trying to get her to say it for "ball" She has this little kick ball she loves, she throws it or kicks it or rolls it all around. Today we all sat on the floor rolling it to each other :) she loves it!

Ava loves books. She will sit and 'read' forever. Its one of her favorite activities. She also adores other kids. Whenever other kids are around she has to be turned around looking at what they are doing and starts making all her happy noises. It sounds like she is trying to get there attention.

Ava still sleeps really well! 6 months now she has been a SOLID sleeper and I am so thankful for it. I can even go into her room at night (while she is in there asleep) turn on the light, put laundry away, clean up and she doesn't wake up. One night this week she sat up but kept her eyes closed so I just had to go over and lay her back down and she just stayed asleep! Every now and again I get her out of her crib in the middle of the night to cuddle her and rock her in the rocking chair. If I stop rocking she starts pushing against my legs to tell me she wants me to keep going. I love it. She won't cuddle with me or sleep in our bed so when she lets me rock her in the middle of the night makes me really happy.

We love our little Ava. She won't stay little for too much longer, she'll be 21 before I know it!

Ava Stands!

2011-04-05T20:36:00.000-07:00

My babies 1st tooth

2011-04-01T18:21:00.002-07:00

Ava finally got her first tooth! She's been teething for a couple weeks now. The doctor pointed out that she was getting this tooth when we went to her 1 year check up on the 16th. It finally cut through today. It is so sharp! No wonder babies are tiny monsters when they are teething! I would be too!!

Anyway, I'm sad to see her little gummy smile go away, but excited that this tooth finally broke through and she can get a break (for a minute).

Ava's 1 year portraits and cousin photos

2011-03-29T20:11:00.018-07:00

A 1 year olds favorite things

2011-03-29T07:28:00.003-07:00

Pushing buttons
looking at books
dogs
bathes
patty cake
shopping
pianos
bubbles
putting things in boxes
and dumping them out again

.... pushing things

Sunday Update

2011-03-20T17:17:00.002-07:00

Well, Ava's 1st birthday has come and gone (still can't believe it)! We had such a fun week! Took her to the doctor, she is 26 pounds and 32 inches tall! SO big!

This week she showed us that she can show us where our noses are! Not sure who taught her this, but its so cute!

I'm back on track with Weight Watchers starting tomorrow. Unfortunately I staled after the first week and haven't lost any weight since week 1. So back on track and back moving towards my goal.

Ava's not getting tubes till April now instead of this Tuesday. Her lung infection isn't gone yet so they want to wait till it clears up.

Happy Birthday Ava

2011-03-15T20:54:00.000-07:00

2011-03-13T21:01:00.001-07:00

Where did my baby go!? Almost 1 year old!!!

2011-03-05T21:04:00.000-07:00

The number 6

2011-03-04T21:37:00.002-07:00

First 6 stands for the number of pounds I lost my first week back on Weight Watchers! WOO HOO! Thats a very good number for me!!

Second 6 stands for the number of ear infections Ava has currently gone to the doctor for since September. We talked and the doctor thinks she's had more but we didn't realize it. Its REALLY hard for us to tell when Ava has an ear infection because she is in such a good mood all the time. However the doctor is worried about the infections affecting her speech development and hearing. So we go see an ear nose and throat doctor next Friday to talk about tubes. I'll be happy when they are over and Ava stops having to suffer through these ear infections and rounds and rounds of antibiotics.

Sunday Update

2011-02-27T10:39:00.002-07:00

Quick update! Ava says "wow" now. SO cute! I can hardly stand it! She also plays patty cake and her favorite part is the "throw it in the air"... she always throws her arms up during "mark it with a B" :) Its so cute!

I'm on day 4 today of Weight Watchers (well we, Dan's doing it too!) I feel great, the first few days are the hardest to get started, then after 3-4 weeks, it becomes totally second nature to count points and eat healthy. I'm looking forward to Thursday and weighing in again and seeing how this week turns out!

I'm so thankful for the support others have shown, its comforting to know that people support us and that we aren't alone. This is important to us. Its important to me. I love health, I love being healthy, I love running and haven't been able to in years now. I was a public health major of all things :)

Day 1 down... a million to go

2011-02-25T12:28:00.007-07:00

It is absolutely no secret that I have struggled with my weight pretty much my entire life. I started getting pudgy around 8, so for the last 16 years I have had tons of issues surrounding my weight and my self esteem. It took me a long time to even like myself and I do like myself now. I love myself for who I am. I love that I am a mom, and I LOVE that I love being a mom. I love that I'm creative and crafty. I love having fun and being funny and being with friends and family. But I don't love how I look (or how I feel physically).

Yesterday was my first day officially back on Weight Watchers. I've done WW a million times before it seems. The first time I did it I lost over 100 pounds (but in all honesty, I wasn't doing it the right way). I was super obsessed back then about the whole thing and got really sick. After getting sick I gained about 60 pounds back, which was no fun.

I met Dan and maintained (meaning I kept gaining and losing the same 15 pounds for a year). After our wedding I gained a solid 15 pounds and thats when we started WW again. I wanted to get pregnant as soon as we got married (probably since I was 5 years old lol) and so I knew I needed to lose some weight so that I could get my PCOS back in control.

I lost 30 pounds and as soon as I hit that 30 pound mark I got pregnant with Ava. Fast forward nearly 2 years and here I am now. I gained just over 40 pounds during my pregnancy and I have lost 0... ZERO... of that weight. Which is REALLY depressing. I was hoping by the time Ava was 1 I would be well under my pre-pregnancy weight... but no. I'm not.

So now I have a ton of weight to lose. I want to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight plus lose an extra 35 pounds because being pregnant at the weight I was last time was really hard, so I don't think I could do it again having to take care of a toddler. So add that up... 75 pounds that I'd like to lose ASAP. I wish I had found the motivation before so that by Ava's birthday I could have been 75 pounds lighter and on my way to baby #2 but I'm glad I've found it now, and maybe there's a reason why I needed a larger age difference between my babies than I would have liked.

So anyway. I'm going to be blogging about this alot. I used to hate to talk about my weight. It was such a voodoo topic. But honesty, I'm fat, people who know me know I'm fat. Thats just the way it is and thats not how I want it to be. I have PCOS and Insulin Resistance which makes losing weight A TON of fun... not. But I can do it. I'm going to make an appointment with an OB this spring and see if I can start on metformin as well.

I'm doing this for myself, I'm doing this for Ava, I'm doing this so we can have more children. Its so hard but its so worth it.

Ava High Fives

2011-02-24T11:34:00.000-07:00

Ava's Birthday Invites

2011-02-20T00:37:00.003-07:00

We are not doing a big party this year, just a small one at Dan's parents and then an even smaller one at our house on her birthday :)

BUT I still wanted to do announcements for her birthday, especially since my family is in AZ, I still wanted to send them cards :) I got the idea from a website (well the collage part) and since I'm addicted to photos, it seemed totally necessary for me to do these! Anyways these are what I came up with. It was nice only making 12 of them :) And the inserts on the left went to the AZ family and the right to the Utah family.

Waving and clapping :)

2011-02-18T20:11:00.000-07:00

Ava waved for the first time yesterday and clapped for the first time today! I'm so proud of my big girl!

(Sorry she isn't wearing a shirt, she fights us when we try to put her PJs on so we have to take breaks)

11 Months old!

2011-02-17T16:21:00.003-07:00

I can't believe my Ava is 11 months old now! Less than 1 month till her BIRTHDAY! WOW!

She's 24 lbs 6 oz, 31.5 inches tall wearing 18 and 24 month clothes and still in size 4 diapers (and hopefully is for a long time since we have soooo many).

This little girl is cruising around everywhere and everything. She has only stood on her own in the middle of the floor 1x for maybe a few seconds. She's not ready yet, but thats okay :)

She's just started waving. I think I'll count today as her first wave because I waved at her and she did it back, the same number of little waves as well :) It was very cute! She's still trying to figure out how to clap, it usually turns into lots of arm waving.

She has 3 words now, Mama, Dada and Baba. She is a doll and we adore her. I still just can't believe she'll be 1 next month!

Update on us

2011-02-16T23:10:00.004-07:00

I was reading an old roommates blog today and she was saying how their blog has turned into being about their daughter about 90% of the time. This is very true for us as well. I'm terrible at journaling so my blog is a nice way for me to be able to go back and see what Ava was doing when. Probably not the most fun for everyone else, but oh well. I like reading other people's blogs like that too so I don't have a problem with it.

Anyway I will update on what all of us are doing :)

Dan:

Dan's been at his job for 6 1/2 months now! I'm so proud of him and all the hard work he does. He really likes his job. His job seems to change often but I guess it keeps him on his toes :)

Dan loves to play with Ava and is an amazing father. He gets down on the ground with her and just has a blast with her. She loves him so much as well. She gets so excited when he comes home from work!

Dan also keeps busy with his Xbox. I thought the xbox was gone out of our lives for awhile there but when I got really busy with working, he got busy with playing. Oh well we each have our own hobbies.

Brittany:

I love being a stay at home mom. I really can't imagine doing anything else. I am really really thankful that I'm able to stay at home with Ava. We may not have the biggest house or the newest and greatest things, but I love taking care of Ava day in and day out.

I also really enjoy my little at home business. Its really taken of the last couple of months and I work 7 days a week CRAFTING! How fun is that? I only work while Ava is asleep so I'm really lucky Ava sleeps really well (and a lot). I don't get much sleep myself but I have a passion for crafting and won't do it while Ava's awake.

I keep seeing my etsy stats on my sales page and wondering where on earth the money I'm making is going, but I put everything I make back into my business to buy more and more supplies to make more and more new fun items. I do every so often use it to splurge on something. I was proud when I saved enough money to buy myself a nice diaper bag :) hahaha I felt like a kid that had been saving their allowance :)

When I'm not playing with Ava or crafting, I'm playing with my camera and trying to figure the whole thing out. I love pictures but could never be a photographer. Its too hard to try and get kids too look at the camera!

We are dreaming of buying a home here in the close future. The idea of being homeowners is kinda scary but exciting. We really need to start working towards that goal so we can make it happen sooner than later! I keep imaging having a 2nd baby in this condo and that just won't work and since I'd love a 2nd baby sooner than later as well, we better get saving for a house!

BUT (big but) in order to make the 2nd baby happen sooner than later I have to lose weight, which is incredibly hard right now. I just need to do it! But its so much easier said than done. I need to take a little more time out of my day for myself and focusing on ME getting healthy and maybe slow down a bit on everything else getting done. Once I get healthier, I know everything else will be that much easier.

Ava:

She's a fun little girl! She's so curious and interested in everything she see's. She has a talent for pushing very small buttons. I never thought of this as a talent till Ava came along, but she does push the littlest buttons and will do it over and over and over again! lol

We take her to the doctor tomorrow to talk about putting tubes in her ears. I wonder if her ear infection has even gone away this time. We've forgotten to give her her antibiotic day 9 and 10 :( I feel bad because I know the importance of finishing entire rounds of antibiotics. The doctor just put her on a really difficult one that she really doesn't like to take. Blah. Hopefully we get some good news tomorrow.

Nice day in Utah

2011-02-16T22:56:00.002-07:00

It was a beautiful day outside today! 50's and perfect! I decided to see if Ava would want to take a stroll outside with her dinosaur but she wasn't super interested in doing anything but trying to eat sticks and things. She's never had to wear shoes before while riding her green friend, so she wasn't exactly sure what to do. Normally she can ride or walk with him and go wherever she wants. :) Anyway it was a nice day to be outside (I also believe someone screamed help at the end there.... scary)

Cousins

2011-02-13T14:43:00.012-07:00

I love Ava and Owen to pieces! They have so much fun together and I am going to be so sad when Matt, Kandace and Owen move at the end of May! We are going to try and get as much time with these 2 babies as possible before the big move.

We have spent the last 3 weekends together! Here are some pictures of their latest adventures :)

January 29th

February 5th & 6th:
February 12th:

Tubes in Ava's Ears

2011-02-07T14:08:00.003-07:00

I took Ava to the doctor this morning because she has a goopy eye and I figured she needed eye drops... turns out she has her 5th ear infection since October.

The doctor talked to us about getting tubes put in Ava's ears. I am sick over the idea of having Ava put under for this procedure. I called Dan after crying my eyes out. Here's my little girl happy as can be and not even upset with a 5th ear infection in 5 months and they want to put her under for tubes. BLAH.

We have a decision to make and I know I want her to be happy AND healthy. Not just happy. I called my mother in law to tell her and she even said, "you would never know Ava is sick" and you wouldn't! She is the happiest baby and still sleeps 12+ hours with an ear infection. Mother in law says Ava must have a high pain tolerance and will be good at giving birth hahaha. She's right though. Ava can fall and hit her head, or bump her arm or trip on her own feet and she never gets upset, even when I think she should.

I'm lucky to have such a happy baby, but not so happy about the ear infections. I love my little Ava.

She's getting so big

2011-02-06T22:26:00.000-07:00

She was in love with this toy over at Grama and Grampa's today. It had this tiny button on it you had to hold. I was surprised when Grama showed her how to push it that she kept doing it. By the end of the day she could hold it and push the button with her thumb all by herself! Can't believe she is almost a year old!

You know what I just realized???

2011-02-03T00:37:00.003-07:00

If I were my mom, I'd be having a 2nd baby in 2 weeks! WOW I cannot imagine having a newborn and an 11 month old who doesn't walk yet and to have to have a c-section to recover from...

My mom is wonder woman. I want to be just like her, except I can't have a baby in 2 weeks :) Wish it were that easy though!!

Katy Perry Concert!!!

2011-02-02T01:03:00.004-07:00

I honestly cannot tell you the last concert I went to..... I know for sure it was 2007. Sad huh...

Anyway I told Dan well over a year ago, that if Katy Perry ever came to town, we had to go!! I was halfway kidding but when I found out she was actually coming to Salt Lake on July 25th and the tickets were reasonably priced I was pretty excited! Dan got them for me yesterday and I am so excited!!!

I secretly wish Ava could go with us... well she could but I doubt she'd like the noise. I've never left her for more than 4 hours with anyone and that was my mom. I've never left her for more than maybe 1 1/2 here in Utah... so ya I need to get over that in 6 months :)

Etsy

2011-02-02T00:51:00.004-07:00

January has been my best month so far as far as Etsy goes :) Last month I also was able to donate 275$ worth of items to two different charity organizations.

I am staying rather busy with all my crafting. I only craft when Ava is in bed for the night so for now I am very lucky that she is a very good sleeper. But I usually end up staying up until at least midnight if not 1 or 2 am getting things done. But I nap when Ava naps in the morning and somehow we all get by happy.

So far I've just been putting all the money thats come in back into supplies (and more supplies and more supplies)... Dan tells me I need to stop buying supplies, which is my goal for now (I told myself I was done a few days ago but of course I HAD to order some last minute things tonight). I'm well stocked up for at least a couple of months (i think).

Anyway, I got this idea from someone to print 4x6 pictures (like business cards I suppose) and put in with orders to promote my facebook fan page. I loved the idea and got a stack printed tonight along with return address labels!

Someday I dream of having a nice big studio to craft in where I can keep all of my supplies organized and there won't be a twin bed covered in fabric and a floor covered in ribbon and elastic :)

Goals this week

2011-01-30T13:15:00.002-07:00

Teach Ava how to wave, play peek-a-boo and clap
Go to the park 3x's
Clean our house
Organize my craft room
Finish my etsy orders
Get started on meal planning and budgeting!!!

PCOS

2011-01-27T19:29:00.006-07:00

I don't think I've ever talked about this on my blog.... I know I think about it often but I don't know if I've been "that" honest to bring it up. Anyone had to deal with PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome)?? I'm trying to get the courage up to go talk to a new doctor about it. Last time I talked to a doctor about it (December 2008) I got scolded and told not to think about it because I'd be "irresponsible" to get pregnant at the weight I was at and I was "too young" to be a mom anyway.

Well I did talk to my OB about it but after I got pregnant with Ava. He told me to come back and we'd check it after I had her... well dang it we moved. I loved Dr. Alperin. He never made me feel bad about getting pregnant at the weight I was at (or age for that matter).

I've struggled with PCOS since high school and its frustrating and discouraging. I know it goes hand in hand with my weight and its currently been more difficult than ever to get the weight I gained during my pregnancy off.

Anyway gotta come up with the courage just to call and make a doctors appointment. I HATE going to the doctor.

Ava at the park

2011-01-26T20:48:00.001-07:00

Took Ava to the park, this girl loves to swing! (Please ignore my audible sniff, it was cold)

Still have 7 weeks

2011-01-25T22:44:00.003-07:00

but I've been planning Ava's first birthday pretty much since Christmas was over :) I've already got her outfit she's wearing for her pictures and her outfit for her tiny party (and yes that means 2 outfits). I am getting so excited :)

Her birthday party is going to be really small, just whatever family is around but I still want to do cute cards to send to our family even if they can't come. Snapfish had this cute card design so I just plugged pictures into it. Can't believe my baby will be 1 so soon!

2011-01-23T22:21:00.002-07:00

10 monthsSappy mom moment warning. My little girl is huge. I can't believe she will be 1 in 7 weeks. We pulled out the baby car seat so I could make a canopy cover for a friend and Ava started playing on the car seat. I thought it would be fun to put her in it again. We stopped using it in October. She is just at the point where she technically is too big for the seat. Probably be the last time we ever put her in it. Can't wait for the day we can use it again for another tiny newborn!

Ready for winter to be OVER

2011-01-19T23:02:00.003-07:00

This winter has been relatively mild as far as snow goes, but I'm so ready for it to be over!!!

Ava's been sick sooo much this winter, ever since we got back from our trip to AZ in October it seems like its something every other week. Last week it was some virus that gave her bad diarrhea and a rash, this week (still dealing with the rash), she has RSV for the 2nd time this winter!

Poor girl is having such a hard time breathing. She is so happy aside from being sick but I hate for her to be sick.

Today, however, she did the cutest thing ever. I walked into her room at 5 to check on her while she was napping. She needed to get up and when I walked in I noticed she was sitting up in her crib. I turned on the light and she was sitting there, with a binky in her mouth and one hand holding onto a crib bar, totally asleep! I scared her awake when I started laughing. It was so cute.

Other big bonus is we got her a small space heater for her room. She is sleeping better and not waking up freezing cold. We usually have to have our heater almost up to 80 degree's and its still freezing in our condo. Now we don't have to worry about it because at least Ava is comfortable!!

Anyway READY NOW for winter to be over. Not to mention, I'm really excited about Ava's first birthday. Not that I'm ready for my baby to be 1, but I've got her pictures planned and can't wait to do them! I also can't wait to see Ava's reaction to her smash cake :)

OH and this summer I can't wait to get Ava in her cute little swim suits and get her a kiddie pool to play in! She loves water so much so I know she will have a blast!

10 Months Old

2011-01-15T00:50:00.007-07:00

How is my baby 10 months old already? How has this past year gone by so quickly?

Ava is 23 pounds 8 ounces and 31 inches tall today!! 12-18 month clothes, size 4 diapers... she's just crazy big!

Last month I was wondering when she would start crawling on her knees, pulling up, cruising, getting teeth?! Well very quickly she did all of those this month... except the teeth part (and she only cruises a little bit).

She spends most of her day trying to figure out how to climb every single thing thats close to her. She even tries to climb on other little kids. She doesn't realize they aren't sturdy enough to climb on.

Ever since she figured out how to stand in her crib right after the new year, sleep has been a bit different. She hasn't been as easy to keep asleep for 14 hours a night but for some reason the lack of sleep hasn't been bothering me lately. Once I recovered from 7 months straight of no sleep, this little sleep regression doesn't seem like a big deal at all.

Anyway, Ava's birthday is in 2 months!! I'm excited but terrified at the same time. Her birthday means she will be walking soon, she'll start eating real food more than bottles (I'm not ready for that), she'll get teeth (maybe), she'll start talking.... all these things I just can't imagine her doing.

I love you Ava

2011-01-13T22:28:00.003-07:00

You know that Martina McBride song "In my daughters eyes"?? I've heard it a few times in the last 10 months and each time I hear it, it makes me bawl like a big baby. If I had to come up with words to even describe 1/100th of the way I feel about Ava, this song would for sure come the closest.

Saturdays with Ava and Dad

2011-01-08T21:28:00.010-07:00

Modeling moms latest designs

The tongue is always out

Not happy in the tutu (we'll have to practice before her birthday)

Ava looks sooo small next to her Daddy

Playing her new piano

Got rid of a bunch of old furniture and made Ava a new play area

Dinner on her face but happy as can be

Happy New Year

2011-01-06T19:01:00.003-07:00

Already 1 week into the new year! Can't believe its 2011. Seems like I waited forever for it to be 2010 and now its 2011 and Ava is almost 1!

Ava has changed so so much just in the last few weeks. On the 15th at her Dr appointment I was worried because she had never crawled on her knees (only army crawled), not pulled herself up, couldn't sit up from laying down. Well she did all those things a couple hours after we left the doctor!

We had a great trip to AZ and Ava loved seeing all our friends and family. She really loved her riding dinosaur that my mom gave her and everyday she wants to sit on it and ride backwards. She only goes forwards now so she can go backwards again.

She currently has some sort of virus. Possibly Rotovirus but we aren't sure. She's had bad diarrhea pretty much since Sunday I believe. The doctor had us take her off formula and only drink pedialyte which I didn't think she would do but so far she has drank a ton of it and she has had very little diarrhea today. YAY.

And honestly whenever she is sick I honestly second guess it because she is never upset. You would think she would show some signs that she isn't feeling well, but she still is just as happy as Ava ever could be!

Anyway happy to see the new year!

OH and we are coming up on 3 years since I was diagnosed with my Pseudotumor Cerebri and I can say I've been off my meds since about May and so far so good. No reoccuring headaches. I had a few spells at the beginning of December but turns out they were just from stress! YAY

New Years Eve

2010-12-31T22:00:00.001-07:00

Today Ava and I went to Amanda's house to visit her and the kids! It was so much fun! Ava loves playing with her boys and someday she'll love playing with Lucy too. It was funny to see Ava try to "play" with Lucy. Since she Lucy is 3 1/2 months and Ava is 9 1/2 months it didn't work too well but someday that age difference will seem like nothing. Ava and Noah have a little thing going on though, so hopefully Lucy doesn't mind if Ava dates her brother. We are planning their wedding already :)

After the play date Dan and I went and got dinner at Texas Roadhouse (our favorite) and celebrated what a wonderful year we have had. It certainly had its ups and downs. I have found as the good in my life gets even more precious and sweet the down points get even worse and lonesome but that's life. We take the good with the bad. Someone told me recently that life is rather fragile. That is how our creator made it and intended it to be. The idea of life being fragile just got me mad but after thinking about it, because of the uncertainty we can cherish each moment. Thats one thing I tried to live by this year, live each moment to the fullest because each moment is a blessing.

Playdates

2010-12-30T20:58:00.007-07:00

These little girlfriends are just 35 hours apart age difference (huge size difference though). We love getting together with Chloe when we are in town!I love my friend and their cute little boys :) (or as I call them, all of Ava's boyfriends) These are all of Ava and Shawn (Ava is 2 weeks older than Shawn)

More pictures from our trip

2010-12-30T20:47:00.005-07:00

Ava's 1st Christmas

2010-12-25T18:26:00.009-07:00

I can't believe Ava's first Christmas is already over! It was so much fun! We couldn't have asked for a better day and a happier Christmas. Ava is so loved and for sure a first and only grandchild in this family! She quadrupled her toy count and was so happy to see everyone and play today! She even needed 4 naps today! We love Ava so much and what a wonderful day we had. I am also so thankful we were able to spend this Christmas in Arizona with my family.

Christmas Eve at Grandpas

2010-12-24T19:55:00.005-07:00

In a motel in Saint George

2010-12-22T22:11:00.002-07:00

I'm sitting awake in a motel in Saint George right now. I can't sleep (well I did from 7:30-9:30pm) but woke up wide awake after that. Ava and Dan are both asleep right now. We started our Christmas trip today with the intent of getting to Vegas. I knew in my mind if we encountered weather at all we would be stopping in St George because I wouldn't be able to handle the rest of the drive. The first 2 hours of the trip we drove through fog. Not fun. The last hour we drove through a complete scary down pour. As other cars passed us we could not see anything in front of us as our wipers could not go fast enough.

If you know me, you know I hate driving during any kind of weather. Snow, rain, wind. I hate it. I'd say I have a major driving phobia. I'm a huge chicken and its gotten worse since having Ava. I used to just be scared for myself but now I'm scared for my baby too. I don't want Ava to be afraid of the same things I am so I am trying to get help now so that she can grow up and not think its normal for mom to freak out while driving.

Anyway so we stopped here in St George and got a motel room. This is the first time we have ever done this and can I say, its not a bad idea. I love staying with family members but this does have the added bonus of not feeling like I'm imposing on anyone or worrying that Ava is going to mess something up at someones house. We all sat around this afternoon watching game shows on the king bed and it was so much fun.

Can't wait for Ava's first Christmas on Saturday. Dan and I got her 2 gifts... I had the intent on buying her more but with an overly generous family, there wasn't much else to get. So instead I finished her birthday and Christmas shopping at the same time. I can't wait for her big birthday present. Its adorable and a zebra print!

Sorry for my ramblings, this is what happens when I can't sleep in a strange place :)

Superwoman

2010-12-20T21:33:00.000-07:00

Oh my crazy baby

AH

2010-12-15T16:36:00.004-07:00

Less than 2 hours after my last post, Ava crawled on her knees instead of her stomach, crawled on over to her toy play table and pulled herself up!!! I was so shocked! Man things just happen so fast!

9 Month Appointment

2010-12-15T14:43:00.006-07:00

Its official, Ava is triple her weight from when she was born!! So strange. And she is 11 inches taller. I cannot even remember what it is like to have a little 7 pound baby anymore!

Took Ava to her 9 month appointment today! Dr said her ears are looking better. She also said if she gets 2 more ear infections by her birthday then we need to do tubes. I don't want to do tubes so I pray she doesn't get anymore ear infections, which means we really need to work on her not getting colds.

She is 22 pounds 14 ounces and 30 1/2 inches tall. They said she is still off the charts in height of course. She got a shot and I was shocked she didn't even flinch. It was very unusual for Ava. She just played with the cup the Dr gave her.

She is doing well, happy as can be. The doctor mentioned that we shouldn't turn her forward facing in her car seat yet even though she is heavy enough according to the law. I told her not to worry, I'm not turning her forward facing until I absolutely have to. I'm glad they bring it up at the 9 month appointment and not wait till the 1 year appointment.

I can't believe in just 3 months Ava will be 1. Its all gone by too fast. We made her 1 year appointment for the day after her birthday. Its crazy to think that in just 3 months she could go from just crawling to pulling up on furniture, cruising, standing, walking and getting teeth!! So weird.

Anyway Ava is now tall enough to be in 18 month clothes but her 12 month clothes still fit so we will just go with whatever. She has so many clothes we are never short on outfits for Ava. Maybe me and Dan but never Ava. I just bought a bunch of 2T clothes... I couldn't resist this Gymboree Poppy line and Ava already has a ton of 18 and 24 month clothes. It seems like I'll always just be buying 2-3 sizes ahead. That has to stop at some point! I need to stop hoarding baby clothes! We really don't have room to store it all!!