Fancy Pants Gardner

There are many joys about having a daughter. Too many to count, really. One of the most fun? Dressing her up in cute clothes! This is what Ava wore to church last Sunday. I love it all! The dress, the bow, the shoes, the socks.... the matching bloomers! Oh yeah, Ava is pretty darn cute herself.

Did I mention the SHOES? I love these patent leather babies for several reasons: 1) I love shoes. Period. 2) Black patent leather shoes were my favorite when I was a little girl. 3) This particular pair cost $2! 

My friend Lauren has turned me on to consignment sales. We went to one such sale a few weeks ago. What did I find, other than those adorable shoes?

- 10 outfits (tops and bottoms)

- 4 dresses

- 1 pair of shoes

- 1 kiddy swimming pool

- 2 Baby Einstein DVDs

- 3 Books

- 1 Booster Seat

- 1 Toy 

- 1 Nursing Pillow

Grand Total: $95. Not bad considering most of the items had never even been used!

Ava has really taken interest in her toys lately. She loves holding this frog while riding in the car and while we go for our morning run. See the blue striped elephant in the background? She loves that too. It is attached to her car seat and she laughs hysterically when it dangles in front of her face.

While at Babies R Us last week, I wanted to buy Ava a pink pacifier. You see, all of the pacifiers we have at home are gender neutral; green, blue and yellow. I glanced through the large selection of pacifiers, but couldn't justify buying her something she truly didn't need. "She doesn't need a new paci." I thought to myself. "She has more than enough at home." But then, from across the aisle, I found it... A pacifier that Ava had to have! After all, it has her name on it... and it is pink!

Usually, Ava starts freaking out about 5 minutes before her last feeding. The other night, I actually had time to be a few steps ahead of my daughter, so I started warming her bottle so it would be ready for "Operation Freak Out." I put her in her Bumbo Seat, put the bottle in the warmer, turned back around to face Ava, and found this:

The one night I was prepared ahead of time, and she didn't even freak out.

Now that the weather is warmer, we have spent a lot of time outside. Ava loves sitting with me on the rocking chair on our front porch. She also loves rolling around on her blanket out in the yard. This picture was taken while we were waiting for Matt to come home from work. It puts a big smile on his face to see his ladies sitting in the front yard when he pulls up.

Take a look at the latest addition to Ava's room! Is that not adorable? It holds all of Ava's hairbows (even though she's mostly bald at this point). Matt's sister, Erin, made it for Ava. Erin is quite the talented artist. Need any personalized gifts for anyone this spring? Check out her blog and website. You can always count on me and Matt to fulfill your personalized stationery needs too! Hey, it's my blog, I can put as many shameless plugs in here as I want! :)

Happy Spring!