On the Road Again

Alright Ladies and Gents... Hold on to your hats, this Blog is going to be a long one! This past weekend, Matt and I packed our car to the max, hit the highway(s), and did some serious traveling.

First stop: My parent's house. Of course we were thrilled to spend time with Oma, Opa, Uncle Ryan and Kayla... But even more exciting? Getting to meet Jane! Jane and her family have been near and dear to our family for over 20 years. Long story short... Our families met while we were all living in Michigan. Jane and my mom were the only 2 crazy ladies in Michigan who let their children play on the playground in sub-zero temperatures. On one such arctic day, I spotted Jane across the playground with her 5 week old daughter in a stroller. Like a magnet, I attached myself to Jane and the baby, introduced myself... and the rest is history.

Jane was visiting my parents for the long weekend. Matt and I zipped over to my parents house so that Ava and Jane could finally meet each other. We enjoyed seeing you Jane, and we look forward to visiting with you again soon!

Not quite sure what either of us are doing in this next picture, but I thought it was a great shot of Ava. Thanks Jane, for taking the picture.

My parents have a wonderful screened-in porch off the side of their house. Since Ava loves being outside, she really enjoys spending time on the porch. I love sitting out on my parent's porch as well. Screened-in porch = no bugs!

After a really quick trip to my parent's house, we packed up the car again and headed down to see Matt's sister and her family in Bluffton, SC. This was our second trip to Bluffton since having Ava. Our first trip turned out to be quite a cry-fest on Ava's part. We were hoping that Ava would be ready to show her happy side to Aunt Erin, Uncle John and Cousins Jack & Finn this time around.

We were making great time as we blazed down I-95 when all of a sudden, we saw... brake lights! Traffic didn't just slow down, it came to a full-blown stop! Somehow, a car up ahead of us had gone up in flames, which obviously brought traffic to a screeching halt... for 45 minutes. What did we do? Matt took advantage of the situation by feeding Fergie and letting her use the bathroom. I took advantage of the situation by feeding Ava dinner.

The whole incident seemed almost surreal. People were getting out of their cars, throwing footballs, walking dogs, jump roping, making phone calls, etc... on I-95! If you're familiar with I-95, you know how strange it felt for us to put the car in "park" for almost an hour! Fortunately, the driver of the flaming car was able to escape unharmed and traffic quickly began moving again.

We finally made it to The Ussery Household and enjoyed a wonderful, relaxing weekend with family. 

Ava is so advanced. She isn't quite 6 months old and she was Skyping with Erin's In-Laws in NYC. :)

A good portion of our weekend was spent at the Hampton Lake pool. This pool is amazing! It is surrounded by palmetto trees, it has a lazy river, waterfall, awesome playground, water features for kids... I love going to Hampton Lake and I'm not even a kid!

This was Ava's first encounter with a swimming pool. SHE LOVED IT! Ava took to the water like a little fish. As long as she was in the water, she was a happy camper.

It's hard to tell in this next picture, but Ava's head was covered with sun screen and her hair looked really nasty. It took some elbow grease to get all of the sun screen off of her head later that day. I'd rather deal with a nappy head than a sunburned scalp!

Here is Ava and Matt enjoying the Lazy River in the pool.

Our nephew, Jack, found out one of the reasons Uncle Matt is so much fun. Take a look below. While Jack enjoyed being launched into the air, Matt was able to get quite a nice arm workout! I'm sure you can imagine this picture was only one of the many, many times Matt threw Jack across the pool.

Ava taking a break from the water and sunbathing with Mimi...

After a long day at the pool, we headed to the May River for a picnic. Could we have enjoyed a more beautiful setting for dinner? I think not. This is the same location Matt and I had our pictures taken a few months back. The same woman that took our pictures in February was able to meet up with us again for an Ussery/Gardner family photo shoot. Hopefully the pictures will be ready to view soon! 

Day #2 at the pool: 

Me and Ava floating through the Lazy River. At one point, I was holding Ava as seen below and she fell asleep in my arms. It's a hard knock life.

Lazy River again, this time with Jack!

Ava and Poppy enjoying some quality time together...

I am so thankful for the wonderful weekend we were able to spend as a family, with family. 

What's In a Name?

We finally finished the 'name' canvas in Ava's nursery! For those of you who have not seen her room, Ava has canvases covering the walls with Bible verses from friends and family written on them. Above her crib, the canvas pictured below has hung without a name since long before Ava was born. Since we did not know if Ava was going to be a boy or a girl, we had to wait until after her arrival to paint the name. Well, she was born and almost 6 months later, we finally painted her name! I think it's pretty nifty if I do say so myself!

The other night, Ava was in a crazy happy mood. She was laughing at everything Matt said and did. While strapped in her car seat, I got about 20 pictures that look exactly like the one below. Bright eyes. Mouth open wide. Filled with excitement. We love our happy girl.

Here is one of Ava's new favorite toys, Clifford. Matt's grandmother gave this stuffed animal to me 5 years ago when I started teaching kindergarten. After being washed, fumigated and sanitized, I am passing this beloved character on to Ava. She can spot him across the room and she immediately smiles and coos in Clifford's direction. 

Here Come the Chompers

After waking up and getting our routine in motion this morning, I noticed 2 little white specs in Ava's mouth. Normally, I would think the white specs were spit up, or fuzz, from putting her socks in her mouth. Neither of these scenarios were the case today however. Our little girl has teeth! Two little teeth peeking their way through her bottom gum. I knew this day was coming soon... Her drool and nighttime fussiness let me know that teething was right around the corner. I must admit, it was a bittersweet moment for me. I was excited to see that Ava continues to reach milestones in her life, yet sad to think about how fast she is growing up!

I have not captured her little teeth with our camera yet. Truth be told, her teeth are so tiny you wouldn't be able to see them in a picture yet anyway. I'm sure I'll be able to post a toothy photo soon enough. In remembrance of Ava's adorable toothless grin, here are a few of our favorite pictures:

Goodbye, toothless grin. Hello, chompers! Here's to hoping you have your Mommy's teeth!

Crack is Whack...

...Or at least Ava's is! This shot was taken pre-bath time the other night. I think Ava recognizes when aqua-bliss is in her immediate future. We have a routine. We undress her. She gets excited. We walk her down the hallway. She gets even more excited. We step into the bathroom and she looks at her reflection in the mirror. She squeals with excitement. We put her in the tub. Her legs kick with such excitement that after the bath, Mom and Dad look like we had front row seats to a Shamu show at Sea World.

I was trying to get a picture of her "squealing with excitement" in the mirror, but of course Ava didn't want to perform. Although, this "mom, why are you taking naked pictures of me" face, is just as cute.

As always, we spent plenty of time outside this past week. I bought an enormous beach towel and we broke it in by using it daily. Speaking of the beach... bring it on! Matt and I are very much looking forward to the trip we take to Garden City Beach, SC with his family every year. This year will definitely have a different, yet wonderful feel to it since Ava will be along for the vacay.

Ava has definitely found her feet! I am actually surprised it has taken this long for her to discover them since they're on the larger side as far as feet go. Ava had her feet in her mouth for several minutes before this picture was taken. I whip out the camera, and Ava decides that toe-nibbling is no longer cool. Oh well, it's still a cute picture.

New BFF

Today, our friends Marc and Lauren welcomed their second son, Finley Allen Holbrook into the world. He was delivered by C-Section at 9:27am, he weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz, and he was 19 inches long. He has a head full of hair and he looks just like his big brother, Tucker. He is absolutely adorable! Welcome to the world precious boy... you are already loved beyond measure!

Matt and I were able to visit the Holbrook gang the evening of Finley's birth. I can't vouch for how one feels after a C-Section, but Lauren sure made it seem easy... she looked great! Lauren had gestational diabetes during both of her pregnancies and therefore had to really watch her sugar intake. I don't know how she did it. So what did I bring to the hospital during our visit? A gigantic basket full of all of the goodies she wasn't able to eat the past 9 months. I also called her before our visit to see if there was anything she wanted me to pick up for her. Two words: Krispy Kreme. That's my girl! I could feel the nurses glaring at me as I walked into Lauren's room holding a basket of candy and a bag of doughnuts. What are friends for though, right?

Matt, Ava and I have not been back to the hospital since Ava's birth. Walking into the maternity wing, seeing the nursery, hearing the cries, smelling the smells... it quickly made December 3 seem like only days ago instead of 5.5 months ago.

Congratulations Marc, Lauren and Big Brother Tucker! We are so excited for your family. We are thrilled to be able to share these life experiences with you and we consider ourselves blessed to be able to grow as families alongside you!

A Weekend in Photos

We just came off a wonderful weekend spent with family and friends. Allow me to share with you some of our highlights.

Friday afternoon was spent out in our backyard. As always, Ava was thrilled to be outside. For whatever reason, she thinks that trees are hilarious. I haven't figured out exactly why trees make her laugh, but I'll take it! Here she is, enjoying tummy time and enjoying the beautiful weather!

This is one of Ava's latest poses. She either grabs the hair on the back of her head, or she grabs her ear. We're thinking she may be a lefty. Whether she is grabbing her hair, ear or a toy, it is always with her left hand. Good thing her mom is a former kindergarten teacher! I have plenty of tricks up my sleeve to help 'leftys' learn how to write!

Guess who else enjoyed spending some time outside?

Friday afternoon, we headed to Fuquay-Varina to spend part of the Mother's Day Weekend with my parents. My mom and dad have been working very hard the past few weeks to FINALLY finish their backyard. It has taken almost 2 years for this task to get accomplished... No thanks to their neighbors, a law suit and the army core of engineers. If you know the story, you know how happy my parents are to have the backyard done. If you don't know the story... don't ask! Either way, here is Ava with her Oma and Opa in their beautiful new backyard!

While at Oma and Opa's house, Ava enjoyed playing in her travel exersaucer...

She also enjoyed spending some quality time lounging on the couch with Uncle Ryan while Kayla entertained her with toys...

It's pretty much a given that when we go to my parent's house, at some point my brother and I will break out the Nintendo 64 for some good 'ole Mario Kart. This trip, we convinced my mom and Matt to play each other. No words could express how entertaining it was to watch the two of them battle it out. No words. My mom and Matt were very focused on the game, while the rest of us were laughing hysterically!

After exersaucing, couch lounging and Mario Karting, we cooked out for our Saturday Mother's Day celebration. While we all chowed down on steak, Ava enjoyed looking at the fish on her "swing away from home."

Back to the parent's backyard again... Part of the newly designed yard is an awesome patio, complete with fire pit. My mom saw this chair and recently bought it for Ava. "She'll have so much fun sitting in it while we roast marshmallows!" said my mom. Hmm... Open flames, hot/sharp metal rods... I'm going to have my hands full!

So my dad called me a week or two ago and said, "You're going to think I'm crazy, but I bought Ava a bike!" He was right. I thought he was crazy. Does he not know Ava can't even crawl yet? After hearing the amazing deal he got on this bike though, I couldn't blame him for buying it. My dad happened to be going to the Tractor Supply store to buy a machete (again, don't ask) when he came across a few children's bikes on clearance. Originally, this bike was $140. My dad got it for $13! We took the bike out of the box to take a peek, but quickly put it back since Ava won't be able to use it for a few years. It's pretty cute though... take a look:

From left to right, this is a picture of one of the training wheels, a backpack (to go where the traditional handlebar basket goes) and the bike seat. Love. It. Oh, and shhhh! This is sure to be a future gift for Ava, so don't spoil the surprise! :)

We were back home in the G-Boro on Sunday. We enjoyed an awesome service in church, followed by an excellent day spent together as a family. I consider it the biggest privilege to be able to celebrate Mother's Day as a mom. I am truly honored that God has blessed me with Matt as my husband and Ava as my daughter. So undeserving.

Ava is very close to sitting up all by herself! I can hardly believe it! Here she is playing with one of her favorite toys... supported by none other than the Boppy.

I sat Ava in her rocking chair this evening while I cleaned up the kitchen. Next thing I knew, she was leaning all the way forward (while strapped in, of course), nibbling on her toes. I quickly came over and pushed her back to the upright position. My assistance was apparently not warranted because she looked at me like I was crazy, and then assumed the toe-nibbling position. She realized though, that by sitting back in the seat, followed by leaning forward, rocked the chair back and forth. To my amazement, she spent the next 5 or so minutes rocking herself in her chair. I need to get that one on video!

 Hope you all had a great weekend! Happy Monday!

5 Month Update

You know the drill... Here's our girl at 5 months!

I must say, today's photo shoot was the funniest by far. Ava is much more mobile, which makes for some hilarious pictures. I think Ava and the bear became more than just friends today....

There was hand holding...

Hand nibbling...

Ear Tugging...

Ear Nibbling...

Hugging...

And Spooning...

I think Ava just realized what happened with the bear...

Ava's latest accomplishments:

-Eating solid foods (apples, bananas, green beans, peas, carrots and peaches). Her favorite? Peas! Least favorite? Peaches. Sweet potatoes and squash are on the horizon.

-Rolling all over the place.

-Sucking her top and bottom lip.

-Working on sitting up by herself.

-Grabbing everything in sight.

-Using a sippy cup.

-Blowing bubbles.

-Putting her pacifier in her mouth by herself.

I'm sure there are more, but it is late, and that is all I can think of. :)

Ava's latest interests:

-Being outside.

-Watching the trees.

-Watching and laughing at Fergie.

-Talking to her reflection in the car seat mirror.

-Playing "airplane" and "Shoo-Pang" with mom and dad.

-Going on walks/runs.

-Holding her stuffed froggy toy.

We can't believe she is already 5 months old. Oh how time flies!