Cousins!

Tonight we went to my Mom's house to make gingerbread houses.  My nephews are in town!  They are so cute!  It was so fun to spend some time with them!!

Here is an outfit we got Ava awhile back. It is SO cute on her, but she isn't naughty... she is very sweet!  She got lots of attention tonight, and got to meet some of her cousins!

         Dan, Dakota, Dillon, Levi and Logan

                           Family Picture!

                     














                     
                            Logan and Ava

Ava is sooooo close to rolling over!!  If she could just figure out how to pull her arm out from underneath her, she would have it!!!  We went to home depot today to look at Christmas trees.  It was pretty cold outside, but Ava was so warm, but when we got home her cheeks were rosy!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!  We have SO much to be thankful for this year!!  We deep fried our turkey today!  It was SO yummy, and to make things even better, we didn't burn the house down!!!

My adorable nephews are here from Utah visiting.  Dakota and Dillon came to visit this afternoon for a bit.  Dakota drove ... (for those of you who know Dakota... isn't that crazy????)  They're both taller than me.  I can't believe how big they are!  They are so freakin cute!  They are my sister's kids.  She passed away in 2000.  It's like seeing my sister again when I see them.  I miss them so much and really wish they could move back here.

Ava thinks Grandma is really funny, so in both of these photos she's watching grandma make faces.

                                              Dillon & Ava

                                                                                                              Dakota & Ava

Sleepy head

Ava is wearing a boy outfit my Mom got her before we knew we were having a girl!  I have made it a goal for her to wear every outfit hanging in her closet at least once!  Last night she slept in a sleeper that was up to her knees.... I'm trying!!

Playing!!

My Sister told me to get a bouncy seat to make showering a little easier....  This way I can watch Ava while I shower! I can't even say how many times I have jumped out of the shower (mid-shower) and soaked the carpet walking to Ava to make sure she was ok because of some little weird noise she made. I got this seat yesterday.  I haven't used it during a shower yet (yes, I have showered since yesterday, but Rafael has been here to watch her.) Ava loves it!!  It took her a little bit to realize that she was in control of moving it around, but once she got it, she had fun with it.  The box said 4 months, but Ava is pretty good holding her head up, so we decided she was ready now.

Uncle Cade!!

Uncle Cade came to visit today!  There was no question about Ava recognizing him!  She was all smiles the second she saw his face!  She had so much fun playing with him!!

Sorry it's been a while since I last posted.  We've had a busy week full of dentist appointments and refinances!  We refinanced our house!  YAY!!  When we first bought our home we got into one of those 80/20 adjustable loans. We had no clue that they were bad.  As of October 1st our interest rate went to 8.5%!  That's WAY more than we could afford.  We feel like God has really helped us through this and made it possible for us to refinance our home.  We now have a fixed low interest rate!.

Grandma came to visit last weekend.  She got Ava to laugh for the first time!!  I got it on film!!!  It was hilarious!  Rafael and I have tried to get her to do it again, but apparently we are not as funny as Grandma.

Ava is doing so good!  She is now on a pretty predictable schedule.  She has had a good night time schedule for awhile, but now we have days to go along with it!  She goes to bed around 9:30-10 pm.  She wakes up at 2 am and 6 am to eat.  She wakes up again and is ready to start her day at 7:19 am... no kidding... it's like clockwork.  She doesn't "sleep through the night" as some would say, but it really doesn't bother me.  I would have to get up and pump around those times anyway if she didn't eat, so it's ok.  In the day she naps at 10am and 2:30 pm.  I don't know how she knows it's time, but it is always the same time everyday!  It has made it nice for me to plan around her nap times.  I've been taking her up to our bed and napping with her in the afternoon.

She's drooling so much lately, we have to leave a bib on her or change her outfit 3 times a day.

  See that dark circle on her shirt? That's drool!!!

         Thank you Aunt Jackie and Uncle Ro for my outfit!! :)

Playing with Daddy!

New shoes!

I got Ava some new shoes yesterday!  They are Airwalks!  They are a little too big so they don't stay on very good, but they are pretty cute!

      Grandma came to visit today and got
              Ava a new toy to chew on!

                                                                         Awww :)

Family pictures!!

Couch

If anyone is wondering why there is a black background on almost all our photos, it's our couch.  Ava really likes to sit on the couch... like a big person.  Is that bad?  I hope she isn't a couch potato!

Squeeky clean!

More dress up!

Ok, so I couldn't stop at just a few outfits.  This is a knit outfit that Ava's great Grandma sent!  She looks so cute in it!  The last picture is just a cute one from tonight!

Dress up!!

This morning I got out some of the outfits my Mom kept from when I was a baby!  There were a few that looked like they might fit Ava, so we played dress up!  It's hard for me to believe that I lived in the time that bonnets were fashionable!  I feel so old!!

                                                               Oops, flashing a little!

Happy 3 month birthday Ava!!

Ava is 3 months today!!  To celebrate, we went to visit Aunt Na in North Bend!  My sister, Ava and I went to the outlet mall.  They have a Carter's, Osh' kosh, and Children's place outlet there.  I got Ava a few new outfits!  It was hard to not buy more than we need!  There are so many cute things!!

Ava is getting better at holding things with her hands. She still needs a little help, but she is getting better!  The last few days we've been noticing that she is getting shy!  When one of us is holding her and the other walks up and talks to her, she smiles so big and then looks away and hides her face in our shirt!  It is so cute!!

Bubbles!!

I got Ava some bubbles today.  She loves looking at everything there is to look at, so I was sure she would love them!  She didn't even look at one!  All she did was stare at Mommy blowing into this weird yellow thing.  Some of them even popped on her and she still didn't notice them!!  We will try again in another month or so.

Mr. Mom

Rafael is such a good Daddy!!  He spends Sun, Mon, and Tuesdays with Ava while I am at work.  It has been a hard transition for us, because Rafael and I have had the same work schedule since we met, so we have pretty much been together 24/7 for 6 years!  I work Sun-Tues and Rafael works Weds-Sat now.  That way Ava doesn't have to go to daycare!!

I've been coming home at lunch to visit.  Raf has been doing the dishes, laundry, everything on his days while I am at work!!  It is so nice!!  He makes lunch when I come home, and dinner at night when I get home!  He is such a sweetheart!  He tells me not to thank him, but I don't think there are many men out there like him!!  I am so lucky!!

When I came home today Rafael had Ava dressed up so cute!!  She was wearing an outfit she hasn't worn before and he even put tights on her!  It was so sweet that he picked out such a girly outfit for her!!