Negative

No ear infection for Ava. I took her to the doctor yesterday afternoon and her ears are crystal clear. It's her teeth coming in and there isn't much we can do about that! I went to the pharmacy after and got tylenol, ibuprofen, teething tablets and night time orajel. She just gets up in the middle of the night and wants her Mommy. I think she also has a little seperation anxiety mixing in with it so my only option might be letting her cry it out...which I am not good at doing...that is once my husband comes home and I get some catch up sleep!

Not again?????

Ava is pulling at her ear again....(big sigh) I feel so bad for her. We just had her at the Doctor for her 12 month check up last week and they were clear. But she hasn't slept more than 3 hours at a time in a week and was pulling her ear all weekend. She is also getting teeth so that might be the culprit. I am taking her back this afternoon to find out for sure. Chris has been out of town so I am completely exhausted. I have a feeling tubes are in our future with her. Aiden never got ear infections and I think looking back she has been on antibiotics more days than not since December 30th. :-( My poor baby....I just want her to feel better.

Memory Walk 2010

The Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk® is the nation's largest event to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer care, support and research. Since 1989, Memory Walk has raised more than $300 million for the cause. I will be participating in the walk on June 19th here in Columbus in honor of my Dad who was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimers.

If you are interested in donating to this important cause please see the link below.


http://memorywalk2010.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=334080&supid=285804756

Thank you!

A Beautiful April Day...

We stopped by to visit Chris's Dad prior to our trip back to Columbus this past Sunday. It was such a beautiful day. He lives out in the country with a lot of land and a nice big yard where the kids can just run and play! They did just that on Sunday. Aiden and Ava had so much fun playing with their cousins Evan and Taylor. I wish we could have spent the entire day outside enjoying the sunshine! I got some great pictures of Ava discovering nature! The kids enjoyed playing kickball and rolling down the grassy hill, sometimes it's the most simple things that are the most fun!

The Miracle of Life

"Before you were conceived, I wanted you. Before you were born, I loved you. Before you were here an hour, I would give my life for you. This is the miracle of life."

~ Maureen Hawkins

My friend Amy took this picture of Ava and I on Easter Sunday. We were just playing in the yard enjoying the day. I wasn't aware she had even taken the picture which is why I love it so much. It just reflects how much joy this little girl brings to me everyday!

HaPpY BirTHdAy AvA!

Below is the slideshow from Ava's First Birthday Party! We had a wonderful time and almost her entire family was able to attend. She is so blessed to have such amazing people in her life that love her so much! She was in a wonderful mood and seemed to enjoy her party as if she knew everyone was there for her! She loved her cake and tried to participate in opening the presents. She recieved a lot of beautiful clothes! She might just have enough outfits to wear one a day this entire summer! I can't wait to dress her up in all the cute outfits! She also got a cute stroller for her babydoll, a grocery cart and a pink push buggy!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?albumId=756554405803&ownerId=134505662103

Her party was a "Monkey Girl" theme. We had a special menu created so people could choose what they wanted for lunch. Dessert was the Monkey cake! The bakery did a fantastic job making the cake and I got extra monkey cupcakes for the kids! They were a hit! I had crayons and some activities for the kids and a #1 pinata. We played a game guessing how many bananas were in a container. (I put in 413 since Ava's B day is on April 13th) ;-)

I wish we had more time to spend with everyone that attended. The time seemed to pass very quickly. Yesterday was her actual "Birthday." We had her 1 Year check up in the afternoon. She now weighs 20 lbs and 11 oz. She is 12 1/2 inchese long. We started her on milk instead of formula, it's so nice to not have to purchase formula anymore! She is officially a toddler! I can't believe it. She also had to get 3 shots yesterday. She is getting some more teeth so we haven't been getting much sleep at our house! Other than that she is just perfect in every way! She is happy and just pleasant!!!! We could not be any more blessed!

Aiden is also doing well! He is starting T Ball and Chris is assistant coach for his team, the Mets!
He has less than two months of school left and then he starts his summer camp at this daycare. They go on fields trips almost every day during the summer so he will be one busy 6 year old! We purchased out season pass for our community pool again this year and I am sure we will be frequent visitors! We are taking a trip to Florida at the end of June for vacation and we can't wait!!! The weather has been wonderful so we spend a lot of time outdoors playing with the neighbors and just enjoying the kids!

Easter Sunday

We had a fantastic Easter Sunday! Ava was up bright and early then Aiden followed, he told Chris that he saw some eggs down in front of the TV but wasn't ready to head down because he heard the Easter Bunny cracking eggs and he was still in the house! LOL! So, we waited a few minutes to give him time to escape and we headed downstairs. Aiden found his basket in no time, it was in the basement and then he found Ava's in the toy room. The weather was wonderful! I prepared food and the boys went to play a little baseball outside. We had our friends the Davis's over and Chris's brother Pat. We missed our family but will be seeing them all next weekend for Ava's first Birthday Party. We ate and ate and it was so nice to spend the afternoon outside! We had a second Egg hunt for the kids in the afternoon in the back yard. This was the first time in years it's been nice enough to do that! I wish Easter was this nice every year! The kids enjoyed their baskets and they seemed to enjoy the food as well, they both cleared their plates! We had salad, ham, potatoe cassarole, broccoli cassarole, deviled eggs, pasta, meatballs, rolls and green fluff (watergate salad) and bunny cake for dessert! Aiden got Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on DVD which was all he asked for from the Easter Bunny, he also got the DVD of Nanny McPhee, a mini simon says game, a watch, a kite, a bubble blower, a book for his tag, a ton of other little things and lots of candy! Ava got a Hello Kitty bubble blower, shoes, hair bows, some summer outfits, a watering can and a V tech microphone!

Neighborhood Egg Hunt

Saturday was our annual neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt! The kids had a really great time and once again got to see the Easter bunny! They got lots of fun treats in their eggs including Mommy's favorite "ring pops!"

Coloring of the Eggs

Friday night we colored our eggs! This was the first time Aiden really took time and put in great effort at making them look nice! He loved using the glitter! Ava was more interested in eating them this year!

Hippity, Hoppity, Easter's on it's way!

We took Aiden and Ava to visit the Easter Bunny at the mall last weekend. This visit just after Ava inhaled her cake during her photo session! Mommy wasn't thinking and didn't bring a change of pants (as you see below she was a MESS!) so Ava got a new spring outfit about 5 minutes before meeting the Easter Bunny! Aiden kept asking how the Easter bunny moved and seemed to be questioning it a little so I just played along...he is a real bunny. He was under the impression that someone worked him with a remote control?? Ava did fantastic, she wasn't scared at all just looked up and smiled! So cute!!! I wanted to get pictures of them individually especially since it's Ava's 1st Easter then one of them both together but, the mall apparently changed their "rules" and didn't allow people to take their own pictures this year. I wasn't going to pay for 3 sets of their pictures, I would have to take out a loan for that!

Tonight we will color our Easter Eggs, I boiled 2 Dozen eggs last night. Aiden asked what I was doing with the "hot eggs" when I was draining the water in the sink. I thought that way hysterical. So hard boiled eggs will now forever be referred to as "hot eggs" at our house!

We are headed tomorrow morning to our neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt and the Easter bunny will be there so we will have a chance the get more pictures with him them! (so SUCK IT mall Easter bunny picture takers!!) The weather has been FANTASTIC and is supposed to be wonderful tomorrow as well! I will also start cooking a little tomorrow to prepare for Sunday. Aiden is going to once again help me bake the traditional Bunny Cake this year. We will also be baking and decorating that tomorrow. I remember last year, Ava was still in my belly over Easter and we were anxiously waiting for her arrival!

Sunday, we are having Easter at our house. I am cooking a ham, cheesy potatos, we are ordering some pasta and meatballs (Chris has to keep the Italian in every holiday) and some waldorf salad. The Davis's are coming over to join us and brining deviled eggs and broccoli cassarole. I hope the weather is nice so the kids can play outside! If not, we will still have a great time! I am very much looking forward to Ava's first Easter and watching Aiden search for eggs and their baskets on Easter morning!

How am I supposed to choose??

These are just a few of the pictures we had taken for Ava's First Birthday. Since there was no possible way for me to decide which ones to have printed I purchased the photo CD with copyrights to them all! All the plans are almost finalized for her party next Saturday!

I still cannot believe she is going to be a year old!