Sunday, October 28, 2012

Ava Kate....12 months

Our baby girl turned ONE on September 27th!  It's crazy to think that a year ago we were praying over her as a tiny baby in the NICU.  We are so blessed to have a healthy and happy little girl with quite a personality.  She is so much fun right now...I wish we could stop time and enjoy her at this age forever!  


Things you are doing now....
  • You weigh 21 lbs, you're 29.5 inches tall, and have a head circumference of 17.5 inches....which puts you in the 75th percentile for each
  • You're wearing 12-18 month clothes and size 3 shoes



  • You're still in size 3 diapers...and have decided that you absolutely hate getting your diaper changed!  You try everything you can to get away from us, so diaper changing has become quite the challenge
  • You still only have your two bottom teeth, but the top right tooth is about to come in and we can see a few more on the top they are getting close

  • You've started wearing shoes to school since you are in the big girl class room now.  You weren't a fan at first ( you actually screamed and cried when I put them on you).
  • You're still not walking, but you love to walk if someone will hold BOTH of your hands.  You are constantly grabbing BOTH of our hands to help you walk and you will NOT walk with just one hand held.
  • You've taken a few steps between people but sit down quickly when you realize whats happening



  • You have become quite the little mama and love rocking your babies!  It's so sweet to watch!
  • You have moved to the big girl car seat and absolutely love it!  You love sitting next to Owen and looking out the window...You think you are soooo big!


  • Bath time is still your absolute favorite!  Most nights you get upset with me because I cant get you in the tub fast enough
  • You like to read books on your own or with Owen, but you're not much for sitting in mommy or daddy's lap to read


  • You love being outside!  The neighborhood playground is probably your favorite, but you also like bouncing on the trampoline, riding in the push car, and going to the pond to watch Owen feed the ducks!


  • You have a few words.....dada, bye, that "da-at"!  But you always lets us know what you want by pointing and grunting!


  • You are still a mommy's girl for sure....but Owen is a close second!  You light up the minute he walks into a room, you love to follow him wherever he goes, and you love to play with whatever he's playing with....which means we are starting to have sibling tifs over sharing toys!  
watching cartoons together while mommy gets ready...


  • You love to eat and will eat most anything.   Your favorites right now include:  Ritz cracker, sliced deli chicken, cheerios, cheese, bread, apple slices, apple sauce, yogurt, waffles, and blue berry muffins
  • You have become Miss Independent when it comes to eating and no longer like for us to feed you.  You want us to put everything on your try and let you eat it with your hands...lets just say meal time is quite messy these days!


  • You have discovered the candy bowl.  You don't really know what it is but you like all the colorful packaging and love to take all the pieces in and out.  When you disappear for a minute, we always know where to find you!
  • You have become a little more independent with playing by yourself, but you still prefer for someone to be sitting with you or holding you.  I think you may be a little spoiled!



  • You went to your first Razorback game this month.  It was really hot tail-gaiting so you weren't too excited about that, but you were a perfect angle during the game!


  • You are into everything these days!  Getting into the tupperware....they make for great drums!


  • You LOVE playing with Owen and want to do/try everything he is doing!




A 12 month comparison....

Owen                        Ava Kate

I think Miss Ava Kate is a spitting image of her big brother!!

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Cookies & Milk party.....


We celebrated Ava Kate's 1st Birthday with a cookies and milk party....


The setup...




        

the snack bar included all of Ava Kate's favorites...cupcakes, goldfish, turkey roll ups, apple slices, and ritz crackers


the cookie decorating table was a big hit...


MacKenzie was the best cookie decorator and loved making them for everyone...


the birthday girl with Aunt Amanda...


mommy and Ava Kate...


Ava Kate didn't care much about decorating....she just went straight to eating!


Owen and Ava Kate manning the cookie decorating table....


the birthday girl with daddy...

Caroline...


HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU.....


I think this was her favorite part of the party...




until daddy took the cupcake to remove he wrapper....she really thought he was taking her cupcake away!

"It's my party and I'll cry if I want to..."


Emma enjoying one of the cupcakes...


Owen and Charley...


Aunt Anna and Campbell....


time for presents....


the babies and strollers were a favorite....


Harper...


our little party girl....


Danielle and Ansley...


a little down time after all the party festivities....I can't wait to see these girls grow up together!


(Ansley 2.5 months, Campbell 6 months, and Ava Kate 1 year) 


Monday, October 8, 2012

Celebrating...


Ava Kate's 1st birthday fell on a Thursday so Josh and I decided to take the day off  and celebrate with Little Miss!! We started the day off by spending the morning in our pjs, making blue berry muffins, playing and singing "Happy Birthday" a million times!!  Ava Kate may not have known it was her birthday....but she KNEW she was the center of attention and she LOVED every minute of it!! 


let the celebration begin....



a little birthday muffin to start the day....



 Ava Kate could have cared less about the birthday candle....she went straight for the muffin!!  Luckily Owen came to the rescue and blew out the candle before she did too much damage!



After breakfast, we moved on to presents...


Ava Kate was most excited about her new baby doll! We couldn't get it out of the box fast enough....



She loved on that baby, rocked the baby...


....hugged, and hugged, and hugged the baby



gave her a paci (when she wasn't trying to take it herself)....



She was soooo sweet and loving with her new baby.  Her favorite thing to do was...rock her and say "awwwwww" over and over!  It was so cute!!

posing in her adorable 1st birthday shirt designed by Beema....



Owen was such a big helper!  He helped Ava Kate open each present and then would say "look Ava its a..."!  Little did he know, we had a "good" big brother present of him too! He was so excited when he saw that it was a fireman imaginext!  


 me and my sweet baby girl....



After Little Miss opened presents and we played for a while, we took Owen to daycare so Josh and I could spend some one on one time with the birthday girl.  Apparently the morning wore her out, so she took a little nap in the car to get refueled for her afternoon with mommy and daddy.  



The birthday girl woke up hungry so we headed to The Green Submarine for one of her favorites.... a grilled cheese sandwich!

We had originally planned to spend the afternoon at the park, but it was a gloomy day and it looked like it could rain at any minute so moved the afternoon activities indoors.   And what better place to go with a one year old on her birthday than....Toys R Us and Barnes and Noble!  

Ava Kate was so funny at Toys R Us.  She spent the first little bit just looking around quietly UNTIL.... we turned down the princess and baby doll isle.  All of a sudden, she started pointing and saying "dat, dat, dat" to every princess and baby on the isle!  It was so cute! After her LOVE for ALL the princesses and babies, there was no way we were getting out of there without one.  So, her choice of the day was a "petite" Cinderella doll!!   

We tried to put her down and get it on video....it's cute but it just doesn't do it justice!






It was quite an exciting day and baby girl was more than ready for a nap after all the festivities.  After nap we picked up Owen from daycare and headed home for a birthday dinner and some more presents from Beema and Papa Joe!


Another one of Ava Kate's favorites...Chicken Parmesan bake


 ....And strawberry frozen yogurt with fresh strawberries for dessert


playing with her "petite" Cinderella....such a girly girl!!