Iowa Bound

Yesterday Ava turned 9 weeks old. I didn't take any pictures yesterday, I was to busy changing her clothes. By the end of the day Ava had gone through three outfits. No wonder our water bill was more this past month! :) Yesterday we ran a couple of errands and then went to Maple Grove and met Grandma Veldman for dinner. We then went to the "Divas and Diamonds" party at Mark Michael's (jewelry store). Ava was so content and very happy. Daddy and any future man in her life could have a problem...she LOVED all the bright lights and pretty sparkly things. :) After the party we came home. I'm thinking that I never should have blogged about Ava's sleeping 8 hours straight through the night...she hasn't done it since. :) She still only gets up once a night so I shouldn't complain. However, I was just so hopeful when she did it two nights in a row. I know, the time will come when she does it consistently.

This afternoon we're going to go and pick up Daddy from work and then we're off to Des Moines for the weekend. Sunday is cousin Reece's birthday party. We are very much looking forward to seeing everybody and spending some time with them. We're going to hit up some garage sales tomorrow morning. For some reason this is very exciting to me now that I have a little girl. No, we are not above buying our little girl clothes at a garage sale! :) We also have a play date with Erin, Porter, and Magoo. Some of you may know Porter as "Drake's most beautiful bulldog" from last year. Well he now has a little brother Magoo whom we have not yet met. Erin, I can't wait to get some great pictures of our "kids" together. :)

We hope that you all have a wonderful weekend!

PS-Last Tuesday Ava weighed in at 13 lbs 9 oz at our group. Everybody who sees her asks how old she is and then says, "Wow, she's a big girl". I'm not sure how to take that...as long as they don't call her "husky" which is what an elderly resident called me when I was working at the nursing home in high school!

Play date

Our week has been busy. Yesterday we went to the New Parent Connection group at United. It was once again good to see everybody and share our stories about the week. After going to the group we hung out at the hospital to go to the MNA meeting. Our contract is up at the end of May and negotiations are not going well. I'm worried that there may be a strike looming at the beginning of June. Ava and I will be heading out for her and my first picketing experience in May.

Today we had a wonderful day. We had a play date with Kristi and Cora. The weather was beautiful so we were able to spend some time outside on a walk. We ate at a nice little place near their house. It was so great to talk with Kristi and catch up; sharing stories and different experiences that we've had since having the girls. It's so much fun to have the girls so close in age (2 weeks apart). Thanks for a wonderful day girls, we're already looking forward to our next play date!


Ava & Cora

Ava doing her tummy time on the beach ball. This works so much better than the floor. Look at her hold that head up high!!!

Exhausted after her day with Cora

Our little sleeping beauty

Our little sleeping beauty slept through the night for the past two nights and we are so excited. Nate woke up Sunday morning and asked what time Ava got up in the middle of the night. When I responded, "she didn't", he jumped up to run into her room and tell her what a good girl she was (she was obviously awake at this point). I of course had already gone into her room twice to make sure she was still breathing. Last night she slept from 11-7. This time I got up only to pump at 5:00. My only concern with her sleeping through the night is that she spends 7-8 hours on the right side of her head, flattening it even more. I'm going to call the clinic today to see if our pediatrician is in this week (she's heading to Europe and I can't remember when she leaves). If she's in I'll talk to her about maybe starting therapy early and see what she thinks.

We had a busy weekend yet again. Friday evening Ava got to meet Kari, Andy, Julia, and Brynn. They came over for dinner and hung out for a while. They live in WI, a suburb of Madison, so we don't get to see them very often. The girls were so good with Ava. I'm sure that Julia is a wonderful big sister, as she stood over Ava saying "hi" and asking how she was. Then there is Brynn who seems to constantly have a smile on her face. It was great seeing them and we thank them for taking time out of their schedule to spend time with us.

Saturday we were hoping to take a family outing to the TCF Stadium for the Gopher's spring game. Mother Nature had something else in store for us since it rained all morning. Nate was still up for going, I on the other hand didn't think it was very appropriate to take our little peanut out on such a dreary and wet day. As I told Nate, we don't need a soggy peanut! Nate ended up going to Golf Galaxy to meet up with Wes to look at clubs. He was nice enough to take Ava so that I could get a little nap in. That evening we headed down to Chaska to see Josh and Jenny. They had been wanting to meet Ava for so long and we finally found a time to get together. I had not seen their place yet so we headed down there. It had been so long since we had gotten together, it was so great to see them and catch up a little bit! They are expecting in Oct. and we couldn't be more excited and happy for them!

Sunday was a pretty low key day, but very nice. We started out the day at church and then went over to Grandma & Grandpa Veldman's. Grandma & Grandpa watched Ava while Nate and I went and ran a few errands. You can run errands so much faster when you don't have to load and unload a car seat and stroller! Uncle Wes joined all of us in the afternoon and we had a delicious lunch/dinner. Ava had a great time and even chatted a bit with everybody while flashing an occasional smile

There's nothing too exciting on the agenda for today. We've already had story time (which she actually sat through) and some tummy time. We're hoping the sun will peak through this afternoon and we'll go for a walk. It's just Ava and me this evening since Nate has his golf league on Monday nights. We'll do a bath tonight and just snuggle in together. Have a great day!

Daddy & Ava playing under the jungle gym

Kari, Brynn, Ava & Julia

Brynn, Ava, & Julia

8 Weeks = 2 Months

That's right, our little peanut turns 8 weeks old today. The time has gone so quickly, and I can't believe that I have to be back to work in less than a month now. Ava decided that she wanted to start celebrating her 8 week birthday early today. She was up at 3:30, and then again at 5:30. I then woke her at 7:30 to try to get her back on her schedule and so that Daddy could see her before he left for work. She was kind enough to share some smiles with him this morning, which got his day off to a great start. We are trying a new schedule as of yesterday which involves eating every 3 1/2-4 hours instead of every 3. She seems to be doing ok with it. She's been really sleepy in the mornings the past couple of days, I'm not sure what is up with that. She is usually much more awake in the evenings though...especially when we want to sit down and eat dinner! We've been trying to get her to sleep looking to her left since I am freaking out about her flat head. The little poop just won't do it. I've been reading info on it online and I'm hoping that with her increasing muscle strength in her neck that she will eventually not be on that side of her head all the time and it will correct itself (like most cases do supposedly). I just need her to cooperate during tummy time to strengthen those muscles. I'm going to pick up a beach ball at Target today to do tummy time on that. Otherwise when she is on the floor she gets lazy and just puts her head down.

I went to the eye Dr. yesterday and everything is now healed and back to normal. No more eye appointments! I'm so glad that it wasn't anything too serious. You don't realize how much you take your vision for granted until you have a problem with it. Thank you again to Grandma Veldman for watching Ava while I went to my appointment.

Today we're off to the mall and to run a few errands. We have Kari, Andy, Julia, and Brynn coming to visit tomorrow evening from Madison. We are excited to see them. We were hoping to go to the Gopher spring game on Saturday during the day, but it looks like rain and Ava and I are kind of fair weather fans.

One more thing, Ava wants to wish a big Happy Birthday to her biggest admirer...cousin Reece. Reece turns 2 today. We will be heading to Waukee in just over a week to help him celebrate. We're looking forward to seeing him and all the other family (just not the car trip). Happy Birthday Reece, we love you!!!

We hate shots!!!

Yesterday was Ava's 2 month well baby check. With that well baby check comes 2 month immunizations. That's three shots and one oral vaccine. I had been dreading the appointment since Sunday when I remembered that she had it. I was so worried that I would have to hold her down while they administered the shots, and then she would look up at me with those big blue eyes and cry out in pain. The actual shots were not as bad as I thought they would be. As I've said before, I absolutely Love our pediatrician. She actually administered the vaccines herself. I have been a nurse for almost 7 years and have never seen a physician administer a shot until yesterday. She had them all in within 30 seconds and then she handed Ava to me to be soothed. I didn't have to hold her down at all which was good. Ava only cried for about a minute as was then fine. I had premedicated her with some Tylenol before we left the house. I thought to myself, "well that wasn't so bad, the worst part is over". Silly me!!! We went for a walk when we got home and upon returning home Ava woke up and was NOT happy. The poor little thing was in so much pain. Her little thunder thighs were even more swollen and bright red. I couldn't even breastfeed her because when her leg touched me she would cry out in pain. Nate and I felt so helpless. We gave her more Tylenol to help with the pain as well as the fever that she was running. Nate gave her a bottle at 10:00 and then put her down. She slept until 4:15. At that point her fever was gone and it seemed like the majority of the pain was as well. Her one thigh is still slightly swollen but she had a much better day. She slept most of the morning. I think she's just worn out from yesterday, and still tired from the weekend.

As for the rest of her appointment. She weighed in at 13 lbs 3 oz, and was 24 inches long. Yes, she's gained 5 pounds in 8 weeks. Needless to say, we got the ok to try to space her feedings out a bit longer. :) That puts her in the 97th percentile for both height and weight. Our Dr. said that she looks great. However, there are a couple of things that we need to continue to watch. She is still going cross eyed quite frequently which I know is normal up to 4 months. If it's not better at 4 months then she will send us to a pediatric eye Dr. I also began to notice this past week that Ava is getting a flat head on the right. She always sleeps on her back with her head facing right. So now we have to see if we can get her too start looking to the left while she sleeps. Otherwise we may be heading to therapy. The Dr. didn't seem nearly as concerned about it as I did (shocking, I know), but said that we will definitely re-evaluate at 4 months. If I don't notice any improvement or can't get her to sleep facing the other way in a couple of weeks I may just call the Dr. and see if we can do something before 4 months.

It was a beautiful day yet again. We did make it outside for a walk this evening when Nate got home from work. Other than that, we went to the new parent connections group again today. I really enjoy just interacting with other new parents and hearing what they are going through, and seeing the other kids and what they are doing developmentally.

Tomorrow my friend Becky is coming to visit us and is bringing lunch from panera. It will be good to see her again. Then I have another eye appointment in the afternoon. I'm hoping that this will be the last of the appointments. My eye is so much better. I've started to wear my contacts a few hours each day and continue with the eye drops. Grandma Veldman is coming over to watch Ava again while I am gone.

I think that's it for now. Thanks for checking in!


Ava with her battle wounds (aka, injection sites)

Uncle Wes and Ava sticking their tongues out at each other.

Baptism

What a Wonderful weekend we had! The weather was beautiful, the company was great, and everything went very smoothly. We had a very busy weekend with Ava's baptism and were blessed to be surrounded by so much family. Lisa, Brent and the kids arrived around 11:00 on Saturday morning. Reece was the first in the door and wanted to make sure that he got to see Ava and give her the gift that they had brought for her (Ava's necklace, which Reece called daily to tell me the week leading up to her baptism). Brent was nice enough to grill lunch since Nate had to work until 1:00 on Sat. Grandma Becker, Great-Grandma Schutterle, Grandma Great (Becker), Darlene, Carl, & Sara got here about 1:30 after taking a short detour through Minneapolis and I think all of Mounds View. We had lunch and just hung out for awhile. Then everybody except for Ava, Grandma Becker, and I headed over to the hotel to go swimming. I had to feed Ava and Grandma had to sew the last couple buttons on the back of Ava's dress. Grandma Becker made Ava's baptismal gown, all from her wedding dress. Ava's dress was beautiful and so special. It will be such a keepsake. Thank you so much Grandma...what a wonderful gift, and Ava looked beautiful in it!!! We then joined everybody else at the hotel. Grandma & Grandpa Veldman, along with Tom and Judy arrived at the hotel just before we did. Tom & Judy drove up from Johnston to celebrate with us and meet Ava. We are so happy that they were able to make the trip up. It was great to see them again!!! It was a low key evening at the hotel that involved pizza and visiting, but it was wonderful to spend that time with everybody. Ava was a very good girl as she was passed all around. I think she likes the attention. :)
Sunday brought more people from IA. Grandpa Becker arrived at our house around 2:45 AM. We know he was very busy with work and very exhausted, so we were very grateful when he arrived here safely. Marilyn, Carl, Kristin, and Luke also drove up during the wee morning hours and met us at church. Aunt Carolyn, Uncle Rick, and Nana drove up from Hollandale that morning as well. A big thanks to all of you for sacrificing your sleep and time to be a part of Ava's special day. She is a very lucky little girl to have so many people surround her with so much love. We had around 36 people attend Ava's baptism and luncheon. The service was very nice and then we went over to Grandma & Grandpa Veldman's for a delicious lunch. As I said before, the weather was gorgeous so people were able to eat outside which was very nice. We had lunch, opened gifts (which were all very nice), and were home around 4:00 Sunday afternoon. We were all exhausted, including Ava!!!
A big thank you to everyone who attended Ava's special day this weekend. It was great seeing you all and meant a lot to Nate and I that you were there.

Ava thinks it's very funny that she's wearing mommy's old dress

Ava's baptismal gown that Grandma Becker made out of her wedding dress

Godparents Brent and Lisa with Ava, Mommy, & Daddy at the church

Uncles Wes, Grandpa & Grandma Veldman, Ava, Mommy & Daddy after baptism

4 Generations on the Becker side...Grandpa, Grandma Great, Ava, & Mommy

4 Generations on the Veldman side: Grandpa, Nana, Ava, & Daddy

The Iowa group that came up for Ava's baptism (minus Tom & Judy who came from Johnston)

4 Generations on the Parr side: Grandma Becker, Grandma Schutterle, Ava, & Mommy

Ava & Mommy with Ava wearing the dress that Mommy wore at 18 months. That dress was given to me by my great grandma Clark

At the hotel Sat. night where we ate pizza and hung out with everybody

Nate & Reece spending quality time in the pool

Judy & Tom drove up from Johnston (Des Moines) to meet Ava for the first time and attend her baptism.

Reece holding on tight to Ava, he wanted to make sure that he got his time with her. He loves our little girl SO much!

She did it...but I didn't

That's right, Ava slept throughout the night last night! Unfortunately, I did not. She went down at 10:30, falling asleep on her own around 11:00. I didn't hear a peep from her until 5:15 this morning. I on the other hand was up at 4:00, wondering when she was going to wake up (as I went to make sure she was still breathing, like any good mother would) and if my boobs were going to explode. I went and pumped a little and then tried to go back to sleep but was unsuccessful. Then Ava was ready to eat at 5:15. She's getting all rested up for her many visitors that are coming this weekend.

Hope you have a great weekend!

PS-I forgot to mention yesterday that my little chunky monkey is now wearing some 6 month clothes at the age of 7 weeks...does this mean we have childhood obesity in our future?!?

7 Weeks Old

Today Ava turns 7 weeks old. She began the celebration at 4:00 this morning when she had a major blow out that went all over my pajama pants during the middle of her feeding. It was such a mess that we had to call Daddy in for reinforcements for the clean-up process (since I had to go and change). Other than that small issue she had a very good night of sleep, and we woke her at 7:10 for breakfast. I'm hoping that she'll soon drop that night time feeding. I can't imagine how wonderful 8 hours of sleep feels!

Below are some pictures from over the past week.

Her determined look...determined to keep that head up during tummy time

Searching for that thumb...it's under your fingers honey

Just chill'n. This is one of her 7 week old pictures, we decided to forgo the sign this week.

Ava's classic cross-eyed look. I keep telling her if she continues doing that they're going to stick that way!

HAPPY!!!

Sleepy

So serious (yes, she has a double chin and big cheeks)

Jane, Ava, & Grandma Veldman before the shower on Sat. morning

Where did those rolls come from?

Where did those rolls come from? That is what I thought when I was giving Miss Ava her bath the other day. I swear that they were not there the day before. Our little girl is packing on the pounds. We went to the new parent's connection group today and she tipped the scale at 12 lbs 14 oz. That was with her diaper and clothes on, but it was a clean diaper and very light weight clothing. She has her Dr. appt. on Monday (at which time she'll be getting her immunizations) so we'll get an official weight then. I guess her double chin should have been a good indication that she's been gaining a bit. I guess I shouldn't worry if she's getting enough to eat when I nurse her.

We had a busy weekend. Saturday morning we headed over to Grandma & Grandpa Veldman's so that I could feed Ava before her shower. It was held at Terri's which is just a few doors down from Grandma & Grandpa's so that was very nice. The shower was wonderful. It was a small group of Grandma's friends and we had a wonderful time and got some very nice gifts. Ava slept soundly as she was adored by all the ladies. We made a short shopping trip after Ava had lunch and then I left her with Grandma so that I could go to a fundraiser being put on be a friend of mine to support her organization in Cameroon. Daddy returned home from the cabin not too long after I left and was able to feed her a bottle. Ava hung out with them for awhile and we all returned home by 9:30 so that I could feed her before her bedtime. She's still sleeping well, going down around 10:30 and getting up between 2:30 and 3:30, and then again around 6:30. Going to that support group makes me really appreciate what a good baby Ava is...we are SO lucky!!! Sunday was a pretty low key day. We went to church in the morning and then ran a few errands afterwards. We spent the afternoon at home and were able to go for a nice family walk and enjoy the beautiful weather. What a gorgeous weekend we had!

Grandma Veldman is coming over tomorrow afternoon to watch Ava so that I can once again go to the eye Dr. I don't think my eye is 100% back to normal but it is SO much better. I can actually read things with my right eye now. Other than that, we're just getting ready for baptism this weekend. We are very much looking forward to all the family that will be coming in to town to celebrate this very important day. We are blessed to have such a supportive family who is willing to make the long drive to be a part of Ava's life.

Locked Out

Yup, that's right. Ava and I got locked out of the house today. We have a lock key pad on our garage door that I always use when we go for walks. It was beautiful outside today so we headed out. For some reason I thought to myself, "I should take the garage door opener just in case that key pad doesn't work for some reason". Well I didn't because it has always worked in the past. We got back from a wonderful walk and I went to open the door...the key pad just flashed at me and the door did not open. I tried it for about 15 minutes and then finally got ahold of Nate at work. Luckily it was about lunch time so Ava and I hung out for another hour (thankfully she was sleeping) until Nate got home to let us in. Thanks Daddy for saving the day!!!


Another week has quickly passed and Ava turned 6 weeks yesterday. She is getting to be such a big girl. I'm anxious to see how much she weighs and how long she is. I'm hoping to go to that support group next Tuesday at the hospital so that I can weigh her. I had my 6 week postpartum check-up yesterday. Everything is great and the Dr. said I'm ready to have another baby...I think not! :) We stopped by and saw my boss to see about the date that I return to work, and stopped to see a few co-workers. I'm returning a week earlier than I had thought, I guess I'm scheduled the 20th. My boss said I could take more time off if I wanted, but I think I'll just go back. I need to save my vacation for later, and I can't just keep putting it off. Luckily Grandma Veldman has some time that she can take off of work and she has volunteered to watch Ava some of the days that I have to work. That will keep her out of daycare, save us money, give them time together, and allow me to call many times a day to see how she's doing since it will be my first time away from her for more than a few hours. :) We are very grateful that she's willing to do this!!!

Ava and Daddy got to spend a couple extra hours together on Wednesday. I had another eye appointment so Nate got off work an hour early and met me at the clinic to pick up Ava. My eye is improving but is not back to baseline. I have another appointment next week. Hopefully everything will be back to normal by then! Wednesday evening Uncle Wes and cousin Maggie came over to visit and have dinner. Ava was a bit fussy that night and wasn't real kind to her company. Mommy and Daddy enjoyed the company and appreciated them visiting. We hope that they come again soon, and hope that Ava is a little happier to see them.

We have a busy weekend planned yet again. Tomorrow morning Ava has another baby shower, her fourth and last one. We have been very blessed to have such generous and kind people in our lives that want to do these things for us. So, we will be having a "girls day" with Grandma Veldman and her friends while Daddy has a "guys days". He will be heading up to the cabin with Grandpa Veldman and Uncle Wes. They have more tile to take up and want to get the docks in the water. I don't think that the docks have ever been put in this early, the weather has been so warm. It will be great for Nate to see the cabin as well, neither of us have been up there to see it since they started the construction. I will be anxious to go up in May! Tomorrow evening I have a fundraiser to go to so Ava and Daddy will be on their own (with the help of Grandma and Grandpa Veldman most likely). Sunday morning we'll head to church and make some final arrangements for Ava's baptism which is only a week away. We are looking forward to seeing everybody who will be making the trip up here for this special occasion!


Below are Ava's 6 week pictures (as if you can't tell by the sign). She was a bit tired and not in the mood to take pictures so they aren't the best but I'm posting them anyway. They were taken after her bath, which Daddy gave her. It was his first time giving her a bath and he did very good. She seemed to enjoy it and was even nice enough to keep all bodily fluids inside!


Thanks for checking in. We hope that you have a wonderful weekend!


Daddy & Ava after bath time

Easter Weekend

We had our first big road trip to Iowa this weekend to visit my family for Easter. It was a huge success, as Ava was a great little traveler. She slept the entire way down to IA, stopping only in Clear Lake to eat and change a diaper. We thought this was great until we arrived at Grandma & Grandpa Beckers at 10:00 and then Ava was up until 2:00 am. Oops! It was ok though, I would have much rather had her up crying at the house than in the car for 5 hours. Saturday she was back on schedule and went down at her usual 10:15 and was up at 3:00 and 6:45. She likes to stay on schedule just like her mommy!

Saturday was a busy day for Ava. She got up and ate, played with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Lisa, and cousins Reece and Zackery for awhile. Then she and I went and picked up Aunt Darlene and cousin Sara and went up to Hopes Bridal so that I could get fitted for a bridesmaid dress. We headed back home to decorate Easter cookies. Ava wasn't really interested so Daddy decorated instead (he decorated some beautiful cookies, it just took him a long time to do one masterpiece at a time). Ava had lots of visitors. She got to meet Karen and Linda in the morning. After we got back from Hopes she got to meet Grandma Great and Great Aunt Lori for the first time. Grandma Schutterle, Virginia, Marilyn, Kristin, Carl, and Matt also came to visit on Sat. You can see in the pictures below that people didn't mind holding her, as she was very seldom put down!

Sunday morning Miss Ava put on her beautiful Easter dress (which lasted the whole day with no blowouts) and went down to see what the Easter bunny brought her. We then headed off to church and came home to look for our Easter baskets that were hidden outside at Grandma and Grandpa's. Everybody came over at noon so that we could have lunch. Then we had our big annual Easter egg hunt put on by Aunt Darlene. Thank you very much Aunt Darlene for another wonderful hunt (too bad the younger kids had to help me find my last egg yet again). That afternoon we headed up to Grandma Great's. Ava had yet another Easter basket up there. We had dinner there and then headed back to Grandma and Grandpa Becker's, as it was time for Ava's dinner. Uncle Rick stopped down to meet Ava that night before headed off to work. By the end of the day Mommy, Daddy, and Ava were exhausted!

We headed back home Monday around 11:00. Once again Ava slept almost all the way to Hollandale where we stopped to see Nana and eat lunch. She enjoyed her time with Nana and even managed to stay awake and look at her for awhile. We got home around 6:00 last evening. Ava was a bit fussy as her schedule was once again all messed up due to the long drive. She was asleep again at 10:00 and up at 3:00 so I'm glad she was able to sleep last night!

I think it will be a pretty low key day today. The weather is supposed to be kind of yucky so I think we'll stay in for the day. We have plenty of stuff to do with things to put away and what not. We hope that you all had a wonderful Easter weekend!

Jakob, Ava, Angie, & Anna

Great Grandma Schutterle

Cousin Carl putting Ava to sleep

Aunt Darlene

Grandma Great holding Ava for the first time

Ava & Mommy with one of her three Easter baskets

A family pictures after church

Grandma & Grandpa Becker with all of Ava's cousins

Sleeping bunny