The Veldmans: Where's Ava?!?

That's the question that Nate asked this afternoon. After spending a wonderful weekend up north with Aunt Lisa, Uncle Brent, and cousin Reece, we got home around 1:00 this afternoon. It was beautiful outside (except a little windy) so we thought we would go for a walk. We were excited for Ava to sit in the stroller without her car seat for the first time. Her first "big girl" ride in her stroller. I strapped her in and then asked Nate to go and get a light blanket due to the cool wind when the sun went under. I was waiting for him when I noticed that he had become distracted by his golf clubs so I went inside to get the blanket myself. I was gone for maybe 30 seconds, and Nate came in the house for about 10 seconds. We went back outside and I hear Nate say, "Where is Ava...SH*T" Ummmmm....we kind of didn't put the brakes on when we left her unattended and the wind turned her around and down the driveway she went. She was across the driveway hanging out next to the fire hydrant, just chilling and chewing on her teether. I just kept thinking how lucky we were that she didn't tip over. One of the many lessons that Ava has taught us in her short 5 1/2 months...Use the brakes on the stroller!!!

We had a great weekend, but it started off a bit rocky. Ava and I went to the gym Friday morning. She has been there once before and did just fine in the daycare there. When I dropped her off I decided to take a pager with me just in case they needed to get a hold of me for some reason, even though I was sure she would be fine. Well I had 15 minutes left of my work out and the pager went off. I thought maybe she had a dirty diaper (since they don't change the diapers there). I walk into the daycare and she is just screaming. I have never seen her cry like that before. She didn't even finish her bottle. Look at that girl's thighs...she has never refused food in her life! I couldn't even get her to finish the bottle. She calmed down after I held her for a minute. I was feeling ok about sending her to daycare on Monday, but now I'm really worried. That's right, tomorrow is her first day of real daycare. Nate will be dropping her off and I'll be picking her up. I'm really hoping she does ok. I knew that it would be hard to send her, but I didn't think it would be there hard. I just don't want her to be scared and not be able to be consoled. And I really want her to be able to take naps! Please say a little prayer that she does well there!

Like I've said, we had a great weekend. Cousin Reece and Uncle Brent got here around 2:00 to play with Ava, and then picked Aunt Lisa up from the airport a little before 5:00. We then left for the cabin. We had a nice warm and dry day to play outside and go out on the boat on Saturday. Reece even went tubing with Nate. It didn't last very long before they both ended up in the water. It was a nice relaxing weekend, and it was so nice to spend time with them. Strittmatters, Thank you so much for making the long drive for such a short weekend. We love you all very much and look forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks!