The Veldmans: 18 months

I'm not really sure where the past two weeks have gone. Ava & Nate left for the cabin a week ago Thursday with Boppa for a long Labor Day weekend. I had to work my 12 hr night shifts so it worked out pretty good. I missed my sweet girl, but from what I hear she had lots of fun and got tons of love and attention. When she arrived home Monday afternoon I felt like she had grown so much during those four days. I'm sure that she didn't, but she just seemed bigger. She came home with a bigger vocabulary. I feel like she picks up a few words almost daily. Her new words were "gopher" and "pontoon". She was also walking around saying, "oh boy" and "hey guys". She's been repeating almost everything we say, which we still find very cute. She now helps us "read" her books. She'll fill in a lot of the words if we pause and give her a chance to talk. She surprises me daily how much she has picked up (or rather memorized from hours of reading every day).

Thursday Ava had her 18 month Dr's appt. It's the first appt. that Nate has been able to go to since she was first born. He was not impressed with how long one has to sit and wait in a Dr's office before being seen. I told him that this was unfortunately normal. We waited 40 minutes for a 15 minute appt. Ava's Dr. was very impressed and said that she looks "perfect". Her ears look great, and the tubes are still in place. What a blessing those tubes have been. We have not had one infection since she got them. She still has her umbilical hernia, but fortunately it has not gotten any bigger. We'll continue to watch it. Dr. Plotnik is still optimistic that it will resolve on its own by the time that she's around 5 yrs old. If not, she'll need surgery which I guess is now an outpatient surgery. She is once again "off the charts" with her measurements. She weighed in at 28 lbs 7 oz, and is 34 1/2 inches tall. Her head circumference is 19 1/2 inches. She got three shots while she was there. She cried, and then on the way home wanted her band aids off and kept saying "hurt, hurt" while pointing to her legs. Today she has fairly large sized circles around her injection sites, but they don't seem to be bothering her. Poor little pumpkin!

Tomorrow is a "big day" as I've been telling Ava tonight (and she repeats it). We'll be heading to TCF Stadium to enjoy some tailgating and the Gophers home opener. Ava will be joining us for the festivities. I'm really hoping that she's able to take a nap in her stroller while tailgating. Otherwise we could be in for a rough game no matter how the gophers play. The weather should be beautiful. I hope that you're all able to get out and enjoy it. We'll update again soon!

Lauryn stopped over for a bit. Ava was SO excited to see Lauryn when she walked in the door. Ava squealed and started running around. I don't even get that reaction when I come home!