Weekend in Iowa

We've had a very busy week since our last blog update. Thursday afternoon Ava was a very brave girl as she went in for her 6 month shots. She cried for only a very short time after her four shots, and was a champ for the rest of the night. Daddy got off work a little early so that we could get a head start on our trip to IA. Our friends Jenny and Russ got married on Saturday and I was in the wedding so we went down early.

Friday Grandma Becker took some family pictures of us over her lunch break. I'm very happy with how they turned out. We even got a few smiles from Miss Ava. There is a sampling of the pictures below. Thanks Grandma for doing this! After pictures and a little nap we went to see "Grandma Great". Ava saved a few smiles for her, but was definitely ready for a nap when we left. Thanks for the visit Grandma Great. Friday night Grandma & Grandpa Becker watched Ava while Daddy and I went to rehearsal and dinner.

Saturday I was up and out the door early for hair and pictures before the wedding. Ava got to spend the morning with Daddy. They took a little trip over to Nate Voight's house so that Daddy could hang out with his best friend and Ava could hang with Jackson. They then headed back to Grandma & Grandpa's so that Auntie Lisa & Uncle Craig P. could see Ava since she wasn't going to the wedding. Aunt Darlene then came and picked Ava up. They went down to see Great Grandma Schutterle. From what I hear, Ava was a very good girl. I can't imagine why...rumor has it that she got lots of attention from her cousins, great aunts, & Great Grandma. Grandpa Becker then got Ava that evening. I guess Ava gave him a little grief, but Grandpa got her fed and asleep for the night.

Sunday we hung out with Grandma & Grandpa for a little while before the trek home. Ava got a new "fire hat" and played with Grandma & Grandpa's fire truck. She did a great job on the drive home, as we stopped only once for a diaper change and to eat.

Ava got to hang out with Daddy on Monday since it was Columbus Day and he had the day off. They ran errands and stopped by Grandma Veldman's work to see Grandma and all the other ladies that "oooh and aaaah" over her. She loves all the attention. Today she spent the day at day care. Tomorrow afternoon we're heading back to Iowa. Ava and I are taking our first road trip alone. Aunt Lisa & Uncle Brent moved last weekend, so Ava and I are going to help them unpack and see their new place. Please wish us safe travels and a nice quiet drive! :)


Family pictures...

On her way to the fire (this is before she fell forward and hit her face on the steering wheel)

I think she likes her fire hat

Grandpa & Grandma Becker with Ava

Daddy & Mommy at the wedding reception

No need for dentures

I worked my 12 hour shifts this weekend while Ava hung out with Daddy, Grandma, & Grandpa. Rumor has it that they had a wonderful time playing toys, going to church, a nice walk, and having dinner together. I was able to see my little peanut Monday morning and guess what I found...TWO teeth working their way out of her bottom gums. I could feel their sharp edges when I ran my finger over her gums. They don't seem to bother her much right now, I'm hoping that continues. Nate and I are glad she's getting teeth, we had the conversation just last week about how we wonder if she has any. :) Now hopefully she doesn't use them to bite while nursing!!!

Ava went to daycare Monday afternoon while I went to work an evening shift. Yesterday we got to hang out and then Daddy and I had a "date night" while Grandma watched Ava. We went to Fogo de Chao, which was delicious! Thank you Grandma for watching Ava, she was SO excited to see you!!! Ava and I got to enjoy a nice walk today on this beautiful day. Then this afternoon we went to the mall to pick up a few things, and Grandma joined us. Ava was such a good girl while we were there. We got home just in time to help Daddy lower Ava's mattress on her bed. She's getting to be such a big girl!

Tomorrow Ava has her 6 month shots. She has them now because she was so sick at her 6 month appt. and I couldn't bear causing her any more pain by giving her the shots. After that we're heading over to Daddy's work to pick him up and begin our trek to IA. My friend Jenny is getting married this weekend and I'm in the wedding. Ava will be spending the weekend with Grandma & Grandpa Becker, and Aunt Darlene will be watching her on Saturday. She's looking forward to seeing everybody. We're just hoping for a nice quiet ride. :)

Helping mommy fold clothes

Unfolding the folded clothes, and having a great time doing so

GO TWINS!!!

Smile, it's a beautiful fall day!

I love the flower on my head, and Daddy hates it!

"This photo shoot is over, I'm tired"

Great days to be outside

The weather has been absolutely beautiful this week, and luckily we've had some time to get out and enjoy it. Monday Ava and I had a pretty low key day. We went for a walk and spent some time outside in the afternoon waiting for Daddy to get home from work.

Tuesday was packed full of fun. Kristi and Cora came over for a play date. We went on a walk and for a picnic. I'm glad that Cora is so chill with everything...Ava is kind of a bully (as you will see in the pictures below). Cora was nice enough to just ignore Ava as she stole every toy that Cora was playing with. I think that Ava was jealous of Cora's pretty dress and legwarmers (she looked adorable), as Ava tried to pull her clothes off. It was so much fun watching the girls play together. As they get older it's even more fun. However, they seem to be getting older way to quickly! It was also a great time for me to catch up with Kristi and what is going on in their lives. Thank you so much for coming over girls, we had a fabulous time!

Tuesday afternoon I had another eye appointment. This time it was just for a contact fitting. My vision has now been good for about two weeks, and I'm now wearing contacts again. I switched contacts and it seems to be working great. I will never again take my vision for granted, and hope that things continue to go well with my eyes. Grandma was nice enough to come to the eye Dr. with us so that she could feed and watch Ava during my appt. We then headed off to the mall. Ava came home with a couple of adorable outfits compliments of Grandma...thank you! I then dashed out the door to meet up with some girlfriends for dinner and some delicious Cafe Latte cheesecake. I love those girls and thoroughly enjoy our dinners out!

I worked Wednesday and Thursday evening. Ava went off to daycare Wednesday evening. She got a little ouchy on her head when she tipped over and hit her head on the bookshelf. She's doing just fine though, just a little red mark. Grandma came over and watched Ava yesterday afternoon while at work. Daddy got some one on one time with Ava in the evenings while I was at work.

Daddy has a chore to do this weekend. I walked into Ava's room after her nap the other day and there she lay on her belly, head up and arm in the air. In her hand she had the little goose from her mobile and was trying to pull the whole thing down. So, the mobile is now on the floor until Daddy can lower her mattress. She used to look so little in that crib...where did the past 7 months go? I'm sure I'll be saying the same thing in 7 years.

I'm working my 12 hr shifts this weekend, and Daddy is going to the gopher football game tomorrow, so Grandma is on Ava duty again tomorrow. Hope that you all have a wonderful weekend!Waiting for Daddy to come home from work

Having a little conversation with Snoopy

"Hi Cora, I haven't seen you in a while. Do you mind if I grab your face?"

Ava always greets her friends by grabbing them by the shirt.

Do you know how hard it is to get two 7 month old girls to look at the camera at the same time?

Cora and Ava admiring one another

I'm sure that Cora was playing with that book just seconds prior to Ava stealing it. Cora just looks the other way to find something else to play with. Thanks Cora, we're working on sharing!

Exhausted after her play dateSorry, duplicate picture that I can't figure out how to delete.

Ava's first ride in Daddy's big girl car seat

Can't quite kick it

Ava can't quite get over this cold. She finished up her antibiotics a week ago and she was getting better. She never fully got over the runny nose, but all the icky eye boogers were gone. Now as of yesterday they are back. I called our pediatrician and I'm going to watch Ava for another day or two. If she doesn't get better then I'll take her back in to get her ears checked to make sure she doesn't still have an ear infection. She's just not her always happy self, and she's been waking up in the middle of the night for the past couple of nights. We do NOT want to get used to that!

Saturday afternoon Ava stayed home with Grandma and Grandpa Veldman while Daddy and I went tailgating and to watch a horrible Gopher football game. At least the company was good and the weather was nice. Ava tried pears for the first time that night and she is loving those! It was the first sweet fruit that she's tried (the only other fruit was avocado and that doesn't really count). We had it again last night and she gobbled it right up. We'll go back to veggies for a few days and then try apples.

Sunday Ava woke up with snot everywhere and eye boogers so we skipped out on church so she could get a good morning nap in. We then went down to Great Aunt Sandy's house to meet up with Garritt and Jill. They brought us some of cousin Rachel's clothes for Ava, which we greatly appreciated. Ava now has a full closet (nothing new for this girl)! I was supposed to go into work at 3:00, but they called me as we were leaving Aunt Sandy's and cancelled me, so we went to visit Uncle Wes. We had dinner there, and then came home.

Today was beautiful outside so Ava and I got the chance to take a nice long walk. It's supposed to be gorgeous all week, so hopefully we'll be able to spend some time outside before I have to work all weekend.

We hope that your week is off to a good start, and thank you for checking in with us!

Playing with the few leaves that we have in our back yard

Loving her new elephant pj's

Yep, still sticking that tongue out!

Ava found her tongue

That's right, Ava found her tongue and wants to make sure that everybody can see it by constantly sticking it out. She started this yesterday and thinks that it's so much fun to stick it out. We're going to Edelweiss Baby tomorrow for a little photo shoot and I'm hoping that she doesn't do it there (the little turkey).

Other than that, I don't have much of an update. I worked Monday and Tuesday evening so Ava got some extra Daddy time, and went to daycare on Tuesday. It's been rainy and gloomy here since yesterday afternoon. We did go to the mall today to get out of the house. We found Ava her winter coat and snow pants. I just laughed when I finally got her stuffed into them after arriving home (see pictures below).

So, like I said, not much of an update...but lots of pictures to share. :)

All of these are of her in her pj's this morning...crazy bed head and all

There's that tongue

Her new winter coat and snow pants

The weekend

We ended up having beautiful, but cool weather this weekend. Saturday morning Grandma, Ava, and I headed to Minneapolis after Ava's morning nap to meet up with all the guys (as well as Sarah & Linda) for some tailgating before the Gopher football game. Ava did a great job tailgating and enjoyed being passed around like a little football. She made it through almost the first half of the game, but then got disgusted with the gophers. She made it clear that she was tired of the game (actually just tired in general) and was ready to go home. So Grandma, Ava, and I went back to get the stroller to walk to our parking ramp which was a few blocks from the tailgating lot. Well, long story short...the keys got locked in the Tahoe so we had to take a trip to Maple Grove to pick up a spare set of keys. In the end, AAA ended up going and unlocking the vehicle. Ava luckily took a nap in the stroller on the way to the parking lot, and slept all the way to Maple Grove. She did wake up at 12:30 this morning crying. I'm not sure if she wasn't feeling good or just had a bad dream. She's done that only once in the 4 months, and that was last week when she was sick. Hopefully it won't happen again any time soon.

This morning we went to church, and then over to Grandma & Grandpa's. Sarah and Wes met up with us there for dinner to celebrate Nate's birthday. We had yummy fajitas, and some very very yummy bars that Grandma made. Nate installed Ava's new car seat in my car. I can't believe my little peanut has outgrown her infant car seat. It's going to be kind of a pain to have to take her out every time we go somewhere like Target, especially when she's sleeping.

It's back to work for me tomorrow. I'm working evenings, but Nate took a 1/2 day off tomorrow so no daycare for Ava until Tuesday afternoon! :) Hope that you all had a wonderful weekend!

Ava and her boyfriends Ryan, Daddy, & Nick

Ava & Grandpa ready to cheer on the Gophers

Tailgating

A Gopher family photo


Mommy & Ava at the game
Ava thought she would feed herself her oatmeal this morning. She hasn't quite mastered it yet.

Ava's first ride in her "big girl carseat"
Ava getting a ride on Daddy's shoulders before bed tonight

Slowly on the mend

Ava is slowly on the mend from her ear infection and cold. She still has an awful runny nose and cough, but the fever and eye boogers are gone. Unfortunately the antibiotics are now causing diarrhea. We had our third outfit on by 9:00 this morning. Last night was the first night that I didn't have to get up and suction her nose out though. Hopefully each day she will continue to feel better, making sleep a little easier.

Ava spent Wednesday at daycare. Yesterday was a big day at our house. Daddy turned the Big 30!!! We picked up a birthday cake and went to visit him at work. That night Grandma and Grandpa came over to watch Ava so that Daddy and I could go out for a nice dinner. We went to the St. Paul Grill. We had a wonderful meal, and enjoyed the evening with just the two of us.

Tomorrow we're hoping for nice weather. Ava will be making her first appearance at TCF Stadium for the Gopher vs USC football game. Grandma, Ava, and I will be joining everybody else for tailgating after Ava wakes up from her morning nap. We're taking two vehicles in case Ava decides she wants to make an early exit as well. Wish us luck, and have a great weekend!

How can you help but fall in love with that face?!?