Go, Go, Goers!

Quick update for the week...Ava has officially been "scootching" at daycare. The other day she moved about 2 feet on her belly, by pushing off the ground with her toes. She hasn't quite figured out what to do with her arms, but when she does, watch out! AND, she has discovered her toes, which is just too cute. She also is very determined to pull Daddy's arm hair, which I don't think he likes too much. :) This picture reminds me of Grandpa Bruce - there's just something about those cheeks... The angle of this one makes her feet look huge! I have a feeling she might be a tall one...! One night after daycare, I brought her into the kitchen so I could clean up for dinner, and before I knew it, she was passed out. She was comfy, even tho it didn't look like she should be! TGIF!

Scott and I went out to Stillwater last night to celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary. Grandma Deb was very excited to baby-sit Ava, so that made us enjoy the evening that much more. We had a great dinner at the Dock Cafe on the St Croix river. As we were eating dinner, we noticed 3 hot air balloons coming up over the other side of the river - as we watched, they each came down to the surface of the river, and quickly lifted off again. It was so neat to see! After dinner, we stopped at a fudge shop and picked up some fresh fudge and taffy. After that, we ventured down the road so I could get some ice cream. Stillwater was packed last night - it was a beautiful evening! We also went to see "The House Bunny" - a very, very funny movie starring my favorite actress, Anna Faris! While we were down by the river, we asked an older couple to take our picture. They were so excited because their son was on a boat on the river, proposing to his girlfriend of 5 years! Romance was defini...

I picked up the cutest little Minnesota Vikings outfit for Ava at a garage sale this past week. Now, we don't follow football too much, but when I realized today was the Vike's home opener, I thought, "Perfect! What a great day for her to wear it!" But, apparently, not so perfect - the Vikings lost against the Colts. You can see Ava's displeasure below... Oh well! Maybe she won't be a football fan after all... We went through the Parade of Homes today, and Ava didn't do horribly, but she has been fussy all afternoon, so we're hoping she's not sick. I'm sure it's because she doesn't want her Mommy to go back to work tomorrow...! Work has been really busy for me, which is good, but I still look forward to leaving at 4:15pm each day to pick up Ava from daycare. She had a really good time at daycare last week, and she's exhausted each evening, so the other kids must be wearing her out...works for us! :) Something new...Ava flipped over ...

September 10th was my first day back at work...those 12 weeks went by incredibly fast. I did pretty well with dropping Ava off at daycare - our neighbor has in-home daycare, so it was a quick 20 foot walk to get to her back door. Debi had her smiling right away, and Ava was trying to get out of her car seat so she could explore her new world. I decided to leave before I started crying, but I knew she was in great hands! Work was a blur - so many people stopped by to welcome me back, but I don't think I got much work done! I was happy to see the end of the day come around so I could pick up Ava and find out how she did her first day away from us for so long... ...she did GREAT! She fussed a little bit, but overall, she was pretty happy. She was still smiling at Debi when I picked her up, so I thought that was a great sign. And today, she did even better - she's adjusting really well to it. When I dropped her off this morning, a little boy ran over to her and gave her a hug while...

Yesterday, we asked Scott's cousin, Greg, and his wife, Dawn, to be Ava's godparents. Greg is more like a brother to Scott than a cousin, and I've thought of Dawn as my big sister for many years now! We are so pleased that they accepted their new role in Ava's life. Here's a picture of Dawn and me at the shower she threw for me this past May...:) Dawn is the one who introduced me to Scott, so without Dawn, Ava wouldn't be here. And I couldn't imagine life without her now... We're on the final countdown for maternity leave - tomorrow is my last day before I go back to work. Ugh. I'm having too much fun staying at home with Ava!

Today, Tiffany & Isabel, Ava & me, and Lisa & Dylan met in Stillwater for lunch and to play in a park. There's a great kids-only park that we went to...complete with fake grass! It was very nice to have a chance to catch up and see how much all of the kids have grown. Although Tiff definitely was on her feet more than Lisa or me - Isabel is quite active, and was checking everything out! Here's Isabel, venturing out...under Tiff's watchful eye And Lisa with Dylan... And my baby, who spent most of the time sleeping. Such a social girl! Must take after her dad in that aspect. :) Have a great weekend!

I totally forgot to mention in my last post that Ava accomplished something BIG while we were in KC...she rolled over onto her belly all by herself! While we're so happy to see her making progress, now we both worry about her at night. We always put her to sleep on her back, but now she's been rolling over at night, so we get concerned about SIDS. Luckily, if she rolls over and can't get anywhere, she gets frustrated and lets us know, so that's reassuring that she will do that at night, too. Ah, next thing we know, she'll be going to prom! :)

We had so much fun on our trip to KC to see my parents. They hadn't seen Ava since she was about 2 weeks old, so seeing her now, at almost 12 weeks, was quite different! She did pretty good on the the drive - it only extended our drive times by about 30 minutes each way. Thank goodness for battery packs for the breast pump! Here are some fun pics from our long weekend: Dad feeding Ava, and Mom looking on to make sure he's doing it right :) We visited my grandma, and we thought it would be nice to have a 4-generation picture. Grandma loved playing with Ava's feet! Grandpa looking very proud! Grandma looking happy, Ava looking grumpy... I'm not sure what she's looking at (Grandma maybe?), but I love her expression! That's right, Ava, give beer the evil eye! Be a wine drinker instead! :) Proud daddy! My baby...she's getting so big...!