A Busy 4th of July!

We had a great 4th of July this year! The weather was perfect and the smoke seemed to go away for the day (for those of you who don't watch the news, just about all of Northern California is on fire...the smoke has been absolutely horrible! Several of our friends have been evacuated from their homes and it only seems to be getting worse-pray for rain!!).

We started 4th of July morning off by going to Raymond and Jenny's orchard. They invited a bunch of people for pumpkin planting. What a great idea! The pumpkins should be ready by Halloween. Ava and I planted some seeds-we'll have to watch them grow...

Miss Ava tried to keep cool by eating some watermelon.

Mark took Ava for a ride on Raymond's tractor. If you look close, you'll see she's near tears. She didn't like the noise of the tractor.

We then headed to Cindy and John's house for a BBQ (Cindy watches Ava two days a week). There was lots of food, fun and swimming. Cindy had a baby pool set up for Ava, but she wanted to be where the action was-in the big kid's pool!

Ava, in the pool for the third time. She would not get out!! I think I stood in there for about an hour!! She was getting pretty brave-she wanted to let go of my hands and go under the water!

Ava, giving Lucy a little lovin'. She learned how to give Lucy hugs a few weeks ago and does it all the time now. Lucy's so good with her, I think she might be smiling in this picture.

We left Cindy and John's and actually had plans to go watch some fireworks. Ava fell sound asleep as soon as we got in the car. I felt so bad, I didn't want to wake her up. We just went home and she ended up sleeping for 12 hours that night-what a party girl! I guess she'll have to wait until next year to see some fireworks...

We have a walker!!

Ava is walking!! She started really walking over the weekend and has almost given up on crawling. Mark bought her pink vans (s0 cute!) this weekend and he swears the shoes helped! She is so proud of herself when she walks--she smiles so big. She holds her arms out in front of her, Mark says she looks like baby Frankenstein. I keep thinking she can't possibly get into anymore than she already does now that she's walking...right? I think I have a lot to learn--after I videotaped her walking around the house I turned around for 2 seconds (literally) to plug my camera in...I turned back around and Ava had climbed up on our dog, Lucy, and was straddling her like a horse! She was laughing and kicking her legs! I would've grabbed my camera to take a picture (it was pretty hilarious), but I was afraid Lucy was going to stand up with Ava on her back and take her for a wild ride. I think we're all going to learn a lot over the next couple of months.

You aint nothin' but a hound dog!

Ava had her doctor's appointment on Thursday and had her chicken pox vaccination. I was nervous, but it wasn't bad at all. She barely flinched. I did pretty good too! She weighs 20 lbs exactly and is 30 1/2 inches long. The doctor said she looks great, he also noticed that she was an "active" baby...no kidding!! He said he could see a little mischief in her eyes--Mark says she gets it from me!

Some things about Ava at 1 year old:

• Words she can say: mama, dada, uh-oh, hot, hi
• Favorite foods: strawberries, turkey, cantaloupe, mommy's spaghetti (read previous post)
• Favorite toys: yellow giraffe, Elmo, push lawn-mower, Pretty Princess trike
• Best friends: Kaycee, Hannah, McKenna, Spencer, Nora
• Just started: blowing kisses, whispering
• Does all the time: says hi to strangers (we'll have to work on that) and dances!!...to any and every kind of music
• Loves to: swing with Opa, pet Lucy, walk with anyone that will hold her hands

Yummy!!

Ok- I do take more pictures than just of Ava in her highchair or at mealtimes...but this was hilarious! She had my spaghetti for the first time (instead of the baby food spaghetti she used to eat) and she absolutely loved it! I couldn't put it on her tray fast enough. She was shoveling it in! I grabbed my camera and she got super excited--she was cracking us up!

It's been a rough couple of days...

The last two days have been hard on little Ava. She had her first “big” owie-she was stung by a bee yesterday. She was at Omi and Opa’s (Mark’s parents) and was crawling around on their lawn. Opa saw her heading towards the brick patio and went over to turn her around when he noticed a bee on her thumb. He brushed it away as he picked her up, but the stinger was already in her hand. It wasn’t too bad, but it did swell up a bit. It’s on her “sucking” thumb, and she was still sucking it all night, so it wasn’t bothering her too bad…

She also got her 8th tooth! Yes, I’m still counting…she’s been exceptionally fussy the last couple of days, not her normal smiley self. I looked this morning, and, sure enough, a sharp little tooth had poked through overnight. It’s no wonder she cries-it feels like the tip of a steak knife sticking out of her gums!

But....Drum Roll Please....

AVA TOOK HER FIRST STEP TODAY!!

She was walking around the house holding my hands (her favorite hobby lately) and I let go to see what she would do. She just stood there for a second, not sure of what to do. She started to sit down but then stood back up and took one step! Then she plopped down on her bottom. I was so excited! I clapped and picked her up and gave her a big kiss. She knew something exciting had just happened and she smiled and seemed pretty proud of herself. All I can think now, is that we're going to be in a lot of trouble!!....

Wild Woman!

Watch out world! Here comes Ava!!!