Summer 2009

Since I am quite the slacker mom I will update month by month.

January

In January, Jim and I flew to Dallas for my friend Kristin's wedding to Patrick. I was fortunate enough to be in the wedding and had such a wonderful time. It was a beautiful wedding and it was our first time being away from Ava for an extended period of time. Ava spent the whole time at my mom and dad's (Gamma and Boppa). I worried that my parents would not get a lot of sleep because Ava is not the best sleeper in the world. She slept in a queen sized bed all night, every night. My mom pointed out that she thrashes about quite a bit, and that the toddler bed probably is too small and consequently waking her up every night. So, two nights after we got home, we put a full sized bed in her room and Voila! she sleeps good every night. Who knew? In January, Ava counted to 10 all by herself too!

February

During February, we went to Kalahari in Ohio with a bunch of friends from my work. Ava had a blast, and so did all of the adults as we traded kids and went on the slides. It ended on a downer for us, because Ava spent the last night throwing up. Ugh. So I spent the whole night staring at her to make sure she didn't suffocate. It was horrid. Plus, whenever there is puke involved, I can't handle it. I totally freak out. I think I might be an Emetophobe. (yes there is a name for it). A few days after I turned the big 3-0, I finished painting the spare bedroom and we moved Ava into her new big-girl bedroom. As far as milestones, Ava accomplished knowing all of her colors, oh- and she started fake sneezing so we would say Bless You! Then she would say thank you! She also said her full name this month: "Ava Cafrin Smiff".

March

I can't think of March events.... other than this was the month Ava started singing (kind of) her ABCs. Ava and Jim started going on "adventures" in the backyard woods and he started taking her fishing on his days off. The one picture is them having lunch in the back of the Envoy after fishing.

April

This month, Ava stayed with Gamma and Boppa again while Jim, April, and I surprised Rob (Compau) by going to Vegas. Jim and I had never been. We had a fantabulous time! It was like a different country. There was a big snow dump here at home while we laid out at the pool. It was great. Ava missed us and we got a great coming home hug. I definitely remember the hug. Right after the big bear hug, she said, "Let's go home." Milestones: Can identify the numbers 2, 6, and 8. As soon as we returned we started potty training. It took her about a week to really get the hang of it. By mid-May she only wore diapers for sleeping. It was exhausting though.

May

Jim took Ava to the zoo on one of his days off, and her favorite animals were the 'raffe and muckey. She talked about the zoo for days. May was also the month of Ava's first gymnastics class. She cried on the way home and kept saying "

I wanna go back to nastics!". She absolutely loves it (plus cousin Sha-sha is in it). After class, we (Smith's and Kulaga's) go to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. It's hit or miss with the kids, but one particular day, Ava and Sophia were so giggly that we just stared at them. Ava was laughing SO hard she had tears in her eyes. Wonder wear she gets that from??? At some point in the beginning of the month, Ava told Jim that he was her best friend. It was the most precious thing I have ever heard. I think I actually saw Jim melt into a puddle on the floor. Around Mother's Day she started speaking like an adult. One morning (too early) she woke up crying, and when I got to her room , she sat up in bed and said, "Mommy, I lost my mimi!" (mimi=pacifier). I was like.... uh? what? Who are you? Ava also flew her first kite this month too.

June/July

June was full of travel. We went up-north many times. We also went to Avalanche Bay at Boyne Mt. The first time we went, the Kulaga's went with us and it was a blast. I got Ava to go down one of the bigger slides all by herself. By the time our week up-north came, she went down both of the slides (one is dark for half the ride) all by herself. She loved it! So, I was up the big-big inner-tube slides by myself (Jim had Ava) when I saw a little girl go down the ride with her dad. She didn't look too much older than Ava. So when I got down, I asked her mom if she liked the ride and she said yes. So I talked Jim into taking her down. He was very hesitant because he didn't want to scare her for life. I figured if she was anything like me she would love it. Jim said she was quiet the whole way down and then at the bottom she yelled, "I wanna do it again!". That's my girl!!! June was also the month I finished my Master's Degree. (Phew!). It was mind-numbing and time consuming at the end, but it was worth it. I learned a lot! I think it was either in June or perhaps earlier, that Ava started saying: Guess what? I love you! Also- dunt-da-da-dah! Ava went pacifier free on June 17th. Big bed? Check. Potty-training? Check. Pacifer? Gone! Wahoo!!! It's nice to be independent! Although, with that said, the sassiness has started. She is knows what she wants and let's everyone know about it. She also calls everyone 'guys' or 'kids'. She'll walk into a room and say, "Hey kids! Whattaredoin?" Adorable.

Despite the not-so-summer weather, the summer is flying by and I am eeking out every moment with Ava. She is a fun kid. I am a lucky mom!

Happy Birthday!

I can't believe two whole years have come and passed... she is growing up so fast. Today (technically yesterday) we spent the morning shopping and then had lunch at home. We gave Ava our gift after lunch (Power Wheel mini-quad) and she loved it. Her cousin Sophia (Sha-sha) has one and so does her friend Jakob so she was a total pro at it. During her nap Jim and I got the house ready for company. Aunt Judi gave Ava her first big girl haircut while guests were arriving. Made such a difference! She absolutely loves the attention of people looking and singing to her. She lived up to the attention and read her cards very loudly. She genuinely loved every gift- from clothes to boots to a wagon to Elmo. It was a lot of fun to watch her actually tear into the presents. Christmas is going to be so neat this year.

Ava is still quite a ham and is talking in short phrases. Every once in a while she will talk in complete sentences and most of the time I am so shocked that I don't even remember what she is talking about. She has quite the memory too... she's been talking about the "buckle boo boo" with Gamma ever since it happened two weeks ago. She just reminded me this morning that the wall hurt her and that was many weeks ago. Astonishing how a two year old brain works! Party number two is tonight, more on that later...

Summer Days

Summer seems to be flying by! June was jam packed and super fun. The week of the 16th Ava and I went to Columbus with Jim on a work trip. We packed lots of stuff in hopes to make Ava's first long stay in a hotel and good one. We arrived in Columbus pretty late because of the torrential downpours the whole way down. Ava made most of the trip sleeping, but did have an hour of crying. As soon as we got into the hotel, she ran around the suite yelling. I guess she liked it! While Jim worked, Ava and I went to the mall, a bunch of parks and the Franklin Park Conservatory. She loved the butterfly garden, other than that it was to old for her.

At some point that month, we took the front of her crib off and she is officially in a big girl bed.

We were home only a week before we packed up everything and went up north for 2 weeks. We played outside, went to the beach at Otsego Park, went to the pool at the Sportsplex and relaxed. My brother pointed out that Ava is the fifth generation of Armstrong's to swim in Otsego Lake. Pretty Cool! We also discovered that Ava is quite the little swimmer. Everytime we went to the Sportsplex, she got better and better! On the third, we drove to Traverse City to celebrate our nephew's, Nick, third birthday. We then left Ava with the Kulaga's and drove up to Petoskey for our anniversary dinner. We tried to reinact some of our wedding day photos. They make me laugh. Funny how different four years can make you look.

After the first week, the Chapa's (Bob, Melissa, Norah, and Bobby IV) arrived. I think Ava was secretly relieved to play with someone her own age.... they had a blast together. They arrived on the day of the fourth and we got to watch the fireworks on Otsego in the boat. It was so awesome! I hadn't done that in years. Bobby slept through the whole thing (or most of it if I recall), and Ava woke for the last part. It was so cool.
The boy's fished throughout the week, Melissa and I went to TC for the day once, and we went to the beach and to the Sportsplex. One of the last days, Jim wanted to take us to the Platte River. It was a good day to go too, it was blazing hot. In true Jim fashion, it took us about twice as long as promised to get there..... but it was worth it. It may only be funny to us- but we piled all our crap onto the double stroller then tried to push it on the beach.... we probably looked like such rookies. Jim and Bob ended up carrying it. Wish I got a picture of that! We settled right where the river and Lake Michigan meet. The river water was super warm and the lake water was freezing. It was really fun and the perfect way to end the vacation. Melissa and I headed to Mancelona for Crystal's bachelorette party, the rest of the Chapa clan headed home, and Jim and Ava packed up the house and picked me up the next day.

Jim's birthday was next, then my mom's then Kyle and Crystal were married on the 26th. Now-weddings are usually a good time, but I had such a good time. Everything and everyone was beautiful and we got another installment of the Chaburn Club picture (this time everyone was in the picture). It was a great day!
This past weekend was full of events. I headed to Naperville, Illinois for my friend Kristin's wedding shower. Jim had a wedding on Saturday so Ava spent the night away from us for the first time at Gamma and Boppa's. Unfortunately, it was not with out incident (this is my daughter we are talking about). She has inherited my klutz gene, perhaps she is worse than even me. She fell while walking (yes, walking) and hit her head on the heat register that sticks out from wall. It gouged (sp?) her forehead and caused a lot of bleeding. According to Jim, when he arrived to assess the damage, my parent's looked "wrecked". My aunt came over and put butterfly tape on it and she was good to go. Ava did say "Gamma" for the first time which I think may have made up for it. I don't think I have a pic yet of her boo boo so I will post that later. Enjoy all the pictures!

and 5 months later...

So I kinda slacked on the whole blog thingy.... sorry. On the bright side, little miss sunshine is a fulf fledged toddler! She is runny, sassing and talking up a storm. She is an incredible ham that loves to get strangers to look at her so that she can perform- yet does not like to be approached by unfamiliar people. For the new things Ava is doing:

1. She can say more than 60 words and is starting to put sentences together (i.e. Mom? Where dada go?). Yes she calls me "mom".

2. She saw her first movie, Kung Fu Panda, a few weeks ago. She was wonderful for 3/4 of the time. Until she got restless and turned around in my lap to discover the audience behind us just waiting for her to perform. I will never forget her face when she saw all those people!

3. She can tell us where we are going if it is a familiar route (Boppa and Nama's, Nana's, Ella's, etc.).

4. She is very motherly.... if there is a baby (in which I mean anyone who is smaller than she is) she will try to hug and move and help. She is particularly fond of Ella Compau. She will randomly yell "Ella!" at the top of her lungs for no reason.

5. She laughs forcefully and loudly and often (hmmmm where did she get that?).

6. She has started calling me "Chelle!" to get my attention, particularly in the car. It's so funny!

7. Ava is a water baby. I have never liked playing in a sprinkler (it's so cold!), but Ava thinks it's the greatest!

Here are some pictures I shot for her 18 month old photographs. Then some other randoms.

Baby Picture Contest

Okay, I need some help! We are sending in Ava's picture to a contest and we want some input. Pick the picture that is your favorite...

#1
#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

Ho Ho Ho!

Merry Christmas! It wasn't Ava's 1st Christmas, but it felt more like it was than last year. Christmas with the Smith Family was spent at Aunt Kim and Uncle Randy's. All the grandkids were very much spoiled... there were toys everywhere. Nick wanted all of his gifts put together right away, Sophia opened her presents very slowly, watching everyone else, and Ava was interested in all the wrapping paper and boxes. It's funny how they are all so different. She received clothes, a grocery cart, books, a barbie car, baby cradle, and more that I can't remember!!!

Christmas morning started around 7:30 when Ava woke up. We opened up her gifts from us and from Santa. Santa brought her an Aqua-doodle, a pink ball, and books. Her gifts from us included more books and maracas. We headed over to Gramma and Grampa's around 9am. She got a table and chair set, blocks, a giant rubber duck, toddler crayons.... gosh, I can't even remember anything else. She got so much, that we put half of it away to bring out during the year since her birthday was just a month ago and she has so many toys out already. Our basement literally looks like a daycare center! All in all, it was a nice couple of days with family. I can't wait until next year when Ava understands Santa.

Ava is almost a pro at walking, we remarked to each other (Jim and I) how well she was walking today. There are still plenty of falls, but she doesn't seem to walk like a zombie so much. We have been working on identifying things... she will give us her rubber duck when asked to in the bath tub. She says everything twice... "du-duck", "kitty-kitty". She got a Little People farm set from Papa and Nana and she can identify the cow. Today, we were reading Grover's Animals and I asked her where the kitty is (like I have a million times before) and this time she pointed right to it! Jim and I looked at each other with big grins and clapped and laughed. It was SO cool! Oh yeah, pointing is new too. Lots of new milestones in just the past few days. The next few months will be filled with new words I am sure!

Happy Birthday!!!

Our baby is 1! Today began with waking her up and getting ready for pictures. We get there and first take our family pictures, get a few in her holiday outfit and then switch outfits to get her one year pictures. We got a few decent pictures before she decided she'd had enough and had a small melt down. I told the photographer to a get a few of her crying.

We then drove home (she had a small nap in the car), fed her lunch and... ice cream! She ate her first bite of sugar. She was confused about how cold it was but definitely like it (chocolate and brownie chunk) and then headed to Sam's Club to get some pictures printed. We also went out to lunch. We can back and Ava and I napped (we are both getting over the stomach flu from this weekend). We woke up and went over to Papa and Nana's. She received her first birthday gift (pajamas and a Dora phone). She loved the phone and the tissue paper. We came home and gave her presents from mom and dad. BOOKS! She loved them.

I cannot believe a whole year has flashed by. It's incredible. I'm not sure how to put it into words. What is our favorite thing about the past year? Jim's is becoming her hero when she isn't feeling well. Mine is probably when she calls my name when I'm not in the room. I also love how happy she makes everyone, especially my Papa, he really needs it.

11 months old

I have a whole list of things to talk about! Where to start? How about her talking.... She FINALLY says mama! Not only is she saying it, but she is saying both mama and daddy to the right people. It's the best thing ever. She says kitty-cat, up (aaaahhhpuh!), and swear to god that she said thank you (or close to it) the other day after I gave her the juice cup. Blew my mind.

She has a new favorite toy, her car which she endlessly gets in and out of, flopping over the door that doesn't open, sitting in seat and opening and closing the door. This goes on for sometimes 20 minutes straight. She brings her baby doll in with her, her blanket, a book, looks underneath it, tries climbing on top of it- I think she'd sleep in there if she could.

Jim ran the Detroit Marathon and crossed the finish line with Ava in her arms. Tori came with us and we walked around a bit and waited for Jim to call us and tell us he was close, so we lined up by the finish line and I saw that a lot of people were crossing the finish line with their kids running next to them. I hurried and called Jim to see if he wanted to push the stroller across with him and he said, no he'll just grab her. So he's running toward us and Ava is struggling to grab onto the metal fence when I say "here comes daddy!" she looks up and it takes her a few minutes to see him and she giggles when she sees him then squeals. He picks her up and everyone around us gives out a collective "awwww!" and then they start cheering! The Ava turns around and looks at Tori and me and gives us the biggest smile I will never ever forget. We, and a few people around us get all teary and Jim and Ava cross the finish line. Ava thought the cheers were for her and she was grinning from ear to ear. It was really one of the most unforgetable things in my life. I get chills writing about it.

Next, came Halloween. I got her costume back in August. We were looking online for a costume, Jim wanted a monkey, I wanted a bear. The first thing that pops up is a Wonder Bread bag costume. We instantly bought it (my papa drove a wonder bread truck for 30 years). So it was really hard not to tell my papa about it. After the whole pumpkin thing and the trick-o-treating thing (overrated) we went over to my papa and grahm's and Jim went in first with the video camera. Papa couldn't understand why we were making such a big deal out of Halloween until I walked in the door. He was grinning so wide and was so surprised. And right on cue, Ava reached for him and squealed. It was completely priceless!

The latest ordeal is that Ava caught an upper respiratory infection which caused her to be completely and utterly miserable (can't blame her). This picture is of her and her newest feat, putting the phone up to her ear. She says "hi dada" if you prompt her- so cute! Anyways, in this picture her nose and cheeks are SO red... it was so hard to watch her be so upset. She was okay during the day, but absolutely would not sleep by herself. She had to sleep ON you, so neither one of us (Jim I mean) got more than 3 hours of sleep at a time. Totally sucked. So Sunday afternoon we felt like she was feeling better, never had a fever and so Monday was a go with a normal day. We were both up all night so Jim stayed home and took her to the doctor and took care of her. I had to work because I was already scheduled to be at a conference for 2 days. So mad I didn't get my mom day. Glad Jim got to do it though :) Last week I had a hard time producing enough milk for Ava- all of a sudden I couldn't get two full bottles for her. So I went and bought whole milk to make up for what I couldn't produce. So while all of that was going on, I thought maybe she had a milk allergy and was making her sick (a lot of the symptoms were similar). So Jim ran out and bought soy milk. She ended up really being sick, but never even cared that she wasn't drinking breastmilk. I tried Sunday to breastfeed and I guess she wasn't hungry because she bit me 4 times and thought it was hilarious. So I just pumped that evening and barely got anything. So Sunday was the last day of breastfeeding. I went through one and a half days of being slightly uncomfortable and it's over. I didn't make it to my year goal, but I am trying not to think that way (still creeps into my mind to tick me off though). I did some research and decided to go with rice milk instead of soy and Ava hasn't given us any cues that she cares or notices, only that it is warm. It all went much easier than I could have ever predicted.
So- what's next? Three weeks from TODAY she will be 1. Cannot believe it. So, one year ago I was in agony with my rash and had no idea she was to come so early. Motherhood is the best, most worrisome, most fulfilling thing. Her smile and giggle give a feeling that is more than love, more than adoration, more than pride. I cannot explain it in words.

Babbling Baby

School started back up at the end of August and I don't know if it's my students this year or the fact that I just didn't want to come back after a summer home with Ava. It was so much fun. She is growing so fast and it seems even fast now that I don't get to see her all day. She has six teeth now- four on top that you can see the tips of and two on the bottom and that are almost all the way in. Her smile is contagious and now with the teeth it's seems so funny. And her personality! Lordy lordy, is she a funny baby. She is just so silly and laughs a lot. I hope that never changes. She is crawling everywhere and is cruising the furniture. She has stood up by herself a handful of times but isn't interested in taking steps yet. She plops down and crawls no matter how close she is. I know it will come soon enough and that things will change all over again. She says dada, duck, kitty (more like KEY), and hi. She's said papa a few times but has never called me mama. That's okay though, I'll let Jim have that!

Welcome baby Bobby Chapa IV on September 19th!

And.... we're standing

Didn't I JUST write about how Ava was crawling? Well, it didn't take long for her to pull herself up. Now just today I caught her trying to step from the couch to the ottoman (about a half step away). It will be mere days before we are changing our lives all over again. It would have been GREAT if someone could have clued us in on how fast everything goes. Seriously- she'll be nine months old in a week and a half. I have to start thinking about the big bash- the big oh-one. Ugh.

At her nine month check up her stats were as follows- head: 16.5 inches around length: 27.75 inches tall weight: 17 pounds and 12.5 ounces!!!

We went to Kiddie Kandids (Babies R Us) for some professional pictures. They are super duper cute, but there isn't a way out of there without spending some cash, and not everyone got a picture this time. I really like the less formal ones that I've taken and given out (and a heck of a lot cheaper). We are going to go back to the first picture lady that April refered me to for her one year pictures and our family Christmas picture. Yes, we WILL be one of those family picture Christmas cards you get in the mail this year. HAHA. We turned into one of those people!!!

I go back to work next week (no kids but a week of reorganizing my room and boring meetings). I am thinking of just not showing up and seeing how long they continue to pay me. I am in denial again, I just want to stay home and play with Ava. She is seriously so much fun. What else is new? Oh, she is kind of waving bye-bye... minus the wave. More like a hail Hitler, but I count it! She has been saying mama, but only when she is whiny and hungry. She has said dada, but indiscriminately (holla for the $5 word), she says hi sometimes when you say it first.... so I guess she mostly mimics words. When the cats are meandering around, which is all the time, we say kitty over and over again. So when she sees the cats or Lucy, or Mellie (Compau), she makes the "k" sound at the animal. It's really funny. She is signing more all the time, and she signs for milk too. She is addicted to baths- she thinks everytime she makes it down to the bathroom that she gets to take a bath.

All in all, it has been the best summer of my life. But now it is over :(. And now that the HOTTEST summer ever is over, we are getting central air. Yeah, I'll give you $20 if you can figure that one out.