If I were a "tweeter", I would tweet this: my daughter has been taking a nap since 8:30am.  It's 4:00pm.  that's a 7.5 hour nap.  I've checked on her twice to make sure she's okay and each time she's been in a new sleeping position.  maybe she is growing. 

as a general rule, she is awake for 2-3 hours and then goes to sleep.  It's like she's reverting to her infant days. 

...maybe I should ask my dr. brother if I should be worried...but I really think she is okay, she's not lethargic or anything during the day.  she plays and plays, she eats and eats, and is a super happy kiddo. 

ah-ha -- it's like she knew I was talking about her...there she is now crying her little wake-up cry.  I love her.

one thing I've learned. well, two things.  no, three. 

one, no matter what anyone says, you WILL think your own kids are the cutest on the planet.  that is true across the board. 

two, accessorize, accessorize, accessorize!!!  (partly because it's super cute, and partly because it makes for more fun pictures.)

and a third thing I've learned as being a mom to a little girl is to embrace and encourage the pricess within.  God knew what he was doing when he made girls exactly the way they are. 

just perfect and awesome!

If we all could be this real.

If we all could be this happy.

If we all could be this honest.

If we all could wear lasagna on our face and

not care what people thought,

I feel like the world would be a better place.

our mornings start here around 6:30am, give or take 30 minutes.

so today started out with a tea party and some coloring. 

fastforward to about 8:30pm and we ended up with shades, beads and a cowboy hat...

nothing to update on the potty-front...because the first time she went was the only time she's went on her potty chair.  bless her heart she loves to sit on it, but that's' about it. so, patience it is. 

SHE DID IT! 
SHE WENT POTTY ON THE POTTY CHAIR! 
1st TIME EVER!!

I know you might not be as excited as we are, but we are pretty stoked about this. 

It was this morning, we were getting ready for work.  she sat on the potty...and just sat...and sat.  so I started the water for a bath so I could wash her hair before work.  I wasn't looking at her, I was making sure the water wasn't too hot.  then all of a sudden she stands right up, looks down into her chair, and then in goes her hand.  yep.  that happened.  but I was so distracted by the pee in the tiny pink chair that it really didn't matter that she still had pee on her hand--she peed in the freakin potty chair! 

so that's our house :)
 

it's all in a day's work, and here's a glimpse at our day:

okay well this last picture didn't get used today.  but it's a start.

she got to pick out her own potty chair last night and she was pretty excited. 

well mainly she gets excited any time we put something in the cart at the store,

and especially when it plays music. and MOSTLY when we tell her it's for her. 

so, from here on out any potty-training advice will be appreciated. 

thanks in advance...

8 months later...

we've been busy, very busy living and loving life and teaching our little girl all sorts of new things. 

here are a few updated pictures of her.  more to come...

 

ava is one...

It came, it went, and now Ava is 1.  ONE.  uno.  tomorrow she'll be 20.  the party was great, the guests were so sweet and fun, and mostly she is the best thing ever.  and thanks to my brother, I have some extra-great pics to remember it by.  My very favorite might be the bottom one where you only see the cake and candle and her little innocent finger pointing at it.  precious. 

and, I would like to point out that I did make her cakes :) mostly just because the AVA cake took 2 takes.  my first try was a FAIL.  I couldn't get the cake out of the letter molds.  I didn't even think about the difficulty that I would face getting it to come out.  so round two (and it was going to be my last if it didn't work) involved lots of Pam spray prior to cooking.  I made the icing too, my mom helped me ice them.  there was actually one more cake, a big "1" but those are in my other pics, not uploaded yet.  but it's a 1.  who doesn't know what that looks like right?  anyway, everything turned out great, what a blessing, and mostly I have a healthy, happy 1 year old girl and I couldn't ask for more.

halloween 2009 = trouble in a carebear outfit

yay for councilman Schultz!

we have the internet at our house again!  and us girlies are almost over being sick for the past 2 weeks.  so having those two odds against us is most of the reason why we've been M.I.A.

what have you missed in our little lives?  ava walks now.  not so much from point A to point B, but defintely lets go of everything and takes 1-3 steps without holding on to anything.  she'll walk all around our kitchen while pushing her high chair though all day long. and she walks up our staircase all by herself (with me/dad VERY CLOSE behind).  she hasn't figured out going down them yet.  that'll be the day...

the thing that intrigues me is she has no fear.  she doesn't know what negative consequences are and that just amazes me.  she, in her innocent and sweet life, doesn't know that harm could come her way if she takes one too many steps off the couch.  she 100% trusts me and sam that no matter what everything will be okay.  (deep thought): what if we would just trust God like that?  how our lives could change if we would allow Him to be in full control.  if we just let go of the control that we "think" we have.  and since I'm not spiritually mature enough to do that myself, well I guess I need to learn from my 10 month old how to do it.  She'll be my best teacher yet I bet.

enough of the deep thoughts.  below are two relaxing pictures.  ava spent some quality time with her friend  Rachel tonight.  they hung out at borders bookstore together.  ava trying her hand at sharing by loaning her blanket to rachel and stealing her butterfly in the meantime.  she'll get the hang of it some day...

and over the weekend ava, grandma and I went to Columbia to visit aunt sue, uncle bj, and cousins sam & joel.  us girls and the boy cousins went to the Chestnut farm in Booneville.  I learned more about chestnuts that day than I ever thought I'd learn in my lifetime.  I mean, have you ever actually tried 'chestnuts roasting on an open fire'?  DONE.  I have.  and it's not half bad.  not really half good, but not half bad either.  the chestnut pancakes, now those were good.  aunt sue should make those for us  :)

here are ava's 2 boy cousins posing with her while she's all bundled up for a closing picture of the day: