Ava is a working girl.  she works and works.  she has many work stations.  this one is mobile, it's just a yellow chair and she will stand next to me while I work at the computer.

this is a little kid-sized desk, as I'm sure you could tell by the picture.  this is where she writes with her pencil, and sometimes colors with crayons.  except when she got in trouble for coloring on the trash can...but that could've been much worse.

and here at home is where she gets serious about her crayons. she has a Pooh coloring book and conveniently plenty of pooh animals to look at so we get our colors right.  AND a great one-of-a-kind piece of pottery from my uncle in TX.  it's perfect for her colors!

   

   

   

this is somewhat of a back-dated post...ava was lucky to spend a little time with her two boy cousins sam & joel this past weekend.  we went to a little store called bass pro, maybe you've heard of it?  GREAT outdoor park and trail for kids and dogs alike.

 

and...comletely unrelated: here is the product of our latest project - we stained our deck!  it's was my husband's motivation that led to it, and my dad's power-washer that made it possible.  it feels good to have done it ourselves. 

just another day in paradise

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...