Ava Marie

With only twenty seven days until Britt James is scheduled to arrive, I find myself cherishing every moment that we are having with Ava before she becomes a Big Sister.

As much as I try, I know that I am not the best parent in the world and I find myself looking at Ava and wondering how she is turning out as amazing as she is.  She is always happy and without being biased she is the most beautiful little girl.  I always talk about her singing but she really loves to sing and dance and is always make up songs and dances.  This morning we were in the living room and Michael Buble's, Crazy Love, came on and I started crying watching Ava prance around the room.  I know that this song is not about a child, but parts of the lyrics got to me and expressed how I feel for Ava.

I wanted to do a post to write down all of the things that I love about Ava and all of the things that she is into now.  

If she is already home and I open the door, she comes running to me screaming my name and is always excited to see me.

My favorite part of my day is my nigh time routine with Ava.  After she is in her pajamas she crawls into our bed to do story time.  Several times during story time we hide under the covers and then call for Daddy to come into the room to find us.  After we are done with stories we sing our prayers and then we ask God to bless our family members.  Recently she has added her toys to the list for God to bless and she also mentions each family member several times so that they are not forgotten.  After our prayers we do strawberries, which is what we call brushing our teeth, and then we turn off the lights and cuddle in bed for a couple of minutes before she goes to her bed.

It is starting to warm up some so we have been going back to the park and Ava would swing for hours if we let her.  She says that she wants to go high and then she smiles and giggles with delight when she sees that she is swinging above our heads.

After her bath we allow her to do nakey time where she will run around her room naked and again dance around.  She also has a special nakey dance where she gets down really low and shakes her tushy.  While this will not be appropriate to do later on, it is so cute now and I cannot help by smile when I watch her do this.

Travis has taught Ava to be a Vols fan and anytime she walks by and sees any game on, no matter who is playing she yells "Go Vols Go!".  She also does "V-O-L-S!" using her hands and spelling out the letters.

She is so affectionate and will not only give us hugs and kisses but she do this with her family members and friends.

She loves playing with her dolls and I love watching her make them come to life and interact with each other when she plays with them.  

Her new favorite phrase is "I have an idea!"  She really never has anything to say after this but it is so funny when she says it.  She also likes saying that someone is a "Silly Goose" and she will laugh so hard after she says this.

Her favorite outfit is what she calls her princess.  It is a hot pink tutu, a wand, and headband and while it may not match what she has on, we let her leave the house with it on when she wants to and she always is so cute showing it off in public.

While we sing our prayers at bedtime and we also sing our blessing and hold hands at the dinner table, her favorite song is Old McDonald and the cow is her favorite animal to mention on his farm.

When she is comfortable in a room full of people, she will put on a show by dancing and getting everyone to participate by clapping their hands, stomach, or legs.

She has been great with counting and while we never really go past 10, she counted to 11 the other day on her own.

Out of the blue the other day she informed me that she was a girl, that I am also a girl and that daddy is a boy.  This is something that we did not teach her but I love how she told us this and that she understands the difference between boys and girls.

Her favorite people in school are Hudson and Sam.  Hudson is not in her class anymore but she was invited to his Birthday party in December.  Almost everyday after this she has mentioned that it is Hudson's Birthday and that she wants to sing Happy Birthday to Hudson.  Sam is in her class and her teacher told me that she is always checking on Sam to make sure he is okay and that she will not eat her lunch until Sam has his lunch.  I saw Sam's mom the other day and she mentioned that he will say Ava's name often in his sleep.  Ava might have her first boyfriend sooner than her Daddy will like...

Ava has brought more joy to my life than I could ask for as a parent. I pray that she is always this happy in her life and I try each day to do what I can as a Mother to make her happy.  Here are some of the lyrics to "Crazy Love" that sums up how Ava makes me feel.

I can hear her heart beat for a thousand miles
And the heavens open every time she smiles
And when I come to her, that's where I belong
I'm running to her like a river's song

She gives me love, love, love, love, crazy love
She gives me love, love, love, love, crazy love

She's got a fine sense of humor when I'm feeling low down
And when I come to her when the sun goes down
Takes away my trouble, takes away my grief
Takes away my heartache in the night like a thief

Give me love, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme crazy love
Give me love, love, love, yes sir, crazy love