Ava Marie's Dedication

We have been wanting to dedicate Ava to the church since the day that she was born, but we had not yet found a church that we felt like we were a part of.  When Ava was four months old we started to attend Cross Point and even though we have not become members of the church, we feel at home at this church and for the first time in our mine and Travis' relationship, we feel that we belong to this church.

Although we have been attending this church for the last 14 months, they only have child dedications twice a year.  The first one that they had was too soon after we joined and we were still not sure if we were going to regularly attend this church.  The second dedication was the weekend of Ava's first Birthday and although we already had the family in town we felt like there was so much going on already this weekend.  So when January came I contacted the church and found out that there next dedication would be Sunday, March 24th, so I let everyone know, purchased invitations, and started planning for a weekend to celebrate Ava.

The stress first started on planning where my 13 family members who were coming in from out of town would stay.  Once it was decided that some of my family would stay at our home and the rest at the Swearingen's, then I started to stress on activities and food for the weekend.  The Swearingen's offered to host a celebration party the Saturday before Ava's dedication but then they had a pipe burst in their home.  There were still gracious to host the event and had workers there days leading up to the party.  I then had an issue with the invitations once they came in and instead of saying "join us as we dedicate Ava Marie to The Lord" they instead said "join us as we dedicate Ava Marie The Lord."  I went back and checked the proof and sure enough I approved the proof with this wording.  I contacted the printer and offered to pay to have new ones done and they were nice enough to make the correction and reprint at no cost.  Just when I thought we were in the clear, I found out that our church was changing the date of the dedication to Sunday, April 21st.  We already had family who had purchased plane tickets to come in and we had plans to be out of town this weekend.  We discovered that the three satellite campuses that our church has was still going to have the dedication in March so we made the change to have her dedication at the Franklin campus.

I kept trying to tell myself that it did not matter where Ava was dedicated, but inside I was so upset not to be dedicating her at our church and on top of it, I was not sure what to expect from the satellite location.  

Well our family started arriving the Thursday prior to her dedication and it was a fun weekend.  The dinner Saturday night could not have been more perfect with the food and fellowship with close friends and family.  Then on Sunday morning it was cold and dreary as we pulled up to New Hope Academy where they hold church service on Sunday and as soon as we walked through the door I felt right at home and we were welcomed warmly to the Franklin Cross Point Church.  Since it was Palm Sunday they talked about the Saturday before Jesus' resurrection and the importance of waiting.  At the end of the service they held communion which was so perfect for the day.  Afterwards they held the dedication ceremony and Ava Marie along with another little boy were dedicated to the church.

I am so pleased with her dedication to the church and feel so blessed to have had so many family and friends who love Ava enough to come and support her and us during this special time in her life.

For Sale

Well about five years sooner than expected, we have made the decision to put our house on the market.  There is not much that can be said about this except for that it is bitter sweet.  This is the home that Travis and I spent so much of our time and love restoring to make it our home that we wanted to start our family in...and we did.  There is so much about our home that I love and will miss but most of all I hate the idea that we will be leaving the home that is the first place that Ava Marie had has her home.  On the other hand I am excited for the adventure again and cannot wait to find a home that needs just as much love as we have given this home.

 

In a blink of an eye- Ava is 18 months old!

I sat down this evening and realized that I had not posted since February, then I thought about the last month and a half and remembered why I have not had the time to post.  Besides the fact that we are always on the go every minute, we decided to put our house on the market and have spent all of our free time getting our home ready to sell.

We have had so many great things going on that I do not want to put everything in one post so I am going to post about each milestone that we have had recently and dedicate this post to a brief overview.

Since I last posted in February, we finished the month with a family weekend.  We went to visit Nanny in her new apartment in Franklin and took her out to a great BBQ in Russellville, Kentucky.  The following day we took Ava to a bounce house and we finished the weekend with Sunday chicken at Cracker Barrell.

The following weekend we traveled to Atlanta for one of Travis's good friend from college, Rob Townley's, wedding.  I surprisingly did not take any photos from the Wedding but we had a great weekend celebrating with friends.

The next weekend Travis was out of town in Chicago and my sister moved back in with us, but only for two weeks, while she was in between leaving Nashville and moving to Kingsport.  It was great to spend the last two weeks with her in Nashville before she left to go back to East Tennessee.

The next couple of weekends involved Ava's dedication, my 31st Birthday, Easter, our house going on the market, and my sister's Wedding.

We took Ava to the pediatrician this morning for her 18 month check up.

Height- 34 inches which is the 95% and all Swearingen

Weight- 28 pounds which is the 90%

Her pediatrician suggested that we purchasing a training potty for Ava so we can start talking to her about it.  She already knows when she is about to have a bowel movement because she will run and hide until she is finished so I hope that potty training will not be too bad.

Oh my goodness is Ava ever a little girl.  She loves to pretend by cooking us food in her kitchen.  She can sing songs and her favorite is still dancing.  She is starting to say two word phrases and the other day Travis told us to have fun on a walk and Ava responded "We Will!" We listen to a children's CD in my car and the driving home from Aunt Mandy's Wedding before the song started Ava recognized the tune to Monkey's Jumping on the Bed and said "No Monkey's" before the words to the song started.  She does not like anything that has to do with associating her as a baby and will tear of her bib and will not eat her food on a mat.  She is finally starting to try some new foods and uses her spoon well and is doing better with her fork.  Ava is starting to show more affection and will give us hugs but still no kisses.  She has not said it yet, but the day that she say's "I love you" will be one of the best moments of my life.

Here are some of the pictures of highlights from the last month.

Ava's first time eating cereal with milk, she was big fan!

Fun afternoon spent at the bounce house!

Loving on Grandpa and Aunt Mandy

I love these pictures of Ava, she looks like such a big girl lying on the floor coloring.

Morning spent at the park and afternoon at the zoo, it was a very busy day.  Ava had no fear going down the slide face first but was not a fan of the carousel ride at the zoo.

Just as we finished all of the touch up painting we turn around for one second and Ava colors on the bathroom door, thank goodness for Magic Eraser which got it right out!

Ava loves walking in my shoes and sometimes insist that I take them off so she can wear them around.