Ice cream, ICE CREAM!

After I picked Ava up from school this evening, I had to stop to gas up my car.  While we were turning left into the gas station Ava started yelling, "Ice cream, ICE CREAM!"  She was pointing to Sweet Cece's which is across the street from the gas station.  As a side note we probably have not been to Sweet Cece's in at least a month so this child has a great memory.

She was so upset that we were turning away from the ice cream and the entire time I was pumping gas she was whining for ice cream.  I told her that we had to go home first and eat dinner but if she was a good girl and ate everything, then we would go for ice cream afterwards.  Surprisingly she understood me and this was the first night that I can remember in a long time that she cleaned her plate.  After dinner when we announced that it was time to go and get ice cream, she went crazy and was so happy to be leaving to get ice cream!  Gotta love this kid!

My Mommy Moment of the Day

Recently Ava has started paying more attention to her baby doll and teddy bear, which she calls doggy.  She pushes them around, gives them hugs, and plays mommy to them.  Tonight I asked her if she wanted to get her baby for story time and we all sat in the  chair together as I read Pat the Bunny.  For those of you who are not familiar with this book each page shows how Paul and Judy can do something and then they ask if you can do it to.  This includes patting a furry bunny, playing peek a boo, feeling daddy's scratchy face, etc.  When it came time for Ava to do something, she first took her baby's hand and had the baby do it first and then she did it. I may be a little emotional right now, but I started crying seeing how much of a big girl Ava really is.

I love watching Ava grow and learn new things, but I also miss the little infant baby that she was when all I did was hold her in my arms all day. The good news is she still lets me cuddle her and I love when she gives me kisses and hugs and tells me that she loves me, there is nothing better in the world than that. 

Spring Time

I know that we are already in Summer, but I did not post much about our Spring so I wanted to play some catch up on April and May

After we arrived home from my Sister's Wedding, we had one weekend at home before Travis and I did a lot of traveling over the next two months.  We spent the third weekend in April in New Orleans for Butler Snow's annual meeting.  I mainly wanted to tag along because we were staying at the Ritz Carlton and while Travis was in meetings, I treated myself to in afternoon in their Spa.  That evening they had a huge welcome party at the hotel complete with a New Orleans Jazz Band for entertainment.  I spent the rest of the weekend catching up with the Butler Snow wives and even made it out on Bourbon Street.

The week after we arrived back we had a contract put on our house only after 24 days of being on the market and we started our plans for moving out on June 1st.

The following weekend I did a girls weekend with two great friends, Calle  and Samantha, along with Calle's Grandmother as we celebrated her 80th Birthday.  Over the last seven years we have done five girls trips with Calle's Grandmother and they are always so much fun. For her 80th Birthday, we made our third trip back to Birmingham which is a great place to meet in the middle.  We spent the weekend eating, shopping, and catching up and had a great time.

We spent the first weekend at home in May and helped my father move into his new home in Columbia and then the following two weekends, Travis and I were out of town on a trip to Mexico.  We realized that we have not taken a vacation with just the two of us since our Honeymoon so we felt like it was time to have a week away.  We stayed at the resort the entire time and took advantage of their spa and went every day to use their hydrotherapy area and we also treated ourselves to couple massages and facials.  It was the perfect week away from work and packing.

The following weekend after we arrived home from Mexico was Memorial Day weekend and we spent a fun weekend at the Collignon's lakehouse with great friends.  The next weekend was our moving weekend and after selling our townhouse at the last minute to our renters for the past three years, we ended up closing on our townhouse and our home both on May 31st.  We had until 5pm on June 1st to be out of our home and at 4:00pm I did one last walk through, left all of the lights on, and had a bottle of wine and a note waiting for the new home owners.  I never thought I would cry so much in one week but I am excited to be moving on to our next home even though we are not sure where that is yet.

In all of our busy travels, we still made as much time for our beautiful baby girl and Ava had a fun time with and without us.  We took her to Cheekwood in April to see the 55,000 tulips that had bloomed.  She also attended a Birthday Party for one of her classmates and spent the morning laughing and playing with her school friends.  She also got to spend a lot of time with Nana, Papa and Katie playing with choo choos and the kitchen set.  Ava also saw her Grandpa and Grandma K at their home in Columbia and loves the swing that they have in their yard.  Finally she got to spend time with Mimi, Uncle Matt, and Aunt Mandy, who all came down to watch her for part of the week while we were away in Mexico. Ava finished the month of May with an end of year party at her school where she danced and played with her friends and teachers.

We are so lucky to have so many people who love Ava and help us out by watching her.  Ava definitely is a social butterfly and is a born leader in her classroom.  She is very independent thinks that she can tackle the world on her own.  She is talking more and more each day I love having conversations with her.  I remind myself everyday that we are so Blessed to have Ava Marie.

Easter Day- Ava loved her Easter basket and hunting for eggs.

Tulips in Bloom at Cheekwood

Ava's first pair of sneakers!

This was a bad idea, Ava thought she was big enough to drink from a glass.  After a week and mostly spills later, we went back to the sippy cup.

View from my father's new house in Columbia

Swinging with Grandma K and Grandpa

Love this picture. 

Ava helping Daddy put her tricycle together.

Mimi made play dough for Ava when she came in.

Ava's last day in the Zebra classroom.

Ava's teacher, Ms. Dana.

Potty Fail!

Ava has been showing signs that she knows when she has wet herself in her diaper and most times she runs and hides in a corner when she is going the other, so I thought it was time to go ahead and purchase her own potty to start the training process.  It arrived this last week along with a potty training book and she seemed very interested and wanted to sit on it right away.

We thought bath times would be the best so tonight was the third time that she sat on it while her bath was being filled.  She sat on it for at least 10 minutes while getting up for a second just to go and sit back down again.  After sitting on it for all of this time, she got up, squatted down next to it, and peed all of the floor.  I was happy that she at least knew to squat and hopefully it will soon click to her that she needs to do that while sitting down.  We will continue to read the book and sit on it during bath time and hopefully she will not be in diapers by her 2nd Birthday.