Happy Mother's Day!

We had a great Mother's Day, and hope you did, too!

I woke up to cards and two gifts on the kitchen table. For Mother's Day, Ava got a card for me, as well as two books I can read to her. One is the "Mommy and Me" Baby Einstein book. Doug said she actually did pick it out. It's funny; she LOVES the kangaroo on the Baby Galileo DVD. The Mommy and baby kangaroo are both on the cover of the book, so she "picked the book" for Mommy. Ava also made a card at school, that has her handprints in red paint. Doug had a very nice card, perfume and earrings for me.

We went to early service at church. Doug was sweet to drop-off Ava in the nursery and said he would get her if we got the dreaded / typical "page" in the middle of the sermon. Half way into the sermon, I asked Doug if he thought the pager was broken. (We've had this happen twice in the past; the nursery attendants tried to page us to no avail.) Doug said he would go check on Ava... She was FINE! We think we learned our lesson, that Daddy needs to drop-off Ava in the nursery (instead of me) for us all to have a drama-free Sunday morning. Doug drops her off at day care, so I guess she is used to that routine. Ahh, sweet sanity.

We headed home so Ava could take a nap, thinking we would go out for an early evening dinner and avoid the Mother's Day lunch rush. The day prior, we bought some flowers and landscaping supplies at HD, so Doug and I both worked on the landscaping while Ava took a very long nap. It is SWELTERING already, here in GA! The landscaping looks very nice, though. Doug and I came to the realization that we will NEVER have a garden in our back yard... We transplanted some lantana plants from our front yard into our backyard. There is SO MUCH CLAY in the back yard; we're hoping the lantana will survive and thrive. 'No vegetable gardens while we're living in this house! From our time spent in the sun, I got a bit of a sunburn on my shoulders, neck and the back of my arms from bending-down gardening. I am officially a "red" neck.

When Ava woke up, we thought we would go for an early dinner at Red Lobster on the way to small group. I LOVE their salads and broiled flounder. I used to work for "RL" in high school and during college. Ava didn't share mine and Doug's vision of a peaceful dinner, so we ended-up leaving RL earlier (scarfing down dinner). She wailed the entire way home. We haven't known what her deal has been lately; it seems like whenever she gets in her car seat, she cries. She definitely prefers to be walking around and exploring, instead of strapped-into a car seat. I figured it out yesterday... She is cutting at least two teeth on the bottom and one top-front tooth. There are two more that are also growing in. She hasn't been eating a bunch, hasn't been sleeping soundly at night, so this explained it. When it rains, it pours! I just pray that they come in quickly and with as little pain as possible.

All in all, it was a wonderful Mother's Day! Sunshine, flowers, long baby naps, a nice breeze and my sweet husband and little girl here, too. God truly blesses us over and over again.

We hope you were able to have a great day, too, spoiling your Mom and other family members.

With love,
Shelly