Ten Years!!!

Today Doug and I celebrate TEN wonderful years of marriage! We're in the double-digits, now! I can't believe how quickly the time has flown by. Each day is a new adventure in life with Doug. We plan on celebrating with a couple's massage (a pre-natal one for me) and dinner out on Saturday, as some good friends have offered to take care of Ava for the night. On a future anniversary, when living closer to grandparents ;-), we may try to get away for a cruise or nice trip somewhere. Saving that for another year or so, possibly.

It all started with getting married on Superbowl weekend on a super-cold day in Michigan. The church parking lot had to be plowed for the wedding! We both wanted to hold-out for an April wedding, but because Doug was already living in GA and I was in MI missing my man, we decided on a January wedding.

It was bittersweet, saying "hello" at the wedding to so many faces of those that we loved, and literally driving away in a moving truck, moving to Georgia, the next day. I wouldn't trade our time spent together here in Georgia for anything. It's been quite the extended honeymoon, in my opinion. We've learned to depend on only each other and ourselves during good times, and difficult times. I think it has only strengthened our marriage.

It was cute...today our anniversary cards to each other were very similar. They both referred to all that we've been through within the past 10 years. Here is the quick list: Getting married, moving to Georgia, honeymoon to Cancun, acclimating ourselves to a new city (where roads are never straight and all are named some variation of "Peachtree"), getting new jobs, continuing on with school, apartment-dwelling, many fun road-trips to new and interesting places, scrimping every last penny to save for a house (Taco Bell and the dollar theatre were quite the reserved treat!), moving into our new "treehouse", more schooling, GRE exams, ARE exams X 11, PMP exams, real estate exams, two college graduations, job changes, long walks by the "Gog" (the synagogue) and back, an amazing trip to Europe, finding out we were pregnant, the birth of Ava, adjusting to life as new parents, loving our little baby-turned-little girl, finding out we are pregnant with a second child, and just enjoying every minute of life together.

With each passing day I love Doug more and more. I look forward to 80+ more years of marriage, and an eternity spent with him. He is, and will always be, my sweeetheart! I have learned so much from him, his attitude toward life, and what a devoted family man he is. I lucked-out when he came into my life.

Doug, I will love you forever. I hope you have the best of anniversaries yet, today!

All my love,
Shelly

Snow in Georgia!

Hillbilly Ava

Ava has been an absolute hoot lately. Her affection for tearing-off her socks and shoes has not waned. In the chilliest of temperatures, off come the socks. A true hillbilly. Even funnier, she was wearing a pair of denim overalls the other day, rolled-up six inches as they're too long, pulled-off her socks and shoes and decided to take-up harmonica. She seems to do pretty well at it. Watch out, Elwood Blues!






Her growth seems to occur in explosive spurts. It's as if she's taking everything in for a few weeks and finally decides to confidently relay her newfound learnings. Over Christmas she started counting and could recite all colors. At day care, they say she "knows her colors like a rock star", better than all other kids in the class. Over Christmas she could say Grampy and Grambee (Grandma), but the week after she could say both "Grandpa" and "Grandma" very clearly. (Of course after we returned home from the Grandmas and Grandpas! :-) She can now jump with both feet off the ground. She knows an increasing number of shapes (currently knows circle and square), and actually counted to four the other day.

She is entirely amazed by the story of Naaman (the blind man) in the Bible. She has an illustrated children's Bible in which there is a picture of Naaman with mud on his eyes. She continually flips to that page (specifically) and repeatedly asks "what's that?" (uh-dat?).

Her tolerance for repetition is unmatched. Over the Christmas holiday, Grandma and Grandpa Carey got to experience the Frosty the Snowman DVD on a daily basis, almost to the point of exhaustion. Whenever Sesame Street is mentioned (or is on t.v.), she consistently asks for "Count". She LOVES the Count, and enjoys immitating him ("One! Two! Three! Ahh, ahh, ahh!").

Ava is ever the girly-girl, applying lip gloss (Bonne Bell lip smackers) and hand lotion whenever possible. She likes for her hair to be put in a ponytail or pig-tails. She loves to brush her teeth on her own (she crawls up the stepstool, reaches for her toothbrush and turns the water on/off by herself). Whenever she gets out of the bathtub at night, she runs into the living room and announces "I'm naked!" (sounds more like "I naked!"). It's pretty funny :-)

She is a bit more insistent lately on being independent, especially when going down the stairway. She doesn't seem too hung-up on doing things "her way" yet, fortunate for us! She does well with her manners, too, saying "please" and "thank you" often. It has been entirely too cute to watch her become "responsive" verbally. One day in November I made a request of Ava and followed it up with an "okay?," and she responded "okay". It was the cutest thing. She is much more into responding verbally these days.

She jibber-jabbers and holds conversations with us, thinking that we understand "Ava talk". She knows the word "church" and when asked who we learn about at church, she replies emphatically "Jee-jah!"

She giggles with glee when watching our friends' baby slide down the slide at the park. It's cute to watch her be happy for other kids. I don't know if I've mentioned this on the blog before, but over Thanksgiving, I mentioned to Doug that "maybe we can go to the p-a-r-k later." Ava said "the PARK! YAY! The PARK!" Yikes. Maybe we've spelled that word a little too often around her?

She is very courageous in the food department. She will try most anything that is on Mommy or Daddy's plate (at least once). She LOVES corn on the cob, rice, any kind of pasta, oatmeal with dried cranberries (our usual breakfast), cookies, crackers, most vegetables (corn, carrots, green beans, snap peas, squash), and any kind of fruit. She eats a very varied diet. She eats mixed vegetables by the handful, as if they are candy. She hasn't yet learned to appreciate broccoli or cauliflower, but we haven't exposed her to broccoli very much, either. I recently heard that a child needs to be exposed to something 15 times in order to acquire a taste for something. We're working on the broccoli...

Because this blog serves as Ava's baby book, I'm also noting that Ava weighed 24 lbs 3 oz at a doc appt when she was 21 1/2 months old. This after a very full belly of Wheat Thins and juice! ;-)

With love,
Shelly

Christmas 2007

What a fun holiday it was this year! We hope you enjoyed the holidays with your family, as well!

Ava was excited about the holidays this year, watching “Frah-tee the Noman” at every opportunity. On a sad note, we ACCIDENTALLY left the DVD at Grandma and Grandpa Carey’s house, before returning to Georgia. (Can’t you tell I’m torn-up about it? ;-) Ava enjoyed looking for “Tanta” in every nook and cranny of her grandparents’ houses. While opening presents, she looked like an old pro, ripping into presents, although pieces of wrapping paper came off in one inch increments.

She immensely enjoyed playing with the kitchen that Grandma Pam and Grandpa Bill bought for her, even foregoing her nap. I think we counted that she spent seven consecutive hours playing in her kitchen. She also liked everyone running around the coffee table. If we weren’t running, she would point at the table as if to say “Get down here… you need to do this, too!” Of course Grandpa and Grandma complied, even if already in a dizzied haze.

She giggled with delight while Grandpa Dean tickled her. When he would ask where she wanted to be tickled: “Here, or here?” she would reply by pointing to the place she wanted to be tickled. Nothing like volunteering for it, huh? She was overjoyed while dancing with cousin Sophia, who liked to swing her around, dancing to Christmas music. Ava danced like she had done this before somewhere? Grandma Dolly lovingly fed Ava spaghetti, which was quickly gobbled up. After Grandma Dolly treated her to a few Reese’s pieces, Ava was amped-up and ready to party! I think she surprised all of her grandparents with the sheer quantity of food she can eat. She definitely works it off!

Ava enjoyed playing with the cash register, the crazy musical Christmas decoration, and miniature xylophone at Grandma and Grandpa Carey’s house. She liked watching cartoons with Grandpa Carey and loved when Grandma Carey fed breakfast to her. Grandma Carey says she may need to get a part-time job to pay for the groceries Ava eats! :-) Aunt Tracy helped Ava color with her markers at the kitchen table, too. Ava seemed to really enjoy the peanut butter cookies on their table, requesting them by name: “Cookie! Cookie!” Ava also liked to bowl with the plastic bowling set the Careys gave to her. When all pins didn’t come down, she would kick them down. She would hand her guitar to Grandpa Carey, prompting him to sing in his loudest voice. Ava always wanted him to sing more! :-)

Before we left yesterday, Ava was calling the grandparents by name: “Grampy”… “Grandma” sounded more similar to “Grampy” than not, but is somewhat decipherable. She also was able to say “Tracy!” She would quickly run toward each grandparent with a smile on her face for a big hug, too. Ava definitely has her colors down-pat by now, and she EVEN COUNTS! While laying in bed each morning, we would hear Ava reciting what she knew while laying in the crib: “one, two, three”… “grampy, grandma”… “red, yew-woah”, orange, white, byoo”. I couldn’t believe that she actually started counting. We'll definitely have to get this on video tape. She also holds up her fingers to display the number one. Putting her hand up for two, she curls her fingers and crosses them. It’s pretty funny!

She officially puts two words together now, too. In the past she has said phrases like “thank you,” “I don’t want it,” “hot cocoa”, etc, but she started putting two words together herself now, repeating “yellow car” over and over and over again… She will turn to you and babble jibberish, like she is holding a conversation with you. She now responds vocally when we ask her a question by saying "yeah!" or "okay!" enthusiastically.

We stayed in Michigan for a good ten days. While there, it was amazing to see how much Ava grew physically (I think she got taller), as well as how closely she seemed to bond with everyone. It warmed my heart to see her grow closer to family.

We were able to enjoy two nights out, going out for dinner one night, and out for New Year’s the next night, thanks to the Careys. Doug and I didn’t know what to do at dinner, as we’re so used to shoveling food into our own mouths while trying to prevent potential Ava spills, etc. It was nice to act like an adult for a few!

We’ll be sure to post pictures later.

Happy New Year!
Shelly