Happy 2nd Birthday, Ava!

Ava turns two today. It's so hard to believe that two years have already gone by! Each day I look forward to showing her the world and letting her explore it. It's been so fun to watch her learn things and become more confident in her abilities!

She knows it is her birthday today. When we ask whose birthday it is, she says "Ava's!", and when we ask how old she is turning, she says "two!", holding up her last three fingers. 'Can't quite get the two fingers up at the same time.

We sent her to school with some homemade pink (is there any other color in the world?) strawberry cupcakes with sprinkles. We gave her the choice of going to McDonald's Play Place or to Chuck E. Cheese's tonight, knowing these seem to be her two favorite places in the world. I think she chose McDonald's Play Place.

She's been extra-sweet lately, and continues to learn exponentially. At school, she has now officially graduated (with three other kids) to the younger two year-old class. It is a bit more structured than her previous class. Her previous teacher, Miss Jackie, already misses the kids. Miss Jackie jokingly told me that Ava, Jack and Aidan weren't allowed to graduate, so she could keep them in her class longer. It's also good to know that the day care rate drops $50 a month with Ava in this newer class!

While in Vegas, I tried to put Ava down for a nap in the room we stayed at Aunt Kathy and Uncle Jeff's house (Aunt Kappy and Apple Jaff, as Ava refers to them). Ava knew I was in the bathroom getting ready, so she systematically emptied my purse and would push items through the crack at the bottom of the door. She started saying "Mommy", but then I caught her saying "Mom?" a few times. I had to laugh, thinking she is entirely too young to already be calling me Mom! :-) We celebrated Ava's, Aunt Kristy's and Grandma Mary's birthdays while in Vegas (Kristy on 04/02 and Mary's on 04/03), with an ice cream cake and some gifts. More on the trip and b-day presents in a future post.

I purchased the white "princess" dress in the pictures below at a recent consignment sale for $15!!! When I was about to check out with the items I found, I noticed a table that said "Play Dress-Up for $15", and couldn't resist.

Happy birthday to our sweet girl! Know that you are forever loved and mean the world to your Daddy and me. We pray that you have a very special day today!

All our love,
Mommy and Daddy

Following In Dad's Footsteps...

Church Easter Egg Hunt

The church Easter egg was so cute.  They separated the kids by age group and provided designated areas for specific age groups. 

Our neighbor friends Tony and Elaine Rosas brought their little girl Olivia, who was born on the same day and in the same hospital as Mekhi Hoffman. 

Ava enjoyed finding some eggs until she found the slide.  After she went down the slide once, she wasn't interested in finding eggs.  She had fun on the swings and in the little play house.

Peace, love, Easter buns and buns in the oven,

Shelly, Doug and Ava



This Place is a Zoo!

We went to the zoo with Amy and Mekhi Hoffman and Anna and Ryan-Ashton Fletcher in March. It was a beautiful day that ended with a thunderstorm (cueing naptime for all three kiddos).

Thanks to Amy for inviting us for Educator's Day!

Happy Easter!!!

Happy Easter, everyone!

We were out in Vegas from last Wednesday through Wednesday, visiting with Doug's family. I will be sure to give a recap (for posterity) when we post pictures from our trip. We hope you all had a great Easter filled with family and goodies.

The attached pictures are some of those taken during our pre-Nursemaid's elbow trip to Portrait Innovations. ;-)

Hoppy Easter!

With love,

Shelly

Nursemaid’s Elbow: All Gussied-Up for the…Doctor’s Office?

I took Ava to have pictures taken at Portrait Innovations recently. She did SO WELL! They suggest customers bring a few outfit changes, so of course we complied! I brought two dresses and bows to match: (1) her Easter dress and (2) a $15 dress I bought at a local consignment sale, displayed on the “Play Dress Up for $15” rack. When I originally tried the “Princess / Dress-Up” dress on her last week, she didn’t like it. I’m sure it was a bit itchy? Tuesday when I asked her if she would like to wear a pretty dress like a princess, she was excited about wearing it. We'll be sure to post the pictures at a later date.

They are AMAZING photographers at Portrait Innovations, knowing all the tricks of the trade for getting a kiddo to smile / pose. Letting out a sigh of relief after photos were taken, we triumphantly exited through the door, thinking the most traumatic portion of the day was behind us. Little did I know…

Holding Ava’s hand and juggling dresses on the way to the car, Ava decided to pick her feet up and stop walking, but still wanted me hanging onto her hand. She’s been playing this game lately, I’m not sure why… I then heard something “pop” (loudly enough) in her wrist. Immediately she started crying like her wrist was hurt, and wouldn’t use that arm or let me look at it. I was heading home with her in the car, but she kept nursing her wrist and crying inconsolably. After passing by her doc’s office, I decided to make a u-turn and went into the doc with her. It really scared me, because she stopped using that entire arm as soon as it happened. I cried in the doc’s office, feeling guilty for possibly “hurting her”.

She was in some serious pain, but her doctor (the sweetest lady doctor on the face of the planet) gave her something for the pain, and was very comforting to her / me. They did x-rays, etc. I couldn’t hold her for the x-ray, being pregnant, so they rounded-up a random unit secretary who held her, all while Ava screamed…When they were manipulating Ava’s wrist into different positions for the x-ray, I guess they ended-up popping it back into place (unintentionally), because she started using it immediately. Gingerly at first, then she used it as she normally would. It turns out nothing was broken or sprained, but she did have “nursemaid’s elbow.”

All’s well that ends well. I guess this type of thing is pretty common, per the doctor. We will need to be a little more careful with her wrist / arm in the next month or so, as the ligaments could potentially dislocate again. I’m just SO THANKFUL that she didn’t break her arm or wrist. I had visions of an Easter egg hunt transpiring with a sweetly-dressed little girl donned with a clunky arm cast. Thankfully that won’t be happening!

After sleeping off a dose of pain medicine, Ava woke up with a smile on her face, ready to tackle the world again. The plethora of glow-in-the-dark stickers from the nice x-ray tech might’ve helped with that smile, too. Ava must be fine; the stickers have already found their way into her hair and onto her face…

With our love,
Shelly, Doug and Ava

Outdoor Fun