Aunt Carole Ann is here!

Carole Ann came home from Chicago for the Christmas holiday and Stephen, Ava, and I had the pleasure of going to pick her up from the airport so she could meet her neice for the first time. We were all so excited to see her! We've missed having her so close..

The way to Ava's heart is food!

Taking a picture together, since we never seem to remember to get one. Notice Ava is eating again.. She is an eating machine!

Thursday night, David flew in from Chicago to meet the gang. We were lucky enough to meet him first. Aren't they cute!

Aunt Carole Ann and David entertaining Ava. She was fascinated with David at the time!

Boy Meets Girl

Lawson Bryce Saul was born on December 4th, 2009 to Caleb and Holly Saul. It was so great to be able to go through the trials and tribulations of or first pregnancy with Holly and now we are so excited to watch our babies grow together. Congratulations to both of you, we could not be happier!!

Tuesday, December 8th boy met girl for the first time. Well it wasn't the first girl he had met but it was the first time Lawson was meeting our girl! Here is right after we laid them down together. Notice both are making an "I'm not so sure about this kid!" face.

Ava and Lawson looking at their mommys like what is going on and are you going to do something about it!! :)

Surprise, surprise both of them have their mouth open. Are you trying to talk to eachother? (or maybe we are just hungry.. hehe!)

"You are in my space!"

"Lawson, take it from someone who has been here for a month.. you just gotta relax and smile! Those cameras aren't going to stop anytime soon.."

It was great to be able to spend time with the new family at home! We look forward to many more play dates.

Christmas fun!

While in Williamsburg we visited a store that had amazing Christmas decor everywhere and a really good Santa set up. Needless to say we decided to take some pictures and I am so glad we did because they turned out great!!

We took some family pics too but we weren't really dressed for the occasion! Haha!

We bought Ava a pair of Christmas pjs while there and when we got back home I couldn't wait to put them on her!

Ava's First Trip

This weekend Stephen and I decided to pack up and drive to Williamsburg, VA for the night to see Stephen's mom, grandma, brother Mark, and Peggy who were there doing some Christmas shopping. It was quite a long drive but for a one month old, Ava did great! Only crying when she was hungry which is completely normal.

This is her in her travel bed. It was the first time we had used it and she loved it!

Sunday morning, around 8am, while we were at the hotel the fire alarm went off. Yep loud screaming alarms! Of course I was up but still in pjs, Stephen was in the shower, and Ava was in her bed in only a diaper.. I stood there for a second thinking, is this for real? I looked at the tv which was showing the temperature at 35 degrees outside!! I put on some warm clothes and shoes, wrapped Ava in several warm blankets, waited for Stephen to put on some clothes and shoes, grabbed my diaper bag and a bottle of freshly pumped milk (it was not getting left behind, I work way to hard for it!! haha!), Stephen got her carseat (he said it cost to much to leave behind if there were in fact a fire) and we headed outside. Obviously if there had actually been a fire we would have been moving a little slow although while it seems we did alot we actually didn't move to slow. In fact, there were plenty of people heading down the stairs with us including Stephen's family. His mom apparently felt it was more of an emergency situation than we did and went right out from the shower (not in a towel though so she did take some time). I looked down at her and realized she was going out in 35 degrees with wet hair and no shoes!

Eventually they let us go back in and sit in the lobby until they okayed going to our rooms. Yes this is that bottle of milk and I was so glad I had it because Ava was making it known she wanted it. I guess now we have a good story to tell about Ava's first trip!

1 Month Old!

I cannot believe I am already saying this but Ava is a month old! I know everyone says they grow up so fast but oh my gosh has this month gone by in the blink of an eye! She has grown and changed so much in this past month that I can't even believe it and while I love the stage that we are at, I am very sad that the new baby stage is ending. Here are some pics of her on her one month birthday!

Look at how much bigger she has gotten! In case you have forgotten we used to have to put a pillow in the swing because she was so small in it. Not any more!

Rainy Days and Lady Bug Pajamas

So recently it seem that we have more rainy days then sunny..

Typically we carry on with our normal routine despite the monsooning but today was different. Today Ava, Bella, and I decided to stay in our pajamas and stay inside all day!

Ava's cute lady bug pjs have lady bugs on the feet! Love them!

Enjoying our time in bed!

My little girl is getting bigger everyday..

Gotta snap quick to catch those sweet smiles!

Very interested in her surroundings now.

Bella had her own spot (and pillow) on the bed too!

Weekend fun!

After everyone had left it was just Stephen, Ava, and I around the house. So of course I took more pictures! She is becoming much more alert for longer stretches of time now and it is so much fun!! When we weren't hanging around the house we did go out in the world and run a few errands. I'm sure she is wondering why mommy takes so many pictures of her when she is just riding in the car! haha!

After everyone was gone..

After everyone was gone it was mommy and daddy time again with Ava! Mommy and Ava took a nap.. a few much needed naps!

Daddy and Ava enjoyed some playtime.. Don't kid yourself though, daddy was sleeping when we were too! Haha!

Our first Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving created many first for our family.. It was our first Thanksgiving with our daughter (and grand daughter and great grand daughter for some family members). It was our first Thanksgiving at our house, on Thanksgiving! Which was really quite neat to be at home for a holiday! Everyone could just sit around together the whole day. It was also the first Thanksgiving dinner I cooked for and contributed too (I didn't do alot but I did make a green bean casserole, deviled eggs and a sweet potato casserole!) Lastly it was the first Thanksgiving that I spent with my dad AND his family at the same time in a REALLY long time and it was nice! All in all we had a great turkey day and Ava was covered with love and attention!

My cousin, Cameron looking so cute and proud holding Ava!

Lots of Wii going on while waiting for dinner to be ready. Everyone got a good work out before eating a delicious meal! This is Cameron, and my step mom Susan battling it out in tennis. I am pretty sure Susan won! hehe!

A few more pictures..

Here are a few more pictures of Ava at home!

I love the cute little feet!

Already working on her toe point!

We have visitors!

After a great week at home together, we all including daddy, were able to go and pick up my dad and step mom from the airport on Friday afternoon. Needless to say they were a little excited to see Little Miss Ava. In fact, my dad spotted us in the airport and couldn't even stay still. He quickly started walking toward us and hugged me and stole my daughter at the same time.

Out on a walk.. By the way, those are pre-pregnancy jeans!!! Yay!!

Our first week together!

This past week was Ava and I's first week at home together all alone while everyone else went back to their normal schedules.. While it was quite exciting to have so much time alone with her, it was also a little scary to know that noone would be there to help if I needed.

Needless to say we survived and everyone is happy and doing great!!

I absolutely LOVE being at home with Ava!

Visit to Tumblebees..

On Thursday we ventured to Tumblebees to celebrate the upcoming arrival of Lauren's little boy. Ava and I came with a special gift for the "soon to be" new mommy, a wine goblet that reads "Mommy's Sippy Cup!" Haha!

Everyone was really excited to meet Ava for the first time! Below are a few pictures of Ava's visit to the party!

Vasha and Ava

Carolyn and Ava

Close up!