Soo busy!

I know I know.. I'm doing a poor job keeping up with this blog lately! Well its because we have been SOO busy! Going back to work has really kicked my butt and poor Ava just gets carted all around with us. Things are going really well and Ava is growing and changing so quickly! More pics to come soon, I promise!

New Years in Hot Springs!

For New Years this year we went for 5 days to Hot Springs, VA with Stephen's mom, grandmother, brothers, and cousins. It had snowed before we got there so there was plenty to play in. Lots of board games, card games, puzzles, yummy food, and resting! It was soo nice..

Nathan and Michelle by their snowman.. Mark peeked in!

A few pictures of falling springs and the mountain side all covered in snow!

New Skill

While we were away on vacation at Christmas Ava learned a new skill! You received keys for Christmas and one night we were playing with them and she held them all by herself. Stephen and I were so proud and cheered for her! Its funny what makes you excited now as a parent. Love it!

Mark learned a new skill as well! Dressing Ava for the first time. It was hilarious!

Our first Christmas as a family!!

Christmas for us was just like normal in the sense that we spent ALOT of time in the car bouncing from one family to another.. However it was alot more fun having Ava on board.

Christmas Eve at the Seabock's house! (my mom's side) Stephen and Ava after opening gifts and eating lots of yummy food!

Gary giving Ava some food!

Christmas morning at the Criser house! (Stephen's moms side) Aunt Carole Ann, Michelle, and Grandma Donna with Ava.. As you can see she was out!

I got some pjs from Stephen's grandmother made by this company!

Then it was off to my grandmother Phelps's house! (my dad's side) Gigi with Ava.

We stopped quickly back by the Seabock house after that to say Merry Christmas and then we were off to the Carr/Canady house! (Stephen's dad's side)

After that we stopped by my mom's house and she got a pink Santa hat!

And a new outfit! You didn't know it but she had 3 outfit changes that day because of all of her baby's first christmas things that she had to wear on her first christmas. Unfortunately one got dirty before we could get a picture in it.

The day after Christmas the festivities continued with family gift time with Stephen's mom and cousins.

Overall our first Christmas as a family was great!! It was soo nice having Ava to share it with! No Santa gifts this year as she was just to young, and next year we figure we can wrap boxes as that is all that she will want! Haha! Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Catching Up! Ava's first snow!

So between the holidays, going up to Hot Springs where there is no internet for 5 days, and then going back to work I have gotten really behind with putting pics up! I'm going to try to catch up.. Here are pics from Ava's first snow!!

All dressed ready to put on her snowsuit!

A little snow baby!

Playing with mommy in the snow!

Trying to keep warm with daddy..

Giving Bella some snow attention.

After playtime its warm milk for Ava and  hot chocolate for mommy and daddy!

And then we're out..

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!