Happy Birthday to Me

I am officially 27 years old now. twenty.seven. Yikes. Now that seems strangely old to me. I know this post is a little belated but I didn't want to pass it on by. My birthday is my favorite. It used to be celebrated with my girlfriends going downtown for drinks. These days its simply having a nice meal with my family.

I had a great day even though I was at work. The day was beautiful, not a cloud in sight. Noah sent flowers to my work. He's not one to send flowers so I was smiling from ear to ear. I enjoyed a nice lunch with my sister and we had frozen yogurt for dessert. I feasted on seafood for dinner; crab legs, oysters, shrimp oh my. It was glorious :) Seafood on my birthday has been a tradition for the past few years.

One of my birthday presents was a new fancy camera. I love it so far. Its a fun new hobby of mine. Some practice shots:

she's not looking but I love how this turned out. She was my perfect model this weekend when we took her Spring pictures at Forsyth Park. On our way back from our family walks

Our handsome Paxxie. He looks kinda scary to other people but he's our big baby. Ava loves her wagon.

I Love Being a Mom

Ava was such a trip tonight. We were watching Foo Fighters performing on t.v. and she was sitting beside me drinking a bottle. She loves music and instantly started bouncing up and down. But then she took her bottle out of her mouth and starting "singing." It was more like a soft yelling but singing none the less. She's never done that before and it was just the cutest thing.

The minute she turned one it seems like Ava has really come out of her shell. She has always been a happy baby with a happy personality but it just seems like things are coming to her quicker. In this past weekend alone she has learned to shake her head "no" and understands what it means. We'll ask her "Do you not want this anymore?" and she''ll shake her head no. She likes to point and when we ask her where Paxx is she can point to him. It's amazing :)

She pulls Paxx's leash out of the closet and takes it to him because she knows that's what we do before we go on a walk. She has play cups that she'll sip out of and then smack her lips and say "ah" like it was refreshing. haha, so cute.

She has also been very loving. She kisses us and leans her head into us to show us love. It's the most adorable thing. Last night she was playing and kept stopping by to give us both some love.

I try to grasp the correct emotion I feel about being a mom and I still haven't found an accurate enough description.

She's my world. And I couldn't ask for anything more.

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2011

This year was indeed a Happy St. Patrick's Day because our Ava turned one. It is hard to believe a year has already passed. Ava has given us so much in her short little life so far. She can brighten even the worst day and her smile gets me everytime.

Noah and I took off last Thursday and Friday to celebrate with her. Noah's mom drove down and so did Noah's brother, Jeremiah with his boyfriend, Justin and their friend, Kellie. It was a busy weekend but Ava had a great time.

Highlights:

She had her wellness visit yesterday and here's the latest with miss Ava monkey:

• weighs 20.5 lbs. (5oth percentile) and is 30 inches long (75th percentile)
• she is off of formula and has moved to whole milk
• she is eating all kinds of foods. We basically feed her what we are eating.
• she has 4 teeth on the top and 3 on the bottom
• she is a full-time walker now and she even tries to run
• her favorite song is Itsy Bitsy Spider and dances to it and smiles. she likes music.
• she's in 12 month clothes and wears size 4 shoes
• she sleeps through the night sometimes :/
• she knows what "ma-ma" and "da-da" is and knows some other words. We think she knows "ball"
• she gets into everything. She loves to press buttons on our entertainment stand, open the trash can and toilet. She dips her hands in Paxx's dog bowl and loves to play with his toys
• still in size 3 diapers
• She still uses a bottle but sips out of a sippy cup too

We learn new things every day and we are amazed at how much she teaches us.

Here's to another year!

First Birthday

In a couple of days our baby girl is turning one! It's hard to imagine my life without her. She has given us so much in just a year. I remember the day she was born so vividly and I remember how much love for her I had the moment she came into this world.

Every day is exciting because I never know what to expect. What I will learn, what she will learn. She is such a silly girl and I can't get enough of her!

Birthday plans?

Tomorrow her Mimi and Uncle Bubba (Jeremiah) are driving down from Virginia to celebrate. We are planning on taking her to the parade on Thursday. I'm excited because the weather is supposed to be fabulous! It's going to be a fun day. We took off work on Friday too to spend the day with Noah's family. I have alot of pre-party errands to run and Saturday is the big party. It's going to be a cupcake explosion at my mom's house.

I'll be sure to post pics after our crazy weekend.