New Camera

Santa came a little early to our house. We went and got a new digi camera today. Our other one has served us well, but I was getting to a point where I wanted to take more technical pics and our camera couldn't do that. We got a Canon PowerShot camera. I have been reading the 5,000 page manual all day and am no closer to understanding it than I was a 3 pm this afternoon. I feel like I'm trying to learn a new language.

Misunderstood

This morning Elle woke up with pretty much no voice. When she coughed it sounded pretty bad. She seemed to feel pretty good, just didn't sound too good. I could tell she had junk in the back of her throat so I told her that when she coughed if something came up in her mouth to not swallow it but go spit it in the trashcan. (Are you grossed out yet? Welcome to a mother's world) So a few minutes later she came up to me and said "I need to cough in the trash can." I wasn't sure if she meant she had some phlym in her mouth or what so I said okay and she headed over to the trash can and coughed into it..literally. Later she was playing and this time didn't say anything to me. She just headed to the trash can and put her face right at the opening and coughed. I guess she figures that we want to throw her cough away.

Any Ideas?

I'm a bad mother today...Elle has watched TV non stop all day today. It is raining outside so we can't go out and play. It's too hard right now to take both girls to the mall or Walmart so we are stuck at the house. Any ideas on rainy day activities that aren't REALLY messy or overly involved?

I figured it out!

With the help of my smart sister-in-law I have finally posted a video. Now, there is no sound and it only will record about 15 seconds worth of video, but it's better than nothing. This is all done with my little digital camera! I love technology...at least for the next few minutes! Enjoy the snippet of Ava doing what she does best. :)

Ava on the Floor

The "Pumpkin" Patch

Okay so we went to the pumpkin patch that was about 15 minutes outside of Greenville. It was a total dud to say the least. It looked like they had bought about 50 or so pumpkins from Walmart and set them up on a few bails of hay. It wouldn't have even made a decent picture because there were a ton of empty spaces where people had bought certain pumpkins. I was highly disappointed to say the least. Plus they wanted to charge Shawn and me $4 to get "in" the "Patch." So we headed home with our hearts heavy and hopes shattered (okay I'm being a little melodramatic but I was pretty sad.) Lo and behold, we get out of our car at home, look across the street at our good neighbors front yard and she had some type of vine growing, she has placed pumpkins in the midst of those vines, and she even has a cute sign that reads "Pumpkin Patch." I immediately say, that's our pumpkin patch and we're taking pictures! We headed over there and ended up with some great family pictures! What is interesting is that is wasn't actually a pumpkin vine, though it looked close, it was a cantelope vine so really we went to the Cantelope Patch for Halloween this year! Enjoy the pics.

Elleisms

Two funny stories from today:
1. Earlier Elle was playing alone in her room and all the sudden I heard her saying really loud and in a mean tone "You be quiet right now!" "I'm trying to put the baby to sleep!" I peaked in and yep, she had a mommy doll and it was yelling that as she tried to rock the baby in it's crib....surely she hasn't ever heard that before.
2. She is suspose to be 1 hour and 15 minutes into a nap right now, but she has decided she doesn't need that rest. She is still in her room in her bed, but when I went to her door to listen to what she was singing, I could tell she was jumping on her bed while singing "Jingle Bells" at the top of her lungs. I think the girl is ready for Christmas.

Family Time

Yesterday Paul, Carolyn, and Paul's parents Tommy and Leo came for a short visit and to allow Tommy and Leo to meet Ava for the first time. They live in Lubbock so it's close to impossible to go see them and since they were in the area that decided to come on by. Here are some pictures from their visit yesterday. Also I should have some pictures up tonight or maybe tomorrow. We are planning on going to a pumpkin patch and trying to get a few good pics and let Elle play with some pumpkins. We'll see.

Pink Toast

This morning I decided to make cinnamon toast for breakfast. As soon as Elle heard that she went straight to the cabinet where I keep all of my cake decorating stuff and said "I want the pink kind." She wanted me to put pink sprinkles on her toast so I thought sugar is sugar so why not? She ate better for breakfast this morning than she has in quite a while. Maybe I should put pink sprinkles on her veggies and meat???

Thumbs up for pink toast and a very cool mommy!

Thank God I'm Free at Last!

As some of you know, Elle would never take a bottle at all when she was a baby. That means that the longest I was away from her for the first year was about 5 hours and that was towards the end. So, I really wanted Ava to take one but it's not really something you can make a baby do. They either will or they won't. I tried giving Ava a bottle today and she drank all 4 ounces of milk!!! I was so so so excited! This means freedom occasionally for me. I can leave for more than 1 1/2 hours at a time now!! Plus, if I am really really tired, then Shawn could every once in a while feed her in the middle of the night...but we hope to have that feeding gone in a few months. We have another wedding coming up that Elle is in and this is going to help tremendously. Now I won't have to nurse her while the wedding is going on. I can just bring a bottle!!!! YIPPIE SKIPPY!

Little Ava at 5 weeks

The centerfold pose

This is the sprinkler (it's a dance move and I am not sure if that's the name)

She was just about to sign "I love you." That or "hang loose!"

Something stuck in her teeth

We went to Mesquite today. I have 5 shirts to my name that fit me at all right now. Two of them I got while I was in Tyler this weekend and 2 of them are the same design in different colors. So, I needed to do some shopping for some shirts. We spent almost 4 hours shopping and all I got was one shirt. I was so mad. I just felt like it was a lot of energy expended for not much show. But, what does all that have to do with the title. Well, not long after we got to the mall, we passed a chocolate place in the middle of the mall that dipped strawberries in it...they were giving out samples so shawn, me and elle all tried a sample. It was great but as we headed into one of the stores elle started saying, "It's stuck in my teeth. Get it out." Shawn usually will find a toothpick and pick whatever is stuck out. When Elle opened her mouth to show him where the food was stuck she pointed to none other than a brand new molar! We had no idea that she was getting a new tooth and it's already almost all the way through the gums. Since she wasn't use to the feeling of that new tooth, she thought something was stuck in her mouth but it really just turned out to be a big ol' back molar. I haven't had time to check and see if the one on the other side is coming in also, but for now we can say she is getting her top molars. Yet another step in her growing up.....too fast!

Fowler Gul

At the wedding

Nana and Elle

Gramme and Ava

The long walk...

That's how Elle says flower girl. This weekend we went to Tyler for my brother Nikolai's wedding. Elle was the "fowler gul" and Shawn was a groomsman. It was a fun, but very fast and hectic weekend to say the least. We didn't have one moment to sit and breath the whole time! I wish we could have stayed a few extra days and just relaxed. The wedding was really sweet and pretty and of course my favorite part, the food wasn't too shabby either! Elle did an amazing job as the flower girl. It was actually Elle and another little girl named Emma. They hit it off big time and became buddies. When it was time for the real deal, they headed down the aisle. Emma stopped half way down, put her basket down and high-tailed it to the back but somehow someway, elle kept going all by herself right down the middle of the aisle with perfect posture! As she got up to the front she pulled out 2 more flower petals and threw them right at the groom's feet...precious! I was SOOOOO proud of her. Then she went right to the bridesmaid to get her "treat" for making it to the front, then ran right back across to where my mom was sitting and sat quietly through the whole ceremony. While all of this was going on, I was nursing Ava on the back pew. It was interesting but thanks to Gramme, I had an extra pair of hands to help out. Speaking of Ava she turned 1 month old on Friday the 13th! She has started to coo a little bit, and it attempting to smile but still mostly just stares at us like we are from another planet. Anyway, enjoy the pics!

Daddy's Shirt

Do you remember when you were little and you would wear one of your family members T-shirts to sleep in? It was always way too big for you but you liked it anyway. Elle grabbed Shawn's shirt of the floor last night and put it on. She was so proud of it and loved wearing it. I just thought these pics that Shawn took were too cute no to share. She didn't get to wear it to sleep in because I'm afraid she would have ended up wrapped like a burrito in all the extra fabric!

My 6 Daughters

I actually had quints!

We had Paul and Carolyn come in yesterday for a little while and of course Elle wore them out! We ate at CiCi's for lunch and Ava actually did very well. She took the pacifer while we were there so that made it really nice. With Ava, the paci is a hit and miss type of thing. Sometimes she'll take it and sometimes she spits it out before it even gets in her mouth! Then last night we went over to some friends house to eat (yummy food!) and play a little cards. Ava did OK there but needed to be held for a lot of it. Elle had so much fun. Our friends have a doll house that Elle could fit inside of and everytime we go over there Elle plays with it. She had so much fun! She also watched some Winnie the Pooh cartoons which was another highlite...simple pleasures. Today my parents and sister and her baby are coming in for the day. Then this evening we are all going to a Parents VS Youth Volleyball game that Shawn has set up with the youth group. Should be a lot of fun and I may actually try to play a little...I have much better odds at volleyball than softball which is what they usually do. Well, I need to get a shower before my family gets here. Enjoy the pics.

What a good daddy :)

Mu-terd

Shawn came home as usual for lunch today and was making us all sandwiches. He put mustard on his and he usually shares his with Elle. She said she didn't want "mu-terd" but then changed her mind a few minutes later. So, she got a turkey and swiss with muterd. After eating it for a while, she pulled it apart as usual. She was looking at all the insides of the sandwich and trying to tell me and shawn something. Finally we figured it out....she was looking at the mustard that was all over the turkey and saying "That's not poopoo." It took us a few seconds to relate the mustard to the look of Ava's poop. Spoken by a true big sis. I'll never look at "muterd" the same again.

Good News

I took Ava back to the dr. today to get her weighed again. He had been concerned last week that she wasn't gaining fast enough. Anyway, she went from 8 lb 7 oz last week to 9 lbs even today. He was very happy about that and is no longer worried about if she's getting enough to eat. I guess I'm doing something right and with breastfeeding, that is really reassuring. I have found that it doesn't matter if you've done it before, it is still a somewhat anxious thing to do since you never for sure know how much they are getting. But, all anxiety is gone now and I know she'll do fine. She is going 4 hour stretches at night and that's nice, but I believe she's hit a little growth spurt because she is eating every 2 1/2 hours during the day. As for the fussiness that she has started recently, he prescribed Xantac for acid reflux though she doesn't show any other signs of it other than crying when put down. But, I said I'd give it a try and we'll see. If that doesn't work, at least I am reassured by the fact that Elle promptly stopped the extreme fussiness around 4 months old. That's really not that reassuring though if I have to endure 3 more months of screaming when put down for a nap. Pray for us!

First Church

Today we took Ava to church for the first time. She did quite well. She was wide-eyed as we walked in and then promptly fell asleep as Shawn started class. She slept all through class and about 10 minutes into worship. Then she decided that she was hungry way earlier than she should have. After eating she went right back to sleep and is still asleep right now. She was a big hit to all the older ladies :) Elle also did very well though she couldn't figure out why everyone was making a big deal....of course Elle sees Ava every day. As far as last night, as I was writing that post I decided to try to sound machine as loud as could be to get Ava to stop screaming and within a few minutes she was off to sleep. Only woke up at 1 am and 5:45 which I thought was pretty good. The pictures are of Ava and me this morning all ready for our first time back to church!