Happy Halloween!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!

We've had a fun Halloween here. Ava wasn't so sure about her costume at first but we tried it on enough that she liked it by today!!!


We dressed up our little munchkin and had planned to take her trick or treating. However, she is in a major clingy and scared phase and it wouldn't have been worth the fight. She was ready to go though!

I found out that at school when they went trick or treating, they came upon a group of some men working and she got terrified and they had to send her in with another class and they trick or treated for her! So I guess we have a 'fraidy cat elephant on our hands!

We had lots of trick or treaters and ran out of candy around 7:45, which was fine because I was going to turn out the light when Ava went to bed anyway. She was incredibly intrigued with all the people who kept coming to the door. She'd just stand in the entry way and watch. So cute! I must say though, I find it incredibly annoying when kids just stand at the door with their bag open and don't say anything!!!!! Is it that hard to say trick or treat? Or thank you???????? Okay enough about that....

Lastly, our beloved Razorbacks are playing tonight and are finally winning (let's hope I don't speak too soon)! We've been working on teaching Ava to call the Hogs and she's finally got it!!!! She thinks it's sooooooooooo funny when we do this! I guess it does sound kinda funny!

Woooooo Pig Sooie!!! Go Hogs!! :)

I'd like to thank the Academy..

Oh wait.. wrong speech!!

I'd like to thank Jen at Meet the McFamily who gave me this blog award!!!!

**The Rules~ Use only one word, pass along to six favorite bloggers, and tell them you did so.


1. Where is your cell phone? charging

2. Your hair? curly

3. Your mother? inspiration

4. Your father? supportive

5. Your favorite food? Mexican

6. Your dream last night? dunno

7. Your favorite drink? tea

8. Your dream/goal? children

9. What room are you in? living

10. Your hobby? traveling

11. Your fear? loss

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? here

13. Where were you last night? home

14. Something that you aren’t? quiet

15. Muffins? tops

16. Wish list item? furniture

17. Where did you grow up? Arkansas

18. Last thing you did? cleaned

19. What are you wearing? pajamas

20. Your TV? on

21. Your pets? nada

22. Friends? treasures

23. Your life? blessed

24. Your mood? frustrated

25. Missing someone? yes

26. Vehicle? CRV

27. Something you’re not wearing? socks

28. Your favorite store? Target

29. Your favorite color? blue

30. When was the last time you laughed? tonight

31. Last time you cried? earlier

32. Your best friend? Zach

33. One place that I go to over and over? work =(

34. One person who emails me regularly? Emily

35. Favorite place to eat? Abuelo's

I would like to pass this award on to:
1. Holli
2. Heather
3. Katie
4. Sarah
5. Candace
6. Shannon

Another weekend gone..

We're having such a nice weekend. I wish I could put the next few hours in slow motion to make them last longer! Zach is out golfing, Ava is napping, and I'm catching just relaxing while the quiet lasts!

After Ava's xray on Wednesday, it was confirmed that her wrist is healing correctly and all looks good! She also got a pretty new cast! :) The pink looks so much better than the brown!


Zach and Ava didn't have school on Friday so they hung around the house most of the day. Ava helped her Daddy clean the house!


On our way to do some things Friday, evening, I tried to take a couple of pics of Ava with my phone. She can be so animated and funny sometimes!!


If you're friends with me on facebook, you've already seen the new skill she mastered on Friday:


We have been keeping doors in our house shut so Ava would be fairly contained. When one of us would go into our room for whatever reason, Ava is hot on our tails, and we could usually make it and get the door shut before she got there, bringing about some whining and banging on the door. Well, no more, my friends. Little miss finally got her little hands to open the doors.

Mission accomplished! Zach thought we were ok, because he thought she could only get open the doors that push open. She proved him wrong. He left yesterday morning and she apparently wanted to go because she walked over to the garage door and pulled it open! Luckily, our house came with it's own babyproofing - the doors lock and there are keys so if we really want to keep her out, we can just lock the doors.

And last but not least, Ava received a package in the mail yesterday and boy was she excited!! She thinks she is so important when we give her something like mail. This was from the sweet Jill & Sophie. I found Jill's blog a while back and after a short while, we came to realize we went to college together and had many, many exciting and interesting classes together as our majors were very similar! Such a small world! Anyway, these girls are way awesome and I can't wait to get my hands on her sweet Sophie soon! Absolutely precious! Anyway.. these sweet girls sent Miss Ava a birthday present (poor Jill ran into so many obstacles trying to get us this!).

Is this not so absolutely adorable?!??!?! I looooooooooooove this!

Jill's sweet, sweet Nana made this dress and it is perfect for Ava to wear to support our Razorbacks (who unfortunately were quite disappointing this weekend!)! Jill's sweet little Sophie has a matching dress so hopefully one day we can get those girls together to get pictures of them in their matching dresses.

It's so hard to get a good picture of Ava these days as she is always on the move. But just wanted to show ya Jill that she was just as happy with the package the dress came in - maybe you should have just sent that! ;) But not really because we looooooooooove the dress and thank you to you and Sophie and your sweet Nana for it!!!!!!!!!! (and yes everyone, I'm aware that my oven has a ton of little hand and finger prints all over it - I have tried to clean it but it's a losing battle.. just keepin' it real!)!

So tomorrow is back to work and back to reality. Boo! I wonder who we could talk to about making weekends 3 days instead of just 2? :) Hope everyone has a good week!

Fast paced life

I just love the picture of a little baby who is awake, but is still in the process of waking up.

Cute, no?

Anyway... life here is busy as usual. We have SO many things going on this week. Zach got sick at the end of last week with a respiratory infection. I'm thankful that's all it was but unfortunately I think we are just biding our time until something worse hits. The flu is pretty rampant around here and while we are certainly praying to stay healthy, I know we might not.

Speaking of the flu... are you getting the vaccine for H1N1? Are you giving it to your kids? I'm really on the fence about it. Obviously I don't want Ava to get swine flu, but I'm a little concerned just b/c the vaccine was put together so quickly and there isn't a whole lot of research about it. Our pediatrician wants her to get it, but we haven't decided yet. I'm leaning more towards no at this point, unless I just hear something that totally overwhelms me to change my mind.

And speaking of health... we had to go the health center today to get Ava's 1 year shots. I hate CANNOT STAND going to that place. Ick! People amaze me too. This woman walked in with two boys, probably about 13 and 11, and a little girl just a little older than Ava. The girl had on NO shoes and was just walking all over the place. Then the mom goes up to the window and grabs and huge handful of condoms and gives them to her older son!!!!!!!!!!!! She told him that way he wouldn't have any Kaylies (I assume the name of his sister)!! Seriously, he couldn't have been older than 14. Wow..

And in other news... tomorrow we go back to the orthopedic dr to have Ava's arm x-rayed. He will make sure the bone is healing correctly. Also, can you see something different in this picture?

If you said Ava's cast is a different color, then you're right! We had a mishap with a bath this weekend and her cast got soaking wet. I felt awful because her cast was so wet! Thankfully, the way the dr wrapped it, I was able to unwrap it and buy some more stuff to re-wrap it. I had to dry the hard plaster cast part with a blow dryer. So I'm going to have the doctor check it tomorrow to make sure I didn't mess it up too badly.

And lastly, I'm so amazed at all the things Ava is picking up these days by watching us. She sees brushes and puts them up to her head like she's brushing her hair. She thinks EVERYTHING is a telephone...

It is so cute when she picks up our phones or a remote and puts it up to her ear and starts jabbering like she's having a conversation. Too adorable.

And another things she was practicing (pre wrist breaking in this picture) was putting on her own shoes and socks. She is very determined to figure this out and has a serious case of the "I want tos" as in "I want to do it myself". I realize this is how she learns but oh the drama when Mom or Dad try to help!


So that's what's going on in our lives. What's new with you?

Broken wrist update

We went to the orthopedic doctor today to check out Ava's wrist. I must say, from start to finish, the appointment was great. We were there less than 40 minutes total - including filling out new patient paperwork, giving insurance information, getting called to an exam room and visiting with the doctor! That's my kind of appointment!

Here's Ava looking pathetic waiting on the dr (I assure you she looks way worse here than she has actually been - I don't know why she looks so puny)

The verdict was that the wrist is broken. It's a good, clean break as far as breaks go. He decided not to give her a hard cast. He said that for children this small, their little arms are so small that they have a hard time getting the hard cast conformed to their body as well and that when they put one on a small child, the child typically pulls it off within a week! So, she is still wearing the one she got yesterday. No pretty colored cast for her! Anyway, if she happens to get this one off, we'll go in and get another one. She has to go next Wednesday to get another x-ray to make sure the wrist is healing correctly.

I have to say she is handling this amazingly! She doesn't seem to be in much pain today and she is adjusting to the cast fairly well. She sometimes just looks at it like she wonders what it is!

She has hit herself (and me!) with it a time or two. She also likes the sound it makes as she bangs on the door or the oven door. I'm a little worried she might hit a kid with it when she goes back to school!!!!! She stayed home with me today after her appointment just so I could make she was not in any more pain and that she was adjusting to the cast ok. Eating is a bit of a challenge. We've been covering her arm with a plastic baggie so she's not tempted to use her right hand. A cast with food on it could get mighty gross after a month!

We're still very thankful that it's not any more serious. We obviously would prefer that it hadn't happened, but it's a part of life and she should be as good as new in about 3-4 weeks. I want to thank everyone who has been sending well wishes and prayers! We most definitely appreciate them! :)

Ava says thank you too!!!!

My poor baby

A little before 9:00 this morning, my work phone rang. I glanced at the caller id and saw that it was Ava's school. Obviously being a parent, you never like to see the number of the place that has your kid. I figured they were calling to tell me that she had been biting and/or was being bad or sick! So I answered and it was the director and she started out by saying that she hadn't been climbing, that she'd just been set down and I was thinking ok... so what's up? Then she said that she'd fallen and that she was really upset and crying very hard and that she kept nursing her arm. So, I packed up my stuff, called the dr. and went off to get her.

I got there and she was just boo-hooing. She came to me and finally settled a little and they showed me what had happened and how she'd fallen. Basically.. she had just gotten her diaper changed and she was set down. She took off running and fell and when she put her arms down to catch herself, her little hand caught on the bottom of the bookshelf and she jammed it. They said she had gotten upset when she fell, but that she got ticked when they put ice on the arm and that was when the major crying started. This happened when she was in her first room, with her teacher from last year, whom I adore! I know this sweet lady was so incredibly upset and I hate that. It was a total accident. Ava falls alot every day just b/c she tries to go faster than she is able!

So I'd called the dr and they told us to come in and as soon as he got in from seeing babies at the hospital he came straight to us. He looked at her little arm and wrist and said that he didn't think it was broken but we needed an x-ray to be sure. Then I had to lug her and her stuff downstairs to another pediatric clinic,wade in and out of all the sickies there (yuck!), register as a patient there (solely to use their x-ray services), and then wait to get her little arm x-rayed. We got that done fairly quickly and headed back upstairs with the pictures. He came in the room with a not so good look on his face and he said "I think it's broken". I think I was shocked when he said this. She'd been playing a little and hadn't been too upset unless someone touched her arm and I figured it was just a little sore. But he showed me the x-ray and I could see the spot he was looking at. She does in fact have a broken wrist. He didn't have a splint small enough for her little arm so tomorrow we are heading to an orthopedic doctor.She has a temporary little cast and tomorrow she will get a real one and we find out how long she'll have to wear it.

I am physically and emotionally exhausted tonight. It's been a looooooooooooong day and I know we have more ahead tomorrow. However, I'm very thankful it's not more serious. It could have been a lot worse so I'm thankful it isn't. I'm thankful her school called me to get it checked out. I know I've had problems with them, but they handled today very well. They called once earlier to find out if it was broken and then this evening, the director called me to check on her which I appreciated.

As far as Ava, she is handling this really well! She is a little confused but she is adjusting to having a cast on her arm. Her biggest struggle is when she falls down (yeah, she's still doing it), she puts weight on it to stand back up and she doesn't realize that it hurts until she does it. I think another huge hurdle is going to be eating. She usually shovels it in with two hands but it will all work out. It's obviously not a great thing to happen, but it could have been so much worse so we're thankful!

Waiting during her 1st emergency trip to the doctor

Poor baby was pooped! In fact, she fell asleep while we were waiting for the dr to come back and wrap her arm. She didn't even wake up while he put her cast on!!

She kept pulling at the little bit of gauze that was sticking out. She even tried to eat it....

Sporting her little cast! It's got a hard underside and she's been walking around banging it on things.. I can tell we have a fun month or so ahead of us!

A picture is worth a thousand words

We recently had Ava's 1 year portraits done by the amazingly talented Beaty Photography!!! They turned out incredible!! It's amazing how Jon and Emily were able to totally personify her in these pictures! I seriously cannot pick a favorite because I love them all (and had trouble not posting every single one)! These pictures are SO Ava, and I ♥ it!!!!

Sour Patch

Oh Ava - you've got them fooled!

She looks like this sweet, little angel when in reality she's turned into a monster child! No, seriously... I don't know where my sweet baby has gone, but I'd really like her back!!!

It seems like right after her birthday being bad became a way of life. She has gone from easy going, sweet natured, mom and daddy lovin' to a temper tantrum throwing, screaming when she doesn't get her way, I think I'm the boss little girl. And Momma don't like it!! She even makes her body go limp with dead weight when we pick her up and she doesn't want to be picked up! All of this drama at 1 year old? No, thank you!

I'm really praying that this is just a phase. I think she sees a lot at school (she's the youngest in her class and some of the older kids are 2+) and I think she's picking up some waaaay bad habits. I'm still on the lookout for other care options but we can't leave until we have something new lined up, so until then, I guess she's going to be learning from the other hoodlums children.

However, I'm assured that she only acts this way at home, which I guess(??) is a good thing. I've asked at school and they said no tantrums there and my sister was quick to point out that she doesn't act that way at their house. So I guess it's just because she thinks mom and dad are softies. Well, not so sister! We have got to set boundaries now because I refuse to let my 1 year old run our house. Ain't happenin'.

So before anyone thinks I'm a mean ole momma, I will say that she still gets plenty of loving and sweet treatment. When she is well behaved we praise her constantly and when she's bad then she gets stern talking tos and she's even become a participant of time out! Any pros out there have suggestions? Please tell me I'm not the only one whose child began acting so poorly at such an early age???

She's like those Sour Patch kids..

She's sour one minute and sweet the next!

Proof that the sweet does still exist!!

Hodge Podge

First things first: I wanted to thank those who have been praying for my friend and her baby. Mom and baby are doing much better. They determined the infection to be E. coli. Thankfully it wasn't meningitis. Natalie got to go home today and baby Noah will be discharged next Wednesday. Please continue to pray for this family.

Now then... we have had an extremely busy week. We have not had one night where we've been home together so we're looking forward to the weekend!

Ava has discovered stairs - oh my! Here she is staring up the stairs (haha) at Grandma's house!

I could eat her up!

I do wish she was slightly more scared of stuff... who needs birthday toys when you have birthday boxes?

(yes, she did this all on her own).

And now the biggest thorn in my side at the moment... Ava came home with a mark on her belly from school on Monday. This picture was taken Wednesday

We are fairly sure it was a bite mark. On the bottom, there were four little red marks and on the top there were 3 (slightly bigger) little red marks. So, my problem is not that she was bitten, b/c we are having a bit of trouble with her biting. She's bitten twice at school. She's getting her 1 year molars and I think that it just feels good. So twice we've been told about this and she's gotten a report filled out. Well, we weren't told anything on Monday when we picked her up. I asked her teacher Tuesday morning and she said it did look like a bite mark and that she'd ask the other teacher b/c it didn't happen while she was around. Well, when I picked up Ava on Tuesday, the other teacher said that it did look like bite marks but they think she fell on the playground and that it wasn't a bite b/c Ava is the only one in the class that bites!!! I was a little frustrated by this!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot believe that in a class of little toddlers that not one other could possibly bite besides Ava? I reazlie she'd been doing it, but sometimes things happen and you can't always see everything. I think bite marks are pretty distinguishing - just frustrating as a parent. We had discussed finding a new daycare earlier in the summer just because of the weird hours ours is open and the constraints it can cause when something out of the blue occurs, but we'd kind of put that on hold. Now, I'm thinking we need to start looking again. What do you think? How would you have felt if someone watching your child had disregarded your concern about your child being bitten? Would you feel the same way? Would you leave your kid there? I look forward to hearing some different perspectives! :)

(Just to clear the air - Ava loves her school and other than this, we've had no other problems. I'm just really torn and I just basically am asking your opinion for affirmation that I'm not overreacting, b/c let's be honest - we know I can do that!)