I've been tagged...

... by Jen! Hope you all enjoy!

SEVEN THINGS I DID BEFORE:
1. Wore heels almost every day
2. Always forgot to take pictures even though I had my camera
3. Slept in on the weekends
4. Pick up and go whenever and wherever we pleased
5. Ate Mexican at least once a week (good ole college days)
6. Go grocery shopping with Zach
7. Slept with my bedroom door shut


SEVEN THINGS I DO NOW:
1. Stop by the daycare on my way to work
2. Carry my phone with me ALL the time in case someone needs to get a hold of me regarding Ava
3. Clip coupons for formula and diapers
4. Sit in the cry room at chuch on occasion
5. Drink water all day long
6. Sleep with a baby monitor, complete with alarm, on
7. Put my hands over a naked rear in case accidents happen on the way to the bath tub


SEVEN THINGS I WOULD LIKE TO DO:
1. Have more babies (but not for a while)
2. Live more in the here and now instead of always worrying about the future
3. Quit my job and be a SAHM
4. Go on a trip somewhere warm and beachy
5. Have someone else clean my house
6. Be a blessing to someone each day
7. Live for a very long time to come


SEVEN THINGS THAT ATTRACT ME TO MY HUSBAND
1. He loves me unconditionally
2. He is so patient and understanding with me and my weird quirks
3. He is AMAZING with our daughter
4. He GETS me.. often when no one else does
5. He puts me and Ava first
6. He has a great sense of humor
7. He is my best friend


SEVEN THINGS I SAY MOST OFTEN
1. Mommy loves you
2. Hi, sweet girl
3. Really and truly (although not as much since Zach pointed it out)
4. Hey honey, can you...?
5. You're ok, Ava
6. Nuh-uh
7. Can you smile for momma?

And I tag whoever wants to play!

Wordless Wednesday #2

Tomorrow is a Sad Day for Mommy

So, I haven't felt much like posting the past couple days, and I don't know why - maybe it's the weather? Anyway, I guess I'll get over that and get with it today. The rest of our weekend was good, minus that Zach was still not feeling well and had to go to the dr. He got some good meds to help him recover. I'm glad he went when he did because he's going to need his energy for tomorrow.

Why you ask?

Because as sad as it makes me, I will be spending the night away from my two favorite people in the whole world, and Zach will be Super Daddy handling Ava all by himself. Now some people may think, what's the big deal? Yes, Zach can take care of her perfectly fine; that's not the issue - I am just really upset that I have to leave my not even 3 month old baby for a night! I won't see her for almost TWO days. By the time I get home on Thursday night, she will be in her fussy time or napping, and won't even realize I am back. So, where am I going? We are implementing a new system at work and I have to attend a training course in Oklahoma City with one of my employees. We are leaving tomorrow around noon and will be home Thursday night. Yes, I will get to miss being at work, and I will get to go shopping and have nice meals on someone else's dime, and I will even get a FULL night of UNINTERRUPTED sleep (sorry, Zach), but I will still be away from my sweet baby! I wish that this could have been done at a later date but we have to be ready to roll by January 1 so to training I must go. Boo! I'm sure Ava won't even know I'm gone - but I will. :(

I'm going to miss this sweet face. She's in her "softball uniform" - I think those cheeks get bigger every day!

Over the weekend we did our first "art project" at home. I found this little kit that we used to make a Christmas ornament of Ava's handprints! It tooks us several times to get the handprints just right, but I love how it turned out!!

The left one isn't as good as the right one, but the right one was the best one we got after about five attempts, so we went with it.

I hope everyone is having a good week!

Fun weekend so far

The weekends always seem to go by so much faster than the week. We've had a good weekend so far. Last night we had dinner with some friends. My friend Sara, was in town visiting - her family is on the move from Alaska to Texas and they stopped in for a visit. We had a good time catching up - it's hard to believe we've been friends since we were in 7th grade!

Lifelong friends

This morning we got up and got some pictures to hopefully use on our Christmas card. We also took Ava to see Santa Claus. She was happy and smiling until I handed her off, at which time she began crying. So, both of our pictures have her screaming. She also made out with Santa's candy cane - she wouldn't let go! I will have to post the pictures from this later.


Last night when we got home, we were taking a few pictures of Ava because she seemed to be in a good mood. Every time we get out the camera, she is fascinated by it and just stares. While we were taking pictures last night, she kept leaning in closer to the camera, almost like she wanted to talk to it. It was hilarious. We have never seen her so focused on something as she was with the camera.

Checking out the camera

I think I like you, Mr. Camera!

Peek-a-boo!

Okay, Mom, seriously - enough with the pictures!

Talkative Thursday #2 - 'Tis the Season

Okay, so Christmas is my favorite time of the year! I could start listening to Christmas music in October, I think, but I always get vetoed by my husband - he's such a party pooper! However, there is one thing I HATE about the holidays - the HORRIBLE traffic!! People drive so sloooooowly and don't pay attention and it just gets on my nerves. Way to be in the Christmas spirit, huh?

This weekend we are taking Ava to see Santa Claus! We're also going to take pictures in her Christmas dress so that we can get our Christmas card out pretty soon. Time has snuck up on me and it seems like I'm running out of time, but I'll get it all done. I'm so thankful the weekend is almost here. We have a chance for snow next week - it'll be interesting to see how many times that changes. Zach always hopes for it to snow badly enough that he gets a snow day - and if Zach has a snow day, so does Ava.



I've seen this survey on a few different blogs and thought I'd play along:



1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
I like a good assortment of both. If it's a package that can be easily wrapped, I generally do that - otherwise it goes into a bag

2. Real tree or Artificial?
I always loved our real tree growing up but for my house I have an artifical one - and it's pre-lit, and it's got a remote control for the lights!

3. When do you put up the tree?
generally the weekend after Thanksgiving, although I did do it the weekend before this year since Thanksgiving was late and we were out of town for Thanksgiving

4. When do you take the tree down?
usually whenever I get sick of the "Christmas clutter" - I ususally won't leave it up past New Year's Day


5. Do you like eggnog?
no

6. Favorite gift received as a child?

Probably the telephone I got for my room in the 5th grade

7. Hardest person to buy for?

everyone - I never know what to buy

8. Easiest person to buy for?
this year, Ava! She doesn't know what she wants so I get to pick it.

9. Do you have a nativity scene?
I have a small one but I'd love a nice one like my mom and grandma have

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Mail - I LOVE getting Christmas cards (and other snail mail!)

11. WORST CHRISTMAS GIFT U EVER RECIEVED?
Haha - it seemed like the worst at the time but it actually turned out to be a good and practical gift - the first Christmas after Zach and I got married, my parents gave us tools and I opened up that package and saw a drill and I about cried

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
ELF!!!! This movie cracks me up.. "I'm singing, I'm in a store and I'm siiiiiiiinging!"

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
this year I started at the beginning of November and I have to say I really am glad I did b/c I was almost finished by Thanksgiving - I have just a couple of more things to get

14 . Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
I don't think so

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Green bean casserole, peas and cheese and my grandma's coconut pie

16. Lights on the tree?
I prefer white, although mine came with both white and colored, so I usually turn them both on b/c there don't seem to be enough on with just one of the sets on

17. Favorite Christmas song?
O Holy Night and The First Noel

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
we do both - my family is here and Zach's is in Oklahoma so we hit up both sides

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
no, I cannot

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
when I was younger we had to open them on Christmas Eve so that Santa had room to leave presents under the tree - now it seems like we open gifts for days since we have so many celebrations

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
I think I already hit on that in my rant above

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?
I like collecting ornaments from places I go on vacation, or getting them from others who go places. I also like ones with sentimental value

25. What do you want for Christmas this year?
it's cheesy, but I really have all that I want - except it would be nice to quit my job and stay at home with my baby, but that's not going to happen

Talkative Thursday

Okay, so I guess I set myself up for this yesterday - after posting "Wordless Wednesday" I kept thinking of things I wanted to blog about. Everyone knows I love to talk so it was really hard to refrain from making another post and truly making Wednesday wordless (in the blog world anyway - no way that would happen in real life!). So anyway, I might have some random posts today.

First, I wanted to say thanks again to Jen - she made our new header at the top of our page for me - isn't it cute! She used this awesome website that I've now become addicted to and I am even trying to make our Christmas card from this year from this site. We will see how it turns out! I found Jen's blog randomly through another that I had read and when I got to her page, I recognized her from church! She has a sweet 4 month old, Caroline, and she and Ava will be classmates in a few years!

Secondly, we're having our first experience with a "sick" baby. Ava has a bit of a cold we think. It's nothing too bad. On Tuesday I thought we were gearing up for something pretty awful. When my mom picked her up from daycare, she was so unhappy and she screamed so hard on the way home, my mom had to stop because she thought something was wrong with her. She just wasn't herself that afternoon. When I picked her up, I could tell she didn't feel good and she was just not our normal girl. I took her home and just held her and she finally fell asleep and after her nap she woke up much calmer. She enjoyed her bath and after that she had her best night of sleep yet. Yesterday she seemed fine and this morning she was her smiling, giggling self so I guess she must have just felt the worst effects of the cold on Tuesday. We're still using the bulb to suck out her nose and she hates that, but it's gotta be done. So, hopefully this is all it will be for now.

Zach has some kind of allergy problem or head cold or something so he came home and slept most of the night last night. Ava and mommy spent a lot of time together while Daddy got some good z's. Hopefully he will be feeling better today and we can get back to our normal nightly routine. Okay, well that's all for now. I still have other things on my mind, but I'll save those for another post! Hope everyone has a great day!

Wordless Wednesday