We officially have a walker!!

Ava took her first (3) steps last Thursday and we have been doing lots of practicing since then. Over the weekend, she would walk 5 or 6 steps between Nick and I but now she will walk most of the way across her room if she sees something she wants (her blankie, the kitty, Mommy, Daddy, etc). She is still a little wobbly but she gets so excited that she claps and giggles when she gets to her destination because she is so proud of herself- its adorable! She is also starting to "talk" according to daycare and my mom..Apparently she says "hi" when the phone rings and told the daycare lady "no" last week. She also says "dada" and will go find him if I ask her "where is Daddy?". I'm excited for all the new things she is doing and looking forward to her being able to walk and talk more- maybe by her birthday!

Here is a quick clip of her new skills- she was more worried about the camera than walking though..

Costume party!

Yesterday we went to Ava's 1st Halloween costume party! Our friends Dean and Jamie have 2 kids- Raegan turned 4 a couple weeks ago and Logan just turned 1 (he and Ava are exactly a month apart!) Yesterday was their birthday party. Ava had a great time and was exhausted by the time we got home. Here are some pictures of Ava in her costume:

Ava & Logan (the birthday boy)
Trying to get the leaves that were falling
Cute as a bug!
Mommy can I fly?
Happy Halloween!

1st Steps!!!!

Dori (the daycare lady) just text messaged me this morning to tell me that Ava took 3 steps in a row!!!!!! She was sitting on the living room rug and Dori was sitting on the couch with another child. Ava stood up and took 3 steps towards Dori and reached out to grab Dori's legs but she did 3 steps all by herself! Of course, Mommy is very excited! I think those were her first "official" real steps! I hope she gives a repeat performance for me tonight :-) Maybe its her adorable shoes that I got on clearance the other night that have inspired her to walk around and show them off...Here are her "magic walking shoes"

other new pics

Proof of teeth

So it looks a little cruel in these pictures but she's had teeth for over a month and never lets me take a picture..as soon as she sees the camera, she stops smiling and reaches for it..so with a little assistance from Daddy, we managed to get a few pics..

The weekend

Well the painting never ends..we are still working on painting the outside of the house. I got up early Saturday and was painting by 7:30am. My mom came over to hang out with Ava until about 9am and then my step-mom came over and played with her ALL day until 5pm. Nick was working so my friend Amanda came over and later my dad and brother came over to help. We made great progress but we still have a long way to go!! I will post before and after pictures as soon as we are done! I am taking tomorrow off of work to try to make some more progress on it..In the midst of all the painting, I realized Ava felt a little warm..when I came in at 5:30pm Saturday night, she had a 102.4 fever. I took her to the doc yesterday and he thinks its a sinus infection. She has pretty much slept all weekend and just lays on the floor and mopes when she is awake..hopefully my baby feels better soon! She was still running a fever this morning so hopefully with some sleep and some Motrin, she will make it through the day at daycare..

Yay Mommy (not about Ava for once)

I got promoted today!! YIPPEE!!!! I have been working on getting this promotion for over a year and after much hard work, it finally happened. Luckily my job duties won't really change at all, I will just get paid more (and who doesn't love that?) Make me feel like all my hard work over the last 3 years is worth it. Unfortunately, because of budget cuts, I won't get the full monetary increase until March but I will get 1/2 of it now and 1/2 then. Either way, I'm pumped! I think we will be going out to celebrate tonight :) Oh and bring on a new house and another baby..oh wait, its not that good of a promotion but its a start in the right direction!