The Joys of being a Mommy

I must say that in the past 3 months I have found such an unbelievable joy that I had lost somewhere along the way.  How is it possible that one little person can do this?  It is to me like looking into the face of our Father.  My cousin Kerri put it best when she said that Ava still has Heaven in her eyes.  What a beautiful and telling statement.  I think about how much I love my sweet girl and I am struck by the thought that God loves us one hundred times more.  WOW!  I love this girl with every beat of my heart and every inch of my being and my God loves me more than that.  I am more than blessed and humbled by this thought. I know that there will be trials among the joy but I hope to always look back and remember those sweet smiles that Ava wakes with on her face.  I have never prayed so fervently for anything as I do for my child.  I pray that I can bring her up to know Christ and to always take the narrow road.  It is not the easiest but oh the amazing prize that is waiting at the end.  I love you my sweet angel and cannot wait to see what amazing things God has planned for you!

Ok...enough heavy talk...let me tell you what little tootsie is up to these days!  She will be 3 months old this Friday.  How is that possible??  We have had a few firsts in the last couple of weeks with more to come soon.  We went on our first road trip to Oklahoma.  It was just us girls--mommy, Ava and Aunt Erin.  It was Erin's 10yr reunion at OBU so Ava and I tagged along to see some old friends.  I was a little nervous to see how she would do and I must say--I have the BEST little traveler out there!!  She slept the whole way there and back.  She only took little cat naps here and there but was never fussy.  I am so blessed that she is so happy!  Tomorrow is another big first--our very first plane ride!  I am hoping that she will love it as much as she does riding in the car.  We are headed to Kansas City for a few days to spend some time with Hue's mom for Thanksgiving.  Ava's Mimi has not seen her in person since she was a week old so she is really in for a treat!

The other big news is that she is sleeping in her big girl crib in her fabulous room!  She absolutely loves it.  This baby turns herself all over that crib.  I guess she got a taste of that freedom and loves it because she sleeps from about 8 or 9pm until about 4:30 and then goes back to sleep until 7:30 or 8!  It has been really great to be able to turn over in bed without worrying that I was going to wake her.

That is pretty much the new happenings in our lives right now so I will sign off for now with a few pics of Ava and her sweet cousins--Macie and Beckett.  Stay tuned for blog updates and pics from our trip :)

I hope you all have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving.  Enjoy this time with family as it is so short but such a time to be treasured.

Macie and Ava

The Three Musketeers

She sure loves her Macie

Oh this boy melts my heart!

morning naptime--love her holding the pillow!

modeling one of our turkey shirts from Nana

worn out after our trip to OK

my big girl loves to lay out and stretch!

Much love to all of you!

Too big for her britches...

Miss Priss is 2 months old!!  Man how time has flown by. I can't believe that it has been that long already.  Everyday she is changing so much and I just love watching her discover new things.  We had our 2 mo. check up today and Dr. Mehendale says she is "just perfect".  She is a little small but developmentally she is amazing so no one is worried.  Just my petite pumpkin!!  Here's what Ava is up to at 2 months:

*weighs 8lbs 13oz and is 21.5in long (mommy measures her at 22 but who is counting!)

*still wearing newborn diapers to cover that tiny hiney!

*still wearing mostly newborn size clothes but anything with feet we have to wear 0-3mo because of the length--where in the world did this girl get a tall gene?!?

*has found her voice and loves "talking" to mommy all day long

*would rather sit up than anything else--we have broken out the bumbo seat as you will see in the pictures and she LOVES it.  

*holds her head up ALL the time and is so curious that she just looks at everything around her.

*has slept through the night ONCE--woo hoo-- but mostly still wakes at 2 or 3am for a night time feeding

*we are working on sleeping in our crib but is having a little trouble with that transition so far

*absolutely loves her bathtime now!!

*takes 2 really good naps during the day---mommy is now starting to take advantage of this time to get somethings done rather than just sleeping too!

As you can see...that is why I titled this post as I did!  She is just growing up so fast and wants to be so big.  Thankfully right now she still loves to snuggle with her momma so I take full advantage of it. Here are a few pics of what we have been up to lately--

I love my bumbo seat!

Having a little tummy time

worn out after my shots--btw..this gown and hat are hand-me-downs
from miss layla and we LOVE it!

my sparkly bandaid

2mo old

"hey mom, i'm not sure i like this"

"thank goodness i'm outta there!"

I know mom of the year---sitting in my bumbo watching Ellen!

I just love this juicy little baby!!  I'm hoping to get some cute crafty projects done soon so I will post a few!  I have a fun stack of fabric in my sewing room just begging to be made into something cute so we will see what I can come up with!!

love you all--