Sunday afternoon post

This week has been a busy and fun week. I didn't take many pictures, but this is what we did. There were, of course three Jazz games which we watched, I went to a girl's night out and a girl's day out, Ava was sick with a massive viral sore throat for five days and wouldn't eat (thanks nursery!), our friends had a new baby which we saw in the hospital and it made me totally want another baby!, and we went to Nordstrom Rack (one of our favorites!). It was a pretty restful week which I should have spent at least some time studying- but I didn't! We had some fun times.

Story: Something that really stresses me out is Ava being dirty. I don't usually let her feed herself food because I really have a hard time when she has food all over and then she puts her hands in her hair and stuff. I have to say that I have been doing better lately though. My mom told me a few weeks ago that letting her feed herself and get dirty is the only way for her to figure out how to eat right and stay clean, plus it makes for really cute pictures!- so I let it all loose tonight and gave her a plate with food on it and............

seriously, have you ever seen a child look so intently at a plate!? Ok, ok- in Ava's defense, there were Disney princesses all over the plate that she was staring at

Oh crap- this is where I started having a panic attack! No JK- I actually felt pretty calm about the whole situation

The aftermath

All I can say about this one is- you, too, could have me as a stylist! This is usually how outfits turn out on Sunday afternoons.

Ava giving her dog a drink

Luke and Ava enjoying a fruit popsicle- Ava liked it for about, oh... 5 seconds

In nursery today we were all sitting around, playing with the kids when we noticed our two boys were playing dress ups and walking around in the dress-up shoes. It was super funny because both these boys are very macho and they even started fighting over who got to wear which shoes!

Luke has a punching bag in our garage which he loves to let Ava punch. He has even started putting on the gloves. Don't mind the complete rag-a-muffin look!

I gave Ava a book in the backseat and the book is so big it covered her up!

What a great day!!!

There are a few things about today that made it a great day.

1- I gave a presentation on prescription forgery, it went really well and with it over I only have four exams and a 12 page paper due before I am officially finished with my second year of pharmacy school!!!! Halfway there- hooray!

2- My mom came up yesterday and is going to stay for a few days. I love when my mom is up here- we have so much fun, so many great talks, and Ava just loves when she is here!

3- I saved $110.00 on groceries today! I am not a coupon clipper (I wish I had time to!) and so I usually don't save much money on groceries because I shop at Albertson's (so close to my house!). I know a few people who always save so much money when they grocery shop. One girl I know sometimes gets money back when she shops! So a few days ago I decided that I would at least look through that newspaper ads that come every few weeks and see what the "deals" were. I found so many great ones. I ended up having to go to Albertson's and Smith's both (which was a drag) but after all was said and done- I was a very happy lady :)

4- I came home from school today and Luke had cleaned the house and did laundry and it looks so great. Luke has a done a great job watching Ava and keeping up with all the housework this semester, but occasionally we get super busy and everything gets let go a little.

5- We just booked our flights to Tempe, AZ for Luke's training for Edward Jones. Ava, my mom, and I are going to meet Luke in Tempe after my last final and stay a few days. I am happy to have a break to look forward to after my next tough weeks ahead!

6- And last, but not least, it reached 80 degrees in Salt Lake today!!! Finally we have had three beautiful days in row (I think it is supposed to be cold tomorrow though :( sunshine makes us all so happy!

Here are some pics of the last few days. Also- look down to the next post and read about us making our blog private :(

This is Ava's new trick. I am a little scared that all of a sudden she has become a climber.....

VICTORY!!!!

What a smug look!

A little unexpected surprise for Ava on the couch...

Ava and grandma Ramsay

Joining the ranks and going private

So after a long internal battle over whether to go private or not- my cautious side has finally won out and we are going to do it. It makes me sad because I want new friends that start blogging to be able to find us so we can find them, but we need to do it. Last week I installed a site meter on our page (http://www.sitemeter.com/) it was free and easy and VERY informative. There have been a few overseas viewers and I don't know who they might be so we are going to make the blog private. Also, I recieved a very strange comment from an anonymous blogger a few weeks ago and when I went to their blog- it was all in spanish and all about HP printers (creeps!!) I hope that all of you will leave your emails on this post or email me so that I can add you to our safe list. I don't mind if anyone that we know even just a little looks at our page, I just don't want anyone that we don't know to have access. I think that if we didn't have Ava, I wouldn't worry so much, but anyway- now that the ranting is over PLEASE leave your emails as comments and I will get you added :) If you don't want to leave your email on this comment email to katrams1@yahoo.com Thanks- and have a great weekend!!!!!

Ava at 14 months

I thought I would take a minute and record some of Ava's progresses this last little while so I can remember them a year or ten years from now:

Words:
Hi, Bye, Mama, Dada, ball, thank-you, more, book, go jazz, duck, ruf ruf, moooo, what's that, uh oh, light
Skills:
sign language more and eat, giving kisses, climbing onto the couch if there is a pillow in front of it (oh boy!), doing pat-a-cake, so big!, folding her arms, wagging her finger no, shushing, drinking from a straw, closing the garage door, turning lights on and off, feeding her doll a bottle
Likes:
Books, binky, eating, people watching, babies, cars, dogs, pretty much any other animal, car rides, hugs, singing, listening to music, baby food!, getting ready with mom in the morning, baths, being outside, cell phones, playing with the garbage (noooo!!!!), pulling out all her wet wipes, and watching basketball (good for Luke!)
Dislikes:
Too much sugar (hooray!), the vaccum, mom or dad leaving without her, being told no (uh oh!)

Ava is such a sweet sweet little girl. I am afraid our next child will be hard because Ava is so easy. She is almost always happy and she laughs and smiles all the time (except during pictures!). She will go up to anyone and say "hi!" and it is so cute. We are so glad that she is part of our family and are sad for her to grow up. I am sure that every stage with her will be new and exciting, but it is so exciting to watch her learn and grow each day. Every time she says a new word or figures out a new skill- we get so excited. I love being in the bathroom getting ready in the morning and having her toddle in to hang out with me. She is a very good sleeper through the night and I hope that she stays that way forever! She has truly been a blessing for us that she has adapted so well to each situation as I am trying to finish school and Luke is starting a new job. We love you!!!

"Hi!"

After a taste of something sour!

The good (and bad) times part 1

I am going to start out with the fun time of the week and then the next post will be the not so fun time of the week.

We took Ava to her first Jazz game of the season on Saturday against the Spurs. It actually went really well. She sat on my lap the entire time and just took it all in. Lucky for her (and us) that means she will probably get to go again.

First, a flashback form Ava's first Jazz game last year. Funny story: midway through the game someone from behind us passed us a napkin from someone else and it said: " we are concerned about the noise in here damaging the ears of such a small baby. From- A concerned parent. Well what made this so funny was that not only did we have ear plugs in Ava's ears, but she slept through the whole game. Apparently the noise wasn't bothering her too much!

Getting ready to go to the game

Taking it all in even if she couldn't hear much...

Cousin Mark and Kari taking a minute to pose for the camera

Aunt Kari taking some time to point out the finer things of basketball- is that Kyle Korver?

Taking a little rest with her little blankie

Dad trying to get Ava into the game- I think she started crying after this because the loud cheering was pretty scary

After a great Jazz win- ready for bed :)

Last week's good (and not so good) times part 2

So at Ava's 1 year well baby check- her doctor discovered a heart murmur. We had to take Ava to Primary Children's twice to get different heart exams done to find out what might be causing the murmur. The first time, she had to have just an EKG done and she hated it- she was pretty freaked out by the wired and stuff. The cardiologist could still hear the murmur so they wanted us to bring her back up to get an Echocardiogram done (which is just an ultrasound of the heart). In order to get good pictures Ava had to stay perfecctly still and the only way to accomplish that was to sedate her. It was a pretty scary experience for us- especially because we were in the from start to finish. Because this blog is also Ava's scrapbook- I am going to post some pictures from the ordeal. The good news is that the Echo was normal and so Ava doesn't have anything wrong with her heart. Hooray!

Waiting for the nurse to come in

After the placement of her IV (she wasn't too happy of course, but I thought if would be way worse!)

Still not quite sure about the whole thing

So with Ava there is always some kind of comedy. Here is the comedy: so during the half hour procedure they gave Ava sedation medicine so that she would stay asleep. After the radiology tech finished (and Ava was starting to move a little) they like to keep them under until the doctor looks at the films to make sure they don't need more pictures. Well, Ava is obviously not a very easy sedater because they had given her the maximum dose that they felt comfortable with and the dose that most kids will sleep for a few hours with, but Ava woke up about 40 minutes after they gave it to her. On the way up to post op to "wait for her to come out of the sedation" she was rolling around on the bed, talking to the nurses, and pointing to her vital signs on the monitor she was hooked up to. It was seriously super hilarious!

For any of you who have had the misfortune of having your child under anaesthesia- you know how crazy they are when they come out of it. It took about an hour for her to be able to walk straight and to act normal again. This is her pointing at something random....

Here she is mostly back to normal again. Thanks goodness.



We feel so blessed that the procedure went well and that the results were normal. It was not something we want to have Ava go through again for a very long time- preferably not until she needs her wisdom teeth out!

Easter Pictures (better late than never!)

I had Ava's pictures taken a few weeks ago. The girl that did the pictures had the cutest Easter set-up with little chicks and flowers, but Ava wasn't too amused. I made the mistake of scheduling the appointment a half hour before nap time and it didn't work out. Ava was not too amused about anything. She loved the chicks, but didn't seem like smiling. After 84 pictures, we ended up getting some cute ones so I was glad.

Pulling the flowers apart....

Oh- the Sun.... it burns!

flowers again.....

and again.....

grabbing for the chicks

It's a good thing the chicks were flexible- they didn't seem to mind even when Ava was squeezing there necks!

The girl taking the pictures was just laughing. She has kids too and said that the chicks had seen much worse

Ava had had enough by this time apparently...