Sunday, March 29, 2009

Preparing Again

Well our time home together is all too quickly coming to an end. :( Richard will be heading back to Iraq and Ava and I will be just us two again. We went to church this morning, which was great, and are now trying to figure out what to do today to take full advantage of our last full day together. We have taken some great pictures and truly have had some great quality time together, which I am SO thankful for. I can't believe the two weeks is up so soon! Time is such a funny thing though. In some ways it feels like Richard just got here and in other ways it feels like he never left. We are both SO looking forward to him coming home at the END of this deployment so we can resume our family life. Please say a prayer for Richard as he travels back to Iraq and finishes up his time there. And pray for Ava and me that we will keep growing, learning, and playing while we wait for our husband and daddy to come home again! :)

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Daddy's Home!!!

Richard flew into Kansas City Saturday afternoon! Ava and I went to pick him up and it was such a wonderful meeting! He is such a natural; great with Ava already. There's not really much else to say so here are a few pictures. :) It is SO amazing to have him home for a couple weeks.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

2 Month Doctor Visit

I took Ava the doctor on Tuesday for her 2 month check-up and shots (a couple weeks past 2 months for her since we were in GA). She weighs 11 pounds 8 ounces now and is 23 inches long. Growing, growing, growing! She had to get 3 shots too. Each one was with about an inch long needle they stuck all the way into her tiny little leg (ouch!). The hardest part about it for me to watch was that she, of course, never saw it coming. She was just lying there happy looking at the nurse and then all of a sudden SURPRISE PAIN! And she sure did scream too. Wow. I nursed her right afterwards in the waiting room, which was a good soother. (They make you stay in the waiting area for 20 minutes after the shots anyway to make sure there are no adverse reactions.) Anyway, I'm glad that's over for now...

Friday, March 6, 2009

GA Trip

Well Ava and I have been some busy girls the last couple weeks. We have seen/met so many people! It has been so good to see family and reconnect with some old friends. Shane's baseball schedule changed a couple times so we're still in GA right now (definitely wanted to see him play before we left). We'll watch him play a double header tonight and then leave for Kansas tomorrow. Ava is still riding very well in the truck. She usually rides happily for a little while and then just goes to sleep. I hope the trip home to KS will be as "easy" as the trip was coming here. (BB and Pancake ride pretty well too - once they realize we're not stopping for a while they just go to sleep like Ava.)
Ava is smiling so much now! Some are small short ones and some are big gummy long ones. :) I captured a couple little ones in this video. She is really looking at things intentionally now too. I have some little brightly colored animal hand puppets that I use to play with her and she turns her head and focuses on whichever one I'm moving at the time (and sometimes smiles at them too, hehe). She's so alert! This wonderful little girl is still rolling over too; just did earlier this morning. I don't think it will be long before she's going from back to tummy. Oh yeah, one other discovery Ava has made is her tongue. She is constantly moving it around and sticking it in and out of her mouth. Sometimes she "talks" during the tongue exercises (coos and ahs). Thank goodness for all the bibs she has - she is a drooling machine now! :)
Well that's it for now. Richard will be home on R&R sometime in the next couple weeks!!! Next post will probably include pictures of him meeting Ava. :) Can't wait!!!!!