Lunch with Mommy

I went to kindergarten today!! Daddy took me to Mommy's school to have lunch with her. Mommy said she was happy to see my smiling face because she wasn't having a very good day at work. I wish she could have come home with Daddy and I, but she had to stay with that room full of kids!

Daddy's Little Lady

Ava's shirt sums up the last three days! Chris took Tuesday thru Thursday off to stay home with Ava. They had fun reading books, having tummy time, playing, and watching political TV shows while I was working!

2 Month Wellness Check

Ava had her two month wellness check today. She was suppose to have it on Monday but the appointment was cancelled because the doctor had a family emergency. Ava weighed 10 pounds 11 ounces (50th percentile) and was 23 inches long (75th percentile.) She continues to be a tall girl! She was a champ with her first shots too! She let out a horrid ear piercing cry, turned beat red and arched her back, but calmed down quickly. She thought the rotovirus vaccine tasted pretty good. She's been pretty sleepy since we've been home. Ava also made a a trip out to my classroom with me tonight. Thankfully it was much more put together than what it was on Monday night when I stopped in. I still spent about an hour cleaning up and will go back tomorrow to do some more work after Chris gets home from the wrestling meet. It will be back to reality on Monday!

My Friend Phoebs

This afternoon Mommy and I snuck over to Nonna and Papa's house so Mommy could take some pictures of Phoebs to finish her homework assignment. Phoebs got a lot of treats while Mommy took her pictures. Phoebs doesn't really care a whole lot about me right now. She smells me sometimes when I'm in my bouncy and she barks when I cry. I think she wants to see who can be louder or see how loud we can make Nonna and Papa's house if we make noise at the same time.

Photo Shoot #2

Mommy stripped me down again this morning to get more photos for her class!

"If I stick my tongue out will you stop?"

Photo Shoot #1

Last night Mommy did a photo shoot of me for her photography class.

"Mom, please stop taking my picture!"

"Thank you!"

zzzzzzzz......

This is what happens when Mommy goes downstairs to do her homework!

Just for Fun

I am taking a photography class and had to experiment with different editing tools. Here's one of the photos of Ava that I "touched up."

An Eventful Day

This morning the doctor's office called to cancel Ava's check up because Terry had a family emergency. Ava was spared the shots until Friday. We went and dropped off diapers and wipes at our sitter, Ruth's house. She got to meet Ava and we talked for a little bit. Ava will start going to Ruth's house (calling it "Ruth's House" makes me feel better than saying daycare for now) on February 1st. Although I'm sad to leave her, I really think the three of us are going to like Ruth and her daughter, Katie. My friend Nicole came over after school to visit and meet Ava. She's seen her in passing at school, but was excited to be able to hold her. Nicole and I went though grad school together and don't get to sit and talk as much anymore now that the program is over. Then I ventured out to Union Grove for a school board meeting. I made the mistake of going into my classroom to get some things to bring home to do lesson plans and almost had a nervous breakdown. Let's just say I hope my room is cleaned up a bit before I go back and I am going to have my work cut out for me with the kids for the remainder of the school year! I came home and told Ava I'd be happy to say home with her until September!

2 months old!

I am already 2 months old! I like to smile at mommy and daddy. I will sometimes smile at my toys now too. My bouncy seat is so fun! I love looking at the lion that hangs above my head when I'm in it. I've figured out that if I move my arms and legs I can make the seat bounce. Bath time is so much fun and now I love to have my hair blowdried after I get out. I'm getting really good at sucking my thumb, so I don't need a pacifier as much anymore. Tomorrow I have to go to see the doctor to see how much I weigh, how tall I am and to get some shots. After that I'm going to meet Ruth. She's going to be taking care of me when Mommy and Daddy go back to work.

Crazy Hair!

This morning mommy and I went for a walk at the Y. After that I got to have a bath. Last week mommy was being silly with me when she was drying her hair and put the blowdryer on my hair. I really liked the warm air, so mommy blowdried my hair later in the day! Today I got another blowdry, but it got a little out of control and now my hair stands straight up!

Where is Thumbkin?

For the last couple weeks, Ava has been trying to suck her thumb with little success. She couldn't quite get her thumb away from the rest of her fingers to get it into her mouth. This morning she kept trying and trying!

Not quite....

Getting closer...
Got it!

Busy Day!

I had a super busy day yesterday! (It was so busy, I couldn't even stay awake to blog about it last night!) Mommy and I went to her school to have lunch with some of her friends. I think they might miss each other a little bit because they sure did talk a lot for a long time! I wasn't really sure what to think of all the new ladies. Mommy's friend, Nikki, pushed me in my stroller while mommy got some things from her classroom. I gave her some funny looks and some little cries. I really liked to look at all of the kids at school though. There were kids of all sizes that came to look at me! Some of them were mommy's former students, so they were really big, and some of them were her current students. They were big too, but not as big as the third graders!

We came home for a little while to rest and hang out together before heading to Tremper for daddy's wrestling meet. It was SOOO exciting! Daddy was worried that they might loose to Oak Creek, but they ended up winning! It came down to the last match to break the tie. There was so much yelling and cheering and people were standing up acting crazy! I think they really wanted Tremper to win! Even mommy was yelling and making funny noises. Daddy's team is really good this year, so he's pretty excited. After the match I came home and ate and zonked out for the night!

Olive Garden

On Monday Ava got to experience her first trip to Olive Garden. We went to lunch with my mom so her friend, Pegi, could meet Ava. I had to feed Ava while we were there and decided to take her into the entry way because she likes to scream when it's time to burp and I didn't want to interrupt people's meal. I didn't know feeding her there would be like throwing a steak at a dog! Poor Ava experienced the manhandling of all the senior citizen women! I didn't mind them looking at her and talking to us, but was not a fan of all the strangers touching my baby! Thankfully she made it out alive! As you can probably tell from the picture, I've been having fun with our new camera and figuring out what it can do!

Moving on Up!

Ava spent her first night in her crib on Sunday. She looks so lost in that big crib! She didn't quite make a full nights sleep. I'm not sure if it's the new bed or that she really just isn't quite ready to sleep though the night. The three nights she gave us were great though!

A Day at Auntie's

Mommy and I spent the day at Auntie's house. Mommy and Auntie slaved away cleaning the kitchen, floors, putting new knobs on the cupboards, washing and putting away dishes, and putting more of Auntie's stuff away. I got to hang out in my bouncy and the Baby Bjorn and supervise and wait for the Steinhafels and Verlo guys to come!

I posed in front of the chocolate wall that mommy loves.
I looked at all the snow on Auntie's deck. I also discovered that she has a hill in her yard that's going to be perfect for my sled next winter!

Auntie had some issues with all of the new things she got though! First, her bedroom furniture came. Her and mommy were dusting it and Auntie noticed a crack in the bottom frame. Some silly person tried to cover the boo-boo with some finish that matched the wood. They thought Auntie wouldn't even notice it! Then Auntie noticed that drawers on the bottom of the other side of the bed didn't close the way they should. She said the frame must have been a little warped. She will get a new bed next Friday. Then her mattress came. When the big boys were moving it in, she noticed it didn't look right. Her bed was suppose to have a pillow top on both sides, but it only had it on one side! The people that made her bed didn't read the paper correctly and made her the wrong thing. They let her keep it so she could sleep at her new house and will bring her a new one once it's made! I got to cuddle with Auntie on her bed after it was made.

Even though nothing seemed to go right for Auntie, she was still smiling and so was I!

Our Gift From Ava....

was two nights in a row of her sleeping through the night!! I think it's almost time for her to move to her crib too. She's getting too tall for the basinette. She made some goofy faces when we told her how excited we were that she's sleeping though the night.

Bath Time

Ava graduated to using her bathtub without the sling tonight. She still really likes bath time. She was kicking a lot more in the tub tonight without the sling to hold her legs up. I think I might have a female Michael Phelps on my hands!

Books, Books, Books

Mommy likes to read to me when we're home together. She told me about a store called Barnes and Noble and told me it's one of her favorite places to go because it has a lot of books. Mommy and Nonna took me there today and I came home with some new books! I even made a little friend in the children's section. I knew she must be older than me because she could walk by herself! She walked away from her mommy and pointed at me and said, "BABY!" Her mommy told her not to touch me, but she touched my head with one of her fingers. She was very gentle and my mommy didn't mind, but I think her mommy got scared! When daddy was at wrestling practice mommy read me all of my new books! My favorites were the Little Pookie books.

George and Me

This is my new friend, George. Auntie gave me George for Christmas and he's almost as big as me! He likes to hang out with me.

He likes to snuggle me...
and we like to look at each other. I think his hair is pretty silly!

2009 in the Passe House

2009 brought many adventures for us, most of which were good! In February, Chris took 3 of his wrestlers to the state tournament in Madison and watched one of them place 6th. We found out we were expecting in March which made the following 6 weeks quite interesting! Despite the wonderful morning sickness that stayed with me all day, Chris and I managed to spend spring break in San Francisco. We had a wonderful time and got to see Chris's cousin, Mike, in Sacramento. I finished my master's degree in May and graduated on the same day that my little sister graduated from pharmacy school. Chris and I went to Des Moines for the graduation and were very proud of Kaitlin's accomplishments! We started our home projects in July. We did a complete remodel of the bathroom, put new windows in the rest of the house except for the kitchen, replaced the carpet, and transformed our office into a baby's room. Unfortunately, during this time we also had to say goodbye to our beloved Marley. Her kidneys shut down because of the medication the vet gave her for a pulled neck muscle. We miss her dearly and were sad to know she wouldn't be around when the baby was born. I started my 4th year teaching at Union Grove Elementary School. We made an early trip to the hospital in October and thought we were having our baby early. It ended up just being a practice run! It helped us to pack a little better for the real deal though! We were blessed with the birth of our beautiful baby girl, Ava, on November 17th at 1:18 pm. After an unplanned c-section, I was thankful that Chris was able to be off for two weeks with Ava and I! We had to make quite a few doctors visits in the beginning because of jaundice and weight concerns that I wouldn't have been able to do on my own. I am enjoying my time off with her but will have to return to work on January 25th. We enjoyed our first Christmas with Ava and look forward to watching her grow in 2010! We hope this finds you well and that you and your family will have a healthy and happy new year!

Happy New Year!

Ava was quite content in her bouncy seat at my parents' house on New Year's Eve while Chris and I enjoyed our 3 course dinner! The steak and crab legs were as good as ever! We were pretty impressed that we stayed awake until midnight! We are very excited to see what 2010 brings for our family!