Enough Is Enough!

I seriously have 7 pounds to lose to get back into my prebaby shape. NO MORE EXCUSES!

No More:
I need to eat the ice cream so I can have the calories to feed Ava!
I need to eat a Philly Cheese Steak b/c I have been gone for so long!
I need to eat a peppermint patty to get the after dinner taste out of my mouth!
I need to have ONE MORE MILLER, b/c I'm pumping and dumping anyway! (ps: I drink like NEVER, so stop judging!)
I need I need I need....

...TO MAKE HEALTHIER CHOICES!

Most importantly, I need to be in a bikini, YEA...A BIKINI, in 30 stinkin' days! HELPPPPPP!!!

So, its official. I'm in "operation-get-my-ass-back-into-shape" mode...gym membership and all.

I'll keep you posted...

Ava's Bag Of Tricks!

Ava has been rockin' a bunch of new tricks lately so we just couldn't wait to show her Daddy just what she's up to these days! This video is lengthy, but I'm sure you're used to it by now. The run down of the highlights is below. Enjoy!
(Warning: my videography skills are pretty bad, I apologize in advance!)



Starts: Ava can easily go from her belly to her back and always does so in order to get out of her tummy time, but she was struggling with her roll in that she always got stuck on her arm going from her back to her belly. She had only really done it ONCE in her whole life like, 2 months ago so we're pretty excited that she is a roley poley these days.

.45 Tongue dance!
1:50 Potty Time?
2:40 Scrunchy Face. The look I get before some "real" tears.
3:20 Ava's version of bouncing in the bouncer. She's tryin'!!!
5:50 My parents house looks like a fully functioning day care and the toys spread around the first floor make it a maze to walk through.
6:15 We're pretty sure Ava knows her name but I think she only responds when she feels like it. Nice!
7:00 MORE bouncing. This is a long chunk, watch at your own risk.
11:40 AJ getting in on the action. He makes the funniest facial expression. Grrrrr....
12:15 AJ and his manly burping skills!
13:20 AJ loves the Spider song, but really only when he does the hand motions. I know you love my singing. Lovely!
14:30 So Ava watches Barney first thing in the morning. Man-I love Comcast On Demand. I think she's starting to associate the Barney songs with the TV.
15:20 More rolling at Aunt Colleen and Uncle Steve's!
15:50 The screamer!!! Her legs get pin straight when she's hollering. So funny!

We Love You Curty!!!

Ava and AJ Go Swimming!

It has been SO nice here in PA these past few days. We are experiencing Summer like conditions here in D-town so we decided that we needed to take advantage of this spectacular weather and get the kiddos into a POOL! We went to a BBQ yesterday at my sister Colleen's house and they had a new kiddie pool just for AJ and Ava to "swim" and splash around in. We had a blast getting them up slicked up in sunscreen and into their bathing suits. They looked so cute!

Ok, so the interesting thing about this whole pool experience is Ava LOVED LOVED LOVED it. AJ, on the other hand, was totally unimpressed. In fact, just the idea of being near the pool was enough to send him into a tizzy. Poor Baby! Why is this interesting? Well, AJ actually loves the bathtub! He has a grand ol' time splashing around and kicking his feet in the water. Ava is the one who isn't too excited about her evening scrub. She doesn't ever cry, but she just lies there while I clean her up and then she's done. She wants out! So, we though it was neat how they completely flip-flopped with how they work it in the water.

The video is a bit lengthy, but you know why! It's for Daddy!!! We love giving him all the goodies, no matter how long it is. We also hope you enjoy our family chatter in the background. Always talkin'!

Here are a few still shots to go along with it. We had so much fun yesterday. I predict a summer of days ahead just like these. Thankfully Curt will get home soon to be there with us!

SPF 50, only way to go! I was still nervous about her skin in the sun!!!


Ava's first Bathing Suit!


All slicked up in her sunscreen and ready to rock the pool!


Clearly enjoying herself!


AJ NOT loving that pool, poor guy!


Yummy toys and LOTS of splashing!


Getting dry and looking cute!


So happy!


AJ completely exhausted for the whole "swimming" experience!


The cutest picture ever between Ava and her Grandma Dougherty, love it!


Grandpa and Grandma Dougherty loving on the cutest babies on the planet!


Mommy making it all better!


Grandma Dougherty and Ava reading!



PS: Blogger takes FOREVER to upload videos, are ya kiddin' me?

For Daddy

Ava has so much she wants to show her Daddy! She is growing up so fast, it's wonderful! He misses her terribly so we wanted to show him some Ava in all of her glory...doing what she does best...PLAYING! So, yes, finally, SOME VIDEO!!! And no, your eyes aren't deceiving you, it is over 26 minutes long. Basically we wanted to share all this footage with Curt because he is deployed but we had trouble sending him the video through email. Apparently the Internet connection is crap where he is and it would take light years to download. He can, however, check out the blog and watch Ava on blogger. If you do feel like checking her out, here's the highlights!

In minutes:

Starts: playing with Grandma Dougherty while Barney is on in the background! She LOVES Barney!
1:28 Ava has a new game that she plays with her tongue! She is FINALLY learning to do the "razz" sounds.
4:19 Peek A Boo EXPERT! This is, by far, her favorite game!
6:16 Doing some clapping!!! (with the help of some blocks...)
8:19 A nice action shot of the fun that is unexpected spit up.
9:20 Intro to Crawling??? Ava can boost her little bootie up and take a leap for her toys. Maybe some crawling on the horizon?
11:20 Rolling over and back!
14:40 Clapping???
16:50 Ava and her cousin AJ having some fun on the couch!
21:40 AJ was definitely impressed whenever I said, "YAyyyyyy!!!!!"
22:10 Some background commentary of that awesome Heineken commercial.
23:40 An attempt at Peek A Boo. Unfortunately her "prop" wasn't too big so it's not as great as what she did earlier, but still, super cute!

**Please excuse all the talking in the background. My family and I really never STOP talking. :)

30 Hours

Okay, so I'm sure no one even knows this (who is reading my blog, of course) but Ava and I are in Pennsylvania! Curt was set to deploy for the last few weeks of the squadron's tour and because of how close his return date is to our planned vacation we decided that it would be best of Ava and I were with the ones we love. I'm so bummed that I had absolutely NO time to say "goodbye" to my friends but I chose to look at it this way; my military family is so fabulous because we all know that we will see each other again. Whether it be in a few weeks, a few months, or a few years. We live in a surprisingly small community and thanks to the wonderful world of blogspot and facebook, I'm only a click away!

I wanted to give you the highlights of my last 30 hours in England and my trip over the Atlantic. It was quite eventful!

1. Curt and I bought plane tix for Ava and I at 1030 p.m. on Monday night and I departed Heathrow at 1 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon. I had essentially one day to go through 4 years of stuff and decide what I would need for next 8 months where I will be living with my parents. Yes. IT WAS HARD.

2. Curt and I spend all our time packing and planning Tuesday. He is loving on Ava a ton which was super cute and made me break up into tears more times than I would like to remember. Separation is so much more difficult now that Ava is in the picture.

3. Curt drops Ava and I off at Heathrow and we had the most difficult time checking into US Airways with our e-tickets and small assortment of luggage (more on this later). Oh, the language barrier between us and the woman at the ticket counter is one I will never forget.

4. As I walk through security I hear a loud scuffle, a wave of gasps and small shrieks from about 20 yards away, all followed by a man yelling and screaming at the top of his lungs as police come out from every direction to tackle him to the ground. Yes-scary. All airport employees started to move people quickly away from the scene which only added to the hysteria that was already in place. I didn't have a good view but apparently someone tried taking some prohibited items through security. It's unfortunate that in this day and age something like that is so frightening. What did he have? A knife? Explosives? Do I run in the other direction? Geez. I'm already a nervous flier. Thanks to that jerk my anxiety was off the charts from this moment on. He was arrested and carried off by his arms and legs all while screaming (in another language...).

5. Carrying around a car seat with what I can only imagine is now a 35+ pound daughter (exaggerating, of course), a diaper bag filled with as much stuff I could shove in there, and a purse is HARD WORK. Oh my gosh, can a girl get a travel cart??? I was exhausted by the time I sat down on the plane two hours later. Yes-we checked in super early as we always do.

6. I did some airport shopping and bought a ridiculously cute dress at French Connection. Ava screamed the entire time I tried it on and as soon as I left she fell asleep. Naturally.

7. I take my "assigned" Mother/Infant seat on the plane only to look around and see that I am surrounded by other families with children under the age of 1 and a few disgruntled travelers who can't believe their "good" luck as they too are sitting near all these tiny tots for their 8 hour non-stop flight to Philadelphia. I will let you know that all babies on board (including Ava) were fabulous travelers. Phew!

8. About half way into the flight a grumpy flight attendant tells me that I have to MOVE because there are 5 people (3 adults and 2 babies) sitting in a row of 3 seats and we only have 4 oxygen masks, which hopefully we don't need, but you never know. Here's the kicker, she didn't even OFFER to get me a new seat. She basically said, "go find an open seat, there are a few in the back". ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!???!!!??? I had to abandon all of my travel bags in the overhead bin because the flight was 99% full and there was NO ROOM for my stuff anywhere else. I felt like Forrest Gump as I walked through the aisle with my 6 month old daughter saying to people, "Is someone sitting here?" only to get the response, "Yes...yes...yes...". Eventually a young boy sitting alone was kind enough to let us join him in already close quarters for the last 5 hours of our flight. Bless his heart.

9. I am now one of those people that has to wait for the entire flight to leave the plane before I can start to gather all my things and head to customs.

10. Best part of my trip. NONE OF MY STUFF HAS MADE IT TO PHILADELPHIA. US Airways, you SUCK! I got nothin'. Best part? They have no idea where the heck it is as it was NEVER SCANNED in Heathrow. Remember that language barrier I mentioned earlier? It's now all I can think about and the possibility that my stuff is now on it's way to say, I dunno, Bangladesh or something. I'm exhausted and crying. Horrible.

11. Fast forward 2.5 days. STILL NO STUFF.

12. I love you Edgar. He was the only person to give me a response not ending in "I'm sorry ma'am, you will have to wait" or "We still have nothing for you"....blah blah blah. He went looking for my stuff and low and behold, it was finally on a flight over here.

13. Last night, 1:30 am the phone rings and a delivery service has my things and are sitting in the driveway. YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

14. Oh wait. They only have 3 out of my 4 bags. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously US Airways, you will NEVER, and I repeat NEVER get my business ever again. It was, without a doubt, the worst customer service I have ever encountered in my whole life. I have never been so frustrated. Ugh. I get so angry just thinking about it. Their reputation is horrible and now I see why. I am filing a formal complaint when all is said and done. At one point they actually said to me, "Well, they will send your stuff over when they FIND it and when there is ROOM on the fight. BUT I'M ALREADY HERE!!! SEND ME MY STUFF!!!!!!!!!!!!

15. It's now 6 a.m. Saturday morning and I have been up since Ava woke me for some 5:30 grub. I have already called looking for my stuff only to get the standard response, "we will call you back". UGHHHHHHHHH.

So-there you have it. That was my last few days of craziness and although there were some great things that have happened, I will have to save them for another post when I'm not so pessimistic. I've had a whirlwind of emotions running through my head ever since I "moved" back to the U.S. and those too will have to wait.

I'm off to unpack!

From Grandma To Ava!

Dear Sweet Ava,

Your Grandma and Grandpa Quigley and your Grandmom and Grandpa Dougherty would LOVE to have you come to stay for a while Daddy is at school! We have a lovely place for you to stay while you are here and we have been busy getting it all ready for you!





We have even saved all of your Mommy’s and Aunt Colleen’s and Aunt Mariel’s Puffalumps for you to play with!


Your Grandma even saved your Mommy’s favorite party dresses to wear when you are a little bit bigger!


Your cousin AJ has even helped us select a broad assortment of toys and books and DVD’s for you both to play with when you have your special cousin playdates!



And Grandma and Grandpa Quigley and Grandmom and Grandpa Dougherty will babysit anytime you need us. We will read and sing and watch Barney and Elmo and the most exciting thing of ALL….. Grandma will hold you and rock you to sleep all the time! Because…

Cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
Babies grow up, much to our sorrow,
So dust go away, cobwebs to sleep…
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep!

I love you,
Grandma

Teething Bites

Yes-Ava is officially teething. I know I've said this before but she is for real this time. How do I know?

1. Drooling through 5 or more bibs per day? Check.
2. Gumming anything and everything in sight? Check.
3. Constant cheek rubbing and ear pulling? Check.
4. Grumpy (well, only a little bit but still, it counts...)? Check.
5. Doing the "tongue" dance on her gums (look closely in the picture below!) in an effort to figure out what in the heck is going on in her mouth. CHECK!


Poor baby. I, on the other hand, am super excited for those suckers to break through! SO FUN!!!!!

An Email From Ava

Dear Grandma,

Can I please come and stay with you and Grandpa for a few months while my Daddy is in school? I promise I will be very good and a lot of fun!



Love, Ava

PS: Mommy said you will babysit me all the time! Is that true???

Chick Magnet

It's official. Curt is a "Babe(y) Magnet". Over the past few weeks I have noticed that whenever I am visually out of the picture and Curt is holding Ava, women migrate to him like crazy. It's pretty funny just to watch because in most cases men carrying babies are usually attached, right? And if you aren't sure of his status, I mean he IS wearing a wedding ring. So...back off ladies! :) Kidding kidding. Me thinking that Curt is pretty cute all on his own was enough "trouble", but now he's got a cute baby on his arm. Oh my my my.

"Miss Independent"

Here we have Ava sitting in on her daily chat with her Grandma Quigley (who is enjoying her Spring Break this week!!!). They sing songs, play games, and ya know--just check in with each other all the time to make sure things are going swell. I'm so proud that she is sitting up ALL BY HERSELF! Next up?!?! Crawling and perhaps an introduction to long division??? hehe-no pressure Ava, I promise.



It's Barney! We already love that Big Purple Dinosaur. Yes-Grandma let's Ava watch PBS. Lucky Girl...



**Please ignore the MESS that is behind Ava. I'm sorting all my STUFF for our upcoming move. Fun Times!

Bag Versus Toy

Here we go again. First let me give you a little background on her naked little legs! Ava loves to grab her feet and shove her piggy's in her mouth. Yum! She also thinks this is the perfect position to "take care of business". So there you have it. That's why her legs are out and free!

Back to the story...

This pseudo-diaper bag is simply amazing to Ava. As you can see, she was torn with as to how she should devote her playtime on the carpet. She was wondering, "Do I wanted to play with the straps on this bag? Or, do I want to check out my toys?"

I think the answer speaks for itself in these pictures.

"Hmm, should I play the piano?"


"WAIT! That bag looks fun, too!!!"


...and the bag takes the win, again. I'm so proud!


Uhoh, she's following in my footsteps! Curt is thrilled, I'm sure.

Finally, I wish I could say that she was laughing in these pictures but she is actually SCREAMING! She likes to give it all she's got which is why her legs are so stiff. It's powerful stuff. Her fun ooh's, aaahh's, and babbling has now become a loud piercing scream which will make you jump out of your skin if she belts it out when you're not expecting it. It's so loud, sometimes she even scares herself.





(Side Note: Even though she's wearing the same outfit in these past few posts I swear that (1) these pictures were taken on different days and that (2) I change and wash her clothes on a daily basis.) :):):)

Story Time

Ava loves books, thankfully we have a ton (and her library is growing!) but she really has a couple that are her favorites. One particular favorite is this book, "What Does Baby See?". The contrasting colors in this book were appealing to her from the get go and she still gets pretty excited when she lays eyes on it....every time!

And guess what else?

She likes to put it in her mouth! Man-she's just full of surprises these days.

Enjoy!

Lazy Baby

Ava and I have a pretty solid routine going these days. During our mornings we sit on the floor and she plays with all of her toys. Most of them end up in her mouth but lately she's been taking one in each hand and banging them together. It's pretty impressive...that is until she bops herself on the hand or even worse, her head. Anyway, here's how it goes. She selects a toy, it's goes right into her mouth and then she immediately flops backwards into my stomach. She finishes it all off by scooting her butt down so her head is on my leg and her feet are resting comfortably on her bucket. I mean honestly, could she be more relaxed?

Step One: Pick Toy


Step Two: Place in Mouth


Step Three: Lie down on Mommy


Step Four: Lift up my tired legs

Pottery Barn Kids

So who doesn't love Pottery Barn Kids? The outrageous pricing aside, they put together a pretty cute bedroom, playroom, bathroom...you get the idea. Although I could never afford to outfit Ava's bedroom with their awesome stuff I can steal their ideas and put together something much more affordable. I was flipping through their latest catalog and decided that I really wanted to buy these super cute Easter Baskets where you can have a name monogrammed on the front. (Monogramming is my weakness and polka dots? Oh, don't even get me started!) So, I head on over to the website and on my way there I decide that I'm going to get a matching one for my nephew, A.J. At this point, I'm waaay too excited over these Easter baskets.

Well.

Sure enough as soon as I get to the page, THEY ARE ALL SOLD OUT. So bummed.

I need to get a life...

But just to show you how cute they are, take a look below. I will continue to stalk this site and maybe even a phone call or two to the company in order to hopefully secure these cute baskets. :)

GIRLS:

BOYS:

"The Land Of Milk And Honey"

Well, looks like Curt is off to join his squadron for the last little bit of their deployment. I guess it kinda (really!) caught me off guard even though we knew all along that this was a possibility. He said because of his return date being so close to our next leave to the states that I should just pack up and head out with Ava, and who am I to argue?!?! No official leave date yet but we're planning on getting some tickets tonight.

In some other exciting news, we're headed to Scotland this weekend for some sight seeing fun! Yay-Ava's first ROAD TRIP!!!