Ava & Grandma At The Park

We could NOT get by without Grandma this week. Only 2 more days till my cast comes off - hooray! But, its so fun having grammie around. Even daddy likes coming home to grandma's good homecooking. In the brief bit of sunshine today we all snuck off to the park to swing and eat some flowers. Or try to eat some flowers anyway.

Playtime

A day spent with dad to the circus, to the farm, to the park and home again.

Healing Hands, Helping Hands

Baby Blue

Another image from yesterday...I'm hen-pecking cause my hand is in a very large, cumbersome cast....HOWEVER, I am in bed in the middle of the day on Vicoden so not all is bad! My hand surgery went well...I'll be out of commission this next week, but I'm optimistic about my total recovery.

Ole Blue Eyes

We had the most fabulous time today taking pictures. Here are some favorites -- I'll be adding more from this shoot if I can over the next few days. Not sure if I'll be able to navigate the keyboard, however, as I am having surgery tomorrow morning....on my wrist & hand. Wish me luck!



(click on either picture to view it large -- they are so much better bigger!)

Tiptoe Through The Tulips

Bathing Beauties

No pictures of this one, but I will draw you a funny mental picture instead. This afternoon to both kill time and to clean up a messy baby after eating broccoli & tofu, Ava and I decided to take a bath together. It is easier this way to prevent her from slipping and to not kill my back or wrist (which I'll be having surgery on next week -- a story for another day).

So, I filled the bath with nice warm water while Ava studied it with eager anticipation. She LOVES the bath or anything water related. I jumped in to test the water then reached over, peeled off her diaper (which I've learned to leave on till the last minute -- due to her excitement). As soon as her perfectly fat little legs stood firm in the water she started tinkling. She knew it too cause we could both hear it hitting the water. She looked at me and I, sitting right there, looked at her and said with a bit of shock and horror in my voice, "What are YOU doing??!" That sent her over the edge and she got the cutest case of the giggles. I figured it probably happens each time we bathe together, but I usually have her all the way under the water before I notice so whatever. I love her. You've really gotta love someone a lot to let them pee in your bathwater and laugh about it.

Old MacDonald Had A Farm

Our new favorite past-time is looking at animal books and learning all the sounds that they make. Ava likes when I say 'oink oink', but her favorite thing to say in response to my 'baaaa' is babababa. Its pretty cool.

Walkin' & Talkin'

Today Ava would not sit still! She walked herself around the mall and waved and greeted every passerby. With great delight she has learned that her efforts will usually garner a smile and many times even a hello and wave in return. Ladies and gentlemen, I present Ambassador Ava.

Whister Weekend

We took a family vacay to Whistler this past weekend for a little R&R. Ava didn't sleep well on the road so we didn't get much R or R, but we did get a great change of venue. The weather on Saturday felt like summer and there was not a better place to be. We checked into ski school for Ava....only 2 years to go! ;)

A Better Shot

This post is NOT going to be a picture of Ava with the cut on her head that required a stitch to keep closed today. Rather, I am posting a picture where she is smiling and happy. 'Nuff said.

Tutu Time, AGAIN!

Here are a few twirls ...




I'm playing with color saturation a bit here and there...plus, since my house has horrible natural lighting I end up with a lot of cool lighting effects that are au naturale.






I think Ava is saying "I've got a secret" in this shot:

These Shoes Were Made For Walkin'

This week Ava has started walking. She looks more like a drunken sailor at this point and for some reason thinks she can try running when she's hardly mastered more than 10 steps at a time. We did the whole Nordstrom 'first pair of shoes' rite of passage, one that I also partook in many years ago -- at 14 months of age, not 10.5. Maybe this means my daughter is the newer, faster, shinier version of me.

Connecting

We had the best company, best time and the best food (seriously, if they opened a restaurant I'd eat there EVERY night) with the best of friends tonight. We are SO lucky. Here is a shot of one of their two cuties. And one with my cutie.

Bummer!

After weeks of anticipation, we were so excited to start our swimming class this morning and lo and behold it was cancelled. BUMMER. And, we didn't get an email or phone call to let us know so there we were in our swimsuits on the pool deck waiting for class to start. Well, we took advantage of the moment and did a little 'free swim' of our own. SO, NEXT WEEK we'll let you know how our class goes.....

So, we will play with some toys at home today instead. Among our favorites right now are Kitty and Nordy. Speaking of Nordy, we got our first pair of walking shoes this week at Nordstroms. Yes, we ARE walking!

Everyday Still Lifes

I've decided to make a book for Ava's first birthday called My Life: Everyday. I am taking photos of our everyday routines and activities & favorite objects to document in this journal. I hope to catch cheerios under the highchair, my starbucks mocha coffee cup, her stacking cups, getting into the bath, etc. Above is a still life that summarizes some of my feelings at this time in our lives.