A little holiday cheer!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Monkey...in case you don't know

Well our first Halloween is over and we had alot of fun. Ava was dressed as a little monkey very fitting to her personality. We found it funny that people couldn't figure out what she was dressed as. The best guesses we had were a CARROT???? or a pumpkin. Weird, I never saw a carrot or a pumpkin with ears and a tail. Both of these fabulous guesses came from Mike's sister. Take a bow Linda!! lol

Ava got lots of candy and one neighbor was smart and bought little things of playdough. Very smart. So Ava will enjoy the playdough and a little taste of chocolate and Mommy and Daddy will help her eat the rest. We are only doing it for her own good. Yes, we will sacrifice our figures for our daughter. It's called good parenting people!

We had lots of fun carving our pumpkins again this year. Mike carved "Jack Nicholson in The Shining", I carved "Michael Jackson the early, good looking years" and then Mike did a little pumkin for Ava of a character called "Gobby". We had great comments from the trick or treaters. It truly is my favorite thing to do at Halloween. Next Halloween will be more fun for Ava. She will understand the concept and be able to Trick or Treat with her cousins. The first was great though! Hope everyone had a fun and safe one!

We have been neglecting our blog and getting many complaints. Who knew so many people would be interested in our little family. It is Mike's fault for making such heartfelt posts while we were away. And I guess having the cutest little girl helps that as well.

Ava sitting in her desk.

Ava giving Yeti a big hug!

Ava dancing with Nana.

Reading books with Papa is fun!

Here she is playing on her playground that the girls at Zellers bought for us. She climbs the stairs and slides down all by hersef as you can see. She is very brave and loves to be swung around and hung upside down. So much fun!

Together over 2 months

It is hard to believe Ava has been with us for 2 months already! I can't imagine loving anyone as much as I do her. She is an unbelievably happy girl. Her smile lights up my world.
Some family members threw a party to introduce Ava to our exteneded family and friends. Ava was great. She loved the attention and had a smile for everyone she met. She is very confident. Playing with all of the cousins and taking in all of the new faces. We had a wonderful afternoon and it is great to know we have such love and support around us. Mike of course made a speech that made everyone cry. Curse him!!!
Yesterday we went to the doctor and Ava got her first shot since she's been home. Had a little cry when the needle went in but once it was done she was great. She has had no ill affects except for a slight fever when she went to bed last night.

More Wedding Pictures

Courtney's Wedding Day

We went to our nieces wedding yesterday. It was a beautiful day. It was an outside wedding and the weather couldn't have been any nicer. We were able to take lots of photos. The grooms grandmother hosted the wedding and the dinner. She did a fantastic job. Johns grandmother told us that the cake topper that Courtney and John used had a special meaning. Johns great grandparents used the same cake topper on their sixty fifth wedding anniversary cake.

Ava Visits Kailee

Terri, Ava and I all went over to a couples house Saturday night for supper. We met these people in China. They were a part of our group. Their little girl came from the same Social Welfare Institute as Ava. They live only about one hour from us. Hopefully Ava and Kailee can grow up being close friends. Terri and I get along great with Kailee's parents. They are such good people. It is amazing to see how much different our children are now compared to when we got them roughly six weeks ago. It was cool to sit and watch Ava and Kailee playing together here in Canada and to stop and think that they might very well have played together in China. Terri and I plan on keeping in regular contact.

Friends for life

Everyone is always asking how Ava and Yeti are getting along.
Well this picture is evidence of their fast building bond. Ava loves Yeti and Yeti is so patient and gentle with her. She looks for him every morning when she wakes up and he has learned that the best place to stand is next to the highchair during feeding time!
Too cute! We are so happy to see such a great friendship form.
Ava and Marbles(the cat) are doing fine too. Ava loves to pet and pull Marbles hair but Marbles is not as patient as Yeti and I can see we are going to have to watch Ava with the cat much more than we would with Yeti.

Ava is much more confident walking around and loves to pace back and forth practising her balance and keeping us in view at the same time. She does very well playing by herself. She tries to dress herself but sometimes attempts to put her pants on top. Must be due to Mike wearing her pants on his head like a hat. She is such a funny, happy girl and we fall more and more in love with her each day.

Sleepless Nights

We have been going for about two weeks with little to no sleep. You could probably set a clock to when Ava will wake up through out the night. We are into a routine where we bath her then give her some Pablum then a bottle before she goes to bed. By the time that she is three quarters of the way done her bottle she is usually starting to fall asleep. She will fall asleep in our arms and then we put her down for the night. Exactly one hour later she will be awake and crying. We go in and pick her up and sooth her. Sit in a chair and comfort her. She will go back to sleep. When we go to lay her back down she wakes up instantly. Sometimes you are able to place down on the crib mattress and other times you can't. When we are able to she wakes up as soon as you reach her bedroom door. We have both been so tired and exhausted this past week. Then we found a god send. We went to Baby's R Us yesterday. We bought this thing for her bedroom that has a night light and plays lullabies and you can also load your own music onto it. It is made by Graco and is called Sweet Slumber Sound Machine. The name is very accurate. We put Ava to bed last night and it took awhile to get her settled down in her crib. We eventually pushed the chair over to be beside her crib. We didn't pick her up at all and just let her touch our hand. She eventually fell asleep. She slept for about eight hours uninterrupted. Then today we put her down for her nap. Again it took a little while but once she was down she slept just a little over two hours. I Love This New Find. It has been the best sixty dollars that we have ever spent. Today is a good day.