Happy Birthday Grandma Heckman

Ava is becoming more and more independent. Today Ava sat on the bed and munched on cheerios while Mommy and Daddy got ready for work.

Today is Grandma's birthday and she still isn't feeling 100% but we are hoping she will feel better soon since she gets to come to NIH next week to be seen at the Clinical Center.

Too many toys

I think we may need to purge some of the toys. They are overtaking the entire living room.

Grandma home from the Hospital AGAIN

Grandma is coming home from the hospital today! We are so glad she is feeling well enough to come home but upset they haven't been able to make her feel 100%. I am so proud of Alexandra and Shannon for being so strong through this. I remember being their age when Mom had her first major cancer battle and was being treated at Hopkins.

Favorite picture ever!

Ava opens the gate

We have a gate at the top of the stairs and unfortunately Ava has figured out how to open the gate. TROUBLE!!!!

Baby Goldfish

Ava is obsessed with them!

Ava's first day with Feri

Ava started at her new daycare this morning. Mommy stayed with Ava through breakfast so she could adjust. After breakfast Ava stood at the table and played with the other little girls. Mommy was off to work excited that Ava was going to have a great first day!

A day with Aunt Danielle

Grandma is back in the hospital, admitted last night to Hershey. We hope they do a better job of figuring out what's wrong. Mommy and Ava drove up last night after rush hour. Ava spent the night with Aunt Alexandra while Mommy spent the night at the hospital with Grandma.

Since Aunt Alexandra had to work today Ava got to spend a few hours with Aunt Danielle and cousin Kayden.


Ava had lots of fun although she didn't want to nap. Instead Ava got to go grocery shopping with Aunt Danielle. Ava loves grocery shopping.

Ava's last day with Nadia

Today is Ava's last day with Nadia and Yusef and Benjamin. We have been very lucky to have her for the past 7 months. We hope she had a fabulous trip to India and Yusef enjoys getting to meet all his relatives.

Dancin'

Ava got this great gift from Uncle Chris and Angela. Love!

Grandma home from the Hospital

Grandma was released from the hospital around 12:30am. Mommy took her home and tried to make sure she had everything she needed. She had a Dr. appointment on Friday. Hopefully they can figure out what's wrong.

Ava had a great day with Daddy but was excited to see Mommy around dinner time.

The goodies!

Ava has been enjoying all of the fabulous presents she received for her birthday. Ava is in love with her kitchen from Grandma and Grandpa Stoddard and all the accessories, food, dishes, pots and pans, that make it even more fun from Grandma Heckman.

After Ava went to bed tonight Mommy got a call that Grandma had been rushed to the ER. Shannon had been with her shopping so Mommy headed out quickly to the hospital. Tomorrow Ava gets to spend the day home with Daddy!

Birthday Party

Ava celebrated her 1st birthday today with a party at Grandma and Grandpa Stoddard's. Grandma surprised Ava with a miniature horse at the party.....so fun. There was great food, cupcake frosting as hair gel, lots of presents and time in the pool. Thank everyone for making the party a big success.

Diaper rash

Ava has been battling a diaper rash so we went diaper free for a little while tonight. Hopefully this helps and luckily there were no messes.

Just melts a Mother's heart!

Back to normal

Today we were back to our normal routine. Home, make dinner, play, eat dinner, play. Daddy thought it would be funny to put one of Mommy's clean shirt over Ava's head. She agreed!

This may be one of the cutest pictures ever.

Ava's FIRST Birthday

Today Ava turned 1!

It was last year at this time that I spent the whole night awake with contractions every 10 minutes that were not progressing so when Earl got up I sent him to work thinking we were not going to have a baby today. I got a shower and got dressed and went to work only to finally have the contraction start progressing. 7 minutes apart by 9am, 5 minutes apart by 10am. The OB said it was time to go the hospital. Earl was at work in Baltimore so I called him to head home to grab the bag and I took the metro followed by a bus to the hospital. (It makes for a good story, right?!?) I figured they were going to make me walk once I got to the hospital so I might as well get a head start. I was only 2 cm dilated so when Earl got to the hospital we walked the halls for another hour. The OB arrived at noon to check me and no progress had been made. Contractions 3 minutes apart but still only 2 cm dilated. She told me I could either go home and try and sleep, YEAH RIGHT!, or she could break my water. I said, "Let's get this show on the road". Ten minutes later she broke my water and hooked me up to pitocin. My biggest mistake was only eating a banana prior to this because the only think I was allowed to eat from this point on was ice and 1 ice pop (although I convinced them to give me a second because at about 4:30pm I thought I was going to eat my arm). I was so tired but the contractions were too close together to fall asleep and Earl was pacing in the room. Earl's parents arrived around 1pm. Around 4:00 I finally gave in and asked for an epidural because I was still only 4cm dilated. Why was it moving so slowly! I really needed to sleep if I was going to have any energy to push out Ava. Right before 5pm the Anesthesiologist arrived. He might be my best friend because it was a phenomenal epidural. Pain relief immediately and I could finally rest. About an hour and a half later the nurse came back in to check...8cm dilated, WOW that was fast. My mom and the kids as well as Earl's parents ate quickly as they had just gotten food at an Italian restaurant across from the hospital. By 9pm I was at 10cm and it was time to get ready. I sat up and started to focus on the contractions. Earl was a great coach and we were luck enough to get the charge nurse because there was another woman who started pushing right around the same time I did. 10:07pm she was out. There was a little bit of miconium so Ava had to go the the NICU but luckily it was so much that they rush off with her. Earl and I both got to hold her for aminute before they took her away. It was amazing and so hard to believe it has already been a year.

To celebrate we had dinner at our favorite restaurant, Canyon Creek. and then went to Barnes and Noble so Ava could pick out a book and get dessert to take home.

At B&N Ava played at the train table and picked out an Elmo book that sings.

Once we got home Ava ate her dessert while watching Mickey and played with her book. The first birthday was a success and we are very excited for the party on Saturday.

Bubble machine

At the family reunion yesterday Ava won a bubble machine in the raffle. Daddy put the batteries in when we got home today. Ava loved - awesome raffle prize!

Family reunion

Ava woke up this morning at 8:50am, sleepy baby. We headed to church with Grandma. Ava played games during Sunday school with Aunt Alexandra. We headed back to Grandma's house for breakfast. Later in the afternoon we headed to the Heckman Family reunion at Uncle Paul and Aunt Joyce's house. Ava was lucky to get to celebrate her birthday with the Heckman clan a little early. Jeffrey, Madison and Luke were very excited to see Ava and took her for a wagon ride before lunch. Ava opened lots of great presents and blew out the candle on her mickey cupcake.

Spending the night with cousin Kayden

Saturday Mommy and Ava drove to PA since Ava has been resisting naps again and we didn't want to drive up Sunday morning for the family reunion. We had dinner with Grandma and Aunt Alexandra. Then we headed to Aunt Danielle's to see cousin Kayden before bed. Ava and Kayden splashed in the water and played with Kayden's new bath toy. Ava got her pjs on and had some milk to before bed, an hour later than usual.

Boxes are better than toys

We left an empty diaper box on the floor the other day and Ava has been playing with it. She puts things in it and takes them out, including herself. Climbing out isn't very graceful :)

Stacking cups

Ava loves when we stack the cups up and she knocks them down.

New Clothes

Mommy put a new outfit on Ava this morning. First we tried the new jean capri pants but they fell off so we had to go with the pink capris although they look more like full length pants. It is amazing that the 9 months clothes seem like waders but the 12 months are still big.

Sunday Lunch

Mommy, Daddy, and Ava went to lunch today at Uncle Julio's. Daddy had been wanting to try it out and it was pretty good. They even gave us free dessert since we were first time customers :) Ava loved her Kidsedillas and had lots of fruit. On the way out we walked past this huge truck, we had to take a picture.