Birthday Party

We had a little birthday party for Ava yesterday. Two of our close friends and their kids came over for cake and pizza. I was worried it would be boring for the kids since our house is really small and don't have a yard for them to play in. They warmed up to our house very easily and before we knew it, they were off playing "house" in Ava's room! 

 I made the poof balls and the banner. I think it turned out pretty cute. The table is plain and simple.

She wasn't too sure about the cake at first. I helped her with a bite and after that, she dug right in! 

No holding back!

 She had a great support system! ;)

She devoured that thing! 

 Not the greatest picture but I kinda like it. 

She loved opening her presents! 

This is the best I could do!

Happy Birthday Ava Drew!! 

We had a great day with our friends! I wish I would have gotten a group picture of all the kids but it just slipped my mind. My camera was acting weird and taking blurry pictures. Not good for a first birthday party! :(

Ava is 1 year old!

Happy Birthday Ava Drew!!!! 

This year has been the fastest but by far the best year of my life. One year ago today, God blessed Bryce and I with a beautiful little girl, Ava Drew. The moment I saw her, I fell in love with her and my love for her has grown stronger. I never knew I could love someone so much!

October 11, 2011

Ava Drew Stringer

7 Ib 6oz

21 inches long

Born 2:21pm

Ava, you weigh 16 pounds and 4 oz (5%) and you are 28 inches tall (10%). You wear a size 1-2 shoe and a size 3 diaper. You wear mainly 6-9 month clothes.

You are still nursing 3-4 times a day and I don't plan on stopping until you are around 18 months...at least that's the plan for now. We definitely won't go past 2 years old though! :)

You eat oatmeal with strawberries for breakfast and a veggie, fruit, turkey, cheese and bread for lunch. For dinner, you usually have half of a jar of baby food (mixed veggie with turkey/beef/chicken), a veggie and a fruit. I don't like feeding you the baby food from the jar because it kind of grosses me out but you love it and its easy for me to fix! :)

You are an amazing sleeper! You go to bed at 8pm and wake up at around 7:30am to nurse then you go right back down to sleep and sleep until 9:30-10am.

You take 2 naps a day. Each range from 1 1/2-2 hours.

You have 6 teeth now!!!

You have really started talking a lot this month. You love to learn and always point to stuff and say "dis?" (this) so we can tell you what it is.

New Words: Trees (tees), car (caw), brr, more (first word besides "mama/dada"), this (dis), cross (cos), go. You try to say anything that we do! You want to talk so bad and you even try to have conversations with us! It's the cutest thing!!

Animal sounds: Bark (bawk), and moo. Every time you see or hear a dog, you say "bawk bawk bawk" over and over!

You are so close to walking but you are still too scared.

I just HAD to get a picture of you at 2:21pm today since that was the time when you were born. You weren't quite asleep yet so you saw me take a picture of you. (You started sleeping with your head on the bumper so I put a flat pillow in your bed and you love sleeping on it).

Here you are at 1,4,8 and 12 months old!

Today when Ava woke up, Bryce and I walked into her room with balloons and sang Happy Birthday. She was a little confused but I think she enjoyed it. Bryce gave her Chocolate Grits as a treat for breakfast! Ava was a little crankier than usually today and she slept a lot of the day. I think her teeth are bothering her. Poor girl.

I think I sang Happy Birthday 12 times to her today! I can't wait till she is a little older and I can make her day SUPER special! I want my child(ren) to feel extra special all the time and I want to go out of my way to make them feel loved. Especially on their birthday!

We love you Ava Drew!!!

Oktoberfest 2012

We went to Oktoberfest in Hannover, Germany last weekend. It was a good 5 hour drive for us. Looking back, we were crazy for taking a day trip. Ava did great the whole way. The only time she got fussy was about an hour before we got home. She was ready to get out of that car seat! I don't blame her!

We left our house around 10am and got there close to 4pm which was perfect because that was when everything was started to open up. When we got there, there was NO ONE there!! Turns out, it was family and stroller day! Perfect!!

The loves of my life!!

Attempting a family picture!

Love this little face and those tiny teeth!!

She was EATING up the attention! (FYI: The dress she has on is a German dress called a Dirndl. Most German women wear these to festivals.)