Lyndsey and Ashlee come over to play

We had a great day today! My friend Lyndsey is home for the weekend with her 5 year old daughter, Ashlee. They came over for a visit and played with Ava. They hadn't seen her since the summer so they noticed a BIG change!! It was lots of fun watching the girls play and it seems like it was only days ago (not years!) that Ashlee was this age. After an afternoon nap (by both Ava and Mommy!) we headed over to J.P's parents' house for dinner and some more playing.

Let's Eat!

It was an exciting day in our house when we were finally able to introduce solid foods to Ava. We started out with rice cereal back in November, then moved on the veggies, fruit and meat. She's been a pretty good eater so far, but it's still a struggle to get her to eat meat. Just recently we started giving her "finger foods" and she LOVES this!! Her favorite thing to eat now is Cheerios! It's so funny to watch her pick the pieces up with her chubby little fingers and try to get them into her mouth! Half the time I think more end up in her highchair and on the floor than in her belly :) I've also used food for fun activities to let her feel different textures. She's played with spaghetti and Jell-o and, when I work up the courage, I'll let her have a go with chocolate pudding. I'm still amazed at how much she has grown over the past 9 months and how quickly she learns new things. It's so awesome being a Mom!

Storytime!

Ava absolutely loves books! We've been reading to her since before she was born and she's already picked out certain books as her "favorites". We have baskets of books for her and the latest thing that she loves to do is pull the basket down from the shelf, dump them out all over the floor and then choose one to look at. It seems like every day when J.P. gets home from work the kitchen floor is completely covered!!

Fun in the Snow

As soon as we had our first snowfall I jumped at the chance to take Ava outside sledding in our backyard...even if she was only 6 months old! I got this hilarious snowsuit for Ava from a friend of mine and I couldn't wait to try it on her. The second that I got her all bundled up I just had to sit back and laugh my butt off!! She looked like a little elf with the hood sticking straight up. After I took a few moments to compose myself we headed out to the backyard. Ava LOVED going down the hill, but she got a bit impatient while I dragged her back up in the sled. Now you wouldn't think that pulling a baby in the snow would be that difficult, but trust me it's harder than it looks! It was much more enjoyable on the day that JP joined us for some fun in the snow! I'll try to post a video along with these pics.

Deck the Halls

I had so many Christmas photos that I couldn't possibly fit them all into just one posting! For those of you who know me well, you know that I LOVE decorating the house for Christmas! My favorite thing to do is definitely the tree. I usually have it up by the end of November and it stays put until well into January. If I had my way we'd have a decorated tree all winter!! Anyways, Nicole was over on Christmas Eve and she got some fantastic shots with her fancy camera so I just had to include a few!






















Ava enjoying some of the decorations!

Merry Christmas!

Well this Christmas was, by far, the most joyful one for both J.P. and I as we'd already received the best gift in the entire world! It was definitely exciting to share the Christmas spirit with our little angel. I took Ava to see the Christmas concert at the school that I worked at for the past two years. It was the perfect way to start the holiday season and it was so much fun visiting with my co-workers and students! We made a special trip to the mall to visit with Frosty and Santa...Ava sat on his lap and gave BIG smiles to the camera! Our friends B.J. and Lori welcomed an early Christmas present with the arrival of their precious baby girl, Brea. We were able to meet her over the holidays and Ava cannot wait until she's a bit bigger so they can play together! Christmas Eve was spent at our house enjoying time with J.P's parents and my sister. Ava must have been a very good girl by the looks of all the presents under the tree on Christmas morning! Surprisingly, she was actually interested in the toys she received and not just the wrapping and ribbons! After we opened our gifts and had breakfast we headed down to Antigonish for a couple of days. As usual, there were lots of people there for dinner and we had the best entertainment with Ava there! We rang in the New Year with friends while Ava had her first sleepover at Nanny's house!