Ava and Alina

Our friends Louis and Natasha received a wonderful Easter present this year when their daughter Alina Renee surprised them and was born 3 weeks early! They live just a few streets over from us so we're super excited that our girls are going to grow up together. The other day, Natasha brought baby Alina over for a visit. Ava was enthralled with the little bundle sleeping so peacefully in her carseat and kept saying, "Ba...by, ba...by!" She helped Natasha open the little gift we got for them and then we were off for a walk to the park where Ava enjoyed the swings and Alina enjoyed a nice long nap. I can't wait until next summer when the girls will both be old enough to actually play together!!! Here are a couple pics. I tried getting one of the two of them together, but Ava was very insistent on crawling into the carseat to get as close as she could to her new friend and I was more interested in giving the poor little thing a bit more personal space!

Playdough Time!

Ava had her first experience playing with playdough today. My mom had made a few batches of homemade playdough as a thank you gift for our friends Angela and Lauren for giving Ava some of Lauren's baby toys. She brought over a bit for Ava to try out. She was a bit unsure of the texture at first and had to give it a quick taste test...of course! From the expression on her face she certainly didn't like the salty taste! I took out some of my smaller cookie cutters and helped her make some shapes and snakes. I think that she enjoyed banging the metal cookie cutters more than actually playing with the dough, but it was fun for a few pictures at least!!

Dancing with Ducky!

For weeks leading up to Easter, every time I'd take Ava to the grocery store, my mom would take her over to the toy aisle where all the Easter toys were. There were these crazy ducks and chickens that would dance and play music when you squeezed their wing and they would quack if you lifted them up by the neck. Ava would get out of the cart and "dance" while holding onto Nanny's hands. I wasn't too surprised when a duck entered into our house not too long after. It's absolutely hilarious to see Ava dancing with it!!! She's just recently learned how to squeeze the wing by herself so I'll just hear it randomly playing throughout the day.

Spring Has Sprung....Finally!!!!

Well, we've been waiting for a weekend like this one with beautiful weather that can be enjoyed outdoors. I think I can confidently say that Spring has finally sprung!! Ava has been quite the busy little bee taking many trips to the park, playing on the swings, and learning to ride her "car" outside on our street with the big kids. With some nice sunny days we've taken advantage of the time we can spend outside after being cooped up over the long cold winter! One afternoon I let Ava explore on our back deck and she was enthralled with chasing her shadow around. She has three pairs of sunglasses, but she absolutely refuses to keep them on her face, hence the squinting in some of the photos. She also has a new summer hat that she hates wearing!! Oh my! We joined Nicole for an afternoon walk in her subdivision and sought out a new park to play at. I'm excited for the nice weather to continue and we're looking forward to a fun-filled summer!!!!

Happy Easter!

Despite a shaky start to our weekend, Ava ended up having a terrific 1st Easter! On Good Friday we had dinner at my parents and Uncle Jason and Aunt Nicole were both able to make it!! Ava opened some presents and enjoyed being the center of attention as she practiced walking around with her push-toy. On Saturday we went over to my friend Julie's house for an Easter Egg hunt. Ava was thrilled when we got there and found out that her best friend, Alexa was there as well!! The kids had a storytime, then made some Easter crafts (Ava used crayons for the first time...with a little help from Mommy!), then it was on to the egg hunt. Looking high and low, Ava was able to discover lots of Easter treasures and her basket was quickly filled to the brim. If that wasn't exciting enough, a special visitor stopped by to wish everyone a happy Easter. As you'll see from Ava's expression, she was super excited to say hello and she was even brave enough to lean in for some hugs and kisses....it was priceless! After and fun-filled afternoon we headed over to JP's parent's house for dinner and some more playing. Needless to say, Ava was pretty tuckered out by Easter morning, but she still had some energy left to open up the basket full of goodies that the Easter bunny left.

A Trip to the IWK

Well...I almost made it through Ava's first year without having to take her to the Emergency Room!!! We started off our Easter weekend with a long and eventful night. J.P. and I had actually gone out for the evening (a rare occurance) and my mom came over to babysit. When I arrived home Ava was wheezing and coughing pretty badily. I realized that it was definitely more than a cold and quickly called J.P. to cut his poker game short so we could take her to the hospital. Luckily, there was not too many people in waiting room seeing as though it was 1am on a long weekend. We saw the doctor within about an hour and she confirmed that Ava had croup. It is an upper respiratory infection caused by a virus that causes swelling in the windpipe and voice box (hence the barky "seal" cough!). She gave her a single dose of oral steroids and we were on our way. She was given a panda bear to take home from the nursing staff for being such a good patient! She's recovered pretty quickly and managed to have a fun Easter, as you'll see from the pictures. Throughout the week she was still a bit wheezy, especially at night, but we've been able to ease her discomfort by using a vaporizer and taking her outside in the cool air.

Ava and Daisy

Our friends Shawn and Melanie were home for a week for Melanie's sister's wedding and they brought along their adorable puppy Daisy. Mel came over for a visit with Ava and brought the dog with her. I'm not sure who was more excited...Ava or Daisy! It was hilarious to watch this 3 pound little bundle of fur bouncing all around wanting desperately to give Ava kisses!! Ava was absolutely thrilled to have a furry playmate who actually wanted to play with her and not run away and hide in the Pack 'n Play!! For those of you who might be wondering...I tucked Maddux upstairs in the spare bedroom so he wouldn't completely freak out!

The weekend was great as we celebrated with Natalie and Aaron at their wedding! J.P. and I even got a hotel room and let Ava have a sleepover with Nanny. I kept calling it our "One Day Vacation"!!!