And we're off!

Ava is walking! Not much, but she's definitely walking by herself now. She's been cruising around the furniture for weeks. She took a few tentative steps right before we left for vacation but now she's on her own. All it took was the right motivation. Many of you have seen her love for kitties. We went to our friend Jenni's house for dinner last night and Jenni has a cat. Ava was walking all around her house trying to get closer to the cat. She didn't even realize that she wasn't holding on to Mom or Dad's hand. She's reverted a bit; she still is crawling or using her toys to get around (see video below) but she's also taking more steps on her own today.

So that's the big news. In other news, we had a great week. Ava's cough is gone thanks to antibiotics. We had a great day at the Wood's house playing in the pool and enjoying homemade ice cream. Ava and I also took a quick trip to Powell to visit all the grandparents. We came home with a BIG bucket of fresh raspberries. We also had a great time at playgroup, too. Then, Ava and I headed out to Bozeman for a friend's wedding. While there, we were able to see Kyle and Mary Johnson, my honorary parents. Ava LOVED Mary and liked Kyle. :) I told my mom it was a good thing that Mary didn't live near because she would have some stiff competition.

Anyway, here are some pics and a video. Enjoy!

*Sorry about the layout. It's giving me a really hard time and I don't feel like spending hours trying to figure out how to fix it.

Vacation

The Beach!

Sorry this is a bit late but we have been busy!! Last weekend we got back from vacation. Ava and I left four days early to go see my brother and his family in Virginia Beach. It was particularly exciting as Ava had not met her almost-three year old cousin, Madison. The flight out was uneventful but still exhausting. Traveling 8 hours with a very active baby by yourself is madness.

Ava LOVED uncle Shawn right away. She was also pretty excited about Madison but the feeling was not really reciprocated. Ava plays a bit too physical for Madison's liking. Plus, it was hard for Madison to share toys, her space, and her daddy. Despite all the adjustments, she was a good girl. Madison particularly liked to help feed and bath Ava.

Cousin Love

Hard to believe there are TWO years difference here!

Aunt Miriam and Ava on the carousel.

Madison was ready for Ava to be gone by this point!

On Saturday, Chris flew into Norfolk and we headed down to the Outer Banks in North Carolina for the annual Cancro family reunion. It was great to see everyone and be on the beach again. Last year we missed it because I was enormously pregnant and Chris has just started residency. All seven cousins loved Ava and vied for her attention. She took all the pulling and manhandling like a champ but it was a bit overwhelming at first so we had to take quite a few breaks. With 20 people staying in the same house, it was easy for her to get overwhelmed. As a result, it took her a long time to get used to everyone. Plus, she had a cold/cough that kept her up at night so she was just a bit off. By the second half of the week, she was loving everyone though.

As for me, it wasn't really a vacation in many ways. The traveling wore me out. Plus, staying up with Ava at night while she was coughing was thoroughly exhausting. I was a bit of a zombie during the day. Despite all of this, I was able to enjoy the family, ride some waves, get some shopping in and finish three books. (Chris, George, Debbie and myself were all ridiculously addicted to the Twilight Series.)

While we were in OBX, my brother had an emergency appendectomy. He's fine now but it's still scary. I was tempted to drive back to Virginia Beach to take care of him when Miriam wasn't there but her family is amazing. They brought over so much food and stayed with him the entire time. He's slowly on the mend and back to work.

We spent one more evening with Shawn and Miriam before our flight left on Sunday. We had a mini photo shoot in the backyard trying to get a good picture of the girls. Pointless. We did get a lot of pictures but Ava was just not cooperating. Plus the bugs and humidity were awful. Shortly thereafter we had to leave to go home. Let me tell you, I was so thankful to have Chris with me on the way home. The flight from Norfolk to Atlanta was miserable as Ava was whining and wiggling the whole time. Then we got delayed for three hours in Atlanta. While sitting on the tarmac waiting for the thunderstorm to pass, Ava thought it would be fun to scream the whole time. She wasn't crying but screaming and yelling to get attention. She would scream, look over my shoulder, see who was laughing, flirt with everyone and then do it all over again. It's cute for the first 10 minutes but then it gets very old. Everyone knew who Ava was by the time we got off the plane. Thankfully, she did sleep for most of the actual flight home. We got back to our apartment around 1:00 am and just dropped.

The Photoshoot

This past week we've been recovering and trying to get back into our normal routine. There is more to tell but I'll do that in a separate post. Enjoy the pictures and video below.

With Daddy in the pool.

Ava loved cousin Maia.

And cousin Dan.

Getting love from Cousins Nina and Violet.

Colorado!

Ava and Aunt January trying on matching skunk hats.
In Breckenridge

Hanging with Mommy.

Ava trying on some shades. She actually kept them on too. Should have bought them.

We just back back from a weekend with Aunt January in Colorado. I must admit that I was dreading the flights but Ava was perfect. We got in Friday afternoon and drove straight to Frisco. Let me tell you, it is amazingly beautiful there. Holy cow. We were pretty tired after traveling (and no nap for Ava). I don't think the altitude helped our fatigue levels either. 9000 feet!

Anyway, we hit a big BBQ festival that was literally a couple blocks from Jan's place. It was awesome. The next day we spent a good part of it roaming around Breckenridge and then hit the outlet malls. We would have gone for a hike but it was raining and cold. Sunday, we had to come home which was a total bummer because the weather was amazing again. Next time we'll have to come for a much longer stay!

Father's Day was a little uneventful because Chris was on call and we spent most of the day flying back to Billings. We did hit a residency BBQ which was pretty fun. A couple of days ago we went to a birthday party for one of Ava's little friends and that was fun too. This week is pretty low key thankfully. It's been hard to get Ava back on her nap schedule and we've had several battles as a result. I'm sure we'll get into a routine just in time to upset it again when we travel to Virginia next week. Oh, speaking of going to VA...I am flying out with Ava by myself. 5 hour flight to Atlanta and then a two hour flight to Norfolk. Please pray for me as I will probably be out of my mind by the time I get there. She doesn't like to nap on the plane and I can only stash so many toys in my carry-on.

Recent Happenings

Sorry for neglecting the blog lately. Nothing especially noteworthy has happened so I didn't feel a new blog post was warranted. BUT, there has been a strong demand for pictures (Katie) so here are a few from the last few weeks.

Wait...I guess there are a few little things we could mention. The first is that we participated in our apartment complex's garage sale. I was so excited because I thought we'd make at least a couple hundred bucks. Nope...I guess our crap simply wasn't that special. Anyway, we closed the doors at noon, headed to the Strawberry Festival (which wasn't that great either) and then came home. The next day on our way to church, we noticed that someone has busted the back window in Chris' car. The frustrating thing was that we parked it on the street because our garage was filled with junk. Ugh. So, this stupid garage sale ended up costing us $200. Never again will I have a garage sale. So not worth it.

On a happier note, Ava is really starting to show tons of personality. She's really into playing chase. We chase her on our hands and knees while she motors around the apartment laughing. She will then suddenly stop and start chasing you. It's really fun, actually. Although my knees can only take so much.

Finally, we are heading down to Colorado to see Jan. Should be lots of fun. We will probably get our fill of hiking, shopping and eating. Sounds like a great vacation to me. Meanwhile, Chris will be working like a dog. Poor guy. I will definitely post pictures from this weekend.

Ava is modeling a new outfit.

First day at the local swimming pool. It was a little cold for her!


Looking cute!

Pea face!

Playing with her cousins.

Ava hasn't really figured out that she can hold the cup AND drink at the same time.

Resemblance

Many of you are friends with me on facebook so you have probably checked out my photo albums of Ava. People are really starting to make a lot of comments about how much Ava looks like me. While yes, she does have my coloring and mouth, I don't think she looks exactly like me as some people say. I think she looks a lot like her daddy too. After looking through some recent (and not so recent pictures), I was really struck by the resemblance to Chris. Check out the pictures below.

I think they look A LOT alike in this one.

In this one, I think they have the same nose, hair and brow shape.

Finally, how can you deny the resemblance in these two photos?

(This is what we do on rainy days with nothing to do...)

9 Months!

The past two weeks have been crazy busy. All sorts of stuff is happening. First, Ava started crawling as I mentioned in my last blog. She was wobbly for about two days and then she just took off. Having mastered crawling, she is now into pulling herself up on every piece of furniture we have. Toys no longer hold her interest. The first few days, she took some nasty diggers. Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough to catch her one time and she fell face first into the table and has the remnants of a bruise. I hope it's gone by Monday (her 9 Month appointment)! All this activity prompted a quick run to babiesrus to get the necessary furniture pads and wall mounts. And I thought I had already babyproofed my house. This kid is crazy.

Ava loves to stick out her tongue and shriek. If she can do this while climbing furniture, all the better.

Climbing the tub during bath time. My little orangutan.

She does have her serious moments.

Grandma Patti and Pop Pop were in town for Mother's Day. It was a crazy fast weekend but it was so much fun. She warmed up to them in no time. They were able to see Ava crawling around and pulling herself up on the furniture. Plus, she was talking/shrieking up a storm. We made a day trip to Bozeman to see some friends of Patti and George. What a great day.

Grandma Patti, Pop Pop and Ava with the Rotes in Bozeman.


This past week Ava and I went down to Wyoming to "uncle-sit" Patrick. My Aunt Cindy and Uncle Gil (who have guardianship over Patrick) went down to Denver to see their grandbaby for a few days. Although I was happy to help them out, I was dreading it. Patrick can be sweet as can be or he can be a total terror. Fortunately, with the coaxing of Taco Johns and Dairy Queen, he was an angel and it was a great trip. The big bonus was that Aunt Cindy had a whole litter of kittens on her porch. Ava pretty much camped out in front of the sliding glass doors and watch them. I did attempt to let her pet them but she flung one across the living room so that ended the "petting".

Yeah, this picture looks sweet and innocent but Ava hammer tossed the black kitten two seconds later.


Although it isn't big or new, it has been great to have Chris here during the day. He's been able to spend so much time with Ava and she just loves it. She truly beams when he's in the room and she loves to play with him. We've made many trips to the park by our apartment as well as a hike or two.

On our hike to the pictograph caves. Supposedly there were pictures there once. Not any more. At least it was a nice chance to get out.

Tummy time with Chris.


Finally, the last bit of news is that Ava is now drinking from a straw. I'm afraid it's fairly obvious that I am in that 'first-child-amazement' phase. She just started figuring out how to drink from a sippy cup and last night she drank half of my lemonade from a straw. Isn't it a bit early for that? Every day Ava is learning something new and it's so fun to watch. But, as I've said before, it makes me a little sad that she's growing up so fast.

She was begging for food but it was too spicy and salty to give her so I thought I'd let her chew on my straw. Man, she figured it out quickly!!

Enjoy the pics and videos!!

(Sorry to those of you who look at my facebook page; a lot of this is the same!)

Cruisin'

After a month or two of waiting, Ava has finally put it all together. We're pretty excited that she can crawl - BUT - I'm also growing more and more apprehensive by the minute. As a friend recently told me, "You think you're tired now? Just wait."


Ava's pincer grasp is also pretty good now; she's coordinated enough to get EVERYTHING into her mouth. I'm having to fish stuff out her mouth daily. Although I HATE vacuuming, I think it is going to become a necessary daily chore. (As I'm writing this, I'm watching her lick the carpet. Case in point.)

Well, gotta run. Destructo is on the move.