More Christmas Pictures

Another Great Collage by John Meo

Nixie's Mask Uncle Greg reading to his neice Heidi and nephew Logan with Ava The Christmas Craziness In the corner with Bdad and my barf bucket Grandma Dukes giving Ava a bath to wash off the flu germs in the house!

Grandma Dukes sent me some more Christmas pictures that I wanted to add to the blog. We will post another update on the blog this weekend :) Hope everyone is having a Happy New Year!

We will miss you Pensacola

So thankful...

We are going to really miss the amazing beaches in Pensacola Ava and I looking at the sunset

Teaching her about the beauty of the ocean Daddy can always make Ava smile

All of the pictures above were taken by Garrett Garrett takes amazing pictures (he took the best ones on this posting) I will post his website soon where you can see all his best work when it gets running again

The boys taking a romantic walk on the beach- HA Her second trip to the beach She loves her snuggly

Greg the King Pin of bowling give me a spare! Not quite as big as a bowling ball yet

This weekend we decided to show Ava around town. We went bowling on Friday night (where Greg schooled me with a score of 153 while I got a 63....better work on my game) and rocked out to the 50's music. We had a great time and are going to look into joining a league when we move to VA Beach (if they'll take me!). It was beautiful weather this weekend so we decided to have some beach time. Ava loved watching the waves and the birds. Its hard to believe this summer she will be crawling around in the sand. Garrett accompanied us to our favorite restaurant in Pensacola, Sunset Grill. We went walking on the beach afterwards (where we were almost attacked by park rangers because Penny Lane was with us) and we were able to take advantage of Garrett's photography skills. The closer it gets to moving time we realize how much we really are going to miss our first home together.

Ava Collage

Here is an awesome collage that Grandpa Valdez's good friend John Meo made for us. We love it! double click on the image to see an enlargement.

Last month as a Baby Floridian

She is now analyzing the animals on her chair. The 70 degree weather in Florida gives her playtime outside.

Not a fan of bath time yet almost too big for the sink Daddy her "baby spa" partner Mommy drys her off and gives her some wild hair

Story time with the girls Daddy doing baby sit ups with her Baby Gym! She loves this play set more and more each day. Today she watched it for 30 minutes!

Pen is still our baby She has a very strong grip momma time This is one of my favorites

hi pretty girl I swear there are no steroids in her milk!

Her eyes are no longer blue. Greg thinks they are turning brown. I think they are turning Hazel.

This was a wonderfully relaxing week for the family. I took Ava to the doctor on Tuesday and she is a very healthy baby. She now weighs 12.8 pounds and is 23 inches long. She is in the 95th percentile in weight for babies her age. The doctor could barely believe that I was only breastfeeding her and not giving her some supplements. She got her first shots since the birth and she was NOT a happy camper. She received 5 shots total and actually behaved very well. She screamed her head off as soon as she got the shots but stopped immediately after I picked her up. This week we concentrated on doing baby exercises with Ava. We have increased her tummy time to about an hour a day. We are doing baby sit ups to strengthen her neck and back. The greatest thing about this week was that Ava slept through the night for the first time last night. We did a family victory dance this morning! Life is so much easier when you are well rested. Ava is staying awake more and more each day. We are talking and singing with her lots. Her favorite things for us to do is make strange sounds. She smiles immediately as soon as we make "farting" sounds. She is almost laughing as well. She is now doing a silent type of laugh (especially with the farting noise) and we expect a giggle any day now.

Ava's Meet and Greet

Bye Bye Grandparents! Road Tripping Babe! JB rocking her to sleep Determined to get to her giraffe!

Night Night time Cuddle time She loves that thumb of hers!

Her Aunt Sami has bought about 1/2 of the clothes she owns! Steph is back in the country after being in Moldova with the Peace Corps for 2 years Meeting Kara who is already tutoring her in how to become a doctor Can't get enough of her

Beautiful baby Her cousins Nixie & Heidi love holding her Ohhh troublemakers! Loves hugs from her Grandma Lita

This dress was actually mine from her age. One of my Great Aunts knit it for me. Lounging with Uncle Justin Always surrounded by love Learning how to be a redhead from Colleen

This posting is of all the people Ava meet on her trip home along with some head shots of her. There is really no common theme with these except they are centered around Miss Thang.