As usual this post is long overdue. Looking back at my carefully notated calendar, I don't see anything too exciting! December was a fast-paced month: Stephen's parents and brother, Bryan came down to our house for Christmas and then shortly afterwards we left to go visit my family for New Year's. Both visits were fun-filled! Also, Stephen began drill-ing in Hialeah. This was a big change for our family since Stephen usually has to drive to Jacksonville for drill, which is now a 5 1/2 hour drive each way. Hialeah, on the other hand, is 2 hours away. It makes a huge difference and we are all just a little less stressed about drill each month!

January brought with it quite a few changes for our dear, darling little girl. Ava turned 8 months old in Jan. and Mommy and Daddy decided they were done with Ava not sleeping through the night. Each day was incredibly hectic as there was no real schedule to speak of for Princess Ava. About the middle of January, we started our bedtime routine which led to a daytime routine. Each night at 9 pm, Ava gets a bath, says prayers with Mommy and Daddy and goes to bed. She gets up nice and early and takes two naps: one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Slowly (and painfully), but surely the routine stuck. Ava now takes a bath each night around 8 and is in bed by 8:45. She goes down each morning for her nap at 10am and then again at 2pm. She sleeps for about two hours at each nap and...THANKFULLY from 8:45pm til about 7:30am. This has also made for much happier parents.



Shortly after starting bedtime routine, Ava was also introduced to a highchair. We had been feeding Ava in her walker or bumbo but she was quickly outgrowing the bumbo and moving all over the place while eating in the walker. We decided it was time to transition. Stephen and I were quite amazed at the highchair. Probably more so than the infant it is meant for! This highchair is a playcenter in and of itself. It has two toys that hook on to either side of the tray and a toy that fits (and fills) the center of the tray. I question who exactly places their infant into the highchair to just sit and play?? I suppose it works for some people, lucky parents who have babies that WILL just sit and play. Unfortunately, we are not those lucky bas...um, lucky parents. Ava was slightly amused at the beginning, but currently could not care any less about these toys. The center toy has been permanently removed and placed into the playpen for further amusement. The toys that were hooked onto the side toys have also been removed and placed in various toy boxes/bins. Ava seems to understand the apparently adult concept that when you are in a chair to eat, that is what you are there for. This development is one which I think we will be thankful for later.



On the last day of January, Ava cut her first tooth. Stephen and I were VERY excited about this because Ava had been drooling like a puppy for months and we were happy to see the fruits of all her drool. She currently has two teeth on the bottom. We think she may be teething again as she has been quite moody in the past few days...at least we pray that that is the reason.



In February, Ava had her 9 month wellness visit and she checked out. She's about 18 lbs now and 28 in. Growing nicely! Throughout Feb. Ava was crawling all over the place. She is now quite mobile! A few exciting events happened at the end of February. First, and arguably, most important, we invested in a new "entertainment center," one which I believed would be better suited to life with Miss Ava. Allow me to paint a picture for you, of the situation when we had the old entertainment center. It was a good and faithful piece of furniture, which Stephen's parents were generous enough to give us when we moved into the house. We were very grateful because it had a place for everything: cds, dvds, the tv, and even my 5-disc cd player complete with two (rather large, in the fashion of the time) speakers. Ahh..wonderful! A place for everything and everything in its place. Life was good. Then Ava came along. Things were still great: we added a few dvds for our wonderful new addition.

Then Ava learned to crawl. And then, Ava learned to pull herself up on things. AND THEN, Ava learned to pull things down. Our peaceful entertainment center was now being terrorized. Everyday Ava would sit on the floor in front of it, pulling and pushing dvds until they were scattered all over the floor. She would pull herself up on the shelf and stand on the cases. Then cases were put in her mouth (as ALL things, edible or not, are put in her mouth). It was over. And I knew, the time had come to find an entertainment center that was...enclosed. That's right-drawers! doors, even! And so I was on the hunt.

About this time, Circuit City started advertising that they were going out of business. So we went to look. I found a tv stand that was sort of enclosed. But also, pieces were missing and it was low to the ground.

Sorry, no thanks. I'd rather not turn around one day to see my crafty daughter standing ON TOP of the tv stand. No, no, there are so many other problems that I'd LOVE to deal with, thanks.

So we moved on to another few stores and then I found it. A taller tv stand! With three drawers! AND...a door that closes in front of shelves. Amazing. I think, THIS! This is made for us. And indeed, it appeared that way: originally priced at $500 it was marked down and down and down (with some more haggling because it was the floor model!) to about $160. Ahh...peace shall return to our entertainment center!

Then there was the pesky TV to deal with. Our tv, a donation on my parents' part, when they purchased a new, flat screen, 42in. tv, it had seen better days. Now, there was a constant buzz, not always apparent to a visitor's ear, it was quite an annoyance to us. And when there was any type of writing that came up on the screen, that quiet, little buzz, became a loud, obnoxious buzz. So off we went: we certainly couldn't have this nasty old television sitting on top of our wonderful new tv stand!

Now we have our tv to match our stand. Sadly, my firm belief that it would end Ava's adventures in DVD land was quite misguided. Two days ago, I was sitting with her on the floor and though she'd been told, oh about 10,000 times, not to open those dvd drawers, she did. And then she went to pull herself up on it and pushed the drawer in instead-catching her little finger in the drawer and in trying to yank it out, only pushed the drawer in harder. It was a sad sight to behold, however, Ava's vanity always saves the day. Whenever she falls down (which is often these days) we rush her to the nearest mirror so she can see herself and she stops crying within a minute or two. It is truly quite useful to have a vain baby.

The Gyrene Gala was also at the end of February. It went well-Stephen did a lot of prep work beforehand and I was even assigned a few jobs this year, in addition to my usual job of standing, smiling and just generally looking charmingly beautiful. My boss offered to dress up the favors this year, which consisted of wine glasses filled with decorative shredded paper and chocolates with the Marine Corps and Ave Maria University logos. (Does that make sense...Marine Corps logo? Whatever, you all know what I mean...) Anywho-I spent a few hours helping to put those together and then along with all the other students and Marine Scholars in attendance, put them on each table. The whole thing turned out beautifully, as usual. Many of the, shall we refer to them as "higher-ups" in attendance slipped comments in here and there about how next year (and supposedly ever year after that) Stephen will be the one who heads up the entire thing, speaks at the Gala and is in general, the face of Ave Maria University's Marine Scholars and Gyrene Gala. Though it is a great compliment to him, and while I have no doubt in my mind that he could organize a wonderful Gala and Scholarship, it is extremely daunting of a task. I hereby wish him Godspeed. :)

We have had various outings in the past couples months; to include a Renaissance Festival and Coconut Point (a crazy outlet mall) both with our partners in crime-The Frain Family. In January, they welcomed John Alexander Frain into their family-so here's a shout out to them: CONGRATS :) (again)

This past weekend, on Ava's 1o month birthday, we took her to the beach. She had been on the beach before but it was never a real beach trip: she had put her toes on the sand and in the water but on this particular day, we put her in her bathing suit (complete with diaper), with a hat on her head and we ventured out. Ava absolutely LOVED the beach: everything about it was fantastic to her. She loved the sand and even the super cold water that Mommy didn't even want to go into. In fact, Ava loved the sand and water so much that she just HAD to eat some of both. We were furiously taking pictures of Ava's first moments at the beach and a couple walked by and asked if they could take a picture of the three of us. The precise moment that we were all staring at the camera, smiling, to record this great moment in the history of our family, was also the precise moment that Ava chose to attempt to eat a shell coated in wet, soggy sand. The picture was taken and when I turned to see if Ava had looked, or even cared, her fingers were just leaving her lips, which were open enough for Mommy to glimpse sand and something large and white. We quickly retrieved the shell, unfortunately, the sand was not so lucky. It did not seem to bother Ava, she gave us the same look she gives us when we introduce some new food into her diet. At this point, if she was asked and could answer, sand is nothing more than the saltiest baby food she has tasted yet. Yum.

Speaking of food, Ava has quickly advanced through the baby foods. She started eating baby foods at 4 months and now at 10 months is over it. She has let us know that she is quite finished with these mushy foods and if we try to feed her (inevitably by force), she turns her head, or worse, will actually eat the food and then push it out of her mouth. Lovely child. So, it's on to table foods. Lunch for her now usually consists of cheese and banana...and a little of whatever Mommy and Daddy are eating.

In the past few days, our little angel has developed a noise that I swear rivals "the world's most annoying noise," as heard in the movie, Dumb and Dumber. And the best part? This noise is not limited to one mood. Ava makes this noise when she's excited, when she's frustrated, when she's tired...whenever, always. It's a fabulous noise.

We are now shortly before Ava's first birthday and just as I thought I was starting to feel like myself again, it hit one day that I am a Mom. I've had people ask, isn't it weird, you're a mom now? Is it different? And I always thought, no, not really. But then a moment came, and in a split second, I realized it: I am a Mom.

What was the situation that sparked such a cataclysmic realization? Well. We had invited a friend over for dinner, her husband was out of town and we hadn't seen her in a while, so she came over. We were eating dinner, Ava in her highchair, sitting at the table with us and everything was great. And then halfway through dinner, while I'm trying to speak to our friend and hear what she is saying, Ava starts making that noise. And I'm quickly cutting up the meat on my plate to give to her. And she's banging her hands. I couldn't hear what our friend was saying to me, over the banging and the screaming and concentrating on cutting meat for my screaming, banging child. And it hit me. This is it. I am a mom. No longer can I sit and relax at meals, enjoying another adults company, no, now I cut my meat and I feed it to someone else. And while Stephen and I had adapted our conversations to work around the screams and the banging, other adults cannot be expected to know this routine.

Ahh, let me tell you, these are the moments that no matter WHO tries to explain it to you, or HOW they explain it, you cannot truly understand until you are there. And while you may laugh at the fact that you're life has become a sitcom or you chuckle, because you start to understand what your parents went through, you also enjoy each and every grueling second of it.

One year: what a difference a year makes!!! We are now getting ready for Stephen's graduation. He is starting the writing process of his thesis, he has taken (and done wonderfully) on his last midterms of his undergraduate career and two days before he graduates, is Ava's first birthday. She will, as she did, steal the graduation thunder. But at least this year, it is expected. :)

May 9th is Stephen's graduation day. We are all very excited! As I said, he is starting his thesis now, and has a few other papers to write, including a ten-pager on his experience in Iraq. Between school and his job, Stephen is very busy. He combats all the insane situations that crop up day to day on a college campus, in addition to working closely with the Chancellor's office, the part of his job that supplies him with the most work, and then in his spare time, goes to class and does schoolwork. Pretty much: he is super-man.

This month also brings another HUGE milestone in Stephen's life. March is Stephen's last month of drill for the Marine Corps. He will be getting out this month and while he still, obviously, feels an allegiance to the Corps and his country, we are both glad that he's done. Stay tuned: there may be some pictures from a party for that later, as well as a much more in depth wrap up from the marine himself :)

Well, I think that's it for now. I promise to try and be better about updating the blog: now that Ava is on a schedule and has naptimes, I promise to devote some of those precious naptimes to updating all of you! We hope that all is well for everyone!!