A Visit with Family

This past weekend Brian went on his annual camping trip with his highschool buds in New York, so I took Ava to visit family. Oh, first of all we started out to see my life-long friend Hope, who also just had a baby boy in February. She lives in Dunwoody so we stopped there on our way to Athens. What a fun visit! Her little boy Luke is younger than Ava and they were very interested in each other. He would watch her push up on her hands and then it was as if he was trying to copy her and he would try to do the same. He is a cutie! It's kind of weird that she and I are moms now. I feel like we're still in high school sometimes! "What? When did we become adults?" She's been a great friend growing up and we always have fun together. And it's weird too how we always seemed to go through the same sort of stuff at the same time! And he we are at the beginning of motherhood together. It's neat how God worked that out for us. We will be a good support for each other I'm sure.

After that we took off for Athens and surprised Papa at work. Boy, was he sure a proud papa that afternoon! He enjoyed showing her off to the people he works with. We stayed in Athens that night and that Friday night too. Friday night Clark and his family visited so she got to play with cousins Brooks and Wade. Brooks is so funny with her. I think he thinks she's a living toy! He poked her and then threw his hands up and clapped and laughed! At one point her legs got stuck under the chair and he reached over and pulled her arm. He did this three times and finally got her out! Now, you have to remember that he's only 1 year old! That's pretty impressive. He's a smart kid. So the next day we went to see Ava's great grandmother. Now that was a surprise for her too. And she was so happy to see Ava. She had been asking dad about her and how we were doing since our trip, so I know she was glad to finally get to see this bundle of joy she'd been hearing about. She kept saying, "jan, she doesn't cry does she?" and I'd say "No, ma'am, not much." She did well during that visit until she got hungry and then it quickly got loud! But we whipped her bottle out just in time. I've been wanting to go see her for some time and you know how it goes, life gets in the way. Good intentions don't get me very far sometimes. Mom got pictures of that but I don't have any yet. I'll post those later.

After visiting, Ava and I drove to Acworth. She did okay in the car. Starting out was rough. She was sleepy and frustrated but eventually, after 20 minutes or so, she fell asleep. The drive wasn't too bad as far as traffic goes thankfully. So we got there and Jack who is 6 was so excited to see her and his first comment was, "she's so little! And her toes and fingers are so small!" He had seen her once before but was just taken with her this time around. The girls were excited too but I expect that from them I guess. He was just funny. So we were there part of Saturday and Sunday and left Monday. Jack was so great with her. He loved strolling her around the house and he'd stop and say,"is she smiling?" At one point he just stopped and sat at the kitchen table and looked at her for a while. Precious!!

He had lots of questions about adoption and I hope I was able to answer to his satisfaction! He's an inquisitive fellow who doesn't settle for a pat answer. He wants details and he wants to understand fully. But some concepts are harder than others. Well, it was good practice for me! He was just so wonderful and gentle with her. He was a good helper too. He'd go get me diapers and things. He was very interested in the whole baby thing. He was a little jealous when he saw Ava getting so much of Jennifer's affections. He's a mama's boy for sure but in a good way! But Ava soon drew his attention too and he was fine. Ava liked him as well and liked to watch him jump around and play. He must have been quite entertaining for her. She doesn't get to see stuff like that at home! When she was looking tired he said to me, "Do you think maybe Ava needs to get cozy with this blanket? That might help her get sleepy." So I put her under and then he got under. He even brought down his favorite stuffed animals for her to play with. Of course, that became more of game than a "getting cozy" time.

Jen and I stayed up talking Saturday night as we always do. I should have known better. As soon as I layed down at 3am (crazy!) Ava started crying! Aaaaagh! That tends to be how it usually happens. She just was out of sorts in this new place and only slept a little longer that night. By 7am I was exhausted and just put her in the bed with me thinking if she'll just play here in bed I can at least close my eyes. Next theing I know Jennifer is waking us up! We had both fallen asleep. So we very quickly got ready to go to church. Jennifer was looking forward to introducing us to her Sunday School class b/c they had been praying for us as well. What a beautiful picture of what the body of Christ is! I have been so sweetly blessed by all these people telling us they have been praying for us. Just wonderful. Ava didn't make it through that class without some "vocalizing" as we call it. So we headed to the nursery where she could make some noise and have a bottle. The rest of the day was relaxing. Ava took a 2 hour nap so I got to sleep as well. Aaahhh, beautiful sleep!

We had a lazy Memorial day. We got back home around 6. It was sad to leave the kids. They were SOOOO sweet to Ava. They keep her entertained! I love those kids. I think one day they will make excellent baby-sitters!!

Ava has been sleeping pretty well this week. I think the weekend wore her out. She actually slept straight through last night without a bottle...will it happen again tonight? We'll see. Maybe it's the start of something great! She gets five shots tomorrow so I would be willing to bet that whatever pattern may be starting to form will probably be interrupted tomorrow by sore legs and fever. I don't look forward to this dr. visit at all. Oh, one other thing, she has started scooting forward, like an army crawl. It's funny to watch. She sort of lunges forward. It's very cute. And she's started this whining thing when she wants me to get her something she can't reach. Yikes. Gotta nip that in the bud.


Ava's camera smile:

We're getting in a pretty good groove over here. Ava has settled into a sort of routine. She goes to bed around 9:30 or 10:00 then sleeps until 3am then up around 6. She will nap again around 10am for a couple of hours. Then we play and hang out until 3:30 or so and she'll take another short nap. She's eating well and growing. At our doctor visit Monday she had gained another pound so she's up to 14.7! The doctor said she is very strong and looks healthy. Music to my ears.


We took Ava to church for the first time on Sunday. I'm not comfortable yet leaving her in the nursery, not b/c of the nursery itself, just b/c of Ava's having been in an orphanage. I just want to make sure she feels secure enough before we set her in an environment like that. I have a feeling she will be fine though. She's handled everything else so well. We'll have to work up to that. She did great in Sunday school and church though. She got a little vocal in Sunday School so I took her out for a bottle. Everyone was so happy to see her. When I went back to the Sunday School room I couldn't go right in because they were having prayer time. Meanwhile, another class let out right next to ours and many people stopped to see her and told me they had been praying for us and reading the blog. A lot of them I had not met before. I just think that is so neat that we had people who don't even know us praying for us and for Ava. That happened all day long before and after the service. What a blessing it was to us to hear that! We are still talking about it. Ava doesn't know it but she's already special to so many people. I think this process of adoption is just a reminder of how Christ has adopted us into His family. It is a precious thing. We, like Ava, did nothing to "deserve" such unconditional love. But it has been poured out for us and now we belong to His family as Ava does to ours. In the service, on the pulpit, they had a rose and a pair of booties for Ava's first day. They had an announcement in the bulletin also. It was a day that we had been looking forward to for a long time. I had daydreamed about bringing our baby to church for as long as I can remember. Now it's a reality and a beautiful memory. We are so blessed to have such wonderful people around us at church. They have prayed with us and for us and covered us with those prayers. They have brought us meals and shared in our excitement over Ava. It's fun to have people excited with us!! It makes it even MORE special to have friends to share this time with.

On our way home we saw there was some sort of art festival in Fayetteville so we stopped there. It was a beautiful, windy day and we got to enjoy that as we got some food there and ate outside. Ava enjoyed it too! They had all sorts of food there and we got a little of almost everything. But we missed the kettle corn booth-rats!!

That afternoon we headed home for a nap. We got a call from Jack and Sherry Hancock that they were celebrating some birthdays over there and we were invited. We headed over there in the evening. Sherry is an awesome cook and we always enjoy her food and the company of course is always fun. So we had dinner there and got to see their new grand baby too. They show so much love to Ava and their friendship has meant a lot to us over the year . Ava seems to have fun with them as well! But, who wouldn't?!?

So we had a pretty busy weekend. It was full of fun and also some firsts. We hope to have more weekends just like it! I threw in some random pics from the week.

Mother's Day

Yes, Mother's Day was a week ago and here I am, just now writing about it. Did everyone give up on my ever blogging again?

So, Mother's day was of course very special for me this year. It was never an upsetting thing for me, Mother's Day, just because I was not a mom yet. I just focused on celebrating my mother of course, and so it was never a hard day for me. Rather, it was always a good one. I guess the Lord was gracious to me in allowing it to be that way. But I have to say I was looking forward to this one. Ava was home and just in time to celebrate that special day with her. What a gift! I have to say I was a little sad though that day. It does bring about thoughts about her birth mom and how she must miss Ava. A lot of birthmoms have to give up their children only because they know they do not have the ability financially to care for them, not because they don't want them or love them. So, I was a little sad for her that day and my thoughts went to her often. Does she wish she could kiss those darling, puffy cheeks the way I am able to now? Does she miss those dark eyes looking back at her so sweetly? Oh, the thoughts are almost too much. It makes me so thankful to have her and in fact, makes us all the more aware of our responsibility and of how precious it is that God has given her to us.

Anyway, it really was a good day. We went to my parents house in Athens. Their house in on a lake and surrounded by woods so it's incredibly peaceful out there. That Saturday the neighborhood folk had a picnic so I took Ava down to the clubhouse for that. So many people came up to see her. My parents had been talking about her in their excitement so several were aware of our situation and were so excited to meet her. Okay, coloring aside, do my mom and Ava look alike in this picture or is it just me? It makes me laugh!
The next day was Mother's Day and my brother and sister-in-law came over with their two boys. Brooks is 6 months older than Ava and he really got a kick out of her. He just smiled and smiled at her! So cute! He was a little jealous when Ashlie was holding Ava, and so he decided to just climb right on up there with her. I think they'll enjoy playing with each other as they get older. I bet Ava will just be following him around everywhere!

My parents, they have a knack with babies, let me tell ya. They could put any baby to sleep--they just have the touch. They worked in the newborn nursury at church for as long as I can remember. Maybe that's where they got all their practice! It's as if babies know that my parents are good like that and they just relax with them. I wish I knew their secret. This weekend was the first time that Clark, my brother, got to hold Ava. He had to work hard to get her to smile at him, but it finally worked. Usually she is so smiley but sometimes it's like she's playing a game and will just make you work at it for a while. We had a nice dinner, steaks, salad, potatoes, the works. That's the place to go for relaxing--unless ALL the grandkids are there and then that's a different story altogether. But there's enough room for everyone to sort of spread out or go outside for a walk so I guess there are quiet moments here and there.

I have so many great pictures from this visit. It was hard to choose which ones to put on the blog! I want to post them all. Somehow I got away from the weekend with no pictures of me with Ava--on Mother's Day at that!! How did that happen?!? I guess I'm always the one with the camera, therefore.....

Ava had another really good week. No major struggles yet. We go to the doctor tomorrow for a well-check. She just seems to continue with the flow. Great baby. Sweet sweet gift from God. I got an E-card from someone in my Bible Study last week for Mother's Day and the message on it sums it up for me..."God gave you to ME?" That is exactly how I feel! You for ME? How could it be that He saw fit to give me such a wonderful little thing? I don't understand, but why question it! I'll just enjoy it and know that it's just simply GRACE.

I have to blog about this weekend tomorrow. I have some great pictures from the week too. This girl is growing like a weed--she's growing out, not up though! Everyone who has seen her recently, for the second time, comments on how big she's gotten!

Hope everyone has had a good weekend and enjoyed the gorgeous weather.

This Week

Ava has been doing great this week. I think the anitbiotics must be kickin' in. She is still a little congested but much better I think. She's not as cranky for sure. She seems to be settling into a little routine, not thanks to us. We just went along for the ride there for a while. But now her sleeptime at night has extended so she's only getting up once a night for a bottle--shew, much easier! Her naps I have discovered, need to be on the short side so she'll sleep at night. Although today she threw me for a loop when she slept for 2 hours. I had to go wake her up! Usually she only naps for about 39 to 45 minutes. Oh well. She still was in bed by 10:00 tonight so it doesn't seem to be messing her up. I guess we'll know in a couple of hours. Brian has been really great to get up with her at night. Well, we take turns at the night shift. But when she's up in the morning around 5 am he gets up for his day and takes care of her while I sleep. Then once he hops in the shower I take over. So we've got a little system here that seems to be working for us. We could both use a little more sleep but overall we're doing real well.
She is started to move around pretty well. She certainly rolls well. She can roll half way across the room in under 30 seconds! She is started to push up more and more and she's getting her knees under her as well. But when her knees come up, the rest of her goes down! Good. I don't want her to grow up too fast. But I have a feeling it won't be too long before she's crawling and then it's watch out mom and dad!
This is Ava's new "thing". When we have her in the bouncy seat she likes to have her feet propped up on these plastic fish. I guess this is her way of kicking back and relaxing! Whatever the reason, it's certainly cute as can be.

She's still eating well too. She loves the rice cereal and we have fun with that. She wants to help with the spoon but you know how that goes. I feed her most of the cereal and then let her help me with the last little bit. She is chunkin' up a little bit and we love it! She's a healthy girl. And she's a sweet girl. We've had a lot of laughs around here. She definitely keeps us smilin'.

Video

I've been working hard on this video montage of our trip. I will eventually add more pics and music, but for now this will do. Hope you all enjoy it. Remember to turn off my music at the bottom of my blog page by pressing pause on the sonific songspot!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We're doing well but tired. We think Ava may have an ear infection from being congested on the flight over. Poor thing just isn't herself lately. So tomorrow I will take our first trip to the doctor. Sleep is short and not often enough but we're hangin' in there. We've been able to tag team which has been nice. It just kills me not being able to make her feel better. Tears at the heart. But hopefully tomorrow we will turn a corner.