Out of difficulties grows miracles

Ultrasounds!

noreply@blogger.com (Amber) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:09:00 +0000

My good friend Tessie was kind enough to fit me into her lunch break and do an ultrasound so I could see our baby baking inside. Sorry, still no gender scans...Tessie took a look so she knows the gender. As does her hubby, Travis who also works at the hospital and stopped by during my scan, but they both are keeping it a secret.

I'm now 27 weeks and some change. Tessie says the baby is doing perfectly! She/He weights about 2 lbs 5 oz and is growing right on track!

Thanks so much Tessie for scanning me! :)

A chip of advise

noreply@blogger.com (Amber) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:17:00 +0000

Never turn your back on a 1 yr old when there is a full, opened bag of chips sitting on the coffee table.

Welcome Home Bentley!

noreply@blogger.com (Amber) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:57:00 +0000

A few months ago we thought we found my horse, Bentley a great new home. Unfortunately it didn't work out and he came home very thin with sore feet from being ridden too hard on rocky ground. I've spend the time he's been back getting his feet feeling better, stocking him up with extra groceries and being a whole lot more picky about his next potential home.

Thankfully we found it! Today we took a 2 1/2 hour drive to take Bentley to hopefully his last new home.

This home comes complete with 1100 acres right along the Colorado River, a pond, several great pasture mates.....and a wonderful new family who will let me come visit anytime I want to.

Enjoy your new relaxing ranch life Bentley!

Happy Halloween!

noreply@blogger.com (Amber) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 15:50:00 +0000

You know your husband travels too much...

noreply@blogger.com (Amber) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:11:00 +0000

....when your baby hands you the cell phone and says, Dada?

Showed up!

noreply@blogger.com (Amber) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:46:00 +0000

Not too long ago I taught my friend Courtney how to make baby hats and I passed on a pattern for soft soled baby shoes. A few weeks ago we got these adorable shoes hand made by Courtney with my pattern! Always paying attention to detail Courtney even gave Ava's Jack-O-Lantern shoes 2 teeth, to match the two that Ava has! I think it's safe to say my sewing skills have been totally showed up!

LIttle Pumpkins

noreply@blogger.com (Amber) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:47:00 +0000

We took Ava to the Pumpkin Festival over the weekend where we meet up with her friend Tanner and his Mom and Dad. Despite it being super warm (8o degrees) for an October day we all had a great time.

Ignoring the weather I made Ava wear her pumpkin hat I made her as well as a cute sweater my sister got her just so my pictures would look fallish. Thankfully she didn't ming too much.Tanner even humored me and wore his.. For a little bit at least!

A step up

noreply@blogger.com (Amber) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 02:04:00 +0000

Lola's favorite place to lay down is right next to the coffee table. Ava's favorite new place to stand is ON Lola, much to her Mama's displeasure! Eek! Good thing Daddy was right there to catch her if she fell!

The Guessing Game!

noreply@blogger.com (Amber) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 03:33:00 +0000

While Ava was napping I was surfing the internet and came across a baby guessing game! Click on the link on the Right to guess the stats for our second baby.

Just to remind everyone Ava was born at 39 weeks at 11:16am weighing 6 lbs 14 oz and 19 1/2 in long.

New Neighbors

noreply@blogger.com (Amber) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 01:56:00 +0000

Right down the road from us they have built a huge new fire station and training center. Today they had a open house so people could see where our tax dollars went. We had plans to bring my nephews, but the boys caught the Flu so we set out on our own on a balmy 18 degree day.
Ava meet a couple new friends. Some she liked..Some she was unsure of...She even got to meet the Fire Chief!
We were excited to welcome our new neighbors to the 'hood. Even if they are a little loud every now and then.

The Children's Museum

noreply@blogger.com (Amber) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:24:00 +0000

Ava and I had plans to go to the Children's Museum with Daddy for Ava's actual birthday, but at the last minute Graham had to fly out to Chicago for the week so we invited our friends Logan and his Mom, Courtney instead.

It was so much fun! I thought the Children's Museum was for older kids and didn't even think of taking Ava there until she was older, but another friend told me they had a great room for cruisers and crawlers. Turns out Logan and Ava were able to use almost the whole museum!

I was a little worried about germs since we are heading into cold and Flu season, but the museum was very clean and had lots of buckets to put toys that kids gummed into to take them out of circulation. I think just about everything Ava touched when in to her mouth and into the bucket.

There are a lot of pictures in no sort of order since I am being too lazy to organize them but we had a blast! I see a seasons pass for the museum in our future!

Happy 1st Birthday sweet girl!

noreply@blogger.com (Amber) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 09:24:00 +0000

October 8, 2008 October 8, 2009

What a difference a year makes!

Piper

noreply@blogger.com (Amber) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:04:00 +0000

A few weeks ago I was ~~working~~ looking around on craigslist and I came across an ad for a free horse. Anyone who knows even a little bit about horses knows there is no such thing as a free horse. Buying them is the cheap part! But my friend Jen had been keeping an eye out for a young horse to start ever since she took a class with her trainer on young horse starting. So I sent her the link and whadda ya know, she went out and got her!

I have a little experience with babies after buying my gelding, Joey as a 4 month old. But I'm not an expert by any means (which is why at 6 Joey is still barely under saddle). Jen wanted me to come take a look anyways so Ava and I made the trip up the mountains to see the new baby.

This is Piper. They aren't super sure of her age but the vet is guessing she is between 6 months to a year. She is just a little thing, a pony mix of some sort and should stay a perfect height for a kid or small adult. She is very sweet and very willing. A perfect first horse to start.

While Jen and I played with Piper, Ava busied herself with stripping off her shoes and socks, despite it being COLD out.

Knitting 201

noreply@blogger.com (Amber) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 08:52:00 +0000

My knitting project is coming along pretty well. I progressed enough to move on to lesson 2, Knitting with 2 colors and 4 needles!! I was a bit nervous at first and hopeful that Susan would just take over from here, but it turned out easier than I thought. Granted I probably couldn't figure out how start the second color myself but at the time Susan made it very easy.

Here she is getting me going. She looks like she is concentrating here, but really she is yelling at me for taking pictures.Here ya go Susan- no face shots! ;)

We actually were able to finish it! I made a few mistakes, but not bad for my first knitting project.

Here is Ava modeling it for me. I had to hold her with my legs to get her to be still.

Now I'm trying it again to see if I can finish a second one!

1st Birthday Party!

noreply@blogger.com (Amber) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 08:17:00 +0000

We were so blessed to have lots of family and friends join us in celebrating Ava's first birthday with a big party! Thank goodness the weather was nice because we had more guest than our house was able to hold (a nice problem to have that so many people wanted to celebrate with us!)
How cute is Ava's dress? My Mom made it! I picked out the fabric, told her what I wanted and it came out perfectly! Thanks Mom!

My little sister took he liberty of ordering a cake for us.Which came with this super cute smash cake for Ava! Thanks Katie!!She started out slow, but soon dug in!Although, when she was done....She was done!After a little break for milk and cleaning up she came back happy and ready to join her part again.Some of our guests.

My good friends Tessie, baby Tanner, Travis and Amanda

My surprise guests. An old family friend, Kathy and her daughter, Sheena. I hadn't seen either of them in years! They were a wonderful surprise!
Even my oldest friends from middle school, Allison and Amanda, who have since moved out of state came!

Me and Ava with Allison and Amanda. You can see my 21 week baby belly here, and my double chin (ugh!)My Aunt with Ava and my Goddaughter, Adrianne.

It was such a nice party! Thank you everyone who came to celebrate with us!

Candid Camera

noreply@blogger.com (Amber) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 07:28:00 +0000

I just love when people grab my camera and I get to sort through pictures from another person's prospective.

We had Ava's 1st Birthday party today and I came across this gem of my brother-in-law while looking through my pictures.It seems to bare a strong resemblance to the pictures of his sister I found on my camera last time it was stolen away.

Follow- Up

noreply@blogger.com (Amber) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:21:00 +0000

We went back to our pediatrician today for a follow up after Ava's adventure to urgent care. Nothing showed up or grew in her stool sample so an infection or parasite was ruled out. Her blood work came back fine and her stools have no more visible blood in them after Saturday night.

The Urgent care doctors gave us a dairy free formula that smells (and I'm sure tastes) like crap. We struggled to get Ava to drink any of it. After nearly 16 hours without her drinking I finally started mixing it with her normal milk but if there was any more than 1/4 of an ounce in her bottle of the new formula she would refuse it. So our ped said to put her back on Similac and to cut out all other dairy. We go back again on the 13th for Ava's one year appointment. At that visit they will draw more blood and look for allergies.

So life is now back to normal. We'll see how the next appointment goes...

Wedding Woes

noreply@blogger.com (Amber) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 03:29:00 +0000

Our Saturday started out well. We went to the wedding of Graham's cousin, Evan and his beautiful bride, Nicole. But it ended rough, with Ava taking her first visit to Urgent care. The wedding was wonderful, as I think all wedding are. Evan and Nicole were married in a lovely church and had their reception at a gorgeous garden. So while we were waiting for the bride and groom to take their pictures we decided to venture off and take some of our own.

But shortly after dinner was served Ava needed a diaper change. So off Graham, Ava and I went to clean her up. She had a dirty diaper and while changing it I noticed it looked a little 'off'. Nothing worrisome, but different. We got her all freshened up and returned to the reception. A few minutes later Ava needed another diaper change. So she and I went off again to change her. This time there was blood in her stool. I got a little nervous, but she had been trying a lot of new foods that day and was acting fine so I decided it was most likely an irritation to a new food and decided to watch her. Another 20 minutes and she needed another change. This time with even more blood. We decide to call it a day and head home. By the time we get home she needs yet another diaper change. This last diaper was almost all bloody mucus. So we take out the thermometer and put a call into Ava's doctor. The doctor tells us generally with this much blood in a baby's stool it is an indication of an infection and advises us to take Ava in to Urgent care. We take her out of bed and head off to the hospital.

One x-ray, one blood draw, one scrapped and collected stool for culturing, a lot of tears and 3 hours later we leave with a tentative diagnosis from the on-call Pediatrician of a milk allergy. We had been introducing whole milk a little at a time for the last few weeks, but Ava showed not signs of a problem. My ped seemed skeptical on the phone that an allergen was causing this much blood without any other symptoms, but we have a follow up in a few days so we'll see what the cultures shows.

Thankfully Ava shows no signs of being bothered by her condition. No fever, no pain, no nothing. Even the nurses in the urgent Care commented how Ava was the happiest sick baby they had ever seen (prior to the blood draws and x-rays). Hopefully she stays the happy cheerful girl she normally is and this all needs up being nothing.

Playdate with Logan

noreply@blogger.com (Amber) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 05:10:00 +0000

Ava and I set off today to our friend Courtney and Logans house. Courtney wanted me to show her how to make a fleece baby hat for a friend and the kiddos got a chance to hang out and play while we sewed.

Logan is now very interested in balls. Courtney said anything that is round and able to be picked up becomes a ball...anything!

Games

noreply@blogger.com (Amber) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 04:58:00 +0000

Ava found a fun new game. She gets into her drawers and pulls out an article of clothing, one at a time....

And hurls it to the ground! She keeps going until the drawer is empty.Apparently it's great fun with books too.

Anatomy Scan, round two!

noreply@blogger.com (Amber) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 04:27:00 +0000

We went back to the OB today for my actual ultrasound. The baby is looking great! It is measuring right on track (which is nice, Ava always measured a week behind). Everything was normal and healthy!

We still decided not to find out the gender, but we want the option of finding out later if we choose to. So the sonographer placed the gender scans in an envelope for us. I'm still leaning towards it being a boy. Only because this pregnancy is so different from Ava's, which of course means nothing! Time will tell!Don't go on thinking we are really strong willed. As soon as we were in the hall we started holding the envelope up to the light to try to sneak a peak, but no luck. The sonographer placed the pictures facing each other so we can't see. I find it really funny I was disappointed she made it so hard to look, it's not like anyone is forcing us not to know! We'll see how long we hold out!

Back from the OB and it' a.....

noreply@blogger.com (Amber) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 01:43:00 +0000

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Surprise! Still! Turns out who ever scheduled my appointment in the OB's office forgot to schedule my ultrasound. So we'll go back on Wednesday for an actual ultrasound and another OB appointment. At least now we have a few more days to decide if we want to know.

Knitting 101

noreply@blogger.com (Amber) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:12:00 +0000

I came across this pattern for a knitted hat and wanted nothing more than for Ava to have one in orange to wear to the pumpkin patch this Fall. Luckily for us one of the Charge Nurses at work is a knitting expert. So I emailed that link to her in hopes she would just offer to make it for us since knitting is not on my resume.

Instead she said "Cute. I'll come teach you how to make it." Um. Not exactly what I had in mind. It's taken me 8 years to crochet half a blanket but Susan was of the "If you teach a man to fish" mentality and came over today and taught me how.

Turns out knitting is right up my alley! It is a lot of fun and perfect for keeping my hands busy while we watch TV. Hopefully I finish this project while there are still pumpkins around! Thanks Susan!

Tomorrows the BIG day!

noreply@blogger.com (Amber) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 01:03:00 +0000

We have our anatomy scan tomorrow for our second baby! I'm very excited to see him (I just know it's a boy!) and make sure everything is okay since we've had a few scares and a few lousy appointments with this pregnancy.

Now we need to decide if we want to find out the gender or not.....

Picnic at the park

noreply@blogger.com (Amber) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 23:53:00 +0000

Ava and I meet up today with our NICU work friends for a picnic and a walk.

There was Angela, and her twin boys Jeremiah and Ben.

And Jen and her little guy, Connor.Ava spent most of her time cruising around finding rocks.......and trying to eat them. I'm pretty sure she ate enough sand to make an entire sand castle. Being a giver, she also spent some time trying to get Ben to eat some sand as well. It was a great day to spend the afternoon.