Twilight Tuesdays

The weather here has been amazing, and I was looking for something for us to do outside. That's when I heard about Twilight Tuesdays on the radio. Forest Park is a great place in STL that holds all kinds of events. Twilight Tuesdays are free concerts that happen at 6:30 in front of our beautiful History Museum. I got online to get more info, and it encourages you to bring your own food and drinks. I was all ready for a picnic. Well I had nothing on all the people around us. They all had tables, chairs, and every type of food and drink imaginable. The people next to us were eating shrimp and sipping wine. My meat, cheese, and olives looks shabby compared to them :o) The music was great! Jazz is the perfect music for Ava. She danced all night and it wasn't too loud or crazy for her. The jazz singer was a local, Denise Thimes, who was amazing. There was a dance floor and people were dancing the night away. It was good family time for the 3 of us. Ava is at that great age where she laughs and tries to sing and dance. She definitely entertains us and the people around us. By the end of the night she was beat and so were Steve and I. Next time, we're bringing friends and I'm going to out do our neighbors with the food ;o) Living close to the city definitely has it's perks!

Girly Girl

I remember very vividly March 19, 2008. That was the day we found out we were having a girl. Up until that point, it had been drilled into our heads that we were having a boy by my MIL. All of Steve's cousins were boys, not a single girl in the group. Therefore there was no way Steve could produce a girl. Well surprise...it's girl. The point was made very clear in the ultrasound. March 19th is also my birthday, so we went out to dinner afterwards. All through dinner Steve was painfully quiet. I was so worried he was disappointed but I was wrong. He was in shock. When he finally did start talking, it was all of his worries that spilled out.

"I don't know what to do with a girl."

"What if she wants to play tea party with me? I've never done that before."

"She's not going to date...ever."

"I can't think of one of my friends that I would let her date, and I like my friends. No one will ever be good enough."

"She's going to play a sport."

"Does this mean I have to play house and dress up?"

He was truly freaked out by this girl thing. I was just happy to find out she was healthy and everything looked good. I also was excited because I have an awesome relationship with my mom, so I knew I would have that with Ava one day.

It took a few days but he snapped out of it and was super excited to have a girl. He is great with her. I love watching him play with her. He plays tea party with her and house. He also plays ball with her too. He still says he doesn't want a girly girl. I'm not too girly, so I doubt Ava will be either. Don't get me wrong, I like to shop (and so does Ava) but I am very low maintenance. Steve now says he can't imagine having a boy and feels so blessed to have Ava. Although he does hope baby number 2 is a boy...and so do I.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Little miss HATES me trimming her nails. Unfortunately, hers grow like crazy, so this is usually a bi-weekly occurrence. I have to sit on the floor and try to distract her with books, while I try to trim all her little digits. She wiggles and waggles while I struggle not to clip something other than nail. It hasn't been fun...until lately. The past few times I have trimmed her nails, she then wants to do it to herself and me. She acts like she's doing what I do and tries to give me a book and then clips my nails. I think this has helped her fear of the nail clippers tremendously. She realizes it doesn't hurt and cracks herself up while taking care of Mommy and herself. I'm going to have to watch myself because she is copying everything I do lately. If I sneeze, she sneezes. If I laugh, she laughs. You get the picture. I've always said little ones are sponges and that is oh so the case with Miss Ava.

Oh and on another note, she took her first independent steps last night. She has been "walking" between Steve and I but really not walking more like falling. Last night we were practicing and spaced ourselves farther apart. She took at least 4 steps to get in between us and was so proud of herself. I'm happy that the walking will start soon because she is almost 13 months but on the other hand my world is going to drastically change too. I'm already chasing the little monkey all over the place. I think she's going to be a runner. She is a super fast crawler and that's the way she likes to walk too. Let the chasing begin!!!

Mommy Time

I'll be the first to admit I used to look at moms on What Not to Wear and think, "how did they get that way?" Well, I totally get it. You get so wrapped up in your child(ren) that you stop thinking about yourself. I would rather buy her clothes than me, I fix her a great, healthy lunch and I eat whatever I can find, and so on. I have been telling myself that I need to workout but that's as far as it went. Our gym has a daycare that you can take your child to for up to an hour and a half. I kept saying that Ava wasn't old enough but now that she's one I really don't have an excuse. I dove in head first. For the past few weeks, Ava and I have been going to the gym M-F from 8-9. It's been great. I get to workout and not worry about the wee one, and Ava is getting to play with other kids. That time has worked out great because there aren't too many kids in the daycare. Ava is plenty worn out by the time we get home, so she's usually ready for a nap. It's also great because I have to sign Ava up ahead of time and I would feel awful if I signed her up and didn't show. In other words, it forces me to go because I signed her up. It's a win-win for both of us. Here's a few pics I snapped of her during her nap after the gym today.

Who Wore it Better?

I have a habit of reading fashion and gossip magazines while on beach vacations and since I went on 2 this summer, I read my fair share of trash and fashion. This is my version of the celebrities that wear the same dress and then the magazine poles the readers to see who wore it better.

These are my two celebrities...Ava and Sweet Pea. Tell me, who wore these better?

I'll admit...

I'm totally addicted to Etsy. I love to browse the different categories, see what other people have just bought, or shop by color. I love shopping and shopping from my desk is even better!! Being down to one income (BTW, that is not me complaining), I can't shop the way I used to but I can still look. Here are a few of my Etsy faves at the moment.

Necklush

Moop

TQB Designs

I'm starting to think fall. Aren't these perfect for cool weather?

Great Weekend

We had my favorite kind of weekend, busy but fun. The weekend started with me dropping Ava off at my mom's work so she could have a sleepover with Mamaw and Papa. We then visited our friends in the hospital who just had a beautiful baby girl. We took Pasta House with us and just hung out with them and baby G for a couple hours. It amazes me how fast you forget just how itty bitty a newborn is. Steve's still talking about when is baby 2 coming for us. Although he was talking about that when we brought Ava home from the hospital! When we came home that night we curled up on the couch and watched Stepbrother. Not my first choice but I still find myself laughing even though I tell myself I shouldn't. Steve went to bed and I stayed up and watched Twilight...I know I'm almost 30 and I know the acting is not good but I still love it and can't wait for New Moon in November!

Anywhoo, Saturday we cleaned the basement. With Ava gone we were able to work for hours straight without worrying about the munchkin. Not fun but so needed it!! We took a car full to Good Will and threw away a ton of stuff too. Our basement is so clean I think you could eat off of the floor, I wouldn't, but you could. When Ava got back we just chilled out for night which was nice.

Sunday was early church, lunch, mowed the lawn with the hubby, and made spinach noodles for dinner. I even squeezed a nap in there too while daddy and baby played. Like I said, very busy weekend but we got a lot accomplished and had fun while doing it. The weather was AMAZING here over the weekend too. Now it's back to the week as usual.