It has been way too long

Singing Itsy Bitsy Spider, she has me sing this with her all the time!

Showing me her teeth again

Showing off her cool stamp from Gym Class today!

Lovin with Mama

What beautiful lips she has!! This was the last pic of many and she was done!

We have had a crazy 6 weeks.  First we all caught a nasty bug that stuck around for over a month and hit Mommy the hardest!

About 2 weeks ago Ava finely had her appointment to get all her blood work done.  We had not done that yet since being back from China we were just working on attachment and wanted to give her a break after everything she had been through medically.  Our appointment started at 9:15 am with a well baby check up she did so well and even let the doctor look in her ears which is a big improvement.  She made sure everyone knew that we were Mommy and Daddy, it was so cute.  In the seven months Ava has been home she has grown almost 3 inches and three pounds, which makes her 34 3/4 inches and 27 pounds now.  After about an hour there they sent us up  the children's hospital for the blood work, we were not looking forward to this.  I could not even imagine how they were going to get blood out of this child?!  She did great until the first needle went in, they had to get 8 tubes of blood.  The poor baby was screaming so loud and her little lip was just quivering.  The hardest part was her screaming our names.  My hubby held her, they had to stick her 5 times because she kept pulling the needle out!!  Every time the needle came out she would say "all done", smart little bugger!  I had to tell her no that there is more because she wiggled the needle out, then it would all start over again.  We were so glad when they were finally done.  We should have the test results back any day now.  When we got back in the car to drive the hour home I gave Ava her bottle and she fell fast asleep and slept for over 2 hours.  For days after she kept on pointing to her boo boo on her arms and hands.  

Also in the last two weeks I won a give away from Theres always Room for One More, my first one.  Denise is wonderful and I cant wait to meet her in person some day.  I won a cute mug with her logo on it and some yummy tea, which was awesome when I was still sick.  She also sent me some of her famous "Crack Bars"  and my kids loved them!! (Me too)  Thanks Denise so much.  Denise also gave me a blog award and I thank her very much but did not have time to do it.

I also got tag from Casey at Birdie and the Queen Bee with a fun photo sharing thing but still was not feeling well and was not on the computer very much but thanks so much Casey for thinking of me.  Check out her blog I love reading it and she has two beautiful children.

My hubby was gone last week for a conference and we missed him so much.  I was very wiped after holding down the fort by myself.  It is so hard now that we dont have family around too help out.  But I did have my wonderful girlfriend Nicole watch Ava a couple of times while I had appts. and that was a life saver. (Thanks!!) The boys were awesome and took turns sleeping with Ava and Gavin slept with her twice.  It was such a big help for me so I could get some good sleep and be a good Mommy and get through the day.  She still has a hard time at night, we are looking forward to that getting better some day soon.

Gavin and Soren finished their second season of hockey last week.  They have really started to speed on their skates and they both made there first goals.  Way to go boys!!

Keaton is doing so much better in pre-K and really listening well and learning so much.  He knows all his letter sounds and loves to play a game he made up when he tells me a letter and we try and think of everything that starts with that letter.  Today he came home with a big hole in his jeans.  I told him tonight he can just throw them anyway because now we cant wear them to school anymore. He said "But Mom I like having the hole in my jeans, it makes me look Cool", where do they get this stuff??  I said that he could keep them but they would only be for play and he was happy about that.

Preston is getting ready for an exciting adventure. In about 2 weeks he is leaving on his 8th grade trip to Washington DC, he is so excited!!  He will be gone 6 days, they will have 4 very packed days visiting everything they can, it will be trip he will never forget and we are so happy he is able to go.  Neither Sean or I have ever been there so he will be the first, the best history lesson you can get!!

I will be leaving mid April to go visit my girlfriend in Maui for 6 days.  I cant wait to see the ocean, do some snorkeling and bake in the warm sun.  Sean will hold down the fort this time with all the kids.  This will be the first time I leave Ava but I will have my laptop and we can see each other on Skype which will help.  

Well that is our last 6 weeks in a nutshell.  Hope you enjoy the pics from today of Ava and I, she loves taking pictures with Mommy.