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ava turns one and other random thoughts...beware this is long!

may 5, 2009

May 5, 2009

Let's start at May 2, Ava's first birthday party! I'm tired of having regrets, so we just went all out for her party. Yes I know, she's only one and won't even remember, but I knew I wanted to make it great. I pulled it off almost as perfect as I imagined....I get the "almost" part from my mom, we always seem to find something not quite right. ha The weather was BEAUTIFUL, the only dry and sunny weekend out of around 6 previous ones, so that helped set the stage for a fabulous day. We totally missed my mom, she is in Italy taking care of her ill mother, and probably will not be back for some time. We took lots of pictures and will share a few...I want her to feel like she was there.

May 5 was Ava's actual 'cinco de mayo' birthday and I held off on the tears until late that night. I am so happy to have been able to watch Ava morph into this little person, and her turning one gets me excited. I love watching her learn things, make new faces, communicating with new sounds, watching her walk is funny and scary all balled up in one. I am tired in a totally different way now and some days I want to hire a nanny to do all my cooking, cleaning, and playing...I find myself screaming in my head, HELP!!! lol (all you stay at home moms know what I mean!) My house is no longer clean and orderly, and my hair and clothes are not what they used to be, but I wouldn't change any of it, EVER!

Happy One Year Ava!

One year has continued to bring out the quirkiness in her. She gave up on the socks and is now walking around holding her nose shut and gasping for air, eating kiwi and grapefruit is a daily ritual, she walks around caring my watering jug and talking nonsense to the air, and finally she HAS to have everyone’s napkin just so she can smell them heavily. It makes me sooooo HAPPY that she has a weird side like me!

I have to admit, I am missing my spring gardening. It's just way too hard with her. I do get a 2-2.5 hour break in the afternoon when she takes her nap, but most days I need a nap and then a shower, then facebook, then sit on the swing, then catch up on housework...who has time to dig in the dirt. Looks like the Farmer's Market will be our new Wednesday afternoon outing. I am optimistic and know we will do it next year.

In this past year I feel I have grown as a person and think having Ava has opened my eyes to good and bad things about me and my relationships with others. I have also always been independent and having a baby kind of puts a kink in that. I have ALMOST gotten over it! ha I know I have a lot to teach Ava and am hopeful I will lead her in the right direction to happiness, success, a belief in love, God, and that family and friends are what make life fun and meaningful.

With all that said....peace out! (see, I told you I was weird too)

April Update

Life at the Djordjevich household has been full of laughter...mostly Ava's, she has finally decided she finds herself quit amusing; like when she looks at herself in the mirror naked, when she squeals at the top of her lungs, when the cat comes within 2 feet of her, when we play peek-a-boo behind the doors, and when it's bath time she still crawls at top speed to the bathroom and jibber jabbers THE ENTIRE TIME...what could she possibly be saying anyway? I would love to know. She has a great laugh!

Okay, so Ava has had a dramatic relationship with this weird ball. She has been scared to touch it or even look at it without crawling on me for dear life with a shaky body (you know we laughed at it). Well, last night she decided she wanted me to pull it out of her toy bin. I held it, she looked at it, she looked away, I told her it was okay she could touch it, she looked at me, at the ball, almost touched it, pulled away her hand really fast, repeated this 3 times, then had a stare down with the ball for awhile, finally touched it ever so carefully like it was going to bite her, quickly withdrew her hand and wouldn't look at the ball again! I just LOVE her quirky side...you know she also has a strange fetish with socks.

We had a nice Easter and Ava ended up with FOUR Easter Baskets. She of course knew exactly what to do on the Easter egg hunt at Nonno and Nonna's. She went for the plastic eggs, tasted them first, and then put them in her basket. She's such a smart little girl...okay, I'm done bragging.

Ava just keeps amazing me every day, and it seems that even the small accomplishments make me beam with pride. She points at books when I ask her titles, she squeezes objects to get them to make a sound, she makes connections between pictures and real things, she learned how to use her spoon in two days and has been drinking out of a straw for months, she hardly ever cry's, and her walking ability will be mastered by her first birthday...which by the way, we are begging for warm weather to help us celebrate her Cinqo De Mayo Birthday!

Ava takes a risk!

For those of you not on Facebook...AVA WALKED...FIVE DIFFERENT TIMES!!!! Here's a couple vidoes we were able to capture...with all the thanks to our favorite neighbor Chirs Johnson. This all happened on Thursday, March 26. I was complaining how bored we both had been that day and Ava decided to spice the end of the day up...way to go Ava!

Tequila Baby!

This is where motherhood has lead me! Don't judge, just understand... drink in one hand, baby in the other, it's how we get through the day! :-)

Spring is in the air!

We had a great trip to Hamilton this week. Dejan was gone for three days for work, and I was NOT about to spend those three days alone in Ottumwa. SO, off Ava and I went. We stopped in Keokuk and spent some time with Grandma and Grandpa...I think I kind of surprised them, but know it was a good surprise. Ava was so happy to see them and spent the entire time walking around the ottoman and getting into everything that had a door.

When we finally made it to Hamilton, Ava was surrounded by Anna and Sam and she loved every minute it of it. They are so good to her! We all crashed hard that night and couldn't wait for the 65 degree day in store for Wednesday. Wednesday did not disappoint! I snuck away for an hour and half and enjoyed a walk to "downtown" Hamilton and shopped at Arnell's and Samuels...I think I am broke now. :-) I had to laugh because walking into Arnell's was like walking into the past. It looks just like when I was 10 and Owner/Pharmacist Steve Arnell was still working hard behind the counter and I looked up and smiled when I heard his familiar voice. I felt like a kid for a brief moment...I had to stop myself from buying pop and candy like the old days too. If you haven't been to Samuels, you are missing out. Jim has done a really great job with the store and I have a hard time leaving there spending less than 100 dollars.

The rest of the day was spent with Jenn and the kids and we had so much fun. I'll just post pictures; they are more fun to look at then words.

We bounced forever in that bounce house...I was exhausted, but we had so much fun!



She walked without help with that thing!

Doesn't she looked humiliated!?!?!

We made it home Thursday after driving 2 hours in a terrible rain storm...seriously, it poured the entire time and made it almost impossible to see the lines on the road. How did Ava do? Well, she slept the whole way! Lucky girl. I had to pry my hands off the steering wheel!

A growth spurt and a brain spurt

The whole reason I started this blog was to help me remember things I know I will forget...well, how am I going to remember them if I don't write!

I swear Ava turned 8 months old last month and she just erupted into this little person. The best part has been she is completely sleeping through the night without any cries out. You may remember she had bad gas, she had it the worst at night, and would always need her binky or repositioned to help her more comfortable. THAT IS FINALLY OVER!! WOO HOO. I actually sleep from 9:30-6:00 without interruptions...well, you mom's all know the trips to the bathroom really never stop, and I still lay my hand on her to make sure she is breathing. Will that every stop?

Her biggest milestones: she claps, she hugs and kisses, she stands with a little balance on her own, she stacks blocks, she follows directions (things like 'get the ball', 'give mommy the ball', 'where's the kitty' and she always looks right at her and points, she knows the words mommy and daddy, she cut two teeth, she can walk up the stairs (seriously), and finally SHE CRAWLS...it took one week of practice and she got it!

This all means she wants to go where she wants to go and she wants to do what she wants to do. Not so good for me! The other morning I heard her wake up and could hear her talking to herself and kind of sounding angry...I let her be for about 5 minutes and then it got quiet....I figured she fell back asleep....she did, but I found her on her side with one hand gripping the side of the crib like she had been trying to sit up and then just gave up and fell back asleep in exhaustion in that postion with binky in mouth. I just stood there staring at her laughing and thinking to myself...this girl is very determined and is going to cause me a lot of headaches!

This video is for Seabold's so they can continue to enjoy Ava's angry side...it gives them much joy! Sorry Mark, I forgot to say your name...it's like cutting you out of the pictures all over again...actually it's really because you are the nice one and don't laugh at my misery. lol