Golf, Smiles, and the Zoo!

It's been a busy 48 hours. Jim and I took Friday off and enjoyed a yummy IHOP breakfast before heading to Quail Hollow for the PGA tournament. This is our 4th year going and we love going on Friday. Usually we just sit on the 7th green and let the players come to us. This year we followed Camilo for a few holes, sat on 7 for the morning, but then decided to go follow Tiger once he teed off at 12:50. We stayed through five then decided we were ready to bolt. Once we got home we decided to give Ava her new clubs. She was pretty excited; probably because they're pink. We took her across the street to the park to learn how to swing them. They're about a year or two too big for her, but she'll get the hang of it.









Saturday was as fun (and tiring) as Friday. Our neighborhood had its annual garage sale which I had to take advantage of. I got some great stuff for the girls and a few fun things for me too. I love garage sailing! Afterwards we loaded up the car and took the girls for their first trip to the zoo. We went to Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC. Ava was so excited to see all of the animals. She was especially excited to see monkeys, lions, and giraffes. She also enjoyed taking a pony ride, complete with her pink jockey helmet. We plan on taking her to the Georgia Aquarium later this summer. We know she will love that, as she was looking for Nemo the entire time we were at the zoo.

Ava amused by the chickens

Ava and Daddy in the farm animal barn. She did get to see a real cow, however.

Feeding the goat!

With Simba from the Lion King (or so she thought)

Pony time!

Feeding a toucan

She enjoyed the elephants a lot!

Last but not least, how about those smiles? Audrey is such a happy baby. She loves it when you talk to her, and she usually talks back. She loves to smile. I absolutely melt at these pictures. As always, the full album from the weekend's events are available to view on our family website.

Audrey - 2 months

So our little girl is growing up quickly. We took her to her two month appointment yesterday and learned that she has shot up from 60% weight to 80% (12 lb 2 oz) and from 60% height to 75% (22.75"). Her head circumference is at 55%. She is doing really, really well and is only getting up one time a night, most nights. She can sleep for 4-5 hours at night time which I am really thankful for.

She is finally spending her nights in her crib upstairs while Mom and Dad have regained ownership of their bedroom downstairs. We spent a week in the guest bedroom upstairs, but Ava kept asking us why we were sleeping in her grandpa's bed so we figured it was time to move back down to our domain.

In other news, Jim got a title promotion from VP to Senior VP! This is a great achievement for him. He's been working really hard and had hoped to make SVP within the next year, so it was a welcome surprise when he got the news Tuesday. Way to go, Jim!

Audrey's Sip n See

This weekend my awesome friends Kelly and Heather hosted a Sip n See for Audrey at our house! For those of you who don't know a "Sip n See" is a Southern thaaang. It's basically a casual party for a baby who's not your first born. Being a second child myself, I wanted to make sure she had something to celebrate her birth that was all about her. We had originally scheduled it for earlier in the month, but had to move the date due to some personal conflicts. I couldn't cancel it... my baby had to have her party!

My girls didn't let me down. They brought a gorgeous cake and laid out an entire spread including swayte tay (sweet tea), lemonade, etc. As well, my good friend Colleen brought the most amazingly cute cupcakes I've ever seen. She even made all the little toppers herself (see the pics.)

Ten very good friends were able to make it for the afternoon, as well as several kiddos who wanted to see the baby. They all quickly found the playroom upstairs however and enjoyed their time with Ava up there :) All in all, a great time was had and I'm so thankful for everyone who came to celebrate Audrey with our family.

Audrey's beautiful cake. Love the little booties!

Me and my girl!

How cute are these cupcakes? Thanks Colleen!

Our beautiful spread where I even got to use my china. Woo hoo!

Mommy and her girls after the party. So sweet!

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter weekend. Carolina weather cooperated perfectly at 70 and sunny. We started off the day be going to church, then went over to Eli and Colleen's house for brunch. This has become a tradition the past three years that we enjoy very much. They were kind enough to have Easter eggs hidden all over their back yard for Miss Ava. She loved finding them and of course eating the contents. After brunch, Ava brought down every stuffed animal they own, laid them all on the couch, and proceeded to talk to them for the next hour or so :)

After the girls' afternoon naps (and while watching 6.5 hours of Masters coverage) we enjoyed an Easter dinner at our house, courtesy of Honeybaked Ham. I mean really, who wants to cook when Honeybaked can do it quicker and yummier? Anyway, back to golf. Ava can correctly identify Tiger Woods and tells us that "the man missed the ball" when she sees someone take a practice swing. We hope to have her first set of real clubs in hand by her birthday, as our park across the street is the perfect size for her to start teeing it up!

I'm confident in saying we have the world's cutest girls.

Egg hunt!

Our first family picture as a foursome!

Easter Egg Hunt

This past Saturday was our neighborhood's annual Easter Parade and Egg Hunt. What an event! We had no idea what to expect, but knew Ava would love it no matter what. We started out at the Turtle Fountain where the Easter Bunny came in on a firetruck and passed out candy. From there, the parade went down the street to the "egg patch." At first, Ava wasn't sure what to do, but she quickly picked it up :) After the egg hunt, everyone headed over to the "Lion and Bear" park across from our house for an afternoon of fun and games. Lunch was catered by McAlister's (yum) and there were all kinds of activities for the kiddos. There were stations set up for cookie decorating, arts & crafts, face painting, and knap-sack races. The Easter Bunny even had a special place where a photographer took pictures of each child with him. Too fun!

On another note, Grandpa Putsey had cancer removal surgery on Friday that went very well. The tumor was removed and he is recuperating very well. Hopefully he will be out of ICU soon and can go home shortly after that! Pop Pop Vaca is also having some minor surgery mid-month, so we ask that you keep both of our Grandpa's in your thoughts and prayers this month!

We're looking forward to Easter. The Easter Bunny may have gone overboard this year, but what can you do? It's the first time Ava's old enough to get it, so we're excited to add to her happiness. We'll start off the day by going to our church's first service nice and early. Then we're going to our friends, the Clark's, house for brunch. Last but not least, we'll celebrate His resurrection with a complete meal from Honeybaked Ham (who wants to cook?)

Little Audrey is doing great. She's 8 weeks old and loves to eat! She's 11 1/2 pounds already and has nice chunky legs that mommy loves to squeeze. She has also started smiling at us which puts us over the moon. What a cutie!

Firetruck with Easter Bunny

Jim and Ava walking in the Easter Parade
Egg Hunting!

Lion and Bear Park

Ava always wants pink flowers painted on her cheek

Ava and Mommy doing crafts together

Ava & Mommy with our finished craft

Interestingly enough, this is the exact way she looked at Santa in December.

St. Patty's Parade

Saturday was Charlotte's annual St. Patrick's Day parade uptown. Ava loved it when we took her to the Thanksgiving Day parade, so we thought we'd go for round two and celebrate her and Jim's Irish bloodlines. The parade was a lot of fun. We rode the train uptown (one of Ava's favorite things to do), drank hot chocolate, and watched a lot of cool groups and floats pass by. Ava got a green beaded necklace at the parade that she wore the entire rest of the weekend. She even sleeps with it. Afterwards, we ate at a burger joint uptown before heading back home on the train. Fun times :)

Audrey had her one month appointment last week. She's in the 65th % for both height and weight and the 50th for head circumference. She weighs 9 lb 14 oz... she's packing on the pounds quickly! She already eats 5-6 ounces per feeding which we find simply astronomical! We're not sure when she's going to slow down, but we hope it's soon. Saturday night we watched the Boiler's win in the NCAA tournament at our good friends, The Cains, house. Everyone was in Purdue gear, even Ava and Baby Drew! We're going to Boiler Up together again Thursday night, although we're pretty sure that will be the end of the road for our beloved Boilers :(

Lastly, we finally got patio furniture for our screened in porch! We spent most of Sunday assembling it. Last night Jim and I tested it out with a nice cold Blue Moon in our hands. We got a huge sectional sofa and a loveseat. We also got two club chair rockers that we're going to put on our upstairs balcony. I'll post pictures of everything later this week.

Four Weeks Old

Wow, can you tell we've been busy? Audrey turns four weeks old on Thursday. I'm blown away by how fast time is moving! We're enjoying every minute with her though. She's so sweet. She's an exact replica of Ava as an infant, but somehow doesn't look "newborn". Her features are like that of a three month old. She's just perfect!
When Audrey was just over a week old I had a good photographer friend take pictures of her and Ava together. I've posted a few here; the entire collection is on our family's website (email me if you want the URL). I've also posted some pictures from our visitors.

Audrey is a killer good eater. She loves to eat and hates getting her diaper changed. She also loves being held, as any of her four grandparents can attest to (all have visited!) She has already put on a pound and a half, and is doing really well. Right now she only gets up twice a night at 2am and 4:30am. Not bad! As of yesterday, she started accompanying Mom to the gym in our neighborhood's clubhouse. The workouts are really wearing her out as she sits in her stroller watching :) Mom took her on her first run today through an adjoining neighborhood and both seemed to like that.

So visitors... we've had lots of them! We've been lucky to have all the extra hands and spend time with our loved ones. Jim's parents came, godparents Steve and Jenny, then Michelle, then Mary's parents, followed by Mary's very good friend from college, Kristin, who came for a weekend with her Audrey who is exactly one year younger than Ava. We loved having all of our company here, and Ava especially enjoyed the extra attention and opportunities to play, play, play!

Jim went back to work this week after four weeks at home, but enjoyed his time off immensely. I think it motivated him to retire early he enjoyed it so much! So now it's just Audrey and Mommy at home, but we're adjusting very well. I look forward to spending the next six weeks with her here.