Six Months!

Our sweet Audrey is already six and a half months old! Where is the time going? We love having her around, and she is 100% sweet. She's very affectionate, loves to stroke your skin gently back and forth, and is smiles all the time. She's moving up from the Infant 1 room at daycare next week and all of her current teachers are so sad. They say she is the absolute best and happiest baby in the room! We believe them... she's wonderful!

Monday was her six month appointment at the pediatricians. She passed all of the developmental tests no problem. She weighed in at 17 lb 5 oz (80%) and was 26.5 inches long (75%). Her head circumference fell in the 70%. So all in all, she's very proportional! We love our chunky baby!

As for milestones, she can roll from her back to her front, can sit up unassisted for several minutes before slowly toppling over, and is grabbing EVERYTHING she can get her hands on and promptly putting it in her mouth (yuck!) Girl will be crawling before we know it. We might actually have to babyproof our house for the first time ever!

Summer Over? What?

Ok, so I've been totally delinquent on posting, I know. We went on vacation, which is probably half the reason I haven't posted in so long. It's taken me twice as long to jump back into life upon returning! It was well worth it though. We road-tripped up to Indiana to see my parents which was great. Michelle tagged along, and Jim joined us after wrapping up work in Detroit that week. We had such a great time with the fam, and we even got to see Jim's sister's family for a day which was nice. Ava loves visiting with her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. The weather cooperated nicely as well. It was nice and cool the whole time! While I know this isn't normal for Indiana in August, it still made me really homesick. Jim and I talk all the time about living the easy life back in West Lafayette, but I'm sure it will be many years before we pull the trigger on that!

Audrey has her six month appointment next week. I can't wait to see her stats. She's growing rapidly. She's recently started rolling over and lifting her head up whenever she's strapped down. The girl has pretty much outgrown her infant carseat, so I'm curious to hear what her pediatrician says about that. She's eating two jars of food a day and 24-30 ounces of milk. She looks IDENTICAL to Ava, but her hair is a little darker. She might be a brunette. Only time will tell!

Jim and I are really excited that fall is around the corner. We're kicking it off in two weeks with our anniversary trip. This year we're hitting an all inclusive in Negril, Jamaica (stay away hurricanes!) After that we have a homecoming trip planned at Purdue as well as a Vaca family trip to Seven Springs. I think that will wrap up our 2009 travels, but you just never know. We're tempted to take the girls for a weekend in Chicago in November or December. We also hope to do Disney World again soon, but more than likely will wait until Spring Break for that. We'll see!

This is Princess Ava. Grandpa bought her a crown that she ended up wearing all week, along with Auntie's shoes that she loved!

Ava and Audrey at the Indianapolis Children's Museum

Outside the museum (aka the Hood)

Ava and Audrey with Grandma and Grandpa!

Vaca and Kelley kids (cousins)

How sweet is this face?

Ava and Ian running on campus. Ava liked "mommy's school" a lot!

Ava and Daddy by the dining hall

Ian pushing Audrey

Ava scrambling along outside Battery

Summertime!

"Water on, Summertime!" That's what Ava says every single time we pull into our neighborhood. She sees the turtle fountain and says that. I think she got it because she used to ask me every day "Mommy, is the water on today?" I got sick of repeating myself day after day, so I said "Ava, in the summertime the water's on every day."

We've had a lot of fun this month. Here are all the random fun things we've done: Ava completed swimming lessons and can now swim unassisted with her lifejacket on which is a huge step! She has also morphed into a 24/7 princess and likes to wear her "crown" at all times when at home. She's suddenly into skirts and dresses and wants to wear them every day. Such a girly girl, I tell ya. What else... every Friday is "Mommy and Ava Day". We usually start if off with our weekly grocery shopping where Ava gets to ride "the bull" (it's actually a wart hog from Ice Age) afterwards. Jim says she's practicing for the Cactus. Last Friday was extra special because we went to MJ Donuts beforehand.

Audrey is wonderful. She's eating two jars of food a day now (in addition to her four bottles.) We're hoping its a growth spurt :) She goes to bed about 7pm and gets up at 6am to eat, then goes back down until about 8am. She's very happy and giggly, and loves having Ava talk to her. She's recently started holding her own bottle (yay!) and we think she'll be able to sit up unassisted here in another month or so. The girl is very sturdy.

Jim's parents finally moved here from Miami as of last weekend, so we're super excited for that! Auntie and Uncle Matthew also came for the weekend to visit which was cool. We had fun catching up with them and are glad they're not too far away.

Let's see, what else... oh, we dressed up like cows a few Fridays ago so we could get free combo meals at Chick Fil A. Jim refused to participate, so we had to pay for his food, but Ava and I had no problem living up to our last name. It was fun. Jim's comment was "I take a job with a XX% raise, and you feel the need to dress up like a cow to save $6." I said "Yes, I do, thank you ver much." I could be a millionaire and I still would do it. It's just who I am.

Ava enjoying her powdered donut at MJs

Riding the bull!

She won't go under water, but likes the goggles because they keep water out of her eyes.

Living up to our name!

Ava and Auntie on the carousel at Concord Mills

A very happy Audrey (probably because she had a major blow out minute before)

Auntie and Audrey

Our princess 24/7

Pink girls

Beach Trip

We loaded up the minivan (which we're loving, by the way) and headed to the beach for the 4th of July. This was our annual trip to Atlantic Beach with the Clarks and Varcas, and it couldn't have come at a better time. I don't think I could have waiting until the end of August which is when we usually go.

Ava and Addy had a lot of fun together playing at the pool, digging in the sand, and playing in the condo. Ava also enjoyed picking up shells and flying her kite on the beach. She wasn't a huge fan of the ocean, but enjoyed the pool a lot. Her swimming is getting better by the day, and she is comfortable swimming with her lifejacket on now without having to hold onto an adult.

We had so much fun at the beach with our good friends; we only wish we could do it more often. We're lucky to have the Clarks here in Charlotte so we can see them whenever we want. Hopefully we'll see the Varcas in just a few months at homecoming. Thanks for a great weekend, guys!

Ava in her Gwen Stefani shades.

One of Ava's 3 year portraits

One of Audrey's 5 month portraits

Jim and Eli working hard on the kite.

Yea for beach wind!

Ava flying her kite

Mommy and Audrey all cleaned up

Ava and Addy on the deck

Tea with Cinderella

Ava and Mommy had a date this past Saturday to see a live production of Rogers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella". We went an hour early so Ava could have tea with Cinderella and get her picture taken. About 15 other little girls were there, all in princess costumes, to enjoy the pre-production activities. It was too much fun. She was a trooper, as the show was at 2pm (smack in the middle of her usual naptime) but she persevered and wanted to stay even when I invited her to leave during intermission. She loved the show and I'm sure we'll see it again in a few years. In other news, we have finally gotten a minivan! A silver 2006 Honda Odyssey now calls Casa Vaca home. We love it and can't wait to take it to the beach for the 4th of July. Ava will test drive the DVD system with wireless speakers as well while Mommy and Daddy enjoy an hour of no one asking "why?" a hundred times :)

Audrey has her first cold/cough, but is over the bad part. Little gal went a full 4.5 months without so much as a fever! Way to go Audrey.

Ava started swimming lessons at the Y this week. So far so good. Pics will come soon.

Happy 4th of July, America! Let freedom reign!

Father's Day

This past weekend was Father's Day of course, and we did a bang up job if I do say so myself! We started off the day by having breakfast at Jim's favorite place - Big Dog Cafe - in Waxhaw. So good. The rest of the day he spent doing "man stuff" at Best Buy and Lowe's. He also watched the US Open and read his current book out on the screened in porch uninterrupted :) We capped off the day with a homemade dinner of lobster tail, king crab legs, and a shrimp cocktail (thank you, Sam's Club, for only costing me $28 to buy what would have been $75 in a restaurant.)

Daddy loves his girls, and his girls love Daddy. Happy Father's Day to our two wonderful grandfathers, too! We're sorry the gifts were late, but June has just been too crazy for Mommy to keep up with! Love you!

Big Dog Cafe

Ava's 3rd Birthday Party

Ava had a fabulous 3rd birthday party this past Saturday with eight of her little friends. We decided to have her party at home with a carnival-like atmosphere. We rented a huge moon bounce and also had a sprinkler, sand & water table, face painting, and arts+crafts. My smartest splurge was hiring our favorite babysitter, Katie, to help out at the party. She took care of face painting and helping to corral and feed nine little hungry people while Jim and I tried our best to take care of everything else.

Ava loved having all her friends over and enjoyed opening her gifts... of which she got a LOT. I'm not even sure where to put them all. This girl is in heaven! We have a lot of princess cake left. Ava asked me if we could eat it for dessert last night and wanted us to put a candle in and sing Happy Birthday to her again. This girl doesn't get tired of celebrating her birthday!

Audrey - 4 months

Our little baby is growing up fast. She had her four month appointment last week and seems to be developing just perfectly. She was in the 75th % across the board (head, weight, height) which didn't surprise us. This girl doesn't miss a meal! I love my chunky girl!