EMERGENCY!!!

I guess to be quite honest I've been waiting for this day since, well... since I found out we would be having a baby! Our first "emergency"/ bloody, scary mess! Saturday started out like any other day except for the fact that I had plans... BIG BRIDAL PLANS!!! It was the day of the event that had been consuming my thoughts from the moment Jackie Sun (soon to be Bowser) asked me to be her Maid of Honor and allowed me to plan a Bridal Shower for her. In other words, Kurt had Ava all to himself and he had some big plans for their special day also, including movies, swimming, playing at the park and some yummy/fast food! The accident occurred about 20 minutes after I left the house- Ava was walking to her bed for a nap and tripped (over her own feet I think), giving her no time for her arms to break the fall and she landed face first into the wood bed frame... Some serious crying and lots of blood later, Kurt had cleaned up- found me and the three of us plus Jackie and JoJo caravaned to Urgent Care. *Side note- if you are a parent and don't know where the closest Urgent Care that takes you insurance is, go to a phone book right now and find out!* We had done no such thing and drove to three locations before we ended up about 4 blocks from our home at the Urgent Care we didn't even know was there... We didn't have to wait long for a very traumatic cleaning of the wound, super sized dose of Children's Motrin, a shot of Lidocaine in the lip and a single stitch to hold the lip together. Ava was a trooper. After falling asleep during the LONG car ride to the Urgent Care she woke up and was in good spirits, she even tried to smile as we took pictures of her boo boo. There was a lot of pain, fear and crying (myself and Kurt included) while Ava got worked on but she was pretty much back to normal as soon as we got home. There was some trauma to her upper gum's as well but we were told that it would have to heal itself without the aid of stitches so we're just waiting out the healing process. Besides some swelling and a pretty freaky looking lower lip she's doing awesome! Updates to come as we visit our pediatrician and dentist... Thanks for your thoughts and prayers during our first (of many I'm sure) unexpected incidents :-)

Waiting in the Urgent Care waiting room...

Back Home... complete with medicine, lidocaine and a stitch

The morning after- some serious swelling and green jello for breakfast (and snack and lunch...)

Later that day... dancing to Asper Kourt at Nob Hill Bar & Grill, eating a feta cheese quesadilla and flirting away! Yay for such a resilient little girl!

June Birthdays!

Happy Birthday JoJo!!!

D and Jo

"Happy 51st!"

JoJo and Ava at... where else... SAVOY!

The Gang (minus Mitch) ;-)

Beautiful and Yummy edible bouquet from Mitch!


Happy Birthday Grandpa!!!

"Surprise!"

Grandpa, Jess, Brody and Ava

Sandbox Fun

I don't think that's enough candles...

Ava and Brody's favorite part of the evening... they each got their own piece of Birthday Ice Cream Pie!!!

Thanks for being born parents! We had such a fun and crazy week celebrating your birthdays!

Father's Day

We are so thankful for our Wonderful DAD! Grandpa (Nopf)! and PaPa!
We got to enjoy the beautiful (hot) day with Church outside at Calvary (complete with yummy Blake's Breakfast Burritos and Starbucks coffee!)! Then a little swimming (in our 5 foot pool on the deck)! and Finally hanging out at the Isotopes game (with plenty of beer and hot dogs to go around)!!!

Kurt and I are so thankful for our dad's. They truly have been the most influential men in our lives and I think we'd both agree that we try daily to be a little more like them.

I am so thankful for Ava's dad! I just love watching him love being a dad! Kurt is the most wonderful person I know and I pray daily that our children will view and approach life with the same postive, fun, hopeful outlook as their Daddy! I love you Kurt!

One Little Monkey...

Jumping On The Bed!!!
Hope she doesn't fall off...
And bump her head!
We had a really good time jumping on the bed until...JoJo came over and (in a very sweet granparenty kind of way) said, "NO MORE MONKEY'S JUMPING ON THE BED!"


Ava got a 'Big Girl' bed (thanks so much PaPa and JoJo!)!!! What an exciting day! As most of you know we have a very busy summer of traveling coming up... all of a sudden it hit us that we need to start preparing Ava for not sleeping in her crib or even the Port-A-Crib that is all of a sudden way too small. So on Sunday we bit the bullet and put her down for a nap in a cozy nest of blankets right outside her crib. I have to say Kurt and I were beyond shocked when she simply rolled over and fell asleep and didn't even try to walk out of her room! After that you might say we jumped the gun a bit- we packed up that crib and had it stored within the hour. Then came bedtime... not a horror story but also not quite so simple as the nap. Ava (very sweetly) came to the door many, MANY times and knocked (while yelling MOM...DAD...). We simply returned her to her bed, set her up with some books and a reading light, said a prayer and bid her good night (repeatedly). About 30 minutes later she was fast asleep. Not too bad if you ask me and last night was even better (I think the NEW BED, rather than just a mattress was a big part of that!). I'm sure it will take a few more nights of teaching Ava 'Big Girl Bed Etiquette' but overall I really feel like this has been a positive transition. Another huge reminder that our baby girl is growing up... but what a joy to experience it with her every step of the way!

Cuddle Bug

Ava's not so much our little cuddle bug, though Kurt and I love to scoop her up and squeeze her until she squeals. I think she'd say she's just too busy for so much hugging... BUT apparently everyone needs some cuddles sometime and I guess today was one of those days for Ava. Such a sweet moment with dad!

Peas in a Pod

This is Ava's favorite way to sit on her chair these days... more comfy than sitting up I guess. After taking about 900 pictures of her laying like this I remembered one of my parent's favorites pics of me from this age is in the same position... I can't believe I found it!

Dani 1984
Ava 2009

Magazine...Check
Hairdo...Check
Favorite Chair...Check
A Mama Taking Our Picture...Check

Wait...May's Already Over?!?!

Thank goodness for pictures because otherwise I'd say that May was a lost month. Despite how quickly the month felt like it flew by, our photo library proved that we actually crammed quite a lot of stuff into this month. Here's a quick overview:

Ava realized that she didn't like the feel of the sand on her hands at the park

As a result she learned how to stand up from a sitting position with NO HANDS!

We got to meet our sweet little cousin Logan Charles! And hang out for a minute with Scott and Melissa!

Ava finally got tall enough to reach the key and mouse on the computer- which means she daily makes our computer do things we didn't know were possible!

Ava got her first haircut not counting when I trimmed her rat-tail and Mohawk at 6 months or her bang trim a few months ago. It was quite the ordeal and two separate haircut sessions later she had the cutest (though shorter than I had anticipated) hairdo!

Ava learned how to catch a ball- with quite a lot of help from the thrower and constant reminders to "keep your hands together!"

We did some working out... Ava learned where her abs are!

First Driving lesson with dad!

And some more swimming! Swimming session #2 entailed 2 dives off the steps and therefore 2 water rescues by 'Lifeguard Mom'... so we took Sarah's advice and got her a floaty!!!