time to bear my soul....

What is missing from this picture? (besides serious organization and ice...I already know those two things!)



You give up? K I'll tell you.......


.......ICE CREAM.

We have had ice cream in our freezer in some form nearly EVERY SINGLE DAY since I became pregnant (and many of the days previous, but I digress...). Meaning we have eaten ice cream most days of the week for the last year. Erik obviously has an incredible metabolism, and my excuses? Well it started out with, "I'm pregnant" and then morphed into, "I'm nursing." And while I can still use this excuse, my attachment to ice cream is a little intense. While I am in no way looking to permanently sever ties with my first true love, I think we need some time apart.

Hence, NO ICE CREAM 'til Easter. Yep, we're giving up ice cream for Lent. Wish us luck...we are going to need it!

Just in case.....

......you needed to smile today.....

6 months

Ava is 6 months! (well a little over, technically now) I can't believe it. She is so much fun. Lately -

• she LOVES food (bananas, applesauce, oatmeal, green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, peaches, pears, prunes, carrots, avacados)
• as of this week, she is officially a "sitter".
  
• smiles ALL the time
• loves making bubbles and using all of her cool noises (squeals, grunts, raspberries, etc)
• I think she may be getting her first bout of separation anxiety - she ALWAYS lets me know that I've walked out of her field of vision
• rocks on her hands and knees and can "gracefully" move down to her tummy
• rotates on her tummy round and round until she finds something she likes
• is scooting backwards a little bit

6 month stats:

• Height - 28 inches (98th percentile - down 1%...yay!)
• Weight - 16 lbs 9 oz (56th percentile...down 15%)
• Head - 44.5 cm (92nd percentile)

(yes my friends...those are bona fide wrinkles around my eyes!!!)

Things I'm loving lately...

There are so many wonderful things in this life...here are a few that have been making me really happy this week -



I LOVE the smell of this stuff. I probably don't {need} to wash baby's clothes in it, but I love it too much to stop. Makes her smell so yummy!!



This was a Christmas gift from the hubs.....yes, I am L-O-V-I-N it! Learning to sew and made many projects.....with MANY MANY more on the to-do list.

These are some of my favorite accessories for Ava right now...just bought some at Carter's and they are SO cute!


This was my Christmas gift to myself...so dainty and feminine yet wearable everyday (which I have been doing)


Another gift from the hubs...wear these things way too much between washes...but they keep my tootsies warm (and that's hard to do in this weather!)


Fabric I just purchased for new window treatments...isn't it gorgeous?!


Holy hannah....LOVE this stuff!


Gorgeous headband from my ever-so-stylish sis-in-law...thanks Katie!
One of my New Year's resolutions....take better care of my skin. I have a hard time washing my face in this bitter cold weather. My solution...make-up remover wipes...OH MY GOSH. LOVE THEM!!!



1969 jeans from Gap. Who would have known?! Perfect fit on me, love the color, smaller pockets than typical for Gap and an extra inch up the back for better coverage. Amazing.


And of course, the little lady. She is so stinkin cute lately. She loves her increasing independence. Can't imagine life without her!

White Elephant vs. Yankee Swap

Vs.

In December my lab group decided to have a little holiday party. The main even of said holiday party was to be a 'Yankee Swap'. I wasn't familiar with the term and was informed it was like a White Elephant exchange where you all trade gifts. We were instructed that the gifts could not cost more than $5 but other than that no real instructions were given. I didn't think much of it even though a coworker read where the two different terms originated from.

Yankee Swap- Originated during the civil war and referred to prisoner exchanges.
White Elephant- Refers to an item whose maintenance cost exceeds its usefulness.

I didn't think much of the differences and kind of procrastinated finding anything until the night before. When I finally decided to find something, my wife and I started looking around the apartment for 'White Elephant' gifts, and found two random household items: a wall mount hanger and a set of wire screen traps that go over sink drains. We both felt that these were humorous and suitable 'White Elephant' gifts, so I went comfortably to sleep that night.

The next day I biked to work and put my 'White Elephant' items in a black paper bag that I stapled shut so nobody could see inside, and placed the bag with the rest of the gifts. At the party there were about 19 people, all of whom participated in the swap, and all 19 gifts were wrapped and in the window sill of the room we gathered in. Most of the gifts were actually wrapped so mine definitely was not very aesthetically appealing, which probably should have been my first clue.

As people began to open their 'Yankee Swap' gifts, I came to a startling realization that, although my coworker had used the two terms almost interchangeably, Yankee Swaps and White Elephant exchanges are two VERY different things! To my horror, most people got things like chocolates or kids toys which, although humorous, were fun and functional. To make matters worse, my poor little stapled bag was left to be the very LAST gift selected. By that time, I was so mortified that I didn't dare admit that I had supplied it. Nobody knew what they were and after seeing all the other things, nobody found them to be funny.

The moral of this story is that if you are ever east of the Mississippi and are invited to a party like this, make sure you know which it is!

While I Was Away...

After Christmas, Britney and Ava went to AZ to spend time with Britney's family. They were there for two weeks while I was in Boston working away. Little did I know that all the girls (including our 5.5 month old Ava) went to go get pedicures!

How am I ever going to be able to provide for her if she is constantly wanting to go get pedicures?!?! How will we ever connect? I've never had a pedicure, nor do I want one!

Ava montage

Multiple family members have pestered me to get more Ava goodness up on the blog - so sorry! We have been out of commission with holidays and visiting family.

Ava has certainly grown in the last couple months! She will be 6 months on the 23rd...holy cow. She got her first ear infection over Christmas and also got TWO TEETH. It's been crazy. But she's sleeping so much better now and is a true joy. She can manipulate things well with her hands and has started scooting backwards a bit. She plays for long stretches of time on her belly and talks.....a LOT. And LOUDLY. Wow. Taking her to church is an adventure :)

So I don't know why but I've never ventured into video editing...until now. Thank you iMovie (I LOVE MY MAC!) Here is a little video montage of the last two months from our little point and shoot.

We got an amazing video camera for Christmas and took some fantastic video, but are still working on the logistics of uploading, editing, etc. Look forward to great movies to come!