More 1st Birthday Fun and Celebrations!

On to celebration #2!

We celebrated Ava's 1st birthday all weekend! After the festivities in Nags Head with Ben's family, we headed back to Tennessee to celebrate with my family. We had a great time on Sunday, gathering as family, to celebrate Miss Ava's arrival into the world and into our family!



We also remembered my sweet grandmother, Ruthie, as we celebrated Ava's shared birthday with hers - August 21st. She'd be celebrating with us and saying "Bless her heart." I can just hear her. :)



Most of you remember the bakery, Sweet Celebrations, where I was working as we were waiting for Maia. I had stopped teaching sixth grade to prepare for her arrival which was always looming as "maybe soon." This sweet place is where I found out about sweet Ava. I don't know if I mentioned this last year, but the owners of that bakery sold it soon after I found out about Ava, which means that I never would have met Patty Boss, the owner's sister, who introduced us to the birthparents and family. There is no doubt in our minds that the Lord had prepared that meeting in advance for both of us. He's right on time! One of my favorite verses in the Bible is that even if we keep silent, the rocks will cry out with praise to the Lord.



I have found myself in the grocery store, dentist office, a bookstore or countless other places, telling the story of Ava. It's in my heart continually, and I will never stop praising the Lord for His gift of her in our lives. It is my heart's desire that others will see Him in this story and that the glory will be reflected to Him and not us. The title of my blog, "With Open Arms" is the title because of the sweet place I came to after the suffering. "Lord, whatever you have for me is ok with me. I have open arms." I often read through those years that God will give you the desires of your heart, and I will say wholeheartedly that when you pray for the Lord to transform your desires into His desires, He comes through on that promise. He transformed my heart, and I know only He could have done that. Thank you, Jesus.

Before we left for the beach, I planned to serve Cuban food from a great new cuban restaurant in town called Aroma Cafe and cake and homemade ice cream.
I contacted the former bakers of Sweet Celebrations, Kate and Dena, to make Ava's cake. They did a beautiful job. Our theme was nature with butterflies and flowers.

Here are some celebration pictures to share from our party on Sunday the 23rd. I'm excited to put together a 1st year slideshow of pictures of Ava soon. She's changing so fast! She took her first steps this past Saturday!

Pre-birthday fun! Mimi brought over a musical lion that Ava could push as she walked before we left for the beach. She loves it and is always on the go!



Everything is ready. I think. Let the festivities begin!



Ava's cakes made by the former bakers of Sweet Celebrations. They're almost too pretty to eat!



Mimi and the birthday girl



Ava and her buddy, Sera Arendale, riding the musical animals together



This a picture of my entire family plus the Arendale family, our friends, who are really like family!



This is how we really act most of the time. :)



Tada! Here's my cake!



Yummy...



I'm making a big mess! In Nags Head, she was very clean and dainty. Maybe she was just warming up that day, or maybe it was the chocolate cake under the cupcake that she liked so much today!



This is SO yummy!



At some point, I think someone gave her a bowl of homemade ice cream? Ok. Who's the culprit?



I'm over this cake business! Someone clean me up!



Karen, this is Ava on the beach ball that is half-way blown up! I've got some pictures that I'll load in a few days of it fully inflated. She loves it! Thank you so much!

Nags Head 2009! Happy 1st Birthday, Ava Faith!

The slideshow is complete! I've been diligently working on the slideshow today - that is while running interference between Ava and Leo the kitty! Leo is my parent's kitten that I surprised them with recently after their adults cats died this past spring, and we're kittensitting for a few days. Ava LOVES Leo. I can't wait to post a video and some fun playtime pictures to show you.

In the meantime, here are a few photos from our trip to the Outer Banks last week. The last day was spent celebrating Ava's first birthday! What a joy she has been this year! We look at her and can't believe it's been a year. I'm working on another slideshow to show some monthly pictures of Ava from birth to now that I think you'll really enjoy.

If you double click on the slideshow, it will take you to our Picasa albums where you can view the photos at your leisure. Enjoy! I hope to add captions soon. Ben has to take the computer to work tomorrow, so I'll be absent for a day or two.

Flavor Ice Fun!

I'm going to play catch-up this week as I prepare to upload beach and birthday pics! You'll probably remember that Ava caught Hand, Foot, Mouth disease right before we left, and thankfully, she was over the brunt of it by the time we left for the Outer Banks to visit Ben's family. We could tell that she was feeling better day by day while we were on vacation, and she was back to her fun, babbly self by the end of the week.

In the meantime, she got to eat lots of cold, yummy things! I remembered that I loved Flavor Ices when I was little - aka "swoopies." Anyone remember calling them that? Anyway, I'll start by showing you the feeling better pictures the week of the crazy virus.

Here's Miss Ava eating a flavor ice. The expression on her face captures it all! Oh, and they really are as good as I remember them! Fav flavor for me was the red one!

We're Home, and Ava turned One!!

Hi, everyone!

There has been a flurry of activity in our family in the last week and a lot of celebration! Miss Ava turned one year old on August 21st, and we have been celebrating all weekend. I have loads of great pics to share. I'm on my way to a meeting after going to an eye appointment today, and I hope to find some good time tonight or tomorrow to post.

I'll be back very soon. I hope you've had a chance to check out the incourage button at the top. I really find refreshment after "visiting" with the women on that site. They are such a blessing to other women going through life's issues, whatever they may be for each of us. We're all so unique, but we share this life's journey with its tumultuous and victorious times, and we all need encouragement!

On the Mend and Off We Go!

Hi, everyone!

Well, Miss Ava is definitely on the mend. Her fever broke after several days and her rash is going away finally! That was a crazy virus that she had.

I wanted to let you know that we're headed to the Outer Banks to visit with Ben's family this week and won't be home until next Saturday. I promise I'll post a boo koo of pictures of beach and birthday parties fun when we get home! Oh, and hopefully Go Daddy will have captured my old site address so your bookmarks will work again!

Blessings and peace to you all,

Emily

ps- If you haven't checked out the Incourage site yet, be sure and go. It blesses me so much everytime I go. It's so refreshing, as these are real women of God who aren't afraid to be vulnerable and share their struggles. I have a button for you at the top right of my blog. Be blessed!

Ava's Sickness Has a Name

*** Update *** We just got back from the Dr. and Ava was diagnosed with Hand, Foot, Mouth disease, not to be confused with Hoof and Mouth! It's characterized by a consistently high fever of 100-102, mouth ulcers, blisters and red bumps on the skin, particularly on the palms of the hands and soles of feet. We're eating sherbert, jello, sweet potatoes, yogurt and anything else that's cold and in liquid form. We're told this has to run its course for about 10 days. We're on day 5, and neither Ben nor I, am showing any symptoms. They still might show up in the next few days, as it's quite contagious. If anyone is thinking of stopping by, you might wait for a week or two! :) We're hanging in there. She is very sleepy and lethargic as evidenced by the picture below. Poor little thing. I'm so glad it's this week and not next week! I want her to be able to enjoy cake for her birthday! :)

Last Thursday, a strange virus attacked Ben and Ava. They both woke up that morning feeling terrible, and while Ben has mostly recovered, Ava has been really sick all weekend with high temps of close to 102 off and on, a runny nose and a rash. I'm taking her to the pediatrician today at 2:00 to see what's going on. She's normally FULL of energy and very playful, but when she's sick, I'll catch her just laying her head down on something to rest. This morning, I snapped this picture just before her morning nap. She's even too sick to play ball -one of her favorite things to do!

The Every Day Kinds of Moments

Ok. I finally have a moment to post some pictures of Ava today! She has a little cold and is upstairs napping at the moment. These are just everyday moments that we've captured with Ava lately. To catch you up on the last week or so, here are some fun moments we've shared with her.

Ava loves big stuffed animals. If there's one in her crib, she lays down on top of it and cuddles. If there's one anywhere, we'll catch her snuggling with it for a few minutes. I caught this picture of her loving on Maia's panda bear the other day.



I took Mr. Bear to the vet a few weeks back, which is always an adventure, and Mom met me there to help me out! Thanks, Mom! Bear's now 69.3 lbs, and his head still smells like a skunk!



Ava is an acrobat. She likes to swing her legs up, over and through things! Here she is trying to climb up on the couch with me.



If Daddy is outside, Ava loves to go over to the window and peek out at him and Bear. She loves to watch Daddy, the dog, birds, butterflies, anything that's moving!



Our buddy, Sam, came over to play last week and dressed up like a leopard. Ava loves anything soft and furry and kept trying to pet Sam. He was such a good sport!



Introducing.... Leo the kitten, my parent's new kitty. Both of their cats died last spring at very ripe old ages, and I decided to surprise them with a new one! He's VERY playful.



Before we took him to Mom and Dad's, Ava got to "play" with him for a minute. She LOVES cats and cries when they run away from her. Leo let her have some one on one time for a little bit because he doesn't know better!



Ava's Dorothy dress - she looks so pretty in blue. :)



Ava has new habit when she eats. She'll cross her little feet.



Mom surprised Ava this week with a rocking horse that plays music and makes horse sounds. Ava loves to swing her leg over - we didn't teach her that- and go for a ride!

Absence

I have been absent for a few days now! I'm realizing how behind I am on my posts, and I apologize. :) We have had a VERY busy week, and I've been preparing for vacation with Ben's family and Ava's first birthday party there and at home. Whew! I hope to post some pictures later today of what we've been up to lately.

Oh, and the domain is still a problem, but Ben is helping me work out the details. It should be back up and running with the old address very soon.

Hope everyone is well!

Emily