8 Months Old and Active!

Ava turned eight months old today! I simply can not believe how quickly time has gone by. She is rolling all over the place now and scooting forward and "crawling" backward. I'll leave the room for a few minutes, and she'll be five feet away in the opposite direction when I come back. It's almost time for safety locks and gates. She'll be crawling before we know it!

Ava is such a joy! She has boundless energy and constant smiles right now and is SO curious about things. She's as busy as a bee all of the time! You can see in these pictures that I had quite a time trying to capture a decent shot of her at eight months!

This and That

Happy Monday, everyone!

I'm sorting through mountains of pictures this morning and reflecting on this past week. Ava started running a fever of about 101.7 last Wednesday, and she's been under the weather ever since. She still has a very runny nose and a little cough. I think she'll be over this in a few days -it's just taking some time. So... here I am back to blogging, trying to go through pictures and organize. It's cloudy and rainy today, and I'm playing catch up. Here's a few fun shots of her... oh, and our cat, Saki!

Ben decided to have some fun and put an old 3 month onesie on Saki! Humans!



Daddy reading to Ava in the beanbag at Mimi and Papa's house



Ava loves to bounce in her swing!



Bumbo fun! She's almost outgrown it, now. :(



Ava has a toy box at Mimi and Papa's with all kinds of things in it. We went out Saturday night, and they decided to put Ava inside to play! They started pulling her back and forth, and she went to sleep!







Daddy, can I play in the trash can? Sure, honey! :)

He is Risen!

Happy Easter, everyone! He's ALIVE!



We had a great celebration yesterday for Ava's first Easter. She put on her frilly pink ruffled dress and off to church we went to join in the joyous celebration that Jesus has risen! We came home, and Ava "found" her Easter basket, and we took some windy Easter pictures and then headed to my aunt's house for a delicious Easter lunch.

















Today, I'm a little exhausted and lethargic. Maybe it was the six deviled eggs I ate! I'm cleaning up Easter grass today which is somehow, everywhere and in odd places, and sorting plastic eggs, chocolate and bunnies. Ava is napping after a big day in the nursery with her friends, Aiden and Braden, and a great time with family. She was a little trooper yesterday, skipping her nap and going straight through until dinner time! There was so much excitement and distraction yesterday! This post may be a little scattered because I'm so tired, but I wanted to put some Easter pics up for you to see!

Before I go and do laundry and clean out the dishwasher, I want to earnestly wish each and every one of you the unending joy of Easter everyday in your hearts. He is Risen! Because He lives, we live and have hope for every upcoming day, whatever it holds. Thank you, Jesus, for loving ME that much! Amazing love!

Ben and I are going on a big date tonight. I got tickets for his birthday in March to go and see David Sedaris at the Tennessee Theater. He's one of Ben's favorite satirists on NPR. We're looking forward to going out!

Have a great day, everyone! Peace to you.

Our Big Blue-Eyed Girl

A few weeks ago, I began filling in details in Ava's life book. A life book is very similar to a baby book, but it's especially written for an adopted child. This is something I've been researching for Maia for several years with special sections devoted to her birth heritage and Chinese culture.

I was tickled when I found a traditional baby book written for an adopted child with a special birthparent history section. It was just what I had been looking for! It is so important to us for Ava and Maia to have something to help them fill in those missing pieces. They each will have incredible journeys into our family, and we want to honor that journey by documenting it in the best way we can. Plus, creating this for them will help to be a conversation starter about their adoption journeys. Undoubtedly, questions will come, and each of them having a documented story is part of us being ready to answer those questions openly and honestly. I am forever grateful to the precious birthparents who gave Ava and Maia life, and I want them to forever know how very loved each of them is.

There is one section that I was recently filling out that asked if Ava had any distinquishing features, like birthmarks, moles etc. She doesn't have any of those, but when we go out in public, so many people comment on her big beautiful blue eyes. I tried to find a good picture of these eyes! There are many, but Ben took this one the other night of her looking up while she was in her bassinet. I just think it's precious of her and her big eyes.

These eyes will see many things along her unique journey through life. I pray that they will be good things that make her eyes light up in wonder.

Have a fantastic Thursday everyone! I'll be back to post some Easter pictures soon!

Walking On Sunshine

Last week, we took a walk in the backyard on a really pretty sunny evening and captured these fun photos. Ava is sporting her beach hat and her first pair of sunglasses! I saw these at Old Navy and just had to get them for her. Lately, we've had to go on walks between the raindrops. It's been raining like crazy here. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Connecting

I'm aware of many of you who follow our journey, but recently, I learned that there are other adoptive families or families who are on that long journey that have stumbled upon our site. If you'd like to contact us, please leave us a comment with your e-mail address, and I'll get back with you as soon as I can.

Blessings to you!

Emily

Little Bird

Good afternoon after a very windy and stormy night! I hope everyone is ok - Martha, I was thinking about you guys living close to Nashville last night. My parents said that a tornado had touched down on Doneldson Pike? Quite the weather we've been having here in the South!

Ava and I are back to posting today- she's waking up from beauty sleep upstairs, but I thought I'd post a quick snapshot of her breakfast time. She's like a little bird waiting for food. She's trying all kinds of tastes and textures right now. The only things we know to stay away from so far are pears, blueberries and strawberries - all purees. We think the berries are what caused her eczema to flare up, which is under control now thanks to hydrocort! The pears are causing some pretty ugly diaper rashes.

Anyway, I hope you all are having a great end to your week and will have a great weekend! Every chance I get, I want to go outside!

I'll be back soon with more pictures of little Ava. Oh, she's now 20lbs 3 oz as of last Monday when I took her in for the eczema. :)