We Have a Climber!

First, thank you guys so much for praying for Ben's cousin's wife, Shannon. I can not tell you how much it's appreciated. There are still a lot of unknowns with her recovery. They're waiting for the swelling in her brain to cease before they can proceed with surgery for the bone injuries she sustained. Right now, it's one day at a time. Please continue praying for her and her family. This recovery is going to be very difficult. Hope is a constant companion right now.

I wanted to post some pictures I took of Ava over the weekend as she was recuperating from strep throat. Can you tell she's on the mend? She is such the climber! If anything is off the ground and near her, she'll try to climb onto it! We have about another day of amoxicillin I think. I think we might venture out to the grocery store tomorrow. I wish there was a buggy wash that coated it with antibacterial stuff. They have the wipes, but wouldn't a buggy wash be cool?

Thinking about climbing.



Climbing?



Climb on.



Almost there. Umph!



Ok, now I'll rest. I love her feet in this picture!



Uh, oh. Mommy caught me.



Cool, a basket, too!

Prayer

We got a call today that Ben's cousin's wife was in a very bad car accident in Maryland this morning. I wanted to post and ask you to please pray for her and her family. Her name is Shannon. Your prayers are coveted during this difficult time in their family. Thank you so much.

All Dressed Up!

Oops. I double-posted today. Scroll down to see the other post about Ava's new car seat and to get an update on her strep throat.

Last Saturday, Ben and I drove to downtown Murfreesboro, TN for the wedding of Aaron and Hailey Carrol. Ben and Aaron work together, and they go way back to Denso days when when Aaron was a co-op in Ben's department. After many years, and Aaron's graduation from Tennessee Tech, he and Ben are together again! They really enjoy working with one another and have a lot in common - CARS! :)

The wedding was outside and was very beautiful. We were thankful that there was a fountain, a magnolia tree and a man with some flowers for Ava while the ceremony was going on!!!

When the minister pronounced them husband and wife, Ava said, "Uh,oh." Hopefully, only us and the folks on the back row heard that! We then enjoyed the reception next door, and Ava was so sweet toddling and crawling around in her dress. She enjoyed all of the activity, the lights, pushing the wedding chairs around and the bubbles!

The dress she's wearing actually has a story behind it. It was made by Thai women overseas trying to earn money and make a new start in life. My sweet friend, Beth, Madeline and Lisa bought this for her at a World Market Mission we attended a few weeks ago. It fits perfectly!

Here I am all dressed up!



Ava's new black patent leather shoes. She reminded me of Annie when I saw her in them!



Daddy entertained Ava with magnolia leaves before the wedding started.



Ah, the fountain. Ava LOVES water, and this is what kept her occupied most of the time!



The manager of the building gave Ava some pretty little flowers to play with. She threw them in the fountain. :)



Look at Ava's hair in this picture. It cracks me up!



The bride and groom



Hmmm.. what's this? Ava's also loves lights.





I hope no one got strep throat at the wedding!!!

On the Mend

We rejoiced this morning, as the clock went off at 6:45, and Ava had slept through the night! I really think we turned a corner yesterday afternoon. After I took this picture, I decided that she needed to go outside and "play"- aka, take a wagon ride. It was a beautiful afternoon, and we played with Mr. Bear and took a nature walk. It was so good to get out of the house!

Resting

I would describe this day as a day of REST!

Ava awoke at 5:30 this morning crying with a temp of 104.5, so I flew into action giving her Tylenol and a sponge bath in the downstairs sink. When she laid back down at 6:15, her temp was back down to 101.1. The great news is that when she woke up this morning to start her day, her temp was 99.1 AND she started drinking diluted apple juice! She'll be contagious for 24 hours after the first dose of amoxycillin which was last night around 5:30. She's on the mend slowly but surely.

We're both resting today, and I'm catching up on the blog this morning. So far, I'm feeling fine - just a little weak and tired.

Here is our big girl in her new rear/forward facing car seat! Doesn't she look long? Daddy buckled her in the other night, and boy, was she snug!





Then, she picked up Maia's baby and put her in the car seat. We're starting to see pretend play a little bit, and it is so cute!

One Virus at a Time

Hi, everyone,

Well, we have a sick little girl in the house today. We noticed that Ava suddenly stopped drinking her formula a few days ago. We thought that it was because Enfamil had maybe changed their ingredients when they changed the can from Enfamil to Enfagrow. We're also in the process of weaning her from the bottle and going to whole milk in a cup, so we thought maybe that was adding to the problem. She has refused anything remotely milk-like in the last few days. So, we stuck to water and diluted apple juice and kept trying.

This morning, she refused anything to drink, which is very unlike her, and she developed a fever of 101.3. We just got home from the doctor, and she has strep throat.

She's pretty miserable and is upstairs napping. The Hand, Foot, Mouth she had back in August was bad, but this is really knocking her out. Now, I'm feeling lousy and weak. I'm really hoping that I don't catch this, too!

I bought some popsicles for her to eat to try to get some hydration in her, but she's even refusing those right now. We're really hopeful that she'll drink a little bit tonight when she wakes up.

I'm off to take my temperature. Oh, I have some really fun pictures to upload of Ava at a wedding we attended over the weekend. I'll get to that soon hopefully!

Have a great week, everyone!

Greenbelt Bike Ride with Daddy!

We have made friends with hand-me-downs. Lot of them! This little bike trailer belonged to Scott and Karen Nolan and then to Eric and Kristie Arendale, and we got it on one condition - that we would pass it on to others who could use it! I love stuff like that!

So, here's Ava hitched to Ben's bike. She had a ball, and Daddy went pretty fast! I would ride up beside them, and she looked so surprised every time she saw me, like where did she come from? :)

We hope to get back on our bikes soon and ride in this beautiful fall weather. There's a nip in the air, and I wore a sweater and a scarf yesterday. Aren't the scarves pretty this year? So many fun ways to wear them!

Goodbye humidity. Hello, cool, fresh, fall temperatures. Whee!