Weekend Review

I know I already posted about our Saturday morning and the March of Dimes in this post, but we had some other cute things happen that I wanted to be able to remember.

On Saturday, I went to Sonic Happy Hour to get us some 1/2 price sodas. My intention was to surprise J with a nice big 44oz Coke for all his hard work at the walk. I got home, brought B his slushie then went back to the car to get our drinks. . . I noticed one of them looked "emptyish" from the lid. . .originally I thought maybe they just didn't fill it all the way to the top. I went to grab the other one and noticed it had soda on the bottom. Then I discovered the "emptyish" look was in fact, a nearly empty 44oz cup! Apparently, in the cup holder was B's March of Dimes ribbon that he had given me.  The pin poked a hole in the cup. Luckily, the soda stayed in the two cup holders and didn't get anywhere else in the car. I went to wake J up and tell him about my "surprise" for him.  He asked if I had cleaned it up yet, and I said no, not yet. He said "well did you get a few napkins?". . .I said, no I dont think you quite understand. More than 1/2 of a 44oz Coke leaked into the cup holder. . . I think we are going to need a lil something more than napkins! =) Being the fabulous husband he is, he sprung into action and got some towels and cleaned the whole mess.

Meanwhile, one of B's school friends had called him on my phone and left a message asking if he could come over for a playdate. As soon I told B, he was SO excited! I had him call his friend back on his own. He had never talked to one of his friends on the phone before, so it was so funny to watch him. He was SOOOO giddy, he could barely carry on a conversation. He talks on the phone all the time to family and has NEVER acted like that. J and I were cracking up. I finally had to take over, just so I could get his friend's address. =) Afterwards, we all packed into the car and headed to drop B off. J and I then headed home to watch a movie we had rented.

After the movie, we went to pick B up and visited with the family for a lil bit. Then we headed over to Raising Cane's for dinner. As we were eating, about 4 high school couples walked in with their prom attire on. It was funny to watch B mesmerized by the girls sparkly, long dresses and the guys in their tuxes. I noticed there was only one other family in there along with the teenagers and us. I made the comment, "look there is a family just like us: a mom, dad, and son."  B instantly corrected me, "no, they aren't like us, we have 4 in our family, we also have a girl, Ava." =) I love that he corrected me and included our princess in our family dinner.

On Sunday, we tried something new. Since we all woke up early, we decided to go to the early church service. Afterwards we went to see Ava and brought her a new pinwheel. . .

We had a special moment with this pinwheel. . .the whole time we were visiting, the pinwheel never moved (even though all the other pinwheels were spinning strongly). Then the moment after we said our "goodbyes" her pinwheel started spinning. . .spinning strongly like all the other pinwheels. J and I both looked at each other with the same thought, it was as though our perfect lil princess was waving goodbye back to us. =)

Then we headed to Red Lobster for lunch. This was a difficult lunch for us because it was our first time to eat at Red Lobster since our celebration dinner of finding out we were having a baby girl. Although it was a lil over 6 months ago when we were so anxious to find out the gender, it felt like it was just yesterday.
Here is a super cute video from back then of J sharing our gender news with his parents. . .


As we finished lunch, we looked across the street at Buy Buy Baby and remembered how 6 months ago, we were SO excited to be having a girl we rushed in there after our dinner just to browse through all of the cute girly things.  Now, I have a couple of Buy Buy Baby giftcards that I didn't even get a chance to use on Ava. =(

After all of that reminiscing, we decided we are done with Red Lobster for awhile, well, at least that particular location.

We then headed home and all took naps before we headed to the park for B to practice his soccer skills.

The boys did a variety of soccer drills as I walked around the field multiple times in an attempt to start exercising. =) Afterwards to continue our new Sunday tradition of having chips and queso. . .we headed to Taco Cabana for dinner. Randomly, we bumped into our good friends there so we got to eat dinner with them.  It was such a nice surprise!

March of Dimes Walk

This morning J participated in the March of Dimes walk. March of Dimes is an organization that raises money to help improve research for premature babies, birth defects and other infant/pregnancy issues. Before he began, he needed to be "Ava-fied" . . . I jazzed up a name badge/necklace for him to wear. . .

 and got him some pink shoes laces that say, "hope, faith, and strength."

 

 

 Then he was officially ready to walk the 5 miles for Ava. . .

J headed off to White Rock Lake while B and I headed to his soccer game. While I was at the soccer game, J texted me this picture just to give me a heads up of how many people that were there. . .

 

Earlier in the morning, we had the tv on as we were getting ready and the local news had a segment promoting the March of Dimes Walk in Fort Worth.  They mentioned they were estimating about 12,000 participants. . .so I knew there was going to be A LOT of people!

 

After his soccer game, B and I also headed to the walk. J had also warned us how bad the parking was but I didn't quite understand until we got there. Parking was HORRIBLE! B and I probably walked a good mile+ just to get to the event. Once we got there, we walked right up to the start/finish line. I called J to see where he was. . . he was only 1/2 way through, so B and I decided to walk towards him so we could finish with him. As we were walking, I started to get emotional. There were several signs along the walk that were "In Honor of" and "In Memory of" various babies. It was hard for me to read the signs and see all the successful premature babies that beat their odds and to know, our perfect lil princess, who was born healthy, is no longer with us.  Luckily, B and I were able to come to a waiting area along the walk where I could collect my thoughts/emotions and we could wait for J.  It was right by the lake, so I had to take a quick pic of B waiting.

 

 

Here are a few pics that J took along his walk. . .

 

We finally met up with J to finish up the last 1/2 mile or so with him. We came across some bluebonnets and took a quick pic of B in them.

 

Then, it was time to walk on and finish the walk.  It was a great feeling to finish as a family in honor of our princess. =) 

 

Afterwards, J took us over to "A Place to Remember" tent to show us what he had done for Ava.

He wrote her name on a pink flower and then it was added to an angel tree.

Here are all the names of the lil angels

He also got to write a personal message to her from us.

 

Then we headed over to J's corporate tent to have a yummy lunch before we hiked the mile+ back to our cars. After we ate, his company had a few drawings for prizes. Unfortuntately we didn't win, but we did come close! We thought for sure we were going to win the grand prize. . . it was set up so perfectly for us! They had a few of the kids draw the ticket numbers.  On the Grand Prize, the dj asked the lil girl what her name was before he announced. Take 1 guess what her name was. . .yep, it was Ava. All 3 of us looked at each other with the biggest grins, thinking "we got this!" All of our numbers matchd up in exception to the last 2. We didn't win. =( We knew it would have been TOO perfect, if we had.

 

We headed back to our cars and decided to make an impromtu visit to Ava to tell her all about the walk. After visiting with her, I looked down and noticed something on the ground. I bent down to pick it up, it was a one dollar bill! We thought it was funny, it was kind of like a lil consolation  prize from Ava for us not winning the grand prize. =)

 

By the time we got home, we were completely EXHAUSTED and ready for a nap. . .

(Well B, didn't even make it home before he started his nap).

Lilly and B photo bombing J while he took a nap. =)

 

Today was SUCH a beautiful day! Although it was last minute, I am so glad we got to participate in this wonderful event! Today, J dedicated his walk to Ava. As a family, we plan on making the March of Dimes Walk an annual event for us, not only to bring awareness to their cause but to honor our lil princess, Ava.

 

A few things for next year:

* we hope to either be pushing Ava's baby brother or sister in their stroller as we walk OR me being a cheerleader at the finish line because I'll be too pregnant to walk that far. =)

* we want to purchase an "In Memory Sign" for Ava to be placed along the course

* we want to get a big group of family/friends to walk with us. . . wearing bright pink shirts with Ava's name.

* we want to get more information on the shuttle buses that we saw dropping people off at the event so we won't have to walk so far to/from our cars. =)

 

I am SO proud of J for taking the initiative to particiapte in this special event for our sweet lil princess, Ava. By the end of the walk, J's feet hurt, his hamstrings cramped up, his knee felt funny, he was exhausted, and did I mention his feet hurt?   Even though he has his aches, it was all worth it, because I know Ava is SO proud of her daddy too!

 

Thanks for following along with us, 

Not Ready for 18..

I am not ready for my sweet lil B to be 18!! I know that sounds so random, but today after I picked him up from school I told him we were going to go to our last Hobby Lobby to look for the cute lil angels I am obsessed with. His response, "ANOTHER ANGEL?!?!" I said, "yes, ANOTHER angel!" I told him I want to make sure we always have a lil angel for Ava. . . .a  year from now, 3 years from now, always. His response, "Even 10 years from now, when I'm 18??"

18?!? 18?!? I told him, I do not want to think of him being 18!  He is my lil boy and I'm not ready to think of him as 18 years old!!! I told him, I don't want to think of him as being a teenager. . .driving, having a girlfriend, going to college, etc. . . He tried to assure me he won't EVER have a girlfriend. He's practically had a girlfriend since pre-K, so I told him not having one as a teenager didn't sound possible. =) He also tried to comfort me to say that when he goes off to college, I will have plenty of pictures of him and I can just take a few of his pictures with me when I sleep to remember him. He said that helped him when J and I went on our honeymoon and he missed us.  I told him again, I just did.not.want to think about it. For now, I will just savor every moment with him. =)

We did find another angel at Hobby Lobby, B and I were so excited when we saw it!  After going to all 4 Hobby Lobby's within a 15 mile radius of our house, I think our search is over. We now have 5 extra angels.

Afterwards, we picked up some of his birthday party supplies and then I treated him (and me) to a much needed Braums Chocolate Malt. . .

Thanks for following along with us,

Happy 1 Month Birthday and Angelversary Ava!

Ava's would be 1 Month Birthday 4/11/13. . .
Sunday night (before her birthday/angelversary) when B couldn't go to sleep, I had told him we had a couple of things to look forward to celebrating the coming week. Thursday would be Ava's 1 Month Birthday and Friday would be her 1 Month Angelversary. So first thing he did on the morning of what would be her fist month birthday, was ask me if it was time to celebrate Ava's birthday. I told him he had to get ready for school first, then we would do something special. He quickly got ready and then he ate his breakfast.  As he ate, we read a verse from our Charlie Jar and reflected on it. Thankfully, J and B had some spare time before it was time for them to head out for the morning so I got our special items that we were going to place in our front flower bed in rememberance of Ava. First we placed a cute, garden angel next to a pinwheel that we have had out there for the last month.

I just LOVE this cute lil angel!

I am so obsessed with it, I have gone to two of the local Hobby Lobby's to buy all the ones they have, plus looked online to see if I could get more. . . gotta have a back up in case something happens to it.  I couldn't find it online, but thankfully, I still have two more Hobby Lobby's I can check out. =)

 

Then B placed a small pinwheel in between our gerber daisies we had planted.  I had found this cute idea on another blog. We will place one small pinwheel for each month birthday, until she is 1 year old. Then we will switch to a big pinwheel for each year. Hopefully, it will give us a lil something to look forward to each month/year. It's also a refreshing sight to see and reflect on when we have to take Lilly outside. =)

 

Later in the morning, I went to one of our local speciality grocery stores that has a really nice flower shop inside of it. I checked to see if they sell pink helium balloons for our balloon launch the next day and came across these beautiful pink gerber daisies. . .

I LOVE having these pink gerber daises in the house! =) They match Ava's room perfectly! They are pink on top and a pale yellow on the bottom.  I know it sounds so simple, but they give me a smile.  We just might always have a vase of pink gerber daises in the house now.

 

While B was still in school, I went to visit our princess. B's soccer practice was switched to this night, so our schedules didn't work out for us to go visit her as a family. While we were at soccer, J went to go have his special time with Ava. I am so thankful we are so close to her and can go visit as often as we would like. =)

Ava's 1 Month Angelversary 4/12/13. . .
B woke up asking if it was time to celebrate Ava's Angelversary. I told him not until the evening, so he was a lil disappointed.  He was ready to start celebrating, but instead he had to go on with his normal morning routine and head off to school. =)

Normally after the boys go to school/work, I go back to sleep for a few more hours, but this day I could only go back to sleep for an hour then I had to get up and get ready. My parents were coming into town to take me to McKinney Trade Days (a monthly local flea market) so I needed to start getting ready for the day. I walked into the hallway and was blown away with how bright the hallway was. I immediately texted J to tell him the sun was shining through Ava's room and it looked SO pretty! He had me take a picture to share the experience with him.  (The pictures really do not do it justice.)

 To this day, I have not seen the hallway as bright as it was on that morning. =)

I had instant peace come to me. Although our sweet lil princess isn't physically here with us, I know she is constantly showing us her presence. =)

After spending some time in her room, I went ahead and got ready. My parents came to pick me up and we headed over to the McKinney Trade Days.  Unfortuntately, we didn't find anything worth buying, but the weather was beautiful and it was great to get outside for a lil bit. There were several reminders of Ava, whether it be other new moms pushing their babies in their strollers or the "girly" booths selling cutesy bows and tutus. . . all in all, I held it together.  I just kept telling myself, hopefully, one day soon, I will get to look at all the cutesy bows and tutus with a smile and a need to buy them again.

Afterwards, my parents took me out to lunch. It was all a great distraction until our next step. Next, they dropped me off at the grocery store to get the pink balloons. I did fine until one of the ladies asked me why I was needing the pink balloons. Barely holding back the tears, I told her we were going to be doing a balloon launch to celebrate my infant daughters 1 month angelversary. They felt horrible and one of the ladies even asked me if she could give me a hug. After our hug, I thanked them and told them I would see them again next month to get another batch of pink balloons. As I walked to the car, I wished I would have been stronger so I could have shared more with them about our sweet princess. . .there's always next month.

Next, we headed back to the house. One of my friends brought B home from school and it was so great to sit and visit with her. Then J got home about an hour earlier than normal so he could spend more time with us. It was so nice having him at the house.  My mom had premade one of our favorite Mexican enchillada casseroles, so she baked that for us...it was delicous!! Then it was time to load up the car to go visit our princess.

For our balloon launch, I took a sharpie marker so we could each write our own personal message to Ava on a balloon. Here is B's message...him and I both wrote it because I was afraid he would press down to hard and pop the balloon. I knew he would be crushed if that happened.

After we each wrote our messages, we had a lil countdown and then we all released our balloons at the same time. It was a beautiful sight!

They went SO high in the air! It was amazing how long we were able to watch them.

The weather was ABSOLUTELY GOREGOUS too!

 

If you look closely in the above picture, you can still see our balloons right above the tree in the middle.  They went so high, it literally felt like they were going up to heaven to be with her.

 

Afterwards, we went home to have the dessert I baked, a yellow cake with pink icing, specifically chosen to match Ava's room. =) Then we said our goodbyes to my parents. I was thankful to spend the day/evening with them.  Overall, we had as good of a day as you can when you are celebrating your daughter's Angelversary. By the end of the day, I was exhausted and had a headache. I think from all the stress and anxiety. I was worried something might not turn out "perfectly" for our princess, but thankfully it all did.  It was perfect!

 

Next month, Ava's would be 2 month birthday will also be Brayden's 8th birthday so the celebration will continue. =)

 

SIDE NOTE: I've actually been working on this post for a couple of days.  When I just went to preview it, I noticed today's date at the top.  Coincidentally I am publishing this post on the 1 Month Anniversary of us having to say our final goodbyes to her precious lil body. We buried her on 3/16/13. We would give anythng in the world to just be able to touch her and kiss her sweet lil cheeks again. We miss her soo much!

 

Thanks for follwing along with us,

Weekend Review

Saturday morning, B had a soccer game, bright and early at 8am.  This was my first game of the season, so I was excited to go watch him play. As we watched B play, the field behind him was a game being played by girls just a lil younger than B.  As the girls caught my attention, while B was over on the sideline. . . doing who knows what =)

 If you look closely, you can see a huge smile on his face. =)

That's him under the blanket. . .in his defense, it was chilly out there! =)

 

The thoughts crossed my mind that the last time I had gone to a game, J and I were discussing in four years or so we would also be going to watch Ava play.  We would be the parents that were having to shuffle between watching two kids. I also thought about how excited B was for Ava to come watch him play. Right before she was born, he was already asking me if Ava and I would be able to go to his game that coming Saturday. I told him I wasn't quite sure if she would be ready to be outside, it would all depend on the weather and how I would be feeling. . . .little did I know, that Saturday, instead of Ava going to watch her proud big brother at his soccer game, he would be having to say goodbye to his lil sister as we burried her.

Here are a couple of my favorite pics from his game. . .

 

Again, no idea what he was doing. . . but I promise he really did play. =)

One of the nights when B couldn't go to sleep he had mentioned that he was so upset that Ava never got to see him play soccer or even see him in his soccer uniform. So after his game and breakfast, we went to see our lil princess.

Afterwards, we went to check out an indoor swimming pool where B was wanting to have his birthday party. We had only been there once before when B was much younger, so before I booked it, I wanted to make sure he would like it.  Luckily, he liked it a lot and they still had a few openings so we were able to book it for the Saturday after his birthday.  Now, I get to plan an indoor pool party. =)

Once we got home, we visited with the neighbors a lil bit as B played outside. Then J's cousins were in the Dallas area to see Thomas the Train so they stopped by our house afterwards. It was so great to see them and watch TJ get the hang of driving his new jeep that B passed down to him. Luckily for us, TJ has many years ahead to master his driving skills. =)

He is such a lil a cutie!

 

Afterwards, I was worn out from our busy day!. . .This was way more activity than I have been use to in the last several months, so J took B to the park to play and kick around his soccer ball while I took a nap. Love that they give me quiet time and let me get my rest when needed. =)

On Sunday we visited a new (to us) church and really enjoyed it. They had just started a new series "Making Sense out of the NonSense of Life" the week before and it was so fitting to our life right now. It was so touching, a few times I teared up and B immediately wrote me a note to me "are you ok mommy?" (If his handwriting hadn't been so atrocious, I would show it off.) =) As we walked to our car, both J and I felt as though the pastor was talking directly to us and were really moved by it.  We are excited to go back next week as they continue the series!

Afterwards I went to lunch with one of my best friends and two of her best friends. It was so great to get out of the house and have a "girly" lunch.  The boys went to lunch and then to Dave and Busters or "David's Buster" as B calls it. They had a great time! I laughed when B walked in with a big pink ball. I thought maybe he chose that on purpose for Ava, but then he told me the real story. Right before they left, B wanted to do the "claw machine" (something I would never let him do). =) I guess there was a similar orange/blue ball that he was trying to get, but instead the pink ball dropped down. When he told me his animated version of the story, a huge smile came to my face. I told him, I guess that was Ava's doing, letting you guys know that she was there with ya. :)

Shortly after they got back, our doorbell rang. It was B's neighbor friend and her friend asking if he could play. He was SO excited. . .the weather was beautiful so they played outside as J and I took advantage of a quiet house and took a nap. After B and his friends played for awhile, B came inside asking if J could take them to the park to play. Being the trooper he is, J walked the kids to the park and watched them play while I got to catch up on the DVR.

When they got back, we went to go visit Ava, B took his pink ball and shared his story with Ava. Afterwards, we went out to dinner to have chips and queso and taco salads. . .our new Sunday routine. . .visiting Ava and having chips and queso for dinner. =)

 

We had a pretty busy, fun filled weekend. =)

 

Thanks for following along with us,

Tributes to our Lil Princess

Our princess' obituary:
Ava Lakelynn Abraham was born Monday, March 11, 2013 at 8:33am and was called to heaven on Tuesday, March 12, 2013 at 11:29pm. Although Ava’s life was cut way too short, she brought so much joy to her family. She was their “perfect lil princess” and was already spoiled rotten. She had the biggest, most beautiful brown eyes, cute little chubby cheeks and the sweetest little cry.

Ava passed away while sleeping peacefully on her mommy’s chest. Ava is survived by her loving parents Jason and Christie Abraham and her very proud big brother Brayden of McKinney, Texas; her grandparents Robert and Sharon King of Cartwright, OK and James and Marlyn Abraham Jr. of Bartlesville, OK; her aunts and uncles, Angela Magness and husband Mike of Oklahoma City, OK and Jennifer Hunt and husband David of Castle Rock, CO, James Abraham III of Tamuning, Guam and John “Mikey” Abraham and wife Kristlyn of SanDiego, CA.

Ava was welcomed into heaven by her great grandparents Carroll and Ava Lee King, James and Doris Abraham Sr. and Sinforoso and Natividad Azcuna. Ava was laid to rest in Babyland of Ridgeview Memorial Park in Allen, Texas on Saturday, March 16, 2013.

Click here, to visit the official online obituary from the funeral home. Feel free to leave an online memorial too if you would like. =)

Also, for those that were not able to make it to Ava's visitation or home going ceremony, here is her Tribute video that was shown...

Special thanks to Dale, from Turrentine Jackson Morrow Funeral Home for creating the video for us. He is amazing!

Thanks for following along with us,

Bring the Rain

Considering the stormy weather outside today, I thought it was fitting to share this special song that I have grown so attached to over the last couple of weeks, Bring the Rain by MercyMe. I have listened to it, I don't know, probably hundred times or more but whose counting?!? =)

I know through the "storm" we are going through now, we will grow stronger.  We will have joy and peace again. =)

 

Today, I got a really sweet gift in the mail from a friend. . .a Charlie Jar: Jars of Hope and Healing. I LOVE it! I am so excited about it! Such a wonderful ministry she started after losing her sweet baby girl, Charlie. Please go check out her story here. You can order your own Charlie Jar or even send one to someone in need. I am so honored to receive one. =)

I also wanted to pass on a few Specific Prayer Requests. . .
Tomorrow, April 11th, would be Ava's "first month" birthday. I also go to the doctor for a checkup. Friday, April 12th will mark Ava's first month "Angelversary" we plan on visiting her and doing a pink balloon launch.  I know this will be a hard day for us.  Also, we were told it would take about a month to get the results back (to see if there is any answers why this happened) so hopefully we will hear something back next week. 

Thanks for following along and keeping us in your prayers, we are SO appreciative of them! =)

Our Day

Today I exepected to write part 2 from Ava's last day, but I just can't do it, not yet. Instead you'll just get to just read about our not so eventful day. =)

B stayed home from school again and is finally doing much better. He still has a horrible cough and he says that his throat doesn't hurt as bad. He finally had enough energy to carry on conversations and enough energy to beg me to play monopoly with him. After about two hours of playing monopoly, I realized there was never going to be an end to the game, especially with his rules.  His rule, if you are about to run out of money, you can get a loan from the bank= the never ending game of monopoly. I did get a call from Acute Kids following up on our visit from Sunday. They did say his strep culture came back negative, so that was a big relief.

Then I got a call from J about 5:30 to say that our funeral director had called him.  He had made a mistake with the coding on Ava's marker on Sunday.  Remember I said we had to make it complicated for our princess?? =) He had assured J he fixed the mistake, but needed one of us to come sign the corrected paper.  J was still at work so it was much easier for me to go and sign than it would be for him. I got in the car and headed there. Going to a funeral home is.never.easy! As soon as I got there, I could tell from the amount of cars in their front parking lot and arriving, a visitation was just about to begin.  From the friends visiting, I could tell the visitation was for an older person. Not that it makes it ANY easier, losing a loved one is never easy, regardless of their age. The whole scene just took me back 3.5 weeks ago and the flood of emotions began.  As I walked in, I told the greeter who I was there to meet.  They called him and he met me at the front (not being able to hold back my emotions) he immediately apologized for me having to come back and took me back to an office. He explained that right before he submitted our order he felt that something just wasn't right about it. He looked it over, couldn't quite figure it out, so he had someone else take a look at it. They looked and thought everything was right. He still had a gut feeling that something was wrong. He then realized the edging was wrong. Most people get a "rock edge". . . but since our princess can't have what most people get we went for a "beveled" edge.  It took them over two hours and calling the company directly, to get it correct. I am so thankful he noticed it and I know that "gut feeling" was Ava making sure her marker was just as special as her mommy, daddy and big brother designed. =)  As hard as it was going back to the funeral home, it did give me one more excuse to go see our princess for a quick visit. =)

Since I haven't been able to show off J's parents introductions yet, here is a sneak peak one of my favorites. . .

Ava's Last Day Part 1

Tuesday, March 12th, 2013...Ava's last day...we had a pretty eventful day with lots of good pictures, so I am going to break it into 3 parts...Part 1 morning (her hearing test), Part 2 afternoon (meeting J's parents) and Part 3 the evening. Emotionally, I am not ready to share the evening and everything we went through that night.  I will work on it, but more than likely part 3 will not fit into the chronological order.

One of the things Ava had done first thing Tuesday morning was her hearing test. Of course, she passed with flying colors. =)

Such a sweet, precious angel that we all miss SOOO, SOOO much!

We LOVE this picture and her sweet lil "popeye look" as we called it. =)

And didn't J do an awesome job on her "swaddling"?!? He was an instant natural!

This is another one of our favorites.  It looks like she has her headphones on, just enjoying some tunes. 

 

A nice big yawn....not sure which was the cause of the yawn, either her hearing test was too exhausting for her or maybe it was her "night owl" skills that she had mastered from the night before. =) 

 

 Afterwards, J got Ava dressed up to meet his parents... Well, I helped with the feather bow/headband. He doesn't want to take credit for that. =)

At the time, J wasn't a fan of the feather bow, so all I was able to do was a take a picture and then the headband came off and he switched her back to the pink hat. As soon as he put these pants on her we laughed at how big they were on her. One of the things you can't really tell based on the pictures is how small she really was...5lbs 10oz....both the onesie and her pants were "newborn" size and they were still too big on her.  Occasionally we go in her room and look at all of her tiny diapers, the clothes she wore and socks she wore on her hands to keep from scratching her face and we are just amazed at how small they are, yet they were so big on her.



After J got her dressed, he headed back home to let Lilly out and get dressed himself. As he left, he let the nurses know that I would be on my own just in case I needed anything. They suggested that they go ahead and take Ava to the nursery for about an hour to do some routine checkups and it would allow me some time to rest.  Him and the nurse came back to relay the message to me, then they were off and I was able to get a lil bit of a nap in.

Thanks for following along with us,