Santa Baby

Saturday we ventured out to meet Santa. Of course, Ava is much to young to care or even know what's going on but we wanted her picture taken with him. While out, we did a little Christmas shopping and picked out Ava's first Christmas ornament.

2 months

Ava's 2 month appointment we well today. Dr. Huwe is happy with how well she is eating and growing! She weighs in at a whopping 13 lbs 11 oz (99th percentile) and 24 inches long (96th percentile, her head size is in the 50th percentile. I wasn't surprised by her weight, I guess she was close to 14 pounds (and maybe even 15 right after she eats).

Shots went as expected, probably harder on mommy than Ava. She let out a little cry with the first one and stopped for a second and then screamed bloody murder after the next two. I fed her right after and that calmed her down and put her to sleep. We are going to give her plenty of snuggles tonight.

On another note, Ava slept through the night the past two nights in a row! Yay Ava!!

Baptism and already 2 months old!

I went to work last week, part-time until after the holidays. The first day back I spent 2 hours crying before I actually had to be there. Ugh! This is sure going to take some getting used to! I am so glad I decided to ease back into it instead of going back all at once!

Ava was baptized over the weekend. She was such a good girl and slept the entire time. I was so excited that she was able to wear my baptism gown, and of course she looked so beautiful in it. Nana and Papa Pecha bought her a pretty gold ring for the occasion and also a beautiful white headband that doubles as a garter that she can wear on her wedding day. Grandma and Grandpa Malcolm bought her a beautiful gold ID bracelet with her name engraved on it. I'm sure one day when she can appreciate these gifts, she will love them!

We had a house full of family here after the baptism for dinner that my mom and prepared on Saturday. We ate salad, mostaciolli, and chicken fettuccine alfredo. Also had two yummy cakes, a raspberry filled vanilla cake that I made and a chocolate and strawberry checkerboard cake that my Aunt Mari made. Both were delicious and almost too pretty to eat... (I said ALMOST!)

Ava with Mommy and Daddy

Great Grandma Meinders

Aunt Rachel and Uncle Tyson

Uncle Josh

Uncle Mark, Aunt Jody, Zach and Josie

Great Uncle Kirk, Great Aunt Mari, Kelsey, Kendra, and Hannah

Grandma and Grandpa Malcolm

Nana and Papa Pecha




This morning I had a meeting at work that I had to attend so Ava went with me to the salon. After wards, we went to Waverly to visit Nana at work. She's been dying to show Ava off and was glad we made the trip. All Nana's co-workers gushed over how pretty and well behaved she was. Also, of course, what chubby cheeks she has. I guess Ava can thank mommy for that! Then we went to take Daddy some lunch at work.

We are now hanging out at home for the afternoon until Ava's two month well check at Dr. Huwe's office. I am excited to see how long she is and how much weight she's gained, but I am not excited for the shots. I wonder who will cry more, mommy or Ava?

On another note, my Grandpa Meinders passed away 8 years ago today. He was one of the most wonderful men I know! I wish he could be around to see Ava, but I know he is watching over us.

Happy Thanksgiving

What a great Thanksgiving we had this year! First of all, because of Ava we have even more to be thankful for this year. We spent Thursday, Thanksgiving Day at Mom and Dad Pecha's. After we stuffed our faces full of turkey and all the fixings, the girls spent several hours baking goodies to take to Iowa City for the Meinders annual Thanksgiving/Christmas get together. I should note that Rachel quit after about half an hour and mom is the only one who spent the full several hours baking.

Thursday night when we got home we came home to a 58 degree house. Brrrr.... the furnace man needed to be called first thing Friday morning, which gave us a 3 hour late start in heading to Iowa City. No Black Friday shopping for us! We spent the weekend celebrating and visiting with family, most of whom hadn't met Ava yet. Saturday morning we went to the University of Iowa Children's Hospital to donate gifts to the kids. Ava did pretty well this weekend, but I think she was a bit overwhelmed and tired of all the noise and being passed around. She was a little grouchy last night and has been sleeping for a good part of the day today. She must be worn out!

I think tomorrow we will have a nice relaxing day at home, just us girls! I head back to work on Tuesday. Thankfully, only 2 days a week until after Christmas. Of course, the money will be nice, but I am definitely not ready to go back to work anytime soon. I get all misty-eyed just thinking about it.
Ava's First Thanksgiving!

4 generations





Donating gifts at Children's Hospital



4 generations

Church

We had a great weekend. Saturday, Darren didn't have to work so he took the night shift on Friday night and I was able to get 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep! I felt like a new woman! Saturday we spent most of the day at home as a family and went out to run some errands on Saturday afternoon. That evening Nana and Papa came to babysit so that Darren and I could have a date night. We went to the new restaurant, Roux Orleans, downtown Waterloo. It was very good food and it was nice to get out of the house and have some time for just the two of us. However, we are totally lame and missed Ava so we were home by 8:30!

Sunday, Ava made her first trip to church with mommy and daddy. We also were recognized in church as new members. After church we headed back to Hampton to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Malcolm's. Everyone wanted to take their turn holding Ava, especially Grandma Cindy, Josie, and Great Grandpa Ray.
First trip to church

Our first big outing

We have been pretty much keeping Ava at home because of all the flu that is going around so last weekend when Darren's brother got married it was our first big outing!

Darren ended up having to work late on Friday night so he wasn't able to go with Ava and me to the rehearsal. That was another first... hour long car ride with just mommy and Ava! I left with plenty of time just in case I had to stop to feed her, but she slept the entire time! Ava and I stayed the night at Nana and Papa Pecha's so we wouldn't have to drive so far in the dark. I left the rehearsal around 8:00 and had to make a pit stop at the Hansel corner to feed my screaming, starving baby.

Saturday we got up and went to vist Great Grandma Meinders and Great Great Uncle George and Aunt Edna. They loved to see Ava and thought she was such a doll. Then Nana, Mommy, and Ava went for a walk around the sights of Dumont (I had to show my daughter my old stomping grounds!)

We had to be at the church early to take pictures on Saturday. Ava did good and pretty much slept most of the time. Between pictures and the wedding we made a visit to Great Aunt Mari. She had been shopping and pretty much bought out Gymboree for Ava. Thanks, Mari!

The wedding went great. Mark and Jody looked wonderful, as well as Ava's cousins Zach, Emily and new cousin Josie. We didn't get a lot of pictures from the wedding, so hopefully we'll see some that the photographer took.

After the wedding, Nana and Papa came to take Ava back to their house to babysit during the reception. (They really needed their arms twisted to do this, right?) She was such a good baby for them.


Four generation photo

Ava meeting Great Grandpa Ray, he was in love!

Family photo

I snuck this photo during the wedding when I caught Grandpa Malcolm watching Ava sleep.

The wedding party

One Month Old

I can't believe Ava is a month old already! Ava is changing daily! Since we didn't have a doctor's appointment I weighed her with myself this morning to get an idea of what she is at now... my little princess weighed in at 11 lbs even!

At 1 month old Ava can:

Lift her head for several seconds when lying on her stomach.
Focus on my face and eyes.
Focus on objects, especially those of bright colors.

Ava loves to sit in her bouncy chair and this week has really started to enjoy her swing. She doesn't mind tummy time, but has to be in the right mood for it. She doesn't mind her baths, but hates getting her hair washed! When waking up and hungry, Ava just tends to lie there and talk to herself in her bassinet. She is a very happy baby. She likes when we read to her or talk to her. I've also started playing music for her this week and she seems to enjoy that as well.

Happy Halloween

Not much to say, just wanted to add some of our Halloween pictures. She received several Halloween outfits as gifts, so I'm including a lot of pictures.

Mini-Vans, Baths, and Belly Buttons

Last Friday night Nana Verla came down to babysit so Darren and I could go look at mini-vans and also go shop for new outfits for Mark and Jody's approaching wedding. Darren was in desperate need of a new dress outfit and nothing I own currently fits me and since I'm singing in the wedding, I figure its appropriate that I dress the part. Mom spent the night and let me catch up on some sleep and Saturday morning we went to test drive another mini-van and we made the big purchase! Holy cow, I'm officially driving a mom-mobile!!! I love, love, love the extra room! Then Saturday afternoon, Mom, Rachel, and I went wedding dress shopping again. Daddy stayed home and took care of Ava since we are quarantining her to the house due to all the germs!




Sunday we had our membership class at church and went to visit our parents in the afternoon so we could show off our new ride!

Ava's belly button came off on Friday night, so last night she had her first official bath (other than the sponge bath she had been getting). She liked it much more than the sponge bath! Although, she screamed when I washed her hair. Apparently, she does not like her hair washed. (This from the daughter of a hair stylist!)


We plan to take another stroller ride this afternoon since the weather is beautiful today. We need to take every opportunity because who knows how long this will last!

Bottles

At the advice of many friends who have recently had babies I decided that we needed to introduce the bottle to Ava early on. Last night Darren gave Ava her first bottle of pumped breast milk. She did so good and drank a whole ounce! She is such an easy-going baby. Very relaxed and calm. Barely cries. Even when she's hungry, she tends to wake up and just talk to herself in her bassinet until I go get her. We are so very blessed!

First bottle (Sophie wants to be where the action is!)

Wedding dress shopping with Auntie Rachel

Big yawn!

2 week checkup

Ava had her two week checkup yesterday with Dr. Huwe. At last week's appointment, she was back to her birth weight. And now she has by far surpassed it. She is now 8 lbs, 9 oz and 21 1/4 inches. What a good little eater! Although, I wish she could stay peanut sized for a little while longer. It kind of makes me sad that 2 weeks has already passed! I feel like life is in fast forward and I want to yell, "SLOW DOWN!"

At the advise of the doctor, I received an H1N1 flu vaccine while I was there and Darren is heading there today to get one as well. We were also advised to not take Ava to any sort of public place such as Wal-Mart, church, basically anywhere that someone may be sick... which could be anywhere. So, Ava and Mommy are officially confined to the house until further notice.

We had our first "rough" night last night. Ava wanted to eat every hour on the hour. They said she would go through a growth spurt around 3 weeks and would probably want to eat more, so I'm just assuming she's hitting that a little bit early. Needless to say, Mommy needs a nap today!

Welcome to the world Ava Nicole Malcolm

I started having contractions on Sunday (10/4) evening approximately 5 or 6 minutes apart. They weren't really strong and I was able to go to bed as normal. Darren did wake me up during the night and asked if I was feeling okay because he said I was making some weird moaning noises and moving around a lot. I'm guessing now that I was probably still having some mild contractions all through the night. I went to work Monday morning as normal, still having contractions about 5 minutes apart when I was able to time them. They got a little stronger as the day went on, but were still pretty mild. At 1:30 pm I decided to call the doctor's office to see what they said. They, of course, encouraged me to cancel the rest of my day and come in right away. I said, "Um... can't I just come at 3 when I'm off for the day?!" The nurse laughed and said, "Cancel the rest of your day and get here as soon as you can." I called Darren on the way to the doctor's office and told him to have his phone ready just in case they decided to keep me. When I got to the doctor's office he checked me and said, "Yep... let's get you to Labor and Delivery, we're gonna have this baby today!" He said I was dilated to 5 cm and 100% effaced!! I, of course, started crying and shaking from nervousness and excitement.

I called Darren and told him to get to the hospital as soon as possible. Then went and got checked in to Labor and Delivery. They hooked me up to all the monitors and I waited. My labor progressing fairly well, but the doctor came in at 6:30 pm to break my water and then it started progressing much faster. I walked the halls for a little bit, sat on the birthing ball for some relief from the contractions, and took a hot bath in the whirlpool tub. (I'm telling you, this birthing suite is like a hotel!) Finally, after the bath the baby had dropped even more and my contractions were much stronger and I was requesting the epidural. The anesthesiologist came in to give that to me around 9 pm. And finally, after pushing for about 50 minutes, Ava Nicole Malcolm was born at 12:15 am on Tuesday, October 6, 2009. She weighed 7 lbs. 13 oz and was 20.5 inches long. She was a little pale and had some trouble breathing at first, but all is well and healthy now. She is so beautiful! We couldn't be happier!

We are so in love!


Footprints


Look at that face






Sophie loves Aunt Rachel and little sister Ava

Jury Duty

I got called for Jury Duty today. After spending all morning there, I was excused due to my prenatal appointment on Friday. Darren said I wouldn't get picked because I'm pregnant and am a liability. Apparently, he was right. Let's hope I can get by for at least another 10 years without being selected!

Babymooning in Omaha

What is a "Babymoon" you ask? The term is used to describe a vacation taken by a couple that is expecting a baby in order to allow the couple to enjoy a final trip together before the many sleepless nights that usually accompany a newborn baby. With only six weeks to go and not wanting to spend all of our baby budget on a vacation we opted to stay somewhat close to home. I didn't care where we went, I just wanted to get away. Darren decided upon Omaha because of their Strategic Air and Space Museum.

We left late Saturday morning, stopped in Des Moines for lunch at Granite City and got to Omaha around 4 or so Saturday afternoon. We checked into our hotel, which was very nice and located in the Old Market district of downtown Omaha. We did a lot of "touristy" things while in Omaha, but mostly it was nice to get away and have some quality time for just the two of us. We visited the Air and Space Museum like Darren wanted to. Also, the Joslyn Castle (which was so cool and highly recommended!) Also, took a boat ride in one of the parks near the river and an old fashioned horse and carriage ride! We ate way too much at the yummy restaurants located in the Old Market. We had a great time!

View from our hotel roomOmaha Skyline

Horse and Carriage Ride

Darren's FAVORITE plane
SR-71

Here we are in front of it
(34 weeks)

Joslyn Castle

Boat ride