My Hilarious Attempts at Sewing - Terrycloth Backed Bib

Well...I decided to venture beyond the world of sewing baby blankets and binky clips...I have made Ava's first bib. It's terrycloth on the back to help suck up the endless drip of drool that is my daughter these days.

Ava and I had a lot of fun hitting the fabric store the other day in search of bib fabric that isn't pink. Don't get me wrong...I love pink for her. But I also love for her bibs to match/coordinate with her outfits. And almost ALL her bibs were pink.

Here's my first attempt. I'll post more as they are completed.

Ava - 4 Months Old

Okay okay...technically Little Miss is about 4 1/2 months old right now...I'm a bit behind...but that's just what you do when you're a new mom...right? RIGHT?!

Weight: about 14-15 lbs

Diet: 4 oz bottles of formula, every 2 hours! Sometimes she'll go 2 1/2 or 3 hours...but it's almost always every 2 hours.

Sleep: Ava is still a super baby sleeping through the night for us. We are thankful every day, more specifically every morning! I think this is why she eats so often during the day...to fuel up for her big sleep! Ava wakes up around 7-8, naps mid morning, mid day, mid afternoon, and goes to bed around 8:15 each night. It's awesome! At this point, if she's not asleep in our arms, we can put her down in the crib and she'll just nod off on her own. We still use a sound machine, and usually a night time binky. Sometimes she still fights her sleep at naptime. Ava wakes herself up in the mornings and I listen to her morning chat with herself. Love. Taking after mommy already.

What's going on:
This past month Ava started tucking her bottom lip in a lot. And just this past week alone she started making this hilarious face - both lips sucked in, neck stuck out (visible even! lol), eyes wide, nose scrunched, ends with a lip smack! We love it. Maybe these are Ava Kisses.
She reaches for anything and everything in sight.
She still drools...a lot. In fact, mommy made a new terrycloth backed bib last night. She's gonna need it!
Still jabbering, now at louder volumes. She got to practice her shouting at Aunt Leah's volleyball game earlier this month.
Ava has finally noticed and become infatuated with Lily and Lola (dog and cat). I'm not sure the feeling is mutual.
I think that sitting up independently is coming...this kid has a super strong core and is working on balance. What she still isn't doing is rolling over. She just isn't interested.
First road trip taken...see earlier post.
Our swing quit working. Gasp! Wynston has been told to look into the situation. :)

Lip tucked!

This one is blurry, but I think it's charming.

Camera Roll

Finally posting a lot of photos that we've been taking...



This is from back in July. Someone's taking a peek! Also, I promise we wear more than just baby carriers around this house...no matter how naked everyone looks in this picture!
July 8th, 2012



Yawn! I love this picture, bad lighting and all.
August 15, 2012

Wearing Grandpa Randy's hat at breakfast!
August 18th, 2012 

Ava's first Bear's Volleyball game. She loved it!
August 18th, 2012

  

I love this face.
August 30th, 2012

August 30th, 2012

Being silly on a weekend morning.
September 1st, 2012

Getting my ducks all in a row.
September 18th, 2012

It begins...the bathtime mohawk.
September 18th, 2012

  

More silly faces in the morning...milky mouth and all.
September 20th, 2012

 

Ava and Momma (with Momma's new dark hair). My hair has never been this dark, but we are loving the change so far!
September 22nd, 2012 

  

Ava's first Bonfire. Fall is here!
September 22nd, 2012

Always tucking my bottom lip in these days.
September 23rd, 2012

A Deep Breath

Tonight I took a deep breath.

Then I realized just how long it had been since I'd been able to breathe. Months...

Is my house clean? No. Is my laundry caught up? Ha! No. Are my eyebrows manicured? No. Is my mail sorted? No. Is the gallery wall in Ava's nursery done? No. Even though she sleeps through the night, do I? No. Are her boxes of too small clothes packed snugly away in the attic (tear)? No. Did my baby keep her poo contained to her diaper tonight? No...which would've been especially nice since we were at my brother's house. Did I work out today? No. Has the dog been brushed recently? No.

But we are really starting to get the hang of this baby thing. And we are loving every minute. She's Miss Personality lately and that's not just me being momma, everyone agrees.

So I took another breath. A big ol deep breath.

To all my friends who either have newborns or are pregnant...take a deep breath. I promise you won't have to hold it for too long.

Gotta love your personal space. :)

A Little Cowboy's Coming To Town

This past weekend, a friend Kirbie and I threw a Texas themed baby shower for our friend Jennifer. After perusing a lot of fun baby shower themes, we decided to go with this one since Jennifer is originally from Texas. This was a fun shower to plan, but we had to also be smart about our food and decoration choices since both of us were traveling to St. Louis to throw this shower. Kirbie handled decorations and I took the food. Here are some snapshots from the shower:

Bib garland, Route 66 sign, gifts and more!

Bib garland

Playbill style invite in frame, sunflowers and the cutest tiny bale of hay!

Some of the food...chips and salsa, watermelon, coleslaw, mini fruit and pecan pies. We also served bbq brisket with rolls, sweat tea, and lemonade. There were so many other food items I wanted to go with, but travel friendly foods were a must.

Jen and an ADORABLE handmade monkey pillow for her baby boy. She's definitely got that pregnant glow about her!

Baby blankets I made for Baby K.

Dinos and dots. Thought this would work at Cardinals games!

Puppies. Baby K is about to be added to a puppy loving household! Ava loved their dogs.


What a fun party! Glad we got to get together and celebrate this upcoming little blessing. Can't wait to meet him!

Family Road Trip

Well...we survived. :) And it was a LOT easier than I was anticipating. Having The Lion King readily available on a portable dvd player really made the long car rides easier for Ava.

Friday afternoon Wynston, Ava and I loaded up the car and headed to St. Louis MO/Edwardsville IL. Wynston's parents also went so we all hit the road together! We spent Friday evening in Edwardsville watching Aunt Leah's volleyball match. She was able to wear her "Coach's littlest fan" onesie for the first time.

Sleepy snuggles with Aunt Leah



 After the game and dinner, we headed back to St. Louis to stay with Jen and Brian, friends from college. We threw Jennifer a baby shower on Saturday for her little one who is set to arrive in October. Jen looks fantastic and almost makes me miss having my Little Miss in my belly...almost.

Some Tummy Time with Katie

Saturday evening we returned to IL for some much needed family time. Aunt Leah is at a VERY busy point in her work schedule, so the fact that we were able to squeeze in some quality time with her and AJ was really nice.

We even managed to fit in a visit with Poppy and Grandma Janie on the way home. Poppy brought out a guitar and Little Miss LOVED that. Too funny.

Ava enjoyed all the fun times we had this weekend. She was really tuckered out by the time we were home on Sunday. I hated messing up her schedule so much, but it was worth every moment!

Family Ties

Browsing through some pictures from this past week, I noticed a "family" theme...


This past Sunday we attended our annual Tracy Family Reunion.

I got to sit and visit with Wynston's cousin Ashley at this reunion, who is due to have her first baby in November. I really enjoyed getting to know her more. They have built the coolest nursery for their little boy...it has a wall that looks like a rustic store front that they will grow with their baby....starting out as an old toy shop, then maybe evolving into a bait shop or cabin. Very cute.

This year at the reunion, a Tastiest Dish contest was held. We were supposed to bring something prizeworthy, but we have our hands full these days so Wynston just whipped up a batch of his brownies from a box. He won 2nd place! He was relieved he didn't win since they made the winner come up to be crowned and receive a trophy.

Notice that Ava is trying to snack on some yummy fish - she is SO her father's child!

Wynston's mother recently brought home something fun. A tiny, little bitty, working piano!! This was something she used as a child, and it was up at Grandma Pauline's. Isn't this the most adorable thing you've ever seen?! Just Ava's size.

Since my mom, Wynston's mom, my brother and I have all taken piano lessons at some point in our life, it looks like Ava is going to follow in our footsteps.

She loves it!

That's One Tired Daddy

Sleeping on our nursery floor.

Please note that neither shoe is fully on his feet. :)

Road Trip with 4 Month Old

First things first...Ava is 4 months old today. I'm patting myself and Wynston on the back for keeping this little one alive and happy (most of the time!) for 4 whole months. That's 1/3 of a whole year!  Things are getting easier and more fun with each passing week. We ate dinner with Wynston's parents last night, and plopped Ava down in her exersaucer (it's medieval castle themed, lol). There's so many play items all around it, and she was so excited and content in there...giving us the rare opportunity to eat without a baby on my lap. She was really cracking us all up as she was talking and doing this funny "angry" chew on her monkey...like she's gonna tear it apart! That little monkey had better stay on Ava's good side. :)

Okay, back to the subject at hand. This weekend we are excited to head up to St. Louis MO and Edwardsville IL. We will be visiting Wynston's sister Leah and then we will be visiting our friend's Jen and Brian and having Jen's baby shower. Jennifer and Brian's baby is due in October and we are soo excited for them. I can just see family float trips and camping in our future!

While this weekend is bound to be full of fun and excitement, I'm admittedly VERY nervous about a 3 to 3.5 hour drive with my 4 month old. As of late, Ava isn't a huge fan of being in the car. My mind is somewhat at ease since there'll be two of us in the car (so one of us can hop in the back and talk to her) and since we are taking our time driving up and can make stops along the way to get little Miss out of her carseat as we go (man she hates that thing).

So....any advice to make our journey easier? We wanted to drive at night so Ava could sleep during the drive, but that's not an option for us due to a previous committment Friday morning...

Short and Sweet

Gonna keep this short and sweet. We have a lot of things going this week that will be keeping us busy. I'll try to pop in with some funnies and pictures when I can.

Enjoy.

Happy Grandparents Day

-Love Wynston and Casey

Camera Roll



The many faces of our little one we got to enjoy last night.

Look at our girl, she's so 2012 and into windmills, tree hugging and recycling!



The raised eyebrow gets me every time.

 

"Oh, hey guys, just hanging out on my bear rug."

 

Momma, Baby and Monkey



Ava looks so ornery here.



Opps...looks like I caught a houseshoe in the sink in a few of these! Totally normal, right?









A date

Yesterday I got a special text. "We have plans after work. I will pick u up". Short and precise, with an element of surprise.

During my pregnancy and our first almost 4 months of parenthood, Wynston and I keep talking about how easy it is to find ourselves not putting the effort into "us" that we used to. It's so easy to get caught up in Ava, work, the never ending list of housework, family functions, trying to catch up on sleep....the list goes on and on. Dates are just something we don't get around to much these days. We get out and do things with other adults every few weeks (aka no baby, no diaper changes, no spitty shoulders) but rarely is it just US.

But not last night. He picked me up, and we drove over to a restuarant/bar/hangout over in our old neighborhood, where we used to spend lots of warm evenings on the patio. We sat and talked and just caught up. Of course, that conversation inevitably ended up being about Ava at times. But that's just life now.

So a big thank you to our parents who help out with Ava and give us the opportunity to re-invest in "us". So far for me, the dividends are paying out nicely.

Go Crazy

Ava has a new skill...and I call it Go Crazy. It's hilarious...you say "go crazy!" when she's in a good, playful mood, and she does this spasm/flex/crazy-eyes...."thing". I need to learn how to add a video on here so you all can appreciate the cuteness.

Go crazy, Ava, go crazy.

You Win Some, You Lose Some - Pinterest Recipes

Win:

Baked Ranch Chicken

http://pinterest.com/pin/155444624609442558/

Baked Breaded Mushrooms

http://notecook.com/side-dishes/breaded-mushroom-recipe-2/

Fail:

Crockpot Orange Chicken/Turkey

http://www.examiner.com/article/orange-chicken-the-crockpot

The failure of the Orange Chicken/Turkey was my fault. I spent Tuesday evening prepping two dinners as Wynston played super dad and played with Ava. The ranch chicken and mushrooms were both really good. I also threw some sliced zucchini topped with a little parmesan into the oven, and we had a nice meal all around. I thought I was doing so well prepping that orange chicken (again, we used wild turkey) for the next night. I was working in the office all the next day, so I'd just throw this in the crockpot and be done! But the next morning, I reread the directions...only 4-6 hours on low!! My crockpot never needs the full amount of time a recipe calls for, and I go to work at 7! So if I needed, say 5 hours, my meal would be done by noon, then sit on "keep warm" for another 4 hours! Afraid it would burn up, I decided to add water. Ha....HAHA!  This turned into a soupy, watery, nasty looking mess. Lesson learned. I still want to try the recipe, without my amazingly genius chef skills added in next time. (end sarcasm)