Archive for December, 2005

Christmas was great. We celebrated in Texas with my family. Ava went on her first flight (see below) and was a trooper. She also got to eat sweet potato casserole with her fingers, meet her great-grandma, play with the cows and ducks on the farm, meet her Aunt Sara, see my parents new house that they are building, and become good friends with a singing toy frog. If that isn’t a good Christmas, I don’t know what is.

While visiting Texas over Christmas, Ava got to meet her last Great-Grandmother. Mimi, is my grandma. She just celebrated her 90th birthday! We were so happy to get to see her and celebrate the holidays with her. She loved Ava and kept saying, “that baby needs to be rocked…”. Finally, we found a rocking chair and they had a nice chat together while rocking. Christmas bliss!

The cows were a great source of entertaiment for Ava (and us). Mom and Dad have a new little calf that was a surprise…too cute. The cows are all pretty tame and come running when you have cubes to feed them.

Ava was a little slow to warm up to meeting her Aunt Sara…tears were rampant. But, after a little nap and some dinner, she was on board. Sara and Ava had a great time playing and getting to know each other. Sara’s dogs (Pilot and Babe) came down also and were really fun. We all had a great time.

Ava had her first airplane ride over the Christmas break to visit my family in Texas. She did great, although we were armed with lots of toys and snacks. She fussed on the ride home, since it was a late flight…but as we were taxiing down the runway for take-off, I fed her a bottle and she went right to sleep. Of course, the passengers in front of us were a little antsy until she fell asleep. Here we are in the airport getting ready for take-off. Notice how crowded the terminal is…lucky we got there early, as Dave predicated…it was packed!

With the holidays coming up, everything at work slows down quite a bit and I can get away with taking a couple of weeks off. Kate had a big lab project to finish before we left for Texas to visit her folks, and our regular babysitter Kim was out of town for the holiday. This presented the perfect opportunity for me to mind the fort. I’ve spent the last few days as a stay-at-home Dad, and it’s truly been an amazing experience! I’m continually blown away at how quickily she grows and changes. Every day I notice something new. Maybe a sound I haven’t heard before, or a facial expression, or even a particularly unique new way of smiling. Sounds so cheesy, eh? But it’s true…I can’t help myself…we are so lucky to have been blessed with her. And I am particularly lucky to have the opportunity to spend almost a whole week at home with her as Mr. Mom.

Hello all…yes, I know it has been way too long since I posted. I’m not sure why I stopped. To be honest, I think I was so excited to see Ava’s Mom figure out how to post, I didn’t want to get in the way. Plus I’ve been soooooo busy with work. But that’s always an excuse, right? Well, the thing is, Kate has been taking some great pictures. And that’s what most of you want, right? Pictures? Of course…since our family is nowhere near, how else are you going to see our sweet, wonderful, beautiful little girl grow up? But I miss posting my thoughts up here for all the world to see. So today is the day, and I’ll be back with another thought before the week is through. Keep an eye out if you care.