Halloween 2010

Ava's first official Halloween experience was GREAT! We had a busier schedule than most that day, starting with 3 Costumes:
Halloween morning: Wear your Green Bay Packer cheerleader costume and take pictures for G'ma and G'pa (Diehard Cheeseheads). Change.
Halloween lunchtime: Wear your butterfly costume (in 75+degree weather) to Winco to get a pumpkin and candy for the trick or treaters. Go to Sabrina's party and play in the jumpjump with all the big kids. Go home, take a nap, eat dinner and change.
Halloween evening: Wear your pink Cat costume that daddy bought you for your 1st birthday and grab your candy bucket and go trick or treating!!!!

Ava was SO BRAVE trick or treating for the 1st time. She would hold our hands and walk with us up to the doors with all the other big kids. she would even knock and hold out her bucket! We were out with gma and gpa Jarman for about an hour. Chris was 'Zorro' and I was a Witch with an awesome hat with a bunch of feathers and netting. I loved it.

Ava was adored by every person who opened up their door to give her candy. some even called other people in the room to come see "the cutest little girl ever!"...Chris and I were beaming... :):):)






We made some great memories!

The wedding festivities are coming to a close.

The wedding fun is officially over:(
We're finishing up our thank you cards, we're picking out our photos and unpacked our last wedding gift.
Its sad.

Oh well, i'll just have to wait for Ava's wedding now!
here are some pics. ENJOY!!

Married...with children

So now its official. We're married.
We took vows in front of close family and friends, and most importantly eachother.
Ava was our platform for us to decide...do we jump? or just, be glorified roommates and raise our baby. So, we jumped.
And I must say, it is an amazing, indescribable feeling. So I will do my best:
The morning we woke up after our wedding day, I know we both looked at eachother and thought, 'should we feel different?'. The truth is, although we didnt admit it at the time, we didnt. In fact, I vaguely recall a little tiff over breakfast or who was in charge of cleaning up the reception or how hot the bath water was. We were taken back, this is technically our 'honeymoon' and we're arguing? It made us laugh.
Having a baby first, in a way, thrust us into the realities of marriage. No matter what, we are a team now. We are parents. we are a couple. and we have to fight. fight for US. we have to fight to be heard, to take advantage of every child-free moment to invest in US. We have to fight for romance and affection and communication and understanding and patience. This isn't a Should we or shouldnt we situation, its a 'can you handle it situation.
After a year of raising our daughter, being a couple, being parents, being roommates, being a team, we realized...we jumped a long time ago.
The wedding was our investment in eachother and our lifelong promise. the validation everyone talks about. the validation every parent needs with someone (be a groom or life partner or a best friend.). that we are in this life together, because i love you and choose You and want you. I definitely dont think marriage should have (or could have) happened for us before Ava was born. We needed to both realize the difference between being parents together and being husband and wife. To others, its the same thing. To the couple living it day to day, I can ASSURE you they are not the same thing.
I feel so blessed to have Chris in my life. I couldnt ask for a better life partner, my husband. my best friend. He understands me, he cares, he is honest and loving. The best father to Ava,
The night I looked at those two pink lines and then at chris's brave face and heard his reassuring words, I knew. He did too. We loved eachother. We were fighters and we were going to navigate this crazy thing called life and find our destiny, our fate. We love eachother and I couldnt have asked for a better beginning.
I have all the confidence in the world in us. I love him. He loves me ( God help him) and we are in this together.
For better or for worse.

We're MARRIED!!!

Wedding planning

Wedding planning is exhausting stuff!!
The venue, caterer, dj, photographer, tables and chairs, wedding night suite, dress and invitations are done....now I have to do the flowers, decor, rsvp list, transportation, registry and wedding party details.
whew!
our venue is GORGEOUS. we picked it because it both spoke to us, we both agreed that we pictured ourselves getting married there. Only one drawback, while we want to have every single person we love to be there to witness our special day, we can only have 80 people!! That is my biggest stress right now...the guest list. i am cutting people off the list i have known for 10+ years just so I can accomodate the wedding party and their families, and MY family (just immediate!) and HIS family (just local)! and we are still OVER 100 people. ouch :(

on a better note....chris and i found AWESOME deals to hawaii online.
i am SO tempted.
we really want a honeymoon. I think I am ready to be away from ava for a few days. I will be sooo sad at first but I think the break will be nice...i can't wait to marry chris, and walk down the aisle and say our vows. we made a vow to eachother over a year ago, right before ava was born, and that commitment alone was SO huge and important in our relationship...and it wasnt even "legal"..it was personal, and special, and beautiful and that is exactly what i want our wedding to be.
I want our family to see our love. i want our friends to witness our commitment to eachother and to our families. to take vows and make promises and exchange rings.
I know chris is anxious about his vows, words dont come easy to him, but i know even the most simple vow from him will bring tears to my eyes. he does have a way with words even if he doesnt know it ;)
i got a text from him today randomly...he wrote : "you have a face i never want to stop looking at."
To some people thats cute or whatever, but to me thats Chris..thats the BEST thing to hear from someone that has seen you at your worst and ugliest and fattest pregnant gross, and has also seen you at your best. Its the little things he says that means the world to me.

I am still trying to figure out how to include Ava in our ceremony. She takes 10 steps at a time now...but i dont think she would be able to walk to full aisle in a dress and clunky shoes. (*i wonder if i have to buy an aisle..?) We are including her in our vows for sure, and we have a cute 5 yr old flower girl already, so maybe we will just have to have her wheeled in on a wagon or something. i dont want anyone carrying her.
Something to think about while I am trying to go to sleep at night!

Ava turned ONE!

Ava celebrated her 1st birthday with 40 family and friends at G'ma and G'pas house on Saturday. We had face painting and water play for the kids. it was a blast! Ava wore an adorable navy blue dress with white polka dots and a pink belt. She had her first top-tail pony tail!
It is amazing to me that my little girl is a toddler now. She takes up to 4 steps at a time and loves to walk while holding our hand. Her personality is coming out more and more, she loves to mimic our movements and expressions. Especially "clicking" with our tongue and snapping our fingers. She scrunches her face and snorts to make us laugh. She has my sense of humor for sure. She plays with her voice all the time...squealing, singing, whining, yelling...sometimes at the highest pitch you have ever heard!! we "fake sing" opera together. she loves it. haha.

My baby is almost ONE!

ava has 4 teeth now
she can stand on her own
she is fiesty than ever
no separation anxiety
happy wrists!!
loves cell phones
waves to everyone
says momma and dadda and dog
we dont have a dog
we are moving out of our cottage in the city into an apartment in a "town"...a fancy town called El dorado hills. yaya
ava has curly blonde hair
she likes tofu and bananas and pears
and puffs
ohhhh the puffs win every time
she isnt into tv too much
LOVES music and has rhythm (gets that from mommy!)