Happy Birthday baby girl!!! Ava is 1!!!

Our baby girl is 1!!! where did the time go? She had grown up over night! practically running now! Talking up a storm!

Ava you are:

Drinking milk now! NO MORE Formula!

Eating almost everything but you love bananas, spinach, chicken, beef, sweet potatoes, and much much more!

Walking all the time now! no falling down at all! You would walked outside if i would let him!

You love to say the words Duck, Dog, Pretty, Bob (spongebob), dadda, momma, nona, and a few more that are not coming to mind right now!

wearing 18 month clothing.

Size 4 diapers

size 4 shoes

 you hate having things on your feet!

you love to give everyone and everything hugs! You are such a sweet girl!

you make the fish face and give fish kisses!

you love to play the sound game with mommy and daddy... we say something and you say something in the same pitch we do! it is so cute!

You will not let me take you back from nona sometimes! you love to see her!

When you get tired you cry if anyone tries to talk to you!

You maybe take one nap a day!

You go to bed around 8 sometimes 7 depending on the day that you have had!

You wake up around 8 or 9

You have 8 teeth all the way in and are getting 4 more! your eye teeth and two molars! you have been miserable the last week! i feel horrible for you!

You are growing up to be such a sweet loving funny girl! You are the light of our lives and we could not imagine life without you! Happy 1st Birthday baby girl!!! It has been the best year of our life with you in our lives!!!

The day before we met Ava Lucille

The day before we met our little angel was a busy day! We had my mom fly in at the last minute after my doctor decided to induce me. My mom and I spent the day running around and getting thing ready. We picked up things we might need at the hospital. Then we came back to the house and watched some tv. I had spent some of my bed rest days watching a baby story. So we watched an episode or two of those! Des had to work that day. And his parents drove in that afternoon. When dez parents got here we finished getting things for the hospital and loaded up the car my mom and i went off to the hospital to check in by five. Dez parents went to pick dez up at work and head over to the hospital! We all arrived close to five. We went and got checked in settled in our room and relaxing till the doctor came in. I got my IV. Worst part of the whole process i think.

That night when the doctor came in she told us what all we were going to be doing to induce. They were going to start a mild dose of meds over the night to start the process and that in the morning they would start me on stronger meds to really get things going. She started the meds and we just relaxed and waited!

Des parents and my mom went and got dinner. We watched TV and just talked about when our little ava would be here! I started to feel a few contractions. That night i did not sleep much. My mom and Dez stayed with me that night.

One of the biggest things that happened that day... Dez had his last cigarette ever. He had one before he left work! Today has been one year since he has had a cigarette! He had done so good for his baby girl! We are so proud of him!!!

The day before we met ava was such good day but it would never beat the next day! Our little girl made the next day the best day of our lives!!! 

The Lewis' in 2009

Thought this was a cute idea!!!

2009 was a wonderful year!
January 2009- We were getting ready for our little girls arrival near the end of the months! And I was so ready to have her in our arms!!! 

Our doctor decided to induce and we would get to meet our little girl 3 days early! She ended up needing an emergency C-Section. But it was worth it! She was born January 22 at 5:22PM she was a beautiful 8lb 2oz baby girl!

The first week home my mother stayed with us and helped out so much! We would have been lost without her! I was helpless for about 2 weeks!

February- We took our first trip as a family! We ended up splitting up for the most part of it. I learned how hard it was to travel with a three week old by myself. And my dad was unable to be there for Ava's birth and he met his granddaughter for the first time February 14th! He was just smitten with her from the start!

March- I was suppose to go back to work after my maternity leave. But we decided to move down to Texas to be closer to family! We started telling people and i resigned from my job at Daniel Island Club. We started packing and figuring out our plans! 

Ava also celebrated her first Easter!

April- We arrived in San Antonio and moved into my parents mother-in-law suite till we figured out where we were going to live. We also decided to apply to be a CARES Team at a local apartment. We had to wait to find the right place for us! The weather was beautiful and Ava got to spend some time out by the pool!! She is a water baby!!!

May- We found our apartment where we would be serving at and moved in and got settled and started work as a cares team. Ava was already on the move at 4 months... she was starting to get up on her hands and knees and rock back and forth. I knew that my days of her not moving around were over... but excited for this new chapter in our life!

June- This was our big family trip month! We went over seas (Ava's first overseas trip) we went to Dominican and stayed at a beautiful condo on the ocean! it was a wonderful trip! I spent most of the time with ava out on the balcony just enjoying the sound of the waves and the beautiful place! We also got to go see the other parts of the dominican that most don't see! And it was really eye opening! I also had stopped nursing at this point.
 

July-  Ava turned 6 months old! She started crawling and pulling up on our furniture! And never slowed down from there!

We also had family pictures made! I have been horrible in placing my order but i have the sneak peek that Jamie gave us!

August- When we became a cares team we met the most wonderful couple who use to be a cares team and they helped us out! We actually had started a friendship out of that and we have become wonderful friends. At dinner one night Lindsey and I were talking and we got on the subject of birthdays and found out that we had the same birthday! our children are also 7 days apart in age! It has been such a blessing to have them in our lives!!!  Lindsey and I decided to celebrate our birthdays together! it was so much fun!!!

September- Ava really started walking well by herself. She started at 7 1/2 months but really got the hang of it a 8 months and has just started getting stronger and stronger!!!

October- Ava celebrated her first Halloween! She was the cutest lady bug! I was able to make her costume!

November- Ava celebrated her first Thanksgiving!!! She was able to eat turkey, stuffing, and everything else we ate and loved it!!! We also took a trip to Memphis to visit Dez parents and for ava to meet her Great Great Grandma!

December- Ava's first Christmas! It was so much fun! We had all of our family at my parents house and had a fun time letting ava open her presents and spending time with family!

This has been a great year and we have spent it all with our wonderful baby girl! She has blessed our lives in so many ways! We are so grateful for her and have loved watching her grow up every day! As well celebrate her 1st birthday in January 2010 i have found myself looking back more and more on when she was first given to us!!! We love her more than words could ever describe!

2010 is going to be a wonderful year!!! Can't wait to see what it hold for our family!!!

First Christmas

We celebrated Ava's first Christmas this year! It was so much fun! We had a blast with her opening presents and playing with her new toys. We went to our church's Christmas eve service the night before and it was awesome... and not just because my dad was the speaker that night. But he was excellent if i do say so!!!

We took pictures at the church and in front of our little tree.

The next day we went over to my parents house for Christmas around 9 in the morning to eat breakfast and open presents.

She had gingerbread waffles. She loved them... Did not leave a crum! 

Then we opened presents... 

d

She was a tad confused with the keys. She thought they were a phone. But she later got a phone and the confusion was gone... HA HA! So cute! 

l

Later on we went to a movie! We saw Sherlock Holmes. It was great! then we headed home and went to sleep. It was a great and busy day! So special!!! Merry Christmas baby girl!!!