Trip to KY

Ava (5 and 1/2 weeks old)
Ava with her Nanny (great g-ma)
Ava with her Gramps
4 generations of ladies
My favorite nephew (until Lex gets here!) Frederick Douglas
4 generations
Ava and her Poppy (great g-pa)

Well, Ava and I just got back this afternoon from our trip to KY. We got up there on Wednesday and stayed until today. It was a good trip with lots of time to visit people and show Ava off. One of the highlights of this trip was that Ava got to visit her great-grandfather for the first time. She had already met both of her great-grandmas, but this was her first time to meet her Poppy. We got some great deals at a yard sale and got Ava some winter clothes, went to church, visited family, and just spent some quality time with family. It was a great trip and I can't wait to go back!

Special message to two very special people - To person #1) Hold your temper!

To person #2) Be more understanding and fix that thing we talked about!

I love you both very much!

Busy weekend

This past weekend was very busy. I already posted about Ava's first trip to a restaurant, but we did a lot more. Aunt Bethany came to stay with us from Nashville because of the remodeling that Nana and Pop (Brad's parents) are doing on their house. So Ava got nonstop attention all weekend! :)

On Saturday morning Bethany, Ava, and I went to uptown Newbern for pancake breakfast. Newbern was having its 14th Annual Depot Days and Pop was cooking at the breakfast. It was fantastic. We walked around after eating and looked at all the booths. Bradley and his dad were in the parade so we watched that (well, Ava slept through it) and then we headed home and watched tv and napped. That evening Nana and Pop came over and I cooked lasagna and we ate and played some more games.

Sunday morning we went with Pop to church. This was Ava's third different church in 3 weeks. She was horribly fussy so I stayed in the bathroom with her through the whole service. After church we ate at Ryan's where she was also fussy! That evening she was fine though. We got some great pics of everyone in their Sunday clothes. Here they are:

Ava with Aunt Bethany
Aunt Bethany, Ava, and Mommy
Ava and Aunt Bethany
Ava and Pop
Daddy and Ava (I love this picture!)
The Rogers Clan (except Nana)
Daddy, Ava, And Pop
The three of us

Ava

So, it was a busy but great weekend and we enjoyed having Bethany with us. (Bethany, you are welcome to stay with us anytime!)

Tomorrow Ava and I are heading to Princeton, KY to stay a few days. We'll keep you posted!

Love, Tiff

More pictures from the weekend

Ava after her bath Saturday night
Our lasagna dinner on Saturday night (we had Ava in her bouncer off to the left side)
Ava and Daddy watching Baby Einstein

Bradley and Paisley playing cards

Our happy family

Lisa holding Ava at Los Portales

Ava with Aunt Bethany

I will post pics from Sunday after church when I get the chance!

Peyton's B-day Party (aka Ava's first trip to a restaurant)

Ava at Los Portales

Peyton, the birthday girl

Ava's first trip to a restaurant took place at where else...Los Portales. On Friday night, Ava, Bradley, Joe, Anne, Bethany, Lisa, Peyton, and I went to Los Portales to celebrate Peyon's 10th birthday. Ava slept through most of the first part of the meal and then she just sit in her carrier for a little while. When she started to cry towards the end of the meal, Lisa fed her a bottle and she was fine.

Of course a birthday dinner at a mexican restaurant is not complete unless the birthday boy or girl gets to wear the sombrero and eat a sopapilla... which is just what Peyton did.

After eating, we came back to our house and had cake, played a few games, and had a great time. By the end of the night, we were all worn out. (As you can see in this picture of Ava and her Pop.)

One Month Old (Baby shower and Photography session)

My baby girl is now one month old. I told you all last week that we had a couple of big things this week. One was a baby shower at DCHS (where I teach) and another was Ava's first photography session (with a professional, not just Mom, Bradley, and I messing around!).

The photography session was on Tuesday and I just had a feeling we were in for a bad day. Ava started out fussy but I hoped she would calm down by the time the session started at 2:00. Needless to say, she was very gassy and fussy. But let me tell you, the photographer, Kori Burkhead, was fabulous. She worked so hard with Ava and spent a lot of time, patience, and love on her photos. I was so impressed with her. She spent more than 4 hours with us trying to get some good shots. So last night as I was playing on the internet, I decided to check out Kori's blog to see if she had posted any recent pics (I just love seeing her work because it is awesome!), and I was so surprised to see Ava on her blog. I can't post the pics here due to copyright infringement, but here is the link where you can see 2 photos of Ava. She posted them on Sept. 13th under the title Newborns are such precious gifts! Here is the link: http://www.koriburkhead.com/blog.html and if you have time, she has a link on her blog to her photography studio site and let me tell you, her photographs are works of art!

Anyway you should have seen me last night when I came across these photos. I made Bradley get out of bed to come see them! I was so impressed by just these two and I can't wait to see what all she got that day (she will have an online gallery within the next two weeks of the proofs). I could hardly go to sleep last night because I just kept thinking of how cute they were!

The shower at school went excellent. I was so impressed with the food and decorations. I want to thank my Zone for the awesome shower they threw and the faculty and staff for all the great gifts they gave to Ava. It was just fabulous! The decorations were pink and brown which was really cool and different. We had a chocolate fountain, a cute cake made on cupcakes, sausage balls, chess squares, cocktail weenies, and various other finger foods. It was just fantastic! Thanks so much guys! ( I will try to post more pics later, but the site is acting up!)

So, check out Kori's site and tell me what you think!

4 weeks old

Yesterday Ava was 4 weeks old. We made it to church in the morning (just in time for offering!) and then spent the rest of the day relaxing, with Bradley of course watching football. We took some pictures of her to celebrate her 4 week oldness.

This one was taken last Sunday when she was 3 weeks old on her first trip to KY. She is with my mom (her Grammy).

Recent Pictures

Here are some recent pictures of Ava and various friends and family members. Ava with Mommy

Ava in her swing

Ava in her bouncer (you can see her Daddy's arm, but he didn't want his picture taken!)

Thank you Electric Service Credit Union for the beautiful flowers! (This is where Aunt Bethany works.)

Ava with her Gramps
Ava sleeping before leaving for KY

Ava with Uncle Timmy

Ava with Steve and Ali

Ava has had a busy week. After resting up from her trip to KY, she has made a trip to her first County Fair. Next week she has a baby shower at DCHS and her first session with a professional photographer. She is growing fast and becoming spoiled very quickly!
Love, Tiff

Labor Day Weekend

Well, we are back from KY and after a day of rest, hoping we get back into a routine with Ava again. We left on Saturday at about 1:30 and on the way up to Ky we stopped at Bradley's aunt's house. Aunt Mary and Uncle Timmy got a chance to meet Ava. They both thought she was beautiful. Ava had slept all the way to Aunt Mary's house, but she got a little fussy in the car between Union City and Fulton and then she fell asleep again and slept all the way to Princeton.

(Ava with Aunt Mary)
Once she got to Princeton, she eventually got to meet her great-grandmother, Mammaw, her Aunt Donna and Uncle Ray, Ruth (lives across the street from my parents), Steve and Ali W., and tons of others.

On Sunday she went to church for the first time and got to meet lots of people. She did a good job there and slept through most of it. She never even cried in church. We had the cutest dress that she was going to wear, but minutes before leaving for church, she spit up every where and we had to change clothes!

After church, we headed to Cadiz for a family reunion. She met tons of people and was a very good baby. She spent lots of time being held by her great aunts - Aunt Judy, Aunt Sue, Aunt Linda, Aunt Donna, and Aunt Rosemary.

On the way back to Newbern she slept the entire way home. We stopped to pick up Squiggles at Bradley's parents' house and we stayed until after midnight. I knew that after sleeping all day there was no way to meet her 9:00 bedtime so we just stayed out late. She ended up home in bed by 1:00 in the morning and slept until almost 6. I was surprised at even that much sleep. Needless to say, we all napped together that afternoon.

So we are back home and tonight I hope to get her back into her routine of bath and bed by 9:00. I guess we will see, Ava has a mind of her own! I will try to post more pictures later, but right now the blogger is having difficulties.

Love, Tiff

Messing in Photoshop

Just messing around in Photoshop while Ava is sleeping. Here is a photo that I digitally altered. I think it is so cute! It is the same one I posted earlier, but I removed all the color except for the bow.

And here is a photo of her from Monday morning on the way to her Dr's appt. You can tell she doesn't like going to the doctor already!

I have been working on packing her things for her trip to KY this weekend and I have been going through my pre-pregnancy clothes to see what still fits (if anything!). I am anxious to see how Ava's first trip goes and how well she sleeps while we are there. Last night she refused to go to bed until almost midnight, but she slept until 6:40 this morning. We ended up giving her some formula and then let her nurse to sleep when she started to get tired. I like nights when she sleeps all the way through (this is the 2nd one), but on those nights it has taken us almost 3 hours to get her to go to bed! So we will see what happens this weekend! Have a great Labor Day!

Love, Tiff

Birth Announcement

I got a chance to get Ava's birth announcement done today while she was napping. Here is a copy of what it looks like.

Love, Tiff