A Week of Firsts

A lot has happened to our family over the past few weeks. My husband talked me into not being so secretive on my blog and actually using our real names instead of initials. I guess I was being paranoid. So . . .

Ava got the flu for the first time. It was awful. I realized how grateful and lucky we've been to have a healthy child. She puked for 24 hours, then the diarrhea came and she lost her appetite completely. I have never changed my clothes so many times in a day. Poor thing has lost weight and looks so skinny. She is just now getting back to her normal, happy, playful self. The first few days of the flu, all she wanted to do was be held and rocked and comforted. I can't say that I hated it. I actually really liked just sitting and holding her. Usually we sit and cuddle together when we read books at night or sometimes before her nap, but this was hours on end. That made it hard for me to keep up with things, but I realized sometime your life just needs to be put on hold. I'm happy to say, she's much better now and eating like a champ.

I got stung by a bee for the first time in my life. Todd thinks that's kind of funny. I think either I've lived a sheltered life or I've just been very smart about bees. I'd like to think it's the second. The funniest part of this story, is that the bee sting was on my backside. I squatted down and squished the bee between my leg and butt. Therefore, we caught the bee (actually I killed it) and I was able to take his picture. It really doesn't hurt that bad. For all of you who haven't experienced bee stings, nothing to be scared of.

Todd built our first deck on our new home. He's built lots of decks before, but this is our very own deck. It's great. We've already put some patio furniture out and have tried to enjoy the sunshine the past few days, but it has still been quite cold (in the 30's). You can only enjoy sunshine for so long in that kind of weather. Ava loves running around on it and watching birds fly by. Our yard was too muddy to play in before. This way we can avoid mud. Yea!

Other firsts . . . I made play dough for the first time! It was fun. Ava and I played with purple play dough for a long time. She was fascinated. It made me realize how grown up she is. She has so many new words, and ideas and her personality is exploding. For some strange reason, during the play dough experience, I realized that she is really not my baby anymore. Especially when our new baby comes, she will all of the sudden become our oldest child. What a strange transition. From precious baby to oldest child. She'll be a great older sister.

Ava also got two molars (during the week of the flu) which added to the joy of the week. She really doesn't act like it bothers her, but I do notice her chewing her fingers and drooling a bit more. I just imagine it hurts quite a bit. Before the flu, Ava told me she had to use the potty. So, I let her sit on it. We sat, and sat, and sat for a long time. She finally went potty (#1 and #2). I haven't really pushed it or even talked to her about it so it surprised me. She's gone many times since then on the potty, but we're not quite ready to remove diapers, especially since the flu hit. That kind of threw us off, but I'm excited to know that she's getting ready to potty train herself!

I wore my first maternity clothes of this pregnancy. This is such a hard phase. Maternity clothes are way too big and regular clothes are ridiculously uncomfortable. I've got a few in between clothes. I've transitioned my closet for the next 5 months of steadily growing larger. I feel like I look pregnant a lot faster this time, but that's what I hear happens. I'm trying to be committed to staying in shape. Fit at 40 weeks! To help me out, Todd bought us an exercise ball. I have not yet mastered the exercises that will be best for me, but Ava loves the big ball. She has her own big ball that she discovered she can sit on it and bounce like Mommy and Daddy. I love that she imitates us and learns from us.