Christmas recap

It's December 26 and Christmas is OVER.  The much anticipated "Baby's First Christmas" was very memorable and full of family time.  We started Christmas eve with breakfast with my mom, sister, and nephew at our house.  I made our family favorite/tradition- breakfast casserole.  After breakfast, while I was cleaning up, my sister shouted, "Ava just crawled to me!!"  She finally CRAWLED!  She's been army crawling and rocking back and forth for a few weeks, so I knew it would be any day and she would be completely mobile.   Very special moment:)  And Christmas Eve is also Jason's birthday (he turned 30!) so it was a special present for him!

After hanging out a little longer, Jason, Ava and I headed over to his grandparents house for the B family Christmas with all the cousins (well, most of them).  We ate BBQ and Jason's fried turkey and had a great time.  The house was full of kids (including 3 babies) and family we only see once or twice a year.  That evening was the Christmas Eve candlelight service at our church.  It's the second year the church has done it and I love it!  Definitely a tradition I hope to continue.

After the service we headed over to Jason's parents house to open presents with his sister and her family (brother's family will be in town in a couple of days).  I'm so anal about Ava's bed time so I was worried how she would act (since we arrived to open presents at her bed time) but she did great and got some toys she already loves.  

Christmas morning was just the 3 of us.  Ava opened her presents, then took a nap while Jason and I prepared to make Christmas lunch for my mom, sister, and nephew.  He fried another turkey and I made/prepared all the sides (mashed red potatoes & gravy, green bean casserole, stuffed mushrooms, stuffing, rolls, [canned] cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie made the night before).  [Later that night as I was warming up leftovers for dinner, I found the corn that I never warmed up, ha!]   We all hung out for most of the afternoon after opening presents.  Afterwards, my sister and Zachary headed home to Alabama and today my mom headed to the airport to go back to work.

Christmas late afternoon we went back to Jason's grandparents house to see some of Ma Ma's family, then up to his parents house to spend some time with his other grandmother and cousin.  Ava entertained all of us with her new skills and showed off yet another new one, PULLING UP!  She's been pulling up to her knees in her crib and toy basket, but she picked Christmas to go all the way!  She held on tight, and even tried to pull herself to the other side of the basket she was holding onto, feet off the floor and all!  Things are happening WAY too fast!  My barely 7 month old baby is getting so big!  We decided it was definitely time to adjust her crib mattress to the lowest setting, so Jason and his dad did just that.  No more pulling up in her crib (for now).

Christmas night, after we put Ava to bed,  we cleaned up a little, watched Elf, and went to bed early (well, early for me).  I love days when I go to bed exhausted because I always feel satisfied and accomplished.

Ava's memorable moments didn't stop on Christmas.  Today, she sat herself all the way up ALL by herself.  She's been sitting sideways from the crawling position, but today she finally got on her backside and stayed there for a quite a while ;)

I'm so thankful for my amazing family and the memorable Christmas we had.  I planned on taking down the Christmas decorations tonight, but after doing some laundry and picking up all of Ava's new toys, I lost my motivation!  It will get done soon.

Now picture time...

Ava and Clarice, Christmas Eve

With her cousin, Zachary, and Rudolph

Birthday cake I iced and semi-decorated in my bathroom so it would be a surprise.

Christmas Eve 

With Mrs. Betty after the candlelight service. 

Ava got a new cell phone! 

Happy girl Christmas morning!

Love the look she's giving her new piggy bank.  

At the table for Christmas lunch... she tried some "chicken with chicken gravy" but didn't like it.  

So sweet- looking at Pa Pa. 

Getting there...

Big girl!

And trying to pull herself IN the basket!  

Got in the position ALL by herself!  

Talking to my dad and stepmom on skype.  

She loves her new toy!

Design

One of these days I'll figure out how to make a really great looking blog, but for now, I'll keep playing with the bare minimum picnik and different backgrounds to try to create a somewhat nice looking blog. 

Last night, my husband saw the pictures I was using for my banner, and he didn't approve (lol) so I went searching through iPhoto for the perfect pictures.  I decided to find a wedding one (via facebook... really wish I had digital copies of my professional wedding pictures), pregnancy, and current one, to show the time line of our family via photographs.  I LOVE that I found three where Jason and I are standing almost the same way, but each time we add a little more AVA! 

I love it so much I'll show you again, in case you didn't see the big picture at the top of the screen:)  The middle picture was taken a year ago tomorrow- the day we found out our little bundle was a GIRL!  The picture on the right was taken at our house after Ava's dedication.   

Now I'm going to be obsessed with adding to this line of pictures (finding one of us when we were dating, with the next pregnancy {whenever that it}, and so on and so on). 

Answers

Since November 1, I have been to the doctor with Ava countless times because of her weight-loss.  As I blogged about before, the day we left for our Thanksgiving cruise her doc told us she "probably" has a UTI and he began treatment immediately with antibiotics.  After we got back and visited him in the office, we took more urine and scheduled a renal ultrasound and VCU because he wanted to rule out the UTI being caused by something structural.  Well, today we went in for the procedures.  The ultrasound showed her kidneys looked perfectly normal (they weren't damaged by any infections).  It was kind of comical seeing my 6 month old getting an ultrasound on her belly!  Didn't think I would see this for another 25+ years when she's pregnant! 

After the ultrasound, waiting on the dreaded VCU. 

The VCU (Voiding cystourethrogram) wasn't as light hearted.  Poor baby had to be catherized and while they assured me it wasn't painful for her, it was very unpleasant.  The radiologist informed us that she does have Vesicoureteral Reflux.  Basically, when her bladder is full, all of the urine does not empty out.  Some of it goes back up where it's not supposed to (very simplified, but you get the picture).  He said the severity ranges from 1-5 (5 being the highest), and she's a 2-3 (moderate). 

V-Reflux is actually quite common, and fortunately it usually fixes itself (in 60% of the cases).  As she grows, it should work itself out.  If not, there are simple procedures we can do to fix it, but that is a ways down the road.  For now, she has to stay on a low dose antibiotic to prevent future UTIs.

I know there are at least 2 more VCU's in our future... at least one more for Ava and 1 for a future baby.  V-Reflux is inherited so there's a 30-40% chance that future children will inherit the backwards AND forwards bladder (my wording, not the MDs). 

It's definitely NO fun to know there's something wrong inside of my sweet girl, but I'm thankful for thorough doctors, modern medicine, and the fact that this is something very minor.  Every year, the St. Jude commericals that say "give thanks for the healthy children in your life" nearly bring me to tears, and that was BEFORE I had my baby.  I am SO thankful for my healthy baby.  She's developing into such a smart, funny, sweet, amazing, INCREDIBLE girl. 

Now we can plow through the rest of the holidays with no big question mark!! 

{semi} wordless Wednesday

Ava has a new habit of backing herself under the couch or ottoman and it's hilarious!  (btw, there aren't any toys on the floor with her because we were waiting for the awesome Annabelle from Annabella Charles Photography to come take pictures of my gorgeous girl... had to have a clean/picked-up house!  BUT, I did have one of her favorites on the floor with her- the remote con

UNRELATED:  Yesterday, I was so grateful for a fellow blogger, Kerri from Oh Mann!, because she gave me a step-by-step on how to include a badge on my post.  I need more help... what is the best way to reply to a comment someone posts?  I added "reply to comment" last night, but I'm not sure if the commenter (word?) gets notified of my reply.  Does anyone know if they do?  If not, how should I reply.  This baby blogger is very grateful for any advice:) 

Home Tour Tuesday

Very excited about this post because it's all about my Christmas tree!  Who doesn't love a Christmas tree?

I love my red and green Christmas tree, but look forward to the day when we have a decorative tree AND family tree full of special ornaments.  The family tree will have to wait a few years so we have time to collect more ornaments (and children, ha!).  Even though my tree isn't a family one, I've managed to sneak in a few special ornaments.

Of course, "Baby's 1st Christmas," is very special to me, even though it's our newest one!  I managed to keep this one with our color scheme, but can't help but want a pink one as well.  Is it ok to have more than one "1st Christmas" ornament?  :)

"Our Wedding Day, Jason and Cherise, December 29, 2006," is a gift given to us by my dad and stepmom for our wedding.  I love the personalized touch to this one- very special!

And finally, our New York T-shirt!  Jason and I got this two years ago at Macy's while on our anniversary trip to NYC.  It was a very memorable trip that started with 2 stomach bugs (on an airplane!) and included standing in Times Square for 6 FREEZING hours to see the ball drop, ONLY to be defeated by the cold and retreat to our hotel room.  Upon arriving back to the hotel, right before we went in the door, I looked up and realized we could see the ball FROM our hotel.  We laughed it off, ate pizza in our warm room, then walked outside a few minutes before midnight and watched the ball drop.  Such a great trip!!  We've now decided to buy an ornament on every trip we take.  I think we've missed one or two, but so far we have Bahama's, Iowa, NYC, and England (given to us AFTER our London honeymoon) ornaments.

Merry Christmas! 

Two of my favorite things

Even though I'm a stay at home mom, there's still something special about Saturday mornings.  Right now, I'm sitting in my living room, in front of the my lit-up Christmas tree, coffee in hand, baby napping... perfect.  Did I mention it's raining outside?  :)  I can do this every morning (except Sundays) but for some reason, Tuesday is not the same as Saturday.   

  There is only one thing that would make this Saturday better- my husband sitting here with me!  This time of the year most people are looking forward to Christmas (as am I), but I also have something to look forward to AFTER Christmas, our anniversary!  So as I sit here (alone), I look forward to 2 1/2 weeks from now when I can spend time with him, just us.  

Linking up

Last night I looked at a friends blog because I saw the words "home tour" and soon after was lost in the world of blogging looking at beautiful Christmas decorations.  I'm new to blogging so I didn't know what "linking up" was, so now I'm trying to figure it out!

So here's my (semi) Wordless Wednesday:  My sweet baby's laughs!

The second video is the first time I caught Ava's little giggle on camera (the first day she giggled!).


p.s. if anyone happens to see this, how do I "grab the badge" to post it on here???  I've tried several times and I'm CLUELESS!  Doesn't look like my first "linking up" experience was a success!!

<center><a href="http://flipflopsandpearlsgirl.blogspot.com/" target="_self"><img border="0" alt="Semi Wordless Wednesday Hosted by Flip Flops and Pearls" src="http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d28/baylorbug/Button-FlipFlopsandPearlscopy.png" /></a></center> 

All I Want for Christmas...

The song, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth," is very appropriate for today- Ava's first tooth began making it's appearance!  After two nights of my good sleeper waking up at midnight and 1am, I suspected something was up, so shortly after she woke up I checked and SURPRISE!  I can't believe it!  All day I wanted to keep looking at it and I'm sure I got on her nerves with my finger in her mouth so much today:)  She's getting so big... I can't stand it! 

In other news, I'm so happy it's Christmastime!  I'm trying to savor every moment of her first Christmas.  I even sent out Christmas cards for the first time.  We got her pictures taken back in October and as part of the picture package they gave us a few Christmas cards with one of the pictures on it.  Last week I told myself I was going to go back to the studio and order more, but I really wanted a current picture and different design, so I took out my camera, put her in a cute Christmas dress, and starting clicking away.  Here's the card (the final product doesn't have the box around "From the Barthalows" or the empty text box):

So far this Christmas season is full of great memories, and what Christmas would be complete without a picture with Santa?  I really expected her to just sit there on his lap and stare, but I was able to get a huge smile out of my happy girl!  What a great memory!