8 months, two teeth, and one Christmas later...

This is our beautiful little girl :)

I can't believe its taken me so long to update, I really thought this was going to be easier to keep up on!! Well let's see, the last update I posted about Ava was in September when she ate her first baby food. So lets re-cap a little.....

In October while it was still nice out, we took Ava for a walk and stopped at one of the playgrounds. This is where she had her first swing ride:

She started to sit up, unsupported:

And of course, her first Halloween (although she wasn't very thrilled with the idea lol):

In November we had our first Thanksgiving as a family. Our friends and neighbors, the Hoar's, are not from Delaware and were unable to go home for Thanksgiving; we invited them to have dinner with us. Whitney and I shared the cooking duties, everything was delicious! Ava even got to eat REAL sweet potatoes lol.

December was a very hectic month for all of us. We have my birthday, Christmas, and our anniversary all within 9 days of each other...plus we were travelling. For Christmas every year we drive to Chris' hometown of Erie and visit all of his family. This year, four days before we were planning to leave, Ava became very sick and was projectile-vomiting everything she ate. Thankfully, the morning we left, she was back to her normal self. She had a little bit of an appetite problem (or lack there of) but in a few days she was eating just fine. This was a particularly special visit: Ava was meeting all (but two) of her relatives from Chris' side of the family. But first, we had my family's Christmas party to go to...all of my aunts absolutely adore Ava and would be more than happy to steal her from us lol.

And here are some pictures from our visit in Erie:

Ava & Chris' dad

Ava & her Great-Grandmother Palmer

The Trimmer's and Palmer's

Four generations of Palmers

Ava & Chris' youngest sister Maryssa

The Martin's and Farbo's

Chris, Ava, & Chris' mom, Lu

Four generations

And when we got home, Chris and I celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary on New Years Eve :) My life has change drastically over the past year: I got married, moved into a beautiful house and made it a home, had the most perfect baby girl anyone could ask for, and have settled into my life of an Air Force wife and stay at home mom. Every morning I thank God for blessing me with an amazing husband who makes this life possible for me.

Oh! And Ava's latest milestone....CRAWLING! Finally!!! I always have problems loading videos here, so it'll be on our YouTube channel, which you can get to from the link on the bottom page. Ava also got her first tooth in December (please excuse the boogies lol):

She is such a special little girl and I am so blessed to have her. She's always happy, smiling and "talking" (by the way, she says "da da" and "na na"). The only time she is fussy is when she's tired, but she always goes right down for her naps. Oh yeah, and she's SUCH a daddy's girl!!!