Baby Ava

  You guys, I am done nursing Ava.  I have been nursing for approximately 4 out of the past 7 years.  It's kind of been a part of who I am you could say.  I guess I am glad to be done, but that also means that my baby is getting so big!  We are now leaving every stage she grows out of forever.  Wahhh!  Her babbles and squeaks.  Oh my gosh.  Her giggles and chuckles.  I die.  She is developing quite the little personality and she is so much fun.

 

Recent video:

 

 

  I don't know if I ever posted any of these, but these are all from doctor appointments her first year.  Stopping nursing is a big deal, people!  Excuse me while I mourn my baby growing up so much.

 

2 days

 

2 months old and not even two weeks in Cali yet.

 

4 months.  I forgot how chunky she was!!

 

6 months

9 months

12 months...

...and barely sitting still for the camera.

 

   I am truly trying my best to soak in each moment with Ava and the rest of the kids right now.  Good, bad, and ugly.  I really am.  I talk about how much I don't want them growing up, turning another year older, etc.  I even tell the kids I am going to cry on their birthdays (which has now become the family joke).

 

  However, I am SO blessed to be able to watch my healthy and vibrant kids grow and develop, free from physical limitation, free from emotional stress, just free.  Exactly how kids should grow up.  In light of all of the horrible situations that other families are facing in this world, extreme hatred and terrorism, ebola outbreaks, war, I know that we really do live in the land of the free.  God be with those other families.  This completely changes my perspective.  Yes, my children, please do grow up, get bigger and learn new things, and yes, thank you Lord, I get to witness and experience with them.  It's back to that gratitude I have been working on.  Though they are losing their chubbiness, thank you that I get to kiss those cheeks every day.