Thanks Grammie, Grandpa, and Auntie Duska for visiting me. You sure did keep me entertained these past few days. I can't wait to see you again!!!!

 

It's tough being a celebrity baby - the paparazzi are especially relentless in their quest for odd photographs of me. Checkout these prize winners.

 

Preparing for Christmas

Childrens' work is never done. While our parents kick back and relax - my BFF, Jordan, and I slave away decorating the house for Christmas. Here we are placing the finishing touches on the Christmas tree.

 

More first birthday photos

Here are some of my favorite photos of my birthday party in Nashville. My most favorite new toy... the stairs - wish I had some of those neat climbing things back at my house!

Miss Ava Leigh celebrates her first birthday!

Wow - am I already one year old? Seems like I've done and learned so much in one short year. And what a fun day I had celebrating my first birthday. Mommy and Daddy took me to this crazy little place where I could crawl, walk, and run on all kinds of objects and in lots of tunnels. Oh, and I even got to sit on Santa's lap and have my picture taken - didn't cry once (although I thought about it)!!!

Stay tuned because I get another party next weekend with some of my most very favorite friends and family!!!

Ava is getting very mobile!

Ava "reading" her books

Happy first birthday, Jordan!!!!!

"Can you believe we were ever this tiny, Jordan??? Here we are last Thanksgiving. We were just a few weeks old!!!!!"

"OK, Harper and Scarlett - remember, there's power in numbers. Scarlett, you distract Jordan while Harper and I knock her off that scooter. Just because its her birthday doesn't mean she can hog that thing all day!"














"Don't even think about it Harper!!!" 

I sure had fun at your birthday party today, Jordan; although though the whole servant for the day thing was a bit much...
 

Ava snoozes at dinner

My first Halloween party. Most cleverly, I went as myself. These are my new boy toys - Hayden (13 months) and Andy (9 months). They were such fun. Andy even let me push him all around the house on some sort of crazy ride on wheels! Of course I also had to show off my new walking skills. Everyone was so impressed!

Exploring Aruba

I'd tell you where we are in Aruba - if I could remember... some place where there used to be a natural bridge. It recently collapsed, though... so we didn't get to see it. Oh well, we still enjoyed our exploration and got some great pictures.

Loving the beach in Aruba

Cousin Isaac and I had such fun playing in the sandpits Uncle Patrick and Daddy made for us.






























Mawmaw decides I need an icecream break.

Life doesn't get any better than this.


 

I can see clearly now the rain is gone... 

A week of paradise

Aruba was amazing!!!!! We had such a good time - especially Ava who loved playing in the ocean. She didn't seem to mind the salt water or sand in her eyes. Well, at first anyway. She did get upset one afternoon when she kept rubbing her eyes in efforts to get the sand out - which of course made it worse.

She was such a charmer all week - grinning and showing off for all the people she met. We got such a kick out of her!!!

October 17th - Ava practices her walking skills

Ava 11 months walking!!!

Proud Parents of Brilliant Baby

Isn't she amazing??? We still can't believe we birthed such an incredible being. Dustin gushes everytime he sees her and she reciprocates, kicking and grinning in my arms, reaching fervently for him as soon as he walks through the door each evening. She's brilliant, too. She signs book and duck whenever she hears the words or sees the pictures. She points to her head when we say head, shoulders when we say shoulders, mouth... well, you get the picture. And since Friday she has been playing peek-a-boo by using her hands to cover her eyes, then dramatically pulling them away. I assumed her sitter, Samara, recently taught her that. But she says Ava must have learned that by looking at a book they read with a picture of a baby playing peek-a-boo. We all just can't get over how quickly she learns. Can you tell how proud we are??? We're thinking of putting her in first grade next year...

Beautiful Baby Elle

This past weekend Ava and I were thrilled to finally meet Elle for the first time. Born September 20 at 8:15am, she weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces and was 20 inches long. Momma Tawyna and Daddy Lyle are absolutely smitten with her. We all can't get over how much thick, brown hair she has!!!

Spending time with her 14 week old buddy, Leyton, was also great fun. Hard to believe, but dainty 10 month old Ava is about to be passed up in the weight department by Leyton as he currently weighs only a half pound less than her. He's sure to be strong, athletic fellow one day!!!!