Christmas with the Cromwell's

I call this year Ava's first "real" Christmas. Lance also pointed out that it is her only one by herself with her sister arriving any day now.

She was pretty surprised on Christmas morning, and quite hesitant as to what was going on. At first she went up the presents, grabbed one, and made one little tear, looking up at me to see if it was ok.


After a little approval, she quickly got the hang of opening presents and we were well on our way to Christmas bliss and wonder. We let her open all the presents, whether they were for her or not.


Then the grand finale... we had her tricycle covered by a blanket seen in the first picture, and she had no clue to look under it. After we were done opening all the obvious presents we got dressed ate breakfast in preparation for her demand to ride her new tricycle.

We unveiled the tricycle and she was so excited! With a HUGE smile she jumped right on it and pretended like she was driving it. We took her outside with it, and she is definitely getting the hang of it quickly. We have tons of fun watching our little girl have fun!

Gone Fishin'

Ava had her first fishing experience with daddy today. Daddy would cast out the pole and Ava would reel it in. She smiled every time daddy threw the bait in the water.

Guess it's time for a toy pole so our little tomboy can fish with her daddy!

Woah nelly, that's a belly!

I'm 37 weeks prego, and I feel really huge! I had to have Lance take a picture because I know it won't last too much longer. It's still hard to believe we will have a baby soon!

Smell the Flowers

The flowers were blooming in front of our apartment and we have Ava smell them for us. She loves flowers and was so adorable doing it!

More Picasso

Ava went to her first Primary Activity last weekend and had a blast! Of course painting was her favorite thing. She did a really good job and didn't even make a mess!

Holiday Festival Fun

We took Ava to her first parade and carnival last weekend and it was such a blast! She went in the bouncy house, rode a pony, and we watched a parade of lights. She was in awe of it all. Here are some pics from our adventure!

Our Little Picasso

Ava absolutely loves to draw, it is now one of her favorite things to do. I have this little table set up in the corner of the dining room as her little writing station, and she just loves it! She doesn't really like actually coloring pictures, but drawing her own, particularly smiley faces. She's getting pretty good at them, and she draws them on everything. As you can see, her artwork doesn't stop at paper, she really enjoys putting her works of art on the wall. We're still working at getting the concept that we don't draw on the walls (daddy is getting touch up paint in the meantime).

Ultrasound

Well... I had my 35 week routine ultrasound done, and they said everything looked great. Baby is head down, it's DEFINITELY a girl, and she weighs somewhere between 5 1/2 to 6 lbs., which puts her birth weight at somewhere around 8 lbs. I may have a LITTLE newborn (Lance doesn't quite believe it yet) and I'm so excited! Here are a couple ultrasound pics I took with my camera.

The first picture is of her whole face, facing forward. The second picture is of just her nose and mouth. I got to see her quite well during the ultrasound, and I think she looks just like Ava when she was born! We will see.

Ava now loves to help her daddy and I clean. Whenever we are cleaning, she wants a paper towel to help. She also is in "clean up" mode, where she is more excited about cleaning up the mess then making it. Of course, mommy is very happy about that. We always sing the clean up song, and she loves it.

Bug Obsession!

These pics I took of Ava to show something she loves to do.... collect bugs. When she finds a bug and it's alive, she likes to smoosh it on her finger (harmless bugs, like lovebugs and wood ants) and walk around staring at them. She keeps it on her finger as long as possible, and sometimes gets very upset of the bug falls off and goes "bye-bye." She has absolutely no interest in dolls, just bugs. What can I say, I was a tomboy, too.

Crazy 8's

Here is a fun questionairre my friend sent me:

8 Things I am Passionate About...
1. Being a wife
2. Being a mother
3. My religion
4. My friends
5. Organization and cleanliness
6. Eating (he he)
7. Taking Showers
8. Sleeping

8 Things I want to Do BEFORE I die...
1. Serve a full time mission
2. See my kids marry in the Temple
3. Buy a motorhome and travel all over
4. Go to England
5. Get back in shape
6. Get a master's degree
7. Have a couple more kids
8. Be a stay at home mom

8 Books I've Recently Read
1. The BOM
2. Anne Geddes baby books
3. Peek-a-boo books
4. My Mommy and I
5. The Work and the Glory
6. The Very Hungry Catapillar
7. Touch and Feel Books
8. Any other toddler book you can imagine

8 Songs I could listen to Over and Over
1. Joseph Smith's First Prayer
2. You're Beautiful
3. I Know That My Redeemer Lives
4. How Great Thou Art
5. The Spirit of God
6. Did You Think to Pray
7. O Holy Night- Christmas song
8. Anything Corrine Bailey Rae

8 Things that Attract Me to My Best Friends
1. Honesty
2. Integrity
3. Positive attitude
4. They listen to me when I need someone
5. They give good advice
6. They are smart
7. They like me for who I am, and forgive me no matter what
8. They are just as committed as I am to becoming a better person

8 Things I've Learned and Relearned in the past year
1. Just be happy!
2. How much Heavenly Father love me
3. I am very blessed
4. How babies are made (I had forgotten)
5. Marriage can be totally wonderful
6. How Much I love my husband
7. Always read your scriptures
8. The power of prayer

8 People I think should do the 8's
1. Lance
2. Sarah (already did it)
3. MaryJo
4. Rebecca
5. Elisabeth
6. Melissa
7. Joanna
8. Dan

Halloween

Ava was a fairy for Halloween this year. She went to the church trunk or treat and she had a blast. She had an Elmo basket, which she adored. Ava learned to hold her bucket up and say "trick-treat". The funny thing is, she would continue to hold her basket up after she got her treat and stare at you as long as it took, expecting more goodies. With those fluttering eyelashes nobody could resist giving her more goodies, so she held her basket up until she thought she had a sufficient amount and then would move on.

She still plays with her basket, and she loves to now, multiple times a day, come up to mommy and daddy with her basket in hand and say "trick-treat" to get goodies. She doesn't care what it is, just as long as we put something in the basket.

Drumming away!

Ever since daddy taught her how to drum, Ava has been drumming non-stop. She uses sticks, crayons, Q-tips, or whatever she can find to drum on anything. Well... mommy found a really cute drum for her at the store and just had to get it. This is her first time playing it. She was so excited when she saw it she could hardly contain herself!

Birthday Pics

So I had pictures done the day after Ava's 2nd Birthday, and here are a couple of them. I took them with my camera, and the glare from the gloss made them a little fuzzy, but you get the picture!

I took her there with this burgundy dress on, and the girls at the photo place immediately brought out the red velvet chair she was sitting in. She could not wait to sit in it, she was so excited. It looked like a minature royal Queen's chair. She loved having pictures done and loved the camera. She posed exactly how we put her and totally enjoyed every second of it!

Ava's Birthday

Ava just had her birthday on September 9, and these are still our most recent pictures. She loved the cupcakes and cookies. She tried to stay totally clean the entire time... she only would get icing on her lips and nowhere else. Sure does make clean-up easy!

She is at a very cute stage right now. She thinks she is the smartest kid on the block. She is so proud of the fact that she knows the alphabet (not the song, she has all the letters memorized individually), shapes, colors, animals and what they say, etc. She loves Blue's Clues and Backyardigans. She is very active and loves to jump off of anything, even if it's only an inch off the ground. She also loves music a lot and loves to sing songs.

This picture is kind of old, but it's my favorite with the three of us. Ava was about 18 months old. I love my family!

Our life!

Well... I've decided to also join the new era of communication... blogging. Here is a little bit about our lives:

Lance is 27, and is in school full time at USF. He will graduate with his bachelor's degree in finance with a minor in management December 2008. He plans on going to Law School fall of 2009. He is also a full time dad, as I work full time to support the family. He has been Elder's Quorum president in our ward for 4 1/2 (whew) years.

I am 25 and am a Registered Nurse in the ICU at the Veteran's Hospital. I'm pregnant, expecting another girl 1/9/08.

Ava just turned 2 on September 9. She is full of energy and keeps us on our toes. She is going to be a big sister very soon!