The Newest Addition to our Family................

No I was not pregnant w/o telling you but on Monday we added a new member to our family, a little English bulldog puppy! She doesn't have a name yet (she came to us as Baylie and not sure yet if we're gonna change it) but she is oh so cute! So our week has been filled w/ trying to adjust her to our home, adjust her to pooing outside (sometimes she gets it, sometimes she doesn't.......yuck!), and trying to get her to sleep through the night (wait didn't I just get done doing this?) w/o yelping! It'll be a rough couple weeks but she is so darling and fun w/ Ava. As you will see by the following pictures, Ava isn't sure what she thinks yet. She loves her from a distance and likes to reach out and touch the dog, then pull back and let out a nervous giggle and then repeat. I have to keep the dog (who will now be referred to as Baylie) from mauling Ava sometimes! The dog was a surprise from me to Rob and for the first time ever I gave him a gift that 1: he hadn't figured out and 2: he loved! So here are some shots:




"Hey! You're stepping on my toe!"




"HA HA I think I like this little guy (girl)!"




"I don't know where I stand on the whole licking thing."




"Okay, I've had enough and I'm gonna try to get away now."




"I tried....mom save me!"






Lucky that she came around when she did b/c one of her favorite toys is a plastic easter egg. She likes to watch it roll and chase it until it rolls again....repeat, repeat, repeat! LOL.




Hangin out w/ dad!




Poised




This is my good side, take the picture now!




And here is the puppy's favorite place to hang out........at Ava's feet underneath her activity center!

No swimming in March

The weather is starting to warm up here in Texas and that means the beginnings of yard work. We decided to let Ava test out the pool to see if it was ready for swimming. Here's her conclusion:

Watch her go

Ava is crawling all over the place these days. The more excited she gets about something, the faster she goes. Here are some photos of her zoomin around!






Oh yeah, and she can even hold herself up for a few seconds. This was just before she plopped down into the splits!

Getting to know you, getting to know all about you!

My friend Emily tagged me to complete this survey about Rob & I. This is the most recent pic I have of the two of us and we look pretty much the same except my hair is much shorter! Anyway, here's the survey:

What is his name? Robert Anthony Vincent....I call him Rob but his family calls him Robbie

How long have you been married? 2 1/2 years

How long did you date? Well, it depends on who you ask. Rob was in denial about us dating for awhile. He had just gotten out of a long-term relationship and kept telling me that he would probably take out other girls and that he wanted to play the field for awhile since he'd been in a relationship for so long. But after we'd been hanging out exclusively everyday for 3 months he finally admitted that we probably were dating! We dated 5 months before we got engaged but we'd known each other almost a year.

How old is he? 30

Who eats more? Thats a toss up as sometimes I can eat quite a bit. Rob was pretty impressed the first time I finished an entire Big Mac. Although when I split dinner exactly in half Rob tells me I should only get half as much as him because I'm only half as big. When it comes to donuts I definitely win and when it comes to wings he takes the cake (I don't like chicken that has skin on it. )

Who said I love you first? Hmmm, I don’t know. It was kind of at the same time.

Who is taller? Rob

Who can sing better? I'm not sure. I can sing okay but I often sing the wrong words to songs on the radio when I can't understand them which Rob likes to tease me about. (Lil o-ret o-ret baby your much too fat. Or little red corvette whatever!) but Rob is better at making up songs for Ava. He made up a song when she was like 3 months old that she still recognizes and gets excited about!

Who is smarter? Up until last night I would have definitely said Rob (well at least much more logical) but according to our online IQ tests, we're only 3 points apart so technically he would be a little smarter but its pretty darn close! :)

Who does the laundry? Define "does". I usually wash the laundry and even fold it but I'm not so good at putting it away. But Rob does it more often than you'd think.......usually when I've forgotten to wash the clothes he needs for church. Oops!

Who pays the bills? Um, the internet?! LOL we love automatic payments. Rob used to mostly handle the money but now we pretty much do it together.

Who sleeps on the right side? If you're standing at the foot of the bed looking at it I do. But thats just b/c when I was pregnant I made him switch me so that when I slept on my left side I wasn't facing the middle of the bed. I don't like to face the middle of the bed....I know, weird.

Who mows the lawn? Rob though we don't have much lawn to mow these days...but yeah Rob does. I even have it on video the first time he mowed it at our house...it was a very "ah! we're really grown-ups" moment for us, having a lawn that belonged to us and was our responsibility to mow! :) We had to document it for posterity...lol.

Who cooks dinner? Well on a regular basis I do but Rob can make a mean bowl of mac & cheese! And he can cook when he needs to.

Who is a better cook? I am. Well I know how to cook more stuff at least. And Rob's pretty good about eating what I cook even if its not the best!

Who drives? When we're together Rob does though we sometimes split the drive to Oklahoma and back. We both have complaints about the others driving and we both think all other drivers on the road are idiots!

Who is more stubborn? Hmmmm I would say I am

Who asked who out first? Well Rob asked me out first but I said no....partly b/c I had to babysit a friends kids and partly b/c he had a girlfriend! ;) Granted they were in the process of breaking up.......the first time we went out when he was single he invited me over to watch 24 at his apartment and the rest is history......24 hours (and many months) later we were practically engaged!

Who proposed? Rob did of course but he did it much sooner than planned after I wouldn't stop whining about wanting a ring so I could tell people it was official. Little did I know I forfeited a hot air baloon ride by not waiting. Boo to me!

Happy Easter!

So there is this lady in my ward that I am friends with and she is a photographer. (http://www.photographybyle.com/ & http://www.belliesbyle.com/ ) Last weekend she did Easter pictures for her clients and she had told me earlier that I should bring Ava by. I had a crazy week and didn't get to it and Sunday she told me the set was still up so to bring her by on Monday and she'd take some Easter pictures of her. There were even live ducks and bunnies! It was hilarious b/c at first Ava was annoyed at the itchy turf and the bunny upset her further. She didn't know quite what to think and went from hysteria to confusion to finally somewhat calm. At one point the brown bunny had a spastic attack and started running back and forth from Ava to behind the plants back to Ava etc. with EXTREME speed. Too funny! So here are a few of my favorites:


Not sure what to think, not sure whether to touch....


I guess I want to pet him after all but he is getting away!


Do you see what they are putting me through? Practically forcing me to play w/ sweet bunnies and ducks!


Okay, I guess this isn't THAT bad.


Can you believe all these baby ducks that want to hang out w/ me?


Notice the duck sitting behind Ava. It was her little friend. The other would run away and that once stayed near her most of the time and at one point even fell asleep sitting right next to her.

Daddy's hands

Ava was picking up pebbles at the park the other day but couldn't hold very many of them before they started to spill out. But then she discovered that her dad's hands were bigger and could hold a lot more. Could draw some interesting analogies from this I think.

I like the swing

Ava is a big fan of the swings at the park. I have about a thousand pictures of her on them so these are just some fun edits I did in my photoshop program!

THE OTHER FIRSTS - GOLFING & BATHING (still sporting the orange nose)

I love the title! Makes it seem like I haven't bathed Ava at all until this week. LOL. Anyway, she has been using a tub that fits into the sink since she was about 3 months old and then we moved it to the bathtub. She finally got too big for it and is able to sit up on her own so I decided to let her use just the big tub. She had never been in water that deep before and kept splashing like crazy, then sputtering to get the water out of her face, then splashing, sputtering, splashing.....you get the idea. I'm sure when she's 13 or so we'll have one of those great mother/daughter fights about me posting these pictures for all the world to see! The mom always wins those fights so I'm not worried. :) (Right mom? *S*)


Lookin pretty proud of herself for being in the BIG tub!



The splashing begins....look at that face. Ava: Check it out, see what I can do! Can you believe this?


The splashing continues....................



Time to get out......apparently since she kept pulling herself up on the side and almost slid and cracked her chin open.....so I guess it was either get her out or take her to the ER. Yeah I know, we chose the "convenient" option.



GOLFING!
Her first golfing trip was also a success. She was very good the whole time and kept her squealing to a minimum while people were trying to swing. (Her dad was so proud) We rented a cart and there is a little wire basket behind the seat for you to put your "stuff" in. Not sure your kid is considered stuff but it worked out pretty good for Ava. She was all cozy in there w/ her toys and everything and seemed to be enjoying it until we went over a large bump and she bonked her head on one of the side posts (parents of the year I know!)........luckily we avoided the ER once again though and she was okay after only a few minutes of very sad crying. Rob even got in 9 holes before she made it clear she was ready to go home.



Here I am in my little basket. The smile on my face shows you I have no idea what lies ahead for me as a result of this bumpy terrain.


Rob's idea of babysitting............



Cutie Patootie! I'm always excited when I get a good non-smiling pic of Ava (sounds weird I know) b/c she LOVES the camera so she cheeses out everytime she sees it and its nice to have an actual "candid" or thoughtful, etc pic now and then.......though her cheesing is darling!

Attention: Please do not leave children in the cart unattended! (Did we miss that sign? J/K!)

Rob's three most favorite things: Me, Ava and his golfclubs.....not necessarily always in that order! :)