Ready to be an AUNT!!

Tuesday night Avree and I decided to head to DSM and spend some time with family. We were getting a little lonely with Matt being gone last week, this week and will be gone again next week! Since Shelly's last day of work was Tuesday, we thought we would stay with her and keep her company for a couple days. It was nice to relax and hang out... I don't know when the last time Shelly and I had some time like this to just talk. We got to meet Nana and Papa for supper Wednesday night and then on Thursday we met my dad for lunch in Altoona.
I told Shelly we needed to go on a walk so we could get the baby's head way down, so we took a walk with 4 dogs, a very pregnant lady, myself and Avree on Wednesday! We looked pretty funny :-) Then Thursday I needed to go to the mall so Shelly came with me and walked to a couple stores. Then she went home to rest! (she was pretty tired) Avree and I headed home yesterday afternoon but thought about staying Thursday night too (Matt's cousin runs in the Drake Relays this weekend, so we wanted to stay and watch her) but decided we should probably get home... Then got a text message at 6 AM this morning that Shelly is in the hospital!!!! Go figure, Avree and I leave and she goes in :-) I told Jay that we must have got that baby to come!! :-) There is still no baby at this time... Hopefully by the end of the day. Mom is doing well, just getting antsy and excited to meet the new baby! I will post again once the baby makes his or her appearance.

Trying to get back on my feet....

Wednesday was just another typical day for Avree and I- playing, running errands, napping, going on a walk, but getting sick was not on the agenda! Wednesday afternoon quickly turned to a downward spiral when I started getting a queasy/sick feeling in my stomach. I had felt fine all day, and then 4:30 came upon us and I started getting sick. I ran to the bathroom every 5 minutes, trying SO hard to hold it in. It was pretty hard trying to watch Avree, and run to the bathroom every couple minutes. She eventually started getting sick of me running into the bathroom and "leaving her". So the tears came running and the "hold me" look was on full force! She was pretty tired and just wanted mama... of course! Then to top it all off, Matt was gone last week with work. So here I am being a single parent with the flu! Thank goodness for my friend, (THANK YOU LINDSAY) for coming over and taking Avree (and her son Wesley, 3 days older than Avree) for a walk, then fed Avree supper and put her to bed. All while I was "trying" to sleep it off, but pretty much was so queasy/nauses and sick, I was in the bathroom the whole time. Finally about midnight, I was done getting sick and was able to keep water down at least. I tried to get some sleep after that cause I knew when I woke in the morning, I would be hurting. Didn't sleep well though and the morning came too quick. I felt like a bus ran over me and put it in reverse a couple times. :-) My back hurt SO bad and I was just "blah" all day. Finally, Friday I was feeling better but still felt pretty weak....Finally I am now feeling like my old self again.. of course at the end of the weekend and Matt leaving us again this week :-(
So far Avree has not gotten the flu bug (and I pray she doesn't) but she did start getting a running nose which is waking her up some nights cause she can't breathe.
Other than my 24 hr sickness, we doing good and staying very busy!

Here are some pictures from the past week...

She loves looking out the window



Gamma Hansch and Avree at Shelly's baby shower



Eatin pancakes



She thinks she can take a ride in her doll's stroller

Happy Easter!

Hope everyone had a great Easter/Easter weekend with friends and family. We had Matt's parents and Brian here for the weekend. The boys went golfing on Saturday and what a great day for that! I just wish it would have stayed nice for today.
Avree and I went to Des Moines for Shelly's baby shower on Saturday, which was nice to see Shelly, the baby bump, grandma McCulla, and "gamma" Hansch.
We went to early church this morning, and then planned on coming back to the house to eat/cook but we decided going out to eat would be better. So we went to Perkins and had brunch. It was really good and even better that we didn't have to cook or clean! After we got back to the house, Brian hid a couple eggs in the living room for Avree's little egg hunt. We gave her a little bunny bag/basket (from "gamma" Hansch) and when she grabbed the eggs, she (without any help) put them in the basket. It was SO cute!! Then she sat down and they all started falling out. Ha-Ha


Easter Egg Hunt


Daddy & Avree


Family Picture


Tickle, Tickle, Tickle

We got a ONE year old!

I can't believe Avree is one and already has such an attitude :-) Nana said she is skipping one and going right to two. No, actually she is still a great baby.. well I guess not a baby anymore :-( She is at such a fun age and we are SO excited for summer to get here so we can go do some fun activities.
She is saying Mama, Dadda, dog, duck and ball. She likes climbing the stairs, pulling on the dogs, feeding herself and is all about trying to carry everything! She shakes her head "no" and "yes", dances and does "so big". She is just too cute!!

On saturday (her actual birthday) we had her party and had a great time! Lots of people helped us celebrate and we are so thankful for lots of friends and family! Avree also has the same birthday as grandpa McCulla (my dad), so he is pretty excited that he doesn't have to celebrate his birthdays anymore...It will be all about Avree now on April 4. Which I know she won't mind :-)
Avree did pretty good at destroying her cake. At first she wasn't sure if we were going to let her do this, but after a couple minutes she dug right in :-) She ate a lot of cake and frosting, that I think she made a lot of people sick to their stomachs. ha-ha. Suprisingly enough, she didn't have a sugar high and went to bed early that night!

Thank you to everyone that could make it on Saturday!





Mama and the birthday girl


Birthday boy and his girls




The birthday girl



Can't believe they are letting me do this





Starting to dig in...



Yummmmm...





Birthday boy feeding the birthday girl



Mama, Dadda and birthday girl



Opening gifts



Grandpa and Grandma McCulla, Avree, Nana and Papa



Where did everyone go???



Playing with her new doll stroller from Gma/Gpa McCulla

Italy!

Wow! Italy was absolutely amazing! We had a great time and were sad to leave. We stayed in Rome for three nights, then drove to Venice. On the way to Venice we stopped in Pisa and saw the leaning tower (pic. below). Stayed in Venice for 2 nights and did the gondola ride and just walked around the island. From Venice we went to Florence (for a couple hours), then back to Rome for two more nights. The scenary and buildings were breath taking. Of all the vacation spots we have been too, this definitely tops the list.
Below are just a couple pictures from the trip.. Matt took over 400, so it took us a while to go through all of them :-)

Time for an update!

Sorry I haven't been good at keeping the blogspot updated. Once we get through Avree's baptism weekend and our trip to Italy, I will probably have more time.. :-)
This weekend we are having Avree baptized and Matt and I are joining the church! I am happy we finally found a church we enjoy going to. We are proud to call Liberty United Methodist Church our home.
One week from today we leave for Italy! I am so excited, yet anxious at the same time. I know we will have an awesome time, but just hope Avree does okay on the LONG plane ride and the time change (7 hours)!
Avree has been doing great. Keeping me busy!! We went into the doctor last night cause she had a temp of 101 all day yesterday and he told us she has double ear infection! The first time she has really been sick though! Which is good considering we made it 11 months with a healthy girl!! :) She has been doing great even though both ears are red and infected. She has just been more cuddly with me...which I love! :-)
I hope this note finds everyone well! Excited to see family this weekend!
Take Care



Here are some pictures of Avree eating spaghetti for the first time....by herself :-)

Avree walking

I know some of you have asked me to post a video of Avree walking, so I have finally got around to uploading it. Hope all is well with everyone!