Happy Birthday Ava! {The Big T-W-O}

Dear Ava,

Today you turned two. TWO.
I hope today all your little two-year old dreams come true,
I know my dreams came true when I had you.



These last two years have truly been better than I could have expected.
I know I've said it before (and I'm sure I'll say it again)...
If someone told me I could handpick all the qualities in my daughter-to-be...
I really would have picked you -
 - every tiny little thing about you.
I love your bright, cheerful way of looking at life,
your outgoing, completely "un-shy," life-of-the-party personality.
I am amazed every single day by how smart you really are,
how funny and witty you can be,
how much joy you find in even the tiniest of things.
I love your sparkling, chocolate brown eyes,
those big juicy lips
and your darling, squeaky voice.
I love watching those little wheels turning in your head as you figure out this big world around you...
...and so quickly.

Other things about you:

• You know all the letters of the alphabet, and you sing the ABC song very well. You recognize all letters and recall the letter names. 
• You count to 10 perfectly. You can also count backwards from 5.  
• You know all your basic colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black, white, pink) and are constantly pointing out colors everywhere we go. Your favorite color is purple, it seems.
• You know that on a stoplight, red means STOP and green means GO. You wait for the green light every time and then shout, "GREEN! GO!"
• You know several shapes: circle, oval, rectangle, star, heart
• You love to dance! You are especially obsessed with ballet and ballerinas lately.
• You love to take pictures and say cheese. You say, "Pose, Momma?" and put your hand on your hip to pose. 
• You are forming 3-4 word sentences and are learning new words every single day. You are quite the little chatterbox.
• You are the sweetest big sister to your little brother, he loves you so much!

You love to sing, and learn new songs. In the car, on a walk or just in any quiet moment during the day, you quietly ask me to sing a song. "ABCs, Momma?" And together we sing, until the next request that quickly follows. "Popcorn, Momma?" "Twinkle Twinkle, Momma?" You surprise me constantly with how quickly you pick up on songs and learn the words. You love to sing "I Am a Child of God."

You weigh 31 pounds (80th percentile weight-for-age) and are just barely under 3 feet tall (99th percentile). Such a tall girl!

I love you SO much, sweet girl. You are the greatest addition to my life - I don't know how I got so lucky! Here's to many, many, many more beautiful years together, sweetheart. :)

Love,
Momma :)

Ava {2 Years Old} from Ashley Webster on Vimeo.

Brad and Kelsey's Beautiful Wedding

Such a gorgeous wedding, we LOVED being in North Carolina with the Brock family!

As Brad and Kelsey were coming out of the temple, Ava ran right up to them and gave them a big hug. 

It really was so cute, you can tell she loves them so much!

 The reception was GORGEOUS and so much fun - everyone danced all night long.

Ava didn't miss one song, she danced more than anyone! 

That girl can bust a move! 

 Poor Ava got a sunburn on her little cheeks that morning from being out on the boat, so her cheeks were red. 

We LOVE our new sister-in-law, Kelsey, and feel SO blessed that she is apart of our family! Yay for another girl in the Webster family! :)

Congrats to Kelsey and Bradley! 

Love you both SOOOOO much! 

"Picha Momma"

I think I may have created a monster.

Ava saw me taking pictures of a little boy the other day in this spot.

So naturally, after she got dressed this morning, she looked in the mirror and said, "Pretty!" and ran off.

Two minutes later, she had my camera bag in hand and she started pulling my arm towards the back door,

"Outside Momma, picha Momma! Come Momma!"

She struggled to sit herself up on the bench, smiled and proudly proclaimed "Cheeeeeese."

And after she heard a few clicks from my camera, she asked to "See Momma?" 

Upon careful review of the pictures, she declared them fit with a "Ohhhh cute, Momma!"

Yep, see?

Indeed, a monster. 

But a very, very, very CUTE monster nonetheless. ;)

Gavin {6 months} - Happy Half Birthday!

Dear Gavin,

You turned 6 months old on September 6, 2013. You are officially HALF a year old! I can't believe how quickly you have grown and how much you have learned in six short months. You continually melt my heart. People everywhere just "ooh" and "aww" over you, and really, I don't blame them - you are simply adorable. Many people have said you remind them of the Gerber Baby and told me I could make some money off you. Hmmm.... :) To be honest, you could be the world's most unfortunate looking baby and I would still think you were the absolute most beautiful boy! I am totally, completely and shamelessly obsessed! 

Here are the highlights from this month:

• You tried solid food: rice cereal, sweet potatoes, bananas, apples. 
• You despise formula and will not drink any of it.
• You were sleep trained for about 3 days. And then you went back to waking up every 2-3 hours al night long.
• You are sitting up and you definitely prefer sitting to laying down.
• Basic schedule: 8am wake up, 10am nap, 1pm nap, 5pm nap, 8pm bedtime. Usually wake up 2-3 times at night.
• During the day you are very mellow and easy going. You are very easy to smile and will flash a big, bright smile at anyone and everyone!
• You are very "busy" and curious and want to be mobile SO badly! You can turn in complete circles and roll all over the place, but crawling is still out of your reach. You love to grab any and everything and stick it directly into your mouth.
• Still no teeth
• You love to jump - in your jumper or while someone is holding you. 
• You love when I hum or sing to you as you are falling asleep. Whenever I sing a song, you stop and stare and intently listen.

You weigh 8.72 kg (19 lb 3.6 oz) (77.09%*), and are 2' 4.25" (96.59%*). Your BMI is 16.94 kg/m2. 

You love, love, LOVE your big sister! She can make you laugh and smile so much! She really loves you too! I know you two will be great friends - how lucky you are to have each other. The person who can make you laugh the most however, is your dad. As soon as he gets home, you light right up and babble, coo and laugh all night so long as your Daddy is holding you. :)

Here you are at each month....such a handsome boy!


I love you soooooooooooo much baby boy!

Love always and always and always,
Momma :)

How cool is this?

I didn't even know this was possible - my phone just made it. 

AND I love it!

This was Brad and Kelsey's wedding day, as they came out of the temple, 

Ava ran right up to them and gave them a huge hug. 

Luckily Brad and Kelsey are good sports and indulged her - 

that girl loves being the center of attention! 

And more than anything, she sure does love her new, beautiful Aunt Kelsey!

Ava {23 months}

AHhhhhhhhhhhhhHHH...

This is it...

One more month, 

...that's 31 more days, in case you were wondering...

until my BABY,

that tiny little, chubby little, rolly polly little

baby girl 

(who really is in no way, shape or form a baby at all anymore)

turns the big T-W-O. 

How did I get to this point? 

It honestly and truly feels like yesterday that the doctor laid her on my chest for the very first time.

I remember so vividly...

The look of bewilderment on both our faces as if to say, "Excuse me, but what just happened?"

as we stared at each other for the very first time.

The intense and overwhelming LOVE I felt for her instantaneously,

the happy tears that sprung to my eyes every time I held her in my arms.

And that love has only grown and multiplied enormously over these last 23 months. 

(That's right, I still have one month to refer to her age in months!)  

I can't tell you how many hours since that first day that I have spent starting at her, just amazed by her. 

I love her and feel blessed every single day that she is my daughter.

So here's to a fantastic month, the last month of being a "1 year old." 

Here's to my sweet, smart, happy, cheerful, funny, beautiful "not-so-baby-anymore" Ava Sophia. 

Ava is talking so much these days, it's impossible to keep track of all the words she knows. She has started talking in sentences, so here are some of my favorite phrases lately:

• "I did it Momma! High five!"
• "I love you!" (I wuv ewe) or "I love Momma!" "I love Daddy!" "I love Baby!"
• "No baby, stop! Mine!" (Whenever Gavin has something that she wants/thinks is hers)
• "Look Momma! Ava's car!" or "Ava's bed," "Ava's shoes," etc
• "Where Momma go?" "There she is!" or if I ask her where something is, she shrugs her shoulders and says, "Where is?" 
• "Momma, shoes...on" or "Momma, bow...off," etc when she wants me to put something on her or take it off.
• "Oh cute, Momma!"
• "Oh...my...gosh!" when she sees something she thinks is cool.
• "Hold her" - she says this with outstretched arms when she wants me to hold her.

Fun things she did this month:

• Moved to a "Big Girl Bed!" Ava started climbing out of her crib a while ago, so when we were in North Carolina at our hotel, I put her in one of the beds. She slept the entire night, so I decided to just stick with it and we have never looked back. She loves sleeping in a bed - we took the one side off her crib and added a toddler rail so she won't fall out at night and she has done great! 
• Rode on a jet ski, a boat, a water tube, a paddle board & several rides at Busch Gardens
• Went to Brad and Kelsey's wedding in North Carolina.
• Went to Myrtle Beach! She loved the sand! 
• Spent a week at the Brock's lake house in North Carolina.
• Spent a week in Virginia with Granny, Papa, Aunt Kaitlyn and the Jorgensens.
• Not fun - but Ava got all her 2 year old molars this month! Yippeeeeee (not!) - but really, that means she is done teething for good! Whoop whoop!

Things Ava loves:

• Singing! She is constantly singing. She really surprises me by how quickly she catches onto the lyrics of songs. She knows the ABC song, Twinkle Twinkle and Bubble Gum almost perfectly. Most of the other songs she loves she knows the last word of every line and sings that single word very loudly and proudly.
• Counting - Ava can count to 10 almost perfectly - usually she needs help with seven. She says, "one, two, three, four, five, six, eight, nine, ten!" And then, "eleven, twelve, eighteen  eighteen, eighteen, eighteen!" 
• Dancing - Ava danced the night away at Brad and Kelsey's wedding. My Granny said, "If you came to the party not knowing Ava, you definitely left knowing her!" She didn't miss a single song all night long and was out there on the dance floor dancing with any and everyone, all night long. She loves to dance!
• Anything "daring" - We joke that Ava is a "thrill seeker." But really, I'm not joking. She will do anything, ride any ride, climb anything regardless of how tall - it scares me half to death sometimes! When we were in North Carolina, she rode the jet ski with Bryson and Maddie and at one point it all three of them got thrown off into the water in the middle of the lake (Ava had a life jacket on). Well, you would think a little 20 month old would be scared - nope! Ava laughed her head off and said, "Mooore!" She also rode the tube pulled by the boat and was saying "More" hoping to go faster the entire time. 
• Swimming - she's a little fish and is actually a good swimmer! She can kick her feet and puts her face in the water and can actually get to where she wants to go in the water without any help from me! 
• iPhones, iPads - Ava can navigate the iPhone and iPad like it's nobody's business. She opens music, movies, plays her apps, can navigate between apps, finds certain apps in certain folders...really, it's amazing.
• Her pacifier - she is still VERY addicted to her "mammy." That's the next thing on my list - get rid of the passy! 
• Her favorite show is called "Bo on the Go." She usually watches one episode before nap time every day while I am trying to simultaneously feed and put Gavin down for his nap. I'm not exaggerating when I say that Ava has that show memorized. She knows the theme song and all the little idioms and common phrases. It's so cute to hear her trying to recite all the words and act out all the motions. 
• Taking pictures - but only on HER terms. It's actually almost impossible to get her to sit still long enough to take a picture. Just ask anyone who has ever tried. So, when I am able to get a good picture, I get really excited. Lately though, she has walked up to me, handed me my phone with the camera open and ready, put her arm around Gavin, smiled and said "Cheeeeese." I have also taught her how to "pose" hahaha. She puts her hand on her hip and turns her head to the side and says, "Cheese." Train em young!!

Here are some pictures from throughout the month:

(warning, this is MAJOR Ava-overload!) :)

I LOVE you Ava girl! 

You have done nothing but enrich my life and fill our home with such joy!

Love you, love you, love you!

Love, Momma :)