new family photo

More pics of Ava coming soon to our Flickr page. This one is available at a larger file size on our Flickr page. Friends and family should feel free to download and print the higher-quality image from Flickr by clicking on "all sizes" and then "download the large size."

:)

2-month well baby check up

Today is Ava's 2-month birthday, and we celebrated by visiting the pediatrician. Ava is a happy, healthy girl. Here are her stats, compared to her 2-week check up... click on the image to actually be able to read it:


This was also the appointment when most babies start their immunizations. Personally, I'd rather reveal how I vote than say if we vaccinated or not. It's that controversial. All I can say is that we are succeeding as parents so far and we make every choice in Ava's best interest.

turnout completed!

That's right! The turnout/driveway apron construction is finished. It's just one little step closer to having our own lot and approved building plans. The top photo is looking at the new curb and driveway apron. The driveway to the house will go between those two redwoods. Teh second picture is looking over the driveway apron toward Art & Ann's house. (Thanks, Art, for putting the fence back up!) The third photo shows the turnout, the lovely fence and the neighbor's house. Our driveway is between the neihbor's house and the end of the fence.

The short version of the latest news is this: The county survey department and the title company are having trouble talking to each other in order to reconcile the original deed for the property purchased around 1975. Apparently, there is no deed for Art & Ann's property, only a deed for the larger original parcel minus their parcel. Ugh. How can things be so convoluted?

That was the latest for the lot split. The latest for the building plans is that they were waiting on an erosion control plan, but now they have it. Had our project been submitted and approved in a timely manner based on when we started this whole fiasco, we wouldn't have had to have an erosion control plan nor a soils report. The county has since passed codes requiring just about everyone to have these expensive tests and reports done. We have to have erosion control (even though we are building on a flat lot) because we're next to a creek. The soils report had to be done because Humboldt County is so seimically active. I hate to think of all the extras for those located in a coastal zone--thank goodness we're inland.

more firsts

- We ran several errands this morning without a meltdown. It was awesome. We dropped Andy off at work, visited the insurance agency, chiropractor, storage unit and went shopping at Target. Then I mowed the lawn with Ava sleeping in the sling. (We have a push mower, not a noisy smelly gas mower.)

- I found my first grey hair. I figure it was about 7 weeks and 2 days long.

Uncle Bob visits Ava!

Ava's Uncle Bob visited us over the Memorial Day weekend. We had a fun time at the Kinetic Sculpture Race start and Bob got to meet Ava for the first time. He was incredibly sweet with her. I think she was a little confused since she had never seen such big, hairy hands before. :) I really hope Bob has the chance to have kids of his own--he'll be a great dad.

There are more new pics on our flickr site!

Breakthroughs- just within the last week

Things that make Mom happy:
Ava hitting 10 lbs. Fat rolls are so cute!
Nursing is tolerable. (No more pump & bottle washing! Yay!)
Because nursing is good, sleep comes easily.
Ava is smiling because she's happy, not just because she's pooping.

There are a few new photos on our flickr site... just click on the widget!

PROGRESS! (and Ava's first trip to Grandma & Grandpa Jones' house)

Yep, that is construction happening on our future property! A company has come out, removed the brush and begun to build up the turnout and driveway apron. It should all be done within the next week, and the lot split might go through soon after that. Our driveway will go between those two redwoods, turn to the right and the house will be just out of sight behind the tree limbs and another tree back there.

It was a nice afternoon, and since we wanted to go out to Blue Lake, we had to take Ava with us. It was her three-week "birthday" and she had a pretty good time at Grandma & Grandpa's house despite our not having many of our usual tricks to calm her down. (The big bouncy exercise ball, walking laps around our circular house, etc.) We would have needed a U-Haul truck to schlep everything out there, and Grandma & Grandpa might have thought we were moving in. (Not yet anyway...)

We just posted about 5 new photos on our flickr account... just click on the flickr widget to the right to see them.