Ava Marie

So we found out the other day but today makes it offical. We will be leaving Jacksonville NC to move to Quantico VA January 15th. Zach got his CO to sign his orders today. He has many appointments this week and next week for getting us ready to move to VA. I can’t wait to be in VA. Where we are going to be located there is a ton of stuff to day and DC is like 30 minutes down the road. We will also be able to come home and visit a lot more. We can go home on long weekends. Well just a little update. I will add more later

So Ava didn’t want to get in her costume, but once she had it on she was fine. She was a little monkey this year, and by far the cutest little monkey ever. So we left about 7PM to go trick or treating and she was shy of course and didn’t say trick or treat. She would say it after we left the house. She made out very well because people were giving hand fulls of candy. We however, only got 4 trick or treaters and now we have way to much candy that I am going to have to figure something to do with. I am thinking of making some sort of cheese cake maybe with like a m & m in it or something. Anyway, here are a few pictures from our night.

walking along

I am not in the pictures do to Zach doesn’t take pictures well. So all the one’s that I am in are very dark and you can’t see them

So the other day Ava and I started to cut her pumpkin. My plan was to have her clean it out and take many pictures, then I would finish cutting out the face and take pictures with her when it was all done. Well she was scared of the pumpkin wouldn’t go near it at all. Like screaming and shaking saying she was scared. She won’t even go near it even though it is outside now. This happened when we went to get her a Halloween costume. We walked into the Halloween store and she was freaking out so we didn’t even look around we just left. So instead I ordered her a costume and we are hoping that it gets here on time for next weekend.

On a different note. Ava is so happy as well as myself to that Zach is home. She follows him around every where and as soon as he gets home from work she goes Daddy’s Home and runs right to him. She loves when he is home. He goes to work before she gets up and she will come into my room or the living room and go Where is Daddy, Daddy where are you, and will look all over the house. She doesn’t like that he has to go to work.

Today was a scary day. Ava was playing in her room like she always does and next thing I hear is a huge bang. I go running as fast as I can and her book shelve is on top of her. She didn’t get hurt it just scared her really bad. It made me fell like a bad parent when stuff like this happen. She is fine though and the book shelf is now gone. I will add more pictures later

So finally after so many months gone, Zach is home for good. It was a rainy day but a happy day. We headed to base at about 730PM because they were suppose to get in at 930PM, however they were 2 hours late adn never got there until 1130pm. That is good for the Marine Corp, normally it is even later than that. So we met a few new people, while we waited, and Ava enjoyed herself playing with a bunch of boys. At about 11 we all went out side because we got word that they were on base but heading to the armory to secure their weapons. The hard part was just the waiting. WE could see them across the field and knowing that they wre right there was very hard. Then finally the buses pulled up infront. Ava was mad and didn’t want me to hold her and was screaming and crying, but once she saw daddy it was fine. He was on the last bus right infront of us and of course one of the last ones to get off, but my heart jump as soon as I saw him and new he was back home with us for good. I did keep it together and didn’t cry, but I am so happy that he is finally home. So anyway of course just as the buses pull up it starts raining, we take our pictures he gets his gear and we head home. Zach’s parent’s took Ava for the night so it was nice to have some alone time with Zach. Here are a few pictures from our night.

holding the sign she made for daddy

Wlcome Home RCT 8

Zach's parent's (Gram and Poppie) with Ava waiting for the buses

unloading all thier gear

Here comes the buses

Zach's bus

welcome home kiss

My happy family back together

Zach with his parent's

Ava and Zach at our house

So I probably shouldn’t be writing this bu I can’t wait. I have just about 6 days and the love of my life will be home. His bus gets in at 5AM in the morning next Monday and I can’t wait. Well atleast sometime around that time. It is going to be so nice for him to be home. I am so excited and this excitment is making me not able to sleep, which I really need to do. Zach is going to be on a different time frame for a while so that will help a little, but trying to go to bed early right now just doesn’t happen. I also stay up way to late just so I can talk to him every night on the computer. I normally talk to him from 1AM to 2AM. His parent’s are coming down to see him get here as well, so that will be nice to have them her as well. Every day I tell Ava that daddy is coming home and she runs to the window and goes daddy home, and then she looks for him all day. It’s cute and sad at the same time. This is the time I wish I had a video camera to take a movie of his arrival so all of you that couldn’t be here could still see all the excitment.

Okay to change the subject a little. I said I would up date on the sleep issues that I was having with Ava. Well sleep training went well she is sleep in her own room well when she wants to sleep.I put her in there and she will go to sleep and be sleeping by 8 and then the neighbors start with the music and wake her up. So then she is up playing in her room all night. When I am talking about all night I mean all night. It doesn’t matter if she has toys or not and she will talk to herself all night in her room.I think it is the age and she just doesn’t want to sleep. Oh and she is not taking a nap, so it is making for areally long day and night. Well tonight she has been sleeping for a while and hoping it stays that way. Well i will keep you all posted with eerything that is going to be going on here soon

Okay so Ava been sleep training all week and is doing great. She is in her room by 830 the latest and some nights after we read a bunch of books she plays for a while. But has been falling asleep by 9 and she has been getting up during the night but I can put her right back down and she goes right back to sleep. Then first night of course has was the worst. She got up about 5 times and it was like every 2 hours. The second night was better, and then last night she was sleeping by 730 however she did wake up do to the fact Sarah and her daughter Jaidynn came over and, Ava probably heard them and then was up for an hour and a half. She was back to sleep by 1130 and she slept all night. It really is nice to have my bed back and her not in it. I don’t even let her in it in the morning after she gets up just to snuggle up, we just go to the living room becasue I do not want her in my bed beacause this is the worst habit ever to break. SO one this sleep training is down then time to Potty Train

So I really think I might just pull my hair out. Ever since we moved home to stay with my parent’s while Zach has been gone, Ava would for the most part sleep in bed with me. It was a big transition for her, to move, then go into a toddler bed my parent’s didn’t have a crib. So she would sleep in my bed. Well now I am paying for that. We moved back down to NC and I am trying my hardest to resleep train her. Well it’s not going very well. I think tomorrow I am going to start over do wat I have been reading in books, and taking sme of the advice I have been give by other mom’s. So tomorrow night will be my first night of really sleep training. NO more in mommy and daddy’s bed. Since Zach isn’t here it should be a little easier but we will see. I hate to have her cry it out since I do have neighbors that I am connected to. All well I will probably have to go over there tomorrow and introduce myself and let them know that I will be sleep training so please don’t cal the police on me, I am not hurting my daughter or ignoring her either, just rying to get her to sleep in her own bed.

So this is how I am going to start tomorrow night for be from what I have been reading.

1. I will do our nightly routine, and then at bed time place her in her bed tell her it’s okay and she is safe and that mommy is right here. Then I stay in her room until she falls asleep. If she gets up I put her back in bed and keep doing this until she is asleep.

2. Night two will be the same thing but now I move closer to the door. If she get’s up then I put her back in bed, tell her she is okay and that she’s safe and mommy is right here. I keep doing this every night until I can put her in her bed and say goodnight mommy loves you and I will see you in the morning.

I have a feeling it is going to take a while but I have 2 weeks until Zach should be home and hopefully by then this will work. I am not letting him put her in our bed at all. If he does then he get’s to resleep train her.

Well she no sleeping on a blanket on her bedroom floor that is where she finally put herself tonight and now that it is 4AM I should try to get some sleep before I am up at 8 with her. I will keep every one posted on how this whole sleep training goes.

So since Ava and got down here to lovely Jacksonville NC, we have been feeling a little under the weather. Mine comes and goes but I have had a really bad sore throat for 2 days now. Then the head congestion started today. Ava has had a runny nose and a cough for about a week that comes and goes. I thought at first it might be allergies, but now it is starting to get worse. She was up half the night last night coughing and she was coughing so hard it made her throw up at times. I hate seeing her uncomfortable and not feeling well. It breaks my heart. So today we stayed in and rested and she does have a slight fever. It has finally gone down and she isn’t coughing as much but that could be from teh benadryl. I am hoping we both start to feel better since Zach will be home in about 18 days. I really don’t want to have to take her to the doctors. I hate the doctors around here. If I could get her on base that would be fine, but it is so hard to find a good doctor around here.

So other than being sick we have been staying busy. I just about have the entire house done and set up. Well of course what I can do by myself. Ava and I have gone over to my friend Sarah’s house to help her pack up her house. Her husband is going to Afgan so she is moving home to Maryland. while we were over there she gave Ava a ton of clothes and gave her this toy. It’s called Leap Frog Touch Baby I think. She loves it. Sarah only had to books for and I so wish you could still get teh other books for it, because she loves it. We have used it for hour’s today. It has body parts so I have her telling me which one’s are which, and ABC’s and other things as well.  WE have been doing a lot of coloring that is her favorite thing to do, besides read of course. Lets see sleeping has been an issue since we moved to NY and now it is slowly getting better. She is in her Crib but I am going to have to change that like tomorrow. She has been climbing nonstop out of it, however she will climb in it and put herself to sleep for a nap. She has done that two days in a row now. She has been going to bed about 8 to 9PM and is up at 4AM every day for some reason. She will go back to sleep some times, and when she won’t that makes for a very long day and it seems like on those days she will fight and fight her nap. The cutest thing every is she goes through out the day saying nonstop I wuv you mommy, I wuv you piwie, which is her pillow that is as big as she is that she carries around, I wuv you book, I wuv you cupie, then last but not least Daddy where are you, I wuv you daddy. It is just so cute how she tells everything she loves that she wuvs it. Well I am just rambling now and will update more later

So I just wanted to let you all know that we will not be home for Christmas this year. At first I thought we were going to be home for a week, but Zach can’t take the time after he gets home. So the next time everyone will see us will be around March to April some time. Oh and I know it is a ways away but for my family if the kids want anything specific let us know, or if they don’t if you could just let us know what they might want for Christmas that would be great. Like I said I know it is a ways away but we are sending gifts home early so they make it there intime for Christmas.

So my mom, Ava and I left NY on Friday morning to coe back down to Jacksonville NC. We have been here for about 5 days now and my house looks like a tornado ran through it. Our friend Chris is helping me moving everything in, but Zach has so much junk I don’t know where to put it all.  As of right now there are so many totes in my living room I don’t have room for my furniture LOL. I will figure it out of course but I hate living in a mess. It is driving me crazy. I would post some pictures but I don’t want anyone to see my house this way. Ava is adjusting well. I was putting her crib and yes I said crib together last night. I was going to leave it at a toddler bed but she kept saying mama mama crib please. So I did and she slept in it until about 4am. She hasn’t tried to climb out of it yet. maybe that’s why she didn’t sleep when we were at my parent’s, she need the security of her crib. Anyhow, we also have been taking some time out to relax as well. We went to the beach yesterday and then was fun and beautiful as always. Here are a few pictures from the beach, when my house is put together I will take more pictures and post them.

love her

I love the ocean it's so beautiful

ava and mimi

playing in the sand