Joy in the Journey: It's all Special

At first I titled this blog "Nothing Special," because really there isn't a lot of exciting, new things going on in our home. But then I thought about it, and really, it's all special, beautiful, and wonderful. I have been cherishing every single moment with our girl, and I've had a lot of them lately with my easy attending schedule. It has been one of those weeks where it seems like Ava is learning, doing, and saying everything new. She does things and I think, "How does she know how to do that??!" Yesterday we had her on speakerphone with Grandma Pasek and she waved and said "Hello" and then "Bye, Bye." She tells her daddy "Nigh, Nigh" and waves as he hands her off to me to nurse before bed. When I told her that it was time to go bye-bye she waved, picked up her shoes, walked me to the back door and pointed to the door knob. Then she sat down and handed me her shoes, as if to say "Let's go, mom!"

And she is climbing, climbing everywhere: on the fireplace, up and down the stairs, in and out of the bathtub....wherever she can. It's just amazing to me. Wasn't she just my tiny newborn not even a year ago? Where has the time gone? How can she possibly be this grown up already? Simply amazing.

This last weekend was our very first city-wide Trunk-or-Treating. I dressed Ava up in her cute bee costume and off we went. I expected that she would run wild for awhile, and then I would pick her up and walk to the different treat stations; and of course, my little onedecided that she could be a big girl and do it on her own. She grabbed the orange pumpkin sack right out of my hands and off she went, walking up to each person, waiting for her special treat. And after they placed it in her bag she opened it and looked down, as if to check and see that the treat made it safely into her bag. Then off she went, to the next person, as everyone oooooh'd and aaaaaah'd over my cute little bumble bee. And of course she walked away with a large stash of various treats!

That night we went to Josh's football game, the third game that we've made it to this year. Ava loved it again! She was so engrossed that she actually sat in my lap for a full two quarters. My child will not sit still for anything, so this was impressive to say the least. Josh's team won, so off to the play-offs it is.

While we were there, we totally dodged a bullet. Miss Thing has taken to un-velcroing her shoes in the car. We were running late for the game, and in the hopes that we would get to see Josh before it started, I grabbed her out of her carseat and made a mad-dash for the stadium. By the time we made it to the top and sat down, I realized she had no shoes on! As we left we checked in with security, and thankfully someone had turned them in. Thank goodness, they are Ava's favorites!
Saturday we had a last-minute visit from Grandma and Grandpa Pasek. Aren't those the best kind of visits?

I think that they were missing their Ava. They spent time with their grandbaby while I spent a few wonderful hours with some dear Alpha Gam sisters celebrating Angie's baby-girl on the way. What a beautiful baby shower on a beautiful October day!

Sunday it was off to church like usual where Ava had a wonderful surprise waiting....Amelia was in her classroom this week!
Yay to the little walkers!

Of course tonight was Ava's first time to trick-or-treat. This girl seemed like a pro! She grabbed that bag, walked up to the door and knocked (no joke), and when presented with a bowl of candy she picked her piece and placed it in her bag. Simply hilarious. What a big girl! Big thanks, too, to Heidi for taking her to a local church for trick-or-treating, too.