HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY!!!

Ava Grace is one! Wow, where did the year go? We celebrated her birthday with a Ladybug theme and it was so precious. She looked so beautiful in her birthday dress. I was so excited for her and yes her cake was awesome! I was so pleased with the outcome. We ordered it from Susie G's bakery in O'Fallon, MO. Her first year went by so fast. A year ago we were cheering her on in the NICU to eat and be a big girl. Now she is eating well, close to walking on her own, and babbling. I hope this year goes by slow. Happy Birthday Big Girl!


In Loving Memory.

One Week Away!

Can you believe this sweet little girl is going to be one in a week? Where did the year go? We made her birthday invites and it was so hard to pick out a picture to put on them. She was all smiles!

Springtime Fun!

AJ and Ava went to the St. Peters City Center Park for some outdoor spring pictures. Thanks Aunt Paula for all your help we could not have done it with out you.

EASTER

What a beautiful fun filled day we had on Easter. AJ and Ava were so cute dressed in their Easter clothes. The day was gorgeous and everyone was happy! It just could not have been a more perfect holiday.

Easter Village

Kevin and I were so excited to take the kids to the Easter Village at Purina Farms. It did not go as well as we expected. First it was suppose to be sunny and 60, but instead it was cloudy/windy and felt like 40. When we arrived AJ and Ava sat on the Easter Bunny's lap without crying! Yeah! Then we went to pet the baby animals and Ava was pretty interested, but still a little to young. AJ briefly touched a baby chick and rabbit and just when I talked him into touching the bunny again a sheep "Baaaed" and freaked him out. This surprised Kevin and I. We then went to see the cows and a cow "mooed" that was the last straw. He wanted to go home. Kevin and I laughed (shame on us, but what else were we going to do?? We stayed around the animals a little longer and headed home. I hope next year it will be warmer and AJ will be less scared.

Bedtime Buddies

Monday, March 22nd, was a traumatic day in the Schuette household. AJ's most prized "bedtime" possession BROKE! Although I should be the happiest mommy in the world, because AJ's pacifier broke and we are done with it...the story was quite sad. He called his pacifier "pass" for short. Monday afternoon he was crying/whining in his bed "Mommy, Mommy..." I entered his room and he said "fix mom mom fix" I look down and saw "pass" broken in two pieces. Inside I was doing a party dance, but later I was so sad, because he wanted me to fix his most prize possession and instead we had a ceremony to toss "pass" into the trash. For a spilt second I could have whipped out another "pass" and saved the day, but instead I did the grown up thing and had AJ say goodbye to "pass" as we placed it in the trash and closed the door. Yes, this was traumatic for all involved. I cried that night when AJ asked for "pass" and I said it was broken and he said "trash". So now we continue to sleep with our other buddies the blue bear named "Tig or Tigger", a giraffe which AJ insists is a horsey, and a green fuzzy blankey. It took a few days, but he is not asking for "pass" anymore. My baby is growing up as we have reached another milestone.

Butterflies and Horseys

On Tuesday we went to the Butterfly House! My mom, AJ, Ava, and myself headed out to Faust Park. They had the Carousel up and going again. After we saw the butterflies and road the horseys then we played at the park. We had such a great time and it was amazing to see so many butterflies. March is a great time to go, b/c they have the Blue Morpho butterflies (there was about 3000 of them)!

Happy 2nd Birthday AJ

A.J. turned 2 today! Where in the world did two years go? I can't believe it. He is the sweetest most amazing little boy. His vocabulary has taken off and he is putting together so many cute phrases. On Saturday we went to Portrait Innovations...the pictures turned out so good. Then Saturday evening we had a great birthday party. AJ received so many nice gifts: vroom vroom garage, kidz puter (computer), mega blocks fire truck, Bass Pro truck, trailer, 4 wheeler, and horseys, trike bike, Mr. Potato Head, and so many great clothes. AJ's birthday cake did not turn out the way I thought, but it tasted good :)! Happy Birthday my sweet Boy!

ER

Ava spent Friday evening at the ER. Diagnosis RSV. Kevin took her to the doctor and the doctor said she needed to go to the ER b/c her oxygen level was low. Needless to say I do not win "Mommy of the Year". Shame on me for not recognizing wheezing, labored breathing, ect. But she is such a strong girl and after 4 hours and 3 albuterol treatments she was able to come home and is doing so much better. Now she gets a treatment every 4 hours for at least the next 7-10 days. What a sweet little baby...

She Crawls!!!

Ava is such a big girl! On January 24th she started crawling. Although she wasn't too sure about crawling she is doing great and is a lot happier now that she can move herself instead of waiting on us to move her. AJ keeps taking toys away from Ava after she works so hard to get to them. On February 2nd, Ava started pulling to stand independently and cruising! I can't believe that she will be 1 in just two months! AND in 5 days my little boy is going to be 2!

Snow Days

In early January we had such cold weather and a few snow days. It was too cold to go sledding so we had to make our own fun! I will be glad when summer gets here!