dear baby hollis.

dear baby hollis.
i adore you more than you can possibly know. you seem pretty calm during the day, but as soon as i lay down at night you seem to want to play & let me know you're full of personality. you also like to play when your sister is sitting on my lap near my belly, i think you can hear her and you already love her & want her to know you can't wait to meet her. i can't believe just a few short weeks (13ish, actually) you will be here with us, joining our family.
until then, could you please quite using mommy's bladder as your own personal trampoline. i know it's fun, but it's causing me all kinds of embarassing problems lately :)
love you baby,
mommy

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puppy love & STOP!!! potty time!

ava loves her puppies...so much that she covers them up with her blankies when they are laying down...or she is trying to make them horses and those are the saddles...not quite sure :) either way, i think it's super cute!

by the way...we have had several days in a row with poo poo and pee pee in the potty! yay! not all day long, but at least a few times!!! that's all i can ask for! just kind of easing into this whole potty thing, but crossing my fingers that by her birthday she is using the potty pretty regularly and that by the time hollis joins our family, he will be the only one in diapers! ha! she is being rewarded with "lips" whenever she uses the potty...she loves her lipstick!!! nice little bribe there!

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holiday weekend

hope you are having a fun and safe holiday weekend!!

much love,

amanda

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a year ago...

today...my how she has grown!

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country girl

throughout my life i have always felt like a country girl...not so much in the desire for all things farm; pigs, chickens, etc...but more for the wide open spaces. something about waking up, looking out the window and seeing nothing but horses, pasture and blue sky makes me swoon. the more i watch ava and see her love of nature, animals and running free, i just know this dream of country living will someday just HAVE to come true! maybe not tomorrow or in a year or two, but someday! but for now, one acre & a couple of big dogs will have to do! at least we already have that big texas sky!

just a few more from our day with vickie and randy!

cowgirl watching ava chase charlie

love this one of my girl in the flowers

ava and randy

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pony love

yep...we have found ava's true love! animals! she love, love, loves them! she is pretty fearless when it comes to most animals (she's not too sure about the gorill at the zoo, though).
we had such a fun day at vicky and randy's yesterday and ava got to get up close and personal with her all time favorite animal (at least right now)...horsies! actually, horsies and "puppies"...i think she loves them equally! anyway, i took over 150 shots yesterday and haven't even made it through half of them...these are just a few cute ones i had to share! definitly more to come! it was a gorgeous day and ava had so much fun! thanks so much for having us out vic and for making ava's day so special!

okay, so the above photo has been majorly photoshopped to get rid of hands and bodies and ropes...no, we did not let ava go galloping off into the sunset on sweet faith (even though i think she is quite a natural cowgirl!)!

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we spent the day out at vickie's. ava had a total blast playing with the dogs, horses, vickie, and randy! it was so much fun! more pics to come...ava "riding" her first horse!

i think it was the best day of her two years! she loved it!

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