I have been wanting to do this for a few months now, because really, how could I not record the friendship between these beautiful little girls?! Amelia is Ava's very first BFF. We had become good friends with her mom and dad, Kristin and Phil, through our small home-group from church. We were thrilled to learn that they were pregnant just a week after we had found out that we were expecting, too. Our due dates were just a couple of weeks apart, and since our group met weekly, we were able to experience our pregnancy together. And as a bonus, we found out that we had enrolled the girls in the same daycare, without even knowing it! These girls were destined to be friends before they were even born, just three days apart.
Ava and Amelia meeting for the first time - just a few weeks old.
Ava and I, Shelley and Violet (our other small-groupy friends), and Kristin and Amelia - 6 weeks Old
Ava, Ryder (another groupie-baby), and Amelia - 2 months old
Amelia, Ava, and Violet - 3 Months Old
The fist of many times that they showed up somewhere in the same outfit! Hilarious!
Our entire small group ladies & babies - Misty and Rennick, Ava and I, Kristin and Amelia, Liz and Will, & Shelley and Violet
The girls were trying to hold hands during the photo shoot - love! 4 Months Old
And speaking of daycare, the teachers were kind enough to send us photos of their daily happenings - and here are a few of my favorites of the girls having fun together!
5 Months Old....
The girls in their Nebraska gear (and Grace) - 6 Months Old. (Plus their wonderful teacher Martha!)
Their first big-girl meal at school - 6 Months Old.
They both wore peach to school - 7 Months Old.
Reading with Miss Heidi - 9 Months Old
Working together - 10 Months Old
Hmmm...wish I knew what they were thinking! 11 Months Old
Going for a walk - 11 Months Old
More snuggling - 11 Months Old.
Hugs! 11 Months Old
Taking a walk on a beautiful fall day! And their last day in the infant room...
Well on to other places and fun things.....
Ava and I, Shelley and Violet, Kristin and Amelia - at church, 6 Months Old.
The girls spent an evening hanging out at our house, and enjoying Ava's new, luxurious pool that dad bought her....
At Amelia's FIRST birthday party!!
Ava, Violet, and Amelia at our friend's baby shower - in their new triple-stroller!
Ava, Amelia, and Will - we all went to the BBQ competition together.
Dinner time! And the BBQ was NOT a hit!
Bathtime after a long day - 13 Months Old
And yes, they even had matching PJs....
Playing at church in front of the light box - 14 Months Old
Lunch time after church! 14 Months Old
Daycare with Miss Heidi - 15 Months Old.
PJ day at school!
Special Family dinner at school - 16 Months Old.
And a day at the park - 16 Months Old
It has been so much fun to watch these two girls grow over the last 16 months, and to see their little personalities blossom. These two are oh-so different, and have been right from the start. While Ava fought sleep and woke every 3 hours on the dot to eat, Amelia fell asleep anywhere, at anytime and her parents sometimes had to work pretty hard to get her to wake up and eat. And now, all these months later, it is even more apparent how very different these girls are. Amelia is sweet, cuddly, and reserved while Ava is spunky, daring, and determined. (Her daycare affectionately refers to it as "leadership skills.") Amelia's fine-motor skills are stellar, while Ava was an early walker. Even their daycare teachers were shocked at how very different the girls were from the first week in the toddler room. I think that they realized it when Amelia was building towers with the blocks while Ava went head-first down the slide. We hope that as they grow up, they will be the perfect best friends because they will balance each others strengths and weaknesses in all the right ways.
This week started out an absolutely beautiful 60 degrees....and ended in frigid! We took advantage of the gorgeous, can't-get-any-better-in-January, weather on Monday with a trip to the park with our friends Kristin and Amelia. We found a great new park (definitely a new favorite!) with a duck pond, lots of great playground equipment, and a pint-sized town for the little ones to run in. Fun, fun, fun.
What??! This park has DUCKS?! "Ack ack!"
Next, we were off to the playground...
"Let's go!"
Swinging together....
Tried to get a picture of them sliding together...didn't quite work. :)
Climbing
Tic Tac Toe.....who wins?
See my dirty hand? part 1
...and part 2.
And off to the super cute little town for the girls to run around.
Jailbirds
We will definitely be visiting that park again as soon as it the weather warms up! Loved it!
Tuesday Josh and I decided to take Ava swimming at the local community center's indoor pool. This place was even better than expected, with a few small fountains for Ava to play in, a zero-entry area, small slide, and a water play area. Very cool.
What is that kid doing??
"Kick kick!"
"Don't let me go daddy!"
"What does that kid think he's doing, playing at my water table??!"
This is SO much fun mama!!
This is called "My lips are blue, let's go - the door is that way lady!"
I also broke out the play-doh for the first time. Ava loved it! I let her pick out the colors, and out of the 24 possibilities she of course, chose pink and purple. What a girlie-girl she is. I handed over a few plastic utensils and she went to town. Play-doh was a hit!
And new things Ava enjoyed "helping" me with this week:
1. Laundry - she loves to place the clothes in the washer, or move them to the dryer, or place them in the laundry basket when they are clean. Then she pushes the buttons to turn the washer and dryer on and off. All while trying to dodge Emmitt's sloppy wet kisses - bonus!
2. More help in the kitchen - she almost won't let me cook by myself anymore!
3. Reorganizing the food in the pantry. She loves taking everything out, then placing it back in random order.
We ended the week with a fever - from croup. She woke up Thursday night with that barky cough and new exactly what that fever was from. She is doing much better now, although her tiny little voice continues to be hoarse (and soooo cute). Here's to a healthy week in the Dalton house!
Wife of 9 years to an amazing husband Josh,football coach extraordinaire, and mom to 3 year old Miss Ava Eloise and baby sister Vivian Grace, as well as full time pediatrician. Trying to learn how to blend the heart of a mom and the head of a doctor, one day at a time....
