Wow, lots to catch up on

I have been a total slacker lately. To be honest, I've had other things on my mind and have been down right lazy. Our Christmas was great and our family Christmas party was a lot of fun. The highlight of the show was the talent show. Every year all of the kids do there "talent". Ava's as playing her harmonica. The girl can rock her harmonica (of course it has to be red, because that's her favorite color). She sat up big and tall on a stool with no shoes on, playing her harmonica. She looked like a little hill-billy up there. Her act didn't end there, she had to "accompany" all of the other kids during their songs. I'll have to upload some pics as soon as I can find my chord in my mess of a house.
Other big news (that many already know about), we're pregnant :). I have to admit, I've been trying to not get very excited just in case I get heart broken again, but it's hard to not look forward to possibly having a new baby in the house. I had to tell my friends at work pretty early on because we had some buggy kids. I can't tell you how much amazing support I have at work. The people I work with are truly amazing. We only told my mom a couple of days before my cerclage because Ava had to spend the night.
That's right, I have already had my cerclage. Not the most pleasant experience, but it had to be done. TMI warning; when I finally got to the OR room and the doctor started doing her thing, she said,"we did this right in time." A normal cervix should be around 4cm, mine was only 0.25cm. No wonder I felt like the baby was going to fall out the past couple of days before my cerclage. I had some bleeding and cramping post op, but I still got to go home that night. I was hoping to only be off of work for a week since I don't have very much sick time left. But of course nothing can go as planned. I started to have a lot of pressure and cramping. So hopefully a month of bedrest will do the trick. I so hope I get to go back to work after my month is over. It's sad, but i look forward to my weekly appointments, just so I can get out of the house.
All of this is absolutely worth it, and I would do it again if I had to (the shots of blood thinner, cerclage, bedrest, and lots of prayers). I'm getting a little nervous though because I'm approaching the same gestation as I was with Gracie when she went to Heaven. I have to keep reminding myself that I have no control over this and have to have trust and faith.

christmas to come

I'm still in the process of trying to find my floors after the hectic weekend. They are covered in toys, plastic twist ties that keep turning up, and laundry that I'm soooo far behind on. Then, to make the clean up even more of a challenge, Ava woke up VERY early with a fever. So today was filled with cuddling my fireball girl and coming up with creative ways to get her to drink. Then to top it off, the pukes started this evening. Oh, the lovely pleasures of being a mom. Oh well, I wouldn't trade it for the world. Once I get the house into somewhat of an order and wash even more dirty laundry now, I will upload some christmas pictures. I hope everyone had a great holiday!

What's been happening

I have been so lazy and lacking energy lately. I didn't even send out Christmas cards this year. Anyway, this year has been a lot of fun celebrating Christmas with Ava. She's just at that right age. She loved decorating her gingerbread house.
Last week, Ava was in her first Christmas program. She was the North Star. She was pretty upset because she wanted to be a horse. The program was sort of a modern day story of baby Jesus. I tried to explain to her that she was THE north star. All I got was, "fine, I'll be the star, but I'm still angry about not being a horse." I'll take what I can get. :)

Don't mind the man's head in the picture. She had a lot of fun in the program, and can you believe she actually had some shy moments!

Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays!

From The McGraw Family

Just an update

I can't believe I haven't posted in over a month. Nothing really has been going on in the Mcgraw household. We celebrated Thanksgiving the day before because I had to work. My family did some black friday shopping. It's turning into quite the tradition :). I have most of my Christmas shopping done, yay!!! I just need to dedicate a day to wrapping, which I hate to wrap.
Ava has been doing well, no breathing issues lately (thank God). I still have my down in the dumps days, but what else is new :). We struggle with the same challenges that many families are all over the country especially this time of year. I try to be thankful everyday, because our situation could be soooo much worse. I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays with their families and loved ones!

Happy Halloween!

We started out our Halloween festivities by going to the grade school to watch the Halloween parade. Ava was so excited!

She would get so excited to find her friends walking by. "Hi, Kiya!!!"

I don't think she realized that they were kids dressed in costumes. If she saw a Disney princess or Jessie from Toy Story, she really thought that's who they were. So cute!

"Ew, Snow White, you are so bootiful!" :)

This was the first year that I attempted to make her costume. Not the greatest, but I didn't resort to using the hot glue gun like I thought I would. Ava's favorite part of the costume, her "purple bra". :)

Then off to the church for a Halloween party. Aren't they the cutest little mermaid, zombie, dog stuck in a bag of dog food, and Tim McGraw you have ever seen?!

Can't forget the other cousin, Chloe, as a lady bug.

Ava got really into trick or treating this year. She was getting so excited. She would run from one house to the next just giggling. She would ask, "mom, do you think they have a doorbell?" She was more concerned about ringing the door bell than getting candy. She also figured out that if there was a group of kids already at a house, she would wait until they left just so she could ring the bell :). She was so much fun this year, I can't wait until next year!

Decorating Pumpkins

So I chickened out again this year. I just can't seem to bring myself to carve a pumpkin with Ava yet. I don't think she would enjoy it, and I would have to end up doing cleaning all of the guts out myself. I hate that job! Next best thing, painting!!! I don't think Ava even knows there is a different way to decorate pumpkins :). Maybe next year when we're both a little braver.

I forgot to get a picture of the final masterpiece, oops. Ava always has so much fun painting. You can give her just about anything, and she would be happy to paint it :)