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Wednesday, December 19, 2012

The Annual McGuire Christmas Card

Who doesn't love getting Christmas cards in the mail!? I LOVE IT. This is one of my favorite parts of the holiday season. I thought I'd recap our Christmas cards since we have gotten married. 

Someone told me to always save a Christmas card for myself and to keep them in an album. That way I can look back when I am old and gray and see how we can grown as a family over the years! SO happy I was told that from the very beginning... So here they are:  (If you click on the picture, it will enlarge.) 


2010 - The year we became a Mr. & Mrs. 



2011- The year we adopted Cooper

Front:


Back:




And finally.............


2012- The year we became a family

Front:

Back:


Happy Holidays from our family to yours. 
Love, 
The McGuires


***My apologies for those who have not yet received one in the mail yet (They went out on Monday)
... I was a little late sending them out this year - who has time to buy stamps!? 
Also, I miscalculated how many to order this year :( I didn't get as many as we needed so I AM VERY SORRY if you normally get one and you do not this year...I blame it on my crazy mommy life lately. 
 I'll make up for it next year! 
XO 

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

A Day in The Life of Ava

Just had some pictures and a short video that I had on my phone to upload... 

So far, at almost 1 month old, Ava's days consist of "thrilling" ;) walks, tummy time, baths, eating, and receives more mail than I ever did! Enjoy. 

Our walk around the neighborhood today. She fell asleep on me...

Tummy time! She actually is not a fan of this. For those of you that don't know what this is ...Tummy time is meant to have the babies try and lift their heads up and in turn - it strengthens their neck muscles. 

Nonna Mia giving Ava a bath in the kitchen while I cooked dinner. 

Ava loves bath time. :) This makes me happy. 




And finally, this is a video of Ava when she is what we lovingly call, "milk drunk." After a belly full of milk she starts making faces and looks completely delirious and stuffed like someone after Thanksgiving dinner. haha



A Thank you to Jared and Jacki Roche for sending Ava an ADORABLE bow! She will have to wear this one when she grows a bit more hair because of the clip on it. (or maybe I can figure out how to make it work on a headband or something...) 



Monday, November 26, 2012

Ava's Birth {11.2.12}

Sorry for the delay...I have not uploaded pictures from an actual camera in about a decade. My iphone picture uploads are so much easier for me. Here are the pictures I found on my camera from Ava's big day. 


Sorry - this one is a bit graphic. This is Ava about 2 seconds old. Mark got yelled at from my doctor for taking this picture! They are so touchy these days...geesh! 

Seeing my daughter for the first time. Words cannot describe the feeling... 












With my father - Ava's proud grandpa

My mom - she calls herself "Nonna Mia" - Nonna is Italian for grandmother



Our pastor that married us came to visit Ava and bless her in the hospital :) 






Nanna Lorenz and Uncle Luke & Tommy


My cousin, Alexa, loving on her new little cousin 


My Uncle, Aunt, and three cousins came to meet Ava













Proud new family of 3!


Taking Miss Ava home! 




I can't believe Ava will be 1 month old on Friday! So crazy how it really does goes by so fast...even when you are running on no sleep (ha)

Love her more with each passing day!

 Motherhood is not easy- but it is a privilege, a gift, and a blessing that I cherish. 


Friday, November 23, 2012

Our Quiet, Little Life Lately...

Can you believe it has been 3 weeks already since Ava was born!? It is nuts...I feel like I just walked out of the hospital and into our car with her thinking, "Holy cow, we are parents now and are taking this new little person home with us...forever!"

Here is some of the last 2 weeks...

Sarah and her boyfriend, Ray, came down to visit Ava. We asked Sarah to be Ava's Godmother! (Sidenote: they share the same birthday :) November 2nd. How sweet <3


Ali came to visit Ava too! She booked her ticket months ago to be here 1 week after her due date in hopes of meeting the little one right after she was born. Since Ali lives in Chicago now I had a great time being able to catch up with my best friend. 


Our friend, Zach, came to visit Ava this same weekend....He literally wouldn't let go of her. Sarah asked him at one point if she could hold Ava again because she lives in Jacksonville and won't get to see her as much as he will and he never handed her over to Sarah. haha. I love this picture of him holding her hand. 
(Do you see a pattern here? Ava gets all the visitors now :) 


Last Sunday my mom told me that she would stay at our house with Ava so Mark and I could get out. (More like so I could get out. I had not been outside (minus walks in our neighborhood with Ava) in two weeks at this point. Mark and I decided to head toward Las Olas and ended up getting lucky having my friends already hanging out down there! We ended up going to Royal Pig and having some wine with them. It was the first time seeing people in public without a big belly! It was a great time.  


This is Ava and I sending Mark an afternoon picture of us on one of our daily strolls. We had to make a pit stop on a bench because she was getting hungry at one point. 


Ava after a bath- sporting her mohawk that I love to give her. 


Today, my friends Megan Nolan and Lauren MacDonald came by to see Ava. So happy to catch up with them and introduce them to the little one. 

And that's all, folks. Our life is a little slower and quieter now. Until Ava is about 6 weeks, I am keeping her at our house as the doctor recommended. As of now- Ava eats, sleeps, poops... and REPEAT. haha

I can now say that I am adjusted to mommy life. The first week and a half we ROUGH. Getting adjusted to new 3 hour increment sleep cycles for feedings is not easy. But I am I learning how to slow down and take it easy on myself. (I am going to sign off now because I hear Ava waking up and grunting - my cue to  get ready to feed her.) 


Tomorrow is the long awaited FSU v UF game! GO NOLES!!! Hope everyone enjoys their Gameday!