Ava's First Christmas!

Well, I have to say I have had a fantastic year so far, and it was wonderful to finish it out with some Christmas cheer, some great friends and a visit from Santa. Oh yes, he did find my house, and I have to say I must be a very good girl! We got lots of great videos from the day, so we wanted to share them with you all!

Here I am eating my first Christmas breakfast with Mom.


Here I am opening my stocking gifts.


The best present of all was a little cow I can ride around the house!


I also got some presents from Nanny and Papa Williams.

A doll...


and a teddy bear....


This is Mom and Dad opening their gift from Nanny and Papa.


Overall, Christmas was great! I can see why kids love it, besides the scary, hairy, fat man dressed up in red. We also spent Christmas even with the Hitches and their extended family - we had a great time...and we love them! It was so nice of them to include us in their celebration.

Here are the other Christmas pictures for your enjoyment!
I can't wait until next year!

Ava's new BFF....and another trip to Charlotte!

December has been another busy month. The most exciting event of the month was the birth of my new best friend, Nina! She is still very young, but I love to pat her on the head and I know someday soon that we will run around together and get into all sorts of crazy things!

Mom got to see Nina, Nandita and Jochem only a short while after Nina was born - don't they look amazing already! I love Nina so much already! Nina has her own pictures blog - it is on my friends list to the right!

This month I also went to visit my Grandma and Grandpa Warner in Charlotte. I also got to see Uncle Adam and Uncle Ralph and Aunt Carey. It was fun to spend time with my family before the holidays. I got some really great presents from everyone! I love Christmas already! I can't wait to see them again - it is hard to be so far away from them.

This month I have also had some milestones. I have been eating solid food now, and I even started eating chunkier foods like pasta. I still don't have any teeth :( All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth! I also learned how to clap - which I love to do! See the video below for an early rendition. I am even much better now. I also learned how to wave HI! I am AWESOME at it. At least that is what people tell me. And lastly, I am trying VERY hard to crawl. I can kinda crawl backwards. I will get it one of these days.

Other December photos here!

Santa is.....scary!

Well, the holiday season is upon us - my favorite time of year! There have been lots of happenings in the Williams household. This past weekend we went to the Village at Corte Madera to do some shopping and visit with Santa. It is official that Santa freaks any and all kids out. Ava will go to anyone, and rarely cries, so the fact that she screamed when she sat on Santa's lap can't be a coincidence. He is scary! Though, we got a picture of Ava right before she screamed. It's a keeper!

We also bought our Christmas tree and put it up on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It is very cute, and Ava seems to like looking at it. The funny thing she doesn't like is actually touching it. I think it feels too prickly. She kind of wimpers when she gets near the tree now. Here are some pictures of her helping to decorate.

And some pictures when it was all up!

We had Thanksgiving here at our house this year, and Nanny and Papa Williams came to visit. We made a big turkey dinner and did lots of shopping, eating and talking. There have also been lots of fun, relaxing weekends in November - walking around, hanging out at the Park Chalet and visiting with Nandita and Jochem a lot - because little Nina is coming soon! We can't wait, only a week away now!

Ava is just getting so big, and developing so much, it is crazy. She can sit up so well, and can lean over and recover herself. She is also rolling all over the place. She sleeps on her tummy now, whereas she hated her tummy a month ago! She is babbling like crazy saying things like babababababa, bobobobobobobo, mamamamamamama, and making funny little noises with her lips. If we put her on her hands and knees, she can hold herself for a few minutes - she is going to be crawling before I know it!

Here a few cute pictures of Ava this month.

And here are more pictures as well!

Boo! Or shall I say, Muy Caliente!

I had my first halloween this week, and boy was it fun! I was a red hot chile pepper! Look how cute I was. My fat little cheeks were pushing out of the costume. Even though it looks constricting, I surprisingly liked being in it.

We had a big week. On Sunday, we went to a Halloween party at Alison, Bruce, Olivia and Lucy's house. Look at all of us babies dressed up! We are so adorable, aren't we? It was a good time for all the parents to oooo and ahhhhh at us.

Then, at daycare on Halloween, Lisa dressed us in our costumes and paraded us around the local coffee shops. Everyone thought me and my friends were soooooo cute. Lisa was really excited on Halloween - she must like holidays. She gave us candy to take home, but since I am only eating apples, peas and pears right now, Mom and Dad had to eat it. This is the outfit I wore on Halloween under my costume- I was really festive!

Yes that is right folks, I am eating more and more everyday, and loving it. I have had rice cereal, apples, peas and I hear pears on the agenda for this week. I am getting the hang of it, and am realizing it is much better than just having a bottle all the time. I am also drinking very well out of a sippy cup. I have to have water with each meal. I love drinking out of the sippy cup on my own!

Recently I also went to my 6 month doctor's appointment. I am completely normal now, well except for my head! I must be really smart, because my head is in the 90th percentile! My weight and height are in the 50th. I weighed 15 pounds, 14 ounces and was 25.5 inches.

On Friday night, I had a new babysitter, Molly. She was really nice, though I only hung out with her for about 20 minutes before I went to sleep. Mom and Dad went to Alison's birthday party - with all of my friend's parents. I heard that was fun too, but I was happy at home in my crib, dreaming about sugarplums.

This weekend we also hosted a baby shower for Nandita and Jochem, and my future best friend, Nina! I ended up sleeping through the whole thing, but I heard from Mom and Dad that it was really fun. I can't wait until Nina is here - I am going to teach her everything!

Here I am in the park with the famous painted ladies behind me.

I am such a pro at sitting now, aren't I?

You can view some more pictures here!

Wedding bells are ringing....again!

I officially went to my 3rd wedding. I am a wedding star! I have been to Emma and David's wedding, Gordon and Jeannie's wedding and now...Uncle Ralph and Aunt Carey's wedding! This was a great wedding, because it was held in Seabrood Island, SC, which is an absolutely beautiful place. It is right outside of Charleston too, and we LOVE Charleston. It is probably our favorite city outside of San Francisco.

It was so good to see all the family and friends at the wedding. We stayed in a great house right on the beach with some friends and aunts, uncles, grandmas and great grandmas. Ava loved to see everyone....especially Adam and Granny Warner! We had a fun time on the beach. It was the first time Ava really played on the beach in the sand.




We had a great weekend overall. We had a cocktail and food night at Ralph's house on Thursday night. Then on Friday, Mom, Dad, Grandma, Aunt Janet, Bob and Rosie all went to Charleston to go on a horse carraige ride around the historical city. I loved it!



I wore one of my fancy dresses to the rehearsal dinner!



Saturday was the big wedding. We started out with a big bridal brunch at Carey and Ralph's house.


It was a beautiful day and night and the food and dancing was great! I was tired, but I had fun, while I lasted. Mom and Dad had fun dancing. We were so happy to see Ralph and Carey finally tie the knot! Now we have a nice big family....we are just waiting for Adam to get married....and he caught the garter belt, so it is his turn next!



Mommy was a bridesmaid in the wedding, so it was fun to see her in a long dress.




Sunday, Mom, Dad and I went back to Charleston and walked around a lot. I love it there. It is such a historical city and the houses are beautiful. Mom and Dad could live there I think...even though I love San Francisco and I don't want to leave my friends!

On the way home, we had some issues. Our flight got delayed so much that we would have missed our connection to San Francisco in Cincinnati, so we had to stay in Charleston another night in a ghetto hotel near the airport. It wasn't too bad though, until I had to wake up at 2am PT, and then I was cranky all day on the flights! But, we finally got home and I have to say, I am happy to be staying put for a few months.

On the day we got home, I started solid food for the first time.....I loved it! I was total natural at eating. I am pretty messy, but I do that on purpose, because it is more fun.



Here are more pictures of the wedding and my first food!

Octoberfest!

No, I didn't go to a beer festival....but I have hit up a fair share of other festivals in October so far! This past weekend, we all went to Half Moon Bay to have breakfast with Erin, John and Luke (who just sold their house - whhooooohoooo!). We also attended the Half Moon Bay Art and Pumpkin Festival. Some people may say we were crazy for trying to drive down there, because it is notorious for traffic, but we hit NO traffic on the 1 - because we left really early! The Hitches hit some traffic on 92, but not too bad, so we were able to enjoy a lot of time together. After the festival, we went to a local pumpkin patch, so Luke and I could pick out some pumpkins. It was my first time at a pumpkin patch - I had a great time! Above I am with Luke in the wagon - we got pulled around the patch! Luke is so good at holding me.

My Daddy tried to bring the Kentucky out of me, and put me on a John Deere tractor! I kinda liked it!




On Saturday of this past weekend, I went with Mommy and Daddy to Hands on Bay Area and helped to paint benches at an elementary school in the Sunset. Mommy's work, Text 100 organized it, so I got to meet some of her workmates. It was good fun - and we were helping little kids have a better school, so it made me feel good. I had a name tag of my own - see it on my head!

The first weekend in October, we went to two different festivals. On Saturday we went to Fleet Week to see the Blue Angels fly. They are super loud, but they don't bother me! I even fell asleep while they were still performing. Here I am at the festival with my Mommy and Liz and her new boyfriend, Ed.

The other festival we went to was the Bluegrass Festival in Golden Gate Park. I actually went on Friday and Sunday. I don't know what it is, but I think my Daddy is trying to teach me about his roots! I liked the bluegrass music - and there were lots of people to watch! Again, I managed to take a little snooze, even with all the loud music!

One of the biggest events of the month was my first day at daycare! I started on October 1, and my Mommy went back to work for the first day. She was very sad to leave me, but she knows I have a fun time at daycare. I love playing with the other kids and Lisa takes good care of me. I am always very happy to see my Mommy at the end of the day though! Here we are at Lisa's on our first day!

This week is another big week too. I am going on a plane again - this time to Charleston! This will be my 6th plane trip already! I am racking up the frequent flier miles. We are going to Uncle Ralph and (soon to be!) Aunt Carey's wedding! Mommy is in the wedding. We are staying in a nice house on the beach, and it is supposed to be nice weather - so I am looking forward to it. Tune in soon for pictures from that trip!

Here are the latest pictures from my life!

One Last Day.....

Well, here we are. The very last day of my 6 month maternity leave. I can't believe the day is already here. This has to be the fastest 6 months of my life...but I guess that is because a little life was created and has grown so much - making it such an action packed couple of months. It has been such an amazing experience and I am so fortunate to have had the chance to stay home for 6 months with Ava - I believe it was truly the best thing for her. Now that she is almost 6 months old and is becoming more and more active, and is adoring other kids.....it is her time to step out and spend her days at Lisa's Family Day Care, where I am sure she will learn so much. It will be a hard day on Monday, but I know she will be safe and happy. And....lucky me! I get to have every Friday off to spend with my cutie little girl! That makes me very happy.

We have been enjoying our last couple weeks together, trying to savor the time, as we will never have it again. We have spent time with our playgroup - here is a new picture of everyone! They are sure growing!

We also went with Dave to Long Beach for Solar Power 2007. We spent 4 days there, exploring the town and best of all, seeing Dave, instead of being at home alone for that long. We went to the aquarium, which was great, went on a harbor cruise and toured the Queen Mary. All in all, a good few days. We wish we could have visited with a few friends while we were down there, but they were all out of town!

I also went on a little weekend away last weekend with my mom's group. We had a great group of girls and had a blast. We rented a house in Healdsburg, had a limo tour around Sonoma and the Alexander Valley, and went to a great dinner in Geyserville. I certainly got lucky with my mom's group! It was a great time.

Now, we will enjoy our last day, have fun on the weekend, and start a new journey in our lives on Monday. Wish us luck!

One last picture of the cutie baby sleeping. So sweet!

Here are all the latest photos.

G'Day!

We have returned to America! We had a fantastic time in Australia and can't believe the trip is already over. Here is the recap:

The plane -

There and back, Ava was amazing. She slept a ton, played happily while she was awake, and impressed everyone sitting around us. Lucky for us, the flights were both empty and we got an entire middle row to ourselves on both flights.

Gerringong -

We spent the first week in Gerringong (approx. 2 hours south of Sydney) at the Peades house. Uncle Dave (as he calls himself - even though we think he should be Grandpa Dave!) and Nanna Lorraine loved meeting Ava and showed her lots of love. Uncle Dave had lots of rules that Ava had to follow such as, 'no head wobbling, no sicking up, no crying,' etc. etc. I think she did pretty well at following them! As always, it was a fantastic time - amazing views, amazing weather, great food, great company and fun day trips.

The Peades house:

Thier beautiful view:





The first day we went to the lobster pot with Dave - no luck that day, but he had caught two a few days before, so Dave and I got to feast on them!

We got to catch up with lots of people while we were there - dinner with John and Karen on the first night, a barbeque with Al, Ro and Rory on the second day, and dinner with Sue and Lloyd later in the week. I also got to catch up with friends Melissa and Naida on Friday - and got to meet Naida's little girl, Zali! She was adorable. It was so good to see them after so many years!

As I said, we went on many day trips including going to Greenpatch for a picnic and walk along the beautiful white sand beaches. Lucky for us, a kangaroo joined us for lunch! Ava's first kangaroo!





Greenpatch - the beautiful white sand beaches:



We also walked to Gerroa for afternoon coffee and tea, went to Kiama one day for a walk, went to Wollongong harbour for coffee and a walk and then Shellharbour Village for fish and chips on the water. Needless to say, there was a lot of activity, but it was all very relaxing. There was time for afternoon naps, reading and walks every day.

Here we are at Kiama Harbour:





Here we are in Gerroa:

Sydney -

After our week in Gerringong, we went to Sydney for 2 nights. We stayed in the Harbourview hotel, which has the most beautiful view of Sydney. You can't stop staring at it!

We walked around the city a bit, hitting the highlights like the Opera House, Circular Quay, George St., Darling Harbour, etc.

We went to the Sydney FC soccer match against Adelaide with Dave, Matt, Alex, Dan, Ame and friends of Matt and Alex.

It was a really good time - lots of beer was consumed! The night finished with dinner in China town! Yum! Ava stayed at the hotel with Lorraine and had a fantastic night. She loves Nanna Lorriane!

We had a barbeque at Matt and Alex's on Sunday (Australian Father's Day). There were a ton of people there to catch up with! Dan, Ame, Matt, Alex, Ro, Al, Ryce, Deb, Warren, and several of Matt and Alex's friends. It was such a good time and Matt and Alex have a great new flat that has a great view of the harbour!

At night Lorraine, Dave, Dave, Ava and I went to a yummy Korean restaurant for dinner near China town. It was a good trip to the city overall.

APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) was happening while we were there and 21 world leaders were coming - including George Bush. There was a TON of security, including big walls, tons of police, and ridiculous road closures for it. They went a little overboard, but luckily while we were there, we weren't inconvenienced at all. They were even closing off the whole Opera House area after we left. Can you imagine coming to Sydney and not being able to go to the Opera House? All for stupid George Bush. Hmmmmphhhh!

Here's Ava and Dave in front of the big fences that were put up everywhere. Ava didn't like them either, as you can see!

Central Coast -

After Sydney, we went to the Central Coast to stay with Deb and Warren. I had been there about 12 years ago, but didn't remember much. It was great to see them and to see more of the area. Warren, Dave, Dave and I went for a nice long bike ride and kayak across the bay from Gosford to Woy Woy. It was really fun, and good to get in some activity! Of course there was some choppy water, lightening and a tad bit of rain to deal with, but still was good fun because there was also random patches of sun, rainbows, and sudden calmness in the water. I think we experienced it all!

The next day we went to the famous Hunter Valley wine region. We went to several wineries and a brewery. We enjoyed it all and bought some wine to enjoy that evening at dinner.

Here everyone is in the Hunter Valley!

Sadly the trip ended the next day, when we ventured back to the airport for the long trip home. It was a cloudy and cold day, whereas the rest of the trip was hot and sunny. It was a great day to leave!

Now, we are home and Ava is trying to adjust back to our time zone. We have a few more activities planned before I go back to work, but basically we are counting down to October 1 with some excitement, but also with some apprehension. It will be hard to leave little Ava during the day, but also will be good to have interaction with others (for both Ava and I!).

Here is Ava on the day of our return enjoying the swings in Alamo Square. She giggled the whole time!

Here are the rest of the pictures from the trip. Enjoy! We sure did!