"My birthday is October 20th"

The story of Ava as emailed to my aunt Cindy who is a nurse-

"Well we have a beautiful baby girl born 10/20 at 7:39 am. Ava Marie Balvanz. She is an angel, with light brown hair. She was 21", 8 lb 4 oz. Needless to say labor and delivery was very hard, but isn't it for every one? I went into "pre-labor" on Thursday (10/18) only dialated at 1 cm, 90% eface. Mom happen to call when we were there. Mother's intuition?  Told her they might want to start heading this way sometime today. Missie and Mom left around 4 pm CST. I went back to hospital at midnight when I was having 3 contractions in a row. Still only at 1 cm. Mom and Missie get here at 4 am MST (10/19). We go home and rest. I slept for about 4 hours on Ambien. Tried to rest all day. Took a bath, walked a lot. Around 5 pm contractions started picking up in intensity and went from 12 min to 7 min. by 8 pm. By 11 pm they were 2 min apart and unbearable. Mom said better go to hospital before I can't get into car. (Sidebar-as I am in labor Pamela and Missie were watching Sinbad and cracking up as I am trying to breath thru my contracts!!!)  We hesitated because we had been there 2 times already! By 12 am I was 5 cm and 100% eface. 10/20 I was admitted and started Fentenal at 1 am. It would last about 20 min, but I could only take every hour. By 3 am at 7 cm, Dr. broke water. 5 am so unbearable I am exhausted. Decide to do interfetal epidural. Took a nap from 6 am to 6 :30am. Start pushing at 6:55 am, Ava arrived at 7:39 am.  I had some trouble nursing at first and with the pain they decided to keep me for 3 days. Ava is doing wonderful. She was 7 lb 10 oz on 10/23 (my original due date!) and when weighed on 10/26 weighed 8 lb 2 oz."

I remember when I looked out the window the day we were to go home and saw that we had a beautiful fall sprinkling of snow and I could not help but think that Octobers would be better now.

 

When we brought Ava home on 10/23, Mom and Missie had set everything up.  The pack and play and rocking chair were in our room, the changing table was organized and ready to go, the house had been cleaned and I was so greatful to have them there! 





Happy 3rd Birthday Ava Marie...we love you so much!



A REAL Pumpkin Patch!

  On Thursday, 9/30 we went to Happy Apple Orchard near Penrose, CO, about 45 minutes from our house.  There is no admission, you just pick what you want and pay when you are done.  It started off being a cool day so I dressed everyone in layers and their boots (Daddy and Ava needed to official break theirs in), just in case.  Good thing because about 1/2 hr into searching for pumpkins, we all had to shed our sweaters...that's CO weather for ya!  Daddy was the search team for the biggest and best pumpkins.  He pretty much searched the whole field.  I had to insist that we found the best and could we please move on to the raspberries! (Who does that sound like?...)

The apples, pears and blackberries were all done for the season, but there were some raspberries left to pick.  We had so much fun searching and picking raspberries!  I told Ava we were searching just like bears would for the sweetest and reddest berries.  So then she started calling us Mama Bear, Papa Bear, Sister and Brother bear (from the Berenstein Bear books!).  It was so cute.  We picked about 4 pints of raspberries, almost 1 1/2 hrs later we were tired, hungry, and satisfied.

 Bubby was so good!  I carried him in the front carrier, which was a mistake because the kid has to weigh 20 lbs!  He kicked and talked and loved seeing Sissy's reaction to finding our bounty of yummy goodness!  I made 1 quart of raspberry jam and the pumpkins we got cost us 40 bucks (24, 17, 10, 7 pounds !), but the experience was priceless!!!

After we stashed our bounty in the car it was now time for lunch.  And after a morning like that who could stop and eat fast food?  So I suggested going into town to find a small town cafe, they always have the best home cooked food!  We found a little cafe called the Gooseberry and took our time eating delicious food and giggling about the day.

Autumn in Colorado

It's kind of like the saying "When in Rome, do as the Romans do."  We have been in Colorado for 9 1/2 years and only one other time driven up into the mountains to see the aspens change color.  I always thought "What's the big deal?  In IA the leaves change in our back yard."  Well that's just the thing, aspens are as beautiful as the mountainsand it is quite spectacular to see.  So this year I said we ARE going to see the onset of autumn in Colorado and enjoy a beautiful drive in the mountains.

 September 28th we hopped in the car after lunch hoping to escape the 90 degree weather on the front range, but it was still 78 in the mountains.  Talk about an Indian summer.  We happened upon the Heritage Museum on Hwy 67 at the end of our drive west and took a look around.  It is so fun to see the interest that Ava takes in EVERYTHING!  She loved walking around pressing the buttons on the interactive displays, discovering, and learning.  (Perhaps she has a lot of papa Rick in her, that reminds me maybe I should purchase a set of encyclopedias so she can read them like he used too!!!)

The drive did not disappoint, neither did the leaves.  We had such a fun day!

Chase at 6 months

Look at those lips...so cute!

Chase and his fire pajamas I bought before he was born.  They are size 12 month, but isn't size relative?  ; )

We took Chase to his 6 month appt. on 8/30. Both Ava and Chase did very well waiting for the Dr. We were there for an hour they were so busy! Per the Dr., Chase is a blue ribbon winner. He is 28.5 inches long (92%) and 18.5 lbs. (66%). He wears 12-18 month clothes and is developmentally right on: rolling everywhere, babbling, grabbing an object and moving from hand to hand, sleeping thru the night and eating solids like a champ. 4 squares a day! He really likes bananas and oatmeal for breakfast and anything orange. I have to sneak peas or green beans in every other spoon when I feed him lunch!! Chase can now start eating meat with his meals for extra protein. And of course his sounds while he eats are adorable. HMMMMMMM! with eat bite! He does have little eczema patches all over but not bad. Dr. Lubbert was not concerned that he could not sit up on his own. He said with his size it is hard to get into a sitting position and that he might just move from rolling everywhere straight to walking. Nothing to worry about. GREAT! I thought. Chase smiles almost all the time except when he hears a loud noise, then he cries and it is sooo cute to see because he rarely cries. He loves to kick and now lies on his back and lifts his butt off the floor with his feet in a rhythm. Chase now has two little teeth on the bottom and looks like he is working on about 4 on the top right now. He adores big sissy so much. Ava talks and plays with him and even gets toys for him to play with. His next appt will be at 9 months in Nov.

Ava loves to play dress up. 
Just look at our perfect princess!

True to life bunker gear pajamas...complete with air pack.

Garden of the Gods 08/27/10

After making Shannon steak and eggs for breakfast this morning (he has only been home a total of 3 days in the past 2 weeks working between the fire station and St. Francis ER) I felt motivated to enjoy this beautiful morning. I told Ava after breakfast we were going to see some red rocks. As we drove closer she was so excited to see and touch these "big rocks/mountains".

I was pulling into Garden of the Gods Park and this intuitive almost 3 yr old says with a gasp "Who painted the rocks red?!" I replied, "I suppose God did." An acceptable answer as we are at the Garden of the Gods named so because the Ute Indians and the first settlers were so enamored with the beauty of this place. Most of the trees you see in the pictures were planted by the settlers in the late 1800's and later in the 1900's to reclaim the damage/erosion caused by the millions of visitors to the park. Ava of course wanted to pick flowers and take some rocks. I had to explain that if everyone who visited this place took a flower or rock, there would be no more to see. You can never instill conservation and respect for nature too soon! ; )

We got Chase in the carrier and headed out. To see Ava so excited about hiking and seeing this beautiful place warmed my heart. She is so special! For an hour and a half we walked and looked at the rocks, reading the signs, watching the climbers, and having a little snack in the shade. It was a great morning with my babies and the weather was perfect.

Next on the list of things to do is Eleven Mile Canyon (one of Shannon and my favorite places since we moved here 9 yrs ago), the Colorado State Fair, and then maybe a drive thru Monarch Pass later in Sept. to watch the Aspens turn color.

Flashback-Before and After

Iowa vs Colorado

ML Photography, Indianola IA



No I am not talking about a Big 10 match up, just our whereabouts this past month. Lots of things going on in this house in July. Ava will start preschool on August 10. Chase rolled over and cut 2! teeth on our trip to Iowa. 12 days visiting family in Iowa and the 12 hour trip there is now 15 hours. Both kiddos did great, could not have asked for a better trip, however 15 hours of driving is really hard on the dad! We went swimmming several times which everyone loved, made smores at both grandparents house's, and we took a spin on the boat (which put Chase to sleep and made Ava dance). On Shannon's to do list was golfing and his 15 year class reunion. It was a fun family vacation and I love being able to say that! Aunt Missie took family pictures at their new house in Indianola. I have posted some of my favorites (with more to come).
ML Photography, Indianola, IA

It was fun to visit Iowa, but I was excited to return home and get the kids and who am I kidding, myself back into a routine. For about the last 8 years I have felt a tug at my heart everytime we left Iowa, but it was comforting to want to return home to Colorado. How awesome to feel grounded within a community that I know, now a church family to turn to as well as our family within the fire station and my work. We tried so hard to get back to Iowa and now I know why we never made it. Don't be afraid to ask the Lord to bless you, if you don't you will never have the gifts he has just waiting to give to you. (Prayer of Jabez) I am blessed...-sigh- :)

ML Photography, Indianola, IA

4 months old

Chase now weighs 15 1/2 lbs., & is 26.5 inches long! He is officially the size of a 6 month old who wears 12 month clothing!!! : ) He loves to coo and "talk" and he is starting to razz. He now will rock himself to either side and is very close to rolling over!!! YIKES. Because he is a olympic drooler & can put his pacifier in his own mouth the Dr gave the OK to start him on rice cereal. We will see if feeding him a small amount of rice cereal at night will help him sleep longer. After 4 months, mommy needs 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep too!

Father's Day

Father's Day has came & went. Shannon's parents were here and we had a lot of fun watching them with the kids. Chase loved being held by both Nana and Papa & Ava loved playing with them too! We celebrated Rita's birthday by going out to eat! (Yeah!) and Father's Day with a wonderful grill out. Father's Day was particularly exciting as we went to the United States Air Force Academy for the Fire Fighter Combat Challenge. Shannon was on 2 teams and both made it to World's in Myrtle Beach! So proud of him!!