And this is one of the coolest pics I've been able to take of Ava...

Taken on my android phone, in "panoramic mode".... cool, 'A?

Probably one of the coolest pics I've taken of Ava....

And a few more...

I've taken lots of pictures since we got Ava, here are some of my favorites...

Ava's 1st LPA Regional, Brookfield, WI Oct. 29, 2011

Ava had a lot of fun making new friends and dancing the night away... she keeps asking for "more dancin with baby baba (her favorite baby doll).

Shannon, no "B" ~ "Daddy" or "Baba"

Well, we've pondered this situation for a while now. Collin and Shannon are Brian's step children. Since they've known him they've called him "Brian" or "B".  As we were waiting for Ava's gotcha day, we talked about this as a family, but never figured out how to handle it. So C and S have continued calling theirstep dad B or Brian. Well tonight at dinner, Shan was talking to Brian, calling him B . . . And then Ava gave her opnion......"Shannon, no "B", "Daddy" or "Baba"!!!

Pictures!

We took Ava too Rainforest Cafe today. She LOVES elephants so we asked to be seated by the 2 they had on display. Well, aparently Ava did not understand that they were not real once they started making noises, blinking and flapping their ears! Below is a glimpse of her expressions as she was watching and hearing the elephants.

Honesty

Not sure where to start this post. 

When I started this blog, it was with excitement and joy about bringing Ava home to us.  Please don't get me wrong, I love and adore Ava, but here comes the honesty part...  the process of adding her to our family, our lives has been hard, very hard, a lot more harder than I ever imagined.   And it leaves me exhausted and emotionally drained.  That's why I haven't posted for so long.

I haven't posted for a while because it's hard to be excited and joyful when the one you waited for rejects you.  I haven't wanted to share my heartache, but I've realized, maybe I should.  So, from here on out, I'll be sharing the ups and downs, the joys, the tears...

Anyone who's around the 5 of us for any amount of time, after a while will notice that Ava obviously prefers Brian.  I'm fine with that... to a point and that point is when the mean looks start, the cold shoulders, refusing to do anything I ask of her the kicking and swinging .  This girl can be so stubborn.  She has 2 cowlicks on the back-top of her head.  One of our guides in China saw that and said in so many words... "OH-No.......you're going to have your hands full, 1 of those means she's strong willed and stubborn, but she has 2!  Good luck!!!"  Today, she wanted me to put in a hair clip, I told her that she'd have to 'pay me' with a hug and a kiss... it's just something her and I do in play (sometimes...) well, today she wanted absolutely none of it... and she flat out refused to kiss or hug me, I tried this for several minutes, but all I was getting were those mean looks, a lot of whining and if I didn't stop, she probably would have started kicking or swinging at me.... (insert heavy sigh here...).  We are going to an LPA Regional in Brookfield, WI today.  With Ava treating me like this, I'm not looking forward to it.  So many times since we've been home, I'm the odd man out, I feel like the 5th wheel.  And it just breaks my heart...

Now, it's not always like this.  I know she cares for and loves me to a point.  And we've realized that she is "attached to me".... but it's just these times for me are hard.  Come Monday, when Baba (Brian) heads back to work at 8:30 AM, I'll be let back in her world.

Long time no blog post....

Wow, does Ava keep us busy!  She's the reason for the blog and the reason why I haven't posted in a while.  This little girl is AMAZING!  She's beautiful, sassy, stubborn, sweet, smart, I could go on and on, but I'll stop and go on to the details.......

We all just love her to bits, but I will say, as much as we had prepared for this adoption, here we are now, past the 2 month mark home and the other night Brian and I were talking and we agreed, we LOVE everything about AVA but we just never had imagined how life would be with her.  Stick with me on this, I will eventually get to my point.......

Well, long story short, we brought Ava back from China, knowing she had achondroplasia dwarfism and assuming she had hydrocephalus or water on the brain.  Within a few weeks of bringing her home, we had a routine CT scan performed on her to check the status of her noggin.  A few hours after we returned home from getting the CT, the phone rang, the caller ID showed it was a call from Children's Hospital which is where we had the CT, my heart sank because if everything is OK, you usually don't get a call from the hospital right away.  It was Sara, the Nurse Practitioner we are working with at the International Adoption clinic.  She said she had some news......which I figured.  Ava did not have hydrocephalus like we thought, I was stunned yet I knew something was up, I could tell by the tone in Sara's voice.  What was found was that Ava, at some time in her life had a massive stroke on the left side of her brain.   Brian and I were stunned.......

So, we sort of just let this news sink in a bit for a few days, then it was like, OK, so where do we go from here...  and here's where we've been.  We saw a neurologist who said the stroke probably occurred in utero or during birth, that the stroke damaged about 3/4ths of the left side of her brain, that if an adult would have had the same stroke they would be completely paralyzed and unable to speak, but that Ava was lucky to have had this so early in life and that her brain has found a way to re-wire itself.  The only deficits we are aware of so far is that her motor ability on her right side has been impared and maybe her speech.  In September, she will be seeing a doctor at UW Madison to find out more about how this stroke has affected her....

Well, time to go for now.  Every time I try to blog lately, I never have enough time to finish a post, so I've decided from now on to just post what I can even if I can't complete my post.........WBAS (Will Blog Again Soon) Nan :-)   

Looking cool in Mama's shades while hanging out at Noodles!

Wow, 3 weeks ago today we got our Ava Rose!

I can't believe its been three weeks already! On one hand, it feels like she's always been a part of our family but on the other hand, everyday something is new about Ava. Again, sorry for the delay in posting, but Miss Ava really keps us busy! She usually awakens between 6:30 to 7 AM, watches Mickey Mouse's Play house {Minnie Mouse rules! According to Ava...} has breakfast and then gets started on her day. Sometimes she naps, if we happen to be riding in the car or she's riding in her stroller, otherwise, she keeps going till on average 9 pm each night.

Anyway....there's so muc to share about her, so I thought I'd just jump in and share some random things about her, so here ya go....

The day we met her was incredible, of course! Brian and I were walking in a hallway that lead to the room where we were meeting her when we 1st saw her and she 1st saw us. When she spotted us, she screamed Happily....Mama, Baba!! (Which is Chinese for Mommy and Daddy) and then began to pack up her toys which she had brought with her and was ready to go!   She was still a bit shy meeting us, but was still obviously very excited about what was happening. The rest of the day was wonderful. We spent the day just sort of hanging out and getting to know her. Then it was time for bed and that's when things changed. A few minutes after we placed her in her bed with some toys, she looked at us and the big tears started falling and she began asking for her nannie from the orphanage. It  was heart breaking and it continued from about 10 pm till 6 am when Ava saw the sun comming up. Although that was so hard, the fact that she missed her nannie so much shows just how well she was cared for and loved.  Her nannie cried when it was time for the good byes earlier that day too...

Ok, ok let's lighten things up....the next day was a lot betterthan the night before, the cheerful, spunky girl who loves Minnie Mouse and anyting pink was back and so the fun continued. Here are some more pictures.

She's a ham in front of the cam