avablog

We’re in Grand Island, NE, this evening.  I’m going to refrain some saying anything about Grand Island, other than that the restaurant we ate at this evening screwed me on the number of “drummies” that were supposed to be in my order of hot wings.  But it was a microbrewery, surprisingly enough, and their beers […]

[Read more →]

I almost forgot to write this down, but it’s a biggie. When we were at the Holiday Inn Express in North Platte on the way out, Ava and I took a dip in the pool. We’d been promising her she could go swimming, and there were times on the drive when it was the only […]

[Read more →]

I’m closing up my old position at work in preparation for starting my new job second week in April. Also, I took a half day of vacation today to get the car into the shop and to meet a plumber and an electrician over at the new house for bids. We also had an appraiser […]

[Read more →]

Ava and I were in the side garden last evening after work, clearing some dead leaves and branches from the bed to make way for all the new greenery poking up everywhere. To our surprise, a clump of wet brown twigs were covering this beauty: A teensy crocus straining to get some sun. I don’t […]

[Read more →]

One of the coolest things about living with a toddler is that you get to see all their firsts.  Well, most of them.  Sometimes, of course, they’re off at daycare or with grandparents or in the other room, and you miss the actual moment.  But it’s still fun to share the thrill with them when […]

[Read more →]

So, I went shooting off my mouth about working up a new theme for avablog now that it’s hosted at a new site. It seems like I should update the look around here. It’s been a while. But I’ll be jiggered if there’s not a downright dearth of simple, clean WordPress themes out there. So, […]

[Read more →]

The last week has seen Ava entering a new stage (phase, whatever) of development characterized by an unwillingness to go to sleep at night. Over the past couple months, she’s been really good about going to bed in her big girl bed, reading a couple books, and then drifting off to sleep while we (mostly […]

[Read more →]

Here’s a rare public moment of cuteness for all you unregistered avablog visitors: Ava was eager to get out and shovel the snow after the storm we had last Saturday, but alas, all we got was a bunch of ice and slush. No matter. She picked up her little shovel and got to work clearing […]

[Read more →]

Ava has entered a stage in which she’s very interested in the differences between boys and girls. She’ll often make it a point to tell us a particular individual has either a vagina or a penis. We were picking Ava up at daycare yesterday, and as we were getting her coat and mittens on, the […]

[Read more →]

I figure I owe it to Ava to include on this blog at least one shot of myself in the tub as a tot. Lord knows she endures enough poking and prodding in front of the lens from me. As you may be able to see there on the right edge of the photo, this […]

[Read more →]

This is one of my favorite pictures of Leah when she was carrying Ava: Aside from always being a bit envious of photogenic people, I just love how Leah glows here. Since I’ve never figured out exactly how the whole month-counting thing works, I’ll simply say that this picture was taken April 2004 (Ava was […]

[Read more →]

Ava’s home sick today with a virus that’s seemingly everywhere right now.  So she’d been in our bed since about midnight last night, which isn’t great, but it’s not the worst thing in the world. But it throws things off a bit.  I’d just hopped out of bed this morning when the carbon monoxide alarm […]

[Read more →]

Today seemed like a good day for this particular blast from the past: Thing is, I can’t tell for sure if that’s me or my brother my mom’s holding there. I’m fairly certain it’s me, but the face looks a litte more round than mine. Anyway, it looks even snowier in that picture than it […]

[Read more →]

We enrolled Ava in Kindermusik when she was barely old enough to hold a rattle. She really loved it. Once she figured out how to walk, she got even more enjoyment from running around the classroom, jumping and clapping and twirling. It was interesting to watch her interact with music. Ava’s become more physical now, […]

[Read more →]

Welcome to the 21st Century’s equivalent of the shoebox full of photos: This is an image of the widget that shows me the status of my RAID, which is where I’ve stored digital copies of every single movie and picture I’ve taken in the last three years (and some pictures from long before that). It’s […]

[Read more →]

I love to look at the Moon with Ava. Some months ago, when the weather was warm and the light stayed in the evening sky past bed time, I was out in the front yard with Ava, she in my arms, looking at the full Moon as it crawled up over the treetops. I told […]

[Read more →]

Today would be a good day to be included among my family and friends at flickr. Night before last I uploaded a passel of maternity shots of Leah. Some are professional shots; some are from the baby showers she had. Others are just casual shots taken day to day as we watched her belly grow. […]

[Read more →]

Anyone unfamiliar with the quote in the subject line of this post really, really needs to go check out The Young Ones (now on DVD!).  But I digress. I’ve been backing up all the video I have sitting around on MiniDV tapes to my NAS.  It’s been great going back over all the stuff I’ve […]

[Read more →]

With all this talk lately of possibly moving to a new house, I’ve been thinking occasionally of the house in which I grew up. It’d be great if Leah and I could give Ava the kind of experience I had, but, then, maybe Ava wouldn’t have any interest in playing in the mud every day. […]

[Read more →]

So, I have this thing I do with Ava once in a while where I hold her really close and whisper, “Do you want to hear a secret?”  Then she whispers back, “Yes.”  And I say, “I love you.  Don’t tell!” So, this morning we’re all lying in bed together, just starting to wake up.  […]

[Read more →]