ahhhh some september-isms!

pre-school!!!

gav doing his homework: decorating his bucket for pre-school!

the master at work

ummmm... nice shoes. (btw, dinosaur shoes don't go with alligator shirts in case you didn't know. only dino shirts.)

the finished product

the 1st day of school!

...and off he goes...

some of my favorite september moments...

mack has created a new place for himself in the car

 

just a little peak at ava...

3 separate times checking on gav while he was "napping"

...my girl...

well hello lil' miss 2 months old!

so far, so good solo in her own room!

chocolate chip after a couple of our runs... she likes!

a little bit of august...

the OWIE!

OUCH! post-bonking his head bigtime on the kitchen floor

finally sat with the ice pack on with some band aid and movie bribes.

ava: 3 weeks old!

hanging out at home

my helper!

she actually likes the swing! (gav DID NOT!)

more cousins!

snuggling with cousin anna!

quality care from cousin lolo!

the zentil's birthday party and ava's 1st trip to the beach!

(not many pix of ava... she and i were chillin under the umbrella.) 

running running running running running!

daddy and donovan showing gav how to serve!

and then we were 4!

(well, technically 5, we must include mack!) :)

finally home!!!

ahhhhhhh. one of my favorite moments.

2.5 weeks old

1st day at home

1 week old

my lil' ladybug ready for bed! (picture mark rolling his eyes here.)

hanging in the man-room with the treasure firetruck blanket

books at bed-time. gav loves sharing his room and beanbag with ava!

grandpa marvin gets some quality ava time!

grandpa marvin has his hands full with 2 wiggle worms!

happy daddy

cousin lindsay

cousin evan

cousin meghan

4 days in the hospital

happy big brother!!!

getting to know daddy

lotsa visits to see mommy and chocolate chip!

our first family photo...

grandma jojo!

hanging out with aunt erika!

grandma mary!

day 3: so awake!

aunt sandy and cousins allie, lolo and anna meeting ava

finally meeting his little sister!

getting to know my daughter...

here she is!

lil' miss ava jai crocker

arrived on july 16, 2010 at 8:07 am

she weighed 9lbs, 2oz and was 19" long.

later on i found out what a difficult time my doctor had delivering her. 

she was breech and pretty stubborn, but they finally wrestled her out!

(which made for a super FUN recovery!!!)

all in all, i was just so relieved that she was healthy! 

no NICU stays for this baby!

so happy and relieved...

proud daddy!

daddy doing the honors

ta-da!

the anticipated arrival!

to everyone's surprise, (especially my doctor!)
baby chocolate chip didn't make her appearance early.
she was a big baby and i was carrying ALOT of fluid,
so my doctor thought for sure she would come early.

as a matter of fact, she tried to stay as long as she could on the day of her scheduled arrival.
dr. johnson later told me that she DID NOT want to come out... 

they had a tough time convincing her to come out and meet us!

about to leave the labor unit

mark's sister, sandy, got to assist in the delivery!

about to meet our lil' chocolate chip!