Ava Ellison Scott

So, it's been a while since I caught up on our blog. Since then, we have been blessed by the birth of our daughter Ava on Monday, January 4, 2010 at only 28 weeks gestation. She is at Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters and is doing fairly well. She had a minor heart problem that many preemies have (PDA) and is struggling to breathe at times on her own. Sometimes her heart rate drops (Brady's) which give us a scare, but our hope is that as her central nervous system develops in the next few weeks she will grow out of this. Her doctor says that she is making her own path because she is not doing what she is expected to do according to her gestational age. We are just blessed by her presence and praise God for her safe arrival.

We look forward to letting Will meet his little sister and we try to talk to him about her, but he is really jut interested in his trucks.

This is a picture of Ava yesterday when we visited her. We just love her to pieces.

WIll's First Year

I wanted to do something for Bobby for Will's first birthday and this is what I put together. I will post pictures of his birthday later.

Jumping Boy

Will loves jumping in doorframe-hanging jumper that Leslie lent us. It belonged to our friend Becky's son Bradshaw, then Brooks used it and now Will is enjoying it. We just have to time it well so that there is no spitting up.

I can eat by myself - kind of!

We have been giving Will little puffed cereal to get him to work on his hand-eye coordination. Finally, he is able to get the yummy cereal from his table to his mouth, even though most of the time it is accidental. Most of it still ends up in his lap, but we use it to pacify him while we are getting his meal ready. It was sweet to watch because he would try to pick them up and they would stick to his hand and he didn't know how to get them in his mouth. Now he has figured out that he has to bite them to get them off his fingers. He is such a sweetheart!

Will's Visit with his Great Great Aunt and Uncle

On the Friday before Christmas, my mom kept Will because Leslie had to go out of town. She invited my Great Aunt Helen and Uncle George Oden over to meet Will. I was sorry I missed the visit because the pictures were great. Aunt Helen made Will a beautiful cross-stitched picture for his room which we will treasure. She also gave Will his lunch and they played together. I am so glad my mom took these pictures for us, but sorry I missed seeing everyone.

Dynamic Duo

Probably Will's favorite present he got for Christmas has been his keyboard, which costs $5.99 from Family Dollar and was a gift from his Gramma (not that he hasn't enjoyed all the others !). Shelby got a piano for her first Christmas and so Gramma thought it was appropriate for Will to get one too. He rocks out with his dad whenever they sit down together. I finally got it on video with Dad on keyboard, Will on vocals and Lucy as an amazed observer.

Christmas Celebrations

What an adventurous few days it has been for our family. We started celebrating Sunday, Dec. 21 with Christmas at Grandma's house with the whole Barbour family. It was wonderful and Will was a great sport even though he missed nap time. Then Grandaddy Branch visited on the 23rd, and the next day was a packed one with Nanny's in the afternoon and Mimi's at night. Gramma and Grandad stayed overnight wth Gracie and we all spent Christmas morning together. When Will woke up we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus before opening presents. This year it took a lot longer because we had to pause for breakfasts and naps. Grammy and Grandad Scott came over to shre gifts too. Will made out very well. We are blessed to have so much family around us and to share the holiday with so many people. God has been good to our family in 2008 and we are thankful for his Son our Saviour. What a great year it has been.

Weekend at the Rivah

This weekend Will and I spent the weekend in Deltaville with my college roommates Sara, Tess, Jane and Kate and their kids, Alexandria, Gayle and Liam. We had a really good time. We went on walks, played around the house and ate very well. Will didn't sleep too well Saturday night, which left me not well rested either, but we still had a great time.

On the way home, we had to pick up Lucy at my mom's, where she stayed for the weekend. Mom's dog Gracie was sweet and let Will hug and kiss her.

Visit With Santa

We went to the Santa Breakfast the the Exchange Club of Poquoson hosts the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Will got his first picture taken with Santa, who left a little to be desired, but oh well, he cooperated.

Christmas Parade - Dec. 5

Last Friday night we walked to the end of our road for the Poquoson Christmas Parade. It was cold, but we all bundled up and met up with our neighbors, the Morrsions, Inges and Harris'. Even Lucy came, allthough she was not a fan of all the fire trucks and police cars. The theme was the Celebrating the Military, so all of the floats had a military theme. Santa was on the back of the fire truck and everyone was tossing candy. This was the first time we had ever been to the parade, and even though it si little, it was still neat.

Will's Dedication at Church - November 9, 2008

Will was dedicated at church on Sunday. In the Baptist church, baptism comes with a profession of faith, so parent/child dedication celebrates the parent's decision to raise him in a home where Christ is the center, the Bible is the authority and where God is honored. (Deut. 6:6-7) Our church does it a few times each year, but this was the first time Will was well enough to do it. Gramma , Grandaddy, Aunt Lauren and Denise came to see him up on stage. When we were introduced, Pastor Grant said, "Shelby, isn't this an answer to prayer." He and his wife Tammy had visited me in the hospital in the days before Will was born. Today was absolutely an answer to prayer and we are thankful to raise our son in such a God-centered environment.

Election Day 2008

Will and I decked out in our Red, White and Blue, headed to the polls after my parent conference day at school. It had been a rainy morning and Bobby had stood in line for 45 minutes at 6am to vote already. We got there about 12:15 and cast our split-ticket vote. What a historic election! Locally, we voted to unseat our incumbent city council (we got half of our wish on that one), we voted for Mark Warner (D) for US Senate who won, replacing retiring John Warner and John McCain (R) for President. Will was a hit at the polling station. He should have been able to vote as much election coverage as I watched while pregnant with him and since he has been born. I live on MSNBC and Morning Joe from 6-9am. I have been so excited about this election and even though Senator McCain didn't win, history has been made and we will support our president. But, what will I watch on TV now?

Roar!

Will's first Halloween was a success. Despite his poor naps today, we dressed up our tired little lion for a night on the town. He was adorable, but his costume was so itchy. We made it to the Morrison's (Pop's house) where Rachel, Bradshaw and all of their family were having dinner. Then we headed to Grammy and Grandad's house before seeing Uncle Jeff and Aunt Lauren. He was so tired he fell asleep on the way to each place. We had seen Mimi and Jimmy earlier in the day, but he wasn't in his costume for long there. We came home and he crashed. Our little lion is in his den.

The Pumpkin "Patch"

We didn't go to a real patch because what could a 7-month old do there? Instead we went to our local produce stand to take pictures of Will. The weather had not cooperated for us (too warm) several times and we didn't want him to be wearing shorts in his first fall picture. But last week we took his picture and he almost crashed from exhaustion. He just wanted to take a nap, but it was too close to bedtime for that.

The rest of the the pictures as well as other recent ones are online at our Picasa site. The link is to the right.

Will's Laptop - Oct. 25

So, Will can almost sit up now and I thought that I should get him some toys besides the million stuffed animals he has. Unfortunately I went to Walmart looking for soft blocks and I couldn't find any. I did find a laptop though, which makes a LOT of noise. Will isn't quite sure what to do with it, but I think he'll figure it out eventually.

Bathroom Entertainment - Oct. 22

Last week I needed to clean out my closet which would take a lot more time than Will would typically give me in one sitting, so I moved his Entertainer upstairs. He loved it in a location and I got so much done. Had I thought about it earlier, the house would be a lot cleaner because he is fascinated that his toys go from room to room. He is getting so talkative too and it is precious to hear him talking to his toys.

Will and Lucy - October 13

At first, Lucy liked Will, then he pulled her hair one day and she wanted nothing to do with him after that. From then on, it has been a one-sided relationship. Will laughs at Lucy and Lucy ignores Will. He pays so much more attention now to the things around him, even things he sees everyday. So it was neat to watch him watch her while we played. He looked like he was at a tennis match.

Taking a Bath is Fun!

The first few months of bath time were not very fun, but now Will loves it. Since he has begun eating real food, dinner is a very messy time. So baths are much more often now. He has begun to kick in the water and shows interst in staying in longer. He is so sweet.

Food is Yummy

We gave Will his first rice cereal last week. He loved it and ate most of it before kicking the bowl, breaking it and getting it all over mama and Lucy. We didn't realize he had so much strength in those legs! Needless to say, from then on we used the tray which came with his seat to make sure we didn't have the same problem anymore.

I made some carrot puree for him last night and he liked it after realizing it was the not same thing as his yummy rice cereal. His facial expressions were precious! We didn't have the camera ready because we didn't realize it would be it would be so funny.