New Camera

For my birthday I got the Canon 40d!! I am so excited! I waited all day for the UPS man to come, and by the time he got here the sun had started to go down and so I didn't get a chance to take many pictures.

My rebel has been broke off and on and I haven't gotten to take many pictures lately. I was really in a slump! I am happy to have the 40d, I've been DREAMING of having it since I started to outgrow my Rebel. My Rebel wasn't working anyways, so I am going to send it out to get fixed and keep it as my back up camera.

I am getting my business license this week..I am so happy to finally be able to move forward with my photography business. Finally!! I felt like I couldn't do that with just my Rebel, but now that I have this new, awesome camera my business will soon be starting!

I really do need a month or so to get back into the groove and learn the 40d, it has so many features that my Rebel does not have.

These pictures aren't the greatest, but I had only had my camera for about 3 hours before I took these ;) I am trying to get used to the new focal points, and needless to say my BIGGEST issue right now is FOCUS..and I never had a problem with that before..practice practice practice!!

Click to make bigger

My silly girl

My camera is on the outs, which means I will be getting a new one very soon. Maybe for my birthday even ;)

So these are nothing special in quality wise, but wanted to share.

Hiding in a box of stuff we took to a flea market





Learning to catch a ball...pretty serious about it. And if shes throws it to you and you don't catch it, look out!! She gets so angry, and lets out a disappointing "Maaaaaammaaa"


Future Ballerina? My little toe walker.

Starting to blog again!

So I really am trying to get back into blogging. It helped me out so much in the past, and was such an outlet.

So we are alive and doing well. Aves turned THREE. Holy smokes, THREE, on July 16th. We were on vacation in Virginia Beach. I tried to make her day super special while at the beach, but I think I over did it. We woke up and went to McDonalds, she loves their nuggets! She also Loooved the hotel pool. So I took her their and we spent time swimming. She is talking SO Much now, its unbelievable. I cherish and smile at every word that passes her lips. Anyways, after the pool we spent time on the beach, went back to the hotel to get cleaned up. She loves fishies, so we went to VA beach aquarium and that is where she had a huge meltdown. I really think we were over doing it. It was horrible, ended with me and her both in tears and leaving the Aquarium before seeing most of the things they had.

After that, we went to dinner at Max and Ermas. At the end they brought her out a huge chocolate chip cookie with a candle it, she smiled SO SO SO HUGE as we sang Happy Birthday. It was wonderful, I wanted to burst into tears.

I am trying so hard to get things together with my life, my anxiety has been getting to me again, which sucks. I was doing so well, and now it is back. I worry constantly, and damn GOOGLE. I need to stay off of it.


So this is the start of a new blogging era for me.

I will post some pics later!

Things..

I have been kinda in a depressed mood lately, can't seem to get myself out of this rut I am in. I feel like I don't belong anywhere, if that makes sense. Starting with famil, I have always felt like the odd one out, and just recently my sister has decided to leave her husband ( whom i care about a lot) and be with another man. Ok fine and dandy, but she has now moved further away. Not like out of the state, but she literally lived 3 mins down the road..now she lives about an hour away. Through all of this, she never told me what was going on. I asked her so many times " are you seeing someone else? Just tell me, be honest" and she LIED to me. Along with my niece, who seemed to "cover" for her a lot. The family is now broken up, and I am so sad for that. I got to tell Dan , my BIL..goodbye, and it was very emotional. He works on the road, and I have no clue when I will ever see him again. He has hopes that my sister will go back to him..but I know my sister well, I love her to death...but being steady with a man is just not her thing I guess. 2 marriages, 2 kids to each man, countless boyfriends...it is like she is searching for something. But who am I to physco analyze? hah, I am not the one. TO each their own, and I just want her to be happy more than anything. BUT she had grown so distant from me since being with this new guy. I rarely see her, Ava doesn't even know that she her Aunt. I can count on my hands how many days they have spent together. This might be fine for some families, but my sister and I ( DESPITE our huge difference on life views) were always close, I was really close to her kids and we were both so excited to have two littles ones close in age...her son is just 7 months older than Aves..they were supposed to go to school together, pre school..ect ect...of course the Autism wrench got thrown in there and Ava will be attending a different pre school all together, but we still had those plans of them going to school together, growing up together, doing all kinds of things together. Now I feel like that is all gone. And for what? Someone she barely really knows? Ahh well. Such is life i suppose. It may sound immature, but I feel like this guy has taken her away from her family...and now lives close to HIS family......

I have someone also that I love that I think has a major issue with how they view their body, they are very skinny, just becoming an adult about 5'4 I would say 115 pounds. Is always talking down about their body, throwing crying fits about how fat they are. Honestly, how do you think that makes the people around you feel? Your friends, that are obviously bigger than you by at least 10 pounds, or someone that is bigger by a lot more than that? I know I would personally LOVE to have a body like this persons, and a lot of other people would too. It is getting overboard. so much drama surrounding it, I often wonder if this person is using the "Im so fat" deal to cover up other feelings, like something else is bothering them and it manifests into panic attacks about weight. it just isn't healthy, and frankly tiring. It gets old hearing it, and if you aren't overweight and no health problems there are so many more important things to worry about. What if you couldn't speak and had a mental disability? Or you were dying from cancer, or just lost a child to cancer...that person would LOVE to be alive and weigh 200000 pounds. I think this person needs help, mental help, talk to someone..it sounds like an eating disorder of some sort where you see your body bigger than what it is. I am so worried for this person.

I am trying so hard to get insurance, it is so darn expensive. I have had many many quotes, all in the 200 dollar range, I just can't afford that. I am tired. Worn down. I think something is really wrong. No menstrual cycle for a year now, i feel bloated, some weight gain that I cannnot lose for anything, and i just want to eat sugar all day long. I need to see a doctor and soon. Darn this country for its healthcare issues, please let the next president bring some health care relief to people like me.

I cut all my hair off, to chin length. I again, was Tired of it, So tired of it. I love it, it is so freeing.

Ava is doing well. So well. I have been down because I feel like I have been cheated out of enjoying her first two years of life, always worrying, studying, researching, learning and teaching 24/7........now she is almost three. WHere did her baby years go? How sad. She is becoming more and more verbal. I love it, Her voice is so cute. No one else can understand her, But I do. I love her more than life itself.
This is another area I feel out of place. I don't really have anyone to talk to about Ava's delays, some of the people I used to chat with have children more severely affected. I feel guilty praising my Ava for her new found verbalization..I NEVER want to hurt anyone like that, ever! I know how it feels, so I've been keeping my distance. Again, just another instance where I feel like I do not belong anymore.

Next weekend I have my first paid photo shoot. I cannot wait, its for a 1 year old girl. my first stranger shoot too. So excited to get this business off its feet. It is my passion. MY passion. No one can take that away either.

Take care!

Bugs...

Ava has developed a fear of bugs. I am near breaking point. She refuses to go outside, and is biting herself every time she sees a bug or THINKS she sees a bug. All black dots, or fuzz balls are bugs to her. It is terrible. This doesn't seem to be some normal fear people have. All day long she is worrying about bugs, hiding in the corner,yelling for "hel" ( help ). As soon as she is in a nervous situation she bites her fingers or her wrist/arm. As I speak she is on the couch clinging to my mom. I hate seeing her so stressed out. We went outside to play in the sand box we just got her and she just kept looking all around and could not enjoy herself. I just don't know....

Just my girl

She is really growing up!

Walk for Autism Kick off Dinner

Tonight was the Walk for Autism kick off dinner. It was wonderful, I was pretty teary eyed the whole time. There were several speakers, and one really struck me...she was talking about how her son who is 27 and in a group home was diagnosed with Autism when he was 2. How hard it was to get the diagnoses, no support groups, no other parents to talk to , no one to really understand. She also went on to talk about how having a special needs child teaches you so much, so much that you may not of learned otherwise. Patience being the number one thing...oh my how we have learned patience. I always thought I had patience before but no, now I know the true meaning of patience. The second and perhaps the most important being unconditional love. I have been taught that, and it is so important. Through Ava, I have learned to love unconditionally, it is the greatest feeling of love ever. She has taught me SO MUCH, I am beginning to realize I was chosen to be Ava's mommy for a reason, and I am so happy that I was chosen to be her caretaker.

There was another little girl there, she was 9 with Autism. She read a speech and did so well. I looked at her and I could see nothing "wrong" with her, she read her speech beautifully, and spoke with SUCH excitement and joy..more so than you and I could have done! I could see my own daughter in her, and maybe a glimpse into her future. She sang us a song and did SO WELL! She dropped her paper at the end and with a resounding OOPS Into the mic picked it up. Everyone clapped for her and she was so happy.

So that was our night, and now we will be busy fund raising for the walk. can't wait to get started!!

Catching up

Two posts on one day!!
I haven't been able to post pictures lately due to lack of time, but I wanted to share some from a photoshoot I did a couple of weeks ago. This is baby "T", 3 months old.

EDIT to add that blogger is cutting off half my pics..ahh. Too tired to fix it tonight :)

The Bee Movie

My sister called me Saturday and asked if Ava could hang out with her and my niece and nephew for a few hours. I was very hesitant, as I worry so much when she is not RIGHT next to me. She has only went with a few people, those people being her other aunt, my mom ...and uhh yeah thats it. So I dressed her in her brightest striped shirt, cause you know you can see her easier that way if she gets lost. She wanted to take her "boys" ( she carries at least one around) so I handed her Moses because yeah he could look after her, and I thought about putting a name tag on her but I thought for sure my sister would be offended by that one.
SO I let her go. I guess they had a good time. Though I had to chuckle when my sister handed me a bag with food they ordered for Ava, it appeared my sister tried to feed her just about everything...there was a hot dog, chicken strips..ect. ALL uneaten, not even touched. ANYWAYS back to the point. Ava got in the door and had The BEE Movies that Aunt Kim had bought her on their adventures. She loves movies. She was staring at it, and saying " Bee Bee Bee". I said Yes Ava you got the Bee Movie, how cool is that? So her father comes down stairs and she says " GAGA ( cant say ds anymore) Gaga Bee MOVIE." Yes she said Movie. My jaw dropped to the floor..this girl has the HARDEST time saying words, she usually only says the start of the word and leaves off the end and here she just told her dad she got the bee MOVIE...plain as freakin day. My moms eyes were huge as saucers and my MILs jaw was hanging open as well as her fathers. OMG AVA what did you get??? Of course she wouldn't say it again and when she tried it wouldn't come out. But we all heard it and it was PLAIN..movie. Just how we say it. Ahh the little things that make us jump for joy :)

We are alive!!

Wow it has been a long time! Life has really been hectic and busy as of late.
Ava is doing well, she has her IEP meeting coming up on the 13th of this month. I can't believe she will be going into the school district soon.
Her ST did her PLS on her and quite honestly I believe she fudged some of her answers on the expressive part of the test. She came out at 26 months, which is really high. While I don't doubt that Ava is progressing very nicely, she is not at 26 months. She was giving her points on things Ave's can't do, I know she means well but it actually showed on the receptive that Ave's is just at 21 months and she even said herself that usually she sees the expressive and receptive come out to be the same. Well HELLO you were giving her points for things that she isn't doing/saying yet!! We know she will def still qualify for OT, she still doesn't walk up or down steps, dress her self, can't take her shoes off, cut or glue ..she has a lot of problems with her little wrists. We will get there though!
IT is just amazing that this time last year, I was SO SICK with worry and wonder about what was wrong, and the thought of her possibly being on the spectrum was literally driving me crazy..and now almost a year since her diagnoses and the sick feeling has finally faded. I no longer get nauseous at the mere thought of Autism. As of right now I am dealing with it much better. I know things could be a lot worse for Ava, I thank God that she has started talking everyday. I know one day she WILL sing twinkle twinkle along with me, she WILL learn to count, she WILL say her ABC's, she WILL one of these days say those words I LONG to hear..I love you mama. I know it. Through lots of therapy, and lots of hard work here at home she is doing so well. We still have a lot of social issues to work through, which I guess will get worked on more when she goes to pre-school or the child alert program. I was hoping she would be potty trained soon, so she could go to the small private pre-school and have her therapists go there to work with her..but it looks more and more like she will go to child alert where it is ok if she is not potty trained.
That has been pretty much what has been going on. I want to try to get back into this blogging so hopefully it won't be months without an update again.

What a day

Firstly, I cannot keep up with the 366 day picture blog. I will keep blogging and post pictures when I can. I feel so rushed and blogging was starting to become a chore. Blogging has always been such an outlet to me, and I want to keep it that way. I also want to keep part of it about Ava and her fight to be cured from Autism.

Anyways, around lunch time today Ava took her firs tumble down the steps. ugh. I knew she was at the top looking down, looking for her dad. The next thing I know I hear her tumbling down and her scream. I was very scared. I think I lost about 20 years of life and grew my first gray hairs. She scared the DAYLIGHTS out of me. Our steps are very steep and there is no railing or anything so she fell over the side of them, and landed in our dining room. She ended up with just bruise/brush burn type mark on the side of her forehead. I screamed and cried which I think made her more scared . She was all better though within minutes, and her SI came and they played and she acted totally normal all day. I did let her skip nap...just in case.
We went to wal-mart and shopped and she had a good old time.

There was a little boy behind us in line and I asked how old he was, and his mom said he will be three in March. He was too cute..he spotted Aves and he whipped out this toy truck his mom was buying for him. He showed it to Aves and said "Hey wanna see my TRRUCK?" lol typical male right? Showing off his nice truck. Aves hid her face with her hands and his mom said , I dont think she is too impressed with your truck buddy ...lol!~ It was soo cute. I was amazed at how much he talked. BUT we won't go there and compare.

Well it is late and my stomach is queasy. Still fighting off this cold/flu.

Take care!

**7**

So I skipped a few days...I have been really sick with a high fever, and to be honest it is VERY hard to keep up with this. BUT I am still willing to try. It was SOOO warm today, just beautiful. It was really nice to get outside and get some air. Aves ran all around and was super excited to be out and about...without coats, hat, mittens, boots. Too bad it is supposed to get cold again at the end of the week. I can't wait for spring!

Some pics from today :)




Also some totally mommy grabbed the camera cause ava was being silly so not so great pictures...
Aves decided she wanted to roll the carpet up and play with it ..


and dive on it


and dance and spin




She was just being a complete goober!

***3 and 4**

Life has been kinda hectic lately, so I am skipping day 3 and 4 picture wise.

**2**

My niece came over for a photo shoot this afternoon..it was a lot of fun , and I can't wait until we can do it again!

**1**

So with ten mins to spare I am posting my pictures..no these weren't taken today, but I wasn't able to upload any pics from today.
Most of you (SBs) have seen these..




And I realized I never shared Christmas pictures, well here is a flashy unedited pic of aves in her new shoes christmas morning

365 Challenge

Starting today I will be challenging myself to a 365 blog. I am really excited to get this started. I will be back with my pics for the day!