August...

Keeping up with the blog is becoming harder and harder.  Chasing around Ella and taking care of almost 3 month old Ava Jane is all consuming...and that's even with my Mom's help!!  So what's new with us...well there's A LOT!  First things first, you might notice I called Ava, Ava Jane.  Yeah...we're back and forth on what to call her.  Part of me likes Ava Jane the double-name better because it makes her name unique...there's lots of Avas out there.  Then again, Ava is short and sweet and goes well with Ella's name.  Brent's no help, he says he likes either...so that leaves me to decide Ava or Ava Jane??  For the past few days it's been Ava Jane...your guess is as good as mine if it will stick.  We do need to decide soon, I mean, at least before she realizes she's being called two different names!


Okay-- so here's the abridged 411 on the Herrin Family.  We are in the process of buying a house and are under contract!  We close on the property September 24th and couldn't be more excited!  As you may or may not know, the last house we attempted to purchase fell through because a major mold and water issue underneath the house.  It was a beautiful home with all the modern updates...BUT we could not and would move our family into any place we didn't feel safe.  Even if we got the mold remediated and the water issue fixed, we had no way of knowing that the renovations were done to a safety standard we felt was high enough to move our precious little ones into, so we walked away.  A week later, we decided to put an offer on the first house we had seen.  It's a great family home, the only draw back is the number of bathrooms.  It had one less bathroom upstairs than we were hoping for, that's why we didn't put an offer on it in the first place. Ultimately, however, it was the best house we were going to find in our price range and in the school district we wanted to be in, so we put an offer on it.  Once we put in the offer, we got in ANOTHER bidding war with another buyer (it happened on the last house too).  The seller picked our offer in the end thanks to our savvy and persuasive realtor.  But, this wasn't before 2 other interested parties popped up wanting to place offers too...stressful!!   We've had the inspection and everything checked out great with only a few minor issues which we've reached an agreement with the seller on.  That was a huge relief.  In the meantime, it will be our last month living at my Mom's so we are going to enjoy the company and extra help and gear up for living on our own again.  I know I'm going to miss all the help and Ella is going to miss her Nana (pronounced Naaah-NUH according to Ella); she's really enjoyed living here!  Luckily Nana is only 18 minutes away though.  We're grateful that we've been able to stay here and not have to worry about a lease or anything like that.  It's been a huge help in so many ways!  Plus, it's been great to spend more time with my Mom and Brother.  It had been a really long time since I was able to see them and be involved in their lives on a regular basis, so that's been a very special bonus.  While we would have hoped to be settled and situated in our lives by almost 30, this change in life plans has been a blessing in many ways and has taught us many life lessons-- primarily PATIENCE!!

We plan to get new carpet in the upstairs of the house and have the inside painted before we move in, so we are hoping to have a move in date of the second week of October...we'll see if that happens!  We are so excited to be homeowners again and can't wait to settle our little family into our new home and start our new routine and life in East Cobb!


In other news, Herrin Pediatric Dentistry is under construction and set to open the second week of November!!  Brent has been working tirelessly to coordinate everything for the grand opening and the fruits of his labor are paying off.  The contractor's crew has framed everything and are starting to put up the walls this week.  It's really happening!  Brent has been working with a PR person to catapult a market campaign and everything is coming together.  The website should be up by this weekend and he will start booking appointments for November!!  It's exciting as the grand opening is FAST approaching!  It so wonderful to watch his dream turn into a reality.

August was filled with birthdays, doctors appointments, and even some travel for Brent and Ella.  On August 8th we celebrated Nana's birthday with a delicious chinese take out dinner and a couple of desserts homemade by yours truly.  Brent had a meeting he couldn't get out of...so it was my Mom, Jason (a.k.a. Jaaaaay-ee in Ella language), Ella, Ava Jane, and me.  We had a really fun dinner and Ella made sure to offer her assistance in helping Nana to blow out the candles and eat the desserts.  What a happy evening to celebrate our wonderful Mom and Nana!

Mid-August Ava Jane had her 2 month check up.  She's been doing great and the prevacid has really helped take away the pain she was experiencing from reflux.  The doctor said Ava was healthy, happy, and meeting two month milestones.  She continues to be tall.  She was 24 inches tall (95th percentile) and weighed 11lbs 11 oz. (85th percentile).  She is definitely hearty!  It's still so crazy to think she was over a month early.  Guess she was just ready to greet the world.  She LOVES to smile and is starting to really want her little voice to be heard.  Her little sounds are so sweet.  She continues to be a very easy and laid back baby....aside from a little colic every night from 9 to 11, but even that is going away and is nothing compared to Ella's colic!  She's very go with the flow which is awesome.  We are enjoying our new addition so very much!  Still trying to figure out who she looks like!  So far we've determined she has Brent's eyes...but the verdict is still out!  Guess we'll see as she gets older.

Miss Ells Bells is doing great!  She's starting to talk more and really likes her voice to be heard.  Her favorite words include hi, bye, no, sissy, Baby, crackers, milk, shoes, socks, dog, more, please, turtle, pool...just to name a few.  She's starting to put two words together and use "sentences," but that skill is still emerging.  We think she's about ready to potty train because she makes it her mission to remove her diaper everytime she goes "pee-pee".  We have walked in the room to get her after naps and found her stark naked from the waist down on numerous occasions. Or she'll just strip down while she's playing...you have to keep an eye on her at all times.  We've tried moving her to using her potty, but she's just not quite there yet!

Ella started preschool August 20th and had her first real "full" day yesterday.  Her teacher said she did great!  When I picked her up on the playground at noon, she glanced over at me with a BIG smile and said, "Hey mama!"  She looked like she had had so much fun.  We're so excited that she is getting this opportunity to be around kids her age and learning how to be social!

She is also becoming an awesome big sister to Ava Jane.  She's always hugging and kissing her and asking to "hold" the baby.  Another cute thing she's started doing is laying her toys and blankets in Ava Jane's swing or bassinet with her.  It's SO sweet to see her share with her little sister!  Ella continues to be very energetic and active, but she also has this really sweet, caring side which we are seeing more and more of especially as she fully adjusts to "Baby."

1st Day of Preschool-- gradual entry--Mommy got to come too!

School shoe shopping

1st Day of Preschool all by myself!

I LOVE shoes!!!!

Game Day!!  Goooo DAWGS

Playing with my Sister!!

Always wanting to be in the sandbox!

Eating my favorite thing...Japanese fried rice!

I got a hold of Daddy's smoothie...yum!

 Another "big" event this month was Ella's first haircut!  She really did well for the lady and her hair looks super cute.  It took me a while to warm up to the idea of her first big girl haircut, but she did have a mullet after all, so I knew we had to do it!  I was so glad we did.  It was a positive experience for her and for us too.  Luckily, Brent got to come too-- we did it one morning when he got to go into work later.  We were shocked with how well she did-- not a single tear!  She was really cute about everything and SO proud of her big girl haircut!!

Toward the end of August, I went back to have one last round of bloodwork to make sure everything had gone back to normal after the pregnancy.  Everything looks great, except for my liver enzymes are still on the high end of normal.   The Doctor really thought they'd be back to normal by now.  So, I have to go back at the beginning of October and get them checked again to make sure they are continuing to drop and that I'm not having some other sort of liver problem.  I'm sure everything will be okay, but it is unnerving that I am this far out from having Ava Jane and still having liver issues.  We're just hopeful that everything is back to normal when I go in October.

This month Brent headed down St. Simon's for a bachelor party for his dear friend, Scott.  On the way down, he dropped Ella off at Mimi and Papa's house for the weekend.  She had a blast with them as always and got to do lots of fun things like feed the ducks, ride the little rides at the mall, eat a Chick-fil-a milkshake, and even went to a shower.  Mimi and Papa sure kept her busy and she had a great time...she was exhausted when she got home.  Papa's birthday was the 29th so it was really special he could spend some time with his "Ella Mirella" before his special day!  We wish we could have also spent his birthday with him...hopefully next year!

That weekend, I was able to spend some quiet time with Ava and my Mom.  It was great to have some one-on-one time with the Baby Girl!!  But, I was certainly glad when they both got home!!  August sure was busy--excited to see what September holds!

Headed to Mimi and Papa's-- very happy!

Milkshake time!

Feeding ducks with Mimi!