Off to Tennessee We Go

On Wednesday, May 14th, Ava Holt and I hopped on a last minute Southwest flight bound for Nashville to go surprise my mom for a late Mother's Day gift. My dad and I had been working out the details of the ticket and the trip and on the morning of the 14th, Ava and I decided to go ahead with the trip. We waited until the last minute, as I had told my dad that it was all dependant on how Ava was doing that day. If she was a tired mess, we wouldn't take the flight...but if she was her normal well rested and well behaved self, we would come. We were hoping that our arrival would be a surprise for my mom, but she had already called the airline to see if we had tickets booked (she's sneaky and a tad bit nosy like that). Even though our arrival wasn't the biggest of surprises, Ava's Nan was over the moon to see her.

Ava and I stayed in Tennessee until the afternoon of the 19th and we had a great time while home. Ava got to take her first ride on the golf cart, had her first experience on a tractor, had her first pedicure, sat in a high chair for the first time, crawled through a side table, and had her first kitchen sink bath. She also stood up all by herself while holding onto my parents' hands and she hasn't stopped standing up since. Ava Holt loved playing with Lucy and Patton and was truly amazed by Iddy and Hambone (the cats). While home, we got to spend some time with Grandmother Chambers, Grandmother and Grandpoppa Allen, Aunt Claudia and Uncle Scott, Aunt Tracey and cousins Natalie and Molly, and several family friends from church whom I haven't seen in a long while. Ava did great at church...although what child wouldn't if they were being constantly held by her Nan and Poppa?

Here's Ava Holt taking her first kitchen sink bath...

While in Tennessee, we also discovered that Ava has quite the gastronomic palate...but only if her food is homemade. We tried feeding Ava various brands of organic baby food (sweet potatoes, butternut squash, green beans, pears, apples, etc) and she wouldn't eat them. So, we went to the store and I bought her some organic butternut squash, one of her favorite foods. Well, I roasted the squash as I do at home and pureed the flesh in the blender...and voila...she ate them. So, we did a 'blind' taste test with her using the homemade butternut squash and the Earth's Best jar of butternut squash, and it was VERY apparent which one was jarred and which one was homemade. When given any jarred food she would grimace, wink her left eye, and refuse to swallow. It was hysterical. We even poured the jarred food into an identical bowl as the homemade so that she wouldn't see that it was coming from a jar. I was so surprised at how developed her taste buds were and the fact that she was able to distinguish the difference between homemade and jarred food. So, I was glad (for future reference) to learn that we will be needing to make Ava's meals when we travel. Luckily, it's not very hard or time consuming at all.

Overall, we had a wonderful visit home. Ava loved being spoiled by her Nan and Poppa and it was so great to see them love on her. Seeing my parents as grandparents is a truly amazing gift and my heart has grown with even more love for them, as I love how they love on and interact with Ava. Here are a few pictures from our trip home. There were so many fun pictures that I put them into a slide show. Enjoy...