Family Photos Summer 2011

Last weekend, we took family photos downtown Indianapolis at the Canal. When we arrived Ava was sleeping, but she woke up in a great mood. She loved seeing the ducks swimming in the canal. We walked in Military Park and then down on the Canal path. Our friend, Shawn, does our photography for us. His philosophy is to follow us around and let us play with Ava. He is a father and knows Ava so the pictures are so natural.

Ava just turned 17-months on Friday. She's getting so big this summer. Ava is really into giving kisses right now and makes the "mmmm" sound when does it. It's very sweet. Most of the time, she is really into singing. She sings the ABC song, making up the letters but you can hear the melody. She sings "row, row, row" quite a bit after our trip to San Francisco because Grandma sang it to her that week that we were traveling. And Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is another favorite including the hand motion.

We're moving her to a new daycare in another week. I'm really excited for her. The new center will provide her more one-on-one interaction and fun learning activities. They have an art room that they kids rotate through and a big auditorium with a stage to play dress up. I took her Friday morning to meet her new teacher and have some time in the new room. I'm planning on taking her a couple more times this week before she starts full-time next Monday in order to make her transition a bit easier. It takes her some time to warm up to a new care giver.

We're going through so many transitions this summer. Aaron and I both started new jobs. I took a new position at my company as a user community manager focusing on forming user-to-user groups in local cities. And Aaron just left Nuvo to work also at ExactTarget in Corporate Sales. We won't work together, but we're enjoying working at a growing company together. ExactTarget has a progressive work culture and surprisingly has many other couples working there. All three of us have changes under foot, which makes life at home interesting as we're settling into a new rhythm.

And last Saturday, Ava and I helped set a world record of simultaneous nursing celebrating World Breastfeeding Week. We got together in Broad Ripple Park with 57 nursing pairs. With all the family members we had 160 people attend. We also had the local news join us. What a great way to show support to families around the world sharing the health benefits through long-term breastfeeding. As I continue my journey in becoming a La Leche League leader, Ava is with me the whole way. I gain my experience with her nursing so it makes sense.

We're looking forward to Labor Day weekend at the Lake house!