This kid

During this week Ava has still been a little sick but we have truly been blessed with such an easy going beautiful girl.  Even with a snotty nose and dry cough she still manages to give us big cheeky smiles and it hasn't stopped her from her new favourite passtime - blowing raspberries.

 




















On the weekend we had a lunch for Damos brothers birthday at Hogs Breath where Ava got to sit on a motorbike - I'm not a fan of them but this one was stationary and to be honest probably wouldn't of been able to start anyway.  Poor little Ava was still a bit sick and was long overdue a sleep from the morning but with so much going on she just didn't want to miss out on anything. 

On Sunday we went as a family into Southbank for breakfast and a walk down the river now, I know Ava is cute but the amount of people we had comment about her cheeks was unbelievable! She loves to people watch so any tourist area is a bonus for her, she also loves showing off her new skill of sitting up which she mastered only a couple of weeks ago and she's already trying to master getting on all fours to start crawling.  It seems like for the first 5 months not much happens but from 6 months on they are constantly learning something new.   

Our other babies

So long before we had Ava, Damo and I got our first pet - a beautiful budgie named Gidda she's a brilliant yellow but unfortunelty most of our photos of her got stolen when our house was broken into (a totally different story that still makes me mad).  Gidda would go everywhere with us and used to sleep up our jumper sleeves.  Now she prefers to chill out in her cage rather than compete with Jock and Ava!  It's funny when I open her cage in the morning and she gives me the look of 'don't you dare make me play on the floor with those two!' 

Then 6 years ago we got another family member - our silky terrier x Jock.  It's pretty fair to say that we did treat him like our little baby!  He prefers to sleep on our bed rather than the $100 one we bought him, he loves wearing cute pjs and jumpers and like his sister Gidda he gets Christmas pressies and gets his name written on birthday/Christmas cards for family.  Just be warned there are  A LOT of cute photos coming up!

A lot of people were worried about how Jock would adapt to not being centre of attention.  Damo and I both looked into this before Ava was born and read that it's a good idea to let your dog smell something of the babies before introducing the baby so they can get the scent from the article of clothing first.  We did this one of Avas' beanies then carefully lowered her to Jocks level to our surprise Jock didn't seem too interested . . .  at first!  Now  . . . .

He is like Avas little shadow and is constantly "on gaurd" - I'm surprised he hasn't managed to lick a layer of her skin off with the amount of kisses he insists on giving her and while he can get a little jealous if people come over and don't say hello to him he has adjusted really well and we couldn't be happier with our little family of three, I mean four wait no I mean five!

RSPCA fundraiser

Those that know me personally will know how much animals mean to me - I think they are so so important to have in our lives and I try to help them out as much as I can by donating my time and money to them.  One of the easiest ways to help out is to go through the RSPCA and their many different fundraisers through the year.  Back in May Damo, Ava, Jock and I joined in the Million Paws Walk.  We managed to raise over $300!

 

The next fundraiser that they are doing is the Cupcake Day held on August 20th.  It's easy to get involved - register on the RSPCA website, make some cupcakes and start fundraising.  If you are wanting to just donate you can easily do that here:

http://www.fundraise.rspcacupcakeday.com.au/gillian_mcdonald_2

Also be on the lookout for these posters:

It really is for a great cause, without animals, my life wouldn't be nearly so much fun!

Our first night out

Friday night Damo and I had our first night out together since Ava was born.  We'd organised to go to the Broncos Vs Sharkies game and spend the night at Limes hotel in the Valley - it has a funky roof top bar so the idea was instead of trekking around the valley from club to club just to enjoy a couple of drinks and then go back to our room.  Well like the times before Ava our plans went out the window, it started with an amazing win by the Sharks who were tipped to lose so of course I was on a bit of a high - we then met our friends for a 'couple' of drinks but come closing time ended up walking to another club and on our way back to the hotel picked up the usual 3am slice of pizza (exactly what I didn't want to do)! It was a fun night out but not something that I miss doing and after I lay down in the bed I thought about how much our life has changed in the past year and I don't mind the change at all. 

Also on the weekend Ava got her first cold - it's horrible to see her suffering through it and not being able to do much for her but she is still the best little baby even while she is sick and still gives us the biggest smiles.  We caught up with friends on Sunday for lunch and Ava loved sitting back listening to everyone chat I think she's going to be a bit of a social butterfly, I also think she knew one of her new bestfriends was in my girlfriends tummy waiting to come out soon!