Ava's Name and Baby's name?

So at the beginning of next month we should find out if this baby is a boy or a girl!!! I can't wait! I have no idea! With Ava it was so easy! We both immediately thought she was a girl...knew she was a girl...not that we preferred either way...she just was and her name was Ava. Which has a story to it as well. Adam was going to get me a bird as a pet for Christmas, which was a bit of a sacrifice for him, but I really wanted one. For Christmas he took this big decoritive egg we have and put a cute note from my future bird in it, describing his breed and what breeder he was coming from and so forth...really cute...he is always great at presents. The day before New Year's Eve...and my birthday, we found out we were pregnant. We knew her name would be Ava...what we didn't know is that Ava means "bird like" also they think it was dirived from the Hebrew word meaning "life". Even after we knew her name...but not the meaning, I really wanted a name that reflected God's grace and the freedom we have in him...It's prefect. Thanks, God.
As for this baby....do you hear the crickets. Well, I guess we still have a while. I really like the name Selah for a girl, pronounced "say-la", it's a word in Psalms used at the end of the stansas, thought to mean 'reflective pause' because you are to think about what is just said...such a simple, almost quiet word with a lot of power. but...we really, really don't know. that's all for now.

"Aunt Rachel..."

Aunt Rachel (or Aunt crazy, as we like to call her), I just thought you'd like to know that I left Ava's room at 7:30 on the dot and had her all tucked in....it's 8:30 and she's still talking...well, not talking exactly..actually she's singing...about you. It's a song about Aunt Rachel...and pizza...I have no idea! um, she is definitley excited you are coming over tomorrow.

oh, now she is yelling "baaarrrrrk, baaaarrrrk". I really don't think that has anything to do with you, Rachel, though.

"I pee pee in the potty"

Ok, the title was support to reflect Ava talking...not me! So I'm excited to say we on our way to being potty trained...and when I say we...I mean Ava..I mean I'm already...you know what I mean. Anyways, Ava has had a potty chair for a while, but we haven't really tired to potty train yet. Until a couple of days ago...well, it was all Ava's doing. She carried her potty chair out of the bathroom and into the living room, then proceeded to take all her clothes off, which she has grown accustom to doing, including her diaper...sat on the potty...and went potty!!! You should have seen her face...she was SO excited...SO was I. We broke into her halloween candy to celebrate (and we wonder where emotional eating comes from). She has been doing GREAT ever since. Seriously, this was suppose to be so much harder!!! and I know it is for so many...my heart is with you! It's pretty crazy though. I don't have to remind her or anything. She is using the last of her diapers at night and pull ups at bed time and when we go out for now, though she frequently keeps them dry. She loves calling her daddy, aunt, and nana to them them how she pee peed or poo pooed in the potty. It's so cute. She said "I so proud!" over and over after she potties...I think she got it from one of her potty books. Man! I guess she was ready!!! Nice!

"I'm a big sister"

So we were trying hard to tell our some of our friends and family that we were pregnant. My sister, Rachel, was watching Ava for me while I went to the doctor. I called her on my way home and told her that it didn't look good and I could have tumors or something (which is what I had thought before seeing the doctor...wow, a baby is WAY better!). She was very supportive, poor thing. I stopped by the store to pick up two matching bibs, because my sister happens to be a month farther along in her pregnancy. When I got to her house...my nieces, Alyssa and Sarah, and brother-in-law, Jay, were there as well, I said, "hey look what I got at the doctors" (ok, so that doesn't completely make sense), "I thought our kids could wear them together". They looked a little confused for half a second and then my sister, pregnant mind you, started jumping up in down saying "I told you! I told you!" (which she had been telling me I was pregnant and I was thouroughly annoyed by it because I knew I wasn't). It was great!
THEN Rachel helped me pick out a plan shirt for Ava and I ironned on letters that said, "I'm a big sister". Ava really got it. Especially after she got to see the baby on the ultrasound, which she called "peeking at the baby". She laughed so much and thought it was so funny. I asked her if she knew what being a big sister ment and she said, 'baby in mommy's tummy'. She could have melted my heart. Anyways, I went over to Becki's house, who I had told that I probably had tumors or something, and as soon as she opened the door and read Ava's shirt about 5 times, she started jumping...and I mean jumping up and down, screaming (oh, yeah, did I tell you she was about 6 months pregnant, oh man, was it a sight). Serioulsy now, that will go down in my funniest memory book in my head.
Ok, so I have more to tell you...but I want to break it up so you'll actually read it...so more of all that later : )

Suprise!!!

Hi friends!
Adam, Ava, and I have some excited news if you haven't already heard...We are pregnant!!! It was a real surprise to me, because I had taken 4 pregnancy tests which were all negative! I finally went to the doctor thinking that something was definitley wrong with me. I don't want to gross you out of anything...but I couldn't do the urine sample at first because I had only just drank a bunch of water. I went through the whole appointment with my doctor and the options weren't looking good. She said if they found out my pregnancy test was negative, they'd send me in for an ultrasound to see what was going on. Well, I got an ultrasound anyways!!! Let me back up. After I had finally peed in the cup, I sat waiting in the...waiting room. I started smiling really big wondering if I really was pregnant....I thought "Leah, you are going to look ridiculous, smiling from ear to ear, only for the nurse to say, 'what? why are you smiling, weirdo? It's negative like you thought it would be". Luckily, it happened very differently...and frankly, if she would have talk to me that way...well, pregnancy hormones, you know. Anyways, she opened the door to the hallway smiling ear to ear as well. The nurses gathered round this really sweet young nurse who said "You're pregnant!" I was SOOOOOOOO excited! And dumb founded! I really felt like I was dreaming! I told them that too. I think they thought I was pretty funny. The nurse told me how she talked to the other nurses because she wasn't sure how to tell me and showed me how bold the pregnancy line on the test was. Then I rambled on and on to the nurses and doctor who had now all gathered. It was great!
You a Daddy...Again!!! I couldn't wait to tell Adam! I couldn't wait until that night and I didn't really just want to tell him over the phone, so I called Candace, who works at his branch, and she so thoughtfully bought balloons tying them to a baby bottle and a card. The funny thing was, Adam wasn't having the best day and as I've heard, he didn't look very happy as his staff approached his desk with the balloons. They took a picture as they gave him the balloons, while the whole "your a dad again" hadn't quite set in...he quickly realized what was going on and said, "oh, take a good one!" Everyone thought it was pretty funny after the fact. He is very excited as well and has been so supportive with backrubs, lots of cleaning, putting up with pretty crappy dinners and a dirty house for the whole first trimest.
The day after we found out we were pregnant. I got an ultrasound and I was already 9 weeks!!! Oh, wow, that's why I've had no energy!!!

Wow! Sorry that was so long. I had no idea...I even left stuff out!!!