Ava is 8 weeks old today.

First Date

Ava had her first date with Carson Thomas Pope. He was born a month after Ava. She likes to go for the younger guys apparently.

This picture is just adorable. Carson is just relaxing on Ava - so content, while Ava looks like she's not sure what to think about all this.

Play Mate

Ava is trying out her friend Sophie's Bumbo chair. She looks a little frightened because she's not sure what's going on. But, I love the bumbo and wanted to see just how cute she looked sitting up like a big girl.

Ava playing with her new friend Cate. Cate was born 5 days after Ava. They will be best friends by choice, or by their mothers forcing them. Either way, it will happen.
Ava found that her friend Cate has a very tasty hand as she was sucking on it more than once.

First Babysitter

Last Friday, the day after Valentine's day, Jonathan and I had a night alone while Chris and Jan Newell watched Ava. I couldn't believe that I even considered leaving her when she's so young, but it helps when you have people that you love and trust to babysit. You could say that Chris and Jan are Ava's grandparents in Tennessee. (Don't be jealous mom and dad - she really misses your sweet hugs and kisses!) Thanks Chris and Jan for being so willing to watch Ava. She had a great time. Now I on the other hand had a hard time. I couldn't wait to get back to her and give her lots of kisses. I called to check on her 3 times and we were only away from her for 3 hours. I will get better, but for the first time being away from her that long, I thought I did pretty good. Jonathan may have a different opinion though.

7 weeks old

Happy Valentine's Day

Ava's first Valentines day and her daddy brought home roses. I thought it was so sweet, so I wanted to get a picture of it. For whatever reason, we waited to take this picture until she was sleepy and ready for bed. (In other words, until she started crying.) Jonathan is attempting to keep the pacifier in Ava's mouth so we can get a decent picture and hold the roses in the same hand. We pretty much had one shot of getting a picture because she was not too happy. Needless to say, this is the best we could do. We hope everyone had a great Valentines day!

Chicken Sandwich Anyone?

Splish Splash

I just thought I would post some pictures of Ava's bath time. Since her first bath, she has loved getting in the water. I love the way she smells afterwards, so I'm usually tempted to give her more baths than she needs. It can't hurt right?

I just loved the father-daughter pictures, so I had to post them. They are just gazing into each others eyes. How sweet!
Now this one I'm not too sure what kind of face Jonathan is making at Ava, but one can only imagine - especially by the look Ava is giving him.

More Smiles

At this point I am now obsessed with getting pictures of Ava smiling. So, you might be seeing a lot of grins in the next few post. Hope you enjoy!!

Smile for the Camera

Ava's first smile on camera!! She has recently started smiling while she's awake and looking at whoever is in front of her making funny faces. This is very exciting as parents to finally get some feedback from your daughter - even if it's just a half grin.


















Trying to get another smile, but she's just not having it.
















Jonathan is eating a chicken sandwhich and loves teasing me by always trying to give his food to Ava. Jonathan is always up to something, especially if he knows it will make me a little crazy!! Most of you know I'm a little over protective. Who would have guessed??!!

Sleepy Girl

After Ava's first bath. Surprisingly she loved taking a bath - not so much after bath time though.

Happy Birthday to Ava - she's a month old!!






















Ava had her first play date with her friend Sophie. This was the extent of their "play date", but it was very exciting for us as the parents.

All Alone, Now what do we do?

To all of you that haven't had a baby yet you will learn many things, I have taken it upon myself to educate you on the ways of Post-Baby time. Immediatly after you have that little bundle of crying you will be inidated with all these people that want to come over and see just what exactly you have made. This first wave of well-wishers will be the grandparents. Typically the mother's side will show up first. Sometimes you are even lucky enough to have the mother's mother around for a while to take care of things, since you have no idea what you are doing anyway.















The next group of well-wishers is the father's parents. They come when things have calmed down a little, their main goal is to spoil that baby and offer little morsels of advice on what you need to be doing.












After the repective grandparents have made their trips down you will have people come from all over the world just to see your baby. Here we have an example of people that have come from the D.C. area that had no other motive than seeing if a Newell girl really does exist, not because their daughter lives in town and they just wanted to stop by because they were in the area. We are closer than the average 2nd parents-in-laws (my brother's wife's parents).














And if you are really lucky you can have Amber Newell come over and hold your baby when you get tired. Pictured below is Amber Newell, daughter of Jan Newell holding Ava Newell, daughter of Amber Newell wife of Jonathan Newell. The preceding two are of no relation to the latter three. Confused? It took me about 15 minutes to figure this all out, then I took a nap before I wrote it and got confused again.














Let it be known, we love each and everyone in these pictures and have come to see us. We have been blessed more than we deserve. My final lesson to those of you that haven't experience this yet is that you will learn to love each and every visitor you have and let them help you - you're gonna need it!