New A/C, Wedding, Birthday Party, & Walking!!

So Tuesday, the 20th, we got a new Air Conditioner installed in our house. Since our unit was original to the house (built in '94) we knew it was going to 'go' soon. Instead of waiting for it to "go" and then scrambling to find a new unit at a good price, etc., we just decided to get a new one installed. Our power bill has been high, our bedroom is hot, and we just needed it. We found a company through a referral that offered a 10 year parts and labor warranty, in addition to the tax credit the gov't is offering right now. So at 8:00am, the guys showed up at the house ready to get to work. My friend Stacey and her son, Brayden, came over for a visit around 10:30am, but had to leave an hour later because it was soooo hot in our house! The air was out at that point, while they were working on replacing it with the new unit, so it was up to 86 degrees in the house! Avalyn was down to her diaper only and I was in the scimpiest clothes possible to stay cool. Amazing how warm it gets! By 2pm though, the air was back on and working hard to bring the temperature back down. Since our room is on the other side of the house, that seemed to be the warmest room and least 'air flow' of the whole house. Avalyn's room is the coldest, since it's right across from the air handler, but it makes it difficult to regulate the temperature because she'll freeze, but we're sweating at night! Thus, we wanted a new line put in to route to our room and bathroom to get our room as cool as the other rooms. Unfortunately, the guys were too big to fit in the crawl space of our attic, so we had to wait till Thursday to get smaller guys out there to put the new line in. Kinda funny...

So, all the while the A/C is working to get the temperature back down to 79 in the house. However, by about 10pm that night, it was down to 78, and not turning off... something wasn't right. Bran was up a lot that night turning the air on and off so as not to sweat us out, but not to freeze us/Avalyn out either... something wasn't registering on the thermostat to kick the A/C to "off".

The next morning, Wednesday, the 21st, Bran got a guy to come out and check things out with the air. He at first thought our thermostat was bad and kept checking everything out and decided that was it. However, it was working perfectly fine before they put the new unit in and 'messed with the wiring' of the thermostat, so I figured it wasn't that. After a trip to the store to get a new one (the guy left, not me) and installing that one with no success.. he realized it wasn't the thermostat. I guess he now came to the conclusion that it wasn't wired properly on the unit, to trigger the shut-off or something. So, he had to rewire that and it was good-to-go!

During that time, my friend Delia stopped by to grab a present I had for her for her wedding. She happened to be in the area picking up her brother, so that saved me some postage in getting it to her before I saw her this weekend. I then headed out to our Gymboree class and then went to Party City to get some party stuff afterwards with Bran.

Thursday, the 22nd, the final A/C guys came to put in the new line. They showed up around 8:30 and left around 10:30 or 11am.. Yes, the guy was skinnier :)  They installed the new line to our room and a new vent in there as well, and now it is probably the coolest room of the house!!! Yay for us!!! We were a little nervous that the rest of the house wouldn't be as cool, since our room is definitely cooler, but so far it's ok. It does help out a lot for our room though.

That afternoon Brandon took Avalyn to Gymboree's Open Gym and then to Costco to get some meat, while I went to a local consignment sale that comes around every 3-4 months. It's not a regular consignment store, but rather, a sale (and just for babies/kids) that gets pretty big. I pre-registered since I'm a new mom and got to be one of the first ones in. This is actually the best time to go, as there were a LOT of people there that night and the good stuff gets picked over very quick! I picked up a couple new toys, books, and hats for Avalyn and am wrapping them up for her birthday :)

Friday, the 23rd, I met up with Gillian & Camden, and Dena & Krista & Ethan at the Avalon Park Splash park/pad at 10:00am. Avalyn has been iffy on the 2nd nap, so I thought I'd play around with her napping and see if she could make it on one nap later in the afternoon. She seemed a little sleepy on the way there but once there, she was totally fine! She loved walking around the water and getting splashed in the face by the different water spouts as they constantly changed pressure. She didn't mind it in her face at all. She chased balls around, found dirt and flowers on the ground and had a fun time. We ate lunch with our friends and then played for a little bit longer before leaving at noon. As I was going to change her out of her bathing suit/swim diaper, I realized she had a mega poo in her suit!! This has never happened before and it was quite an interesting fiasco trying to get this off her without getting poo everywhere! It ended up flopping on the floor and I had to pick it up with a wipe! Ahh.. good times as a mom...  We left, all clean, and she fell asleep in the car and then I put her down once home and she continued to nap for another hour and a half. So, she was ok with the one nap, but it wasn't as long as I'd hoped for (1 hr, 45 mins vs. an ideal 3 hours). That night we went to Longhorn Steakhouse by Kissimmee for Papa Mac's 89th birthday!!!  As always, she was a good little girl, ate her dinner, made her rounds to all her family, and tried some sweet potatoes and regular potatoes (just a bite).

Saturday morning we got up and packed to go to the wedding in Largo. Diana came over to watch Avalyn for the day and night till our return the next morning. We left around 10:15 and arrived in Largo 2 hours later. We went to lunch at a local restaurant and then chilled at the hotel till the wedding. We thought about going to the beach, but it was windy, cloudy and spotty rainy, and we didn't feel like it. As soon as we went to the hotel pool and Bran got in the water, it started to rain on us. I then decided I didn't want to get wet, so we went inside and up to our room. We chilled and got showered and ready for the wedding and waited for my friends, Kristen and Amanda to meet us, as we were all sharing the hotel room for the night. We got a suite, so it had 2 queen beds and pull-out sofa.. quite nice actually, and cheaper for all of us. The wedding started at 5pm at a local church, and then the reception was at a local golf club, ending at 10pm. It was beautiful.. a nice, intimate wedding of about 100 guests I would guess, very similar to our in colors, location, flowers, and size. We had fun :) Here are a couple pics from Bran's camera phone (not the best quality).

Bran and I with our Sangria during the cocktail hour

The girls - Me with Amanda and Kristen (and the Sangria!)

The girls with the Bride!!!

Sunday, the 25th, we woke up about 8am, got ready, ate breakfast, and headed home around 9:15. We arrived home around 11 and I was able to feed her once we got home instead of pumping again (yes, I'm STILL nursing!!! And don't worry, I had the same glass of Sangria all night at that wedding) Bran started vacuuming and cleaning, but we got settled for a bit then had to get ready to go to Holli's first birthday party in Sanford!! It was such a cute party - lollipop/candy theme and Avalyn had a fun time walking around and playing with the toys. She is definitely on the move now, if in a standing position. She has no problem leaving a steady object to go venturing off on her own and can walk a good distance if on a roll. She can even bend down and pick something up and then move back into a stand and continue walking!! Soo cool to see!! Here are some pics from the party.

Walking into the tent to play

She loved the ball pit (well, the balls)..

Say "CHEESE"!! (Look at that dimple!!)

And another cheesy smile...

wait, one more :)

Avalyn and Daddy.. and the lollipop favor

Pleeeaassseee can I eat it Mom?

I'm going to anyways...

I don't want to go home Mom!

With Stacey & Brayden!!

So, during this party and unbeknownst to us, Avalyn had a massive poo in her diaper, kinda runny. When we left to go home, Bran went to change her diaper and saw the big mess but more alarmingly, saw the incredibly bad diaper rash it caused her!!! We are terrible parents!!! My first thought was that it was an allergic reaction to a new food or something, because it was so bad. After inquiring about anything she may have eaten while we were gone, we decided it must have been the continual up and down, squishing and chafing of the poo in the diaper during the party that caused such an irritation! How awful, and poor Avalyn!! She's such a trooper because she barely complains about anything, and only puts up a little fuss when you wipe it during a diaper change. Otherwise, you would never know it bothers her! She's so good!! But man.. I feel awful!  But boy, what a busy day!! We just chilled the rest of the day... I've been working on stuff for Avalyn's party at night and staying busy with that... Just do me a favor and look at any details during the party.. that's all I ask....I made them all :)

Today, the 26th, I started back up on my morning walks after a week off. She took her morning nap and my friend Cathy stopped by to pick up Jackson's present since she was in the area. Basically, I made him a birthday outfit and his party is this weekend, but I wanted him to have it before so he could wear it during his party. Since she lives in Titusville, however, it makes it a little tough to meet up, but she just happened to be running into this side of town to do party shopping, so she swung by while she was out - perfect!!  We got up, ate, and then headed to a Gymboree Music class at noon. Afterwards we stopped at Costco to pick up some milk, crackers, and peanut butter and then to the bank to deposit some checks. Back home, ate lunch, and then down for her afternoon nap (which she actually took!!). Bran came home,  played with her for a little bit while I finished up some laundry and dishes, and then we headed out to drop off Bran's car at the dealership for an oil change. While that was getting done we stopped by Greg & Carrie's house for a quick visit and then back to get the car. PHeww!! Another busy day :) but what's new?!

Milestones: The biggest one she's tackled is this idea of walking. She is very confident now with walking and will walk all around if already standing. She can get to a stand against something, but if she falls down in the middle of the floor and you're not there to pick her up, she'll crawl to where she can get up. So, she's not quite there with getting up on her own from a sit, but it's all happening so fast I assume it will happen within the week! It's been really cool to watch. As I mentioned earlier, she can squat down and pick up something and then continue walking, but that's still kinda emerging as she falls down sometimes after she gets the object. She's quite the chatterbox and will talk up a storm of jargon and babbling, using inflextion and a lot of adult patterns. She loves to yell "Skye Skye" when she starts barking, or when she sees Skye.. it's really funny how she copies you.  She signs "fan" now and we're working on "please" and "thank you"... She says "mama" all the time now, which I love, and a lot of words.. I'm amazed at her language!

Another busy week ahead.... and then her party next weekend!!! Can't believe she's almost 1!!!