NH visit and pics
So, my trip home to see my family went well, until I actually had to head back here to NC. My aunt's birthday party Friday was great :) I got to see family I hadn't seen in a looooong time, which was really nice. My grandpa was there, and I hadn't seen him since I was 11, and there was a cousin there I hadn't seen since I was 9, and another that I don't even remember seeing because I was so young the last time I saw him. Ava stayed up until sometime after midnight that night, but she was having fun dancing and running around, so it was good :)
Saturday we had breakfast/brunch with all the family (we all stayed at the hotel the party was at in Boston), then headed to my parents' house in NH, where we carved pumpkins. Once that was done, we headed to the pumpkin festival in Keene (http://pumpkinfestival.com), my poor sister got a flat tire on the way there, Ava started getting cranky, and it was pretty cold out, so my mom, Ava and I didn't stay too long.
Sunday we went with my parents to Hamilton Orchards in MA, which is a place I used to go to a lot when I went to UMass, and my parents still go there every year. I wanted to get some pics of Ava with the goats and chickens that were there, but she wasn't having it..lol. After that we just headed back to their house and relaxed for the rest of the day. Ava started to run a bit of a temp that night...which was not so good.
Monday I had planned on leaving fairly early in the morning to head back here, but that didn't happen. Ava wasn't feeling well and I was really tired, so we didn't leave until almost noon. A couple of hours into the trip Ava got super fussy, so we stopped in MA for a little while and walked around a mall there I used to go to. Got myself a dress for the MC ball while we were there (I'm going with a friend of mine on the 4th). We got back in the car and stopped once more at about 10pm, when Ava started getting cranky again and I needed to get gas. Around 2am is when things got really interesting...at that point I was in Richmond, VA, and Ava was pretty sick, so I stopped at a hospital there to get her checked out. 5 hours later we were finally out of there, with Ava having diagnoses of double ear infections and croup. Lovely. Poor baby was soooo miserable, we ended up getting a hotel room until about 1pm to get some sleep before making the rest of the trip home. We didn't make it back to Jacksonville until almost 6pm Tuesday...ugh!
I was supposed to work Tuesday and Wednesday, but that didn't happen because of when I finally got back and Ava being so sick. I took her back to the doc on Wednesday and he prescribed some oral steroids for her to help her breathing, since she was still having a tough time. I worked Thursday, and then didn't Friday. Ava is still coughing a lot, but it doesn't sound like it did, and her fever is finally gone. But now I'm sick...lucky me.
Oh! I have a new job :) I'll be doing home health care, one-on-one care for a little girl on a ventilator. I meet with the family on Monday to work out what days of the week I'll be working. The pay is waaaay better than what I got at the nursing home, and I'll only be working 3 days a week. I'll be working nights, but I should have them all in a row, so I'll then have 4 days off in a row afterwards :) So it all amounts to me working less hours, less days, but still bringing home more pay. Not a bad deal :)
Anyway...on to the pictures! Warning! There are almost 30 of them...so this isn't slow-connection friendly!
My grandpa, Ava and I
Sleepy baby on the way from my sister's apt to my parents' house
Playing in the comfy hotel bed
First time playing with a pumpkin...she kept trying to eat the seeds..lol :) (don't mind the marker on her...she had fun coloring beforehand..good thing it was washable!)
She decided it would be fun to try to eat the markers..lol
At the pumpkin festival :) Ava loved the jack-o-lanterns! And there were 4 of those pumkin towers, plus pumpkins alllll over the downtown area, over 24,000 in all!
Sleepy in the morning sun
Playing in the sunshine (reaching for the container of glitter..lol)
She loved playing on the carpeted stairs
At the apple orchard
One reason why I miss the northeast
Saturday we had breakfast/brunch with all the family (we all stayed at the hotel the party was at in Boston), then headed to my parents' house in NH, where we carved pumpkins. Once that was done, we headed to the pumpkin festival in Keene (http://pumpkinfestival.com), my poor sister got a flat tire on the way there, Ava started getting cranky, and it was pretty cold out, so my mom, Ava and I didn't stay too long.
Sunday we went with my parents to Hamilton Orchards in MA, which is a place I used to go to a lot when I went to UMass, and my parents still go there every year. I wanted to get some pics of Ava with the goats and chickens that were there, but she wasn't having it..lol. After that we just headed back to their house and relaxed for the rest of the day. Ava started to run a bit of a temp that night...which was not so good.
Monday I had planned on leaving fairly early in the morning to head back here, but that didn't happen. Ava wasn't feeling well and I was really tired, so we didn't leave until almost noon. A couple of hours into the trip Ava got super fussy, so we stopped in MA for a little while and walked around a mall there I used to go to. Got myself a dress for the MC ball while we were there (I'm going with a friend of mine on the 4th). We got back in the car and stopped once more at about 10pm, when Ava started getting cranky again and I needed to get gas. Around 2am is when things got really interesting...at that point I was in Richmond, VA, and Ava was pretty sick, so I stopped at a hospital there to get her checked out. 5 hours later we were finally out of there, with Ava having diagnoses of double ear infections and croup. Lovely. Poor baby was soooo miserable, we ended up getting a hotel room until about 1pm to get some sleep before making the rest of the trip home. We didn't make it back to Jacksonville until almost 6pm Tuesday...ugh!
I was supposed to work Tuesday and Wednesday, but that didn't happen because of when I finally got back and Ava being so sick. I took her back to the doc on Wednesday and he prescribed some oral steroids for her to help her breathing, since she was still having a tough time. I worked Thursday, and then didn't Friday. Ava is still coughing a lot, but it doesn't sound like it did, and her fever is finally gone. But now I'm sick...lucky me.
Oh! I have a new job :) I'll be doing home health care, one-on-one care for a little girl on a ventilator. I meet with the family on Monday to work out what days of the week I'll be working. The pay is waaaay better than what I got at the nursing home, and I'll only be working 3 days a week. I'll be working nights, but I should have them all in a row, so I'll then have 4 days off in a row afterwards :) So it all amounts to me working less hours, less days, but still bringing home more pay. Not a bad deal :)
Anyway...on to the pictures! Warning! There are almost 30 of them...so this isn't slow-connection friendly!
My grandpa, Ava and I
Sleepy baby on the way from my sister's apt to my parents' house
Playing in the comfy hotel bed
First time playing with a pumpkin...she kept trying to eat the seeds..lol :) (don't mind the marker on her...she had fun coloring beforehand..good thing it was washable!)
She decided it would be fun to try to eat the markers..lol
At the pumpkin festival :) Ava loved the jack-o-lanterns! And there were 4 of those pumkin towers, plus pumpkins alllll over the downtown area, over 24,000 in all!
Sleepy in the morning sun
Playing in the sunshine (reaching for the container of glitter..lol)
She loved playing on the carpeted stairs
At the apple orchard
One reason why I miss the northeast