I just realized...

I forgot to add details about Ava's birthday (party)! I hadn't realized it's been this long since I've blogged. We had a great time and she loved her gifts. Many friends and family came, including some I haven't seen in a long time. I'll post some pictures of her party. 

It's been a long time... again.

Hi everyone (whoever may be reading this)! I just can't keep up with this blog, I'm so busy! Cooking, cleaning, taking care of a baby and a fiance... Being a stay at home mom isn't easy.

Anywho, this week is national food allergy awareness week. I wish I knew how to get involved, what with Ava being allergic to milk, eggs, and peanuts. I wish I could get involved somehow because, before I had Ava, I didn't even know people could be allergic to milk, eggs, or numerous other types of food. The only food allergy I knew about was the allergy to nuts, which my uncle has. I guess that's where Ava gets her peanut allergy, my side. Honestly, it's a pain in the ass to cook for a kid with food allergies. Not to mention expensive. And inconvenient. I have to read the label of every food I buy her to make sure there's no milk or eggs. Can you believe chicken nuggets have milk in them? It's also pretty sad. I wish I could buy my baby an ice cream or macaroni and cheese. Or even give her mashed potatoes. Luckily, I've found some delicious vegan recipes and there are replacements for usually dairy-centered foods (soy/coconut milk ice cream, "mac and no cheese"/mac and cheeze, etc.), but as I said, these products are usually twice as expensive as the regular stuff.

What else is new? Hmmm. The wedding! We're getting pretty far in the wedding. I have my dress, the venue, photographer, and officiant are booked, we know where we're going on the honeymoon (just haven't paid the deposit yet) and I'm currently looking into DJs, florists, limos, and hotels for our guests. Soon I will have to contact the venue for a tasting (they provide all of the food) and more money toward the payment. So I will be able to do invitations soon! I also have my bridesmaids going to David's Bridal in mid-June to get fitted and pick out dresses. But... back to the honeymoon! We will be going to Paradise Stream resort in Mt. Pocono (about 2 hours from home) for 3 nights and staying in a room with a champagne glass-shaped jacuzzi, personal heart-shaped pool, 2 floors, champagne, horse-back riding, ice-skating, and so much more! I am so excited. We're going not too far away for not too long because we don't want to be away from Ava for too long.

It's been pretty beautiful around here lately, and today I took Ava for a walk, which tired her out, so she took an early nap! Yay! I got a chance to clean the crap out of the kitchen and am about to start folding laundry. There's never a lazy day for me (maybe that's why I'm so looking forward to this honeymoon-I get to go to sleep and wake up when I want, and NO CHORES!) Ava's also been going for bike rides with daddy every day now, which she loves. It also gives me some alone time to get more stuff done (or [don't tell Kevin] just relax and be lazy for half an hour).

I also want to add that since starting my weight loss journey 2-3 months ago, I have lost 12 pounds! I look so much better than I did. I'm much more toned everywhere, now I just need to get rid of my "pooch". I've been watching calories and exercising almost every day, and it's paid off. In fact, my future sister-in-law made my day yesterday by telling me how much thinner I look!

Well, I better sign off and start folding this laundry... it's not going to fold itself. Maybe I should invent that; a machine that folds clothes and puts them away for you. Or maybe that's a robot... I don't know, I'm rambling. See ya later!

A long overdue update!

Hi everyone! So it's been a while and I reaaallly wanted to update. First off, Kevin and I got our own apartment! We moved in the weekend before Halloween, when it snowed (it hasn't really snowed since... this weather is wacky). That was pretty stressful, what with painting, buying stuff to put in the apartment, etc... Anyways, the apartment belongs to Kevin's sister's boyfriend. He was having trouble paying his mortgage (he owns the building), so Kevin offered to move in, and Sean (the owner) move to the basement attached to this apartment. We have been doing well, groceries are expensive, as to be expected with a man with a huge appetite. The shower in the basement has not been finished though, therefore Sean has to come up to our apartment to take a shower. Not the best, but I can't complain-the guy's giving us a place to live! Sean and Jess (Kevin's sister) are planning to move to Brigantine, NJ, where Sean has a shore house, around September, when Kevin's best friend Jim is hoping to rent out the basement. I think by then the shower and kitchen should be installed down there.

And now about the light of my life. Ava has been crawling everywhere and getting into everything! She got some new, big toys for her first Christmas, which was so much fun (I made Christmas dinner!). She loves them. She's getting a little bit closer to walking... cruising furniture and using little baby walkers. She even stands by herself for like 3 seconds.

And I can't forget to mention that Ava will be turning 1 in 19 days! I cannot believe it. When moms say time flies, they mean it. I feel like yesterday, I was holding her in the hospital, nursing her for 3 hours straight (oh, that was fun). Her birthday is on Superbowl Sunday this year, so we'll be holding her birthday party the day before at Kevin's mom's house. I will have to make her her own personal cake/cupcake though, because she's allergic to milk =(. I feel so bad, there's so many good things that other kids can eat, that she can't. Hopefully she'll outgrow her allergy by the time she's older. I can't imagine being a kid and not being able to eat Oreos with milk.

Oh, and guess what?! Kevin proposed!!!! He asked me to marry him on the night of our 5th anniversary of him asking me to be his girlfriend, when we were 13 and 15. Oh, how we've changed. But we've stayed together and now we're getting married on November 3rd of this year. It's crazy, nobody believed me when I was 14 and saying I was going to marry this guy, and now it's happening. I always knew I would marry him.

Anywho, I should get off this computer... I'm dead tired, because Ava's been teething and is awake half the night, screaming... I should take a nap while she does. Hopefully I'll update soon!

Recently

Hi all, I was thinking the other day about how I needed to update! Let's see... well, Kevin and I have been house hunting recently. We found a few houses we like and may be able to afford, but he has absolutely zero credit, so we're pretty much screwed on getting a loan. I just wish we had a million dollars so I could finally get my baby her own room that she (and we--we like watching TV with the lights on at night!) deserve.

Ava's been starting to pull herself up a little bit more, recently. I've also found out that if you give her more than one Gerber puff, or if she puts it on her tongue, she will gag and throw up. Every time.

Ugh, and I was recently talking about how excited I was for fall weather. Damn me for that. It's getting so cold, so fast, and I'm now remembering how fricking cold it is in the fall. Oh well, at least I have sweatshirts and pants, Uggs, and comfy slippers. Ava's a whole 'nother story though. She hates having anything on her feet. I put socks on-she kicks them off. But I found a cute little pair of knockoff Uggs for her, and they stay on, but every time I take her out of her little "highchair" (it clips onto the table) upstairs, they fall off =/.

I've also decided to stop cloth diapering. I got a lot of crap for this decision, but the people giving the crap aren't the ones washing the diapers nonstop, and rinsing off poop in their shower because they don't have a diaper sprayer. But I've decided to keep my 1 bumgenius and order 2 more for nighttime, because Ava SOAKS all her diapers at night.

Well I better wrap this up because my Phillies are playing Game 5 of the NLDS right now... Go Phillies!

Hello!

Hi there! My name's Meredith, and 8 months ago, I became a first time mom. Not too odd, right? Well, it's not too normal, because I was 17. I have since turned 18, but we both know that still makes me a young mom.

Anyways, my daughter's name is Ava, and my job is to be her mommy, 24/7. My boyfriend, Kevin, is a piano mover for Duffy Piano Movers, based out of Prospect Park, PA (about 15 minutes outside of Philadelphia). Currently, all 3 of us are living in his parents' house in the basement. We have a nice setup down here, and we have pretty much everything included in a full house, except for more than one closet without a light. We have: a bedroom, kitchen, living room, and full bathroom (granted, there isn't much moving space, but how much can you ask?)

Me and my little Princess (she definitely looks more like her daddy!)

You'd think that keeping a single room clean would be easy, right? Wrong. Especially with an 8 month old baby that's now starting to crawl all over the place and get into EVERYTHING! It's a little hard to keep clean because we get takeout so much (maybe that's why these last few postpartum pounds won't go away, too) and because there aren't really that many places to keep things.

Money's a little tight right now because I'm not working, but my new favorite self-help phrase is "this too shall pass" (I use that about every night after I put Ava in her crib and she cries). Luckily, Kevin has a future in the business; his father owns it, so in the future, it will become his business. He works a lot, but somebody has to work to afford all the groceries we buy. Soon, he'll be driving a truck for the business.

Our little family <3 (Ava was like 2 months old!)

Sure, life's a little tough sometimes, but I'm happy with where I am in life. Mommy to the funniest, most beautiful baby girl in the world and girlfriend to a hardworking, dedicated daddy. And how many teen moms have all that I have?