Strike a pose 
Ava takes turns smiling for Mormor, Julsie, and Daddy!
Just this past week Ava started smiling...all the time! It's fabulous. Once your babies start smiling, you feel a lot less like a midnight buffet and a lot more like you're forming a two-way relationship. There's a new avenue for communication, sharing feelings, expressions... it's absolutely wonderful.
Our friends Monique and Max (my favorite Bostonians) gave Ava this darling red sweater with matching shoe-socks! It is so cuddly and with this blast of Arctic air we've been getting around here...well, it's come in handy. Monique always manages to pick out the cutest outfits for my girls. It's like she's in my head and picks out just exactly what I would want. She happens to be good at just about everything though! So, it doesn't surprise me. Monique's one of those friends that you just pick-up-where-you-left-off, funny ("homey don't play that"), generous (if you're a waitress, you want her table), smart (a brilliant law student!), and well just an all-around neighborly type of gal. I sure miss her (since she's clear across the country!).
