I got hit by a truck.

Finally another post.

Having moved into our new house has been stressful, fun and many other adjectives over the past few months. But today it is "home". Which is the best adjective yet. We really have spent so much time working on the house and making it more our style that we have forgotten how amazing it just is to be "home" raising our family and growing together.

We recently returned from Mexico and it was an incredible time, the most fun we've had in a long time....and the 100 degree temperature difference wasn't to shabby either.

Traveling with a 13 month old proved to be quite simple once I got over the whole...I need to pack her entire room and the garage too just in case she needs that snow sled while in Mexico.

But seriously the largest dilemma for us was to bring the car seat or to not? For me the to not did not exist. I remember hearing these words come out of my mouth "Brett if we don't bring the car seat Ava and I will not be leaving the country with you and we may not be here when you return." God sometimes I really am just plain and simply a bitch.

Anyway after a solid month of holding my ground I woke up one morning and thought. Brett is her parent too and he cares more about that little girl than one can put into words, so he can't be suggesting this alternative as a means of danger. So I began to approach the situation with ease and chocolate as to not bring out my inner bitch. And needless to say the decision was not made until the night before we left. But at the airport we left the carseat in the car. And traveled to Mexico for 2 weeks with 1 checked bag, 1 carry-on, and an umbrella stroller. ( I remember thinking...the first weeks we had Ava we brought more with on a trip to Target.)

It was liberating...not just for us but for her. The only transportation we had was a bus from the airport to the resort and I've never held her so tight, I think she knew I was neurotic or am neurotic so she was very well behaved. We did tons of walking and it was great to have the compact stroller so we could maneuver ourselves into small little shops and restaurants with ease. And she learned to walk....well she had taken a few steps before we left, but she learned balance, speed and quite a bit of physics I must say. Oh yes and that sand is a delicacy!

So we returned home RELAXED! Which is a word I haven't used in I would say close to 10 years. Re-energized by the uniterrupted time with family, the excitement of the new developments for Ava and the understanding that sometimes keeping things simple WORKS!

As I mentioned Ava learned to walk...that has now translated into running. And she has quickly learned over the past couple weeks that running is not just a motion but it is a powerful way to test her parents skills. That's right my now almost 14 month old has stopped running towards me but now runs away from things she isn't quite into, such as: picking up her toys, eating vegetables or being scolded for throwing inanimate objects into the toilet.

Ah yes the joys! But often times its so hilarious that all Brett and I can do is laugh and then we look at each other and decide ok one of us has to set a limit for her, maybe tomorrow.

But tomorrow is here people! As last night it was not just running....I got hit by a truck. Propelled by the incredible arm of Ava....a hard plastic truck hit me right on the bridge of my nose. Bruise and bump to remind me that soft objects are better for throwing and we need to teach these important life lessons to our offspring.

XOXO
Christina

Home Sweet Home

As promised a more timely blog post.

The move was very successful on Sunday to say the least. Mostly thanks to our families and of course Kate (Kate's Butt---reason coming soon) and Luke.

We weren't going to let a pesky 11 inches of snow stop us from moving! We got an early start and we sure needed it. You would think moving out of a condo would be simple as one should not have much stuff...however my genetics and 4 years of crap collecting left us with over 50 boxes, and way too much furniture.

I had 10 boxes marked Ava's clothes too small....hmmm perhaps Ava has a shopping problem.

The first truck was loading in next to record time, despite Brett's Anal retentiveness ( I am pretty sure I heard "TV GOES LAST!" 15 times...yes Brett we hear you...and what's that? we need a car seat for the xbox...lol)...and we were off the 15 min trip to the new house.

Upon arrival Brett had a great plan of "inside" people and "outside people"-defined as inside people will stay inside and meet outside people at the door to collect boxes and move to appropriate sharpie indicated places. Well this system worked for around 10 mins, and we decided to change it up....perhaps we shouldn't have. As poor Kate was coming in with a heavy box larger than her she tumbled down (the basement tile is apparently very slippery with snow on it---*rug purchased*) and needless to say I need to also thank Kate's butt for assisting.

Well it's now night 4 in the house and we are slowly unpacking. Poor Ava is not adjusting to sleeping well in her new room, so I have been camping in there on the floor to assist in the adjustment, basically she would just scream as loud as she could and cry the saddest tears anytime we laid her in the crib. So I literally tried every 15 mins from 9pm to 4am and finally I think due to pure exhaustion she would stay asleep in the crib from 4-7am. I am sure the different sounds (or lack there of) have something to do with it. Her trusty sleep sheep sound machine doesn't seem to make a difference.Same crib, same room wall color, what gives?

We did install her window coverings and hang her artwork on the walls yesterday and something worked because last night we will chalk up as a success as she only got up once screaming for me and was back sleeping in her crib within 45 mins, whew! Lets shoot for another good one!

Life is just full of adjustments and its good she go through this.

But man thank god for wine.

I will BLOG!

A giant apology extended to those of you who still wander across our blog every now and then....last post was Ava's hospital photos. Yikes, well I will not bombard you all with photos from the past 10 months, because there have been thousands. But this is a classic! (Her 6 Month Photo)

But most of all I wanted to use this post as a commitment to blog! As a lover of facebook...I am quite honestly close to "over it", so the blog is this years goal. Weekly posts to stay in touch with our loved ones close and far.

So let's see last 10 Months Highlights:

• The usual baby milestones: smiling, laughing, Trip to Chicago, first plane ride, grabbing toys, shots, first Easter, trip to Montana, first and last 14 hour car ride, daycare, making new friends, sitting, first modeling job, trips to the zoo, crawling, more shots, trip to Ely for 4th of July, first time in a lake, eating solids, learning sign language, babbling, pulling up on furniture, second modeling job first words (one of which is NO!), testing balance, dancing to the wiggles, walking with the help of her toys, playing fetch with the dogs, first Halloween, adorable unicorn costume and swimming lessons!
• Parenting is UNDERRATED, we LOVE it and never knew this part of our lives would be so very incredible :)
• We bought a new house (photos coming soon)
  Remodeling the new house Kitchen (Brett is doing all the grunt work, but I'm great at picking colors ;) )
  
• We "sold" our condo....paperwork pending.
• Kitchen is near completion final flooring went down this weekend!
  
• Big Move is Nov 14th!

We love you all and I'm really excited about keeping up with the blog!

XOXO
Christina

Happy New Year! It was a busy last couple weeks of 2009 :)

The last couple weeks of 2009 were quite extraordinary. We welcomed our daughter Ava Belle Fortier at 12:22 pm on 12/21. She weighed 6lbs 13 oz and measured 20 1/4 inches long. She is a beautiful bundle of joy and we couldn't be any happier to be called her parents. Ava had many visitors at the hospital. Grandma Fortier arrived glowing and very excited to see her granddaughter for the first time :) It was a beautiful moment to see her Brett and Ava together.
Ava's Godmother and my dearest friend and neighbor Melody and her husband Ben stopped by to share in the joy that Ava had finally arrived. We were watching the Vikings game Sunday evening with them when the contractions began. Who would have known that she'd be here less than 24 hours later. Perhaps she was ready to get out since it was quite a disappointment of a game!

The next morning Grandma and Grandpa Tholen and Uncle Matt arrived to meet Ava. Ava had a great first night and was bright eyed and ready to meet more of her wonderful family.

That afternoon and evening more visitors stopped by as the snow was beginning to fall. My great friend Juliann and her boyfriend Luke came to say hello. By this time I was ready to get out of the hospital so all visitors were much appreciated, daytime television was definitely something I had enough of by that point. My cousin Russ also popped by to hold the little bundle and offer some great advice on soothing techniques :) She looks pretty peaceful!

Wednesday morning we were discharged from the hospital, just in time for Christmas and the worst snow storm MN has seen in years! We were hosting Christmas this year so we were very worried our families would not be able to make it down with the weather as it was. But all went well and we had a houseful of Family to celebrate with for a very special first Christmas for Ava.

Things settled down after Christmas and we have just been enjoying the last week of parenthood. Ava has made great friends with her furry siblings. And we have discovered that the wiener dogs are quite protective of their baby Ava. The cats seem indifferent to her. She has had her first bath, she was not really a fan of the whole experience, however the wiener dogs were quite interested in helping out.

I can't believe she is 11 days old today. She's changing daily both her personality and physical features seem to change by the minute. She has a fantastic temperament and doesn't keep us up too much at night. We hope everyone has a fantastic new year!

Love,
Christina

Thanksgiving Up North

We headed up north to Little Falls for Thanksgiving with our whole furry family in tow. Garfield sang Christmas carols the entire 2 hour drive home, at
least that's what I kept telling myself to keep my sanity.

The holiday weekend began with the introduction of our cats and dogs and Zach's new kitty Nel isn't she adorable! Olive really enjoyed playing with Nel all weekend even though at times Nel was not having it.















Our Thanksgiving marathon of eating began at my parents house it was Mike's birthday as well so we had some good conversation and great food. My mom as usual cooked up a storm :) The adventure continued onto Brett's family where we were warmly greeted by 5 dogs and 4 cats.

We attempted a group photo of all the animals, it was entertaining to say the least but we finally got it, and then we took one letting them all go at the same time.

Patty's table as usual looked beautiful. After dinner Brett and Zach actually started a campfire outside that was a Thanksgiving first :) The fire looked so nice paired with all of the Christmas lights outside.

We made an attempt to take a couple pictures outside, pretty good for being dark out.

Friday evening we went over and visited with my Dad, Mary and the girls. Their dog cookie snuggled up to Brett right away, what a cute little shaggy dog. It was a great Thanksgiving filled with delicious food, great gathering and all our furry friends!

Doggone Early Dog Walk to Benefit Home for Life® Animal Sanctuary

Oscar and I walked in the Doggone Early Dog Walk to Benefit Home for Life® Animal Sanctuary this past weekend. We had a blast! We missed Brett and Olive but they stayed home since Olive is not quite ready for such an event.

Oscar always finds the other wiener dogs--it's like he has radar or something. Oscar was quite a social butterfly by the end of the morning other people were introducing him for me :)

Our neighbor Melody joined us with their dog Spliff the Bernese Mountain Dog. He is such a happy dog, and we call our two dogs Peen & Ween, they are quite the dual. Spliff also has wiener dog radar he spots them out of a crowd of dogs too :)

A great start to a Sunday morning! We'll be back next year!

Welcome to our Fortier Family blog!

We are very excited to share our lives with all of our friends and family. We wanted to start this blog with the pending arrival of our first child Ava Belle Fortier.

We want to keep you all updated on Ava, and of course on all of the shenanigans of our 4 fur children-The Wieners-Oscar & Olive and the Furballs- Garfield & Niko.

Hope you all enjoy sharing with us!