ava loves to swim

so its crazy. I coach other kids to swim all summer and have taught lessons for years and grew up swimming but really did not know how to begin with ava so I did not. However, after going to a party a month ago where I did not bring a swim suit and she had to be in the shallow part of the pool by herself she lost her fear of water. By the end of the party the dads swimming were literally throwing ava back and forth like a football and she was diving getting rocks off the bottom of the pool. Of course this made Keegan crazy jealous that he was at work and missed it and that other dads were tossing her around. Truthfully I think he was somewhat sceptical as she cries when you wash her hair. So the next day we headed to his parents and she showed her tricks and how she went under happily. Over the last month she has been swimming tons, often with her gigi and pop pops who have told her to move her arms and kick and now she does and this past week I kid you not Keegan got her to dive. A real legitimate dive. We even took her to one of the last swim team practices and she proceeded to dive in off a starting block. I have tons of 5 year olds who cant do this. I can take no credit for this as I have just played with her and a few times wished she would wear floaties as her no fear at all generates quite a lot for me, however, she now lifts her head to breath and can get out of pool completely on her own as long as she gets close to the side. Its crazy to me and the cutest thing in the world. Yesterday she swam for 6 hours straight, eating a Popsicle in the pool but not stopping. Her eyes are still a little blood shot.

Name

We have a name.... a first and a last name and the middle name(s) is still under question..... hoping to avoid Surtain (this is Nicki writing of course)

Maddox Ripp

I feel so relieved and strange to have a name before he is here... so not the way Ava was. But as I am so busy with Ava and I do not feel as connected to him as maybe I did Jobina because I was not chasing one around already so a name is making him so much more real and his own little guy. We love you Maddox and cant wait to meet you, what a wonderful son and brother you will be. But cook a little longer... you are still a bit small to join the world.
XOXO
Mommy

baby boy update

Yesterday we all went to the Doctor with mommy. Ava lied on the table lifted up her shirt and wanted her belly to be examined as well. She also really liked listening to the babies "boom boom boom" heart beat. Keegan had not been able to go with me for a while so it was nice to have him there. We are 35 weeks and she said she would induce at 38 weeks because I am really uncomfortable and my back is killing me but both Keegan and I would much rather things happen naturally. Part of the excitement is gouing into labor at home and timing contractions etc. However, my OB's office shares shares call with another one so that is a little nerve racking that it could be someone I have never seen before... and Keegan would love to deliver this baby as he did with Ava but that may have been a Dr. Ribail special treat... so we will see. Things are moving and this little guy will be here so soon. holy shit.

playroom ready for two to play

trying to introduce the baby idea to ava and rufus..... neither care right now



its amazing all the toys we have accumulated in 2 years..... but I must say Ava plays a lot with her toys and often entertains herself

baby boys room

well i have been holding off to post pictures of babies room as it is not finished, although I now know if you have diapers and wipes and boobies your set for the first chunk of time, however, I also know that with two kids and fall approaching and many trips to playground there will be little time to do room work let alone laundry around this place. Sadly we are still trying to figure out how to get the fabulous huge airplane of my dads to Texas so that it can hang from ceiling over the room... so we are missing the plane. Hoping my mum can somehow bring it when she comes next week as two checked bags... I mean they will only be like 6 feet each and when my dad tried to mail it, it was like 6 times more expensive to mail then we expected so that is our problem. A few pictures on the wall.... aviation maps will go behind the crib and a plane of some sort some day hopefully soon er than later will fly over the room but not into the city sky line. we are not creating September 11th here... it sort of all just came together like this.

Ava's big girl room and well the guest room when you come

so far she sleeps well once asleep...... prolly better then in crib once asleep but its getting to asleep that is the problem. Napping is not an every day thing any more and well bed time is either easy cause she has no nap and passes out exhausted, as do I or it is a long process of a lot of me lying there and often falling asleep as well while she pulls out all the tricks to keep herself awake. Including running out of room and if daddy is home giving him lots of kisses cause she knows she will not be in trouble for kissing daddy.

playdough shoes

Well its over. I have to say I woke up Wednesday morning feeling kind of empty and lost without having to go to swim team and rush to get everything done and everyone taken care of. Last week I did not go to the gym before 830 once.... that felt like such a treat, although when its over by 630 when you go early it makes waking up in your bed at 645 a bummer and wish you already went that is for sure. No but the season was incredible. The kids did so well, we grew by 20 kids this summer from last and had about 20 kids qualify for all stars, that is after placing third overall against two teams bigger and full of year round USA swimmers. So proud. Monday was brutal at all stars for 12 hours in the heat but exciting nun the less and I had a few kids come home with gold and even more with silver. What a season and I think if I do in next summer we would grow to about 75 kids which would be my ideal number. Tuesday night was the banquet, held at shenaniganz ( i have connections) and each kid gets about a minute speech about themselves and their season before their name is said and then they come get their trophy. I was panicked getting speeches written ( i procrastinate all season as its so hard to say all the stuff about some kids and so hard to say something genuine about others) and making sure I got all the thank yous in that I needed too... Ava was less than cooperative that day, I was a wreck and got really frustrated and angry and had several melt downs. Some how I did it and I think the kids had a great time at the dinner, getting awards... and watching a really cute slide show some of the parents put together and then they got to play whole team lazer tag. Ava was exhausted from 3 days with no nap but she was able to come and see some of the kids and then run around with Keegan as he made sure the banquet went smoothly. Keegan also got to see the team and hear how great they did which besides 10 mins of a practice he really has not been able to see anything in action. But he does know all the kids first and last names as he helped me get through the season with the new computer system (which is amazing... HyTEk team manager its called... not user friendly at all but saved me hours and hours of work) and much of the data entry that accompanies this job. Then he brought Ava home to bed as I wrapped things up at Shenaniganz and got her to sleep in her bed by himself, very happy daddy for sure as she has been saying daddy get out every night he is home and will only let me lie with her. Oh the joys of the big girl bed. grrrrrr.

okay

so here it is ... the belly at 34 weeks, i got brave and went public. I swear i feel like you can watch it grow these days but you can certainly watch it move. Kids at swim practice yesterday were like wow coach nicki look at your belly it looks like an alien is in there. Nope just a very active baby boy these days. I will catch you up on swim team soon. Its crazy crazy crazy around here until Wednesday and then it is all over. we are doing great tho.

getting ava ready for a brother

well so this picture happened on her own... Keegan and I were talking about the baby and ava proceeded to go and get "Meow" and then want to give it food and take care of it.... we were both touched. But on the subject of getting her ready.... ava spent the first 24 hours away from me. I think I was way more of a mess then she was. I had to go to work so I left at 8, Keegan took her to his moms where she stayed all day cause I had so much swim team stuff that was due and had to be done in the afternoon Ava's cousins izzy, mak and sophie came over to hazels and they all spent the night at gigi and poppops. Ava had a ball.... skipping nap for the second day in a row and playing with her gigis and then her cousins and popops and aunt caitlin all afternoon and night. Dancing, toys, swimming watching movies, etc. I guess she asked one time about keegan and me right before bed and that was the end of it. Thank you gigi and popops it is so amazing to know we can do it and she will be totally fine and it was so nice to have a little time with my husband. The next morning Ava came home lacking her voice from laughing, singing and screaming so much and took a four hour nap. I think she had the time of her life and to think i was crying in the morning cause I was so worried about her... well and pregnant hormonal

First hair cut

well at two plus a bit it was time.... her hair was getting so long in the back but it still was a mess.... and well, still is cause I did not want to do bangs, however it is at least even in the back. Keegan was off on Friday so we took a family trip to the kids hair cut place nearby. Ava was into the barbee jeep they had but when it came time to actually cut sitting in my lap was the only option... of course distracted by her ring pop. After it was finished the jeep was cool again. The hair cut was followed by a trip to the park to build sand castles in the sand box and miss the beach and then swinging with daddy very crazily and watching the fish in the creek and a picnic. And then prolly a long drive to get her to fall asleep since switching to the big bed makes going to sleep at nap and bed quite a challenge. ugh....

baby boy ripp

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4th of july pics

swim team had a fabulous float in the 4th of July parade and Ava and I walked all the way cheering and singing our Dolphin cheers. All the kids were there for the most part and had a blast not to mention winning best float for the second year in a row. And then it was a day with daddy and cousins and I worked on Championship entries which are due today at 6pm and are still not finished. I have been up since 5 trying to get them ready but still confused by the new computer program. I will be a happy girl when they are turned in and set. No more regular season meets tho... Divisional Champs next Tuesday and then the all stars qualifier Monday the 19th. The banquet on the 20th and DONE. then it kind of means baby time in my head... a little scary and will have some time but that once swim team was over that was a milestone of closeness in my head.

here are a few more Topsail Island pics

these were when my parents switched and dad/ doodad came:



so it was such a wonderful 6 days..... thank you to my mom and my dad. we had a lovely time. It was scary getting there as our flight left at 5:30 and the doctor was going to call at 5 and tell us if we could go or needed to go to hospital because I was in labor but the swim meet that morning made braxton hicks contractions really painful and every 4 mins apart but they were not the real thing so off off we went. bummed to be home but not getting ready for baby boy to come. Been working on rooms and will put pictures soon.

family vacation

sadly this was our first one all together as a family but it was amazing aMAZINNG AMAZING. we flew to NC on Monday afternoon after my swim meet arriving at RDU at 12:30 am so actually Tuesday and then my fabulous husband drove his sleeping girls till 3 am to Topsail Island where my mom and Keith were. We spent two wonderful days with them and then the parents switched and my dad came down for two nights. Then we headed back to Durham for the night before catching a flight Sunday morning. We really had the best time ever and ava fell in love with her grandparents even more, sand castles and the beach. her are a few pics: at the point watching keith aka grandbug (my moms husband) fish and the sunset
ava taking it all in... or not at all
chaulk on the screened in porch
every ones belly's