Meet Ava & Olivia

Happy 1st birthday Olivia!

2011-01-02T21:15:00.002-05:00

I have been terrible about blogging for Livvy. There are simply not enough hours in the day. But, seeing as how today is a very special day, I figured I better make the time! Last year on this day, at 12:26pm, Olivia was born! Knowing Olivia as I do now, I can see why I had to have an emergency C-section with her...stubborn! It's her way or the highway most of the time. She has such a little temper, but she is so much fun too. Her laughs come easy, and she does it all the time. Ava is great at making her smile and laugh. She tickles her and chases her. Olivia began walking last month, and she is pretty good at it now. We are working on learning parts of her body like belly and toes. She loves to poke at our ears, eyes, and teeth. When I ask her "where's mommy's eyes?" she will poke my eye and go "Ah." Her teeth are coming in all over the place. She has 3 top teeth, 2 bottom, and a molar is popping out on the bottom. Now that she is 1, we are going to work on weening her from the bottle. That is going to be a challenge, and I have to do some homework on here to see how I did it with Ava. It seemed so easy with Ava, but I don't think Olivia will be as easy. She loves her bottle, and she's still not real good with a sippy cup. She tends to let it spill out of her mouth and dribble all over. I can't wait to have all those bottle gone, and not have to buy formula anymore! That will be some money saved. We just bought her a new front-facing car seat the other day, and today was her first time riding in it. She looked very comfortable.
For her birthday, we went to my parent's house to have a belated Christmas dinner and party. Grampy, Grandma Kate, Wally, Joey, Rebecca, Peggy and Jimmy were there. We made cupcakes for the party, and Olivia got to eat one. She made a big mess but everyone thought that she was quite reserved for a baby. One bad thing that happened was that she got stung by a yellow jacket at their house. She was walking barefoot on their porch, I was watching her, and suddenly she bent down and started crying really hard. I went out and picked her up and held her and she was struggling and wouldn't stop squirming and crying. I was looking all over her wondering what was wrong, and then I saw the bee. The stinger came out of the bottom of her foot. I felt so bad, we put baking soda on the sting and Brent got her some baby Advil. I was very nervous that she might be allergic, but she didn't have any reaction. After 30 minutes or so, she was back to walking around like it never happened. Ava has never been stung, and I am terrified of bees.
It is late now, and tomorrow is Monday, so we all go back to school and work. I left my camera at my parent's so I can't post pics yet, but will do soon.

Angelisa

2010-10-26T22:05:00.002-04:00

The other day Ava told me that we have been saying her name wrong. She told me she wanted to change her name to Angelisa. I told her that she could when she turned 30.

Olivia said Mama today. And I know she meant it, and I know she was talking about me. I was so happy. It was after work, and I walked into the playroom. She saw me and started crawling over and while she was on her way she said mama and everyone heard it.

We went on a camping trip to Lion Country Safari last weekend, and it wasn't the best. Olivia didn't handle the change in routine very well. She didn't want to sleep. I was up with her at all hours of the night/morning. Very glad to be home.

Olivia 8 months

2010-09-06T15:28:00.003-04:00

Olivia turned 8 months on September 2nd. She is on the verge of crawling. She gets up on all fours and will push herself around, but she doesn't go very far before flopping back on her belly. Sometimes I will put her down in her room and a minute later when I walk back in, she will be across the room. She manages to get what she wants one way or the other. She is pulling herself up in her crib too. Today I put her down for a nap and when I peeked in her door, she was standing up and just talking to herself. It is very cute. She is so strong! She will grab my necl or my hair and pull so hard! That's how she gives "kisses." Pulling your face to hers and biting your cheek. She has 2 bottom teeth and it hurts when she does it! No top teeth yet but I think they are on the way.

We are still having some eating issues, where she doesn't want babyfood. She is just so into her bottle. She does okay for breakfast & lunch but dinner is usually a struggle. I usually have to give her the whole bottle first, and then give her th baby food. Otherwise she just cries. Last week she came down with diarrhea really bad, and I ended up having to put her on soy formula for a while. There were 3 mornings in a row that I woke up to a horrible mess. Lot's of laundry needed to be done. I took her the the doctor to make sure she wasn't dehydrated, and they said she was fine. The nurse thought she may have come down with a little bug and the milk in the formula was irritating her stomach. It was a mess because I had to try 2 different formulas before finding one that Olivia would drink. I can't wait to go back to her normal stuff. I haven't given her much finger food. I am terrified of choking. I have given her puffs a few times, and today I gave her a teething biscuit, which is a mess. She seemed to enjoy it though. She takes an interest in what Brent and I are eating, so I think she will be ready for more soon.

2010-05-01T18:02:00.002-04:00

Olivia Laughing 4.30.10

Ava makes Olivia laugh by hopping around her room. We discovered this by accident when Ava was doing hopscoth outside. We had never heard Olivia laugh before.

Ramblings...

2010-03-12T09:18:00.002-05:00

In the car the other day, Ava and I had this conversation:

Ava: "Mommy, when I grow up and get married, I want to marry Daddy too."
Me: "Well, you can't really do that Ava. You meet someone else to get married to."
Ava: "But I don't want to find someone else to love!"

She is such a Daddy's girl, to the point where I sometimes feel excluded. When she was 2 it was all about Mommy, but now it is Daddy Daddy Daddy! I think this continues indefinitely. He is still doing the fire school thing, so he isn't around much, which I think is the main reason for it. Mommy is like the couch - just something that is there all the time. Not very exciting. But when Daddy is home after work it's a treat and tickle time and shoulder rides and FUN.

I laid in bed awake last night thinking of all these good things to write about, but now when I sit down at the computer I go blank.

One thing is for sure - Ava will do just about anything to get my attention. It is me, her and Olivia all the time, and if I take 5 minutes to sit on the computer or even go to the bathroom - sure enough, she finds me. This morning I was on the computer typing a letter and she comes in - "I'm hungry." I reminded her that she had JUST eaten a whole bowl of cereal. "I'm thirsty." Okay, I get her a drink, then go back to typing. "Mommy, the dishwasher is leaking." I get up and take a look at the dishwasher - no leak. "Ava, where did you hear a leak?" "I don't know." She is such a bundle of energy and TALKING. It is non-stop. She is wearing me out more than the baby is. As I type that very sentence, she came in and began rubbing her head on my arm, like a cat. This is not an attention-starved child.

So, speaking of baby, she is sleeping right now, which is very nice. I don't dare talk about her night-time sleep, because it seems that every time I do, I jinx myself. She could go 6 nights in a row sleeping through the night, but I tell someone about it and sure enough - that night I am up at 4am. She is a good baby. She had her 2 month check up on Wednesday and she is doing great. She weighed in at13.2 lbs and I think she grew an inch and a quarter. I didn't get all the percentile info. She had to get shots too, which went ok. It was just like Ava - happy as can be, then cried her head off as they gave her the 3 shots, and then calmed down quickly after. Ava had her 4 year check up too, and she was a very brave girl. No shots, but they had to prick her finger for blood. She weighs 36.5 lbs and is 40 3/4" tall. She had a huge growth spurt between last year and this year. She is tall and thin.

Olivia - 6 weeks

2010-02-13T09:27:00.004-05:00

The past 2 nights Olivia has slept from 12am - 6 or 6:30am. Love it! The only bad thing is that she is usually really tired around 10pm but fights sleep. Then she becomes over-tired and has to cry for a little bit before settling down for the night. Last night was rough in that area but Brent seems to have the magic touch to get her to settle. He just has to go in there a few times before it works. Since she is doing 6 hours at night at 6 weeks old, maybe she will do 7 hours at 7 weeks, 8hours at 8 weeks, etc. I can dream, right?
She has started to smile at us a little bit - at least we think so. Sometimes it is hard to tell if it is a smile or a gas pain making her grimace. Either way it is cute. She is such a big girl, she looks older than 6 weeks.
Ava is doing great, being a big help. I could be in the bathroom putting on my make up and Ava will entertain Olivia. If Olivia is crying and my hands are full Ava will put her binky in or give her a stuffed animal. I can take a shower and Ava will tell me if Olivia wakes up. I am glad that there is an age difference between them where Ava is old enough to do stuff like that.
On a side note, Thursday 2/11/10 was Brent's graduation from the fire academy. We went with his parents, and we are all so proud of him. It was a challenge for him and for me, as it took up so much of his time. He'd be gone 4 nights a week until 11pm and ALL day Saturday. The day we brought Olivia home from the hospital, he literally had to drop me off, change his clothes, and go to school. Luckily my sister came down to give me a hand that night. It isn't over yet; in March he starts EMT class, which will be 2 or 3 nights a week until June. Hopefully no Saturdays. I had to learn to juggle handling Ava and the baby, doing bathtime and bedtime. It was almost like being a single parent. I give them TONS of credit, because it is not easy.

Olivia Part 2

2010-02-05T13:39:00.003-05:00

So I kind of ended that last post abruptly, but I knew I wouldn't get it finished all in one sitting. So here are my other ramblings.
Olivia loves bath time. We gave her her first one after almost 3 weeks, because it took that long for her belly button to fall off. She never cries. She loves the water being poured on her and she sits there very content.
Last night was our best night sleeping. I think I mentioned that I started off by having her sleep in bed with us. I knew that couldn't go on for long, because I am not a fan of the "family bed" and I don't think it provides good sleep for anyone, baby included. I wanted her sleeping in her crib. We've been working on it for over a week and she is doing very well. Last night she went to bed around 10pm and fussed for a while. Brent went in and rocked her a couple of times. She fell asleep around 11pm, and didn't wake up for food until 4am. I fed her, rocked her for a couple of minutes and then put her back in the crib. I only had to go in once to put her binky back in, and she went back to sleep. I actually had to go in and wake her up at 7:30am. Not too bad for 5 weeks old. The other night I out her to bed around 9:30pm, she woke up at 1:30am and was wide awake. It took me almost 2 hrs to get her back to sleep, and then she went until 7am. I keep the lights off, and don't talk to her. After eating I put her back in the crib and put her mobile on. I go back to my room, and if she fusses I let her go for a few minutes before going back in. When I do go back in, I just put her binky back and rub her head or pat her belly. Then I walk back out. If it goes on too long I might pick her up and rock her a bit again. During the day, Olivia spends most of the morning napping, and spends a lot of awake time in the afternoon. That just seems to be her normal pattern. Car rides make her fall asleep.
Ava is an amazing big sister. She adores Olivia, and kisses her almost too much. She is very helpful, I call her my "Diaper fairy" because whenever I need to change Olivia Ava runs in and puts a diaper on the changing table. I pretend I don't see her do it, and it's like the Diaper fairy put it there for me. She has not shown any signs of jealousy. She understands that babies cry a lot of have a lot of needs, and it doesn't phase her. I knew she would be great.

Olivia - 1 month

2010-02-03T16:06:00.004-05:00

I don't have much time to write with a 4 year old and a newborn, and I won't be paying attention to grammer and spelling, but I wanted to write about baby Olivia. This blog has been invaluable in the past few weeks, as I went back to the beginning to refresh my memory about what you do with a baby. For some reason, I glossed over the not so fun parts of having Ava, and only remembered the good stuff.
In these first few weeks of getting to know Olivia, I would have described her as very tempermental, a bit ornery, and "fussy." I hate calling a baby fussy, because what does that mean exactly? She cried a lot, and only wanted to sleep at night with me, in our bed. That describes most newborns, right? I attempted to breast-feed, and even though I had tried and failed with Ava, I was determined that this time it would work. It lasted all of 3 weeks. I gave it everything I had, talked to lactation nurses, my obgyn, pediatrician, other moms, etc. I pumped and got nothing. Once again, I beat myself up over it, but we ended up going to formula. I think that is the hardest part about having a baby. She spits up a ton, which bothers me and makes me feel guilty for bottle feeding. The pediatrician didn't seem to concerned, didn't think she has reflux, just thinks the bottle makes her eat too fast. hopefully she will outgrow it.
Olivia is a big baby. She was 8 lbs 15oz and 22 inches long when she was born. That lead to me having to have an unplanned & unwanted C section. I went in to natural labor early Saturday morning. Contractions started around 5:30am, and by 7am we were in the car on the way to the hospital, 45 mins away. When I got there I was a good 6 cms. They figured I would have the baby within and hour or 2. I tried to go all natural, figuring if I didn't have an epidural with Ava I could do it again. After 2 hours, the pain was so intense I couldn't take it anymore. Sweet sweet epidural. I never experienced pain like that and don't want to ever again. Also, the Olivia was face up, giving me back labor, and also halting labor. At 8 cms I stopped dialating, and instead my cervix started swelling. They gave me pitocin, had me change positions, but nothing was happening. THe doctor said C section and I started crying. I didn't want it at all, but the chance that I could rupture my cervix, or have to use forceps to get her out made it necessary. All in all, it wasn't horrible. My recovery wasn't too bad. I do wish I had stayed in the hospital that extra day though. Instead I had her on Saturday and went home on Monday.
As is to be expected, the first few weeks were rough. Brent and I were thinking that Olivia seemed extremely fussy and cried more than usual. However, I went back in this blog to the very beginning and saw that everything we were saying about Olivia, we had said about Ava too. Ava seemed fussy in the beginning. That made me feel much better and let me know that it is just normal newborn behavior and it would get better with time! Now that Olivia is a month old, she is starting to spend more time alert and calm. I read the book "On Becoming Baby Wise" and that helped me get her on somewhat of a schedule. She is eating about 4 oz every 3 hours, and naps 3 or 4 times a day. We don't really have a schedule for nightime. If I put her to bed at 9 or 10 pm, she will wake up twice. Last night I put her to bed around midnight and she woke up once at 3:30, ate, and then woke up at 7am. Ava started sleeping through the night around 8 or 9 weeks, so we are hoping that Olivia follows that too. If we could be so lucky! My biggest thing was getting Olivia to sleep in the crib. Ava took to the crib pretty easily, but Olivia did not like it at first. There have been a couple of nights I have had to let her cry for a while and it kills me. She liked to sleep in our bed right up next to me. It is a bad nthing that I started when I was trying to nurse. It was just easier and we both got sleep. Now I am determined to not let it get worse, and that she only sleep in the crib. If I let it go on any longer it will only be harder to break her of it. Might as well start early.

Update

2009-07-24T16:20:00.001-04:00

This year is just flying by. I know everyone says that, but really – it is! I’ve been on here so sporadically that I don’t really know how to start.

July 4th
We took Ava to a minor league baseball game because they were doing fire works after the game. It is a brand new stadium very close to our house, and you can buy really cheap tickets to sit in the grass along the field. We bring a blanket and just park it and Ava can play in the grass and hang out. I think it’s better than sitting in a seat because who wants to have a toddler sit in a seat for 3 hours surrounded be people? We went out to the parking lot during the 8th inning, and we did sparklers and watched the fireworks from the comfort of our air-conditioned car.

Ava is now officially swimming! Not bad for only being 3 ½. Both sets of grandparents have pools with no kid-fences around them, so I wanted her swimming as soon as possible. She is still hesitant sometimes, but once she gets in the water, she will go, and the more she does it the more confident she gets. Brent gets most of the credit for this, because he has been working with her for weeks. He is strict but it is working. Once he took away the arm floaties, there was no more and he didn’t back down. This past weekend we went over to my parent’s house to swim, and she was jumping in to us and swimming from person to person. Good stuff!

We are very excited to be going to New Jersey soon. We haven’t been up there in about 2 years. Ava was only 1 ½ so of course she doesn’t remember. The plane ride will be exciting because she doesn’t remember the other 2, so it’s like her first time. She thinks NJ sounds like a pretty magical place, and it’s true…it is.  It will be our only family vacation this year since I just finished school and Brent is starting fire school in August. The rest of the year will be spent getting ready for baby!

I still don’t know what I’m having yet. We should find out shortly after we come back from our trip. I am really looking forward to having the ultrasound. I have been pretty anxious most of this pregnancy. I guess that’s one of the side-effects of miscarriage – you are always preparing for the worst. I think I have felt the baby move this week, but it is really hard to say. I felt it 2 times yesterday, but I haven’t felt it again so I start to second-guess myself.

Well, I will have some pictures posted soon.

12 Weeks down...

2009-06-14T21:58:00.010-04:00

and I am exhausted! I have no motivation, other than to eat.

Here's a picture party of Ava, in no particular order, since I've neglected for the past few months.

2009-04-30T21:56:00.004-04:00

I feel sick!!

2009-03-25T13:36:00.003-04:00

Ava had her first school play today, and I took a ton of great pictures, and then...I ACCIDENTALY DELETED EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM!!

I felt like kicking my own butt for doing something so stupid. Ava was a kangaroo, and I got pics of her singing and doing the animal stuff, and then there was a parade. I had some pictures of me and Brent with her. I was messing with the camera afterwards, trying to figure out how to turn the pictures black and white on the camera, and I hit the button to format my memory card, which wiped out all the pictures. SO STUPID.

Break Down

2009-03-11T22:18:00.011-04:00

I took a nice long break there. School started for me, and it seems like I am busy with something just about every minute of the day, so the blog suffers. Ava started her first gymnastics class this past Tuesday, and it was very blog-worthy, so I thought I would post some pictures.

Happy Birthday!

2009-01-23T22:04:00.004-05:00

Happy 3rd birthday Ava! Today is Friday, and even though we had to work we still had a great day. We had a party for you at Max's house, and Isabelle, Giuliana, and Brian came to celebrate. You got some toys that you loved, including a Little Mermaid jacket, a Little Mermaid bath toy, a nice outfit from Jenny, and a pink Care Bear from Isabelle. You also got an "autographed" picture of you and Lightning McQueen! You haven't opened all the gifts from Mommy and Daddy yet - we are saving those for this weekend. You are the sweetest kid when it comes to opening gifts. You always say thank you and no matter what it is, you make a big deal out of it. When I gave you the Ariel jacket this morning, you said "I've always wanted an Ariel jacket!" I asked you if you liked it and you said, "I really do love it." Many times you open a present and say,"I've always wanted this!" We don't have to prompt you to thank people.
You also had a really cute Care Bear cupcake-cake. Mommy will post a picture of it as soon as she has time. She has lots of pictures and things to catch up on on this blog! The big thing for your birthday was going to Disney World for the first time! We went last weekend and it was so much fun. We have already started planning when we can go back. You loved most of the rides, with a couple of exceptions. I should've known better than to take you on "Snow White's Scary Adventures" and "Pirates of the Carribean." But you didn't cry, you just sat on my lap and buried your head in my neck. Afterwards, when we asked you if you liked them, you said yes, but when we asked if you wanted to ride them again you said no. Your favorite ride was "Small World" which is secretly my favorite too. It is the one thing there that will never change. We were there from the time the park opened until it closed, and you were a trooper. You lasted the whole time with no problem. We watched the parade, the fireworks, and made it through the whole place.
It's about Mommy's bedtime, but I have to share one more thing I thought was so cute. I was bringing you to preschool the other day, and the classroom had pictures of different professions (doctors, police officers, etc) and a big question - what do you want to be when you grow up? So right there I asked you what you wanted to be when you "get big." I said you could be a doctor, or a teacher...and you said "I'm going to be a mommy when I get big." I am so happy to be your mommy Ava. I hope that when you do "get big" and become a mommy, that you have a little girl as wonderful as you are. I couldn't imagine a life without my baby bear in it. Happy Birthday!

Big Girl Bed!

2008-12-23T22:22:00.009-05:00

Random

2008-12-19T15:02:00.008-05:00

First, let me say that I am so heart-broken about this Caylee case. I have been following it closely (short of watching Nancy Grace) and I just feel so bad about what happened to her. Today they identified her remains, and I feel relieved that they found her finally, but I can't help wondering what her last moments were like. If it was indeed her mother who did this, then a life sentence does not do her justice. I don't see how anyone could hurt a young child, especially a parent - especially a MOTHER.

Ava is getting her big girl bed tonight! I am so excited. Brent got the room set up this morning while Ava and I were at school and work, so when we get home today we will get to see it. Ava doesn't know about it yet, though we have dropped many hints. Look for pictures coming soon.

Is all your Christmas shopping done? I only have a few small things to get. My budget went out the window a long time ago, but I am thankful for my job that gave me a very nice Christmas bonus today. That is always a good thing! It will be another warm Christmas this year - I think the high will be in the upper 70's. It's nice if you are here on vacation, but I would love a cold Christmas. Nothing like celebrating xmas in shorts and T-shirts with the AC on.

I am really excited for Ava's birthday in January - we are taking her to Disney World! We will be there for 2 days and will probably just hit the Magic Kingdom and Downtown Disney. Some of my favorite memories are at Magic Kingdom. I haven't been in years, and I know Ava will love it since she's into all the princess stuff now.

Ava and one of the nannies - Carol. They did a Thanksgiving thing and Carol dressed up like a pilgrim.

The other nanny - Leah - also as a pilgrim

Ava and Max doing some baking. Through the french doors there is my "office."

Coming Soon to a Christmas Card Near You

2008-12-01T22:57:00.009-05:00

Thanksgiving

2008-11-24T21:19:00.004-05:00

Thanksgiving will be a pretty low key event this year. Just Brent's parents and my Mom over at the house, possibly a couple of friends. I am sad that Ava probably won't get to experience the kind of Thanksgivings that I grew up with. My stepdad's side of the family would all meet up at my Grandma's house in North Carolina. In the boonies really. She lives in a very small town, on top of a mountain in a modest but nice house that my Dad and Grandpa built. We would drive up, usually at night, and my Dad would make a bed for us in the back of his pick up, which had a top on it. I wouldn't really sleep though. I liked driving right past Atlanta and seeing all the lights of the buildings. We would arrive very early in the moring, an it would be cold. We would set up camp in her basement. The days would be spent doing nothing but playing cards or walking around outside in the leaves. Sometimes we would take a drive to Cherokee and go into all the cheesy Christmas shops. Thanksgiving day would be a mess of cooking, lots of loud talking, and laying around. There would be many pies, and eating left overs for days. Every few years it might snow flurry for a little bit. Never enough to really stick, but enough to build a very tiny snowman on the hood of a car.

The family has grown and spread out even more than before. I was always the oldest, but now even my youngest cousins are 20 years old. My parent's would still usually make the trip, but not this year. There was a bad drought and water is scarce up there. My mom is busy and my Dad left tonight to Arizona to go on a 22 day rafting trip down the Colorado River. I am pretty jealous of that, but come day 10 he'll probably be missing a warm bed and Florida weather.

So, it's just our little family, at our little house. And it will be fine, because Ava will still have a blast, and maybe when she's 30 she'll reminisce about it.

One thing I am really excited for is Ava's Christmas present from my Dad and stepmom in NJ. They got her a bedroom set. I have mixed feelings about moving her out of the crib, but it is time. I think it will be a smooth transition and I can't wait to decorate her room. My little girl without a crib! So weird. It's kind of a milestone.

I'll have lots of pictures up soon. We did a little photo shoot at a museum and I got some great pics of her. We were hoping for a nice family shot, but we are not so good at those. It seems that one of us is always looking in a different direction and Brent smiles like Chandler in pictures. If you're a "Friends" fan you'll know what I'm talkin bout.

$2.07

2008-11-14T16:12:00.003-05:00

That's the price of gas here. How crazy is that?? I put $30 in my Explorer and nearly filled it up.

Ava is doing good. People who haven't seen her in a few months are telling me how tall she looks and how she is losing her baby face. I would agree, she is getting tall and thin - just like her Dad. She has a nice big scabby scrape on her chin right now, courtesy of Max. He pushed her off a slide and she fell into some recycling bins and got scraped up good. Of course, her school pictures were taken this week too, so it'll be interesting to see how those come out. She looks like a bruiser.

For Christmas, Ava wants "a pink soccer ball and Lightning stuff." Lightning stuff means "Cars" the movie stuff. She LOVES Cars. I have it on good authority that Santa will be bringing her a big girl bicycle and probably a new bedroom set too! I don't want to overload her on xmas, since her birthday is in January.

Happy Obama Halloween!

2008-11-04T23:14:00.006-05:00

I managed to avoid every bit of election news all day, until about 10 minutes ago. I did not want to hear all of the news network spewing their crap about who was going to win, before the votes were tallied. I spent this evening watching Rocky II for the first time, and then Brent turned on the news, just in time to see the results from California. I got to see Obama win the election on FOX News! That is ironic. Brent and I both had goose bumps. Of course, we both voted for Obama. It was a hard decision for me initially, but once I made it, I believed it to be the best one. I think we should all just work together and hope for the best! I hope that the crazies out there don't do anything stupid - for the nation's sake.
I talk to insurance agents from all over the south for my job, and today I talked to a (white) guy from Mississippi. I was telling him about a meeting being rescheduled from 7:30am to 9:30am, and his response was "Much better - white people hours." I laughed kind of nervously and he said "I probably shouldn't say that. You're not black are you?" I said no, and he said "well it doesn't matter; after today we're probably gonna be a black nation." I reminded him that Obama is bi-racial, and he said "well, he's bi-something." Ummmm....okay.

Okay, on to Halloween! We had a great time going trick or treating with my parents. Ava was Tinkerbell, and she looked beautiful. She was such a trooper - we must've gone to 20 - 25 houses. She walked the entire time. She loved wearing the costume, and has put it on every day since.

The Fall Must-Have Pumpkin Shots

2008-10-26T22:18:00.009-04:00

Ipod

2008-10-25T14:09:00.000-04:00

Does your boss buy you presents like a new Ipod? Mine does.

Cutie Pie

2008-10-16T22:28:00.004-04:00

Tonight when we were putting Ava to bed, she put her arms around both me and Brent, pulled us close to her face and said, "I love you guys." I melted.

After a couple of bad days last week, she has been really good. I don't know what happened last Thursday and Friday, but she threw a couple of horrible tantrums at work. I was kind of freaked out about it, and even canceled some plans last weekend to stay home with her. It isn't like her to be that bad. But since then she has been good. She is such a little adult that sometimes I have to remind myself that she's 2 - tantrums are bound to happen sometimes.

This weekend we are going to Busch Gardens, and next weekend we are going to a pumpkin festival at a farm. Ava already picked out her Halloween costume - she's going to be Tinkerbell. Ever since we saw Disney on Ice, she has been talking about Tinkerbell.

2008-10-07T22:53:00.008-04:00

Ava and Pookie, the class dog. Kids that are well behaved and do something nice are allowed to bring him home for a weekend. We had to write about how we spent our time with Pookie. Ava was SO excited to bring him home!

We took Pookie to the Press Box with Aunt Nicky.

We are squinting really bad.

She's wearing her Flounder hat from Disney on Ice. I had to pay $10 for an old bag of popcorn to get that hat. I ended up wearing it more than her during the show.

I Wanna be a Cowgirl...

2008-09-30T21:49:00.003-04:00

The girls had an impromptu photo session with Ava and Max. This is one of the theme parties they had. So far we've had French, Mexican, Hawaiian, Italian, and of course, Western. They are great nannies, and I am lucky to have them watching Ava. The last picture is a perfect example of how Ava's relationship with Max can be.

No Pics

2008-09-22T22:48:00.003-04:00

I haven't been using my desktop at home - because it is so slow! So I haven't been able to post any pictures. I don't want to clog up my work laptop with pics. Speaking of work, I am going nuts it is so busy. November - Feb is our busy season, and I am already missing how slow it was in the summer.

Ava is doing really good. She is loving pre-school. All of the morning anxiety I used to have dropping her off has pretty much disappeared. Now as soon as she hits the playground she runs from me, off to the swings. She is a swing addict. She still only goes 3 mornings a week, from 9am - 1pm. That is enough for me at this point.

Brent is excited to finally get his wii tommorrow (hopefully). After spending a couple of agonizing days on Ebay, and checking multiple stores in different cities, it will be nice for him to finally have one. Brent - happy early birthday? :-)

I am still absorbed in the Twilight series. I just finished the third book last night, and will start the fourth and final one tonight. I have been averaging 5 days to get through one, which is pretty good, considering how busy we've been. Although, I did stay up until 3:30am last night reading. That's not too good. I am looking forward to seeing the movie when it comes out in November - however, I know that it will probably be a lot of cheese. I feel a little cheesy just looking forward to it.

We just bought tickets to go see Disney on Ice in October. You know you are a parent when the only live shows you go to our kid shows. Last month, the Backyardigans, next month - Mickey. I think Ava will love it though. She enjoyed the Backyardigans, and Disney on Ice includes the Little Mermaid - what's not to love? Maybe one day Brent and I will be able to go to a grown up concert once again.

Observations

2008-09-16T10:27:00.004-04:00

Here are some observations about my 2 year old:

She will sometimes do the exact opposite of what I want her to do.

She is the most loving kid I have ever seen. She gives me so many kisses, and randomly tells me how much she loves me throughout the day. She tells me that I'm her best friend, or that I'm "the best." She loves her family.

Much like my cat, she knows exactly where I am going to walk and manages to walk right in front of me and trip me up.

She is very shy around most strangers, but warms up quickly.

Her favorite thing to do is read or be read to. Her second favorite thing to do is dance and sing.

She is extremely verbal, and picks up on new words very quickly. She suprises me every day with something new she has learned.

Her idol is Lightning McQueen.

At 2 years old, she has a very good hold on right and wrong. She understands fairness. She apologizes easily when she does something wrong.

She is emotional, but not at all aggressive. If she gets hit or pushed by another kid, it hurts her feelings, but she rarely pushes back.

She loves Dum Dums and Hershey Kisses, and she responds very well to bribery.

Ava & her friend Leah at the Mexican Fiesta:

Scootering:

I feel bad

2008-09-06T22:26:00.002-04:00

I think this is the longest I've ever gone without posting. To my very few loyal readers, I will be posting soon. Everything is pretty good, just busy and I'm trying not to be on the computer so much. Brent hooked up wireless so now I can bring my laptop home and sit in the living room in front of the TV - not exactly the best time for writing. I have been hooked on a new book too - Twilight by Stephanie Myers. I know it's not new, but I finally gave in and decided to see what it was about. I didn't want to like it, but I am kind of loving it. It's very high school and a little cheesy, but I have to make myself stop reading. That has been taking up a lot of my time.

Ava has been saying some of the funniest things - I wish I could remember them all. Today I had told her we could go to a kid's amusement park that they have in town here, but it got too late and I kind of hoped she would forget about it and we would go tomorrow. Well, she woke up from her nap and said, "I'm ready to go to the ferris wheel store now." She even went to the closet to get her shoes. I felt so bad when I told her that it was too late and we would go tomorrow. She tried to argue, and negotiate about why we should go today. She even knew that tommorrow was Sunday! When I kept telling her it was too late and we couldn't go, she said "I'm frustrated, mommy!" It was hilarious.
The other night we were all sitting on the couch, and she said something about America Online. We have no idea where she picked that up.

I'll post some pictures soon.

Drained

2008-08-18T10:52:00.004-04:00

It has been an emotional time in the Morris household this past month. There is a commercial that says "Life comes at you fast" - and it feels like life has thrown a cannon ball at me.

All I can say is that I hope the rest of this year is much calmer. I had a sure-ness about life that isn't there right now, but I hope I feel it again soon.

New Lense

2008-08-07T21:47:00.006-04:00

Too much detail?

2008-08-03T16:54:00.005-04:00

My water broke this morning. Continue reading if you want.

Last Tuesday was devastating but we were handling it well. I took the rest of the week off of work, and just spent time with Ava. We did a little shopping and it was nice. I had made an appointment with my OBGYN for tomorrow to discuss the D&C procedure, since I was sure that's what I wanted to do. I took a pregnancy test on Friday and it was still positive.

Last night I noticed a little discharge, something like I would get right before a period. It wasn't very noticeable, but it made me tense up. I had no cramping or anything, and it quickly went away. Then this morning I was woken up at 7:30 thinking I just wet the bed. There was a lot of fluid. It was completely surreal. I jumped up and ran to the bathroom, still thinking I had peed, but then I saw the blood. I realized then that my water broke while I was sleeping. After calling the midwife on call, it was decided that I should go to the emergency room just to get checked out. We spent hours there. Obviously, I was in the process of expelling everything, and it was going smoothly. They did an ultrasound to make sure, and also took a tissue sample to run some routine tests.

Apparently what I had was a missed miscarriage. Now that this occurred, it is a complete miscarriage. I am actually relieved that this happened, because now we can move on. I have not had any pain, and the bleeding has subsided quite a bit. We can start trying again in a couple of months.

I have a few friends & family members who have personally experienced this, and it has been a huge comfort to me that they have shared their stories and advice with me. I have felt such a wide range of emotions in the past few days, but I never felt alone. I have read the blogs of strangers - friends of friends - who have experienced such heartbreak in this area recently, and I am thankful that they shared what they went through. Which is why I wanted to share mine - you never know who might stumble across it.

2008-07-30T16:31:00.003-04:00

Today I woke up, and it took a few minutes to process what had happened. It was one of those "did I have a nightmare?" moments. I have a bad cold right now, so I was coughing a lot this morning. Ava asked me if I was alright, and I said that I was okay, just sick. And she asked, "is the baby sick too?" I told her no, the baby wasn't sick. I brought her to school, and then spent the morning cleaning and watching TV.

When I picked her up from school, I took her to Walgreens, and as we were getting out of the car she said, "do you have a baby in your belly?" She asks me that all the time. I told her that I didn't have a baby in there anymore, and she said, "so now you can hold me?" I said yes, and told her that I hoped we would have a baby in my belly again really soon. And she said, "for me?" So, that ends the issue of what we should tell Ava. I'm glad she didn't ask anymore questions.

Miscarriages are very common - I know or 5 people personally who have had them and they all have children. It's just something you think only happens to other people, but never expect it will happen to you - until it does.

I am a "rip the band-aid off fast" kind of person, so I sent an email to some friends and family last night. I received some very comforting emails and texts back. I don't want this to drag on for weeks, so I wanted everyone to know at once. The hardest part is that my body doesn't seem to want to let it go. I have not had a single miscarriage symptom - no spotting, bleeding, or cramping. Today I took a pregnancy test - and it came back positive. I want it to let it go, and have it be done and over with. Sitting here and waiting for it to happen is going to drive me crazy. Not to mention, the longer this goes one, the longer it will be before we can try again. According to the ultrasound doctor, the baby was around 8 weeks gestation. Today would have been the 15th week of my pregnancy. So for almost 8 weeks I have been walking around with a miscarriage and not knowing it. How much longer will it be??

The one thing that comforts me is knowing that my womb is so healthy that it is still trying to take care of this baby. It doesn't want to let it go. It still thinks I'm pregnant. Being around Ava makes me feel better and lets me concentrate on other things. I feel so lucky to have her.

Sad Day

2008-07-29T21:22:00.001-04:00

Brent & I found out today that I suffered a miscarriage. I went to the mid-wife last week and today, and they couldn't find a heartbeat, so they sent me for an ultrasound. The baby only lived until about 8 weeks. I was 15 weeks tomorrow and have had no symptoms of miscarriage.

We are very sad, but will grieve our loss and try again when the time is right. I am not a religious person, but I know that many of you are, and it is comforting to me to know that prayers might be said on our behalf.

We love you,

Alissa, Brent & Ava

Boooo

2008-07-22T13:29:00.003-04:00

We couldn't hear the baby's heartbeat today - she just couldn't find it. I go back in next week to try again. My ultrasound to find out the gender won't be until late August, so I guess I need to try to be patient.

Recent quote from Ava while walking to the bathroom:

"Poop comes from your butt, and pee comes from your bagina."

In the Closet

2008-07-20T21:08:00.007-04:00

We've been busy around here doing some stuff around the house. A couple of weeks ago I was putting something away in our closet and Brent's shelf fell down on me. It has fallen a few times in the past, but this time I decided it was time for a closet overhaul. That is the one space in this house that has not been touched since we moved in. This is what it looked like after the fall:

This is what it looks like now:

We got rid of an unbelievable amount of stuff! I have 2 bags of trash and 4 big boxes to Goodwill. It feels so much better to have it done.

Last night Brent and I had a "date night." We went to a trendy Japanese/Thai restaurant in a different city for dinner, and it was kind of funny. I felt like I was on an episode of "Sex in the City" because we were sitting in the outdoor area, and they had this blue rope lighting everywhere and techno music was blaring from the speakers. The parking lot was full of Mercedes & BMW's and a Ferrarri. That really isn't our "scene," but the food was pretty good and we tried a new place, which I love to do. I would go back.
After the dinner, we went and saw "The Dark Knight." I was pretty happy that we got to see it opening weekend, considering we don't get to the movies much. The last movie we saw in the theatre was Juno, I think. It was a great movie, although I didn't like Maggie Gyllenhal in it. I'm sure some people would probably disagree with me, but as much as I don't care for Katie Holmes, I think they should have kept her in the role. I love Christian Bale as Batman, and I think Heath Ledger was awesome as the Joker. I am the biggest Gore-a-phobe ever, so there were some parts where I had to cover my eyes, but Brent said they didn't really show anything. Anytime a knife is in the scene, my eyes are closed. I thought it went a little too long, but overall I really liked it.

Ava is doing great. She is our little dancing queen - she hears music and she starts moving, even if it's just a commercial. When she gets closer to 3 I want to put her in dance or gymnastics. She is doing great with the potty training, having no accidents for a long time now. I still put a pull-up on her at night, but she does a good job keeping it dry. I really think the "cold turkey" approach to potty training is the way to go. If you get them used to seeing the potty seat, and let them pick out their own underwear, and then no more diapers at all - it worked for us. My boss did it very gradually with her 3 year old son, sometimes putting him in underwear but then also keeping him in diapers, and he is still having a hard time. I have also heard that girls are easier than boys when it comes to potty training, so who knows.

I go to the midwife on Tuesday, and I am really excited. I can't wait to hear the heartbeat of this little one. I am feeling good, just getting fat. I am that in-between stage where my normal clothes are too tight but I'm not ready for maternity clothes yet. If I could wear my draw-string waist pajama pants all day I would be so happy.

Here are some recent pictures:

2008-07-13T22:12:00.003-04:00

Imagine walking into your bathroom in the middle of the night, and this is what you see:

And while you are in the shower, it stares at you with that little smile:

Actual size:

Thank you Brad & Vanessa for getting Ava such a cute, if a little creepy, gift.

11 Weeks

2008-07-09T21:56:00.003-04:00

We look kind of 3D in these pictures. Ava really enjoys talking about the new baby, and she likes to tell people that she has a baby in her belly. She asks people if they want to see it.

I took her to see her first movie a couple of weeks ago - Kung Fu Panda. I knew it was rated PG but figured it wouldn't be a big deal. I had heard it was a great movie. Well, we made it through about 20 minutes total. Ava did not enjoy the experience very much. If you ask her how she liked it, she will say "I was a little scared." She did not like the dark, she did not like the seats that kept folding up on her, and she did not like the loudness of the movie. She did not like some of the "scary" characters either. All Disney movies have that dark element to them, that scary character. Even "The Little Mermaid" is too intense for young kids. So, hopefully I didn't traumatize her too much with this first experience and she will be open to trying again. This time I will wait until a "G" movie comes out.

We will be going to her first live show this month - The Backyardigans! I think it will be so much fun.

10 Weeks

2008-06-24T22:29:00.004-04:00

I am feeling pretty good, although I feel kinda crappy about 50% of the day. As long as I eat constantly and keep my stomach full, I am okay. Ava knows she is having a little baby brother or baby sister, and she knows it is in Mommy's belly. Sometimes she wants to kiss it. We will find out the gender soon enough. I could probably go without finding out, but for Ava's sake we will find out so that we can prepare her for what is to come. I go to my first midwife appointment tommorrow afternoon, and it should be pretty uneventful. She might possibly be able to pick up the heartbeat, which would be really cool. I think with Ava we didn't hear the heartbeat until 13 weeks. Coincidentally, this baby has the same due date as Ava - January 18th. I swear we didn't plan that.

Ava Update

2008-06-24T22:18:00.004-04:00

Age: 2 years, 5 months

Favorite Shows: Big World, Sesame Street, Dora & Diego

Favorite Movie: Cars

Favorite Books: Anything having to do with the "Cars" movie, Three Little Pigs, Dora books

Favorite Songs: Wiggles "Friendly Pirate Ship," "Waltzing Matilda," "Hold on Tight" by the Backyardigans, Hannah Montana songs

Favorite Foods: pickles, lollipops, pizza, Kraft mac n cheese, corn, peanut butter and jelly.

Favorite activities: riding her trike, playing in the sand box, swimming

Favorite Place: Busch Gardens or Grandma's house

Recent achievements: potty trained, learned to peddle her trike by herself, finished first round of swim lessons at the Y.

Picture Festivus continued...

2008-06-19T22:23:00.010-04:00

Picture Festivus

2008-06-19T22:14:00.005-04:00

Pssst!

2008-06-11T21:54:00.002-04:00

I'm pregnant.

The Room

2008-06-04T21:57:00.012-04:00

THe Before

The After

Swimming

2008-06-02T21:49:00.005-04:00

Ava started swim lessons this month at the Y. She's pretty good in the lessons but she really just loves being in the pool.

Potty training is really going well. Ava woke up this morning with a dry diaper and we don't put a diaper on her during naps anymore. So, only 1 diaper at night, and we will phase that out shortly. She really has taken to it. The first couple of days were ROUGH. But it was really worth it. She loves wearing big girl undies and in only a week she has made great progress. We have had more than 1 accident-free day.

Our room addition is now complete - finally! It took a little longer than expected, and Brent spent many a late night working on it, but it is worth it. It's beautiful, and I want it to be my room.

She had been sleeping right before her first lesson and I had to wake her up.

Blogger is being funny and won't let me move pictures around, and I am SO tired, so I will post more tommorow.

Number 2

2008-05-26T15:49:00.004-04:00

Potty training is horrible. The End.

Day 1: 6 accidents, 4 of them before noon.

Day 2: 3 accidents. One of them she stopped herself and continued on the potty. One of them she was outside and very distracted.

Day 3: No accidents as of yet (4:00pm)AND she pooped on the potty chair - all by herself! I was in the shower, and after a couple of minutes she comes in and says "Mommy I peed." Oh great. Her panties weren't wet, so I was cautiously excited, thinking it was hopefully in the potty chair. After another minute she comes back in and says, "actually, it was poop." Now I am freaking, imagining the worst. I hurry up and get out and sure enough, number 1 & number 2 in the potty chair!! I was so excited as this was the first time she pooped on the potty all by herself. She had a "Code Brown" in her pants on day 1 & day 2, so I was feeling very discouraged. We just had to call Brent and Grandma to share the good news. And of course, she got 5 stickers and a dum dum.

Suprise!

2008-05-23T22:53:00.011-04:00

So I suprised my best friend from high school by flying out to Utah for her birthday weekend. It was very hard to keep it a secret since February but well worth it. She had no idea and it was a most beautiful weekend. I hope we always remain the best of friends for our whole lives.

It was SO hard to be away from Ava. Being on the cruise and away from her for 2 days, and then going to SLC and not seeing her for 4 whole days made me nuts. I missed her like crazy and probably drove Brent crazy calling multiple times each day to talk to her. He sent me a video on my phone and if I figure out how to email it to myself I will post it. Needless to say I could not get enough of her.

This weekend we are potty-training hard-core. I figured it would be the best time since it is a 3 day weekend and she has no school for a couple of weeks. Tonight we went to Target and picked out 4 packs of big-girl undies. We got The Little Mermaid, Dora, Minnie Mouse and Hello Kitty. Brent has to work tomorrow and Monday so I am going to be on my own for most of this adventure. Wish me luck. I think I am going to need it.

The party was "Robots vs. Gangsters." Can you guess what we were?

Cruisin

2008-05-14T22:40:00.007-04:00

Happy Birthday

2008-05-04T22:25:00.015-04:00

dear Isabelle! Yesterday Ava went to her first official birthday party (other than hers). It was at Playaway, which is kind of like a Gymboree. She was the BEST! She had been there a few times before with Giuliana and the other kids, but I had never been there, and I was amazed at how well Ava listened to the instructor and followed directions. She was the youngest participant (Isabelle turned 5) and she held her own and did a great job. She was very patient while waiting for cake, she sang "Happy Birthday" with all the other kids, and clapped when Isy blew out the candles. What a great kid. I took a TON of pictures, but since the kids were running like crazy I got a lot of arms and the backs of heads. Here are some good ones:

Having fun with Isy

The terrifying ball pit of doom

Cake!

Ava's first piniata whacking! She actually knew the purpose of the bat!

Ava on the zip line

The aftermath. That is blue lollipop on her mouth. She fell asleep while eating it.

2008-04-22T22:33:00.008-04:00

Things are going good, same old stuff. We are starting our patio remodel tomorrow and I am kind of freaking out about it. We are turning the patio into another room.

We are tearing out the sliders and putting in french doors. The floor will be raised to meet the rest of the house and we are installing 7 windows so it will be a sun room. It will have a single french door leading outside. We plan to use it as a play room for Ava, since her things are spilling out into other areas of the house besides her room. I am excited to see it finished but just nervous about the construction. My Dad and his guys will be doing the work. Will hopefully have after pictures very soon.

We took Ava to the zoo last weekend. It was fun but hot.

These Days

2008-04-08T22:24:00.004-04:00

We have settled into a pretty comfortable pattern these days. We work, then we cook and have dinner together when we get home. We usually go for a bike ride or a walk after dinner, or just play outside. And it's nice.

Ava is still having behavior issues, but I pretty much chalk it up to normal 2 year old behavior. What can you do? She is super sweet most of the time when we are at home. It seems to be mostly when I am working and she is with Giuliana and the kids that she has her bad moments. Not that she never has them with us, they are just much fewer. I think we have been so spoiled by her up to this point that it kind of shocked us. She was such a good baby, really easy. Now reality has set in, and with it brings new challenges.

She said something pretty funny this evening. The three of us were outside, hanging out in the driveway, and I gave Brent a hug. She said, "Mommy, you gave Daddy a hug?" And I said "Yes Ava. You should give him one too." She got of her tricycle and said (very seriously) "I will. I'm going to marry him." Pretty funny. She got that because Giuliana is getting married to Uncle B, and wedding talk is non-stop. Her 4 year old daughter Isabelle always talks about her mommy and new daddy getting married. Just funny to hear it come out of Ava.

Note to Ava

2008-04-01T22:24:00.003-04:00

Ava, this is your mother. Your mood swings are killing me. When I say no, you say yes, and when I say yes...you know how it goes. You are two years old, and you are talking back to me, and being down-right sassy. It is driving me nuts. Seriously. Please stop talking back, and try to cooperate and listen to what I say. You cry a lot while we're at work, I think out of frustration. You want me all the time even when I have to work, and that makes it hard. You wake up from your naps and cry for me. You say "no" to Giuliana and Laura, and you are possessive of your toys. I know that they call them the "terrible two's," but I just never imagined we would go through it. I always thought you would skip that phase and grow into the sweet and cooperative little girl that I know you can be and at many times, you are.

So, let's just make it easy and get past this part. Deal? Otherwise, no baby brother or sister, because I don't think I could handle it.

Love,

Mommy

2008-03-27T23:04:00.007-04:00

Fun Day

2008-03-16T21:37:00.008-04:00

Ava and I had a really nice day together today. Brent was in Gainesville watching drag racing so I took Ava to Tampa to visit my sister. She was so good in the car all the way there and back. We stopped at Grampy's house first, and then we continued on to see Nicole's new(ish) apartment. We went out to lunch and then just hung out, watching Finding Nemo. As a hostess/housewarming present we left Nicole a couple of poopy diapers. Enjoy.

Dum De Dum

2008-03-11T22:37:00.006-04:00

Counting down the days to vacation! I could so use it right now. I want to plan a little vacation with Ava too, just don't know where. Now that she's over 2 and can't fly free anymore, it needs to be something CHEAP. Three plane tickets isn't fun. Maybe we will drive to North Carolina and hang out wih Nanny for a while. Being up there forces you to relax because there is NOTHING to do. Seriously. It is the sticks.

Last night we were putting Ava to bed, and she always picks out the books to read. She loves Are You my Mother? and she recited it practically word for word. She flips through the pages and literally recited many of the sentences perfectly. I just laid there listening to her and actually got choked up. I know she's not actually reading, she's just heard the book so many times, but it was so great.

She likes to tell me "Mommy, I just want to give you one kiss." And then when I lean in for one, she kisses me a bunch of times all over my face. On Sunday I took her to the hardware store, and while the guy was helping me pick out the door hinges, Ava started kissing me all over my face. It was kinda funny. I was telling her to stop but I didn't really mean it. The bad thing is she wants me to hold her a lot when we are out. "Mommy, can you hold me?" And she will make it almost impossible not to.

Here are some pics. Everything is going well, she is doing great at school.

Want to know a secret? I have baby fever, big-time.

Still here...

2008-03-04T21:54:00.004-05:00

I haven't abandoned the blog. We've just been busy and I am always tired. Here are some pictures of Ava from pretty recently. She is getting more and more energy everyday, which I guess is why I am tired most nights.

Nothing New

2008-02-16T22:57:00.003-05:00

I haven't blogged in while because nothing new has been going on. We are just hanging out. Ava is doing great, full of energy, but such a good girl. She is very sweet, and likes to give compliments, kisses, and I love you's. One of her new things is "boo boo bunnies" and ice packs. If you don't know what a Boo Boo Bunny is, click here to find out. These are excellent gifts for a baby shower or baby birthday. Anyway, Max has always had boo boo bunnies, but we never had them here at our house. Ava loves them and I have no idea why. For every little thing she wants a boo boo bunny. When we're at our house, she will go in the freezer and get 1 particular ice pack that we have, and use that as a boo boo bunny instead. It's just weird that she wants one all of the time. She usually never has a boo boo, and if she does, she doesn't even use it for the intended purpose. She will just carry it around and play with it. She used our ice pack so much that it sprung a leak and had to be thrown away last night. I think we are going to break her of this boo boo bunny addiction by not replacing it.

One bit of exciting news (for us) is that we just booked a cruise to the Bahamas in May. The biggest thing about it is that this trip is "parents only" - Ava will be staying with Grandma & Grandpa! I have mixed feelings - on the one hand, I am looking forward to relaxing and doing absolutely nothing. On the other, I am going to miss her like crazy and I'm afraid she'll like it at Grandma's house so much she won't want to come home with us! Not really (but kinda). We are only going to be gone for 4 days but that is the longest we've gone not seeing her, and I am going to miss her so much and will probably worry a lot too. However, I know that is important to do things like this once in a while and we will all survive.

Ava's School Pictures

2008-02-07T22:36:00.001-05:00

Oh joy

2008-02-04T21:43:00.001-05:00

I think I am ready to run away from home. Ava as the worst cold ever and she is just miserable, and in turn everyone is miserable. I am changing my name from "mommy" to some non-verbal symbol. All I have been hearing this weekend is "mooommmmyyy" and "I need a tissue." These are both said in a very whiny, drawn out way. She wants to do nothing but cling to me all the time. I feel so bad for her. She has run a fever the past few nights and she has a terrible cough. She actually coughed so much tonight that she gagged and threw up - in my hand! That was a real mom moment for me. Never had anyone do that before. All of the kids have been sick - Max and Morgan first, then Isabelle, and now Ava. This thing seems to drag on too, so I am expecting it to be days before she is feeling 100% again. I am lucky that she is so healthy, but this one is a doozy.

Two year pictures

2008-01-29T23:30:00.000-05:00

Don't worry about printing these off, Dad & Yvie - you will be getting them in the mail soon.

Happy Birthday Baby!

2008-01-22T22:39:00.001-05:00

Ava is 2 years old tomorrow, at exactly 11:11pm. We already had a little family party for her this past Saturday, and much fun was had by all. Tomorrow she has school in the morning and then we are having another small celebration at my work with Isabelle and Max. Should be lots of fun too. I think after that I am putting us all on a sugar vacation. I have been eating way too much of it lately. She got a lot of great presents, and her favorites so far are the Backyardigans guitar from Aunt Gina & Uncle Eric, and the kitchen set we got her.

Ava had her 2 year check up today, and it went really well. This was the first appointment that Ava really knew what was going on and could communicate it. I had to explain to her about the doctor, and what he was going to do and what to expect. The only thing that came as a suprise was when they pricked her finger to get a blood sample. When she saw the blood she got a little freaked. Then it was over and she was fine. They tried to put a band-aid on her and she wanted nothing of it. She hates band-aids. She much prefers booboo bunnies.
Her weight is 27 lbs (55%) and her height is 34.5" (75%). She is still tall for her age. AND, I must brag a bit - the doctor said her language is like that of a 3 year old and she is at least a year advanced in that department. He even double checked her birthdate to see that she was just 2. Ava has been speaking in complete sentences for months, and a lot of people comment on how well she talks.
Speaking of talking, in the doctor's office waiting room she touched my pants and said, "I love these pants Mommy." Then she saw my keys in my pocket and said, "I love these keys." That is her newest thing - saying she loves stuff. She also told me to come sit on her lap today. Sometimes I wonder how much she really knows. Today I was watching the news about Heath Ledger dying and I said, "I can't believe he died!" and she said, "Don't say that Mommy." Like she knew I was talking about something bad.

I love to compare her past and present pictures, so here they are. I can't believe that at this time last year she was just starting to take steps, and now she is a walking, talking KID.

This Year

Thanks Grandpappy Cappy and Granny Yvie

2008-01-16T22:57:00.002-05:00

I knew that either the sand or the mulch would be her favorite. So far, sand wins. How much sand can actually hide in a diaper? A lot.

I bought those pink crocs for her as a birthday present. I was going to wrap them and everything, but I took her with me to buy them, and she had to have them immediately. We hadn't left the parking lot and she wanted them on her feet and she has not taken them off. She love LOVES them. We were walking through the Beall's parking lot and a lady walking by said, "Hi cutie!" Ava's reply was to hold the bag up and say "I got new crocs."

You're Funny

2008-01-10T23:22:00.001-05:00

Ava has been saying some funny stuff lately.

Last night I was giving her a bath, and I was playing with one of her bath toys. She says to me, "Give me that, honey. I need it honey."

In the car this morning (just her and I), we were having our usual conversation, and out of the blue she says, "you're funny."

Today I drove to the YMCA to pick her up from swimming, and she said, "Ava's mommy is here!"

She likes to say that things are gorgeous. One day she called Santa Claus, Santa Gorgeous. Or she will say, "ooohhh, it's so gorgeous!" I have no idea where she picked that up because I do not use gorgeous in a sentence.

She has definetly learned how to work the "you hurt my feelings" sympathy thing. And boy does it work. Her birthday is coming up very soon. We have decided not to have a big party this year, but rather just have family over for dinner. Parties are so much work and we don't get to enjoy them so much because we are doing most of the work. She is very excited about her birthday, and talks about birthday cake and parties. She knows that she will be 2 on this birthday, but she holds up 5 fingers. We are working on that. The other night at Walmart I bought her a little Valentine's Day toy just to keep her distracted, and she told me it was for her birthday. Another day, she told me she wanted to go to her birthday.

I love her.

2007

2008-01-03T22:52:00.001-05:00

This past year was just an amazing time in my life and in Ava's. There were so many exciting firsts. This year, Ava turned 1 year old and had her first party. She started walking right around that same time, although I consider February 14th as the day she officially became a walker. She started talking, and I honestly don't really know what her first word was. I think it was "mama" but she used to say it "mamamamama." It seemed like she didn't have a first word, but rather words, and it was hard to tell if she was saying things on purpose or if it was just sounds.
She went on her first plane ride, to New Jersey, and she started pre-school in August, 2 mornings a week.
She now tells us "I love you" on a regular basis, and can communicate just about everything she wants or feels. The other day on the ride home, I "yelled" at her because she was whining in the car. When I was done she said, "you hurt my feelings mommy." That both made me melt and feel like crap at the same time. I knew she must have learned that from school or from being around Isabelle and Max. I know I have said this before, but everyday she says something new that amazes me.

2006 was an amazing year, but it was also very stressful. Ava was born, I quit my job, then at one point was working three jobs. Dealing with new-parent worries, with job stress, and all of that was not a lot of fun. In 2007, I got down to 1 job, in a very fortunate work environment for a parent. My ultimate goal was to never put Ava in daycare, and I found a job (or it found me)- that allowed me to make money while bringing her with me, in a positive home environment. Brent is doing well at his job and received a promotion, and with it a much deserved raise. Ava is beautiful and amazingly smart and loving.

I don't like to make New Years resolutions, but I do like to set goals for myself. I'd rather not say what they are, but hopefully I will reach most of them. Ava will be 2 this month, and while that age has a bad rap, I am looking forward to what this year will bring.

Ava and the famous Uncle B, Giuliana and Jessica

Ava serenading the group

Christmas morning aftermath

My sister bought her the skates. Thanks Nic.

What a Difference

2007-12-27T21:35:00.000-05:00

A year makes!

Last year:

This year:

Merry Christmas

2007-12-23T00:45:00.001-05:00

Ava has started using "Alissa" when talking on the phone. She'll say "Hi, it's just Alissa. Hi Alissa." When I first heard her do it I thought it was pretty funny. Obviously she has overheard me on the phone. In the car the other day, I asked her what my name was. She said "Dominick."

She loves talking on the phone. She will talk to anyone, and sometimes to no one. Nowadays she talks mostly about Santa Claus and Christmas trees. She will sing songs too. She knows a bunch, and her favorites now are "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." For not even 2 years old, she amazes me with her ability to learn.

Ava also loves fire trucks, ambulances, and police cars. She can spot them all the time. When we're at home and we hear a distant siren, her eyes light up.

Christmas for her should be really fun this year. She sat on Santa's lap and did such a great job. We even got a decent picture. I will scan it soon and post it. Last year she was only 11 months old and cried her eyes out. That was also the night of the ear-piercing torture. Anyway, she is very aware of "Santa," and it looks like she will make out like a bandit. There is one big gift on the way which I am very excited about, but I'll post about it when it actually gets here. And no, it's not a baby brother or sister.

It's very late, so I'll pot pictures another night. Hope everyone has a great holiday!

2007-12-15T00:19:00.000-05:00

Gracias!

2007-12-03T22:57:00.001-05:00

I don't know why I chose that as a title, it just popped into my head. I have been bad about posting, and I think I might be even worse now. This past weekend I bought this this game and I am hooked. Yvie - I suggest you buy this game for Dad for Christmas. You might not see him for a while. One of the best things about it is that I have finally found a game where I kick butt and Brent stinks.

Things have been pretty quiet around here lately. Ava has been so chatty lately. She talks to us, talks to other people, to herself, whatever. She likes to talk on the phone, she sings songs to herself, and she makes up stuff too. Now she talks about Santa Claus and Christmas trees. This morning she was upset when I told her that we had to turn the tree off. In the car I told her that we had to turn it off or it might catch on fire. She went on and on almost the whole car ride about fire and fire trucks. She loves fire trucks.

Work is busy, and I am in a wedding in a couple of weeks and I have a bunch of appointments for it. Ava will probably have to spend the weekend with her Grandma, just due to the rehearsal dinner and the wedding itself. I feel so bad - I haven't even begun Christmas shopping yet. I figure we can have Ava done in one shopping trip. We can't go nuts with presents for a couple of reasons - money, of course, and space. Our house is so crowded as it is, I don't know where we would put more toys. I really want to get her a kitchen set though. We just might have to put it on the patio.

Hope everyone has a good week. I am already looking forward to the weekend!

Moments...

2007-11-23T21:52:00.001-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving! We had a very nice day at Brent's brother & sister-in-law's. Florida Thanksgiving is interesting, because the weather is so warm. We ate Thanksgiving dinner out on the deck by the pool.

I need to start keeping a daily journal of the things Ava says lately. Everyday she says something that suprises me or makes me say "where did she learn that?"

Today she said "It's kinda hot" when we got in the truck.

She had her first real phone conversation today too. Normally as soon as I put a phone up to her she gets really quiet and won't talk. Today I was talking to Brent on my cell and she wanted it. I gave it to her and she chatted away. She was answering his questions, she told him she had fun with Grandma, said something about Grandpa, and told him we were going to the store. It lasted a couple of minutes, and when I took the phone back she wanted to talk again. It was so cute.

I can't remember all of the things she says, which is why I want to write them down. It's so nice to be able to ask her a question and have her respond in the correct way. I ask her if she's hungry, and she'll say "no." I ask her if she has a poopy diaper and she says "no."

Yesterday morning she was sitting on the couch hanging out with Daddy, and all of a sudden she said, "bye, I'm gonna go brush my teeth." And she went right in the bathroom.

She calls our cat "Wuwa" for Lula, and she tells her "kitty - get out of the way!" or "Stay inside, kitty."

Our Thanksgiving setting:

Grouch

2007-11-15T23:02:00.001-05:00

I haven't been good about posting! Ava has been being such a bear lately that I think the terrible two's came early. Her favorite word is "NO!" and everything that comes out of her mouth is whiney. Actually, she seems to go between being totally silly and playful to the next minute being cranky and whiney. I am working so hard with her on "please" and "thank you" and it is wearing me out. She's pretty good with the "thank you's" but not good at all with "please." One amazing thing is that this week she pooped on the potty for the first time. I'm pretty sure that is baby-blog worthy. At least to me and Brent it is. Saturday we took her to Busch Gardens again and she was a grump. She had the most fun on the carousel, and she made us ride it at least 6 times. She LOVES the rides, and she shows no fear. Sometimes her cousins can go with her, but other times they are too big so she has to go on herself, and she is totally fine with that. She is my little daredevil.

She has been doing a lot better in school. I had a conference with her teachers on Nov.9 and they agreed that the transitions with the teachers has been hard, but they still feel it is beneficial for her to be there. I will keep her there as long as I feel it is still productive for her, and they believe that it is. She has not been crying when I drop her off, and Wednesday they said she didn't cry the whole time.

Too Late for Halloween?

2007-11-07T23:00:00.000-05:00

Ava & Isabelle

Fall in Florida...

2007-11-01T21:28:00.000-04:00

Feels a lot like spring & summer in Florida. We are not known for our seasons. However, we like to pretend, so we took Ava to the pumpkin festival this year. We did it last year too, so maybe it will be an annual tradition. We had more fun this year then we did last year, since Ava was older now and could enjoy it more. And this year it wasn't as HOT as it was last year.

Then:

Now:

2007-10-25T23:01:00.002-04:00

So it let me log on tonight but it wouldn't let me last night. I think our computer is on its way out. Anyway, yesterday was a very frustrating day all around. Ava has been weird about school. One day she'll be fine, the next day, not so much. She only goes 2 days a week, from 9am - 1pm. Ava is a girl who likes order and playing in small groups. She does not like chaos and she is very aware of her personal space. If a stranger violates it, she gets unhappy. Monday morning I was dropping her off, and she was fine until a group of 3 boys kind of surrounded her near the top of the slide, and 2 of them touched the buttons on her shirt. She looked at me and started crying. I was not happy. They are just little kids, but I don't like boys surrounding her. Yesterday she was fine until we walked into her classroom. Normally parents drop the kids off on the playground, but yesterday it was raining so they had all the kids inside, and most of the classroom was blocked off. So all the kids are in the front of the room and it was a little crazy, and it threw Ava off. She got a little clingy. I directed her to some baby dolls in an area that was out of the way, and as I departed I heard her crying. Then when I went to pick her up she was crying. So, school is not going as well as I'd hoped right now. I think it has to do with the fact that her 2 teachers that she had in the beginning, Guilianna and Jessica, both quit. Now there are new teachers, and I don't think Ava has bonded with them very much. The good news is that my bosses, Darwin & Jennifer, hired both Guilianna & Jessica to work at the house with us. Jessica works with us in the office, and Guilianna is the new Nanny to Ava & Max. Ashley is no longer with us (in a working sense). Ava LOVES Guilianna, and even better - Guilianna has a 4 year old daughter that she brings with her and Ava LOVES her even more. Isabel is like a big sister to Ava, and is a refreshing change from playing with just Max. They giggle like little girls and chase each other. Guiliana has been working with us for 2 weeks now, and Ava has been so happy. I never hear her cry or whine during the day. With Ashley, Ava cried just about everyday at some point. Today for example, Guiliana took Ava & Max to her house to play in Isabel's room, then they went to the library, the park, and then came back to the house and went swimming. They dance, and Guiliana (an artist on the side) has them doing art projects and keeping journals, and it is so cool. The only down side is that the house is VERY crowded now, and I wish I had an office to work in. I don't want to leave Ava, but it really is hard to get a lot done with so much distraction. But I am very happy with the child care situation, and so is Ava. The only time she cries now is when it's time to leave! Hopefully, the school thing will work itself out.
Ava's language has really started to develop, and she is really talking now. She sings a bunch of different songs, and learns new ones really quickly. She says whole sentences now. Last Friday night we went out to eat and she was sitting with Brent, and out of nowhere she hugged him and said "I love Daddy." It brought tears to both our eyes. Tonight she was giving me a whole bunch of kisses and for the first time she was actually kissing me, rather than just putting her mouth on my face! She learned to make the kissy noise. On Monday I took her to Publix and they gave her a helium balloon. She refused to let it go, even after we got home. I told her she could let it go, that it would be okay, and she kind of thought for a second and said, "No, Ima hold it now." Everyday when we get home she says, "Ima go in the grass now." She loves to just run around the front yard. She likes when Brent takes her on "tractor" rides (the riding lawn mower). She is also becoming so independant, and she says "Ava do it" when we try to read to her or get her dressed. The other night she pulled her diaper open for the first time, and this morning she managed to open the fridge by herself.

I am rambling now, it's late. Brent just turned off the light so I can't see what I'm typing. I'll post some pictures soon.

Frustrated

2007-10-25T16:43:00.000-04:00

For some reason I cannot log in to Blogger from my home computer. As soon as I can figure out what the problem is, I will be posting.

Alissa

Good Times

2007-10-18T22:43:00.000-04:00

Brent got a good raise today! YAY! We close on our re-finance on Monday! YAY!! Mommy and Daddy have a fun date night planned for tomorrow night! YAY!!!

All good things.

Busch Gardens pics:

Pictures

2007-10-07T22:33:00.001-04:00

Making brownies!

Ava's first high school football game

She is conducting the band

I bought this power wheel at a yard sale for $1.00

The best time to go to the beach is at sunset

Back to Normal

2007-09-28T22:06:00.000-04:00

Ava must have read what I wrote last night, because today she was wonderful. She was great all day and when we went out to dinner she was awesome. I wish it was always that way when we went out. Not that she is bad usually, but tonight she was perfect.

2007-09-27T22:49:00.001-04:00

Ever try these? They are the best cookie ever. Don't look at the nutritional info, you won't like it. They are so chocolate-y you can only eat 2 at a time anyway.

Ava has been so bratty lately. She is having some major mood swings, and I don't quite understand them. Last week she was happy and really good. This week she is happy one minute and throwing a fit the next. She has started this phony crying thing that gets on my nerves so bad, and she drags it out too. Brent says she's just being a typical girl, but I am not sure. I am almost worried, because she seems so moody. She has a really runny nose so I'm thinking she has a minor cold and just doesn't feel good. I just hope it passes soon.

We got rained out of Bush Gardens last weekend, so we ended up back at the Florida Aquarium. Ava was great that day. She is usually great in general. When we go out to eat she is usually one of the best behaved kids there (knock on wood). She liked the aquarium, but we were a little over it since we had been there and to Mote Marine recently. We had a fun day with the cousins though.

No big plans this weekend, but hopefully we'll find something fun. I am typing in the dark since Brent went to bed, so I'd better sign off.

Deep Thoughts...

2007-09-18T22:42:00.001-04:00

Ava has been so good this past week, and such a chatter box. My favorite phrase of hers is "I see the _____!" It could be a plane, or the moon, or a bird. She says it with such enthusiasm and joy, and it comes out sounding Jamaican - "Aye see de plane!" or "Aye see de burd." I love it that she can actually sing now and recite nursery rhymes. The other night in the bath she started singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." She claps for herself everytime she finishes, even if she leaves out half of the words. Today I caught a glimpse of her at work, and she was behind Ashley, running out to the play room while saying to herself, "Ava comin!" She also remembers and stores way more information than I think, and she'll suprise me with it sometimes. It's bittersweet for me. On one hand, I am so proud when I hear her say a nursery rhyme or correctly identify something new. But on the other, I think of how fast these times are going, and before long this will pass and she will just keep gettig bigger. Also, I feel sad that I am not the one who taught her some of these things, that she learned them from Ashley or her teachers. It is great that she has people around her who care about her and teach her, but it makes me feel like I should be doing more. I know, that is silly.
Shocker - I just realized I don't have any new pics to post. They are still on the camera and I am too lazy to download them. Maybe tomorrow!

Bad Blogger.

2007-09-13T21:36:00.001-04:00

Ava has been enjoying school. This was her third week - the first week went fine, the second week wasn't so good, but this week was great. I think the first week she didn't quite know what to make of it, and we had built up a little excitment. The second week she knew what it was about, she knew mommy left and lots of strange kids and adults were around, and she wasn't happy. She only had one bad morning, and it was much harder on me than it was on her. Walking away from her while she cried for me and ran to the door was extremely hard, and actually brought me to tears. However - I found out from one of the other mom's that it only lasted a minute and then she got distracted and was fine. This week, she went right out to the playground without even waiting for me, and she gave me a kiss and said "bye bye" and that was that. She only goes 2 mornings a week, so it isn't bad at all, and she does have a lot of fun. Her favorite thing to do is swing. Plus her buddy Max is there with her so she has a familiar face.
Please disregard this bragging moment, but she is so smart it amazes me. The things she picks up on and so quickly - it's a wonderful thing. She can now say 75% of her ABC's, she recognizes her name when spelled out, she can point out circles, squares, stars, hearts and triangles. She recites Patty Cake, and has learned Humpty Dumpty somewhere along the way. She also recites lines from books we read her, and is working on numbers 11 thru 15. She has 1 thru 10 down. She also tries to repeat everything we say, including the bad stuff. So far, it's been "crap" "suck" and "dammit."
Okay, and now I'm done. The posts have been seriously lacking, and I'm not sure anyone even looks at this anymore, but for Ava's sake, I am going to keep posting. I want her to be able to read this stuff when she's older.
Ava at Mote Marine

Ohhhhh-io

2007-09-04T23:06:00.001-04:00

Ducks follow us wherever we go...

School Daze

2007-08-19T21:23:00.000-04:00

My baby starts pre-school tomorrow and I am kind of dreading it. Friday was meet the teacher day there, and it went pretty good. She was kind of clingy at first, but didn't cry. I think she was just overwhelmed by all of the activity. There were a bunch of kids and parents all over the place, and she didn't know what to make of it. I tried to keep my distance as much as possible so that she could be by herself and I could observe her. It went good until one little boy cornered her against a bookshelf to give her a hug. Brent and I were watching, and the kids mom let him hug her for way too long. Ava was literally frozen, backed into a corner while this kid hugged her. She didn't move or make a sound, just let him do it. I wanted to go over there and take her away but I had to stop myself. She needs to learn to handle those kinds of situations on her own. I won't be there tomorrow if this kid invades her space again. On the way home I kept telling her that is anyone hugs her and she doesn't like it she should say "no thank you" or say "teacher." I think she will do okay, but I know dropping her off will be hard, and I will be thinking about her every minute.

Ava & Max, ready to go!

After School - Looks like she over-did the self tanner

Weekend Update

2007-08-12T14:08:00.000-04:00

I can't think of a good title for this one. This is going to be about 3 posts in one. mostly all pictures. First off - an Ava update. I saw this format on another blog and I am stealing it. She won't mind, because she probably stole it from someone else too.

Kid Update:
Ava Nicole

AKA: Baby, Stinker, Ava A (Brent hates that one), Ava-ness (Ashley calls her that)

Age: 1.5 years (18.5 months)

Favorite TV shows: Backyardigans, Curious George

Favorite Foods: mac n cheese, spaghetti, pizza (see above pic), FRUIT - any kind, and unfortunatly, McDonald's french fries. She has only gotten them twice and she is hooked. She will not be getting those very often.

Hobbies: coloring, making someone read to her, tumbling ("tundles"), spinning, patty cake, swimming.

Upcoming Events: pre-school starts next Monday, 2 mornings a week. We are going to Ohio at the end of this month too. Ava turns 19 months Aug 23rd.

Latest Quotes: "I found it!" - "Awww man" - "Broke it!" and "Fix it!" - "Rainbow!" - "Pizza" - "Stand up!" - "Awake"

Trademark: I hate to say it, but whining. She tends to whine a lot, especially in the afternoon. She also is known for her cuddling, which she loves to do. When we put her to bed at night, she goes back and forth between us giving us hugs and kisses.

One story about the french fries - the first time I took her there was a Saturday. We had been out and I was starving and I'm sure she was hungry too, so I hit the drive thru. I got her a chicken nugget happy meal, and I let her snack on her fries in the car. I gave her half of the little bag, and she scarfed them down. Days later, I stopped at Dunkin Donuts on the way to work to get some bagels for Jen and Ashley. I went through the drive thru. Ava had been pretty quiet, but as soon as the lady handed me the bag of bagels, Ava starts yelling "French fries! French fries!" I had to explain to her that not every paper bag contains french fries.

Here are some pictures from last weekend of the park we took Ava to.

Ava also got a couple of new pairs of shoes for school. She liked them so much she wanted to put them on and model them.

I have more to post - Ava's first haircut! - but I will do that later, I have to run now.

Play Ball!

2007-08-05T22:53:00.000-04:00

This weekend was pretty fun. Friday night we just hung out and watched a movie. Saturday morning Brent and Ava spent some quality Daddy-daughter time together. He took her to the beach so that I could get some work done at home. Ava got to spend Saturday night at Gee-ma's house because Brent and I went to see a Devil Rays game. We got to St. Pete early so we stopped at the The Pier and ate some good chocolate. The Devis Rays are not a good team, so tickets are pretty cheap and parking is free. We ended having really good seats in a row practically by ourselves. They were playing the Orioles, and Tampa actually won. We got to see a home run and Brent caught a foul ball! It was the craziest thing - we were just talking about how a foul ball probably wouldn't make it to us because we were too sheltered. The next time the batter hit the ball it came straight to us. Brent didn't have a glove but he just stood up and caught it! It was crazy, I was laughing so hard. He was very proud of himself, especially because this time it didn't hit him in the throat.
Ava had a great time at Gee-ma's house, but she woke up very early over there and byt the time we picked her up around 10:30am, she was pretty cranky. We tried to get her to nap but she wouldn't, so we took her to a splash park. I thought she would love it, but as it turned out she really wasn't in the mood. I think she was all swimmed out from this past week. Rather than play in the water, she wanted to run all around the park and make us chase her.
One of the best things to happen this week was Ava counting to 10 all by herself! It was Friday and we were just hanging out on the couch. She was playing and out of nowhere she starts counting. Normally she stops at 3, but this time she kept going, and she did not miss a single number! When she got to 10 Brent and I freaked out and startled her a little. I was so proud of her my eyes started to water. Something so little can just amaze you. Her language is developing so fast, she is going to be full-on talking in no time.

This is Toby. He stands in our front yard.

Ava likes to dance with Toby.

They exchange hugs.

He even lets her poke him in the eye.

There is a story about how we aquired Toby, but that is for another post. Good night!

Big Boned

2007-08-02T22:54:00.000-04:00

Tonight Brent was craving ice cream. After much arm twisting, he convinced me that I wanted some too. I have been dieting for a while and have lost 8 lbs, which for me is a record. I told him to pick me up some Ben n Jerry's low-fat frozen yogurt. When he came back from the store he told me he couldn't find any low-fat frozen yogurt, so he brought me these Breyer's poppers-things. They're new. I checked them out. They are Reeses Peanut Butter cup variety, and one serving contains 34g of fat (52% of daily value) and 23g saturated fat (115% daily value). He tries.

Poo Poo

2007-07-27T22:13:00.000-04:00

Big news today - Ava poo poo'd on the potty today. Of course, I wasn't in the bathroom to see it - I was working in the other room, but Ashley put her on the potty seat and...poop. This is big news. Ava is getting to the point where she can tell us when she pee pee'd or poo poo'd in her diaper. That means she is a little closer to telling us before she tinkles or caca's, and when that happens, potty training is in full swing. So far, all of the major transitions in her life have been quick and painless (knocking on soooo much wood). Sleeping through the night, getting rid of the binky, no more bottles... all very easy. I can only hope that getting rid of diapers goes as smoothly.
She is getting very good at putting 2 word sentences together now. The first sentence she ever said was "papa sleeping." I don't remember exactly when that was - maybe May or June. Then she said "bye doggy." Now she can say "plane sky" and "dark clouds." Earlier today, I had made myself a cup of coffe at work and it was sitting on the counter. I never drink coffee at home, neither does Brent. I picked Ava up and she pointed at the cup and said "coffee." I was amazed - where the heck did she learn that and how did she know it was coffee? My favorite new thing that she is saying now is "Aw man!" She learned that thanks to Dora the Explorer and me. If you're familiar with Dora, you know that Swiper the Fox always says "Aw Man!" Then one night at home Ava was spilling the milk out of her sippy cup and I said it. She immediatley copied me. It sounds so funny. She is so verbal. She can count to ten if we are counting with her. I start with one, and she fills in most of the rest of the numbers, and when she gets to ten she always claps her hands. We are also working on ABC's and she can say a few letters, but mostly she just watches my mouth very closely as I say them and mouths along.
She goes to the doctor on Thursday for her 18 month check up. No shots, just measurements and I need to get her vaccination paperwork for pre-school. I have pictures to post, and will get on that tomorrow.

Have a Minute?

2007-07-23T23:22:00.001-04:00

Wunder!

2007-07-16T22:42:00.000-04:00

Poor, neglected baby blog. I feel bad that I can't keep up with it that much. Maybe you knew this - or maybe you didn't, but for a while there I was working 3 jobs. Not so much out of necessity, but more out of my sense of obligation and fear. I hate quitting jobs. One I tried to quit a long time ago but they talked me into working just weekends. The other one I just wanted to keep my foot in the door so I kept working there one day a week. For around 7 months I was working well over 50 hours a week. It was really hard. I quit one job, but kept the weekend job, so I was working 7 days a week. I would bring Ava to work with me during the week, and on the weekends I would work in the late afternoon/evenings. I finally cut it down to one normal, weekday job. It will be nice to have actual weekends to spend with my family.
But enough about me. Ava has been doing good, but she's teething so she's been a bit cranky. One thing about Ava - she has a short fuse. Even when she was an infant, she could go from perfectly content to screaming mad in a second. She is still that way. I am always trying different ways of dealing with it to help her control it a bit. So far, I haven't had much luck. I am hoping that her starting pre-school next month will help. Speaking of pre-school, I received my welcome packet in the mail and this thing is huge. There is a bunch of stuff they want us to supply, we have to attend a parent orientation, we are required to volunteer at the school a certain amount of hours each year. All of these things are good, it just makes me feel like she's starting real school, rather than just part-time pre-school. I am curious to see how her and Max are going to handle it. They will be in the same class, and I wonder if they will gravitate towards each other, or if Max will go off with the boys and Ava will go with the girls.
Tonight we had a thunder storm, and Ava was starting to get scared of the thunder. At first she is intrigued by it, and she kept repeating "wunder!" each time she heard it. But some of it was pretty loud, and it was the kind that after the initial bang would rumble for a good 10 - 15 seconds. Our windows were rattling. She didn't like it so much then, but she did good. She went to bed without a fuss.
It is SO hot here in FL. People think that FL is so great because it doesn't snow so they think you can be outside year round. However, the heat in the summer is so bad that you don't want to be outside. When I walk out the door in the morning, it is already in the high 80's and very humid. When you walk outside at 10pm, it is still in the high 80's and extremely humid. During the day Ava gets pink being outside for 10 minutes. Any longer and her face gets very flushed and she sweats like crazy. You sweat just standing still, in the shade. I take her for a bike ride every evening around 7:30pm, and it is hot and I sweat. It is not enjoyable. Luckily the lovebugs are gone and the wildfires are over so we are no longer covered in smoke and bugs. I love Florida.

Happy 4th (sort of)

2007-07-05T22:47:00.000-04:00

Last year Ava was too small to take to the fireworks. This year it rained. I am hoping for better results next year. I feel the same way my friend
Angie does - fireworks are overrated. We had planned on taking Ava, but we ended up going late, and while it wasn't raining at our house, it started raining on the 10 minute drive to the fireworks, so we just ended up going back to Brent's parent's house. Luckily, on a whim I had bought a cheap box of fireworks at Walmart, so Brent gave us a little show. We had prepared Ava for the fireworks. For a few days leading up to the 4th we told her about them and how loud they are. She would kind of get this look of amazement on her face just thinking about them. She wanted nothing to do with being outside. We tried to get her to hold a sparkler and she did, but she was scaring the heck out of me and I was holding her arm straight out. I have always harbored a secret fear of sparklers - something that you ignite and hold in your hand can't be good. And what would happen if one of those sparks flew in your eye? Eh. We let Ava hold one and she was done, she wanted back in the house. She ended up sitting on my lap in the garage while we watched Brent light fireworks in the street. One of the neighbors was putting on a really good show, so she got to see those too. She calls fireworks "works." Maybe next year she'll see the big ones.
I have bunches of pictures to post, so here are some of Ava's favorite things to do.

Tumbling

Lounging in bed watching Sesame Street (just like her mama):

Helping with the laundry:

Ambushing the cat while she eats:

And best of all - Jumping on the bed! She's in her 4th of July outfit, obviously.

Books are Fun

2007-06-29T22:25:00.000-04:00

There is a Barney song that goes "books are fun, books are great, is it book time yet oh I just can't wait, to read a book!" Well, books are not fun and not great when you have read about 16 of them out loud - some of them twice in a row. I never thought I would discourage my child from reading, but she is nutso with the books. She loves to be read to, and sometimes she is downright demanding about it. At this rate she should be reading by the age of 3.
Right now poor baby has a cold, which she got from Max. I feel so bad for her, and at the same time I hope I don't get it. I missed her so much while I was in MS, but she was totally fine. I came home and it was as if I'd never left. She has been very clingy the past couple of days though. The MS trip was okay, but I was very uncomfortable going with my boss and being with all those managers. The good thing was we got to eat at fancy restaurants and go to a casino. I didn't actually gamble, but it's just fun being in one because you really feel like you're on vacation. I might be going back in July, but we'll see if that happens. Honestly, I am still so torn between staying at this job or being a teacher. I checked the county website today and there are so many teaching openings, and I might actually have a shot at one. Ava is really the reason that I don't want to teach right now, just because of the whole day care issue. I hate saying that because it sounds like I'm blaming her, but that isn't the case. It is my own personal struggle and decision. I just want to do what's best for her.

Home Sweet Home

2007-06-27T23:35:00.000-04:00

I just got home from Mississippi tonight. I was feeling really sentimental and introspective last night while I was in my hotel room, and I wanted to write a blog. But the Magnolia Plantation in lovely Gulfport, MS has a weak wireless connection, so no internet for me. I would write one now but it is late and I'm tired. I am very happy to be back home with my baby girl.

Just a Little...

2007-06-20T21:39:00.000-04:00

...Patience. Lately that is my mantra. Being the parent of a young toddler takes a lot of it, sometimes more than I have. I consider myself to be a pretty patient person, especially with Ava, but there are times when I have to take a deep breath and think "patience." Meal times are the worst. At dinner she makes a big mess, when I give her utensils she just uses them to play with her food and make a bigger mess. She hates sitting in her chair and tries to get out, and usually starts fussing while Brent and I are still eating, so it's rare that we get to sit all the way through dinner.
While I love the fact that she is getting so big and learning to do so many new things, I remember how nice it was to be able to put her down somewhere and know that she couldn't move! I remember back then thinking it was so hard having a small baby, but honestly, once you get the sleeping stuff down, the rest isn't so bad. Keep them full and clean and your good! Now I am constantly chasing after her, making sure she isn't getting into anything (which she almost always is) and trying to entertain her. She gets bored pretty easily, and I would describer her as being very impatient.
One of the hardest things we are dealing with now is discipline. How do you discipline such a small child?
Today I went and looked at a couple of pre-schools for her. One was really more of a day care than a school. The couple I work for are about to have another baby, and their son Max turns 2 next month. They were thinking it would be a good idea if Max & Ava start pre-school, and they will pay for them both. The school they chose is the best in the area. It is a school that focuses on the arts - they have dance and gymnastics, art, spanish, music, just like a school. Max would go 3 mornings a week, and Ava would go 2 mornings, and they would be in the same class. When I walked in today it was nap time, and there were only 6 or 7 kids in the whole place. There was soft music playing, and it was so quiet and peaceful. It is the kind of place where parents put their kids not because they have to work, but because they want their kids to start school early. Most of the kids only go part-time, and I would bet that a lot of the moms don't work or own businesses.
The other place I checked out was a day care, very typical. It was dumpier, and seemed like it had less structure. The teachers seemed less trained. The one cool thing about it was that it had webcams so I could watch Ava during the day. I think that would be both good and bad - good because I could peek in on her, but bad because if I saw her get hurt or another kid be mean to her, I would want to jump through the camera.
My sister left yesterday to go to Spain for 7 weeks. She texted me this morning at 7:45 to let me know that she arrived. It took her almost exactly 24 hours to get there. She had to fly from Tampa to JFK, from JFK to France, and then to Spain from there. To say I am jealous would be an understatement.

Birthday Blowout

2007-06-11T22:56:00.000-04:00

I had a great birthday weekend. Friday night Brent, Ava and I went out to dinner. Ava has officially outgrown a high chair. She can technically still fit in one, but she hates sitting in them, so now we get her a booster chair. She sat in it about half the time, and the rest of the time she stood in the booth or climbed on me. It's okay as long as she's not holding a fork. At home, we stopped using the high chair and use a little booster chair too, and I just bought one for her to use at work. Now she is sitting at the table like a big girl. Once she learned she can climb up on a chair, there is no stopping her. She can climb up on the bed now too. Today she said her first 2 word sentence - "bye doggy." We were leaving work today when Bear (the neighbor's dog) came running over. Ava was waving at him and said it. She is really telling stories now, when she is babbling you can make out some words, and she goes on and on. She sings sometimes too. I love it. When I say "one..." she says "twooo...bee!" Today she learned the word circle and can pick out the circle from other shapes. I love watching her learn. I have to remind myself that she is now a little person, and absorbing so much. I have to talk to her like a little adult, and I make sure to explain things to her.
Today she was back to more of her normal self. No melt-downs at work, and she was in a great happy mood all day. We went to Walmart and she randomly waved at a bunch of people, and said bye to some of them. I hope this is a good sign!
Saturday we spent the day together and then Ava went over to Grandma's for the night. Brent and I and a couple of friends went tarpon fishing on my brother-in-law's boat. It was really fun. Unfortunately, I did not catch my birthday fish - however, I two good bites. On one of them I probably would've had it but my line got tied up with my friend's. Brent is the only one that actually caught one and brought it to the boat. Some people thought it was odd that that's what I wanted to do for my birthday, but I really enjoy the tarpon fishing.
Sunday, we pulled ourselves out of bed (we didn't get in from fishing until 3am) and drove to Tampa to go to the aquarium. Although Ava slept the whole ride up there, she was still pretty cranky. We had one melt-down. She loved it though! She ran from tank to tank, and her head was spinning. The aquarium has a kid area where they can play in water and we let Ava play in it for a while. She does really well around older kids. She mostly just stares at them and then tries to copy what they are doing. She got knocked down once accidentally, and she's a trooper about it. She just pulls herself back up without a whimper.
I am a little nervous about next week, I am going on my first ever business trip. I get to go to beautiful Jackson, Mississippi for 2 days, with a co-worker that I have never met before. It is a recruiting event, and a bunch of managers and directors will be there, and we might have to give a presentation. Brent will be dropping Ava off at my work as usual, and Ashley will be watching the kids. His Mom will then pick her up when she gets off of work. I know she will be fine, she is there everyday so it won't be anything new. It will just feel weird knowing she will be there all day without me. One thing about not having your child in daycare is that there is a very strong attachment between the two of you. Leaving her is hard, even when I know she will be well taken care of. She is used to me being there, and I am used to being there with her. Oh well, baby steps.
Pics from the weekend:
Here fishy fishy

2007-06-07T23:48:00.000-04:00

So I think Ava is going through what is known as a "First Adolescence." It is basically the terrible twos, but can start as early as 1 1/2 to 3 years old. She has not been good this week, and even brought Ashley to tears almost. One minute Ava is sweet as can be, and the next minute, she is screaming. She was so good when we were up north, this is very unlike her. I don't think it's her teeth because she doesn't seem to be in pain or anything. It usually happens when we want her to do something or we take her away from someplace she wants to be. Most times she lets out a full on scream, and cries, and even sits down on the floor. When I try to put her in her car seat she kicks her legs. Other times she performs a half-hearted tantrum - not as big as the usual ones, but just a protest. If I am in the room when one of these happens, or even if I am the cause of it, she usually comes running to me crying "mamamamamamamama!" She wants me to hold her, and if I don't pick her up she clings to my legs and cries. I really don't know how to handle this. I try to keep my calm, and I don't pick her up. I feel like if I do, I will be giving her the wrong message. I try to calm her down by talking to her, because literally she freaks out for every little thing! It isn't bad at home, it mostly happens as work too. I will be working and I can hear her having a meltdown. If I go out there to try to help, she will run to me and cling to me. If she is eating lunch, and I go out there to say hi, she will cry to get out of her high chair for me to hold her. If I try to put her down, she wil start fussing again. It is very hard to walk or get anything accomplished when you have a toddler clinging to both of your legs. I am praying that this is just an independance thing, and something that will pass as fast as it has come on. According to Dr. Greene, it will!

On to something happier - I passed my exam today, so I am now a licensed life, health, and variable annuity agent. Yippee. Never in a million years did I ever think I would be in this line of work, but here I am. I have been studying all week, so I am glad to have it over and done with. It was pretty hard. I don't actually sell insurance at my job, but our company manages and recruits agents to sell for Humana. It lets me keep Ava with me so I don't have to pay for day care, and it has a flexible schedule.

Ava will be 17 months this month. Here is what she is up to:

Favorite foods: Cheese (of course), macaroni, macaroni & cheese, spaghetti or ravioli, any kind of fruit, carrots, corn on the cob. We've been trying to expand her diet, and I've let her eat a few bites of a brownie (she loved it, calls it cake) and even a potato chip. She will sometimes eat chicken nuggets or lunch meat, but not often.

Words: Mommy, Daddy, kitty, doggy, bird, bubbles, soap, juice, banana, apple, chicken, cake, clock, phone, book, elmo, big bird, sleep, nose, eyes, toes, belly, Ashley, Papa (refers to any Grandpa), Uncle B, please, no. She will try to mimic just about any word we tell her to say, and she learns a new word a day. She is really doing great with the vocabulary. She can also sign the words "please" and "more."

Favorite song: Ring Around the Rosy (she loves to spin)

Favorite Activities: Blowing bubbles, picking flowers! She will sit in the grass and pick the little tiny purple flowers (weeds). She also picks real flowers, our hibiscus gets picked everyday! Spinning, playing on the couch or bed, reading books or getting read to, watching Barney or Dora, and trying to play with our cat. She also loves playing with phones (they have to be real - she knows the difference). Climbing on everything - the couch, the bed, chairs, the cofee table, whatever.

Sleep - she goes to bed around 9, and sleeps until 7:45 - 8:30am. She takes 1 nap a day, usually around 1 or 2pm, and only for about an hour. I am thinking some of her tantrums stem from being tired, but I can't get her to sleep longer.

First time eating Chinese food:

Looking cute:

I put her to work early:

Tag! I'm it.

2007-05-30T23:50:00.000-04:00

I've been tagged by Angie. This has nothing to do with Ava by the way.

What were you doing ten years ago?

Without being over-dramatic, I can honestly say that 1997 was the worst year of my life so far. I was getting ready to turn 19, and I was single. I was heart-broken over my disastrous relationship with Kevin, and was depressed and making bad decisions. I was still living at home but wasn't getting along with my parents at all. I was working at Kash n Karry, and not going to school. Not good!

What were you doing one year ago?

I was getting ready to turn 28, and enjoying being a new mom to my 4 month old baby Ava. I had just started working at the YMCA in their afterschool program and summer camp counselor.

Five Snacks You Enjoy:

1. Raisinets
2. carrots and ranch dressing
3. cheese and crackers
4. Chocolate chip granola bars
5. Chili's chips & salsa

Five Songs You Know All The Words To:

1. "Ice Ice Baby" - Vanilla Ice
2. All the songs of Weezer's blue CD.
3. "Hold On" - Wilson Phillips
4. "Star Witness" - Neko Case
5. "Lucky One" - Alison Krauss

Five Things You Would Do If You Were A Millionaire:

1. Pay off all debt.
2. Hire a housekeeper!
3. Cut back my hours at work and spend more time with Ava having fun!
4. Buy a bigger (but still modest) house in FL, and a small summer home in NJ or Maine.
5. Travel
6. Go back to school for a master's (in what I don't know)

(I think that's 6 things)

Five Bad Habits:

1. Staying up way too late
2. Biting my nails
3. Not eating as well as I could
4. Being on the computer too much
5. Worrying too much

Five Things You Like Doing:

1. Spending time with Brent & Ava
2. Traveling
3. Watching a really good movie
4. Getting dressed up and going out to a nice dinner
5. Going to my usual websites and reading celebrity gossip

Five Things You Would Never Wear Again

1. Fake nails
2. short shorts
3. T-back underwear
4. A tiny bathing suit
5. Stonewashed jeans

Five Favorite Toys:

1. Computer
2. Digital Camera
3. Ava's Magna Doodle
4. Ipod
5. Sirius Radio

Reality Bites

2007-05-26T22:47:00.000-04:00

The vacation is over, back to reality - and it stinks. If this weren't a family blog and if I weren't such a good girl I would say this really f*%$ing sucks! I get this way after just about every trip we go on. I go through a depression for a while, and eventually snap out of it. This was somewhat of an emotional trip for me. I hadn't been back to NJ in 7 years, and hadn't been to my Dad's in probably 12. During this time, my grandparents up there (Grandma, Nena and Pop) had passed away, all right around the same time. This was the first time I didn't go to their houses. I did go visit Grandma at the cemetary. I had never been there and it was the 7 year anniversary of her passing. I wanted her to see Ava, and she did.
On a happier note, we had a great time up there. When we first got there the weather wasn't good. It was really cold and rainy. However, after that first day the weather became awesome. Everyday got warmer and it was nice and sunny. We spent a lot of time outside because it was so nice.
I have been trying to write about our vacation for the past 3 days, and I can't do it without talking about how much I hate Florida. If you know me then you already know this - I despise FL with a passion, always have. In another post, at another time, I will list my top 10 reasons why I hate FL so much. Why am I still here? Good question. I think the biggest reason is my own fear. And now I have a family to think about too. Anyway, I will just post about the vaca and not about how depressed coming back to FL makes me.
I have so many pictures to post and I tried to open a flickr account, but for some reason it will not work on my computer. We only have 258! It is hard to narrow it down to just a few. We took Ava to Space Farms Zoo, and she got to feed some animals. She loved it. We also went to High Point Park and drove through NJ, PA, and NY all in the same day! On Thursday we left Ava with my Dad and Yvie and went to NYC. It just happened to be Fleet Week and Brent wanted to tour one of the ships. After we did that we had about 4 hours left to run through the city. We ended up just going through Central Park and Times Square. Central Park looked so different from when we went there in March a couple of years ago. People were everywhere and it was so green! We went through parts that I had never seen too, like Strawberry Fields and the Dairy. We had an extremely overpriced lunch at Mickey Mantles. Ava spent a great day with her Pappy and Granny Yvie and luckily she was on her best behavior. She did the well the entire trip actually. She was awesome on the plane there and back, and she went to bed good and everything. I was worried that being away from home and out of her routine would wreak havoc, but she was better behaved there than at home! My Dad and Yvie threw a party for us and there were a lot of people there, and she mingled around and was being pretty social.
To sum it up, it was a very successful trip. Ava got to spend time with her grandparents, Brent got to see NJ for the first time, and I got to eat Jimmy Buff's which are the best hot dogs in the world. If you are ever in West Orange, NJ, you have to go there. You can thank me later. We really miss Pappy & Yvie! Ava has been saying Pappy!
Here are some highlights:
Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

World Traveler

2007-05-20T23:02:00.000-04:00

Just a quick note to say that Ava was awesome on the plane! We couldn't have asked for a better baby. She even slept for an hour. The portable DVD player might just be the best investment we ever made. She fell asleep to Finding Nemo. The weather was pretty cruddy when we got here, cold and rainy. I was worried I didn't pack enough warm stuff for us. But today was a great day, in the 70's and mostly sunny. We went to a family party at the moose hall and Ava was really a good girl. She is acting like a different baby up here! It's like she knows that we're on vacation and she's relaxing too!

Holiday, Far Away....

2007-05-18T00:00:00.001-04:00

We leave for vacation tomorrow night! Technically we are flying on Saturday but we are going to my sister's house and spending the night tomorrow night since she lives 10 mins away from the airport. I am a little overwhelmed right now with things to do, but am trying not to freak. There is still much packing to be done and even some laundry and house-cleaning and very little time to do it. I am really excited! I've been checking the weather up there and it looks a bit yucky, only in the 60's, but I'm hoping it warms up. I bought Ava the cutest summer stuff and I want to show her off in it! I am so excited for Ava's first flying experience, I am not even letting myself think about what could go wrong. We are buying the portable DVD player. That was a last minute decision that I think we will be happy about. Three hours on a plane, on our lap, and I'm sure someone is going to go nuts, whether it be her, us, or another passenger.
Please check the blog, I'm going to try to post from up there. Be back soon with lots of pictures!

Happy Mother's Day

2007-05-14T21:44:00.000-04:00

Can we pretend that today is yesterday and I am posting this on Mother's Day? Thanks. I hope that all of the Mom's out there have a wonderful day today (yesterday). I have some friends that celebrated their first mother's day - Jackie, who has a little Ava just like me, Lenabelle who has Emily, and couple who have babies on the way - Kerri and Jen and Jennifer. Last year was my first mother's day, and to be completely honest I think I was still kinda sleep deprived so I don't remember the actual day, but I do remember the feeling. I know that Brent got me a watch and I know I saved the card he gave me.
This was my 2nd Mother's day, and I actually feel like more of a mom than I did on my first. Last year at this time I was knee deep in diapers and bottles and binkies and lots of spit up. Now I have a full-fledged child who says words and gets into trouble. She plays outside and watches Barney and Sesame Street and lets me know when she wants juice. I now have to think about how I talk to her and choose my words carefully, and explain things to her, and be an example. She acted yesterday like she knew it was a special day and she wanted to give me a break. She slept in until nearly 9:45! She was so sweet to me, I didn't even have to beg for a kiss. I went shopping by myself, and Brent made me a really nice dinner. It was a good day.
I won't get really mushy in this post and write about my deep feelings about being mom. There are good times and then there are times when I want to rip my hair out and slam a door or two, but then I just think about a good moment, or something sweet that she did, or a new word that she learned. And then I just want to hug her.

Feeling Hot (hot hot)

2007-05-08T23:07:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the stupid title. We are smack-dab in the middle of Ava's first fever, and it is no good. She isn't sick, I don't think, but she is teething, which I think is the cause. She has never had a noticeable temperature, has never had more than a minor cold, and has never had an ear infection since she's been born! (Knocking on so much wood). So, I didn't know how to take her temperature, as we don't have an ear thermometer and I am not about to take it rectally (you're welcome Ava!). I ended up using the digital under the arm. Yesterday her temp was somewhere around 102 and this afternoon it was 103. I've been giving her ibuprofen, and it's been helping. She has been cranky, unbelievable whiny and clingy. I was losing my mind yesterday, before I knew what was wrong. I only discovered she was teething this morning. When Brent got home from work yesterday I left to go to Walmart just to be on my own for an hour. I feel so bad for her, this afternoon she just looked miserable. She hasn't been eating as much, all she wants to eat is fruit, and we could tell she had a headache. I laid down on the floor with her in her room, and she ended up cuddling me like I was her teddy bear and falling asleep within a few minutes! Anytime I tried to pull away she would hold on to me and not let me go. That made me forget about the crying and whining for a little bit.
As if that weren't enough, the nanny at work has been out sick the past 2 days, so guess who's been watching Ava and Max? Yup, me. In a way it's good, since Ava isn't feeling well and is being a total Mommy's girl, but lord I am going crazy. I'll be honest - Max drives me nuts! He turns 2 in July, he is a trouble-maker, and he is mean to Ava quite often. Not cool with me at all.
We are so close to going on vacation and I cannot wait! There is so much to do before we go. Besides the fact that our house is a disaster, we have more shopping to do for Ava, we are debating about buying a portable DVD player for her on the plane. That would be mostly for our sanity and the sanity of our fellow passengers. I am already thinking about what to pack!
Here are some old-ish pictures that I never posted. We went on a rare family outing to Jungle Gardens, which is like a cheap, smaller version of a zoo. The nearest zoo is in Tampa, which is a hike for us. We will get up there one day, but for now, Jungle it is. Did I mention how hot is was? Thank goodness it is all shade pretty much. They have nice walking paths and lots of free roaming ducks, birds and flamingos. I guess all 3 of those are technically "birds" but I wanted to specify. There is a big pond where you can feed them and they are all hanging out. Ava wanted to grab one. She ran up on unsuspecting snoozing ducks and literally tried to pet them.

The Bike

2007-05-01T23:50:00.000-04:00