In the Closet

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:

Swimming

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

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!

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?

Grouch

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.