Note to Ava

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

Fun Day

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

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...

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.