First Steps

My baby is walking!!!! How is that possible? I am so excited and sad at the same time.

I am proud of my little Sam!!

Daddy's Girl

I knew very early on that I was going to have to be the bad guy in this family. James hates to say no to Ava. He will do it, but he just can't stand it; it REALLY bothers him. I had to wait until he was out of town to let her scream it out in her bed all those months ago because he could not stand it. And she already has it figured out - when she wants something guess who she asks??!! Anyway, since I took away the paci Ava has given up on naps. I close the door to her room and she stays in there. I make her stay in for an hour - she cries, then tries on her clothes, then cries some more, then reads a book etc.. James came in the other day to have lunch and I didn't hear Ava in her room. I went in to check on her and this is what I found!!
I hope everyone has a great weekend!! We are on our way to the lake tomorrow.

Ava at 2 1/2

It is so hard to believe that my little Ava is already halfway to three. It seems like yesterday that James and I brought her home and started on this journey. We have had so much fun watching her grow and become the sweet little girl that she is.

Some things about Ava right now:

She is still and maybe always will be my little cuddler. She loves to snuggle under a blanket with me and could stay there all day. She will sit on any one's lap for as long as they will let her!

She loves to read - she would literally let me read her books all day. I have to bargain with her. She says, "We read five books," and I say, "How about three books," and she says, "sure." Her favorites are Pinkalicious, any Dr. Seuss book, Brown Bear, and a new favorite Llama Llama Red Pajama.

She is getting so smart - it seems like her vocabulary is expanding daily. She can count to 15 and knows all of her colors. She can even count to 10 in Spanish - thanks to Dora!! She is starting to ask why about everything and we have some funny conversations lately - for instance yesterday
Ava - "Can I give Sam my car."

me - "Yes, but he may not give it back."

Ava - "Sam is going to hurt my back?"

me - "No"

Ava - "Why?"

me- No, he is not going to hurt your back, he may not give you the car."

Ava - "Why?"

me -sigh!!!

She is the BEST big sister. She has her moments and we are still working on sharing, but for the most part she is so sweet to him. She is always telling me what to do or not do for Sam. "Mommy, Sam's hungry" or "Mommy, Sam doesn't like that." If he is crying for her cup or anything like that she will give it to him every time. Sometimes when he is really crying about something she gets so upset she tears up. One of her favorite things to do is go play with Sam when he is in his crib - she just climbs in and I walk in and they are both laughing at who knows what. This is one of my favorite things to watch.

She really likes to play outside - she is getting so much better in the pool, but her favorites are digging in the dirt and sidewalk chalk.

She is pretty shy around other kids right now. She will play with them, but she has to observe first. She is not the type of kid to jump right in and start playing. She is also pretty lazy - and I say that in the best possible way. She just wants other people to do stuff for her, and the sad thing is it usually works out for her. It may be a sign of intelligence :)

She is really starting to get into the girly stuff like tea parties and playing mommy with her babies. She spends literally 10 minutes setting up a tea party on her table and Sam stands up and knocks it down in a second.

Some of Ava's favorite foods - grapes, cheese, pizza (cheese only), goldfish crackers, apples and strawberry milk (she calls pink milk.)

She has always been unpredictable. Just when you think you have her figured out - she will do something completely out of character. I know to the outside world she seems so sweet and pliant - and she is a lot of the time- but she has a stubborn streak!!

James and I both love every single day with her and are so honored to get to be her parents. I feel so blessed that I get to stay home and watch her grow and change. I can't wait to see what she is going to do next!!

Ava at:

One day

3 months
6 months
9 months

11 months
1 year

16 months
19 months

22 months

2

I'm Back!!

I know it has been a while since I posted anything. There are a couple reasons - I have been soooo busy and have really been uninspired about the blog lately. Last week was such a crazy week - there are some big things that happened.

First of all, my dad was in ICU almost the entire week. He is doing well and everything is OK. He is home and I think probably at work as I am writing this, we are all VERY thankful for that!! It was horrible though because I left my phone in the playroom all night and didn't hear it ring at all. No one had James' number, so the next morning I had 18 missed calls - never a good sign! I felt terrible for that, but everything worked out OK.

Ava gave up her paci last week. I cut the end off (my pediatrician's recommendation) and it has really worked. She looked at it the first night and cried hard. She said, "My paci's broken. I need glue. Mommy please get glue" over and over. The next day we went to the park and she would literally tell everyone about the broken paci. She still holds it occasionally, but she is definitely going to sleep without it.

I registered for my grad school classes for school counseling this morning. I am so excited, but very nervous about it. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed right now with the kids and the cleaning and the laundry etc. I hope it won't be too much. But I LOVE going to school and I am so excited about it. I feel very lucky that James is so supportive of it!

And because I don't think I can have a post without pictures!!

Sam loves his bath!!


We are not potty training full time, But Ava wants to sit on the potty occasionally. She pee-peed (sp) on the potty for the first time this week - very exciting!! She is waiting to call Diego (aka Conner) and tell him all about it.

My mom had a family get together at her house on Sunday. Here are Nick, Ava and Haven in front of the chicken and peacock house!! Ava could have stayed there all day. She is an animal lover!



Holding Nick's new puppy - isn't it adorable!

I was so exhausted after a couple hours because I could NOT put Sam down. He was just overwhelmed with all of the people - he cried pretty much every time someone looked at him! What am I going to do with this child??!!

Look at Sam standing - he is taking a couple steps! My baby is growing up too fast :(

Sleeping Beauties

I really have no reason to complain - my kids take a nap at the same time and sleep 12 hours a night (usually). It is wonderful and there was a time that I thought it would never happen!!

My little Sam is the best sleeper!! I mean I just put him in his bed and he goes to sleep by himself and always has. When he wakes up, he doesn't cry - just plays until I go and get him! He will not snuggle though and it breaks my heart. I want to rock him and snuggle in bed with him and he literally pushes me away like he needs his own space or something. I have to literally force him to sit in the rocking chair with me before it is time for bed - sad!! He does sleep with a little bear that Ava "gave" him as his coming home gift which is really cute!

Ava, on the other hand, is my snuggler - she would let me rock her all night still. She is getting much better in the big girl bed. She occasionally comes to our room at night - maybe once a week. She goes to bed at 7:30 and I close the door and assume she goes to sleep - right? Well, last week James came home right after I had closed the door and he went in to lay down with her. She was sitting in her little chair watching TV!! I could not believe it - needless to say we unplugged the TV. Now every morning when I go in her room she has emptied the contents of at least one her drawers onto her bed. I don't know exactly what to think of this!!

Here is what I found yesterday morning-

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!!

My New Obsession

I happened upon these the other day when I was blog surfing and I am TOTALLY in love. They are gorgeous and I am definitely ordering something - I just might have to wait for a sale!

You can find them here http://www.emersonmade.blogspot.com/