Noah and I at 27 1/2 weeks + his nursery

 Here I am at 27 1/2 weeks. I feel like I am carrying a basketball in my belly. I am definitely carrying differently with Noah then I did with Ava. He is sticking straight out. It makes it hard to find tops that I am not constantly pulling down.

I am starting to feel uncomfortable at night. This is not good, seeing that I have 11 more weeks to go. It is more difficult to move around too. By the end of the night, I am pretty spent. I have been trying to walk at night with Mike and Ava to stay active.

I go for my next ultrasound on Nov 11th and at that point, we will get to schedule our c-section. They won't let you schedule any earlier than 39 weeks. I don't think Noah is going to make it that long. I feel like he is so big. I would love for them to move up my due date, so then I can schedule it even earlier. At this point Jan 14th is 39 weeks, so I will let you know. I really want the Doctor that I have been seeing at the practice to deliver, so I hope she is on call on that date or that Saturday would be fine too!

We have finished painting Noah's nursery. We aren't putting anything in it or up on the walls, except for his name until we are ready to put him in his room for good. Here is the wall that his crib will be on. Painting stripes on a textured wall is not an easy task. I am glad that I went with only 2 stripes, because one of my ideas was stripes on the entire wall. I had to do all the touch up after Mike painted. It didn't take that long, but it was tedious.

The other walls are painted in a light tan color. You can see the contrast in this picture. I didn't want to make the room dark, which is why I choose blue and brown on just one wall.

I'm a Big Girl Now

Ava likes to be a "big girl". For the past couple of weeks, whenever we are out with her, she insists on pushing the stroller. Well, she could never see above it and she wouldn't let you touch the stroller when she was pushing, so she always ran into things and then got frustrated. One day, I was at Target and I remember seeing a smaller version of a "real" stroller. Last week, when I was there, I decided to buy her one. She LOVES it. She strolls it all around the house. Last week, we went to the mall early in the morning and I brought her stroller along and we strolled our strollers next to each other. I wish I would've gotten a picture because it was so cute!

 I put this picture up because I thought it was a cool action picture. She was falling down and her hair reminded me of what it used to look like. Yes, that is a eye solution bottle in her mouth. Don't worry, she didn't get it open, but she wouldn't give it up.

Part of being a big girl is to try on mommy and daddy's shoes. She has started doing it a little bit here and there and last night when Mike came home from work, she put his shoes on. It was so cute. She couldn't really walk in them, but she enjoyed putting them on.

 In this picture, she is saying "see it", because whenever we take pictures, she always wants to "see it". It makes it hard to take a picture!!

She is my big girl and is growing so fast.

Schnepf Farms

Today we decided to go to Schnepf Farms. It is about 35 minutes from our house and they have a pumpkin patch there. There was a petting zoo, carnival and many other things that were for kids a little bit older. Nonetheless, I thought it was time to venture out and show Ava what AZ has to show us. I remember wanting to go last year, but thought that Ava was too young. I have a tendency to think she is too young for things. She had a BLAST.  I dressed her up this morning in her Halloween shirt, but we had to change it before we went because it warmed up outside.

Here are some pictures from our day..

Daddy and Ava looking at the Chickens.

 Smile!!!

 Walking over to the pigs.

 She LOVED, LOVED the pumpkin patch. In fact the ENTIRE ride over there, she kept saying "pum" for pumpkin patch. We told her we were going over there and she couldn't wait to go. I would tell her we were going and she would say "go". She was talking up a storm.

 She was so proud to have picked up a pumpkin, unfortunately it was rotten.

 I had to post this one as it is a snapshot of her attitude this morning. We had a "rough" morning this morning and we weren't sure we were going to go. Ava woke up on the wrong side of the crib and had a huge meltdown first thing in the morning because we told her she had to put pants, socks and shoes on to go outside. She wanted to go out in just a long sleeve shirt and it was 60 degrees out. (or close to it).

All in all, she had some much fun and didn't want to leave! I would say a success!

Ava 20 months old and an attempt at Potty Training

Ava turned 20 months old yesterday. I cannot believe how fast time flies. While it feels like just yesterday that she was born, I also can't remember her as a baby. She is so big and full of life. So how did we spend her 20 month birthday. Well, I decided that it was time to start potty training. I have to admit, my heart was only 1/2 in it, so I guess that may account for the occurrences of yesterday. I bought the book "Potty Training 1-2-3" by Gary Ezzo from a suggestion of one of my friends that has 3 kids. I remember seeing a Facebook post from her a while ago that she was going to get her first son potty trained over the weekend. I thought to myself, you must be joking. She wasn't. This book talks about how you can have your child day trained by the end of day one. The key is the knowing the child's readiness. The idea in this book is that you teach your child to be dry and clean. Dry refers to being potty trained and clean refers to bowel trained. You show your child what happens first with a doll/stuffed animal by rewarding them for asking quite frequently if their underwear is dry and then sitting them on the potty and if the child goes potty, you double reward for that. This way, you aren't always rewarding for going in the potty, because that can cause them to not use it on their own as you, the parent, will be constantly putting them on it in 15-30 minute increments. Now, this is the progressive version. He offers the same principles for people who don't have 4 days to block out to focus on this and they can do it over time.
Anyway, I got a stuffed animal, Pearl, and we put big girl panties on her and I walked Ava through the process. She loved getting Pearl's treats when Pearl was dry and went potty on the potty chair.  She was even more excited to pull the pee-pee pot out of the potty and dump it into the toilet. She was clapping and so excited. Then we started with Ava. The first potty experience was an accident. Now, I know there are going to be a lot of accidents, but I guess mentally I wasn't prepared for them. The second time around, she did go potty in the potty chair, but as soon as she realized that she was peeing, she kinda stopped herself. Now she was so proud of herself and got her special treat, but within 5 minutes, another accident. I don't think she was done the first time. Then it was just accident after accident. I only had one more pair of big girl panties left. I even resorted to rinsing them with soap and water and putting them in the dryer because there was no way I was making it through the day. Finally, after lunch, I KNEW the big #2 was coming, so I was watching her like a hawk. At one point I looked over at her and I just knew, so I ran to her and said, do you have to poo-poo? And as I was saying it, I was picking her up to bring her to the potty and knew that she was going right then. I moved her quickly to the potty, but it was too late and the tears and crying followed. It was hard to reset her after that. I think she was traumatized. (well, not really, but it was hard for her). So I put her in a pull up and gave up. I know she is showing signs of being ready and we could probably do it, but I think she may not be completely ready and that is the key in this book. She doesn't really need to have her diaper changed every time she pees and that is one really good indicator that she is ready. Plus, every time I asked her if she was dry, she would wine and say No. And even after I would say, you get a treat if you are dry, she would still say no and run away wining. So, on to plan B. I am going to show Ava everyday, with the help of Pearl, what we do. We will reward Pearl for dry diapers throughout the day and when she goes Potty, we will reward her then too. I am going to STOCK UP on big girl panties and pick 3 times a day for Ava to practice and not make a big deal out of it, but keep her in diapers. Then, either next weekend or the weekend after that, depending on how she does with the practices, we will start again and go cold turkey with the big girl panties.
There are 3 stages of readiness that he talks about in his book and every child is different, but most kids aren't ready until 24-36 months. That is mostly due to being able to control the bladder. She still doesn't wake up from naps dry, which is another indicator, not mandatory, but an indicator nonetheless, that she is ready. So we will try again. Like I said earlier, I guess I was only in it half way and you really have to be in it for the long haul. We had to be home bound ALL day and that makes it hard too since the weather is finally starting to get nice and all she wants to do is play outside. Here is a picture of Pearl, if you are wondering....

Speaking of which, we spent a good majority of yesterday out in the front yard, which is her new favorite place to play and my least favorite place for her to play, but she helped me pick weeds. Every time she would pick a weed, she would say "more, more" and I would show her another weed to pick. What a helper.  She is starting to use 2 word sayings and like I have mentioned before, copying every thing we say.She says "all done", "oh no", "oh dear", "oh man" and a couple more that I can't think of right now. I love to watch her mimic things I do. For example, yesterday, I was flipping through a magazine with her and I licked my finger to turn the page and I looked up at her and she was licking her fingers. I busted up laughing because it was really funny! She loves to make us laugh and does it quite often. I can't imagine my life without her and am so blessed to have her.

Our Family weekend and some Ava fun

 This past weekend, we had some family come into town for my step brother, Brian's, Annual Chilifest. My dad and Patty flew in on Thursday and were able to come over to our house to hang out with Ava for the afternoon. I put her down for her nap early so that by the time they got here, she would be just waking, but don't you know it she decided to take a 2 1/2 hour nap. Oh well, she needed it and it helped as we stayed out later that night and she didn't get great sleep all weekend long. We bounced around from my sisters house to my Brian house all weekend long.  Ava really warmed up to Patty fairly quickly and it took until Sunday for her to sit on the couch next to my dad. She takes longer to warm up to men than women in general, so I wasn't surprised. 

Here are some pictures from Chilifest (which was on Saturday)

 On Sunday, we went to my sister Jacy's house all day. We packed up the pack and play so she could nap there. Ava loved playing outside the most and chasing the dogs around the house.
I ended up giving her a haircut on Sunday morning, because her hair was getting out of control. It is a short bob, not a bowl haircut. It may not be the most even cut she will get, but it beats paying $20 at the hair place for a couple of snips. You can see how much shorter her hair is in these next couple of pictures.

 Brian and Melissa have a blow up bouncy house that they brought over on Sunday. At first, all the big kids went in and Ava wanted nothing to do with it. Once they were bored, she enjoyed it all to herself. She didn't venture too far inside, but loved going down the slide.

 There was a little boy there too, close in age to Ava and she finally warmed up to him. This is her giving him a hug. When you ask her for a hug, she backs into you. Don't know where she learned that or why she does it, but that is how she hugs.

Her favorite thing to do is run in my sister's backyard. She has the cutest run. One arm moves back and forth and the other is still. She will yell, go,go,go when she runs.

This is her favorite thing to do in our backyard, play with the water. She pulls out her watering can and attempts to water the plants. Most of the time she waters her shoes.

This is a play house at Brian's house. She loves to go in and out of it. We debated getting her one for Christmas, but have nowhere for it to go.

Overall , we had a great weekend. We tried to keep Ava to her sleep schedule the best we could as she is grumpy if she doesn't get enough sleep. She was pretty tuckered out each night and fell right asleep right away each night, but some mornings still woke at 5:30 am. It all caught up to her on Sunday and she was able to sleep in until past 6:30am!

The Terrible Two's

Yes, it is official, we have hit the terrible two's! As a mom, you hear about all the things that your child will go through and you hope that it won't happen to your child. I mean, you bring home this sweet and innocent baby, how on earth could she meltdown like the world was ending. This past week, whenever Ava doesn't get what she wants, she says "noooo" and then throws herself on the ground and cries. These are not fake tears either. She has full on tears running down her face and snot shooting out of her nose. At this point, I just walk away in hopes that she will see that no one is paying attention to her meltdown.  It definitely makes for an interesting day. I still love her to death and have learned to accept the little independent girl that she is.

 I mean along with the terrible two meltdowns are the case of the independents. She wants to sit on a chair and eat her meal like a big girl. It is getting increasingly difficult to get her to eat in her booster seat. She may eat a couple of bites, but then she wants down. She is not done eating though. If I put her in a seat like a big girls she will usually eat some more. We have started getting her to eat in shifts. For me, as long as I can get in some good protein to hold her over and some fruit or veggie and some milk, I am a happy mama. I have started saving what she doesn't eat to feed to her later as I don't want her to fill up on empty calories since she won't sit for a full meal these days. Yesterday, she starting using her fork a lot more, which is great. She takes it in her left hand, stabs at the food and then puts it in her right hand to get it to her mouth. She would prefer to use her hands.

We have nicknamed her the cranker pants or cranker pants 2010 as she has been "grumpy". Again, I attribute it to the terrible two's. She needs her beauty rest and when she doesn't get all that she needs, then she is grumpy and the wining and no's are plentiful. I have to really make an effort in the mornings with her to hold her and do things that make her happy or we start out on the wrong foot which sets the tone for the day.
She had started getting a good 11 hours of sleep at night and a good 2 hour nap, but that didn't last long. Lately she has been waking up around 5:20ish and taking only an hour and a half nap. That leads to a cranky Ava. I know that she will get back in her groove, but it always takes some time. The night wakings are now only occasional. We used to have them for days in a row and now we only get them here and there. I can only hope that that stays that way. That has been the hardest part for me because it wakes me from a deep sleep. Oh well, no one said you get to sleep when you have kids, did they?

I would have to say overall that she is a good toddler. She is having her moments right now, but if she is entertained with something new and exciting, you won't see one meltdown. She loves the outdoors, being with new people (once she warms up to them) and exploring new things. She loves Barney, Elmo (and most of his seasme street buddies) and Calliou. She repeats everything we say and laughs when we laugh. She loves to ham it up especially when she gets us to laugh, she will do it again and again. She is shy, but curious at the same time. She will let you know what she wants, when she wants it.   

I blog this information mostly for Ava when she grows up. I hope that one day, she will have a child and look back on how she was and maybe, just maybe have a little, little, little bit of her in her child. Is that cruel? As Ava would say "naaaooo".. She does has such a cute way of saying no that I catch myself laughing when she says it. She is a blessing and I wouldn't have her any other way. I do know that we have a strong willed, stubborn girl, just like her mama on our hands and we still have many more years to go. God Bless us!

Sorry there are no pictures. The camera is in our bedroom and I am letting Mike sleep in as Ava is FINALLY sleeping in this morning. We have family in town and we have had some long days. I will post pictures and stories tomorrow (or sometime this week). We are having a great time with everyone!

Fisher Price Weekend at the Phoenix Zoo

 Fisher Price had set up shop at the Phoenix Zoo this weekend. Since the weather has FINALLY started too cool off enough to be outside for longer than 20 minutes, we decided to go and check it out. We haven't been to the zoo since May. We knew that Ava would enjoy the change of scenery and seeing all of the animals. I wish I had taken the video camera to capture all the ohhhs, ahhhs and wows, because they were great to hear. Here is daddy and Ava looking at the giraffes.



They have a children's Fisher Price play area there and we brought Ava over there to play. That is her and I walking around.

 

Smiling for daddy!

 Say Cheese. I guess she gets her cheesy smile  from me. They kinda look the same, right?

 Daddy's turn to watch her, I had to sit down. It was starting to get hot out.












Once they finally opened the Fisher Price play "pen", Mike and Ava decided to brave the crowd. We set her down next to some toys and she played cautiously.

 This is what it looked like at 9 am when it first opened!

Waiting for daddy. She found an "ava" height seat..

We had a lot of fun. I managed to last an hour and a half which is good for me. The heat and all the walking is tiring and I was ready to rest. We met up with Mike's sister and her friend who has a son that is 21 months old right before we left.

Ava did a lot of walking around on her own, one of her new favorite things to do. Once I pull her out of the stroller, she really won't get back in. We have been enjoying the park, digging in the sand and running in the grass this past week. I need to continue to take her to new places because she loves to explore. She doesn't really like big crowds, so we usually go places earlier.

Mike is painting baby Noah's nursery right now, so I am hoping to have pictures later this week. He is getting the main colors on and then we still have to paint some stripes. My mom is on fall break and is down visiting until Tuesday, so maybe she can help get the stripes on tomorrow. We won't get the nursery all set up until Ava is ready to be in a big girl bed, but I will get the decor up and walls painted and once we are ready, in we go.

Jake

This is Jake. He is sooo tiny, but Ava loves him. One day when Ava and I were shopping at Target, she saw him and wouldn't let him go. I decided to get him for her since I hardly ever buy her toys. He instantly became her best friend. The first day she had him, she soaked him up with her saliva.

Jake is a magician. He disappears for a couple of days and then reappears for a couple of days. I mean, look at him, he is no bigger than a finger. Some nights Ava will take him to bed with her. The day I took this picture, I had left him up on this mantle and Ava saw him and kept saying his name. After saying it 3 times, I looked up and saw him. She can spot him anywhere. He is not as important as Bobo the bunny, but Ava loves him none the less! I thought he deserved a post so someday we can remember Jake when he goes missing for more than just a couple of days, which hopefully will never happen, but you never know! He is a part of the family.

Our Weekend in Prescott

 We went up to Prescott for the weekend to celebrate my Grandma's 83rd birthday. We left Friday late afternoon and came home this Sunday morning. It was nice to escape to cooler temps even though I was secretly hoping it would be cold enough to wear pants and long sleeve shirts. It was in the 80's, so I guess I will take it. Mike and I went out to dinner Friday night when we got there. Ava had a blast hanging out with Grammie and Grandpa Dwayne. She loves new places to explore.

My mom has 2 steps to get into her living room and Ava spent most of the weekend going up and down them!!

We went to the fair on Saturday, just to see the animals.Ava really enjoyed them. There weren't a lot of them, but they were fun to see. We had to take a tractor ride over to where they were and she did NOT like the tractor ride. She jumped between my mom, Mike and I the entire ride there and back.

She played outside my mom's  backyard too. There was a ceramic bunny that she was very interested in.

We celebrated my Grandma's birthday Saturday evening and we all had a blast. A huge storm came in that night and the loud thunder woke up Ava around 10:15pm that night and she didn't finally fall asleep until midnight. We were all a bit tired the next day. We brought her into our bed because she was in a new place and a different bedroom and hoped she would fall back asleep and then we could just put her back in her crib, but nope. She was probably not very comfortable being crammed into a double bed with Mike and I.  I know I wasn't.  After a while, Mike did try to put her back down, but she wasn't having it. My mom rocked her for a bit and I think she was tired enough from being up for the past 2 hours that she went right down.

She has been talking up a storm. The other day, she had a stuffed animal in her hand and she just started naming his body parts all on her own. Usually we have to point and ask her what something is. If you say a word, she will repeat it a million times in a row. Usually, we will point to something, like the garden in my mom's back yard and say "garden", then she will say "gar" and then I say it again as if to correct her and get her to say the full word. We will go back and forth quite a few times!

She has officially learned the word "no". I know for a lot of kids, it is the first word they learn, but not Ava. Just this past weekend, when I would ask a question, she would answer, "no". At first I thought it was a fluke, but she has continued to say it when you ask her to do things. It is cute and sometimes it means yes, but she is learning to assert herself.