Our Evenings

For the past month or so we have been doing our winding down to bed time in Ava's room.

Here is a snapshot of our evening.....

Noah has been spending his time trying to roll over to crawl. 

Or to chew on the bed rail while Ava reads.

See how he is twisting. If we move the pillow, then he will go "splat" onto his belly.

It has become my favorite time of the evening because we are all in the room with no distractions and it is our family time!

Curious George

Every Friday at 10:30am, our Barnes and Nobles has story time. Today they had a special guest appearance, Curious George. I have been talking it up to Ava all week. Today we went and it was a Mad House! We met up with Ella and Erin. Ava was excited to go, but I knew that this is how it was going to go.

After the Curious George Book, out came Curious George.

And this was Ava's reaction.

No surprise here, but what is she going to do when we go and meet Dora or Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny.

It was still fun to get out. We enjoyed a nice lunch at the food court and now she is all tuckered out!

A Girl And Her Soccer Ball

The other day we ventured out to Buy Buy Baby. Ava wanted a new ball. She had her pick of any kind of ball. There were ones with Dora and Diego on them, Ladybugs etc.. But Ava wanted the Soccer Ball.

I think she will be into sports when she gets a little bit older. She just loved that ball and carried it with her in the car seat all the way home1

Backyard Photoshoot

Every month, I get pictures of Ava and Noah together. I want to see how much they change each month. (Plus, I am working on my yearly Christmas Photo book for the grandparents).

Yesterday, I took these pictures of the kids.  Enjoy!

A Day In The Life Of...

...Noah at 8 mos and Ava 30 mos. I thought I would randomly throughout the year post what a day in our life looks like so I can go back and remember. After all, my memory of things isn't getting any sharper!


After a night of many wake ups, mostly from Ava, our baby alarm clock goes off around 4:45am (that would be Noah)

5:25am Mike and I jump in the shower in hopes to get ready before Ava and Noah start to squawk loud enough that we can't ignore it anymore!

6:00am: Get Noah up, fed and dressed.

6:15am-6:45am: I make my breakfast. Mike makes breakfast and his lunch. Ava plays by herself and frequently asks us to play. Noah hangs out in his poop chair.

6:45am-7:00am: I wash bottles and clean up the kitchen. Mike heads out for work and the kids play.

7:00am: Noah gets his solids.

7:00-8:00am: Ava, Noah and Mama play in the living room.

8:00am-9:15am: Noah naps,Ava gets dressed and then breakfast (she is not a breakfast girl. She won't eat for a while after getting up. If we try to make a breakfast too early, she will only take a couple of bites). Then Ava gets some TV down time and I do some chores around the house or things on the computer.

9:15-10:00am: Noah gets up and we play. If we have our play date with Ella, this is when we head over to her house or she comes over to our house.

10:00am: Noah gets his bottle. Then we play until lunch time. Sometimes, this is when we will head out to the mall for an hour or so. On Fridays, Barnes and Nobles has story time at 10:30am, so we head over for that.

11:00am: Noah gets solids and Ava gets lunch. Then we play until nap time.

12:30pm-2:00/2:30pm: Nap time. Yay! Yay! This is mommy time. This is when I catch up on my Tivo. Don't bother me during this time. As of lately it has been a short time because Noah has been taking a short nap during this time.But on the flip side, now that we have moved this nap out, Ava has been taking longer naps.

2:00pm (or whenever Noah wakes up): Noah gets his bottle. Ava gets a snack. Then I clean up the kitchen from lunch and get the coffee ready for tomorrow and pull out what I need for dinner. The kids play.

4:00pm: As of right now, Noah still goes down for a short catnap, but I am trying to change that. Mike comes home. I make dinner and then we all sit down for dinner. (Yes, we eat really early).

5:30pm: Bath time and get into jammies.

6:00pm: Noah gets his night time bottle and then we retreat into Ava's room for quiet time and to start winding down for the night.

6:45pm: Noah goes to bed and Mike reads Ava books and then it is lights out. Then this is where Ava pulls out her "playbook" and starts going down the list of things she can say to get us to come in and get her up or out of bed...Ava, we are on to you..." I'm choking, I have to go pee-pee, my knee hurts", we know them all!!!


Then Mike goes into the office to do some work for a couple of hours. I retreat into the bedroom for a TV show or two and then off to bed.

Pretty much the same every day. As I like to say Wash. Rinse. Repeat...but I wouldn't change it for the world.

Ava's Room

Ava's room is FINALLY complete. It only took 4 months. The final touches were to put up one more shelf and pictures. Here are some pictures.

It finally feels like a complete little girls room! This is how it will stay until she is old enough to tell me she is ready for a change!!

Noah Is 8 Mos Old

Wow! I still can't believe how fast time flies. I know that everyone says it. I do all the time, especially to first time moms, but each month when I write these posts, I still can't believe it!

Noah,

What a personality you are turning out to have. You are still our "chill" baby, but when you get mad, you get mad. It can partially be due to the fact that your top 4 teeth decided to all come in at once and I think you are getting another bottom tooth. It can also be due to the fact that your sissy wants every toy you have and if someone takes away your toy, watch out.

Speaking of teeth. We call you the barracuda because of all your teeth, here are some shots.

You have discovered your high pitch voice. Sometimes you will start to fuss and then it ends with a high pitched scream and a smile. You love to play "who can make the loudest noise" with mama. You will make a loud scream and then I will, then you will, then I will. We go back and forth. You love it. This has earned you the nickname Blue Eyed Squawk's-a-lot! You have also been babbling a lot. Mostly "da-da-da".

You love music. We put the music on and sissy and I dance and you like to bop your head and sing along. Or just make loud screeches.

You are trying to wave. You will put your hand in the air and move your fingers around.

You still have no desire to be on the move. I am ok with that. You still haven't really rolled over from front to back, at least consistently where I have seen it. You are starting to walk with the me holding your hands, but you are still trying to get the idea of one foot  then the next. You like to stand up. We put you up against the couch, but you don't really understand that you have to hold on. No crawling yet and no interest in it yet. You will sit in your spot that I put you down in and just turn around in circles to get what you want. Sometimes you will reach and reach for something that you fall forward. (I guess you are wanting to crawl).


You are better about your food. We are through all the stage 1 foods. You are starting to like peas and peaches now. We can only do bananas every once in a while because man that backs you up to the point of uncomfortable. You are starting to protest your high chair. Not sure what that is all about, but sweet pea, you have a long way before you are out of that thing. You are still taking four 8 oz bottles a day.

Your sleep is getting better. You are sleeping through the night for the most part. You are currently still taking 3 naps, but we have to change that soon. You are taking an hour and 15 min nap in the morning. We have shifted your second nap out a bit in hopes you would take a longer one, but it has been about an45 mins to an hour and 15 mins too and then you take a 3rd nap that is about 45 mins. Somehow we have to drop a nap. You also like to wake up at the crack of dawn. Anywhere between 4:30-4:45am. yuck!!

You took 2 trips this month. Your first one was to LA and you took your first plane ride there. You did great. Your second trip was to Prescott.

Stats:
Weight: (will update after our appt on Tuesday)
Clothes: You have transitioned to 12 mos!!! I can't believe it.
Diaper size: 4 and 5's at night
Hair height: Sticking straight up and growing!!

What an amazing baby you are! We love you to pieces!

Prescott Weekend

This weekend we decided to escape the heat and head up to Prescott for a couple of days. My Uncle was in town from California and we wanted to see him.

We drove up early Saturday morning. The drive up was uneventful. It is about a 2 hour drive and Ava watched her Dora video. Noah slept all of 35 minutes and then just hung out until we hit Prescott Valley and then he started to fuss. They have about an hour and 45 minute driving limit.

Once we got up there, we just hung out. The family was coming over for dinner. Mike and I decided that we would go downtown during their nap to the Prescott Brewing Company for a beer. Everyone came over that evening and we had good food and family time. Ava enjoyed having some extra attention. She kept calling for great grandma to come play with her. She even hugged her before she left and made grandma's year!!!

Sleep that night was as expected, CRAP! I slept in one room with Ava and Mike slept in another with Noah. Noah woke up 3 times. I guess he decided that it would be fun to talk and make noises from 3-4 am, but he ended up sleeping until a little past 6am.(I also think that the fact that he is getting all his top 4 teeth at the same time didn't help the matter either.) Ava woke up once, but didn't fall asleep for an hour after we went to bed.

Sunday morning, we got up and Mike and I went for a walk in my mom's neighborhood. We walked over 2 miles up and around the hills. Boy, were we sore the next day.

We went down to the Square after Noah's morning nap and walked around the craft fair. I made the mistake of telling Ava that we would get candy down there and from the moment we got in the car until we got to the cotton candy booth, all she said is "I want some candy".
Here we are downtown.

We headed home after walking around for an hour for both the kids to take a nap. After their nap, we went to my Uncle's house to see his chickens. Ava was all excited, but was hesitant once we got there. They fed them an ear of corn.

She was also excited to see my Aunt Judy's coo-coo clock. She didn't know what to think of it when it went off, but I think she enjoyed it.

We enjoyed some afternoon wine and....

watched Ava play...

She was watering the plants and had her stethoscope on

That afternoon, Mike and the kids played.. Tickle time and everyone wanted in on the action.

Noah was getting tired and ready for bed for the evening and doing his usual, singing and talking while eating my shirt. (The kid loves to suck on clothes)

We went outside to enjoy the cool weather with a fire in the fire pit.

It was a great way to end our time there. We got up early Monday morning, went for a walk, packed up the kiddos and headed home to the heat!!