It's Been A Long Time...

Sorry, it's been a while since I posted. Been busy here. Here are some random things that have been going on.

Noah has been in a nap transition along with teething that has not been going well. Right after Easter, he started fighting his second nap. It was too soon after he got up from his first nap and wasn't tired enough, yet. But, if we put him down any later, then he wouldn't be tired to go to bed. So I started pushing out his nap and have been trying to put him down at the same time as Ava, noon. The problem is that he is overtired at that point and  not napping well. He sleeps anywhere from 45 mins to 1 hour 30 mins. A lot of time if he sleeps an hour and a half, he wakes up and cries for a couple of minutes half way through.

We have also had some nights that he has been waking and crying on and off for an hour and a half and depending on when that starts, he may wake again. I have to guess it is teeth, but is tiring for me.

We call him Houdini now because he somehow manages to pull one arm out of his sleep sack every nap and at night and last night he got the entire thing off. Maybe it's time to get rid of it, but I know it is his comfort, so not sure what to do.

Ava has been enjoying swim lessons. She still won't blow bubbles. We practice getting her ears wet, which she doesn't like, but hopefully she will warm up to it. Last week she get her eyes wet. It scared her, but she did good. She looks forward to going every week.

The other day, Ava decided to give Noah a play haircut. I wasn't here for it, but she was using a straw and a starbucks stir stick. Apparently, Noah just sat and let her do it.

Noah is trying to talk more. He is going to be like Ava and just say first syllables.

He is so funny because he does/copies everything Ava does. She is afraid of bugs, so now Noah is. He screams very loudly "buuu" when he sees one. He sometimes thinks a piece of fuzz is a bug and it freaks him out.

We went to Prescott last weekend to celebrate my grandparents 60th Anniversary. Traveling with the kids at this age is just not fun I have decided. They like to be in their beds. I usually sleep in the room with Noah and Mike sleeps in another room with Ava. Noah tosses and turns and was up crying on and off for an hour and a half (seeing a pattern here). I now know why he is so tired some days. He is not a deep sleeper. We went up on Friday and were planning to stay until Sunday, but I couldn't do another night like the first and we left on Saturday night.

Ava loves to make up songs to sing. They are super cute and after she asks me if I liked it. Of course I do.

We have been going to the zoo a lot. Since the weather has been nice and before it gets too hot, we try to go at 8:30-10 ish every week. We walk the entire zoo. A lot of the animals are still sleeping. One day I must have said that an animal was lazy because Ava walks around the zoo saying the animals are lazy if they are sleeping or not out.

Noah could live off of yogurt and applesauce, he would. He is a picky eater so when all else fails give him one of those and he is a happy camper, unless he is tired.

Ava recently started complaining that her heel hurts. I think she has planter fasciitis. I have been stretching it a couple times a day. If it still bothers her on Monday, I might call the pediatrician to see if there is something we can do. Poor girl.

I have mentioned before that Ava is a hoarder. Not only does she make lines and piles of things around the house, but she likes to have on as many things as possible on her body.

Holy Hotness

There is a raccoon on her head, a hat, sunglasses, necklace, scarf, some other animal hanging from the scarf, a squirrel in her hand and her tutu and what you can't see is one, yes only one sock that is orange with pink rim on her right foot. Love it!!

We pulled out our baby blow up pool last weekend and the kids LOVE it. They would play in it for hours if we would let them.

Noah's 15 Month Checkup

Just a quick update for our records.

Noah had his 15 month check up last week. He weighed 24 lbs 7.5 oz, which is in the 50th percentile and is 33" long, which is in the 93rd percentile. Long and lean like his daddy.

Of course, he screamed as soon as Dr. Jafri wanted to check him out and not just cry, but scream bloody murder. There is one thing for sure, he doesn't like who he doesn't know.

She was impressed at the scribbles he made on the paper on the table. She said at 15 months to be holding a crayon like that was really good. He LOVES to color, but now he only wants to color with markers. Thanks to Ava.

Noah has what is called, Ankyloglossia, or a short frenulum, also know as tongue-tied. He basically can't stick his tongue out very far. The doctor noticed it when he was an infant, but she wasn't concerned because he was eating well, which is a common problem with it. When he learned how to stick out his tongue, we noticed that it didn't go out that far. So I brought it up again at our appointment to see what implications this has. She basically said it may affect his speech. At this point, to get it clipped, he will need some general anesthesia. So we should just wait and see how it goes and when it does become a problem, then we can go and get it looked at or we can go after our 18 month appointment.

Other than that, she said that he was doing well. We think so!!!

Bobo's Friend

For Easter, my mom found "Bobo". Well, not the exact one, but the update to Bobo at Kohls, where she originally got Bobo. We went shopping one day when she was down here on spring break and saw it and decided to get it.

It is so amazing to see what Bobo used to look and feel like.

Old Bobo on the left and new Bobo on the right

All I can say is that Bobo is one loved bunny!! Ava decided that new Bobo's name is going to be Bobo's friend.

Mike's Confirmation

About 6 months ago, Mike came to me and said that he was interested in getting confirmed in the Catholic Church. He found a RCIA group that met on Thursday nights and he wanted to go and check it out to see what it was all about. It was at St. Stevens Church in Sun Lakes.

He went, he liked it and the rest is history. On Saturday night mass, the night before Easter, he was confirmed in the Catholic Church. It was a nice and long ceremony and I am so proud of him.

We weren't allowed to have a flash in the church, so the pictures that I got weren't great, but here are a couple.

That is Mike on the right in the white gown with his sponsor, Olin

We are all so proud of him. The kids didn't get to go because the service started at 7pm and went until 9:30pm. My sister was nice enough to watch them. I was a bit nervous because I was telling Ava about it and she would start to say "mommy, I don't want you to leave me". But, Aunt Jackie came with gifts and all was forgotten about. Even Noah did good.

Mike's mom came from LA for the event and enjoyed some time with her grandchildren. Here are a few pictures.

Ava's Hippo Backpack

Ava has a hippo backpack that she wears everywhere. (It is actually one of those "child leashes" for when you are in big crowds)

She puts it on first thing in the morning and some days she doesn't take it off.

She likes to wear her tutu also.

Maybe she is more ready to go to school than I give her credit for.

Noah is 15 Months Old

Who is 15 months old today?

This guy....

Dear Noah,

I can't believe how fast time is flying. I think I will say that at every birthday. I still remember the day you were born like it was yesterday. 

You are becoming more of a "boy" now. 

You are REALLY into books. Especially anything with animals. You love animals. If someone were to read you books all day long, you would be a happy camper.

You can make a lot of animal noises. You can make noises for dogs, cats, sheep, horse, fish, monkey, lions and ducks.

You haven't really added any new words to your vocabulary. The newest are "bud" for buddy, "wa" for water and still a lot of grunts and pointing to get what you want.

You and sissy have started duking it out these days. If she has something you want, you grab it, which in turn causes her to cry and then you to get mad because she grabs it back. When you get mad, you run away crying and find a wall to hit. It is comical for sissy and I to watch.

You are a good eater. You eat a lot, but if you don't like it you move it around on your plate. You have a sweet tooth and could eat yogurt with every meal. You really love to hold a spoon and feed yourself. 

You love to play in the sandbox.

We took you to your first swim lesson and you screamed for the first 10 minutes, so we took you out. Hopefully you will enjoy the pool, just not the swim lessons.

You are very shy around people you don't know,but you have always been that way.

You are still taking 2 naps a day, but I think over the next month will be dropping one. One of your naps is usually only 40 minutes.

You have only your bottom right "eye" tooth to get in. Hopefully it will come in soon because this last one was a doozy!

You are in size 24 month clothes. 

I will update your stats once we go to the doctor on Wednesday.

You are definitely a daddy's boy when he is around. You are cuddly in general, which we both love. You love buddy, you puppy. You like to throw him in your crib when we go into your room for nap time.

You love dancing too. You do a "wiggle, wiggle, wiggle" that is too funny. You "raise the roof" with your hands and run in circles like your sissy when you dance. You also like Katy Perry songs like Ava. You will stop what you are doing and go into the family room and dance and scream when you hear her songs.

You love, love to watch your Baby Einsteins videos. They are all of animals, so it keeps you interested. You say "nigh, nigh" and point to the TV when you want to watch it. 

Mommy and daddy and sissy love you so much. I can't wait until you start talking more, but I know the day will come and then you will have to compete with your sister!!

Easter 2012

Happy Easter! We had a great Easter here at the Leptuch house. We hosted again this year. It is just easier to host things around here because of naps.

We had a late night last night because we were at Easter mass watching Mike get confirmed (more to come on that), so we all slept in until 6am. Ava woke up a little cranky, but I told her that the Easter bunny came and left her an Easter basket and she cheered right up and went to find her Easter basket. She loved all the jelly beans. The rest she really didn't care about. So she enjoyed some jelly beans and a Reese peanut butter candy for breakfast.

In her left hand is chocolate and in her right hand is a jelly bean. Breakfast of champions.

I remember eating candy for breakfast on holiday mornings, so I will let my kids do the same. It is their one free pass of all day candy too!!

Noah woke up shortly after Ava and enjoyed his Easter basket as well.

Everyone came over at 11am for lunch. We had a nice ham lunch with all the yummy sides. 

We had a house full of people, 21 people to be exact. Mike's mom came from LA since Mike was confirmed in the catholic church Saturday night.  My grandparents were here along with my 2nd cousin Judy and my cousin Duena and her boyfriend, Gary. All the Aunties and Uncles were here except Auntie Susan because she had to work, but Uncle Troy made it over.

All the aunties and uncles spoiled the kids with Easter baskets. 

There was not a shortage of Easter baskets around here.

After dinner we had an Easter egg hunt in the back yard. More sugar!

Here are some pictures from our day.

The cousins.

It was a great Easter. Another great one for the books. I was surprised at how much Noah wanted to be involved. Ava loved finding the eggs and playing with all her new toys and eating all her jelly beans. I think they are both gonna be worn out tonight.

Playdate

Yesterday, we had a couple of our friends over that have kids for a play date. Three of the boys are within 6 months of each other. It is fun to see how they are growing. The other 2 boys are twins that are 5 months old. There were 6 kids running around here yesterday. It was crazy hectic, but lots of fun.

Here are the boys back in May 2010

Parker, Carter and Noah

Here are the boys now (March 2012)

Noah, Parker and Carter

Noah was his usual self, shy. Parker and Carter are both in day care and just ran around exploring all the new toys.

I guess this is our new normal. A house full of running, yelling, crazy kids. I didn't get a picture of the twins, but before we know it they will be crawling and in the mix soon. Hopefully Ava will be the "big sister" to all of them one day and watch them so the parents can sit back and relax.