Sibling Love

There is nothing that warms my heart more than when I see Ava and Noah interact together. Ava is a great big sister. If Noah is crying, she goes up to him and tells him that it's ok. She will show Noah her toys as well as take his toys away from him.

 Noah watches everything that Ava does. He especially loves to grab her hair.

Ava loves when Noah talks. She will stop what she is doing and say "Noah's talking, he, he!"

The other day after Noah's nap, Ava wanted to get into his crib and I captured some sweet memories.

I can't wait to see how their relationship grows as they get older. I hope they will have a great bond that only siblings can have.

Potty Training and Some Randomness Not to be Forgotten...

Yup. Ava is being potty trained this week. I would have to say so far so good. We started on Tuesday. The morning didn't start off too good, but that is what I expected. After 2-3 accidents, she went pee-pee in the potty. I was at the Doctor's office with Noah and I got the text saying "she did it". After that, there were no more accidents that day, just one on day two. Day 3 she didn't have one accident. Day 4 and 5 have had one accident each.

The hardest part for her was going poo-poo. She just couldn't do it. I was getting worried by day 3 because she hadn't gone at all and this is a 1-2 times a day type of girl. This is how it went down. On Day 3, I had my eye on her like a hawk. I noticed her going over to her "poop corner" and then she started to bend forward with this look on her face. (I know Ava, you are going to hate me for this when you get older and read this, sorry princess!)  I immediately got her to the potty and she hovered over and made poo-poo! Yay! Yay! Of course as soon as she started, the pest control people came. I had to leave to show him where we had noticed some bees buzzing around a rock and going under in the back yard.. I left and she finished up. She got 4 M&M's and a new whimsy pet (Booster Rooster). She was so happy. Me too, so much so that I took a picture and texted it to my mom and Mike!

I am not asking her to go potty too much over the next couple of days. I want her to come to me. In fact, I had to put Noah down for his nap and I came out of his room and she said, "Look Mommy, I went pee-pee". She pulled her underwear down on her own and went potty.

I am so happy that she is starting the potty training process, but it poses so many more logistical things. I asked her if she wanted to go potty on the big potty and she said "Grammie goes potty on the big potty and Ava goes on the little potty". Yes, that is true, but how do we ever go anywhere. That will be my next task after a week of good training.

She is staying dry for the most part at nap time and bed time. This morning she did wake up with a wet diaper, but I expected it because she drank a bunch of water before bed and wouldn't go pee. These are things we have to think about now.

I accidentally taught Ava how to turn the lights on today. You know it is one of those moments that you take to teach your child how to do something and as soon as you say it, you regret it immediately. She was turning the light switches off and I told her to turn them back on. She stood on her tiptoes, but just couldn't reach it, so I told her to get her stool and turn it on. She immediately said "ok". Then she got excited and she would look around the house for a light switch and turned ALL of them on and wouldn't turn them off. Oh well. Hopefully she will forget that she learned how to do it!!


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Noah had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday for his Rotovirus shot. He weighed in at 18 lbs 2.5 oz! He is getting so big.

I started Noah on solids a while ago and have since realized that he has some food intolerance's. He did fine in the beginning. It may be that I started with veggies and he is more tolerant of them. Recently his sleep has been in the crapper again. After talking with the GI specialists nurse, she felt he was right where he should be for his meds and we talked about solids. She said that he could have some problems with them. So I immediately went online to see what I could find and indeed something that Noah ate a day or two ago can still be bothering him. With a cow's milk protein allergy, it is best to go slow. Real Slow. So I took him off the solids except the rice cereal which he has been ok with.  I will keep him on that for a week to see if we have any improvement. Then I will have to introduce one new solid at a time for a week to see what happens. If I don't see an improvement in a week on just rice cereal, I will take him off that and see what happens. If nothing there, then maybe it is teeth or just a change in what has been going in our house. It is always a mystery!!!

He is becoming very vocal lately. He wakes up in the morning and will talk for a good 20 minutes. I can tell that he is trying to make new noises because they come out squeaky. It is really cute.

When I put him on the floor, he will turn to get his toys. Still no rolling over, but at least he is trying to move.

He is sitting up on his own pretty good now. I still sit behind him and keep my legs out to catch him if he falls, but he is doing really well so far.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the past 2 days:



Sibling Love









Love that outfit!





Found my toes and I love to suck on them.





Squeeze



Ava's 2 year old Molars

Over the past month, Ava has gotten her two bottom two year old molars. The one on her right came in first and about a week ago, the left one started to come in. She had a little runny nose for a day or so and was extra needy. I am hoping that we are almost done getting them in. She has been waking up 1-2 times a night too. I think once they are in, we will get back to normal. As you can see from the picture, she is chewing her fingers--that would be the TEETH coming in.

Last weekend we also got her haircut. You can see from the pictures that her bangs are MUCH SHORTER. I guess that is what is expected when the hairdresser goes to cut her bangs and Ava puts her head down and starts to cry. We had to bride her with fruit snacks and she still cried. I told the lady to get as much done as fast as possible. The bangs will grow, but at least now we can see her eyes.

Noah is 5 months old!

Noah turns 5 months old today! I can't believe how fast and slow it has gone. What a big boy he is now.

Just a couple of days ago he started babbling up a storm. One night when I put him to bed, he chatted to himself for about 30 minutes before going to bed. He LOVES, LOVES to talk to Ava. Any time Ava says hi to him or when he watches her his legs and arms go a mile a minute and he starts to talk. I think this developmental leap is what is causing his naps to go haywire. I heard him the other night at 3 am talking to himself. I hope this will pass very fast.

 He still has no desire to roll over. I got him to do it once or twice when I rolled him up onto his side. Usually he will just hang out on his side.

He is still very chill. I can leave him on the floor forever and he will entertain himself.

He is eating solids too. I am doing it very slow. He will get one food for 3-5 days before I switch. He has done most of the veggies (Sweet Potatoes, Green Beans, Carrots, Squash) and two fruits (Prunes and Pears). Now that he is getting the hang of it, he likes to eat.

He has started sleeping through the night now. I hope I don't jinx myself, but we have had about 10 days in a row now. His naps used to be better, but again, I am hoping that it is just a developmental leap that is causing his sleep disturbances. He usually takes one good nap and 2 catnaps.

He loves his activity chair. I usually put him in it after he eats to keep him upright.

He is starting to sit unassisted for small periods of time.

Over the past week, he moved to his 9 month clothes and I think could wear some 12 month ones in certain styles. 

We moved to size 3 diapers too.

Here are some pictures of Noah over the past couple of days.

He always has drool coming out of his mouth. I have pulled out the bibs because he soaks his shirts.

He is starting to find his feet

Sitting like a big boy

Look, no hands!

Past Couple Days of Fun!

We have been enjoying our time off. Here is a peek into what we have been up to..

Ava decided it was a fashion statement to put her headband on and backpack on.

Noah and I did some tummy time and played with Ava. Noah LOVES to watch Ava play. He smiles and his arms and legs start to go a mile a minute.

Ava got a new water table to play with from Grammie. We also bought some ABC foam mats. The main purpose is for them to go under our pool, but then for Ava to play on in the summer because the cement is too hot.

Noah had a follow up appointment with the GI specialist, Dr. Kolpuru, on Wednesday. He weighed in at 17 lbs 4.9 oz. He is getting so big. So big that he has practically outgrown his 6 month clothes. I went to Carters the other night because they were having an awesome sale (70% off) and got him some 9 month clothes. This outfit below is a 6 month and will be his first and last time in it. Anyway, I digressed. Dr. Kolpuru wants to keep him on his reflux meds because he is still refluxing. We are also keeping him on his special formula. She said that it was ok to start solids. We have been giving him solids once a day. We have done Sweet Potatoes, Squash and Prunes. We are going slowly because we want to make sure there are no food allergies. He seems to sleep better when he gets his solids. He has been sleeping better in general. Our pattern seems to be 2 nights of sleeping through the night and 3 nights of waking at least once. He is also napping better. Not all are great, but he does 2 hour naps without me having to go in and settle him. He is still at 3 naps a day and they are not consistent, but we usually get one good nap (1 1/2 hours-2 1/2 hours) and two 35-60 minute naps.  He still hasn't rolled over, but if he is on his belly, he will turn his body to get to his toys.

Here he is in his 6 month outfit that he has outgrown.

What a cutie!!

We pulled out our pool from last year today and got it all set up and played in it today. It was really nice. It made it feel like vacation. Ava loved it which is a one eighty from last year where she was afraid to even go in it. I put Noah in for a couple of minutes. He didn't love it and he didn't hate it. He is very serious.

 Tomorrow we are off to the zoo and then to a pool party on Saturday. Fun times still to be had on this vacation!!

Look out Dan Wheldon, Ava Grace Leptuch is in town

We went to our friends daughters birthday yesterday and they had a Little Tykes car that Ava LOVED. This morning we bought one for Ava.

She helped her daddy put it together.

Noah and I watched from the sidelines

Sipping a juice box while driving

 After finishing up, the kiddos enjoyed some time with daddy....

Stay-cation Day 1

This week we always take off for vacation. It is always around my birthday and anniversary. When I used to work, I always took advantage of vacations on weeks where one day we already had off so I didn't have to use as many vacation days. So normally we would be on a beach in Maui with drink in hand sitting at the pool enjoying the view. This year and many of the past years, our vacation is a stay-cation. (I am working on Mike now for next year. It will be our 10 year anniversary and I REALLY want to take a vacation back to Maui or Kauai, but he is not sure he can travel that far and leave the kids...1 year to convince him and possibly me to do that. If not Maui, then Napa for sure!!)

Anyway,  We started the morning off with a nice long walk. That is not unusual for us to do on vacation. In fact, when we go on vacation, we workout more than when we are home. We usually take a walk in the morning and then head to the gym after breakfast. I know, it's crazy to workout on vacation, but we usually are at the pool by 10am anyway.

We spent the rest of the first day doing what we would have normally done if we were really going on vacation, errands. Running around trying to get things done.  Yesterday I managed to get my car washed, run to Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, Sports Authority (not really on my list, but I found a new pair of sneakers), the bank and ran to the mall to get my rings checked and cleaned. All within an hour, well a little over an hour because the mall wasn't quite open. I was pretty impressed with myself.

We also FINALLY finished our office/guest room/craft room. Here are some pictures.

This would be the guest room part. The curtain is really a tan color like the bedspread, but looks yellow in the picture.

This is the Office part of the room

This is my Craft Station part of the room

We also pulled out some of Ava's old things that are now for Noah.

Ava's old "poop chair"

 He is not quite ready for it. I had to stack 3 books under him. It is called Ava's poop chair because when she used it, that was the ONLY place she would poop for a long time. Ava likes it more than Noah at the moment, which isn't good because there are a lot of noisy things on it!?!

The highchair

I have been asking Mike to pull this out for over a week and we finally got it down. I have been giving Noah some solids here and there. He has tried Rice Cereal, Oatmeal, Sweet Potatoes and Prunes. He had the funniest reaction to the prunes. It took him a while to get used to the tastes and for the most part he just likes to suck it off the spoon, but he is still very young.  I started with prunes to try to help the poor little guy get things moving. I thought with his daily apple juice and prunes something we get moving, but no such luck yet.

We got a lot crossed off our to do list. We decided to do something fun for the kids, or Ava, everyday. Yesterday she helped daddy plant some new plants in the backyard and go to Lowes with daddy to pick them out. That was her "fun" for the day. Now the best part about him buying plants is that they shouldn't die this time around because he FINALLY got our sprinkler system fixed. After almost 6 years in this house, we have the sprinkler heads working and on a timer. No more kitchen oven timer set and moving the hose around, when we remembered to do it!!

On the docket for today...watching the Indy 500 and our friends daughters 3rd birthday party!!