Gigi & Papi's visit

Gigi and Papi came in from California to visit the girls.  Ava was as happy as a clam with the constant attention she got from them.  I think she spent the entire weekend jumping on their bed and making them watch.  We also went on a train ride at Hermann Park and she says that was her favorite part.

Saturday night they kept the girls so we could go on a much needed date night.  We went and had wine and a very good dinner.  Tried to see the movie the help and even bought our tickets in advance only to show up at the the theater and find not one seat left.  grrr.  Was probably better anyway because Brynn was giving Gigi fits over here.  This child absolutely has a meltdown if I am not here at bedtime.  Gigi said it was like a heartbroken cry like she missed her mommy, and not a mad cry like you would think.  Steve also tried a few weeks ago and he was met with defeat as well. 

Last week Grandmother and Grandad came to watch them and Brynn melted down then too.  She eventually calmed down but it was heartbreaking.  While I am looking forward to going to work and socializing with my work buds again, I am NOT looking forward to leaving Brynn and the tough time she's going to have adjusting.  I'm hoping she'll surprise me and do great!

While Ava was on her best behavior for the most part, she did grow 3 heads a couple of times and show Gigi and Papa what she was made of with the temper tantrums.  This girl is STUBBORN folks!  She DOES NOT back down.  It takes a lot to break her will and let me tell you it is exhausting!  She has quite the little temper on her. 

I love love love this picture

Riding the train in 107 degree heat- baked baby in the front
Gotta love Houston weather

Mornings with Ava

Bed Head

Loves donuts with pink icing- but just eats the top off of them

Stuff on my Baby

Anybody seen the Stuff on my cat website?  http://www.stuffonmycat.com/

I think Ava's trying to start a new trend:  Stuff on my baby...watch out for my website coming soon.




Apparently Ava thought Brynn could jump better with a big blanket on her head

 

This would be a skirt, a minnie mouse doll and a minnie mouse lovey piled on top of the baby

Princess Brynn

Brynn's baby laugh

18 weeks

Brynn of course is still my sweet little Brynny boo.  She has been spending this entire week practicing her roll over.  She's like one of those little bugs that you put on it's back and it instantly flips over on it's stomach.  She still gets frustrated when her arm gets stuck, but she is enjoying her new skill.  She even tries to roll over when I'm changing her diaper.  Whenever Ava see's her roll over she says " Yay! Good job Brynny!"

She's now ready for bed at night by 6:30 so I have to start her bedtime routine earlier now.  We do a bath about 5:45 or 6pm, give her a baby massage (Ava likes to help), get her dressed and then we come in my room and I lay down with her.  After that she goes in her moses basket until about midnight or so when she wakes up.  She likes the moses basket because it's soft and cozy like laying in our bed.  She still gets irate if Steve tries to put her down or if she wakes up and he's in here instead of me.  I'm talking major tears.

Ava helping with our baby massage

all nice and cozy in my moses basket

She usually sleeps until about 8 or 8:30 in the morning.  Ava wakes up about 8 so she comes in and gets in bed with us and we watch cartoons until Brynn wakes up.  I have realized that it's now time to start respecting Byrnn's naps and can't be on the go during her nap time, so we've had to stay home pretty much all day this week.  If she misses her morning nap or doesn't get the nap out it throws our entire day off. 



I love this picture because of Brynn's hair

 Last week we went and met her teachers at the pre-school we have the girls enrolled in.  We loved Ava's teachers and I was really happy with Brynn's teachers.  One of them has been in infant care for over 30 years and they seemed to really know their stuff.  They already had her little high chair, cubby and crib labeled with her name.  I am just so dreading the rough first few days she is going to have.  She is such a mommy's girl.  We are also going to interview a couple of nannies just in case we decide to go that route instead.

The Tazmanian Devil AKA Ava

I could sit here and only post all the cute and wonderful sweet things my kids do, but let's be real, 3 year olds are not always so sweet and wonderful.  I'm not sure who took my kid or what they did with her but this decoy they left in her place just won't do.

She had a major meltdown this evening that just wouldn't end so she was forced to go to her room and "take a break" and calm down.  When she finally stopped screaming we went in and this is what we found:

Bed stripped down to the fitted sheet

Book shelf emptied and trash dumped on the floor

every shoe she owns no longer in the closet

closet no longer contains shoes

Ya think she has a temper?  Guess Steve better go ahead and bolt the furniture down for the next time hurricane Ava comes through. 

sweetness




Reading her "Bible stories" to Elmo and Foofa

 


Snuggle time after naps



4 months old already!

Brynn's 4 month check up

Weight:  15.8 lbs  87%

Height:  26 inches  97%  (off the charts according to the pediatrician)

Head Circ: 16.7 87%

Brynn was a happy happy baby at the doctor, didn't get upset until she had her shots and even then she did pretty good.  She is now playing with her toes and is fascinated with them :)  She's also squealing and talking just to hear the sound of her own voice.  She's a little feverish and fussy today though, poor thing.

After Brynn's appointment, Biscuit had her appointment for her vaccinations.  The true drama queen that biscuit is, she started screaming, yelping and peeing on the floor as soon as the vet tech came in the room, so they had to take her back to the back area to examine her and give her shots.  The dogs up front could still hear her so they were all barking.  She sounds like someone is plucking her toenails off one by one and all they've done is look at her.  She's just ridiculous. 

Ava's 3rd Birthday Party

This year we had a small Minnie Mouse birthday party at Ava's Gymnastics academy.  Ava was very excited to show off for all of her cousins and the kids had a great time.  By the way Ava also had her 3 year check up and is 37% in weight and 67.5% in height. 

I'm all ready for big sisters minnie mouse party!

She is super excited here, when we pulled up she could hardly contain herself.

hanging with her sister before the guests arrive

Ava and her bestie Emma

I actually forgot the candles so we had to scramble at the last minute to get some

Ava and Cousin Trent climbing away

Birthday Girl is about to show off

Princess Dress Up!

Dressed up as Olivia

Courtney had the right idea with washable paint!

and in the Baby corner we have Brynn (3m) and cousin Cody (6m)

My gorgeous husband and our beautiful baby

Six Figure Job

Mommy's are worth at least 6 figures if you ask me.  Especially those with more than one child.  My goodness!!  As most of you know I took 6 months of maternity leave to be home with my precious little ones.

All day every day Ava is saying "mommy I want to play with you" and so of course I do.  I'm nursing Brynn and we all know she is a little butterball so she likes to eat!  We wake up and Brynn will play long enough for me to fix Ava breakfast.  While Ava eats, I feed Brynn and soon after it's about time for Brynn's morning nap.  While Brynn has her morning nap I must do puzzles, play-doh, or color with Ava and get her morning snack.  If I'm really lucky she'll watch sesame street or mickey mouse long enough for me to do the dishes or take out the trash.  Then it's time for me to make her lunch and put her down for a nap.  Just about that time Brynn is awake and I spend the next couple of hours entertaining, changing and feeding her.  As soon as I get Brynn down for her next nap, Ava is up and ready to play and so on...

I have absolutely zero free time to myself during the day unless all of the stars align and they happen to nap at the same time. After they are both down for the night I stay up late just to enjoy the only quiet "me" time I get for the day.  So with that being said, friends and family will have to forgive me if I forget something, wear the same clothes 3 days in a row, smell like sour spit up, mail something late or to the wrong address, or take 5 days to return a text, phone call or e-mail. I'm being run ragged by my two sweet girls! In fact Brynn is almost 4 months old and I am JUST now about to get her birth announcements out. That is assuming that I get a full hour to myself to address and stamp them all. You may get them sometime between now and when she starts college.

It was quite entertaining after Ava's birthday party to see that my cousin Christine suffers from the same problem.  She left my house and had to return to get her baby water, then once again 15 minutes later to get her diaper bag.  Then that night called me to ask if she'd left her formula, sure enough it was sitting on my counter.  haha!!!   The good news is she did not forget Cody the baby at my house or on the roof of her car. Glad I'm not the only one!

It is a damn miracle each night that I actually am able to prepare a meal.  Brynn will sit long enough to allow me to cook on most nights, and Ava likes to help me.  As soon as I sit down to eat though, Brynn has tired of sitting and so it is that mommy is the last to eat and the last to sleep. 

It's not a paying job but here is my reward:

Ava:  Mommy I miss you
me: Why do you miss me?
Ava: Because I love you soo much


Grandmother and Grandad have been coming over on Mondays to spend time with the girls and give me a little break to get out of the house.  They've also offered and watched the girls a few time to let Steve and I go on some much needed dates.  It has been soooo nice!!!  Thank you Grandmother and Grandad!

16 weeks

Today was the day Brynn finally mastered the full rollover from back to tummy!  She's been rolling from tummy to back for a while now, but was working really hard to do the other way around.

She's talking and talking all day long, sounds like German :)

She loves sitting up, wants to stand all the time and is now jumping around in her jumperoo.  She also prefers the bumbo chair over her bouncy seats.  If you put her in the bouncy she is constantly pulling herself up trying to sit upright.  She doesn't like to sit by herself too long anymore and so I am busy with one of them 24/7.
She is still the happiest, sweetest baby.  Smiles constantly, wakes up happy and goes to bed happy.  The
only time she gets upset and cries is when she's overtired or starving.  Mainly in the evenings if her bedtime routine is disrupted or thrown off.  We have been working to get Steve able to put her down at night, so far it's going terrible. 

Ava and Brynn's baby cousin Cole was born yesterday!  8lbs 7oz and we visited him today.  Ava was very curious and told all of us how Brynn came out of mommy's tummy and Cole came out of Aunt Courtney's tummy.  She crawled into bed with Courtney, talked to the baby and tried to help Courtney out.  I think Courtney could have done without the nursing coaching from Ava.  haha!

Speaking of Ava, last week we went to go visit another school we were considering putting her and  Brynn in.  It's a church school nearby and Trent also goes there.  As we were headed over there Ava asked where we were going.  We told her that we were going to go look at Trent's school and Ava might go there when mommy goes back to work.  Ava said "mommy if you don't go to work to get money, then Ava doesn't go to school"  Then when we got to the school she saw the playground and begged to go play.  We told her that she could play on the playground when she started going to school there and she looked at me and said "mommy go to work"

Ava meets Diego

Ava and her buddy Kate got to meet Diego (Dora the explorer's cousin) today! Ava was super excited! Rhonda and I were joking about all of the fun events we've been to together: Nsync, New Kids and now the best one yet, Diego.