Goodbye Heights, Hello Burbs...

Sorry for the lack of pictures..our camera battery died and we just replaced it yesterday! I have included some that Steve took with his phone of the Dogs new play area that we had fenced off.

The movers arrived bright and early on Friday morning of moving day. We got all of our stuff over to the new house and spent the entire weekend trying to get somewhat settled. The first thing I had finished was the kitchen. I can’t stand when my kitchen is in chaos! I am super excited about all of the cabinet space I have now!! Before we moved in we had contractors come out and paint the living areas and Ava’s room. We are pretty disappointed in the way Ava’s room turned out but decided to work with it instead of re-painting. She is downstairs with us for now, but will eventually move upstairs. We are still living in chaos as we wait on our new furniture to arrive. So slowly but surely we are getting settled!

We weren’t sure how we would adapt to living in the burbs but so far we absolutely love it! I got to watch a lightning storm one evening, we can hear nothing but crickets at night, we have ducks nesting in one of the trees behind our property, bunny rabbits that eat our flowers in the front, The dogs love their play area outside, Ava loves her play set outside and her play room inside, and we have absolutely EVERYTHING within 5 miles of us. 2 of our neighbors have already come by to introduce themselves. I was also invited to attend the neighborhood ladies group Bunco tonight! I’m going to meet people, but super nervous about being the new kid on the block. We LOVE the walking trail behind our house and take the dogs out there every evening. It leads right to the golf course. The houses in the neighborhood are all so nice and everyone keeps their yards so nice, it’s so refreshing. Anyway..total change from the Heights, but we are loving it! Now the fun of decorating it begins… The best part is we don’t have drunk day laborers puking in the street or peeing on the neighbors trees. That’s always a plus.

Ava updates:

I posted this on facebook but absolutely have to document this on the blog. During bath time the other night Ava and I were playing the animal game where I ask her what each animal says or does. We did fish, monkey, elephant etc. and then just to see what she would say I said “What does a mommy say?” and she literally said “yuv you” with a big grin on her face. I almost cried I was so happy.

She has also been trying to sing her ABC’s but it goes more like this “ABCB BC CB” It’s so cute! I will post the video later tonight. She also loves to count but for some reason only remembers the numbers 2 and 4. So when she wants more than one of something she says “ two four, two four” then I’ll give her two of whatever it is and then she does this little dance while moving each hand up and down saying “two, four, two four” It’s so funny.

She is definitely asserting her free will as much as she can. She tells us “NO” a lot and says “no juice mommy, milk” or “no shoes mommy, boots” We got her a new Elmo video for the car and the other day when Steve went to get her out of her car seat, she said “no daddy, more car, eeya watch Elmo”

Yesterday Steve scolded Magnum for barking, so Ava ran up to him and pointed her little finger at him and said “NnnOOO Magna! No Bawkin!”

In other news, we still have not found Casper L We did get a call on Saturday from a lady in the Heights who had suddenly starting seeing a white cat. We drove over there but didn’t see him anywhere. She said she would call me if she sees him again. Every time Ava and I read one of her animal books I get sad when we get to the kitty section L

Last days at the apartment

Some funny things I thought I should document before moving out of the apartment since our daily routine will change and I’ll forget.

Every morning Ava wakes up around 6:30 or 7 and calls for me “mommy, mommy…mommy night night”

I go in and get her milk out of the fridge and then go in and get her. If one of the dogs happens to run in her room she yells “Git out magna, git out” I take her to my room and lay down with her in my bed for a few minutes of cuddle time before getting ready for work. As soon as she finishes her milk she rolls over and hugs me really tight and will often fall back asleep. Some mornings if she doesn’t fall asleep I put Special Agent OSO on TV and she goes “oso, oso!” Some mornings she specifically requests Super Why or “B why” so I’ll put that in and she gets super excited! She’ll lay in our bed and watch that while I shower.

As soon as I’ve showered and dressed I dress her for the day, fix her hair and then we go into the kitchen for her breakfast. Lately she hasn’t been wanting to sit down and eat but has wanted to eat on the go (probably because we don’t really have a table to sit down and eat and she hates being isolated in her high chair), so I’ll give her a little waffle or French toast stick and off she goes. This morning I giggled because I brought her bananas and waffles to the bed and let her eat while watching super why. It was the funniest thing watching her lay there on her back and reach over to her plate while keeping her eyes glued to TV and grabbing her waffle.

When it’s time to go she tells beeka and magna bye bye and starts telling me all about Lucy the dog upstairs. She wants to carry her own lunch box now so she grabs that and out the door we go. As we walk to the car she says bye bye to everything she sees. Bye bye water, bye bye stairs, bye bye bird, bye bye sushi (lucy). On the way to school we pass this big dirt pile every morning and EVERY day Ava says “Bye bye dirt” as we drive by it. Liz at work said I should take a picture of her friend the dirt pile, since she seems to feel the need to speak to it every morning.

Once we get to school she tells me who everyone’s mommy or daddy is that is bringing them to school. “Cee Cee mommy” “Gil daddy” etc. When we pick her up she runs and hugs us and then runs to her cubby and gets her lunchbox and we get to follow her out. She likes to go down the chair ramp instead of the stairs because she can run. She insists on getting her own lunch box and walking to the car all by herself. She does not need help from us. As we leave she points out the mommies and daddies who are coming to pick up her classmates.

In the evenings we do dinner which she usually picks at and then feeds the dogs, then it’s bath time, a snack and then on to teeth brushing. After a little bath time fun we go in her room and rock and cuddle for a bit before she goes down for the night. She lays in her crib and tells me “Blanket Mommy” so that I’ll remember to cover her up before I leave.

Casper- Update

Yesterday Steve and I spent almost 2 hours casing the complex looking for Casper. We talked to several residents and posted more signs. We spoke with a resident near the office who said he saw him a couple of days ago under a car. Today Steve went to the office and one of the apartment managers said he has seen him several times hanging around the office and that if he sees him again he’ll catch him and call us. Oh my gosh it is such a relief to hear that he is still around and that we are so close to possibly finding him!

Both said they had seen him last a couple of days ago, so I hope he’s still hanging around there. I went by twice again last night to see if I could find him but no luck.

Missing My Kitty :(

Tuesday night Steve was bringing the dogs in and Casper slipped out the front door. Steve went after him but he ran underneath a car and wouldn't come out. He thought he would just come back in an hour or so like he always does but he never did. That night I cased the entire complex looking for him and have every day and night since he's gone missing. I posted signs and posted his picture with the SPCA and BARC but haven't heard anything yet. I am sooo sooo sad. I just know I'll never see him again. After 15 years of having him with me at every minute and every home, he may be gone forever and I'll never know if he passed away, someone else took him in or what.

I did have a collar on him but he must have gotten out of it somehow because I found it in Biscuit's bed.

Please pray that we find our kitty as we are moving out of here next week :(

Pictures from the last few weeks

Mother's Day :)

My buddy, My buddy, My buddy and me.

Playing at the splash pad

exhausted after a day home with daddy

"fwimming" with her daddy

walking her baby glow worm

Walking the dogs with Daddy

Meeting my newest friend Graham

Learning to sit on the potty!

Marcella and baby Daniel

Ava's World at 21 months, 3 weeks

Okay of course I am a biased mommy but my child does cuter and cuter things every day and I couldn’t be more filled with joy and pride! Each day I thank God for my little miracle and blessing. J Her latest thing is that she calls her daddy “Steve” and me “Mom” from time to time. We are like um excuse me but it’s mommy and daddy to you missy! Usually when Steve doesn’t respond to her calling “dada” she’ll then try yelling “teeve!” to get his attention. She must get this from being at school but she now hugs us big or points us in the chest and says “Eeya Mommy” and “Eeya dada” as if she’s now realizing that we belong to her and she belongs to us. She gets really happy when she does it which just melts my heart. At bedtime when we say her evening prayer and I say “Amen” she closes by saying “Amen Eeya”

We’ve started noticing that she likes things just so and not a tad bit off. If something is out of place she will start yelling “uh oh mommy, uh oh!” I thought oh great I’ve got an OCD child, but read in a toddler update that it’s normal for toddler’s her age. The sheet has to be just right when she’s in our bed or when she’s putting the pets to “night night”. After her bath in the evening, she picks up all of her bath toys and puts them away, then picks up the wash cloth and lays it out to dry and when she’s all done she says “yay eeya!” In the mornings when she gets in bed with me, I have to be laying on my back or she’ll shove me over and say “see side, see side” (this side) and then cuddle up as close as she can get. She will also arrange or stack things in just the right order and perfectly aligned. It’s very funny to watch her.

On the weekends when we bring her in bed with us in the morning she gets so excited when she see’s that Steve is still in the bed and says “Dada night night bed” and after she wakes up she rolls over and makes him wake up. When Steve is home there is no cuddling in bed for a little while, she tells him “up up dada, beeka, Magna wok” So he has to get up and take all the babies for a walk. He loves this time with her and loves how happy she is to see that he is there in the morning when she wakes up.

We have been taking advantage of the apartment pool and taking her swimming, so of course it’s her new favorite thing and every day she begs “Eeya Fwim” or “Eeya Fwing” so if she isn’t begging to go swimming, she’s begging to go swing at the park.

We get a little embarrassed when we walk the dogs and Ava decides to announce to anyone who will listen “Beeka Big doo doo!” We’ve been trying to teach her a less embarrassing term like “poopie” or something and it seems to be catching on. Even still it cracks us up when she says it! haha.

Things Ava loves at 21 months:

Swimming

Swinging

Sliding at the park

Stairs!

Walking the dogs

Blackberries

Bananas- still

Beans

French Toast

Feeding the chickens at Mimi’s

The wagon at Mimi’s

Elmo- still

Barney “Button”

Super Why “B- Why”

Her Belly Button “bupin”

Feeding the dogs

Holding the pets “eeya hold, eeya hold”

Cowboy boots

Wearing mine or Steve’s shoes

Dancing

Being outside at all times

Napping in our bed

All animals

Taking her clothes off

Saying No

The numbers 2 and 4

Baby Dolls

Coloring “Art”

Getting the mail “me mail”

Saying Please “peas”

Real Babies – she’s met Daniel and Graham and now loves babies!

Things Ava doesn’t like at 21 months:

Carrots

Broccoli

Corn tortillas

Spreads or sauces

Napping in her crib

Being told No

Sitting in a high chair

We have found a house!

Finally after months and months of looking for the house we have always wanted...we found it! We dragged our realtor to hell and back and to every pocket and suburb of the city trying to find the one. We put an offer on one and then decided it wasn't for us and a week later we found the one!

There are only a couple of minor things that we will change as we live there, but for the most part it's perfect. Now that we are joining the fabulous world of the burbs we are really going to have to adjust to this commuting business everyone is always complaining about. We have been so spoiled being inside the loop for so long. Mommy and Ava will have to get up much earlier than we are used to...boo! oh and if one more person says "hope you like that commute or that's far" instead of congratulations, or something along those lines I'm going to punch them in the trachea. NEWSFLASH...The commute from any suburb in this city is going to be bad, so you may as well find one that makes it worth it.

One wonderful thing about the house is that it already comes with a play structure for Ava in the backyard! It has a clubhouse, slide, swings, a sandbox and so on. Not to mention it is very close to my cousins Erin and Courtney and their kiddos, as well as a few of my girlfriends with kiddos. Meme is a little sad that we aren't closer to her, but I told her it's just an excuse for her to come have slumber parties with us and have Ava spend the night with her.