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.