Christmas tradition

We started a new tradition a few years back, Bridgeport Village tree lighting. It's the day after Thanksgiving every year. It was pretty raining that morning and we weren't sure if we were going to make it, but I was determined to stay with tradition and luckily the weather held out and there was no rain. However, the night was a complete mess! Everything that could go wrong, went wrong. We met my parents for dinner at CPK. Our waitress was a complete space and brought Andrew the wrong meal, so by the time we were all finished eating, he got his food. Poor guy was starving. In the meantime Ava was screaming. It's her new thing now that she eats solids, she gets so excited and screams the whole time. So hard to go to a restaurant with a screaming baby. After I fed her she was unhappy and just wanted to be held. Nathan and I didn't sit down much of dinner and I was glad to have my parents there to help out with Andrew since Ava was being so difficult. After dinner we headed towards the tree. On our way there Andrew saw Santa riding around in a train and was so excited. He started waiving, it was adorable. He loved seeing the tree light up and seeing Santa Claus. After that we decided to go to Borders and get a hot chocolate. While the guys waited in line, we took the kids upstairs to the kid area. Ava was tired and very fussy (it didn't help that we forgot her stroller). While trying to calm down Ava, Andrew had an accident and wet his pants. Not just a little, but everywhere, all down his pants and into his shoe. It was a mess and we immediately had to leave. It was a crazy night and all Nate & I could do at the end of the night was laugh. The following night we went out on a much needed date :)

Waiving to Santa

Ava happy now that Mommy is holding her. (p.s. she is wearing the coat that my Grandma Ming made me when I was a baby).


11.26.2010

Black Friday

The day after Thanksgiving we were lucky enough to get to spend some time with my grandparents & my uncle. They live in Springfield so we don't see them often but they were in town spending Thanksgiving with my parents. Andrew had tons of fun playing with his great uncle and I loved watching my grandma read to him. It reminded me of all the times I spent as a kid at her house and her reading to us.

Thankful

The day before Thanksgiving Andrew and I made a little turkey. Basically we traced our hands and he glued on feathers. His favorite part was definitely putting the glue on the paper. I then asked him what he was thankful for and this is what he said....

toys, brown bear, mommy, daddy & sissy

Thanksgiving day we spent at my in laws. We had a great time spending the day as a family. Andrew enjoyed playing the guitar with Uncle Thomas while Daddy played the piano. He loved running around the house with Thomas & Tiffany's dog Charlie. Poor Sophie didn't have as much fun. She was so scared of Charlie and spent most of the day trying to hide and stay away from the other dog. Ava did a great job sleeping at Grandpa & Grandma's house. We have so much to be thankful for and we are so blessed!

My 3 favorite people...so thankful for them!

Andrew loves his Twyla Pama!

Ava with her great grandparents

Andrew loved Buddy Papa's guitar and now wants one for Christmas!

The boys having a jam session.

11.25.2010 Ava 6mo, Andrew 3yrs

6 month stats

As promised...Ava's 6 month stats:

weight: 14lb 15oz (25%)

height: 26in (55%)

head: 42.8cm (60%)

So she's a pretty tiny little girl and still fits into her 3-6 month clothes. She had 2 shots & 1 oral and hated every second of it. Poor girl has quite the scream on her! She's been fussy the last few days and wanting mommy even more than normal but I'm sure that's because she hasn't been feeling well.

Ice with a little bit of Snow

That is what we woke up to this morning. We were hoping for a little more, but it was just enough to close the city down but not enough to play in. Last night it started snowing a little bit and Andrew was so excited. When he saw the snow he asked "where's Santa?" So funny. This morning when he saw the snow he said, "look Daddy, it's Christmas!" He immediately wanted to go outside and drive his jeep and ride his bike. We took the kids out for a bit, but it was pretty icy, too cold for Ava to be out in for a long time, and Andrew didn't have gloves so we didn't stay out long. Andrew is enjoying a day of Daddy being home and we were lucky that Pama & Papa stopped by and brought us Starbucks.

So Sleepy

That's Andrew these days...so sleepy! I think he is transitioning out of naps but he still really needs them. Every day I put him down for a nap and I'm lucky if he takes one. If he doesn't take one he's a total pill and if he does take one he is in a great mood. Even just an hour nap makes a world of difference in his attitude. So most days he goes without naps and just does quiet time which consists of him coming down the stairs multiple times to ask me if he can cuddle me and watch scary shows (any show that's not a cartoon). He has been so tired at night and twice last weekend he fell asleep in the car while on the way to dinner. Poor guy, I wish he wouldn't fight sleep. This is what we noticed yesterday afternoon while talking to Nate & watching Oprah's favorite things (there's was lots of commotion in the house)....

He fell asleep in the middle of it all. Even when we tried to wake him it took awhile. He was out of it. He is also waking in the middle of the night and coming into our room. Then he is exhausted in the morning and not wanting to wake up. Not sure why we are struggling with this sleep thing, but I'm hoping it gets figured out soon!

Bebe Boutique

Last week I had my 1st ever Bebe Boutique party. I invited several friends over and had all of my hair accessories available as well as lots of festive desserts. It was a lot of work and I'm still trying to decide if I want to do another party in the future. Each accessory can take sometimes an hour or longer to make so I have been using every spare moment for the last month making enough to have for the party. Unfortunately not as many people came as what I was expecting, so that was a little disappointing. Overall it was still a fun night, just a lot of hard work. I am definitely taking a little time off from now until the end of the year and will only be selling my current inventory or doing special orders. Here's some pictures of the event and some of my accessories. Thanks to my mom for having it at her house and helping me host, my dad for helping me put the desserts together, my husband for putting up with my late nights of working, and my kids for putting up with a mom that wasn't able to play with them much.

11.18.2010

Brown Bear

Andrew has a new little bear that he calls Brown. We found a tote the other day of my old toys and inside was this bear. Andrew took a liking to it and says it is his baby. He puts it down for a nap (usually in his toy chest), burps it, holds it like a baby, tries to feed it (see picks below) and is very sweet to it. The other day I asked him what his bear's name is and he said brown. Not sure where he got that, but I thought it was cute.

Nursing Brown. We tried to give him a bottle to give to Brown and explain that only Mommy's can feed like that, but he doesn't really get it. He always wants to feed Brown when I'm nursing Ava.

Burping Brown.

He went and got all of these chairs, placed them next to each other and wanted us to sit in them (Brown, Andrew & me).

11.19.2010-Andrew 3yrs old

Yum!

Now that Ava is 6 months we started giving her cereal. I started with oatmeal cereal since it has more fiber than rice. Hoping that we won't have the same problems we had with Andrew when he started solids. As of Friday, I switched her schedule and she had her 1st bite of oatmeal cereal. She made lots of funny faces and grunted through most of the eating, but she seemed to like it and didn't cry at all. She eats it twice a day (lunch & dinner) and by today she seems to have it down and really likes it. She now only nurses 4 times a day (8am, noon, 4:30, & 8:30ish) and takes 2 long naps (10-noon & 2ish-4:30) and 1 small nap in the evening. It makes it hard to get out of the house, but I am thankful for kids that like to sleep :)

She really likes sitting up in her high chair.

She wanted to bite on the spoon and hold it herself.



11.19.2010

Line Leader

Last Tuesday Andrew was line leader at school which also meant that he got to bring a toy for show & tell. The whole family (mommy, daddy & Ava) all came to watch him do his share time & show and tell. It was pretty cute. He gets to hold the flag, tell about his family and show his toy which was his car pillow that he sleeps with. He's been calling it Mr. Lopart's car from Handy Manny. Nathan and I were both surprised at how quiet and shy he was. He is so talkative at home and very social with his friends. We did parent/teacher conferences while we were there and he even got his 1st report card. He got all checks, which is a good thing. His teacher says that he is adjusting well to school and that he listens, helps clean up and is a very good student. We were once again surprised to hear her say that he is pretty quiet. She also said that he is very black and white and wants everyone to follow the rules. Sound like anyone? ha! He is totally my child! We are so proud of the little boy that he is. We can see how much he is learning at school and he is such a sweet, lovable, helpful little boy.

11.16.2010-Andrew with his teacher telling his classmates about his family.

Happy Half Birthday

Ava turned 6 months last Sunday. I just can't believe it. A half a year already! Baby #2 definitely goes faster than baby #1. Before I know it she will be a year old. She goes to the doctor on Tuesday, so I will post her stats later this week. Her favorite things right now: sitting in her bumbo seat watching Andrew play, laying under her play matt, sitting in her highchair, sitting in her exersaucer (only for short amounts of time, but she still likes it). She is ticklish, loves to be held, likes to scream (even when she's happy), only naps when she's in her crib or for short amounts of time in the car, is constantly cranking her head around trying to see what's going on when she is nursing, doesn't like to be cuddled when she's tired, loves to grab her toes, good sleeper, sweet baby girl.

It's a mess!

A few weeks ago Andrew was very determined to get the leaves cleaned up in the backyard so he (and daddy) could mow the backyard. He kept saying, "mommy, it's a mess. I gotta clean it up so I can mow the lawn when daddy get's home." He got his rake out and tried cleaning up the yard. He's such a little helper.

Of course I couldn't resist pictures of Ava in the mess of leaves!

10.29.2010 Andrew 3yrs, Ava 5.5 months

I love this picture of him riding in his jeep with his sunglasses. He NEVER wears his sunglasses but that day it was very sunny out and he kept saying that the sun hurt his eyes when we were driving in the car. I told him that Mommy wears her sunglasses when she drives when it's sunny out. So I guess he decided he should too!

11.2.2010