New Pics on Shutterfly

Click on our Shutterfly link to the right of the blog to see the latest pictures.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

23 months old

Dear Little Munchie,

Happy 23 months old sweet girl! In just 1 short month we will be celebrating your 2nd birthday. I have already started looking back at a few of the slideshows I made for you to remind me of how far you have come in two years. I love you just as much today as I did the day you came into our lives. I will save the super sappy post for when you turn 2. Till then I will spend the next month getting ready for your party, watching more slideshows and shedding tears of joy, and spending time with one of my favorite little people, YOU! Here are some of the things you have been up to this month:

*Your new sayings this month are "oh, man" (don't know where you got that from), "ok, momma", and "woohoo".

*You have started saying please on your own, although there are still a few times we have to prompt you. You love to shout out commands to us throughout the house such as "Momma, COME please". You know we won't do what you ask us unless you say please but now I think we need to work on not sounding so bossy and saying it in a nicer way. ;)

*You love to sing on your own Happy Birthday, Twinkle Twinkle, the dancy dance song from Yo Gabba with Jack Black (hilarious episode!)..."Up, down, up, down, up, down, up down, and forward, and back", and you also love to sing the Hot Dog song that is at the end of Mickey Mouse clubhouse. It is so cute to hear you sing all these songs in your own little version. It always makes me smile.


playing with your favorite new toys Mickey and Minnie Mouse


*Your favorite shows to watch are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Handy Manny. You also really like the movie Toy Story and Despicable Me. I let you watch lots of movies recently because you have been sick and wanting to lay around.


*Your favorite things to do around the house this month have been throwing the golf ball down the hall with daddy, putting a diaper on your baby and feeding your baby, and walking around the house in your princess heels.






*You have been waking up around 5:30 or 6 every morning this month. Hopefully soon, for your sake and mine, you will figure out how to sleep in a little bit more.


*You have started crying/ having more tantrums this month. It is mostly when you want something that you cannot have or when we don't do something that you want us to do. You have become very opinionated and get frustrated when things don't go how you want them to. Most of the time I can distract you and they dont last for too long but there have been a few that I would like to forget....I thought that they might be a short phase since they started happening more when you were sick and tired but they have stuck around. Guess we are in the "terrible two" stage.


*You still love to play with your friends and get so excited when I tell you we are going to see them. This month I got several pictures of you holding hands with some of your closest buds.



Ava and Brinley


Ava and Henry

Ava and Luke

I love you precious girl!!!

Love,

Momma

New Shutterfly Pics

I just posted some new pictures, including Valentines Day, on the shutterfly site!

Happy Valentine's Day

hehe! Love you sweetie!

what a difference a year makes

Ava wanted to wear her squeaky shoes around the house this morning and I couldn't help but think about how almost this exact time last year she was waddling around the house in her pink squeaky shoes after just learning to walk. What a difference a year makes! My baby girl is growing up so fast and I can't believe she is almost 2!

Beware, MAJOR cuteness ahead in this flashback. I just want to reach in the video and squeeze her!!!! (hit the refresh button if the video doesn't show up)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Here is the video from today for comparison.





Oh, how I love this little girl so much! We will be hanging out in our pj's and squeaky shoes all day thanks to the snow. And mommy has some major plans to get her craft on during naptime to get ready for Ava's party. :)

keepin it real

Don't be fooled by that sweet face smiling back at you on the blog. I have learned something about Ava as she is getting over an illness. She turns into a sleep deprived tantrum throwing toddler! And I don't like it one bit! Maybe I have been lucky to not have to deal with too many full blown tantrums until recently but yesterday when she was screaming for oh, 45 MINUTES, I wanted to scream/cry right back! (And let me just say it was all over the fact that she wanted another chewy vitamin and I wouldn't let her. Guess we aren't ready for yummy vitamins that taste like candy, my fault) It was one of those moments where I wish I had a panel of moms around me to tell me what to do and to give me a big hug and tell me it is going to be ok. I know the obvious thing is to probably ignore her while she is having a meltdown, which I did, but do you have any other tips or advice that work for you and your child? This is uncommon for Ava and I put a lot of the blame on the fact that she has not been getting good sleep lately. She is sleeping through the night again since being sick but she is waking up at 5:30 in the morning and only taking maybe an hour nap each day. I could use some tips on getting your child to sleep in as well. Ava has never been great at napping and I know that eventually her naps will get a little better but this waking early has been going on since the last time she was sick. Good thing I am a coffee drinker! Getting out of the house has definitely been helping her and I to break our boredom and keep us from going crazy but unfortunately it looks like we are going to have another snow day soon. I'm glad I have this little blog to let me vent every once in awhile. Whew, I feel better already.

Ava update

It appears she must have the 3 day stomach bug that the dr. warned us was going around pretty badly. She hasn't had a fever but has not had an appetite and has been pretty lethargic the past 2 days now going on 3. The first day, Thursday, was the worse as she pretty much threw up all day. Yesterday was a little better, only throwing up once. She woke up crying last night and after a changed diaper, a little drink, and some children's advil, she still was pretty upset. I ended up sleeping in her room again so she would get some sleep. I hate seeing her this way. I can no longer say that Ava has a good immune system. Up until this winter she had never been sick and then all of sudden she gets hit with 2 stomach bugs and a nasty virus. I know it has a lot to do with the fact that we are out more and interacting more with other kids and their germs. I struggle with this a lot because she/we need to get out and be engaging with other kids but I hate that that means that she will be exposed to germs and she may get sick. I suppose this is where prayer comes in and I just need to pray that God will protect her from sickness and release me from worry. Thanks to all of you who have checked in to see how she is doing. Today is day 3 so hopefully she will back to her normal self again soon and Mikey and I will stay stomach bug free! Prayers are welcomed!
Hope all of my Dallas friends enjoy finally getting out of the house this afternoon when the temps get above freezing.