Update!

I’m a bit overdue for an update. Here goes…

Obviously Chris made it back from Singapore safe and sound. He had a great time! It took him several days to recover from the jet lag. He’s still talking about his trip.

We’re doing well on the home front. Ava finished her last swim lesson. Thankfully, after her little discussion with the lifeguard a while back we didn’t have any other problems. She’s no longer fearful of the slide at the park…sniff…. She’s a really good girl; though, she does test the limits and boundaries from time to time. This is also a good test of my patience. This is also a good reminder that this truly is the most difficult job I’ve had to date.

Linc is changing so much so quickly! He’s very aware of his surroundings and interacts so much more now. He has rolled from back to tummy twice recently! He’s gotten a hold of his foot on several occasions too. He’s sleeping much better, finally! I cut caffeine out of my diet and that seems to have done the trick, although, it may also be coincidence. My diet has never affected my children with regard to gas or sleep while nursing. Linc is really easy-going (so long as he has a full belly) and he likes to be out and about.

We got a double stroller – this is a big deal in the world of multiple children under one roof. Very exciting! It’s a sit and stand stroller which means that Ava can either sit or stand while riding. She loves her new set of wheels! My tooshie loves the extra 70 pounds I’m pushing around now! We also dusted off the Exer-Saucer for little Linc. Ava seems to be more excited about it than Lincoln is right now. She gets very excited to see all these old toys come out of storage and it’s only a matter of time until we find her baby taking them for a test run.

We visited Uncle Ryan in Richmond yesterday. Even Daddy came along for the ride this time! It was another fun-filled trip for all! Ava always learns a lot of new and exciting things during her visits with Uncle Ryan. We went for a walk, ate good food, had good conversation, etc.

There’s the update! Off to feed the kids!

Pictures from Richmond...

(Daddy didn't bring a coat so he's borrowing one...hence the eccentric style)

Running in the field with Uncle Ryan...

Pictures around home...

Check out that bling!

The new stroller (my view)...

Couple pics from Singapore...

Chalk

He'll hang anywhere so long as his sister is close by...

Happy St. Patrick's Day (a day late)

This one is worth a read…

One of the many great joys of having a pre-schooler is sharing their excitement during the holidays. Ava is at the age where she is really beginning to grasp the fundamental understanding of most holidays. Ninny mailed her a St. Paddy’s Day package filled with craft projects, clothes and books to help her celebrate. We spent a good majority of yesterday engaging in said activities. This is the first year that Ava understands what the Leprechaun is, the pot of gold, etc. That being said, I ideally wanted Ava to wake up to a big Leprechaun mess downstairs complete with green glitter and green eggs for breakfast. However, I do not currently live in an ideal world seeing as how I sleep in 30-45 minute intervals all night. Instead, we read the St. Paddy’s books, sang songs and did lots of craft projects. Her St. Patrick’s Day books debut a naughty little Leprechaun and this concerned Ava all day. One of the other great joys of having a pre-schooler is spending the majority of your time trying to satisfy their endless thirst with regard to the question, “Why?” Ava wanted to know why the Leprechaun is sneaky and why does he make a mess and why does he have a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and why is he green, etc. etc. etc. She was disturbed at the mere thought of a tiny green man sneaking into her house and messing with her business. All day she asked me why the Leprechaun was going to come to her house. Her imagination almost always gets the best of her, every time. After realizing her obvious fear of the Leprechaun I decided that it would be best to wait another year before attempting any Leprechaun-related pranks in our house.

Well, after dinner last night Ava got busy running around downstairs. I was doing dishes so I wasn’t fully aware of her purpose in that moment…until I peeked my head around the corner and witnessed this…

She was scurrying around and turning everything “upside over.” When I asked her why she was doing this she grumbled something about a Leprechaun. I offered to help her clean up and she panicked. She was adamant that I not move anything. She said she was helping the Leprechaun. I know better than that. I’m certain that in her head she reasoned that if she does the Leprechaun’s job for him then he wouldn’t bother stopping by her house. This was her way of warding off that sneaky little green man. Won’t she be thrilled to wake up this morning and realize that her plan worked!


And for another good laugh - I stole this idea from Kristen's blog . I've always wanted to do one of these :-)

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Mini Vacation

I’m treating this time at Honey & Papa’s house as a mini-vacation. It’s my escape from the numerous tasks lurking at home. The extra help in the evenings is also very welcome and appreciated. Ava and Linc are having fun too, which is important.

Unfortunately, Lincoln still doesn’t sleep well. His best is 4 consecutive hours at night. I can’t even count on that though. The night before last he was up every hour…just restless. He doesn’t sleep longer than 30-minute intervals during the day. I truly don’t know how I’m functioning. It’s easy to get frustrated because I don’t always feel productive at the end of the day. I really try to keep it in perspective, but it’s easier said than done for someone like myself. I’ve started giving him 2 bottles of formula a day to supplement…I’m hoping that will help make a difference at night. So far no luck though. Keeping my fingers crossed… He still despises tummy time for longer than 3 minutes. Although, he can roll to his right side and he’s so close to rolling all the way over! It’s very exciting for him. He’s also working on grasping objects with his hands (right hand mostly). He’s still absolutely in love with his sister (and the feeling is mutual).

Ava is, well, Ava. What a character. She has a mind of her own. This mind of her own is a good thing except that it can make parenting very trying at times. For instance, she protested swim lessons earlier this week because she didn’t want to wait her turn. About 20 minutes into the lesson she lost interest and backed away from the pool. The instructor called her back several times without success. I finally got up and gave her a little chat but she was adamant about not finishing her swim lesson. I truly didn’t know how to handle the situation. I’m not going to force her to do something she doesn’t want to do but I think she needs to listen. Hmm. I asked her to please sit by the pool and at least watch the other kids. She didn’t seem content with out agreement and I knew it didn’t sink in. Sure enough, I cozy back into my seat with Linc to look up and find her rolling across the pool deck, like a fish out of water! She just kept rolling on the floor, this way and that. No matter what I said or how many evil “Mom looks” I gave her she just kept rolling. Finally, the lifeguard talked to her. She wasn’t happy about that. Unfortunately, lessons were over at that point. We had a talk on the way home. I’m curious to see how her next lesson goes. Curious is the wrong word. I’m nervous.

She’s been keeping Papa pretty busy too with her relentless requests to have him “fix the moon.” She claims that it’s broken. Poor guy had to go to Lowes to buy a fancy ladder…

We’ve had some bizarre weather lately around these parts. I always try to take advantage of a nice day. We made a nature collage from the treasures she collected on our nature walk earlier in the week. We also played a little soccer. Turns out, she’s pretty good at soccer!

Tonight we made homemade pizza (with homemade pizza dough – thanks A.M.)! It was by far the best pizza I’ve ever had, if I may say so myself! Ava got a kick out of helping with the toppings. She ate more cheese than she put on the pizzas; apparently she cooks like Paula Dean. Her little individual pizza was too cute.

Disclaimer: All pics taken with my camera phone!

Video of Ava making Linc laugh...

Singapore

Btw, Chris made it safely to Singapore. His trip is actually almost over! 10 days go by quickly when you’re having fun. The kids and I are bunking with Honey & Papa while he is away. It’s a party every night!

Ava and I talked to Chris on the phone tonight and he sounds great. He’s having a good time and he’s very happy that he went on the trip. He said it’s very informative and interesting. Surprisingly, the jet lag hasn’t affected him much…yet. Actually, it’s supposed to be worse coming back home. We shall see. I’m sure he’s not looking forward to the “brutal” flight home.

We’re anxious for his return. Ava has had a couple tough moments missing him. She got upset at me one afternoon after she ordered me to go pick Daddy up and bring him home and I explained that I could not do that. She was happy to hear from him tonight on the phone.

I can’t wait to hear the stories and see the pictures! We miss you, Daddy!

Three Years Old

My baby girl is three years old and it pains me to write that. She’s such a big girl it is truly unbelievable to me. I have to admit though that I love how grown up and sassy she is. She’s truly three going on thirty, truly.

She enjoyed a laid-back birthday celebration this year. She had swim lessons in the afternoon and Chris spent the day packing and getting himself in order for his trip. I made her favorite food for dinner. She dined on homemade macaroni and cheese, homemade chicken nuggets and fresh green beans. She asked for pink cupcakes so we had pink cupcakes with pink frosting for dessert (they came out looking pretty sorry, but she didn’t care). Honey and Papa came over to help us celebrate.

I know she said a couple funny things lately…let’s see if I can remember…

Ah yes, we were shopping the other day and the two ladies at the register were doting over Ava and Lincoln. Ava was very talkative (3 going on 30). The ladies asked her all kinds of questions about her baby brother and she did her best to thoroughly answer each one. Finally, on our way out, one of the ladies said, “You must be so helpful at home. I bet you feed your baby brother too!” To which Ava bluntly replied, “No. My Mama feeds him from her privates.” I could actually feel myself turn red and the lady looked to me and said, “Oh…are you nursing?” Sigh…

We went for a nature walk recently around the neighborhood. I felt it was time to start heading back to the house but Ava didn’t comply. I made up the excuse that I have to use the bathroom so we should really start heading back. It worked, she empathetically agreed to turn around and start heading back. A few minutes pass and now we’re talking about pinecones. A neighbor walks by with her dog. We stop and chitchat with the neighbor while the dog sniffs our nature walk treasure collection (pine cones, pine needles, leaves, acorns, etc.). As soon as we begin walking again Ava looks up to me and says, “Mama, do you still have to go poop?” Of course the neighbor was still in close proximity to us and chuckled. Aren’t kids grand?


Ava at Swim Lessons...

Linc at Swim Lessons...

Birthday Celebration...

Aspen Update & Pics

Got an Aspen update this morning, complete with pictures!! She’s doing great. Here’s an excerpt from the email:

“I finally downloaded the pictures from our snow day last Monday. Aspen had a blast! She loved running around in the snow, eating the snow, and helping the boys build the snowman! Alan had the "brilliant" idea to use her dog food for the eyes and mouth on the snowman ... Aspen really enjoyed that part of the snowman!

She's doing great! She went to baseball practice last evening and really enjoyed meeting all the new people there. Brian said she did wonderfully, except when the boys did pitching practice and she couldn't go and fetch the baseballs! He said her little ears perked up and she watched those balls intently, ready to pounce!"

Here are a couple of the pictures...

3 Months

Lincoln is 3 months old!! He’s such a good boy. He discovered his hands and feet! He could spend an hour examining his hands and watching his feet move around. I’m not certain he realizes that these appendages are a part of him yet. He’s still working on getting his thumb in is mouth. He’s figured it out a few times. He smiles at everyone. He weighs a whopping 15 pounds. Strangers are surprised to learn that he’s only 3 months old – they figure him to be 6 months. He’s still sleeping sporadically, for the most part. No real method to his naps during the day and he varies 3-5 hours at a time during the night. We’re working on tummy time…but he doesn’t’ like it at all. He goes through at least 2 outfits a day…his blowouts are so bad that the other day Chris said, “So, what’s the point of his diaper anyway?” I have a bathtub full of his clothes soaking as I write this. Linc loves to take a bath and he kicks his feet vigorously in the water. He’s not much of a talker and he makes you work to get a laugh out of him (unless you’re Uncle Jeff). He’s a pretty quiet baby – we get a lot of “You wouldn’t even know there was a baby here…” comments. He’s a sweet sweet boy!

Parties, Snow & Somersaults

This past weekend Ava had a daycare reunion of sorts. One of her best friends from daycare had a birthday party. It would be an understatement to say that Ava was excited to see her old friends. She had so much fun!

In other news, we got snow! Not much, but enough for Ava to enjoy. The first thing she asked when she saw the snow was, “Is Santa coming?!” She discovered the snow when she came downstairs in her jammas and looked out the window. She quickly ran back upstairs and came down 20 minutes later ready to play outside. She got herself dressed…complete with gloves, scarf and hat. Nothing for her feet though… Silly kid.

Ava has perfected a somersault. She’s working on the snake.

Swim Lessons

Ava graduated to the big kid swim class! Yesterday was her first lesson in the water without Chris or me. Just Ava and the instructor. Honestly, I didn't think she would do it. I was expecting her to cling to me once she realized it was go time. We did our best to pump her up ahead of time and it worked, thankfully. I have to admit that I felt a little pain in my heart as I watched her bravely march away without me...she didn't even look back. She's growing up so fast.

She did great!  She loved it and she's awfully proud of herself (as she should be).  Tomorrow she'll put her skills to the test again!

Here are a few crummy/blurry pics. It's at least a humid 85 degrees in there and I was trying to get pics with one hand while juggling squirmy Linc with the other hand.

The Girls vs. The Boys

February 2009

May 2006