Saturday, March 30, 2013

LOTS GOIN' LATELY

"So, when a frog gets ripe like a tomato, it turns into a turtle."

"Hey Ava, that's a pretty good list your writing!"
"It's not a wist! It's a wecipe!!!!" 
 
Ava and Donald have been doing lots of fishing lately. So far, it's been carp, catfish and crappies. She's got the casting down pretty good and would spend hours out there if she could. 
We're really enjoying our kayak. Jaina has been out once and Ava loves to go. Donald took Tap and as they were headed back, he saw me on the dock on thought it might be faster to swim to shore.
This little munchkin has been standing on her own for about 2 weeks now. At 9 1/2 months she started standing straight up from a squat. She's so proud of herself. She shows no interest in walking though when I take her hands and try to walk with her. 
She also says "Tap"...I've noticed that she likes to mimic her big sister. 
Have I mentioned that she gets into everything? She'd rather play with the pots and pans in the cupboard than with her box full of toys. 

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

WOODTICKERS

After her first kayak ride with Daddy:
"Whew! I'm glad we didn't sink today!"

"I'm going to give you the biggest kiss in the whole wide world when me lips grow bigger!"

"Jenny, my hair is past that awkward stage and now it's in the Bieber stage so it looks kinda good!"
                                                                     -Donald
(I really need to cut his hair)

"cokeraches...croak..what are they called again?"
"woodtickers have sharp teeth and they're full of blood."

Jaina has mastered the stairs. Makes me so nervous. 
She says "dada" for doggy and daddy.

"When I was a big girl something bit me on the toe and it was a cockroach and a ladybug and a woodpecker and there was blood all over. Yeah, when I was a big girl."

Ava was hiding under Jaina's crib.
"Mom! Come and find me!"
I poked her with my foot.
"No! Find me with your face!!"

Saturday, March 9, 2013

LYLE, IF YOU'RE READING THIS...

...Just know that you are missed.

"I think that I would enjoy Uncle Lyle coming to our home in April."
                                                                                       -Ava

Thursday, March 7, 2013

NEVER KNEW THE STAIRS HAD FEELINGS

Heading up to bed last night...
"Mom, the stairs are really really angry."
"Angry? Why would the stairs be angry?"
"Cuz we're stomping all over them!"

JAINA AND THE DOG

Jaina loves Tap. She squeals with delight at the sight of him and loves to pull at anything she can get her little fingers around. 
She makes her own little "ruff ruff" sound that to others might just sound like nonsense but to me she sounds just right. It's more like an "uh uh uh uhf." :) I love watching her face as she recognizes the sound of a barking dog and makes her little "uh uh uhf" sound. She'll do it when she sees a dog or if you ask her "What does a doggie say?" It's so amazing to see her change right before our eyes. 

THOUGHTS FROM THE MR.

I destroyed a piece of our juicer the other day. We have a refrigerator full of fruit and veggies but no juicer. It's killing me. :) Just this morning, Donald had a wonderful idea.
"Hey! I know what we can do with all those vegetables in the fridge! We can go to the store and buy a deep fat fryer and make them in to chips!" 
Brilliant.

"Do your house chores and enjoy your kids. That's the fulfillment of your life." Good to know. Good to know

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

STANDING

I was upstairs with the girls last night..Ava and I were in her room and Jaina was in the hallway. Ava looked out and said, "Mom! She's standing all by herself!" I didn't think much of it because I figured she was just standing with her hands on the wall. Well, later that evening, I was sitting on the floor and Jaina crawled over, used my legs to stand and then stood there all by herself with nothing to hold on to for over 5 seconds. It was long enough so that you wouldn't mistake it for just a chance thing. It was awesome. 

Monday, March 4, 2013

WALDO UPDATE

first Sunday in March
A lot has changed in the past month. The biggest change is that we moved from the house in the woods to a condo on the lake. We started moving last Monday and spent our first night here on Monday night. About 10 pm, we heard Ava crying in her bed. We went up and found that she had thrown up all over in her bed. It was awful...I felt so bad for her. It confirmed my suspicions that Jaina had had a touch of the flu the past weekend. I washed her up in the tub and made a bed on the floor for her in our room. I was up 2 more times that night with her and twice with Jaina. At one point I remember Ava and I both laying on the cold tile in the bathroom, totally exhausted. She spent the next day on the couch. :) Our first round with kids and the flu wasn't as bad as I imagined it to be. 

So far, I love our new place. Our back (or is it the front?) door is 20 feet from the lake. I see lots of fishing, swimming, walking and playing in our future. The outdoors is much more accessible here and for that I'm really excited. The community has a pool so we'll have some relief from the extreme heat and humidity this summer. The only bummer is that we don't have very good internet. Our place, along with a handful of homes next to us are the only ones in the area that can't get the fast internet from the local provider. On the bright side, maybe it will encourage less time online. :)  

We're looking forward to visits from family coming up! I'm so excited...April will be a great month. We're hoping to see Myrna and Merlin Nelson, Mom and Dad will be here for a week and Andrea needs to buy her plane ticket ASAP. Hopefully the Ross's will show up some time in June. Anyone else who wants to come and see us is more than welcome. We've got beds and lots of chairs to sit on!

Avaisms:

After I told her "No" to kids songs in the car after meeting and that she needed to just think about what she heard, she said, "But Mom, princesses don't think!"

"Mommy, I love you"
"I love you too, Ava"
"I love you more than ice cream!"

"Ava, you need to pick up your toys."
"But it's too hard to pick up my toys. I'll get all sweaty. Queens don't get sweaty."

Ava has been a challenge lately...a joy...but also a challenge. I've probably mentioned it before but someone once told me that age 3 is much worse than the terrible two's. It's true. 

A week ago was our Special Meeting in Houston. We had the privilege of having Hannah stay with us on Saturday night. Ava was so excited to have her come and stay with us. She asked me where Hannah was going to sit at supper and I told her that she would sit in a chair. 
"No Mom, where is she going to SIT?"
Then it dawned on me and I told her that Hannah was going to sit right next to her and she grinned and jumped up and down. Later that evening I found Ava laying outside Hannah's bedroom door, peeking underneath, waiting for her to come out. I'm so thankful that she already has this little seed of love...
come and visit us

Friday, March 1, 2013

JAINA: 9 MONTHS


  • 21 lbs (90%)
  • 28 inches (75%)
  • head: 18.25 (95%)
  • quickly growing out of 12 month clothes.
  • As far as I can see, she's got 7 teeth now. Another bottom one cut through but I think she's working on her eye teeth as well.
  • I love this girl. She's stubborn, independent and she knows what she wants. 
  • I love the moments when she lays her head on my shoulder and is more cuddly than her big sister ever was at that age.
  • She's still got an awful scream. She screams when she's happy, when she's mad, hungry, hurt and sometimes she does it just for fun. 
  • She waves and says "Ha" for "Hi"
  • She drops something and says "Uh oh!"
  • Loves her bath! As soon as I turn the water on she tries to climb into the tub.
  • She loves her food. Just this morning she ate a scrambled egg, a whole YoBaby peach yogurt and a handful of Cheerios. She loves green veggies like beans, broccoli and asparagus. She'd rather feed herself unless you give her yogurt. Really not a fan of baby food. 
  • I don't know what happened to my awesome sleeper...she wakes up 2 times a night. Bed time is 8 pm and she usually gets up between 6:30 and 7:30 (don't know where she got the 'early riser' gene). 2 good naps a day (I love nap time)
  • When she knows that she's going to get into something that she's not supposed to, she looks over her shoulder with a sly little grin to see if anyone is watching. 
  • Knows what a doggy says.
  • Holds things up to her ear and says "ah" like she's talking on the phone. :)