Ava At 20 Months!!!

In 4 months, my baby will be 2! I just can't believe it! In my mind, she is still a newborn, snuggled up in my arms.

Last month, I posted so late about her 19 month milestones that I really don't have much new news on the homefront. Ava is continuing to grow and amaze me with her vocabulary. She is so smart! I am happy to not wish away any of my time with her, but I will be really excited when we start homeschooling. I really think she will be a fun child to teach!

Here are some things about Ava at 20 months:

• Size 5 diaper
• Size 5.5-6 in shoes
• Size 18-24 months in clothes. Some 2T.
• She has had two ear infections in the last 2 months.
• Her little incisor that is coming through the gums is still just poking through the gums. I wish it would come all the way through!
• Sleeps 12-14 hours at night with a 1.5-2 hour nap in the afternoon.
• She can repeat almost everything that I say. I asked her pediatrician about her speech (because I don't have anything to compare it to, and because I am also paranoid that she will have speech problems) Dr. Roberts reassured me that Ava's speech is perfectly fine. She said that parents should understand about 50% of what a 2 year old says. And a stranger should understand about 75% of what a 3 year old says. She said that she could understand about 75% of what Ava says (and Ava still has 4 months before she is 2) this made me feel better. I am still going to continue to work with Ava on speech and pronunciations. Right now, though, I am just trying to do vocabulary building. We work on this during bath time with her foam rebus tiles, and throughout our day. I try to be very conversational with her. Hopefully, she will be skilled in the art of conversation! :)
• She has recently showed an interest in books. From the time she has been able to pull up to a standing position until about a month ago, all she wanted to do was pull books out of the bin and throw them on the floor. Lately, she has wanted me to sit down in the rocker and read her 100 Words book with her. I am so thankful because I have not done my best to read to her like I know I should. I really have concentrated so hard on helping her meet her physical milestones that I have neglected helping her reach some intellectual milestones. It is a really hard balance sometimes! Anyway, she likes for me to say the words so that she can repeat them.
• Her favorite song is "B-I-B" (B-I-B-L-E) We sing this song at least 10 times a day. Her second favorite song is "Little Boy David" she loves when the stone goes into the sling! :)

Routines:

We have some routines set up so that Ava will learn about God. Ever since Ava started solid foods, we have taught her to pray before eating. We have continued this practice to this day. Ava now folds her hands and bows her head before her meals. She knows that she can't eat until we pray. Sometimes, though, I will catch her with her eyes open, looking at her food! Little stinker!! :)

A second routine that we have just started with her is devotional time before she goes to sleep. Whatever parent puts her to sleep will lead a few songs and pray with her. I can't wait for the day when we can do this as a family, but it is hard right now with two babies.

A Funny Moment:

The other night I was giving Ava her bath and I was reading her tiles to her. I said, "fish" and she said, "No, it's shish!" Ha! She corrected my pronunciation! I guess we will have to keep working on this!!

Here are some photos of Ava this month:

She does not like eating at Kobe. :( Too bad, so sad. It is one of our favorite places to eat until Hokkaido opens up again. So she will have to get over it!! :)

 We got on a blackberry kick this month. She LOVES them!

 Re-checking her ears

 "Talking" on her "phone" aka the remote control :)

Watching the storm roll in. She loves the rain!

The Nursery!

I realized just this morning that I never posted photos of the new nursery. Ava and Greta will share the same room as soon as Greta can sleep 12 hours at night. She is currently sleeping about 10 hours at night, so hopefully we can transition her to her crib within the next month or two. Right now, Greta sleeps in our room in a bassinet at the end of our bed. 

Anyway, we got really busy right before Greta was born and stayed pretty busy for a while after her birth. I just completely forgot to post pictures. I took the best photos I could take this morning while I was cleaning their room. There are still some things that I want to change and there are still some things that are not done, but this is pretty much the completed look:

The cornice board, curtains, chair, ottoman, throw, pillow, rug, and elephant all stayed. When this was just Ava's room, all of these things served as the focal point when you enter the room. I still love the way it all looks together, so I kept it the same. :)

 Close-up

 With the curtains pulled back

Ava's dresser was moved all the way to the wall and Greta's matching dresser was put closer to the door. The 4 wall decals were put in a straight line over the little wicker table. I don't like them that way and will soon move them to the side wall right when you walk into the room. They will be placed in a 2X2 pattern on that wall. At some point, I will also get circular mirrors to go above each dresser. This is a very square room, so I would like some curves to break it up a bit.

The two cribs are placed right across from their matching dresser. The oil paintings are two that I bought at an SBE Oil Painting & Frame sale. They are hung a little bit too high over each of the cribs, but I don't want Ava to reach up and pull it down. Since she is a climber, this is a realistic possibility. The bedding is the same Pique set that I purchased from Pottery Barn for Ava.

Ava's crib. The sheets are yellow because I have not pulled her white ones out of the dryer yet. :)

 Greta's crib that she has yet to sleep in! :)

The closet and cross. This cross was given to us by my Secret Sister (Maggie Moore) last year. It matches the room perfectly!

Mommy's Artist

This is what we do every day when Greta takes her first nap of the day:

 We sit down at Ava's table that Nana and Poppy got her for Christmas.

 Ava tastes the crayons to make sure they are okay to use. :)

 Tastes good, so we are okay to resume!

She switched sides on the table, but she enjoyed "coloring." For Ava, coloring consists of stabbing the page with several different crayons. She will also scribble. She really has no interest in making a blank page colorful at this point. :) Sometimes she will color with her right hand and other times she will color with her left hand. Ambidexterity would be a nice skill to have!

Table Manners...

Last night our family had the privilege of visiting with some friends from church. We all met up at Angie & Chad Jones's apartment and had a devotional hour. Everyone brought food (except us because I didn't read the whole text message) sang songs, and listened to a devotional that was brought to us by Ray Coast. At this point in the post, you may be wondering what all this has to do with table manners. Rest assured that I will tell you!

After the devotional was over, I grabbed a chocolate cupcake and gave Ava a few bites. I ate the rest. Ava really wanted more so she followed Mrs. Stacey around until Stacey grabbed one and promised Ava that she could eat half of it. I didn't mind because I knew that Ava would crash after all that sugar. Her bedtime was close, so a sugar crash was a good thing! Man, I am such a good parent!! Ha!

Anyway, I snapped some pictures of Ava eating the cupcake with Mrs. Stacey Gann. I promise that we do teach Ava table manners...really...I do! This was just too funny to not get pictures!

Greta's 2 Month Well-Baby Visit

Today we visited Dr. Roberts at 3:00 for Greta's 2 month check-up and shots. :( Shots are never pleasant! Greta did really well with them, though. She cried really hard for less than a minute and then just hiccuped for a few seconds afterward. 

I have to say that I am really surprised at Greta's weight and height. I really thought that she was quite a bit longer than Ava at this age, but she isn't. She is 21.5 inches long (25th percentile) and weighed 10 lbs. and 8 oz. (25th percentile) Her head measured 39.5 cm (50th percentile) I guess I am going to have two short girls!! :) Oh, well! We will have fun no matter what!

The nurse was the same nurse that saw Ava just two days ago for Ava's ear re-check. She is always so sweet to us. She asked where Ava was and I told her that she was at home taking a nap while Daddy stayed with her. It was just me and Greta. After the visit, I drove by TCBY and got a large strawberry frozen yogurt in a cup. Delicious! This mommy deserved it! :)

I had to changed Greta's diaper and take off all her other clothing so that she would be weighed and measured. She did not care for that at all!

After Dr. Roberts checked her, I was able to put her onesie back on. I didn't put any bottoms on her because I knew she would have her shots on her thighs. She was much happier with clothes on!

This was taken immediately after her shots. I got her all buckled into her carseat and stuck the paci into her mouth. She has to be in a certain mood to take her pacifier. Apparently I caught her in the right mood because she took it immediately and sucked on it until I gave her a bottle at home. :) I have to really say that we have been blessed again with another easy-going baby!

A Funny Photo...

Ava thought it would be funny to pile shoes on top of Greta, who was resting in her vibrating chair. ;) Two little girls are so much fun!

Mommy's Baby!!!

I had to blog this little moment so that I don't forget! It was funny but semi-sad at the same time! Last night, Jeremy was holding Greta while I finished dinner. Ava held up her hands like she wanted Jeremy to pick her up. Jeremy said, "Ava, I'm feeding Greta, hold on." Ava shook her head "no" and said, "Mommy's baby!" at Greta. Jeremy and I looked at each other and laughed! Ava came over to me and patted my leg and said, "Mommy! Baby!" and pointed to Greta. She thinks that Greta is my baby and not Jeremy's. I probably put too much thought into this, but it kind of hurt my feelings because I don't want Ava thinking that Greta is ONLY my baby and that she is ONLY Jeremy's baby. So, I have made a conscious effort today to treat Ava like she is also my baby. I guess I have been trying so hard to make sure that Ava is adjusting to being a big sister that I have forgotten to just treat her like the baby that she still is. Lesson learned... :)

Good-Bye Grossy!

Today, Ava said good-bye to a great friend. After her nap today, Ava walked Grossy to the trashcan and threw her in. Tonight is going to be so hard, but we had to do it. It was getting to the point that Grossy was leaving a really bad rash on Ava's face almost every night. We tried washing Grossy in every imaginable concoction, but to no avail. Last night, Ava started crying about an hour after she was laid down. I went in to check her and had to completely change her clothes. She is teething and slobbered all over Grossy while she was sucking on it. In turn, Grossy stayed saturated and got Ava's clothes all wet. I have tried to break her Grossy habit for a while. I have cut off Grossy's tail, ears, nobs (giraffe nobs on her head) and mane. The poor animal is pretty unrecognizable now! 

Here is a picture of what Grossy looked like when we got her:

Anyway, I really wanted to keep Grossy as a keepsake for Ava to have one day, but I can't. Grossy is in far too bad condition to keep. I am really afraid that she has been so nasty that even washing her would not kill all the bacteria on her (imagine what it has done to Ava's teeth! Yuck!) I would hate to unpack Grossy 18 years from now and find black mold on her and all the other keepsakes that are packed away with her. So...in the trash she went! We will keep Grossy's memory alive in this blog. Ava will not have this sweet giraffe to pass on to her children, but she will have the memory. It is a sad day. :(

Sissy Stories: The Offering Plate

I have been thinking the past few weeks that I need to start teaching Ava that she is expected to put something monetary into the offering plate when it comes her way. Even though she is a year and a half, I think we need to begin training her to do things like this. Hopefully, if she has always done it, she won't stop when she is older and begins to make her own money. Plus, I want to teach her how to give back. We are not rich folks, but we sure have been blessed with a lot. She needs to learn that we give back to God...after all, it all belongs to him, right?

I hated to begin this today because Jeremy was out of town, but I had to start sometime. Since Greta's arrival, one of our elders and his wife (John and Sherry Barrow) have begun to sit with us and help us out. Since Jeremy is the song leader, there is a period of about 20 minutes where I do not have his help. John and Sherry have been a tremendous help to me during that time! I really needed them today since I would be parenting alone for the whole service. I passed down a quarter to Sherry, who was holding Ava, and asked her to make sure that Ava put it into the plate. When the time came, I leaned over and whispered, "Ava, put it into the plate." She dropped the quarter into the plate with no hesitation! Yay! I don't know if it would have gone so well if we had asked her to put a goldfish into the plate! She loves her "shish." :) I hope it is always that easy for her to give back.

Anyway, this made me think of my sister, Brittany, when she was younger. My mom would always give us money to put into the offering plate at church. One time, when my mom was not looking, Brittany kept the dollar that my mom gave her and slipped a couple of dimes into the plate instead. When we got into the car to go home, Brittany had the dollar out. My mom asked her where she got it. Brittany, without any embarrassment or regret, explained that she wanted to keep the dollar and put dimes into the plate instead. She wanted a new Barbie doll. I can't believe I remember that! I also remember being so mad! Not because she didn't put the money into the plate, but because I wanted a new Barbie too! Why didn't I think of saving my offering plate money and offering dimes instead? :) ha! My little child brain!

All of this really did not have a point, it was just a memory that I wanted to share. It's funny how life experiences trigger memories of a different time in my life. Plus, I really like to share funny stories about Aunt "Beet." I know Ava will love to hear about this one day!

WOW!!

Parked next to us at Logan's Roadhouse:

A Visit With Granny

Granny is now in an assisted living facility. We went by to visit her twice during our stay. I didn't bring my camera with me the first time we were there, and the second time we visited, Granny was still in her nightgown. So, I didn't take any pictures of her. Maybe on our next visit :) But, Ava sure did a have a good time using Granny's walker!

Joy Ride With Bant B

We got to visit with Bant B, Uncle Ty, and Cousin Chris while in Tennessee. While Greta took a nap, Bant B, Jeremy, Ava and I all took a joy ride on the golf cart. Berrie, Ty, and Chris all live out in the country near horses, ponies, goats, and cows. Ava enjoyed getting to take a ride and help "drive." :)

Sam & Greta

While at Roy and Linda Jo's house, I came across this picture of Sam. It struck me how much he and Greta favor! The picture on the bottom is Greta. Greta definitely takes after the Pate side of the family! :) Their hairline is similar and their eyes are very much alike. I love seeing the family resemblance!

Playing At Nana & Poppy's House

Here are some photos of Ava playing while on our trip:

We arrived at their house at about 9:00pm. It was right in time for Greta's last feeding of the night. Nana took Greta and fed her while Jeremy and I got all of our stuff in from the car. Poppy took Ava upstairs to play with dolls and the kitchen set. She had a great time playing with her poppy!

On Tuesday, Hadleigh and Sam came over to play. Hadleigh and Ava had such a good time playing on the side porch. Hadleigh pushed Ava around in the stroller while Ava waved and American flag back and forth. It was pretty cute!