Hello there. Our sweetie pie is now 123 weeks old. Which is funny because this week, she has been counting all things in pairs as 1, 2, 3. What a cowinkadink!
This past weekend was a four day weekend for us. We spent all of it down at my parents’ place doing all kinds of fun stuff. We had so much fun that most of it will be blogged about in separate posts next week… because I went a little picture crazy. It’s totally not my fault. I have a cute kid! Hehe. Over the weekend, Ava got the chance to see the Goodyear Blimp parked in its home off of the freeway. Would that be called the blimp airport? Who knows. But as soon as we got back to the house, Ava insisted on looking for it with the binoculars. And low and behold, she found it. That thing is always flying over the Port of Los Angeles.
Ava also spent A LOT of time singing her favorite song, Oh Marijana. Over and over again. Seriously. She is obsessed. I have to sort through all of our videos to show you since you all demand proof. But in the mean time, you can listen to the original version of the song here.
Here I am at 25 weeks pregnant with baby #2. Yes, I know I look like most people close to 40 weeks… but I am a big girl. And big girls get bigger than little girls. That’s your lesson of the day. Anyways, Ava has been extra sweet with the baby this week. She has been picking flowers, kissing, hugging and talking to him/her a lot more too. It just melts my heart when she does those things. I can’t even imagine what I will feel when they are physically together. My heart just might explode.
Ever since Ava has become an official jumper, she has been hopping everywhere. Off of pillows. Off of steps. Off of slides. Off of couches. Off of highchairs. Off of us. And off of Yoda, if she could.
With all the fun we had over the weekend, Ava’s naps were all thrown off. It drives me crazy when we get off of our routines but it had to be done in the name of FUN. On Saturday, we had a big day planned and Ava knew it. She refused to nap in her pack ‘n play. But luckily, as soon as we got in the car, she held her new kitty cat tight and announced ‘It’s nap time. I close my eyes.‘ Dan and I both giggled and said Good Night. Lately, on our car rides at night, Ava refuses to sleep. She talks during the entire drive. Seriously. I recorded her in the dark until my camera died. She looks out the windows for airplanes, asks a million questions and states lots of facts. ‘Dada, you’re a boy. I’m a girl. Where’s the airplane? What is the airplane doing? What’s in the sky? What’s that? What’s Yoda doing? I like ice cream. I wanna go to Darla’s house. I’m a monster. Ahh, here comes the banana monster. I’m not scared.‘ This can go on for over an hour. Easily.
On Saturday, we had big plans with Deets and Carrie. We met up with them at the house. Ava was so shy when we got there. She just woke up from her car nap and needed a few minutes to become her old self again.
We had so much fun on Saturday. It was one of those days you remember as being one of the best days ever. It really was. It was non stop action and fun… and nothing got in our way. You’ll have to wait until next week to get more details on our day. But I won’t keep all of it a secret until then. We spent some time on Olvera Street, the birthplace of the City of Los Angeles. Who knew?
They had an array of things for sale there. Like little hats that Ava did not enjoy one bit. ‘That’s for babies‘ she said.
But she did enjoy all of the puppets that lined the street.
Back at Carrie’s place, Ava got another piano lesson from Deets. Boy has she grown since her last silly lesson on this piano.
Ava also loved sitting on these theater seats with Carrie, browsing through all of her pretty art books.
But I must say that her favorite part of Carrie’s place was something else. Something that brought out the laughter.
Lots of laughter. And screaming. And barking too.
Darla the dog!
The two of them played and played and played until…
…they no longer could play anymore. It was awesome. (I miss you Rudy).
On Sunday, it was time to celebrate Croatian Independence Day with lots of ?evapi…
… and Kolo dancing too.
On Sunday night, Dan and I went out to the movies to celebrate our 7th anniversary a bit early. I left the camera with my mom to document what they did while we were out and I came home to find this picture. Oh boy. Ava holding her rosary beads as if she is posing for her first communion photo. Good one, Mom. Ava usually doesn’t wake up at night (unless she misplaced her prarie doggy or blanket). But not on this night. Deets heard her screaming and crying shortly after she went to bed. He opened the door to find her upset and screaming ‘Uncle Buddy‘. LOL. I’m not sure if Uncle Buddy was out to get her or if he needed help, but she settled down shortly after that. In the morning, I asked her why she was screaming his name and she told me that Uncle Buddy needs food.
On Monday, it was Nathan’s big day. His 2nd birthday. We went over to his house in the morning to help decorate. The kids had a blast playing with bubbles and scattering all of his toys around the house.
Ava had so much fun with Nathan at his party. More to come next week. This is not Nathan. I know. But this guy is the reason Ava started to do this…
… wink. Hehe. How about that new milestone. Good job Ava!
Ava is still enjoying herself at school. But when we pick her up, her personality completely changes. She goes quiet. She stops talking and responding to teachers. And don’t expect her to wave good-bye or acknowledge your presence in the hallway. She becomes so shy. I asked her teacher if the other kids do this also when their parents come. She said most of them act crazier or turn into babies. So… I will take Ava being shy at pick-up time over those other options, thank you very much.
Oh and another milestone for Ava… thanks to my mint chip ice cream cravings… her first ice cream cone. For some reason this is supposed to be messier option for kids, but not Ava. She stayed clean the whole time. How about that!?!
Here she is at swim class #7. Our second to last one. She is becoming more comfortable with floating with the pool noodles and keeping her head in the water while on her back. So much so that she is starting to rinse the shampoo off of her head in the tub just like this picture… minus the noodle, of course.
At home this week, Ava has officially moved out of her crib and into a new toddler bed. Sniffle sniffle. Here she is testing out her new mattress and duvet cover.
And here are two magical princesses that are about to put her new bed together.
She picked this bed out all by herself. She really loves the sheep on the headboard. Especially because she loves singing Mary had a Little Lamb.
As soon as she tested it out, she wanted to take off of her clothes and put on her pajamas. But she needed a bath first. So it was off to the tub and she totally forgot about her new bed. When I mentioned that she was going to sleep in her new bed, she stood up in the tub, said ‘gotovo‘ (all done), and tried to get out of the tub herself. Hehe.
Her first night went as well as can be expected. She asked me to sit with her in the room for about an hour or so. At first, I had to sit on the floor next to her. Then it was okay to sit in the rocking chair. Then I could go in and out of the room for a few minutes at a time. Then she had to go potty. And then she fell asleep. Yeah! And was fine all night, with the exception of needing help pulling up her blanket once. In the morning, I wondered if she would call for me like normal or come to our room all by herself. But she didn’t do either. I needed to wake her up because she took so long to fall asleep and needed to sleep in. And that thing with her asking to go to the potty, only happens at night. A couple nights before this, I was awake with her from 12-3:30 taking a million potty breaks. It got to the point that we told her to just go in her diaper. She looked at us crazy and said ‘No Dada. No peepee in the diaper‘. Shame on us, Ava. We were sooo tired. Sorry.
On her second night in her new bed, we finally bought her new pillows and washed the new duvet cover and blanket. She was ecstatic. And refused to open her eyes while saying cheese. Hehe.
And on the second night, we moved some of the furniture around again. It looks a little better in here but something still feels off. Maybe I just need to get used to it… or maybe it’s the ‘nesting’ thing that I totally don’t have right now. (Shut it, Dan!). But her second night went better. It was okay for me to sit in the rocker but I only needed to be there for 45 minutes instead of a whole hour. And at night, I didn’t need to come into her room once to fix her blanket. Yeah for me! Her new duvet is a twin size and her bed is a special toddler size. So that makes her duvet cover a little big for the bed and thus I get to tuck her like a burrito. Hehe. But I did have to come in around 4am to help her find her missing prairie doggy… and I almost toppled over when I crashed into the ottoman in the middle of the room. And once again I had to wake her up in the morning. Miss Late Sleeper.
Ava’s crying fits are few and far between these days. If she whines, they are usually quick instances that go away as soon as she realizes she needs to ask for things nicely. But on Thursday, she melted. She melted because Dada turned off her Wow Wow Wubbzy cartoon and turned on the Lakers. Oh man. Sad Ava came out in full force and she kept repeating ‘my turn‘.
In these situations, it is best if Ava just gets a change of scenery… quick. So it was outside for bubbles. And it worked like a charm.
Okay. It’s time for us to pick some lemons. Have a nice weekend. Oh, and that thing I said last week about not blogging on weekends. I lied. You might see a post or two after all. Too many pictures!!
