Little Lins!

Hello. Our little Ava is now 135 weeks old. Yeah!

Our week began with Ava feeding french fries to begging little birds at the Habit. Not sure who was happier about it.

And then we went to our friend’s house for some toddler play time. We brought over a belated birthday present… that Ava wasn’t too excited about…

… but I can’t say the same for Dan. He picked out the gifts himself and was nice enough to “show” the kids how to use them. I almost had to give him the share speech!

Afterward we hit up the fair one more time to check out the fireworks. I took a picture of Mike, Dan and Ava together as soon as we walked in. Mike got a little flustered that everyone was going to get the wrong idea of two dudes with a kid…

… and insisted we get a family shot too. Oh geez.

We were bad parents on this night and kept Ava up way past her bedtime. We waited and waited for the 10 pm show but after waiting 15 minutes past 10 we gave up and started walking back to the car.

And then out of no where, it began… Look Dada!

BOOM!!!!

Over the weekend, we let Ava kiss concrete dolphins…

… and visit Farmer’s Market. Here is her ‘don’t eat it all‘ face. She recognized the tamale booth and immediately pointed and said ‘I want raviolis!‘. Hehe.

One of Ava’s new things is to hide in plain site and say ‘Come find me, okay?‘. And we have to pretend we have no idea where she is. Fun game, huh?

At home, we have been slowly getting ready for the baby. Most of the things we pulled out won’t be used by the baby right away… but who knows how much free time we will later… so better do it now. Ava gets a kick out of helping put everything together.

She is really into pushing all the buttons on the swing and watching the animals go around and around.

And the jungle gym is a big hit too. This is now…

… and that was then. Sniffle sniffle. How time flies!

And with the baby close to making his/her entrance, Ava has entered a new stage of toddlerhood. The “not listening, clingy and defiant” phase. She ignores most everything we say. If we ask her to do anything, she usually answers with a ‘not yet‘. It’s very pleasant… not. I have to remember that it is just a phase. It will pass. And hopefully soon!

We are having some issues at night too. She is getting more scared of the dark. We have stopped reading and watching princess stories with evil witches, but it hasn’t helped. She insists on sleeping with the door completely open, hallway lights on, and with new additions to her prairie dog companion… her favorite bear, a blanket or two and a wad of tissue in her hand. She first insisted on having the hallway light on… but then she was getting more scared. We figured out that the light was creating shadows behind the door and that was why she wanted the door open all the way… to make the scary shadows disappear. She also wakes up a lot complaining that her behind hurts or that she has to go potty or wants to sleep in my bed. It’s a tough stage right now… and it takes everything I have not to bring her in bed with us… because that is just going to cause a bigger headache in the long run.

After school and a nap, we have just been hanging out. Not going out as much. Here we are after a bike ride.

Ava still loves petting our neighbor’s cat, Snickers. And we just figured out that they have another cat, a black and white one, that looks like a cat from around the corner. The cat from the corner is named Socks… so we call its twin ‘?arape‘…. socks in Croatian. It cracked Ava up that first time Dan suggested the name.

At daycare this week, she is not patting the kids to sleep as much. We are finding her alone in a corner, reading a book. This one is her new found favorite, Walking through the Jungle. She tries to read it at home too.. but with the wrong book since we don’t own it.

And look who discovered the booster step at 31 Flavors. She always insists on getting chocolate…

… but ends up wanting my mint chip too.

Since Ava was just a little thing, we have been taking baths together. But this week, I just got way too big. Poor thing had no room to play so I stopped going in with her. And did she complain? Nope. She says ‘Not Mama. Just Ava‘ as soon as she hears the water running. Okay Ava. I get the hint.

Another HUGE change this week…. Dora is out and Curious George is in! It’s a miracle. She can not get enough of this little monkey. It’s great to get a break from Dora but Ava has started to incorporate more monkey sounds in her everyday speech instead of vamanos!

And looky here. Ava is starting to walk the walls in our neighborhood unassisted. Have a great week. Bye!

What’s up, Doc? Ummm… not week 135. It’s ladies day out in Santa Barbara today. Have a great weekend!

Hi. I’m NOT Ava. I’m the new baby. Hehe.

Someone pick me up. Oops. I mean WAHHHHH!!!

That’s more like it. Wah!

What? I need my diaper changed. Well, okay. Wah!

And now it’s nap time in my crib?

Good night. Wah!

I can’t sleep. Maybe my new baby toys can entertain me for a bit.

Um. Mama? Get me out. I’m not a baby. I’m Ava. See? I can pick my nose and everything. GET ME OUT OF HERE!

Hi. I’m Ava and we’re back at the fair. We can’t get enough. But today is a little different. Today I’m going on the Ferris Wheel for the very first time.

My Dada is going to go with me.

Bye Mama.

We are so high up Dada. I see the ocean!

Oh no. It’s going fast now. AHHHH!!!

Oh man. How about a change of scenery? This helicopter goes much slower than that Ferris Wheel. Get off the phone with Jeremy and say cheese Dada! Geez!

Oh and this time I smartened up. I wore pants on purpose so the animals wouldn’t eat my clothes. Here I am feeding the Mama and Baby Deer who bit up my dress last week.

And here I am with my favorite animal of the day. A baby billy goat. Bahhh.

Oh and I almost forgot this guy. A wallaby. Hop hop.

And last but not least, a pony ride. Just like last year. Bye!

Hi. I’m Ava and our tomatoes are finally ripe.

Check this one out. WOW.

I picked these all by myself.

Hey Yoda. Check out our first tomato.

Do you think she wants to eat all of MY tomatoes?

I better get out of here. Quick.

Hi. I’m Ava and today I’m going to get my VERY FIRST haircut.

Take one last good look at my golden highlights. Highlights thanks to the sun in California… and Arizona… and Nevada… and Mexico… and Croatia.

Okay Nona. We are here. Distract me with some books please.

Mama is taking this harder than me, I think.

Okay. It’s my turn now. Here are my ladies trying to figure just how much to cut.

Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.

Hey, it doesn’t hurt.

Check this out. Ignore the little rat tail please.

This place isn’t too bad. I get to sit in a rocket ship and watch Dora too.

How’s it looking, Mama?

Cute? Good

Are you almost done, lady?

Looks like you have cut more than enough.

All done! How do I look?

FABULOUS!!!

Thanks First Cut. And a special thank you for my complimentary lollipop.

Hello there. Ava is now 31 months old and is so ready to be a BIG SISTER!!! Here is this week’s story.

Soooo, as usual, we take a picture of Ava at 1:34pm. The minute she was born each month. And this time she was not napping. It’s a miracle! We kept her up so we can hit up the fair one more time. We can’t get enough of that Bavarian Cream Funnel Cake!! More pictures from our 2nd trip there next week.

On Friday, we picked up Ava from daycare as usual. And as usual also, she steals crackers from the reception area. One for Dada and Mama and one for herself. But instead of driving home, we went down to Nona’s house. Sorry Dida. That’s just what she calls it.

By the time we got there, it was pizza time. She was very serious about it as you can see.

Topping time!

Ava also got a few gifts from Alaska… like this new gray husky, which we call Alaska too.

And Alaska was special enough to join Ava and her prairie doggy for a nap. Under the covers and everything. Hehe. As of this trip, no more pack ‘n play for Ava. She is way too tall for that thing. The toddler blow-up mattress works great on our trips.

The past couple times I have been to the hair salon, Ava has asked for a haircut herself. So, on Saturday, we took her to a cool little salon just for kids to get her very FIRST HAIR CUT! I know. I know. It was long over due. But those long blond tips are her baby hairs. From when she was a baby. My baby. Sniffle sniffle. More photos on Monday. I’m too sad to post more today. Bye bye baby hairs. Someone get me a tissue.

And what are you supposed to do when you have a beautiful new haircut? Show it off, of course. So we headed over to see Nathan. And just like any other guy, he didn’t say one word about her new hair do.

We also had a ladies (and Nathan) get-together at his house.

And this is where Ava got her new favorite shirt. Her big sister shirt. She insists on wearing it every other day. It would be every single day but I have to wash it on the off days. She’s a messy eater, remember?

Whenever we are at my parents’ place and someone is laying on the carpet, Ava likes to tackle that person. She thinks it’s so silly… especially when the person didn’t see it coming. Thank goodness we have hardwood floors and never lay on the ground… or we would be black and blue all the time.

Over the weekend, the sun was shining and it was definitely time for sprinklers.

And time to show off some of her ballerina twirls.

And all that twirling she did, worked up her appetite. Mmmmm cookies.

Back at home, it was my first official day of maternity leave. So in the afternoons, Ava and I have been watering plants…

… and admiring how one little sunflower seed that some bird forgot to eat, turned into this monster plant. It was twice as tall before Dan chopped it down.

Dan introduced Ava to Pac-Man this week. He found it while cleaning the garage for the garage sale we are hopefully having tomorrow morning. But he refuses to sell it. It is a leftover item from Nicole’s 80′s bash at our house a few years back.

At school, she is still helping the teachers pat the kids to sleep. I can’t seem to get a good picture because as soon as we walk in, the moment is over. Dan and I even hid behind a wall for a surprise photo but the stupid camera wouldn’t focus fast enough. Maybe next week. Oh and if you haven’t seen her cubby picture, it’s the one on the bottom left. The prison wall pose.

Alright… time to go… Yes, another big sister shirt. She wants to make sure everyone gets the message.

I’m going to be a big sister… yeah!!