Little Lins!

Howdy! Our cutie pie Ava is now 34 months old!!!! Two more months and she turns 3??? OMG!! Slow down time!!!!!

And what was she doing when she turned 34 months exactly? Hanging out at the mall with her friend Grace. But I didn’t hear my reminder alarm go off on my phone. So this picture is a little late. Stupid phone. I hate you. I miss my old phone. I hope Santa brings me a new one this year. No more coal please! I need my blackberry back!!! (Stop rolling your eyes, Dan. Jeremy feels my pain.)

So on Saturday, Dada went out with the boys to do who knows what. So the ladies and I enjoyed a quiet day together. First thing on our list was tamales at Farmers Market. Second thing on our list was yummy gelato at our favorite coffee shop. Yummm, just like Croatia. How many of you are surprised that it wasn’t first on the list? Raise your hand.

Third on the list was park time. Here is Ava pretending to be stuck on a giant spider web while screaming ‘Ayudame!‘ (That’s ‘help me‘ in Spanish.)

And last on our list was some sand time by the ocean.

And when the toys got boring, Ava really enjoyed making a castle out of pieces of drift wood. Why do kids love to play with random stuff more than toys?

And when the castle was complete, we were off on an adventure. We followed tire tracks left from a life guard truck until we could walk no more.

During the week, the four of us went to the Public Health Department and Dan, Ava and I all got the H1N1 vaccine… to protect Mila. Dan and I both got the nasal spray but Ava had to get a shot in the arm because of her past respiratory issues. It was her first arm shot. And how did she do? She screamed ‘Awwww gooo‘ over and over again until we were safe in the car. And as always, shots equal ice cream. Don’t you wish you could be my kid too?

And then it was park time again. And this time, Ava wanted to dress like Punky Brewster. Hehe. Well, maybe not exactly. Her ‘Olivia’ shoes actually match.

The funny part of this park story is that the girls left the playground to run up and down this hill. And within minutes…

… all the kids from the playground followed them. It was too cute.

At home, we introduced Ava to water balloons. And how did she react when we told her to throw it at Dora or at us? She basically told us No way Jose. She was scared that we were setting her up for a time-out or something. Hehe. Oh and you can stop rubbing your eyes now. You really are seeing green patches of grass in our backyard!! Crazy.

Over the weekend, we hit up the park. AGAIN. I should rename this blog to www.AvaAndMilaAndThePark.com I think.

But lookie here. We are actually playing a little Kickity Kick Ball. And check out Ava’s action shot.

And one more.

Ava hates commercials. She usually whines if she has to watch live TV. But every once in awhile she will enjoy a commercial or two. Especially if they are pushing that re-released-for-the-millionth-time-for-a-limited-time-get-it-now Snow White DVD. So we gave in…sorta. Dan ‘got’ it somehow off of the internet magically booyah!. We warned her that she might get scared of the queen or the witch or the spooky forest.

But what sent her to sit under a open drawer in the other room???? That damn talking mirror. Hehe.

But Prince Dada came to the rescue and held her during the scary mirror scenes.

During our play dates, it is usually the girls playing princess while baby Cole is cruising around the house with the baby stroller. But for a split second this week, the girls joined baby Cole while he was playing with the cash register. And it was going so smoothly…

… until the girls took it over.

We took Yoda to the vet this week. Why you ask? Because we love spending $250 bucks? Because Ava loves weighing herself on the dog scale? Nope, yearly check up and shots. To make sure she is a-okay. And she is. Yeah for Yoda.

And the other day, we had some weird weather that had Ava on the verge of putting on her beloved rain boots. But instead, we got a beautiful sunset and a huge rainbow.

Bye!

Hi there. Our little Mila is now 10 weeks old.

People ask me all the time if Mila looks like Ava when she was her age. I think they do look pretty similar. Except Mila’s head isn’t as round… and Mila is a lot bigger than Ava was. But what drives me crazy about that question is that I want to pinpoint the exact differences. But I can’t. Anyone out there have that fancy face recognition software I can borrow? You know, like the one from that Las Vegas TV show? Please!

And looking at pictures doesn’t help things. Because these two look so different picture to picture.

Maybe I can just tell them it’s the hair.

So during Mila’s 10th week, Dada had a boys day out so the ladies and I hit the beach. Yup, still sleeping in the carrier. She loves that thing. She very rarely wakes up when she’s in it.  Snug as a little bug.

Start checking off the milestones. Mila has officially started to coo. She especially coos while I talk or sing to her. It’s awesome.

And every once in awhile, she will make this teeny laughing sound. More awesomeness.

It’s true what they say about the 2nd kid. You slack more with them. We were supposed to start  her vitamins at 2 months of age. I guess 2 weeks late isn’t so bad. And just as expected, Mila hated the vitamins and tried her best to spit it out. But we got smarter this time around. With Ava, we had her sitting up for her first vitamin instead of laying down.

Good job, Mila!

At bedtime, Mila goes down pretty easy now. A couple whimpers around 7:30ish and she’s out. Then she will wake up around 3am, 6am and 8am. But during the day, she is no longer taking 2-3 hour naps like the ‘old’ days. Mila is officially a cat napper. She usually only sleeps in 45 minute increments now. Unless she is in the baby carrier, of course. And it doesn’t matter if I swaddle, not swaddle, bassinet or random places. It’s usually only 45 minute blocks for this one.

I started placing these cool little rattles on her hands and feet (thanks Carrie!). But she is still too little to notice that she has hands and feet, let alone musical instruments. Maybe next week.

But in the meantime, Ava loves to think that she has another member in her band.

Alright. It’s time to step outside and enjoy a random rainbow in the sky. Bye!

I forgot to mention a couple weeks back that Ava started becoming a little jealous. It only noticeably happened two or three times… so far. I think the timing coincided with Mila starting to smile. I guess that makes sense. Now that Mila is a bit more interactive, we try to get as many smiles and coos out of her as we can. 99% of the time, those smiles and sounds are to Ava’s delight. She loves mimicking Mila’s “words”. But those few times that she didn’t like the attention Mila was getting, she would give us her sad lip and repeat “I want my mommy”.

At first, I was a bit confused. You want your mommy? I am right here. But then I asked her if she wanted me to put Mila down. And she nodded yes. Ooooooooh, I get it now.

But I thank my lucky stars that it has only happened twice… maybe three times. And I thank my lucky stars that all those other times end up like this.

Hi. I’m Ava and my little sister Mila is totally pulling my hair right now. Ouch!

Get your hands off of me!

How about if I pull your hair? I totally would… if you had any to pull.

I have a better idea. I am putting your hand in hand jail.

No more pulling. Got it?

Hehe.

Hi. I’m Yoda and I’m sleeping.

Who the hell is making dinosaur stretching noises?

OMG. I am totally awake now.

Oh. It’s you.

What are you doing with your arm?

I don’t remember signing up for this? Someone get me a shot of catnip. On second thought, make it a double.

So… who do you think has the best chocolate eyeballs???

***

Dada and his hands?

Mama and her balancing act?

Ava and her sad lips?

Mila and her hungry mouth?

Or Nona with her cheating eyeglasses?