Little Lins!

Happy 3rd Birthday Ava!

I love you all the way to the moon…

…and back.

Always.

Love,
Mama

Hi. I’m Ava. Do you know what was my favorite Christmas present this year?

This box! I get to watch TV in it.

I get to write all over it.

Check out my first sun drawing.

And my name! (Trust me on that one.)

I’m not the only one who thinks so either. Mila loves it too. And so does…

Yoda. Hehe.

Hi. I’m Mila.

And I love to eat my fingers.

Look at this wonderful slobber.

My whole hand isn’t too bad either.

Where did my hands go? Wah!

On New Year’s Eve, this started to happen. Mila wanted to make sure she squeezed in one more milestone in 2009.

Hello. Our little lollipop is now 153 weeks old!

Our week began at the Ventura Harbor’s Festival of Lights. There was a little fair set up there with some old school rides. We told Ava that she could go on two rides. We tried to get her to go on the little airplane ride but she freaked out. So she settled on this little train that choo-choo’d in circles instead.

And for her second ride, she decided on the motor bikes. I told you they were old school. My mom has a picture of me and my brother on ones very similar to these.

The festival bragged about the fake snow they were going to make. Look at this fake snow! It is worse than fake. It was sad bubbles (and not very much of it!) and it confused the hell out of us and poor Ava.

We then found a nice spot by the harbor…

… and watched our first boat parade. And you know what? I was more boring than a regular parade. If that is even possible.

Back to our normal scheduled programming. Look at this! It’s called coloring within the lines… almost. Yeah Ava! She is in love with Rudolph right now… and his red nose.

Mikey stop by over the weekend to say hello and to remind Ava about his shoes from Croatia. Ava has no idea that she was the shoe police last summer. So sad. Because it makes us laugh so much still.

Ava also was kind enough to invite him to a tea party. And to thank her Mikey showed her how to drink tea like a proper lady. Pinky up.

Then it was time to visit my parents again. As soon as Ava woke up, she wanted to put together the Christmas Mickey Mouse choo-choo train.

And admire the beautiful tree.

Is it Christmas yet?

I can NOT wait 5 more days. I’m going nuts!

We went out to dinner on Sunday to a restaurant I wanted to go to my whole life. The snowy roof restaurant. Yeah. Finally. Ava loved it. She was confused why it was okay to throw peanuts on the floor though… but loved it because we got to…

…wish Carrie a happy birthday!!!!

Ava had a blast playing with Carrie’s niece at the end of the night after she got some sugar in her system… and made Deets walk with them around the restaurant a million times or so. What a good uncle!

Ava got to spend some time at my Nona and Dida’s house too. She entertained herself by making a fort out of their pillows. I love this picture of Hvar on the wall that my mom painted years ago. You can tell it was made a while ago because if you go there now, you won’t see little fishing boats tied to the main walkway in town. You’ll see million dollar yachts lined up like sardines.

Ava also loved all the Nathan play dates they had. Here they are “rowing a boat” together.

And as soon as Ava walked into my parent’s house, she asked for soup. She craves it every day while we are there.

We also spent some time shopping and enjoying the beautiful decorations all around town.

Some kid stores had toys to try out and it was impossible to get her out of them. Ava said she couldn’t leave because she had to play drums like Deets. But I had a secret up my sleeve.

Pizza… and a little chocolate cake too.

Another play date… but this time they played with a box full of peanuts. Hehe.

When we are out of town, we let Ava sleep with an extra animal to make her feel safer from those scary shadows that give her nightmares sometimes. So here she is with Whiskers and her other “friends”… draping her like a necklace.

Ava loved helping me wrap up all the presents.

She colored each and every present we wrapped. Even her own.

And after we wrapped them all up, it was time to recycle those cardboard inserts… into swords. On guard!

Then it was time for a gingerbread house.

All done. But we didn’t let the frosting dry as long as recommended. So a little after this photo, the roof completely collapsed. But Ava didn’t mind. It still tasted the same.

On Christmas Eve, Dida bought a DVD for Ava to watch with him… but he didn’t last too long. Zzzzzzzz.

And she played a lot of ring around the rosie.

And catch with Livi.

Then her and Deets started to scope out presents. We open half on Christmas Eve and the other half in the morning.

This sums up our Christmas Eve. All of us playing with Ava’s gifts. Nona Dinka taking it all in.

And this year with all got into watching Deets wrap up the tiniest handmade present with the tiniest gift tag that he placed under this tiny tree.

Before we knew it, it was time to bake cookies for Santa and his reindeer. That’s right! Reindeer get cookies at our house. No silly carrots for them!

So excited for her Santa gift!

And someone else was too. Meow!

Sweet dreams little one.

Hi! Our little Mila is now sweet 16 weeks old!!

Every morning I wake up to Mila at my side. In her bassinet. It’s crazy how fast time goes by. I know that very soon these morning moments will change. She will be in another room. And I will be in mine. (sigh). Here she is waiting for me to show my face.

So she can give me her sweet smile.

And in the mornings if Ava is already awake, we will pull her into bed with us and say ‘Dobro Jutro‘ and ‘Good Morning‘.

And if Ava is still asleep, we wait around until she calls for me and then we get some morning snuggles in her room.

Peek-a-boo!

And when we are at Nona and Dida’s house, she sometimes ends up in the middle of a train track. Hehe.

Mila doing pretty well at holding up her head. Even though she can now roll over, she prefers to stay like this. And she is really babbling up a storm. It seems she is the most talkative first thing in the morning and at bedtime.

Mila got to see her Nona Vinka again this week. I love seeing how excited Nona gets when she holds Mila. She always tells me how she wishes she could babysit little ones again… if only she was feeling better… and if only we were closer.

Let’s see. What else did we do besides pose by the tree?

We did a little Christmas shopping… and this is how we rolled. I think Mila loves Anthropologie as much as I do. Dada better start hiding his wallet!

Mila got to hang out with cousin Nathan again too… and this time he held her for the first time!

And here are the 3 amigos in front of the tree.

More tree pictures? Yup. And not the last.

Ava had fun showing Mila which presents are hers. Mila loves looking at Ava and smiling. She is starting to track her around the room as she does with us too.

Another tree picture. This time with Dan’s In-n-Out cup on the coffee table. Nice.

We tried to get an alone shot of Mila with the tree but her balance is just not there yet.

Next year for sure!

Before we knew it, it was Christmas Eve. Here is Mila with Nona Dinka.

And Mila with Deets. (I still think you stole that Kind Of Like Spitting shirt from me!)

And Mila with Mickey and Teta J.

By dinner time, Mila had ‘the stare‘. You know which one. The one that says you better put me to bed now or your ears are going to hurt.

Good night, my little one. I hope Santa brings you what you wished for…

Hi. I’m Mila. And I am doing something called wrapping presents. And yes, I have no idea what that means.

Ava, can you please show me what to do?

First we right our names? Okay Ava. I mean Uva.

Then we place these felt circles on each gift. I think I will just watch.

Hey. I think this one is for me. I wonder what it is?

(whisper whisper whisper)

Hey! I think I am going to like that!!

Almost done.

Hey! Wait a second!!

I’m not a present!

Or am I?