Ava & Mila

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Our little camper is now 125 weeks old!!!

Ava’s 125th week began on Friday just as she was getting up from her nap at school. And here she is making her bed. Yes, making her bed.  Something she has never done at home. Her teacher has magical powers, I think.

For the past week or so, I can not take a picture of Ava at school without her friends wanting to be in the picture… and then look at themselves right afterward. Cheese.

And Dan can’t get out of the room without making the kids laugh… and on Friday, helping the other Ava with her shoes. What a nice guy.

On the way out of school, Ava was wondering why we weren’t parked in our normal spot outside of the building. Why were we walking down the block? As soon as she saw our Airstream down the street, she got very excited. Yeah for camping!

We spent the weekend at Malibu Creek State Park. It was amazing up there. The hills were green. Wildflowers were blooming. And we were in vacation mode. Once Dan finished setting up the Airstream, we headed out to explore the campground.

We walked over to the group campfire area to play on the stage. Ava had a blast pretending to be Dora while Dada took turns being Boots and Swiper and I was the Backpack.  After lots dancing and jumping, she ran over to the benches and before long…

… had multiple splinters in her hand. Her first… and second and third and fourth. Ouchie.

After lots of screaming and crying (from all three of us), Ava had a Dora band-aid… and preceded to flip us off show us her boo-boo all weekend long.

For the rest of the evening, we stayed nice and safe indoors.

No splinters in here… I hope.

As soon as it got dark, it was bedtime… but not before someone wanted to say good night to the moon.

On Saturday, we packed up some snacks and went on a hike through the local mountains with our buddy Nicole.

The hike was probably longer than we should have went on but we took lots of stops along the way. There was a visitor’s center with different types of stuffed wildlife… like this scary coyote.

And a bridge that had a creek running under it. Little did we know what was coming up.

What the?

The wide and smooth hiking path turned into a rocky, muddy one-person lane. Oh boy. Poor Dada  had to carry Ava in his arms for about half a mile…

… and SUPER nicole carried the stroller with her bare hands. I think someone is going to get a cape for their birthday!

And me? I was in charge of carrying Baby #2 and telling the others when to stop for breaks.

After about 3 miles, we made it. We made it to the old site where they used to film the TV show and movie M*A*S*H. There wasn’t much there besides two rusty trucks and a shed full of pictures but it was nice to have final destination.

After a few rounds of ‘on guard’, we were off to the bottom of the hill again.

Ava did great on the hike. She wanted to stay in the stroller the entire time until the last mile… where she practically ran and danced down to the end.

To reward ourselves with a job well done, we went to the Cheesecake Factory to refill our bodies with all the calories that we lost along the hike.

Back at the campsite, Ava was hopped up on whip cream and ready to play.

Lucky for us, Super Nicole was still in full effect and had more energy to burn with her.

Ava was also busy finding airplanes overhead…

…and telling us to be quiet because the bees were sleeping in their ‘house’. Shhh.

Before we knew it, our weekend was over and we were back home. I set-up Ava with sidewalk chalk and toys outside to entertain her while we did some cleaning but she had other plans. Helping us clean was way more fun for her.

On Monday we were back to the grind and back to the coffee shop too…

… for some whip cream. I think my pregnancy cravings are screwing up my kid.

After school, it was back to play time too. This week, Elmo turned in a tower destroying monster.

Bedtime has reached a new normal. I can now say good night to Ava (after a few songs) and have her fall asleep on her own. But I need to leave the door cracked open the entire time… which I never had to do before.

After an ultrasound this week, Ava started to shove her doll Mariana under her dress as if she is pregnant too. And during the ultrasound, Ava said hello to the baby several times. Baby #2 is looking good. He or she is already 2 pounds 12 ounces, which is in the 71st percentile. Yes, percentiles already. Sad, huh?

And back at school, all the kids (but Ava) are still obsessed with getting their picture taken.

There is a list at school where all the kids got to say what their favorite vegetables are. Ava said apples, bananas, corn and watermelon. First off, 3 out of the 4 are fruit. And watermelon? She spits that out every time.

On Wednesday, we hosted a play date dinner at our house. The girls and boys still tend to play separately. But this week, Ava got Matheus to join the girls with a little game called Super Buddy.

It’s a long post. I know. But we did a lot this week. Like teach Ava to crawl under the table to get to either of us. Probably not a good idea but our poor backs are grateful.

At the end of the week, we filled our bellies with Mickey Mouse pancakes…

… changed into our poo-jamas, packed our Dora backpack and hit the road.

We had a quick pit stop to show off Ava’s flying skills to her Grandpa…

…before we hit the road to Las Vegas. Our as Ava likes to say Las Biggest… a.k.a. Las Veliki. Hehe. BYE!

Hello there blog readers! Ava is now 124 weeks old!!

Ava’s week started off pretty well. There was a dinner play date with the usual crew… and these two got to play with Dora’s house and all of her furniture.

On Saturday, we watched a silly episode of Yo Gabba Gabba, where they explained how to use your inside voice versus your outside voice. Dan and Ava had a blast dancing and taking turns whispering and yelling…

… and they did a little flying too.

On Sunday, we headed down to the Harbor for some boat watching…

… and discovered a carousal. We were the only ones there since we got there right when it opened. Ava got to chose any animal she wanted. Her first choice was the bunny rabbit.

And for her second spin on the merry-go-round, her choice was the piggy.

This merry-go-round also had tiny donkeys and horses that sat on the ground and did not move up or down like the rest. It was a nice option to have in case the ride went too fast and crazy for her liking. But luckily for Ava, Mama and Dada finally smartened up and had her choose animals on the inside of the ride… the ones that go the slowest. Took us long enough to figure that one out, huh?

Back at home, it was time for Ava’s first nap at home on her big girl bed. That didn’t go so smoothly. There was lots of crying and whining… and that eventually caused Ava to start wheezing pretty badly. It turns out she was sick. So we spent the rest of the day (and the following two) at home. Poor kid.

We tried to keep her entertained by having her put away the peaches Dan picked from our tree.

And gave Ava her first stamp set. A prize for going #2 in the big toilet.

And lots of reading time too. Here she is with her new moose t-shirt from Teta Mary’s trip to Alaska and with her new moose book courtesy of her godmother.

Thanks Nicole. And the freshly picked blackberries and pluots were amazing too!!

On Monday, her cold was here in full force. The wheezing disappeared but her croupy cough did not. As soon as she gets any type of respiratory infection, it always constricts her airway to the point of  ‘should we take her to the ER or not?‘. I slept in Ava’s room for a couple nights just to make sure it wasn’t getting worse. The cold air and humidifier really helped her breathing problem. Which is a good thing. But transitioning Ava to her new big girl bed during a sickness is really bad timing. It’s killing me. I was so proud of myself for sleep training Ava at 4-5 months. It was the best thing ever. But now I am back to square one. But my total time in the room with her is slowly decreasing. It started off at an hour and now it’s down to 20 minutes or so. I start off by sitting in the rocker. Then move to the carpet. Then move to the hallway. And then finally onto the couch, while keeping her door open. Oh boy. But last night, my total time in there was just 10 minutes or so. So, I guess I should stop my whining now. She is almost there. Almost.

On top of her cough, she also had a fever…

… and a sore throat…

… and a runny nose. More tissues please.

Running around the house only makes her breathing problem worse. So I forced her to draw and watch TV all day. Can you say Dora marathon?

I tried to cheer her up by trying on her new swimsuit, but that didn’t go so well.

But don’t worry. She found a new way to entertain herself without our help. Ava figured out that her baseball bat is very handy for turning on and off all of the lights in the house.

On Tuesday, after eating some magical pluots…

… Ava started to return to old self again.

She turned the corner. She was back to smiling and insisting that she wears a dress. Finally all better. And just in time too for…

…our 8th and final swim class at the Y. The teacher told us that Ava is going really well with her kicks and paddling (especially when Dada pretends to be a shark that she needs to swim away from quickly)… but she needs to learn to keep her mouth closed. Agreed.

Then on Wednesday, it was back to school for Ava and back to the office for me. I bet Dada and his co-worker Yoda were more than happy to have their quiet work environment back. Here is Ava at pick up time. As soon as she saw me, she started to rub my belly and say ‘Dragi baby‘. Oh, and she insists that the baby is a girl now. Have I already mentioned that? I can’t remember. At first, it was a boy and now it is girl. She’s convinced. But only time will tell.

Ava is still not into neighborhood walks anymore unless it involves her bike.

But she only rides it half way around the block due to a little incline on the other side (the ghost side). She still enjoys picking flowers…

… and finding sticks. Word wise, her new thing is to label things as the ‘biggest‘ or the ‘smallest‘. This is the biggest stick of the day. She also likes to say who is a girl and who is a boy. When we ask if Yoda is a boy or a girl, she says ‘No. Yoda is a cat‘. Silly us. She also says a couple other words a little differently now. Ava says the word ‘got’ with a British accent now. And instead of saying ‘pajamas‘, she likes to say ‘poo-jamas‘. Hehe.

Ava has taken a liking to these four stuffed animals. A no-name monkey in a dress, a bear called ‘Medo’, Fifi, and her new cat ‘Whiskers’.

And she likes to take them all on a ‘boat’ ride through the living room.

Ava is also getting pretty good at imitating her Dada watching the Lakers. Silly girl. Glad you are feeling all better. Have a great weekend everyone. Bye!

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!!

Howdy! Our little Ava is now 28 months old… and has a new pair of sunglasses!! Finally!!!

So just as Ava was turning 28 months old exactly, she was at school once again. Sleeping. Here is one of first pictures after that moment. Covered in spaghetti sauce and ready to shop at Trader Joe’s. I really should keep a spare change of clothes in the car for these occasions.

Ava’s week started off with a Mother’s Day breakfast at school. I love her ‘can’t you see I’m eating‘ smile. Ava and her food. Wonder who she gets that from?

And after a full day of playing and running round, it was pick-up time. Ava surprised me with a handmade present.

I got a card that says ‘I love you this much’ with her hand prints.

And a hand print flower on a plate. Her teacher told us that she picked out the colors herself. Thanks Ava!!

Back at home, to thank Ava for her gifts, I put her straight to work! Just kidding. But I am on a mission to clean up the backyard before I get too round and start to waddle. Quack. Dan was kind enough to move everything off of our back porch so we can clean it up right. Ava loves sweeping and using the dust pan. No, that is not dirt she is picking up. It’s worse. It’s the gravel stuff off of our roof. And that is a hint. Dida, come over and help us redo our roof! Geez!!

On Saturday, Dan had a dudes day out to do whatever dudes do… so Ava and I went to our favorite breakfast place in town and enjoyed each others company… and a couple of mini cupcakes too. Take that dudes!

Dude Dada was late getting back home. And I mean late. Duuuuuude! My gardening plans were on hold because it is tough to garden alone with Ava. But I had a brilliant plan. I took out the messiest thing in the house that Ava loves and let her go nuts… outside… with little supervision. She got to paint masterpieces and I got to plant some more tomatoes, jalapenos, squash and herbs.

But my little plan didn’t last as long as I needed. As soon as I opened up the bag of soil, she ditched the paint for something even messier.

That’s my girl!

Dan finally got home to help us out. In no time at all, the three of us were covered in dirt and sweat from head to toe. Dan then gets a phone call from our neighbor, a casting director, asking if we want to audition of a commercial. In an hour. Ahhh. So we all hop in the shower and come out clean and ready for our 15 minutes of fame. Yeah right. We didn’t get the part. But at least we are clean. Oh, and here I am at 23 weeks with baby #2.

On Sunday, it was Mother’s Day. We had big plans. But just like last year, they were foiled. It was my turn to feel a bit under the weather. Plus Santa Barbara was on fire once again so a day full of activities up there was out of the question.

Ava was kind enough to get me another card and a picture of us together. Thanks again Ava. But my favorite part of the day were all the kisses I received.

That evening, we drove down to the Cheesecake Factory to enjoy some yummy food and some sunshine.

Here is Ava before school. Getting her dressed in the morning and out of the door has been a bit easier this week. Thank God. She loves bringing her own fruit to school. I sometimes take before school pictures to remind myself in ten years that I didn’t send her out of the house with spaghetti stains. Hehe.

School has been okay this week. Ava keeps tattle-telling on who was crying and who was not nice. It’s so great that her sentence structuring is getting more advanced. It nice to hear her express her feelings and what happens in the day when we are not around.

Check out surf chick Ava. She was so ready this week to go to…

…swim lesson #5!! We had a substitute teacher this week. So we had a pretty easy going class. No dunking. And more mommy-and-me play time.

Having a kid means that you need be aware that everything is a phase. That sweet smell when they are born. Just a phase. That drooling. Just phase. That not sleeping thru the night. Just a phase. That love of refried beans. Just a phase. And that love to go on walks around the neighbor. Just a phase. I have to keep reminding myself of that. But when you are in the moment, you forget it is a phase and you think that it will always be like that forever. But…. no. Here is Ava. Crying to get back into the house. How dare I ask her to go for a walk! ‘Otvori Mama, otvori!’ (Open Mama, open)

Okay Ava. We are back in the house. Now what? Puzzle time.

But Dan and I had a few tricks up our sleeves to get her outside. Like her bike.

And her stroller. She could not say no to those two things.

We ended up walking down to the beach last night. This stroller is supposed to hold kids up to age 4. So, why is her head touching the shade? Why bugaboo!?! And don’t tell me she is tall for her age. Don’t even.

We were planning on going to this little Mexican food place by the beach but it was closed. So we headed off to a burger joint instead for a really unhealthy dinner.

It’s so sad that we live less than a mile from the beach and don’t take advantage of it. But things are going to change this summer.

Ava had a blast digging in the sand…

…and playing with sticks at our uncrowded beach.

Alright. Blog post is over. Peace out.

Baby #2 is now 19 weeks old in utero. Almost half way there!!

Ava has been to each and every one of our ultrasound appointments. She loves looking at the printed picture after all is said and done.

We just got around to scanning the ultrasounds in the computer. Here is our next little one at 13 weeks, side profile of the head and belly.

And here is the baby at 18 weeks. The first is a side profile  of the head and the second is straight onto his or her face with the torso and the hands showing.

Baby #2 is now 16 weeks old… a.k.a. 4 months old…. a.k.a. why am I so big already… a.k.a. who cares, I kinda like it.

The baby is also starting to do somersaults.  I can’t wait for Ava to feel the baby kick for the first time. I wonder if she will giggle. I wonder if she will run to the other side of the room. I wonder if she will love it as much as I do. All in due time, I guess. For now, I will cherish the special kicks until he or she is big enough to do some real kicking… and punching.

I have been asking Ava if she would like a baby sister or a baby brother. Her answers change every time I ask. She seems to say baby brother more, probably because all of the babies younger than her that she knows are all boys. Seriously. Where are the baby girls?!?!

And when I asked Ava what the baby’s name was… she said Anthony. Hehe.

I am going to start posting more pictures of our baby in the belly and ultrasounds as we get them. So, that means we not only have to start thinking about actual baby names for Baby #2 but also a new name for this website. But I’m not stressing… yet. We still have 25 weeks to go!

*****

Hi Mama. Can I give the baby a hug?

Hi Baby! I’m big sister!!

*****

I think my heart just exploded.