Ava & Mila

Love, Mila…

and Ava.

Hi. My little mermaid Ava is now 154 weeks old!

This is my excited little lady waiting for us to get our acts together and see what Santa brought. Yes, that is a purse in her hand. She slept with it. No joke.

And within seconds of seeing her stocking, she transformed herself into a beautiful gypsy mermaid.

Some of the big hits of the morning included this personalized snow globe…

… and an umbrella.

Oh and her first bottle of nail polish.

And let’s not forget what else she asked for from Santa. Hand sanitizer! Santa forgot to put it in her stocking the night before. But he made a second trip that afternoon to sneak it into her empty stocking.

Later that day, Deets and Carrie came over and she got to meet her new pet duck who was one hungry fellow.

With each and every present, Dan and I wait for a reaction from Ava. She didn’t scream ‘yeah‘. She didn’t smile. She didn’t do a silly dance. She just sucked in her cheeks and pursed her lips. If you see Ava doing that, you know you did good.

For dinner, it was time to spend time with her buddy.

And guess who showed up? SANTA! Ava stood there and stared and stared and stared.

And thanked him for the Ariel dress.

The next few days we spent time eating Christmas chocolate.

Making sundaes…

… as a family.

Hugging her new duck “Dutka”. (Inside joke. Ava likes to merge the words Patka (Croatian for duck) and Duck together for laughs.)

She also got to play with a new friend. Dress up, of course, in her Dora tent.

It was then time to celebrate Bobby’s birthday. And every time I tell her we are going to a party, she immediately thinks it is a dance party.

She’s got some serious moves these days.

But since there was no real dance floor, the kids went nuts in other ways.

But Nona did pretend that there was a dance floor with the kids for a few moments to keep them from climbing up the walls. Literally.

Then it was time to blow out candles. Over and over again.

Hey. You still here? Good! Long post. Intermission time………………….. okay. Back to the story.

One morning, Ava woke up to this. Dida working on replacing the windows in Deets’ room. She didn’t know what to think of the whole thing. And then she busted out something funny. She said “Deets is going to be mad. Dida made a mess in his room”. Hehe. Little does she know that Deet’s room is always messy! And Dida is always the mad one. LOL.

To get her mind off of the messy window situation, we took a walk. She insisted on bringing her umbrella. She knows that umbrellas are for sunny days too. She sees plenty of old ladies doing the same thing.

We also did some painting with her new paint brushes… but it somehow turned into this…while wearing a brand new white t-shirt. Ahh.

Ava got a tool set for Christmas and calls herself  a Tool Princess. She was so excited to go into the room with them…

… and surprise Dida with her skills.

We also made a trek up to the cabin again. And watched Dada shovel the snow… again. But this time it was a lot tougher because the soft snow turned into a foot of ice.

And the next morning, Ava watched her first snow fall.

Nona and Dida showed up a day later… with soup.

And guess who actually tried a bit of liverwurst this week. Yup. She didn’t ask why we were eating cat food this time.

Then it was time to put on her new snow coat…

… and go sledding at the dry lake. But it wasn’t dry anymore. It was actually a lake again. Oh no. No sledding here.

Dida found her a new spot.  (I love this picture. I wish I had a picture like this with my Dida Slavo.)

Go Dida! Go Ava!!

But as you can see in this close up, the sledding was a bit scary. Poor Ava. (Yes, I’m laughing like a jerk right now. How can you not?!?!)

WAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dida was in the dog house for a bit after that. But they made up quickly once he helped Ava reach the sky.

And Ava made Nona reluctantly say yes to this twirly slide.

But she ended up having the time of her life. (Awesome picture, huh?!?!)

Then before we knew it, it was New Year’s Eve.

But we were all in bed by 10:30pm. Because we are old. And that’s okay. Bye!

Hi there. Our little Mila is now 17 weeks old!

The week started off bright and early. It was Christmas morning after all. Ava told Santa that Mila really wanted a Flounder toy… to match her Ariel request. But guess what? Santa could not find Flounder anywhere… because the movie is a million years old. So Santa thought Nemo would be a good idea. And Mila agreed. (And Ava didn’t say anything about the “mix-up”… until weeks later.)

And what did Mila do during her first Christmas morning? Watch her big sister tear open presents like a pro.

And she waited so patiently too.

Hey! Look at this!! Someone’s first present.

A teething giraffe named Sophie!

Thanks guys!

Then it was off to Barba Frank’s house for Christmas dinner… with baby’s first Christmas bib to catch all of her drool (and red shoes for all 3 of us).

My arms got a break and she got to visit with everyone. Teta Mary is always excited to hold her.

And here is Mila showing off her standing skills with her proud Dida.

After the excitement of Christmas was over, it was time to enjoy the gifts. Reading time with Nona and Ava. Hey, where’s my robe?

Enjoying her rattles.

Especially when Ava shakes them for her. This is the life!

Thanks Ariel!

Oh and look at this milestone. Mila is starting to bend.

My mom mentioned to me that one of the difference between the girls is that the sides of Mila’s lips go down.

Nice Nona. It’s not my fault. My cheeks are HEAVY!

Stop looking. You are making me eat my bottom lip.

Mila got to make play-doh ice cream sundaes with Ava this week.

And had a play date too.

And of course, more pictures with the Christmas tree. Check out that smile!

Yes, she is standing all by herself. I photoshopped arms in the background so other babies wouldn’t feel bad about this super early milestone.

Oh yeah!

Any guesses where Mila went this week?

She went back to the mountains to sit in her favorite chair…

…and make crazy fart sounds. Her new pastime. Yup, another new milestone.

Her neck folds are still red this week. I try my best to keep ithem dry but look at this drool!

And a walk in the snow = a nap in the carrier.

Hey I want to go outside too! Ummm, you just were outside Miss Sleepyhead!

And before we knew it, it was New Year’s Eve. And I think this face says it all. Hehe. Bye!

Happy 3rd Birthday Ava!

I love you all the way to the moon…

…and back.

Always.

Love,
Mama

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…

Happy!

New!

Year!

Love,
Ava and Mila