Ava & Mila

Hi there. My little Mila is now 71 weeks old!

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Hola. Our traveling Ava is now 207 weeks old…

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Our little Mila is now 62 weeks old… and is a wishing machine.

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Hi. Big sister Ava is now 138 weeks old!

Ava’s week began with a trip to the hospital to pick up Mila and me. She had fun playing with the remote control bed, eating my leftover sweet potatoes, and playing the pretend piano that Dada drew for her. Piano, you ask? She is currently obsessed with a Deets’ song that has a piano solo in it.

She was more than excited to help get Mila ready and take her home.

And immediately insisted to hold her new little sister.

When we got home, things didn’t go so smoothly. Even with the new big sister princess dress that Grace bought her. She started to melt. It was way past her ‘quiet time’ hour. There was just too much excitement. Melt. Down. Poor Grace. She has to listen to Ava say ‘No Grace… my sister‘ when she got too close to Mila. Thankfully, that only happened once. Only when we first brought Mila home.

Ava has been so loving with Mila right off the bat. She likes to say ‘Baby wants to sit by to me‘ a lot.

She’ll kiss and hug and stare at her for a bit and then will ask to hold her.

After a few seconds, she will announce ‘Okay, I’m all done‘.

Now that I don’t have a baby in my belly anymore, I can pick up Ava again. You would think she would want non-stop hugs and kisses now. But no. She saves most of her kisses and hugs for Mila now. Not us. And we were worried Ava would be the jealous one? Ha!

We do try to spend special time with Ava when we can. Like Dada and Ava bike rides. Or Mama and Ava reading time. It’s easy to do now because Mila is so small and sleeps all day long. I’m sure it will be harder to balance special time once Mila starts interacting more.

Everyone has been so thoughtful of Ava. She’s gotten a lot of big sister gifts. Like this magnetic art board from Barba Frank. When I asked her to give me a thumbs up if she likes it, I got this. Hehe. Ava has been a handful for the past few weeks now. The worst of it peaked the day before we left for the hospital. But during Barba Frank’s visit on the 3rd day of Mila’s life, Ava started to turn the corner. For a few hours that afternoon, our old Ava was back. It was so nice. And ever since that afternoon, her attitude has been changing for the better. Yeah.

Oh, and Ava now knows that visitors also equal chocolate. It’s a girl chocolate cigars to be exact.

Before Mila was born, Ava liked to say ‘I’m going to share my toys with baby‘… and after a few days, she did. Let’s see how long that lasts once Mila starts grabbing things. Hehe.

During my pregnancy, Ava insisted that we were having a girl. She kept saying that she had a little sister. I’m so glad that her wish (and ours) came true.

Now that Ava is starting to act like her old self again and is not in and out of time-outs all day long, she gets to play with new art supplies. Because new art supplies are for good girls… not bad girls. Here are Nona and Ava enjoying art and sunshine outside.

Later that day, Ava jumped into my bed and pulled up my comforter… and then announced that this was her wedding dress. Silly girl.

And then she told Nona and me that she was going to marry Dada. I then told Dada what she said and she got really embarrassed. Oh oh. Wrong move Mama.  But luckily Nona saved the day by saying it’s just girl talk. She was okay with that. Now you may kiss the bride.

Dada joined us later on the bed and told him her name was Miss Alice and that we have to listen to her. Oh boy.

And then Miss Alice went to the hallway and knocked on Tinkerbell’s door. But she wasn’t home. And speaking of Tinkerbell, that is what Ava wants to be for Halloween. She has never watched Tinkerbell on TV but she still loves her. So strange how that happens.

On Tuesday, we took Ava to school…

… and she came back home with a 102 degree fever. Ahhhhh!!!! Motrin time.

So then we had to figure out how to tell Ava not to touch Mila anymore. So we told her she could hug…

… and kiss… but not on lips. And to not scare Ava from Mila forever, we told her that Mila has a boo boo on her lip. That’s why she can’t kiss her on her lips. LIES! Shame on us! Well sorta. Mila does have a nursing blister on her lip. Does that count?

So if you read this blog often, you know how the rest of this story goes… no school, lots of pajama pictures, art time…

… and silly eating pictures. Here is Ava with her Mac ‘n Cheese choo choo train.

On Mila’s 5th day at home, Ava was finally a good girl for most of the day… and I got to finally give her my big sister present. A Snow White dress-up set.

And Dada gave her his. A big sister Dora play set for her dollhouse.

There was lots of princess time too. Here is Ava dancing with Prince Dada. Her words. Not mine.

And we watched Deets singing the Chicken song  a lot online… and she wanted to spin like the little girl in the video.

And later in the week, he showed up and she got to dance with him in person. How cute is this picture?!?!?!

And a visit from Deets meant that Nona was going home. After they left, she spent a couple days asking if Nona and Deets are coming back soon.

And then she had another fit. She started asking if Rudy was coming home soon. I told her that Rudy was up in the sky with the angels. But she didn’t like the answer I gave her. So she kept crying and crying for Rudy. It really sucked. My hormones didn’t like it one bit.

Eventually things quieted down. This is what our house looks like during the day. Mila sleeping in her bassinet. Ava trying to peek over couch and trying to convince me that Mila is awake… so she can hug and kiss her some more.

Oh. And BIG news. Deets (a.k.a Novi Split) has a song on the season premiere of One Tree Hill tonight. Channel 5 at 8 pm. Watch it. His song ‘Hollow Notes’ will appear during some flashback beach scene. YEAH DEETS!!!! Bye!!

Hello there. Our little Ava is now 136 weeks old… and so close to being a big sister. Yeah!

On Friday, we had a girls day out in Santa Barbara with our friend Nicole. We could NOT get Ava to smile for this picture. Probably because she knew that her ice cream was melting thanks to us.

It was such a nice day (finally) that we sat outside to eat our delicious treats. But someone thought that sun on her head was annoying… and asked for a hat. This was the best I could do.

The next morning, Ava woke up wheezing. Not again! So we spent the morning at Urgent Care and it ended up that Ava had pneumonia. When will this ever end? It is actually exactly a year since this happened to her last time. Remember that crazy week? When Dan broke both arms and Ava had pneumonia… and I needed lots and lots of beers? Yeah. That was fun!!

I couldn’t join Ava during her x-ray because of the baby… but Dan said she did great. They didn’t put her in a plastic tube this time. She stood there like a big girl. You can see fluid in her lungs if you looks closely at the left side of this x-ray.

So we spent the next few days stuck at home. Which was fine with me. And Ava too because I let her watch way too much TV to make sure she didn’t run around too much and cause coughing fits.

You would think that having pneumonia would wear a kid out… and that they would require more naps. But no. Not even close. I could only get Ava to take a nap once this week. Just once! I tried everything. Even bribery. Shame on me. Which didn’t work out too well.

But for that one day she did nap, she got to go to the toy store and pick out a special present… and say hello to all the plastic babies too.

She picked this out. A dollhouse dining room set. But did she nap the following day knowing what kind of fun a nap could bring? Nope nope nopey nope.

And sleeping at night got a little better this week thanks to a night light. We can now close her bedroom door a decent amount. But she is still scared of something in her room. This week it is the closet monsters. Dan has to make sure the closet door is shut all the way before bedtime. Dan tried to convince her that there were no monsters in there by going in the closet himself. And when he did, Ava screamed ‘Dada get out!‘. Hehe. Oh, and she is still using the ‘I have to go kaka‘ excuse to get out of her room. We are not following for that trick anymore.

Once her antibiotics kicked in, Grace came over for a visit. These two immediately put on their crowns and started running and running.

But took a couple breaks to brush their hair…

… and pose as princesses in the Dora chairs. Yes… chairs with a ‘s’. We have two. Don’t you?

Ava also started to eat apples whole this week… in a very interesting pattern. Check out those stripes!

And we also ventured out for lunch… where Ava is in charge of opening everyone’s straws, putting in their cups, and pressing those raised bumps on the lids before we take a sip.

Something strange happened this week. Ava didn’t want to listen to Deets in the car. WHAT?!?!?! I know. Weird. She kept insisting on ‘curica pjesma‘ (girl song). But she doesn’t understand the concept of the radio and that we have no control over the songs they play on it. So after a few frustrating days, she gave up and I introduced Ava to another CD that Deets made a while ago. Here she is waiting for the chorus of one of favorite songs on that CD… it was either Don’t Go Home or Ships and Little Boats chugging along.

Oh, and when she was feeling better, Ava rode in Mickey Mouse’s firetruck.

She even put in the money by herself this time. So proud.

WOW. THIS IS FUN!

Honk. Honk.

Alright. We’ve got places to go. Have a nice Saturday. 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!

Our little cookie monster is now 109 weeks old. Yum yum yum yum.

Friday was Valentine’s Day at school. And someone was very excited to show off her Dora and Diego lollipop cards.

At pick-up time, it was party time. We caught Ava in the middle of the party, enjoying her Cheetos and Juicy Juice.

Ava was very proud of all of the loot she received… and I obviously had problems keeping the camera steady. Doh.

Over the weekend, we went down south to get Nona’s house messy with paint supplies.

And to spend time with her cousin Nathan. Here they are blowing bubbles on the porch…

…and coloring fire trucks together.

Back at her grandparent’s house, Ava got the chance to make cookies in her baker’s outfit.

And yes, your eyes are not deceiving you. Ava baked cookies with her DIDA!?!

Ava was more than excited as you can see.

We also got a chance to visit with all of her great grandparents… and play cars.

The reason for the visit down south was to celebrate my aunt and uncle’s 40th wedding anniversary.

Ava and Nathan had a blast putting on more than enough chapstick.

Nathan introduced Ava to the art of smelling a wine cork.

She thought he was silly.

The dinner went a little past their bedtime so Deets tried to help them stay awake with an Elmo story.

But as soon as the story ended, they started melting away.

And becoming more and more delirious.

They were so delirious that Ava didn’t even mind all of Nathan’s hugs.

Ava spent the remainder of the week feeling a little sick. She puked a little here… a little there…  and a lot all over me… out in public at lunch. Thank goodness she had a belly full of lemonade only. So that’s all of this post. Ava is tired. And I am too. So have a nice weekend. Bye!