Ava & Mila

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!

Hi there. Our little Ava is now 101 weeks old!!

Last Friday, we picked Ava up from daycare a little early so we could hit the road. It was still nap time for her and boy was it difficult to wake her up! But we had a birthday party for the lovely Miss Sweet to attend and had high hopes of avoiding some LA traffic. Yeah right. It still took us twice as long to get there than usual but we still made it in time to drop Ava off at my parents and have a “night out”. Yeah.

Well, it was “yeah” for us, that is, until our dear little Ava woke up at 5:55 am to check out their Christmas tree and choo-choo train.

On Saturday, we attended Grace’s 3rd Birthday Party. Happy Birthday Grace!!

Ava had fun running around with Grace and the other girls. Knocking on the kitchen door. Wondering why no one was answering.

At cake time, Ava froze up a bit. Maybe it was a flashback to her own birthday party. Or maybe she just wanted us to hurry up and give her some cake. A few minutes later, she noticed a man with a mustache and asked him to sit next to her. Not sure if she thought it was Barba Frank or not, but she made a quick friend with Grace’s Uncle Tim.

The next day was a day off for us. No parties. No plans. So we picked up Ava’s Great Grandma Dinka and did a little window shopping for bunnies.

Later in the day, Ava woke up from a nap with a croupy sounding cough and a visitor sitting next to the tree. Nathan, who had a runny nose himself. I swear it is impossible not to have a sick kid during the holidays.

Everything was going swell until Nathan discovered Ava’s favorite party favor that Grace gave her. A Minnie Mouse pez dispenser. Good thing she had pockets to hide it in.

That night we attempted to go to Redondo Beach to check out the special part of town that decorates their homes as if electricity was free. But it was a no go. The line of cars was ridiculous and bedtime was quickly approaching. So we drove back to my parent’s place but first parked in front of a fellow Croatian’s home who had the craziest house in town. Ava loved it.

On Monday, we went to Disneyland!!!! It was Ava’s first time. She seriously loved it. After each ride, she said “I wanna more!”. It was so much fun that you’ll have to wait for a separate post for the details.

And it was soooo much fun that it sent Ava to the hospital the next day. I know. I know. NOT AGAIN! But her cough was pretty bad and she obviously had trouble breathing so we ended up at the Torrance Memorial Hospital ER for 5 hours so she could get an x-ray, steriods, a breathing treatment… and a reindeer too. She did great getting her ears and mouth examined and did well with the rest of the pokes and prods… but her biggest complaint was the hospital gown. Ava made the nurse laugh after she swallowed the oral steroid and screamed “Yucky!!!!”.  Hehe.

After a rough night of sleeping in the big bed with us, Ava was feeling a bit better. It was Christmas Eve and we were a day behind with the festivities thanks to the ER visit. So, it was time to build a gingerbread house. Her very first one. Ava thought it was a lot of fun and even tried to lick the candies as she stuck them to the frosting.

All the candy licking caused a slight sugar high. Here we are dancing with our “ballerina” dresses.

Check out this cute family.

Oops. I forgot to include Yoda. Okay. Now, check out this cute family. Yoda is bit camouflaged. Sorry Yoda.

And four generations of ladies next to the Christmas Tree. Somehow we all coordinated by lucky accident.

And then the rest of the family showed up…

…and it was present time. Ava’s first present on Christmas Eve was this little walking crab from Carrie. Obviously a big hit.

After a few more presents, Ava insisted on taking off her dress and getting more comfortable. Hehe.

Then it was Christmas morning. And you’ll never guess who showed up while we were sleeping!?! SANTA!

And he got Ava a bike and a helmet too!! Just like she asked!

But there was no bike riding outside for Ava on Christmas because of rain. So she positioned her new chair in front of the sliding glass door and watched the rain with her Dida. Dida, don’t freak out but there is an orb, AKA ghost, next to your butt.

I tried to get Ava to nap for three hours on Christmas but she did not want to fall asleep. I think she knew that we had more fun on the way. With all the presents that still needed to be opened and all the posing we did next to the tree.

And she was right. It was time for Christmas dinner at Teta Mary’s house.

Even with no nap, she did well. She read with her Barba Frank…

…who later turned into Santa Claus! You’ll have to wait and see how this turned out later in the week.

Nathan was still addicted to hugging Ava. And Ava still doesn’t like it. One. Bit.

Why me??

Open your mouth and say ahhhh! Ava is now 86 weeks old. Ahhhhh!

Our 86th week is going MUCH MUCH better than our 85th week. Dan is managing okay with two casts and Ava is slowly recovering from pneumonia. She is still coughing a bit, especially at night, but is feeling much better. Check her out applying lipstick. Looking fabulous Ava!

On Saturday, Ava’s Dida and Nona came over first thing in the morning so they can play kolo together. Everyone holds hands and walks in a cirlcle, Nona sings a children’s song, and when Nona says chichule, everyone falls down and giggles.

Dida had to go home to watch Croatia battle for a spot in the next World Cup, but Nona stuck around… and then Deets came over for some fun too. Ava showed off her tent once again.

And then they enjoyed playing with her new Dora Play-Doh set. I think David forgot how fun play-doh can be. Thanks to Ava, our inner child gets to pop up and say hello. Thanks Ava.

We brought out Ava’s old corral from the garage so David could drop it off for Nathan. He just started walking and needs some ‘containment’. Ava really got into the corral fun wall while it was sitting by the front door. I don’t think she was ready to say good-bye to it just yet. Check out her goldilocks hair in this shot. Did someone give her highlights when we weren’t looking?

Before Deets and Nona took off, they treated us with some homemade cheesecake and homemade lemon ice cream. YUM! My mouth just started watering again. YUM! YUM! YUM!

Over the weekend, Grace also stopped by for a visit. It’s been a while since the two ladies hung out because of our horrendous week last week.

But as you can see, the timing was not right. Ava was way over due for her nap and it showed. Wah!

So the following day, Ava took a nap at her normal time and then we went to visit Grace at her house. It was a much better visit for Ava. Here they are playing piano together.

During art time at home, Ava drawing skills are slowly improving. She still loves markers and now she REALLY loves markers because the caps fits on her fingertips perfectly.

On a daily basis, I try to give Ava a say in what happens in her day. Like crayons or markers? She always says markers. Like Dora or Elmo. She says ‘da’ to both. I guess she doesn’t want to pick between them. And like this dress, or this one, or that one? She usually tugs on the one we wants to wear. But one day last week, she tugged on one of her new dresses and said Carrie. Maybe it reminded her of Carrie. Or maybe she just misses seeing her. Either way, here is Ava in her ‘Carrie’ dress.

On our daily walks, Ava still loves ripping flowers from our neighbor’s plants. She doesn’t yet understand that it is not so nice to pick their flowers, or steal fruit, or rip leaves. But luckily we have a new trick up our sleeves.

We tell her ‘dragi’ which is what we say when we want to her to gently pet animals… and it worked! We even use it when we are out in stores now too.

Our old roommate Paul stopped by for a visit this week and got to met Ava for the first time. He lived us in Santa Barbara with his dog Nanook. Rudy and Nanook were best of friends and best of enemies too. Ava surprisingly warmed up to Paul pretty quickly, even after he said he was the Paul Monster. Bad idea. She got a little freaked out by that. Paul always hated having his picture taken when we lived with him… some things never change.

Daycare was full of drama this week. Ava cut her lip after she fell down carrying a doll. She also bit a friend at school too. I guess Ava was playing with her shoe and another kid tried to take her shoe away so Ava bit him or her. Good thing she has her rabies shot!

Ava also has a pretty bad accident this week too. Ava and I were waiting for this lady to move from the front door so we can enter daycare. Instead of walking out of the door, she started sprinting and ran right into Ava. She hit Ava so hard that Ava flew into the air and landed on her back. Ava freaked out. The lady freaked out. I tried not to freak out until the car ride home. Ava immediately got a welt on the back of her head so we put some ice on it. Poor thing. I hate the sound she makes when she falls onto the concrete. I REALLY hate watching her fly in the air and the sound she makes when she falls onto the concrete. Hate. It. She did okay at school after that incident but the next day Ava kept saying ouch. I asked her what hurt and named all the body parts she knows. When I asked her if her neck hurt, she said ‘da’. Poor baby. She had whiplash. It lasted a few days. She had some trouble moving her neck so her eyes did the majority of the moving.

At pick-up time, Ava always asks for water (which we bring with us) and sometimes asks for crackers too. There is a big basket full of crackers by the front door that she will sometimes help herself to… and then takes it outside to eat near the car.

Ava has also been answering her own questions this week. For example, she will ask ‘Do Do Dora?’ and then quickly answer her own question with a ‘da’. That goes for pasta too. She also started asking us to do different things with her during pick-up time. Like ‘Dada Slide’…

…and ‘Mama Come on Play’.

Ava also still loves playing tent with blankets. A little too much, I think. As soon as the cover is over her head, she loves screaming for Dada.

On our daily walks now, she must drag her hand on our neighbor’s Bill wall and we must do the same too.

And here she is pissed at me for taking off her hairband. Check out her new sweater. I wish they made this one in MY size.

Once I gave Ava her hairband back, she stood on the sidewalk and said ‘Mama cheese’. Okay Ava. Ham it up.

Alright, it’s the weekend.

Gotta run. Bye!

Hello there. Our Ava is now 85 weeks old and started off the week with a nice case of croup. Cough cough cough.

Her cough began the previous night and did not clear up in the morning as it would normally. On the way to the pediatrician’s office, Ava started to get upset which made her cough evolve into labored breathing. The doctor immediately walked us into his break room and opened up his freezer. I held Ava there for a few minutes, in hopes of opening up her airway. It didn’t work. Next, he started a breathing treatment on Ava but that didn’t work either. So, he made a call to the ER that we were on our way there. What? The ER again!?!

Yes Ava. The ER again. Ava and I ended up being in the ER for four hours. Dan and Jeremy (his chauffeur for the day) stopped by for a quick visit before heading to Dan’s orthopedic doctor’s office to make arrangements for his second surgery. What a wonderful day.

As soon as we got to the ER, we were whisked away to a room, just a couple rooms down from where we were just about 36 hours or so ago. Oh the fun. TGIF! Ava started off with oxygen. It didn’t help. Then she got a steroid shot in her thigh. It didn’t work. Finally, she got a special breathing treatment with a fancy drug in it. It worked. Thank goodness. Her breathing noticeably got less labored. But the fun wasn’t over yet.

It took about 2 hours to get her breathing normally again, but we had to stay for another 2 hours to make sure it did not return after the effects of the drug wore off… and we had to run a few tests. The nurse had to test for RSV by suctioning mucous from her nose with a long tube that, I swear, almost hit her brain. She was not happy about that one bit. Then Ava had to have a chest x-ray. A few weeks ago, she had one and did fine. She stood up like a big girl and the tech got a great x-ray on the first shot. But at the hospital, they didn’t allow for her to stand up like a big girl. She had to be placed in this contraption that wouldn’t allow for her to move. That way, the tech would be guaranteed one great x-ray and Ava would not need to be exposed to unnecessary radiation if they needed to repeat it. My heart sank when I saw this thing. Ava had to stand in this clear tube with her arms over her head. She looked like what I thought Baby Jessica would have looked like stuck in that well. I wanted to cry but my job was to be strong. I had to distract her. The only thing that came to mind was to put my arms over my head and say ‘stretch stretch’, as we do at home when we are playing. She was understandably scared but having me stretch with her calmed her down enough for a great x-ray.

While sitting in our triage room, Ava was hooked up to a pulse oximeter the whole time to measure her oxygen levels. It is just a sticker that wraps around her big toe and shines a red light through her toenail. Ava hates that thing. She hated it at her last hospital stay in Tucson and she hated it this time. Every time she saw it on her toe, she would cry ‘ouch’. But, if she didn’t see it, she was fine. She also had to have her temperature taken rectally as soon as we got to the ER. As soon as that test surprised her, she cried ‘gotovo’, which means ‘all done’. And after that test, every other test got her to cry ‘gotovo’ too. Sorry Ava. Not gotovo yet.

So, after reviewing all of her tests, the doctor informed us that she did not have RSV but she did have pneumonia caused by croup. Since croup is a viral infection, there were no antibiotics to take. It was just going to take time and handed us our discharge papers. Ok Ava. Gotovo.

Later that day, Ava stared coughing again so we spoke to our pediatrician over the phone and gave her an update. She said that Ava might need to go to the ER tonight. Croup gets significantly worse at night… and Ava was already getting worse in the afternoon. Ahhh. She also informed us that she thinks Ava was born with a small airway which is why she is very sensitive to any type of respiratory infection. It is just going to take time for her airway to grow larger… maybe in a few more years. Don’t just love when the answer to your problem is TIME instead of a MAGIC PILL?

If your kid has croup, they recommend that you take them into the bathroom, turn on the shower and have them breath in the warm mist. If that doesn’t work, you are supposed to take them outside for cool air or stick them in front of the freezer. Neither of these things have worked too well in the past for Ava. The doctor gave us new suggestions this time and they work. Hallelujah.

The first suggestion was to bundle up Ava and have her sleep with all the windows open with a cool mist humidifier. Since, having Ava sleep in her bedroom with all her windows open scares the bejesus out of me, we set up the pack ‘n play in our room and bundled ourselves up too. Not only did Ava’s excessive coughing stop that night, Dan also stopped snoring. It was a double miracle. I don’t remember the last time I had a quiet night with no snoring and not having to elbow Dan in the ribs to tell him to sleep on his side. Ava really benefited from having cold humid air. I can’t tell you how many times you hear the opposite. ‘Keep the baby warm when she’s sick.’ No wonder she got so sick in Arizona. The dry desert and the heated trailer sure didn’t make things better.

The second suggestion was to take Ava on after dinner stroller rides around the block to help airway open with the cooler night air. Those walks were so so nice. It was the only time during the day that we left the house with Ava.

The third suggestion was to give Ava popsicles. She sure didn’t complain about this one! I ask Ava all the time if she likes things. She usually ignores me or says no. If she says no to something I know she likes, I ask her the same question over again. She then gives me an affirmative answer by repeating the word I was questioning. But for the very first time, when I asked Ava if she liked her popsicle, she responded to me with a nod and by then said ‘da’, which means yes in Croatian.

Ava was starting to feel better. It was going to take some time to get rid of the pneumonia but we were now on the right path. (Please ignore the midriff, Dada’s shoes, and popsicle drips on her sweat pants. It was a rough day.)

So, in case you forgot, Dan broke his right arm and his left thumb. So, no Ava diaper changing, no gardening, no dish washing, no driving, no showers, no liter box cleaning, no laundry, no nothing for him. And ‘no nothing’ includes no cooking too. In case you don’t know me too well, I don’t like to cook. Sure I can do it but I don’t enjoy it. So it became part of his ‘husband job description’. So, here is a picture of me cooking all by myself like a big girl. Enjoy it while it lasts people… and please ignore the tears in my eyes. Ava was kind enough to help make some invisible appetizers with a dash of crumbs from the kitchen floor.

Dan’s family was also here this weekend. Uncle Eric (whom Ava started to call Uncle Auk) helped her get the recipe just right.

So, what was the consensus of Mama’s homemade Bolognese Sauce?

Ava gave it a raving review. Yeah, I passed the test!

Since we were home bound this weekend, Ava got to dress up like a lady…

… and dress up as Super Ava.

Ava wasn’t the only one who enjoyed being a super hero. Here is Super Ava with Super Dada.

And Super Eric even made an appearance while we was making us Philadelphia Rolls.

Ava is growing up SO fast. She is starting to use a step stool to get on the couch all by herself.

Ava uses that same step stool in the bathroom to ‘brush’ her teeth. Her tooth brush technique does not really involve a lot of brushing. She mostly wets her princess toothbrush and sucks the water out of the bristles. Yum.

When getting her dressed in the morning, I started to give Ava the option of giving my choices a ‘da’ or a ‘no’. After showing Ava four different dresses, she finally said yes to this pink number which was way too short to be called a dress anymore. I threw on the jeans and she chose her pirate shoes over her apple shoes. This is the best ‘cheese’ I could get out of her. Dora just appeared on the TV and she can not be bothered when her favorite cartoon friend is talking.

On our walks, Ava is starting to want to push the stroller all by herself.

If Ava wants to watch cartoons on the television, she will hand us the remote and ask for Dora or Elmo. If we say no to Dora, she will then ask if it’s okay to watch Boots.

I finally got around to buying Ava her first set of washable markers. For some reason, I thought she was old enough and drew with them at school. But I don’t think so. It took a while to explain to her that these were for drawing lines and not for slamming into the table to make ‘dot art’ like she does at school. She had fun trying to name the color of the marker she was using.

Luckily, the markers were washable and the ink disappeared as soon as she sat in the bath tub that night.

Ava also likes to play with play-doh too. She likes telling us what to make. After we make the desired object, she usually plays with it for 5 seconds and them demolishes it into smithereens.

While playing with Dada the other day, she asked him to make her a fish. Once he handed it over to her, she decided to forgo the demolition and give the fish to her friend Yoda.

Yoda wasn’t sure what to do with her new ‘fish’ toy.

Daycare is still going well. I started to drop Ava off in the mornings since Dan is unable to drive. She started a new tradition of carrying her own lunch box into her classroom like a big girl.

When I pick Ava up from school, she gets sent home with a daily log of what she did on that particular day. I always read it in the car before heading back home so I can talk to her about all the fun things she did. I noticed that one of the activities she did on that particular day was jumping in a bounce house. So I asked her if she went into a bounce house. And boy did she respond to my question. She first said ‘si’, which is yes in Spanish. After Dan and I both started to giggle, she quickly responded with ‘yeah’ and then ‘da’. Oh Ava. Sorry. It will all make sense one day. I swear.

In addition to asking Ava to use the potty before bath time, I also started to ask Ava to try to pee in her potty after bath time. On Monday, she said ‘kaka’ to me and then proceeded to pee in the potty. On Tuesday, she didn’t say a word but peed in her potty. On Wednesday, she peed on her feet as she was watching the water empty out of the tub. On Thursday, she peed on her feet again. A 50-50 chance of tinkling in the right place is not to shabby. Not shabby at all.

On Thursday, we ventured out to Target to look for some new pajamas. While waiting to pay for our items, Ava noticed a lady behind us in line that looked a bit different than us. Ava pointed to her and said ‘što to?’, which means ‘what’s that?’ in Croatian. Dan looked at me and said thank god Ava speaks Croatian. That could of been really embarrassing.

On Wednesday, Dan had his second and final surgery. It was finally time to fix his left thumb, which has been broken for a week. The surgery itself only took 15 minutes and two pins, but the whole process took 5 long hours because of what was involved with general anesthesia. When it was time to put an IV in his arm during pre-op, the nurse couldn’t put it in left arm since the surgery will take place there. She couldn’t put it on his right arm because his cast extends past his elbow. So, she had to put it into his left foot. So. So. Disgusting. The nurse told Dan sorry before she even started to try to insert the needle since they rarely put these in. It took a few tries and three nurses to finally get the IV in his foot. So, poor Dan had things on three out of his four limbs. Hmmm, I take that back. They forgot to put on his ID bracelet. Hmmm. I guess it goes on his right foot. Nice anklet Dan! (Don’t worry Dan. I won’t point out your Michael Jackson sock!)

Before surgery, we noticed that his thumb was a good half inch shorter than his other thumb. So. So. Disgusting. Thank goodness we didn’t notice it until just before it was getting fixed. And he thought it wasn’t broken. HA! I win. You lose.

Ava and I waited and waited for Dan to be wheeled out. Ava waited and waited to give her Dada a special Get Well Soon card and to get a picture with him… but this nurse would NOT slow down. What did she think I had, a digital SLR? No lady. It’s a point and shoot. Slow the f down.

So, we were back at home with Dada and his new cast. We hope you feel better really soon Dada. We miss your cooking. Real bad.

Have a fabulous weekend! BYE!