Hunting Eggs in Gridley

On Saturday we headed to Gridley for the annual Bowling Easter Egg hunt. Last year Ava hunted eggs in the Baby Bjorn, but this year she was able to walk with assistance. She enjoyed the hunt more and a found some eggs on her own.

Ava Easter 2009

Dying Easter Eggs

The Friday before Easter we dyed eggs. We put Ava in her highchair and she was amazed at the transformation of the eggs. I was worried about her making a big mess, but I really should of been worried about Rich. He knocked over cups twice and made a big mess. Ava didn't have too much trouble with my help and only had a blue thumb when we were done.

On the Move

This past week Ava has shown more interest in walking. She has been furniture walking more and enjoying walking while holding someone's hand. On Wednesday (while Rich was home teaching) she took 3 steps to me. Then if she wasn't thinking about it she would take a step or two. All week it has been a couple steps here and a couple steps there.

On Saturday while in Gridley Ava started making more of an effort to walk on her own. She stood up all by herself a couple times and moved her feet. One time she took 5 steps from the train table toward the sliding glass door (Rich was at Priesthood Meeting). On Sunday she made a few more attempts.

Today Ava has been trying to walk all over the house...it is crazy. Usually she crawls to get toys, books, or one of us, but a few times she stood up and started walking. It was exciting, but weird all at the same time. Ava has pretty good balance and is learning to steady herself quickly. She will often walk and then pause for a second to regain her balance instead of falling. She also can walk, squat to pick up a toy, and stand up to walk a little farther. At one point I think she was feeling pretty confident and she looked like she was trying to run. That ended up with her falling on top of a toy...OOUCH! I think within the next week Ava will be covered with bumps and bruises and running around the house getting into a whole lot of trouble.

*I'll try to get some video of Ava walking posted soon.

So Cal Cousins in Town

Anne (Rich's sister) came with her girls to visit the family in Nor Cal. We were so excited to see them and for Ava to see her cousins again. Unfortunately our visit with them was short, but we are just glad we had the opportunity to be together.

Zoie, Parker, Ava, & Bella

Zoie, Ava, Parker, & BellaAva and Parker playing the piano.Ava "holding" baby Eli Ava & Lily

Lily & baby brother Eli

Ava practicing for the TV show Wipe-Out

Ava the Builder

Ava has been practicing building towers since she got these blocks for her birthday. Actually, I'm usually the one building towers and Ava knocks them over. During the past couple of months her towers have gotten taller and taller. At first she could stack 2 blocks and I was so excited. I would clap for her and she would clap too. Then Ava was able to stack 3 blocks and I was amazed. Today Ava stacked 4 blocks and before I knew it she added a 5th. I was so proud that I got the camera out to document this feat.

Ava adding a 5th block..."YEAH for Ava!!"

Ava trying to add a 6th block, but knocking it over..."Uh-Oh...try again."

Lunch in the Car

On Monday Ava and I started our morning off shopping. We went to the outlets in search of an Easter dress and some spring/summer clothes that will fit. It was nice to get out and enjoy the spring weather.

As we left the outlets we headed over to Sam's Club. It was lunchtime, so I thought we would stop for a bite and then finish shopping. On our 5 minute drive Ava fell asleep. She looked so peaceful that I decided to let her sleep. I went through the Taco Bell drive-thru and then found a nice shady spot to park and eat.

As Ava slept I enjoyed my lunch and even had some entertainment. I got to watch Best Buy employees chase 2 shoplifters through the parking lot. After a few minutes some Sam's Club employees joined the chase. The shoplifters were not caught, but I think the loot was recovered. It was all quite comical, but I wish they would of keep their language G-rated.

Daddy is a sucker.

That's right. Ava can get me to do just about anything (this post is by Rich if you didn't notice). We went to Ikea the other day and we left with a Giant Kangaroo! I picked it up to let Ava look at it and she loved it. She was just hugging it around its neck and giving it cuddles. I couldn't resist buying it for her. Lisa could tell that Ava had me around her finger and kept saying "your going to buy that for her aren't you". Ava still likes her kangaroo but we didn't really need another (Giant) stuffed animal around the house. I told Lisa that we would have to use kangaroo as a code word when I am about to make another unnecessary purchase for our sweet little girl.

Fork & Spoon

Ava has been learning to feed herself with a fork and spoon the past couple weeks. She has a hard time scooping or stabbing her food, but can feed herself pretty well with assistance from mom or dad. At first Ava didn't want anything to do with a fork or spoon, but now that she is practicing she prefers to feed herself.

Week in Review

Here are some fun photos from the week...

Ava brushing her hair

Ava's homemade hair pretties. I love her hair in pigtails...I just wish she would leave them in longer than 30 minutes.

Ava playing with her Easter bonnet. She LOVES hats. Whenever she sees a hat she screams, "ha, ha, ha" until we let her see it. Ava doesn't like to wear hats very long, but she likes to play with them and take them on and off other people.

Ava is signing more to her daddy outside who just finished barbecuing some sausages for dinner.

Partners in crime, Ava and Luca, are raiding the cereal cupboard.

Soy Milk Experiment

Ava is still not sleeping through the night. Since the end of December until now she has been waking up 2 or more times a night. During some of this time she was sick and teething, so we thought that was the problem. Now we are in March and her sleep has not improved. It has been rough because I'm exhausted and I don't know what to do to help her. We've tried several techniques, but nothing seemed to be working. This week we are trying a new approach...Soy Milk.

I was reading in a book last weekend and it addressed the issue of toddlers having a difficult time sleeping. I read about cow milk intolerance and then it dawned on me that the time she started having a difficult time sleeping did coincide with the time she started drinking milk...HMMMM?? We then decided to switch Ava to soy milk for a month and see what happens.

We started the experiment on Monday. We were nervous about her not liking soy milk, but we have no problem there. We think she might even prefer it. Rich also brought home some soy and rice yogurt and we are going to get some soy cheese this weekend. Ava tried the soy yogurt today and loved it! We will see about the cheese...it sounds kind of funky to me.

So, far her sleeping has improved. Out of the last 4 nights she slept through 2 of them...YEAH!!! However, one of the non-sleeping nights turned into my nightmare because she was awake from 1-4am and then woke back up around 6am. I pretty much didn't sleep that entire night. I don't won't to complain too much because Ava sleeping through 2 nights in one week is AWESOME and feels like a little bit of a miracle. We will see how the rest of the month goes, but I'm hoping we figured out the problem and will all soon be enjoying a full nights sleep.

A Daughter After My Own Heart

The last couple weeks Ava has really been into shoes and socks. She likes to take her socks off and try and put her shoes on. When we play in her room she goes into her closet and pulls all her shoes out. She really likes the shoes in these pictures because of the velcro. I'm so excited that Ava and I can share a love of shoes.

Are the doors locked?

Last week Ava discovered the sliding glass door handle. She tried to push it open, but it is much too heavy for her to move it...Thank goodness!

Pretty in Pink

Let Daddy Sleep

Rich and Ava had a rough night last Saturday. Ava didn't want to sleep and Rich spent most of the night up and down with her. On Sunday morning I got up with Ava and Luca so Rich could sleep. I had to put up the baby/doggie gate so the two of them would leave him alone.

Best Friends

"Mommy, Mommy, Get me out of here"

The other day I noticed our peach tree had blossoms on it. I ran outside for a minute to take a couple of pictures of the blossoms and this is what I found on my return....

Ava and Luca both looking at me. Ava was pounding on the door and laughing, but Luca looked sad and couldn't believe I left him inside.

*Sidenote: The title of this blog was inspired by a line from Happy Gilmore, "Mister, Mister, Get me out of here!" It is a line Rich and I quote quite often.

CPR Certified

On Saturday Rich and I took our required CPR class for the adoption process. It was a little boring since we both have been certified several times before. We were just happy we did not have to take the First Aide class this time.

Now we just have to complete our home visit with our worker (March 16th) and finish our foster care education hours. We have done half of our reading already so we should be able to finish by our home visit. After those two things are done we should be ready to be approved.

Welcome Baby Eli

On Friday, February 19th our newest nephew was born. He weighed 8 lbs. and was 20 1/2 inches long.

We went to visit him for the first time yesterday. He is so cute and tiny. It is hard to believe Ava was 1 1/2 pounds smaller than him. We loved to hear his squeaky sounds and look forward to many years of Eli and Ava playing together.