A few pictures

Avie making a kissy face with her hot pink stripes in her hair. (It faded before we even got to the car which was ok by me!) Such a little Diva girl!!

We had a playdate recently at the pool with some coworkers of mine. Avie, Josey and Eliana and a great time swimming and splashing! I discovered that Avie loves the pool... the deeper the water the happier she is. She enjoys walking in up to her chest and putting her face in. This little girl has NO FEAR!

Eliana and Josey watching Avalynn pitch a fit because I wouldn't let her go into the deep water!

Rochesterfest is going on right now and this past Thursday they had a free kids carnival with carousal rides, games, bouncy things to jump in and more. Here is Avalynn and her friend Wyatt splashing.

A picture of Adrienne and I on our cruise, here's the view from our rooms balcony. It was great!

Miss Avalynn posing with her serious face.

Catching up

So I've been told numerous times that it is time to play catch up with my blog! I seem to have fallen quite a bit behind. So here I go!

Miss Avalynn is now 17 (almost 18)months old and is a busy little bee. Her separation anxiety is quickly fading, I am happy for her but sad for me. I miss my little baby girl who's being rapidly replaced with a busy vocal toddler. She has started putting words together. While watching Elmo on tv she'll say "Hi Elmo its me!". Her favorite words are currently "c-ya/bubye" "lets go" "GO away!" "I know, I know, I know (always in response to my asking her to do something or a question)" "stow-eee (story)" "pleeeease" and of course... "cookie". Anything edible that is circular in shape is called a cookie, including her whole wheat organic baby waffles. This is such a fun stage. Literally every day she learns a new word or phrase. Monday she learned that kitty cats say meow and she practiced her meows for a looooooong time. We'll have to find some kitties to visit. Avalynn still LOVES stories. She recognizes her books now and picks each one up with a word or two with what its about.

Avalynn is now learning more focused tasks. She's accomplished her very first puzzle and I was so proud of her. I'm amazed that she can pick up the puzzle piece, match it to the correct spot and get it fit. Its takes a lot of work and fine motor skills to figure out a puzzle!

I've discovered that my sweet little girl has a stubborn streak and the temper to boot. The word NO is now a huge part of her vocabulary. "Avie are you hungry" NO. "Avie are you thirsty?" NO "Avie do you want to play with the ball?" NO than this is immediately followed by "peeeeeease Cookie" and a starving baby girl look. There is no keeping up with her! Discipline is difficult. Its a constant internal battle for me. Did she hit me because she is frustrated and swinging her arms or because she is mad and wanting to lash out. Is she whining because she's bored, tired or hungry? Than there is always her frustration. She wants to do more than she's physically able to.

Life for me has been busy as well. I took a cruise with one of my best friends in May which was a fabulously relaxing vacation. We swam with the stingrays, dolphins, snorkeled, went para sailing, laid out on the beaches and on the boat and had a 'few' cocktails. I've never been so lucky as I was on that boat! We were magically given a VIP ticket for reasons unknown to us, we were given a better room than we expected, upgraded our massages to a massage AND facial, and all in all we had an amazing time. I can't wait for Adrienne's and my next vacation!
I leave this Thursday for a few days to go to Denver for my friend Rachel's wedding (I was QUITE honored when she asked me to be her maid of honor) and I'm applying for a new position at work (wish me luck I interview on Wednesday!). Between Avie, work, house work and play dates I haven't had much time to sit around but that's OK being its SUMMER and I love love LOVE it! The only thing I dislike are all these rotten storms we've been getting. Wishing I had a nice basement to hangout in every time the tornado sirens go off. It makes me nervous that to get to my basement I have to go outside. I'm starting to seriously consider moving so we can have more space and a safe basement.
That's the update, a little long I know but as you know I'm a chatty person!

Warning: Avie on Juice

Avalynn is slowly being switched to whole milk these last two weeks. As a result we've had a few issues with her being, as they say, backed up. I decided to introduce her to some juice to help her out with this little problem. Its pretty obvious that my child isn't allowed sugar as this video shows...

Needless to say, I will not be adding juice into her diet anytime soon!

Our lives have been so busy lately. With family, Christmas, my working, Avie's daycare, nights at grandma's, babysitters, last weeks birthday, this weeks birthday and our upcoming trip up north... Avalynn has not spent an entire day at home for about 2 weeks and will not be until next week sometime. Both Avalynn and I are EXHAUSTED. I've noticed the last few days that she's been throwing more temper tantrums and has gotten a lot more stubborn. I'm hoping once this week has passed we will be able to take a few breaths and relax a little. I'm looking forward to it. It also helps that I a switching to day shifts at work (yay!), I've been on nights for way to long. Its going to bed at 7am one day and getting up at 7am the next with my early riser has taken a toll on my sanity :) I think this change will be good for both of us. Sadly its only for the month...

Oh yes... before I forget. Avie got her two front teeth for Christmas.

The holiday rush.

Not sure who is more worn out, Avie or myself. The crazy, busy and exhausting week full of family and fun has finally passed. Lots of exciting presents, fattening foods and laughter. We have officially outgrown the toybox (basket). Moving might be easier than finding room for all of Avies new gifts! The new word this week is "hiding" said by Miss Avie while hiding behind mommy's curtains with a cheesy grin on her face. "Avie, are you hiding?"Auntie Amy asks after spying Avalynn behind the curtains. "Yeah... hiding" Avie replies in her little girl voice. Love her! We celebrated both Christmas and her 1st birthday this weekend. We had a small family gathering for her birthday held early while family was all in town. I made her a healthy zucchini/applesauce chocolate cake only to find it covered in frosting. Well, now I know how much she likes sugar! I love this baby girl :) who becomes a TODDLER next week. Wow.

Now that the big holiday rush has passed I find myself trying to normalize our routine. I'm hoping to not fall back into our previous cycle but instead set a new 'norm' for us. Call it my New Years Resolution. Healthier eating, more organized, more playdates and mommy/Avie time, more time overall spent being productive followed by some time spent being "healthy lazy". LoL, healthy lazy, if such a thing exists. These past few years I picked up the habit of zoning out in front of the tv during my free time. Its like a black hole and it just sucks you in, one good show leading to another. Really, I find that black tv hole rather annoying. I cut out cable a few months ago and so far I don't miss it but I still haven't had the opportunity to read much. Maybe its the holidays or stress or the fact that I've been BUSY but I'm seriously just craving a good book. Time for a trip to the library if I can ever get my card back from the baby sis.

The holidays were very good to us. Back to the grind of the real world now.

Daycare

Well Avalynn's first week of daycare was a success! She went three days this week. Rochelle, the daycare provider, stated that Avalynn is very good and well behaved (yay Avie!). She also stated that Avalynn is a good little helper by distracting and amusing another crying infant. Avie plays with the toys on Camber's (a 3 month old girl) swing which always stops her from fussing AND Avalynn hasn't tried to steal Camber's bottle... yet. She's starting to interact more with the bigger kids which is good to hear, usually she plays by herself and avoids the other kids. I'm proud of my big girl but also a little sad that she's becoming a toddler so quickly.

Mike and I brought Avalynn to meet Santa Claus on Thursday. Avalynn has always had a fear of white hair, Santa is no exception! When Santa saw the look of terror on her face he told me to drop and run... hoping we could get a snap shot before the tears fell. No such luck. Santa cried right along with her :) Santa informed me that she'll only need 2 years of therapy after this encounter. Poor Avie.

Avalynn finds the bathtub to be a fascinating toy. The bathroom door must be shut at ALL times or else she begins dropping things into it or tries to crawl into it herself. She finds the tub most amusing as I fill or drain it. I've dug everything out of that darn tub including nonwater toys, shampoo bottles, onesies, her toothbrush, hand towels and her favorite... rolls of toilet paper... As soon as I think I've picked every last TP square out of the tub and moved everything moveable out of reach, I'll discover she's found something else to drop into it. She finds this game more amusing than her mama!

I'm slowly getting ready for Christmas thanks to Avalynn being in daycare. Its amazing how fast I can move with two free hands but I find I physically have to remind myself not to go pick her up early. I figure its best to stick to the routine until Avalynn is comfortable being in the new environment. Darn... I miss my baby!

All she wants for christmas are her two front teeth!

It looks like Avalynn will be getting her two front teeth for Christmas. They are right there.... and are oh so close to breaking free. I look forward to her new smiles but will miss the gummy gums and my fang baby! As of this week Avalynn has reached the double digits with her vocabulary. Surprise? Not really, she does come from a chatty family :)

This last Saturday was Amy's baby shower with the theme Two Pea's in a Pod. It went really well! Everyone seemed to have a great time and we had plenty of food and fun. She received lots of great gifts and I'm sure she's getting anxious for these little guys to make their appearance.... in March. For her shower I made my very first diaper cake which turned out pretty well and it provided her with a box of diapers. I also made sugar cookies with green frosting (to go with the pea theme). It took THREE attempts to make the cookies before I finally gave up and bought slice and bake cookies. I love to cook but apparently I suck at baking.

Here's my big news of the week, I made the splurge and purchased an SUV today. I always thought I'd be fine with a car until I got stuck. Then I slid and then I slid some more. While thanking the lord once again that Avalynn was not in the car with me as I slid around the corner, I came to the conclusion that I wanted something much safer than the little Mazda. I'm sick of being in cruddy weather with a light little car while riding cramped and practically on top the steering wheel (the carseat requires the front seats be pushed WAY forward). Also, as a single mom, I've become rather independent. I have absolutely no desire to sit and hunt down people to help me move big items (example, a tv from my sisters house to my house and a baby swing from my house to her house). So I started hunting for an Impala. From there I found an SUV and than I met the newest addition to our family. An Equinox. I will pick it up today around 4pm... I will start my cursing over its gas mileage around 6pm I'm sure. This could get interesting. Wish me luck.

I am getting really, and I mean REALLY, excited to cook Christmas Dinner. At some point I'll attempt cookies... but after the disaster of Amy's baby shower cookies I'm rethinking Christmas treats. I hope everyone is well!