Happy 9th Anniversary

Happy 9th Anniversary to the boy who stole my heart in 10th grade who is now the man I married 9 years ago today.  I Love the life I live with you Tim and I couldn't imagine going on this journey with anyone else by my side.  Thank you for making me a Mom to 2 beautiful girls and being the amazing Father that I knew you would always be.  I Love seeing you when I wake up in the morning, seeing you walk through the door when you come home from work and falling asleep next to you every night.  I'm so happy that I get to live this life that you and I have together.  I Love YOU!!!  jules

Just Get Off Your Phone for a Few Minutes!

At Avery's camp, there are 2 ways you can pick up your child...carpool line or go to the front door and pick them up.  Today, I was waiting in the carpool line to pick her up and I saw a Mom get out of her car while on her cell phone and wait by the front door until her kid was brought out by the teacher. 

Now, to myself, I'm thinking, surely she'll finish her call before her kid comes out because by the way her body posture is and how relaxed she looks, it doesn't appear she is on a call that is an emergency.  Obviously, I don't know who she was talking to or what the topic was, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that this was not a phone call that she couldn't stop for a few minutes while picking her kid up. 

So, the teacher brings the kid out to her and she grabs his hand with a quick smile, no hello, no hug and walks them to their car while her cell phone is glued to her ear...seriously!!  I'll be honest, I talk on the phone at the house, in the car, when we're out, when the kids are with me but when I'm picking up Avery from school, dance, someones house, etc, I make it a point to be sure I'm off the phone so I can actually greet her.  Another limb here, but I'm pretty sure from seeing the way the other kids look at their moms or dads with giant smiles on their faces, so excited to see them as Avery is me, though they've been having a great time at school or wherever she's been, they get to see the most important person in their lives (right now at least :))  and this mom is talking away on her phone!!  It made me so mad!! 

We expect our kids to be polite and have manners and we should be giving them the respect they deserve when it's their turn.  I am soooooooooo not perfect, but there are just some things that really make me mad and all I really wanted to do was get out of my car and rip the phone out of her hand and tell her to say hello to her kid!  Whew, I don't know where that came from, but I just had to get that off my chest!  Happy Monday :)

Sticker Sleep Chart

The past few weeks, Avery has been waking up in the middle of the night once, twice, several times for no real apparent reason :( Whether it be to have us turn up her noisemaker, ask us how much longer to sleep, or just "nothing", it has gotten seriously annoying and plus, I don't like it when my sleep is messed with for "nothing!"!

So, we moved her noisemaker to her nightstand so she could control the noise and change the sound if she wants but...that didn't work.

After several nights of anxiety-ridden sleep waiting for her to wake me up :),  I decided to try a 5-day sleep sticker chart.  She would get a sticker every morning that she went through the night without calling us up to her room and once she got 5 stickers, we could go pick out a toy.  Stickers, toys...she was totally on board! 

It only took her 6 nights to finish filling all the boxes up on the chart. The 5th night we had a minor setback, but she pulled through on her own last night.  So, since it only took her 6 days, I'm thinking that it's not a sleep problem after all, just a way to make sure that we are still in the house and I don't want it to turn into a crutch.  We'll do another longer sticker chart if we have to!

Here's her chart she heavily decorated!

When I picked her up from camp this afternoon I asked her where she wanted to go to pick out her toy and she asked to go to the Disney store at Stonebriar.  So, off we went and here she is sitting proudly with her new princess figurines!!  It was the 1st thing she saw when we went into the store and even after looking at everything the store had to offer she still wanted it.  Good job baby girl!!! Keep up the good sleeping...PLEASE!

Avery

Avery, Aves, Averson, Avery Jordan, Kiddo, Love...just a few of the names I have for my girl!  I've been thinking how for the past 10 months I religiously write about Ella every when she hits a new month but I haven't really given updates about Avery, so it's my new blog mission to keep you in the loop on what's going on with our "Big Girl!".

She has become so much more independent!  It's what you always want for your kids, and truthfully most of it I'm excited she can do on her own. Brush her teeth, get her own napkins, fork, spoons, fill her water cup, get dressed, put on her own shoes, bring her plate to the counter, entertain herself are just a few.

She loves to bring ALL her toys, and I'm talking ALL her toys out from her playroom and play with them in the living room.  She's really into her kitchen right now and when it's out especially during the time I am making dinner, she will play with it the whole time and the kitchen table will be covered with place settings, food and drinks.  So, we will have not just our meal but "her meal" too. 

She is constantly ready to go somewhere and talks about "where are we going" or "who's coming over" from the moment we wake up to the moment she goes to bed.  And speaking of bed...she now has total control of her noisemaker and sleeps with a lovey just like Ella :)  She listens to the craziest sounds and soooo loud!  Tim and I are a little concerned about her hearing :)

She says some of the funniest things and has the biggest belly laugh that it's hard to not just laugh along with her when she laughs.  A few of her funny comments:

*In the car while listening to the radio...I don't want to listen to the "numbers", I want to listen to the iPod

*Asking Nana a question:  Where did you get that Kitty?? instead of saying Nana

*We only have a girl, but she looks like a boy!

*If something is expensive, she asks if it's expensible

*She's loving edamame right now and for some reason she calls them Hot Mama...Mommy, can I have some more Hot Mama they are so delicious!

Her favorite shows she likes to watch right now are America's Got Talent, Mickey Mouse, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Strawberry Shortcake movies

Still a picky eater but becoming much better.  She's tried and liked, blackberries, raspberries, edamame, spaghetti, lemonade, raspberry lemonade, hummus, kiwis, turkey, veggie burgers, corn, peas, no carrots!, green beans.  And, wants to go to McDonald's everyday.  Not because of the food, but because she is on a mission to get every Strawberry Shortcake doll they have.  She's just one away.  Whatever happened to Chick-fil-A???  I miss it which I can't believe I'm saying!!!  I just can't eat at Mickey D's!

Lately, we've been going by ourselves to the grocery store on Sunday's just the 2 of us or running errands together and though she constantly asks "can i have this or that"  I have a blast just being with her by herself.

She's having a blast at her "camp school" and has made some new friends there.

She is now swimming on her own without any floaties and is able to pick up her head and take a breath and then put it back down.  This is HUGE!!!  And, she's jumping off the diving board on her own without floaties!!  Awesome!  I'm so proud of her.  She is such a little fish.

She LOVES music and has told Tim and I that she wants to play the piano and look at the book while playing.  The other day Tim and I were doing stuff in the kitchen and we looked up at her and she was sitting on the ottoman with the Guitar Hero guitar singing her own song and "playing the guitar".  It was so cute!!  And, she loves to dance for us and with us whenever she can.  She knows how to work the iTouch better than us and she can't even read yet.  She does the iTouch by album cover and song number.  And, she knows how to fully work the receiver and CD player in the living room.

And, though I love her so much, we have our moments several times a day and I can't imgaine what it will be like soon in our future.  I keep telling Tim that maybe she likes me better right now, but just wait...the tides will turn once she becomes a teenager.  I'm crossing my fingers that it's not too bad ;)

Love you Ms. Aves!!

Busy, Busy, Busy

we've been so busy lately and i have all these pics piling up so i thought i would just throw them in one post and then start fresh again...but, i know they will continue to pile up and i'll be at this same point again. oh well!

nana took cissy and avery to go see the wiggles here in allen and they had such a great time.  avery danced the whole time and couldn't stop talking about it when she got home!

ella finally figured out that we have a playroom and made herself very cozy in there with some "new" toys!

who's calling me?? i'm busy playing!

we've brought this walker out a few times recently to try but she is not interested in it unless i am holding her hands up to the walker and walking with her.  soon i think she will be ready.  she looks like she knows what she's doing, but don't let her fool you - she doesn't ;)

showing off with only 1 hand!

please, someone help me down

loving this apricot after swimming!

showing off her new texas rangers shirt...there's room to grow!

hula-hooping! we keep telling her to move her hips while doing it but she just let's it twirl around her to the ground.

going to africa with her plane ticket from camp.  i want to go with her...maybe someday!

Date night with Tim at Patrizio's - delicious of course and Splitsville, the new bowling alley in Fairview.  We haven't been bowling in forever and we got a coupon flyer in the mail so we decided to use it.  It's kind of a more upscale bowling alley that has a bouncer at the door that discriminates on letting you in.  We had appropriate attire and must have looked nice enough because he let us in :)  I bowled terribly, but broke 100 every time.  I even had a frame where I only knocked 1 pin down, WTF!  However, I beat Tim 2 of the 3 games but he schooled me on the 1st game so he won overall :(  There will definitely be a rematch in our future!!  Bring it on baby!

Friday Night, Family Night

after a long week at work, when tim comes home on friday nights, we like to get out of the house with the girls and grab some dinner and most of the time go listen to the music at watters creek. but, it's so blasting hot that by the time it cools down it's almost bedtime for ella. so, we've been doing other things like this friday we went up to the roadhouse...a really great loud, family-friendly restaurant :) and, even better that they have peanuts that you shell yourself because they are all over the floor so who cares what the baby drops!!

we couldn't get a booth so i was a little hesitant on how long ella would last in the highchair, but i should have known that as long as this girl has food she's just fine!!!

seriously...how cute are they??

eventually she will look at the camera with me :)

of course, she'll do it by herself!

she's on the move and crawling EVERYWHERE!!! 

he is so goofy!

Sweet Sisters

right now, when avery's not pushing ella down and when ella isn't taking avery's toys :), there are some really sweet moments between them that i've been able to capture

sweet kisses...

and hugs!

More Randoms from a Couple Months Ago

I'm almost caught up on all my pics and I found these from when Ella was 8 months old.

I just LOVE this pic from our 1st day of summer.  Who can remember that it was even possible to be outside without 100+ temps??  Will it ever cool down again?

Ella and her sippy cups...it's about as big her noggin here!

1st of many pretzel sticks

Avery packed up her new suitcase with all sorts of things to spend the night at Darmi and Poppy's

This is when she was just starting to stand on her own.  Now, she will pull up on anything or anyone!

On her way somewhere...don't worry, I made her take the shower cap off before we got there :)

Cissy's 1st dance recital!  We were so excited to see her perform and she did so good!

Avery waiting to give her her flowers...she loved it!

Making our own grape and raspberry lemonade popsicles.  She did NOT like the grape ones at all, but really liked the raspberry lemonade ones.  I was very impressed with her "pouring" skills!

Hanging with Tiny E...trying out the bow/headband - i'm still on the fence

Playing dress-up at Emily's

Popsicles at Nana & Papa's

All I think of when I see this pic is the country song that says, "Well, hello T-R-O-U-B-L-E!"