June Lake Part 2

We had so much fun in June Lake.
This was our first time visiting with snow.
My dad's girlfriend has been kind enough to let us stay with their family almost every 4th of July.

We had some different adventures on this trip.
Walking to the park, going up on the flying chairs (chair lifts), ski lessons, starting a wood burning fire, trying to stay warm, waking up to 0 degrees! EEEK!

It was so much fun!

Almost a year?!

How has it been almost a year?!

So much has happened. So much has been done. This is nuts!

Our last adventure started a few days after Christmas. Ava and I went to June Lake.
We had so much fun visiting with my dad, his girlfriend, and her daughter and son and their six kids.

Ava took her first Ski lesson and it snowed while we were there.
It was so cold but it was so much fun!

And of course I took my Nikon F100 film camera on the trip so all the pictures are taken with film.

Ava is amazing

Ava is amazing!
She has gone through a few phases in past couple of week.
First week she was sick. She didn't so much of anything.
The next week she got sassy and started talking back to her teachers at school.
The following week she was nice but bouncy. Bounced everywhere, and started dancing and running and once in a while that sassy attitude would sneak in.
This past week has been pretty mellow.
We changed her bed from crib to toddler bed. Ava loves her big girl bed. She has done really well with her transition. She gets up each morning/ most of the time she sits on her bed and when I come in to get her, she gets up, runs over to me then yells "my big girl bed!" and runs and jumps on her bed! I guess she likes her new bed a whole lot.

This week she has also begun to really express herself. She can speak clearly. She tells us exactly what she wants. She is kind of bossy and demanding (no idea where she gets that! ;0) )

She can count object 1-20 no problem.
She can say the alphabet.
She can sing a few songs
She loves pretend talking to "Gingka" on the phone.
She can read or recite up to three books.

She is starting to eat other things besides mac and cheese.
She still likes her Pedisure/Ensure drinks. She will drink, if she has to, Vanilla Soy milk
She loves cheese. She likes pita chips, and these fiber cookies. She loves fruit. And will eat and eat and eat pizza.

We've done a couple of really fun things with Ava recently.
Ava and I went on a hike one weekend in the morning when the weather wasn't too cold.
Ava also had a school dance, she had so much fun jumping up and down the stage and dancing with the kids in her class.
She has also had a few nights and some days with Gingka. She sure loves her Gingka. They have so much fun together. They watch movies, eat food, make cookies, then Gingka lets her bring out her toys and spread all over the livingroom. He's good to her.

She is so much fun!
She loves to play in her play room. She loves playing Tea Party. She makes Phil and I tea and brings "tea" to us and gives us refills. She loves her dolls. She plays school with them, often she yells at them and puts them in time out. But then she will ask them to color with her or she will ready them stories.
Ava today got into dress up AND tea party. It was fun. We had a blast!

She is a pretty good girl. She is cute. She talks so much.

My child is the next Houdini

I believe I gave birth to the next Houdini.

About two nights ago I put Ava's diaper on, duct tape, then proceeded with a onesie and pants. Put her to bed and said goodnight.
The next morning the pants were off, the diaper (with poop) was outside the crib on the floor, and her onesie was still in tact! Amazing, right?! How on earth did my child get her diaper off without getting the onesie unbuttoned?! I know...we are still in shock.

So we learned. We listened. And we are excited to tell you, she now is so super excited to wear mini mouse underwear over her diaper. We still duct tape and we still secure her with a onesie. For the past two nights, I haven't had to clean the bed!

This week has been a busy week for the little miss. This week started out with picture day! Ava had her school pictures done at school. So cute! She has a crush on a boy at school. She calls him "BAM". She has also been doing ok with potty training.

I guess if you get one thing, you don't really get other things. Maybe Ava is a little excited about potty training or maybe she is too busy running around, but she doesn't seem to be eating as much as she was before. Its ok. I know its a phase. I just hope she starts to eat again soon.

Ava is really fun. She runs around the house like a crazy person, attacks our legs and latches on like we are never leaving. Then she will run to the other parent and do the same. She loves her mini doll which she named "Baby Senado" .

Ava says full on sentences minus some parts that make them grammatically correct. :)
"I want milk"
"My baby Senado"
"I want go outside"
"I play with BAM"
"I color"
"My movie"
"My book"
"Where my stroller?"
"I want apple"
"I want yogurt"
"I want milk"
"I want juice"

We play games

Like Ni-Night
We lay out a blanket and get a pillow then we take turns going "Ni-Night"
And we play coffee house
Phil and I sit on the couch and Ava brings us "tea" or "cappuccino"

We also play chase and work on puzzles. She likes to help me cook when I let her.
Lately I've been fustrated because I don't believe I've been giving her anything with food allergies but she comes home once in a while with some allergy bumps. Tonight it was really bad.

Ava talks so much.
She loves her princess skirts. She promptly removed the cow costume I got her for Halloween and wanted a princess outfit. Luckily I still had the tutu I made a year and a half ago she was able to wear that for the Halloween/Birthday party we went to over the weekend.
She has her own opinions and thoughts. That's for sure. I'm just glad we got the diaper thing under control for a little while. Its nice not having to wash sheets twice a day!

Second week of 2011

It was a busy week last week! It was my first full week (of the year)back at work. Our students are crazy, I've come to that conclusion.
On Monday I was invited to be a sub at a bunco group. It was a blast! My friend Roni from work was totally amazing! She and her two kids watched Ava until bunco was over. Ava had fun playing with Celeste and Julian.
Thursday Ava popped her first canine tooth. Saturday she got her second one. Sunday something came through on the top but she refuses to open her mouth to let me see.
Friday my mom ended back up in ER. By the early evening she was checked into the hospital into a room.


Saturday we had family pictures. JLM Creative Photography took our family picture at UNR. Ava was a little crabby but I think it went ok. I can't wait to see the fabulous pictures she took!
Sunday we had excellent weather! It got up to about 67 degrees!! I took Ava to the park. I let her run around. We walked a little bit. We came across some guys playing flag football.


Either Ava likes football or she likes guys. She watched them for a good 10 minutes then wanted to walk onto the field to get a closer look! We then walked back to the play area.
First thing Ava did was walk up the slide. Yes, walk up the slide. Then all by herself she figured out how to go down the slide. She did really well playing on all the play equipment for not playing at the park very often!






We came home I gave Ava a bath (the park is really dirty!!) and attempted to put her down for a nap. She didn't nap. Then Ava and I went to visit my mom in the hospital.

Today Ava and I woke up early and we went to Walmart. We got everything on the list, and we got through our shopping trip in a half hour. At about 9:45 Nancy, my parents cleaning lady came over to our house. My dad was at the hospital with my mom. So I had Nancy organize our bedroom. Our bedroom looks like a model room!!! I'm so excited!
After Nancy was done, Ava and I went to Costco to order Jackie's baby shower cake.
This afternoon Ava and I went on a walk around the block. It was nice. It was a little cooler this afternoon but it was still much nicer than it has been.
Ava says so many words now!!
She says so many things I can't even remember them all. She always tries to say what we say. Some of the words she says now are:
Cool
Awesome
MeMe (for Grandma)
Este (for Ce lest)
Nacks (snacks)
Cheese
Cookie
WaWa (for Water and bath)
Shoes
Jacket

I asked Ava if she wanted to go on a walk and she walked right over to the front door and knocked on it like she wanted to go outside.
She's so smart!!! We are so lucky to have such a great daughter!

2011

Hello All!
Welcome to 2011!
So far...this has been a lazy year! Phil, Ava and I have taken it easy and mostly stayed at home! It has been super awesome! I love it!
Ava has really changed a lot over the last week. At least I think she has. She has really become a little toddler! She speaks, she says words, she repeats almost anything that is said to her. She has added about 15 words to her vocabulary this week, if not a little more.
Some of the words she now says are:
Luka
Nuno (for Juno)
Weee (for Billie)
Steeee (for Steve)
Me-mo (the name of her new doll, she named it all by herself)
cookie
snack
juice
sip
more
bite
ni-night
baba -for bottle
baby
wheee (having fun)
Ewwww (if something spilled or she wipes her nose on my sweater)
nice (for petting the kitty she will say nice then pet the kitty nicely)


She can throw a ball in a straight line and she can throw it to the person she is throwing the ball to.
She can play with cars and make car sounds.
She understands what we tell her. She doesn't always do what we tell her, but she understands.
She can tell us what she wants.
This week Phil was taking care of her, she walked up to him and says "Daddy, ni-night". She will come up and ask me for a drink or a snack. She can tell us what she wants.
We haven't really worked with potty training but this week I swear she said "poop" but I don't know if she understands exactly what that means yet.
We've had a pretty good week.
Also my Aunt Claire and Uncle Jamie came to visit! We had a good visit and a good dinner. Ava entertained us all! It was great!
I also wanted to note that this week Ava is 17 months and she is 17 lbs! LOL Thats a two for two! She is finally in almost all 12 month clothes. She still has a few 6 month and 9 month clothes but she has mostly 12 month clothes! I'm so proud! My baby is getting bigger!
She still has a little trouble

All About Ava

Ava is now 14 months!
Actually, now that I think about it, she is going to be 15 months pretty soon! Yikes!
Anyways. She has perfected her walk into toddler running!
If you have ready any of my previous blogs, you know our life has been quite a circus for the past month or so.
Ava has taken the change in stride. I can tell that everything has effected her. Some of major things that have changed in her life:
She no longer goes over to Beck's house. Which is really sad. She doesn't play with Ms T. Ms T and Mr Z very often anymore. But she still loves them and misses them terribly!
We stay at home A LOT more.
Except for work, going to my parents or the store, we don't go out.
I cook!
Like I said Ava has taken the change with stride. She has adjusted pretty well. She seems pretty happy for the most part. Phil and I are able to spend so much more time with her.
Everynight we have a sort of routine. Ava plays, or explores while I get dinner ready. We eat dinner together. We all play together for a few minutes. This week our game was "fetch". Yes...we played "fetch" with Ava. She almost has the idea of grabbing the ball when it comes to her, but it is basically a game of fetch the ball.

After our game. Ava and I sit down at her new little table and we are working on two skills. Sitting in chair (not standing) and not eating crayons and actually coloring with them.
So far..her success rate is about 40%. Next week we will aim for 60%. And we only work on this small task for about 10 minutes. Which is actually pretty good for a 1 year old.

After we get done coloring then we play a game of hide-and-seek/chase. Ava loves this game.
Once in a while I will sit on the floor and she thought of a fun game of sitting on mommy's lap. She will leave, then come back to sit on my lap some more. I actually like this, because this is one of the only times she is cuddly!!
Ava has been a little more cuddly lately.
Our lives have changed. A lot. And everyday we learn something new. Its almost kind of like dating all over again.
I can't explain it. Its hard to incorporate everything. Phil's condition. Making sure he eats every 2 hours. Ava is pretty easy to care for, just have to watch her so she doesn't eat things off the floor or climb on the tables.
Ava is totally amazing! I hope she continues to be amazing.

Loving my little princess

Now 11 months old we are counting down the days until Ms. Ava Kai's birthday! I know I say this all the time but what a blessing she is! She is a wonderful little girl. It has been a couple of weeks since I last wrote an update. Last week Ava turned 11 months. My friend Beck, watches Ava a few days a week and started doing the two year old lessons with Ava, they started with "Bu Bu Bee" to get the B sound down. Ava can now point at things, we can ask her "where is the dog" and she will look around for the dog in addition to saying "dod dod" or "Daa Daa". On Thursday July 1st when I went to pick up Ava, I learned how to make Heavenly Balls (crushed up Oreo with cream cheese drizzled with melted chocolate chips) for the pot luck at work on Friday July 2nd. Beck also made a practice run of Ava's cake. She made two chocolate cakes with chocolate moose filling and some stuff that went over the top of the cake along with three colors of fondant. Beck made a ladybug cake!! It was totally awesome! We are going to change up the colors a little but the cake was truly amazing! I took it with me to work on Friday to see if people like it, it was a huge hit!!! Along with the Heavenly Balls. On Friday July 2nd, it was a very chaotic day! I had to be to work at 5:30 in the morning. I set 4 alarms, I slept through ALL 4 alarms!!! I was 45 minutes late! Good thing we didn't really have to do anything until 6:30am. I had to be to work to get the kids off on the buses for summer break. It was one of the most orderly send offs we've ever done!!! We had the students leave from the dorm. The pay at 6am went really smooth, at 6:30 the cafe opened. It ran flawlessly. In the gym, where the students left, the luggage was put in the right lines, the students didn't try to sneak liquor or drugs, they didn't cause problems. The buses left promptly and the students were out before 8:45!! It was amazing! Phil was wonderful. He took Ava to Beck's house. He got lucky, Ms Ava decided to sleep until 8:30am! They got to Beck's house around 9:30 or so and I picked Ava up around Noon. Phil did good! She is funny and her little personality is popping out more and more each day. On July 3rd we were able to participate in Kids 4 9's! We also had a garage sale! I sold some stuff, but was mostly there to take pictures for Kids 4 9's. What a wonderful opportunity that was! Ava did really great! We were outside for a very very long time and she was such a trooper! Phil also left for his camping trip in the afternoon, so unfortunately I didn't get to see him much at all. On July 4th Ava and I went to church in the morning. The music was awesome. We go to Summit Christian Church in Sparks. We sang American songs! It was super fun! Very patriotic! After church we went on a short shopping trip to Target. I got bar stools, which I've been wanting since we moved into our home! While Ava took a nap, I assembled the stools and also made Cheesecake Balls aka "Heavenly Balls". They are very yummy! Around 5pm I went to pick up my dad, he was going to the BBQ at Beck's with me. We ended up taking two cars because my dad didn't want to see the fireworks afterwards but we went over to Beck's house and we had a wonderful super awesome BBQ. Billie, Steve, Luka, Juno, Vinny's parents, my dad, Vinny, Beck, Tasha, Thea, Zaya and myself and Ava were there. It was a blast. We all sat around. Then I sat down with Ava on the ground and Beck was sitting there too and Ava took her first three steps by herself!!! I'm so happy that I got to be a part of that. I've been really lucky and I've gotten to see a lot of her firsts. I'm really glad that I was there for the walking one. She hasn't done it since but we got it on video. After the BBQ we went to see the fireworks. Ava loves fireworks. She sat in my lap and looked up at the fireworks the whole time. It was great! I hope she will sit still again like that next year!! I also took a zillion pictures of her this weekend! I have to get all my baby pictures in before she turns one!!!