Happy 1/2 Birthday Ava Grace!

Ava turned 6 months on September 29th.  How it's been half a year since we met our 2nd baby girl is beyond me.  It's seems to be going by so much faster than it did with Caroline.  Probably because we are on the go all. the. time.  Scott and I were asking each other the other day if deciding to build a house while she was so little was the right decision.  Being so focused on the house and its progress, are we robbing her of her "baby time?" But then we quickly reminded ourselves that no matter if she's an infant or 6 years old we would be asking ourselves that question.  I'm not sure there is ever a "right time" for anything in life.  It's just things you have to go with your gut, pray about it, and hope you are doing the right thing. Anyway, Ava is such a sweet, sweet, smiling baby girl.  She has THE most crystal blue eyes ever and I believe they are here to stay.  While Caroline's eye's were a hue of blue for the first year, we couldn't really tell if they would be sticking with her, and now they are green.  She also has a head full of very blonde hair.  Caroline's was always super dark, and now Ava's is so blonde it looks red at times, but it's not! When I send pictures to people or post on facebook they always see red, and it does appear that way at times in pictures.  These two girls look so different to me, then at times I'll see a little of Caroline, but it's never that "Whoa, they could be twins" look.  I kinda like it. I like that they are each their own person and they definitely have their own solid personalities.  Ava is not near as chill as Caroline was.  She likes to be on my hip more than anything, she doesn't particularly care for long car rides, and if her cereal and fruit and bottle are not ready right after bath and lotion, there's no forgiveness.  That's just to name a few.  She's a big girl and is in full 6 month clothes and 9 month footed pajamas and some onesies.  She's a whopping 18 lbs and 27 1/2" long.  That's exactly 2 lbs 4 oz. and 3/4" bigger than C was at that age! When I look back at C's 6 month blog she's doing the exact same things C was including eating the exact amount.  I knew I was pretty close to having Ava on the same schedule I used with Caroline but not until now did I notice they are on the identical schedule.  Funny! Ava Grace can sit up on her own and get back down to her tummy, and she's army crawling all over the place.  She will draw her knees up and lunge forward but hasn't quite figured out how to master the full blown crawl, but it won't be long! Oh, she also has two cute little teeth! :) We love our precious baby so much and are trying to soak in this wonderful time in our lives.  We are extremely blessed and feel like the luckiest parents in the world! Below are a few of my favorite pictures from Ava's 6 month shoot!

Gorgeous blue eyes!

Poor baby was about finished!

Our Big 3 Year Old!!!!

On September 23rd our precious girl turned 3.  It baffles my mind how she is growing up so fast.  Too fast.  It brings tears to my eyes to think about how well she is thriving! We couldn't ask for a better little girl.  We didn't do a big party with friends this year as our house is in shambles and boxes so we kept it simple and quaint with just family.  Out to dinner, cupcakes and presents and she was one happy little girl, and that is all that matters. She's so easy to please and the sweetest most loving thing ever.  She loves to hug and give kisses and she takes great care of her baby sister.  If Ava is fussing she runs to her rescue, trying everything possible to quiet her down. If Ava spits up it's "Mommy, we got a mess here!!" Caroline is growing more and more independent by the day.  She spends a lot of time in her room playing and watching her favorite Disney movies.  The current dvd's that are burning up in her dvd player are Tangled, Bambi and Beauty and the Beast. Her favorite place to be is outside! She got a tricycle for her birthday this year and is already tearing up and down the sidewalks.  She started her pre-school at St. Peters early childhood and develop center.  We LOVE it there! Her teachers are the best and I'm loving all the pre-school treasures she's bringing home.  Caroline also started ballet a month ago and she's loving it.  I sit out in the waiting area with the other mothers and watch her class on a tv and it's 30 minutes of non stop laughter at these little girls.  It's the cutest thing I've ever seen! I have to say... she gets her coordination from her father, because I am about the least coordinated thing ever!! We are really trying to drill it in her head that we will be leaving our home very soon and moving to our new home that's getting very close to completion.  It's in the same neighborhood but just in a different section.  We drive over to the new house daily and walk around.  She knows where her room is, her new play room and new playground.  I'm anxious to see how she will adjust to this and hopefully we won't have to many sleepless nights of her running to our room or getting lost in the middle of the night. Wish us luck!!

It's obvious we love our Aggie's!!! :)

Caroline(ism's)

Just a quick jot down of things that come out of Caroline's mouth before I forget them!

C: Mommy!!!! It's a skinny bug!!
Me: A what?
C: A skinny bug, come quick!!!

Walk over and it's a dead mosquito. They are now called skinny bugs, not sure where she came up with that one!

I walk by Caroline's room and see her cooking in her kitchen...
Me: Caroline, are you cooking up a storm?
C: Nooooo, I not cooking up a storm, they are scary, I don't want to make one!

Me: Caroline, do you need to go potty?
Caroline: No, no, no! (heaven forbid we interrupt play time with going to the potty)
Me: yes, lets go now!
Caroline: No... I just ready all did!! aka: I already did. :)

These are just a few off the top of my head.  She will sometimes use big words she hears from Scott and I and use them in sentences that make no sense at all. Funny little girl!

Ava 5 Months!!

I'm a little behind on Ava's monthly updates.  Ava turned 5 months on August 29th! She is turning into such a big girl.  She loves her big sister so much and is a real Mommy's girl.  She LOVES her baby food and I can't seem to find anything she doesn't like.  I bought a pouch of spinach and rutabaga for her.  I giggled thinking about the gagging and shuddering I knew I was going to get with that first bite. Surprisingly enough, she devoured it! Let's hope she stays on this path of loving her vegetables.

Right now:

Size 2 diapers
3-6 month clothing
4 7oz bottles a day each with 1/2-1 whole jar baby food
She takes about a 30 minute nap each morning then a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon.  She's usually starting to get ready to start her nighttime routine at about 7:30 each night, and after cereal and bottle she's down and out by 8:30 and sleeps between 10 and 11 hours. Can't complain much about that!!! She's a great little baby and the sweetest, happiest thing ever.

Our little 4 month old!

Today our little Ava Grace turned 4 months old!  She is such a sweet, sweet baby that LOVES to be held!!! Momma can't do much without having to go pick her up.  I remember Caroline was a little more laid back, didn't mind her car seat and would hang out in her bouncy seat or bumbo for awhile before getting fussy.  Ava is a different story.  She can only handle the bouncy seat for a small amount of time, she never really cared for her lounger or boppy pillow and heaven forbid the car come to a complete stop at a red light or even a stop sign for that matter.  She's not a huge fan of traveling but it could be worse. Once again this girl is on a tight schedule just like C was and a little less patient.  We've started rice cereal and about to start some veggies. She's in a size two diaper and in 3-6 and just plain 6 month clothing.  She's bigger than Caroline.  Ava had almost a whole pound on C when she was born at 7 lbs 11 oz and has continued on that path throughout her first four months of life.  Right now she is sleeping from about 9-7:30 or 8 a.m.  She's been in her crib now for about 7 weeks.  She is very peaceful in there and Mom and Dad are getting some good sleep now too.  She is rolling from her tummy to her back and her back to her side which eventually goes all the way to her tummy especially when sleeping.  (Gasp in horror) Yes she's pretty much a tummy sleeper, lets not even get started on how I think things have gotten completely out of hand and psychotic when it comes to babies and how everything kills them, that's a different post though.  :) All in all we have a wonderful baby once again.  I'm in awe sometimes of how different these two girls are, and then one second later it's like I'm looking at C again.  Minus the dark brown hair.  Ava has almost white to a golden blonde hair which almost looks like it has a red hint at times.  It's definitely going to be a lot lighter than C's hair. I love my little family so much, I feel like my heart could just burst at times! Life is good! Tomorrow we go for 4 month shots (boo) so I'll post her stats and a few more pictures later. Until then, here's what was looking back and fussing at me off and on throughout this post.

About 3 months behind!

Shame on me! Ava is 3 1/2 months and I haven't blogged once.  It just goes to show that two children take things to a whole new level.  Life has definitely been crazy, but a wonderful crazy since Ava joined us.  I have a ton of pictures to upload and dump on here, so as I'm getting some time throughout my day I'm sitting down to do just that. For example, up to this point I have gotten up about 10 times and come back. Night time blogging is out of the question when Scott gets home. No computers, phones, or texting allowed. He can't stand it when my face is planted in the computer or on my phone. It's family time.  And when the girls go down... it's relaxation time for the two of us.  I will try to be better, but mostly this will be my "picture dump" more than anything.  With an almost 3 year old, 3 1/2 month old and a house under construction... the one thing I need more of is time... or more than one me!! :) Until then... enjoy pictures of these little punkins and a few I haven't shared from the newborn shoot, I have to brag about Crystal Lynn, what an amazing photographer!!

So fitting!! Our little princess!!

I love the color in these!!

Mommy, C & Ava!

First of all, let me say thank you to Rita Harris for snapping some maternity photos of Caroline, Ava and I.  She is always so sweet and talented and we loved getting to spend a couple of hours with her last Tuesday morning.  Second, I'm not a fan of maternity pictures of myself. I had them done when I was pregnant with Caroline, and did not post them.  Nobody has seen them but my family. I love, love, love everyone else's that I see, but when it comes to me... huh uh!!! BUT... I'm a mommy now and I feel it is my obligation to document this special time whether I think I look fat, bloated, disgusting... you name it.  Thanks to Rita, I think I look... presentable.  But beautiful? Glowing? Not a chance!! :) Caroline is adorable as always and as photogenic as ever, so I really love having these of her.  Here a few of my favorites from our shoot!!

P.S. Scott got out of pictures this time because of being so busy with work, but we will get him snagged down for newborns!!