Block Party

Ava's first real bouncy house experience, I think she enjoyed it, we have some video, but I will have Jon edit it down before we post it. It's not so much jumping as it is being bounced around by other kids and her running around, but it's still real cute.


She was real thirsty afterwards and as we were watching her sippy it up, a professional photographer took these photos of her and us.

She seemed quite suspicious of this stranger taking our picture.

Though these photos don't show it, she did have a good time, bouncing, dancing to the live band, hula hooping, sidewalk chalking, and chasing the kids around her. We'll also need to post the video of her dancing to the band.....Jon has it sideways and I don't know how to fix it...so these photos will have to do for now.

Relaxing Memorial Day Weekend

Daddy knew how Ava loves to look out the window, but they are so high. So the only thing he thought to do was to build a path to the window, where she now loves to spend all of her time. And as you can see the toy bins that she climbs she has little to no interest in because the window and the climbing are her main focus. (You can see in the previous video, Daddy "baby-proofed" the area below the structure with a giant bean bag that is stuffed with all of her stuffed animals and pillows....so you know, the area is up to safety codes, I'm sure.)

She is also fascinated by birds, so when we go to the park, we feed them our old bread or crackers, and though Ava had no interest in eating them when we were at home, she all of sudden wants to eat the crumbs as I toss them on the ground. Toddlers, aren't they just adorable? I should have video'd this part, but it happened so fast, she was literally pecking her nose to the ground like the birds were doing.

It was a foggy weekend, so we decided to head to the Academy of Sciences, but by the time we stepped off the train, she was already fast asleep and stayed asleep in that carrier for the entire trip and through lunch.

Okay, last but not least, I heard some where that it takes 30 days to create/break a habit. So, here we are nearly 30 days straight of sleeping in the crib all through the night all by herself. As you can see, she is surrounded by her favorite things; the cow -- which makes her "mooooo," the Daddy Kisses book (Thank you Lainey) -- which is the last book we read every night, and her Sleep Sheep (Thank you Tuoc) -- which calms her, no matter her mood (even though she used to fight it, she has grown to love it).

Peek a Boo?

Bay to Breakers

We went to watch the Bay to Breakers Race (the oldest/longest running race in the U.S. - 98 years or something), but they run from the bay all the way to the ocean. It is a unique race in that it has attracted a variety of people with a variety of costumes or lack thereof. So, since this is a family blog, I opted to leave out the most interesting pictures and will allow you to google that for yourselves. You will find plenty of video and pictures to get a sense of the spirit of the race and why it is so interesting to watch....

...obviously the adults enjoyed it more than our kids.

(Ava got to play frisbee with her new friend Nick -- so afterwards, she just watched him adoringly -- she is so easy to win over these days)

Ava also enjoyed being outside and sitting in the grass with her friend Mimi (just as long as there was "no sand on the dress")

The race ended, so we decided to load up and head to the beach, where the party continued...

it was actually warm enough to step into the water, which was nice. This is Ava's first willing and intentional dip into the water (not like that time Lauren let Ava chase the dogs along the shore and then watched a wave knock her down and laughed)

And though she likes sand, she doesn't necessarily like wet sand, especially on her legs...for some reason, she just kept whining until we realized she wanted us to brush off the wet sand from her legs....oh man she's a whiner!

But of course, nothing like dogs to help turn that frown upside down, she chased this dog all up and down the beach, giggling up a storm.....it's a shame we can't get a dog.


She must have been exhausted because I rocked her for maybe 3 minutes before she was out and stayed out for nearly 2 hours. We live for these afternoons.

Life is Good....

A FUN, FREE festival in Golden Gate Park

http://www.lifeisgood.com/festivals/2009-festivals-locations/san-francisco-festival.aspx

There was this huge parachute thing, where the coordinators were trying to get the kids to lift it up and down, but quickly found out that the kids would rather have the parents do the parachute waving while they ran wild on top of it....

then she chased the world

but one is never good enough

then after taking a "joy" pledge, Ava was given a "Joy Ball" of her own to play with

Mommy did not dress Ava up quite warm enough for this event....poor thing

Late 15 month visit update

Mommy accidentally scheduled Ava's 15 month check up a little late, due to all of the other doctor's appointments we've been running around to.......oopsy.....so here's the summary:

Ava is 29" which I think means she grew 1/2" from the last visit

she weighs in at a whopping 18 lbs 4 ounces which is up from an even 17 lbs (but this is actual weight and not the way we did it last time where Mommy had to weigh in with baby)

She had 3 shots and so far no reaction, but the pox could get to her for up to 6 weeks

Oh and the shots make her cry, but for some reason the stethoscope seemed to make her freak out the most, so the doctor recommended that we get her a play set so that she won't be so anxious on the upcoming visits, especially considering Mommy's anxiety level at the next appointments. So, if anyone has a recommendation of cute doctor's play sets, I'd love to hear.....

And although Ava is doing well, her daddy was not.....he thought he had the swiney flu, but the doctor did not think so. He was on bed rest for 3 days and we tried to keep him quarantined, but he managed to steal a hug from Ava.

After a long struggle, she finally gave in, I hope Daddy thinks it's worth it, when his little one comes down with whatever it is that he has......
Hard to pick out the baby, isn't it???

Mother's Day Weekend!

She's improving her self-feeding skills every day

And luckily, meals have become less messy,

but it was a long road with many, many bumps

The weather was nice and sunny, just a little windy

Then Ava and Daddy took mama to a BIG Brunch

then for some IKEA fun
(Jon thinks that chair with the orange cover would be perfect as a "time-out" chair, he says all it needs is a lock.....hmmm....what do you think?)

Then mama got her dessert slurpee for a walk along the beach during sunset....a sweet ending to a peaceful, loving weekend.

Thank you all for the Happy Wishes and
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL Y'ALL!!

California Academy of Sciences

She enjoyed the display of monkeys,

but then she saw the live lizard and that was much more entertaining.

She has become quite the climber, she kept trying to figure out how she could get to those zebra, while her calm little 2 year old friend sat so well-behaved and content.

She was finally tired from running around....I am a good mom, huh?

Finally, we've regained some of our sanity!

Okay, I know this sounds crazy, but we are just barely getting Ava into her own crib at night (on a consistent basis) and keeping her there all night. We've had a full week of peace after 8:30ish and she usually gets up around 6am for breakfast with Daddy, then a nap quickly thereafter. I feel completely relieved because with the new one coming, we were wondering how the heck we were going to fit two babies in our bed? Hahahaha....

She usually starts out like this....

and ends up like this.

Jon and I both agree, there is nothing more beautiful than this peaceful sight (other than Lauren sleeping in a crib)

Around the 5th night, she always gets pretty rowdy, so by this picture we can tell she was standing up in the crib before she slid down and fell asleep (this isn't as bad as when she would fall asleep slumped over in a sit/standing position).

She is getting used to the routine, now that she is starting to really understand the stories we read to her, I think bed time is becoming more enjoyable for her. When we told her it was bed time, she used to run to our room, and on this night she finally ran into her room. But when she arrived, she realized what she had done and looked up at us, with the most pathetic puppy dog face, and started to whimper. Jon and I stood strong and put her in bed and read her two stories and she barely let out a whine at the end when we left the room.

SUCCESS!