How a load (or 5) of laundry almost gave me a heart attack.

Last week, I was home one day with both girls because they were sick with strep throat. You wouldn't know it from the following pictures. While they were having "quiet time" I thought it might be a good time to catch up on my never ending pile of laundry. Why on earth I thought this, I have no idea. Folding the laundry with these 2 around has never really been successful, as you can see below.

Within minutes of setting the basket down, chaos ensued. They (yes, Ava too!) ripped the clothes out of the basket and Ava climbed right in. Excellent. Just the kind of activity the doctor ordered for a child who just got out of a body cast for a broken femur.

Ava soon lost interest in the laundry and moved on to the toy room. Natalie, on the other hand, thought it would be a fantastic idea to flip the laundry basket upside down and use it to jump into the pile of laundry. Hmmm...lemme think about that. Ummm, no. No. No. Natalie, I said no. (And I roared my terrible roars and gnashed my terrible teeth. She didn't like that very much). And she stopped jumping into the laundry pile.

I'm standing next to the laundry basket and about 30 seconds later I hear this giggling and turn to find THIS:
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OF COURSE this isn't the exact position I found her in. I got a firm grasp on her before I yelled out to Jeff that he should most DEFINITELY get the camera for this one. OH. EM. GEE. This child is going to send me to an early grave. Oh she was so proud of herself! And man, she was quick - and stealthy! And poised to JUMP! Monkey see, monkey do, right?

Just look at the look of satisfaction on that lil' stinkers face!! She knows exactly what she did!! "Hey Mom, whaddya expect? I gotta make up for lost time!"

And she's not kidding.

In addition to her laundry basket climbing escapades that day, I can also share with you her dishwasher climbing escapades as well.  Luckily I was right next to the camera to take pictures and Jeff was right next to Ava...to save her.  I swear if there weren't dishes already in there, she would have climbed RIGHT inside. 

Why won't she just SLEEP?!

These kiddos of ours. They just don't realize how freaking good they have it.  They can take a nap WHENEVER THEY WANT!!!  They can go to bed as early as they want.  They can sleep in as late as they want.  But for some reason, Ava just does not want to sleep.

She has always been a tough sleeper since she was about 8 weeks old.  She didn't sleep through the night until she was about 7 months old.  And even then there were nights with multiple wakings.  And she just fights her naps - or takes just 45 minute naps.  A stark difference from Natalie who took 2 solid naps a day (2 hours!! EACH!) and slept 12 hours straight at night.  And slept through the night by the time she was 12 weeks old.  Even now, at 3 and a half years old she STILL takes up to 3 hour naps! (Although not as frequently as she used to!) 

Since Ava's accident and her stay in the hospital, she has been less than interested in sleeping.  I thought naps were a struggle before...HA!  And that easy baby that always went to bed...right at bedtime?  GONE.  As I type this, Ava is going on 1 1/2 hours of crying/yelling since she went to bed.  But she was TIRED!  Rubbing her eyes and yawning, TIRED!  All I can think of is that she just doesn't expend enough energy with this cast on.  Last night she cried for an hour before going to sleep.  The night before she was up, screaming from midnight-3am.  This kid REALLY doesn't want a younger sibling someday!! 

In good news...she has been great at the babysitter so far!  YAY!

On the bri

Some good news today :)

Not related to Ava, but the Natalie-monster.

We went to visit Dr. John today because just after Christmas, Natalie had to be rechecked for her VUR.  They do that through a renal ultrasound and super fun (**insert sarcasm here**) test called a VCUG. 

The good news is that her VUR has decreased from a Level 2 in both ureters to a Level 1 in only 1 ureter!  YAY!  That means she will most likely outgrow it.  She will have to have another VCUG in 18 months, but we'll deal with that when we get there.

Ava had a good morning!  She also had an appointment with Dr John just so he could take a look at her.  I really appreciate that he wanted to see her and talk to us for himself.  He's so involved in the girls' healthcare and you can tell he cares so much about his patients!  Some doctors just don't care and would just take the report from the hospital and move on. 

I think Ava was really excited to get out of the house.  She barely even cried when she was dropped off at the sitter, which is GREAT!  She's been having separation anxiety for the past month or so.  I hope she enjoys being with the other kids.  Natalie had a really tough time at drop off - she didn't want me to go to work AT ALL.  Just breaks my heart into a million and ten pieces!!!  The poor thing has had me home for 3 weeks - what a tease, right?  Maybe I'll be home more, someday.  :)

Here's hoping that the day went well at the sitter and that Ava sleeps better than she did last night!  She decided to scream last night from midnight until 3am.  Maybe longer.  I think 3am is the last time I remember opening my eyes.  Until Natalie came in our room at 4:45am announcing to us that she threw up.  We have yet to detect any signs of throw up in her room, or ours.  She climbed into bed with us and went back to bed.  8pm bedtime for me tonight!

Tomorrow will be 1 week...

Hard to believe that tomorrow will be 1 week since Ava got her cast on. One week ago today is when she fell. Still having a hard time believing that this is really our life right now!! It feels so surreal.

First of all, I need to thank all of the special people in our lives that have helped us. My Mom came on Thursday morning and has been a godsend. I was really getting into a funk and she has helped me come out of it. And she makes it look so easy to take care of all of us!! And I'm so happy she is coming back next weekend, along with my sister. I'm really looking forward to that!

I'd also like to thank Jeff's Mom and Dad, Gary and Sue. They helped take care of Natalie while we were in the hospital and helped us out a ton when we got home from the hospital. Uncle Steve and Aunt Sara sent us a yummy welcome home gift too!!

A big thank you to our wonderful friends and neighbors. Wow, I feel really lucky to have all of them in our lives. Michelle and Enza brought us a super yummy dinner, Jessica made us a fantastic chicken noodle soup, Jen brought us chicken, mashed potatoes, and biscuits, Carolin and Boris sent us an edible arrangement while we were in the hospital, and Maansi hosted a girls night on Thursday to help get my mind off of everything. On top of that, Michelle and Maansi also took care of Natalie for us when we took Ava to the ER - THANK YOU!! Everyone has offered to take Natalie ANYTIME we need it. And another HUGE thank you to Michelle, she has helped us out with getting Natalie to and from preschool, brought us MORE food (chicken pot pie!), has had Natalie over to play, AND came up with the idea to use her backpack to cart Ava around in. THANK YOU!!!!

I'd also like to thank my friends Jenessa, Dana, and Sheila for the care packages they've sent to us - filled with lots of special treats for Ava and Natalie!! And thank you to everyone for all of the kind words, messages, and prayers to get us through this. We are humbled by the kindness, support, and generosity everyone has shown us.

Ava is doing pretty well considering most of her body is in a cast!! We are all finally adjusting to our new "normal." It has been tough...and I think the next few weeks will still continue to be tough. I just hope it goes by FAST! Ava has been in pretty decent spirits, however her fuse is SHORT! She gets frustrated easily - can't blame her! As long as we keep her busy, she's good. Yesterday my Mom and Jeff took her outside in the backpack and went snowshoeing. She LOVED it. We're going to try to get her out for a walk as often as we can. We also bought a bean bag chair (who even knew they still made those?!) for her to sit in and she really seems to like that. She is also starting to get mobile. She's trying to figure out how to crawl, she's getting good at going backwards and sideways and she's great at rolling over.

She is SOOOOO heavy with her cast. Makes it hard for me to carry her around for any length of time. Diaper changes are getting less challenging, but her cast is starting to get a little stinky. :( Oh and her cast is rubbing on her hip really badly and it looks like she's getting some bad chaffing. We go visit our pediatrician tomrorow, so I am hoping he'll have some suggestions for us. If not, we go to see the orthopedic clinic on Friday.

Enjoying her new chair.  Oh and did I mention we bought her a bazillion new toys too?? 

Getting ready for her walk!

More pictures...day 6

Nice hair.

Ugh, Mom, enough with the pictures!!

Daddy has had enough of the pictures too.

Day 5 in a cast.

A new ride.

Watching The Lion King.  Well, Natalie was.

Yet another mode of transportation!!!

Enough pictures!!

Ava, Day 3 with the cast

This is how I roll.

Cheesy smile!  Enjoying fruit from Aunt Sara and Uncle Steve

Big sister trying to entertain Ava!

Cheesy face again - happy for french fries!

Picture of Ava in the hospital

Ava in the hospital.  Bad picture, taken with camera phone!

My Little Model

Ava had her picture taken back in July for commercial photographer Rhea Anna.  Look at this beautiful picture!  I will certainly treasure this!

http://www.rheaanna.com/

I know I shouldn't encourage her...

But she was just so stinking CUTE while pushing on the screen.

Mom, are you freaking KIDDING?

Well, that's what it looks like she's thinking!! Sorry Ava!

YAY! Ava pooped on the potty! Well...not really. Not in the "potty training" sense. But she did poop in the potty! She's been gracing us (Jeff) with a bowel movement during bath on a pretty regular basis lately. So we decided it was time to see if she'd at least get it in the potty.

When Natalie was this age, she was doing the same thing. So, we tried sitting her on the potty and it worked! Within a few weeks she was consistently pooping on the potty either before or after the bath. I know people thought we were crazy (I know our pediatrician did!!) but I really think it helped with REAL potty training when Natalie was a little older.

Oh Ava...

You are going to be the death of me! This child is into EVERY.THING. And she thinks it is hilarious. She scoots up the stairs the second your head is turned - looks over her shoulder with a devilish grin, cracks up, and scurries up the stairs as fast as she can. She finds anything and everything that is on the floor and instantly puts it in her mouth. She is going to be my handful. Silly me!! I thought it would be my 3 year old!

Just look at her expression. You can tell she's up to no good!

Getting into the garbage can. Greaaaaat.

I wish I had gotten a better picture of this. I was unloading the dishwasher. I set her in front of this toy bin MAYBE 1 minute prior to me finding her like this. Of course I HAD to take a picture before I rescued her. LOL!!!!!! I cannot believe she actually climbed into the toy bin...and then got stuck.

She was none too happy when I pulled her out of the toy bin, so she decided to start chucking her toys all over the place. And this all happened before lunch. I'm tired.

I needed this.

After a craptastic day...my sweet husband thought he'd make breakfast for dinner. Super French Toast topped with Whip Cream.
















Only...you need CREAM to make whipped cream. Jeff thought he'd try to make it out of whole milk.





FAIL.










Ava wasn't impressed.


And Natalie was very concerned that Daddy was messing up her dinner. Such a little helper. Sort of.

Wazzzzzzzzzuuuuup?????

Talking Ava

Love

Welcome Ava Kathryn!!

Born Tuesday, August 25th at 11:43am via c-section
She was 8lbs 15oz, 20 1/4 inches long

We're so in love!!

Here are some pictures from the hospital photographer!
http://our365.com/NewbornPortraits/BabyDetail.aspx?birthid=9b7d7657-ae80-45ff-b1af-14820f961994