Four Months Old

Wow, already?  Ava you are such a big girl!  You now weigh 15 lbs, are 25 1/2 inches long.  You have gained 9 pounds and grown 7 1/2 inches since you were born!  You sleep on average nine hours a night and I couldn’t be happier.  Now you only cat nap during the day with the longest nap being 1 hour in length but I’m not complaining! Your giggle is contagious and you are SO ticklish!  Every morning when I change you, when I go to lift your shirt over your head you just start giggling!  Anytime I reach for your neck you just start to laugh and it cracks me up!  You really are a happy baby just so sweet and giggly.  You love to talk all the time and you have such a silly little voice.  You reach these high notes and just smile the whole time.

You do however, have three distinct cries: hungry, tired and hurt.  The hurt cry usually comes when you pull your own hair or your brother is a little too rough.  The hungry cry comes out of no where.  You are not shy about letting us know when it is time to eat and that time is NOW!  The tired cry is more a whimper, not too big.  The issue with your cries is you are very dramatic. The second you wind up the tears start to flow.  I can only assume this is a glimpse into the future.  Flash forward fifteen years to you shopping at the mall and you want something.  You will glance at your Daddy with those big blue eyes full of tears and he will cave.  Who wouldn’t? You roll around on your playmat, not quite rolling over yet but side to side and back and forth.  You do roll from your tummy to your back and you let me know when you are done with tummy time, make no mistake about that! You have such great head control and like to sit in your bumbo and look around.  You know Michael’s voice and look for him when he enters the room. 

You reach for everything that you can and get so frustrated when you can’t pick it up, but you are getting better!  The best new development is your faces.  You make such funny faces and look at me like I’m crazy sometimes.  I totally believe that you will be able to raise one eyebrow like me and your Nana.  Can’t wait to see it!

Your hair is out of control and I think we will cut it soon, either that or I will start to curl it!  Even though you sometimes wake me up at unspeakable hours, when I go in your room and see your gummy smile, nothing else matters.  I realized the other day while I was holding you that Michael was once your size and now look at him.  You  too will grow up too fast but I’m not going to miss a second.  I love you little one, Happy Four Month Birthday!

Michael Dean

Well my sweet little boy, tomorrow is the first day of your school year as a two year old.  I am so proud of the little man you have become.  You have had quite the growth spurt , shooting up two inches in less than a month.  Thank goodness I have your growth chart hanging up!

You have such a sweet spirit and I adore how you love on your sister, Daddy and me.  You constantly give hugs and kisses without anyone asking for them.  I’ve gotten myself in a bit of trouble because everything I see in the store that I think you will like I can’t pass up!  I just love to see you happy!  The good news is that it doesn’t take much to make you smile. 

Your favorite game right now is chase, you being the chaser.  You look at me with a twinkle in those big brown eyes and say “chase Mommy”!  How can I resist?  I have found that I laugh more than you do when we are running around the house.  Your vocabulary is still ridiculous, you repeat everything.  Uncle Craig said New Braunfels at dinner Wednesday and you repeated it perfectly. 

You tell Daddy to be careful when he leaves for work and when he comes home you say “Miss you all day long”!  You won’t go to sleep unless we read and say our prayer and you have to give us multiple kisses.  Thank you for reminding me to live in the moment and appreciate every second we have.  I love you very much sweet boy and am excited about what this year will bring.  Enjoy your last summer night sweet pea!

Last trip of the Summer

I don’t know why I said last trip since we spent most of the summer avoiding the heat with baby Ava.  Either way, we had fun going down to League City to see the grandparents and luckily, Matt, Bitt Bitt, Quinn and Nash were there too!

Our first order of business was to see Grandmother.  She hadn’t seen Ava since she was two months old.  Granted, it was only a month later but you know how much babies change in a day!  It was fun to have Michael visit with Gigi and get his little sticky finger prints on all of her glass furniture.  She didn’t mind though, in fact she left them there!

The next day we headed to the beach with Mamalu and Lulu.  I was worried it would be too hot, but there was a storm in the gulf which made everything cooler.  Michael loved the water and mostly playing in the sand.  It was fun going down slides with him and floating down the lazy river.  Ava just took it all in stride as usual.  Laying in the sand. (don’t worry, plenty of sunscreen and a beach umbrella were used!)     Saturday, exhausted from the beach we just rested most of the day and waited for Quinn and Nash to arrive.  Sunday we got to hear Matt preach again and then after much needed naps we got to visit with Uncle Ron.  It was so good to see him, we sure do miss visiting with him.   

Sunday night we headed for the Kemah Boardwalk but first had to stop by the Swamp Shack for some amazing crawfish/hamburgers.  It was awesome.  The boys had fun running on the boardwalk and riding the train.  Once again, Ava just went along for the ride, taking in all the sights and sounds.

Sadly we had to leave on Monday but not before getting a picture of PawPaw and his grandbabies.  It was so fun spending time with family and I wish we all lived closer.  At least we have these memories to get us through until the next time. 

Three Months Old

As hard as it is to believe Ava, you are already three months old.  You are growing like crazy, so much faster than I expected!  Your hair is also growing at rapid pace, I think you have thicker hair than I do!  You coo and razz a lot but the cutest thing you have started to do is giggle.  Your little laugh is so hilarious, it is such a deep throaty laugh.  The first time I heard you laugh, your PawPaw had you.  I don’t know what you were laughing at but you just couldn’t stop!  I have tried to video you laughing over and over but finally Lulu and Mamalu had you laughing and I got it!

You aren’t my super great sleeper lately but I can’t complain.  How can I when I go in your room and you immediately flash me that gummy smile and coo, I just love you so much. You are such a happy little girl the only time you fuss is when you are hungry and then you mean business.  You have a very dramatic cry and tears are immediate. I can only assume it only get more interesting as you get older.(I couldn’t resist this picture.  I think you will be able to do the eyebrow thing like me!)

You are my sweet little girl and I am so blessed that God chose me for your Mommy.  I promise that I know what a gift you are and I will always cherish you.

SeaWorld

 It has been a while since my brother’s family and mine have been together.  We have had two babies since the last time we did something together!  So, when Matt was asked to preach at a church nearby, we jumped at the chance to get together.  So what else is there to do in 103 degree heat?  Nothing but head to SeaWorld.  I have to say once again that I have a new found respect for all the times my parents packed us up and headed to some sort of amusement park.  It took a lot of preparation and sunscreen but one look on Michael’s face at the sight of Shamu and it was totally worth it. 

It was so sweet to watch Quinn and Michael all day long, like long lost buddies.  They were so sweet together and it made me realize we don’t get together often enough.  Ava was such a trooper, sleeping through most of the day, waking long enough to eat and take a dip in the Bay of Play.  And Nash, well that little boy is just a ball of sweet droll and fun.  I think he has fun no matter where he goes!     

Michael was so excited to see Elmo and Cookie Monster on stage that when the music was over he ran right up to them and gave them hugs!  No fear this little one he was just too excited! I know my parents were as exhausted as we were when we finally headed for home.  Ava slept all night long until about 8 am!  It was such an experience and I am so glad we could spend it together, even if the dolphins were not cooperating.  I think one of my favorite moments was when Michael saw Shamu jump out of the water.  He kept doing the hand sign for more over and over.  Don’t worry Michael, there will be lots more to come!