What To Do When You're Sick

After almost a full week of being home-bound and sick with the stomach bug, I can say we used our time indoor wisely and made the most of it. There were a few days where we just had to lie in bed, watch tv and snuggle because Aves was just too weak to really do anything. Case and point, the picture below is of Ava cuddled up on the hard, wood floor just to lie down. So sad. Once we got past the throwing up, she was ready to do things. She chose to paint first and foremost.

We played games, including abc's, memory/matching game, hide and seek (umm, she hid in the closet and mommy was stumped and/or panicked for a GOOD five minutes.

We baked and cooked. Here is Ava mixing the blueberry sour cream coffee cake.

Then, she requested popcorn. Since we didn't have any microwave popcorn, we easily made our own, using a recommendation from my new favorite book, Eat This Not That. This was a highlight for her. We waited for the oil to get hot and the listened for the kernels to pop. Once we heard the popping, I lifted the lid only to (obviously) have popcorn flying out all over the place. She thought this was hilarious.

Oh, and yes, I know this is a choking hazard. She is very well supervised during consumption.

Or, you can play in a box. For hours.

We are all healthy again and don't wish that virus on anyone. Whew, we made it!

Visiting the Zoo with Grandma

We were lucky enough to meet up with Grandma a few weekends ago at the OKC Zoo for Mother's Day. It was such a thrilling time for everyone involved to see a 2 year old run all about seeing animals come to life that she normally sees in a book. Thanks for meeting us Grandma!

The gorilla was right up by the glass and really liked it when Ava gently put her hand on the glass.

Perhaps the most fascinating animals were the giraffes! Ava and her twin.

Ava and mommy.

She loved watching the sea otters jump in and out of the water and swim around.

Taking in the vastness of the huge black bear.

Our little gorilla.

3 Generations.

Is that an elephant? I really can't tell.

Summer (...er...Spring) is here!

With our temperatures in the 90's last week, of course we had to get outside and cool down. We've actually played a few other times in the sprinkler already this year, but this was our first documented sprinkler event.

Playing in the sprinkler is definitely one of Ava's top 3 "happy places". She puts all of herself into it and just runs, plays, laughes, jumps and screams. Oh! And makes silly faces.

She looks like such a little girl in this picture. I'm lovin the ponytail.

Catching a Different Kind of Bug

The STOMACH bug!

From Daddy.

I've never seen her vomit before.

Until this morning.

So sad.

Her First Face

Yes, some more artwork by Ava....

Only this time, it is something discernible. She sat down at her Magna-Doodle (the best thing EVER invented) and drew a giant circle,

Ava: "Nook! A face!"

Mommy: "Wow! That IS a face! Can you draw eyes?" Of course I never expected her to do this, I was just showing an interest in her artwork.

Ava: Draws one eye and then ANOTHER. In the right place.

Mommy: looks over at Daddy to make sure I'm not seeing things. We are both appalled. "Can you draw a nose?"

Ava: Draws a nose. "I draw a nose".

Mommy: ::thinks this is crazy:: "Okay, now draw a mouth."

Ava: Draws a mouth. "There a mouth. I draw some hair." And there you have it....Ava's first FACE! We were so proud of her!

Things I Love about Ava at 2 years, 2 months

1. I love hearing words like "probably", "uncomfortable" and "refreshing" come out of her little mouth.

2. I love when she replies to something nonchalantly, "sure". Example, "Ava, do you want to go outside?". She shrugs her shoulders, "Sure!", so as to let me know not to even give it a second thought.

3. I love when she holds her baby and rocks her back and forth and I see her kiss the top of her baby's head. LOVE this.

4. I love that she insists on doing everything the "big girl" way. Apparently big girls eat cereal straight out of the box. I've tried to inform her that big girls, in fact, eat from a bowl. She'll have none of that.

5. I love how serious she is and always has been. When she focuses, boy, does she focus on something. Things like coloring and 'going to the grocery store' (what she likes to pretend) require a lot of concentration.

6. I love that she is 98% her daddy in her looks, but has just as much Mommy in personality! I know exactly where she gets her seriousness, because as she draws those faces on paper, I see myself in her. I would stick my tongue out in concentration, too, for I wanted it to be perfect.

7. I love how other children seemed to be "obsessed" (not MY word, just that I've been told) with her and she couldn't care less. She does not like to be center of attention and doesn't eat it up at all.

8. I love the look on her face when she goes pee-pee in the potty! She is sooo proud of herself! As are we!

9. I love when she sings along to songs in the car. I love when she sings in her crib at night and nap. I love when she sings.

10. I love listening to her on the monitor. She'll have full conversations with her babies, give them names, and role play. It's too cute!

Formula for a Mess!

Toddler + Silence = MESS!

Ava was in her room playing as I was cooking one afternoon, nothing out of the ordinary. But, kind of like the Permanent Marker incident, it was TOO quiet. I went in to find all of her babies, Curious George and two bears borrowed from Abs (sorry Aunt Jill) getting "diaper changes", with wipes and diaper cream, the whole works!

I could only get pictures of her baby so as to not let her think that I thought it was funny for fear it might happen again. I just had to explain that they have fur and not skin, so diaper cream can't be put on animals like it can be put on us.

Well, this confused her because, as she insisted, "my baby have skin". I tried to go into a plastics explanation, but it was a bit much.

These pictures don't do the mess justice, like I said, I didn't capture the full spectrum of diaper cream on babies and animals bottoms, eyes and noses.

Gymnastics Parent's Day

Ava had SUCH. A. BLAST. showing off for Daddy at Gymnastics. She literally ran around like a mad woman showing him each and every thing she has learned. We are so thankful that we found Kim because Ava has learned so much.

Flying. Running.

Twirling.

Jumping.

Climbing.

Splitting.

Hanging (and trying to pull her feet up).

Rolling.

Showing.

Bouncing.

Crawling.

Balancing.

Concentrating.

Waiting.

Ta-Da-ing
Smiling.

So proud.

Happy Mother's Day

I can't believe it's my THIRD Mother's Day! What a special weekend we had! Spending Saturday with Grandma at the zoo and Sunday with Gigi and Poppy.

I am so proud and thankful for my little girl, she makes me the happiest woman on the planet.

I was so lucky to wake up next to Ava this Mother's Day and she literally threw her arms around me and said, "Happy Mother's Day, Mommy, I love you. Happy Birthday."

I'm in love.

"The Best Party EVER!"

Ava: "Mommy, come see the best party EVER!" Aves and Daddy had a blast setting this up.

Bug Collecting

So she isn't that "into" picking up bugs, but she fascinated by looking at and collecting them. The best we could get were roly poly's and that was great by her. She also enjoyed added leaves, dirt and rocks to her collection.

I had to add this because she insisted on sleeping in this shirt, a souvenir from Mommy and Daddy's trip to Mexico last year, and woke up wanting to wear it again. She also wanted her hair in a pony tail and of course, had to wear the boots. Love the look, Aves! Seriously, I do.

Choo Choo Train

Thanks to Hannah for recommending her favorite choo choo train. We just new it was something that we would enjoy also and sure enough, we still have requests to return to it.

Aves insisted on wearing her cowgirl hat, as you can see. Here she is with Daddy walking up to the train. She loved watching the conductor and thought is was the neatest thing the she shouted "All Aboard!" when we left. Mommy's back there somewhere. Ava's look of contained excitement.

Eager little girl ready to get the show on the road.

Her favorite, favorite part....the tunnel.

All done. She's wanting to go again.

Building Houses

Ava is really into building houses, as she calls them. She loves to help and often comes up with creative ideas on how to build them with blankets, pillows, stuffed animals, etc. Here is her very first house.

Note the built-in kitchen and chick chair. It has everything a girl needs.