ZOO

A few weeks ago, on a super nice day, we took Ava to the Zoo for the very first time! She absolutely loved it! Her favorite animals were the elephants - her eyes were huge when she saw them...she asked to hold one of them. ;) She also liked the hippo named Sue, the tiger that she called Rajah (from Aladdin), and the monkey family we saw.

If you look closely, you'll see how Ava was going, "ROARRRR!", referring to the sound a lion makes.

My sister, Kelly went with us. We wouldn't have braved it without her.

We were fearful that Elise would have a bad day but she did great. We came prepared with a baby carrier and umbrella for shade.
Ava had fun at the petting zoo they had. One of the goats was a little too excited for the feed and kind of surprised Ava at first.

Across from the zoo they had this train you could ride arond Gage Park. I'm sure it has a name but I don't recall. Ava liked it so much she didn't want to get off. I think she was just tired. She almost fell asleep on me during the ride.

Overall, it was a great experience. I had never been to the Topeka Zoo but really liked it. It's smaller, cheaper, has more shade and is easier to get around with small chidren. Just right for us!

new favorite food

We recently discovered Ready Rice by Uncle Ben's. You just microwave them for 90 seconds and they're done. I like giving Ava rice with her lunch - who wants to get out pots and pans at lunchtime...not this girl! I also love that I'm giving her brown rice and it tastes good. (I'm ignoring the fact that it probably has lots of sodium) Our favorites so far are: Chicken Whole Grain Brown Rice and Rice Pilaf. I'm not a fan of the kind with cheese in it.

My Little Gardener

Ava happily helped me pick out and plant some flowers in our garden. She especially liked using the shovel and squirt bottle. She's not a big fan of dirt and was found wiping her dirty hands on the grass after every planting.
It was nice to have some Mommy-Ava time while Daddy watched Elise.
One funny note about the squirt bottle is that Ava and I have sort of a deal with it. I let her squirt me, even in the face, with it -if she'll let me squirt her hair so I can make it curly.

laughing all the way

I hit a milestone today: BOTH KIDS SCREAMING AT ONCE IN PUBLIC. This happened at Hobby Lobby while checking out. Ava was screaming because she wanted to walk and not have mommy hold her. (mommy tried letting Ava walk but Ava got into everything and wouldn't listen...so sad.) Elise was crying because Ava's screaming woke her up from her pleasant slumber. All I could do was laugh and hurry out of there.

Yay List

I need to add a new yay list:

1. Yay for 100 posts on blogger. It took me a whole year.
2. Yay for Elise sleeping really well at night. Typically, she sleeps at least 8 hours in one chunk.
3. Yay for making my first outing alone w/both kids to Target. Ava was actually more challenging because she kept wanting to stand up in the cart - her newfound freedom was too exciting. (Question: why don't more carts have 2 seaters? So far, I've only seen 2 seaters at Costco - it wouldn't be that hard, really!)
4. Yay for planting some flowers this weekend. It's nice to add some beauty and color to your surroundings. It's also kind of fun to play in the dirt.
5. Yay for the zoo. We made a trip last weekend to the zoo. Ava L-O-V-E-D it. Chris thought it would be a lot of fun so we did it. Elise, thankfully, did well. Yay for my sister Kelly coming with us and yay for eating at Olive Garden afterwards.
6. Yay for a break from vomit! (see previous posts)
7. Yay for a family nap and walk today...not at the same time that is.
8. Yay for finally putting up dark curtains in our room to block out that morning sun...5:30 sunrise - you've got to be kidding me! Plus, Elise sleeps in our room and thinks it's time to wake up.
9. Yay for cherries. Hadn't had fresh ones in a while until today.
10. Yay for two sweet little girls and a great husband who takes such good care of us!

BUZZ, BUZZ

I think we're finally over the vomit bug...but I have to share one more vomit story for all of your reading pleasure.

--Needing to get out of the house Wednesday, and thinking Ava was all better, my sister and I and kids picked up Daddy from work and went to eat lunch at the HyVee salad bar. As we were walking in, I was talking to Ava about her new shoes because she was acting like they hurt. She started whining, "Momma" and "Ughhh" - I immediately knew this was the vomit cue. I grabbed her and hurried as fast as I could to get her outside. We didn't make it. She threw up right at the threshold of the entrance. I did get her second round in the trash can. We just happened to have extra clothes in the car, which we never do...so I picked her up and carried her to the bathroom to clean-up. As I was walking through the produce department, carrying her "bucket" style, trying not to get any more throw up on myself - Ava, in a peppy voice says, "BUZZ -BUZZ". I think I muttered something like, "huh?" And she said, "Look Momma! A BEE!". She had just seen a mylar balloon in the shape of a bee and this was all she needed to perk up out of her feeling yucky.

--We survived and did stay for lunch anyway. As we were leaving HyVee, walking out the door, Ava noticed the trash can and said, "I frew up there." Yes, yes, you did.

the last couple of days

...have not been fun!
Ava woke up Sunday morning throwing up for several hours, then Monday Chris comes home from work throwing up, Elise then starts throwing up Monday evening, then after being okay all day Monday, Ava wakes up late Monday night and was throwing up all day today. YUCK!

I'm so glad I'm not sick! (yet). Elise didn't throw up at all today and neither did Chris so we're hoping we're on the mend at our house. UPDATE: As I was writing this, Elise threw up! Chris thinks it's because he didn't burp her. Who knows!

On to another topic: So I'm feeling like I could really use a break, a date, something - but I have this feeling that I'm the only one who can really watch Elise. I left Ava with family and even friends when she was Elise's age (8wks). I just feel like Elise is a more challenging baby or that she is high needs. For instance, she has to be swaddled in order to settle her down when she gets really upset, etc. (The 5 S's are super important for those who follow the Happiest Baby stuff).

So what should I do? I just fear that I leave Elise with someone (even her own Daddy or my family) and she cries and cries and they can't soothe her. On the other hand, maybe I need to just break through these feelings and let someone watch her. (I've let a few people watch her for very short periods). Is this normal or am I being too controlling/anxious, etc...?

8 Years Ago

Happy Anniversary, Chris!
We don't have any big plans for our anniversary...other than watching Heroes tonight. I'm hoping we can work out a way to catch a movie one evening coming up. I'm ready for a little time away from the kiddos. :)

Is this normal?

Is this normal or am I losing it?

At any given time, I can stop what I'm doing and will think or imagine that I'm hearing my baby crying.

The things she says...

Ava has said some pretty funny or cute things lately. Here's a sampling:

1. Daddy walked by her high chair while she was eating and said, "Mmmm, pizza!" Ava put her hand out in front of her and said, "No, Swiping!" (Those of you who have seen Dora the Exlporer will recognize the no swiping part).

2. Daddy dropped us Ava and I off at Kohl's the other night and he ran inside of Old Navy. Ava and I came out of Kohl's and I started looking around to the parking lot to see if Chris was ready or still shopping. I didn't say anything but started walking towards Old Navy. Ava looked around and said, "Where's Daddy?" then immediately said, "My Daddy's Lost" in the most worried tone. (We've been reading the Little Critter books and one of the stories is called, Just Lost.) We of course found Daddy at Old Navy.

3. Ava likes it when the disney characters get married. I got out our wedding album and showed Ava how Mommy and Daddy got married too. She saw Daddy dressed up and said, "A prince." Then, Mommy was the "princess". The cutest part was when she saw a picture of the temple we were married in (St. Louis) and said, "Look, Mommy's castle!"

4. "Bye People", "Bye Everybody" - things Ava said leaving garage sales last weekend. ;) She also kept asking, "More garage sales??".

5. A couple of weeks ago, Ava came to me out of the blue, gave me a hug and said, "I love you, Mommy".

A New "Normal"

We're finally feeling like we're adjusting to our new "normal". Elise feels like such an important part of family - we're so happy to have her. She's also been smiling for us just a little which is so much fun. We still have our challenges but all in all we're getting back in gear...case in point - we're talking about how to improve our lawn and what to do with investing, etc. instead of baby this, baby that.
Hangin' with Dad. Ahhh...boy do I like this picture...for many reasons...mainly because my arms were free for a few savored minutes of mommy time.
Tummy time. BTW-Elise is still doing a great job sleeping at night! She slept from 9-5 the other night! Yippee.

Listen to this...

For those of you who know my sister Heidi - you know that she is a talented singer. Here is a recording of her singing from Sunday. She's the soloist.

http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=adelheide8

(Monday, May 7th entry)

The Good and the Gross

First, the GROSS!

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/07/spiderboy.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Now, the GOOD!
This was exactly what I needed to hear.

http://www.lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,49-1-690-13,00.html

Zzzz...

Last night Elise (6 wks tomorrow) slept from 9:30-4:30, (7 hrs), then again from 5:30-8:30, (3 more hrs).
I'm fully expecting this to be a fluke but will enjoy the fact that I, myself, got 8 hours of sleep last night.
I needed it too. Before I went to bed, in my prayers I mentioned how tired I was and that I needed either more quality or quantity of sleep.

Shhh...Shhh...

We went over to our friend's (Rebecca S. and her daughters Shannon and Erin) house today so Ava could play with the girls and I could pick Rebecca's brain with all of my parenting questions. (Thanks, Rebecca!)

It's so cute - Shannon has named one of her baby dolls Elise. I noticed Ava walking around with baby Elise, holding her close to her face and whispering, "shhhhh...shhhhh..." I thought it was so sweet. She definitely sees Mommy & Daddy (well, mostly mommy), doing that. :D

Sunday and more

Here are my girls snuggled up on Sunday morning. I can't believe Elise is 5 weeks old and Ava will soon be celebrating her 2nd birthday.
This was our first Sunday back at church I was a little anxious because Elise does not do well outside of the house. She screams when we put her in the carseat and is hard to settle down when she gets going. I'm hoping she'll learn to enjoy sleeping in her carseat...I guess we were lucky that Ava didn't mind it when she was a baby.

Things went pretty well. Chris kept an eye on Ava. Elise slept through Sacrament mtg - thank goodness. We ended up helping out in the nursery b/c they were short-handed and had lots of criers. Good thing that didn't last long.
here's Elise in her Sunday dress that I found brand-new at a garage sale before Ava was born for only 50 cents.
The open house for Liz (previous post) was also on Sunday. Here's Elise at the end of our long Sunday.
CHEESE! Here's a pic of Ava and I being silly for the camera. I'm trying to find time to make sure she feels lots of love, It seems the last few days I've had to hold Elise a lot! Let's just say we've had a couple of 2 movie + days.

Open House

Chris' sister, Liz had an open house this Sunday for her new townhouse. Several members of my family were able to attend.

Heidi and her "friend" Luke.

Here's an impromtu family portrait
Here's Gina, Heidi, Luke, William & Liz's boyfriend Shaun. Notice that William was so into his video games that I couldn't get him to look at the camera. :o)


Ava & Aunt Liz
Here's Ava shouting "Hooray" as she jumps out of the ottoman
Here's Gaia, William & Kate...by the way, Gaia is blogging again. I have a link for her under "Kevin & Gaia" now

My Points

www.mypoints.com

My Aunt and her husband have been doing this for a while and have been able to get lots of free giftcards to places. I'm curious to know if anyone else has tried it and what they think.

TV Rundown

Needless to say, we've been watching a lot of TV lately. Here are my reviews/comments for the shows we've been known to DVR (in no particular order). By the way, DVR is the best thing ever! I love being able to pause, rewind and easily record my favorite shows.

1. 24 - We've been watching since Season 1. Only 4 more episodes to go this season.

2. Flip This House - aka "The Real Deal". I like watching the Trademark Propertie episodes with Richard Davis and crew. They are no longer on A&E but are now on TLC as "The Real Deal". They buy real estate, fix it up very quickly and sell for profit. (I also like similar shows: Flip That House, Property Ladder, and Design to Sell.)

3. Scrubs - we just got into this on after Chris borrowed my sister Heidi's Seasons 1-4 DVDs.

4. AI/American Idol. Some seasons we watch -others we don't. We've been watching pretty regularly this season. Last night they did a special "Idol Gives Back" episode. We're donating some $ but I will say it was REALLY weird when Celine Dion did a duet with Elvis...could've done without that. OH, and we totally called it that the "shocking results" would be that no one was sent home.

5. Heroes - IT'S BACK! Finally. This show took over a month's break and is finally back on with only a few more episodes to go. Will they save the world?

6. The Office. Love this show. So funny. If you haven't seen it you should try to check out the previous season dvds to get to know the characters - it's much funnier that way.

7. We also watch the following kids shows: Max & Ruby, Caillou, Bearnstein Bears, and just about anything else on PBS Sprout.

(BE SURE TO SEE MY PREVIOUS POST ON BABY SLEEP! STILL NEED IDEAS! :)

Sleep Help

I'm needing some tips and reminders for how to help a newborn to sleep. Elise tends to do well at night but during the day and early evening is another story. She'll fall asleep and then wake up way too soon (like 15 minutes). I do my best to make sure her needs are met (dry, fed, burped, etc.) but am not having the best of luck.

What has worked for you?

My Letter to Disney

Dear Disney,

Thank you for the endless hours of entertainment you've provided my toddler. Thank you for spurring a love of all things Princess. Thank you for such things as - my daughter singing "I'm wishing..."with the echo from Snow White, my daughter pretending to go to the ball and dance with the prince from Cinderella, pretending to fly like Peter Pan, talking to Mermaid or Nana from Peter Pan on the phone, and her singing the songs: "Hakuna Matata", "A Whole New World", "A Dream is a Wish your Heart Makes", and so on. But most of all, thanks for babysitting my daughter so I can lay down, halfway pass out and get a little bit of R&R. You've helped us through a difficult time.

Please understand that we can no longer watch 2 or 3 of your movies a day. We'll still maybe watch one for now but that is all. Eventually, our relationship will become even more "distant" as I get more energy and start doing a better job of parenting. I hope you'll understand that this day is coming...hopefully soon for I can't let my daughter become a couch potato.

Until then,

Hakuna Matata (and I'll miss you terribly...)

More sister pics

I know I've been complaining and venting about all of the stresses and time adding a second child takes but there are also tender and special moments that make it all worth it. I also have to tell myself that it really isn't that bad. Actually, I think things are going pretty well and almost easier (knock on wood) than the transition from 0 to 1 child. The jury is still out on that one though. :) All in all, life is going on and our learning curve is steep right now but that is how it has to be I've decided. I wouldn't learn much if life was supposed to be easy all of the time. Darn.

The hardest things: keeping the girls safe. I'm so careful never to leave Ava alone with Elise. Good intentions can be dangerous - like Ava trying to feed Elise a cheerio the other day and saying, "Look, Elise eating!" The other hard thing is balancing noise and sleep. We're still working on that.

The easiest things: finding plenty of love for both girls and enjoying the fact that we are so blessed - I get to stay home with my girls and we are all healthy and happy. Oh, and I'm also getting a lot more sleep than I thought I would. Yay for that.

Here are a few pics to be shared:

Ava really likes climbing into the cosleeper in our bed for Elise. This time, she decided to climb in while Elise was still in there (supervised of course). By the way, we LOVE the cosleeper in our bed. She's safe and right there with us.
Ava loves to lay down next to Elise when shes on a blanket. I thought this was a cute pj and oral hygiene photo. I think Ava realizes that Elise sleeps a lot and is in Mommy's arms a lot for feedings, etc - so she has to take the opportunity to steal some awake time for some snuggles.
Had to post this one...3 binkies. Yes, Ava is a binky-lover. She had just had a messy bowl of ice cream too. Notice the bib she is wearing. This was a great find this week. It's an all-over bib which is great for this girl who loves ketchup with everything. We must go through tons of Shout spray.

Crossed one bridge

Pulling out of my driveway today, a toddler and a newborn in tow, I thought to myself, "I can do this"...

I'm craving a sense of normalcy (if that really exists) and feel that if I can get out of the house and survive by myself with two kids - then I'm on that road.

Today didn't really count because it was just a trip to my Mom's house where we visited for a little while and then my sister, Kelly, went with me and the girls to Jason's Deli for lunch and then Kohl's where I bought myself some shoes. That was nice. Oh, and I also had to take Elise to the Dr. because she has thrush...yuck.

Anyway, I'm feeling like life is returning more to normal. Yay. My goal is to call friends and family and get out of the house a few times a week to help us keep sane and enjoy the nice weather.

Two kids - so far so good, well almost

Adding a second child sure has its UPS and DOWNS. Here are a few observations/reflections/lessons learned.

(Views and thoughts are subject to change at any moment due to hormonal fluctuations)

NEGATIVES

1.)There is no easy button for parenting - if only!

2.) I would do almost anything for a magic sleeping wand - just a wave and either my newborn or toddler would be fast asleep

3) Two kids seems like plenty to me - I always thought 3 sounded like a good number but I don't know about that now.

4) Yelling is not an effective parenting tool - esp. just screaming "ahh" at the top of your lungs because you don't know what else to do at said moment...(Ava would NOT go to sleep, Elise was crying and I was super tired - not that that is a legitimate excuse).

5.) I don't like being outnumbered by things needing my help. When Chris is gone - I've got the two girls AND two dogs that seem to bark at the worst moments.

6.) Still don't know how to juggle noise and sleep - how to keep toddler quiet-er when baby is sleeping and baby quiet when toddler is going to bed. Need to find a way to make white noise...

7.) 22 months might just be too close together - What are we going to do when Ava outgrows her crib or learns to climb out?

8.) My regular clothes don't fit me yet and my maternity pants are way too uncomfortable - a guess a life of my comfy pants is what's in store - oh well.

9.) Sickness throws everything off. Ava being sick this weekend and not wanting to sleep in her crib was a nightmare!

10.) Elise screams anytime we put her in her car seat and tends to be a little fussier overall than Ava was.

POSITIVES

1.) We have two beautiful little girls

2.) I can't wait for them to play together and become best friends

3.) Elise sleeps well at night - giving us 3-4 hour stretches

4.) The crappy times make you appreciate the good times. I love the time now that I have when one of my girls is asleep and I can really focus on the other child, snuggling and reading with Ava or rocking and singing to Elise.

5.) I've been able to have more time for myself than I thought I would - this time was recently spent making toddler activities and file folder games for Ava

6.) Family support is great. Major props to my sister, Gina for spending several days over the last few weeks helping us prepare for baby and then helping me last week just to get through. We wouldn't have any clean clothes right now if it weren't for her. THANKS, GINA!

7.) I'm so lucky to have recovered so much more quickly than my last pregnancy. I'm actually starting to feel better than I did my last month or so of pregnancy. One day, I'm hoping I'll feel normal...

8.) It's so sweet to see my daughters interacting...or at least seeing how Ava acts with her sister. We haven't really seen jealously but we've definitely seen love. One incident was just yesterday, Elise was crying in the car because she hates her car seat. We were hurrying to get packed in the van and get going because we knew the driving would calm her cries. I look over and see that Ava is holding Elise's hand, gently rubbing it with her fingers. Ava hadn't said and word and no one had asked her to do anything. She just took it upon herself to try to soothe her sister. It made me think of the relationship that they will have with each other. Wow.

9.) Thank gooness my toddler forgives me when I lose my cool. Immediately after yelling I told her I was sorry and she said she was sorry too.

10.) It could be so much worse...in fact, I've got it pretty good. How in the world do single mom's, mothers of multiples or mothers with lots of children or children with special needs do it? I have no idea - but bless their hearts!

More Pics

Milk drunk. Elise is already 2 weeks old...time flies. She's usually pretty content but does have her fair share of fussy moments. I'm dusting off the old baby books and trying to figure out what we did with Ava. Funny how you forget. The nice thing is that she sleeps for at least 3-4 hour stretches at night.
Elise's 1st bath...she wasn't a big fan of it.
Big sister, Ava, "helped" give Elise a bath.

After the bath - she was much happier, although it's sad to see her little scratches from fingernails and various newborn marks.
Pudding Face. Ava was very excited to have dessert in a cup. She had no idea why we were laughing when looking at her.
Here's Ava playing with her fish on Easter morning.

Easter 2007

This was the first year that the Easter bunny visited our home. Ava was very excited to see bunnies, eggs and an Easter bucket w/a book, baby Snow White toy, bath toys, chocolate, etc.

Here's baby Elise on Easter morning. She's a pretty happy camper so far.

We celebrated Easter with my family in town. As you can see, there were lots of willing egg dyers. We had to find Ava and William nice big T-shirts to use as smocks. Ava got to dye a couple of eggs, the first one she tossed and smashed just after being dyed.

Here's Ava in her Easter dress. With a new baby, we didn't make it to church for Easter services but dressed her up at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Ava was very excited because we were getting ready to go hunt Easter eggs.

There she goes. She knew exactly what her mission was and strayed just a few times - once to jump on the trampoline - but who can blame her?

Here are four of the five Grandkids/Egg hunters, (Elise not pictured). Ryan and Kate (in the middle) hunted eggs for the first time this year. It was funny because as they were sitting on the couch they kept taking eggs out of each others baskets. (By the way, Kate is wearing another one of Grandma's knitting creations - you can't really see it but the skirt has a row of white bunnies on it.)

Here's the grandkid pic from Easter 2006...what a difference a year makes! (My mom also knitted the pink shrug Ava is wearing in this picture)