my beautiful children

Circus

Mother's Day

Pom and Cheer

A few updates

Avery has finally started acting better from a 4 week long fussy period. I know she was getting a few molars (and probably still is) and she has been sick a lot too, I
guess. My theory why she is sick ALL the time is because she sucks her thumb and crawls around getting everybody's germs on her hands.

Ileigh's classes are all ending this week and next. I can't believe school starts in only a few weeks! I am going to miss her so much.
She has just learned to swim these past few weeks and is doing great. Sometimes she is a little bit too bold though, flipping like a fish out to the deep end. We have to watch her more now than ever. Before she was afraid.
Austin just finished surf camp in Cali and this week he is doing hip hop dance camp. He is also in basketball this season. Avery just tags along and whines.

Avery doesn't sleep well at night lately so is really tired and cranky. I can't believe it has been over a year since I have been able to sleep through the night. Well now I am lucky if she will even nurse to sleep.
She usually just pushes away from me to get down on her bedroom floor and then
tries to get the door open. Sometimes she stays up for hours in the
middle of the night either crying in her crib or me struggling to rock her or
whatever.
A few weeks ago she had a double ear infection and the flu. So that explains
some of it. I think it may be getting a little better now that I decided to move her mattress to the floor. I am hoping she will learn to put herself to sleep since she will have to if I am laying down with her. It can take a while though. We will see how my plan works in another few weeks.

Milestone wise... not walking. She will stand up without holding on to
anything though and cruises furniture. She will walk while you hold her hands
but then tries to get down or up. She is starting to use push walkers and seems to really get a kick out of it. I have some pictures.
I remember Austin.. once he learned the push walker, he couldn't get enough of it. He would run around corners and everything. Around 8 mos!!!! Kids are so different. Ileigh walked at 14 mos and Avery will probably be 14 or 15 mos. The only reason I am anxious is because of the germ thing.

Other things.. she says "uh oh" about 100 times a day. Usually right before
throwing food or her cup. She points and can do eye nose mouth... kindof. She
loves Ileigh and Austin but she bites and pinches. She is pretty mean! She
doesn't "scream" .. she doesn't get mad when you take her toys or anything. She just gets pissed sometimes for no reason. Like Ileigh will be saying "Hello Avery!!" in her face or something and Avery will reach out and scratch the crap out of her. Just a meanie.
On the other hand she loves to giggle and squeal. Man, when both girls get going it sounds like a teenage slumber party in here. What am I in for?

We got a new car!!!!. We were going to buy a Prius but ended up
with a Camry hybrid. It is so awesome. It has navigation and you can say "store"
and it will pop up every store in the vicinity and give you phone numbers and
stuff. You don't have to pay for a service either. We got a really cool greenish
aluminum color. We traded in Andy's pick up truck (gas guzzler) so we still have
the van if we need to fit all 5 of us comfortably. The prius was too small for
Austin to fit between the carseats at all.

Avery's weight went down in the last few months. She is 19 pounds even. So we can't
turn her seat around and after watching crash tests on youtube and reading info
online about the benefits of rear facing, I may wait a bit longer. I guess in
Sweden they don't forward face till 3 or 4 yrs old. I just wish they made dvd
players that face the opposite way! My kids are spoiled!!!

We are going to Southern California a few months and staying in a beach
house. We may go to Sea World and/or Disneyland or Legoland. I know Ileigh would never ride a roller coaster in the near future. I can't even get her to go down water slides
that she is tall enough for!

Poor Ileigh stood in an ant hill in our backyard a few weeks ago and didn't notice till they were up to her knees. She is so eaten up. I had to give her an aveeno bath and gave her benedryl. =( It was incredible how many bites she got. Even up near her chest.

We got a Wii and love it!! It is so fun. Ileigh can beat us bowling
and I plan to get the Wii fit. I know she will love that too!

We got her a wood kitchen for her birthday. 50 bucks from one of Andy's
co-workers. She loves it too. We also are having a family bbq but will have a
party with her school buddies when school starts back up. I asked her friends
mom to do a joint party and we are going to do it at Pump it Up. It is an inflatable indoor place.


We went to watch some fireworks on the 4th. Both girls fell asleep but we drove there anyways. I woke Ileigh up and she was amazed. I was so happy because she had been begging me NOT to go. She is still terrified from when she was a baby. They were awesome and we parked and walked to the lake front and got to see a great show including the finale. Now she is asking to watch them again! She did the same thing with Nemo on ice. Didn't stop asking to see it again for months! I try to tell her these things happen once a year!


I will post pictures soon, I promise! It is too early in the morning for that now.

Happy 4th Birthday Ileigh!!



Glitter Graphics & Comments

The girls

Avery is cruising around things and just started standing on her tiptoes and holding on with only one hand. She points at everything and proudly calls it "Djah Djah" whatever that means. She says Hi and uh oh and all done. She is just starting to wave and signs for all done. She can make some crazy faces and knows how to do fishy lips (see below). She knows where things go and tries to put her clothes on and tries to brush her hair. She also does well with a cup and uses a spoon well until she decides to fling her bowl across the room. lol


Ileigh is learning to swim and has started putting her head underwater. She is excited to be off preschool for the summer. But still asks everyday "Is it school today, mama?" She loves her swim lessons and is also taking dance and music. She has recently started liking to go to bed at night and does so proudly. I haven't quite figured that one out. She is really sweet most of the time but I have witnessed her recently trying to get a rise out of Austin. He is to blame for starting the feud but now I know she will instigate it sometimes. She will hit him and pull his hair for sitting in her seat and then he holds her down, she screams, wakes up the baby and then Austin gets in trouble. Well now they both do. =)

My blue eyed babe

Rock and Roll is here to stay!!

First Birthday Cake

The neighbor loaned me her tools, and I actually made this cake!

Updates!!

Avery had her one year check today. She has lost a pound since the beginning of
April. She weighs 18.8 pounds. The dr. seemed concerned. I know why though. She
is crawling now. She is pooping now and she is eating less. She doesn't seem as
interested in food now that she can go about and explore. She is eating a lot
less breads and more finger type foods. She doesn't eat much though. She still
hardly eats baby food and maybe will eat a half a container if its something
really good.

She is 10 percent weight and 25 height.

Avery will still hardly take a sippy cup. I have been giving her milk starting
today. She usually just has water and I am still nursing. I don't pump though.
She is still waking at least once a night, well its once on a GOOD night. =)
I can't wait to be able to see a movie or go to dinner without kids. And getting
a weekend away would be a dream come true. Those are some pitfalls to
breastfeeding! She will be really hard to wean too. I am going to take it slow.
As soon as she takes more than 3 sips from the cup a day, I will be able to cut
down. I hope! 

Ileigh had a blast at Avery's party and still is doing really well not showing much jealousy. She really has done one hundred percent better with a baby than I thought she would. She is a really good kid now.. hee hee. She is quiet most of the time and has been listening well lately!
Austin and Ileigh get out of school tomorrow for the summer. I have Ileigh signed up for swim, cooking, gymnastics and art. (each like a 4-5 week class). Austin is going to surf camp in Cali and is doing a hip hop dance camp/class, and basketball.

Mexico was a complete nightmare. We even came back early. Avery was okay in the
car. Cried some but only like 20 min of 4-5 hours. Then when we got there she
would not sleep at all. No naps and we had to let her toss and turn in bed with
us until she passed out around 9-10. Then she would wake  several times. She is
just a creature of habit I guess! She needed her own crib. We put the port a
crib up in the bathroom to block out noise. we also had the loud air purifier
on. I even brought a portable rocking chair but that didn't help. Mexico was
beautiful but I couldn't  enjoy it on 3 hours of sleep. To top it off, Avery had
bit my nipple  before we left and I had a large welt. It felt like alcohol in a
deep wound every time she would nurse on that side.. and that is the major milk
side. owwwwww! I cried myself to sleep for two nights.
Austin and Ileigh had fun, so I guess it was worth it.

I am starting to worry about going back to work and how I will work it with the kids getting picked up from school. Austin gets out at 3:30. I am afraid for him to take the city bus and don't want him to ride his bike either. I am hoping he can catch a ride with someone or I can work part time.

Avery is such a comedian. She can make so many faces. Fish lips, snarls, some
super ugly ones too! It is hilarious. I need to post some pictures on here. She
is also a giggler. She giggles over everything. Oh and she loves to say "uh oh".
Its funny. All she says besides
that is Hi and she mocks our sounds a lot. Like saying here and ball. Not really
full on saying them though, but she repeats the noises. At least I think she is
not really saying them!

Mexico April 2008

If only Avery would have slept, we would have had fun. =(

One Year

May 7th its been one year since we moved out of the scorpion house.

May 15th Avery will be born one year ago.

June 2nd it will be one year since we began destroying out new house to add on a baby room, office, and closet.

Just a little pity party

Austin is the worst as far as getting on my nerves.. and he should know better. Half the time he doesn't answer me and the other half he is deliberately doing what I told him not to. He gets really mad when I ask him about school or want to know about his life and when he gives me any info at all and I ask him questions about that, he rolls his eyes and huffs and puffs. He takes things from Ileigh to hear her scream and its usually taking place while I am dealing with a crying baby already.

Ileigh is just going through her growing independence phase. She doesn't want help but needs help and loves to scream No and lately "Whats wrong with you, mom?" She gets super whiny and for the most part I have to bribe her to do anything. At night, she goes to bed around 8 and then gets up and comes in our room for water and various other things until we are so tired we allow her into bed with us. Then she kicks and sweats on me making what little of my night I have miserable. I usually wake Andy up to take her back to her bed but by that time I only have a few precious hours left.

Avery is smiley and very happy.. when I am holding her and walking around. Sometimes she is still happy if I sit with her and play on the ground but forget it if I leave the room. Forget it if Daddy is the one with her. She gets really squirmy sometimes and acts like she wants down but then NOPE that wasn't it, she wants up again. I think she would be a lot happier if she would learn to crawl. I keep thinking something is really wrong with her. Besides her being so cranky at home, she whines in the car, and getting her to sleep is the worst. She bites that crap out of my boobs and my left one is just throbbing right now. She will be sucking fine and then decide to teeth clench and throw her head backwards. I would quit in a second if it weren't her only source of nutrition. She hardly eats any other food and won't take a bottle at all. I do have her taking a few sips of water from a cup but thats over the course of a day. She never poos and doesn't eat so that is partly why I think something is seriously wrong. (I know the obvious.. get it checked) I just really need to vent this. And one more thing, she is waking at night 3-4 times. Sometimes I rock her and switch from boob to boob 4 times and just get her to sleep only to have her screaming again by the time she is back in her crib. Sometimes I go through all of that and then I actually make it out of her room, go back to sleep and 30 min later she is up again. She used to be a lot better.. only waking 1 time at night. Ever since the Roseola, she is up constantly and very difficult to put back down. Oh and then she gets up up at 630 on the dot. All last week. I can't stand it! I don't know what to do. Oh and I know the dr. won't have any answers for me either. I don't know what it is about AZ but I think all our dr's suck here.

Countdown to Avery's Birthday