Our first Thanksgiving in the city was a lot of fun! We went to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade balloons the night before the parade. We didn't feel like waking up at dawn to get a spot to see the actual parade, so we thought seeing the balloons the night before would be a decent substitute.
On Thanksgiving day we took the train to Stamford and was picked up at the train station by family. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Rob and his family, Chris and his family, Julie and her family, and Papa Smock even flew out from Utah!
David had to work the day after Thanksgiving so I had time to recuperate with the girls from the night before. That same weekend we also went to Gabe Smock's baptism and shared a fabulous meal with family at Chris and Thayer's house. It was a really special Thanksgiving with the Smocks.
Love Hannah's face in this pic. Too bad Zoe's is blocked. The balloons were all tied up but it was still cool to see them.
At Pound Ridge before Thanksgiving dinner-too bad our apartment doesn't look like this!
All the grandkids were climbing all over Papa
Of course David was seated first at the adult's table-it was an amazing spread!
Ava with a cheesy smile at the kids' table. For once dinner wasn't a battle!
We ended the evening with ukeleles and songs. Also loved the Wii's Just Dance 2 party we had (sorry, no pics of any booty shakin' because I was too busy dancing)
About two weeks ago David decided it was time to change Ava's crib into a toddler bed. He got out the tools and Ava watched with interest as her bed was transformed from prison to possible sleep area. Thankfully Ava has loved her new bed.
It hasn't been too eventful with the changing of the bed. She refused to nap one time and has come to our room in the middle of the night with declarations of "it's not night time anymore!" a few times. There have been a few times where she comes out while David and I are watching TV and wants to join in the festivities. One night she opened her door and shouted "go to bed, guys!" then quickly shut the door while David and I burst out laughing.
One useful thing about changing the bed is that it encourages good behavior. When Ava doesn't listen, we'll say that we'll change her bed back to a crib. One time after a threat, she ran into her room to see if her bed was changed and excitedly said "oh, it's not a crib!" Ava is such a big girl now that she doesn't want to wear pull ups to bed anymore. So far, so good...
My friend Lesley was so nice to take a few pictures of the girls recently. Ava and Arden look so sweet and grown up. Time is passing by too quickly!
Arden at almost 8 months-she smiles constantly but you have to work to get the giggles
I'm holding onto her hand here. She is not even close to standing on her own. She's not crawling or even completely sitting on her own without supervision. And I'm fine with that!
We're growing out her bangs, so usually her hair is in her face a lot. I made a little effort for this photo.
It's not always easy to get a natural smile from Ava, but this is pretty close
Being a parent to a three year old is really tough sometimes. As David says "why is everything a chore with Ava?" Ava constantly wants to assert her independence and whines a lot (typical three year old behavior, right?). Ava refuses to take a nap sometimes even though she needs it and I need a break. Those are challenging days. There have been a few temper tantrums where Ava is crying/screaming for a while. I run through the whole good cop/bad cop routine of trying to calm her down by being nice, then I lose my patience and start counting to "3" and threaten her with time outs. After her tantrums, Ava will say "my head hurts" and it leads me to wonder if she is throwing a tantrum because of a headache or she got her headache from so much emotional distress. But this chicken or the egg conundrum is kind of beside the point when she is acting crazy and I start acting crazy. Honestly I feel like a psycho person battling with a three year old but I can't seem to stop being so stubborn. I keep thinking that I can't give in or else I will not be able to discipline or control her in any way. Sometimes I don't know how to handle these situations and I feel completely inadequate as a mother. I keep praying for more patience and maturity. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I am the adult and I need to act like one! One encouraging aspect about Ava's rants is that a lot of times she will say "I'm sorry I cried" or "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you" after she has calmed down a bit.
Now that I am not working, I don't get an official evaluation on how I am doing at my "job". I don't really have a boss telling me what I am doing well or what I am doing poorly as a mother. I keep a mental mommy scorecard because I guess I have a need to be evaluated. Please, someone, give me an evaluation! Basically I grade myself on certain aspects of motherhood. For example, I think I am flunking several aspects (i.e. combing Ava's hair, cleaning her face after eating breakfast so she doesn't look homeless, feeding her vegetables, and the list goes on). However, I give myself an "A" with the number of kisses and cuddles I give my babies.
I love being a mother. There is absolutely nothing I would rather be doing, but they weren't kidding when they said that it is the toughest job in the world (maybe except for cleaning public toilets...that to me is the toughest job in the world). As my children are growing, I hope I will grow as a person too.
Can I keep her at this age forever? I want to remember this smile!
Guess who is sitting up now (sort of)?
Big sis Ava at around the same age. She says "been there, done that"
Arden is not a Buddha Baby anymore. She was only 17 pounds 5 ounces at her seven month check up (the doctor wanted to weigh her after her six month check up to make sure she gained weight). She is beautiful either way...but now that she is no longer of the super chunky baby variety, she can fit into clothes I thought I had to put away forever.
Ava was so excited for Halloween this year. We read Halloween books for the whole month of October. She really likes spooky stories but I was worried she might get too freaked out to sleep at night. Fortunately, that wasn't the case. I don't think she really understands the stories perfectly but the eight or so books from the library were a big hit (what's really scary to me is how dirty library books are...I always wipe the covers with baby wipes. Is that weird?). So Ava decided she wanted to be a witch a few months ago so that's the costume I got her this year. As we got closer to Halloween, Ava decided she would take on a more evil persona and said she was going to be a bad witch. Pretty funny. Ava attended four Halloween events! She had so much fun dressing up at school for the Halloween party (I was a schmuck and didn't get any pictures of that), trick or treating at Chelsea Market, going to the church party (no pics of that either), and finally trick or treating on October 31. Trick or treating New York City style was cool. We went to 95th street, between Central Park West and Columbus Ave, and people who lived in the brownstones sat on the steps outside to give out candy. We also did some trick or treating in our apartment building.
Halloween PJs. A lot of love going on.
Looking comfy together. At least Arden isn't going for Ava's hair. Ava's hair falls victim of some pulls if she gets too close to Arden.
Ava getting her face painted at Chelsea Market. This lady was a pro. Spider on the forehead and spiderwebs on the cheeks.
Cool pumpkin display at Chelsea Market.
Does this look like a bad witch to you?
Horton says hello
Does this costume make me look fat?
Daddy elephant, Arden and cousin Grant as a lion. This was at the Halloween pizza party in our building.
I didn't get one decent full body shot of Ava in her costume. At least she has her hat on here...even if she has pizza grease all over her face.
Uncle Dan came for the festivities!
Everyone thought Arden was a boy and I heard people saying "look at Mr. Elephant". Strangers were commenting on her extreme cuteness. Arden was so comfortable while we were trick or treating that she fell asleep in the carrier.
October just flew by. Here are the pics of some of the good times we had...
Ava took a trial hip hop class. It was the cutest thing.
The whole fam headed down to Times Square to check out the Toys R Us there. Arden, whose head was poking out of David's jacket got a few chuckles out of some people.
T Rex at Toys R Us. To be honest, Toys R us is not my favorite place. There were so many people there (I think mostly tourists) and Ava is still too young to ride the ferris wheel anyway. Although it was kind of cool that Matthew Broderick was shopping there with his son and he smiled at Arden.
Sweet little carousel in Bryant Park. Loved the French songs that they played while going around. Ava and cousin Grant are little buddies.
At the apple orchard with the Book Buddies preschool. Ava would take a few bites of an apple and say "core, mommy, I'm done!" Then onto the next apple.
It was so fun to find the apples in the lower branches that she could pick herself.
Looking so grown up with her hands in her pockets. Getting ready to fill up the wagon with apples!
Beautiful view from the Brooklyn Bridge
Brooklyn Bridge was fun to walk on at night
At Belvedere Castle in Central Park. Ava thought princesses lived there.
David started this thing where he would give Ava a treat and say "Shhhh, don't tell mommy, it's our secret." Ava absolutely loves this and they do this as often as they can. The other day I found them whispering in the kitchen, hiding from me (not too many places to hide in our apartment). They were already done stuffing their faces with cookies so they had to pose for me here...
Trying to sneak a few bites in before mommy sees. Indeed we do hang out in our PJs all day on Saturdays...
Daddy is Ava's hero and the sweetest sound ever heard is Ava shouting "Daddy!" when he walks through the door from work. Ava kicked me out of her room the other day because she was playing baseball with daddy. Even when she is lying in her crib and has dug out a little boogie from her cute nose (I will use this as blackmail when she is older) she will shout "I want Daddy to clean my boogie!" Basically there is a lot of "forget you, mom" mentality going on but I'm glad Ava has such a special relationship with her daddy.
Happy half birthday to Arden! So there's lots to say about sweet Arden. She rolls over onto her tummy now but kind of gets stuck there. Sometimes I find that she has gotten one arm out of her sleeve while her arm is stuck under her body in her attempt to roll back onto her back. So far she has had no success with rolling onto her back.
Arden sleeps in a crib! I bought a crib with wheels on it so that I could wheel her out of our room every so often but I doubt that is ever going to happen. She still wakes up two or three times a night for a feeding and I wish she would just sleep through the night already. Luckily she goes right back to sleep in her crib. She didn't like the crib that much in the beginning since she was used to my plush bed, but she seems to like it now. I wonder when Arden will sleep through the night and the girls can share a room. Besides the not sleeping through the night, Arden is just the perfect sweet baby. She is so relaxed and easy going. She is quite serious at times and just likes to observe. She gets very giggly around Ava, though. I just adore going into the room and seeing her playing with her hands in the crib. She always lights up when she sees me and laughs with excitement when I pick her up after her nap. She is really a very easy baby and I'm glad I had my high maintenance baby (I'm talking about you Ava!) first.
She weighed less at her 6 month appointment than she did at her 4 month appointment. She is looking slightly slimmer to me. The doctor wasn't too concerned about the weight loss since she is probably just lengthening out. However, he wants to just make sure that my milk supply hasn't dipped and causing her to lose weight since it is not normal for weight loss at her age. I'm supposed to pump milk every so often to check on my milk supply but I'm doing a horrible job with that.
Arden doesn't really suck on her fingers like she used to. She sucks on her bottom lip a lot and it looks like she is sulking when she does it.
Ava is always trying to get in on the crib action. She is actually able to climb in and out of Arden's crib, but not her own. It is handy having the crib right up against my bed. Not that I have a choice, since my room is so small.
Gotta keep dressing her in pink...some people think she looks like a boy!
Anytime Arden is due for a poop I put her in the bumbo and wait for the magic to happen. Lately I've been putting her in there without clothes on so the blow out is easier to clean up.
Arden's first taste of rice cereal. A lot of scowls, gagging and leaning backwards. That's Ava's little hand with the tissue so she could help wipe Arden's face. Arden is really not a fan of solid food so far. She has tried rice cereal, oatmeal, and peas.
Arden looking happy with eating food, but it is definitely a battle. She has lost weight, but look at those "rubber bands" on her arms!
As her shirt says, she really is perfect. But I have to be honest, I wish she had more hair...it is starting to stick straight up, Asian-style
Ava is very serious and cautious when she rides her scooter (one of her birthday presents). She gets very frantic if we walk too fast for her when she is riding. So it is obvious that she is no speedy gonzalez here.
Warning-this is a long post about all things Ava....
3 year old stats: height-37.25 inches
weight-27.5 pounds
Quick note about doctor's visit: when Ava had a 3 year old appointment a few days ago, she was terrified. She only agreed to take off her shirt and pants to get weighed after much coaxing. I don't think Ava knew what was coming when the doctor gave her a shot in one arm. Ava said "Owww!" but didn't cry. When she saw the needle for another shot on her other arm, she kept saying "just one, just one" and cried really hard after her second shot. Ava is a sensitive little thing.
I have to document this cheesy mom moment: I have said to Ava over and over again while hugging her tightly that I want her to stay little forever. Her response is always something to the effect of "I want to get bigger!" Part of me is so anxious for Ava to reach the next milestone, but most of time I just want her to be my little baby forever. I think Ava kind of vacillates between wanting to be completely independent to wanting us to help her with everything (this girl still needs me to feed her sometimes).
Even though she is not my little baby anymore, she'll still cuddle with me. She loves the whole family laying down together or cuddling on the couch and saying "let's be families". She'll say "You know I love you, right?" to both David and I and we just love that. What more can a parent ask for than your child saying "I love you" out of the blue and giving you a kiss? I call her my "sunshine" and we sing "You are my sunshine" to each other a lot. When Ava sings it to Arden, it just about moves me to tears.
Ava is the most outgoing child ever. I don't know where she gets it from. I totally rejoice that she is not socially inept like myself, so perhaps there is hope for her. She loves striking up a conversation with anyone, anywhere (i.e. the elevator, the bus, and especially at parks). If someone doesn't respond to her, she'll turn to me and say "Is he/she shy? Can he/she talk?" A lot of times we will be at the playground and she'll have no one to play with. I'll point out some random child and tell Ava she should go play with that child. Ava will go up to the child and say "Can I play with you?" Usually the child will say "No" or run away. Sometimes Ava will persist and ask "Why can't I play with you?" After being rejected, Ava will return to my side or shout back to me, "she said no" and then I'll point out the next target. I'm so glad that Ava is not very affected by the rejections at this point. She loves asking people what their names are, and lately, she'll ask "What's your last name?" Ava loves to make observations about someone in a loud voice. She'll point to the pediatrician's head "He has no hair!" or ask a nanny "Are you an old lady" or say "She has grey hair!"
I plan on keeping Ava in a crib until she is 18. I just don't see the point in putting her in a toddler bed yet. I can foresee all sorts of nighttime nonsense with her coming into our room (only one baby in the room at a time, thank you very much). Her afternoon naps are already spotty so I don't want to mess with that anymore than need be. She sleeps so well at night these days. We turn on Jewel's lullaby CD right before bed and she'll go to sleep on her own. I used to have to sing to her but I decided Jewel does a better job so the pro should do it. Ava has the random nightmare every so often ("Mommy, there's a crab in my crib!") but I'm so proud of how well she is doing. One drawback about her being in a crib is that sometimes I don't get to her in time when she has to pee. Even though our apartment is so small, her bedroom is at the opposite end, and I don't hear her screaming "I have to go pee pee!" until it is too late sometimes. Those Pull-Ups come in handy sometimes.
Ava really loves to play pretend. She likes to role play by saying she is so and so and I will be so and so. She is usually a princess and I am the queen. She is fairly good at staying in character. One time she fell and was crying but managed to say "I'm hurt, mommy, I mean, queen!" Ava likes to make up words and chant them (bee dee bye dee bee dee bye) or get in Arden's face and sing "chubby bo bo bo". I think it is a coincidence that she uses the word "chubby" with Arden. Ava will start speaking in gibberish and say "I'm speaking Spanish!" Ava also loves to make up songs and twirl around while singing them. Ava has quite a repertoire of songs she likes to sing. She has mastered "Old King Cole", "Frere Jacque"(French and English versions), "I am a Child of God", "Baa Baa Black Sheep", "Twinkle, twinkle little star" and sort of gets the hang of "Bare Necessities" (pronounced "bare necessinies"). She knows other songs but I can't think of them right now.
Funny stuff she says:
"Is the shower going pee pee?" She asks this when our shower gushes out some residual water a few minutes after someone is done showering.
"Who's here? My people!"
"Look what I doed! (did)"
"Am I laughing or crying?" Sometimes Ava will hurt herself while playing and laughing. That's when she starts having trouble figuring out what her emotions are.
Her understanding of sharing is kind of iffy. She'll grab some random kid's toys and say "I'm sharing!"
"I'm not pretend. I'm real. Cruella Deville is pretend." Ava has been overexposed to scary fictional characters recently, so we had to explain to her that all of these villains are "only pretend". It finally clicked in her mind one day.
"When I get married I will go to the marry store and get a marry dress".I think I need to stop the Disney princess movies for a while and bring her back down to 3 year old world.
Speaking of Disney movies, we started ordering Disney movies from Netflicks and she has loved watching most of them (we'll try Lady and the Tramp and The Sword in the Stone again when she is older). Her favorite books right now are "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Little Mermaid".
I'm probably forgetting so many things... but the beauty of a blog is I can do more posts later! Bottom line is, Ava is such a joy to raise and she is so amazing! I can't imagine my life without her.
Ava loves taking pictures with my camera and I think this is a pretty good one. I wish I could crop out my dumb hand and leg. Also Ava's finger is over the lens. I've found a few random pics that she took without me knowing of random objects. Nouveau art!
Sticks and stones...pretty much any time we step foot outside, Ava must pick up sticks, stones, branches with leaves (so she can sweep) and she holds onto them for dear life. Until I force her to drop them all before we walk into our building. Many a battle we have fought over this.
"I'll be the teacher, you be the kid". Ava is really into pretending to read books to me while she holds the book up.
Ava tries out a ballet tea party class. She wasn't always listening to the teachers, but she managed to learn the first and second positions. I think her plie is darling, even if it isn't perfect. I'll invest in a real tutu when we sign up for real.
This is our hallway, elevators on the left. We've had this little stroller for a year and a half and now she is the most obsessed she has ever been with it. She likes to fold it up and pretend to take it in the subway. She has named two of her dolls Ava and Louise. She puts them in time out sometimes.
Ava writes her name! Her letter writing of the letter "A" has been hit or miss for a while. She got it today. Will she tomorrow? Who knows? But I'm proud! Ava also kind of understands the concept of rhyming. I'll ask her what rhymes with "frog" and she'll say "bog". "Baby" rhymes with "maybe". "Bava" rhymes with "Ava". All of her rhyming words start with a "b"
