Smock it to me, baby

Future BFFs?

2012-01-15T23:01:00.000-05:00

Recently Ava and Arden have started to play together a little more. I still hear a lot of "No! Arden! No!" from the girls' room, but things have improved a lot over the last few months in terms of their relationship. Ava has given up a lot of her torture tactics and Arden is no longer the victim of random pinches, pushes, bites and other unsavory behavior. Ava has come a long way since her days of saying "my body is telling me to hurt Arden."

Ava likes to sneak into Arden's crib at bed time. We discovered the hooligans spooning each other after some giggling gave them away one night. It is the sweetest thing to see them together like that. Every morning, when I'm still groggy in my own bed, I can hear the two of them in Arden's crib jabbering away. Usually Arden will make a sound and Ava will copy her, then giggling ensues. Or I hear Ava shouting "No, Arden, no pulling my hair!" Ava is starting to get a taste of her own medicine.

Of course Ava exhibits some bossy older sister behavior. I keep chuckling at the time Arden was getting into Ava's things and Ava said "Mommy, take Arden back to the orphanage!" Whenever Arden tries to escape out of the front door and down the hallway, I pretend to close the door. Ava freaks out and says "No, mommy, get Arden back!" So Ava really is all talk and loves her sister after all.

Good snuggling going on here

At the Metropolitan Museum with these rascals. Who cares about art when you can sit in the corner together?

The two babushkas. This is what we do when we are stuck at home during a cold day. Ava puts on a super small snow suit and baby socks. Arden likes to wear a scarf and a kazoo around the neck. Priceless.

I discovered the two having a little "picnic" behind the couch when I gave them each a bowl of blueberries.

And now July...

2011-11-23T13:20:00.001-05:00

Now that it is February, July already feels like an eternity ago. But now that NYC is cold and dreary, it is fun to be a little nostalgic.

Ava giving me a little 'tude while making a flag for July 4th

We were at a park EVERYDAY

We snuck up to the roof with Tiff and Gib for some awesome fireworks views.

July 4th parade-at the end the firemen let the hoses go wild

This parade about fifeen blocks away from our apartment felt like it was in the suburbs!

Arden enjoying her ramen

Another ramen picture. This family really loves ramen.

Free soccer class at Riverside Park.

Arden enjoying herself in a parade at the park after another free music class. I'm telling you, you don't have to spend a penny in the summer.

"Anything Goes" was fantastic!

This is how I do my Trader Joe runs. I take up most of a subway car.

Washington Square Park is where all the kooky people hang out

Best summer ever! Let's start with June.

2011-11-23T10:38:00.000-05:00

Let's ignore the fact that it is Thanksgiving and only now am I blogging about our super summer. But I have to blog about it otherwise it will seem like it never happened. Now that Blogger made it a little easier for a technophobe like me to upload pictures, I have no excuses.

It was a really great summer. Yes, I was constantly sweaty and gross while pushing my double stroller. Yes, I felt like I was being baked alive in my sauna of an apartment (the air conditioner loses the battle against the sun, the dryer, and the oven), but summertime in NYC is great. I really love it here! In some ways this city is perfect for me. I don't have to drive, so I am confident in my abilities to get somewhere either by walking or by public transportation. And I am not a hazard on the road. It is a win-win situation. Extra bonus of living in the city--you don't really need a gym membership. Walking everywhere and carrying strollers up and down subway stairs is a good enough NYC mommy workout.

I think it is impossible to do everything NYC has to offer (at least with two kids). I already have a list of things that I must do next summer since we missed out on it this summer (Shakespeare in the Park, going to the Dragon Boat Festival, etc). But I must not get ahead of myself.

Here are some memorable pics from this summer. Starting with end of May/June:

Arden and I at Jones Beach on Memorial Day. David was in Switzerland for work.

Ava and Lillian J. having a blast at Jones Beach

Ava's dance "recital". She is on the far left. I think she could be a ballerina some day, but I may be biased.

Ava and cousin Grant at the Central Park Carousel.

Michelle, Terry and Jaden come for a visit and devoured donuts.

Michelle and Jaden with my girls and I on the ferris wheel at Toys R Us. It is nice to do some touristy stuff sometimes. I still feel like a tourist in NYC--I'm all about staycations these days.

People thought Jaden and Arden were twins.

Michelle babysat so David and I could see Wicked on our anniversary. Good times.

Michelle and Ava at The Cloisters. It's gorgeous up there. Not the most kid and stroller friendly place. But we ended up getting free food from the cafe because their registers weren't working. Score!

Pretty Ava (although slightly disheveled) at Central Park Zoo

At the bouncy house at the Rainbow City exhibit of the Highline Park

Rainbow City!

Ava and Grant at Madison Square Park after a kids' concert

At the Curious George exhibit at the Children's Museum of Manhattan

At the Bronx Zoo. It is such a trek to get up there but it is a great zoo.

Ava's Princess birthday party

2011-10-18T14:38:00.000-04:00

Of course our little Ava wanted to have a princess birthday party. It was on a beautiful Saturday (September 10) and we had it on our third floor outside lounge. I actually baked a cake but it completely fell apart when I wanted to transfer it to a tin-foiled piece of cardboard (talk about classy!). With twenty or so minutes to spare before the party started, David raced down to Whole Foods to buy a sheet cake. The last minute scrambling wasn't that enjoyable but once the guests started arriving, I was just glad that everything came together. Lesley was so kind to take some pictures before she had to go to a photo shoot. She even did a blog post about it here! It started raining a few minutes after the last guest left, so we really lucked out.

A little pin the nose on the clown action

This was taken on Ava's actual birthday on September 5 at Alice's Tea Cup. We also hit up MacDonald's right before this. It's not too hard to please a four year old!

Book Buddies-a year in review

2011-09-02T20:07:00.001-04:00

Ava finished Book Buddies preschool (2010-2011 school year) more than two months ago, but it definitely warrants a post!

Ava absolutely adored Miss Amy and all of her classmates (Lillian F. , Lillian J., Eli, Tucker, Brandon, Elliot, and Jeremy). School was Mondays and Wednesdays from 9-12. Rebecca, Lillian J.'s mom usually dropped the girls off and I would pick them up. Everyone had their own hooks to hang up their backpacks and jackets, and a communal shoe bucket. Miss Amy always had a Welcome Room with activities planned right when the children got to school. Then it was Circle Time, Center Time, Snack Time, Story Time and Big Muscle Time.

There was a different theme each month. These were the themes and highlights:
September-Safari
October-Treehouse Club. I went along with the kids to go apple picking. There was also a wonderful Halloween celebration.
November-Harvest/Nutrition. The children learned how to make vegetable soup. There was a "Thanksgiving feast".
December-Christmas and people we care about. Ava wrote a letter to the grandparents.
January-I forget the theme
February-Our Community. There was a Valentine's Day Party and they learned about policemen, firemen, and mailmen.
March-Dinosaurs. Ava made a cool fossil necklace.
April-Rhymes and Rhythms. Focused on nursery rhymes. They visited the Bronx Zoo at the end of the month.
May-Bugs and Insects. They watched the crysallis turn into cocoons, then into butterflies. They had a field trip to Fort Tryon Park to release the butterflies.
June-More bugs and a Book Buddy Celebration.

Ava would always come home singing some song to herself that she had learned. One of my favorite songs was "Cobbler, cobbler mend my shoe". They would play the Cobbler game during dismissal time by sitting in a line, waiting for Miss Amy (aka the Cobbler) to pass out their shoes. Ava's favorite song was "Tootie Ta" and I always asked her to sing that silly song for me.

Ava got to do hide something in the Mystery Bag twice, which is basically a show and tell. The first time Ava brought a talking/singing Elmo and told everyone she was scared of it when she was a baby. The second time she brought a princess dress.

There were two parent/teacher conferences. Each time Miss Amy said Ava was up to speed cognitively, but sometimes she was a little timid with physical activities compared with the other children.

So basically that was Book Buddies in a nutshell. It was just a perfect year and Ava loved it all. At the end of the year Book Buddy Celebration, the children sang a few songs for the parents and presented Miss Amy with gifts. Thank goodness for the other moms and Miss Amy for taking lots of pictures throughout the year. Each child was given a photo album and one of Ava's favorite past times is flipping through it. Book Buddies was wonderful, so take that $20,000 a year private preschool!

Apple picking/pumpkin patch day (sad little pumpkin patch, isn't it?)

Ava came home with all sorts of goodies after the Christmas party. Arden's head is mysteriously missing.

Ava has a Body Book and a Bug Book she still loves flipping through.

This was my favorite project she brought home. I was impressed when she told me about a caterpillar making a chrysalis, and then turning into a butterfly. I don't think I've ever used the word chrysalis in my life until she schooled me on it.

Book Buddy Celebration. This song was about important people in the community. Ava was a baker. Who is more important than that?

Look who is doing all sorts of grown up things

2011-08-10T22:47:00.000-04:00

Arden is sixteen months old now. Here are her fifteen month stats from the doctor's visit last month:

Height: 32 inches - 9oth percentile

Weight: 20lbs-10th percentile

According to these stats (90th for height and 10th for weight) Arden should look like Olive Oyl or something but she's still got her cute little pot belly.

Arden started walking a couple of weeks ago and she absolutely loves walking! I am relieved that she is walking now because crawling around on a NYC playground is very problematic. I adore her drunken sailor walk and hope it lasts for a while.

Due to David's awesomeness Arden is now sleeping through the night in the other room. After my sister Michelle left after her visit (oh geez, I still need to blog about that), David was determined to end Arden's incessant night wakings/nursings. We moved Ava into our room and David put Arden to sleep every night. There wasn't a whole lot of crying it out needed. But I have to say I have grown some thicker skin the second time around. A crying baby in her crib doesn't quite faze me as much.

Arden is a great little eater. But I've discovered she is allergic to peanuts (she got hives from peanut butter). Can I just have one child who is not allergic to something please? I'm still nursing her but I think I want to wean her soon.

A few of Arden's tricks:

-She can ride Ava's scooter

-Grunts whenever I say the word "poo". There is a lot of random grunting in our household since "poo" is a word I seem to use a lot. Not sure why.

-Arden says "Ow!" a lot. Especially since Ava is constantly torturing her by pinching, pushing, choking, and biting her. Seriously the bane of my existence right now.

-Arden can say one of the most essential words in the English language: "Elmo"

-Arden loves her daddy so much and gets so excited when he gets home. She shouts "Dada!"

-Arden loves her Ava too but calls her "Aya"

-Arden likes to play a coquettish game of looking at me and then turning away and I do the same

-shivers while clenching her fists and her teeth when eating sour, cold or hot things

-likes to fling her food off her high chair. She'll hold a morsel over her chair and give me a look while I say "no!". Sometimes she will listen but most of the time she looks at me like I am chopped liver.

-dances by shrugging her shoulders and wiggling around

-says "up" when she wants to get out of the high chair

-says "whoa" when she goes down a slide

-says "hi" to people all day long, says "baby", "hello", and "ball"

I've realized by going through old posts about Ava that Arden is getting jipped because Ava knew her animal sounds and Arden doesn't know any! Ava also knew some sign language and all Arden can do is "more". So obviously I am slacking on teaching Arden the necessary education of what a cow says. I hope I can make up for it soon!

I love these two pictures of Arden but they are the worst quality. I've caught up with the rest of the world and got an iPhone. So I've basically gone from taking lame pictures with a regular camera to taking crap pictures with my iPhone. But it's the best way for me to capture the moment!

Arden discovering her nostrils. She has forgotten about them since but I'm sure she will be a solid nose picker in no time (just like her big sis)

Arden scootin' around. Cutest thing ever.

3 and 3/4 going on 16

2011-06-21T21:50:00.000-04:00

I started working on this post months ago and never finished it until now. Better late than never. How do you really capture what someone is like in a blog post? I have to try, because I just can't rely on my memory. I think about how quickly Ava is growing and it makes me feel like the time I have with her is already slipping through my fingers! It sounds strange and I don't really know how to describe it.

Here are some tidbits about Ava:

Ava truly is a girly girl. She loves dressing up and adores finding clothes to try on at any clothing store we go to. One time she made sure she was ready to get her fashion on by asking, "Where is the dressing room?"

Ava is obsessed with the concept of age, getting older and growing bigger. She likes to ask nice old ladies who talk to her "Are you an old lady"? Pretty embarrassing.

Ava likes to give me random kisses on my hand, arm, and leg. She says "Mommy, I want to go home and snuggle on the couch."

Ava always wants to go on Daddy-Daughters dates. David and Ava have an anthem when they go on one that goes something like this "Daddy-Daughter Date! Woo-hoo!" They've been on a couple, with their trek down to the Doughnut Plant being the most memorable one.

Ava will say one thing and say the complete opposite thing in the next sentence. So basically she's saying a lot of cute nonsense.

If David and I are having a disagreement (usually about the dumbest stuff ever), Ava will stop us and say "Why are you not being nice together?" Good thing Ava is around to keep us in check.

A few notable quotes:

"Thank you, cow, for this milk!"

"This is not good for our bodies, but it is so yummy!"

"Mommy, why are you still in your PJs, you should change into your day time clothes!"

While shaking her bottom, she'll say, "I don't need to go pee pee, I'm just shakin' my booty!"

"I'm not pretty because I'm not wearing a dress." She usually says this when we go to the playroom and she's not dressed up like she wants to be.

I opened our front door and Arden made a dash for the hallway. Ava called out "Arden come back! You are family!"

So Ava is for the most part a sweet, well-behaved girl, but I find myself losing my patience with her a lot these days. Ava likes to pick on Arden when she is bored or tired. Ava doesn't like to listen to us when we ask her to do something and I find myself raising my voice a lot. I know I need to work on myself a lot and just remind myself that Ava is three!

Ava got all dressed up for the Royal Wedding party that Lesley threw. Lesley did a great job celebrating Will and Kate's big day. The crepes were delicious!

I had to throw this picture of Arden in. She was enjoying herself at the Royal Wedding party too.

Ava all decked out in her rain gear. Thankfully we don't have much use for the gear these days.

The city girl riding in a "taxi". These mosaics are so cool at Grant's Tomb.

Ava with one of her best friends-Jan. Jan lives next door to us and has been a special friend to Ava since we moved to NYC. She used to take Ava to the park a lot, but lately she does story time once a week before bed.

Ava, the diva, and I at Highline Park.

Easter and fun with grandparents

2011-05-29T21:30:00.001-04:00

My mom and dad came to visit us and we had a blast taking them around NYC. The funny thing is, now that we live in a place where we seem to attract more visitors, it's such a tight squeeze in our apartment! Thank goodness Mom and Dad are good sports and don't mind sleeping on the couch or an aerobed.

Ava and Grandpa had tea parties all the time. Cutest thing ever. Ava seems to have the white glove thing and pinky finger up in the air down pat.

At the Metropolitan Museum. I love that it is a nice walk through Central Park from our apartment.

Brunch at Cafe Luxembourg. David was on the phone a lot taking care of work stuff. Ava looks less than thrilled but she seems to like posing that way now.

At the Reservoir in Central Park. Seriously you can spend all your time in Central Park when you visit NYC. Mom and Dad fell in love with it and want to move here!

At the church across from Ground Zero.

Brooklyn Bridge-unfortunately it was a bit foggy

Ava chowing down at Grimaldi's in Brooklyn. Thank goodness we were one of the first people in line before it opened.

Ava and Arden's Easter baskets. I actually got it together this year!!!!

Arden with Ah-Ma at the Conservatory Garden. Loved the tulips.

Arden doesn't get mistaken for a boy when she gets all dressed up!

I try so hard to get good pics of the girls together but it never works out.

Easter Egg Hunt at the Todd's.

Dying Eggstravaganza

Ava and Daddy raising the roof while waiting for the eggs to finish. It was so adorable. My sole purpose of blogging is to embarrass David.

Ava with her finished products. Princesses on the bottom, and tiaras on top.

Ode to the Playroom

2011-05-16T20:21:00.000-04:00

So this poem is so cheesy but the playroom in my building deserves an ode. I take the girls down there at least five times a week and we have met some great friends there. I don't think I would have survived our first year in NYC without it!

Ode to the Playroom

A life-saver to a mother when
a measly apartment of eight hundred and ten
square feet simply will not suffice
and outside is rain, snow or ice

A room full of possibilities and fun
a chance to dress up as a princess or nun
A place to look forward to after afternoon naps
before mommy starts pulling her hair out and snaps

The meeting place where friends big and small
all nationalities, genders, come one come all
Enjoy the slide and build a sweet fort
and children, nannies and parents cavort

This is a simple ode to a playroom
a beautiful space that dispels all gloom
where kids rule and imagination runs free
and lucky for us there's a potty for pee

Ava and Nathan in the playroom-these two are so sweet together

Ava and Aidan are always chasing each other around

Ava is pretending to be a princess patient

Arden loves crawling through the tunnel

Arden can't walk yet but she sure can climb up the big slide

Arden getting jiggy with the toys

Holy cow...Arden is one!

2011-04-28T14:57:00.000-04:00

This post is so overdue. I feel like my blogging skills are deteriorating along the same path of decline as my brain cell count. I honestly feel like I am getting dumber with each successive child, so maybe I should stop having kids while I'm ahead.

I'm not sure how this happened, but Arden is one. She is so cute and smiley all day long. She has grown leaps and bounds but she is still the cuddly little baby she always was. She has a great disposition and will smile her squinty smile at anyone. She is so irresistible when she smiles and her four top teeth and two bottom teeth are showing. She does get a little shy sometimes and will shrug her shoulders up and tilt her head sideways.

One year stats:

Weight-19 lbs (10-25th percentile)
Height-29. 5 inches (50-75th percentile)

Arden was acting like a crazy baby during her one year check up. She did not want to go near the nurse or the doctor and she was frantically trying to climb off the scale. At least she didn't pee on the examination table like she almost always does. She had to endure a chickenpox vaccine and finger pricks but bounced back pretty quickly after that. She had to endure all of this on her actual birthday.

So no good news on the sleeping situation. In fact, her sleep habits have gotten worse. She still naps twice a day around 9am and 2pm. Now I have to lay her on my chest after nursing her to put her to sleep for naps and at night. Sometimes this process can take up to 45 minutes! Sometimes I ask myself why I spend so much time trying to get her to nap when she might only nap for 45 minutes. But I do it anyway and hope that we'll figure it out along the way. If I just let her hang out in her crib without laying her on me, she will just babble to herself or cry and not sleep at all. I can't nurse Arden to sleep anymore and just put her in the crib and walk away like I used to. Now she'll finish nursing, sit up, give me a sweet little smile, and crawl onto my chest. How can I resist her? But my patience wears thin by the third time she wakes up in the middle of the night. Not sure who wins "worst sleeper ever" title-Ava when she was under 2, or Arden.

These days Arden and I are roomies while David sleeps on an aerobed in Ava's room. So far it has worked alright but David has discovered that Ava has some weird sleep habits like standing straight up in the middle of the night. Ava also likes to sleep on the aerobed until David transfer to her own bed.

Arden doesn't take a bottle or a sippy cup very well. Somehow the "Teen Moms" on MTV can get their babies to sleep and take bottles but I can't do either. These days when I struggle with some aspect of parenting, I just shrug my shoulders and think "this won't last forever". Someday Arden will sleep, right? Somebody please tell me yes.

Arden does the cutest things, like growl. But if I growl at her, she gets a little scared. She likes to play peek-a-boo by putting her hands over her eyes, and she is an excellent clapper. She will blow kisses if we ask her to do it. She walks alongside furniture like a champ but has not taken any steps at all.

Words: she has mastered "dada", and her version of "uh-oh" (sounds like "hmm-mmmm"). I think she might know "dog" because one day we got in the elevator and she said "doh" at the dog in there. "Mama" comes out once in a while but it could just be a coincidence.

Favorite foods: chicken apple sausage, vegetable beef pilaf, baby mum mums, ribs, Indian chicken, salmon, tofu, and pasta.

Sometimes Arden likes to wave her arms around to music, with her hands looking a bit like pincers. This is not a perfect depiction of her "rapping lobster" look, but it is pretty close.

The sisters are starting to play well together, if by "play" we mean Ava sitting on Arden or pulling Arden's legs when Arden is crawling

Arden giving me a shy glance

This looks like the lamest first birthday cake ever but Arden enjoyed her carrot cake enough to smear it in her hair

Arden at her one year check up--before she knew what was coming

Arden and Henry in the playroom. Arden getting dolled up for her birthday. Too bad I didn't get a party together for her.

That is Arden's sleepy face. She sucks on her bottom lip and puts her fingers to her mouth. She is so cuddly!!!

Living it up with St. Patty's, Martha and The Strokes

2011-04-11T15:23:00.000-04:00

David decided to take his birthday off (St. Patty's Day) as well as the day after. It was wonderful to walk down to 5th Avenue and 79th St. to enjoy the parade. We loved how patriotic it was, with a lot of policemen and soldiers walking down 5th Avenue while bagpipes could be heard in the background.

David had a great birthday (except I messed up the icing on his cake--apparently sour cream chocolate icing is not his thing). During one night on his birthday weekend, he and I were able to walk to the Metropolitan museum and enjoy some religious art right before closing. Then we walked through Central Park and enjoyed the breathtaking evening views while we were on our way to Gennaro, a cozy Italian restaurant. We ended the night with some gelato from Screme. David kept asking me all weekend, "How could anyone want to leave this city?"

Ava had the best view of the parade

Arden and David in green. For once David's neon green jacket wasn't an eyesore (just kidding, babe, you know I love your jacket)

I couldn't get enough of men in kilts

Hanging out with the Foss family and Colvin family during and after the parade

Alice in Wonderland statue was close by so I climbed on after the parade. Ignore my pirate look.

Enjoying brunch on David's day off. Check out David's hot new birthday jeans.

Isn't this baby cute enough to eat?

Ava waiting to slap on some strawberry butter.

I was able to enjoy some activities lately sans kids. My friend Tiffany and I have been swapping babysitting services and it has been awesome! Now that the weather is better, I am really excited to explore my big back yard. I don't know if it is because I have two kids now that I really feel like I need to go out with my friends and go on dates with David. I never really felt like I had to "get away" when it was just Ava. But then again I didn't live in NYC before!

Martha! We are the lucky ladies who got to see a Martha Stewart taping. We scored some free Minwax. Just watch I'm going to get all crafty and Minwax it up...not.

David and I scored some box seat tickets at Madison Square Garden to see The Strokes (he got tix through people he met at work). This is my way to see a rock concert--away from the crowds and with an arm's reach access to food. Here's to more good times in the city!

Fun in February?

2011-03-25T15:14:00.000-04:00

Sigh...a huge relief that February is over. Not only was the weather less than desirable, three quarters of the Smock family got sick. Ava missed two days of school, Arden was a serious mess, and even I succumbed to some kind of debilitating virus. Arden and Ava both had fevers, and Arden went on a nursing strike. She wouldn't nurse for about three days and everytime I tried she sharpened her chompers on me. I was so stressed out about it because Arden doesn't take a bottle or a sippy cup. I tried to feed her liquids through a syringe or pouring breastmilk/water into her mouth from a cup. I wondered if my nursing days were over with Arden, but she got back on the wagon when she started feeling better. Thank goodness that ordeal is over and thank goodness David stayed strong. We did manage to eek in some fun. Here's the proof (albeit the pictures after the first two aren't stellar quality because I took them):

Playdate with Lillian J and Ella. I can't think of a sweeter picture than this one, where they are holding hands and all smiling so sweetly. All the girls ever want to do is dress up like princesses.

Lesley (Ella's mom) took these two princess pics. I want to remember Ava like this forever. I constantly stare at this picture.

David and Ava sledding in Pound Ridge

Squinty smiles

Robbie and David's joint birthday celebration. That's Ava in the leopard suit

Ava the clown with cousin Lily

Ava with Lillian F and Ella outside of Alice's Tea Cup

Ava drinking her fruit tea (by this point she had broken a tea cup already) and devouring her pumpkin scone. Kelly Ripa was across from us at the other table.

Ava waiting her turn to be sprinkled with fairy dust. We love Alice's Tea Cup!!!!

Cousin Grant's birthday party

Such a fun party with Grant

Valentine's Day party at Ella's house after ballet class

Ava and Lillian F frosting cookies

Sweet Arden likes to sit at the door of Ava's ballet class and watch the action. I will post pics of Ava's beloved class when I get some good ones.

So long February!

Arizona!

2011-02-28T07:33:00.000-05:00

This post, as usual, is long overdue. I just had to get this post about Christmas up before March and it looks like I did it just in time! The girls and I spent 3 and a half weeks in Phoenix and Tucson. David joined us on Christmas Eve and left on New Year's Eve. The weather for the most part was great in Arizona (50s and 60s) while NYC was busy shoving snow left and right!

Ava with Auntie Michelle and cute Jaden at the Phoenix zoo

Hanging out at The Farm in Phoenix

Arden and Jaden holding hands. We loved meeting Jaden for the first time. We call Jaden our little goober.

Arden was obsessed with Ah Ma's necklace

Happy family

Arden's first Christmas present. Ava had to get in on the action, of course. Sorry to David for posting a not so fab Christmas morning pic.

Ava got a tricycle for Christmas for my parents. She loved riding it around the lake. Too bad we had to leave it behind. But that's the grandparents way of luring us back to Arizona for another visit!

Totally blurry picture but I love how much fun everyone is having in this picture.

Ava wasn't scared of Santa, but it seemed like she could take him or leave him

All aboard the Christmas train

Pony ride at the Christmas fair in Tucson

This was the cutest thing ever--grandpa and Ava on the swing together singing songs

Chronicles of a Clueless Mom: Incident #1

2011-02-17T15:35:00.002-05:00

I think of myself as a clueless mom and oftentimes use harsher words than "clueless" to describe my mothering skills. But I need to be kinder to myself. Can I just say that motherhood is kicking my butt? It's been a rough couple of weeks with sick kids, Ava peeing in her bed constantly, Arden refusing to attempt to sleep through the night, and succumbing to illness myself. But I've survived it all and will survive whatever is thrown my way! Ha!

"Chronicles" implies that this will be an ongoing documentation of my foibles, and most likely I will do enough stupid things to fill a whole book. But let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Let's start with incident #1.

Sometimes I just have to let Arden cry a little bit in her crib in hopes that she'll fall asleep on her own. But that girl has a serious gag reflex and will vomit if she gets too worked up. So my hopes and dreams of letting her "cry it out" have been dashed. I'm joking about it being my hopes and dreams, of course, but to completely eliminate the crying it out method without even fully attempting it just means more sleepless nights for us. When David and I hear the dreaded gagging sound we both rush into to room and there in its full glory is a little puddle of her dinner. So the other night, after Arden's dinner made its unwelcome appearance, David stripped Arden's sheets and I threw the nastiness into the wash. After the wash was done, I started to transfer the sheets to the dryer and noticed some strange little wet circular substance fall out from the wash. I discovered that I had thrown in a diaper along with the sheets into the washing machine. Smooth! Finding a bloated, ripped apart diaper in the wash is the worst. As far as I could tell it was not a poopy diaper, but who knows? Trying to clean these water absorbing polymers from the washing machine was such a pain. I re-washed the load and somehow that took care of whatever I couldn't get out of the machine. Lesson learned by this clueless mom--check what I am washing!

Arden at 9 months

2011-01-31T21:48:00.000-05:00

Stats at her 9 month doctor's visit:

Weight: 17 pounds 14 ounces (25-50th percentile)

Height: 29 inches (90th percentile or something like that)

What do I say about my sweet Arden? She is just a good-natured little nugget and I can just eat her up. So I love Arden to death but I have to admit there were a couple of weeks when I wondered why Arden had turned into such a challenge. Well, the obvious reason was that she had a cold and couldn't BREATHE, but for a while there I thought she was turning into Ava #2 (aka the worst sleeper ever). I think she is getting back on track now to falling asleep better on her own. Although sometimes she will just cry in her crib in the afternoon and won't take her afternoon nap. It is still tough at night since she wakes up 2-4 times a night. I nurse her back to sleep (I think I am repeating the same mistakes as I did with Ava) and put her back in the crib that is next to me. Sometimes she won't fall asleep and start squawking and she wants to play a little bit. At this point she ends up in my bed and she likes to put her mouth up to my face. Seriously adorable. I have to remind myself that someday she will sleep through the night!

Arden is up to some new tricks. She can do some serious army crawling around, and when she feels like it she can crawl on her knees too. She doesn't do that much around our apartment since we don't have any carpet.

Arden is quite a squawker. Whenever we make a roaring sound, she'll copy us. She can make really loud noises and hold a note for a long time. A friend who has had years of voice training said that Arden could be a singer someday. Arden likes to bop to music as well.

Arden is also known in our household as "The Wrestler." Anytime I try to change her diaper or clothes, she will twist and turn to get away. It is seriously a wrestling match to get her to lay or sit still for a second. It is one "body slam" after the next to get the job done.

Arden has started eating puffs and cheerios, small bits of cheese, and has tried pizza crusts, bread, and avocados.

Arden likes to squint/blink her eyes playfully

She only has two bottom teeth and just a few more strands of hair.

Santa's little helper

I'll never get enough of this girl

Anytime something is on Arden's head she tries to take it off

Arden does this funny thing of putting her four fingers up to her mouth when she is tired. She doesn't put her fingers in her mouth, just up to her lips while she sucks on her bottom lip. My family got such a kick out of this in Arizona.

"How big is Arden? So big!"

Little Eskimo asleep on the floor

Ava and Arden like to look out our big window

Arden can say "dada"

Ava thinks of this jumper as a swing and pushes Arden back and forth...until I catch her. I must say that Arden puts up with Ava's rough housing very well. Ava likes to wrestle her, slap her face somewhat gently, sit on her and steal whatever is in Arden's hands. Ah, sisterly love.

NYC December Diversions

2011-01-25T15:20:00.000-05:00

December in NYC is magical, with lights everywhere and all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season that NYC has to offer. Unfortunately I didn't make it down to Macy's Santa Land before I headed out to Arizona on December 15. We did, however, experience a few fun things.

We didn't send out Christmas cards, but wow, we actually made Christmas cookies this year (even if it was all from a box at Trader Joe's). Oh, can I just take a second and give the Upper West Side TJ's a shout out? You know I love you!

Santa dropped off her Tinkerbell umbrella at our front door.

Too bad we couldn't get closer but the American Museum of Natural History had a beautiful origami decorated Christmas tree

Santa also dropped off Christopher Pop-in-kins (a little elf that Ava loved to hold), along with a book telling the story about Christopher. He watched Ava to see if she was a good girl and reported to Santa. David and I would hide him every night and Ava was supposed to look for him the next morning. But she constantly forgot about him, especially in Arizona. I loved having Christopher around so I could say "you better be good, or else Santa won't bring you any presents". This trick should be good for a few more years. Yes!

Rockefeller Tree is so massive and gorgeous. Ava is conked out. Arden is in her Eskimo suit in the stroller.

The Holiday Train show at the New York Botanical Gardens. It was so cool to see all these New York buildings, landmarks and bridges built with plant materials with little trains whizzing down the tracks in front.

More pictures of Ava at the New York Botanical Garden refusing to look at the camera

The "Tootle" show at the New York Botanical Garden. Very cute.

Ava with a big wad of cotton candy in her face. The Time Warner Center was all decked out for the holidays.

We didn't want to brave the crowds at the Rockefeller Tree Lighting, so we settled for the next best thing--the Lincoln Center tree lighting

Checking out the Christmas windows at Saks Fifth Avenue

The American Girl store

Ava with Ella and Lilly at the American Girl store. Ava doesn't have a doll yet, but I think she'll get one soon!

Thanksgiving Smock-style

2010-12-06T09:13:00.004-05:00

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)

Big girl bed

2010-12-03T20:22:00.004-05:00

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...

Growing up way too quickly

2010-11-28T08:31:00.003-05:00

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

The case of the crazies

2010-11-15T14:59:00.003-05:00

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.

Pure sweetness

2010-11-12T22:59:00.007-05:00

Love her smiles after a bath

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.

Halloween for Horton and Bad Witch

2010-11-12T14:32:00.000-05:00

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 in a nutshell

2010-11-08T21:41:00.006-05:00

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.

It's our secret

2010-11-01T15:11:00.000-04:00

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.

Arden at six months

2010-10-08T15:03:00.006-04:00

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.

Stats: Height-27 inches
Weight-16 pounds 13 ounces.

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

Three and loving it

2010-10-02T15:16:00.001-04:00

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 tidbits

2010-09-28T15:33:00.007-04:00

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"

Book Buddies Preschool

2010-09-22T16:39:00.002-04:00

When we first moved to NYC in February, I kept lamenting about how if we had stayed in Charlotte, Ava would be starting preschool in September. You see, preschools in NYC are ridiculously expensive, and I believe the yearly tuition is an average of $10,000. Then an angel from my church, Amy Wilcox, decides to do a home preschool program (Book Buddies Preschool). She has the experience, the space (4 bedrooms in NYC!), and the patience to do this. Basically to me she is a life saver!

Including Ava, there are eight children, all born in 2007, in the class. With the exception of two children, all the children attend nursery together anyway. Ava attends school on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9am-noon. I think this will be a wonderful program for Ava and she loves Ms. Amy and all of her classmates. I feel so happy this worked out and it is such an affordable program too. Can I get a hallelujah???!!!

Much to my chagrin I couldn't find my camera on her first official day of school. So I just have pictures of orientation and the second day of school. Ava did so well her first two days. She just walks right in and gets busy. She is so ready for this new stage in her life. We are talking about the same girl who would cry hysterically at the gym's child care before she was two years old. Now Ava barely looks at me when I drop her off and pick her up. Well, hey two can play that game. I went out for breakfast with Arden and three other moms after dropping off the kids. I'm talking tough but the reality is I feel a little sad about her not needing me so much anymore.

Trampoline in Ms. Amy's living room. How cool is that?

As long as Ava has a baby doll in her hands, she is happy! Looks like she is getting a little greedy there with the doll stuff.

These three are thick as thieves...looks like there is an inside joke going on here

Ava will say cheese and look at anything but the camera. These first four pics were taken on orientation day.

The children said "goodbye to summer" on their second day of school. They did art with frozen ice cubs colored with food coloring. There was a sprinkler across from Amy's apartment.

Look who's looking at the camera...that's my girl!

Hair balls

2010-09-22T14:35:00.002-04:00

One annoying thing about having a baby is the hair loss. It is amazing that I have any hair left on my head. I shed so much hair that David calls me the family pet. It doesn't help that I have super long dark hair that is clearly visible all over our floor. My hair appears everywhere even in strange places like Arden's diapers. Even with constant sweeping I have hair balls starting to congregate in the corners, like little creatures. I told Ava I was going bald and she said "Like a boy?" I think I have some hair growing back. I have some ugly short wispy strands on my forehead.

Safari party

2010-09-15T22:04:00.009-04:00

Ava had her third birthday party on September 11. It was the most gorgeous day ever and everything turned out so well. My friend Emily and I decided to do a joint party for her son Eli (born 5 days after Ava) and Ava so that it wouldn't be too stressful. We held the party at Safari Playground, so we decided to do a safari theme. I think including Eli and Ava there were 21 children and many of the parents showed up. For the party favor bags we glued wooden safari animals with the childrens' names on them to paper bags. I wish I took a picture of those.

Luckily Emily has a car and she was able to drive to Costco and Target and set up the spread here.

My friend Heidi helped me decorate the cake. Love those little plastic animals. Emily used them to decorate her cupcakes too. We were pleased with how the cake turned out. Simple but cute!

Playing "Lion says" which is a my made-up version of "Simon says". Also played "Tiger Tiger Giraffe" (aka duck, duck goose). The younger kids didn't really get it. A hoot to watch.

Pin the nose on the lion

Eli's dad, Boyd, leading the kids on a tiger hunt. They used their telescope/binoculars with cut up toilet paper rolls

All the kids were given an animal mask to wear if they wanted. Ava kept roaring at everyone. Her "3" shirt is from Chase, her pal in Charlotte.

Drawing on the hippos with dad. Giving the hippo a butt tattoo maybe?

The birthday duo

Arden observing the festivities with Uncle Andrew

Boyd played and sang some fun songs: "In the jungle", "The wheels on the Jeep", "Old McDonald had a jungle"

Ava enjoying the fun music

Chomping into the cupcake. This girl is obsessed with cupcakes.

Lilly joining in on blowing out the candles. The more the merrier! Thanks to everyone who shared this special day with us!

Yoga Pose Off

2010-09-08T22:36:00.009-04:00

Who's got the better yoga poses?

Round 1: Lotus Position

Round 2:Cheesy smile

Round 3: Attempt to do a side pose

I took some pictures of Ava when she was five months old on a yoga mat so I thought I would do the same with Arden. These babies look so different! In these pictures, Ava actually looks a little rotund. I think around five months was when she had a little baby fat, but just a little. I love my yoga babies!

Governors Island

2010-09-07T09:52:00.007-04:00

We took the subway down to the South Ferry area at the end of August and scoffed at how long the line was to go to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. We'll head to those destinations when there are fewer tourists. We decided the free ferry ride and free bike rentals (Fridays only) on Governors Island were a better fit. Governor's Island is approximately half a mile from the southern tip of Manhattan. It's only open to the public a few months out of the year so we wanted to take advantage of seeing this island. The awesomely short 4 minute ferry ride didn't make anyone seasick, and we rushed to get our free bike rentals. We only got one bike with a child's seat at the back. David took Ava for a ride while I watched Arden and then we switched. This was Ava's first bike ride ever. David was really nervous when I was riding the bike (I'm 30 not 5!) but it was so exhilarating to ride past the Statue of Liberty and see the beautiful harbor and buildings across from us. There were people picnicking and laying in hammocks with the Statue of Liberty in sight. We got lazy towards the end of the day and got a ride from the tram back to the pier. Another awesome NYC destination to check off our list...

All smiles on the ferry ride

The interactive sculpture garden for kids was fun to explore

There were random sculptures all over the island

Can't wait until Arden is old enough so we can all enjoy bike rides together

No, I'm just crazy

2010-09-04T21:39:00.004-04:00

I've decided to approach the blogging thing a little differently. Instead of blogging once in a while and always writing long posts as if I am writing a college paper, I'm going to capture our lives in little vignettes here and there as well. Well, that is my intention anyway.

So today David wanted to go to the Barney's Warehouse sale. He was feeling like the worst dressed employee on his floor so he wanted a new spiffy wardrobe. The whole family showed up at the dingy warehouse and realized this shopping thing was going to be intense. Strollers and backpacks had to be checked in (I've been toting a backpack versus a shoulder diaper bag these days...I prefer the unshowered backpacker look over the svelte New York mommy look). Ava, Arden and I ditched David so he could battle the metrosexuals over the sales racks. I found the women's bin that said "75% off denim". I was getting excited and thought I could actually score some cool threads for cheap. Of course it was so difficult for me to dig through the bins and find the right size with Ava next to me and Arden strapped to me in the Ergo. I think all the jeans were low-rise too. The last thing I need is another pair of low-rise jeans to accentuate my extra tummy folds. I found some jeans to try on and found out the "dressing room" was a corner of the store with pseudo-walls set up. Throngs of women were crammed in this cattle stall and trying on clothes without caring about being exposed to each other. I decided to do it too with Arden still strapped to me and Ava by my side. Something about 75% off affected my thinking. Women were offering to help and kept saying "You are so brave to shop with your girls!" I replied, "No, I'm just crazy". After trying on the jeans (too tight) I went to grab a few more to try on. This time I decided to try jeans on behind the jeans bin because I didn't want to go back to the cattle stall. I must have really lost my mind at that point. I woke Arden up in the process of trying to squish myself into skinny jeans and got in trouble with a saleslady. The sad thing is, both David and I left empty-handed. But the trip down there wasn't all for naught because we went to Chelsea Market and had a delicious lunch at Friedman's. If I ever go to a warehouse sale again, the kids are staying behind and I'm getting my game face on!

Motherhood in NYC

2010-08-18T15:30:00.001-04:00

Phil and Ted's double stroller being put to good use. Good for walking to the Shake Shack

Ok, I look slightly under the influence in this picture but I wanted to show what it was like to get around the city...Maclaren and Ergo carrier in the subway. My apartment is being overtaken by strollers.

One major bonus about living in the Upper West Side is easy access to the parks. Of course we all know about Central Park, but I've recently discovered Riverside Park, which is next to the Hudson River. There are so many different playgrounds that we can go to that sometimes I'll take the girls to two different playgrounds (one in the morning and another in the afternoon). If I wanted to go a little crazy, I could hit up four or five playgrounds in one go. There is a playground every three blocks or so along Central Park West. So I guess I feel a little better about paying city taxes if it goes towards maintaining these playgrounds (yes, on top of crazy expensive rent, you have to pay a city tax).

Now that the weather is hot and humid, I'm looking extremely unsexy with my frizzy hair and ghetto clothes while I push the double stroller around in almost 90 degree weather. Somehow, some mothers look really cute, but I just can't pull it off. Sometimes if a mom looks really good I take a long hard look at her to make sure she isn't a celeb. I like spotting some celebrity moms (Elizabeth Hasselback and Caroline Rhea) in the playgrounds. Someone told me Matt Damon and his kids were at Dinosaur Park, a playground that I frequent. I want to see some A-list celebs soon!

I've never seen so many nannies in my life. I know they are nannies because they are a completely different race from the children and a lot of the times, speaking a different language to another nanny, while shouting across the park in English to some child. You can hear about four different languages at any given park at any given time. Many children are multi-lingual. It makes me feel guilty about not teaching Ava Mandarin.

People are very opinionated about parenting here. Parenting is hard enough as it is and sometimes you get some unwelcome comments like "she should be wearing a hat" or "you need to sit down on the bus so your baby won't get hurt". I've been on a bus ride where a toddler was throwing a tantrum and people were practically verbally abusing the mother about it. One time this lady was going on and on about how we can't bring a car seat on the bus. David and I just ignored her but the old man next to me pretty much told her to shut her trap. They were arguing for a while and he just kept muttering "just shut up, just shut up." Quite awkward but quite funny. That's the thing about public transportation - everyone is in everyone else's space and business. A lady said out of nowhere to Michelle, my pregnant sister, that she needs to breastfeed her child because that's what "they" are for. Thanks for the heads up, lady.

I think NYC is incredibly convenient...IF you stay within your neighborhood. You strap your kids in the double stroller and off you go to wherever. However, if you want to get on the bus or subway, you have to plan well for that. Carrying a double stroller down subway steps or folding it up on a crowded bus is out of the question for me. If you are lucky, you can find a subway stop with an elevator. Basically, you need to have a really reliable baby carrier (I just purchased an Ergo, and I think it will work a lot better than the BabyBjorn) and an umbrella stroller to fold up when hopping on the subway/bus. I'm just starting to figure these things out. Everytime we have a family outing, we have to discuss how we will get there. Here are the choices:
By walking (it might rain or it is too freakin' hot!)
Bus (watch out for rude crazy people)
Subway (sometimes you have to wait forever for a train. Sometimes you have rats for company)
Or taxi (sure, if you want to burn a hole in your wallet and deal with grouchy taxi driver!)

In general, public transportation really isn't that bad. Yes, there are very annoying moments like the ones I mentioned above on the bus, but people are generally friendly and buses/subways generally run frequently. Most of the time, people will offer their seat to me while I am carrying Arden. People offer to help me with the stroller when confronted with steps on the subway. I try to forget about the bad times and remember the nice people out here. The other day I was carrying Arden in the Ergo and I was walking home with Ava from the bus stop. Her feet were very sore from her church shoes, which were way too small so she "couldn't" walk. I tried to carry Ava with my arms at the same time, but that didn't work for more than a few steps (got to work on my weak, flabby arms). Then I tried to give her a piggyback ride. That was a mistake since she was barely hanging on for dear life. A nice lady walking by carried Ava all the way to our lobby.

Gone are the days where I can just hop in my car and drive to the Target that is 4 minutes away. I am constantly buying diapers, toiletries, toys and other paraphernalia online. It is pretty sweet to go to the lobby and pick up my package from the doorman. But I do miss my Charlotte Target. There are Targets I can just hop on a subway and get to, but I'm not sure it will be worth the trouble to me. As for grocery shopping...I don't know what I would do without Whole Foods. I practically live there. We are always buying the rotisserie chicken and pizza there and I shop there multiple times a week, sometimes multiple times a day. I also order my groceries through FreshDirect. The concept of ordering groceries online and having it delivered is amazing. Despite living next to Whole Foods and having the FreshDirect option at my fingertips, I am still doing a poor job of keeping our apartment stocked with food. The reality is, there is no space. Some moms rent cars/take taxis and go to Costco to pick up some stuff. I would love to stock up at Costco but if you saw my kitchen, you would know what I mean about no space for anything! Someday I will post pictures of the apartment...when the clutter is less crazy. I am getting owned by clutter.

Music/dance/art classes here are double or triple the cost of those in Charlotte. So I've been trying to find lots of FREE activities for Ava. There are lots of free things to do and we've really enjoyed all the children's programs this summer. We have also been to some amazing free Shakespeare plays and concerts.

I am realizing how lame this blog is. We've been exploring the city but I haven't posted anything about these amazing places! I live in one of the coolest cities in the world and I need to do a better job documenting it! I will post some pics of some of our summer sightseeing later.

Four months and counting

2010-08-11T15:00:00.000-04:00

Last month I said Arden didn't make too many sounds. Over the past couple of weeks she has gotten a lot more vocal. Sometimes at inopportune times. Arden likes to serenade David and I in the middle of the night. Something has happened to Arden's sleep patterns at night and all I can chalk it up to is what some people say is the four month sleep regression. Instead of doing her usual 5-7 hours, Arden wakes up every 3-4 hours and will take forever to fall back asleep. She'll be "singing", doing pilates moves by lifting both legs up and dropping them with a thud on the bed, or shaking her head back and forth trying to get comfortable. It's been tough this past week. I hope this sleep thing is a phase. These bad nights are reminding me of Ava's sleep regression starting at four months until age 2! Arden doesn't have a sleep schedule yet, but she usually sleeps in until about 10-11am with feedings before then. Ava and I have to wait for her to wake up before we can go anywhere. She'll take an afternoon nap too, usually for a couple of hours. She doesn't really sleep in her co-sleeper (kind of too small anyway) and I'm really not sure what I will do when she starts crawling/rolling. At that point, sleeping on our bed will definitely be a hazard. Our bedroom can't fit another crib in it (maybe a mini one) and there is no way I'm putting Arden in Ava's room at this time. I think we need a third bedroom so badly, but tough luck.

Arden is just so sweet, always giving smiles to whoever looks at her. There is always a smile for me when she sees me and she loves it when we shower her face with kisses (we get some good giggles out of her). Arden is really into blowing raspberries, especially when she starts getting upset. All of a sudden we'll hear her mouth sputtering away while in the stroller or in the room.

Stats:

Weight-17 pounds 2 ounces (95th percentile)
Length-25.5 inches (90th percentile)

One funny thing that happened at the doctor's office was the doctor was doing his usual check up with feeling around her tummy and legs. She was crying during all of this but when he started doing the hip/leg twisting thing, it sounded like she was laughing. Sure enough, I looked at her face and she was giggling and crying at the same time. Love that girl!

Arden is usually pretty happy during tummy time

Just like Ava did, Arden likes her butterfly friend

Always enjoying her fingers. She's pretty scrumptious to me too!

Look at my pretty dress!

Arden loves her bath time. She really needs one everyday, because as you can see, her fat creases allow lots of cheesiness to occur. If milk gets trapped in her neck folds, she smells like stinky cheese. Camembert, anyone?

Arden loves staring at her big sis. Pure adoration

Couldn't get out if she wanted to. Her thighs get stuck in there. For the record, I'm still not sick of making fat jokes about her because I love her fatness!

Block Island

2010-08-09T21:30:00.000-04:00

We were so fortunate to be invited out for a week on Block Island again. We took a two and a half hour train ride to the ferry and an hour long ferry ride to get there. Ava got very sea sick (I think we were all feeling queasy). She left a nice pile of vomit for some unfortunate person to clean up, but besides that we arrived there without a hitch. Block Island is such a relaxing place! We love the house that we stayed at (thanks to the Bulls!) and the view from the house is amazing. Of course we were limited in what we could do with a four month old but we did a lot of what we do best...lounging. We also went to the beach, did a little walking around, played some cornhole (basically bean bag toss), watched a few chick flicks (the guys were into it too...don't deny it, Chris) and just enjoyed each other's company. David's back acted up again so he was babysitting Arden a lot. Ava was obsessed with the hot tub, which was so cute. She pronounced it with an emphasis on "tub" so it sounded really funny. One really cool thing about the house is the outdoor shower with a view of the ocean (just had to make sure you warned the other family members not to go outside during your shower). Here are some out of order pics.

All the little cousins hanging out at the farm

Building rock towers with mommy

Ava loved feeding the animals at the farm. Pass the hand sanitizer please.

All Arden could do was lay there on the beach under the tent (sounds like me). Love those cheeks!

Nice snooze on the beach

Ava eating her fave-PB&J sandwich

Ava boogie boarded with her old man

Getting ready for a stroll

The happy sisters

Baby Blessing

2010-07-13T20:42:00.000-04:00

We blessed Arden on July 4 at church. It was a great time to have a baby blessing since all of David's family from around here could attend and David's dad flew out with his wife Marilyn from Utah.

A baby blessing is a special time in the Mormon faith. Basically, usually the father of the baby will give the baby an official name and blessing during church. The father speaks from his heart and pronounces blessings that hopefully will happen in the baby's life. Arden was perfectly quiet and still during the blessing. David gave a beautiful blessing, where he expressed what a joy it was to have Arden in our family. He also said he hoped that Arden will be a good example to her friends and that she will marry a good man.

I think baby blessings are wonderful because every parent wishes that their child will lead a blessed life. To hear the blessings that you hope your child can receive is comforting. I was so moved since I felt in my heart how blessed I was to be Arden's mother and to be a part of her life. Wow, I've used a variation of the word "bless" a lot in this post but sometimes I have to just sit back and think about everything I've been given in this life. Sometimes I don't know how I got so lucky. My children are gifts from God (even though there are days I forget about this!).

Arden is just a sweet, beautiful baby. She's still packing on the pounds like nobody's business. At her 3 month check up she was 15 pounds 10 ounces. Holy Cow! Actually, Ava pointed to Arden one day and called her a cow. Not sure why. But Ava pointed at me and called me a cow too on a separate occasion. That's okay, Arden and I can be fat together. This baby weight is not coming off quickly enough!

Arden will suck on the tips of her fingers and her little mouth makes loud sucking noises, especially in the middle of the night. We've tried giving her a pacifier a few times and Arden acts like she doesn't know what to do with it. She does the same thing with a bottle but we've only tried once. I've kind of shot myself in the foot with nursing her while lying down all of the time. She won't really nurse while I'm sitting down and it gets a little tricky when we're out and about.

Arden isn't making the strange noises she used to make (she sounded like a baby dinosaur from "Jurassic Park"). She doesn't coo a whole lot but just gives us a big grin whenever she sees us. She's a quiet one but I've gotten a few giggles out of her. Arden still likes to sleep a lot during the day. On the good nights she'll go for a five hour stretch, but there are usually two or three feedings between 8pm and 8am. She just doesn't have a schedule yet. She just doesn't like to be awake for more than 2 hours at a time.

We had a light meal after the blessing on the lounge area of our building

This is the same gown Ava wore when she was blessed. David's parents got it in Ecuador.

We had brunch with Papa and Marilyn at Sarabeth's. This place is delish! Arden is lying down under Ava's seat. Can you see her legs?

Buddha Baby

2010-06-10T09:35:00.008-04:00

The two beauties. I've gotten a few comments from strangers that Arden looks like a doll. A super sized one. Ha!

Smiling all day long

She looks especially chunky and Buddha-like in this picture. The camera adds 10 pounds, right?

I love my fat baby. She looks like a jolly fat Buddha (no offense to any Buddhists out there) and I love her rolls. I loved how dainty and petite Ava was as a baby, but it is fun to have such a chunk this time. It keeps things interesting to have such different babies. Although I kind of wish I didn't have to carry Arden around in a carrier. My back may break if she keeps growing at the same pace.

She is 10 weeks old now. At her 2 month check up, she was looking healthy and didn't cry too hard when she got her shots. Her stats:

Weight-13 pounds 9 ounces (95th percentile)
Ava was 9 pounds 6 ounces
Height-23.5 inches (90th percentile)
Ava was the same height

Nothing too new to report on Arden. She is smiling a lot and cooing too. She is still sleeping a lot, with longer wake periods. She isn't on any sort of schedule, but thank goodness she usually sleeps in in the mornings. Sometimes she'll do a 5-6 hour stretch at night, but usually she wants to feed every 2-3 hours all day and night. I may be overfeeding her, since everytime she cries I pretty much feed her. She isn't spitting up as much, but is still as gassy as ever!

Life with two and Arden's updates

2010-05-18T14:40:00.000-04:00

These beautiful "big sister/little sister" shirts are from Anne Willette.

Not really capturing Arden's sweet smiles in these pics...we really take awful pictures!

Reality has sunk in. Ah Ma and Auntie Michelle have come and gone, so I'm on my own for the most part. I have to say that going from one child to two is very difficult. There were some days where I felt like I would lose my mind. I would say the most difficult time would be in the evening hours, when I would attempt to make dinner, feed Ava, bathe Ava and put her to bed while trying to keep Arden happy. Lately David hasn't been coming home until 9 or 10pm, either from dinner with clients/colleagues, or studying for his Series 7 exam. I think I'm dealing with all of this a little better now because I've gotten more comfortable with letting Arden cry a little bit as I take care of business. Sad but true. I do feel guilty though. I never let Ava cry when she was a baby, but it's nearly impossible for me to pay as much attention to Arden as I would like. I feel like both of my children are getting shortchanged because at one point one of the two (or maybe both!) will be ignored.

Arden is still sleeping most of the day, once she gets comfortable. Arden will sometimes take forever to fall asleep. She hates to be swaddled but her jerky reflexes keep her from sleeping when she is not swaddled. I'm sure she would love to be held the whole time but as we've already established, she doesn't get that luxury. She is just the gassiest, gruntiest thing ever and will sometimes grunt for a long time, especially in the middle of the night. I've given up on using the co-sleeper , so I've got little Miss Grunty squirming around and grunting next to me. For a while I thought she was so gassy, spitting up a lot and had neon green poop because of something I was eating. I've cut back on dairy but I don't know if it makes a difference. Luckily the neon green poop has gone away for now.

She is now almost 7 weeks old. At her 4 week checkup, she was 10 pounds 1 ounce and 22 inches. Ava was 22 inches too but two pounds lighter! So obviously Arden is a chunkylicious thing. I don't have many pictures of her from when she was 2 1/2 weeks old to now. That's because she got the most severe case of baby acne I've ever seen in my life! I'm not exaggerating, people. Her skin has cleared up quite a bit but now we've got some crazy cradle cap going on. She is beautiful and so sweet but I can't wait for her crustiness to be over with! She has been smiling a lot, so I need to get a decent pic of that.

Ava has adjusted to life with little sis very well. However, if I say to Arden "It's your mama!" Ava will say, "No, it's my mama!" We had a few episodes of Ava yelling some weird syllable like "Baa!" into Arden's face but I put a stop to that. Ava also had to learn that she had to gently pet Arden like a dog if she wanted to touch her, since Ava was a little rough with her before.
Sometimes Ava will say "I'm a baby! Change my diaper!" I'm not sure if she wants extra attention or she just likes playing pretend. Speaking of diapers, Ava is still doing fairly well without them but I've learned the hard way that she needs to wear them during her naps and at night. I used to just throw away her poopy underwears but realized that wasn't being very economical and would soon run into a undies deficit.

Auntie Michelle came last month to help out and visit! We shared some treats at Central Park

Auntie Michelle and Ava at the American Museum of Natural History. Arden and I went too. Arden was so lucky to see all this at 3 1/2 weeks old!

Arden's first two weeks

2010-04-16T10:29:00.012-04:00

Ava is always asking to hold Arden

Happy times together with Ah Ma

Our little baldie

The first two weeks of Arden's life outside of the womb have gone pretty smoothly but she is becoming decidedly more high maintenance as each day goes on. I think she is eating well and gaining weight as she should. I think Arden has a decent appetite and feeds at least every 2-3 hours, even at night. She was 7 pounds 7 ounces at her 1 week check-up (born 7 pounds 2 ounces). When I was nursing Ava, I was concerned I was producing "skim" milk since Ava was such a skinny minnie, but Arden is proving otherwise. Arden is a grunter and makes us think she is constantly constipated...but that is definitely not the case. One of my least favorite things about the newborn stage are the middle of the night squirty poops and surprise pee attacks. When I'm disoriented in the middle of the night and opening up her diaper, that's when Arden ambushes me and pees and poops all over the place. It's a dangerous and dirty gamble everytime I change a diaper...will she projectile poop or won't she?

While I am on this delicious topic, I'll discuss Ava's potty training. While my mom was here helping out, I thought it would be a great time to start Ava on a diaperless existence. There were a few accidents the first few days (Ava peeing in her pants in Central Park and pooing in her undies next to Arden's co-sleeper). But Ava has really done spectacularly well, with the help of jelly beans and lollipops. We started a chart with stickers but Ava was a lot more interested in her treats. I think I'll put a diaper on her everytime she sleeps for a while though.

It was great having my mom here from Arizona for a week. My mom adapted very well to city life and loved walking everywhere. Ava loved having her here and going to Central Park everyday. Ava liked to embarrass my mom by saying "we can't say boobies" everytime they were in the elevator with a man, or running up to people who were napping in Central Park and saying "wake up" close to their faces.

I keep hoping that Arden will be our "good baby" since we had our issues with Ava. Isn't that the way the universe works? You have a difficult first baby and the second baby should be a breeze. I'm not holding my breath right now, though. Arden is exhibiting the same type of behavior such as not wanting to sleep in her co-sleeper. Arden seems perpetually uncomfortable laying down or being held and fights us when we swaddle her. So we are trying to figure things out and get to know Arden and keep her happy. I am madly in love with her and can't bear to be apart from her.

Grandmother and granddaughter exchange tender looks

Ava was able to go Easter egg hunting at Central Park

Ava is looking too grown up

Arden's grand entrance

2010-04-08T11:20:00.008-04:00

So I was set to be induced at midnight on April 1. However, I was noticing that something was leaking a few days before that... I finally put aside my denial and called the doctor on call and told him that I thought I was leaking amniotic fluid. I knew he would say to go to the hospital right away. I don't know why I was so reluctant since I knew deep down I was leaking fluid and not peeing on myself (sorry, got to be blunt). I just wanted everything to go according to the original plan (does this really happen with childbirth?). So on March 30, at 11pm, I woke David up and told him it was time to head to the hospital. I felt like I was having some contractions too. Julie, his sister, immediately jumped in a taxi and was at our place in no time to spend the night with Ava.

David and I hopped in a taxi and got to the Mt. Sinai's Women Center. It didn't really register in my mind that this was it. The nurse confirmed that I was indeed leaking fluid and strapped me to the baby heartbeat and contraction monitor. I had already been 2cm dilated for the past three weeks, so when the nurse told me I was still only 2cm dilated, I knew an induction was inevitable. The nurse put in an IV, which I think is one of the most horrible things during childbirth, and tried to relax for a few hours. David tried to snooze on the uncomfortable cot and I just laid in the hospital bed listening to 5th Avenue traffic all night long. Five hours later, at 6am, I wasn't any more dilated so it was time for the Pitocin. I was already dead tired by this point and wondered how long this labor process would be. At 8am, Dr. Kassenoff broke my waters since the leaking thing wasn't doing its job to move the labor process along. The combination of my bag of waters being broken and the Pitocin started to really kick in and my contractions were actually painful. I think I am a wimp because even though I was only 4cm dilated by this point, I was really uncomfortable. At 8:30, I was asking for an epidural. My anesthesiologist, who looked like she was 12, prepped me and administered an epidural and a spinal under the supervision of the Chief Anesthesiologist. The spinal was given just in case my labor progressed rapidly before the epidural could kick in. I jokingly asked if they could give David an epidural while they were at it, since we found out recently David has a herniated disc in his back and epidurals are supposed to help. But who am I kidding? I only cared about my pain at that point. The spinal made me very itchy, but I'll take that over pain any day.

For a few hours, labor progressed slowly but then I started to feel a ton of pressure "down there". Nobody checked my cervix again until 12:15pm, when Dr. Kassenoff came in and said, "Sorry, I've been on the phone with Bloomingdale's about furniture delivery." I wonder if she would be so nonchalant about it if I had been in horrible pain the whole time! She checked me and said, "Ok, you're ready to push. Give me 10 minutes to set up." So after less than one minute of pushing, Arden was out! The pushing part didn't really hurt this time, compared to the "ring of fire" I felt with Ava. However, both birth experiences have been quite similar: leaking fluid, induced with Pitocin, and not pushing for a very long time. It was such a bonding, emotional time for David and I while I was pushing. I was so scared because the pushing was the worst part with Ava, and I had hurt my tailbone. I dreaded hurting my tailbone again, but nothing happened this time, thank goodness. David was so supportive and everything went perfectly. No stitches were needed at all!

Arden burst into the world with a robust cry and a little bit of a cone head. She looked clean and just perfect, really. The nurses kept Arden on my chest for a while and I was able to nurse her right away. Then it was time to go to the recovery room. The recovery rooms are very nice, but unless you pay for a private room, you most likely will have a roommate. My roommate was a Korean lady, and we didn't really speak to each other except in the middle of the night when I kept accidentally turning her light on. I still wasn't able to sleep that afternoon because there were so many people coming in and out of the room. The whole roommate thing really is quite interesting but annoying as heck. There are curtains drawn to separate us, but I got to hear some of the conversations my roommate was having with her husband. Apparently she was displeased with everything he was doing and he was wondering why she was giving him dirty looks all day. Arden was doing well and nursing well this first day so she was totally quiet while my roommate's baby was having a hard time...therefore constant crying in the room and no peace for anyone. I knew they were rookies at the whole parenting thing and kept patting myself on the back because I thought I knew what I was doing. Little did I know I would have my own desperate times at the hospital!

David's brother Chris and his family came to visit that night and brought some delicious barbecue. Then visiting hours were over at 10pm and David had to leave me! People with shared rooms couldn't have anyone sleep over. So David and I looked longingly at each other while he stood at the door and left to go home. It was all very melodramatic but it was hard to say goodbye that first night. I'm glad he got to sleep in his own bed, though. I sent Arden off to the nursery so I could get the sleep that I desperately needed. Of course I didn't get good sleep because nurses kept coming in and out of the room. Nurses brought Arden in to be nursed a few times in the night. The next day, David was at the hospital at 8:30am and we just hung out all day. Ava was having the time of her life with Auntie Julie, Uncle Andrew and cousin Grant. She didn't miss us at all! Finally my roommate checked out and I took her spot next to the window with the gorgeous view of Central Park. I kept asking different nurses if it was possible to not have a roommate for my last night at the hospital.

Ava, Julie, Andrew and Grant came to visit in the afternoon and it was so nice to see her be so loving with Arden. It was a sweet reunion but Ava was ready for more partying with her Auntie and Uncle! That night, David had to go home again but this time I didn't have a roommate. It was bliss. However, Arden would not sleep and constantly wanted to nurse. By 1am, I was desperate and didn't know what to do since she had been nursing for over an hour. I wheeled her bassinet over to the nursery and told the nurse I didn't know what to do for Arden and maybe I wasn't producing enough colostrum. So with a heavy heart, I left Arden with the nurse who said she would try to feed her some formula. That did the trick and Arden slept for 3-4 hours. I couldn't sleep that night again, but this time it was because I was so stressed about Arden and I kept imagining a future with Arden where no one would ever get any sleep. Everything seems worse at night, so I was overreacting of course. Also, ever since Arden was born, my uterine contractions were so painful. How come no one had ever told me about that? Supposedly with your subsequent deliveries, your uterus has to work that much harder to get back down to size, and apparently mine was working overtime.

The next morning, we got ready to check out. I was ready to head home and be in my own space. I had one last visit from the lactation consultant, who tried to show me the proper latch. For someone who breastfed Ava for 20 months, I sure felt clueless. I still don't know how to get a proper latch, but somehow it works. I got a lot of surprised looks from nurses when I told them I had a 2 and a half year old. I guess I just seemed like a first time mom again. Finally it was time to strap Arden in the car seat, hail a cab and head home. Arden and I rested at home while David went to pick up Ava from Julie's place. It was so sweet to have everyone home together and enjoy each other's presence. I can't say enough how blessed I am to have such a supportive and wonderful husband and two beautiful girls. Also, the support from David's family here has really validated why having family around can't be beat!

Trying to be upbeat and not scared to death when the doctor said it was pushing time.

In the recovery room with Arden...still smiling at this point. The rough nights come later.

First day home from the hospital. Ava got her own special doll (gift from baby sister)

I love the wonder and awe in Ava's face.

And then there were 4

2010-04-03T14:07:00.004-04:00

introducing...

Arden Margaret Smock

Born Wednesday, March 31st 2010, 12:31PM

7 Pounds, 2 Ounces, 20.5 Inches

Ava is 2 and a half

2010-03-18T14:45:00.000-04:00

So Ava is officially a city girl now. She greets the doormen with a "hi" and a "thank you" when they open the door for her. She boards the bus and knows exactly where to sit. She patiently waits for the subway like a seasoned New Yorker. She likes to make small talk with the taxi drivers even if they are not very responsive. She pushes the elevator buttons like a pro and does not attempt to evoke our wrath by touching the "alarm" button anymore. She'll walk a couple of blocks without complaining...sometimes. Our first week in the city, she would always say "let's take a taxi" if we walked at all. So overall she is adjusting quite well.

Some of the struggles we have with her are probably just related to usual two year old sassiness. I feel like the scope of my parenting has come down to two methods: threats and bribes. We threaten her with time-outs and no treats, and bribe her with treats (her new favorites are jelly beans and chocolate 'chocayet'). Basically every meal involves bribing her with a treat if she would just finish her food. This probably sounds so mean but a while ago I would say she would have to sleep in Napoleon's cage (Napoleon is a friend's dog-not Ava's favorite dog in the world) if she didn't listen. Desperate times called for desperate measures. I've stopped doing that even if I was totally joking because I didn't want her to develop an unhealthy fear of dogs or have to go to therapy for years because I subjected her young mind to such a cruel possibility. So now the threats seem pretty harmless but I wonder how we can move away from threats and bribes in general.

Ava really is a dainty sweet little girl. She has been trying to assert her independence, but in so many ways, she is still our little baby (not for long!) She says some really funny things that I forget to write down sometimes. Here is a list of some of them:

"Are you happy?"-She asks this all day long, especially when she can tell we are losing our patience with something. Then she'll ask, "Are you upset?"

"Are you a good girl/boy? Are you a good mommy/daddy?"-She is pretty good at knowing who is a boy and who is a girl.

"Are you being funny?"-She likes to ask David this when she is on the phone with him.

"I'm hiding. Mommy, go to the couch."-If I find her trying to poop somewhere, she lets me know that she needs her privacy and I have to go somewhere else. Not sure when the whole potty training thing will happen. She thinks "potty train" is something you ride on.

"Stop bothering me!"

"Dorothy, this is how we eat a banana."-Ava loves watching Elmo's world and will randomly show Dorothy how something is done throughout the day.

Her favorite words to pronounce are "weather, another, other". She really emphasizes the "th" sound.

She has picked up the word "crap" from us and we don't know how to erase it from her vocabulary. We keep telling her that it is a bad word, but sometimes the second after we tell her to stop saying it, we say it ourselves and she'll chastise us by saying "don't say that, that is a bad word". A lot of times, I'll hear her whisper "crap" under her breath, or she will say it really slowly like "cccrrraaappp".

Ava must wonder why I'm always trying to get her to look at me with the sun in her eyes

This is a playground in Central Park that is just a few minutes away from our apartment. Actually there are a few parks really close to us. Ava roams free here.

Chasing after her is quite tiring at this point! But it is all worth it just to see her smile.

Plugging noses to get ready to go under water. The heated salt water pool in our building is awesome.

Ava really looks forward to daddy coming home from work and the whole family going for a swim. However, I may stop going because my 2 piece safari-patterned bathing suit makes me look like a mammoth jungle animal that should go into permanent hiding. I may have been indirectly charged with public indecency because all the residents got an email after I started swimming that requires all swimmers to be completely dressed in the elevators...oops.

So glad the weather is pretty good for these park outings!

We survived the first three weeks!

2010-03-11T13:09:00.000-05:00

Another long post...no pictures because our camera is officially busted. We have the worst luck with cameras. So we've been in the city for three weeks now...and nothing catastrophic has happened yet. There have been a few meltdowns (between Ava and myself) but all in all we are doing pretty well. So here is the rundown on our life for the past little while.

We checked into our apartment (it does feel like we moved into a hotel a little bit) and waited for the arrival of our new mattress set. We were so excited to have a new mattress set since the one we had in Charlotte was over ten years old that were handed down to us from David's parents. So besides the mattress set and the wire frame that came with it, we had no other furniture. We decided to go the super ghetto route and not even have a real bed frame because we thought there would be absolutely no room in our bedroom for a large bedroom set. Ava slept on the blow up mattress in her room but ended up in our bed eventually every night.

The next day (February 16), David started work. He has to get into work at 6:30am. Ava and I sat around twiddling our thumbs, not knowing what to do exactly. Our furniture was not going to arrive for another two days. The weather was abominable and I wasn't familiar with anything to go anywhere. It took me three weeks to realize that across the street from where we live are "projects". Talk about clueless. So we live in a brand new building that is still under construction in some areas. There is a beautiful indoor pool, a small gym, a lounge area, and a children's playroom. I think the amenities are quite nice. We live next to Whole Foods, TJ Maxx, and Michael's. As for our apartment, it is 810 square feet, with 2 bathrooms and 2 bedrooms. Who would've thought that our 1700 square foot house in Charlotte would seem like a palace? The big selling point for our apartment is the washer and dryer in our apartment. This is a rarity I've been told. Hey people out there, don't take your house for granted!!!!

We had four nice guys from church and David's sister Julie, her husband Andrew, and little Grant come help and unload our moving truck. This is the amazing thing about our church. You can move anywhere and not know anyone but once you get in contact with the right person, people are willing to help you move! David was (and is still) gimpy so he couldn't do any moving. Once all of the boxes were unloaded, our apartment looked super small and I was very overwhelmed. Two weeks after our shipment arrived, everything was out of boxes but the apartment was a hazardous obstacle course. Piles of clothing, toys, and pointless junk were everywhere. I'm looking around at our apartment today and it definitely looks a lot better, but there are some things we just don't have room for (like David's childhood mementos, his golf clubs, our China set, and our Christmas decorations). Our new small couch arrived the day after our shipment, so it was nice to finally have a comfortable place to sit down.

Ava was happy to see her crib, but she didn't sleep very well. She had gotten used to sleeping with us so we are thankful for our King-sized bed to accommodate all three of us. It has really been an adjustment period for all of us. David gets home from work by 6:30pm, which is fabulous. We are so grateful for his new job, since he was laid off for over four months before starting this new one. However, we have gotten so used to him being at home all day every day, that it is really hard to not have him at home. Being my large and lazy pregnant self, it is hard to entertain Ava. Everyday for the past three weeks, I take her down to the playroom and hope that some other child will join her in the fun. She doesn't like the playroom much when no other children are there.

Most of the days over the past three weeks had temperature in the 30s. I just did not feel like venturing out much. I don't really have warm winter clothes that even fit me at this point. Although I am pretty proud of myself for the places that I have been to already. The library is a 5 minute walk from our apartment so we've been there for storytime. It is hard to want to go out because I am just so ill-equipped. I have learned that our $15 junky umbrella stroller is not cutting it. I have never seen so many fancy strollers in my life. I've heard people say "well, this is my "car", so I need to buy a good stroller." You really do need a good stroller because my junky stroller can barely maneuver around the dog poop, spit, slushy snow and general nastiness on the sidewalk. I may need to invest in a Phil and Ted's double stroller soon.

There were a few more traumatic things I had to deal with, like finding an obstetrician. Nobody would take me because I was too far along. I was starting to get really frustrated and anxious because I was already 35 weeks along by the time I was calling around for a doctor. The fact that all the midwives and doctors were rejecting me felt like the city was rejecting me, which is totally ridiculous, but it just felt horrible. Finally, I did find a doctor and all is well. Selling our Camry (we sold our Subaru Outback in Charlotte) was quite frustrating too. Let's just say it involved someone who wanted to buy our car on Craigslist saying we were unethical because we backed out of the sale at the last minute. We sold it for the exact same price to the Toyota dealer. For some reason, dealing with a dealership rather than a private buyer made us more comfortable, even if we didn't make any extra money! I hated the fact that someone on Craigslist was really mad at us. I'm just sensitive about being called unethical.

There's a lot more to say but I'll post more later...

Let's go to New York City!

2010-02-26T13:44:00.004-05:00

House getting packed up...hard to say goodbye to our life in Charlotte

Sorry this is a long post but I'm trying to document this momentous occasion. David got a job offer with Credit Suisse on Jan. 21, and the next day we hopped in our car and drove up to New York to find an apartment. It took us 12 hours to get to David's brother's house in Pound Ridge, New York. We crept into their basement a little past 1am and settled in for the night. The next few days we drove into the city and frantically looked for apartments. We met brokers who would show us the apartments and also attended open houses. For a split second I considered the fifth story brownstone apartment that had no elevator and no washer and dryer in the building. And then I came to my senses and realized I would die carrying a stroller, a baby and making sure Ava made it up the stairs (not to mention I would probably go into labor early if I had to climb those stairs all the time). Brownstones definitely have their charm, but it just wouldn't work for us.

We finally settled on a brand new building in the Upper West Side that we felt pretty good about. I'll blog more about our apartment later. All I will say is that we are still reeling from sticker shock. We headed back to Charlotte a week later. The drive back was pretty scary because we hit the snow storm that started in Raleigh. A little bit of slipping and sliding in our car really freaked us out but we made it home safely.

Once we got home, it was time to get ready to move. We really only had two weeks to get everything together before David had to start his job. During this time, our house went under contract and was scheduled to close on February 24. We are pretty amazed at how the timing worked out. We had our house on the market for 6 months before we even got an offer, and the offer came through right when we needed it. We are so blessed.

We quickly listed most of our furniture on Craig's List because we thought most of our old furniture wouldn't fit in our new apartment. We may have been a little over-zealous with selling stuff, but we pretty much sold everything we wanted to sell. Ava was constantly asking, "Where is our couch? Where is the TV? Where is the bed?"

While we were getting ready to head up to NYC, Ava kept saying, "Let's go to New York City!" We assured her that we were going to get there soon enough...I booked our moving company through ABF Upack. They provide the trailer and drive it up to the destination, but you have to do everything else. Of course we couldn't foresee this, but David hurt his back the night before the trailer was supposed to arrive! His back had been bothering him since we drove up to NYC to look for apartments, and the constant bending over and other activities just kept aggravating his back. The final straw was a 3 pound mail sorter that he bent down to pick up. David pretty much fell to the ground and was stuck there for about 12 hours.

We had some angels come to our rescue and help us pack up and get our trailer loaded. David and I were both pretty useless so without these wonderful friends to help us, we would have been in big trouble! We really didn't have too much stuff since we sold a lot of it, but it still seemed like a lot of work to get everything packed up. The trailer was picked up and we spent our last night in Charlotte with the Saunders since we had nothing left in our house.

The next day we set off for NYC and prayed that David's back wouldn't cause too much of an issue on the road. By the time we reached Baltimore, we had to stop for the night because David's back hurt too much. We had a nice night at the Hyatt and then headed out to NYC the next morning after the continental breakfast (I really love continental breakfasts...or really anything buffet style that won't stop me from eating 5 plates of food). David had to take a drug test by 3pm before he started his new job on February 16. We barely made it to the building on time. We were concerned that the cocktail of drugs he got at the doctor for his back would raise some red flags, but he took the test after he showed them the prescriptions.

David could barely move after the drug test so we hurried to the Hyatt in NYC and settled in for the night. We spent the next two nights back in Pound Ridge with David's brother and moved into our new apartment on Monday. More on that in the next post...

Christmas in Arizona!

2010-01-31T15:53:00.000-05:00

I had to get this post in before February...that's tomorrow! So much has happened in our lives this past month that I need to get on the ball with posting.

We were in Arizona for about three and a half weeks during the Christmas break. It was such a great time with my family. We spent about a week in Phoenix with my sister Michelle and her hubby Terry, then we all headed down to Tucson. It was fabulous to get Mom's home-cooked meals and for Ava to really connect with my family. Every morning, Ah Ma (that's what Ava calls my mom) would take her on a walk around the lake and eat breakfast with her. It was great waking up in the morning to homemade soy milk. Pretty much the conversations I had with my mom were dominated by me asking, "What's for lunch? What about dinner? Can you cook this?" What can I say, I'm pregnant (large and in charge).

Ava loved feeding the ducks at the Tucson zoo

Little play area at the zoo

Victor's birthday dinner at Red Lobster-Ava is pretending to pick her nose in the picture. Thanks for teaching her that, Michelle!

At a park near Ah Ma's house

Ava is the best stocking stuffer ever

Ava slept with Auntie Michelle sometimes. They are sharing a sweet moment together here. Ava was usually too excited to fall asleep. I had to go in and lay down the law sometimes.

Ava showing off her Christmas gifts

It's hard to see in the pic, but she is wearing her new princess clip-on earrings. She is such a girlie girl.

Ava loved exploring Madera Canyon. Check out Ah Ma in her thuggish hoodie. Ah Gong (that's my dad) looks like he is headed to the trucker's convention.

Ava trying to reign in Cocoa. Ava liked to boss Cocoa around. "Cocoa, eat your bone right now! Cocoa, go downstairs right now!"

Ava liked playing Guitar Hero with Uncle Victor

Incubation

2009-12-07T14:56:00.006-05:00

For some unknown reason, I have failed to mention on this blog that there is currently a baby girl incubating in my womb. Well, I know the reason...it's my old friend "laziness". If this is any indication of how neglectful I will be at documenting baby number two's life, then I need to repent.

I kept a fairly faithful journal of my pregnancy woes when I was pregnant with Ava. All I did was gripe and bemoan my suffering. Maybe that's another reason why I haven't said anything about this pregnancy. I only wanted to exude motherly love this time around, and not constantly complain about morning sickness and other pregnancy ailments. And believe me, I got 'em! But right now things are looking pretty good. I am already 23 weeks along! I'm not too large...YET, although the other night after pigging out on fondue I started sporting the beginning stages of a waddle.We are so excited about this new addition to our family. I want to make it clear that silence on this blog does not equal lack of excitement. It is merely an exhibition of my lack of commitment to this blog, which really is a shame.

I don't think Ava fully grasps that there will be a baby sister to steal her limelight in a little while, but she is able to point out "baby sister in mommy's tummy". Now I have two girls kicking me (one in the womb) and the other in my bed at night. I'm really exaggerating about Ava kicking me at night since she is actually sleeping well these days, but the tide may turn!

Here is my 23rd week of unsexyness in its full glory

Little Miss Sassy

2009-11-19T09:16:00.000-05:00

Ava is a really sweet cuddly girl and just a ton of fun to be around. But she's started picking up some interesting sayings. Of course I can only blame myself, since she is around me all day long. Her new sassy sayings:

"I hate it (pronounced "hain it")"

"Be quiet, mommy"

"Don't touch me hair"

"Go away!"

"Crazy mommy" (I think David taught her this one)

"Listen to me!"

She says some really funny things like:

"How's it going? Great!"

"I like it. Yummy ginger" (she doesn't like ginger and laughs hysterically when she says this)

"I'm hiding!" (she says this when she is pooping and wants to be left alone to do her business in the closet or behind the curtain)

"Come here, Canka!" (we don't know who Canka is and we usually hear her shouting this when she is in her crib)

If we say something that she thinks is incorrect she'll be sure to correct us by saying "No, no, no, no, no, it's _____". She likes to crack jokes like say "A cat says yee-yaw. Oh sorry, mommy, a donkey says yee-yaw".

Here are pictures of the hooligan after drinking chocolate milk. She loves to stare at her milk mustache in the mirror.

Quick Pics

2009-11-09T20:25:00.006-05:00

Bowling a strike with Daddy

Ava had the most fun handing out candy

Ava & Chase pallin' around at the ward Trunk or Treat

Ava was a cat for Hallowe'en

Ava 'hanging' around at MyGym

2 year old photo session!

2009-10-12T19:38:00.005-04:00

It was high time that we took some good pictures of Ava. So of course that means someone else had to do it...my friend Lindsay is an awesome photographer and took some adorable pictures of Ava. Here are just a few that I like. Ava wore three different outfits and she did really well at the photoshoot. It was so fun to watch Ava pose! She looked so grown up. She followed Lindsay around like a puppy dog. Check out Lindsay's website at http://harttohartdigital.blogspot.com/

2 year old joys and blues

2009-09-21T13:49:00.005-04:00

Ava is still a lightweight at less then 22 pounds. At least she's getting taller and is a little over 34 inches.

Something terrible has happened with Ava's sleep habits. I was just bragging about her sleeping so well less than a month ago and now here we are back in sucky sleep land. She takes horrible naps now and has already started sleep delaying tactics by saying "tummy hurts", "more books", "give me sippy cup", or "want some oatmeal". Ava makes requests for lullabies by saying "Mary had" (Mary had a little lamb) and "Papa" ("Hush little baby"). One can only sing all 8 verses of "Mary had a little lamb" so many times before one wants to fling oneself down the stairs. Once she's asleep, whoever is putting her to bed has to creep out and pray that she doesn't hear us. But that girl has some crazy good hearing.

We've re-entered the world of co-sleeping since Ava wakes up in the middle of the night and wants to snuggle with mommy and daddy. No one, including Ava, really sleeps well in this arrangement. Ava shouts out random words in the middle of the night ("No!", "Ants!", "Armpit"!) so I can only imagine what she is dreaming about. Although I must admit it is quite sweet to watch her sleep in the morning. She looks so beautiful and angelic. Also, when David leaves for work before 7am, she usually makes sure daddy gives her a proper goodbye by saying "give me kiss" even though her eyes are half-closed. Usually I hope Ava will stay asleep until 8am, but sometimes she'll start giving me kisses and pull my hair while she waits for me to get my tush out of bed.

Ava has a very cute little personality and likes to giggle. She is still kind of shy but once she warms up to someone, she gets a little obsessive with that person. She loves My Gym and wants to go there all the time, especially to see "Manda", who works there. She likes to say rhymes likes "Panda Manda" all day long. She says some other really sweet/funny/weird things:

"Don't be cry, mommy, be happy, mommy." I like to fake cry in front of her so that she'll listen better. That tactic will probably backfire on me soon. When I pretend to be mad at her and turn away from her, she always tries to turn my head back to face her and says, "No, no, mommy."

"Let me see armpit. Other one". She is always requesting that I raise my arms. Don't ask me why.

"Come on, stinky." She said this to me the other day when she wanted to go downstairs.

"I love you, TV". The TV gets a hug and kiss too.

When David is at work and I ask her where daddy is, she always says "mall". She must know something I don't.

Ava loves to watch music videos on the computer and her favorite videos are "Hey, Mickey" (Toni Basil), "Shake It" (Metro Station) and "Boom boom pow". We'll have to put up a video of her dancing to one of these songs.

Happy Birthday, Ava!

2009-09-07T13:51:00.007-04:00

Ava turned 2 on September 5, and we threw a little party for her the day before. I thought Ava turning 2 was such a momentous occasion that it was definitely time for a party (no party last year). We had it at Monkey Joe's, which is pretty much a warehouse of inflatable slides, and where children run themselves ragged. About 9 of her little buddies showed up. Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of everyone playing, which I am bummed about. I think the party went very well and hoped everyone who attended had a blast! We are so appreciative of the support everyone showed and for the presents! I don't think Ava really understood what was going on exactly, but when everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to her, she seemed to enjoy that. It was a special moment.

Ava's Elmo cake. No, I didn't make it...I didn't want to shame Ava with anything I would make

Jaws of pure fun

Ava couldn't stop smiling

Her buddy Gavin agreed to pose before running off to play

Heather and Bailey...even Bailey got to go down the slides

Marijo and Quincy. Quincy wasn't interested in the food...just the slides!

Michelle and Chase showing us what pure happiness looks like

Come on Khari! Their friendship has really blossomed

Kate waving her arms like she just don't care

Pizza, juice, cake and ice cream...the four food groups of a toddler

Ava sharing her birthday seat with mommy

Ava was proud of her Elmo cake. She kept saying "want some Elmo cake"

I had this ridiculous idea of sending Ava and Chase down the slide by themselves. Ava's arm looks like it's about to be ripped out of the socket. She was quite upset...so was daddy.

Ava loved climbing around by herself

Her special glasses that she got from Monkey Joe's-she loved them

Funny language

2009-08-19T21:04:00.011-04:00

Ava has a funny way of saying lots of words. She gets a little lazy with her pronunciation. I'm hoping these funny pronunciations aren't too permanent. Here is a dictionary of Ava's language:

strawbaba: strawberry

api: octopus

ah nu (she has said "I wa you" but gets lazy I guess): I love you

babysuit: bathing suit

kowawa: koala

bluebaby: blueberry

crocodukudu: crocodile

Bashu: butterfly

isee: elephant

Shodo: cereal

zippy: zebra

gotch: dog

BDD:DVD

wayu: raspberry

dadu: downstairs

make you: thank you

badup: balloon

She's finally putting two or three words together and just getting a lot more vocal. Some of the sweetest things she says is ""Bless You" whenever we sneeze, or "Sorry, mommy" when she knows she is in trouble. Sometimes she'll whisper "I wa you" (I love you) in our ears if she feels like telling secrets or randomly say "give me kiss". She melts our hearts!

One day she randomly said her ABCs from A through K. I was very surprised since she just did it out of the blue. But the miracle of all miracles right now is that I can put her down in her crib, say good night and walk away! No more sitting on the floor and singing countless lullabies and trying to hone my ninja skills when I sneak out without making a peep. This works for nap time too. This is just a huge deal! I don't want to go anywhere and leave our home for a night for fear of messing this up.

Block Island!

2009-08-06T10:34:00.009-04:00

We headed up to Rhode Island for a Smock family reunion in mid July. The weather was gorgeous except for one rainy day. It was kind of fun to be cooped up that day and play games.

You have to take a ferry (our ferry took almost 2 hours from Newport). I don't think Block Island is over commercialized, and it's the type of place where there is something for everyone. David and I actually got to go biking once, and that was very challenging for wimpy me. The trails are beautiful and looking out for poison ivy is always an adventure. David got to go swimming in the lake quite a few times and loved it. I really enjoyed roasting the hot dogs and making the s'mores on the beach.

Ava loved being with all of her cousins and still lists some of them off these days. There really is nothing like being around family! It always makes us sad to think about not having family nearby.

There was an episode of Ava running around butt naked all over the beach and she put on quite a show. Wish I had pics because her cute little buns were just too adorable!!!

Ava and mommy at the tip of the island by the North Light House

Apparently it was a windy day...

Why settle for 1 bag of chips when you can have 50?

Another generation of pasty white legs :)

Watching the cousins catch clams at Andy's Way.

Ava finding Uncle Dan's 'stache quite amusing

Just a couple of FOBs (Fresh Off the Boat)

Hanging out at the cool kid's house-we felt very priviledged to stay at the famous Jens Risom A-frame house

Nothing like wind blowing through those golden locks

Hello Block Island

Taking a stroll in Newport

Mom better think twice about taking any of these fries

Creepy Eyes strikes again!

Waiting for our ride at the hotel

On the ferry back to Newport

Cheeky girl

2009-06-22T15:07:00.002-04:00

Ava's new thing is lifting up her butt cheek to let out a toot while she is sitting down. Where did she pick that up from? It's the cutest thing. She does it so nonchalantly, like she was born to do it. She also likes to announce that she just tooted by saying "Toot!" and giggling.

Ava is 21 months old!

2009-06-12T14:26:00.007-04:00

My little baby is 21 months old! Ava sure is a sassy little thing. She's a mommy's girl but wants to be independent too.

Her favorite activities are:
-watching Signing Time videos. She flaps her arms around when she wants to watch it (she's trying to do the sign for "play)
-having lots of books read to her. She's constantly saying "Read! Read!"
-Playing with my tummy fat. She really likes lifting up my shirt and squishing my tummy fat (lucky for her there's plenty of it). She likes to finish her fat fondling session by blowing raspberries on my tummy. This happens at least 5 times a day. She doesn't like to play with David's tummy because it is hairy, or as she describes it "Yucky".
-Being tickled by Daddy and waiting by the door when Daddy comes home for work.

Her new favorite foods are:

-"Man Tou" (Chinese bread)
-soup
-sushi
-noodles from Trader Joe's. She's always trying to steal mine!

Ava's still not too much of a talker. She doesn't put more than two words together really, but she's picked up a few more words recently: Toot, Touch, Wall, Okay (a pig also says "okay"), Read, Cuppa or coop for book, yucky, Hand, Owl, Toy, Boy, Elbow, Ernie, Oscar “occo”, Opi for open, In, Dora, Whoa, and Whoa Joe, Ah Gong (my dad), Ah Yi, "Hua" Chinese for “flower”, Turtle, Shu Shu, Beep beep, "Yu" Chinese for fish, Bunny (she says buddy), Amen (she says amee), Happy, Unnies (for undies), Fork (she says "fook"), car, Monkey, Sticky, Cow, Hold, Sit (sounds like swear word), Peas, Clock, Grape, star

End of the boob era: Ava hasn't been breastfed in almost a week! She'll ask for "he mi mi" at random times during the day but I try to distract her. This is hopefully the end of a long and bittersweet love affair.

Here are some pictures of her around 21 months:

This was the most pitiful day of Ava's life. She had a fever, couldn't fall asleep for a nap, and just cried all day. It was a sad day for all.

Strutting around in mommy's red shoes. She walks better in them than I do!

Nothing like pushing a stroller in mommy's boots.

She likes to ride her "horsey"

Sunglasses on her head. She's a cool little chick.

Bonnie Lass

2009-06-08T15:10:00.005-04:00

We went to the Scottish Festival in Mint Hill on May 23. We loved all the kilts and bagpipes! David enjoyed a lovely bridie (Scottish meat pie). We didn't dare try the haggis!

Checking out the strange hairy cows

Ava wanted to carry my purse around all morning. She could barely walk.

Ava is turning into such a blondie. Her hair looks slightly reddish too.

Men in kilts competing in the "Highland Games"

Bagpipes and kilt in a rock band. It was pure dead brilliant (Scottish saying for "exceptionally good")

100 degrees in May? Really?

2009-05-26T14:18:00.008-04:00

Ava and I headed out to Tucson on May 8 and stayed for almost two weeks! David joined us for the last 5 days. Ava had a great time being with my family. However, she was very sleep deprived and couldn't adjust to the 3 hour time change. She also had four teeth cutting through. She would wake up at 6am everyday (big no no in my book), at which point I would start calling for Ah Ma or Michelle, as I laid in bed, to come get Ava. Then I could get some real sleep! Ah Ma would take Ava to the garden to water the flowers and go on a walk around the lake. Ava would be whisked upstairs by 10am for her nap, when her cries of "NO" to anything and everything were getting too loud. She may have said "No" a hundred times a day while we were there. Even though she was grumpier than usual, she was still the life of the party. It was already scorchingly hot in Tucson, so we spent pretty much all day indoors. Lorina and I watched tons of chick flicks and I literally ate all day long. Yay for getting closer to fitting in my mom jeans!

Sweet Ava

Fun visit to the zoo

Wish I could put Ava on that turtle for a ride

Ava enjoyed the luau party

Outside the Mesa temple

Attempt at a family picture. Ava was desperate to get down and splash around

The ladies of the family. What is it with my head tilt in all the pictures with Ava?

Ava calls Victor "Boy" . That's Coco the dog. I'm not crazy about that dog. Ava had a love-hate relationship with him. Everytime he would bark, she would cry hysterically. But I caught her giving him kisses. The horror!

She's got high heels and an apron on to wipe the table. What is this, the 1950s?

Ava loved staring at herself in the mirror all day. I would too with a smile like that!

Ah Ma braided Ava's hair almost everyday. They were buddies.

The Sonoran Desert Museum. Ava stayed home with Ah Ma while the rest of us got to see some bobcats, snakes, javalinas and other delightful critters. I was sporting that hat everyday in Tucson. My style goes out the window on vacations, or maybe just everyday of my life.

Shu Shu says

2009-05-25T14:31:00.007-04:00

Why can't I just buckle down and blog in a timely fashion? I have to catch the blogging bug to be motivated and catch up. David's brother, Daniel visited late April just to hang out for a week. David and Dan went golfing, watched "The State of Play" and had some good bro bonding time. Ava calls Dan "Shu Shu" which is Chinese for "Uncle". Ava loved her Shu Shu and would wake up from her naps looking for Shu Shu.

I realize that there are a ton of pics with Ava in her cow pjs. She really does have other clothes, but I really like dressing her in it at night. I thought I had found the secret formula to a good-night's sleep and hate to stray from it: cow pjs + stuffing a whole bowl of oatmeal into Ava's mouth right before bed + turning on her fan= good night's sleep for all. Works most of the time!

Dan got a taste of soul food at La'wan's. He also loved the North Carolina style bbq.

International "Abba" of mystery

2009-04-22T12:16:00.004-04:00

Ava refers to herself as "Abba". Close enough. Abba also speaks a couple of different languages. According to Ava, a cat says "Muy" (like the "muy" in "muy bien"). She also says "muy" for "more". Apparently, Ava picked up some Yiddish along the way too. She says "Oy" for "ear". Ava sometimes says a cow says "Mew", which is what I imagine a French cow sounds like. Ava's new favorite word is "sushi" and says it multiple times a day. And what should be "hair" is pronounced "hana". Not sure what language that is. She has a few made up words she says all day long (and David keeps encouraging her by saying it back to her). The two words are "Otoba", which I believe is a location in Nigeria, and "Hebibi" which I believe has a Middle Eastern persuasion. Who knows what language she will pick up next?!

Here are a few pics of Ava doing some funny and mysterious things:

We don't know why she started doing this pose, but every so often, she'll do it and see what our reaction is. We now call it the "plie" (French ballet term and I don't know how to do the symbol above the "e"). Now when we say "plie" she'll do this very seriously.

Who is she trying to look good for?

Without fail, she puts her shoes on wrong each time and gets very frustrated when she can't walk properly.

She doesn't know where her next assignment might be, but she's pretty good at being incognito. I like how the sunglasses make her ears stick out.

She's ready to eat any type of cuisine that is thrown at her. She can't get enough of this seasoned seaweed. I'm totally obsessed with it too, and sometimes will eat 20 packets in one sitting. Quite a nasty aftertaste, but it goes down oh so smoothly. I dare you to try one if you're not a sushi eater.

Strawberry fields forever

2009-04-22T10:01:00.003-04:00

Last Saturday we went to the Hall Family Farms and picked strawberries. I figured Ava would love doing that. And she sure did. She got the hang of it right away and insisted on carrying the basket full of strawberries. I don't know if the strawberry bushes were extra diminutive on this farm, but even Ava had to crouch down to pick the strawberries. Sometimes she would tug so hard at the strawberries, she would fall backwards, with the strawberry in her hand, along with a footlong stem. It was a lot of fun and we plan on going back when the strawberries are more plentiful and plump.

There was a little maze at the farm

Easter dress (kind of)

2009-04-21T13:57:00.003-04:00

I fell in love with this dress and bought it thinking it would be her Easter dress. Not really traditional Easter colors, but the roses signify new life and spring to me. Here are some pics (she refused to look at the camera).

Eggstravaganza

2009-04-21T13:42:00.005-04:00

Another Easter activity we went to was Eggstravaganza. Eggstravaganza was held at Beatty Park and it was super crowded. We parked so far away and walked over a mile to get to the festivities. Ava got to ride on daddy's shoulders most of the time. Didn't get to do an Easter Egg Hunt there (line looked like half a mile long..seriously). At least there was a petting zoo and lots of puppies around for Ava to scream "Puppy!" everytime she saw one. She was so excited to see each puppy but wouldn't touch them. There was also a nasty pet snake there.

Late Easter stuff

2009-04-18T12:43:00.003-04:00

I'm late again in posting holiday photos. But post them I must. Ava and I went to the Easter Egg hunt in our neighborhood (I lovingly dub our neighborhood "Ghetto of Ballantyne"). Ava enjoyed finding the eggs but was frightened of the Easter Bunny, of course. She screamed like she was in pain when he got close to her.

Funny pics

2009-04-07T13:42:00.005-04:00

This pose is called the "Old Chinese lady" pose. She walks around with her hands behind her back sometimes. I really have seen some old Chinese ladies walk like that!

She likes to read laying on the floor sometimes

Wearing mommy's shirt

Something about belly buttons is funny.

Very excited to wear her new shoes

Baby Einstein

Giving mommy kisses

"Why doesn't mommy brush my hair?" she ponders.

Uncle Victor's visit and trip to Atlanta

2009-04-03T17:27:00.006-04:00

My brother Victor came to visit for his spring break in mid-March. We had to think of something to entertain an eighteen year old, so we went to Atlanta! Home of the magnificent Georgia Aquarium and World of Coca-Cola. Ava was suspicious of Victor sometimes but they still had some fun together. Ava answers "I do" to any question that starts with "Who". David and I like to ask her questions like, "Who loves mommy and daddy"? Ava would sweetly answer, "I do". Uncle Victor liked to ask her "Who smells like poo?" Of course Ava would answer "I do".

The drive down to Atlanta was fine. Ava slept a little. We stopped about an hour outside of Atlanta for some lunch at Ryan's. A slightly substandard buffet but any chance for me to go back for a fifth helping of anything sounds good to me! We went straight to the World of Coca-Cola and had to chase Ava around to get her into the backpack. We checked into the hotel after a quick tour of the Coca-Cola place, hyped up with some of the nasty beverages that the Coca-Cola company sells around the world (e.g. a sickly sweet mint drink we sampled that they sell in Africa). Some of the samples were decent, but mostly gaggable. We checked into the Hyatt in Buckhead and had an okay dinner. Sleep was awful, of course. Thanks to a certain little lady. Victor got a bed to himself while the rest of us shared a double bed because a certain little lady wouldn't sleep in the little crib! After a nice breakfast at the Flying Biscuit, off we went to the aquarium. After waiting in line with what seemed like thousands of people, we finally got into the beautiful aquarium. The marine wild life was amazing, but I was disappointed there weren't more sharks. After more than two hours of touring, we were ready to leave and say adieu to Atlanta. We were so glad Victor came to visit. We had a blast watching movies, weeding the dumb lawn with no obvious improvement (hey, we put our visitors to work), and eating junk food. Here are some pics:

Someone is happy to be in the backpack, for now

This is from Victor's camera at World of Coca-Cola

He calls Ava "little bug". I guess he squashed her. I laughed when I saw this pic.

Victor is forbidden to ever wear these shorts in public again

Coke, anyone?

The entrance of the aquarium is pretty cool.

The super thick glass that housed the marine life made me feel like I was wearing the wrong glasses when I stared too long...kind of dizzy. Just a random thought.

Hey Bro

Beluga Whales were eerily beautiful

These were the type of shenanigans Victor was up to (pic taken from laundry room on second floor back home). Don't pay attention to our ugly lawn. It is the bane of my existence right now.

Trip to NYC

2009-03-30T22:02:00.004-04:00

So David has been reminding me everyday that I need to blog. It's been added to one of my duties as a stay at home mom. So if the house is messy I'll just blame it on all the time I spend blogging.

Here are some random pics from NYC. I realize that we really don't take good pics. We had like a day or two of awesome weather up there. When we first got up there, I was like "Yeah, we could totally live up here!" By the end of the trip and during the "snow storm of the year", I changed my mind and decided NYC was the last place I would live. Such fickleness. Overall, it was a great trip. We stayed in the city for two nights and spent a lot of time with Julie and baby Grant. We got to tour the Natural Museum of History. Then we stayed with Rob and Desiree for two nights in Pound Ridge and enjoyed celebrating Papa's birthday.

Ava with her cousin Hannah. They are buddies.

Meet Kenny, from South Park

This was at Uncle Andrew's office after the beautiful baby blessing of baby Grant

We loved the Natural Museum of History

Shaking it up at The Shake Shack.

Auntie Michelle's visit

2009-03-30T09:44:00.004-04:00

So I disappeared from the blogosphere for a little while and need to do some catching up...

Over President's Day weekend in February, my sister Michelle came to visit. We had a great time just relaxing and hanging out together. Of course Michelle didn't come to see me, she came to see Ava! I have officially been demoted to "chopped liver" status. We love having family come visit!

Ava and Michelle share a cookie

As you can see, they had a great time together!

Ava started nursery!

2009-03-09T14:22:00.006-04:00

So Ava went to her 18 month check up last Friday. She is still just a tiny little peanut at 18 pounds!!! I wonder when she will actually get back on the growth chart in terms of her weight. I thought Ava was a string bean (long and lean) but she's apparently also a shortie at 30.5 inches (25th percentile for height). At least her head is growing well.

Ava seems to be growing up quickly. She's still not saying too many words and she doesn't put words together, but here are some new ones: bee, sky, day, baby, bow, bowl, apple, cookie (and also Cookie in Sesame Street), Elmo, Abby, home, hot, uh-oh, hat, "how" (help), ducky, pee pee, egg (pronounced egggee), night night, Ami (Amen), honey (she says this when she puts a phone up to her ear), toe, knee, shoe, "Ah Nu" (I love you) and "He Mi" (her vision of "drink milk" in Chinese).

Ava started nursery yesterday at church. She just went right in there and didn't turn back. I checked on her a few times. She didn't see me but she was too preoccupied with the toys in the room. So, I don't get this girl. She won't go to child care at Peak Fitness but she'll go to nursery without blinking? Part of me wants her to be sad when she goes into nursery...letting go is hard.

Some other new developments: Ava is scared of taking baths now. We were in NYC last week and one of the bathtubs had a loud drain. So now she is afraid of the drain in her own bathtub. She'll start crying when we put her tiny little buns into the water. Not sure what to do! David won't let me take a shower with her because he says I will drop her. Probably so, since I am very clumsy.

Since January of this year, Ava has been sleeping a lot better through the night. It's like something clicked in her brain and she realized sleeping in her own bed and not harassing me to breastfeed her in the middle of the night was the way to go. I would say she sleeps through the night about 50-75% of the time now. We still have some rough nights (like last night) but the improvement makes me shout for joy. Of course now I've jinxed the whole thing because I typed it on here.

Ava is becoming more of a social butterfly. In our library reading class, sometimes she will go up to other moms and sit in their laps. She likes to say "hi" to lots of people and will even give hugs on command. She is starting to enjoy her class at My Gym more and loves her music class. Well, thank goodness she doesn't take after her mom in social skills!

Will post some pictures of Auntie Michelle's visit and trip to NYC later.