The good, bad, and ugly of new words

So like any mom, as soon as Avila said her first word I jumped up and down. Second and third word I clapped and cheered. Fourth, fifth, twentieth, I sent Blair a text message and made her perform for my friends.

Now we've reached the point where the words she knows can be used against me. They aren't always cute and fun tricks anymore, but now they're are little requests and often demands for mommy. "Mommy ow" - pick me up mom; "mommy nana" - feed me mom; "mommy wawa" or "mommy mow"; give me something to drink (water/milk).

Not bad right? Well now imagine you've been asleep for 3 hours, nice and warm under the covers and you hear over the baby monitor "mommy baba" followed by screaming, screaming and more screaming. Oh, not so cute that night. Especially because she doesn't get a bottle anymore.

So what did I do you ask? I walked right in there and told her, just like Super Nanny would have done on her show...."it's time for bed sweetheart, you already had milk, now go to sleep", rubbed her little head, and she obeyed by laying down and going right back to sleep.

Right? Reality I walked in her room, picked her up, walked half asleep into the kitchen, got out a bottle from the top shelf hiding spot, filled it with milk, and put her back in bed. Mission accomplished, never heard a peep out of her all night.

Negative part of the story? She has now done this for 3 weeks. Every night. Preparation for midnight feedings you might say? Ahhhhh, what have I done!

So much personality!

Look who's talking! It seems that as soon as Avila hit 14 months she decided to start talking. Here are some of her favorite new words....

"Choooo"

Translation: Juice please

"Mow"

Translation: Milk please

"Baaaw"

Translation Options:
(1) Bottle
(2) Ball
(3) Book
(4) Bath

"eee-ee"

Translation: Kitty

Alternate meanings: Look mom, a kitty! Or....... Come here kitty, I want to attack you.

"No-no"

Translation: You really need a translation for this?

"Bye-bye"

Translation: Are we leaving yet? Or...... please, let's get out of this house.

"Chee"

Translation: Cheese please

"Bir"

Translation: Bird

"Oow"

Translation: Up

"Mmmmmmm"

Translation: the sounds she makes at breakfast while I'm drinking my coffee and she drinks her juice.

She tries to imitate a lot of what we are saying throughout the day, which has made us very conscience of what we are saying! These are the things that she says independently or in reference to things.

She's also learned to climb the stairs at the park and go down the slide by herself. She's a bit obsessed with this activity, but I have no complaints. I've developed quite the tan this week sitting on the sidelines watching her climb, slide, and repeat. Too bad it might be a little inappropriate for a pregnant woman to lay out on a public park in her bikini with a towel and a drink. Maybe I'll start a new trend or maybe I'll be the new spokes model for helping teens not get pregnant.......sure you get a cute baby, but look what happens to you after! You'll never look the same in a bikini again, moms are the reason the invented the tankkini.

Other fun developments of the month.......

I love to play with my friends. Sometimes I attempt to say their names. La-lin=Landon and Elly=Noelle. Learning to share has been rough though.

I love to go for bike rides with ma-ma. I wave and point while she rides us around the neighborhood and to the park.

I love to go for walks with ma-ma in the morning, even if it is a little chilly. Glad that Spring is finally here!

I love to watch movies after a long of playing while ma-ma makes dinner and we waiting for daddy to come home. We LOVE Elmo!

I love to color. Washable markers were a GREAT invention.

I made a best friend. Noelle. We love all the same toys and Elmo. Perfect Match. When she comes over we love to run around the house laughing and screaming.

I love to swing. Daddy had to take it down to finish some painting. I still sat in it for a while, waiting for it to move. Every morning after breakfast I bang on the back door to go outside to run and swing.

I get invited to birthday parties. I may be the youngest, but I'm still one of the girls.

Lastly new development, she will run up to any animal and "love on it" no matter the size. Dogs, cats, but as we learned last week NOT birds! There were a few on the ground near here at the park while we were having a snack and she FREAKED out. She will run screaming if any bird lands near her while playing at the park or beach. She doesn't mind them if someone is holding her or she's in the stroller - she actually calls out to them ...... "bir, bir, bir" pointing and smiling. She's an odd character.

That's pretty much it.....

new words,
new fun things to do,
new friends,

new fear of birds,

and a new sense of accomplishment at the park.

She's been a busy kid.

Our weekend

Yes, this little girl was my weekend. And sitting on the couch looking at books and watching TV was pretty much what the weekend consisted of. This picture is from today when she started feeling better. Let me start from the beginning.

Friday:
I went to work while Grandma Nancy (my mom) watched the baby. I came home to Avila with a slight fever, but I REALLY wanted to go shopping with my mom......so like any good mommy I gave her some Tylenol and went shopping. By the time we came home her temp was up to 103.

Saturday:
8am -Slight fever, but low enough to enjoy my famous Saturday morning pancakes.
8:30 am - Temp check 102.5 - put on the Elmo movie
9:30am - We get a call from Patti (my dad's awesome lady) to find out that Hawaii is supposed to get hit by a tsunami that afternoon. Since we have family there we tuned in to the TV to watch - and admit it, we all though it would be kind of cool to watch. Problem: the only station broadcasting info about the tsunami was the spanish station, so yes we watched the news for an hour in spanish.
We spent the rest of the morning watching a months worth of TV since Avila was either sleeping, crying, or staring into space - Temp check 104.something.
8:00 - I like to think I'm a calm person, but after watching hours of TV (spanish and english) and wondering why I can't get this fever down much lower than 104 I decide to call the advice nurse... She of course says the baby is fine.

Sunday:
8:00 am - temp check 102.5 - Blair leaves for church and mom gets ready to go back to Napa
10:00am - mom leaves while Avila is sleeping
11:00 am - temp check 104.2 and she now has dark pink spots all over her arm and legs - so I calmly call the advice nurse who tells me to call 911 immediately. Nice. just what I wanted to hear.

Make a LONG story short - did not call 911, went to ER, ER Dr. thinks it is Meningitis, Avila had a urine test and blood drawn, IV fluids, and they prepared her to be admitted to the hospital. So after waiting a total of 7 hours we hear the spots were caused by the fever and the fever was caused by a major double ear infection and go home.

Deep breath, sigh, praise the Lord for good news.

What a LONG weekend!

Life after a 1 year old

Life AFTER Avila turned one has been a lot of fun. She's walking, can and will eat practically anything, and for the most part has an easy going-fun personality. It's crazy to think we've reached the easy section of babyhood and in a few months are headed back to the hungry/sleepy newborn phase of life. So we've been living it up for these last few easy, parents of 1 child, months.

We went for a hike with Adam and Ali. Talk about adventurous. She hiked through 4 rivers while 8 months pregnant. I'm only 6 months pregnant so my center of balance wasn't so off. Thankfully none of us fell into the snow run off water!

Mommy's little helper; at least that's what she likes to think. At the moment she enjoys adding toys and removing clothes from the washing machine while I'm loading. It takes a little longer, but when the pay off comes and she can do it by herself I will be thrilled. In the mean time, it keeps her busy while I am busy.

Like I said, she loves helping. This is her unloading the dishwasher. The other day she decided to take her dirty clothes and wash them all by herself - in the toilet. At least I caught her before she pulled the handle!Oh how we love hummus. While I have been craving hummus the baby has decided to become an addict to. It's been nice to share this yumminess with her.


Baby #2's first photo. 22 weeks here. I'm a few weeks late posting this.....sorry.
Raining day art! So we've been awake for atleast 3 hours at this point. Avila has been crying to go outside for about and hour - on and off (she of course has no idea that it's raining outside) and mom has run out of fun things to do. So what was my brilliant plan you ask? Give my 13 month old markers and let her go wild! I learned 3 things today.
1. Yes, crayola markers so wash off easy
2. Avila is right handed
3. And YES, babies will try to eat markers when you're not looking even if you think they understand - markers=paper, food=mouth. We'll keep working on that one. Buy I will say she did have a blast coloring. I think I will invest in crayons though.
More pictures to come soon!!!

Funzone Clubhouse

It was rainy today in Ventura so I decided to try out the Clubhouse Funzone indoor playground in Ventura. Avila had a blast playing with all the toys while I chased her around. Afterward I think we both needed a nap. Instead she slept while I worked out.

While we were there she learned to ride a bike. More like walking on it while sitting, but hey she's only 11 months old.



She loved playing in the little pretend houses. This is me looking through the window watching her play in the the sink. So cute.
She got in all by herself. She couldn't move it thought. Legs are too short and the car is too heavy. She tried at least and managed to get stuck under the car. I would have taken a picture, but I didn't want people to think I was a mean mom. :o)

Our Christmas Vacation

Well, like I mentioned earlier Avila was sick over the vacation, so the 3 of us stayed at home together. 3 days of vacation actually went by slowly and we were able to enjoy each other as a family.

We watch A LOT of movies! I am extremely thankful for Baby Einstein. And although I had Mozart stuck in my head every waking moment, it kept Avila happy and rested.

The cat loved having us home with a sick baby. The baby's room was always the warmest place in the house. It was a warm, lazy weekend for everyone; even the cats.

Once she started feeling better we made her do all her chores!!! Just kidding, this is her new favorite activity. Unloading the clean or dirty dishes onto the floor. One day she'll get the hang of it. Sick or not, when she heard the dishes being loaded she came full speed to help.

Merry Sickmas

December 5th
Getting ready for Christmas!!! She loved playing/breaking all the ornaments!

She loved the tree. It is her newest toy - taking everything off and mom putting everything back on. Pine needles EVERYWHERE! Lot's of empty boxes to practice for Christmas.

December 25th
Sickmas is here. Day three of swine flu and feeling much better in time for Christmas. Ripping the paper was a lot of fun!

My new barn! This is her sick way of saying, "I LOVE IT! THANK YOU MOMMY AND DADDY!" We could see the excitement in her eyes. What came next (video) helped us to see how much she loved it! Made our 1st Christmas with her perfect!

Not so excited about the first gift. Practical. She was about excited as I am about getting socks in my stocking.

Priceless......... My new favorite video of Avila.

Merry Sickmas everyone!!!!