Little Mommy

In an attempt to keep good hygiene (which is sometimes almost impossible as a mother) I took a 3 minute shower this morning. This could be dangerous as my two kids could seriously hurt themselves, or more likely each other in, 3 unsupervised minutes! I showered in the bathroom directly between Ava's bedroom and the kitchen/living area. I put the child gate in the doorway so I could hear and somewhat monitor their activities without them being able to come in the bathroom and play in the toilet. I told Ava to be nice to Tyler and to not let him climb the gate and dive-bomb onto the hard bathroom floor. Tyler screamed and cried the entire three minutes because he wanted in the bathroom, but luckily, no one was seriously injured. What Ava did after I got out of the shower while I was dressing is why I'm writing this post. She can be so sweet at times. If you think I'm a bad mom for not jumping in and taking over, know Ava would have been furious if I did. She had things under control! :)

Story:
Tyler is screaming at the gate.
Ava says, "Mom, I think Tyler is tired. I'll make him a bottle." She gets a bottle and pulls the milk out of the fridge. I remind her that there is a filled bottle already in the fridge. (Although she is awesome, I don't quite trust her to pour the huge gallon of milk into the small bottle!) She puts the empty bottle and gallon of milk back and gets the filled one and says, "Shhh... Tyler, I'm making you a bottle. Shhh. Calm down buddy. Relax." She climbs on the counter and puts the bottle in the microwave. (Climbing on the counter is like climbing on a step stool for Ava. I do, however, try to keep her from climbing to the top of the fridge.) She microwaves the bottle. (I can hear how long the microwave is on so I know it's not too hot.) She shakes the bottle and tests the temperature on her wrist. Tyler is still crying. Ava says, "Shhh... buddy, calm down. Baby boy... I've got your bottle." She lays him back, gives him his bottle and says, "Drink your bottle son!" Tyler stops crying. :)

This is what Ava's hair looks like in the morning before I get a chance to tame it! :)

Birthday Girl!

Ava turned 3 on March 5th!

She had a purple princess birthday party. 

(Purple is her favorite color if you haven't noticed.) :)

She woke up on her birthday to a house full of decorations. We hung purple balloons from the ceiling in the living room and streamers from her doorway as well as the entryway. 

I was really excited about her purple princess cake! Thanks Jes for helping me make it!

We had a few of her princess friends (and one prince!) over for a playdate. The kids decorated crowns and danced to Ava's favorite princess song.

Here she is dancing. She knows all of the words to this song. I love watching her sing and dance to it.

Blowing out the candles!

I managed to save the front of the cake after her kid party so that we could enjoy it again as a family that night.

We love you birthday girl!

She had fun opening her presents!

Her "big present" was this box of princess barbies. 

In true Ava fashion, here is her "smile!"

Ava got one more present the day after her birthday. It snowed! (On March 6th!?!) This was the most snow we had all winter. Just enough to make a snowman.

For Fun

A random collection of favorite photos over the past month.

I love {rare} sweet moments like this!

Ava likes taking pictures with my phone. She's pretty good at it. Here is one she took of us.

Ava LOVES her Daddy!

I love this one because it is truly Ava. She makes a silly face probably 80% of the time I ask her to smile!

Tyler LOVES bath time! Recently, he has been trying to eat the bubbles in the bath. Instead of using his hands to bring the bubbles to his mouth, he just face-plants in the water while trying to bite them.

Such a big boy! He is almost walking. He can take about 12 steps before falling down.

Birthday and Valentine's Day

I'm a little late on this post. February 6th was my birthday! My family and friends did a great job of making my birthday special. My friend Jes baked this AMAZING reeses cup chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting, reeses cups and fudge on top!

We paired the amazing cake with peanut butter cup ice cream with peanut butter and fudge ribbons in the ice cream. YUM! Thanks to all of my wonderful friends who helped me celebrate! I spent the morning of my birthday enjoying my gift from Justin: a shopping spree. :)

We also had a great Valentine's Day. We had a party with some of Ava's friends. The girls made mailboxes and then "mailed" their valentine's to each other. We also enjoyed a heart shaped lunch!

For dinner we had fried chicken and potatoes. The potatoes were heart shaped of course! I decided not to dye the gravy red. :)

Justin's Candy Valentine

 Ava got a Dora coloring book and candy. I'm not sure who ended up eating Tyler's candy. :)

Not only did Justin get me flowers, but he also got me french bread. :) I LOVE bread! :)

 

Hair Cut!

Although I've trimmed Tyler's hair here and there, and we used the clippers on him when he was just a few months old, this was Tyler's first official, all-around hair cut with scissors! This was also the first time I've ever cut hair with scissors! I use clippers on Justin. 

Pre Hair Cut

I was loving the curls and was sad to see them go. Then I realized, give it a month and the curls will return!

Hair wet and ready to be cut!

Thanks to Curious George, two episodes later, his hair cut was complete!

I'm happy with how it turned out!

Ava stole my camera. This is a picture she took. :)

Tyler's Growing!

4 Days Old

 2 Weeks Old

 1 Month Old

 2 Months Old

3 Months Old 

 4 Months Old

 5 Months Old

 6 Months Old

 7 Months Old

8 Months Old 

 9 Months Old

 10 Months Old

 11 Months Old