Another Happy Birthday!

Sorry - this birthday blog is a day late!  Little Ava turned 2 yesterday and she never gave me a moments peace to write her birthday blog!  Hard to believe my little "Itsy Bitsy" is now 2 -- going on 12!  Boy does she keep me busy!  She is NEVER still - ALWAYS climbing into or onto something.  Right now she is "practicing" going potty - whereby she pulls off her diaper and goes to the bathroom only to play with the toilet paper.  She has yet to actually deposit anything in the potty...but that day will come - and I CANNOT wait!

Ava was my littlest baby (barely 6 lbs!), but she has more than made up for her size.  She is in constant motion and gives her siblings a run for their money.  It's a good thing we don't have a pet, or the poor thing would probably be tortured!  She is still a little thing, but she is gaining weight (now up to 25 lbs!), so I guess she will be caught up with her sis before long.  She & Sarah love each other, but at times they don't like each other either (big surprise).  Ava is always pulling Sarah's hair and knows just how to push her buttons.  They both share a big girl bed now, and I love to watch them sleep.  One night I walked in and (remember they are both asleep) Sarah had Ava in a headlock...Ava's head was between Sarah's knees!  I ran & got my camera, but they had already changed positions by the time I got back.  I am so glad they have each other!  I looooove my "Bitsy"!!!!

Day after she was born!

1st Birthday!
2 Years Old!

So How Did YOU Weather Out The Storm??

So here I go - thinking we were just going to make a quick trip to Target, when we ended up having to hide out in the women's dressing room! I learned last time that if I get the girl's 2 small ICEE's, that will keep them occupied long enough for me to shop. My girl's are NOT basket babies...they don't care to be confined! Shopping? - oh yes! Just don't confine them! They prefer to be free spirits who roam aimlessly around the store without adult supervision. That is of course - unless their mother fills them up with empty sugar calories! Ava is hilarious -- she sits in the basket - straw in mouth - inhaling that ICEE until she reaches the bottom. I don't know how she doesn't get a brain freeze!

I digress....back to the storm. I was almost ready to go when I heard the rain start. You know if you hear it raining from inside the store, it is REALLY raining! Then, I hear the tornado sirens....uh oh..... Josh comes around the corner right in front of me - eyes big as saucers. He's borderline freaking out. Zachary quickly picks up on this and starts downplaying the situation (as do I - he would have started bawling at the drop of a hat!) The girls? They are perfectly content with their ICEE's. Next, the Target personnel starts making a sweep of the store and asks everyone to move to the back of the store. I'm trying to stay away from everyone else b/c they are all talking about the "tornado" - one word Josh did NOT need to hear. At this point, the ICEE's are gone and the girls are ready to roam....what timing! I put Zachary in charge of Ava and let her & Sarah burn some energy. In a few minutes, all "women & children" started moving into the dressing room. Needless to say, my clan took up one whole dressing room. Zachary's job was to block the door so the girl's wouldn't escape. Not a problem though - they were fascinated with the little stool in the room, so they were perfectly happy climbing on that - for about 2 minutes, then I had to pull out various objects from my purse to entertain them....such as lipgloss, cell phone, pen & paper....WHATEVER! All the while - I had to keep reassuring Josh that all was well. I later started thinking, what would it take to actually freak ME out? Does the ceiling have to be ripped off for me to start to be concerned? I wasn't scared at all......hmmm....

So - after about 15 minutes (seemed like 5 hours) in the dressing room, we were given the "all clear" to check out and leave the store. By then the rain had stopped, but the drive home was very different from the drive going to Target! Sarah kept saying,"Mommy, we are safe in your car!" I don't know where that came from.....amazing what they pick up on. On the way home from karate (yes - they still had it!) we saw an awesome rainbow....a complete one at that...wow! I wish I had had my camera...I guess I am going to have to carry it in my purse - you never know when the perfect picture-taking opportunity will pop up!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH!!!!

So - today Sarah turned the big "3"!  I still cannot believe it!  All day today I kept thinking, "Three years ago today I was......"  I STILL cannot believe we have not one, but two girls!  Guess out of all my kids, Sarah was the biggest surprise.  I was in radiology school - last year nonetheless - so having another baby was FAR from our minds, but yet God proved otherwise.  She was so meant to be here and be a part of or lives (as was Ava - but her birthday is next week!)  When I was about 15 weeks pregnant with her, I talked to one of the radiologists and asked him to scan me (do an ultrasound) to see if he could tell the sex of the baby - that we wanted to be able to tell our family on Christmas.  He was nice enough to scan me, then write the results on a piece of paper and seal it in an envelope.  I brought it home and showed it to Charles and told him that the sex of the baby was written down inside.  Well - so much for waiting until Christmas!  He tore right into it!  I was like, "What are you doing?  We were going to wait!"  He said he would look and wouldn't tell me - yeah right!  Like I could live with that!  So I opened the piece of paper (all the while KNOWING that this baby would also be a boy) and Dr. Emerson had so sweetly drawn a little girl stick figure and in a little bubble over her head wrote, "Dress me in pink!"  At some point I obviously remembered to breathe again!  A girl?  REALLY?????  It was so fun telling the family.  We bought a bib that said "Thank Heaven For Little Girls" and had our moms open it at Christmas.  I'm sure my mom's yell could have been heard all over the city!  Everyone was so excited, and it was so fun to get to play with little girl baby stuff!

So - fast forward to today - my "oldest" little princess is quickly becoming a big girl.  Potty training is in sight (working on that next week, but should be easy - she already goes most of the time anyway), she got a big girl bike for her birthday - I guess next she will get her driver's license!  :-)  No really - I so love her.  She is an incredibly strong personality, but is so full of love she could just burst!  She is very much like Josh - she has such a happy heart.  Every night she reminds me that I am her "best friend" and insists on lots of hugs and kisses before bed.  Not sure how she will feel about me 10 years from now, but for today I love every minute!  Happy Birthday 'Sissy"!

                           Day after she was born - still in the hospital!

First Birthday!

Second Birthday!

Three Years Old!

Another "First"....

So - today was another "first" in our household - Ava had her first day at MDO (Mother's Day Out).  Boy has time gone by fast!  It is so hard to believe she is almost "2"!  She had a great day - although I have no idea if she took a nap or not - I didn't get info in her bag about her day, but since I know her teachers, I guess they would have told me if she acted crazy.  Sarah moved up the big "3" room - she will turn 3 next Tuesday.  She was sooo excited about her new class and her new toys! I snapped this picture before we left this morning.  I was going to have them hold their bags, but all Ava wanted to do was try to get into her Tinkerbell lunchbox!  I'm so glad they had a good day.  They fell asleep in about 15 seconds (literally), so I guess it was a very full day for both of them.

So where are the boys?  They are at the coast with Nana visiting friends of hers.  She finished school last week and they hit the road the next day.  It sounds like they are having a blast.  They've seen all kinds of fish - even alligators!  They fish every day - Zachary even caught a stingray!  I can't wait to see those pics!  Today, he said he caught 3 crab and ate his first crab legs.  He "kind of liked them"...Ms. Paul's fishsticks they ain't!  I can't wait to hear all about what they did.  Zachary is the designated caller - I haven't even talked to Josh since he left.  They will be back Thursday or Friday, and I can't wait to squeeze them!  I miss my boys!!!