Not feeling well :(

This has been a tiring week. So much to do and so little time! Last night I was nauseous and today my throat is starting to hurt. I had the beginning of a migraine for 2 days and held it off with round the clock motrin, tylenol and caffeine! I have a Moms Night tonight so I hope it holds off for a little bit! The kids are doing great! Ava pulled herself up in Zach's crib the other day, but hasn't done it again. That's progress though and we'll take it! Zach has been going on the potty about 50-75% of the day! We have to bribe him with heart candies though. Whatever works! I pick and choose my battles. We're just sure to keep brushing his teeth twice a day. Zach's Image of the Year contest ends tonight! If you haven't voted yet you can visit www.photographybyallisonhays.com go to the blog, scroll down to the bottom and vote for #17! Thanks to all of those that did vote. It really means a lot to us :)

Pix from last week!

We just put Ava in the castle swing for the first time and she loved it! Zach enjoyed making her laugh too!

Update from last week!

These kids are becoming such little people! Ava has 3 words that she uses consistently and today has added dog (wa wa) I think it's supposed to be Bella. She kept yelling wa wa when I let the dogs in and was pointing to them and saying it over and over. We'll see if it sticks. Zach is repeating everything we say! Not so good sometimes. Those of you that know me well know that I call him a turd when he is being naughty. Yesterday he said, "I not turd boy, you a bad mom!" I almost died laughing so, of course, he continued to say "bad mom" in every variation that the two words can make. I have made my own bed....... In good Zach news, he is going on the potty again! He doesn't like to pee, but he will do the other stuff :) I hear it's usually the other way around, but he was breech after all! Things are often opposite for him!

Funny Moms!

A bunch of us in my moms group have all bought new cameras! We all have just a little to much fun with them when we get together for playdates. Our poor children are going to have bursts of light from the flash in their eyes for a lifetime!

Big Day for my friends!

Sophia's mommy and daddy got married today! It was a big shock and a great surprise to all of us! Congratulations to Erin, Chris and Sophia! We love you guys! One of the other moms in my mom group (a long distance member that now lives in NH, I'm a tad bit jealous!) also had a baby girl today, Elizabeth Jane! Now they have two beautiful little girls. Our congratulations go out to them as well! February 20th shaped up to be a wonderful day!

One of my favorites!

Pictures from the Week!

We did a lot of Valentine's Day celebrating this week! First the kids had their party at school on Thursday, then we went for a V-day playdate! On Saturday we celebrated in our own way by shopping and playing outside :) Then on Sunday we had our Valentine's weekend dinner! In Ava news, she got up on all fours today and rocked for a little bit! Maybe that is a precursor to crawling! Woo hoo!

Videos of singing and standing!

Please Vote for Zach!

If you haven't already done so, PLEASE vote for Zach! As of this morning someone had caught up to us in the contest.

http://www.photographybyallisonhays.com/

Go to the blog and vote for # 17! This is the picture you will be voting for!

My v-day gift!

As most of you know, I have taken up a new hobby! I got the camera in January and for Valentine's day I got a new tripod!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We took these pictures of Ava along with her 10 month pictures, but I was waiting to post them until just before Valentine's Day! We plan to spend a quiet v-day with the kids and doing the usual (costco trip!) It will be great to spend the day with my three Valentines! We hope your day is wonderful and full of love!

You Miss Me!

Zach's language has exploded lately! He is talking in full sentences, although not always grammatically correct and I can understand most of what he is saying (not so many phonological processes that had me worried for a bit) He just started saying, I love you too and it about melted my heart. Now he also says I love you on his own! The thing that cracks me up the most though is how he transferred something that I always say to him. I always say, "I missed you!" whenever I come home and haven't seen him in a while. So now he says, "You miss me!" when one of us comes home! I roll on the floor each time he says it to Andy!

Ava is 10 months old!

Just two months until she is one! I constantly ask where the time went. Our little girl is getting so big! She weighs about 21 lbs now so we moved her to the big girl car seat (see picture in prior post) She is eating finger foods and much prefers to feed herself. She will sit and play forever! She will also stand at the table for long periods of time. She is not yet crawling or pulling up, but we see that she really wants to. I suppose it is hard to move a body so full of chub (as you can see in the teacup picture!) Her favorite words are no and dada. She goes to bed between 6:30 and 7:30 every night and wakes up at 6 like clock work every morning. She continues to get her greatest entertainment from her brother! He is quite the comedian and she is quite the audience! Just like big brother, her favorite show is Yo Gabba Gabba. The music will stop her in her tracks! (pictures courtesy of Allison Hays!)

Tubes and Adnoids

Today was Zach's surgery. We got to the surgery center around 7 and they took us back to the admitting and children's waiting room within 20 minutes. Our friends were back there too because their little guy was also getting tubes. The boys played and then it was little G's turn to go back. When we saw our friends going by we knew he has come out and soon it was Zach's turn. Zach got to wear one of those sweet hospital gowns that open in the back. Thank goodness he's not shy! They came to get him and I could hear him crying in the back room. We sat in the waiting area for over 30 minutes. I started to hear him screaming but no one was coming to get us. I got very impatient and waited by the door for them to come. When we went back he was in the arms of a nurse and she was trying to sooth him. He was thrashing around and screaming like I had never seen. He was hooked to an IV so she was trying to get him not to pull it out. I took him but he was so out of it that he didn't seem to notice we were there. Finally Andy took him, put him on his shoulder and Zach started to twirl his hair like he does when he is tired. He said, "go ni-night" and proceeded to fall back to sleep. The nurse said he thrashed around while he was going under and also played with his hair while he was going out. He slept for over 1/2 an hour and when he woke up he was no longer thrashing, just very groggy and grumpy. We got him dressed (not an easy task) and proceeded to leave. On our way out the door it was like a light bulb clicked on. He was Zach again. He asked where baby G was and pointed out the water fountain across the street. Once home he curled up on the couch for some Gabba Gabba. He didn't want us near him for a little while. Then he wanted to lay in my lap and just rested there for a while and watched TV. A little bit later he got a new spurt of two year old energy and managed to eat a little. Fruit snacks of all things! I guess his throat doesn't hurt that bad!

Big Girl!

We moved Ava into her new big girl car seat this weekend! From the looks of this picture, she is enjoying it!

Bath Time Fun!

This weeks challenge was to scrap your kids at bath time! I took advantage of this to both do layouts and to play with the camera! My kids are both goofs and love bath time so it was fun to take pictures of them having a blast! Thankfully Zach is back to loving bath time. It just took a little chocolate to get him motivated :)

Now what???

I suppose that we are lucky we made it until almost 2 and a half before this happened. Yesterday Andy went to get Zach out of bed and he said "No, Daddy, I do it!" and proceeded to launch himself out of his crib. We decided that since he can do this maybe it is best to have the crib side down until we decide what to do next. He woke up in the middle of the night last night and proceeded to climb out again. He can't open his own door though so he was locked in and screaming! Update: he won't go to bed tonight! This is driving me insane!

Ava no like it prunes!

Ava usually makes a funny face when she eats something new for the first time. It usually only lasts through one bite, maybe two. Andy tried giving her some fruit mixed with prunes and she was very sure to tell us exactly how much she didn't like them! As Zach would say, Ava "no like it, prunes!"

Baby Shower!

Last night we had a baby shower for Tracy!!! It's always nice to see her and this was a great excuse to get her to come visit. The next time she comes she will have the little bambino in tow! She is one of those people that doesn't find out what she is having (annoying, LOL!) so we are all waiting for April to come so we can find out!

Library Day!

We finally made it to the Highland library this week! It really is a neat place. They have lots of small animals including birds, fish and reptiles! The spiders I really could have done without! Zach loved it so much that he threw a fit when we had to leave. Ava wasn't feeling very well (as you can see) so we didn't get to stay as long as he would have liked. I hope he continues to have this passion for learning throughout his life! (these pictures were taken with my point and shoot because I didn't want to bring the big camera, I just can't believe the difference!)

Super Bowl Sunday!

We had some friends over for Super Bowl Sunday! The kids had fun (mostly!) and the adults were on the edges of their seats (mostly!) while watching the game!

Happy Ava!

Ava was so happy just to be outside with her family! Maybe next year she can have her own golf clubs too!

Mini Golf!

On Saturday we took Zach for his first game of miniature golf! Watch out, Tiger! He really enjoyed himself. He and daddy played while Ava and I followed along and took way too many pictures! He had a great time until we came upon the troll in the castle. Then he was pretty much over it!