Well it's another "weekend" morning and again I'm the only one up because Madelyn woke me up at 6:45, but then an hour and a half later she wants to catch some more Z's but of course I can't go back to bed because I've already consumed a cup and a half of coffee. This is the new weekend for me. So what better to do than type out a blog post eh? I've been meaning to jot down a few random notes about my girls anyway. Yesterday Ava went all day without any accidents (not even first thing in the morning or during nap) in her diaper for the first time, with a grand total of 8 successful visits to the potty chair. And so today, as promised, we'll be going to the Shoe Shop (i. e. Target because this is where we went to get her her requested "soccer" shoes when she asked to go to the "shoe shop" for a pair. She did actually need tennis shoes by the way. We don't always fulfill her every wish.) to get her some new Dora underwear. Or perhaps, "puppy underwear" because for some reason after all the promises of Dora underwear and the excitement she did have over the thought of them, suddenly yesterday she decided she wanted "puppy underwear." Every time I would remind her that if she stayed dry we would go buy new Dora underwear she'd correct me and say "puppy underwear." I sure hope the Shoe Shop can deliver.
Madelyn will be 6 months in just a few days. Hard to believe. I'll be feeding her her first bites of rice cereal this weekend. She hasn't seemed to interested in food/us eating. But I want to give it shot before her next Dr's appointment this Friday in case I have any questions. Guess I better go dig out my Super Baby Food's book for a little refresher . . . She's getting more and more vocal too, especially in the mornings. Lot's of yelling and shrieking, especially if Ava's any where near. She makes all kinds of excited commotion in hopes that Ava will come play with her. Between that and Ava's constant chatter is a wonder I have any sense left in my head these days. She is quieter than Ava was though, I think there's more going on for her to just observe. She LOVES watching Ava and she just gets the hugest smile on her face when ever Ava comes near to her and reaches out to try and grab a hold of Ava. Often grabbing her hair or poking her, which is understandably a little hard for Ava to understand, and so she's always telling her, "No, no Madelyn" and returning Madelyn's hand back to her own personal space. Madelyn can roll over now. From side to side and onto her tummy. Which makes her angry at nap time. I have clear memories of this horrible phase with Ava. They can roll themselves over onto their tummies at nap time, but they can't fall asleep on their tummy or roll themselves back over so they cry and cry until you flip them back over onto their backs only to have them roll back over onto their tummy a couple minutes later. And this nasty cycle repeats and repeats and repeats until their so exhausted they don't have the energy to roll themselves over anymore and fall asleep on their back. Good times. Madelyn's been teething a lot for weeks now with still no appearance of that first tooth. She has to tiny white spots on her bottom gum but they don't seem to be growing at all. Poor thing. She still remains fairly cheerful though. She really is a sweet baby. She loves to laugh and sometimes now will just start laughing if I just look at her. She is loving her exersaucer right and her new found ability to actually play with her rattles and various other baby toys. But she still likes to be held best. Ava liked her "alone" time and was content to play by herself often. Madelyn is for short amounts of time but she wants to be checked in on often and would probably really just prefer for me to carry her around all day. It's really interesting to see already the differences in their personalities and preferences. There's toys we have that Ava did ever really seem interested in that Madelyn really likes (glad I didn't just toss those). When Ava was sleepy she just wanted me to lay her down in her crib and leave her alone. She didn't like me trying to sing to her or pat her back or touch her at all. Madelyn loves to be rocked and snuggles her head down into the crook of my arm. And singing and patting her back or stroking her forehead soothes her. Ava slept on her back with her arms above her head every night. Madelyn is a strict side sleeper, usually with one arm draped over her eyes. When I used to go in to get Ava in the morning she would be ecstatic and shriek and strain to try and sit up and get out of bed to greet me. Madelyn is more relaxed. Still happy to see me but she greets me with just a sweet smile. Just little things but it's just so interesting to see their similarities and differences coming out. Ava is saying some pretty funny stuff lately. I need to be better about writing them down. Last week I was putting her into her new booster seat at the dinner table and telling her how now that she sat at the big table with Mama and Dada she needed to be careful to eat nicely and not make a mess. And jokingly I said to her, "Because Ava, with greater age comes greater responsibility. Can you say that? Can you say 'with age comes responsibility?'" She thought a moment and then said, "No Mama, too hard." We did have a big breakthrough though. She has acknowledged finally that her name is Ava, and yesterday she was scribbling on her white board and said, "Ava Rizzo. My name Ava Rizzo." I said, "Are you writing you name?" And she said, "Yes. My name Ava Rizzo." This is good though, because both Tony and I have found ourselves constantly calling her "Hi-You" in public places and being a little embarrassed that the strangers around us think that we actually named our daughter that.
Here's some pictures of Tony's dad and step-mom's visit and then our Christmas tree decorating and some pictures of the girls before we left for the GFA Christmas party.
Hanging out with Granddad Joe and Grandma Beth
Pillow Fight!!!
Story Time with Dada
Ava asked to eat her cereal in the chair so she could "read" while she ate, so I let her, sans milk.
My beautiful Madelyn
Bed Head
Christmas tree shopping at the good Ol' Home Depot. It's a family tradition! :o)
Ava loved helping decorate the tree this year. I started out only putting not breakable ornaments on because I was afraid Ava would break them, but the tree looked a little bare so I added some glass bulbs. Two of them got broken before the tree came down, one by me and one by Tony. . .
Ava totally remembered how to put the star of from last year, she asked to be held up and put it right on.
Ava in her Christmas dress. It has some silver sparkles on it so it's not the totally black unfrilly dress it appears to be, so don't feel to sorry for her.
The two loves of my life (minus the third)
Say Cheese!!!
