established in love

First Day of Kindergarten!

2011-08-30T20:23:00.008-04:00

Today was our first day of kindergarten - first for our family AND first for Ava. Since she does struggle with anxiety at times, I have been wondering how she would do, but as we found out today, I didn't need to have any concerns!

School starts at 7:45am, and her bus is at our house at 7:15am! I am beyond thankful that Mark is a morning person and can help get her up and ready. He woke her up about 6:30am this morning and she was so excited. She'd given me explicit instructions about what to pack in her lunch and kept asking if I'd put everything in there requested. Breakfast eaten, hair combed, body dressed, teeth brushed, shoes tied, and we were ready to go!

We decided we'd take her on her first day so we could see her room and get the obligatory first day at school picture (it is a historic event, you know). When I told her, I think she was a little disappointed not to get to ride the bus, but then she told me it was okay since she could ride it home. Everyone loaded up and we were off for school. When we got there, Ava led the way (she'd been in for a reading assessment last week so she knew where to go), not even making sure we were keeping up. She ran into her room without even a look back until I asked her to stop for just a second so I could get a picture, and she agreed.

The house seemed quiet without her there (no bickering between her & Carter!), and poor Carter kept asking when she'd be back (missed having someone to pester and be pestered by, no doubt... I'm sure Audrey will figure it out before long). Soon enough, the clock said 2:15pm and I was waiting for the bus to stop in front of the house. I'm guessing they're still working out the kinks of dropping off kids since it didn't show until 2:30pm, but Ava was all smiles as she got off the bus and was especially happy to have made a new friend who was in her class and who also rode her bus.

We had a few minutes to ourselves while Ava filled me in on her day (2 recesses! guess that's one perk of all-day kindergarten) and enjoyed a cupcake. Then Carter was up and he grilled her on her first day... seriously... I don't know where he comes up with all his questions!

She has a strange schedule - all-day, every other day. She goes Tuesday and Friday and every other Wednesday, and this week is an on day for Wednesday. It may take a while for us to get used to the schedule.

I'm so glad she had a great first day - here's to a great first year!

Carter's Fourth

2011-08-24T20:47:00.007-04:00

Way back in July, Carter turned four! We got to celebrate his birthday two weekends in a row - one in WV and one here in Ohio.

He has become such a big man over the past year and I'm so grateful to have him in our family. I guess it's because I'm so uncoordinated, but I find myself continually impressed with his athletic abilities. He has an abundance of energy and I'm often at a loss as to how to get it all out. His mind seems to go a mile a minute and the questions have become vast and varied. I love that he's so inquisitive, even though there are times when my own mind wears out trying to answer his constant queries.

He has moments of calm, too, and routinely asks me to snuggle with him. He has a great appetite and will try just about anything - and now that he's convinced being both strong and smart come from eating vegetables, he proudly eats them (usually), asking me to feel his muscles between bites. He's a great playmate to both his sisters and has taken to the role of big brother with Audrey in such a sweet way. Just tonight Mark ran to the store for a couple things and took Audrey and Carter with him. Audrey was squirming, so he let her down and Carter immediately grabbed her hand and guided her through the store. My prayer is that his heart continues to be tender and that he comes to truly understand how much God loves him so he can share that love with others. So thankful for our precious boy!

I am still here!

2011-06-23T20:22:00.010-04:00

It's been a horribly long time since I've updated and since there was so much to update, I kept putting it off until I had "more time." HA! So, I'll just jump in where we are and attempt to keep things brief (otherwise I'll not finish and continue putting off an update).

Ava is now 5 and a half and starts kindergarten this fall! On one hand, it's hard to believe, but on the other, it seems about time... feels like I've been home with kids forever, even though we're only a little over 5 years in. She seems so grown up to me and while we still have some struggles (you know, since neither one of us is perfect!), I love to see how her personality and interests are developing. She loves crafts, coloring, painting, anything artsy and is already showing herself to be quite an artist. Of course, I'm comparing her artwork to mine, so take that for what it's worth!

Carter is still rough and tumble with a huge side of sensitive. And, he'll be 4 next week. FOUR! For some reason, this seems to mark the end of my little boy in my mind - he's so busy with play and becoming more and more independent. I'm so glad that he is my snuggly, lovey, affectionate child and he's agreed never to grow out of it! He and Ava are great playmates and he's starting to warm up to Audrey and playing with her more and more (as opposed to getting mad when she'd want to join in and him being afraid she'd ruin the fun).

Audrey's personality is really coming through these days. For the most part, she's easy-going and happy. Teething brings out a cranky, whiny girl - I finally understand what some other parents go through. Ava and Carter never seemed to be bothered by teeth coming in, but anytime poor Audrey gets a new tooth, her entire hand is shoved in her mouth which brings on copious amounts of drool and we all get to enjoy a major case of the grumps. Seeing as how she is usually so easy, I'll cut her some slack (and maybe give her some tylenol). Oh, yeah, she's working on some teeth right now.

Audrey also loves music and dancing. If we're out shopping and she hears a song that strikes her fancy, she's bopping along and sometimes singing, too. At home, she tries to climb on chairs or anything else she can make a stage and performs. She loves to make Ava & Carter laugh and she's pretty good at it.

Our biggest adventure since last posting would probably be our trip to Disney World in March. We had such fun and Carter still thanks God almost every night in his prayers for Disney World. At least they have stopped asking when we're going back. You can see more pictures here.

And here's another album with pictures from our various adventures this spring. You'll see these pictures there, but I just loved these series of pictures from bedtime one night:

This is the doll cradle my dad made for me when I was little. After she gets her pj's on, she likes to get in it and pretend to sleep.

Pretend sleeping complete with fake snores.

So pleased with herself!

This night, she decided to share the cradle with a doll. Here she is tucking him in.

Kisses goodnight...

"Oh, maybe I'll just climb in with you."

"This really isn't big enough for two."

"Night night!"

December

2010-12-17T23:10:00.005-05:00

I knew it had been a while since I posted, but I was looking at pictures on our computer and realized I haven’t even downloaded anything from my camera for a month! Yikes. Here are some from Ava’s 5^th birthday – FIVE! Sometimes I look at her and she seems so grown up. She loves to help and tries to anticipate when I’m going to ask her to do something, doing it before I have a chance to ask. She loves to color and create. A new coloring book keeps her occupied for days on end. She loves dresses and ribbons and glitter. She loves to sing and dance. We have been so blessed with this girl!

traditional birthday pancakes

much anticipated (and oft-asked for) Sleeping Beauty doll

The same weekend we had her party, the kindergarten choir sang in church. I had a hard time getting a picture since Ava was in the second row and every time she tried to poke her head through so I could get a take a photo, the 2 little girls in front of her would block her! Too funny.

December has not been the best of months at the Button house. From me trying to fit too many tasks into too few hours to multiple bouts of sickness, this holiday season has been more stressful than we would have liked.

I have been busy finishing up a variety of projects that I’d started for a craft fair that was this past week. As is typical for me (surely I’m not alone), I misjudged just how much time it would take to finish up what seemed to be only a few things, so the first 2 weeks of December found me trying to eek out work-time on every possible occasion. As luck would have it, Ava & Carter decided this would be a grand time to stop going to bed nicely each night and come out of their rooms every 10 minutes during afternoon rest-time asking if they could get up. (We’re still struggling on that front and I’m wondering if they make pajamas with built-in straightjackets… maybe that will keep them in bed!). Oh, and Carter came down with strep throat on the first day of December. Then there were extra rehearsals for our church’s Christmas program in which I was involved. Last Saturday, the weekend of both the Christmas program and the craft fair, it became clear that Mark was getting sick. He had taken vacation time from GE Sunday through Wednesday, and it was a good thing since he spent that entire time in bed. He had been scheduled to work at his second job (Smashburger), but had to call off. Thankfully, he ended up with Thursday off as well (he was supposed to have some training that day and the trainer was sick so they just gave everyone the day off!). Monday morning Carter complained that his throat hurt and as he talked I realized he sounded exactly as he did when he’d gotten strep 2 weeks earlier, so we visited the doctor again to find out he somehow managed to get it AGAIN … only days after finishing his first round of antibiotics (or, maybe the first round of medicine didn’t completely get it?). Thankfully (so far) the only other ailments at our house are a runny nose for Audrey and a sore back muscle for me (let’s just say I was not so excited about getting to shovel all the snow we got this week!).

In the midst of all the craziness, there have been some definite highs. My birthday comes at the beginning of the month and about a week before, Ava had cards made and a present wrapped. Closer to the day, she wrapped up one the presents she had received for her birthday on days before to give to me (wrapping paper created by Ava, of course!).

I don't know if you can read it, but the card says, "Iluveoomombecuseoorsespecial" translated, "I love you mom because you are so special." The only word she asked how to spell was "special." I had to take pictures so I never forget her thoughtfulness! (She doesn't believe in spaces between words... no matter how many times I encourage her that they are quite helpful!)

The biggest highlight comes as a result of talking a lot about Christmas and reading the Christmas story from a variety of books. Over the past few days, Ava & Carter have been reenacting the Christmas story using all sorts of different toys from stuffed bears and dolls to dump trucks and school buses… and sometimes even the Little People nativity set. My heart melts when I hear them repeating the word of the angels to the shepherds and then hearing the shepherds excitedly travel to find baby Jesus. Ava has told me several times that her favorite gift at Christmas is that Jesus came. She seems so very close to understanding just what that gift truly means and I’m excited to think that soon she may ask Jesus to be her Savior.

And some random pictures since they're too fun not to include:

Carter (aka, Superman) boxing on the Wii

Pretty sure the chocolate chip pancakes are a hit!

Fun with Leaves

2010-10-27T08:45:00.005-04:00

We've been staying busy this fall with a variety of activities.

Our county sponsored a "Try-a-Truck" day. There were all types of construction, emergency and basically any other truck you could think of - even a helicopter flew in and landed for everyone to see. Carter was in heaven.

(You can see a bunch of pictures from the day here)

We took a trip to Young's Dairy and picked pumpkins, fed some goats and played on the tractors.

(More pictures from that trip here)

And we've been playing outside in the leaves a lot!

(more autumn pictures)

I love fall!

The latest

2010-10-07T20:22:00.004-04:00

Ava
I cannot believe Ava's going to be five soon. She is growing and maturing and I feel like all the work that seemed fruitless during her 3rd and 4th year is starting to pay off! Lately, she's been much more kind (and will tell me when she's being kind since she wants me to see it, but a great improvement to being UNkind), extremely helpful, can remember so much from Sunday School and Cubbies (before when I'd ask what her story was about, I'd get a big fat, "I don't remember" or the very generic, "God"), and mindful of instruction. We're still working on attitude, but I see such growth... encouragement since Carter has hit the stage where we're dealing with a lot of whining and disobedience - I know we'll get through it!

She loves to color, draw pictures and read books, and she adores all things princess. She's been taking a tumbling class at the local rec center, is in her second year of Cubbies and moved up to the Pre-K class at church where she is in the kindergarten choir and LOVING it. I'm amazed at how quickly she learns and how much she is learning. We've been reading "Little House in the Big Woods" and in case you haven't read it in a while (or ever), much of the book relates what life was like living in the log cabin in the woods - things like slaughtering a pig or cleaning a rifle. I didn't think she'd have any concept of what was going on, much less want to continue reading, but she and Carter both love to snuggle up and have me read a chapter or two at a time. I look at her and can't believe what a sweet little girl she's becoming.

Carter
While Carter is challenging us more these days, he remains our most sensitive and loving child (well, except in any situation regarding Audrey... I know one day he'll come to like her more, but right now he has a hard time tolerating her desire to get at his stuff). Just tonight, I was battling a headache and while we were at the dinner table, I rested my head on my arm. He asked why I put my head down and I told him it hurt. With complete tenderness and sincerity he said, "Aww, Mom... can I come give you a hug?." He has such a sweet heart. He also is great at throwing fits and ignoring me when I call his name, but hopefully, I'll look back and remember the sweet parts.

He still loves trains, cars and trucks (though will play ponies or dress-up with Ava, too). Over the summer, he seemed to lose all his toddler chubbiness and got tall and thin. He's in his first year of Cubbies and is so excited about it. Part of the program includes scripture memorization and I love helping him learn his verses. The best part is knowing he's learning God's Word, but he provides many chuckles along the way as well. He seems to translate the verses into his own way of saying things. For instance, I was trying to teach him a verse that said, "While we were sinners..." It kept coming out, "While us be sinners..." But my absolute favorite so far has been the translation of "... He will be great" to "Him gonna be great." We are only on week 3, so I can't wait to see what other translations he comes up with!

Audrey
Sweet Audrey is ONE! She's rediscovered waving and clapping after quite some time of pretending not to remember how and also learned how to blow kisses this week. Her very favorite is high fives. She took a few steps one day last week and finally today took a few more. Soon, she'll be running after the other 2. She loves to dance and seems to always be smiling and laughing. She loves baby dolls and stuffed animals (and anything of Carter's... seriously, it's no wonder he's a little annoyed by his baby sister!). When I think about how Mark and I had almost decided 2 kids were enough, I am so thrilled God blessed us with this sweet girl.

Work
Mark has accepted a job with GE in their call center. He'd been working at a newer burger place in the area for the last few months, and they tried to convince him to stay and have even left the door wide open to come back should he decide he doesn't like the new job. He starts training on Monday and will be taking some shifts on the weekends at Smashburger. We're thankful for the new position and hopeful that he'll have a chance to move up quickly and no longer need a second job.

Next post will have pictures, I promise!

Vacation

2010-09-11T16:08:00.004-04:00

Last month, we traveled to MD for vacation. I never appreciated my childhood home as I do now! My parents have the perfect vacation spot! Huge yard, big driveway, pool out back, great toys, and if that weren't enough, lots of fun places to visit nearby. We started the week off with a family reunion and I always love to see extended family and catch up.

While we were having a great time at Nana & Pap's house (and I think the two older ones would have been swimming by the end of the week!), we spend most of the week at Ocean City, MD.

Ava was my total beach bum and I don't think there was anything she didn't like about the beach.

Carter had fun, too, but kept asking to go swim in the pool. I'm sure he'll grow into an appreciation for the beach.

Audrey hung out in the sand or in the little pool my parents got and was pretty happy attempting to eat sand or lick saltwater off toys.

We had a few days at my parent's before we had to head back home, and tried to fit in as much fun as possible. If you're interested in more vacation pictures, go here.

11 Months

2010-08-23T22:22:00.004-04:00

We recently headed to MD for a week of vacation (including a family reunion & a trip to the beach) and I still haven’t had a chance to sort through all the pics and post some, but in the meantime, I need to document Audrey’s achievements of late. Over the past month, she has learned so much and is doing all sorts of new tricks with which to entertain us. Her primary way to make me smile is with any number of faces she makes. She can't seem to smile without scrunching up her face and no matter how many times I catch it on camera, a still photo simply doesn't do her cuteness justice.

After a few pictures, she usually decides she's done and tries to take the camera away.

She’s over the army/commando crawl (dragging the body with the elbows) and is now a full-fledged crawler… and stair-climber. She also pulls up to stand on anything she can find and cruises along furniture (including kitchen appliances… I’ve learned I need to get in and out of the dishwasher quickly or she’ll start grabbing silverware and tossing pieces out onto the floor).

I love to watch her play. She loves to explore and her play often involved copying behavior she sees elsewhere. The other day I wasn’t sure if she really was trying to feed me with a spoon, but I was convinced when I caught her feeding herself the next day!

She also must have been watching Carter play with his cars because she’s gone from trying to eat them to pushing them around and making “vroom” noises just like her brother. I only wish I had the camera when I noticed her pushing a cheerio around her high-chair tray like a car, complete with car noises.

Here's a video (sorry for the quality - I wanted to capture it while I could and all I had was the camera which doesn't take the greatest video... hopefully, you can hear her "vrooms" over Carter's!)

Oh, and she discovered the her finger fits perfectly in her nose. Now a moment we can all treasure.

And finally, so the post isn't ALL about Audrey, this was from a recent trip to Columbus to see our very good friends' daughter get baptized (yay, Sophia!!). I'm sure the kids hate these pictures, but I love catching them all together (although, I really need to remember to get these before we're trying to head out the door because one or more children are melting down).

Vacation pictures coming soon!

3 Years & 10 Months

2010-07-24T15:21:00.006-04:00

Carter turned three several weeks ago. Yup, I'm that far behind...

I love this little man so much! He still loves to snuggle, but plays hard. He's all boy, but has a sensitive, sweet spirit. Trucks, trains and cars remain his favorite toys, but he & Ava play together a lot now, so he can also be found playing with her pony castle or dressing up.

Opening presents at his birthday party

Thomas birthday cake (Ava has announced that next year he's having a Little Mermaid cake...)

Eating cake & ice cream on the swingset

He's really starting to lose his toddler chubbiness - he seems taller and thinner. His speech is clearer and he is starting to exert his will more, too. I didn't experience much of the "terrible two's" with him, but about a week before three hit, he started with some major tantrums. I'm hoping this doesn't last long!

Audrey is 10 months old today. Is that possible?? How can this year be going by so fast? She now pulls herself up to stand and spends most of her time attempting to get into every last thing she can't have. Carter and Ava both struggle with her wanting to play with all their toys (she very rarely wants the "safe for kids under 3" toys). She's also gotten LOUD. She screeches for no reason and even makes noises when she eats. She's learned to wave and gets so excited when she sees her brother or sister. Still no real words, but Ava & Carter were both late to talk, and they talk plenty now, so no worries there.

Playing with Ava's pony castle... pretty sure Ava was napping

I love this girl's expressions! I've never seen a baby with such expressive eyebrows...
even a lady at the park commented on them!

Here's a few more pics from a recent trip to Neena & Poppie's house:

no idea what this look from Chloe is about, but I love it!

Audrey drooled on Mark's sleeve for a while before giving in and falling asleep.

And while most of the time this blog is about the kids, there is news for me and Mark as well. Please pray with us as Mark is pursuing other employment opportunities. I'm convinced that God has something better for him and for our family! Also, tomorrow Mark and I will celebrate 12 years of marriage!

Summer Days

2010-07-01T14:04:00.004-04:00

Audrey is 9 months. Her first year has been FLYING. She still seems like my baby (obviously, compared to the other 2), but she also seems far too old already! She's been such a sweet baby that I'm not anxious for her to grow up even though I know I can't stop her.

She's showing more of an opinion than her siblings when it comes to food. While they ate pretty much anything I'd offer, she will fuss if I give her something she's not fond of... and sometimes I'll get it spit back at me. She hates having food in the corners of her mouth and I have to be quick to get it because while she hates it right next to her mouth, she's fine with smearing it absolutely anywhere else on her face. Or the chair. Or her clothers. Or basically anywhere else. How can such a small bit of food make such a mess?? She's become a pro at feeding herself finger foods, and she also loves to play with her tongue. At first it only came out when she was eating - in between bites she'd stick it out and see how she could contort it. Lately, it's a constant facsination.

Like her siblings, she loves to swing.

And lucky for her, Carter even likes to push her!

She has mastered the army crawl and has gotten so FAST. She's also starting to stand if holding on to someone or something and she has attempted to pull herself up a few times. I sway between encouraging these new developments and immediately grabbing her, holding her like a baby and asking her if she could slow down just a little.

Carter's not slowing down a bit and turns 3 in just a few days! This morning Ava went around the living room and picked out some of his favorite things so she'd have some presents for his birthday. She also pulled out all the orange construction paper she could find (his favorite color) so she could wrap them and finally, went on to make a card for each present.

For more pics of the fun we've been having this summer, check out this album on Facebook!

Cubbie Bear

2010-06-12T17:16:00.007-04:00

So, kiddos who think it's perfectly acceptable to get out of bed multiple times during each naptime and bedtime create a world not fit for having time to write a blog post. I'm hoping to come up with a new strategy for this addressing this behavior as the current one of threats/yelling/punishing (in no particular order) doesn't seem to be working.

Anywho, last post I mentioned I wanted to share Ava's Cubbies experience from this past year. This was her first year in Awana, and she loved it! There's a book to use with a story and memory verse for each week and at the beginning of the year, she was not content to stop with one story and one verse. Even as we got closer to the end of the year and the end of the book she wanted to go back and read past stories. It makes me happy to see her excited about learning God's Word.

Toward the end of the year, there's a Cubbie Bear fair complete with all sorts of carnival type games, balloon animals, face painting and, of course, treats. A parent is supposed to attend, so I got to go with Ava. She had lots of fun, but it was pretty clear that she is not going to be the athlete of the family.... the girl throws like... well, a girl. Sometimes I was really wondering if she even had her eyes open. I felt sorry for the teens running the games who had to run hither and yonder to retrieve whatever item Ava had attempted to throw in their direction. We did find one game where she excelled - a shooting game, surprisingly enough. She pointed that little gun, pulled the trigger and shot down each one of the targets. At first I thought it must be rigged somehow to let the kids "win" easily until the next little girl took her turn and couldn't manage to hit a target after several tries. Go sharpshooter Ava!

She doesn't look it, but she was pretty happy about the face painting.

Ava with her Cubbie Bear award earned for finishing her book & saying all her verses!

Next year, we'll have 2 Cubbies! Well, we will if Carter can figure out this potty training stuff. He can stay dry all day (even most nights!), but the other, oh the other... why, oh why would you want to do that in your pants if you can help it? And I know he can help it!

Creative Juices

2010-05-19T09:43:00.009-04:00

Ava seems to be learning things by leaps and bounds lately. She's been very interested in letters and words plus she's started drawing more (for a while, she'd only draw faces... when I asked if she'd like to try other things, I'd get a, "I don't know how to draw anything else." I didn't think 4-year-olds were supposed to be afraid to try things!). She has been on a card-making kick - drawing pictures and writing her name as well as the recipient's. Most have been for me or Mark, but we've also mailed a few and if you come over, you'll probably leave with one of her creations. I love it! I recently got a "Hooked on Phonics" learn to read set for a great deal, and she wants to "play it" all the time. I'm finding it a challenge to know whether we should focus on writing or reading, but I'm letting her guide me.

She also seems to be more sensitive to spiritual things. I love to hear her talk about how God loves us! Sometimes I think concepts are a challenge to understand, though - she has mentioned several times that she is going to ask Jesus to be her Savior, but she wants to wait until after we go to the beach because she wants to go there before she goes to heaven. I've explained on several occasions that we don't go to heaven immediately after asking Jesus to be our Savior, but so far, she's not buying it.

She loves to sing and make up songs, too, and Carter's even caught on to that one. On Mother's Day, he sang a great little ditty with the lyrics, "I love you, Mommy." Of course, the next day I heard the same song tune with the slightly different lyric, "I love you, cars," but I'm willing to share his affection. He also loves puzzles (in addition to the old favorites of trains, cars & trucks). He surprises me with how well he can put them together, but that's probably because when I'm trying to explain something important to him (like why pulling all the covers and sheets off Ava's bed when he's supposed to be taking a nap is not appropriate), he just looks at me with a blank stare. I must have confused boredom for lack of intelligence.

One of many garage sale finds!

Audrey has become the champion roller. She can sit by herself, but is rarely content to. (At least that's what I'm telling myself when she topples over after a few seconds!) She is constantly rolling toward or getting into Carter's toys and he can't stand it! We're working on teaching/learning that she can't hurt them and it isn't kind to viciously grab them out of her hand or roll her away from them. Baby girl also loves to pull off her socks and chew on them (see picture below for proof!). Tights? She pulls off as much as she needs to reach her mouth and sucks away.

I started writing this several days ago, and since then, she's started creeping. She's quite a sight - reaching out with her hands and at the same time propelling herself forward with her toes! Carter is out of luck. We may have to move his toys upstairs!

I'll post soon about Ava and her first year of Awana!

The Cutting of the Hairs

2010-04-19T13:29:00.006-04:00

Before

After

Ava's been asking for her hair to be cut short for about a month. I had no strong feelings about her having long hair; the fact that it got long was more due to my laziness in getting it cut (and my cheap nature in not wanting to pay upwards of $15 for a haircut for her!). Great Clips is having their $4.99 sale, so we went for haircuts. This is actually shorter than the "to her shoulders" that I requested, but since she kept asking for it to be cut chin-length, I guess she got her wish. I thought I'd have a harder time getting used to her shorter 'do, but I'm a little more sad about Carter's - there's something sweet about him waking up from his nap sweaty with curls all over and now all the curls are gone! Mark reassures me that they'll grow back, but I do miss them a little.

Carter Reads

2010-04-06T21:22:00.003-04:00

I was feeding Audrey breakfast one day while Carter was reading to himself. I grabbed the camera (which is to blame for the very poor quality) and asked him to read some so I could tape him (but was a little distracted by his sisters which is to blame for me cutting off the top of his head repeatedly). Please pardon the dress-up clothes strewn about, the hacking courtesy of Ava and the various other background noises of Ava trying to entertain Audrey. She obviously isn’t as entertained by Carter reading to himself as I am.

Blue Hat Green Hat by Sandra Boynton

(hopefully you can understand him – each page is a series of different colors of the same item on an animal, but the last animal isn’t wearing it properly, so the text is “oops.”) Also, Sandra Boynton books are the best!

I particularly loved when Ava tried to help and Carter about bit her head off. Just another day at our house.

Wiggle Waggle by Jonathan London

This is only a small clip of one of our current favorite books and a great way to distract/pass the time when we’re out somewhere. One night after reading this book for one of the first times, I was putting Carter to bed and heard him say under his breath, “Bumble Roll, Bumble Roll” (how a bear walks for those not so informed), so I started going through all the animals and was impressed with his comprehension of how all the animals walk.

Grumpy Bird by Jeremy Tankard

This is my favorite to hear Carter read. I added subtitles in case you can’t understand him.

Who needs TV when you have Carter around to read?

Six Months

2010-04-01T06:03:00.005-04:00

I can't believe Audrey has been here for 6 months (well, outside my womb, that is). She's come around to trying out new foods and she's also become a championship roller. If left to her own devices, she'll keep rolling and rolling until she gets stuck. I've been warning Ava especially that her teeny tiny toys cannot be left on the floor or they might get eaten.

Carter will not be happy about this

Moving on...

... and stuck... but SO happy! (Don't you wish you could kiss those cheeks? Aren't you jealous that I get to all day long?)

Spring has Sprung!

2010-03-22T20:04:00.005-04:00

Spring is officially here and I have a newfound appreciation for being outside after months of being stuck inside. We did finally make it to a children's museum a few weeks ago where we may just have to become members when the weather turns cool again this fall. A few weeks ago, they had free admission, so we went to check it out and the kids loved it (Audrey showed her excitement by sleeping most of the time).

Carter LOVES mascots!

Audrey will be six months old this week! She's been rolling from back to belly for a few weeks but has yet to master belly to back, which has led to a very unhappy baby from time to time when she rolls over in her sleep and can't figure out why she's on her belly. She's also discovered her feet - one of my favorite baby achievements. She has no desire to sit up yet, instead diving for her feet anytime I attempt to put her in a sitting position. We've also started some "solids" but the first few items were of no interest to her. Ava & Carter were ecstatic to try solids, so I wasn't sure what to do with her, but kept trying and once we hit bananas, she's been good to go!

Slacking!!

2010-02-23T20:35:00.004-05:00

The last post was over a month ago! I kept meaning to post, but the longer I took, the more I put it off because there was so much to update. So, I'm just going to jump in. Here's a quick snapshot of what's been happening.

Several months ago (even before Audrey was born), Ava started waking up several times a night. She'd have a few good nights and then she'd go back to "needing" something ("ummm... ummmm... Mommy, I'm going to be hungry in the morning." Seriously? You woke me up at 3am to tell me that?). I didn't want her to feel alone and scared, but all of us needed better sleep. We tried various incentives to reward her for getting through an entire night without calling out for us. This would work for a night or two and then she'd have enough and would yell out only moments after I'd put her to bed, "I don't want any m&m's in the morning!!" Our original plan was to move Audrey into her room once Audrey started sleeping through the night, but we kept putting it off because Ava wasn't. We finally decided to move Ava into Carter's room about 3 weeks ago. The arrangement is still new and exciting which means they take longer to fall asleep and wake up earlier, but she is waking up and calling out much less frequently during the night... and they're both taking great naps! Ava has also recently become more and more interested in writing her letters. She knows how to write her name, but wanted me to show her how to write Carter's (significantly more difficult, of course!). I was so proud!

I've also been trying to be very consistent in my discipline of Ava. She has gotten quite used to doing EVERYTHING her way, and I've not done much to curb that. She is quite the negotiator and manipulator. When I ask her to do something, her response is not immediate compliance. I'll often get a "when I'm done with..." or "how about I..." I found myself getting frustrated with her and realized I was the one who let it get to this point. So, I'm working on re-training her on what it means to obey. She definitely is the one who challenges me the most as a mom, but as I am consistent each and every time she disobeys, I'm finding her responsive to the instruction. She definitely wears me out!

Carter has been talking up a storm. He still loves his trains and cars, but if Ava's getting dressed up like a princess, he usually needs to be beautified as well. I try to remember to take out the barrettes before we go out of the house. One of my favorite things these days is to observe him reading to himself. I so wish I had the video camera out when he was reading Grumpy Bird, a story about a bird who wakes up on the wrong side of the bed and as he is walking (too grumpy to fly), all his animal friends ask what he's doing. The answer each time is "walking" and he gets more and more irritated the more he's asked. As Carter reads it, he'll turn a page, say, "What are you doing?" then respond in the grumpiest voice he can muster, "WALKING!" until he gets to the end where they all stand on one foot and such. OH. MY. I could not stop laughing! While he's not the negotiator Ava is, he is starting to have opinions about being obedient as well. Usually all I have to do is ask if he'd rather be disciplined, and he jumps to it, though. He also LOVES to help in the kitchen. He'll drag a little chair over to see what's going on and loves to pour and stir and especially lick the beaters if something sweet is being whipped up. He also loves to help wash dishes (otherwise known as playing in the water).

Audrey continues to be sweeter than sweet. Although she must have been testing us lately, too, because after sleeping through the night (and usually sleeping in until around 8am each morning) for a couple months, she started waking up at all times of the night and continued to do so for about 3 weeks. I'm guessing a growth spurt hit it off and then she got used to waking up and getting a full meal during the night. I'm glad to say she seems to have gotten past it and has slept wonderfully the past week. She also seems determined to such her thumb. Ava used a pacifier for a short time and Carter was never interested in putting anything into his mouth (which was interesting when it came to teaching him to feed himself), so thumb-sucking wasn't an issue before. I know it's very normal, but I hear so many horror stories about teeth problems or breaking the habit later. We keep pulling it out, but I think we're fighting a losing battle. If I check on her while she's sleeping, she almost always has the thumb in (it is rather sweet, though!).

For more pictures from the past month, go here.

Winter Days

2010-01-14T14:41:00.006-05:00

A while ago, I saw an easel at IKEA for a great price that I thought might be a good Christmas present for Ava & Carter. I ended up getting one, and then a week before Christmas, Ava told Mark she wanted an easel like Maisy (we love Maisy books and had just discovered a Maisy cartoon). I can never predict what new thing Ava is going to want from day to day, so I was pretty happy I'd picked something that I not only knew they'd both enjoy, but also that had been specifically asked for. It's been a huge hit.

Audrey becomes more expressive every day. Her face lights up when she recognizes us and her sweet laugh makes us all act crazy just to hear it. The other night after her bath she started clasping her hands and now grabs at anything within reach... Ava's learning the hard way how important it is to keep her hair away from those little hands. (obviously, she doesn't light up when the camera comes out)
Last week we got some snow and even though it was frigidly cold outside, Ava & Carter got to play outside for a while. It wasn't a good packing snow, so building anything was out of the question. They were left to making snow angels and eating snow, and I never knew snow tasted so good.

Christmas Part 2

2010-01-09T22:36:00.007-05:00

The day after Christmas my parents came to celebrate Christmas with us. While Nana snuggled with Audrey, Ava and Carter had a blast opening presents. Carter was very into tearing off the wrapping paper - as soon as he'd open one present, he'd barely even look at it before exclaiming, "More! Presents!" So wish I'd had the video camera ready. I even let him open the few thing we had wrapped up for Audrey simply because he was having so much fun!
Ava got a variety of princess items to add to her collection...

... and Carter got more toys with wheels! Here's a mat my mom made that fits our coffee table. It has roads leading to all the places we frequent and even has little wooden trees that velcro on.
He got more track and trains for his collection (although Mark and I have already decided we need more so we can build cooler tracks - sometimes I think we have more fun than Carter does!)...

... including this train set (in front of the one Carter's playing with) made by my dad. Of course, I only got 3 of the 5 cars in the picture, but trust me, it's beautiful! I'm sad I didn't take more opportunities to learn from both of my parents' sewing & woodworking talents while growing up!
Later in the day we went to my brother's house - here's Mark with all the kids... or rather, here are the kids. HA!

Stay tuned for snow pictures!!

Christmas Day Recap

2010-01-05T21:21:00.009-05:00

The tree is down and all the decorations have been put away so we have room for all the new toys!

When we woke up on Christmas morning, we read the Christmas story (Audrey sleeps later than the other two most mornings - go figure. I don't think she minded that we let her sleep).

After Mark finished, he was trying to emphasize the gift God gave us in Jesus and how we also like to give each other gifts, but Ava kept interrupting and asking when she got to open her presents. Guess we'll have to keep working on that!

We were headed down to West Virginia for the day, so Ava & Carter only opened one present that morning (I purposely tried to pick things that would be good travel toys).

Carter LOVES Mater from the movie "Cars."

This has been a great way to encourage Ava to try writing letters. She loves this and is writing letters for fun! I'd tried to help her write more than just her name for a while, but she wasn't into it until now.

We had a quick breakfast and jumped in the car for the ride to see all the Buttons. The ride went well (Audrey's longest road trip to date).

Audrey gave lots of smiles to Uncle Paul.

Trains = Happy

Princess = Happy

We had an awesome time before packing everyone up and heading home. I expected Ava & Carter to fall quickly asleep after all the excitement and lack of naps, but they stayed awake the entire 2.5 hour trip home. Audrey was pretty hungry when we got home, but I really wanted to get a picture of her outfit:

Umm... maybe I should have waited until after I fed her. I saw this outfit and wanted to buy it for her because she really is such a happy girl. It finally went on clearance, so I snatched it up!

Audrey = Happy!

Sweet Angel Baby!

2009-12-17T10:04:00.008-05:00

I can't even begin to tell you what a joy Audrey has been to us. A couple weeks ago, she started sleeping longer and longer at night and now she almost always goes to at least 6:30, usually 7:00! The other 2 did not go 10-11 hours this early. She also sleeps great during the day (sometimes I actually find myself worrying that she sleeps too much - I know, crazy). And when she's awake, she's all smiles and coos... well, unless a certain 2-year-old drops something on her head. (When Carter is in play mode, he's pretty much oblivious to everything and everyone around him.)

Anyway, we almost used "Joy" instead of "Hope" for her middle name (Mark was pushing for Joy, but made the mistake of asking for the final decision moments after I delivered the almost 10 pounder with a non-working epidural, so Hope it was!) What she has really brought to us is PEACE! To sit and hold her in the midst of a crazy day brings peace. Ava and Carter quiet down and talk softly to her, kissing and hugging her (for a few moments until one starts pushing the other to get his/her turn to be close to her).

Back in September as I neared her due date, I was really wondering what we were doing in having a 3rd (although it was far too late to turn back!). I felt overwhelmed with 2, and expected the first few months of her life to be awful since the newborn stage as I'd experienced it twice was so challenging. She has been so easy, though! Now I understand when people say to treasure each moment because it goes by so fast. Frankly, with my first 2 newborns, I wondered when the time would start going by faster! Between the sleep deprivation and crying babies, I was challenged to find moments I wanted to remember. I loved them (and still do), but I found caring for a newborn to be downright hard. Who knew adding a 3rd child would actually bring me a sense of peace?

Or, maybe I'm just finally mellowing out as I get older.

(Carter's singing "Jesus Loves Me" - so sweet!)

Hopefully you can see past awful combination of colors and patterns with
the couch and the kids' pj's and instead notice their gorgeous faces.

P.S. We don't stay in our pajamas all the time... most days.

'Tis the Season!

2009-11-25T14:34:00.003-05:00

A local outdoor shopping center had their annual Christmas tree lighting last Friday. I'd never been before, but heard it was fun. Mark met up with us after work just in time for the parade! The kids especially loved seeing the horses (with carriages) and Santa.

Next, we headed down to the square to watch the tree lighting.

After the tree lighting came fireworks - Ava was pretty excited!

And last, it started to snow!!

We all had a blast... well, if you call sleeping through the whole thing having a blast.

Ava is FOUR!

2009-11-20T13:44:00.004-05:00

Ava turned four this week! She ended up getting to pick out her birthday present when one of Mark's managers called off sick and he had to cover her shift Monday night. I'd had it all planned out to go Monday night because I had $10 Kohl's cash plus a 30% off coupon and that was the first day they overlapped, which of course was the day before her birthday. I knew she wanted something Little Mermaid and also knew Kohl's had a few options, but instead of me picking it out, she got to! It was the first outing I've taken with all 3 kids, and other than spilling my drink all over me in the car, there were no mishaps. On Tuesday, we took the kids to Build-a-Bear for the first time. Ava picked a pink unicorn (I'd hoped for something a little more subtle, but she is a 4-year-old girl) and Carter picked a pony, which surprised me given his love of dogs.

Audrey continues to eat, sleep and poop like a champ! She's usually up once a night between 2-3 (sometimes not until 4!!) and then is back down until 6 or 7. She has started smiling a lot over the past couple weeks. Of course, I LOVE it! Even though she gives them often, they aren't always easy to catch on camera.

We've been enjoying some beautiful fall weather the past couple weeks and have been going for walks and spending some time outside. The kids ask to go outside all the time - even when it's raining and cold, so I'm thankful we've had some nice days!

For more fall pics, you can go to this Facebook album.

One month!

2009-10-24T16:19:00.006-04:00

Audrey is one month old today! Hard to believe how quickly the time flies, but that might be due to the fuzziness that has taken residence in my brain.

I'm glad to say that we all seem to be adjusting well to being a family of five. Ava and Carter love their baby sister and quickly learned that the best time to try to get away with something is when I'm occupied with her. One of my biggest challenges these days is being consistent with discipline when I honestly would like to simply ignore the bad behavior rather than expend the energy necessary to deal with it. I am a little sad that this fall has been so rainy and cool forcing us to stay inside. I've only taken all three out on two occasions, and it is somewhat of a challenge (not to mention how much longer it takes to get ready). I foresee a lot of staying home this winter! Everyone always asks how the sleep is going. She still wakes up several times a night, but almost always goes right back to sleep after being fed. This was my biggest desire as I don't have the energy to pace or rock or otherwise put effort into getting her back to sleep in the middle of the night. One night this week, she gave us a 5-hour stretch, which was lovely! I'm hoping for more of those in the near future!

Here are some more pictures from the past few weeks:

With Nana & Pap before they left to go back home.

I love the fat rolls!

Finally, a nice day!

Neena & Poppy get to meet Audrey

Party of Five

2009-09-28T18:33:00.004-04:00

(I started this days ago and am now finally finishing it. Life with a newborn is busy!)

She's here! Audrey Hope joined us on Thursday, September 24! I'd hoped we would be able to update this while we were at the hospital, but the internet access at the hospital has blogspot on the unapproved list. Here's how the day went:

6:15 a.m. - arrived at hospital and got checked in

6:45 a.m. - all set for the induction to begin

8:15 a.m. - my doctor stopped in and broke my water, contractions intensify (about 4cm dilated)

8:50 a.m. - ready for some pain relief; bring on the epidural!

9:15 a.m.?? - epidural is administered, but unlike the other 2 times I've had one, there is no immediate relief (unsure of timing as we were all fairly distracted by my pain level); Anesthesiologist suggests waiting 30 minutes as sometimes it takes a little while for the medicine to become effective (5-6 cm dilated).

10:05 a.m. - Nurse calls anesthesiologist to come back as I still have no relief. I'm wondering why in the world women would go through the pain I'm experiencing if given the option not to!

10:20 a.m. - Almost 8 cm... if he doesn't come back soon, I've lost my opportunity for an epidural. Nurse tells me to let her know if I start feeling any pressure.

???? - With the very next contraction, I'm feeling a great deal of pressure (I think she jinxed me!). I can't remember if she's already called the doctor by this point as things are quite hazy. I think she must have because it seems like she called a second time to say he needed to head over quickly. I remember basically trying to hang on during the contractions and the next thing I knew they were changing out the end of the bed for the delivery, the doctor was there and telling me to push. Everything is really a blur because the pain was so intense, although I do remember the doctor saying at one point, "You have to push... I can't get her out if you don't push," and me thinking, "WHAT? I am pushing! And you have to GET HER OUT!"

10:43 a.m. - Audrey Hope arrives and I hear the doctor say, "I wasn't expecting her to be that big." Turns out she's one ounce shy of 10 pounds!!

10:50 a.m. - Anesthesiologist returns and quickly realizes he's no longer needed.

We spent the rest of the day in the delivery room as they didn't have any rooms available on the maternity floor. Around 4 p.m., we finally got a room and settled in.

Of course, here are some pics from her first day here! Because everything happened so quickly, I failed to remind Mark to have the camera ready to snap pics right after she arrived. Her poor little face was pretty bruised up from the delivery, but I'm glad to say that cleared up pretty quickly.

I'm very glad to have my mom here to take care of us. She's been a huge help in allowing me to recover and focus on caring for Audrey.

Ava and Carter seem to be adjusting fairly well to having a new baby sister. Carter was deathly afraid of her when they first met, but now he can't seem to get enough of her. Ava has never been that interested in baby dolls or babies, but she's been taking extra special care of her baby doll and loves on Audrey constantly... sometimes a little too much. She also let us know when they came to the hospital that her name was actually Cinderella, and the first few days we were home, she'd correct us any time we called her Audrey.

We are excited about our new little (?) blessing!

The end is in sight!

2009-09-21T18:51:00.003-04:00

We're less than a week away from the due date, and baby will be here one way or the other by Friday! I saw the doctor this morning and am 3cm dilated and 50% effaced - if that means nothing to you, basically I'm starting to progress and could go any time. Because I am progressing, he is willing to schedule an induction, so we have one scheduled for Thursday morning. It seems like everything is going a little crazy with the timing of this baby's arrival. We've known for months that Mark's restaurant was moving locations. I mentioned that in my last blog that the opening is scheduled for September 28, the day after my due date. I'd known that was coming, so had myself prepared, but things got a little crazier when Carter got sick this past weekend. We are blessed in that our kids very rarely get sick, so for him to get croup right before I'm due seems nuts. In and of itself, him being sick wouldn't be a big deal (and I am so very thankful it isn't a throwing-up kind of sick), but I would feel awful about having to ask other people to watch a sickie who is waking up every 1-2 hours at night. In addition, I wouldn't be too excited to bring a new baby home with a sick toddler. I'm not sleeping great anyway with having to get up and go to the bathroom every few hours, but taking care of a sick little boy wore me out Saturday night. I took a 4-hour nap Sunday morning and dozed again while they napped in the afternoon. Of course, I had a horrible time trying to sleep last night, which is kind of sad since Mark tended to Carter and his multiple wakings. We're hoping tonight he sleeps better. And, as strange as it sounds, I'm hoping to actually make it to Thursday before having this baby. My parents will be coming out on Wednesday and knowing the kids are taken care of is one less thing I'll have to worry about! Amazing how having little people to care for makes me less anxious to get this pregnancy over with.

I do believe we'll have internet at the hospital, so we're hoping to be able to give real-time updates on this baby's arrival.

And, because no entry is complete without some pictures, here are a couple.

Carter's attempt at drinking the milk from his cereal bowl (note the cheerios left in the bowl and the milk that is very much NOT going into his mouth).

Lately, Ava doesn't nap most days, but she does stay in her room quietly (at least I think so... I'm usually napping myself). I went in to tell her she could get up and almost tripped over this on the floor:

Then, when I looked at her in bed, I noticed she was unusually still:
I debated on whether to take a picture since I didn't want to wake her up, but I just couldn't resist. Even if it had woken her up (so glad it didn't!), it would have been worth it.

Counting down...

2009-09-04T19:54:00.006-04:00

I have a little over 3 weeks until baby Button #3 is due! Ack! My list of things to get done seems much longer than the amount of energy I possess these days. The past few weeks have held lots of nighttime trips to the bathroom when I would rather be sleeping and Ava hasn't helped matters by deciding she needs something almost every night anywhere from 1am to 5am (really, how can you not find your pillow when your head is on it??)! I think giving in and putting a nightlight in her room may be helping. Only time will tell. For a long time she seemed not to have the ability to stop playing or looking at books and fall asleep if there was any light in her room, but something had to give, and so far she's been sleeping through the night without calling for us. I don't think I can handle the nighttime demands of a newborn along with her needing us in the middle of the night every night.

I'm a little anxious about the timing of this baby's arrival as the restaurant Mark manages is moving and the official opening date is the day after my due date. He already works about 60 hours a week, and the two days leading up to the opening they have intense training scheduled (when he helped another restaurant open, these were 16-18 hour days). I selfishly hope the baby does come at the due date so he doesn't (okay, so I don't) have to endure those long days. However, I know Mark and know he would hate to miss out on this time of transition with his crew at the new place. So even though this pregnancy has left me more uncomfortable that the last 2, I almost hope I go a few days late so he gets the chance to open the store and see it running well and then can focus on us. Otherwise, I know he'll be itching to go in and check on things. As it is, I know he probably won't take more than a week off (if that) because of everything going on at work. I'm praying that all those moms who have told me the 3rd baby is generally easygoing are right about our 3rd! God's timing is perfect, though, so I'm doing my best to trust Him.

One project I've been working on is going through both kids' closets and organizing the outgrown girl things and trying to decide what of the boy things are worth trying to sell/give away/donate to Goodwill. While I was working on this last weekend, Ava discovered her dress-up clothes (because we have limited space for toys in the main living area, I often rotate toys out for a while) and Carter, ever the mimic, brought me a dress he wanted to wear. Since Ava had a crown, he also wanted one, but I wasn't sure where to find one at the moment. He spotted a very outgrown winter hat and handed it to me, exclaiming, "Crown!"

Thanks to a great sale coupled with coupons, I stocked up on Trix yogurt, which we'd never had before. I think Carter likes it!

We've been outside a lot these days enjoying the perfect weather. Since the rediscovery of dress-up last week, Ava has spent most of her days as a princess and while I did give in one day and let her wear her princess shoes in the car while I ran a quick errand, I haven't let her play outside in all her princess glory. Today for lunch, I did agree that she could wear her shoes, crown and purses outside (she also loves her princess shirt - you may notice she's wearing it in the picture from last week).
Mark and I couldn't stop laughing when she noticed her reflection in the back door and started posing.

Never a dull moment around here!

Jumpers

2009-08-16T22:03:00.007-04:00

A few weeks ago we went to the Greene in celebration of National Cheesecake Day (half-priced cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory!) and to play in the fountains, also known as "the jumpers" as Ava calls them.

They took some time trying to talk each other into getting wet.
Finally, Mark ventured in and sure enough, they followed.
And, once they discovered the fun of running through the "jumpers..."... they didn't want to leave!

Around the house

2009-07-25T19:23:00.005-04:00

Carter loves shoes... his, Ava's, mine, Mark's - he's not picky.

Silly/scary faces.

Ava has some obsessive-compulsive tendencies. Notice how her cheerios are lined up in a nice straight row.

Carter started copying Ava, lining his cheerios up as well, but then decided a random pattern was much more his style (and then very quickly decided eating them was even more fun).

Ava's latest compulsion is stacking books. She is very particular about the order and works at stacking and unstacking until she gets it just right. The good thing is this can occupy her for large chunks of time. The bad thing is when Carter decides he wants a book from the stack and she has a minor meltdown about messing up her stack. We have a lot of conversations about how books were meant to be read and not just stacked.

Sometimes after making a stack, she'll spend another chuck of time looking through every book in her stack.

And sometimes she'll take a break from stacking to line up some friends on the couch and get a book for each of them.

Birthday Pics

2009-07-14T20:11:00.005-04:00

We had a great time celebrating Carter's birthday on the 3rd, in spite of Mark not feeling great and me dropping a full can of soda on my big toenail that morning causing it to immediately turn purple (I anticipate the toenail falling off sometime soon).Mark working his magic at the grill (our niece Sydney is quite attached to Uncle Mark... he thinks she's going to outgrow it and realize he's a dork - his words, not mine - but I don't see that happening!).

Carter left the kiddie table to see if other people had better food on their plates.

Apparently, Carter didn't want an audience while opening presents.

He got some great gifts - all his favorite things! Books...

trains...

... and trucks!

Cake made by my cousin Donna.

Ava got the hang of Carter's new t-ball set pretty quickly.

Carter, on the other hand, refused to hold the bat by the small end (even now, a week and a half later, he won't hold it correctly).

I just had to include this... he's already terrorizing girls... this is his cousin Abby.

Our big scary two-year old!

He really is a big boy - at his 2-year check-up, we found out he's 32 pounds and one inch shy of 3 feet tall!

Carter is TWO!

2009-07-10T17:36:00.003-04:00

Carter turned 2 a week ago and I still haven't downloaded the pictures from my camera. I'll get to that soon, I promise. He brings us so much joy and I am thankful beyond words for the blessing of our son. Here are just a few of the things I love about this little man.

I love his chubby arms and legs.
His lower lip always seems to be sticking out – even if not as pronounced as it may have been a year ago (and I kind of miss the way his cheeks used to take over his whole face).
He has the best little giggle.
He likes to snuggle when he wakes up from a nap, sometimes for a good half hour.
He likes to be touched. If I’m running my fingers up and down his arm or leg or playing with his hair and stop, he’ll grab my hand and put it back as if to tell me not to stop (this often happens during after-nap snuggle time).
He has started asking me to come rock with him at night, even if daddy is home (Mark usually does the bedtime routine with them when he’s home).
I love to watch him look at books – he isn’t very interested in actually hearing a story, but he looks so intently at books on his own.
I also love how intently he plays. He likes to be at eye level with his trucks, cars or trains when he’s playing with them and is completely focused.
I love how he backs up slowly and then charges full speed ahead to pounce on me.
He gets so excited when he sees his daddy.
He "talks" to and blows raspberries on my belly/his baby sister.
I love to hear him say, “sorry” when he’s done something he isn’t supposed to – not just because he’s learning how to treat other people, but because the way he says it is so darn cute.
He told me “dank-oo” without prompting when I gave him a plate of strawberries last week (and has done it on several occasions since).
He has a sensitive and giving spirit – Ava was throwing a fit because she wanted to play with one of his new birthday toys and in the midst of me explaining (for the hundredth time) that he did not have to share his birthday toys, he handed her the toy.
While he is now determined to walk up and down the stairs, always waits to hold my hand.
I love the way he squeals when I threaten to eat his toes.
I love the way he bounces when he runs.
He claps for himself after doing a good job at something.
I love when he cracks himself up.
He gives great hugs and kisses.

God gave us such a special boy and we can't wait to see what the years ahead bring and what we might add to our list of things we love about him!

Lancaster, PA

2009-06-23T20:31:00.010-04:00

While we were on vacation, we spent a few days in Lancaster, PA. We started off at the Strasburg Railroad. We missed the Thomas extravaganza that happened the following week, but did catch a glimpse of him "resting" in one of the buildings. Truthfully, I'm glad we weren't there for Thomas. We enjoyed sharing our train ride with very few other people and were able to enjoy the other attractions without fighting a crowd.
The next day we hit Dutch Wonderland. I think Ava almost had as much fun as Mark. Carter seemed to enjoy himself, too, but was a little more hesitant about riding rides.

Ava talked to the guide the ENTIRE time she rode the pony. I wish I could have heard what she was telling her!

As much as she loved the faster rides, Ava always wanted to come back to the carousel. I think this was the third time we rode... shortly after getting caught in the rain. Thankfully, the rain didn't last long!

On our last day in Lancaster, we took a buggy ride before heading back to MD. Each of the kids got a turn helping to "drive."

We had a great time - the weather was good, the kids held up well (and the adults, too), didn't have to fight crowds, and got to be with two sweet kids and two fabulous grandparents! A special thanks to my mom who made all the arrangements for our trip!!

For a whole album of pictures, go here. Mark also put together a few videos from the trip - this is from Strasburg and I'm having trouble getting the one from Dutch Wonderland to upload to the blog. It's also on youtube.com, but they disabled the audio.

Vacation

2009-06-18T21:56:00.016-04:00

Last week was vacation! I was spoiled by having Mark and my parents around most of the time and now am feeling a little tired being a full-time mommy again.

We got there Saturday afternoon and jumped right into having fun. Carter got a tractor ride and Ava put Nana to work reading books... in fact, Ava had Nana reading books all week long. The morning we left, she was begging for "one more book!"
In addition to wagon rides, swinging, and checking out Pap's truck, Carter could often be found playing with cars or this train set (one of my childhood toys) on the floor. Almost always in this position.

Monday evening, we met my best friend and her family at a park for a picnic, but I, of course, failed to take any pictures, instead leaving my camera in the car. Her girls are 10 & 8 (I keep doing the math in my head and that doesn't seem possible, but I'm pretty sure I got that right!) and they immediately befriended Ava and took her off to play. It was very sweet and Ava continues to talk about her friends Molly and Lindsay.

Tuesday morning, we headed to Lancaster, PA. We visited the Strasburg Railroad Tuesday and headed to Dutch Wonderland on Wednesday. Before we left Thursday morning, we enjoyed a buggy ride through the countryside. Everything was a big hit! Back at my parents' house, we spent the rest of our time relaxing and enjoying being together.

I'll post pics from our mini-trip to Lancaster later, but here are some more from Nana & Pap's house.

Ava's first jump off the diving board - I was sure she'd chicken out, but she did it!

If Carter was out of the pool and someone was in the pool, you couldn't keep him from trying to jump in.

Can't you feel the love?

Carter with his buddy for the week. He'd often go to the front door and ask, "Swing?" After two seconds of swinging, he'd ask, "Truck?" wanting to go inspect Pap's truck. Once he spotted the cows and horses at the farm across the street, he'd also ask for, "horse?" if said animals weren't able to be seen.

Carter always is ready to eat - he'd notice us getting the table ready (or sometimes meals being prepared) and would rush to get in his chair. He had a little bit of time to wait that morning.

This one is a little random, but cracks me up, so I have to share it. At home, Ava doesn't always take a nap, but instead will spend close to 2 hours looking at books and arranging stuffed animals and books in her bed. Usually, the animals are arranged in a line and the books stacked in a very specific order. When I went to get her after "naptime" one day on vacation, she'd lined the books up around the perimeter of the bed. Also included are a few stuffed animals and the case of DVDs we brought along for the trip.

This and that

2009-05-28T20:32:00.008-04:00

I told a friend that since this is our last baby, I wanted to be better at getting belly pictures. (I think I have one each from the other 2 times I was pregnant.) I'm still not doing very well this time around - here I am at 21 weeks (this was taken a week and a half ago... not only am I bad at having Mark take pictures, I'm even worse at posting them!):

I've been feeling great lately and even have energy to do things like weed the flowerbeds and plant some new things (to take the place of those ill-fated plants that decided not to put up with my neglect any longer). We've all enjoyed lots of fresh air and time outside lately. In fact, anytime I get Carter's shoes on, he immediately goes to the back door and wants to go outside to swing - he'd be happy to swing for hours on end. He's immensely disappointed when I tell him we have to go somewhere in the car. So, one day when we came home from the store, I let both kids stay outside while I unloaded the groceries. Everything was inside except a gallon of milk and a watermelon. I came outside to see said watermelon rolling down our driveway and a very guilty-looking Carter standing by the back of the station wagon. I chased it down the driveway, across the road and into the neighbor's yard, trying not to think of how ridiculous I must have looked. Thankfully, it remained intact, and I've learned my lesson to unload anything resembling a ball first.

Ava and I were playing her My Little Pony game the other day and we apparently needed an entire pony audience.
And, since the ponies had vacated their castle home, Carter took the opportunity to use it as a playground for his cars.

One last set of pictures. Ava loves going to the library - almost nothing is as exciting as new books. When we get home, I always get her out of the car first since she sits behind me. By the time I get Carter out and get inside, this is usually how I find her:

While he took a little longer to show an interest in books, Carter has become quite the little bookworm himself, and he'll often pull book after book off the shelf to look through them.

When it comes to naps and bedtimes, we used to read stories in Ava's room, then I'd go rock with Carter for a few minutes before putting him down and coming back to give Ava a hug and kiss, but one day Ava said she wanted to rock with us. It's a little tight getting all 3.5 of us in the rocking chair, but it's been such fun - albeit not always the quiet wind-down I'm hoping for. Ava likes to sing along with whatever song I'm singing (even if she doesn't know it), and Carter has started to join in as well. When Ava and I sing Jesus Loves Me, I'll hear random words I actually understand from Carter, like "Bible" and "Jesus" and "so." Touches my heart and makes me laugh all at the same time!

We're having another...

2009-05-08T18:56:00.004-04:00

GIRL!

I had the ultrasound on Wednesday, and the technician was 95-99% sure we are having a girl! I was totally shocked as I was certain we were having another boy. My pregnancies with Ava and Carter were vastly different and this one was much more like Carter's, so I was pretty sure it must be a boy. Mark finally admitted to me after the ultrasound that he, too, thought it would be a boy. I kept asking him for a prediction (mainly because he's been wrong the other 2 times and I figured that would tell me if I should be thinking pink or blue), but he would never give me an answer. We also found out she is developing just as she should, which is always good to hear.

Here are some pics:

This first one is a profile - technician labeled parts on each picture to help determine what you're seeing.
The next two have two images on each picture - hopefully that doesn't confuse you! You can see her fist on the left and on the right, she's looking directly at us (she only looks slightly like an alien).

This last one has another shot of the alien child looking right at us and on the right is a side shot of her little foot!
Ava seems not to have a strong opinion about having a sister. I think she knows another child means less attention for her and anyway you look at it, she's not too excited about losing attention. Carter loves to pull up my shirt and look at my expanding belly. At first, he would blow a raspberry on my stomach (and giggle) each time he did this, but the past couple days, he pulls up my shirt and says, "Whoa." I thought he was amazed at how it kept getting bigger, but I finally realized tonight that he was actually saying, "Hello." He's imitating Mark talking to my stomach! He really is too cute for words.

Now, on to the task to picking a name for this baby girl!

Down on the Farm

2009-04-26T21:03:00.009-04:00

One of Mark's crew members lives on a farm with her parents (and something like 7 siblings... I lost count) and invited us to bring the kids over to check things out.

We saw baby bunnies...

...baby chicks...

... and mama chickens.
The animals were were fun, but not the highlight. They took us down to the creek on the property and the kids had a blast throwing rocks into the water (yeah, Ava throws like a girl).
They each made new friends, too. Ava followed around "that girl" for a while before grabbing her hand and deeming her a new friend. (Her name is Grace, which was confusing to Ava since that's her middle name. Her little mind simply couldn't make sense of it, so Grace was "that girl.")

Even Carter made a friend. Poor guy got stuck carrying Carter all over since Carter kept finding him and wanting him to hold him... even with Daddy there!

They say...

2009-04-20T20:14:00.003-04:00

... the second trimester of pregnancy brings about the end of the nausea as well as a burst of energy. While I'm glad to say the nausea is mostly gone, I'm still waiting on that energy! Not only do I feel sapped about 30 minutes after I wake up, if I am still for more than 5 minutes, I get up hardly able to move because I'm so stiff. I'm trying to eat more healthy foods (rather than the junk I've been craving), drink more water (oddly enough, water made me nauseous for the first few months), and hoping for some nicer weather so we can go for walks more often. Perhaps these things will renew my energy a bit.

Ava says some of the funniest things - I suppose all kids her age tend to repeat phrases they've heard, but use them out of context or just say strange things, but when it's YOUR little person saying them, they are especially endearing. And, perhaps they're only funny to me and Mark, but I'll share some anyway. Often, when I ask her if she knows where something is, she'll reply with a "yes." My follow-up of, "Where?" is met with a, "It must be around here somewhere." She sometimes will know where the object in question is, so I continue to ask, but I now come to expect the, "it must be around here somewhere" response. She's also started saying, "I love everyone." I don't know if this is to cover the bases without actually having to list everyone, but it comes at the most random times and we wonder what in her little head prompts her to remind us of her all-encompassing love. Mark compared it to one of those dolls with a string you pull that says random phrases. If they ever make an Ava doll with a pull string, "I love everyone" will be her phrase.

Carter also never stops making us laugh. A few weeks ago, I watched a little girl his age for a few hours. Her parents had only been gone maybe 30 seconds before Carter was throwing his arms around her. She looked startled. Next thing I know he's trying to kiss the poor terrified girl. I quickly rescued her. He's starting to say more words. Mark worked with him quite some time on "please." Now that he can say it, I can't get enough. I have to make sure to get in on tape as I love hearing him ask, "Peeeeese?" Another thing I've been trying to get on tape is his sad face. While he's happy and content most all the time, when he gets upset, it's instant and, for lack of a better word, BIG (and yet still somehow adorable... not good!). I honestly cannot figure out how he is able to contort his face into such a huge frown. This is as close as I've been able to come (usually because his pouting rarely lasts long and I can't get the camera on and picture taken before he's done).

Birds, Burritos, Braids, and Ben

2009-04-04T20:56:00.009-04:00

I've finally been feeling better the past few weeks, and we've been greatly enjoying spending time outside. Of course, every spring Ava has to adjust to the sounds of outside once again. She has always been afraid of loud noises and since we've had the windows closed all winter, she has forgotten the loud trucks and motorcycles we hear with frequency from our house. She'll be playing outside when suddenly there's a loud noise of some sort and she screams and comes running. I also hear several times a day, "Mommy, I'm scared of noises." At least I know once she's used to the sounds again, she'll be fine. Today, we were outside and the birds were chirping away. I asked Carter if he heard them and he did this:
He is so expressive and is always making us laugh. While not exactly funny, lately when he is upset (often after being told, "no"), he throws himself face down on the floor and just lies there. Good thing he can't seem me as I giggle at his antics. He also still loves to eat. Since I've been snacking all day long these days (it often helped the all-day nausea I was experiencing), he's also turned into a mooch. As soon as he notices I'm eating something, he's in front of me with a big smile, signing, "Please," and saying, "Bite?" Sometimes Mark brings dinner home from Chipotle and before he was always happy with beans and rice or a cheese quesadilla, but the one night, he pushed them away and instead asked for a bite of Mark's burrito. I wouldn't be surprised if he could eat an entire one by himself very soon.

Last week, Ava let me braid her hair for the first time ever. Every other time I've tried, she stops me and pulls it out. I finally used bribery. She asked if she could watch Cinderella and I said she could if I could braid her hair. It worked! She really hates to have her hair messed with, so I was thankful she finally gave in. I could use some more practice, but it turned out pretty good and was a great way to keep her hair out of her face.
Our friend Ben was over for a couple hours that same afternoon. Ava LOVES Ben and he seems to be okay with her, too. The entire time Ava would randomly yell, "Come on, Ben!" and he would dutifully follow wherever she led. Carter never responds so readily to her demands, so she was in heaven.
I know Ben doesn't look too thrilled with this hug, but to be fair, Ava did take him away from the truck he was playing with. You shouldn't mess with boys and their trucks.

I love this picture I got of Ava today:

Hopefully, in about a month, I'll be posting with the news of whether we'll be welcoming a boy or a girl this fall (although, I will try and update before then)! Tomorrow marks week 15 and my doctor usually schedules the ultrasound for around week 20. We have several good friends also expecting this fall and keep hearing of more. Should be an exciting time.

Where have we been?

2009-02-23T19:37:00.003-05:00

It's been far too long, but I promise, I have a good excuse! Baby Button #3 is expected to arrive on or around September 27!

In addition to several bouts of sickness going through our house, I have been dealing with the all-day nausea that I'm lucky enough to get with each pregnancy. I've had very little motivation to do anything other than what's absolutely necessary, which includes updating this. Mark has been taking excellent care of me and the kids are getting to watch lots of videos these days while I rest on the couch. I am grateful for the timing - since it's too cold to play outside most days, I don't feel too guilty for keeping everyone cooped up inside, since we'd be here anyway. I'm hoping to feel better in a couple weeks, and hopefully the weather will be nicer and we can get outside. I can tell Ava especially is starting to get bored being home all the time.

We did get one good snow and the kids loved playing in it. Every time we get the smallest flurries, Ava has asked if she could go play in the snow, so I was glad we got at least one snow good enough to play in! If only we had some good hills around here. Ohio is far too flat!

Christmas

2009-01-05T22:39:00.005-05:00

December was a somewhat crazy month at our house. I was shipping items like crazy - close to 500 packages, most of them the 2 weeks before Christmas. Needless to say, I didn’t do all those Christmas-type things I wanted like baking cookies or even getting many decorations up other than the tree and a bare minimum of ornaments on it! In addition to being busy, we also had several unexpected expenses (Ava breaking her arm and some car issues). However, being busy sending packages meant we had the funds to cover the unexpected expenses, so God does take care of us! Still, it didn’t feel much like Christmas. Thankfully, we were able to get away to Maryland for Christmas where we had a fabulous time.

Making pumpkin pies with Nana

Carter loved this rocking chair and was so good at getting it going... and I love the face.

Christmas morning

Chair made by Nana (technically for Carter, but we share most everything at our house)

Enjoying the pie made earlier with NanaWearing Daddy’s hatI have some more pics to post, but this will have to do for now! We also visited the National Aquarium in Baltimore and I have some other random holiday pics and stories to share.

Moving Up!

2008-12-11T16:53:00.004-05:00

This past Sunday was Ava's first in a real Sunday school class. She's too old for the nursery! When I picked her up, we had crafts and papers to bring home. I was so proud of her pipe cleaner candy canes and colored picture... and then immediately realized this would be coming every week. I'll have to tone down my pride so I'm able to throw away what I know will be amazing creations! Below is Ava with Miss Betsy, who watches the 2-year olds every Sunday morning. Ava has loved going to "Miss Betsy's house" every week to play with her friends. Around the time she started seeing Miss Betsy every week, we also added prayer time to our bedtime routine. At first, I would pray and ask Ava who she was thankful for, giving her suggestions like Daddy and Carter. Grandparents were added and one day she included Miss Betsy and has prayed for her every night since, and we'll keep praying for her as she recently and very unexpectedly lost her husband. It's hard to believe in another 7 months Carter will be in her class! My brother and I never really enjoyed having to play duets together on the piano. Perhaps they'll be more willing? Carter saw me eating with chopsticks and HAD to try it himself.
And, I work for a friend who sells electronics online (I do a lot of the shipping as well as some record-keeping and such). I had brought in a large box of units boxed up and Carter had a great time taking these out of the box and stacking them, then putting them back in the box. While I was making dinner, he and Ava decided they needed to be covering the steps (I love the poses I get every time I get out the camera).

Black Friday Shopping

2008-12-01T22:55:00.005-05:00

Check out our awesome Black Friday deal!

Okay, so we haven't gotten the bills, yet, and I forgot to ask if the hospital was running any Black Friday deals on casts, so I'm not sure if we got a good deal (financially speaking) or not, but as far as broken arms go, I think we got off pretty easily.

Right before lunch on Tuesday, Ava and Carter were playing nicely, walking across the room holding hands. Carter tripped and not only pulled Ava down, but also failed to let go of her hand causing her to land on her wrist instead of catching herself with her hand. She clutched her arm and cried, but I couldn't tell how serious it was. We proceeded with lunch after she calmed down, and I was checking her arm every few minutes for swelling or some other sign that she needed to see a doctor. Once she was down for a nap, I called the pediatrician and a nurse told me to see if she started using the arm again and if not, I should call in the morning for an appointment (they didn't have any left that day). She did seem better after her nap, but later that evening tried to push herself up off the floor and it was as if she hurt it all over again. We went to the doctor first thing on Wednesday, then for x-rays which confirmed it was broken, then back to the doctor to immobilize the arm until she could get in to get a cast on Friday. They gave us a sling, which was really too big on Ava to truly be effective, but we tried! The truly crazy thing is our good friends' daughter, who is a year older than Ava (almost to the day), fell and broke her arm on Thanksgiving day!

Wednesday afternoon, we drove down to WV to spend Thanksgiving with the Button's! Ava was very excited about going, so I'm thankful her injury wasn't so severe we needed to stay home. We had a great time and Ava especially loved playing with her cousin Chloe. At one point Thursday afternoon, I thought they were awfully quiet and I should check on them (quiet sounds like a good thing, but sometimes it means trouble!). They were back on Ava's "bed" looking at her princess book, one of her most prized possessions.

Making faces (that sling is working so well, don't you think?)
Getting some last tickling in with Poppy before heading home.

Friday morning, we headed to Children's and Ava got her cast. As I predicted, she originally picked black for the cast color, but we suggested purple to see if she might change her mind and she did. I don't know why, but she loves black! Not necessarily in clothing, but in crayons or play-doh, she is always drawn to black. So strange! She'll get the cast off the week before Christmas.

Hope your Thanksgiving was a little less exciting!

Party Time

2008-11-24T21:38:00.005-05:00

Over the weekend, we celebrated Ava's birthday with my parents and my brother's family. Here are some pics!

Opening presents made by her cousins.

Fancy dress-up clothes made by Nana! (As I expected, she wanted to wear these to church on Sunday.)

Another dress from Nana that she did wear to church... but not the pink play shoes (even though, once again, she did request to wear them).

Her ducky birthday cake - she'd been asking for a ducky birthday cake, so this is what she got. Not sure if it's what she had in mind, but it looked like a fairly simple cake to make (and it wasn't too bad). If you can't tell, it's supposed to be a bathtub with rubber duckies floating in it. Here she is singing along with everyone else singing "Happy Birthday" to her.

Earlier that afternoon, I was changing Carter's diaper and he jumped up and ran away before I had a chance to re-diaper him. I hope it's not in bad taste to post this pic, but I couldn't stop laughing at his cute little tush!

Here's a rare smile caught on camera. It isn't that he doesn't smile much - quite the opposite! But, as soon as he sees the camera, he starts making faces and squinting.
He's only smiling because he's not supposed to be on the coffee table and he thinks it's funny that he made it onto the table without being caught. Notice he has the same little blue matchbox car in his hand for each picture - he LOVES cars.

Happy Birthday, Ava!

2008-11-17T13:57:00.010-05:00

Our Ava turns THREE today!

Since Mark is working tonight, we celebrated with birthday pancakes (pumpkin!) this morning.So excited about presents, we didn't even bother to take off the bib!And Carter gets to play with the plastic.Here's a look back at how she's grown:

At her well visit on Friday, we found out she's in the 97th percentile for height and 75th for weight! I'm amazed at how she's transforming from toddler to little girl. The doctor also said her speech is at about a 4-year-old level. Must be because she practices talking so much :). I have no idea how such a little person has so much to say!

More Fall Fun

2008-11-03T13:06:00.006-05:00

Each of the kids does so many fun things I never want to forget, but I know unless I write it down, they will fade from memory (since I often can't remember why I left one room to go to another, it's no big surprise).

Ava loves her "lipstuff." She was always wanting to use my chapstick, so I got her some of her very own. She takes very good care of it and always seems to know where it is (as I was typing that she asked if she could go get her lipstuff and put it on!). She also loves to help fold clothes, although she usually ends up wanting to put the clean clothes on... hers, ours, doesn't matter.

Carter is changing so much with each day. He's finally started to say some words. He's made the sounds, "ma ma" and "da da" for some time, but they didn't seem to mean anything. Then one day, he started saying, "hi" and waving like crazy. Shortly after, he seemed to realize what "ma ma" meant and his third word? "Banana." While sometimes, it's only 2 syllables, he'll often come up with all three. He still likes to snuggle and will often sit with me for a while after he's woken up and every once in a while comes over and sits down in my lap. I think my favorite thing right now is his love for shoes. He often runs the other direction when I ask him to come (usually due to an impending diaper change), but if I have shoes in my hand, he comes without me having to ask and plops his little bottom right down to get them on. Sometimes he'll see his shoes, bring them to me, and sit down so I can put them on. On the other hand, he's always trying to get his socks off. Go figure.

We've been spending a lot of time outside and I'm driving Ava crazy taking her picture.

Carter is not fond of Ava hugging him. Of course, this makes me laugh (I try not to as I remind Ava to give Carter his space). The picture above is right before he threw a fit as seen below:

Amazing how they already know how to push each others' buttons!

More Fall Fun!

2008-10-23T20:23:00.000-04:00

We have our camera back! Just in time for some sweeping outside. I foolishly thought I'd get a little work done outside while the kids played, but they wanted to help me instead, so I took pictures. Sure, they wanted to sweep the grass and not the porch, but who am I to look down on a little help?

Carter's surgery went very well. I wish I'd had a camera for that as he was too cute pacing the halls in his little hospital pajamas. It was a quick surgery and recovery, and we were leaving the hospital by 9am and got home in time for his morning nap!

This afternoon, we took the kids to Young's Jersey Dairy. Mark and I went there quite a bit when we were students at Cedarville. There's a petting barn, tractors to play on, and, of course, ice cream.Ava enjoyed her first ice cream cone and was surprisingly adept at eating it. She got a good bit on her face, but that was the extent of her mess... she knows not to waste good ice cream!

Fall is here!

2008-10-02T10:40:00.000-04:00

We've been having beautiful fall weather this week - lots of sunshine and cooler temps. Fall has always been my favorite time of year!

The other day, Ava fell outside on the sidewalk and scraped up her knees. We got bandaids and everything seemed okay, especially when our neighbor came outside with his dogs and she got to love on them for a while. Later when we went inside and she noticed the bandaids on her knees, she again turned into an invalid, holding her knees and hobbling around, acting like the simple act of walking was no longer an option for her and crying to be carried. Meanwhile, Mark and I turned away to hide our laughter as we tried to take care of our pathetic hurt girl.

The other day at the grocery store, Ava had her first public meltdown. Ava's favorite parts of grocery shopping are the free cookies at the bakery and helping to put items on the conveyor belt to check out. I never realized just how important these 2 things were until we had a complete meltdown today. She got her cookie, which is the part I always assumed would bring on a meltdown (should they not have any), but when we went to check out, she was too busy playing with some coupons to help put things on the belt. No big deal to me, but I did ask if she wanted to help. She said, "yes," but continued playing with the coupons. When I was finished, I pushed the cart down to the register. She looked up startled and said, "Mommy, I wanted to help!" I told her I was all done and she broke down. Tears. Sobs. The obligatory, "I want my Daddy!" Even the offer of a sticker didn't help! My reaction? Trying not to laugh. Such drama. Thankfully, it wasn't a loud tantrum and most of those witnessing the fit found it as amusing as I did.

Sometimes when she is on the brink of making me crazy and I'm tired and frustrated, she'll say, "Momma, can you smile?" And I always do.

Next Tuesday, Carter will have minor surgery for meatal stenosis. Basically, the skin around his pee hole (this must be the appropriate medical term as this is how the pediatric urologist referred to it multiple times in our consultation!) has grown over, making the hole smaller than it should be. One night when Mark was bathing him, probably 7 or 8 months ago as he was still in the baby bathtub in the sink, he attempted to spray Mark in the face, but instead hit the window over the sink! Mark was quite concerned that it hadn't gone straight, albeit thankful he hadn't gotten it in the face, so we asked our pediatrician about it. His son had the same thing, and it is a fairly routine surgery. It isn't routine for my baby, however, so I'm a little nervous. We will have to be at the hospital at 6:30 a.m., and I think that might be the worst part of the ordeal!

Hurricane Ike

2008-09-25T14:51:00.000-04:00

I never expected to deal with a hurricane in Ohio, but on Sept. 14, we were hit by a huge windstorm (the remnants of Hurricane Ike) taking down many trees resulting in a widespread power outage in the Dayton area. It was a Sunday and we lost power around 3pm. Thankfully, even though we have woods right behind us, we had no damage from trees and relatively few limbs in the yard, although our neighbor had a tree fall on power lines. We spent most of the week without electricity, which for us also means without water since we're on a well. About this time a week ago, we still were without power when I heard a truck next door. I was giddy when I saw it was from the local power company! Another truck arrived and they proceeded to take care of the tree that had fallen at the house next door. We went to bed still without power, but woke up around midnight and noticed we were back on! Mark and I were so excited we got up and cleaned out our freezer and fridge. I'd saved most things from the fridge, but the freezer was emptied.

Being without electricity wasn't nearly as bad as I would have imagined... especially when we found out our good friends did have power and we were able to get a few hot meals and some showers/baths at their house. The weather was great, so no need for AC, although I didn't let the kids play outside since I knew I couldn't give them baths! We went to an indoor play area at the mall and took some other excursions just to get out of the house. Not horrible, but we are extremely grateful to have the power back.

In other exciting news, Mark has been promoted to General Manager and is at the Chipotle right down the road from our church! Of course, his first day was the day after the storm when the restaurant was one of only a few with power, so it was a crazy start to the new position. He's loving it, though, and is excited about his crew and store.

I don't have many recent pictures as our camera is acting up. Thankfully, it looks like Canon will fix it free of charge. Here is one of Carter, who recently has decided he wants to feed himself with utensils. I know he needs the practice, so from time to time I leave him alone and let him have at it. This is the typical result:

More pics from Maryland!

2008-09-13T20:51:00.001-04:00

I got a CD from my Dad with more pics from our trip and we just got a new laptop so I can actually pull pictures off a CD (our desktop is having some issues).

The kids have not been well trained on the importance of sleeping in on vacation... instead they were up around 6am every morning. We'd often end up on the front porch swing and glider and a few mornings, we got to see the farm animals across the road close up (this same morning, a horse came right up to us and as Mark was petting it, I foolishly took a picture which scared the poor thing since it was still dark out and the flash went off).

One day we went to the Land of the Little Horses in Gettysburg. A bunch of the horses are out and about, ready to be fed... or hugged.

There were also wagon rides, tractor rides, swimming, bubbles, and general fun with Nana and Pap. You can check out the web album for more pictures of all that or see them scrolling in the corner. Toward the end of our vacation, my brother arrived with his family. Here's Ava with her cousin Abby. (We had to convince them they'd both fit in the car).We ended the trip with a Cartzendafner family reunion.

Vacation!

2008-08-19T21:43:00.000-04:00

We spent the first week of August in MD with my (Amy's) parents. I wanted to post sooner, but was having a problem getting our computer to read the disc I'd burned.

First we headed to Ocean City for a few days. It was the first time either Ava or Carter had seen the beach and both loved it (although Ava would NOT put her bare feet in the sand)! They loved the sand and the water. Here are some pics from our adventure.

We did have some issues with Carter waking up far too early (and once he's up, he's up... and so are we), but the upside is we got to see the beautiful sunrises outside our window!

I have a bunch of other pics from our week in MD that I'll post soon. It was a great time with very few plans - my kind of vacation. We finished up the week with a Cartzendafner family reunion. A fabulous week!

West Virginia, Mountain Mama...

2008-07-22T21:12:00.000-04:00

We headed to WV over the weekend to visit the Button side of the family. It's been far too long since we've seen everyone! I'm starting to get a little nervous about our long trip to MD for vacation in a few weeks. I really need to be planning out some car activities to keep the kids happy. Ava does okay, but Carter hits a wall after about 1.5 hours and wants nothing more than to get out of that seat! He'll just have to get over it, I guess :).

Here's some pics from the trip:

Uncle Chris with Mark and the kids.

Ava & Aunt Susan

Uncle Paul with the Ava & Chloe
Poppy with his girls.

Neena & Ava

Carter and cake.

I had one of Aunt Lori and Carter, but she had her tongue sticking out and I thought she may not want that published for public viewing (to be fair, Carter started it).

We really should do this more than once a year!

Carter is 1!

2008-07-14T21:37:00.000-04:00

Carter turned 1 on July 3. That year went by quickly! He also took his first steps on his birthday and has been taking some here and there ever since. When I picked him up from the nursery on Sunday after church, several of the ladies were telling me I had to stop him - walking means moving up to the next nursery and they don't want to lose him because he is always good for lots of snuggling.

My parents, my brother and his family, and our good friends came over for a cookout on the 4th to celebrate his birthday. While he wasn't afraid to touch his cake (like Ava was on her 1st birthday), he took a few bites and was done. No messy baby pics for us!

That evening, Ava got to see fireworks... WAY past her bedtime. The park down the road from our house hosts fireworks every year, and every other year, she's slept right through them, but this year, some of the tests they sent up woke her up and scared her, so she sat with her Pap for a while watching tv and then we decided to walk down to the park so she could see what the big booms were.

The next day, we headed to the zoo. Ava's favorite things were the train (she didn't need to ride it for excitement... simply hearing that it was coming and waving to everyone riding was a blast for her!) and the goats. They let you get in the pen with the goats and she was not shy at all. I think she would have enjoyed Young's Jersey Dairy equally as much.

It was a somewhat tiring weekend, but good. Now we're all fighting with runny noses, though. This weekend, we'll be heading down to visit Mark's side of the family. We haven't been for a LONG time, so we can't wait!

Spring!

2008-06-24T21:11:00.000-04:00

Here's Ava looking for an airplane - she had a little trouble blocking the sun AND seeing the plane at the same time.

Then we have the assembly of Ava & Carter's new swingset. Ava got to "help," but Carter only got to watch.

He got to enjoy it later, though!

And here's what happens when kids are forced to take pictures. I love it! Ava continues to act more grown up all the time and amazes me every day with how smart she is - I definitely think we're going to be in for trouble.

Carter just started standing on his own this past weekend, and I'm guessing he'll be walking soon, although he's such a fast little crawler, he may stick with that for a while! He does love to walk behind things. He also continues to be affectionate, and hugs & kisses on stuffed animals as well as us from time to time. There's a face on that pillow he's attacking.

This face

2008-04-28T21:24:00.000-04:00

How can you not love this face? Poor guy gets kissed on all day long.

Mark and I have been busy - I keep waiting for things to settle down, but I guess that won't happen for years to come. He is helping at a new Chipotle and was working long hours and long weeks. His schedule is a little more normal now, for which I'm thankful. For 2 weeks, Ava went 4 days without seeing her Daddy. It was hard on both of them (and me!). I've been busy working part time for a friend who has an eBay business. I was only shipping items, but have taken over pretty much the whole operation except for packaging items. Things are slowing down significantly for the summer months, though. It has been a blessing to have a way to earn some money working from home.

Carter is crawling all over and into everything. The bad part is he is VERY quiet! So, we have to keep an eye on him constantly. He like to crawl under things and climb over things. One day he crawled under a little table we'd gotten for him and Ava and got stuck under a chair, but he kept on crawling taking the chair with him... right toward the kitty dishes - the water dish is far too tempting.

Just last week, he learned how to sign, "more" after several weeks of me attempting to teach him and basically giving up. (I don't want to compare kids, but Ava picked up her first sign in one day! I was beginning to think he might never "get it.") I have it on video, but need to find the right cable to download it to the computer.

Ava is so happy that we can play outside! She even asks if we can go out and play in the rain - we keep telling her it's not quite warm enough for that, yet. We got a "Finding Nemo" book from the library about a month ago and she LOVES it. Has it memorized, sleeps with it, recites lines from it randomly... it will be a sad day when we can no longer renew it, but I have been looking at it on eBay, so I may go ahead and get her a copy. She also love Cinderella and talks about being a princess and wearing pretty dresses and dancing. It's especially fun to see her act out scenes with her dolls and stuffed animals. Sometimes she tells me she's Cinderella. If Mark is there, he, of course, is the Prince. When he isn't, I get to be the Prince. She continues to make us laugh all the time.

Even on the days they make us crazy, we couldn't imagine life without them!

Crawling and Easter!

2008-03-24T15:09:00.000-04:00

Carter is officially crawling. Over the weekend, he has perfected the army crawl and can get from one side of the room to the other... much too quickly for my liking! Of course, his favorite things to get into are whatever Ava happens to be playing with at the moment. The other day he managed to crawl over and get himself squeezed behind Ava's "house." And, boy was he impressed with himself.

Here's Ava in her Easter dress. Gotta love the posing... at least we got her to stand still. Once the dress was on, all she wanted to do was twirl.

Deja vu

2008-03-14T14:43:00.000-04:00

I posted a picture of Ava in one of my old Easter dresses a few days ago. Well, my mom also sent another dress of mine - I remember thinking this dress was super fancy and wanting to wear it often. Ava wanted to wear it when she saw it, and after she put it on, I told her she looked as pretty as a princess, to which she responded that she needed a crown. I found her flower headband, which seemed to appease her and I asked if I could take her picture. She's always willing to have her picture taken! So, here she is:

After she went to bed that night, I went looking for a picture of me wearing the dress, and found this:

I couldn't believe we were both posing the same way! Too funny!

Spring Snow!

2008-03-12T14:10:00.000-04:00

This past weekend we got over a foot of snow! A friend was telling me that around this time last year, she remembered working outisde - she should remember correctly as she was 9 months pregnant at the time.

We had fun playing, but are now definitely ready for spring! While Carter napped, Mark, Ava and I went outside. Mark and I shoveled while Ava played and then our neighbor came over with his 4-wheeler with snow blade attached to help Mark while I caught up with his wife. We hadn't talked to them for a while, so it was nice! Then we came in for some hot chocolate and watched the snow continue to fall.

Ava is talking non-stop these days. She loves to color and sing and run. I can't believe the things she comes up with. One day she wanted me to turn on my cell phone so she could see the screensaver, but I told her the battery was dead. A minute later, she brings me the tv remote and says, "This has batteries!" She misses nothing and it's especially funny to hear her repeat some of the things we say on a regular basis.

My mom sent me an Easter dress I wore when I was Ava's age. The only problem is I was apparently much shorter than Ava! Our birthdays are only 2 weeks apart, but I don't think I could take her out in this dress! Here's me in the dress as well. I'm surprised at just how much more hair I have at that age than Ava does. (Don't you just love her fake smile??)

Carter is still rolling like a madman, which means he's also spitting up like a madman. Since he never stays on the blanket I put down, our carpet is full of spots in a wide variety of colors. Yuck. He likes to stand, now, and here's a shot of him standing with no assistance! And a second one because he's just so cute!

The snow is almost gone now and we look forward to warmer weather and outdoor pictures. On a side note, this weekend my parents will be celebrating 40 years of marriage! We love both sets of parents so much and are so grateful for them.

Time for an update!

2008-02-07T21:11:00.000-05:00

It's been longer than I wanted to take between updates, but Mark was sick for about 3 weeks with the nasty flu that's been going around and our laptop died. Mark's starting to feel better, and our laptop is running again, but we did lose everything on the hard drive. Thankfully, I don't delete the pictures off our camera until I've backed them up on CD, so I don't think we lost many. (I'd deleted some because my memory card was full - oops).

Carter is finally sitting up pretty well, now. His primary mode of moving is still rolling. He continues to be a happy, sweet baby.

A few weeks ago, while I was in the kitchen making dinner or some such thing, Ava was playing on the steps. This is not something I usually allow, but she was playing so nicely, I didn't make her stop. After a while, she called me over. I could hear the pride in her voice and she was beaming as she showed me how she had set up all her friends in a row. I cheered and asked if I could take a picture, which she readily agreed to. I went back to what I was doing and she called out to me a little while later to tell me everyone was sleeping. She wanted me to see, so I walked over to the steps and found even more friends... all sleeping. She was so pleased with herself, neither she nor I could stop smiling.

Later that same evening, she continued her adorable behavior by wanting to put on an apron and walk around with oven mitts. It was a fun evening, and I need those especially on the nights Mark works late and I'm putting the kids to bed by myself. We have a pretty good routine in place for when that happens, but it seems like if one of us falls apart, we all fall apart.

Ava is talking up a storm. I love the way she says certain words or has her own words for things. I get a little sad when she starts using the "right" term for things. A diaper used to be a "d-dup," but lollipop is still "loppipop" and a slide is still a "wee-boom." I'm simply amazed at how much she has to say! (I think she takes after her daddy). She also loves her books and with most of them, you can leave out words or entire lines and she'll fill in where you left off. Several times, I've heard her "reading" to herself - she has more of the books memorized than I realized!

That's about all the excitement at our house. Hope all of you (if there are any!) reading this are doing well. We'd love to hear from you!

A New Year

2008-01-15T09:48:00.000-05:00

Well, apparently the real estate market continues to get worse and worse and Mark's hours with the home inspection company went from part-time to none at all, so he is currently pursuing management again at Chipotle (ever since he started back there, they've been pursuing him, so we're glad he has that option!).

All of us except Mark have had colds the past few weeks, but that seems to be standard with toddlers and babies this time of year. I don't have many pictures as I normally would since we've all had snotty noses and it's not a good look on us!

In the past 2 weeks, Ava has started saying, "Love you, Mommy (or Daddy or Carter or Bear)" complete with hug with no sort of prompting on our parts. So precious. We are working on the intensity of hugging when it comes to Carter... she is quite unaware of her own strength. Not that he seems to mind at all - he loves any and all attention he receives from his big sister.

I can tell Ava is anxious for Carter to be able to play with her. She brings him toys (and often shoos him away from things she doesn't want him to touch). He does tend to get into everything already. Even though he's far from crawling, he is a master roller. I can see him spot something across the room and off he goes rolling toward it. Frankly, I'm a little nervous about how much he'll get into when he CAN crawl!

Several times when I've gotten Carter after he's been sleeping, I notice a hand-print on his face. Since he's too young for a pillow, I guess his hand works just fine.
I swear, that is NOT my handprint

Christmas and such

2008-01-03T12:53:00.000-05:00

We had a wonderful Christmas, but it's hard to believe we're on to a new year already and it's time to take down the tree (Ava will be very sad) and put away the decorations. Amy's parents came out Christmas Eve and stayed until last Sunday. Ava is now a pro at unwrapping gifts and has had lots of fun playing with her new toys. Carter slept through the present opening, which simply meant Ava got to have a second round of unwrapping since Carter has a way to go on hand-eye coordination. Mom and Dad also spent some days at Amy's brother's house while they were in Ohio. We were able to see a good friend get married on Friday night while Ava and Carter got to have Nana all to themselves for the evening.

Sunday was baby dedication at church after which we were able to spend the day with our good friends (one couple lives in Texas so visits with them are greatly anticipated). There are 6 kids among the 4 couples (and one due in February), so we don't get to actually catch up much, but it's still so good to be together.

Since then Carter has started cereal and Ava has gotten to play in the snow! It's been a busy week!

Catching up...

2007-12-21T15:22:00.000-05:00

The past month has been a blur! In addition to a busy holiday season, Mark has needed to pick up an extra job. Due to the slow real estate market, his boss can't afford to keep him full time, so he's rolling burritos at Chipotle again (he was a manager there for a year before taking his current job) to compensate. I finally got out Christmas cards yesterday, which gave me major incentive to post an update. I thought I'd share some pics from the past year.

In April, we were able to get together with Mark's 4 close friends from college - so fun to see how our families have grown!

Feeding the goats at Young's Jersey Dairy.

In July we welcomed Carter!

In September, we were able to visit Amy's parents in Maryland.

Our Family Blog

2007-11-14T21:24:00.002-05:00

Since everyone else is doing it, we figured we'd join in, too (okay, not everyone is doing it, but we're definitely not the first with a family blog).

We'll use this to post pictures and keep family and friends updated on our lives... well, mostly what the kids are up to (they're much more interesting). Hopefully, it will allow us to keep in better touch with those people we love, but whom we don't see nearly as often as we'd like.

Most will know the general scoop. We live in Ohio and now have 2 babies! Ava turns 2 this Saturday and Carter joined our family on July 3 (making him 4 months old). I don't think we could have dreamed of better kids.

Ava is funny and friendly and full of life - although I guess most 2-year-olds are. She has a sensitive heart and loves to help with anything you'll let her do. She doesn't seem to know what a stranger is (Picture us at the doctor's for her 2-year check-up. The nurse opens the door and calls for us, and as we gather up our stuff and follow the nurse, we have to wait for Ava as she says "goodbye!" and waves to everyone in the waiting room... and if they ignore her, she gets in their face and increases her volume so as not to be ignored.) She's a riot. She loves the letter "W" and the number "2" and singing songs about her "big girl bed."

Carter is sweet and smiley. He gets loved on a LOT by all of us. He was named for our fathers. Carter is a shortened version of my dad's last name (and my maiden name, of course) and his middle name, Stephen, is Mark's dad's name as well as Mark's middle name. He's started rolling over and scootching around with a vengeance, which was somewhat expected after the dance parties he had in utero.

Mark's doing marketing for a home inspection company, and I'm blessed to stay home with our babies. I must say that I think my previous full-time job was loads easier, but this one is far more rewarding.

That's enough to get us started... don't want to bore everyone already!