'TOO much'

Ava is talking up a storm and I love it. Well she has been and I've been loving it.

Lately, she'll respond with this:

Mommy: I love you, Ava!

Ava: I love you, Mommy! I love you TOO much!!!

Potty girl Emma!

What's up with child #2 doing and wanting to do everything early? And especially if it's your last??!!

That's Miss Emma I'm talking about. I swear she was just born last year. She's going to be 2 soon! So obviously- we're thinking about potty training. Ava is fully potty trained and has the occasional accident at night since she sleeps in her big girl underwear.

Emma has been requesting to wear big girl underwear lately with her soft-spoken words. Last night she pulls off her underwear (not the traditional way, she pulls down from the front and looks down and is surprised why it's not off yet) and pulls off her diaper. She then proceeds to say "pee pee" and sits down on the potty. This girl wanted to sit on the potty with no diaper on for a half an hour. Girlfriend!!!! I don't have 30 minutes! It's bed time! ;) I have a million things to do! (Like watch TV right up until daddy gets home and I gotta make his dinner. haha)

I'm ready with the skills I need to get the girl trained. But I'm not ready emotionally for my baby to be potty trained.

Music babies.

My dad's side of the family is very musical. He plays the drums and played the trumpet in high school. Each one of my brother and sister and I played an instrument in middle school. My girls have that. They have the musical ear and they have the beat down for groovin'.

Sunny January... and some of February too!'

Ava: 'Hey! Whatcha got in there?!'

Better late than never

My Christmas pagent, Christmas Eve and Day have been on my memory disk... until now! And I shall share what a magical holiday season we had this year! Having an almost two-and-a-half and one-and-a-half year old made this past season exciting, memorable and amazing!!! It made me realize that I get to start my own traditions ... ones I grew up with.. ones Martin grew up with.. and new ones that I always wanted to do.

Happy love day!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! No special post, except the fact that I have been wearing a special token from my Ava. Introducing my first-ever piece of hand-made jewelry from one of my little girls: a Valentine's Day inspired pipe cleaner bracelet.

I have been grinning ear-to-ear all day long, as a proud mama should!

Look at her grow..

Here are the photos that go with the previous posts about Ava's miracle story of her birth (after the jump!)

32 weeks is a big deal... continued

The moment I saw my baby girl in the NICU was unexplainable. The first time I saw her was when she was delivered and that was a split moment. But seeing her for the first time... it was the weirdest feeling. I felt guilty, I felt sad, I felt angry at myself and I felt... no words can explain how I felt.

How one smell can trigger a memory

One scent-memory I have is very bizarre, but one that is my favorite. It's hand sanitizer. Hand sanitizer?!

Well, when I go to Kaiser to pick-up a prescription or to take one of the girls for a check-up, I always make sure I use their hand sanitizer. Who likes the smell of that stuff? Well, I do.

That smell instantly reminds me of Ava when she was a tiny baby. That one smell brings me back to a very scary time, but a sweet time in our lives. It's weird because once I smell that smell, feelings come over me and I start to cry because that scent reminds me of her. That's Ava's smell. It's her baby smell to me. It was the only connection I had to her at night when she wasn't home with us.

I always wonder if I should ask if I can buy a bottle of that stuff, or if I should secretly take one. But I think I need to save that smell-memory for it would not be the same as it is now if I was able to smell it whenever I wanted.

'hibernation'

And mine are no exception! :)

As picking the kids up from day care tonight, I was instructed to talk about 'hibernation' with the girls since they were discussing it today. Yeah, hibernation. OUR one-and-a-half and two-and-a-half year olds are being taught the meaning of hibernation.

So I was talking about it in the car during the drive home.

Me: "So you were talking about hibernation today at school? Do bears and squirrels go into hibernation?"
Ava: "NO!"
Me: "Do mommies go into hibernation?"
Emma: "YEAH!" with sure confidence in her answer.

I love my kids. Without knowing it-- they made my whole week!

Nesting mama birds

A reminder for both my girls!

When I was pregnant with both of them... we had two birds that nested on our patios. People told me that birds do that when someone is pregnant.

With Ava-- I really didn't believe it and just was trying to protect the bird and the egg from our cat!

With Emma, the same thing happened (note we were at a new apartment) it was even more special because I knew it was Martin's mom, Hilda. She passed away right after we found out I was pregnant with her so I knew it was her little spirit or soul showing me her presence.

A very special tidbit to share.

Happy 2011!

We actually rang in the New Year together as a family-- all four of us. Two sick, but they made it! We are all hung over today on no sleep, snot, coughing and tiredness... while daddy suffers the same at work.

Happy New Year!!!

And thank you Ava for the best gift of 2011-- second day of dry sheets after a night of sleep! YAY!

Two under two-and-a-half

Hi, my name is Amory and my husband's name is Martin, and we have a two-and-a-half-year-old; and a one-and-a-half-year-old. WOW! How did that happen?!

Here's an update on our amazing girls' stats!!!

Ava

You are amazing! You are finally potty trained to the max. Sleep in big girl underwear and have zero accidents during the day (we are working on the nighttime). You are in a big girl bed since you just figured out how to climb out of yours just a few weeks ago! The transition was a lot easier than I had expected! And I want to thank Emma for that, because when you were trying to abuse your freedom-- you'd just innocently open the door softy and shut it softy. :)

You talk so much! Show and vocalize great concern for others and others' feelings. My favorites are you say "thank you," "you're welcome," "sorry," etc. without any prompting. And you say "bless you" when someone sneezes-- one of my favorites. Another one of my favorites is when I ask Emma something and you follow with "you okay, Emma?! You okay???" You are shy around others, but aren't shy to give hugs when prompted to. You LOVE your grandparents and great-grandparents. You and your Nana have a great bond too. Well, both your Papas (Papa Ouchie-wah-wah and Papa Abuelo), you have great bonds with too.

We are working on clean-up time and not physically fighting with your sister.

Emma

You are amazing too!!! You have grown so much in the past six months. In the past month!!!! You say words, but it's still in baby worded talk. You have mastered "MINE" and "NO!" though. You follow and do everything Ava does. You try and put your shoes on when we are leaving. It's just amazing what you do!!!

You LOVE animals. You stop dead in your tracks when you see another dog when we're getting into the car. You love your Lucy and kitty. You love your Papas and have grown closer to your Nana. You don't like it when I leave you places.... like you are going through separate anxiety again at a later age. You run and you are fast!!! You really understood Christmas-- for what a one-and-a-half-year-old can understand. You point out Santa and say it over and over again. And you pulled tiny little pieces of wrapping paper and handed them off on every, single present. It was fun to watch. :)

We are working on not pulling hair and saying "please" and thank you." :)

Photo credit: Elevenorchids (They do AMAZING work. Check them out at Elevenorchids.com)

32 weeks is a big deal

I started this blog to give me a place to remember things about my girls in case I forget to write something down in one of the girls' baby books, which in fact-- I have not written in since I started this blog! :) So I didn't start at the beginning of 'my' motherhood.

The start of my motherhood started when I found out I was pregnant-- just three months shy of getting married (which is great- what we wanted!!). I found out I was pregnant just days after my birthday and went along my pregnancy without any morning sickness or nausea (thank you Mom and Grandma!!!). My pregnancy with Ava was pretty awesome... awesome up until my blood pressure starting to climb the charts at 28-29 weeks. That's when I was referred to the high risk special doctor, perinatologist, Dr. Maier, at Kaiser in Walnut Creek. (He was wonderful!) At almost 30 weeks, I had an awful migraine at work that would not go away. I went home to check my blood pressure with hopes of returning to work right away, but that wasn't the case. The high risk nurse who received my frantic call about my blood pressure told me to go to Labor and Delivery right away!

I was admitted. It was extremely high. I was so scared. I didn't know what was going on and I couldn't wrap my head around it. I spent the night in an actual delivery room on a very uncomfortable delivery chair/bed thinking at anytime they might induce me and take my baby out. The whole week my blood pressure was extremely high and the team in the Labor and Delivery couldn't find the right meds to keep it down. I stayed in the hospital for an entire week which was the week leading up to my baby shower.

I was determined to get out of the hospital and was not going to have a baby shower in the hospital. And I didn't! The staff found the right mix of medicine to keep my blood pressure relatively low (not normal low, but around 140/90-95 and I was put on bed rest and was not allowed to get up from my bed or couch unless it was to shower or use the restroom. But a baby shower.. my first baby shower-- I attended and had a great time with the Mayers who graciously hosted it.

After a week of being on best rest, I had two NST appointments which the first I was released from but the second- not so lucky. The second appointment was on a Friday and my blood pressure was high again (probably around 160/100) and I was admitted. Through that stay, I was required to pee in a 'hat' and keep it so they could test the protein in my urine (which I did throughout the pregnancy once I was labeled 'high risk').

Saturday came and went... and Sunday came. I had had two shots of steriods during this stay to help strengthen the baby's lungs, with the first one on Friday and the second on Saturday. Thank God for those. Sunday afternoon came....

And the words came out of the doctors' mouth. The protein in my urine was extremely high and they were going to have to get her out now. Now. NOW?! I'm not ready. I'm not ready for labor. I haven't even attended the lamaza class or the newborn care class!!!!!!!!! I wasn't ready and I was so scared. So scared. I didn't even realize what was happening. It was so surreal.

Well they induced me around noon I'm guessing since I was eating lunch at the time they told me about the induction. So a couple of naps and hours go by.... I watch the Next Food Network Star for a couple of hours... waiting to feel an awful contraction... and the doctor comes in. He informs me that my liver levels and blood palates numbers are going down because of the pitocin (induces labor) and they need to do an emergency C-section... RIGHT NOW!

What? Now I was scared. I was already scared that I was going to have a baby born at 32 weeks, but didn't completely wrap my mind around it. But now I'm going to have surgery. I've never had surgery let alone a tooth pulled.

Ava came out screaming! (Thank God again for those steroid shots!) She was rushed to the incubator where the doctors examined her and held her up for two seconds and put her in another incubator and took her away. I was sewed up and brought into recovery... recovered well. I was wheeled into my room for the night and wouldn't see Ava until the next afternoon.

Here is the first time I got to hold my baby girl, one day old.

The journey of '32 weeks is a big deal' continues....

Santa Claus is coming.. to town!

Sooooooo... the girls met Santa.

And yeah. They were cool with him until it was time to sit on his lap for picture time! :) When we approached the line, it was empty and Santa was standing at the front and was very soft spoken and gentle with his movements towards or away from the girls. Ava gave a soft "Hi Santa" and Emma stayed put in my arms!

Then it was picture time....

You are welcome for this laugh! Classic photo. Some parents are butt-hurt about these photos, but I think it's hilarious! Hilarious because they were okay with him until they were put on his lap for 2.3 seconds. We will laugh about this every year when we take it out of the Christmas boxes. :) My poor babies!!!!!!

The girls were even featured in a few local news media outlets, including: Danville Express, San Ramon Express and TriValley Views.

A WOO HOO!

Well! We've made it! We've made it to no longer preparing and washing bottles for Emma AND no more pull-ups for Ava!!!!!!!!!!

A WOO HOO!

One of the happiest days of my life was today at lunch when I realized that these two things no longer exist in my world!

Ava has been doing great peeing on the potty (poop in another thing for some reason, she stopped doing it on the potty when we put the 'big girl' underwear on her). Three things I learned: 1) Thick underwear only makes them think they are wearing diapers, you have to put the big girl underwear on only (daddy figured this one out!); 2) you have to have a variety of candy for them to choose one, including ALL of their faves; 3) peer pressure is very important when potty training. If one does it, they all do it. This was proven to me when we were visiting one of my friends' house with a little girl the same age who was introduced to the potty, but not yet in the pull-ups. Well she peed three times on that potty while we were there! Same with my niece-- everytime she went on the potty, Ava HAD to too!

I'm hoping Emma will be quick to learn! As you know, she joins the party everytime we hit the bathroom and gets very mad if we leave her with daddy in her high chair at a restaurant. :)

Emma was a piece of cake to take off the bottle, which we did about 2 months ago. The nighttime bottle I kept, because, well because, I thought she was soothed by it and loved it. That ended this past weekend and there was no fuss. What a good girl! :)

What is weird, is that I miss hitting the baby section of Target. I miss shopping for baby foods and I miss shopping and thumbing through my coupons for the best deal on wipes and diapers!!! I am so bizarre, I know it! :) And no, no pictures of my girl on the potty to show on the page. They are still on the digital camera waiting to be downloaded. :)

Gotta have a variety!

Ava has now been sans Pull-Ups as of Wednesday and is doing great!!!!! Upon pick-up Tuesday night, Paola, our lovely day care provider, informed me that Ava had been wearing 'big girl underwear' all day without any accidents. So Wednesday was the day! The first two days weren't the funniest, and I *almost* put her back in the diapers/Pull-Ups, but I didn't.

Wednesday was the worst of it. Seriously. We were running around shopping for Christmas presents and our last stop was Costco. She peed right on the toy isle. Nice. I was embarassed and husband was d-o-n-e. It was only her first day, poor little girl. So we continue running the girl to the store potty, changing her clothes in the parking lot, and sitting in dirty restrooms waiting for her to go 'pee-pee in tha pottay!'

One word of advice for those that are training.... given up on training for a while... or are going to start soon. GET A VARIETY OF CANDY!!!! M&M's will work for a while, lollipops will work but will make a messy baby! Reese's are the fave right now, but weren't doing it on Saturday. So my advice to all you mommies and daddies-- get a variety of candy! Skittles, M&M's, Whoopers, Reese's, Tootsie rolls, etc. because your child will get bored with the same old sticker/M&M dance. Trust me. :)

Ava did and I accommodated her resisting and now she's having less accidents by day. WOO HOO! Let's keep this going little girl and hopefully Miss Emma will be a piece of cake.

Slippers, tutus and princess shoes

So I think we're about to embark on the "I only want to wear my princess dress-up gear and slippers to day care" round with Ava.

Is this when it's suppose to start? I mean, I love that she wants to wear her tutu around the house when she dances. Or that she LOVES her Princess Belle shoes and wears them constantly.

But really? Really at 7:58 a.m. when we should of left at 7:55 a.m., you want to throw a tantrum on the floor because I won't let you wear your kitty slippers to day care??!!!"

Is this happening to anyone else? Or when did this start to happen? Help!!!! All advice will be taken and used. :) And how do you keep your composer without yelling at the poor little princess, because I sure did fail at that one!

And little sweet Emma, just sits and drinks her milk and holds her duckie (lovie) and waits by the door while all of this is going on. Gotta love 16 month old girls with older sisters. Because I know she'll be acting up like that in no time!

'Picture perfect' photos

So, you know those families that dress their kids to the T's with their cute matching/semi-matching holiday shirts. Hair is perfect. Nice camera in tow. ?? Well that's not me or my kids. I tried! I tried! I tried to get them to smile together widely at my camera earlier this week at the pumpkin patch. But it didn't work. And that's okay! I don't need to send just one picture in my holiday cards-- I need to send two! :) Two because I didn't get one shot of my girls smiling together on top of the hay barrels with pumpkins in their hands, proudly showing their matching T's. :)

But they are cute. I took some very cute pictures of my girls at the pumpkin patch! And a lot of them show their true personality which is probably way better than some professional, matchy-matchy, big smiles in the same direction, photo!

Enjoy!

 

Stats!

Every other blog I read does an age/month milestone and I'm going to copy them. Since this blog, which I hope people enjoy and read, is for my memory. Since after birthing two children, I have lost! :)

Ava, when people ask me how old you are, I immediately say two! because you are, in fact, two years old (27 months). Adjusted age you are just over two years old (25 months) since for those of you don't know, she was born at 32 weeks and the docs go by her "adjusted age."

Ava, you are amazing! AMAZING! You sing songs in the car when we are driving. Your faves are the Beatles and Lady Gaga. You love to sing the 'alright!' song (Here Comes the Sun) and Miss Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance." You can do a full summer salt (summersalt?? sp?). You like to jump and have "dance parties" where you strip all of your clothes off and run in circles around the room. You say a huge amount of words. You ask a lot of questions. You share great concern for Emma when she is crying or when she gets hurt. But you don't hesitate to shove her out of your way if you want what she has. You love to talk to her when you first wake up in the morning. Your favorite foods are 'eggies' and toast in the morning and you love a big glass of milk. You love pizza and have associated 'daddy pizza.' You are the little mommy of the house and repeat everything I say when disciplining your sister! We love you so much and we are so proud of you that you have overcome obstacles since the first minute you were born. You are our sunshine!

Emma! Emma you are now 15 months and you are mobile! You have started to get the hang of running/walking fast. You now don't like to be held unless you are tired. You take priviledge in walking from our house to the car without assistance. You are the sweetest little sister Ava could of ever asked for. You are, in fact, her little shadow. When it's time to go 'pee pee on tha pottay' you are the first one in the bathroom sitting on the little stool. You sign 'more' when you want more of something and you can say 'kittttttiiieeee,' 'ump ump' (pumpkin), mama, dada, 'sssssss' (Lucy) and more. I think 'ump kin' is our favorite. You have started sleeping through the night! WOO HOO!! You sleep with your butt up in the air and not with many blankets. You have taken to your ducky lovey that Auntie Kirsten bought for you (the cow that Ava carries around is from Auntie Kirsten too!) You aren't much of a sweets girl, but you love french fries, pizza, peaches, peas and a good, warm glass of milk! We love you Emma. You are a blessing that at first, was in disguise, but we cannot imagine our lives without you.