4th of July

ava's first power wheel experience. ryan and i were green with envy.

this is the bunny ava tried to free. and scare to death by shaking the cage. she was entranced.

the child spent the majority naked despite the dress grandma kristine purchased. her tan line is so distinct, though, that it kind of looks like she's wearing clothes. so in a way, i win!

despite toddler ava's appearance, i love three-day weekends. i love having ryan around for an extra day and i love being able to relax a little (read: did not do a single dish all weekend--awesome!!). this morning rolled around and it was sad to see ryan get all dressed up for work and leave, breifcase in hand, bluetooth in ear. when's the next one?

ps the fireworks this year? lame. but hearing ava's, "ooh!" was pretty cool. poor thing didn't know how lame they were.

how was your fourth?

meet toddler ava

this weekend i met someone i thought i knew already: toddler ava. funny thing is, all those times i'd encountered who i'd thought to be toddler ava was really just grumpy baby ava. this new toddler ava came over for the fourth of july weekend. i hope she's left because frankly, i don't like toddler ava all that much.

you know, they look so similar, i wouldn't really have been able to tell much of a difference except one big thing: toddler ava SCREAMS. and kicks. and flails. and WILL NOT BE CONTROLLED. also, she has a hidden agenda and she won't tell us what it is. we have to guess. it's toddler ava's favorite game.

some of the rules that we have figured out so far:

1. do NOT look at toddler ava.

2. do NOT laugh in toddler ava's direction. this will be interpreted as laughter at her and will not be tolerated.

3. no snuggling, hugging, kissing or cuddling unless toddler ava says so and then you must do it RIGHT AWAY and STOP IMMEDIATELY when she's ready. unfortunately the only way to tell that toddler ava is ready is by a loud scream emitted DIRECTLY INTO YOUR EAR.

4. while you are not allowed to not look at toddler ava, you are also not permitted to ignore her. DO NOT DO THIS.

5. if she doesn't like the fact that you have told her not to do something, she will do it anyway. get over it.

all in all, there were a few times ryan and i looked at each other with complete exhaustion in our eyes and held hands because we weren't sure toddler ava was ready for us to talk to each other yet. i'm so glad he was there. i'm not so sure he was.

weekly mouse

my shaggy dog

41

i am a tomato grower. it is very satisfying. and delicious.

in response to hernan's comment

funny story about finding out i was pregnant with seth. i went in to the bathroom on new year's day with a pregnancy test, took it, watched the little pink line appear and came out of the bathroom. ryan was sitting at the computer in the bedroom so i said, "dude, i'm pregnant."

it turns out ryan was really hernan, our friend who was staying with us for the holidays. he turned around and said, "WHAT???"

so yeah, with baby seth my husband was the second to know. the third person was whoever was on the phone with ryan at the time. i'm awfully good at spreading good news to the right people.

pregnancy tag

being in the getting-ready-to-give-birth mood that i'm in, i'm really excited i got tagged to do this. most likely it will be questions i won't want to answer and facts that you don't want to know, but i am so excited to have a baby (that's why i got pregnant in the first place) and this waiting game is dirivng me crazy! i figure it'd be good to remember some of the happy things about his sister's entrance in to this world.1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED? yes

2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME? yes

3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? i was so excited. i wouldn't let ryan in to the bathroom when i initially took the pregnancy test (watching someone urinate on a stick is so undignified) but as i waited for that pink line to appear, i threw open the bathroom door and shouted for him to come in--and he fell in! turns out, he was so excited, he was standing RIGHT outside the door in the hopes of hearing a happy noise.

4. WAS ABORTION AN OPTION FOR YOU? no. i'd have to say that being pregnant has made me more pro-life than i ever was.

5. HOW OLD WERE YOU? 22.

6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? i took a pregnancy test. how else do you find out you're pregnant?

7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST? ryan. and then we decided to wait until christmas to surprise our families, but i had a really rough trip out to california and was bleeding a little by the time i got there. i was so scared, i told my mom. plus, there was absolutely no way that i was going to keep that one inside until christmas. that meant that my dad knew right away, too.

8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? yes. i hate anticipation and surprise. i want to know right away.

9. DUE DATE? august 4, 2006 all the way until my ultrasound when they pushed it back TWO WHOLE WEEKS to august 17, 2006 and i almost killed the entire office.

10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? no.

11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? before i knew i was pregnant, i made enchiladas and ate them for about four meals in a row (poor ryan). they just tasted so good! now when i eat them, i think they are gross (that is just too bad).

12. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? people who wanted to touch my stomach and just held on. sometimes with two hands.

13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX? girl

14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING? i think i secretly wanted ava to be a girl a tiny bit more than i wanted her to be a boy. but only a tiny bit. so, no, i didn't wish.

15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY? i'm not answering this question.

16. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? yes.

17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? not a surprise.

18. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? ava's umbilical cord fell off and they had to manually remove the placenta. it was so awful that i sent ryan out of the room.

19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? mt. timanogos hospital

20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? my water broke at about midnight and ava was born at 4:15 in the AM.

21. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL? ryan. i kept saying things like, "these contractions are really strong!" and he kept throwing me the most terrified looks, but i was excited, so he kept changing his terrified looks to happy ones. poor ryan, he didn't know what to do. neither did i! we were expecting something so horrible!

22. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH? ryan. and my midwife. and about ten nurses (slow night at the hospital) who were so wonderful. they were motherly and excited. they were so encouraging and kind. i loved having them there (although at first i wasn't so sure).

23. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION? natural.

24. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? no.

25. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? 6lbs 13oz

26. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN? august 11, 2006

27. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER? ava christine

28. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY? almost 23 months old.

i tag: shannon, brendi and anyone else who wants to trip down memory lane.

now i'm off to research alternative diapering methods.

call her headstrong

we spend a lot of time out and about, but on the particularly hot days, we come home to find this:

it's madeline, as limp as a wet rag. perhaps her coat is a little too thick for the summertime, and it may be merciful of me to shave her. we'll see. she's going to have to do a lot more snuggling if she wants to be "clean shaven".

my favorite part about madeline is that i can call her name and she'll lift her head and mwor?

i'm not one of those people who thinks their cat can understand them. but it is as if she's asking me what i need before she comes over. and i'll tell her, "i want to scratch your ears." and then she weighs out her options in her head. . .and settles right back down.

as much as i delight in my own child's independence, i am disappointed in my cat's.