Little Pterodactyl

My little birdie is not a baby bird anymore (or pterodactyl for that matter). She is One. The day she came into the world I looked at her for the first time and didn't know quite what to think. I loved her immediately. But that immediate connection wasn't there the way it was with Riley. I can't put into words how I have grown to be connected with her now. I love that I feel a different, yet equally deep connection with my daughters. I look back at pictures of Ava in that first few months and it is unreal how much she has changed. She is the sweetest thing. She is funny and energetic, scoots like a gremlin on a lightning bolt. She bites. Oh does she bite. She has the hugest two front teeth I have ever seen on a baby. She is fascinated by her older sister. Riley makes her crack up in laughter. She is petite, in the 20 something percentile for height and weight, but her head is in the 70th. She is always bonking that thing and getting little bruises on her forehead. Silly girl. She still has a set of lungs on her that can be confused for neighborhood birds, except when you are indoors. I am sure the people trying to enjoy their meal in restaurants with us love the sound of a happy little baby squawking with delight through their meal. It is SO loud. She doesn't walk yet, but she scales. She can climb up slides, sets of drawers, onto ledges that are almost as tall as her. I like to "spot" her and let her do her thing and see what she can accomplish. Her climbing ability is quite fascinating. She loves swings and can get pretty upset if we take her out of one when she isn't finished. She doesn't like to be fed. She has to take it in her own fingers and feed herself. I'd call her fairly independent. But when she sees mama after a day without her at work, or even just a couple of hours, she immediately loses her little mind until she's in my arms. Even when wearing pink, she is assumed to be a boy by strangers. I get it when she's wearing neutral colors. But pink and purple? C'mon. Ava, you are adorable. You are beautiful. I cannot imagine my world without you. You make me laugh and smile. Thank you for sleeping better than your sister and giving me hope. Thank you, thank you, thank you for that. Oh, my Av, I am so excited to see you grow. But I also want you to be my little baby forever.  Happy first birthday my sweet little bird. 

Defiance

It wasn't until I was a parent that I heard that the "terrible two's" aren't that terrible. It's the Three's that are rough. Rough? That may be an understatement. Riley. That girl. She's rounding the corner to three and she just gets more wild by the day. She is too smart. If I ask her a direct question, she will go into this secret language where she shouts weird made-up words like "hootie" or "toca." She knows exactly what she is doing when she ignores me. Here's one odd-ball example: we went on a boat in Alaska and she would not tell Robby or I which animals we saw that day. The next morning she met my friends niece on FaceTime and when their family asked if she saw any Alaskan wildlife, she simply said "Yeah, Whales, Puffins, Orcas..." She is unbelievably defiant. I have tried disciplining her with soap and she says "more soap please" when I take it out of her mouth. I tried taking her favorite toys away. Her response to that was to push Ava, look at me, then hand me her favorite toy. Attempts at Time-outs of all kinds? She requests them. She'll do something naughty, then look up at me, tilt her head and say "Time out please." Take away her iPad, no problem, she'll find something else to entertain herself. Smack her hand, she'll say "do it again!" Or she'll whack our hand back. Listening and following directions is not her forte. 

While I am on the subject of how curious this little creature is, let me also note a few of the things she has asked for in the middle of the night. And I really mean the middle. These are 2 AM requests. Cheese samples, for the tags in her pj's to be cut out, for her nails to be cut. And of course the standards - a soft blanket followed by a not soft or "cold" blanket as she refers to it, ice water (it must have ice), a specific stuffed animal that she has not played with or shown any interest in for months. These are just some of her nightly requests. Anything to get us back in to her room for some social time in the odd hours of the night. This girl is crazy. 

Oh my sweet girls

I find myself saying "Oh my sweet girls" all of the time. I just love these two. Being a mom is the craziest, by far most stressful, and yet most unreal, most radical, best thing ever. 

Ava has gone from being incredibly quiet while inspecting the details around her, to being quite a little jokester. She does a little stare, like the quiet before the storm, and then cracks up and throws her body around, so much so that she bonks her head on the ground sometimes. She started to pull herself to standing just today. She crawls like a gremlin just like her big sister did. She is teeny tiny, just like Riley too. I guess I make 'em small around here. She is such a mama's girl, and I don't mind it a bit. She has 5 teeth. 

Riley is smart and beautiful. She knows what she wants and tries her hardest to get it. That is nuts to me that I am describing a 2 year old. The girl can push my buttons. I read something on Facebook once about your children being your little gods, in a way that they see where you need to grow (for example Patience) and force you to work on it. It was a great post, I wish I had the link. One of the funniest things right now is how she pronounces her R's when they are at the end of a word. She sound like she's from the East Coast, maybe Boston or New York when she says "your." She also is becoming quite a little fish thanks to swim lessons, enjoys Dora on her iPad, and loves giving Ava a kiss and hug as soon as she wakes up. 

Robby just completed his second Ironman 70.3. We made a trip out of it to St. George, Utah then to Zion National Park. I took 2 weeks of "baby bonding" time from work. It was a very nice 2 weeks. Robby did really well, especially since the temp was in the 90's on a tough, hilly course. Love you babe. He has become quite the endurance athlete. He is so driven towards better health. It inspires me. I love that I am inspired by my spouse after being married for almost 10 years. Not bad, huh? 

I'm kind of in a holding pattern. I am not completely content with life, which is usually my norm anyways, and which I find to be a good thing. However I am happy. Very happy. Today, Riley was sitting in my lap, then in front of her, Ava was in her lap. We were reading one of those soft, touch and feel the animal books. Riley was showing Ava how to do it. For a moment, life stopped, I was so fulfilled. I wanted life to remain stopped forever in that moment.

Generally though, I am always wanting and expecting a little more. Speaking of wanting a little more, I am taking steps towards a more Minimal lifestyle. More to come on that. For now, here's a few pics to recap the last couple of months. 

 We kept trying to get a family selfie while hiking towards The Narrows in Zion. This is as good as it got.

 Easter at my sister's house.

 Riley couldn't help but strip down and run toward the water when she saw a little beach near a park we were at in Coronado the other day.

 I can't believe how much older my nephews have gotten in such a short time.

 The new Waterfront park is San Diego is amazing.

 Costco.

It's starting to get really fun watching Ava interact with her cousin Luna (who turned One today - happy birthday Luna!).

Roughin it

By "Rough," I mean how hard it is to live in San Diego in late winter (jealous, East Coast and Alaskan friends?) It's been in the low 80's a lot of this month, which leads to picnic lunches in the yard and trips to the parks nearly every day that I am off. How can I complain (for example, about, yes you guessed it, sleep deprivation) when I have my healthy family and this wonderful weather.

One of Riley's favorite topics is the future…Whenever I say "No" to something that's not quite safe for her yet, she asks when "Riley bigger? Riley older?" That's her referring to herself. Always in the third person. And now Riley has expanded her grown up world to Ava. When I remind Riley, no sweetie, Ava can't play with pennies for example, she pauses and says to me "Ava older? Ava bigger?" Then she even adds "Ava run, Ava crawl, Ava have hair?" Yes babe, when Ava can run and crawl and has hair, maybe we'll re-evaluate if she can play with pennies. The way their mind wraps around concepts never ceases to entertain.

In other exciting news, Ava got her first little tooth. I know all of my readers were on the edge of their seats for that one.



Riley is potty trained. Or I guess I should say Riley is treat trained. I'm not sure if she has bladder control or just decides to 'go' because she wants an M&M. She's addicted to chocolate. Addicted. Every morning she starts her day with a piece of chocolate if she stayed in her bed once it's bedtime the evening before (instead of climbing out and running giggling into the living room 3 to 50 times like she used to do).
















Ava is 7 months and doing that little lean into a crawl position, then pancakes into a swimming motion without actually going anywhere.

Robby is training for another half ironman. He found this training program tailored towards family men such as himself, where you put the least amount of time in, to make the most efficiency out of that little bit of training time you can squeeze into working 96 hours a week and coming home to a part-time-stay-at-home crazy wife that expects your help as soon as your foot is through the door. I'd say as soon as your car pulls up, but maybe that's why he bought a Prius. Can't even hear when that little things engine is on.



I am working on my barista skills every morning with my espresso. I know, I know, I am the family over-achiever right? (the last one is my first attempt at a fire engine)

Last topic for today's blog is Riley on Discipline. Let's start with Timeouts. She asks for them. Literally. She'll push Ava, look up, and ask "Time Out?" Then walk herself to the wall and stand there for a couple of minutes. Not giggling, not interacting, just waiting for it to be over. Then will obediently say sorry to Ava, kiss her and move on. Only to push her again tomorrow. Really Riley? I tried putting soap in her mouth and she says "Mmm, spicy. More soap please." We talked about toys being taken away if she continues not listening. The next time I gave that look, you know moms, the one with the eye brows up, that says 'you're not listening,' - she says to me "hmm, take away toys please?" What am I to do with you honey?

North Carolina

I had the chance to take a quick trip to visit my dearest friend Wafa over a long weekend in February. Wafa is expecting a baby girl any day now! I got to take Ava and give her that goo-goo gaga baby attention that she doesn't get nearly enough of, as it's divided with her sister most of the time. I was so proud of the great traveler Ava was. When my girls travel well it just makes mama so proud. Good job sweets. While I was taking a shower or something one morning, Wafa and her wonderful childless, yet child-adoring girlfriends set up a fashion show for themselves with Ava as their headband model. 

Ava got to see snow for the first time just as we were departing. By the next morning Raleigh was blanketed with snow. 

Robby and Riley got their own hang out time too. 

My souvenir for Riley was a bottle of soap from Bath & Body works (I couldn't find any NC kid things that I thought she'd especially like). How well do I know my daughter? She went through half of the bottle as soon as I gave it to her.