A week of Christmas

This year was another fun, fabulous, festive Christmas!  We started celebrating with the arrival of Christina, Martha, Bobby, Heather, Bridgette and Aiden on December 23 and continued all the way through December 29 with Trey, Missy & kids who also came in town.  Ava had a great time playing with ALL her cousins, and ended up getting a ridiculous amount of gifts.  The best gift, however, was having all our family in town to celebrate together. :)

Below are a few pictures from the festivities...

Ava and Bridgette "rearranging" the nativity scene

Ava and Mommy in a staredown

Ava and Bridgette getting their first piano lesson from Tia Chris

Ava playing on the chair...she was told not to stand on it, but no one said she couldn't sit backwards and try to hang off!

Ava realizing she is being photographed ;)

Ava taking care of Aiden and listening to Vovó telling her to be gentle :)

The girls opening their MANY gifts!

Bridgette and Ava giving each other a "high five"!

Ava exhausted pre-gift-opening at Grammy & Grandpa's house

Ava loving the new doll Grammy & Grandpa got her, since she came with bottles and a carseat!

Ava with her Vovó and Grammy

Ava with her cousin Lauren, her new best friend, who let her play with her iPhone :)

Ava and Payton playing...what's better than a real doll in a real stroller to play with?

Plus, who would have ever thought that tissue paper was so much fun?!?!?

or click here to view the video via YouTube

Our attempt at a picture with Santa

Our neighborhood does a "Breakfast with Santa" event for all the kids, where Santa rides around the whole neighborhood on a firetruck then meets all the kids at the clubhouse for pictures and activities. 

Ava enjoyed seeing Santa ride by on the firetruck, waved and yelled "bye!!!" as he passed in front of our house.  She looked adorable in the outfit Grammy got her and seemed all ready to go to the clubhouse to meet Santa. 



We got there and were about 5th in line to take a picture with him...Ava seemed fine and curious about Santa until it was time to sit with him for a picture... When I tried to sit her in Santa's lap, she made the biggest frown and then reached for me desperately and started to cry.  She barely calmed down even on my lap for the picture... poor Santa didn't know what to do :(  But I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree ;)

Christmas 1979 :)  ...Bobby, Christina, Vovó, and a terrified Sandra

...maybe next year ;)



Ava's 18-month check-up

At Ava's 18-month check-up her doctor said everything was great!  Normally her doctor is always concerned about her weight, since Ava is petite and doesn't seem to fit in with the growth charts that are used... but apparently the American Association of Pediatrics has now decided to use the World Health Organization (WHO) growth chart that takes into account the growth patterns of babies from all over the world (instead of the US chart from the 1970's with primarily formula fed babies).  If we plot Ava's weight on that chart, she ends up in the 5th-7th percentile... petite, but perfectly healthy (as if we couldn't tell!  I can't imagine a more energetic baby, so she must be getting enough nutrition somehow) :)

Ava weighed in at 18 lbs 1 oz and she is 30 inches tall.  She has hit and exceeded all her milestones, and is growing and developing beautifully. 

Not that we didn't know all that already, but I suppose we are a little biased ;)  Anyway, it was nice to hear...

Ava the monkey

Ava absolutely climbs everywhere!!!  We really have to keep an eye on her, because she rarely stays on the ground.  She is always climbing on something!  This week it was the ladder to help daddy with the Christmas tree, and today she decided to climb on the end table.  She can climb up on these things in less than 5 seconds, it's amazing (and challenging for us to keep up with her).  If we try to get her off the end table or ladder while she is climbing, we actually have to work for it since she has a really good grip!

Here are a couple pictures and video of what I mean!

Ava helping Daddy put ornaments back on the tree (since she took them off earlier)

Daddy trying to get Ava to get off the ladder...

obviously unsuccessfully, since Ava is now lifting the ladder off the ground all by herself (while Daddy is holding her)!

Oh no! Ava knows the word "no" and

"não" and how to shake her head "no" and knows how to use it!!  She is very clear about what she wants and what she doesn't want.  She tells me what she wants to eat, if she wants to play with a certain toy, or if she doesn't want me to change her diaper, all with a simple "no". 

She has also started saying "hmmm" at the beginning of answers to questions we ask (this of course followed by words in her own language).

Example:
"Ava, are you going to go to school tomorrow?"
she replies, "Hmmm, asgo tubi lango badi."

"Ava, do you want to call Daddy?"
she replies, "Hmmm, dada asbe ma cabi"

...too cute for words!

Ava the chatterbox

Well Ava's vocabulary continues to grow and at quite a rapid rate.  Her vocabulary is in both English and Portuguese, as well as her own language.  Things she can say that we clearly understand are: Mamãe, Dada, Vovô, Vovó, Grammy (sounds like gammy), Grandpa (sounds like gapa), Hi, Bye, Bye-Bye, More, Please & Thank you (although it sounds more like pea & tan-tu), Cookie, Xixi, Coco, Bo, Outside (sounds like side), Star, Moon, Boy, Girl, Bath, Ball, Water (sounds like wa-wa), Wow, Baby, Book, Diaper, Sit, Stay, See it, One, Two, Three, Four, Five, and even seems like she has said "my mom is pregnant", as can be seen in the video below (it is at the 5:00 minute mark).  She continues to amaze us everyday! :)  And I am sure we will continue to decipher more words that she has learned, after all it is not just her learning curve, but ours too!

(the video is about 5 minutes and 15 seconds long, just click the link below)
Ava the chatterbox video

Bathtime fun with Bridgette!

After a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with our wonderful family and new friends, the girls got to have a bubble bath together.  Now Ava tends to take showers rather than baths, so this was an extra treat for her... and the bubbles just made it that much more fun.

There are too many great pictures to choose from (as usual), so enjoy them all!

We had our big ultrasound today!!! We're having a...

baby!!! :)  You didn't really think I was going to spill the beans, did you?  We are waiting to find out this little one's gender, like we did with Ava.  It was such a fun surprise, and fun to see who can guess it right. :)

Vovô and Vovó, Ava, and Daddy were with me at the ultrasound.  We got to see little feet, little hands, little legs, a beautiful spine, perfect little head, beautiful little profile with a tiny nose, and just a perfect little miracle growing inside my belly.  It is amazing to see so many details and think that this little one is only about 6 inches long and about 9 oz.  The doctor told us that the baby was in the 30th percentile for size, which was no surprise to us, since Ava is only in about the 10th percentile for size. :)  We saw the baby's heartbeat, saw the baby hiccup (guess all my babies hiccup ;), Ava used to hiccup all the time inside my belly and out!), and just got to marvel in what a little blessing this little one already is.  Below are some of the pictures we got to take away with us.

Baby's profile with a little hand next to the face

An incredible spine (baby is facing down) - amazing to see such a perfectly detailed body, even though the baby is only about 6 inches long.

Baby's little leg and foot

What a blessing to be able to see this little one right before Thanksgiving.  Just one more blessing to be thankful for this year.

Bridgette & Ava's pre-Thanksgiving playdate!

Bobby and Heather came down a little early, since they were spending Thanksgiving down in Galveston, and spent the morning with us so the girls and Aiden could play a bit.  Ava showed Bridgette all her toys, the girls danced, they drew a lot (some on paper, some on themselves), had lunch together, and then both were exhausted! :)  Ava was also totally into Aiden, she wanted to be near him, pat him, love on him, and just check out this little baby that actually moved, made noises, and was real!!! :)

Below are the pictures to show all the fun!!

"Hi Bridgette!!!  I love you!!!"

"Let me give you a hug!!"

"We hug and we fall down"

Ava continues to show her love for Bridgette:

Both girls were very busy with their artwork...

Aiden was just hanging out relaxing on the window seat.

Tia Heather helped add to the girls' drawings.

The markers got on the paper just as much as it got on them.

The girls loved washing their hands, the more soap the better!

"Let's pretend to sleep" :)

"Aiden can play too!"

"Let's help Aiden fall asleep, like a real baby!"

"I'm hungry, let's have some fettucini alfredo together"

"Mmm... delicious!!"



Being little can be exhausting!!!

Ava is quickly developing new abilities, expanding her language skills, learning so many new things that by lunch time she is exhausted...sometimes she can't even finish her lunch :)

She climbs on EVERYTHING...chairs, tables, ladders, ottomans, her wagon, cabinets...and in everything...closets, cabinets, boxes :)

She loves to read her books and will often sit down with a book in her lap and read with quite a bit of intonation, all in her own language, and quite expressive.  She loves to draw too.

Ava knows the sounds for the following animals and loves to tell you the sounds when you ask - unless you have a video camera, then she refuses ;): dog, cat, cow, fish, horse, elephant, sheep, duck, birds, chicken, lion, monkey, and pig ...she may know more, but I just haven't learned all the ones she knows yet ;)  She loves to say "bye", "hi", "Bo", "see it?", "ok", "more", blow kisses, talk on the phone, walk in mommy's or daddy's shoes, and explore just about everything.

Ava can get us to sing some of her favorite songs by simply looking at us and saying "row, row, row..." (Row, row, row your boat) or "e-i-e-i-o" for Old MacDonald.  Other favorites are "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", "A,B,C's", "Happy Birthday", and "The Wheels on the Bus".

She has figured out how to easily take her diaper off... not exactly a good idea, because if you take your eyes off of her for two minutes, you will find her little bare bumbum hanging out.

Can't wait to see what she'll learn next!

Second time this week she falls asleep mid-bite ;)