Ava {22 months}

Ava turned 22 months on July 29th, 2013.
They say babies change the most in the first year of life.
Well, because "they" said it - I was ready for that first year.
But this 2nd year has been amazing, watching her learning and growing,
and discovering and exploring,
and becoming such a wonderful, smart, funny, adventurous, spunky, beautiful, happy little girl.
Truly from a baby, to a toddler, to a little girl all in (not even) 12 measly little months.

I watch her throughout the day, mesmerized by the things she finds fascinating,
the beauty and absolute joy she finds in the tiniest of things in this enormous world around her.

I watch her and I am, to put it simply...impressed.
I am impressed by how smart she is,
how daring she is,
how happy she is, and how she tries to make others happy,
how thoughtful she is, how she really has a way of making people feel special,
how she always seems to be the life of the party.

She isn't even two and I already know she is a much better person than I.
I have so much to teach her, but really I have so much more to learn from her.

I love this little girl so much.
This tiny girl I somehow created, and is somehow so perfectly perfect for me.

Here are some new things about Ava this month...

Words she knows as of today (PURPLE ones are new words this month):

*I try to keep track of the new words/phrases she learns, but I swear she is learning them so quickly now, it's hard to keep up - so here are just some cute new ones that I can remember.

Grandma, temple, cereal, apple sauce, head, hug, GG (what she calls Great Grandma), chip, wake up, sisters, pig (holds nose), purse, bag, home, up and down, fork, spoon, high five, tah dah, bum bum, there she is, ipad, iphone, oh my gosh, get it, peeeeeease (please), ice cream, chicken, pretzels, taco, peanut butter, help, blocks, welcome, yellow, bee (what she calls all flying bugs), there she is/there is!, okay, choo choo, bug (she says bub), bless you (ba-choo), Bubba (what she calls Gavin), three, excuse me (she says skuze you), mine, bus, you okay? (when she or someone else gets hurt), hurt,  Jesus, uncle, airplane, egg, tractor, what's that (waz dat), two, car, orange, blue, purple, bird, bus, Misty (the horse), Oma (what she calls Becky), knee, amen, byebye, octopus, fishies, keys, sit, achoo, look, hat, kick, stick, Auntie, puppy, elbow, banana (nana), walk, eyes, hot, yeah, play (pay), swing (wee), cup, buckle up (buka uh), bubble gum (bubba guh), apple juice, happy birthday (appie day), cupcake, goodnight (nye nye), oh cute (ohhh toote), moon, bow, ouch, cookie, all done, water, happy, moo, baa, thank you, truck, duck/quack (same thing right now) car, balloon (boon), cake, please (meese), flower (wow-wee), belly (buh-bee), clicker, cup, oh no, ball, bubble, up, apple, cool, Elmo, baby, no, grandpa (says poppy), grandma (says mama), ow/owie, milk (muk), paci (she actually calls it mammy), cracker, shoes, dada, mama, hi, more, uh oh, wow, cheese, book

Friends/Family names that she knows: Lexi (Lessie), Duncan (Cuh-cun), Faith (Face), Avery (Aye-vee), Teddy, Anna, Norman (Meh-men), Maddie (Mah-ee), Blake (Bake), Kelsey (El-see) 

Funny things: 

• Love to play the game"night night, wake up!" She says "night night" and lays down and closes her eyes, then shouts "Wake up!" and jumps up and says, "Party! Party! Party!"
• She now wants to hug everyone she sees. For example, the sister missionaries live next door to us and she is constantly asking,"Sisters, hug?" 
• Puts arms out when asking where someone is, and says "Where Daddy go?"
• LOVES to sing the ABCs and she is getting better every day!
• The thing I had been dreading for a loooong time came to fruition this month - Ava now climbs out of crib and she does it very well. When I put her down for her nap or for bed, she usually climbs out at least once and then we put her right back in and she goes to sleep. A few nights, she's climbed out many times until eventually she just gave up and went to sleep haha. 
• Ava is a little climber. One day, we were in our back yard and I was on the phone. I looked down for a second or two, looked back up and Ava had climbed to the top of the chain link fence - all by herself! She also climbs on top of her changing table, on top of the table, tries to climb everything at the playground, etc. 
• She is getting good at counting to 10. She counts 1 (finger up), two, three, five, six, eight, nine, ten!
• Ava LOVES to sing. I will hear her in the next room or in her car seat just singing away to herself. She loves to listen to the Primary songs app on my phone and she tries to sing along. Her favorite primary songs are I am a Child of God and I Love to See the Temple. She also sings Bubble gum, Eat Eat Eat, Twinkle Twinkle, Mr. Sun, Baby Bumblebee, the Clean Up Song and more but I can't think of them right now. 
• She loves to swim, play on the playground, read books, build blocks, push her babies in the stroller, play on the ipad, bug Gavin (haha)
• Favorite foods: watermelon, bananas, peanut butter, scrambled eggs, cheese, apple sauce, oatmeal, cereal, pretzels
• She LOVES purses. Whenever we go shopping, she finds a purse, strings it around her neck, proudly exclaims "purse" and carries it all around the store. 
• Ava knows almost all her letters of the alphabet. If you ask her to find a certain letter, she can recognize every letter (For example: Ava, where is the G?). If you ask her "What is this letter?" she can recall and tell you the name of probably 90% of the letters. 

Here are some pictures from this month:

And in case that wasn't already Ava-overload...here are some videos. :)

This one is of Ava climbing out of her crib...

Ava "reading" a book to Gavin...

ABC's

This video describes Ava's personality so perfectly...

Blocks...What good are block towers if you can't knock them down and start all over? :)

Ava and her letters...I LOVE this application!

Until next month... :)

Gavin {4 months}

Dear Gavin,

You turned 4 months on July 6, 2013. It's hard for me to believe you are one-third of a year old! I can't imagine my life without you in it - you truly bring great, heart-bursting amounts of joy into my life! You are the smiliest baby, smiling at anyone and everyone who even glances your way.

This month you started laughing - a sound every mother waits and waits for. You laugh when we tickle you or when we make a funny face at you. Of course, your Daddy can make you laugh the most. Ava can also make you laugh - she can also make you smile so bright. You light up as soon as you see her - I can tell you two will be great friends (something that would make me SOoooooo happy!).

Recently, we decided to stop swaddling you when you go to sleep. I was nervous, mostly because Ava loved being swaddled so much. But when you were swaddled, you would wake up grunting in the middle of the night, seemingly uncomfortable. First I just took your arms out, but still swaddled the rest of your body...just for a couple nights. Then, I just stopped swaddling you altogether. You haven't missed that swaddle one bit - you still sleep exactly the same, you just look cuter doing it. You love to sleep on your side. So far on your side, you are almost on your tummy, but not quite. You still don't sleep through the night - only occasionally will I get a good 5 hour stretch out of you. Usually, you are up every 3 or so hours. We will get you sleeping longer eventually (hopefully). :)



Other new things about you:

• Grabbing toys
• Chewing on your hands
• Everything goes into your mouth
• You do "baby sit ups"
• Love to "stand" up
• Took your first road trip to Utah to visit the Webster side of the family
• Went swimming for the first time in the Johnson's pool
• Celebrated your first 4th of July

Two days after you turned 4 months, you rolled from your back to your tummy - something you had been practicing over and over for a long time.

You are suddenly very talkative. You love to squeal and squawk in joy.

Here you are at 1, 2, 3 and now 4 months. 

Gavin, sometimes I just lay next to you and stare at you as you sleep. These are the fleeting moments I wish I could freeze in time to keep you this size forever. I try to memorize each one of your perfect features - knowing how soon they will all change. I surprise myself sometimes with just how much I really do love you - my absolutely perfect, beautiful, sweet, handsome son. My son. I am so lucky to be your momma.

Love,

Momma :)