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 :)

Ava {21 months}

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

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

Just a few fun things about Ava:

• Songs she loves: 5 Little Monkeys, Head Shoulders Knees & Toes, Daddy Comes Home, Baby Bumble Bee, Bubble Gum, Mr. Alligator, Wheels on the Bus, If You're Happy & You Know It, Ring Around the Rosy
• Foods she loves: Milk, bananas, popsicles, cheese, all fruit (raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, apples), apple sauce, pretzels, peanut butter
• She loves to "talk" on the phone. She picks up our ipods or iphones and puts it to her ear and says "Hewo?" And then has long, one-sided conversations with whoever she thinks is on the other end. Every time I ask her who is on the phone, she replies proudly, "Poppy!" (Which is what she calls her grandpas). Whenever I pick up my phone to make a call, she asks "Poppy?" thinking I am calling her grandpa. 
• She is very outgoing and social and loves to play with her friends. She asks for her friends on an hourly basis, if not more. She asks for Teddy, Lexi, Avery, and Anna. 
• She is ridiculously fearless, which I love, but it also scares me sometimes. She is fiercely independent and never cares to look back to see if I am around. She will ride any ride, play with any animal, go anywhere, play with anyone. Fearless I tell you.
• She loves the garbage truck - whenever it comes on Fridays she runs to the door shouting "Tuck, tuck, tuck!" Then she says "yum yum yum" each time as it "eats" the garbage, waves bye bye as it drives away and even blows it kisses. She also loves to point out every single tiny speck in the sky as an "Aye-pane!" and any and every truck or bus that we drive by.
• She has learned to turn on the camera on my phone and when she does, she walks around the house saying "CHeeeeeeese!" taking lots and lots of pictures as she goes.
• She is getting her top right 2-year old molar. So she is chewing on everything - especially her pacifiers. This, in turn, causes her pacifiers to get holes, which means they lose their "suck" - if you know what I mean. When she pops one of these chewed-upon pacifiers into her mouth, she immediately shouts, "Ucky!" and throws it on the ground.  
• She knows and recognizes the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G and O. 
• She is starting to "count," but she only says two, two, two, two. If I say one, she holds up one finger and then says "two." And THEN she says "three...go!" (one, two, three....go!).
• She says "Tah-Dah!" when she does something she is proud of, like a summersault or riding a ride. When she is feeling especially proud, she even goes up to random strangers, holds her arms over her head and proclaims, "Tah Dah!" 
• She LOVES to dance and "twirl" with her arms over her head like a ballerina. 

Ava singing the ABCs  (kinda haha)

Listen to her say "There she is!" at the end.

Saying yellow about her yellow straw.

Dizzy :)

There is so much more I could say about our sweet girl, but these are just some fun highlights. 

We love you SO much Ava Sophia. 

You are the light of my life, I love you more than you know. 

Love, 

Momma :)

Videos {of Ava}

Here are two videos for your viewing pleasure. pshhh

Really though...

This one is Ava showing me her letters. She is slowly learning her letters - we work on them constantly.  She loves to learn the letters and colors (I should take a video of that, too - she says "yeh-woah, yeh-woah, yeh-woah!" always three times, and "puh-puh" for yellow and purple).

And here is one to make you laugh. 

For some reason the way Ava says popsicle makes everyone laugh. 

You will hear it at the very end of this video.

Yes, she says it like that every single time - so funny.

And that is all I have time for. 

Thank you and goodnight. 

Happy Father's Day {From, Ava}

Ava loves to sing the song "I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home..."

Or I should say, she loves to dance and do the motions to the song while I sing it haha. :)

On Sunday, when the Primary kids got up to sing the song, she motioned along with a huge smile on her face and even applauded herself at the end.

This is her way of saying "Happy Father's Day" to all the dads out there 

(as if she even knows what that means...) :)

and now for the blooper reel (even though there's just one blooper). 

Happy Father's Day to my Dad who always teaches me to get back up whenever you fall. 

And if it's in the middle of a song, just pick back up where you left off.

Love,

Ava

Here is Ava on Father's Day last year. Holy cow, where has the time gone?

Gavin {3 months}

Dear Gavin,

Today you turned 3 months old. I feel like I blinked and you suddenly you were no longer a "newborn." You are such a happy, smiley, friendly little guy - you bring nothing but absolute joy into our lives. You flash the sweetest baby smile every time someone smiles at you - which means you have many adoring fans everywhere we go. I have been asked more than once, "Where do I get one of those?" I'm lucky that you are mine, mine, mine. :)

This month, you found your new favorite "snack"- your hands. I love to watch you working so hard to get those chubby little hands all the way up into your mouth. Your hands have proved to be a great source of entertainment. Your hands are almost as good as your pacifier.

You took your very first airplane ride this month. You were absolutely perfect and slept almost the entire time. I had many people comment on how well-behaved you were. We flew to Colorado to celebrate Aunt Maddie's high school graduation. It was the perfect excuse to visit all of our family in Colorado and to let everyone meet you, finally! Now you have met Grandma and Grandpa Webster, Grandma and Grandpa Schooff, Auntie Kait, Auntie Maddie, and Uncle Blake.


Just a few night ago, you drank your very first bottle. This means that I can leave you with Daddy if I need to and I don't have to worry that you will get hungry. Of course, I can't imagine being away from you for very long - I know I would miss my little man.

That same night, your Daddy made you laugh for the very first time. Hearing your sweet, squeaky laugh was the most beautiful sound your emotional mom could ever hear, it brought tears to my eyes. Of course, you will only laugh for your dad for now - but I know some day you will think I am funny too. :) You are also very ticklish - you squirm and grunt and almost laugh anytime we tickle your belly or under your arms.

Some other random things about you:

• You are wearing size 2 diapers and 3-6 or 6 month clothes. 
• You usually eat every 3 hours.
• You take 3-4 naps a day (usually 3). Your morning and early evening naps are about an hour, but your afternoon nap is typically around 3 hours (which always lines up perfectly with Ava's).
• You love taking baths. 
• You have blue eyes and brown hair. You have one dimple on your right cheek.

And here you are at one, two and now three months.

Well, my sweet little man, I love you so much. I LOVE being your momma. I always say that if all babies were as good as you, I would have 100 kids (okay not really, but you know what I mean).

Love always,
Momma :)