2nd half of March

Coming back later to caption these and maybe add the first half of march. ha too lazy for now.

Ava Version 2.5

Two and half years old today. Spunky, outgoing, smart, happy, a little bit bossy, and sometimes stubborn (just like someone else you might know). She loves to sing and dance, wants to take her baby doll everywhere, could spend every waking moment outside searching for rocks and other little treasures, she is definitely NOT a "homebody," and is just the life-of-the-party kind of fun! We love this girl!

•  
• Ava knows every single word to all the Frozen songs, even if she has no idea what those words mean. Case in point, "Our mental synchronization can have but one explanation." She knows the words but has no clue what they mean haha. She loves to sing LOUDLY and is always asking me to play the music louder and faster (basically just meaning louder and louder) when we are in the car.
• Ava loves to dress up in "ba-reena" clothes. She opens her dress and skirt drawer and pulls out the most girly, frilly dresses she has and begs to put them on...or she just puts them on herself and struts out of her room proudly. "I bew-ful Momma." 
• She is fiercely independent and in such a "I do it myself" phase. She loves to watch us do something once and the next time, she wants to do it all by herself. For example...if I read her a new book, she will sit quietly and listen (for the most part). The next time we read that book, SHE wants to "read" it to me. It's adorable listening to her try to re-tell the story to the best of her ability - some books she can recall almost perfectly. She LOVES "Going on a Bear Hunt," and several others.
• Ava knows all the letters of the alphabet and what MOST of the letter sounds are (vowels are still kind of tricky). She knows how to spell her name and can recognize names like MOM, DAD and GAVIN. She can count almost count to 20...mixing up the "teens" pretty much every time. But she's getting better. She recognizes numbers 1-12 and is working on recognizing the teen numbers. She is also getting very good at counting with one-to-one correspondence. 
• Ava is fearless. She will climb anything, jump off anything - which, in turn, terrifies me! Her skinned up knees and bruised legs will attest to her countless acts of "bravery." She just loves to play, and she plays hard. 
• Ava is very perceptive of feelings and is very tender-hearted. If she can tell I am stressed or a bit frustrated with her, she will hang her head and sadly say, "I sorry Mom," until I reassure her that it's okay, let's make a better choice next time. Until she sees me smile, she will say over and over, "I sorry Mom, happy girl Mom?" If she is sad or hurt or throwing a tantrum, I've learned the best way to deal with it is to simply kneel down, get on her level and wrap my arms around her tiny little body. She instantly melts into me and says, "I sorry Mom. I yuve you." Then we can go about our day happily. 

Being two and a half is fun, I've learned. It's exhilarating, it's curious, it's happy, it's silly and goofy. It's every-minute-is-a-dance-party and it's I-never-want-to-go-to-bed. It's snuggly and precious and full of wonder. It's exhausting and frustrating. It's I-want-so-badly-to-be-understood and don't-you-dare-mess-with-me-when-I'm-tired. It's a beautiful daily discovery of this wide world in front of her. It's so much packed into these tiny two and a half years she's been alive. 

And oh how I've loved these two and a half years. 

Here's to many, many, many more.

Happy half birthday my love. 

Gavin {12 month Stats}

Gavin had his 12 month well-baby checkup today. 

He officially weighs 23 lbs (60th percentile)

 and is 2' 8.5" tall (over 100th percentile - off the charts).

Just an interesting fact: 

At their 12 month check-ups, Ava and Gavin were both exactly the same height. 

Ava weighed almost 2.5 lbs more than Gavin when she was his age. 

In true Gavin fashion, he made his way around the waiting room several times waving and smiling at every single person and waited for each of them to acknowledge him before he moved onto the next person. The doctor even commented on how social he is. 

Gavin got 4 shots and barely made a peep. He's a tough little guy. Sweet Ava held his hand and watched intently, very concerned that the nurse kept poking her little brother over and over. 

And just because I can't resist...here's a sweet little picture of my Ava girl. I'm sure everyone thinks she sits still and poses for me like this - ummmmmm yeah, NO. This girl is constantly on the move and never, ever looks at the camera for more than half a second - IF that. SO, when I get a good picture of her, you better believe I'm going to take that moment to put it on my blog haha. I love love love her energy and spunk - she brings so much joy and FUN into my life.

Sweet little moments

I caught this sweet little moment when the kids were talking a bath this weekend after playing outside ALL DAY and just having the time of their lives together. Ava was washing Gavin's hair and singing the song that I sing to her when I am washing her hair. Moments like these warm my soul and make me feel so emotional. I hope these two will always be friends, love one another, support one another. I love these two so much.

And a picture of my squeaky clean Gavin boy. Oh how I love him! 

Mr. Blue Eyes :)

The End

Auntie Kait

Growing up, I always watched my mom with her two sisters, who (even if we lived far away) were absolute best friends. I grew up thinking that your siblings just were your best friends, plain and simple, no questions asked. So, my sister and I have always been super close. Even going to different colleges and now living across the entire country from each other, I don't think we've ever gone more than a few months without seeing each other. And in between visits, we Facetime almost daily. Especially since having my kids and moving to California, Kaitlyn has made a special effort to always come see us - taking time off work and paying her own way from Virginia to California without a single complaint. And once she gets here, she cleans, changes diapers, babysits my kids, plays with them (and by that I mean, climbing up jungle gyms at the park, spinning on the tire swing until she is sick, sliding down slides, holding daily dance parties and running around like a lunatic just to get my kids to laugh). She feeds them, wakes up early with them, snuggles with them, organizes things I didn't even know needed organizing, sneakily pays for things when I'm not paying attention, buys my kids the cutest clothes that I have been eyeing forever but won't spend the money on, and mostly is just an incredibly wonderful friend to me. I can't even put into words how much I love her, how much my kids love her. We are lucky to have our Auntie Kait. 

"LYLAS. Well, we are sisters, so let's be best friends...deal?"

And if that wasn't enough...she even let me take her pictures! Our little "photoshoot" started because she needed some "professional" pictures for some business cards (which are the ones at the bottom). And then we took a few minutes to take a couple more pictures outside (in the crazy wind, might I add!)

Her "business card" pictures:

And these two perfectly describe her during our shoots, "I feel so silly!" Beautiful AND humble!

Happy Birthday Gavin! {1 year old!}

Dear sweet Gavin,

Today you turned ONE year old. I truly cannot believe how fast this year has gone. It has flown by in the blink of an eye. You have gone from my tiny, mellow baby to my constantly-on-the-go, joyful little man. I want to shout from the rooftops how adorable I think you are and just how much I really, truly, deeply do LOVE you.

Things about you:

• Everywhere we go, you attract a LOT of attention. You are what I like to call a flirt. You bat those dark lashes, and those bright blue eyes light up as you smile and wave at everyone who passes by. I'm not exaggerating when I say that every time we go somewhere people stop me to tell me how adorable you are, how much you look like the "Gerber Baby," and how perfect they think you are. 
• You are now walking like a pro! No more crawling for you. You also have become quite a little climber.

• You love to chase your sister around and you also love to be chased in return. You two are always together, following each other around all day long. I love to watch your little developing relationship with Ava. 
• Words you can sign: grandpa, milk, up, more and sometimes "all done." You can wave hi and bye bye, can make the sign for "popcorn popping," play patty-cake (clap, roll-it and throw it in the pan) and do the "round and round" for the wheels on the bus. 
• You make a lot of sounds, but you don't say any words yet. 

• You LOVE to eat. And eat. And eat. 
• Your typical daily schedule: Wake up at 7:30. Nap and 9/9:30-10:30. Nap again at 1-2:30/3. Bed at 7:30. On MOST nights you will wake up ONCE during the night (in the very early morning between 5 and 6am) to eat and then go back to sleep until 7:30ish. 
• You LOVE to dance and you love music. I love listening to you try to sing along.

• You have 5 (and a half) teeth. Two on the bottom and 3 (and a half - one is still coming in) on the top. I am starting to see the next ones on the bottom below the gum line. 
• You weigh around 22-23lbs on our scale at home. You have a doctor's appointment at the end of March, so we will see then how much you really weigh and how tall you are now. 
• Your Daddy gave you your first haircut this month! You look as handsome as ever. 

• When I asked your dad what I should write about in regards to you, he just said, "He's a sweet little boy." And really, this is a perfect way to describe you. You are simply, sweet. You are snuggly, give sweet hugs and kisses, smile constantly, and really just brighten up any room. As you toddle around the house, you have a permanent grin on your face of contentment. As independent as you are, you always check back with me every few minutes, give me a hug, burry your little face in my arm or lap and make sure I know that you love me. 
• On the flip side of that, you also have a feisty streak and when you know what you want, you make it known loud and clear. :) You have your needy moments when you just want me to hold you, and expect me to drop whatever it is I am doing and do just that - hold you. And so...I do. :)

I really feel like I could go on and on about all the special things that make you, you. I adore you and can't even believe you are mine. I know I say this all the time, but I feel so lucky that somehow I get to be your mom. I am so sad to say goodbye to your baby-ness, but so thrilled to watch you grow and discover and explore and become the little person you will someday be. I hope you will always know that I love you. I will ALWAYS love you, love you, love you. 

And deep down, you will always be my baby boy. 

I love you forever, 

Happy Birthday love,

Momma


Behind the scenes video of our little "cake smash."
Gavin Cake Smash BTS from Ashley Webster on Vimeo.

Gavin on his actual birthday:

For breakfast Gavin got blue pancakes. We took him to Habitot, a little children's museum in Berkeley and he had the best time playing with water, dressing up as an astronaut, and climbing all over everything.

When Bryson got home, we had cake and Gavin blew out his candle (or actually Ava happily blew out the candle for him). I am SO happy Kaitlyn got a cute little video of all of us singing to Gavin - so cute!

(Bryson requested Nothing Bundt Cake - yum yum!)