Happy Birthday Ava!

Today our little girl turned 3 years old.  I can't believe it.  I swear I was just at the hospital giving birth to her and holding her in my arms for the first time.  She was so small and innocent and perfect... Sometimes I look at our two little girls and wonder where they came from. Of course I know where they came from but I just can't believe they are ours. I mean 4 years ago Dave and I weren't even engaged (In 4 days 4 years ago we would have been but not today).  A lot has happened over the last 4 years for us and I am so grateful.
Ava came into this world full of life and energy and stubborness.  I was sick all 9 months of pregnancy with her.  Her labor and delivery was awesome and super easy (especially compared to the pregnancy) but I never realized a newborn could be as stubborn and full of energy as she was.  She refused to eat until there was milk (she basically starved herself and ate from a syringe for 3 days until that came). She SCREAMED that she had to work for her food and was so impatient.  She had to be rocked to sleep every night and screamed until she was asleep.  She has 2 speeds on and off - there is no middle ground with her.  I never realized what a difficult baby she was until our calm Ella came along :).  So when you see Ava you will know that she came the way she is and it isn't completely our parenting that contributes to her behavior. Now don't get me wrong I would not change a thing about Ava.  She is the life of the party and super busy and fun to be around.  She has calmed down some but she still has 2 speeds and is super impatient and stubborn but she is also sweet (she is constantly telling people to give her a hug with her arms wide open and wanting to hold hands with everyone she meets) and fun and full of life and personality that you just can't help but love her.  All of these qualities will take her far in life once we learn how to channel that energy towards good things.
At age 3, Ava loves:
1) To dance - we have many of dance parties in our house.  Ava loves turning on music and telling everyone to dance.  It's so cute.
2) Hoarding toys - she has always done this but more so now that Ella plays with toys too.  The worst (well one of the worst) things I ever taught Ava was the whole toy trading thing with Ella.  We did this mainly when Ella was little and didn't care what she played with but Ava still thinks it applies and will "trade" Ella some fun toy for a piece of trash or a plastic bag or something totally lame.  Poor Ella. Ella doesn't take that anymore though and just starts screaming at Ava. So to resolve this Ava has decided on most days to hide toys from Ella or carry around as much as she possibly can so Ella doesn't even have a shot to play with it.  Ava on most days looks like a homeless child (that is because she screams when I try to touch her hair or just shakes her head around so I can't do anything to make her hair look decent - so the huge rat's nest in the back of her head is fairly common) but when she is toy hoarding she puts all of the toys in a little play shopping cart and walks around our house making her more resemblent (if that's even a word) of a homeless child.
3) Princesses - The princess dolls she got when she gave up her binky are still with her at all times.  They are the one toy that she has never forgotten about.
4) Treats - If she could live on sugar alone she would.  She gets that from me.  She begs for treats ALL day long and is sometimes successful at finding them and hiding them for a special moment when I am not looking.  I have found her several times sneaking some treat that I have no idea where or when she found it.  She is crazy.
5) Teasing her sister - It seems like nothing in life makes her more happy then picking on her little sister.  Although she HATES it when Ella teases her - that is always a pretty comical thing to watch though.  Ella for not walking yet is super fast and a pretty hilarious little teaser. When Ella grabs a princess and darts away before Ava even has a chance to realize what happened I cry with laughter. Ava's payback is coming in due time.

We love Ava so much and couldn't imagine life without her.  Our home would be boring without her craziness! She brings the party wherever she goes and we love her so much! Happy Birthday Ava! We love you so much!!

WICKED

So two weekends ago Dave and I went and saw the Broadway Wicked.  It was AWESOME!! I have never seen it before but it was so good and for anyone who hasn't seen it you totally should.  Dave really liked it too :).  It made me enjoy the whole story of the wizard of oz so much more.  Whoever came up with this story is very creative.  Go see it you won't be disappointed.  The picture was taken on our phone hence the blurriness.  Loved it!
In other news a few weeks ago Ella learned how to wave and say hi.  I love it when we are out and she will just start waving and saying hi to strangers and then they ooh and aww over her like we do :).  She is so precious and getting busier everyday...

Baby Elizabeth Ashby

So we have been teaching Ava her full name of Ava Elizabeth Ashby.  She doesn't quite get the concept of it being her name though.  So she will ask us what our names are and then she will say no you are Daddy Elizabeth Ashby or Mommy Elizabeth Ashby.  At dinner tonight Ava had a little baby doll that she was pretending to feed and Dave started asking Ava what her baby's name was.  The conversation went like this:
Dave: "Ava what is your baby's name? Should we give her a name like Charlotte?"
Ava: "No it is Baby Elizabeth Ashby!"
Lots of laughing took place after that.  She reminds me of my sister who named her animals "Red Bear" and "Blue Bear."  At least they are easy to remember.

I Love You Lots

Well since I posted about Ava being the queen of manipulation in our last post, her manipulation gets better everyday.  These past few days she has learned how to get herself out of trouble.  Now whenever she does something naughty and Dave and I get mad at her she comes up to us and looks up with those big, blue, puppy eyes and says, "I love you lots!"  How can you get mad after that - trust me sometimes you still can but it definitely makes her punishments smaller :).  She is growing up so fast...

"I need water"

So Ava is the queen of manipulation especially at bedtime/naptime or anything really that she is trying to get out of.  Normally when we lay her down for bed she starts telling us that she is hungry or needs water or needs her princesses or blankets or wants to read another story or needs to go potty on the toilet (the same one she refuses to sit on during the day but that is a subject for another post) but you get the idea.  Her mind just comes up with everything she can possibly think of to get out of the inevitable.  So I just went in there to give her a kiss goodnight and we layed her down 2 hours ago so she's sound asleep snoring and all (she is our little snorer which is pretty funny).  Before I walked in though Dave says be careful she is just going to ask you for water. So I walked in her room and she is snoring as usual, so I tuck her in and give her a kiss on the cheek.  After I kissed her she says (in her sleep), "I need water! Water!" and then she starts snoring again.  Even in her sleep she manipulates.  She is such a smart and funny little girl.

"I'm Queasing Daddy"

So on Sunday Dave was on the phone and walked outside to talk while Ava followed him outside.  I started fixing dinner and all of a sudden Ava throws the door open and slams it shut with all the force she has and then put her tiny body up against the door to hold it closed and squealed, "I'm queasing (teasing) daddy!"  I started laughing so hard I couldn't get mad at her for slamming the door and nearly destroying our blinds.  She is so silly and loves to quease :).

Ella's 1 Year Photo Shoot

So I finally got around to taking 1 year pics of Ella.  I got Photoshop for Christmas and have been able to play around a little with the lighting and coloring in the pictures but I am still learning.  I think they turned out pretty cute but I am pretty sure it was the one being photographed and not the one photographing that made that happen.  I'm still working on them so they aren't perfect but I figured I would share them anyways.