Where Did Naps Go?

I don't think I'm ready for children who don't nap. Ethan still naps most days, but Ava has dismissed them. She'll play in her crib for about an hour so I still have a little time, but the 2 hr naps seem to be a thing of the past. We're lucky in the fact that she doesn't get overly cranky, but she tends to be a bit accident prone with the lack of sleep.
Here is an example, she slipped on the steps and scraped her ankle. She's a trooper though and after only a few tears she was up and running.

Ha ha, when Murphy's law works in your favor..... Ava just fell asleep. Her first nap in days. What to do with all the extra time today?

A New Collectors Item

Stones and gravel have invaded our house. There are individual collections randomly displayed around and if your not careful there is always the possibility of stepping on one. Now Ava gets very distressed that her collections might be damaged, but I assure you only the bottom of our feet receive any.

A New Bike

So way back at our Yard Sale one of our neighbors had a push trike for sale. Although her daughter was not yet ready to part with it. So about a month ago she had stopped by the house letting us know that she was ready to let go of this greatest of great bikes. I didn't have the cash on me and it only took me another month or so to go and pick it up. The pressure was on their house has been for sale and the sold sign keep catching my eye. I was one week away form being too late.

They Grew

It's not that I didn't expect the bambinos to grow. And I did realize that by the age of two they would A LOT bigger then when they were first born, but every once in a while an image just blows me away. Poor Ava and Ethan spent the first month or two living in a laundry basket. They both fit nicely and it was strong enough for the two of them, the max weights on most baby things did not allow for both of them to be carried around together. This also meant they could be right there in bed with us and no worries of us rolling over on them. So as ghetto as it sounds it worked out perfectly.

Ethan and Ava
4 days old
Ethan and Ava
23 months old

Stories I've Missed

Ice cream cones

Both Ava and Ethan were introduced to Ice Cream Cones recently . Their reactions were very different. Ava loved the coating of chocolate, but when that was eaten refused to let the rest of the cone near her. Ethan devoured it, all of it. Now the smart thing would have been to not do this in the car, but really I needed more cleaning I'm not doing enough.

Dishes

Doing dishes is one of Ethan's favorite things..... well really anything to do with cleaning is Ethan's favorite thing to do and dishes is no exception. His expertize falls under the rinse category. He spends all his time rinsing the same three sippy cups. Now that leaves me with a little more then half of the work, but help is help so I don't complain. Now it took me some time to perfect the situation so I wasn't pulling my hair out by the end. I have a huge pet peeve about my feet being wet when they are not supposed to be. Nothing sends me into nauseated disgust more quickly. So at first I found him helping almost unbearable, because it's really unreasonable to expect him to keep all of the water off the floor. But a combination of training and towels we've managed to get it working well.

Our 7th Wedding Anniversary

We had a great one, although it was not as high as the first ones. We spent all our early anniversaries climbing mountains. We started the ritual on our honeymoon, we accidentally took a seven hour hike up the side of a mountain. So we fell in love with the idea, well it's more like Ant loves the idea. I love to just torture myself, I've cried on all the hikes we've done. I'm afraid of heights and being on the side of a mountain leads to some metal courage to conquer the fear. But I have not had to be saved by a helicopter yet so really I think I'm doing well. Maybe next year we can get back to the climbing, this year all we climbed were the steps we built in the back garden ( ha ha I called it a garden, anyone who knows how great I am with plants will be falling over in laughter right now).

Just A Quick Visit

I know people call me crazy, but sometimes I just don't have the patients to wait. My friend Mel had her Baby on Saturday August 16. I wasn't waiting to go see her, so with Ant's 2 days off we headed of on Monday night at 5:00pm after I finished work only to drive an hour through ridiculous thunderstorms. Like crazy, at one point our hair was standing on end the lightning was so close. We arrived some time after 8pm and spent a relaxing evening together. Ava even slept in a big girl bed, she only got out once (go Ava). Lexi is so beautiful and I would have so may more pictures of her if the battery on my camera hadn't died. I have to get permission before I can post any. Anthony did all the packing seeing as I was at work and that's the only thing he didn't bring. On Tues we stayed till the kids nap time then headed home.

An Afternoon in Ottawa

Ant had a layover today in Ottawa. So the Kids and I made a trip up to see him. We timed it just right and they slept all the way there and back :) We wore them out, 2 different parks and a stop at the beach. If that doesn't get them to sleep through the night I don't know what will. It wasn't a camping trip with Auntie Nikki, but at least we weren't stuck at home on such a great day. Here are some pictures from today......

Playing In The Rain

I don't even know what kind of pictures I got today of the kids running around in the rain. Ava got to wear her new rain coat. I've tried to get her to wear it before, but she got really up set, not that she didn't this time, but it was actually raining so I had justification for her to wear it.

So here's what I got.......

Dear Mel

I am so excited for you! I have not heard official news of your daughter's arrival yet, but I'm praying if you were induced this morning that she is here safe and sound. I have gained so much from you as a friend I can only imagine what you will inspire in Lexi. I wish my words would spill across this page, that they would do justice to how wonderful a mother you will be. But all that comes is basic and simple. You are an amazing person and I hope Lexi knows how lucky she is!

Love Ya,
Jen

Memo

If you would just peek at the time this was posted,
Thank you!
Ethan has changed his bed time, I did not get the memo. He I believe has just fallen asleep or at least I am hiding quietly in the basement so as not to be called in there again. I'm thinking nap time needs to be altered. He sleeps like a rock star for about 3 hours if he's given the opportunity. Up until a day or two ago he was up at 7 or earlier in the morning. He is now sleeping till after 8am.

shhhhhh, Nope he's still awake I can here him singing

Although I'm not really into having me time serenaded, I'm so loving the silver lining on this one.... he is sleeping strait through till morning.

Ava loves letters and numbers. She can now count to 7 (that's the number of stairs down to the basement) I can't believe how many letters she knows. She's still not saying much, but she'll be able to spell it soon.

Ethan loves to mimic, you can get him to say almost anything. He actually had a conversation on the phone with his Auntie Nikki

Auntie Nikki "Hi Ethan"
Ethan "Hie"
AN "What are you doing?"
E "Playing..... Bye"

And she understood every word.

Moments in the Backyard

You Can Dress Them Up But You Can't Make Them Sit

It's been forever since I had my lights out at home. I think the last time I took these kinds of pictures of the Bambinos was over 7 months ago. I have to try to keep it up, it shows such a different side to them.

I tried to get one of them together and that just ended in tears so I wasn't going to push the issue. Maybe next time.

Window Sill

Playing With My Lens

I have a lot of work to do to get used to this lens. It is a prime so I have to move more, with moving kids it makes for some fun.
I hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend.

Now That's a Cut

I think the whole world is better of that Ant is a Pilot. Because really he shouldn't cut hair!

Landscaping

Digging and digging and then more digging....
I hurt......
I hope it is all worth it!
We had more thunder storms.... really where are they all coming from this year?
I'm tired, heading to bed.

I'll leave you with a picture of Ava....


Oh and the new lens I got was a 50 mm, 1.8. So cool. Too bad I spent all day digging.

Ok here is one more before I head to bed

Ethan's Eyes 2

Ant and I have our Anniversary this weekend and to start it off he got me a new lens. I got a short time to play tonight, but no one really wanted to co-operate with me. I am so excited.....
See what I can do......
It's quite the difference from the last one Ethan's eyes
For one the scabs on his face, he fell out the back door, poor boy. Everyone who sees him comments on them. I even had someone ask me if I took him to the hospital, really it's just a scrape.