Bath Time Is Now Splash Time!

After Ava had a major diaper blow out this afternoon, we had to give her a bath, she was just covered, how this girl gets her poop everywhere I will never know. Ava has been getting more active during her baths and now enjoys playing with her cups and sucking on her ducky washcloth...why do kids like sucking on their washcloths? But today she finally figured out how much fun it is to splash in the bathtub. The more she splashed the more excited she got and the more soaked I became. It was fun though so I can't complain.

I think in a month maybe she will be strong enough to sit in the bath ring in the big tub, she can sit by herself pretty well already, much sooner than Logan could, so I think she will be a steady sitter by 6 months. I think it will be fun to watch her and Logan in the bath together, she sure loves her big brother and watching everything that he does and is always going after whatever he is playing with, he is in for a rude awakening when she starts crawling and walking.

All in all a fun Sunday!

The Star Of The Party...

Yea it was my sister's 18th Birthday party tonight, but Ava was the star of the party, decked out in her cute little tutu and sparkly onesie for Auntie Katie's party. Ava wasn't put down all night and she got to hang out with the girls and got all the attention a 4 month old could every want! We had a fun time and Logan ran around all night with his cousins, he was so pooped out he didn't even wake up between car and house...always a plus! I ate way to much taco dip and I am sure both myself and Ava will be regretting that decision tomorrow....

Anywho, here are some pictures of my little princess!

August or January?

I have to decide when I am going to start my CNA course. Most people don't know that I want to go back to school and go into nursing, the few people I have told were met with mixed feelings and I really don't want to hear the "but what about all that time and money you spent on your B.A. in psychology/sociology and your all but dissertation masters "degree"...yea I know I got married had a beautiful baby boy and that experience led me to want to pursue nursing, something I never thought I would want to go into while I was in college. I am sure I will get into the whole change of direction in life story soon, but ever since I had Logan going on four years now, I have wanted to do this and recent happenings in my life have only made that desire stronger and I am very excited to get started, which for me means becoming a Certified Nursing Assistant first.

The weekend course is offered twice a year, August and January and up until a few days ago I assumed I was going to start in August. But... then I thought about how hard it is going to be having a pretty young Ava still, getting ready for her big first birthday party and then Logan's 4th birthday party (remember now their B-Day's are only 4 days apart) then the holidays and I thought well I should just start in January after all that is over with and I can give it my FULL attention. Ava will also be well over year and no longer nursing which will alleviate a lot of stress from me not having to be pumping or giving formula while I am gone in class and at clinical's. Matt and my Mom (from whom I am getting my support in this endeavor from) both think January would be better for me as well, I just don't want it to seem like I keep putting it off to those that do know about my aspirations and are wondering what it taking me so long (not that it should matter, but two complicated pregnancies since having Logan didn't really accommodate me starting this program when I would have liked to)

SO anyway I think I have made my final decision to wait until January. I am gong to email the head of the program and see how far in advanced I can take care of my entrance tests, physicals, interview, etc for next January and hopefully secure a spot since it is a limited enrollment program. I am really excited to take this next step in life, it's one of the biggies I want to get done before we start having anymore kiddies!

I found a posting for my dream job last month at a hospital near by who were hiring 3 CNA's to become OB tech's where they give them additional training so they can assist during c-sections and other procedures on the L&D floor. It was part time, nigths and every other weekend...ugg exactly what I am looking for while I am in my child bearing years here. I want to work L&D, Post-Partum, or maybe ambulatory surgery at a hospital and be part time so I can still be home with my kids during the day. Hopefully my dream job will reappear once I have my certification! I am also hoping to find a job as a CNA were I can get help going back to school and eventually do my LPN (licenced practical nurse). If I go all the way to RN, it will be after I am done having kids and they are all in school because it is a very demanding undertaking and right now my priority is being a mom, they are only young once ya know.

Ahh, if I could go back to college I would do it all so differently, but then again I needed the life experience to get me here, so hey what are you going to do? As my favorite social work professor told us, "You have to do what makes your heart sing."

It Was A Painful Night...

I must have been distracted by the ladies long program a little too much tonight, I managed while cutting through a piece of French bread to cut to far and slice open part of my palm and finger, why i was cutting bread into my hand I don't know, but damn it hurts. I got it to stop bleeding eventually, thought I might be taking a trip to the ER but it's starting to heal together now.

As if that wasn't painful enough, I then went ahead and fell down the stairs, first falling hard on my bad hip and getting some lovely rug burn and jacking up my arm and shoulder trying to catch myself. I'm sure there will be a bruise tomorrow, good thing I'm starting physical therapy on Monday....

On less painful note ladies long program was awesome, everyone skated wonderfully, and I am so happy that the Canadian skater who lost her mother last Sunday was able to skate so well and land on the podium, what an emotional skate she had both tonight and during the short.

I better get to bed before I harm myself any further tonight....Owwee!

P.S. Happy 18th Birthday to my not so little anymore sister Katie today!

Give You Little Ones An Extra Hug Today

I found this blog: http://laylagrace.org/ through one of my Mommy friends blogs and it just breaks my heart what this mother is going through. To have to watch your child suffer and ultimately die is just sicking to me. I have followed other blogs in the past similar to this one, but this time it is just hitting me so much harder, maybe because I have a daughter now. Reading this blog gives me patients and love for even the hard times with Ava and Logan and reminds me that we are not guaranteed any time here on Earth. What a special little girl she is and I have been praying for God to surround her in peace as well as her family.

I'll never understand why this has to happen to little ones, one of the girls in my graduate school cohort was pregnant the same time I was with Logan, and her son was born with cancer and ultimately lost his battle at 2 months old. I just can't understand that, why would God put a baby and his family through that, I know there has to be a greater meaning to it all, but it just breaks my heart in pieces.

If your the praying kind please send some to this little girl, and hey even if your not the praying kind send some comforting thoughts and vibes their way. I can't imagine what this mother is going through and what this little 2 year old is going through...and I pray I never will know. It really puts my life in perspective, if we have our health, then really we have everything.

Ladies Short Program

Ladies short was really fun to watch, everyone they showed skated pretty great. The U.S. doesn't really have any medal contenders this Olympics (it will likely be the first Olympics since Peggy Flemming that the U.S. doesn't medal in women's figure skating) but both the girls skated well and are in fifth and sixth place going into long, so not to shabby. The front runners were amazing tonight, two girls from Japan and one from Korea. I only had one problem with scoring, and that was that the one girl can do a triple Axel in combination with a double toe loop I think it was and the girl with the triple triple combination scores more points because technically she is doing more revolutions...that is a bunch of crap. Just like the quad needs to be awarded more points so does a female doing a triple Axel (very few women can do them at all let along in competition and in a combination. I think the U.S. has had two girls that could do them that I know of, Kimmi Mesiner and Tanya Harding) which is the hardest figure skating jump because you take off in the forward position. A triple Axel is standard for men, but women only have to do a double so a triple is pretty impressive and should be judged accordingly in my opinion. Can't wait for Thursday night the top women are going to be awesome and I love watching some good skating!

In other new, there is this whole backlash from the Russians over Evan's gold medal. Evegni's website has awarded him the platinum medal for this Olympics...seriously get over it, I have lost all respect for the guy. Evan didn't do the quad, but what he did do was better executed than the rest of Evegni's program. Like Evan said if the long program was based on quads it would be over in 10 seconds not 4 minutes...sheesh.

Gotta Love Them

Think we can fit one or two more on there?

Baby Spit Can Be So Cute...

Ava started doing raspberries the other day...so cute! She makes a big spit mess in the process, the video isn't the best but you get the idea. You will notice that she is clutching Logan's helicopter, it's her new favorite toy and of course she has to wait all day until he is in bed to her little hands on it.

Houston We Have Teeth!

Tonight as I was playing with Ava and making her laugh I caught sight of what looked like some white coming out of her gums. She has been teething like crazy and we keep checking her bottom gums for any sign of teeth cutting through, but hadn't felt anything yet. Logan's two bottom teeth came up in February so we figured we would have another early teether when she started the hard core drooling in December. So I pull down her lip and sure enough her two bottom teeth are popping up at the surface. No more cute toothless smiles for us, my little baby is getting so big already! I am trying to get a decent picture, but every time I pull her lip down she sticks out her tongue, as soon as I get one I will post it. So that was our excitement for the night, I know we should rein it in a little, our Saturday nights are getting a little wild...

Mommy's Little Gymnast

I went along with Matt and Logan to his gymnastics class, I haven't been since he first started. I wanted to see how he was doing and get some pictures. He does pretty well during class and he is catching on to some of the moves. He should be moving up to the independent class this next session, hopefully he will do ok in that class, if not we will put him back in parent tot class for another session. Anyway here is some pictures of my little gymnast. Ava was wide awake and very interested in everything that was going on...maybe there is hope for the future of course I already know that I will start her at 18 months and I can't wait to buy her first leo!

Getting some good air!

Man it's hard to believe the stuff I use to do on this 4 inch beam...

He ran over to me during class and said " Mommy I love gymnastics!" Me too kiddo, me too...

Have To Give Him Props!

Congrats to Evan for bringing home the gold! He had an awesome skate and he deserved it for sure. Evgeni just wasn't on tonight and even though he is one of my all time favorites he didn't have a gold medal skate this time. Three Olympic medals ain't to shabby though! Judging was fair between these two for sure. Yes Evgeni did the quad and landed it, but it wasn't his best quad and his other jumps were off as well. Evan did not do his quad which was a gamble, because if Evgeni had been his best, he might not have one, but it worked out in Evan's advantage tonight. I am sure Evgeni will feel different he feels very strongly about doing the quad and that it should be done to move the sport forward (I agree, it's the same thing with gymnastics these days. I watch the gymnasts now and the way the point systems have changed it's easier to be an elite gymnast than it was in my day and i feel like it pushes the sport in the wrong direction)

I thought that Johnny Weir had the skate of his life out there tonight, and in his case I felt he was underscored, perhaps being in a way punished for this unruly behavior but as of late he really turned himself and his training around and that was evident tonight. Way to go Johnny, he has to be pleased with that skate at the Olympics, he deserved better than 6 place in my opinion, but many said his program was too simple (no Quad here either), but he skated it beautifully.

And how about that young kid who's lace broke in the middle of his program! I had that happen in the middle of a sychro program once, there is no worse feeling than when you lace goes and your skating, you just lose all stability and it's quite scary. I have had it happen a few times, once during a performance with my synchro team and luckily it was towards the end and I didn't have to let go of my teammates at that point. I have had my laces go during practice several times (I had to change my laces one year so they matched my sychro boots better and these dumb laces wouldn't stay tied to save my life, I had to find a new pair eventually it was a PIA!) one time during sychro practice I went flying into the boards so I feel this guys pain. But he handled it well and finished up strong which is hard to do with a break like that.

Anyway very exciting event tonight and how awesome that while not my favorite skater of all time, the home town hero came through and I have to give him his props because he trained his ass off and he delivered at the biggest competition of his life under more pressure than any of us will every know.



Edit:
Ah yes this came out today, I knew he would have this opinion:

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/evan-lysacek-evgeni-plushenko-embroiled-war-words-lysaceks/story?id=9891791

I Heart Mens Figure Skating

So the Olympics are on and Men's Short program was on last night and I of course stayed up late to watch it. I prefer men's figure skating to women's, I guess it's because I am more into the athleticism of the sport and not all that artsy parts (I do understand the importance of having both). I haven't been following figure skating as much as in the past because I've been busy with two kids so going into the Olympics I didn't know who was going to be there and whatnot. I was very excited to find out that the reigning men's gold medalist Evgeni Plushenko from Russia was coming back for another Olympics (his third he has a sliver and gold already). I love watching him because while his transitions are not the best, his jumps are awesome and he does the quad that so many other's don't because of the risk and being able to get enough points by doing the triple combinations, and he does them with some much ease. His footwork patterns are just as awesome in my opinion and obviously the judges still love him and his style because he is currently in 1st place followed closely by Naperville's own Evan Lysacek. Ya, I know I should be rooting for the hometown hero, but I have never really loved watching Evan, I don't know something about him irks me. I saw him live at Starts on Ice last year and yes he was amazing and I don't doubt he could win on Thursday and he is the whole package, but secretly I hope Evgeni wins, how awesome is two gold's in back to back Olympics? I wonder if Evan will throw his quad in his long program or play it safe? My money is on playing it safe, but if Evgeni is on and throws his quads in, Evan might be in trouble. So much controversy over the quad and the way it's scored and I love that Evgeni and a few others just don't care and go out there and throw them like their nothing. SO anyway Thursday is going to be very exciting to watch, the US should be in the medal stand for sure in less there is a complete disaster. Here is some video of both men, it's hard to compare them it's like comparing apples and oranges really very different styles.

This is not his current program, but it's my favorite of his, I actually used portions of this music for one of my own programs back in FS3.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfBQBUxMx5Q

and here is the program you will see on Thursday night
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6vml3Nicr8

Here you can see Evan at US Nationals (which he didn't win this year) and him attempting the quad which he doesn't land, makes me think he won't put it in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN0EjO9eSjE

and here he is when he won worlds without a quad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk_XL-1hoXc

Getting Back Into It...

Skating that is. I didn't skate last week at all because of the snow storm on Tuesday and no weekend contract ice on Saturday so I had a week to rest up which was good because last time I was on the ice I was tired and having a hard time landing any jumps and finding a center on any spin. Tonight I had class and then a lesson with my coach, which is a little hard to be 100% for my lesson when I only have a half an hour break between the two. As one can see from watching skating on the Olympics, some days your on and some days your off, tonight I was back on again, jumps were landed easily, spins were centered and I even jumped some axles (Axel is the only jump I don't have yet, I was very, very close to landing them when I got pregnant with Ava) and they are coming back really well. For the most part most of my jumps are back or better than when I stopped jumping. It feels good to pretty much be back where I was before Ava skill wise. I am not however anywhere near back to my pre-Ava stamina. I think if you asked me to do a power class or run through my program I would end up passed out on the ice. I am hoping that once I start ice show rehearsals in April that, that will help my stamina and well it better because I think it's five performances for the ice show this year... So now we are working on polishing up my jumps and spins and getting nit picky about them so they look good (I am having trouble holding my landings nicely mostly due to my stomach muscles being total crap because of two c-sections) Anyway, it felt good to skate after a week off, my hip is killing me now though I really need to make my appointment for PT being in pain all the time is getting old and it's been going on since I was pregnant so it's time to fix it.

Ava and Logan played down in the playroom today why I did some laundry. She had never been down there so I brought the exersaucer down there and she sat in there while she watched Logan with all the toy down there. So I was able to get some wash done today. Matt did get the ceiling painted he has to do touch up today and then get my grape vines back up and that will be done. We had really yummy ribs that cooked in the crock pot all day for dinner so good tender and good, nothing like getting off the cold ice and having a warm crock pot dinner waiting for you when you get home!

Pictures of the kiddies from today!

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday you say? Yep Matt's actually off work today for the holiday so it's a happy Monday at our house, but since I have him home today I will be putting him to work so it might not be much of a happy Monday for hubby. We are re-doing our UGLY counter tops hopefully next weekend so before that happens we need to paint the ceiling in the kitchen since it still has touch up marks from when we first moved in that don't match the current white color of the ceiling. We did the dinning room last year before we put the new floors in so that only leaves the living room ceiling which doesn't really need to be done so probably won't be touched until we put new carpet in there. It's currently almost 2pm though and he and Logan just got back from Home Depot with their supplies and now he wants to go shopping since we are out of pretty much everything so hopefully my ceiling project will get done today.

So Matt spoiled me once again for Valentines Day, he got me a beautiful sparkly key necklace that I really wanted, made us a yummy steak dinner (he even cut my steak in a heart shape) and then did a late night sushi run for us after Logan was in bed. I love my hubby he rocks my world. What did I get Matt you ask? Something practical of course, because he is a practical kind of guy. I got him a cover and case thing for his iPod touch that I got him Christmas, I know so romantic. We had a nice Valentines Day though, we went to the mall to Build A Bear (big mistake on Valentines Day) because Ava got a gift card and we never made it over there to make her one before she was born like we did for Logan so we thought we would go. Matt and Logan went to the Lego store while I waited in line. Of course Logan saw a James Lego set and wanted it so he threw a fit and then didn't' want to make a bear at Build A Bear, but he did pick out a cute bunny for Ava to make. So we made the bunny for Ava and picked out a Cinderella dress for it she seemed happy with it as she was chewing on the crown while we waited to pay... Lesson of the day: DO NOT go to Build A Bear on Valentines Day, in less you dig waiting in line for an hour. Here are some more pictures from Valentines Day




You know your man loves you when he cuts the steak into the shape of a heart...

Happy Valentines Day!

Hope your Valentines Day is filled with lot's of love!

Another Birthday!

Man we have a lot of family birthday's this time of year, starting in September and going through May it's just one after another. It slows down after May and I am the only one with a summer birthday (July). This weekend we are going out to Matt's parents for his Mom's birthday, we are having dinner and then the rest of the family is coming over for cake and presents. We have to pick up Logan at my Mom's first (good thing they only live 5 minutes away from each other) and then we will head over. Ava is wearing a cute new sweater dress and sparkly pink leggings (Matt says they look like hooker pants but I digress) I think she looks cute as can be all ready for Grandma's birthday party!

One Child Feels Like A Vacation...

Logan is having a sleepover at my Mom's tonight so that leaves us with only little Ms. Ava to deal with for the night. Logan was very excited to get to Grandma's after school today so I dropped him off then headed home. Matt and I decided to go out for our Valentines dinner tonight since we only have Ava tonight. Dinner was nice and Ava got a lot of attention from everyone at the restaurant of course. So we had a nice dinner and then headed home and just vegged out for the rest of the night. I played some Super Mario Brothers for the Wii (I love me some Mario) and Matt played with Ava. Ava is sleeping now and I am ready to head upstairs and have a nice uninterrupted nights sleep since Logan isn't home (although for the past week he has been sleeping through the night...knock on wood that he keeps doing that so we can get Ava sleeping in her crib soon) and hopefully we will get to sleep in tomorrow as well! Hopefully Logan is sleeping good for my Mom tonight! Nighty night!

Another Busy Day...

Today was another busy day for us over here, Matt went into work early to get some work done then he came home picked us all up and we headed to the Social security office. We got there right when they opened and there wasn't a parking spot to be had. So Matt dropped me at the door and drove around and around until he found a parking spot. I walked in maybe five minutes after they opened and it was PACKED already. Like at the good old DMV you get your number and wait to be called...an hour later it's finally my turn. So I found out that Ava was never assigned a social security number (way to go LGH *eye roll*)and it could take up to 8 weeks to get her a number...errr! The lady said hopefully only a couple of weeks, but to call back if it's not here in 4 weeks. I am so peeved at the hospital for dropping the ball on this, but at least it's done and we can file our taxes soon, worst comes to worst we file without Ava and then do an amendment (which it will then take forever to get the remaining money back).

So my life lesson for the day: The Social Security office is worse than the DMV

For Being So Short, I Sure Make Tall Babies!

I took Ava to her 4 month check up today and yes I breed giants apparently. She is 26 1/4 inches (95th percentile) our pediatrician walked in and and asked where the heck she is getting this height from while looking at me... Well Matt is quite tall 6 foot something and there is some tall people on my Mom's side so it must be from there, her doctor said she will be taller than me in the near future...yes I know my kids will tower over me since they take after my Matt way more than they take after me. Our chunky money is still quite chunky at 16 lbs and 3 oz.! Her doctor said she sounded better and we could drop down to twice a day for breathing treatments until the cough is gone. Ava had to get one shot today, and she didn't even cry this time, she is such a trooper!

After Matt got off work we ran out to the court house in Rolling Meadows to get a copy of Ava's birth certificate so we can figure out what is going on with her social security number.

It was a busy day and I am exhausted!

Holy Snow Batman!

We got hit with a big winter snow storm today, so I didn't make it out to skating in fear of my life and Matt skipped his lodge meeting as well. We hung out at home and after dinner Logan headed out into the winter wonderland with Daddy to play while Daddy snowplowed and shoveled. Logan wanted to play baseball, but he couldn't find his little tee-ball set in the backyard as it is now buried in snow, so he made some snow angels instead. Here are some pictures from our winter wonderland