The Veldmans: Update

The days have been flying by and I've been just too exhausted to update the blog. Ava has been busy starting her days with her new wake-up time...6:20. Oh yes, I'm very excited about this! It used to be 7 or 7:30 which was great. I'm not sure if she wakes up when she hears Mema up and getting ready for work, or if she just wakes up on her own and wants to make sure she doesn't miss out on anything. Either way, I'm REALLY hoping that it stops once we get in to our new place. I doubt that this will be the case though, seeming as though it will have been her new routine for 4 months. I have to say that I'm at least grateful that for the past week she's stayed in her bed all night long. Last week we (ok, I, because Nate could sleep through a train coming through the house) would hear the pitter patter of her little feet coming across the floor, down the stairs, and into our bedroom. It's 12:30 am and I hear "I'm awake". When asked why she just smiles and says, "I'm awake". Back to bed we go and 15 minutes later the pitter patter is back. We do this 4 times. At 2:00 she comes down and says, "Mommy, I can't find my shoes". Back to bed we go and up goes the baby gate in front of her room so that she definitely can't find her shoes by the front door and escape into the garage. We are now locking the garage door so that she doesn't find her way out there in the middle of the night and get stuck out there. I can't imagine!!! Like I said, this week is much better.

Ava finally got a comforter for her big girl bed and she's super excited about it. We'll get a picture for you as soon as I finally go and get her some sheets that match as well as some pillows for the shams. She loves it and so do I (it was a gift from Mema because Mommy was to cheap to buy this particular one). I was shocked at how difficult it was to try to find a cute comforter for her bed.

The potty training continues. Some days are definitely better than others. Some days she gets super excited to go and other times she doesn't even want to sit on the potty. I was home on Monday after my long weekend of work. Ava had just pooped on the potty and we went directly to the kitchen to get her stickers to put on her potty chart. She's standing their looking at the stickers and I hear a toot. I look over at her and there is a pile of poop on the floor!!! I asked what happened as she and I both looked at the floor in horror and she says, "I pooped". Dear God! It was down her leg, on her dress, and of course on the floor. Thank God it was on the hardwood floor!!! If I'm not at work cleaning up poop then I'm at home doing it. So, let the potty training continue!

We are still in the process of looking for a new daycare for the kids once we move to Apple Valley. We met with a lady last evening and are hoping to hear back from her by tomorrow. This search has been more stressful than building a new house. Trying to find somebody to trust your most precious gifts with has to be the worst job. You can only go with your gut and pray that you're making the right decision. After meeting with her we stopped by and took a peek at the progress that's being made on our house. Slowly but surely it's on its way up. I can't wait for them to frame it in so that I can get a better sense of the size of it and exactly how it will look on the land.

I'm off to work this evening and then we'll be home all weekend. I am SO looking forward to a low key and hopefully relaxing weekend at home with my family. We're hoping for a trip to the park, a picnic, maybe the pool, and just hanging out. It will be nice to be able to stay home and not have to pack up for another road trip.

Wishing you and your family a fun and safe Labor Day weekend!

Ava loves playing with her Dora kitchen

This was Ava at 8:30 the other morning. She just laid down on the hardwood floor and fell asleep. I think that this is a good indication that 6:20 is far to early for a little girl like her to be waking up.