Sunday, February 24, 2013

Happy 3rd Birthday Ava!!!

Tomorrow our baby girl will be turning 3 yrs old. I can not believe how fast that time has gone and how I remember the day that she was born like yesterday. What a fond memory that day is for us. We were so in love with her that day, and somehow our hearts continue to grow as we love her more and more every day. She brings so much joy and laughter (and sometimes frustration) into our lives. She is a sweet and intelligent little girl who reminds us daily of the important things in life. This weekend we got to celebrate her birthday with family and friends. Ava wanted to have a "Minnie" Mouse party. We went to the party store last week and picked out all the party favors, napkins, etc. Unfortunately I could not find a Minnie cake. We ordered a Mickey and friends cake, and then Aunt Lisa brought up her Mickey Mouse cake pan and we added a bow to make Minnie. I must say that it turned out pretty good, and it must have tasted ok since it was gone by the end of the party.

Friday Aunt Lisa, Grandma Great, Grandma & Grandpa Becker, and cousins Reece and Zacky came.  Grandma Great stayed at a hotel, but Ava got to have a slumber party on her bedroom floor with her cousins.  Aunt Lisa slept in Ava's bed and got to hear the little ones up at 6 am on Saturday chatting.  :)  Saturday was the big party.  We had twenty some friends and family join us.  Ava had a great time tearing her presents open very quickly.  She also enjoyed her cake and ice cream.  She finally went down for a nap with Grandma around 2:00.  She was exhausted.  That evening all of us and Aunt Lori who came up Saturday morning from Des Moines went out for pizza.  It was a low key evening.

Everybody left by 11:00 this morning.  Ava took a nice long nap this afternoon.  After she woke up we went for a walk to the park in our neighborhood.  We put Grant in his carseat and loaded up the double stroller.  He has not been napping very well and has been a bit crankier than normal.  We have a Dr's appointment for Ava's 3 yr well child check, and Grant's 4 month well child check tomorrow.  I'm anxious to see how his ears look.  I'm hoping he doesn't have another ear infection, but my gut tells me that he does or at least has fluid in his ears.  I'm also anxious to find out if Ava still has her tubes in or if they fell out.  I'm hoping that they fell out so that we won't have to have surgery to get them out.  This April it will have been two years ago that they were place.  Let me say, two glorious years of no ear infections!!!

We hope that you all had a wonderful weekend.  Thanks to all of you who took time out of your busy schedules to help us celebrate Ava's birthday!  
The birthday girl
Grandma Great and Grant having a nice conversation
Playing pin the ring on Minnie's finger.
Ava with her Minnie cake.  Yes, Minnie went a little heavy on the spray tan and looks a bit orange
Feeding her newest baby...Ella Riley
A couple of pictures before bedtime

Grant just happened to turn 4 months on Saturday

The boys reading on the couch
Zack, Ava, Grandma, Reece, Grandpa, & Grant
I think that the piggy back ride was a bit easier on the body than the bull rides that Grandma & Grandpa gave the kids Saturday morning. 

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

3 month & 3 yr old pictures

We've had a busy week with ECFE, preschool, doctor appointments, and getting pictures taken.  I had last Tuesday off so I was able to attend ECFE (early childhood and family education) with Ava.  She always had a great time there, especially since she gets to do all sorts of crafts that we don't usually do at home because they are so messy.  :)  When we get there the teachers usually take Grant so that I can spend some one on one time with Ava.  I really enjoy this time and think that it's so important since she's had to share so much of her time since Grant came along.  This is 30 minutes where it's just me and her doing whatever activity she wants to do. 

Thursday was Valentine's Day.  No, Nate and I didn't have a romantic dinner out.  I went to work an evening shift and he was home alone with the kids.  Ava had a great time at preschool that day, as they had their Valentines Day party.  She was very excited about her Minnie Mouse valentine's that came with Minnie pencils.  She showed me all of her valentines that she had received the next morning, as well as a picture of her class from pajama day.  She pointed out her boyfriend Alex who is this cute little boy who wears glasses.  :)  After I dropped Ava off at preschool Grant and I went to his doctor's appointment at the cranio facial clinic.  We went to be evaluated for his slightly deformed head.  They think he has a bit of torticollis (shortening of one the neck muscles on one side, Ava had this).  So we are now doing daily stretches with him, lengthening his tummy time, and going to PT once weekly for the next month and then biweekly for 2 months.  While we were there the Dr. was concerned that Grant's skull has fused to quickly.  He named some condition and recommended that we get a CT scan so that he could better evaluate it.  The only way to correct this is to have surgery to take the plates in his skull apart and rearrange them.  He had a head CT at 7 wks old after a little accident at a birthday party so the Dr. looked at that one.  I spoke with his nurse on Monday and thankfully the Dr. said that the CT looked good.  We follow-up with him in two months so I will speak with him more about any concerns that he may have or anything that we should be looking for.  We are so grateful that his CT looked ok.  I can't imagine sending my baby into neuro surgery!

Saturday we went to the mall to run some errands and get Grant's 3 month pictures taken.  We went to Penny's, which was a nightmare.  We will never be going back there again.  We ordered some pictures, but none that I love.  That afternoon Mema & Boppa came over to play and brought us dinner.  It was great to see them and have the kids play with them.  Sunday morning we headed to Woodbury to get Ava's 3 yr old pictures taken.  This was a much better experience than from the day before.  We even got some of Grant and the both of them.  I posted some below. 

Monday the kids got to stay home with Daddy since he had the day off and I worked.  Today I had to call in since our sitter's son had a fever of 102.  The Dr. said that Brady was fine to be around other kids but I just didn't feel comfortable sending my babies over there.  So, I spent the day with the kids and I get to be home with them again tomorrow.  They'll head back to Cyndi's on Thursday. 

We're anxious for Ava's birthday party on Saturday.  We're really hoping that the weather holds out so that everybody from IA can make it up here to help us celebrate.  I can't believe that my baby girl will be 3 yrs old on Monday.  I love her beyond words and can't imagine my life without her in it.  Don't get me wrong, we have our moments of frustration, but she brings so much joy into my (and Nate's) life. 

Hoping that you all have a wonderful rest of the week and a fabulous weekend!

Grant doesn't seem overly excited about his Valentine's Day picture

Ava-bug and G-man

Love her shoes and his!






Monday, February 11, 2013

The weekend

We survived the weekend and what was supposed to be a big snowstorm. Luckily the forecast sounded much worse than what actually happened. The roads were slick, but if you took your time they were fine.  I worked my 12 hr day shifts, which left Nate to man the house with the two kids.  It was a trying weekend for him, as Grant spent a lot of those days crying.  I'm not sure if it was his ears or what.  He finished up his antibiotic this morning.  So far he has been good, but we'll see what the afternoon is like.  Hopefully he has turned the corner and is on the mend.  It was awful listening to him cry (scream) on the other end of the phone and there was nothing I could do.  Poor little guy! 

Saturday morning Aunt Sandy and cousin Olivia came to visit.  Ava said that she had a lot of fun playing with Olivia.  It was so nice of them to come and visit, and I'm sure that Nate appreciated the extra set of hands since Grant was cranky.  That evening Lauryn and Dave came to watch Ava and Grant while Nate went to Uncle Wes and Aunt Janna's engagement party.  I was bummed that I had to miss it!  I got home a little after 8:00 and Grant was in bed but Ava wasn't home.  She and Dave went out to get dinner for Lauryn and Dave and they got lost.  Ava comes strolling in the house at 8:30 with an Icy.  Yeah, one of those sugar filled drinks with ice.  Bright blue it was, and she was so proud and happy about it.  I chuckled, thinking that I would never give that to her during the day, let alone when it's past her bed time.  She had a great time with them though, and that's the important thing.

Hope that you all had a good weekend!

Grant watching the Super Bowl in his sleep sack last weekend

A half smile with some drool during tummy time.  He did actually roll over on to his back this day.  Fairly certain it was an accident and he would have no clue how to do it again. 
Olivia and Ava doing some coloring. 

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Here we go again...

First of all, I apologize...I don't know where the past two weeks have gone!  Sadly enough, I don't have a lot of pictures to share as I haven't had the camera out much.  I do have a few on the camera, but the ones below came from my phone.  I'll try to download the others maybe tomorrow evening. 

Now for the title of this post: Grant was supposed to go and have his three month old pictures taken yesterday.  Instead, Grant and I headed to the clinic so that he could be diagnosed with his second ear infection in a month.  So, we are now trying a Z-pack and hoping that clears up the infection.  Thankfully this kid eats whatever we put in his mouth so we don't have to fight him to take his medication.  For the past week or so he wasn't napping very well and just didn't seem quite as happy as normal.  Yesterday he started just screaming and he wouldn't stop.  That's when I decided we needed to cancel pictures and head to the clinic instead.  He was up at 2:00 this morning crying, but I got him down after about 45 minutes and he slept until 6:45.  Poor little guy.  He's now had two doses of his meds so I'm hoping that tonight is a quiet night, especially since I work tomorrow (and all weekend).  While we were at the clinic the pediatrician pointed out that his head is a bit flat on the right.  I noticed this about 2 days ago when looking at his head from behind.  I didn't think it was that bad, but obviously it is noticeable as the Dr. referred us to the cranio/facial clinic at Gillette's Children's Hospital.  So, Grant will have his eval and possible PT next Thursday.  I'm hoping that he'll just have to do a few sessions of PT and we can avoid a crani cap.  Ava had to go to PT for the same thing and responded well.   

Yesterday was a busy day.  Besides going to the clinic in the afternoon, I went to what will be Ava's preschool next year.  Mema came down to spend the day with the kids so that I could meet with the teachers at the preschool, as well as meet with a woman who is willing to do back-up childcare for us in case our provider, Cyndi, is ill or for some reason unable to watch the kids when we need her to.  I think that we will be very happy with the preschool that we got Ava into for next year.  I got a little emotional walking down the hallway seeing all the book bags and coats hanging.  I can't believe that my baby is old enough to go to "school".  I always wondered why mothers cried when their kids went off to their first day of kindergarten...now I get it.  I felt that way and it's only preschool! 

Speaking of Ava getting older, she will be 3 yrs old in just over 2 weeks.  I remember the day that she was born like yesterday.  It's amazing how quickly this time has gone.  She is no longer my baby, but rather a very opinionated, bright, loving, and strong willed little girl.  Although there are times that the whining wears on my nerves, I can't imagine my life without her.  She brings us so much joy and makes us laugh every day.  She talks everyday about the things that she's going to do when she "grows bigger" and we remind her every day not to grow to quickly. 

We are pleased to announce that after two months, our furniture has finally arrived.  Our living room is now almost complete (we decided to order another piece to our sectional to make it just a little bit bigger).  Nate went and picked out a media stand which he did a great job picking out.  And we now finally have a TV that you don't have to squint at to see when you're sitting on the couch.  Nate got his 60 inch TV, which is definitely a step up from our 37 inch TV that was filling (or rather Not filling) the space.  I'm starting to find some frames in boxes and hopefully this place will look like a home sometime soon. 

Other than that, nothing too exciting to report.  I'm off to work again this weekend.  Nate will be heading out Saturday evening for Uncle Wes and (Aunt) Janna's engagement party.  Auntie Lauryn gets to hang with the kids until I get home from work.  Ava is very excited!  Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

This is from two weekends ago when we went to TCF stadium for a family fun day.  I think that the highlight for Nate was the tour of the stadium which included the locker room.  I have to admit, it's quite impressive.  We had a great time spending the afternoon with Mema, Boppa, and Uncle Wes at the stadium.
Love this guy and those big cheeks!  A little side note, he weighed in at 17 lbs 5 oz yesterday, and was 27 inches long.  The Dr. projects he will be 6'4.  That should be tall enough to play basketball.  :)
Ava asked if she could hold Grant.  I said yes and she said, "now please take my picture".  Grant looks a bit apprehensive about the whole situation, but Ava loved it.  And yes, she's in her PJ's.  It was pajama day at "preschool" that day.
My happy little man!