Avases

   Ava is at the fun stage where she's really starting to take hold of our lovely English language and get creative with it. Ah, toddlerhood . . . the only time it is acceptable and, dare I say, cute to use poor grammar. 


   Currently, she's experimenting with plurals:

More than one dog = Dogses

A herd of cows = Cowses

A night sky filled with stars = Starses

Storytime = Bookses

Toes = Toeses

   Seeing a trend? Funny thing is that she used to be more correct in her plural usage. Now, she's decided to try -ses at the end of everything for awhile. 'Cause it's fun! We get our kicks where we can.

   Or, maybe she's turning into Gollum. "Nasty, tricksy hobbitses . . . "

eek!

Swim!

Since it was ridiculously hot yesterday, we went to the pool! Ava loves to swim, and Sam got to try it for the first time. He was pretty chill about the whole deal, but seemed to enjoy kicking his little legs! 

Before we left, Ava decided to look adorable whilst playing with her water table.

Yep, adorable.

Then we walked to the pool! Sam was excited to take a refreshing dip.

And Ava was excited to try water wings for the first time! Well, in this picture, she was actually asking us to take them off, but once she got to try them in the water she thought they were pretty nifty.

She did really well once she figured out how to use the water wings to keep her head above water! She liked having a bit of independence -- just a bit -- she could kind of step off the pool steps and kick around a little. She would say, "I do it myself!" and was quite proud of herself. :)

Sam had fun kicking around, too! And doing backfloats. It was pretty exciting!

And here's a teensy video of our experience  . . . teensy because it is hard to video and hang onto squirmy little girls at the same time. Hooray for swimming!

Oh, Brother!

(Sorry for the rather blurry images -- taken on a phone)

 Sweet little kiddos sitting together on the chair. 
All's fun and games until . . . 

Sammy ataaaack!

But don't worry . . .

He just wanted to eat her arm.

Ava says, "Ew."

A 4-month Update

When little Samuel was born, we didn’t have a name picked out for him. Well, we had three that we liked, but really couldn’t decide on just one. It was totally different from our experience with Ava. We named her as soon as we found out she was a girl. With Sam, we eventually decided that we would have to meet him before we could choose his name. 

Then he was born and he was a big boy! At 9 pounds, 7 ounces and 22 and a quarter inches long, he looked strong and tough. Not a particularly delicate newborn. We had the name Samuel on our list, and both knew when we first saw him that it would be his name. We joked that he looked like a Samson with his mess of dark hair, strong look, and a determined little scowl on his face. :) But, we went for Samuel. Samuel William. (William for my dad. :) It’s his middle name, too!)

We had Sam’s 4-month checkup yesterday. Well, technically almost 4 1/2 months, but close enough. He seems to be keeping up his growth pattern! His updated stats: 17 pounds, 11 ounces (90th %ile), and 28 inches long -- they said his length was off the chart! Rather than giving an exact number, they just said greater than 97th %ile . . . whatever that means. Seems crazy that he’s grown almost 6 inches in just 4 months and nearly doubled his weight!  

And, just for comparison -- Ava was 17 lbs 14 oz and 28.5 inches long at nine months. And Sam is four months. Only four. Whoa. This boy thing is different than the girl thing. (Already picturing ghastly grocery bills for feeding a starving teenage boy . . . eek!)

Anyway, here’s my Samasaurus sleeping with Mr. Bear yesterday. Isn’t he sweet?

Yesterday’s other news: Adam got his hair cut short (woohoo!),  Ava got home from a little stay with Nana & Papa, we had a fun family night at the Street Faire in Louisville, and . . . oh, yes -- Sam slept through the night . . . two nights in a row! Hooray!

Muffins!

    The kids and I had a nice little walk over to Sunflower Farmer's Market this morning. We were out of milk, which can be quite the dilemma when you have Ava around. She's a milk addict. She rolled out of bed this morning saying, "Milk, mommy?" So, of course we had to make a little trek to the market. 

    Plus, we needed a muffin. Ava and I love muffins, and hadn't had a good one in at least a couple of weeks.  Here's a picture of the one we got, because I know you're just dying to see it.

It was delicious.

Since we're talking about muffins, let's talk about our littlest muffin, Sam! ('Cause the grandparents are most likely reading this, and you know how they love seeing baby pictures. Hi, Mom!)  Anyway, Sam's still relatively new around here, so you'd better get to know him. He's a pretty fun little guy.

See? Doesn't he look friendly?

He's really happy to meet you.

Ahm. "I wish I could have a muffin."

Mo-om! Stop taking so many pictures!

:)

He's a sweet boy. Still not sleeping through the night at well as we'd hoped, but we're getting there. He does put himself to sleep on his own now. Hooray! Someday we'll sleep all night again . . . someday.

And, lucky you: here's some extra cuteness tossed in. I checked on him while he was napping -- he found his thumb! Adorable. But let's not make a habit of it, Sam. Tsk tsk! :)

28

I’ve been thinking about blogging for quite awhile now. I love reading all my friends’ blogs. I like to hear their funny stories, see pictures of their homes and families, and just to feel a little more involved in their lives since some of them live so far away. Maybe if I write they’ll feel a bit more connected to me, too. 

And Liz told me once that I should blog. And so did Sarah. And then Nichole told me she’d read my blog if I had one. (And I know she will, just to humor me.) And there’s Jill, who was already following my blog even though I hadn’t posted anything yet. So there’s at least a couple, and maybe even four readers already! Holy cow!

Plus, I’m just excited to share our stories and to have a way to document life and remember the funny things that the kiddies do and all the little things that shape our life. And maybe I can become a better writer through it all. Anywho, for those of you who don’t know our little family that well, here’s an introduction:

Here’s me, circa 2008 -- with a stegosaurus (for added wow-factor):

Cari, Mommy, Mama -- aspiring housewife extraordinaire. Yes, I had to say “aspiring” because I’m not particularly good at it yet. :)

Adam, Daddy -- My man (married 5 years!), fun daddy to our cute kids, musician, and our excellent provider. We love him!

Ava, or “Boo” for short -- Sweet and funny, enthusiastic, energetic, aspiring singer, artist, lover of the outdoors, and tea party connoisseur. 

Samuel, or . . . Sam, Sammy Sam, Samasaurus, Samster, Sambly Wambly, Buddy Boy, Smiley Sam. (I could go on, but I’ll stop.)  -- Well, let’s see . . . Sam currently spends his time rolling, smiling, drooling, burbling, growing exponentially, and waving his arms about like mad.

So, thanks for reading! 

Oh, and I turned 28 on Wednesday. Seems like a good time to finally start my blog. :)