April has come and gone and I did not make one single post on the blog! Here is the short version of this past month in the Scifres household.
At the beginning of the month we went to Chicago to visit Mimi and Papa. We enjoyed a week long vacation of lots of playing, eating great food, and seeing friends and family. While we were gone Steve was busy with class, work, and getting our house ready to sell! We decided with baby #2 on the way more space was needed before her September (we hope) arrival. We are very excited that our house (luckily) sold quickly and we are well on our way to closing escrow in a few weeks! We are scheduled to move into our new town home at the end of May. We are moving a bit south, closer to the beach, friends, and a more family oriented community. The only downfall to our new location is that it is a little bit farther from Grandma and Grandpa. Lucky for us they have still agreed to come visit us and babysit the girls in the fall. With Steve's new job as Assistant Principal of Calabasas High School he will not be working as far north as he is now which allowed us to go a little south to the area we have wanted to live in.
Now we just hope all goes smoothly as we go through escrow for our old and new places. Hopefully I will be updating with some pictures of the new place very soon!
Pictures from April:
Visiting in the Long Beach Aquarium before heading out to Chicago. Also soaking in the sun one last time before heading to the cold.
Enjoying the new toys Mimi had for Ava when we arrived.
Beautiful and sunny day at the Morton Arboretum
Eating snack with her new panda bear that Papa picked up for her in China. Can you believe he carried this back on the plane with him? That is true love!
Dinner in the city with Ava's aunties and Lily.
Brookfield Zoo!
Just being cute.
Enjoying the fake animals a little more than the real ones!
Birds!
First manicure. Celebrating Mimi's birthday with a girls day at the spa.
Saying goodbye to Auntie Beth is so hard.
Playing with GG at cousin Isaac's house
Ava had so much fun playing with Isaac!
Cousin fun!
Visiting Grandpa Ed. Ava loved hanging out with him and sharing all of her animals.
First hair cut. Ok, not really a hair cut, but she did get her bangs trimmed by my hair dresser while I was there getting a cut. I am not quite ready to have her get a full cut. We just got hair, can't take any of it away yet.
The Easter bunny was her favorite! She didn't want to get off of his lap.
Decorating easter eggs with Anna. We got to spend our second easter with Anna. Although I know her family misses her in Chicago, we hope to make spending Easter with her a tradition.
She was so excited about her easter basket. The Frozen DVD and what she calls her, "Jesus book" were her favorite items.
Easter egg hunt around the house
Visiting with Titi after her wedding shower at Grandma and Grandpa's house.
Baby #2 is cooking away. On Monday I will be 15 weeks along and I am happy as can be to be OUT of THE FIRST TRIMESTER! It was a rough one and I can't tell if it's because life is just more crazy now than when I was pregnant with Ava or if this baby is going to give me a run for my money. Either way, the blissful second trimester is here and things are starting to look up! I still get nauseous in the morning and at night, but I am spared for most of the day, which is what matters the most.
I started to show a lot sooner this time, which made it really hard to hide it until 13 weeks when I could tell people. My belly seemed to pop out at 10 weeks (I know so early), but with baggy shirts I could still hide it. When I was pregnant with Ava I didn't start wearing maternity clothes until 16 or 17 weeks and even then I probably didn't need it yet, but wanted to wear it. This time is so different. I held off as long as I could, but realized being comfortable was more important and finally gave in at 13 1/2 weeks.
The doctor says she is confident this baby will stay in longer than Ava did. We are taking many precaustions this time around. As of now I can pretty much do whatever feels fine, but after 20 weeks she will most likely start to restrict my physical activity and lifting. At 18 weeks I will begin weekly progesterone shots that are proven to help woman who've had PPROM (water breaking early) in previous pregnancies. She seems confident that with the shots, being closely monitored, and taking it easy in the last trimester things should be good. We are PRAYING that this baby is able to make it full term. Everything that happened with Ava was challenging for all of us, but I know this time around it would be even harder. I watched moms balance their time between their kids at home and the NICU when we were there and it just broke my heart. There is no easy way to handle that situation. All we can really do is pray that whatever happens god gives us the strength to handle it!
Here are some belly and baby pictures. I want to try and capture this pregnancy just as I did Ava's, but the craziness of life with a toddler makes that a little more challenging.
Our little gummy bear at 11 weeks
12 1/2 weeks
10 weeks
12 weeks
14 weeks
We are hoping to find out in about a week if Ava will be getting a baby sister or brother. Everyone seems to think it is a boy, but I still think it's a girl. :)
It was almost 2 months ago when I wrote the post with her 2 year update (just never published it) and she has changed so much even since then. Her language is what surprises us every day. She is soaking up every word you say and uses phrases I say often, which means we have to REALLY be careful what we say! Most people know that I am not very patient in the car and although I have gotten a lot better since having my side kick with me, I still have to express my frustration in a kid friendly way. Sometimes I will tell a car to, "move it," or "pay attention" and she now randomly yells that from the backseat of the car. I guess I am passing on the "Carpenter" road rage to her.
At her 2 year check up the doctor was a little concerned about her gross motor development so we had her tested to see if she could benefit from physical therapy. She just barely qualified, but we are thankful she did, so they can help her get stronger! By law they had to test her language and gross motor. It was neat to see the results and where she compares to the average child her age. Her language development was a few months ahead for her age and her gross motor was on average about 4 months behind where it should be. We met with our PT last week for the first time and Ava loved her! She gave us some homework (activities) to work on until we see her next week. Anytime we practice something she taught us, Ava will say, "Joelene (PT's name) is going to be so proud of me." I know she picked that up from me saying it to her a few times, but it cracks me up that she started doing it on her own. Her two main areas where she needs to get stronger are her trunk and calf muscles. I can already see improvement with just one week of therapy. She is one determined little girl!
Now that we've finally come out of our sick/first trimester hibernation, here are some pictures from what we've been up to this past month.
She is VERY excited to be a big sister!
Day at the aquarium with Mimi and Papa
Family movie day….we were all sick. :(
Trip to the mall, she was excited to be out of the house and doing something!
Princess Ava
Cheering on the runners at the LA marathon with Claire.
Modeling her Hawaii gear from Mimi and Papa
So happy to be back at daycare. RSV really knocked her out and we had to keep her home from daycare for a week. She was so happy to be back and see her friends.
I started this post a few weeks after her birthday and never posted it! The last few months have been challenging to say the least. Besides all of the wonderful sickness of the first trimester of pregnancy we've had the stomach flu, RSV, ear infections, and several colds go through our house in just 2 short months! I am happy to report we are all healthy and hope that stays around for a while!
Here is the post from right after her birthday with her 2 year stats.
She is two! I still can't believe that it has already been two years since the day she was born. Lately, all she has wanted us to do is show her videos and pictures from her birth. She watches them over and over again and calls herself, "Itty Bitty Ava." She loves to hear me tell the story of when she was born. She will say, "mommy cried and Ava cried."
Ava had her birthday party at "Art Zone," which is a fun creative art center near our house. She loved it! At first she was a little shy and stuck by my side, but eventually warmed up and was on cloud 9 the rest of the party.
Here are some two year old stats for my spunky, beautiful Ava:
- Talking in sentences, asks questions, and answers the ones we ask her.
- Refers to herself in the first person (I, my), although me is still hard for her. When she wants me to hold her she will say, "hold you mommy," when she really means, "hold me."
- Counts up to 15, but without the number 5. For some reason she is not a fan of the number 5, so she has decided to leave it out.
- When you ask her to spell her name she says, "A and V" Almost there, just one letter away. It's nice to have a short name when your a two year old trying to spell it.
- Her favorite song is, "What does the Fox Say." We probably listen to it about 10 times a day so it is constantly stuck in our heads. She can pretty much repeat the entire song and usually does in the mornings when she's laying in her crib waiting for me to come get her.
- She has hair, and lots of it! It is a mix of straight and curly. Still not sure which way it will go. My hairdresser said it will become straight because it is on top and apparently that is the indicator for your hair type. It is always a constant matted mess in the back of her head, partly because we rush out the door in the morning and she won't let me do much except comb it.
- Weight 24.5 lbs and 35 1/2 inches tall.
Dinner withDaddy, Grandma, Grandpa, and Titi at El Cholo on her actual birthday
Riding her new bike from Mimi and Papa
Opening bday gifts before heading out to the aquarium to celebrate her big day
Ava loved everything about our trip to Chicago. She didn't mind the cold, loved watching the snow come down (just not going in it), loved playing with all her toys at Mimi and Papa's house, and was obsessed with her crib. She sleeps in the crib I slept in as a baby so maybe she can smell me on it and that is why she loves it. She would ask to go hang out in it when it wasn't nap time. But the best part of Chicago was the family we got to spend time with. Ava had lots of time with Auntie Beth, G-Pa, GG, Great Aunt Nancy, Great Uncle Bob, Grandma Joyce, Grandpa Ed, Great Aunt Cathy, and of course Mimi and Papa. The day before we left she even go to see some of Steve's Aunts, Uncles, and cousins who live in Chicago. You could tell she just loved every second of family time!
Christmas Eve. Getting ready to head to church. Glad I got a picture of her in her Christmas dress before she demanded it come off. She did not like the way it felt and halfway through church made me take if off. She wore her tights and coat for the rest of church.
Sitting with G-Pa and GG at church
Christmas Eve at Mimi and Papa's house
Very curious about the presents!
Ava's first White Christmas.
She loved watching the snow come down, but wasn't too into touching it.
Seeing the lights at Morton Arboretum
Trying out her new coat from Grandma Joyce
Playing with her bike in the basement since it was too cold to go outside.
About to go sledding for the first time
Not a fan! Don't know if you can tell but she is in fact crying in this picture.
A little better with mommy on the sled too
And a ride with daddy
We even got a night out in the city!
Heading out to the Bears Vs. Packers game.
Can they handle the cold? They did in fact, just didn't do so well handling the results of the game.
