Her imagination cracks me up!

Everything she plays now is either a reenactment from "Frozen" or about her "students." I guess she wants to be a teacher just like her mom and dad. Steve is running a summer camp this summer, which is where I think she got the camping scenario from. She definitely didn't get it from a past experience, this family does not camp!

More Pictures….

Family photos of the 3 (almost 4) of us!

I received a wonderful gift this year from one of my 4th grade families. A parent who is a professional photographer gave us a free family photo shoot and all of the pictures for us to share and print. I cannot tell you how much this meant to me! We don't do professional pictures very often (we've done it once) as it is pretty expensive! She did an amazing job and captured Ava's personality so well. Here are a few of my favorites! There are so many more and I hope to upload them to the blog very soon! 

Baby Scifres Update

Since Ava's early birth was so spontaneous with no warning signs it has been difficult not to worry that the same will happen this time around. I have been taking p17 (Progesterone) shots since 19 weeks and will continue them weekly until 37 weeks. They are suppose to help women avoid preterm labor. I know many people who have had a successful full term birth with these shots, but also know women who have not. I am trying to take it easy (as much as I can) and listen to my body. With all the stresses of the last week of school I was starting to have a lot of braxton hicks contractions. I know these are normal, but my doctor advised me not to ignore anything since we still don't know why my water broke with Ava. After talking to the nurse at the doctor's office I was advised to go labor and delivery to get monitored. My contractions were not strong enough to be picked up on the monitor so they were not too concerned. I was told to take it easy and come back if they got more intense. Luckily things calmed down and the following week when I saw my doctor for my regular check up everything looked good and there were no signs of baby coming anytime soon. At this point she wants me taking it easy as much as I can with a 2 year old at home. The hardest thing for Ava has been understanding that I cannot hold her all the time. The hardest thing for me has been learning how to take it easy!

The next month will be a bit tough for me as we approach the time I delivered Ava. I want more than anything to hold this baby in longer, but I also know that some things are out of my control. We are doing everything we can to keep this baby in longer, but ultimately it is not up to me. There were no warning signs with Ava and there may not be this time either. I am trying to prepare myself for whatever is thrown our way. Just have to keep praying for a healthy, full term delivery!

Hanging out at labor and delivery. I will say, once I knew baby was ok and I was not in labor it was a very relaxing 2 hours! I may have to make a few more visits before this baby comes. :) Just kidding. 

24 weeks!

25 weeks

28 1/2 weeks!! Bump is definitely getting bigger by the week

Moving, baby, new jobs, masters….yep, that about covers all the major stresses one can handle and we are doing them all at one time!

We have a lot of changes happening, all good ones, but causing for a bit of craziness around here. To start, we have NOT yet moved, but hopefully (keeping our fingers crossed) will be moving soon. We had a few issues with the guy that bought our house and after a couple weeks of back and forth we finally had to boot him out and put the house back on the market.  I won't go into all the details, but all in all we are hoping and praying that all of this will be behind us with the start of a new month! It has been very up and down this past month which has not been easy, but we've stayed positive and prayed for the best. We've been "half packed" for about a month now since our original moving date was May 30th. Ava has been such a champ with all of this and has dealt with playing with one small box of toys while most of her things have been packed up or stored in the garage. Keeping your house "show" ready when you have a toddler is NOT an easy thing!

Along with selling our house and buying a new one, Steve and I are both transitioning out of our current jobs and into new ones. This meant that we both had to pack up our classrooms on top of the craziness of the last week of school and all the moving drama. Luckily my mom came out to help with all of this and she was a life saver! Steve will be running the summer camp until August and then transitioning into his new role as Assistant Principal at Calabasas High School. Along with all of the job changes and overlap he is also finishing up his master's program to obtain his Administrative credential. Needless to say, it is a very busy time for him, but with no surprise to anyone he is handling it like a pro.

 I will be taking next year off from teaching in the classroom and be transitioning to a job as a stay at home mom to my two little girls. :) My school offered me a one day a week job as a science teacher, which I was thrilled to accept! Since Grandma and Grandpa have graciously offered to watch the girls for us one day a week it will be a perfect fit for me next year and we can avoid the cost of any daycare!

Enough talking, here are some pictures from this past month…..

Daddy's graduation. 

Perfect picture to show at her graduation one day. 

Lunch by the water, watching the dolphins and seals. 

Penguins at the Aquarium 

She tends to be more into the fake ones than the real ones. Probably because she can hug them! 

Giving baby sister some love. We told her the baby's name, but asked her to help us keep it a secret. So far she has done an amazing job! Tonight I heard her in her crib telling her animals her baby sister's name and telling them that it was a secret and only mommy, daddy, and Ava know. It was so cute! 

Beach time!

Hanging with cousin Crystal who came to visit all the way from Florida for Sandra's bachelorette party. 

Sunday morning Starbucks run with Mimi

Cheers!

I caught her playing teacher while we were packing up my classroom. 

Fun day with Mimi at the Children's Museum in Pasadena. Leave it to Mimi to find us the best Children's museum in the area. 

Are we moving yet????? She sure is ready to go! 

It amazes me how brave she is with animals. They were very aggressive since she had food, but it did not bother her one bit! 

What better way to kick off summer than playing in the fountain after lunch! She and Asher had  a blast. I twas all fun and games until she pulled her pants down and tried to pee in the fountain in front of the entire lunch crowd!

She is the next big thing…..

This past weekend Ava had her first "acting" experience! Our neighbor owns a dog toy company and was shooting a web commercial to promote his product. He needed a toddler for part of the commercial and asked if we would be willing to let Ava be in it.  Here are a few pictures from the day. Once we get the footage from her scene I will post it on the blog.

Steve and Ava relaxing while we wait for Ava's scene. 

Ava was not a fan of this at first. She froze up as soon as she saw the actor, cameras, and all the people watching her. She tried anyway she could to scoot as far away from the actor as she could. After  a quick break, pep talk, and some cookie bribing she successfully said her line. 

Once she warmed up she was on fire. When she was all done she couldn't stop talking about how much fun she had.  

Potty Training Adventures

In March we decided to tackle potty training. The plan has always been to do it this summer when I was home with Ava, but she started to express interest in it so we gave it a shot. We picked a weekend where Steve had class and we didn't have much going on so we could stay at home and hang out. She did really well with only a few accidents the whole weekend. She continued to make progress in the weeks to come with little to no accidents each day. I was beginning to think we were out of the woods and well on our way to saying goodbye to diapers, but oh did she prove me wrong.  I'm still not sure if it was the traveling or all the changes happening with the sale of our house and packing for our move, but she definitely regressed. Just as I was about to give up and put her back in diapers she started to get back to her old self and I think (hope, pray) we are back on the right track. I know that with our move coming up and the baby coming there will probably be more regressions, but for now I can say that she is potty trained. We still do diapers at night, as I will not stop that until she starts showing signs she is ready. I know many books tell you it is all or nothing, but with us that just isn't the case. The funny thing about the "experts" who write all these baby books is that none of them have figured out that it is not an exact science. You do what works for you and your child not what you are "suppose" to do!

This is how we spent most of the weekend. For some reason being naked made it easier for her to know when she needed to go. 

We were both going stir crazy from being cooped up all weekend so we went to the beach. I figured this was a good place to test out the potty training since an accident isn't so bad when you're in your swimsuit. She did great for the whole trip until the drive home. I should've had her use the bathroom before we left to go home, but with minimal bathrooms around I decided to test my luck. I learned my lesson and also learned how hard it is to clean pee out of the carseat. 

Lucky Auntie Beth came out during our potty training adventures and got to experience every public restroom in the LA area. Thankfully she was there when Ava chose to pee all over the Lulu Lemon dressing room. 

Beach baby!