s c o t t a n d j e n n . c o m

wowzers!

jenn — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 04:11:12 +0000

Today is a historic day.. Ava fell asleep on the couch at 6:15. I was able to get jams on her and transfer her to bed and she actually stayed asleep! Annalise is sleeping too, so here it is 8:52pm and I have some time to write!

We definitely hit the baby jackpot with Annalise. She is laid back, happy, super cuddly and very sweet. Today she gave me tons of smiles just because I was making my hair move! How cute is that? All of the literature on infant sleep says to put your baby in her crib when she is sleepy but awake so that she learns to put herself to sleep. I always laughed and said yeah right. Well believe it or not Annalise actually does that! In fact she seems to long for her bed and gets upset if we try to put her to sleep in our arms.

Annalise cuddling with mommy

nuggling with Ava

Ava’s newest obsession is ants and butterflies. She is very science minded and inquisitive just like her daddy. She learns everything she can about something and 2 months later moves onto something else. In April and May it was volcanoes and now she likes butterflies but LOVES ants. She is the queen of a colony. She names the ants in her colony and assigns them jobs. construction workers, nurses, doctors, scouts, etc. She needs lots of doctors because she injures or kills every one she picks up (poor ants). Today we were blowing giant bubbles and decided to drop ants onto the bubbles to see if they would float away. Surprisingly the weight of the ant would send the bubble straight down to the ground. It was a fun experiment. I told Scott about it. It gave him the idea to make ant hot air balloons. He’s going to do that with Ava this weekend. She’s going to love it!

Ava saving her ant colony from the rain.

Scott caught a butterfly!

Ava releases the butterfly!

No more hovering.. for now

jenn — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 21:03:28 +0000

Okay I’ll admit it.. I am the ultimate helicopter mom. I follow Ava everywhere.. if I really did have propellers Ava’s head would be chopped off because I hover so close, too close. But seriously I don’t follow her around because I am worried about her (well, maybe a little). I just love being with her and playing with her. When I take her to the park, I don’t take her so that she can play, I take her so that we can play. But now things are different and I’m not sure which one of us is struggling more. People often ask, how’s Ava doing. I think the real question should be, “how are you doing Jenn?” And the answer to that would be TERRIBLE. I love both of my girls so much, it’s killing me that I can’t do everything all the time for both of them.

We had a playdate at the park today and it just hurt my heart to see Ava out on the playground all by herself. Her friends were there but three year olds easily lose one another and don’t bother to go looking for each other. I was in the shade nursing Annalise watching Ava play. I wanted to cry. why? I don’t know, I’m emotional and felt so sad that I couldn’t be out there with her. Every now and then I would lose sight of her and panic a little. She came to me telling me she fell down and that she cried for me and I wasn’t there (ouch.. another stab in my heart). I explained why I couldn’t leave Annalise. Then she told me that she wished Annalise was still in my tummy. Hey we’re making progress though.. last time she made a comment like this she just wanted her gone completely.

So for all of you wondering how Ava is doing, well, she’s an awesome big sister but sharing mommy is hard. And for me, being shared is hard too.

A few pictures:

The joys of being a little sister. Ava loves to “decorate” Annalise.

How I love it when Annalise puckers her little lips!

Annalise is learning to like her binky!

cute baby in the tubby

This picture is too funny! Since Annalise’s birth Ava has called her “head”. Not a nickname that I really want to stick but I have often wondered why. This picture explains it all! Annalise is one giant head. Doesn’t her head look photo-shopped?

And Annalise makes Four

jenn — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 03:44:17 +0000

Whew! For awhile there things were pretty tough. I was super emotional and suffering from mastitis, Ava wanted Annalise to go away and Scott had to take on every role in the house… thank goodness those days are over! All the kinks have been worked out and we are all functioning normal again. Well, except the lack of sleep. I thought I was ultra prepared for sleepless nights since I wasn’t getting any sleep anyway but boy was I wrong. The not getting sleep because of pelvic pain is annoying but it does not compare to the pure exhaustion and fatigue that I feel now. Annalise is actually a great little sleeper. She wakes every three hours for a diaper change and a nursing session and then she’s right back to sleep. I remember pacing the hallway with Ava praying she would go back to sleep during the wee hours of the night. We are so lucky to have Annalise. Her personality is so laid back that not a lot has changed for Ava and I during the day. I still get lots of play time with Ava. I know things will change as Annalise grows but this is the perfect transition for both Ava and I.

Ava has really fallen in love with her sister. She loves to hold her and sings her the sweetest songs. Scott and I are so excited to watch their relationship grow.

Ava and Annalise “nuggling”