Say What?

I went into the office yesterday to print off some papers, and when I came back in the living room, Carli had decided that her baby needed to swing too!

Ava didn't seem to mind.

Spinning Grammy

Carli has enjoyed getting to hang out with Grammy this summer while we work in Alto. She even gets to play with Uncle Tone and Pa when they get home from work before we come home. Uncle Tone caught some of Grammy and Carli's play time on his iPhone...fancy, fancy!

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Just Smile!

Ava is happiest when you don't make her wear anything but her diaper...she has to wear a diaper or she gets pretty ticked off! It is rather amusing...it is hard to catch the real smile, we always get the beginnings or the end b/c she usually is talking while she smiles...perhaps I should try a video!

Here's our girls - a rarity that they are both looking at the camera, next to each other and still!

Kind of funny that their expressions are similar!

'Great' Blessings...

We are very fortunate to live fairly close to a lot of extended family. My Aunt Betty was in town a week or so ago and helped us out while I was on a conference call while we were in Alto. Carli loved to pick on Aunt Betty! Pretty sure Aunt Betty loved it too! Ava was just happy to be held while she slept! It is her preferred method of snoozing these days!

The Many Faces of Carli

Carli has always been quite the face maker. Most recently she has a new face that she makes when she is "surprised," or "innocent," or really at the most random times. It took a few shots, but we finally got in on camera. The "missed shots" are pretty cute too!

Count all 10 teeth!

And here is her tongue...

Motorboat!
(Thanks Uncle Andy and Logan!)

Say what?

No WAY!!
The new "look" that completely changes the way she looks!
It cracks me up!

Play Place

While we were in San Antonio a couple of wkds ago, we had the pleasure of introducing Carli to McDonald's. Actually, when you have a 22 month old and a 2 month old, you get up when they do and these days that is about 6:30. So, we were up and ready for church long before our 10 am departure time. Really, it was the obvious thing to do - take Carli to McDonald's to play and use up some energy!! She wasn't so much on the food, but she never really is...the play place won her over though!

Daddy helped her up the platforms...

Yes, she crawled down the slide...

Uncle Tone even helped her play a little!

It took both Uncle Tone and Momma to convince her to go across the tunnel...

Our strategy did work, Carli fell asleep in church for the first time since she was an itty bitty baby! She handed me her blanket told me night night and out she went!

Our Back Yard

We really LOVE our new back yard. This week we got Carli's Little Tikes climber moved back there and we spent the afternoon letting her play in the water and chase the dogs.

I especially like being able to use our backyard b/c my hammock chair is so much more comfortable to sit in and watch Carli play than sitting on the grass in the front yard ever was!

Whitey Tighty and Shea both took advantage of Ava's seat being on the porch. I guess it was cooler under there than it was in the grass?


Have we mentioned before that Carli loves to be outside and play in the water?

She even had me throw water on her! Her exclamations of complete joy were priceless!!

She had to wear her "surfing" swim suit b/c she scrapped her knee and had a "boo boo." Any time she sees her "boo boo" she starts crying hysterically, so all week we've had to make sure to wear long shorts or pants to avoid random crying fits!

Hot Feet

Every night, I tuck Ava into her cradle and swaddle her with her hands free. I wrap her tight and make sure her little feet are covered up really well since I run a window A/C in our room at night. And every night as I'm falling into bed around 11 or 12, this is what I find...

Ava somehow manages to get her feet loose and stuck outside her covers. Guess her feet get hot!

It was a Glimpse into the Future

Remember this awesome picture from August of last year?

It was stinkin' cute then...but I should have known that eventually it may not be!

The other day I was stuck on the phone arguing with UPS about a damaged package. Thankfully Ava was sleeping and Carli was "eating" breakfast. "Eating" is a loose term. It takes Carli a good 45 minutes to maybe eat everything on her breakfast plate if I'm lucky. So, I'm arguing with UPS and walking around the house. While on hold I realize that it sure is quiet in the kitchen, so as I'm heading that way I happen to look up and see my daughter chasing Chuy around the backyard!

When I finally get off the phone, Carli was back in the house "eating" again! No kidding. So I asked her how she got outside, to which she promptly showed me...

Where there is a will, there is a way!

I guess Carli really likes the new backyard! She keeps asking if we can go play in "my grass!"

Monday's Menu

Breakfast Bar
Goldfish
Peaches
Pizza dipped in Ranch
Watermelon
Black beans/rice with Green Beans and Squash
And a roll

All were eaten with a spoon...it was interesting, patience building day.

Nectarine Anyone?

A couple of weeks ago Carli's cousins, Allison and Jake, were in town and we all met in Alto while Aunt Carolyn took Grandma and Pawpaw to doctor visits. Carli had so much fun playing with Allison and Jake. She was flat worn out at the end of the day! Aunt Carolyn had packed lots of goodies for them to snack on and she sent enough for Carli too. I think there were goldfish and chex mix...some stuff that is a given for a 22 mth old to eat. I was not expecting her to reach into the bag, pull out a plum and proceed to eat half of it. She then pulled out a banana and ate half of that (thankfully counteracting the effects of eating half a plum!). Then she saw Jack eating a nectarine, so she wanted one too! She ate half of it!

I took full advantage of this new discovery and Carli has enjoyed nectarines a couple of times since then. Kind of weird to me, but she eats all the peeling off of it and then plays with the fleshy part...isn't that backwards?


Thanks Jake and Allison for expanding our horizons!

Our Chiropractor

I've gone to the chiropractor my whole life. In the last three years, I've gone a lot! Dr. Wilson is our chiropractor and he was my life saver during my pregnancies. Now that I'm no longer pregnant, I don't get to go every week - but we do go at least once a month and the girls get treatments too.

Carli absolutely loves going to see Dr. Wilson. She will stand still for her adjustment and walks around like she owns the place! She saw Dr. Wilson for the first time when she was less than a week old!


Ava has seen Dr. Wilson three times. During this treatment, she got so relaxed that she smiled every time he worked on her! It was super cute!

Big Jump!

This last weekend Carli was impressed by Logan's big jumps!

She did her best to copy them...

But knew she'd need a little more practice, so we set up a "jumping" practice place at home...

I think she's actually starting to get a little air!

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Finger Lickin' Good

Carli does not wake up from her naps in a good mood most days. It doesn't matter if she sleeps 1 hr or 2.5 hrs...she will be cranky. So I've tried to make sure we have something to do when she gets up. If we sit around and cuddle it tends to extend her grumpy mood. If I can come up with something to get her mind off feeling sorry for herself - life is better for all involved!

So last week, I had a sweet craving which is difficult to satisfy when I can't have chocolate and had not shortening to make cookies. So we dug through the pantry and found a strawberry cake mix. I cooked the cupcakes while the girls napped and when Carli got up she helped me ice them.

She liked to "drizzle" her icing on...

And we learned an ever important skill of liking our fingers, too!

Sharing a Good Book

Ava's 2 Month Check Up

Ava had her 2 month check up today. She handled the whole experience just as you would expect. I've never seen her face get so red when they gave her those shots! But she survived and only cried a minute or two. I did remember to give her some Tylenol before we left the house, so I am hoping that helps her a little.


So, to report on our growing girl:

She is 22 inches long and 10 lbs 3 oz - both of which put her close to the 33% mark. So she is proportional!

When Carli was this old, she was about 23 inches and 10 lbs 15 oz - so Ava is still a little smaller, but she is catching up!

We asked questions about her hernia - which we were assured should be gone before her first birthday. We asked about the white stuff on her tongue that has been there since day one and the doc said that it is okay, didn't look like thrush, more like milk. So we'll just keep an eye on it. We also had the doctor confirm that her gassiness and spitting up is probably more related to how she is latching on than any other problem.

So, all in all, our little Ava is doing great and has grown quite a bit! Can't believe it has been two months...then again, I can! She is getting to the fun age of interacting with us, cooing, smiling and playing with some toys.