What is this "blog" of which you speak?

I know, I know, it's been two months! I wish I could say I'll be a better blogger but I make no promises.....I'll try to get on here a little more often though. Part of the problem is that I'm mostly on Facebook....it's easier to communicate and post pictures there but on the downside it's less private, so I can't say how I really feel sometimes. ;o) ANYHOW, I'll just do a bulleted update and hopefully be a little better about posting....maybe once a week? Maybe not? We'll see....

• My stomach issues: I do NOT have Celiac Disease, woohoo! The doctor has placed me in the vague category of having IBS, which I think means, "We have no clue what is wrong." Ugh. But he did give me some meds to help calm my stomach when it goes crazy, and I quit taking birth control pills which has helped a lot as well. (Needless to say, natural family planning is working just fine...I should have done this years ago considering it took me awhile to become successfully pregnant while actually trying...avoiding it has been pretty easy. But it's only been 3 months.)
  
• Work: Yes, I have learned all of the kids' names and it wasn't that bad.... ;o) This group is okay but I miss the kids from last year. Not sure why but I really felt like I bonded with them, they were definitely one of the sweetest groups of kids I ever taught! Anyhow I'm on fall break right now and am enjoying the down time.
  
• The house: After next week we will be pretty much done with the inside! We just ordered more bedroom furniture for the downstairs guest room: we moved the guest furniture (full sized bed, dresser, night stand) to the empty bedroom upstairs, and that furniture will become Ava's when she's ready for a "big girl" room. Right now it's a second guest room. Anyhow the new furniture for downstairs will include a queen sized bed. We also got a "chair and a half" and an ottoman for the sitting room in our bedroom, and a loveseat for the family room. I'll have to pick up a few more lamps this week, we want to have some more of Craig's Nana's paintings framed, and we're good to go! Henceforth we will concentrate on landscaping, and probably expanding the deck.
• Craig: He now has an Associate's degree! He finally decided it would be a good idea to go to college a few years ago and in between working and being a husband and father, he's been taking classes. I think he has something like all As and one B...WOW! I'm so proud of him! He's now working towards a four year degree...we're hoping that sometime in the not so distant future, this will enable him to get a good job that does not require traveling, or at least this much of it.

And last but not least...the whole reason for the blog...AVA! ;o)

• I tried to count the other day and I think I figured out she's saying around 40-50 words, and has recently started to come up with 2-word phrases. I will have to list all of her vocabulary skills in a later post (which could be tomorrow or three years from now.... ;o) Considering she lost 4-5 months due to ear infections, I think that's pretty good. But, I don't know....to paraphrase my mom, everybody thinks their kids are brilliant but in reality, everyone else's kids are doing the same things... ;o) There IS something about watching the helpless infant you gave birth to develop into a little person though.
  
• She has a very strong personality: she's tempermental and impatient (yes, I know where she gets that from) and can be very serious and focused, but she's also a wild woman. Yesterday she invented a new game, which was standing on the ottoman and hurling herself at me.....OWWWW! She thought this was hilarious and I just did my best to catch her so I wasn't getting the full force of a 30 lb toddler in my gut! She is also very affectionate and gives kisses and hugs to me, Craig, her stuffed animals, the cats, other kids, etc. She's also friendly; we've spent a lot of time running errands (oh okay, and going to the mall) and she always says, "Bye-bye! Thank you!" to the cashier when we leave. LOVE IT!!!!
  
• She's going to be a reader like her parents: she's taken to handing us books lately and saying, "Read! Read!" Occasionally after making this request, she'll take the book back and attempt to "read" it to us instead.
  
• She's obsessed beyond reason with Thomas the Tank Engine and is constantly asking for "Tom-Tom" and saying, "Choo choo! Choo choo!" I swear I will never have that stupid music out of my head...yet, it's better than Barney. Craig downloaded a few episodes from that awful show for her and we can take about five minutes of it before turning it off. Barney is one bizarro dinosaur.
  
• I'm going to have to post a pic or two of Ava in her Chicago Bears Urlacher jersey...it's awesome and fits perfectly this season! (Thanks again Christie! :o)
• She no longer fears grass or pumpkins. So that's good.
• For almost two weeks she's been sleeping TERRIBLY at night and naptime....screams bloody murder when I leave (that's new, she rarely did that before) and wakes up multiple times at night, and it takes her about an hour to fall asleep at nap time. Not sure what's going on--I was blaming teeth but I'm not so sure although I haven't ruled it out--but I definitely think that being spoiled with lots of Mommy time while I'm on trackout is playing into it. Not much I can do about that so whatever, I hope it passes soon.

Speaking of the devil, she appears to be awake so that's all for now! Hopefully more catching up in the next few days.