This and That

It's been a week since I posted, and it's been busy: Mike and his girlfriend were here until yesterday, when they headed back to FL at 6am. My mom arrived last Thursday and will be here until Friday. Craig has been in and out, as is normal. Anyhow, it's been great seeing family and having the extra company! Mom and I scrubbed down the house yesterday (okay, it was 98% my mom, about 2% me...but I did wrangle the spawn) and because it was too hot out, we spent the afternoon watching a movie and having popcorn with Ava while CJ napped. Today, she'll take Ava to the pool while I do a Target run (my first with only one child in three months!) and then this afternoon, Ava and I get haircuts. Nothing terribly exciting. Speaking of Ava...we finally got her into a preschool! Not only that, but this specific program is an answer to EVERY preschool-related prayer I'd been praying: close to home, priced in the middle compared to other preschools, three days a week, and an option to pay extra for something called "Lunch Bunch," where the kids get to stay an extra hour for lunch and playing on the playground. I would LOVE to do that just once a week to give Ava extra social time and myself extra sanity time. ;o) School starts September 7th and I'm not sure who's more excited, Ava or me!

This week's Ava-isms:

 Mike and Ava, playing with water balloons on the swingset. Ava told me that they were throwing them at Darth Vader.

*Ava has been really into telling me secrets. This consists of whispering into my ear things that are not actually secrets, and some of what sounds like gibberish. Yesterday her secret was: "Mommy. I'm going to school, but you can't go to school naked. You have to wear clothes."

*Me: "Ava, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
 Ava: "Touching your boob."
 Me: "Well, we don't do that. It's rude."
 Ava: (pauses to consider what it means to be rude and how she can be polite) "May I please touch your boob?"

(Before you think my kid is a pervert, please note that to a 3-year-old, there are no "private" body parts, even though I'm working on this with her. She might as well be showing interest in my elbow.)

*Ava still gets upset when we have houseguests: with a new brother and all of the comings and goings around here, she desperately wants it to just go back to Mommy, Daddy, and her. (Or better yet, just Daddy and her, probably because I'm the disciplinarian. She still tells me to go back to the hospital.) Yesterday she was having epic meltdowns all morning and said to my mom: "GO HOME! GO HOME TO YOUR FAMILY!" It was kind of funny, kind of sad. Poor kid.

CJ at 11 weeks:

 My mom and CJ

*Although my baby boy seems to be a lot more smiley and mellow than his sister, he's definitely not as interested in consistency and routine as she was as an infant: although he does seem to adhere pretty well to our nighttime bath/feeding/bed routine and pretty consistently takes a good late afternoon nap, he likes to change things up quite a bit: I can never tell what time he'll wake up for a night (or early morning) feeding: yesterday it was 5am, today it was 3:15am, the day before yesterday it was 6:30am.  He has also decided to switch his allegiance from those Avent "Soothie" pacifiers they give out at the hospital (after I bought two more packs) to the Nuk ones I bought for Ava that she never used. Not a big deal, but when I tried those with him before he refused them. Mom popped one into his mouth the other day and he thinks it's the best thing invented since the boob. Speaking of which, remember how I got him to take a bottle, no problem (three times)? Yeah, Craig and I left him with my mom on Saturday so we could catch a matinee of the final Harry Potter movie (AWESOME, by the way) and get dinner...left him with a bottle full of milk, not a drop of formula....and he refused to take it. Screamed bloody murder until I got home and nursed him. At least this date was close to home, as we were able to come home from the movie, feed him, and then go back out to dinner. I guess I'm going to have to bottle train this kid or not have a life for the foreseeable future. (Oh wait, I don't have one! So we're good.)

 

The rejected Soothie pacifiers

 

CJ's new best friend: the Nuk

In non-offspring related news, I made EPIC Sweet Potato Chili Cakes with Cilantro Lime Sour Cream:

Recipe can be found here. Thanks, Paula Deen! (Please note: if you make these, the liquid in the recipe is too much. You can either add less of the egg/milk mixture or add some Panko bread crumbs to help absorption, or a little of both. I personally like the texture when some Panko is added.)