A Very Brief Update

School started up last week, so the week before that I was preparing like a madwoman....now I'm recovering from a cold and because I'm a kind, thoughtful, and selfless individual I have lovingly shared that cold with Craig. How nice of me! :-\ Anyhow, it's pretty busy around here....Craig and I actually went on a date last weekend to the Melting Pot, which was cut short because I became--big surprise--dizzy and nauseated. My stomach ruins everything, all of the time. The doctor called during the week and given the results of one of my biopsies he's concerned I have Celiac disease and I have to go in on August 3rd for some bloodwork. Wonderful....seriously.....WONDERFUL. If you aren't familiar with it, Celiac disease is an intolerance to gluten that causes the small intestine to attack itself, resulting in a number of symptoms but it can cause malnutrition because it prevents the body from absorbing nutrients. Basically you can eat and eat but possibly still starve to death (though I highly doubt I have anything that severe.) Gluten is found in wheat, barley, and basically any food that actually tastes good....so if I have to go on a gluten-free diet, I'm going to have to change 99% of what I eat. Or pay someone to shoot me in the face...I'm still undecided on that one.

ANYHOW Ava is doing well, I'm tired and not really wanting to go through the whole process of learning the names of 90 new kids and training them in the ways of the Haynor classroom but they seem like a really good group so I can't complain too much.... ;o) It's not their fault that I resist change...

...and that's about all I really want to type at the moment. Ava is lugging around a giant diaper on her backside that I should probably change, due to the fact that when I took her in the pool earlier she spent more time sticking her face in the water and drinking it than actually playing. Good times! At least it was the baby pool in the backyard so she wasn't drinking chemicals and other people's germs....

18 month stats

28 lbs, 10 oz (90th percentile)
35 in (still off the chart)

Ava is right on target with development, the doctor says she's healthy and doing well! She didn't get any vaccinations this time (HOORAY!) but was very apprehensive of the doctor. She gave him mean looks and shoved the instruments he was trying to use (stethoscope, otoscope, etc) away and whined when he tried to feel her stomach, etc. Can't really blame her, since every time she's been to the doctor it was for a bad ear infection or to get a bunch of shots. :-/ Anyhow, they are spacing the appointments out more now and we don't have to go in until she turns 2! Yay!

In other news, the next two days are going to suck for me...I've had persistent stomach problems for about a year now (I've always had a wonky stomach but it's gotten really bad), among other things I get stomach bugs at the drop of a hat, am constantly nauseated, and have started losing weight as a result. So I went to a GI doctor who has decided that I need an endoscopy (stuff shoved down my throat), and a colonoscopy (stuff shoved...nevermind). Thankfully, this requires being under general anesthesia (oh goody! Another bill from an anesthesiologist! This one BETTER work more than my stupid epidural) but being put under scares me. I have to be on a liquid diet today and then drink something tonight that will entirely flush out my system. I'll spare the details but it's not going to be fun. From about 6pm tonight until Saturday morning, Craig will be running the show, since I'll either be trapped in the bathroom or sleeping off the sedatives. Come to think of it, maybe a forced resting period will be nice...hmmm...not sure I really want to be probed but whatever. Hopefully they can find--and correct--the problem.

Continuing the word list

Bubble, wow, and whoa. And she says, "YEAH!" when you give her a high five. :) Doc appt today so it'll be interesting to get those stats!

I almost forgot...

I KNEW there were more words in Ava's vocabulary!!! She's recently learned to say "No" and sometimes actually uses it correctly, though I think it's just coincidence....she mostly just likes to say it randomly. She also says--and identifies--the following body parts:

• Eye
• Mouth ("mow")
• Nose ("no")
• Boob ("boo")
  

...that last one is totally my fault. She developed this fascination with looking down my shirt and I kept saying, "Can you please stop looking at mommy's boobs?" It wasn't a big deal until she looked down my mother-in-law's shirt....I don't want her to think that they're BAD, but I also don't want her to think it's okay to peek under people's clothing. Oh well. As long as she's not doing that when she's, like, twelve years old or something...

She can also identify ears and belly buttons but does not say the words.

Also, speaking of Thomas the train from my previous post, I found this completely random video on YouTube the other day: clips of Thomas set to Michael Jackson's "Thriller." Um...weird, but amusing! (Mary...this is for you! ;o)

Ava at 18 months

I'm a very, very bad poster. I know. I didn't even post once in June. I'd promise to post more but maybe I won't...most of my updates are on Facebook nowadays...it's just easier. ANYHOW...here's an update, if anyone still comes around! ;o)

• Ava has her 18 month checkup on Wednesday....just a guess, but I'm thinking she's still off of the height chart, in the 90+ percentile for weight, and if there was a foot size chart, she'd be off of that as well. Poor kid is destined to have giant duck feet like her mother. :-\
• She does not respond to spanking. Keep in mind, she doesn't get "real" spankings yet as I don't think she's old enough to really get it. Just swats on the butt or hand. And she doesn't care. She either screams in my face or laughs, so I rarely even bother. What does work? Being banished to her crib...she HATES being forcibly isolated and on a bad day, one or two trips to the crib will get her back in line! It's funny though...I was terrified of spankings as a child.
  
• She says the following words/phrases: Mommy, Dada, bye-bye, hi, doggie, duckie, where did it go ("woo doh?", complete with hand gestures), thank you ("nankoo!"), ball, popsicle (pop-po), kitty (keekee), water (wawa), and either poopy or potty (poppy), but we haven't figured out which one she means when she says "poppy." We're taking preliminary steps to potty training...when she has a dirty diaper, we empty it into the toilet and she helps us flush, and we tell her "poopy goes in the potty!" Sorry if that's TMI. We need to do something...I have a feeling we're going to be in way over our heads with the whole potty training thing. Okay, sorry for the tangent, she also says Thomas ("noh-nah") in reference to the utterly bizarre children's show, Thomas the Tank Engine. I think there are a few more but I don't remember at the moment....she does a LOT of babbling with words mixed in and seems to believe she's having full-on conversations with us. ;o)
  
• She has a scream that sounds remarkably similar to a dentist's drill and is about as painful
• She gives kisses...sometimes she actually puts her lips on us, sometimes they are just air kisses, but they're always accompanied by an exaggerated, "mmmmmmuh!" SO. CUTE.
• She loves babies and animals and both can expect to receive many hugs and kisses from her. Except poor Winston, the pug belonging to Craig's grandparents. She tried to touch his eyeball and pull out his tongue when we were up visiting in NJ last month.
• She is extremely inquisitive, unafraid, and stubborn. I wish she'd be a *little* afraid of things, like maybe strangers or water. When she sees a pool, she tries to jump right in, regardless of the fact that she cannot swim
• She is tough, more what I would expect from a little boy. Unless she's in a mood, she can take a pretty good spill and cries very little or not at all. She doesn't get that from me...I'm a wuss.

We are having so much fun with this little person of ours! Sometimes it makes me sad that she's not a baby anymore, but mostly it's so cool watching her grow and learn that I don't think about it too much...however, that has not gotten us any closer to a verdict on if/when we will have a second child. Sometimes when I think about it I feel really guilty, as if having another kid would somehow betray Ava. I know it's ridiculous, because she'd be thrilled with a sibling (she LOVES other kids) and we'd still love her as much as we do now, but I can't help it...I have no idea why I feel that way. I never felt betrayed or any less loved when my brothers were born....weird. Having said that, if we do have another one....I really, really want a girl! :o) I just think having same-gendered kids would be nice (and we're not having more than two kids, period)...if Ava had been a boy, I'd probably want another boy as well.

ANYHOW--in non-Ava-related news, we are settled into the new home, have just arrived back from our annual trip to Chicago, and I have one more week of trackout before beginning another school year, which I am just not ready for. Bleh. Also, I'm having some procedures done on Friday to see if the doctors can figure out my ongoing stomach problems...I'm not looking forward to it but am hoping for some answers!!

That's it for now....pictures eventually. I'm trying to find something better than Bubbleshare because it's annoying that I have to individually resize and then individually upload all of the pictures, and it can take HOURS. Any recommendations would be welcome!! I tried Picasa but could not figure out how to work it. Ugh.

We've Moved!

Our new address is:

Craig, Melissa, and Ava Haynor
125 River Watch Ln.
Youngsville, NC 27596

We still don't use a house phone, and our cell phones will stay the same....we're only 15 min or so from our old house. I will start doing regular updates and posting photos again once we're settled in, it's just been too hectic the past few months to keep up with everything! :) Ava LOVES the new house, especially running around and screaming (it makes a really annoying echo when she does it, she apparently thinks it's great) and licking the windows. Yes...licking the windows. I'm not sure why. Ahhhh.....toddlers! ;o)

I'm not being purposely neglectful...

....it's just crazy, crazy busy right now. We're moving in 13 days (was supposed to be 5 days but, oh, SURPRISE, they screwed up AGAIN and we're moving the day before my mom has to leave. Note: she's flying down to help us move, based on the closing date of the 18th that they ASSURED us was accurate. CRAPWEASELS!!!!!) So anyhow we're busy with packing, wheeling and dealing with realtors and home-buyers, working, and Ava-wrangling. She's getting her eyeteeth and has turned into Damien the devil child. She's thrown a number of tantrums to the point of not being able to breathe for reasons such as:

• not being allowed to climb on the table
• having her diaper changed
• having her teeth brushed
• not being allowed to eat inedible things that could cause her to choke (rocks, computer parts, dead leaves, garbage, etc)

A few days ago she got so mad at me while she was in the bathtub that she took revenge by SHOVING HER HEAD UNDER THE WATER. Which caused her to choke and cough and subsequently barf in the tub. I swear to you, if anyone gets on my case about the likelihood of a baby #2, I will probably punch them in the head.

It's not all tough though....on Mother's Day, she started saying "mommy" which was pretty freakin' cool. (Doesn't hurt that Ava and Daddy gave mommy a trip to the spa for a facial this Saturday!) She loves to snuggle on the couch with me, and I LOVE chasing her around just to hear her laugh. I can't believe how fast she's growing up! Not just physically--we're up to 27 lbs--but she's such an independent little girl: now, at bedtime, she doesn't usually like it when I rock her. We read, we say prayers, and more often than not when I try to rock her she squirms and reaches for her crib, just wanting to go to bed! :-( On one hand it's kind of sad, but on the other hand, we must be doing okay if we're raising a kid who is capable of (and enjoys) going to bed! Even if she's the demon-spawn while awake...... ;-)

I'll get around to pictures eventually, probably after we move, and I can include house pictures. Don't know if anyone even reads this anymore but if so, I owe you some pics. :)