boys and their tools

As soon as Everett saw John with the tools out he picked up one and jumped in to help.  The girls were no where to be found.

update

whoa....it's been a crazy couple of weeks.  We have had some major ups and downs with Avery and some house drama.  Other than that all is well and pretty status quo.  Not really too much to report. We had a "last hurrah on dayton" with the Shumans on Saturday.  We had a blast but we found out we are all getting old.  It was a slumber party and we were all in bed before 11.  I blame a marg bucket being finished before dinner, dinner too late, kids that stayed up too late and a bad bad bad hail storm.  No matter what we love the Shumans and are so thankful we met them on this wonderful street.  I guess we are all ready to move on from our life on Dayton.  The kids are all great.  Life in Louisville is VERY busy this time of year.  Races, balloon races, fireworks, steamboat race, chow wagon, Derby and the schools make sure they don't miss a beat.  Av has been told about it all at school.  Things we don't tell her or things I even know anything about like the "bed races."  We saw them on tv the other day and she got so excited and said, "those are the bed races."  I didn't even know they existed.  Then we went downtown to the chow wagon for a balloon glow and she said, "that's the Ohio river, that's where the fireworks were."  That we didn't take her to sadly.  I really wanted to but the weather was horrible. In the 40s and the fireworks go off at 10 so pretty late for us.  We did watch them on tv the next day.  C had a horse parade (they rode stick horses) yesterday and Av has a shoebox float parade today.  I will post pics soon.  It's a crazy fun time of year.  We are going to Oaks tomorrow and I can't wait.  I love this time of year and school is out in 3 weeks.  CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

18 months - big boy

He is 25 lbs and 33 inches long.  That puts him around 25% for weight and 50% for height.  Perfect!  His head though is in the 95% heheheh.  We had no clue.  Doesn't really look that big.  Maybe that's why his knees are always skinned, since he has to carry around that big noggin of his.

sleep update

Well the sleeping is going MUCH MUCH better in the fact that when she does wake up she goes right back to sleep.  She is not up for hours and hours so it's so much better and I will take it.  Most nights she is up though.  I kinda think its become more of a habit though.  She's not really scared most of the time. Just a kid up and trying to avoid sleeping.  She does not want to go back to sleep in her bed or even in my bed/room.  She likes the basement with the light on so thats where I take her.  Not ideal but it makes her happy enough to go back to sleep so it is working for now.  I hope in our new house just turing on the light in her own bedroom will do the trick.  So glad we are moving soon.  She has been up the last 3 nights but as soon as I make up her little bed on the couch in the basement I don't hear another peep from her.  She is a funny one though.  What little kid would rather sleep by herself in the basemen than with her big sis or even on her parents floor?????  I don't know but I'm sooooo glad she is not in my room.  Or bed!!!!  I love cuddling with her but I get enough C time during the day.  The break of the night is a really really good thing for us.  She for sure is our most challenging kid, but lucky for her the challenging aspect of her also has a sweetness to it.   She is something for sure.  Born to be a middle kid maybe?  She sure will never be overlooked!!!!  

daddy's home!!!!

We all made it through J's last (at least for awhile) Brazil trip.  It was a tough week in the fact that we missed him but actually the week went pretty smoothly.  We did it and made it!!!  My longest single mom-hood.  I give big props to the ladies that actually do it all the time.  It is rough!!!  E and C were beyond excited to see daddy.  I don't think C left his side all afternoon!!!  She missed her daddy!!!  When Av got off the bus she didn't notice him at first.  Her teacher had given them a few candy hearts as a reward that they don't eat till they are home ( she has a long bus ride poor thing, that's a long time for a little kid to have candy but not eat it) so she was pretty focused on getting the candy out of it's bag and on playing tag with her bus friend.  I said, "Av looks who is here."  She looked up, said "daddy" and took off running to him.  It was very cute.

pacis or mommy?????

Yesterday am I had to wake E.  He had 3 pacis when I woke him.  One in his mouth and one in each hand.  This is like winning the lottery to him.  He was so happy.  He almost didn't want to get out of bed knowing I would make him keep the pacis there.  I cuddled with him for a minute and then tried to take them.  It was a no go, he cuddled into me and hid them.  I didn't have the heart to take them so we came downstairs.  We were running late so I wanted to set him down on the couch with the girls so I could get my stuff done.  He usually needs some cuddle time before he is ready to be on his own in the mornings.  I thought with his pacis he would be happy though.  I set him on the couch saying, "you have your pacis you don't need me."  I put him down then sat on the coffee table to put on cartoons for the girls. I heard him grunting and groaning and a few seconds later he was at my legs and wanting up.  I looked over at the couch and all 3 pacis had been left on the couch.  I think I was chosen over the pacis!!!!!!!!!!

pee pee

E has diligently been learning the names of his body parts.  He is very interested and excited to learn.  I think he has more words as his age than both of the girls combined did.  Anyway while changing his diaper he grabbed at himself down there and I said, "pee pee."  It was at least 2 weeks ago and it has not come up since.  So yesterday when J got home from Brazil and took E up to change him we were ALL very surprised to hear E say, "pee pee" out of the blue and point to himself.  J had no clue I had taught him that. heheheh it was pretty funny stuff.