Ava Two Months

Our little princess is two months old! We had her check-up on the 13th and I can't believe how much she is growing.

Weight:  9 lbs 14 oz    14th percentile

Height:  23 in    74th percentile

Head Circumference:  37.2 cm    16th percentile 

She has what we call the "Diamond" double chin -and rocks it well.

Her strength is amazing. She has been holding her head up since she was just a few weeks old. 

She has amazing eye control.

The doctor can't imagine where got her genes -tall and skinny ;)

She will turn at the sound of our voices. If we are behind her she will nearly roll over.

She can roll over but we have never actual seen it. We just know she can because I will put her to sleep on her tummy and when I go in to check on her she is laying on her back or vice versa.

She no longer fits in newborn clothing as of this week :( 

She has started smiling and trying to make noises

She still has awful relfux and lets you know when she is uncomfortable. She is on the maximum dose of prevacid morning and night. It helps a little...but just a little.

She had her first fever when she got her immunization shots. It got a little high but she enjoyed a lukewarm shower and relaxing in her diaper (and socks because she hates to be naked).

We have been loving spending time in Logan with my family this summer. It seems like if we are not in Logan they come down here. It has made for one enjoyable summer- and helped me to keep somewhat sane during Tim's long work weeks. Hunter, McKenna and the boys are the best at getting her to smile :) She has so many facial expression. 

The look she is giving hunter here is priceless. I will be sure to upload so more smiling pictures this week! She is a cutie!

Stitches

I suppose it has been a long time coming with two very active and rambunctious boys but I did not think Aaron would be the first one to have stitches. Poor Boy :( When daddy heads to work we always climb up in the window and wave good-bye. The boys have been doing this since we moved into this house two years ago. They climb up, we wave good-bye, then I throw them onto the bed and we head back to the kitchen to finish dinner. This particular evening I was running behind and just finishing up dinner so I told the boys to head in without me. They waved good-bye and then Ian came running into the kitchen in a panic about Aaron. The boys decided to jump onto the bed themselves after waving to daddy. Ian made it and Aaron managed to hit the metal bed frame on the side. I knew right away he would need stitches it was quite deep. So we called our neighbors they call themselves the "stand by grandparents" to see if they would mind watching over Ava while the boys and I headed to the doctors office. A couple hours later we were back home with a few stitches. Aaron did so well and was so brave he would look at me and say"right here hurts." He loved rocking the superhero bandaids and would tell everyone about his stitches. The cut has healed well and thankfully you can barely see it.

Hopefully we do not have too many accidents like this in the future. Something is telling me that this is the first of many more to come :/

Lazy summer days

With summer in full swing most of our outdoor activities involve water and shade. The slip n' slide has been a blast as usual this summer. Ava is ok outside in the shade, pike enjoys it as well. 

We have also enjoyed getting out the pool. I bought this pool when we moved here and I am not sure why I do not get it out more often. The kids had a blast and to them it is like a giant swimming pool. I also purchased a cover for it so we can have it out all week long :) 

Thanks to Tim's work and a mistake at the doctors office we all enjoyed free movies tickets last week. Tim and Ian went on Wednesday night and saw Despicable Me 2. Aaron and I headed out Thursday afternoon and saw Turbo. It was so fun having our own night with each of the kids. Although I am pretty positive Tim got the more relaxing part of the deal. Aaron did enjoy going up and down the isles putting the arm rests all up. I can't blame him the movie was good but crazy slow. Ian even found a snail in one of our flower beds that week...ewww. 

One afternoon while daddy was at work I took the kids park hopping. It worked out great! We would stop at the first park we saw and the kids would play until Ava got upset. Then we would hop in the car and drive to the next park to play. She would get upset then we would head to another one.  I think you get the picture. We went to four parks no more than 5 minutes from our home and it was a blast!

Ian drew pictures of cars for everyone last week. I thought he did a great job! Can you tell he got tired after the first two.

Aaron is getting really fast on his strider bike. This is actually him finally slowing down but as you can tell his balance is excellent. Next summer big boy bike :)

Daddy has been working a lot lately and crazy hours. So when he is finally home the boys have been enjoying some playtime. 

I can't believe that summer is almost over. A lady stopped me at the grocery store last week. I had all three children and the boys were not following the rules (one hand on the cart at all times). The lady smiled and said "Aww...enjoy it because before you know it -it will be over." I smiled and acknowledged her while trying to get Ava to settle down. But it is so true. I can remember just this summer thinking what on earth will we do. Now I am wondering where did summer go? They grow up too fast.

Family Pictures 2013

The beginning of July the wonderful Lindsay came and took newborn pictures of Ava. It was a difficult task since Ava cried and screamed nearly the entire time. I think I fed her four times within two hours just to get her to settle down. As usual Lindsay will still able to get some great shots :) I just picked a few of my favorites to post. Next step is getting them framed and hung in the house. 

 

 

Crying, Screaming, & Crying

The title pretty much sums it up :) But incase you did not believe me...

For some reason Tim and I were under the impression that Ava would be an easy baby. It is our third child and it should just get easier right? Plus hard pregnancy = easy baby. That would only be fair. Clearly we were mistaken. She has horrible reflux and the medication is somewhat helping. We have recently changed her dose and she is now on medication morning and night. But if you miss her dose or are about 30 minutes late you might as well forget it completely. Because it will not do a thing. Poor baby. So we are still adjusting thankfully when she is asleep, she is out cold! She sleeps on her back, tummy, and side. Pretty much any and every position but she seems to favor her tummy. 

Tim recently started a new job the first week of July. He now works at Intermountain Medical Center near Salt Lake City. He is on the Neuro Shock Trauma Intensive Care Unit and has been learning a lot. Some of the most important life lessons being that your life can change in an instant so appreciate it now. The other being that he will never own a motorcycle (sorry to those reading this that own a motorcycle but it's not like you did not know they were dangerous).  He works day and night shifts. The other night when he returned home from work late Ava stared him down for a solid five minutes. I could not stop laughing at the look on her face.

The boys have been great and very energetic lately. They have discovered the worlds biggest hot wheels parking garage -the blinds. They still love and adore their sister. They also tend to play a little too rough. As you can see by Ian's swollen nose from a fall off the bunk bed. Don't worry it was not broke just very swollen.

Pike too loves Ava but not the lack of attention he has been receiving. 

We have been doing a lot of swimming this summer. While we love Seven Peaks water park Ava does not do well out in the heat. Thankfully we have awesome friends that let us come and swim in their pool. The kids are determined that we should install a pool in our backyard. Tim and I have also decided that one day we too would love to have our own pool! Dream big right!

After a long day of swimming this is what everyone looks like.

If you were not aware Aaron loves music. His current favorites are Itsy Bitsy Spider and I am a Child of God. He requests them for every nap and before bed each night. Beware though you must sing all six verses of Itsy Bitsy Spider. If you try to skip a verses he will correct you and let you know. Plus, don't forget there are three versus to I am A Child of God. If only he was able to listen and follow instructions as well as he can memorize and sing songs.

While Ava may not be the easiest baby thank heaven she is a cutie!

Logan and the Gran Fondo

This last weekend we headed up to Logan! Tim had a bike race that weekend so we took advantage of our time in Logan and tried to chat with a few people. We headed out to the Thompson's on Thursday evening. The only time any of the kids stopped moving was when they held baby Ava. Little Miss Ellie is so excited to have a new little sister in November, and we could not be more excited for them! 

Friday morning the Fackrell's were kind enough to let us swim at their pool! The kids had a blast and can't figure out why we don't have a pool at our house. To say they had fun would be an understatement -they had a blast. We walked down the steps to the pool, Ian started buckling his life jacket, and within a few seconds he was jumping off the diving board and into the pool. The scary thing is Aaron is becoming just like Ian...No fear! 

As you can see these boys love the water! 

While we were in Logan my grandparents decided to take a little road trip to meet baby Ava. She was quite cozy sitting with great grandma Diamond

So beautiful!

She is starting to become quite the wiggler and loves kicking. She has also recognizes voices very well. She will whip her head around at the sound of her brothers -which happens quite often and is difficult to ignore. She is also enjoying her mobile and looking at various toys. 

On Saturday my dad and I dropped Tim off at the hospital much to early in the morning for his 100 mile bike race The Gran Fondo. I was amazed and the number of bikers there to race. Just around a thousand bikers. You will hear me in the video say, "there he is." 

I spotted this tandem bike and decided it was the only way I would ever do a bike race/ride with Tim. As long as I am in the back -so that Tim could not see me just relaxing and enjoying the view ;) 

We had fun watching the map to see where daddy was and watching all the bikers go by. Not to mention I slept the entire morning/afternoon while the boys played with Grandma and Grandpa. It was heavenly. Andrew as usual got some great shots of all of us waiting for daddy to finish.

Daddy came cruising past the finish line so fast that boys did not even see him. He did a fabulous job and was just a little tired at the end. We are so proud of him -but mostly we are just glad it is over ;) 

The boys loved watching and supporting daddy! We had a great weekend but it sure made us miss Logan!

4th of July

We started out spending the previous weekend in good ole Preston, Idaho for the Foster Family reunion. Every summer we all get together and it is probably the shortest to the point reunion ever :) We talk while we eat. Then when everyone is finishing up dinner and beginning dessert they start the auction. They ask everyone to bring items to contribute to the auction and the money earned goes to the next years family reunion. As soon as the auction is over we clean up, put away the tables and chairs and everyone leaves. In usual fashion everyone wants the big package of fireworks. Ian decided to start it off at $25 dollars. It was quite funny and he though he was awesome. Unfortunately we did not come home with the fireworks. 

Four generation picture -we always head back to Grandma & Grandpa's house afterwards to lounge around and talk.

Grandma Foster holding Ava.

After a lot of sleeping throughout the week (mostly by Ava) a few days later my parents and Hunter came down to celebrate the fourth. 

No, we did not go to any big firework shows we just walk outside on the back deck and watch the fireworks go off throughout the valley. It is crazy how much smaller they look on the video since they were really quite large. If you look past the larger fireworks in the video you'll see all the fireworks going off throughout the valley. You may also want to turn off the sound I could not get the flash to turn off while I was videoing...it was rather annoying. 

On thursday morning we woke up at about 5:30 am and got ready to head to the balloon launch. Unfortunately when we got there due to the wind it had been canceled. We woke up early again on Friday morning and Tim informed us that the balloons were out (he had worked that night). So we loaded the car and away we went! I really wasn't too excited to go and see a bunch of hot air balloons but it was probably the highlight of our week. It was amazing! We sat down for a little while and watch the hot air balloons right in front of us inflate. Then walked around and watched them all take off. We all loved it and look forward to going again next year. 

Panoramic shot my dad took -love it!

It was a little windy as well that day so unfortunately they did not do a lot of the balloon competitions like the bean bag drop. After watching the balloons we walked over and the boys were able to get inside and look around the IHC life flight helicopter and talk with the life flight nurses and pilots. Ian was quick to impress. He jumped in and buckled up the lower part of his seat belt, look around noticed it had a top buckle and snapped that all in as well. The nurse was like, "wow, that was pretty good you figure out how to put it together." The nurse then turned to me and said (in a yeah right tone), "let's see if he can figure out how to undo it." I reassured him that I was sure he would figure it out. Sure enough without hesitation Ian had it undone and jumped to test out another seat. The nurse and pilot were very surprised as they informed me that they had to be show how to work the seat belt and they had to practice using it.

Ava looked super cute in her forth of july attire. Sure it may have been a little big but thats ok. Uncle Hunter loves to hold her and help out. As you can see Ava doesn't seem to mind him to much either :)

This girl loves to sleep! She is growing and changing everyday. While she doesn't seem to be getting chunkier she is getting taller. Whenever we can actually catch her happy and awake we seem to snap pictures. I am not sure the whole "third child less pictures" applies to her. We have a lot!

 I am so glad that my family was able to come down and spend the week/weekend with us. What a wonderful weekend! Now just a few more days and then we are all heading up to Logan! This summer has been a blast!