Like Blueberries Much?

Peace, love and big purple berries,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Frank-a-lynn

Ava is like a little adult these days.

She now realizes when she has to go to the bathroom when she gets up in the morning. She is normally in the bathroom (decides to use our bathroom) with the light on, before Doug or I even awake in the morning. She's an early bird, and probably always will be. :-) She is still in a Pull-up at night, but mostly wakes up dry. During all other times she wears "big girl underwear" and seems proud to do so. She definitely likes being in charge of going to the bathroom herself and will often tell me she can do it herself, while closing the door to the bathroom. :-)

Her facial expressions and conversation skills crack me up lately. Recently, I noticed that she kept calling / naming her dolls "Frank-a-lynn". I asked her if there was a "Frank-a-lynn" at school. Nope, no Frank-a-lynn at school. One morning, we were sitting on the couch before breakfast and she says "Franklin!", pointing to the t.v. That morning I found out that Franklin is a boy turtle on a cartoon. I had to crack up, realizing that (a) there really is a Franklin and (b) Franklin left impression enough upon Ava that she felt her dolls needed to all be named after him.

Ava likes to line up her stuffed animals and read to them. She likes to make "steps" out of books. She loves to giggle with her little brother. She loves to organize and clean her kitchen. Ava loves to help me bake, as well. On Tuesday night she helped me make a pizza.

Ava knows all of her letters, now, and has graduated to the big "three year-old" class at school. Since in the new class, she is taking naps without fail every day. They take a nap with the big kids in the four year-old room. In her class, they learn their letters, numbers, words, etc. She has taken a particular interest in our flash cards recently. Instead of saying the letter on the card, she will say "A, uh, apple..."B, buh, bear", as if to recite. The teacher was impressed that she knew all of her letters and that she can recognize some words on the back of the classroom door already. I'm glad she is in this new class, as I think she might've been a little bored in the last one.

She peeks in on Liam in his classroom while at school. She told me: "Lesterday? I walked into Liam's classroom and he smiled at me." (She can't quite say "yesterday", so she says "lesterday").

I was touched by how big my little girl was, this past Monday. When I went to pick the kids up, the teacher was so impressed that Ava knew some of their "words" (on the back of the door) that she wanted Ava to demonstrate. The teacher instructed all of the other kids to sit down on the rug while she attended to Ava. The teacher then got out her "pointer" stick and pointed at the words for Ava. I looked on, close to Ava. Ava stood there, not shy or cowering at all, and tried her hardest to recollect the word to which the teacher was pointing. She knew some of the words! Her first day in class! She wasn't frustrated with herself when she didn't know a word, but seemed content with those she did know. She wasn't embarassed in front of the class, nor did the other kids take note of the words she didn't know. The other kids just sat patiently and waited, as if to go about their normal business. Ava just smiled afterward and returned the hug I gave to her. It was at that moment I was especially thankful for the environment in which Ava learns every day. Prayers were answered. It made me glad that Ava is in this environment of people that she considers her family, as well. She often talks about her classmates and tells me that (insert classmate name here) is my best friend. It makes me feel good to see her developing her own relationships. She's learning life!

Peace, love and a world full of letters,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

My crib or yours?

Ava and Liam continue to share a room. Doug and I realize we are in the minority when it comes to this. Truthfully, it hasn't been bad at all!

Sunday night we put Liam to bed. He started crying (pretty loudly), so I went upstairs to check it out. He was STANDING UP IN HIS CRIB waiting for me to come get him! When I got close to him, he started laughing. This entirely sums up Liam's disposition. A social snuggler. :-) (He is pulling up quite a bit more these days.)

The next morning, when I awoke, I heard Ava laughing in their bedroom. Normally one to come downstairs on her own fairly quickly in the morning, I wondered why she hadn't made her way downstairs yet. I walked upstairs to find Ava IN Liam's crib. With him. She had pulled a stepstool close to his crib and used it to climb in. They both were hanging out in his crib, giggling away.

Peace, love and "bunkmates",
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Liam Is Pulling Up!

Liam pulled-up yesterday for the first time. He was hanging onto his Leapfrog table, having pulled himself to a kneeling position. After playing with the items on the table for a while while kneeling, he pulled himself up to a standing position!

So, for the record, he was 7 months + 9 days when he first pulled-up. I think we will have a walker before the 9 month mark, at this rate!

With love,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Baillairge Baby #2's Upcoming Arrival!

Yesterday we kept Alana Baillairge while Jeff and Melissa went to the hospital to bring Alana's baby sister Ashley Lauren into the world. When Jeff dropped-off Alana outside of Ava's doctor's appointment, she and Ava were both wearing their matching Dora light-up shirts. Complete coincidence! On the ride home, Ava turned to Alana and said "Alana, you're my BEST friend!" We sang songs the whole way home.


Ava and Alana had a "slumber party" and had such fun! They painted with dot-art, watched part of a Dora video, had fun in the play-kitchen, read lots of books together and even brushed their teeth at the same time. They had a great time together! Going to sleep wasn't the easiest with fun friends around, but they were all sleeping by 9 p.m. This morning the girls woke up and had a bowl of oatmeal and dried cranberries each. Alana didn't seem to be phased by being away from her normal routine. She is a sweetheart. Congrats to Jeff, Melissa and big sister Alana on the birth of new baby Ashley Lauren!

Peace, love and BIG sisters,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Liam is Seven Months Old

Note: Will add more pictures later. Blogger isn't allowing me to add the remaining pictures now...

Update! update! Liam is mobile! All this time we've been waiting for him to crawl... he doesn't officially "crawl" in the normal sense. It cracks me up to watch him crawl... he looks like he's swimming as he kicks his little legs. He is AMAZINGLY strong, picking his entire body up off of the floor, as if he was doing a push up with his hands and toes. His butt goes way up in the air, with hands remaining on the floor, as if he was roller skating on hands and knees. The kid does not use his knees at all to crawl. Pretty creative.

So, he pushes off with his arms, lunges himself forward and flops down on his belly. Imagine Liam doing this twelve times to go from one end of a room to the other! We can't keep him away from anything these days. Disaster has been averted with me pulling small things out of his mouth a few times. Fortunately he didn't get far with the items... Most include small toys of Ava's.

I often hear Ava's voice when I'm in the kitchen: "No, Liam, no!" Coming into the living room, I find Liam determined to get his hands on one of Ava's toys. Ava has been sharing well with Liam, but she does seem to replace her toy of preference (that happens to be in Liam's hands) with something that might not be at the top of Ava's list of preferred toys... We're working on that. One of Ava's day care teachers told me that she was impressed with Ava's "sharing" abilities lately. Good to know.


















Liam continues to be a big boy, but seems to have stretched-out some. His hair continues to grow in, and remains very blonde. He has the bluest of blue eyes. They're a very deep, beautiful blue. He definitely has my coloring.

I told Doug the other day that I think Liam will be happy with whatever presents itself in his life. Liam just has this easy disposition and seems content no matter what. He does cry when he sees me, upon me picking him up at day care, lately. If he seems me pass by a door at home while he is in his high chair, he might cry, as well. I guess we're into the separation anxiety phase, now.

He prefers his left hand, and I think I will officially predict that he will be a lefty. He uses both hands, but seems to reach for things first with his left. His dexterity in picking up food amazes me for his age. Of course, if food is involved, I KNOW he'll figure a way to get it into his mouth!


















He knows how to "turn the page" when we read books. He doesn't seem to like sitting still these days, though, and would rather be exploring things right now.

He loves Gerber fruit puffs, the baby pancakes I make, LOVES baby spaghetti, chewing on bananas, blueberries, baby veggie crisps, baby pasta, peas, mashed sweet potatoes, other pureed vegetables, goldfish crackers. We've just started giving him the peas, blueberries and goldfish crackers. Nothing tops his bottles, though! I seriously have to get his reaction to his bottles on tape. He laughs out loud uncontrollably (think machine-gun rapid-fire giggles) and smiles the biggest smile when looking at his bottles. Every time.

Ava still hangs the moon for Liam. He doesn't ever seem to let her out of his sight. No one can make Liam laugh like Ava does. It's the sweetest thing in the world. She is very sweet with him and gives him kisses on her own.

When I pick them up from day care, I pick Liam up first and then go into Ava's classroom. Liam seems to like to "talk" to the kids in Ava's classroom. It's hilarious! He is using his little voice lately, but isn't saying anything specific. When I get in front of his face and ask him to say "mama" or "dada", he just laughs at me. I guess he thinks I'm the one speaking a foreign language!



















When Ava and Liam take baths, I walk Liam up the stairs, letting him "hop" up the steps on his own feet. He thinks this is the funniest thing in the world. Ava seems to get a kick out of it, too. It's as if he is walking to the bath himself. Once up the stairs, I let him "walk" to the tub. Once in the bathtub, he doesn't want to sit down lately. He likes to hang onto the side of the tub while standing. And he is such a slippery little guy! I think bathtime is probably his favorite time of day.

He continues to spit up an unbelievable amount. It doesn't seem painful to him, from what I can tell. We often can't get an outfit on him without him spitting up on it first. The doctors say this will slow-up once he starts pulling up on things. He's so close! When not in the bathtub, he likes to stand next to things, as well. He doesn't really have his balance down yet, but enjoys being upright (standing) instead of sitting. I'm not sure if this is because of his acid-reflux, or just because it's a new skill learned. He can go from a sitting position to "crawling" (or should I say the "Liam crawl") and vice versa. Often lately we will find him trying to pull-up in his crib. I think within the next few weeks he might figure out how to master that skill.


























His bedtime is normally 7:30 -8:00 p.m. He continues to take three naps a day. Yesterday he missed his late afternoon nap, so as I fed him, he would close his eyes with each bite. I'm not sure why, but to me, this is the cutest thing in the world. So tired!!!!

Peace, love and the Liam crawl,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Tooth #2 is through!

Liam had a rough time getting to sleep one night a week ago. He woke up with tooth #2! The day care principal commented that Liam will probably be a linebacker, with the way he handles pain. He seems to only cry the day of the tooth's arrival. :-)

This tooth came in 2-3 days after the first one. His first tooth was on his lower-middle-left. This tooth is on the lower-middle-right.

I will be sure to include pictures later.

Finally some choppers to chew that food!

Peace, love and sharp little teeth!
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam