Bean Seeds

I bet you didn't know that you could have a whole meal with just green bean seeds. Or did you? Maybe it's just me that was unaware of that fact because Jayden certainly thinks so! He pretty much only ate the seeds from his green beans for his entire dinner one night. Oy vay!

Two Months

Ava Grace is...

• Growing! Ava had her two month appointment on Thursday and was 12 pounds, 10 ounces. She has definitely rounded out and is sporting a cute little double chin. She is 23 inches long and is in the 75th percentile for height and weight. Her head, however, is in the 90th percentile although for what it's worth I would have never guessed that she had a "large" head, probably because her hair distracts me from noticing anything else about her head. To say the least, her hair is memorable since there is nothing I can do to keep it laying down. Ava is wearing a few 0-3 months clothes still but is now mostly in 3 months. She is now in size 2 diapers and is no longer wearing the newborn cloth diapers. Ahhh, they don't stay in those tiny little diapers long, at least not my children!

• Sleeping! If I wasn't living it myself, I would never believe what a good sleeper Ava is. She still sleeps a good portion of the day although spends a couple more hours awake each day then she was before. She has also been sleeping through the night for a couple of weeks now. She falls asleep at night about 9:30 usually and doesn't wake up for her next feeding until about 4:30 am! Thankfully she seems to have outgrown that fussy period that she was going through from 6-10 pm each night.

• Smiling! Ava smiled her first real smile while we were visiting our family in Rapid City and has been smiling ever since. She really is such a happy baby. Every time she gives me a smile, I see a little glimpse of a personality and it's so much fun!

• Eating! Ava continues to nurse very well although I realized she is not a comfort nurser like her brother was. That became apparent when Ava got all her shots this week and I tried to nurse her right after the shots to help ease her pain like I always did with Jayden but she wanted absolutely nothing to do with that! So it was just a process of holding her and rocking her until her crying eased up. It was so sad and I miss not being able to use nursing as a comforting tool but maybe that will change. Soon we will start trying to feed Ava with a bottle to see if she will take that. I really hope she takes a bottle so I can have a little flexibility once in awhile if need be and of course, it will be necessary for daycare if we end up sending her to the same daycare that Jayden goes to. Thankfully Ava seems to have kind of outgrown all the spitting up she was doing every night. That was quite the mess and I'm glad it was just a phase!

• Talking! Well, sort of. She is starting to do a lot more cooing and once in awhile lets out a little squeal. I love those little baby noises and I definitely don't remember any squealing from Jayden so it's fun to hear girl noises!

Special Sibling Sentiments

I thought you might enjoy seeing how Jayden interacts with Ava on a daily basis. I captured a few seconds on video the other day and it has a little bit of everything in it. I feel like the way Jayden has been with Ava and accepted her into the family has just been perfect. He's not so aware of her that he's jealous of the time that I spend with her and yet he's not completely oblivious either. For example, when I pick him up from "school" he will point at the car and say "Ava?" as we walk towards the car. (I leave Ava in the car while I go in to get Jayden and before you judge me, remember we live in Laramie where the crime rate is like 1% so I feel like it's very safe to leave her for a few minutes, but I digress...) Another example is when he was holding both pairs of sunglasses  -Jayden's and Ava's -- and he dropped Ava's pair on the ground and exclaims "Oh Ava's!!!" It's so cute because he's come to expect seeing her around and he's usually very sweet with his interactions with her (he does have his moments of possessiveness so it's not all puppies and rainbows all the time but that possessive streak is rare albeit very normal for a toddler). I just pray that they always have a special bond and that I am able to foster that caring spirit in Jayden so he'll always watch out for his little sister!

Swim Lessons

One of the fun things that DJ decided to do with Jayden this summer was enroll in swim lessons. Both DJ and Jayden have loved the swimming experience together and Jayden has gotten so confident in the water. Swim lessons seemed like a good idea to give DJ more ideas on how to help Jayden become even more confident in the water. I went to watch Jayden at the pool the other day and it had been a few months since I had last seen him in the water. I was so surprised to see him dunk under the water, run in the water by himself and go down the slide by himself several times! He would cling to us when I last saw him in the pool and there was no way he would have even come close to doing the things I watched him do this week. My little baby is getting so big!

Enjoy these clips of DJ and Jayden playing together in the pool!

Summertime Joys and the Choo Choo

We have been having a fantastic summer this year and I can't get enough of the outdoors and making new memories with my kids. As a result this blog has been pushed to the wayside but I do have a lot of pictures and videos to share so I will try to catch you up eventually!


A couple weeks ago Jayden, Ava and I went to Rapid City for two weeks and DJ met us there for the last few days over the 4th of July. It was very memorable because not only was this Ava's first road trip at just 5 weeks old (it was a successful first trip!), it was also the first trip where Jayden was old enough to have a lot of fun with. I had so much fun taking him to all my favorite places in the Black Hills and he made it so very enjoyable. 


This video is from our experience on the 1880 train which is a ride on an old-fashioned train (like from the 1800s maybe??) through the hills between Hill City and Keystone (best known for Mt. Rushmore). It takes about 1 hour in each direction which in hindsight is a bit long when traveling with small children so next time we'll probably just take the one way trip. But given the heat of the day and the longevity of the ride both kids did awesome! Nana and Papa went along to help and I think we will always remember Jayden's first train ride and his absolute thrill every time the train whistle blew (which happened about 56 times during the ride, give or take)!

Happy Independence Day

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