Just before we attended the wedding for one of Jesse's best buds from high school... we got a pic of all 4 of us!
Mmmm... Gee Goo (Thank You) Dada. I Lucky.
September was such a busy month and it came and went way too fast. I am trying to prepare for this next little angel and I'm just not getting there! Anyway, here are some more recent pics of our sweetheart...
I started working on Saturdays for a couple hours doing office work. This means that Avril requires a sitter so of course the grandparents volunteered. Grandma especially enjoys getting Avril all dolled up and taking pictures... we don't mind it one bit! She's just so cute nobody can get enough of her :)
I've been slacking this month on blog postings so I'm playing a little catch up. I became distracted by my latest household project, which was to finish painting the upstairs. I managed to paint the bathroom and upstairs hallway, all after putting Avril to bed at night. This has made me exhausted. I did recruit help from my hubby, when he was available, which I was incredibly thankful for. The upstairs is finally all painted and I love how homey it makes it look. I still have some decorating to do, so the bathroom is not completely bare, but I'm doing one small thing at a time... both because that's all we can afford to do, and also because I don't have quite the stamina that my non-preggo body had.
Here are some recent photos/videos from this month, which by the way, has completely WHIZZED by! Where is summer going? I feel like the baby is going to be here so soon, and I'm not ready yet! We don't even have a name...
Anyhow, here they are:
Jordan is one of my piano students and the next door neighbor to my parents. He also happens to be one of Avril's favorite people in the whole world. He is so good with kids, I just watch in awe. Avril squeals with delight when she sees him outside. When we are at my mom and dad's house, she points to the door and keeps saying, "outside, outside." She never gets tired of going outside to play at their house, especially if Jordan is around. Here is Jordan giving Avril a ride on his um... scooter bike thingy? Not sure what to call it, but they have a blast riding it.
Mmm... soooo good! I think Avril's new favorite food is sweet corn on the cob. She somehow manages to clean that cob free of every last bit of corn, at lightning speed.
In a moment of weakness, mommy bought a box of twinkies for her sweet-tooth cravings. Mommy shared with Avril. I think you can tell from the picture that Avril thoroughly enjoyed her treat.
My brother Jared took this pic from his phone, in front or his house. Avril has been able to go see her Uncle"JJ", as she calls him, since he lives so close by... and she loves spending time with him. She tries to pick up the frog on his porch, and says, "heavy." She also likes to try to pet the stray kitty that hangs out in front of his house, and says, "nice", as in, nice kitty. Its so cute!
So cute! I dressed Avril in a top that my mom found in storage, that used to be mine when I was a little girl. I was looking for a picture of me when I was little, wearing this same shirt, but couldn't find one. My mom is giving Avril chocolate chips, a favorite treat of hers. So stinkin' cute!
These pics were taken with my phone, so they're not the highest quality. Here is Avril with her classic cheesy smile, and on the right she is wondering where the contents of her purse went. She does this gesture when something is "all gone." What a cutie. In case you can't tell... Love this girl!!
I was just amazed today, at how blessed our family is to have little Avril. The joy that she brings to our lives is immeasurable. I can't believe how much I just love her to pieces! And now we are going to have another little girl. How can I love another child as much as I love Avril? I'm sure I will, I just don't know how its possible.
Today we were sitting by the river, watching the water and Avril was so intrigued by her surroundings, she was just giddy with excitement. Out of nowhere, she runs up to me and gives me a big hug, while saying, "hug." My heart was already bursting with love, and then she runs circles around me, yelling, "I LUCKY!", which means, I Love You :) Then she proceeded to give me a kiss on the left cheek, followed by a kiss on my right cheek. I thought it couldn't get any better, but she repeated this several times, giving me countless Avril kisses. That just made my whole day, my whole week!
When daddy came home, I was repeating this story to him and Avril proceeded to tell her dada that she lucky him and gave him kisses on the cheek, and even a nice slobbery one on the mouth! I love watching her light up when Dada is around. Jesse is so good with her. It just melts my heart to watch how he makes her so happy... and visa versa. Even though he works long, hard hours at his two jobs and school, he is never too tired to pay attention to our little sweetie pie. She soaks in any daddy time that she can. I am so grateful that Dada works so hard for our family, so that I can be home with this precious cute face and I don't have to miss moments like these. :)
This morning Avril and I ventured over to Willow Park to play. The park with the rubbery ground is one of Avril's favorite hang out spots. We were excited to swing and slide, and go see the ducks in the pond.
Not long after we arrived, two other moms showed up with their cute kids- one boy, and one girl. The girl was Avril's same age, about 19 months old, and the boy was just a little older. We were playing in close proximity and they even shared some crackers with us to feed the ducks in the pond.
Avril was having a grand old time playing on the jungle gym, minding her own business, when out of nowhere, the little girl came running full speed at Avril, and pushed her over backwards. Avril fell back and hit her head on the hard, metal floor beneath her. I watched in horror as Avril's sweet little face turned confused at why this little girl would do this, and then she burst in to tears, screaming at the top of her lungs. The little girl's mom came over and repeatedly apologized for her daughter's behavior. She told her to come over to Avril and say "I'm sorry," but this only made things worse. She told Avril she was sorry and then grabbed Avril's face with both hands and pinched her so hard that it drew blood! Avril now has red fingernail marks and a cut on her face. Of course, Avril started wailing even harder and I could not get her to calm down.
I know that this little girl's behavior had hurt Avril physically, but I honestly think it hurt her feelings more. This was the first time anyone had ever been mean to Avril and I don't think her innocent, sweet little mind could understand why someone would be mean for no reason. When Avril finally stopped crying, I put her in a swing and started to push her. She sat there, gazing off with sad, big, brown eyes. She wouldn't let me stop pushing her in the swing for a whole hour. Normally she gets bored after a few short minutes.
The little boy's mom came over and told me that her friend's little girl did this often to other little kids and she wasn't sure why. She also told me that she could tell that Avril had a total sweetheart personality. She was right about that. There is no other word that sums up Avril's personality more than the word, "sweetheart."
The little girl's mom came over and must've apologized like 15 times to me. She was a perfectly nice mom, so I have no idea where the little girl learned this behavior. It got me thinking that I wonder if this little girl will grow up to be a bully. She did not have any siblings so I can't understand what would motivate a 19 month old little girl to beat up another sweet little girl.
This got me thinking even more, about how I don't understand when people have done things that are mean to me, when I rack my brain trying to think of the reason, or what I did wrong. The other night I was talking to Jesse about weaknesses and what he thought my main weakness was and he said it is probably my over-sensitivity, which is dead on true. He knows me very well. Of course, its probably 10 times worse now that I'm pregnant. I HATE how sensitive I am... how I can't just let things bounce off me. If someone does something that hurts me, I really internalize it and let it get to me. I even cried because the little girl was mean to Avril! I can see more and more of Avril's personality developing, and I get scared that she will be as sensitive as I am, and will let others who are not so tender-hearted, hurt her. I guess that's one of my new mom challenges... watching my sweet baby have to learn that life is not always a happy place of butterflies and "li-li's" (flowers). Of course, Jesse has a behavior modification solution for everything. He says not to worry, that he can teach Avril how to toughen up a little. Of course, we adore Avril's sweetheart personality. She melts our hearts each and every day with her little gap-toothed grin, and slobbery little girl kisses. We are so lucky to have such a sweetheart daughter. We love our little Av.
Aunt Trish and her daughter Olivia came up for the day so we decided to all get together at the Great Grandparent's house for some grub! Mmmm!
Here are some pics from the day:
Trish and Olivia
Great-Grandpa Parkinson and his daughter-in-law
Oh, how I adore these two!
Yargers-R-Us!
Avril on the famous deer, in front of the Great-Grandparents' house
