Remember when?

Anyone who has known me in the last 10 years has probably heard me talk about Megan, Chris, and Steve. Steve hired me to be the nanny for Meg and Chris when they were very young, I think Meg was 5 and Chris was 7. Well, now Megan is a Freshman and Chris is a Junior! They're both in High School!! Anyway, A couple of weeks ago Meg and I went shopping for a dress for her Freshman dance. I took the "little" girl whose shoes I used to tie and nose I used to wipe looking for a prom dress! We had a great time but what a glaring sign of how fast time does fly.
Steve snapped this picture of their family plus Ava that same week that Meg and I went shopping. I needed a babysitting for half a day and Steve and Meg were so great to oblige. They even brought Ava with them to Canton where Meg had her hair cut! It was really fun to see Steve and Meg in the "nanny" role that I used to occupy. :) It was a great week as it's always fun to catch up with this fantastic trio.

Watching Jackson's Videos

Ava LOVES to watch the videos of her cousin Jackson. She thinks that he's hilarious! Laughing and squealing and wiggling around she will watch them over and over. I figured that you all needed to see this because it is too cute not to share. The next video I'll have to post is Ava watching herself watching Jackson on video. I guess she thinks she's a pretty good comedian because when she saw herself laughing she laughed louder and harder than in the video.

The Hot Seat?

Who knew that Ava was going to take after her Uncle Jesse? He would live in a freezer if he could, he is always so hot! And here is little Ava Reese at Uncle Jesse's house, sitting in his fridge.

I had the fridge door open while I was getting all of the kids their drinks for lunch and it seems Ava thought she had found the perfect little seat. After discovering it for the first time she had to try and sit there EVERY time the fridge door was opened. Funny girl.

Stubborn pigtails!

Girls are so much fun! Ava's hair is finally long enough for pigtails. There isn't a whole lot of hair to put into the pigtails but we had fun playing with what's there. :) Of course she had to start pulling them out as soon as they were in so we had to distract her with something. It's not always easy to distract this girl, she can be very determined and stubborn. While I type this the girl in question is in a battle with her Daddy. She thinks she should be able to climb onto the step in front of the fireplace and stand up and jump on it. Her parents disagree. So she climbs up, Dad takes her down. She goes right back and climbs up, Dad moves her away. Jeff tried to distract her by putting her on her 4-wheeler and giving her a ride down the hallway. That worked as long as he held her on the 4-wheeler. Right back to the fireplace she went as soon as she could climb off. So he put her in her rocker and gave her a toy. No good, right back to the fireplace. He parked the 4-wheeler in front of the fireplace and blocked it off with other toys. She moved the toys. He has moved her away and told her 'no' about 16 times and I am not exaggerating. Somehow he can keep a straight face through all this but I am hiding behind the computer and my sweatshirt hood, laughing myself silly. I told him its all his fault. We're getting paybacks from the way he always was growing up. It can't possibly be from me, I have always been an angel.

A Big Girl Chair.... Or Big Boy Chair?

It's not exactly a unisex style this new, pink butterfly chair of Ava's but she and Austin both loved it! :) Ava and Austin are about ten months apart in age, he's going to be turning two in a couple of weeks! We were over to their house and Austin wanted to show Ava everything, he was so cute. He really wanted to show Ava his bed which was a mattress on the floor while he was transitioning from his crib to his toddler bed (the new bed was being painted). He'd climb onto the mattress, lay down and pat the bed beside him for Ava to lay next to him. So sweet! "Aba, bed!"

Ummm...

Feet in the air, bottom on the pillow, head on the floor... Comfy? Ava seemed to like this and was just chillin' and chewing on her sweater. I don't think that the picture does it justice because it was pretty darn funny. She's getting so big and seeing her relaxing on the floor is unusual because she's such a busy girl. Today she showed me that she can stack blocks up and make a tower. And then she showed me that it's even more fun to demolish the tower! We're working on words but so far it's just "mama" and "dada". Oh, and she said "Aba". Hopefully someday she'll be able to pronounce the "v" in her name.

Our Snugglebug

We used to let Ava sleep in our bed when she was smaller, especially when I was still nursing. We have learned that she is no longer a good bedmate. She's sure sweet but not still. Waking me up at 12:30 last night with her cry, I went in to check on her and held her for a little while. I didn't want to give her a bottle so I figured I would just bring her back to bed and let her sleep with us for a bit. She tossed around a little but soon was fast asleep. The only trouble was, I couldn't sleep with her arms wrapped tight around my neck. When I tried to scoot her away from me she turned right over and wrapped her arms around Daddy's neck, resting her head on his pillow. It is the sweetest thing and I hope she's always a cuddler like this but it doesn't make for very restful sleep for her bedmates. Two weeks ago was the last time she slept with us and Jeff had no idea she was in our bed until he woke up at 2:00 am to her arms, once again, tight around his neck. He said he can't imagine a better way to wake up, even if it is the middle of the night.