Christmas preparations galore!

It is inching closer and closer to Christmas and I know it will be here soon. I still want to do so much! Make more cookies, go to the Holiday of Lights, take the girls to see Santa (even if Ava is afraid!), go to the Nighttime Zoo festivities...there just isn't enough time! Ava and my mom made some ornaments for the tree and Ava and I painted them, they turned out really cute. She doesn't have the attention span at this point to finish a project so I usually end up finishing it, along with cleaning up a huge mess. But that's ok, at least she is exposed to different activities and to art. Thanks mostly to my mom. She brings over her "lesson plans" and has so many ideas of what to do with Ava to help develop artistic creativity. Ava is in a huge puzzle phase right now. She loves doing puzzles and she is good at it! She can do a 23 piece puzzle all by herself and does a Sesame Street puzzle book with 5 different puzzles in it over and over again. Ava continues to say the most incredible things! Of course as I am writing I can't think of anything specific, but she really knows exactly what is going on. My favorite parts of my day are when I go to get her out of bed and lay down next to her and she just starts talking up a storm about her dreams or what she wants to do or what we did yesterday. (basically all things happened "yesterday" even if it was a few days or a week ago). It is such a magical time of day for her when everything is fresh and she says "Good Morning Mommy!!". Then I get her dressed and sometimes it all falls apart and she gets in a mood or sometimes her good mood when she wakes up carries through the morning.  But before she gets out of bed, she is just so lovable. My other favorite time of day is when I walk in the door after coming home from school. She runs to me with urgent news about what she is doing with Jeanette. She is so excited about is and she yells "HI MOMMY!" and gives me a huge hug. It is the best!
Lucy is now sitting stable, so that is encouraging. She still needs a pillow behind her, but overall, she is pretty stable. She wants to crawl so badly! She just can't seem to prop herself up. If she is laying down, she is like an upside-down potato bug, she can't right herself. She gets so mad when she wants something and can't reach it. It must be very frustrating not to be able to move forward to get what you want. She puts EVERYTHING in her mouth with so much enthusiasm, it is incredible! She is extremely driven to get what she wants! She is as passionate as Ava is, but where Ava is thoughtful, Lucy is impulsive. It is so interesting to see their differences, even though Lucy is so young, there is little that is similar between them, apart from their appearance. They truly look alike, but Lucy seems younger than Ava was at this age. Ava seemed more grown up, even back then. Lucy is much more of a cuddler, a baby-baby. Ava was more on top of her game at that age. I remember driving up to Passover in Newport Beach with Ava in the backseat and Ava basically demanded that I read her the Farm book over and over and over. She got upset whenever I stopped reading it. When I read to Lucy, she just lunges toward the book with her entire being and wants to eat it. She loves pictures in books and is excited when I read to her, but it is hard when she just wants the book in her mouth. It is especially frustrating to Ava when I attempt to read to the two of them together. I get Ava's point of view that Lucy wants everything she sees...she does!
I love my two wonderful girls so much and am excited everyday as they grow and change. A big part of me doesn't want them to grow any bigger. I just want them to stay like this forever. But I am also thrilled when they reach new milestones in their development. Parenting is a complete and total paradox! And I love it.

December Nights and February 1st

Yummy milk! 

I am so cute in my harness-free outfit!

Ava and teh Nativity Scene: "Talk them!!"

In front of the Balboa Park fountain

Mommy and Lucy at December Nights!

End of the night, Ava doesn't want to leave

Ava and daddy exploring how gravity works at the Reuben Fleet Space Center

We had a wonderful time at December Nights last night! Ava loved the nativity scenes, especially that I narrated and made all of the figures "talk them". She had gingerbread men (just the feet) and got to play at the science museum in the kids zone. She had an absolute ball! She loved all of the lights and running down the Prado. She was afraid of Santa...very afraid! She was last year too. She hasn't quite made the connection between presents and Santa yet. Once she does, I'm sure her fear will go away. She did like seeing the flying Rudolph and reindeer though. Lucy was a trooper, she was pretty good, but started to lose it at the end of the night around 7, so we called left. Ava protested vehemently, saying she wanted to stay.
As far as Lucy's development goes, we went to see Dr. Pring and good news overall: her left hip has corrected to 28 degrees, but her right hip is still at 31 degrees with no improvement. Dr. Pring is optimistic that she will correct with no problem, although I am nervous. If it isn't working, we are going to try a different type of brace and the next step is surgery. Again, Dr. P doesn't think that is likely. We have another appointment on February 1st to check again. I am just praying that both are corrected even more, hopefully at or below 25 degrees. She is now wearing the harness 18 hours per day so at least she can wear normal baby clothes for part of the day. It is the little things sometimes. On a bright note, Lucy is sitting up like a champ, she still falls over sideways occasionally and arches back, but overall, she is doing really well with that milestone.
We are off from school for Christmas break in 2 weeks..yay for being teachers :-) (at least there is that perk!)

Baby Phillipe (sniffle sniffle!)

Wow, I haven't updated in a while! We have been so busy with Thanksgiving and spending quality family time :-) We had a fabulous week off from work this week we did so many things: zoo, Children's Museum, tree decorating, baking pies, visiting friends and just being lazy at home.  I'll start with an Ava update. She is just too much!! We had a great day at the zoo, but she lost it when I didn't want to carry her anymore and she screamed for (no joke) an hour straight. She finally crashed in her car seat. That is one strong willed child! She loved the CHildrens' Museum, as usual! So much fun. She loves the Rain House. She could play in that thing for hours, just running around and jumping on the foam cut outs. Ava "helped" me bake pies for Thanksgiving. She always wants to lick the batter but since I used eggs this time, she didn't understand why she couldn't have any. But she is just so intelligent. Such a fast little learner! She can put together puzzles with just a little help from me. She really works on them intensely and tries out different pieces in different places until she gets it right. She also talks to herself when she does it. So cute! She has also taken to reciting the "Gabriella Song" book to me. Yes, she has it nearly memorized and says complex sentences like: "She heard the rhythm of the tethered boats thumping against the canal walls 'bump de bump bump' and echoing down the paved allyways and between the high buildings she could her her mother's call 'Gabriella, gabriella, Amore mio come home!'"Yes, she says that whole sentence. No, I don't think she understands it, but she knows it! Today she "adopted" a baby and named it Baby Phillipe and she feeds it a "milk bobby" and gets more milk for it from the "oven". She rocks it and feeds it the bottle. She keeps telling me that I am Ava and she is mommy. Sh wants to switch places with me and wants to be like me. So cute! In her bath tonight, she threw her usual tantrum about having her hair washed but this time instead of just screaming she yelled, "I'm so mad!!!! I'm SO MAAAADDDD!!!" I could barely contain my laughter! She was so darn cute and so intent on how she felt! I felt the same way when she said, "I'm a little bit jealous" when I was holding Lucy yesterday. She put her head down on my lap and it was so cute and sad at the same time. She makes me sad when she says "I don't want you to go!" before I leave for work and even when I tuck her in. Even though I know she is fine, I hate it that I can't be with her every minute. She won't want me around like this forever.

Poor little Lucy has been sick lately. She is so congested! Poor baby! But she has been eating a lot more in the past few days. Her menu now includes sweet potatoes, peas, carrots and bananas. She will eat an entire container (or two!) per sitting. Wow! She is also sitting up much better. She isn't stable yet, but she is doing much better at sitting for a longer period of time without arching back or tipping over the side. She also loves it when I sing to her. She especially likes Bon Jovi, Livin on a Prayer. Awesome.

I Heart Pickles

So in the past few days, Lucy has discovered that if she drops a toy, it goes away and if she cries about it, it magically comes back. In actuality, she is training me to pick up her toys for her. I remember when Ava was in this phase, it was so frustrating! Lucy is just perplexed about where her toys go when she opens her hand. It is pretty funny. Lucy still isn't sitting yet. I am getting a little worried, but I bet it has to do with her harness. She is also totally obsessed with putting things in her mouth, she would rather fall over and keep whatever it is in her mouth than put her hand down to catch herself. She is a pretty happy baby right now, except for her teething. I have been giving her pickles to gnaw on, and she loves those, so that helps. I was looking at Ava's baby milestone stuff and she was already crawling and pushing herself up to sitting at this time. But, every baby is different I suppose.
Ava seems to have grown up a bit in the last week, it is the weirdest thing! She has few potty accidents, she is talking even more (if that's possible), and she actually kissed Lucy's head yesterday! I was so elated about that one! Ava relates complex ideas to me and answers questions with detailed answers. She sings songs on her own and makes keen observations. She is a bright, wonderful little person who amazes me each day. Today, when I asked her what she was doing, she said, "I'm making a game. You play by standing on one foot and I am balancing. It is a tiny game." Wow. She blows me away! With this new found independence, she is asserting herself vocally and not just throwing tantrums to get her way, that is the best part! However, she is articulate enough to start to negotiate for what she wants. Yesterday I told her it was time for a bath she said, "No, I want a few more minutes, I;m still playing!" Well, she told me, didn't she?! I was so stunned, I actually caved and she played for another half hour. Yesterday I also took her to Parkway Plaza and she got a little fairy doll (who she promptly named Phillip) and we went on the carousel. She always wants to sit on the bench. Funny. We also went into Victoria Secret since I wanted to pick up some perfume and we had not gone 3 steps into the store when Ava said, "These are lots of of soaps for mommy to wash the body in the bath for mommy to wash herself!" Wow! How the heck did she know that? She held my hand the whole time and walked like the big girl she is becoming. She is so fun to talk to. I love how her little mind works! She has started to call Lucy her, "little sister monkey" I think because Lucy lays down on the rainforest play mat and Ava knows that monkeys live in the rainforest. I can only assume that is why, there may be an entirely different reason. Ava has also discovered "snow shoe" where she sits on my foot and hugs my leg and I walk around while she chants "snow shoe" over and over. My dad did that same thing with my brother and I every day when he got home from work. I am happy to carry that tradition on. I just love watching how my girls are growing everyday!

Baboons and Bacci

Today we had a marvelous day at the zoo. It was a late morning for us with the time change, Lucy had a restless night, so she and I slept in until 8:00am while Jeremy got Ava up. By the time we got to the zoo, it was about 11:00am, but it was a leisurely morning. We went on our usual route around the zoo, starting with the monkey trail, winding through the canopies, down to the hippos and up the eagle trail to Elephant Odyssey. Ava ran a lot of the way with Jeremy, it was so cute! Lucy sat up in the stroller and was so alert, looking around and taking it all in. The elephants were working with their trainers, so that was fun to see too, of course, Ava could care less...she just wanted to run! We got Ava some "tube guys" from the gift shop, we got the Down Under Toob with Australian animals and she couldn't be happier. After the zoo, we had some lunch at the Prado. Delicious as usual.
Lucy napped when we got home and Ava played in the sandbox. When Lucy woke up, Ava gave her a baccio! I was so excited! I couldn't believe my eyes, Ava actually let Lucy give her a kiss! Lucy gives those wonderful baby big mouth kisses and just loves to give them over and over again on our cheeks. She is just the sweetest, most adorable baby ever!! Then Ava let her give her kisses two more times! And she gave her toys too! (well, she chucked toys at Lucy's head, but I'll take it).

mmmm! Rice and carrots!

I love to eat!

hanging out in the stroller

The zoo is fun!

I swear I'm not tired yet!

Lucy is now eating 2 meals a day. In addition to her bottles, she has 2 big bowls of rice cereal with carrot. She gets so excited for her "meals" it is too cute! She opens her mouth so wide, and she is getting better at swallowing and not just pushing the food out. She sits up well enough in her high chair now which makes feedings so much easier. She is also rolling back to front now without the harness on. That is such a relief since she stopped rolling when she got the harness on a month ago, but now she is rolling like a champ!

Lucy and the lion (look carefully in the background)

daddy and Ava running down the trail

In potty news, Ava had her first accident free day since her early potty days! Yes! Oh, and my new favorite Ava sentence for this week that she likes to say over and over, "My name is Skippy Jon Jones but I pretend to be a Chihuaua but I'm really a Siamese Cat!" That and the fact that now she in introducing herself as "Ricky Racoon" her "alter-ego".

Anyway, we had a great day!

Tickle Monster!

So yesterday Ava actually interacted with Lucy! She tickled her belly! It was the cutest thing ever. I loved seeing her play with her sister for all of 30 seconds, but hey, it was something! I couldn't believe it. Ava also tucked her little fish in her shopping cart and said it was Lucy and covered it to "keep her warm". She also chucks toys at Lucy and says, "this is for Lucy. This is Lucy's toy."All positive signs. Awwww!!

Treetops, Pteranadons, & Treats

Dad, and Mom & Ava as the two headed Tiny Peranadon (bonus finger in the nose pic!)

Trick or Treating!

Walking the neighborhood with Nonna

Jeremy surrounded by dressed up little girls, awww!

Uncle Joey, Lucy, & Aunt Adrienne

Nonna took this one of our little group

Me and Joe, impersonating archeologists

Fun on the Elephante

My beautiful daisy baby!

"I am Tiny Pteranadon!!!"

Mommy and Ava

Us with Gramps, aka."Indy"

Giving out candy to the neigborhood

Ava and Kennedy on the slide (Kennedy is so patient!)

What a wonderful weekend we had! Even though it was super busy with Jeremy doing Homecoming on Thursday and Friday, on Saturday, Uncle Joey & Aunt Adrienne came down and went to the zoo with us. Ava was a little salty at first, but she rallied and we had a great time playing with them. Ava had a blast playing with Uncle Joey in the Elephant Odyssey and running around playing hide and seek in the rain forest areas of the zoo. Fun! The next day we began to get ready for our big Halloween party on Sunday. Jeremy and I made tons of chili and sweet potato soup with cornbread. Everyone came and we had a great time with all of our friends. The little ones were so cute! Ava (Tiny Pteranadon), Nala (Tinker Bell), Lilly (Snow White), Kennedy (Bumble Bee), Cora (Purple Fairy), Lucy (Daisy), Isla (Tigger), Gavin (Elephant), Kiera, & Shelby were so darn adorable. Dad dressed up as Indiana Jones, that was too funny. Then we all went out trick or treating which was a blast! Ava took a little while to warm up to the idea of going up to strangers' doors, but by the end, she had the hang of it and wasn't shy about saying "trick or treat" and taking her candy! She had tons of fun! It was amazing to watch her and all of the other little ones as they are getting older. Next year will be something! On Sunday night I put to bed two very tired, but very happy little girls.

Victory!! (and Shots...)

Breaking news: Ava allowed me to brush her teeth tonight! She opened her mouth and I actually brushed all of her teeth without having to hold her down. It was glorious. In other news, we all had our flu shots today and Lucy had her 6 month check up. That wasn't pretty. Ava had to be held down by Jeremy and 2 nurses while another gave her the shot in her leg. It was a quick shot, but the process had her screaming so loud that the entire office wondered who was torturing her. Afterward, she went back to playing with the toys in the office like nothing happened and told the doctor all about her Tiny Pteranadon costume for Halloween. Weird. Then we went to Coldstone and got her some chocolate ice cream. Lucy did not like her shots at all either, poor baby screamed until her little face was red as a tomato. Then she crashed in the carrier while we walked with Ava around Grossmont Center. Dr. Boone is a little concerned that Lucy isn't sitting up well yet, but she thinks it could be the harness or her hips. By December she should be sitting stable and all caught up. We are keeping an eye on it and giving her more "tummy time" and encouraging strength in her torso. She is constantly held by everyone so I guess it isn't a surprise. She is just so snuggly that it is hard to put her down!

Tonight when I was putting Ava to bed I was reminded of why I love being a mom. We were laying in her bed having just finished singing "Twinkle" and "Abby's Flying Fairy School" when she closed her eyes and put her little arm around my neck, pulling me right up to her face, and fell asleep. It was just such a precious moment that I forgot about all of my frustrations with the potty and tantrums and all of the 2 year old struggles and just felt so extraordinarily lucky to have my little girl.

Bright Eyes

Ava just said, "Lucy has bright eyes just like mommy! And me!"
I love it :-) WHat a crazy day with the kiddos. Ava and I were reading Where's Waldo and she found Waldo before I did...what a smart girl! But then she reminded me she was only 2 when she told me she pooped on the floor and hid her poo. She proudly proclaimed, "I hid it! Mommy find it!" That was something. I finally found it in one of her toy bins. Great. She is something! Ava made a small stride in her acceptance of Lucy. She pretended the stuffed fish was Lucy and covered her to, "keep her warm" and put her in the cart and pushed her around. She gave "Lucy" toys and a paci and tucked her in. Too cute! Of course, she doesn't want any part of the real Lucy, but I consider it a step in the right direction.

Lucy continues to be the cutest thing ever! She is just the most loving, sweetest baby in the world!

Potty Time...part deux

So, Ava is now interested in the potty...for a price. She has figured out that she can up the ante and basically get whatever she wants if she sits on the potty and manages to expel even the smallest amount of, well, you know.  She is currently wanting "paige muffins" which are a muffin recipe my friend Paige makes much better than I do, but Ava wants them none the less. They aren't the easiest recipe, but I think I am just going to have to keep making them until she gets better on the potty. Words can not express how much I want this little girl to get back in big girl panties! Hopefully she will be trained for good this time. Ava is such a talker!! She constructs the most complicated sentences and is very specific with her ideas and with expressing her needs and wants. It just astounds me! She is also vocal about how she doesn't like Lucy. She says "I don't like her!" "Put Lucy down and play with me! Pick me up! Mommy hug MEEEE!" "No Lucy Lu!" "NO Lucy Goosey!" Argh. How do I help her love her sister? She is so jealous for attention. Poor Lucy. She has no idea her sister can't stand her.

Lucy is adjusting to her harness as well as can be expected. She gets really frustrated with it sometimes though and she arches and tries to stretch but can't. That is hard to see, but she eventually accepts it. When we take the harness off she is the happiest baby ever!! She kicks and rolls and has a grand old time on her mat, then gets super angry when we have to put it back on her. Before we got the harness, in the Ortho doc's office as a matter of fact, she rolled from back to front for the first time and hasn't done it since. She doesn't even try to roll over anymore, in either direction, and has a really hard time on her tummy with the harness on. I think she is uncomfortable. Again, I keep reminding myself that if we can get through this and that is the worst thing that happens, we are very lucky. I am just enjoying Lucy's baby stage. She is so lovable and loves hugs and kisses. Since Lucy is my second baby, I know how fast this phase goes and I am taking particular time and attention to appreciate every second of her coos, gargles, and baby sounds. I love to hold her and snuggle her as much as I can, especially when she is on a harness break for an hour a day. My girls are so different, but they are each amazing and wonderful in their own ways. We are so lucky!

Tiny Pteranadon and Solid Food

Ava and Lucy's Halloween costumes came in the mail today and they are just so cute! Ava has been asking to be Tiny Pteranadon from Dinosaur Train for weeks and today she tried it on and wouldn't take it off. She doesn't really like the "head of Tiny" hat that goes with it, but hopefully she will change her mind before Halloween. Otherwise she will look like a headless dinosaur. Lucy is going to be a daisy and she is too cute in her little petal hat! Ava is also mildly interested in potty training again...after her potty strike over the last couple of months it was exciting that she wanted to try the potty again. She went back into diapers after 3 solid months in big girl underwear and said she wants to be in diapers because, "Lucy wears a diaper, put ME in a diaper!" We were in denial about it for a few weeks during which she unabashedly went on the floor like an overgrown puppy and I felt like I was living in a world of poop. Finally we accepted her regression and bought diapers for her again. Ouch...for both the wallet and the environment as our weekly trash has doubled since she decided the potty is no longer for her. Hopefully she continues to become interested in it again. Uncle Joey had a good idea: to tell her that Lucy goes on the potty and to hold Lucy up so she looks like she is going on the potty. Ava said, "No! Lucy is not a little girl, she is too little to go on the potty!" Hmmm...I'll try that one again tomorrow and maybe she will be convinced...not likely.

Lucy has been eying my food lately and opening her mouth, reaching for it so I decided to try a couple of spoonfuls of rice cereal. She loved it! She grabbed the spoon from me and was just going crazy for it! Unfortunately, she doesn't sit up very well, so we had to stop after a few bites because she was tired of sitting, but I know next times she will be even more excited because she has had a taste of it. It was really fun to see her get so happy about it. She has been a little more cranky lately because of the harness, so it was especially wonderful that she was in such good spirits about her first bites of solid food.  The harness was in the washer, so it was a good opportunity to try it. As she continues to become better at sitting up, she is going to love trying different foods...time to break out the food processor and start buying sweet potatoes again!

Lucy harness-free for a little while

Lucy Harness, Day 1 of 60

Well, Lucy has had a full day wearing the harness and she is ok during the day, but not quite the same happy baby as before. But at night, she really struggles. She was up every half hour last night...and so was I. Poor baby. She is frustrated with her new inability to move her legs very much. But she is a trooper and I can tell she is making the best of it. I am getting her a bunch of Baby Legs leg warmers in cute patterns and fun onesies to wear since she can't wear her cute outfits. She is now a lot more maintenance to take care of in terms of dressing and keeping her clean and comfortable. We go back to the doctor for a recheck in early December and I am praying we can wean her from the harness at that point. But, things could be worse, I know, and I count our family's blessings everyday, regardless of this little hiccup.

Ava has been extra jealous lately, if that is possible. But yesterday we had a special "Mommy-Ava day" where we went to Target and she got some tiny Pteranadons from Dinosaur Train and we shared a hot pretzel and visited the train table at Barnes and Noble. We had a great time together! She was just in her glory running around Grossmont Center with her tiny dinosaurs. I am just completely blown away by the things she says and how observant she is becoming. I love to just really listen to her and be fully present with her without being distracted by anything else. She is amazing. So incredibly smart. I think I need to have more special outings with her since she is sometimes put on the back burner, especially lately, because of Lucy's needs (ie. her reflux, hips, and general neediness as a baby).
I keep telling myself that everything is temporary, both good and bad. All things considered, I think we have it pretty good.

Everyday is an adventure!

Daddy and Ava

Pick me up!

Godfather Joey and Godmother Steen Baptizing Lucy

Well, I never thought I would be the type of person to start a blog, but here it goes. I decided to start a blog to record all of the cutie things the little girls do so I don't forget them. Everyday they say or do something just so amazing. Ava is growing and changing everyday and she just astounds me with ow smart and observant she is. Lucy is just the most wonderful gift, such a sweet, cuddly little bundle. She is so happy now that her reflux is under control, her true, beautiful nature can shine through. Today, after weeks of struggle and holding her down to do it, Ava was FINALLY interested in brushing her teeth and we asked if she wanted to brush Lucy's teeth. She said, "No, Lucy doesn't have any teeth, she has a tongue only." Silly me.  Then she said, "I have pretty teeth!" They are just too cute! Ava is ever so slightly interested in Lucy, beyond commanding me to "Put Lucy down and hold Ava!" She likes it when Lucy holds her finger. One day they will be best friends I hope!
On Monday we found out that Lucy has hip dysplaysia. Just goes to show, you never know what can happen. Tomorrow we have to go get Lucy fitted for her Pavlik Harness. I can't believe we have to go through this again with poor sweet Lucy! I was devastated yesterday when I got the news. I thought maybe she would escape this, but no such luck. I am trying to be as positive as possible, but I can't help but think about what we went through with Ava and how hard it was both emotionally and physically for all of us. Poor Ava hated it, she could only wear onesies and leg warmers, and it took forever to get her in and out of it. Since the day she was born, every time I changed Lucy or dressed her I thought about how lucky and easy it was that she didn't have a harness and that I would take her acid reflux over hip dysplasia any day, and that is saying a lot! I never took for granted how lucky we were that she did not have to have a harness. Well, at least I had 5 months of snuggling, changing, dressing and bathing her without that dreadful harness. I know it is what is best for her and we are so lucky to be able to have a chance to fix her condition, but it is still hard to watch your sweet little baby in a crazy contraption that limits her movements. No more cute outfits, no swaddling her close. Hello long, involved diaper and outfit changes and the endless sound of Velcro. There are support groups for 'hip' babies online and reading those moms' posts makes me feel better. Like I am not overreacting when I lost it in the doctor's office and cried on and off all day that day. And this morning. And this afternoon. It really is a hard thing for the whole family to deal with. We will all get through it though. I am trying my best to stay positive. I am dressing her in all of her cute clothes now and taking pictures to be sure she gets some wear out of them and I am snuggling her like crazy. On the whole things could be worse, much worse! Especially when you go into Childrens' Hospital and see some of the absolutely tragic problems plaguing some of the kids in there. We are very lucky to have two healthy, happy girls. Thank God! Best case scenario, at her next ortho appointment in two months, her hips are at or below 25 degrees...she is at 30 degrees now. Then we can begin to wean her off of the harness over the next few weeks after she shows progress. I say a prayer everyday for that! I can't even begin to think about what will happen if the harness doesn't work. Traction, surgery and a cast are too much for my tired, overwhelmed brain to handle right now.  One day at a time.

Ava toss!!

Mommy Nonna & Ava at Lucy's Baptism

Lucy and mommy just hangin out

Gramps and Lucy, they have the same eyes!

Ava at the Children's Museum creating a masterpiece

Hi blue eyes!

Yummy fingers

Ava is so excited to decorate cookies with Nonna!

Bubbles!

I love my Nonna!