Easter socks

In an attempt to not over-do it on Easter candy (I failed), I also go Ava some things like socks (Target $1 bins) and twisty straws and bubbles. She was pretty happy to put on her bunny socks and asked to pose for some photos.

 

Strike a pose.

Ezra's 9-month Report

Weight: 20 lbs 15 oz (50th %)

Height: 29 inches (85th %)

Factoids:

• He is becoming a speedy crawler.
• He likes to walk holding onto Mom's fingers. I think he'll be walking solo in another month.
• He can go up stairs, and successfully descend about 2 stairs
• He puts everything in his mouth. Shoes are still his favorite item. We have removed all large potted plants because he gets in and eats the dirt and leaves (and one of them was a poisonous plant—so bye-bye).
• He still has white patches in his hair (one is heart shaped!)
• He has 2 bottom teeth and 3 on top, with the 4th giving him a lot of grief.
• He started head-butting my shins when he wanted me to pick him up. Did that several times today.
• He has cellulite buns. They are awesome.

Uh-Oh, Up We Go!

Last week I decided I had better start training Ezra to go down stairs, because I could tell he was becoming interested in going up. And sure enough, today he went up 3 stairs on his own. Later he came down a step on his own, but tumbled a little on the bottom step. We'll keep practicing.

Last weekend he had a fever and was fussy for 2 days, not eating well, and on the third day he finally slept. He really slept. He slept 12 hours at night, woke up at 8:15am and ate, got changed, went back to bed at 8:45am and slept until 1:30pm! Then he took another 2 hour nap at 3:30pm. That's a new record for us! I don't know if it's his teeth (3 out of 4 on top have now broken through) or if he was fighting an infection or what, but WOW.

Sledding & a Snowman

We got some pretty good snow drifts in our back yard with this last storm, which made for a great sledding hill down the rock wall for Ava. And me. Our sled route was just to the right of her in this photo.

And this is her first snowman. Yes he's small, but he was made a day or two before the bigger part of the snow storm came. His eyes had fallen out by the time I got a photo.

For Ezra I had a little inflatable sled with a back on it, but it popped going down our slide. So he had to ride with Ava. By the time I got the camera out Ezra was done, though he did enjoy it for a while. He tries to eat the snow, like everything else.

Thanks Mom and Jen for the snow coats & boots, and Dede for the pink hat and scarf. We've hardly had to buy any winter gear thanks to all of you.

15 Babies, All in a Row

Some of you have already seen this on facebook, but for those who haven't:

Ezra is the whitest one, right in the middle (to the left of the girl in pink).
There must have been something in the water. Last year we had 15 babies born in our ward/neighborhood. We decided to get them all together for one crazy photoshoot. It went about like you'd expect. Started out with just one or two crying, and by the end, they were almost all crying. They seem to feed off each other that way. See:

 

It was a pretty crazy good time. We'll have to do it again in 10 years, eh?

Twins

Last night Ryan was looking through some old photos of us. I can't believe how much we've aged in the last 7 years! People are always telling Ryan he looks like Will Arnett, and in this one I think he especially does. What do you think? Is he Gob Bluth's twin?

A Bicycle, a Sucker, and Spilled Milk

Ava is 26 lbs (almost 25th %tile) and 36.5" (75th %tile).


While I'm getting ready for the day, Ava likes to play in my make-up bag. This is her favorite item:

The ladies will recognize this as an eyelash curler. The guy probably didn't know such a thing existed. For me it might as well not, because I never use it. On to my little story. Ava drives it all over the place and calls it her bicycle. Do you think maybe she's been over-exposed to bicycles? I guess it does have a bit of a resemblance.

This is her other favorite item from the make-up bag. It's liquid eyeliner. But to Ava it is a sucker. She walks around with it in her mouth and says "I got a sucker!" This is early morning so forgive the raggety hair.

And lastly, this week Ava has gotten a little too involved in her shows. She was watching a cartoon where they poured some milk down a drain and she started yelling and crying about them spilling the milk. I tried to explain that it was a cartoon and not real, but she was inconsolable. A few days later we were watching UP! and we thought she'd love it because of her obsession with balloons. Instead, she was distressed and almost in tears the whole time because first she thought they were going to lose a balloon ("my ba'oon! my ba'oon!") and then when the bird, Kevin, ate a balloon that was another fit. And when a bunch of the balloons popped... I think her world nearly came to an end. We are probably bad parents because we sat behind her silently cracking up.
A few other words that come to mind: octopus = "opopus" ; cupcake = "pucake"; pancake = "pacake"; favorite bedtime song, Child of God = "Chil' a Gaaaaawd"