October in Review

It's all about the pictures, folks. Here are some of my favorites from October:

For one Family Night we made these cute cookies,


Nutter Butter's dipped in white chocolate and two mini chocolate chips for eyes, to make "ghost cookies" and delivered them to friends.

That's right, 2 eyes! Or maybe 8 eyes!
Either way, Ava really enjoyed the chocolate chips!

And here are two shots at the park. It's started getting dark so early now.

Dan the Man

Ava loves to put on her tutu, her crown, her ring, and her princess shoes and "be a pincess"

(no shirt required)

There was a lot of pumpkin love at our house this year.

Ava asked if she could watch "Dower" (Dora) with her Daddy pumpkin and her Baby pumpkin.

For another Family Night we colored our pumpkins.

And here's two pictures that just make me happy!







Happy Halloween!

Garage Sale!

This Saturday we had our very first garage sale. The neighborhood has restrictions on these and this was the designated "Neighborhood Garage Sale" day. Our offerings were very meager but we had a couple of items we wanted to get rid of. Like the ugly couch that was so generously given to us by Mike Storm when we moved to our first unfurnished apartment. It's been sitting in the garage since we moved into our house and it was time to go! So we drummed up a few other items we didn't want and figured we make couple bucks in the process.

Notice the sign on the couch says "FREE". It started out saying "$5" but when we caught wind of how the sale was gonna go, we got desperate.

I think our garage sale would be classified as "unsuccessful". I sold one shirt for 50 cents. But then I went and bought a dresser from our neighbor for 5 bucks so we ended the day with a net loss of $4.50. Not bad.

Ava woke up after we were already started, ran over to the box of toys, pulled out a stuffed lamb that was hers to begin with and says, "Thank you for my new lamby!!" She enjoyed shopping at our garage sale even if nobody else did!



After about 2 hours, we gave up, loaded our stuff into the truck and took it to the GoodWill. While our day was monetarily unsuccessful, it did make we want to keep cleaning out my closets periodically. I am really enjoying the motto, "A place for everything, and everything in it's place." Now we'll just have to see how long I can make it last!

Another Sunday Sermon and 4 months

Sundays are hard for us, plain and simple. There is no rest for Miss Ava and when she is tired things are nightmarish. And somehow it's such an ordeal to just get out the door we are basically devoid of the spirit by the time we get to church. That's just the sad truth right now. So my Sunday Sermon, is not actually from church today because I think I was just too ornery to get much out of it. But I did have an edifying moment prior to church and it is Sunday after all, so it counts.

It actually began yesterday, when I was at a baby shower for my neighbor's daughter-in-law. This neighbor, Blanca, is a nice middle-aged woman who I had only met when she knocked on my door last week to invite me to this shower for her daughter-in-law that I've never met. I was hesitant to go because I didn't know anyone let alone her daughter-in-law but I figured it would be a nice gesture and I might get to know my neighbors.

The afternoon was a little awkward but I did meet another neighbor and chatted with the ladies there. But then it happened-we were sitting around in a circle and the topic of where our families lived came up. A woman mentioned that she had siblings in Utah. And then Blanca said "Are they MORMON?! HA! HA!". Awkward. I knew my face got red and hot and I was really worried where this conversation was headed. Nobody knew I was LDS and I didn't want anyone to say anything they would be embarrassed about when I finally spoke up. I just wanted to get the heck out of there. But thank goodness the other woman just said, "no" and then continued on. Blanca was not in the room when I did say that I was Mormon. But the ladies who did hear, didn't say anything.

I'm not a stranger being a lone LDS person. But it can be uncomfortable and I just hadn't felt that sensation in a while. Where we live, people are very religious and many are not "fans" of the LDS church. And I think that with Mitt Romney out there, the church is under a microscope.

Anyway, skipping to today when I was reading in the James Faust supplement to the Ensign- It talked about his application process to the officer's candidate school. He was asked about his beliefs and morals and he answered without equivocation. And then was asked whether he believed those morals should be relaxed during times of war. He said he saw this as an opportunity to look broad minded but owing to his own integrity, ended up saying "I do not believe there is a double standard of morality". And he was surprised when he was accepted into officers' school.

Then he went on to say, "In all my long years of life I have tried not to hide who I am and what I believe. I cannot recall a single instance when it hurt my career or I lost valued friends by humbly acknowledging that I was a member of this church. "

I am in no way comparing myself to President Faust. But his words inspired me. And looking back to the incident at the shower, I should have said more. Somehow, I am always taken aback by situations like this and I get all nervous and tongue tied. But this was a great reminder.
Wow, I didn't mean for this to be a novel.

And finally, Happy 4 month birthday, Mr. Luke!



For his birthday, he got to wear these completely useless but really cute shoes! It made him look so old!

Feel the love

A few things I've been thinking about or want to remember:

Through a series of fortunate events I was reminded of the simple lesson that when you give love, you get love. And when you don't "feel the love", it's really the best time to start shelling it out, because that's when it comes back to you and fills you up!

It's been cooling off a bit here and we've pulled out our jackets and are "freezing". It's been in the 60's, I think, and it is sad and embarrassing the way the our bodies have acclimated to the Texas climate. Ava was wearing a fleece pullover with a zipper. When we put it on, she wanted the zipper all the way up, but doing so would make the turtleneck of the jacket rub on her chin, but she insisted so I let her be. But it was only a short time later that she came to me, tugging on the jacket saying, "Mommy, my neck is too short".

And last night in her prayers she said, "bess my punkins, bess my Mama Ninda (Grandma Linda), and bess my Owiwia (Olivia, her cousin)"

Monkey Toes

Though he spends a lot of time in this chair looking like he's just relaxing, Luke has been busy.


He's been working on his coordination. He puts his hands in his mouth and also his toys but he's really been putting in the time with his monkey-foot coordination.
You see, I only recently realized that his chair had different levels of reclining. So as he laid in the most reclined position, it was hard to reach those tantalizing toys with his hands. And that purple monkey in the middle plays a little song when you pull on him.

Sometimes he gets a little riled up when he talks to the monkey,

But who needs hands when you've got feet? He's learned to reach up there with is little toes, grab on, and pull! He can make that monkey sing!

We're hearing that monkey song quite a bit these days. And his work is spilling over into other aspects of his life. At his recent trip to the doctor, Luke reached up with those toes and grabbed hold of the doctor's stethoscope as she was trying to listen to his heart and lungs and would not let go. She had to pry them off. He has also been known to grab onto your arm as his diaper is being changed.
At first it took what appeared like quite a bit of work. Now he does it with ease.

And if he could I'm sure he would tell us, "It's all in a day's work!"

The Texas State Fair

Last weekend (October 12th) we took a trip to Dallas to go to the Texas State Fair. Dad and Dan weren't able to go but Mom and me and Ava and Luke had a good time! I love fairs-I love the food, the rides, the animals, the food, the exhibits, the food, and the people-watching opportunities. I don't think I have ever seen a more eclectic mix of humans as I did that day. And this quote from Melissa's blog ran through my mind many, many times:

If you ever start feeling like you have the goofiest, craziest, most dysfunctional family in the world, all you have to do is go to a state fair. Because five minutes at the fair, you'll be going, 'you know, we're alright. We are dang near royalty.’

-Jeff Foxworthy

From the parking lot, the first thing Ava saw was this:

the "steering wheel", she called it.

I can't remember the stats but this was huge. Ava and I rode together and she was just barely tall enough (34")!

The view from the top: the Dallas skyline

She took a twirl on the swings

And we watched a dog agility show. In the picture below, the splash is from a dog that just jumped in chasing after a frisbee.

In case you didn't know, if it was up to me I would eat my way through the fair.
Not the most flattering picture of me but I am eating a fried Oreo. Pretty yummy! Some fried things we did not try at the fair (but I'm gonna attempt at home one of these days) were fried cookie dough, fried snickers, fried coke, fried Twinkies, and fried latte.

A girl after my own heart!

We saw some of the biggest livestock I've ever seen. Everything is bigger in Texas.

This goat wasn't that big...

This cow was pretty big...

But this guy was gargantuan!
He tipped the scales at 1,171 pounds. People walked by doing double takes and Ava said, "that is a 'ginant' pig!"

We spent about 5 hours at the fair and had such a good time. As it was getting later and Ava was waning I asked, "do you want to see more fun things or do you want to go home?" "More fun things!", she'd say.

Ava with the duck she won

What a fun day! I love the fair! We rode, we walked, we ate, we looked, and we felt like royalty almost the whole time!

Parting shot... less than 2 minutes into the car ride home.

Sunday Sermon

I have to write these down quick before they escape out of my brain. Sacrament meeting today was so wonderful for me. It was ward conference and for some reason I was dreading it. Maybe the extra long time to keep Ava quiet and entertained didn't look very appealing. But somehow our bishop's talk about the youth was very touching to me. He mentioned two points that really stuck out. The first was that though we may feel that we want to remove ourselves from all the bad in the world and isolate ourselves, this is not the thing to do. Instead we MUST stand up and stand out, it is our obligation. It gave me a shot of "Yes, I can do this, we can do this, my children can do this!" I often think about how I would like to move to a remote location and have no contact with the outside world because it kills me to think of sending my precious family out there into the mess we live in. This brought a better perspective to me today.

The second point he made as he talked about the For The Strength of Youth pamphlet. He brought out the idea that these standards were not just for the youth but for all members of the church. And then he went on to say that some may feel that these standards do not adequately address the complicated situations that arise when you are an adult. But this is what was special to me and I know it's not rocket science or anything but, he said that these standards, and the basic tenets of the gospel are sophisticated enough for ANY circumstance. And he bore testimony of it and it was great!

I do not remember a sacrament meeting since I have had children where I felt the spirit so much. And I'm not complaining about my wild child situation, I am just so grateful for what I got out of church today because many times it feels like we go through the motions and struggle to get everything together and out the door. And once we're there it's a big fight. But it is days like today that make all of that worth it.

Tikki Tikki Tembo

Ava likes to read books while she goes to the bathroom. At first we suggested it to keep her sitting down long enough to actually do something. Now she uses it to pass the time while she does her business. Our library books come in handy for this, because they are always new and changing. But today our trip to the library to drop off our books was a little sad.
On our last trip I found it, Tikki Tikki Tembo. One of my favorite books of all time. I can remember so clearly, my mom reading it to me. That one, and Little Black Sambo, which is very hard to find because it isn't very politically correct. (side note: Mom, I just looked up Little Black Sambo, the Little Golden Book, and it sells on Amazon starting at $82. Ye-ouch! We should have saved it!)


Anyway, this book has become Ava's go-to reading material this past little while. She knows what happens on each page and even tries to say Tikki tikki tembo no sar rembo chari bari ruchi pip berri pimbo (the boys name). She tells me each time we get it out that it was my favorite book when I was little and it's her favorite too. This makes me happy. It's kind of cool to see your child pick out something that you, yourself loved as a child. But alas, "Tikki Temo" as Ava calls it was due yesterday and had to be returned. I now have a good idea for Christmas!




So speaking of our trip to the library, we checked out some DVD's along with our books this time. As we are getting in the car she says she "wants to hold her boobies". "What?!" I ask. "My new boobies". Oh, her new movies. Got it.

And speaking of Ava saying funny things, we have been on a public bathroom tour of the Greater West Houston area for the past few weeks. Somewhere along the way, she picked up the word "Yuck". Couldn't have been from me, I LOVE public bathrooms! But where ever she got it she uses it frequently for descriptions of food, people, and places. The funniest to me is when she is having a full blown fit about anything and she rolls around saying, "Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!" That's kind of how I feel about fits too!

And one more, she often asks me, "Mommy, what my am doing?". Like today on the computer at the library she was trying to color Elmo, but couldn't quite get the hang of using the mouse. And she looks up and asks, "Mommy, what my am doing?". "I have no idea, Ava". Oh, and she loves her aboons (Balloons).

And in conclusion, Luke is doing fine. At least he appears as fine as he did when he was apparently very sick, but I think the nebulizer is loosening things up for him. He's a trooper!

Oh what a day!

And it wasn't good. Mr. Luke has had a cough for a few weeks. I didn't think there was much to be done for it, so I did nothing. But then this past weekend it got worse - really phlegmy and sad. So I called the doctor and couldn't get in until today, Wednesday morning. I LOVE my pediatrician here. I spent the last two years in College Station cursing my old one and I am thrilled with the one we've got. Unfortunately one of the things I love about her (she actually talks to you) is also what causes our trips to the doctor to be about a two hour ordeal. If I didn't like her so much we would have definitely switched.

So I geared us all up for our big trip. And went expecting to hear that I was overreacting and there was nothing to be done but wait it out (what I heard practically every time I took Ava in, in College Station, with similar symptoms). What I heard was quite different.

As she listened to his lungs, I told her there were really no symptoms besides this lung-rattling cough and he was having more trouble than usual falling asleep. And he's had no fever and has been his happy, smiley, talkative self. Well, she was concerned by the wheezing she heard. They checked his oxygen levels and they were at 90%. A- right?, I thought remembering the grading scale from school. Wrong. They said that was not good. So they did a breathing treatment with a nebulizer there in the office. Loud and scary to Ava and Luke! After the treatment he was better at 95% but still not great. She ordered a chest x-ray and oh yeah, he has an ear infection too. I was feeling worse as a mother with each passing second. My poor little guy had not given me any clues as to what was going on inside him. When Ava is sick, you know it!! But here was my tender baby, just being so happy and sweet. It made me feel awful. The doctor did agree with me and said she probably would have done the same as I did and that usually someone with that kind of respiratory distress shows more signs.
Today also taught me that I would never make it as a single parent. Dan, I love you! Between carrying the carseat with a heavy baby in it, my bag, my umbrella, my stack of papers and perscriptions, a bag with the nebulizer I get to take home for more breathing treatments, and holding on to Ava's finger and picking up her stuffed puppy dog and puppy house she brought, I really thought I might lose my marbles. "Down this hall, Ms. Colton...Register with radiology right here...then wait over there... come in this office...I have to go potty... go wait back out there, Ms. Colton" And then the kicker, "We can't do the x-ray with her (Ava) here. You'll have to get someone to come and get her." Luckily it was near lunch time so Dan ran over from work and took Ava to Wendy's where I met them a short time later. But that was only after his x-ray, which may have been the most heart-breaking part of this whole day.

There is a table with leg holes cut out and a baby size bicycle seat. The technician has me hold his arms straight over his head while she clamps a clear plastic tube so tightly around his whole body. Only his tiny fingers poke out over the top and his tiny face peeks out of a circle cut-out. As you can imagine he does not think this is very cool. He's crying and I feel like such a meany as I keep holding his little fingers. I'm talking to him telling him everything is okay, and he looks up at me with his cheeks smashed up against the plastic tube and he smiles. That's my Luke. Here he was in this heinous contraption having been tortured plenty for one day and he still finds the gumption to smile at his mama. I just love this guy!

So to make a long story just a little longer, the x-rays were clear-no pneumonia. We have to give him the treatments with the nebulizer every four hours (and through the night) for the next 2 days and then every 6 hours for the next 2 days after that, and so on. ( He hates this by the way) And of course his antibiotics. We'll go back in 10 days and hopefully he'll be as good as new. Phew, what a day!

Baby torture

And oh yeah, the cherry on top, Ava, who hasn't had an accident in over a week, pees on our bed tonight! Oh man, I'm glad it's bedtime!

Lullabye

Little babies like to sleep and Luke is certainly no exception. But while Ava was a "You Are My Sunshine" kind of girl, Luke prefers this one. My babies like to be sung to but it's interesting that even at such a young age, they have a preference as to which one.

Hush my Dear One,
sleep serenely,

Close your eyes now,
go to sleep.

Mother rocks you,
humming lowly.

Close your eyes now,
Go to sleep.

Angels hover,
ever nearer,

looking on your smiling face.
I will hold you,

close enfold you.
Close your eyes now,

Go to sleep.

Empire of the Sun, welsh lullabye: Suo Gan



P.S. If you want to see why Ava's boyfriend, Corbin, is a child prodigy click here.

Pumpkin-Pickin'

Yesterday we went on a little adventure! My friend Val and I took our kids and met Tiffany with her kids at Dewberry Farm in Brookshire, TX to get us some pumpkins! And I think that the actual pumpkin-picking became almost secondary to all the fun stuff that was there.

So Val and I arrived first and let me just preface this recap with the idea that Ava has been doing awesome with her potty training but like any kid, she still has the occasional accident. They usually happen when a) she's tired or b) she's doing something really fun and she doesn't want to miss anything for a potty break. And I knew this trip might possibly include both. Also let me say I have a little case of what I like to call Potty Paranoia. After our first and only (so far) public accident I have become very vigilant when we're out and about and I keep my diaper bag stocked with what I hope won't be needed!

Before we left I told Ava we were going to a farm and she could use the potty there. She thought she'd get to "poop in a barn" (her words, not mine!) and I didn't disagree so lucky for us, that's exactly where the restrooms were located. We arrive and after a quick restroom break,

we walk around a bit and take this picture:


and then this one:


and we gotta get Quentin in there:


And this is the scene of the crime. Ava stands up and her little blue dress and Dora panties are wet and sticky. "Ah!" I say. She JUST went potty 3 minutes ago. But upon further inspection we realize it's not you-know-what, she actually sat on a rotten pumpkin! Not much better. I didn't want to use the pull-up in my bag because we still had the whole day ahead of us. So this is what resulted:



I took Val's suggestion to be a little "white-trashy" and let Ava's undies air dry before putting her shorts on. Really this experience was a fairly minor part of the day and we went on to have lots of fun!

My camera's battery died on the hayride so here's some more pictures of our adventures from Tiffany's camera.
Here's Ava and Corbin on the hayride to the "pumpkin patch". The farmer informed us that due to the heavy rainfall this year, all they could plant where Jack-be-Little Pumpkins. Each child got to pick one to take home. Ava is in love with hers and won't hardly leave a room without it.



Here they are with their picks:


After the hayride we ate a picnic lunch, rode this corn train,



jumped on this big pillow,


rode these cool four wheeled bikes that I don't have pictures of, petted goats and a miniature donkey, chased the chickens, cockadoodled with the rooster, and picked out a big pumpkin ("a daddy" for Ava's little one) to take home. I don't think I have ever had such a sweaty, water guzzling, pumpkin picking trip before, but it was fun! Ava was ready to drop by the time we left! Thanks for the fun day, Tiffany and Val!