Shoooooes!

Today I was trying to figure out a solution that would keep Avalyn away from the cat dishes and I thought I had found the perfect setup... For the past few weeks I've used one of those play-yard gates and had it stretched out from in front of the TV stand, around the half wall, and against the dining room wall. Yeah, the thing is huge. I love it! Well, Avalyn being the smarty-pants she is, figured out how to get past it. It was only a matter of time. *Sigh*

So I broke the play-yard down and took four sections and made a square around the cat dishes. No getting past it now!

I sound so full of myself - and I was for about 15 minutes. I bragged to Matt and told Keith how to get the gate open to give the cats fresh water and food... then I sat down to do some homework. When Avalyn toddled over to the gate, I wasn't worried! Nope! There was no way she'd get past it, I mean, I could barely take the thing apart!

Oh silly Gwen. You should know better by now.

After a minute or two of gate-slapping fun I hear Avalyn yelling, "Shooooe! Shooooes!" Over and over in her own adorably cute way. So, I asked her to bring her shoes over to mama and she responds with, "Uh-oh."

Now, if anyone knows my daughter they will know that she says "uh-oh" before she does something wrong. So, I jumped up to see what she was up to.

This is what greeted me:

Yep - this is what happens when I get cocky. Time for a new storage solution for the shoes! I might just make people take their shoes off in the garage (since we have an attached garage now!). I really like the idea of doing a modified version of this bench. We have all of those pegs and shelving in front of the garage entry door, but no seating. This could be the perfect solution. We'll see. I should probably finish unpacking and concentrate on the inside of the house before doing anything to the garage!

In the meantime I have to go dry some shoes... ;)

Another set of milestones!

New words:
17. Up
18. Down
19. Sit
20. All done (aw dah)
21. Blue
22. Milk
23. Shoe

July 4 - Watched fireworks!
July 5 - Went with mommy and daddy to get a new car
July 6 - First sucker
July 7 - First boat ride
July 8 - First trip to Pearls, dances along and interacts with "Blues Clues", learned the sign "eat"
July 10 - Climbed on top of the AC (on the floor) and stayed there for over an hour. :p
July 13 - Learned the sign "cat"
July 15 - Grandpa and Grandma babysat while mommy and daddy went to a movie
July 16 - Went to Alyssa's first birthday party - she let Nana hold her and play with her
July 17 - Mimicked Keith while he hula-hooped
July 20 - Learned out to climb the end table

Blue's Clues Takes Me Back!

I'm sitting on the floor right now with Avalyn watching Blue's Clues, and it makes me think back to when Keith was three... He wanted nothing to do with toddler programming - he wanted to watch grown up movies. Like Hellboy and Twister (scary right?), apparently he used to be allowed to watch such things. No cool!

When Keith was little he didn't like Elmo, or Baby Einstein or any of those lovable characters on Sprout. It took months of me sitting down with him, acting interested in those silly shows for him to start playing along. He didn't talk yet but he would bounce around the room with his sippy cup with a smile on his face so I knew he was into it. That is until he went to his mother's house again.

*Sigh*

To this day he doesn't enjoy age appropriate shows (except Sponge Bob, but that show is just ridiculous). He's with his mother right now and she called and asked Matt how Keith knew how to flatten out a bobby pin and make a key. He told her he had no idea where because I don't use bobby pins, her reply was "touche." Yeah, she really needs to learn the meaning of that word.

Apparently she was annoyed by the behavior and was going to "track down" the person who taught him. *Insert eye-roll here* He's nine now, plenty old enough to figure out how to flatten bobby pins by himself, in my opinion anyway. Well, I called him the next day to say "hi" and he happily informed me that he was watching a PG-13 movie (one with a lot of violence sexual situations)... I had nothing to say.

She's upset that he's doing something cartoon characters do with bobby pins but thinks it's okay to watch violent, sex filled movies. Anyone else confused?

I feel bad for Keith. Her rules are very different from ours and clearly she doesn't have any standards for what kind of television her kids watch. Then, when he comes back home he acts out and really turns into a butthead (yeah I said it). I would act out, too, if I were in his situation. Then I look at Avalyn and feel a little more sad for him.

Avalyn will have one home, one set of rules and no less outside influence to confuse her. I hope Keith doesn't resent her for it. :\

In the meantime I'm going to enjoy watching Blue's Clues again. Avalyn is currently dancing to the mail song and doing jazz hands. Love it.

More milestones!

Avalyn has some noteworthy milestones again!

New words:
12. Goat
13. Cool
14. Baby
15. More (comes out mah)
16. Andy - she heard Aunt Penny say it and started repeating it while Penny and I talked on the phone.

She's working on saying "All done."

June 22 - Climbs onto the couch and off the couch without using something as a stool
June 24 - Attempted crib escape thwarted by mommy.
June 28 - Climbed from cradle into Mommy and Daddy's bed
July 2 - Broke out of baby gate
July 2/3 - Bottom left lateral incisor erupted!
July 3 - Scaled the baby gates to get to the stairs
July 3 - Opened slider door

She's also started putting words together. On July 2 Avalyn said "cow" and then signed and said "ball." I got her a cow and a ball and she frowned and repeated herself... it wasn't until after she went to sleep that night that I realized she meant she wanted her cow ball. When she asked for it again the next day, I was ready and boy did she smile! Then she gave it a big hug. :D

It's amazing how quickly she's learning new things. :)

Bye Bye Old House

We are officially out of the old house. I'm happy to be done renting, but sad that we are saying goodbye.

The house was waaaaay too small. 930 square feet is not enough for a family with two kids, not to mention it was a small property and propane was expensive and there were no good utility companies... so why will I miss it?

It was my baby's first home. That's where I found out I was pregnant! That's where she had so many first. Where she rolled over, sat up, pulled up, uttered her first words, took her first steps... I'm sad about that. But I know there will be many firsts here, too.

So, I am turning turning the page, ready to start a new chapter in our lives, trying to hold back tears that I won't get to see the spot where Avalyn crawled for the first time. I can do it!

Goodbye Pink Lemonade and Apple room

Avalyn playing in her room, one last time :'(

Last walk on the driveway

Bye-bye house!