sipping is so easy

Ava is so funny. She is 8 months old and loves to drink water from a straw water bottle. She started off by grabbing Brandon's orange one and I noticed that she was actually sucking on the straw and drinking the water! I finally went out and got her own pink one and she loves loves loves it. As each day goes by, she gets better and better and tonight she looks like a veteran. How is she growing up so fast?

ORANGE Shoes AGAIN!

Brandon needs new sandals. His blue sandals are too small. His orange crocs are just about there too. The next size up in crocs is too big and besides they don't carry the neon orange one anymore. This evening we went to do a quick look see and we came away with these orange keens. It was not my choice. He absolutely REFUSED to try on the one I picked out. It started off with him NOT wanting to give up his orange crocs. Then when he saw these oranges ones, he refused to try any other ones on.

I did not want to get any keens for him. When we tried them on last year, his feet were way too fat for them and to squeeze them in and out was such a pain. Luckily, this year's pair - comes with a velcro tab on top (his size was the last size to have it, after which it has a draw string like the adult counterpart) and his feet have lost some of it's marshmallow quality that prevented us from ever buying slimmer shoes before. So, it's actually an easy shoe to take on and off -AND - Brandon refused any other.

When we left, they gave him an orange balloon. Obviously, Tip Toe shoe sales guy figured out the color trend with this 2 and a half year old boy. We put the old orange crocs in a plastic bag with his orange balloon attached that he had to carry on his subway adventure with dad, where they took the B, F, V and 1 train before heading home for the night.

Ava and Dad

Ava and Dad at the Lincoln Square Fountains

If you give a mouse a cookie, I'll hate you forever...

So we live in New York City, a very old city. This means we live with an occasional mouse in the house. It's not a cute thing, like in the children's book "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, " in which the mouse is your friend. Usually, it is cleared up by trap and you move on. Well, not so, this time. During the holidays, several of our days that should have been filled with relaxation was actually full of stress and strife due to some mice that decided our pantry was their all night buffet.

Long story short, after moving EVERYTHING out of the pantry, throwing out 75% of the food (whether or not there was any evidence of mice - for the mere thought that those nasty feet touched anything that would ever enter into my family's mouth was worth rebuying everything), and disinfecting and cleaning the floors and walls and shelves - we found the entrance of the mouse lair. It's been taken care of and subsequent calls to the super have closed up two more holes we discovered.

All this to say that I have been a crazy woman around this house lately. Meaning what? I clean constantly, I check in corners constantly, I'm mumbling to myself about those darn nice all day long. I'm paranoid. So this leads into two stories that involve that kid cute named Brandon.

Story number 1. Ryan was out of town last week for several days. During the time he was gone, I made the super come over again to check more potential places for mice. I, also, cleaned like a mad woman (mad in both anger and in craziness). So every second of the day, I'm cleaning out a corner or closet or something. I still have kids, so I'm doing this in between getting them fed and such. If Brandon came close to the area I was cleaning, I would anxiously tell him to get out of there, "No, No, No, Brandon, I'm cleaning mouse poo!" Or if he was poking around a corner I was paranoid might have been a mouse's walkway, I shriek for him to get up and get out of there, "No, No, No, Brandon, yucky mouse!" Needless to say, with dealing with this mouse stuff, being sick and having no help from Ryan, who was out of town, I was probably pretty grumpy sounding.

Brandon still doesn't say a lot of words though he uses the ones he knows in multiple ways. He, also, makes up signs for things that are commonly used in his daily life. When Ryan got home, he was catching up with Brandon and asking about everything that happened while he was gone. Brandon started growling, which is not uncommon. He actually growls quite regularly imitating, a dinosaur or monster or lion. He can be quite intimidating as he has scared a few kids. So, Ryan naturally asked him if he was being a dinosaur and Brandon said "no." Are you being a monster? A lion? An animal? Both getting resounding, "No!"

Finally, Ryan asked Brandon, "Then what are you?" to which Brandon answered, "MOM!" Ryan asked him, "What does mom say?" And Brandon said "No, No!"

So, basically, Brandon is telling dad that the biggest thing he wanted to share with him during dad's absence is that Mom growled all the time, telling him "NO!"

Story number 2: Tonight as we were eating dinner, or rather, Ryan and I were eating dinner and Brandon was playing by the table - the funniest thing happened. He found the swiffer mop and was pushing it back and forth on the ground and I asked him if he was cleaning the floor. And he said yes and then touched his bum. I thought he was telling me he had a poopy diaper and asked him if he was poopy. He said no and dropped the swifter mop and did his sign for mouse and then touched his bum and then pointed to the mop.

Aha! I regularly interpret his signs and this was one that was obvious. I asked him "Are you cleaning up the mouse poo?" And he said very proudly, "YES!"

As a side note, during the time I was a maniac cleaning every corner, and Brandon kept coming into the area, I decided to show him what I was looking for and showed him what a mouse dropping looked like. I told him it was mouse poo and it was very gross and bad. "eee!" So, tonight, after cleaning the floor with the swiffer mop and telling us he was cleaning mouse poo, he then pointed to every black fuzz ball he found and made the mouse sign and pointed to his bum.

Thank goodness, none of it was actually mouse poo or mom might have gone on another mad cleaning frenzy. I haven't seen a mouse or dropping in awhile. I am hoping it's been contained and I can become a normal person or shall I say, normal mom!

the sign for sorry

A ten minute shower was all I needed to have an attitude adjustment. Ryan has been out of town for a few days and I've been sick and today my patience was short. After showering (and praying) - I came away clean (and sorry). Afterward, I went into Brandon's room, even though he had been in there for a while, and gave him a big hug. He hadn't fallen asleep yet, so I was able to hold him in my arms and talk to him about the day and to tell him I was sorry for being so grumpy. I gave him the sign for sorry (stroking the side of his head - the sign he made up for sorry) and he said, "mom" and gave it to me back by stroking my head and snuggled in. I love that guy.

is lightning mcqueen part of the nativity scene?

For Family Home Evening a couple of weeks ago - we decided to start the month of December with the Nativity Story. Ryan and I told the story using a visual aid. We received a "Little Peoples" plastic nativity scene with Baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, 3 wisemen and several animals in a barn a couple of years ago from our friends (thanks naomi!) It was perfect for retelling the story to Brandon. However, I am not sure that Brandon caught the spirit of the story because the next morning, all the plastic people and animals were lying on the ground and Mack from the movie "Cars" had taken up residence inside the barn instead. I had to take a picture.

We have since been able to emphasize the importance of baby Jesus. I think he understands this because though all other people and animals are still strewn all over the floor daily, Baby Jesus keeps his spot in the middle of the barn. I guess Brandon's getting it.

ava and brandon

Ava and Brandon love each other. The other day I put Ava in the crib with Brandon right before his nap and he loved it! She started touching his face (accidentally I think) and he was laughing so hard which started making her laugh and then I was laughing...

tonight

I've been playing around with new born pictures and photo programs today, so that is why I have this collage but it's also to share that Ava gave her first laugh on Monday and on Tuesday she did two more!

Ava is so sweet. When I go to pick her up first thing in the morning, at first sight of me, her smile beams out so huge, I think she's about to burst. I know my heart is.

Tonight, Brandon isn't feeling well, infact, has a fever and I think he must be feeling pretty awful because he just wants me to hold him. I've already been in his room 3 times in 4 hours just holding him for a couple of minutes. It's so sweet. I hate that he feels bad, but I feel the sweetness of holding my little boy in my arms for just a few moments of quiet snuggles. Yesterday, he received two packages. One from his cousin, Isabella, who stayed with us after Ava was born. And the 2nd one was a package I ordered off of e-bay. He opened the package from Ava and just about jumped out of his skin with excitement. It was a lightning mcqueen tshirt and jacket. He immediately put on the tshirt yesterday evening and hasn't taken it off for bed, or all day today, or even for bed tonight. Since he isn't feeling well, I decided not to fight it. He loves it!

The 2nd package I opened after he went to bed and lined up the characters along the tv stand. When Brandon came out this morning, it only took 2 seconds before he spotted the characters from Madagascar 2 lined up. They are used Mcdonald toys that came in Happy Meals, but someone collected them all and sold it on ebay. All day he has played with them, particularly, Alex the Lion and Marty the Zebra. He has them chasing each other around as it is one of his favorite scenes in the 1st Madagascar movie. So tonight when he was not feeling well, he was laying in my arms, holding Alex the Lion tightly in one fist. When I left the room to grab his medicine, he sat next to Ava and placed Alex and Marty on the chest of Ava. He wanted her to play with them. So sweet.

and we really are back...

 Can I just say that it was a good feeling to start and finish a project?  This year has felt like a lot of things started...but not so many things finished.  Not only was making Brandon's Max costume fun it felt good to accomplish something.  It made me hopeful that life was getting beyond feeling tired (because of pregnancy), being tired (because of two little ones) and thinking tired would always be my normal state (because I stay up way way too late).  I love being a mom and I love hanging out with Ava and Brandon and I would never change that.  But I, also, love creating, serving, cooking (though that never did stop), blogging (ha, ha!) and so many other things that I did when my time was completely my own.  It's coming back, the control over my time, even if the time is in one hour increments.   Now, if only I could fit in a workout in one of those increments...

All about Ava

Ava was born a week early at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital.  My mom and brother arrived at our apartment at 11 p.m. and I left for the hospital at 4 a.m.  and she was born at 7:20 a.m.  Great timing!  

Ava Youmee Todd

7 lb 6 oz, 20 inches

August 28, 2009 

7:20 a.m.

When we were thinking of a name for Brandon, we came across the name of Ava and I liked the name enough to think that it would be a contender when we had the need for a girl's name.  It's short, simple and sweet.  Ava's middle name comes from my twin's Korean name.  My twin, Youmee, passed away when we were 2 and a half years old in Korea, right before my parents and I immigrated to the United States.  It never occurred to me to use my twin's name until I was about 7 months along...and after that Ava Youmee just seemed right.  We never considered anything else. 

She was a very easy and pleasant newborn.  And she is still super pleasant and so so easy at 11 weeks.    At about 6 weeks, she started truly smiling and cooing/talking and she hasn't stopped!  Brandon adores her and she seems to love to watch him.  Last night, she slept a record 12.5 hours!  When I went in to get her, she gave me THE BEST SMILE.  It's hard to tell personality yet, but I think she will be a talker.

• One Month Stats: 9 lbs 5 oz, 21.5 inches 
  
• Two Month Stats: 10 lbs 8 oz, 23 inches
  

(Just for fun - Brandon weighed 6 lb 15 oz, 19 inches at birth; 2 months - 13 lbs 4 oz, 23.5 inches)

getting burped by dad

cute litte face

sleeping sweetly at home and in the stroller

Ava and Brandon

when brandon is around, ava will just stare at him intently, it's so fun to see

catching her smile on camera

ava's funny expressions

spending a lot of time in the stroller is ava's way of being part of the fun

And we're back...

After a YEARLONG furlough from blogging, we are back.  During the time we were gone we went to South America, the Bahamas, moved apartments, changed jobs and had a baby.  

So, that is my excuse.  

We started with a Halloween post, so check that out.  But, we need to introduce Miss Ava. We'll be posting some pics from her birth to now in the next few days.  She is 10 weeks old!  

Here is a teaser - 3 pics from tonight 

Chilling with her older brother

Let the Wild Rumpus Start!

Brandon as Max from the book, Where the Wild Things Are.  He had just woken up from a nap so he had the right grumpy look of Max.  

On our way to the Fall Fest, we saw the inspiration for the costume.  Brandon loves the book and we read it almost every night and he roars his terrible roar and shows his terrible claws!  

Fall Fest

The fox tail that Ryan and Brandon picked up that morning up in the Bronx.  Brandon loves riding the subway these days, so happy was he to take that ride.  

We trick or treated along 69th street, our old stomping grounds.  Brandon quickly understood the whole "free" candy thing.

Friends of Max...

Trick or treating along the stores...

Yes, Ava was there - asleep most the night in the back of the stroller.

Taking a quick pick of Ava at the end of the night...

Where the Wild Things Are

The night Max wore his wolf suir and made mischief of one kind and another. His mother called him "WILD THING!" and Max said "I'LL EAT YOU UP!" so he was sent to bed without eating anything. That very night in Max's room a forest grew and grew - and grew until his ceiling hung with vines all the walls became the world all around and an ocean tumbled by with a private boat for Max and he sailed off through night and day and in and out of weeks and almost over a year to where the wild things are.And when he came to the place where the wild things are they roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws til Max said "BE STILL!" and tamed them with the magic trick of staring into all their yellow eyes without blinking once and they were frightened and called him the most wild thing of all and made him king of all wild things. "And now," cried Max, "let the wild rumpus start!" "Now stop!" Max said and sent the wild things off to bed without their supper.  

And Max the king of all wild things was lonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all. Then all around from far away across the world he smelled good things to eat so he gave up being king of where the wild things are. But the wild thing cried, "Oh please don't go- we'll eat you up-we love you so!" And Max said, "no!" The wild things they roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws but Max stepped into his private boat and waved good-bye and sailed back over a year and in and out of weeks and through a day and into the night of his very own room where he found his supper waiting for him and it was still hot.