Big Girl Issues

As Ava's second birthday quickly approaches and a new baby has plans to arrive in the spring, we are doing big girl things! She has shown some interest in the potty but mostly scared to ever try until recently. We encourage her to try through the day but no luck until this past weekend when she finally did it! Randy is the lucky go-to and so she regularly goes to him now when she needs to potty.

We also started and have now completely transitioned her to her big girl bed in Bella's room. We had plans to move her in there around her second birthday but she started climbing into the new bed on her own a few weeks early. We would entertain her interest and let her try it out but it mostly lasted a few minutes each time. Last week we made the change by not giving her a choice anymore and making a big deal out of her being a big girl! It was a success after three short days. Nap time served to be a little more difficult until this weekend so as you can see she gave up one day and went to sleep on the floor. The first night she slept the entire night in there we found both girls watching tv the next morning together. Ava doesn't have a chance at sleeping in anymore like she used to! Big sister has her up at 7:30 now. Research suggests that children make the transition from the crib quite a while before a new baby comes to take over. This way, her move to the big girl bed is all about her and now about a new baby taking her place causing her to resent him in anyway. It worked quite well with her developing an interest on her own and then some reinforcement and encouragement.

SNOW DAY

They started calling for snow and so Tuesday morning everyone was on high alert! The girls still had school but we were waiting to hear if we would need to get there early to pick them up. They ended up having a full day but Randy's county got out early and so he was able to surprise them and pick them up! Everyone came home and we waited and waited... it finally started falling around dinner time. School was then closed Wednesday and Thursday. We went out for a little bit Tuesday evening and then again Wednesday morning. Bella is at a stage where she loves it, but Ava is not too fond of it as you will see in the pictures below.....

Pinkalicious

For school one day last week Bella was to dress up as her favorite book character. She chose Pinkalicious and because Randy was off that day we were all able to see her in the parade!

catch up

A little late posting all of these but here are the last of the Christmas photos... a few from Christmas morning here at our house and then a few from Christmas night as Randy's parents, complete with Aunt Joanne and Uncle Dick! And then a few more from my grandmother's house with my mom and their big gifts.

Christmas With Extended Fam

My aunt is always on top of things. This year for Christmas Eve she had all the costumes to act out the first Christmas. They elected Randy and I to be Mary and Joseph since I am expecting. Ha! Anyway, the kids loved it. Ava was a sheep but wouldn't put on her hat and kept stealing baby Jesus and Bella was one super proud angel. Dinner was wonderful as usual and we had a blast singing and dancing after. Here is where I say it every year- There are five original granddaughters, plus eight great granddaughters on this side of the family. My cousin has a son, Bradley, but he is almost grown himself now so having a boy is still a shock! After eight consecutive girls, plus my sister's due in June, which will make nine, this little baby boy Eich is going to get a lot of love, dress up and who knows what else! We are going to need to find him some manly men to hang out with and many sports to play ;)

First Hair Cut!

Bella asks to go to the "Beauty Shop" on a daily basis. Whether we pretend and I do the work or we go get a real hair cut, she loves it all. It had been a few months since she got it trimmed so on a whim one day I decided to make her wish come true and we headed to the Beauty Shop. I also decided with Ava's wacky "layers" and lack of curl these days, I may get her a trim if all went well.

When we arrived, both girls were chomping at the bit to get in the chairs so I went ahead and signed them both up. I let Bella go first so that Ava would know what to expect and maybe lessen her anxiety. There was no need though because she was READY! She waited in her chair patiently and they hadn't even called her name.

Bella wanted her hair cut short like in a picture she saw of herself (as an 18 month old!!!). Yikes. By the time we got there she was describing it like a male friend at school. Um, where did my princess go? I met her in the middle and told the lady to stack it and bring it around to angle towards her chin. It ended up a little shorter than I would have liked but Bella was happy.

Ava tapped her toes the whole time and "drove" the taxi she was sitting in, just soaking it all up. When I would smile or gigggle she would put her tongue in her cheek, like "Yeah, I know Mom. I'm sassy." Anyway, I got a similar cut for her and they were ADORABLE! Unfortunately she has not let me do too much blow drying in our day to day life so it isn't always laying right but it is still cute. As part of the first hair cut package, they took a wonderful picture! The ones I have are good too but don't show the finished product so I took their picture the next day after baths and my attempt to dry it.