Mason and Laura

Mason's Birthday

2015-12-14T21:32:00.000-07:00

Mason decided that he wanted to celebrate his birthday at an arcade. So he invited his family and a few friends. We grabbed some pizza and met them there. I guess they added some more arcades when Mason had gone to ask if he could hold a party there, so when we got there they really didn't have room for us to set up a table. So we ended up setting it up outside which wasn't ideal, but at least it wasn't too cold. Once we were done eating and opening presents, we headed inside to play.

Kim and I walked over to a cupcake place and bought some cupcakes near the end of the party. Mason's family left and the rest of us went back to our place to eat the cupcakes and play some more games at home.

I had "Happy Birthday Mason!" on the chalkboard but hadn't finished coloring it all. Brad decided he would finish it for me and make some changes.

Then Mason added a few more things.

#ufovember #art #doodles #cartoons #chalk #chalkboard #chalkboardart

A photo posted by Mason Allen (@spacemason) on Nov 21, 2015 at 10:03pm PST

#ufovember chalk on slate #minimoose #zim #aliens
A photo posted by Mason Allen (@spacemason) on Nov 21, 2015 at 9:59pm PST

I can't believe Mason is getting so old (haha!), but he really is a kid at heart and knows how to stay young!

Thanksgiving Break

2015-12-13T23:02:00.002-07:00

We had a great Thanksgiving break. David and Melody were able to come visit for a few days. Percie and Rob also came up for the weekend.

The first thing the girls did was dress up of course. Laila was Sleeping Beauty and Ava Cinderella. I'm pretty sure they watch Cinderella every day.

We bought some baby food with turkey in it for Milen so he wouldn't be left out. He loved it!

Mason made yams for our feast.

Happy Thanksgiving! @cloudopatra @buddhaissa093 @jkallenmom2boys @jessica.mcmillen @codymc311 @perciej_ @lechemrc @annie.allen @lauraandmason @kiolsen62 #thanksgiving #thanksgivingathon2015
A photo posted by Mason Allen (@spacemason) on Nov 26, 2015 at 11:27am PST

After our yummy meal, the kids played. Milen tried to devour this baby. David and Brad played Star Wars Battlefront.

We forgot to put on a bibdana this day, oops!

I have decided that I want to start the tradition with my kids that after Thanksgiving, they get their Christmas jammies and a Christmas book. It never made sense to me to open these things on Christmas Eve. I always thought that it should be enjoyed all of December. So this year I got thinking and decided why not have a tradition to open them on the day after Thanksgiving or December 1st. Well I had quite decided but my mom gave each family a Christmas book (signed too) and so that took care of the book. I decided that I officially would do this as a tradition every year. Unfortunately I didn't wrap up the jammies like I wanted to (I bought them on clearance after last year's Christmas), but I just put the kids in them the next night.

The girls played all day and then it came time for bed. Ava wanted to sleep over, but we decided that it would be a better night the next night because Mason wanted to decorate the tree.

Saying a prayer before Laila went to sleep.

We brought Milen's regular jammies that night.

The next morning I went and did a little shopping. I met my sister-in-laws and mom for lunch at Cafe Rio. Then Mason's sisters, Percie and Annie, and Rob came over to help decorate the tree. Unfortunately Ava and Milen fell asleep and missed most of it.

Pic by Percie

Pic by Rob

I just watched them decorate and then made some more baby food. Milen ate all this up within a couple of days. I have been making much more baby food for Milen than I did with Ava, but I still can't keep up. I enjoy making baby food but it's hard to find time to do it.

Ava woke up and wondered where Aunt Percie and Auntie Annie went.

Such a silly girl.

We met David, Melody, Brad, Kim, and some friends at Crown Burger. Then we headed to my parents to watch Intersellar. The girls watched Cinderella of course.

I dressed the kids in their Christmas jammies and Ava was going to sleep over night, but she decided that she wanted to go home with us after all.

The next morning I got pictures of the kids in their jammies by the tree.

Believe. @lauraandmason #christmas #christmas2015 #christmasathon2015
A photo posted by Mason Allen (@spacemason) on Nov 28, 2015 at 10:44am PST

I also got Milen's 8 month picture that day.

My boy has turned 8 months. Sorry this update is long. Milen mastered crawling fast and is into everything he can get his hands on. He loves to shake his head no while saying "a-ya-ya-ya" and loves saying "dada." He is starting to get stranger danger. While he loves food, he is starting to figure out what he does and doesn't like. He loves to feed himself puffs and Cheerios. Milen is still very cuddly and is a stomach sleeper. He is such a happy boy and we love his smile.#chillinmilen #chunkymonkeyMJ

I watched the kids along with Brad and my Dad. Everyone else went to a movie and Mason went shopping. Before Mason left I got this picture.

The kids made a disaster of the playroom.

At church the next day, Milen fell asleep which is pretty hard to get him to do these days at church. Luckily they had a guy singing Christmas songs that lulled Milen to sleep, but not before Milen tormented the guy sitting in front of us by constantly grabbing his chair.

Mason and the kids matched. This isn't the best picture, Mason was eating a donut. The donuts and cider our ward handed out were so good though.

Monday was the last day before Melody and David left to go back home. There was a free day at the aquarium so Melody and I took the girls there and left our boys with David and my mom.

It was so cold waiting in line. Luckily the line went pretty fast. The girls didn't do a good job at looking at the camera the whole time. They were too busy having fun.

pic by Melody

We went just before lunch time and these girls were starving. The ate through my whole goldfish supply.

When these girls aren't fighting, they can be really sweet.

Melody and I were surprised when we took the girls to cross the bridge, Ava was the one to go in like it was nothing and Laila got scared. I had to reassure Laila that I would be right behind her. Ava went in so fast that she tripped and landed on her face. I thought it would scare her but she got up like it was nothing and continued on. The past few times we visited the aquarium Ava wanted nothing to do with the bridge. It was nice to see her attempt it this time.

pic by Melody

I tried to get in one last good picture before we left. Didn't work. They were bouncing off the walls.

Came home to this sleepy guy.

I put Clark down for his nap, so his parents could grab something to eat.

We ordered pizza that night and then I played some Diablo 3 with David and Mason.

We had a great Thanksgiving break and it was great to see some family from out of town.

June

2015-10-18T16:59:00.000-06:00

When Milen was about 2 months old, whenever he was hungry he would coo and smile at me. Like he was trying to charm me. Cutest thing ever!

Milen had horrible reflux. When ever he spit up, it would be so bad that I would not just have to change my outfit but I would have to hop into the shower. Luckily he never seemed too upset by it. Our pediatrician recommended putting him on his stomach at an angle (like when your baby lays on you tummy to tummy) after his feedings. It's hard to tell, but Milen is at an angle. He would still spit up a bit but not as much, so it was a success. I also used a small firm pillow underneath that seemed to help. He also recommended this so that I could chase after Ava instead of having to hold him for a certain amount of time so he wouldn't puke. As you can tell, he seemed to like because he would often fall asleep.

Our library has been closed all summer for a remodel. I hate it! So one night we finally headed to another location. I decided to check out some books since it had been awhile since we had anything new. Big mistake. It was a hassle to get the books back (and I swear I never got my usual reminder) and so I ended up with some late fees, ugh! So we haven't been back. I'm thinking we need to go to another location that is closer to us.

Of course later I found out that they have had reading times still at our library in the basement but it's at a day/time that doesn't work for me.

After the library we headed to the grocery store. Ava loves crunchy vegetables. She got her Grandpa Olsen's love of green peppers.

"Can I have green pepper please? It's my favorite!"

After my parents got back from my nephew Trace's blessing, they gave us some bags of clothing from Melody. I began going through them one morning and Ava wanted to wear the coat even though it was boiling hot.

This boy is so chubby, despite what his shirt says. Okay, so he actually is surprising strong so it must be muscle, haha!

"Don't call me chubby. I'm all muscle!"

Ava is so funny.

"Don't take a picture of me!"

"Take a picture of me!"

Love this picture.

So cute with his hands. He is constantly eating them.

Notice the bibdana. This boy drools all day long. So much drool. I love the bibdanas because otherwise his whole outfit gets drenched, but I need a million more because he goes through them so fast.

This was cute. We came home one night and Ava cuddled right up to Mason.

The first Saturday in June we went to a family reunion.

My Grandma let me take her picture which is huge. She hates getting her picture taken. I think she let me in exchange to holding Milen.

Sunday we had a BBQ at my parents.

This girl often says that she wants to be a doctor.

My brother stole my phone and started taking pictures.

Ava went around my parent's yard, picking flowers, and giving one to everyone.

I got some cute Sunday pictures that day.

Tasting herbs from my parent's garden.

Ava thought it was funny that she put one of her headbands on Milen. Poor second child.

I told Ava to keep her books in their case and only pull one out at a time. This was the face that I got.

A typical lunch for Ava. Peanut butter sandwich, banana, carrots, red peppers, pepperoni, and hardboiled eggs. She also usually has an egg-gurt (gogurt).

Ava's chair gets so dirty. She is so messy and she throws food everywhere. I find it easiest to take her chair outside during the summer and spray it down.

Ava did a lot of swimming in our backyard in June because it was so hot. I stopped taking pictures, because I decided it was too much to try and cox Ava into a swim diaper and swimsuit every time, so I just let her run around in her regular diaper.

Ava was sweet and got Milen his blanket and care bear.

Mason ran a half marathon the second Saturday in June. Read about it here.

Ava got jealous of Milen getting his picture taken so she joined in the fun.

Organizing Ava's clothing and putting away the clothes that are too small. It is a long process that I have to do about every couple of months. This doesn't even include all of her clothing like her dresses and sweaters. I'm very lucky that Melody sends me so much clothing.

Her drawers all organized. Some of these have 2 layers of clothing.

Milen is such a chub. This is another favorite picture of mine. We called Milen "chunky boy." Ava would say "conky boy."

Dusty and Jerica asked us on a double night with them to see Jurassic World. It was nice to have a night off from the kids.

Finally got some good smiling pictures of Milen. He is quite the happy boy.

Ava lately has been coming to our room at night claiming that she has had a dream. We let her come in our bed a few times. After that we just told her that she is supposed to have dreams at night and took her back to her bed. She finally stopped after awhile.

Yes, poor Mason is on the edge of the bed.

It's hard to see but Ava is wearing an orange tutu over her jammies.

On Father's Day, we had Milen's baby blessing. You can read about it here.

The next day after the blessing, Ava already made the house a mess before noon. Ava is such a messy girl. In fact early that month she told me "I making a mess mommy. I know I'm making a mess." Yet other times she freaks out about being messy. She has started cleaning up on her own occassionally without me even asking which is awesome.

She also learned how to wear high heels.

Ava's dinosaurs invaded her castle.

One day my mom and I took the kids to a movie theater. I had gotten the day and time mixed up, so we didn't end up the movie I had planned. We ended up seeing the movie Home. In it the girl explains "knock, knock" jokes to the alien. After that Ava came up with her own joke.

Ava: "knock, knock!"

Mason: "who's there?"

Ava: "Ava!"

Mason: "Ava who?"

Ava: "Ava Princess!"

Mason and Ava then added some more to the joke later on, so now it continues:

Ava: "open the door."

Mason: "come on in."

Ava: "k, shut the door."

We had a fun play date with some friends.

Milen was so happy to be in AC after the play date.

Love this picture. It was how I felt that day. So hot in our house.

Milen watches his sister. I love seeing their relationship.

And here comes the drool.

Always eating his hands.

Jerica was expecting her second boy on Ezra's birthday, so she decided to have Ezra's birthday party early. Mason worked that day, so we came at the very end of the party. She had a dinosaur party for him.

Milen's dinosaur onesie that he wore for the party.

Sometimes Ava wakes up really early and so I try to get her to take a morning nap, usually in our room. I came in to find Ava sleeping like this.

She later readjusted to sleep on top of the pillow.

Milen turned 3 months old and I posted this:

He is trying his hardest to sit up and loves to laugh. Not only does he clasp his hands together but he often puts his feet together too which I think is so cute. #chunkymonkeyMJ

Mason's Half Marathon

2015-10-18T16:58:00.002-06:00

So for Mason's work he had to run a half marathon. He trained a bit with some friends in the neighborhood a couple of nights here or there, but he didn't get as much training as they recommended. He had to work late the night before. So we decided that I would take the kids to my mom's that night so that Mason could head straight to bed when he got home for work. He had to be up at 3:00 AM to drive to Provo to catch a bus that would take him up the canyon. It worked out that my dad was gone for the weekend for a youth camp, so my mom and I could have a girls night.

We picked to go out for Chinese food.

I put the kids to bed and then I stayed up doing things like painting my nails and watching shows. It became so late that I decided to stay up a little longer so I could call Mason and make sure he made it to Provo in time.

Mason is a deep sleeper. Not like me. I'm a light sleeper. He falls asleep so fast and I take forever to fall asleep. Anyways I always tell him how impossible it is to wake him up. I literally will shake him and he won't wake up. So I was pretty worried. When it came time for him to wake up, I texted him. I didn't get a response, so I texted again. And again. And again. I started to get a bit worried, so I called. And I called a few more times. I decided that maybe he was driving and couldn't respond. I was about ready to go to bed when I decided to try again. I called. No response. I texted again.

It is lucky that I texted that last time, because Mason finally woke up to a chime. He threw on his clothes, grabbed his bag, and drove like a mad man to Provo.

Finally I got a text from him. He said that he got to the bus just in time and was headed up the canyon. He chatted a bit until he lost reception. I tried to get some sleep, but it didn't happen. I downloaded an app that let me keep track of Mason and his progress. It also let me send cheers to Mason as he was running the race. It was really cool. My only complaint was that it only let you send so many cheers and I didn't know that, so Mason only got cheers from us for the first half of his race. But he had reception before that point so we were able to send texts back and forth.

Ava woke up. She loved a cheer that was about bananas. She requested a banana to eat for breakfast.

We went outside for a bit when the sun started coming up.

Mason took a slow pace since it was his first race and he hadn't trained much. He average just under 13 minutes per mile. He finished before 9 AM.

Ava had me read some books for her and then she fell asleep. Once Mason finished his race, I called and talked to him for awhile and then went to bed myself.

Mason stayed around for a bit. Got a free Jamba Juice. He waited in a long line for a massage. He ended up getting a chiropractor that offered some advice, but not really a massage. So he was a bit disappointed.

He finally came home in the afternoon and then took a long nap at my parents.

So proud of this guy.

We are doing a 5k walk with the kids in September. It should be a lot easier than Mason's half marathon.

Milen's Blessing

2015-08-28T16:23:00.000-06:00

We had a hard time figuring out when to do Milen's blessing. We narrowed it down to June or July. Finally we decided we would do his blessing on Father's Day. What is more perfect than a father blessing his son on Father's Day? We knew that it was the right day.

Before we decided on the date, we decided on the outfit. Originally I picked out a traditional white blessing outfit. We went to the store and I was disappointed. Not only did they not have the outfit but the other similar blessing outfits were missing pants or were yellowed. Basically they looked terrible. I had no idea what to do.

In the few weeks before I had Milen, my mom and I went to the mall and were just looking for boy clothes in general when we came across a cute grey vest. My mom got the idea that we should bless Milen in that vest along with it's matching white onesie. I hadn't planned on going non-traditional but I really liked the vest. I agreed. Mason had already purchased a white bowtie from a boutique and I thought it would work great with the vest. I love bowties because of Doctor Who (Matt Smith is my favorite doctor by far) and knew that I wanted a bowtie, not just a regular tie, for Milen's blessing.

I thought that since we were going non-traditional I might as well add some color. Mason is known in our ward for wearing bright, colorful outfits to church. It's funny when he wears normal church attire, people ask him why he isn't wearing something colorful. I thought green shoes would be great because Mason's favorite color is green. First I was thinking of getting some moccs because it would be easy to find the right shade, but Mason's didn't like them. I searched online and in the stores for that perfect green shoe that I knew Mason would like as well. I'm happy to say that I found them. I came across green baby Converse shoes. There were different versions but I like this one the best. I had bought Mason the exact adult version for his birthday last year. I meant to get a picture of them both wearing the matching shoes but it never happened. I guess I could still take that picture sometime though.

Searching online I found they had some at the stores but they were expensive. We ended up purchasing the shoes on ebay, but we ordered them late. I was so worried they wouldn't come in time because they were being shipped from China and it had stated a long shipping date.

Luckily they came just in time. So relieved.

When I decided on green shoes, I needed some shorts. I decided on shorts because I knew it would be hot in June and thought it would be better than long pants in the heat. I picked navy blue for the color of the shorts.

A huge concern of mine was how fast Milen was growing. I bought the vest and onesie while I was still pregnant and I had no idea that he would grow that quickly. I just assumed he would grow the same as Ava. I tried on the whole outfit on Milen about a week before the blessing so I could run to the store just in case to repurchase anything that didn't fit. Luckily it fit. Just barely. Luckily the onesie was stretchy and the vest worked for our chubby guy. If we had waited until July we probably would have been in trouble.

My sister-in-law Kristen also sent me a white traditional blessing outfit that she had just in case we needed it. I figured a backup couldn't hurt.

Milen's outfit was one thing. Mine was another. I wanted to wear a white dress. Don't ask me why, but that's what I wanted. A white, lace one. I thought I found the perfect one. We went to the mall and I was disappoint to find they didn't order it at that location. I ordered it online. When it came I tried it on and it was all wrong. It was not the one.

I had a backup plan, however. I purchased a blue shirt that I really liked when I bought the dress. I figured it would work with the lace skirt that I already had. I tried it on and it worked so much better.

The morning of the blessing we woke up early. Well I woke up first and then woke everyone else up later. I had Mason dress Ava in one of my favorite dresses for her while I got Milen ready. We had a problem. Problem was Ava hadn't worn the dress I picked out for a year and I had no idea it was so short. If I had known I would have put her in something else. Some leggings would have worked too. Mason put her in the stroller so I didn't notice until I was taking her out of the stroller when we arrived at church. We didn't have enough time to run home. So we just had to wait until we got home to throw some leggings on her.

My brother-in-law Rob took these pictures.

Mason gave a wonderful blessing. I really thought that the things he blessed Milen with really fit our boy. Milen is such a sweet, easy-going guy.

We didn't have much family come. Nothing like when Ava was blessed. Most of my family couldn't make it.

Ava was extra cranky for being woken up early. Poor girl didn't even get to go to nursery and she loves nursery.

Milen with his Aunt Percie. They were matching, haha!

We walked home and had our luncheon. The kids immediately went to play. I tried to hurry and get a family picture. Ava told me she was tired and wouldn't leave her bed. Milen was hungry and wasn't happy about having to wait.

We decided that Mason looked like a missionary, haha!

This boy drools and spits up like no other. I had kept him clean by wearing a bibdana before the blessing. He was good until just before this picture.

Not happy one bit.

After we got a quick picture, I ran off to direct orders on the luncheon and then to go nurse Milen.

We enjoyed visiting with family and friends, but it was nice when everyone went home and we could relax and enjoy Father's Day together.

Later in the evening I was able to get a few pictures of Milen. My sister-in-law Kim made him a white blanket for his blessing.

Later that night Mason got to enjoy one of his Father's Day gifts. I got him tools, haha! But actually we really needed our own drill set because borrowing multiple peoples' drills just wasn't working anymore. Don't worry though I also gave him something fun. I got him Guardians of the Galaxy. We enjoyed watching it together that night. It was a great day!

May

2015-07-17T02:11:00.000-06:00

Here are our adventures for May.

Ava is starting to let me do her hair more. It's awesome if she keeps it in during the car ride.

We went to the park this day.

Notice Ava pulled her elastic out.

Ava sat in this tractor forever.

We're working on smiling for pictures. Silly girl!

At my parents that evening. Ava loves my dad's office, particularly his computer. I walked in and asked her what she was doing. Her response: "I'm working on my pewder."

Zoo Day.

I got this tiger outfit from our Primary Presidency.

Of course I had to put it on Milen for the zoo.

Ava's favorite is the elephants.

Yep, still working on that smile.

She loves the carousel, I promise!

My favorite dinosaur, Diabloceratops!

Kids were sleepy from the day.

Ava one morning. Poor girl was tired.

Milen wore this outfit once.

Milen's first church experience.

Love this blanket. It was made by my Relief Society President.

Don't need batteries when you have an older sister.

Ava loves to rock Milen.

She also loves putting blankets over Milen's face.

At first it started out just as giving him blankets,

but lately she thinks he knows how to play peek-a-boo.

Swim day. We have lots of these in the summer.

Ava gathered all her dinosaurs and cave men toys before bed one night.

We went to IHOP one night. Ava was having lots of fun.

Our boy getting quite big. He was in 6 month clothing and size 2 diapers by 6 weeks!

Mother's day weekend. I got my free cupcake from Sweet Tooth Fairy.

Mason and I also went to a movie and dinner that day. It was our first date since Milen was born. We decided to celebrate our anniversary early because my parents would be out of town our anniversary weekend. Michael and Kristen had picked that weekend to bless their boy Trace so my parents would be in Oregon for that.

I hadn't pumped any milk since the hospital stay, so we kept having to run back to my parents so I could nurse Milen every couple of hours.

We went to Red Lobster for dinner. I was craving it for some reason. I got steak, coconut shrimp and lobster mac and cheese. Yes, my poor steak came out burnt. I wasn't happy because I ordered a medium since I wasn't pregnant anymore and I paid extra to have the steak. We had a group of 20+ people next to us. I blame it on them.

On Sunday, Mason made me blueberry waffles. I told him we could have them after church because we have the 9 AM schedule and I'm not hungry that early in the morning.

#mothersday
A photo posted by Mason Allen (@spacemason) on May 10, 2015 at 1:23pm PDT

Left: Ava's gift she made in nursery last year.

Middle: rose from Mason's.

Right: Ava's nursery gift this year.

Mother's Day family picture. It turns out we all ended up wearing blue and white.

Gifts Ava and I made for the grandmas.

Turns out it is hard to paint numbers and letters on oven mittens.

Milen started blowing bubbles.

I took the picture a bit late.

He had a whole beard of bubbles.

I pulled out some corn starch one day for something. I don't remember what. I caught Ava eyeing it a few times. She loves corn and popcorn and spotted the corn on the container. I tried to explain it wasn't something she wanted. I knew I should have taken it out of her reach but I didn't. Then this happened.

This is why I don't clean. @lauraandmason
A photo posted by Mason Allen (@spacemason) on May 12, 2015 at 4:29pm PDT

Ava asks often to hold Milen and for me to take a picture.

Milen is constantly eating his hands. As a result, he doesn't need a binkie very often, but sometimes it is very much needed.

Ava as a newborn would try to eat her hands but would cry because it hurt her. Milen can't seem to stuff enough of his fingers and hands in his mouth.

Have I mentioned that I love sleeping babies :)

Milen is so much better at sleeping than Ava was.

Another morning of fun.

Ava loves to dress up.

I usually have to limit her to one dress and two tutus at a time.

I thought this pose was so cute.

Tough guy.

Mason took Ava to Brick Slopes one day. It's a Lego event.

Afterward Mason's mom and sister met them at Wheeler Farm.

Daniel Tiger was supposed to be there and Ava loves Daniel Tiger.

They got there too late to join the massive line, but Ava got some stickers that she loves.

If I had known about the Daniel Tiger event earlier, they would have gone to it first and then gone to Brick Slopes. Oh well.

I had my former coworker cut and color my hair again. This time she cut my hair too short for me to put it in a pony tail. She asked me if it was okay to go as short as the picture I had shown her of what I wanted. I didn't think it was that short, haha! I really have ended up liking the length. It definitely has taken more time to do my hair than just pulling it back. But I'm getting better at it and have invested in dry shampoo so I don't have to do my hair every single day. Don't have time to do that with kids.

I posted this picture to instagram with this update:

Thought I would give an update here since I've been bad about blogging.
Ava sayings: "that's true" "I want to hold my baby (Milen)" "I'm a robot. Beep, beep, bo, bop. 8, 9, 10" "Thank you much" "I'm Princess Ava!" #AvaBirdie

Milen started smiling at a month and is wearing 6 month clothing already. Ava loves her baby brother and Milen has started to watch everything that his big sister does. #chunkymonkeyMJ

Anniversary Weekend!

I had Mason take some time off for our anniversary weekend. Also it was a holiday weekend so he had one day off as a result of that. Since my parents were out of town (and we had a newborn that I was nursing so my parents couldn't have taken him anyways) we decided to have a celebration of the beginning of our family with just the four of us. I was thinking about going to Park City or something like that, but we ended up just staying at home and doing day activities.

The first day wasn't too exciting. Just some shopping that had to be done like buying a double stroller.

The next day we went hiking.

I had been starting to get the hang of how to put on the wrap at this point.

One thing is Milen likes to have his head out of the wrap if he is awake. He won't let me tuck it in unless he is asleep. Which means I didn't have both hands free since one was being used to hold his head. Notice him eating his hand.

People commented on how cute Ava was hiking with an umbrella and a tutu. I didn't even think how funny it was until they mentioned it.

Also around this time Ava was obsessed with Donkey Kong. She kept saying "Okay!" in a tough voice on this hike like Donkey Kong does in Donkey Kong 64. It kept Mason and I laughing.

We went to the Zoo (again).

This time Ava loved the T-Rex.

Pretending to be scared.

Our photo got bombed, haha!

Wearing his tiger shirt again, of course.

Ava is always sneaking things in with Milen.

I got a carrier for Mason to use. I figured he wouldn't be interested in learning how the wrap works. I've used the carrier a few times and I like it. Mason has yet to try it.

Funny boy

Ava got a toliet paper roll from the bathroom and wanted to be up by Milen.

She thought it was so funny to put it on his foot. Poor second child.

Ava loves counting Milen's piggies.

I don't think Milen likes it so much though.

I attempted curling my hair for church. If I look tired its because I had just woken up from a nap haha! I took a picture because I thought the curls turned out cute. Just need to find the time to curl my hair more often.

Milen turned two months old! He went to his two month appointment where we learned he was over 15 pounds (98 percentile) and 24 inches (85 percentile). That's why I call him Chunky Monkey MJ.

He thinks his hands are quite tasty and has the cutest cooing noises.

When he is sad, he sticks out his lower lip and pouts.

The First Month

2015-07-05T17:37:00.000-06:00

The next week started out well. We celebrated my birthday at my parents on Sunday.

I took the kids to Milen's 2 week appointment. There I was shocked that he weighed almost 10 pounds. He also had grown an inch. Our pediatrician was surprised too and quite happy that Milen was doing so well despite me being in the hospital for so long.

Does this boy only look 2 weeks old to you???

Milen loves baths. He does much better than Ava did as a newborn. The first bath we gave him he cried for only a minute. Then he stretched out his legs to put them in the water and we could tell he was enjoying it.

Ava made waffles at my mom's and loved it. She loves anything kitchen related and was thrilled to be making actual food. She talked about it for days.

This was my first official day at home alone with two kids. It went pretty well.

We started running into problems with Milen outgrowing his clothes. Way too fast. I also forced him to wear newborn diapers for way too long. I finally had to give up and move him into size 1. I only bought 1 box and didn't even get through it all. This became a quite common theme though.

We finally got rid of my old car. It was long over due. It was a bit sad to see my trusty old car being pulled away.

Couldn't believe how much snow we got this day.

Two days later, haha!

A celebration of life! Mr. Snowman, April 2015-April 2015. @lauraandmason
A photo posted by Mason Allen (@spacemason) on Apr 19, 2015 at 12:06pm PDT

Ava got jealous of Milen, so she ran to her room to get her blanket and pillow so that she could join him. It was quite fun. Like a mini sleep over.

I was changing Milen's diaper before I was going to feed him. Ava catches onto things too quickly. She grabbed my bobby and told me she was ready to feed Milen. Haha!

This girl is definitely obsessed with her baby brother.

About this time I realized that Milen and I had thrush. It didn't take as long for me to realize as it did with Ava, but still I thought I was taking precautions this time around and so it still took awhile to realize. It dawned on me that I had been on antibiotics for 4 days straight and I never took a probiotic during that time. Of course we had thrush.

Thrush was harder on me than Ava, I think, but it still made her a fussy baby. She probably would have been a lot better if I had known about thrush and gotten it taken care of early.

Thrush was extremely hard on Milen. It started out that I could tell he wasn't nursing as well. He was born a great nurser so it kind of puzzled me at first until it clicked for me that it was thrush. Once I realized it, I quickly got a prescription. I did not want us to suffer for long. I wanted it cleared up as soon as possible. Still the first prescription did not seem to be working. Milen was getting fussier every night. For about a week Milen would scream from 3-6 every morning, my worse hours to try and stay awake. I would try everything and nothing would work. It was very sad to see my boy so upset. He would only fall asleep after being so exhausted from screaming. We knew that he was normally an easy going baby, so we kept hoping that the medicine would work so we could have our good natured baby back. With Ava the medicine cleared up everything in only a couple of days but Milen it just didn't seem to be working.

We bought a swing one night hoping it would work. Ava hated swings but I had a feeling Milen would like it. Before at night I would put him in my Solly baby wrap and have to walk around. At 4 in the morning though it was quite hard to be walking around. Milen liked the swing but not for those 3 hours. Still the swing was worth buying because we could at least get he to sleep when he was fussy at other times of the day.

Mason had gone back to work and so I would stay in the other room at night trying to get Milen to be quiet so Mason could sleep. But once it was 6 am I would wake up Mason to take Milen so I could get some sleep. During this week I only got about 2 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period. Just a half hour here or there. It was one of the hardest weeks of my life. People at Mason's work are older and were trying to tell Mason that Milen need rice cereal and a bottle since he was crying in the night and clearly he was starving. Ha! As if Milen wasn't getting enough. He is one chunky baby.

I was thinking of having the prescription changed to something else since it didn't seem to be working but my dad said to get a refill and try for another couple of days. We got the refill and it worked fast! It cleared up the thrush infection within about 2 days and it was so wonderful. Once it was cleared up Milen slept not just through the 3-6 am block but to 9 in the morning and went promptly back to sleep after that feeding. We had our baby back! It was great he slept so well because Mason had a garage sale that morning with some of our neighbors. I slept through most of the yard sale and came out around noon.

Milen stuck to the new schedule for quite awhile and I loved it. The only problem is I haven't been able to change back so quickly to a normal schedule. I'm working on it, but my schedule is so crazy and I'm always tired even though I do have a baby that sleeps so I should have no excuse.

Our boy smiles a lot.

More clothes he was growing out of.

I decided to document this outfit. Ava wore this onesie and I had wanted Milen to wear it too. When I put it on it was tight so I knew he would only wear it once.

We went for a walk and Ava was quite happy with her stick that she found.

Again, growing out of more clothes.

Ava Princess in her princess jammies.

Another outfit of Ava's that Milen only wore once.

Ava fell asleep on the window sill behind the couch one morning. She had been looking out the window at the ducks in our yard.

And then our boy turned 1 month old.

The First Two Weeks

2015-07-03T03:45:00.000-06:00

I loved the first week that Milen was home. I spent a lot of time snuggling with him and Mason had lots of fun with Ava. We had a few things planned for Mason's two weeks off. Most of the plans were for the second week so that I could rest and recover. It was also nice that we got some meals and gifts from neighbors that first week.

We received flowers from Mason's work.

We took Milen to his 2-3 day check up and he was already back to birth weight. In fact he was his birth weight exactly. I couldn't believe it.

When we got home Ava served Milen lunch, haha!

Starting to smile. This guy is a happy guy. When Ava was born she would cry in her sleep. It was so sad. When Milen was born, he would laugh in his sleep. So much better hearing baby giggles than cries. He once in awhile cries in sleep now, but mostly he giggles.

Ran lots of errands.

One day we did a ton of car stuff.

Ava helped with her baby brother while I did some sewing at my mom's.

This day was great because Milen and Ava took a nap at the same time.

Love sleeping babies.

Milen turned a week old and we had a nice conference weekend.

On Sunday we went to my parents for a turkey dinner (my favorite) and I had Kim take some family pictures for me. Only thing was Ava was tired and did not want to pose for pictures. By the time she started being somewhat good for pictures, Milen started crying and needed to be nursed.

I made a comment to my mom that I wasn't feeling that well while I was there. I was on my way to recovery after having Milen, but then I would start not feeling well. Then I would be back to normal again, only to not feel well again later. It wasn't major, but it did feel like my body kept relapsing. My mom was a bit worried. She thought I should call my doctor on Monday. I shrugged it off. Maybe I was pushing myself a bit much and just needed more rest to get a full recovery. I did just deliver a baby and I figured I had two weeks to recover. I was doing more than I did after Ava because it was a lot easier taking care of a baby this time around. I told her if it didn't get feeling better by the end of the week I would call.

The next day on Monday I was tired so I slept in pretty late. Mason took Ava and they played so I could rest. It was so nice having Mason home. When I finally got up we decided to go run some errands and grab a late lunch. I picked Cafe Rio for lunch of course. It was lightly raining and I was a bit cold. I grabbed a table with Milen, while Mason waited in line with Ava. I started out eating my salad pretty hungrily, but somewhere in the middle it just didn't taste as good as it usually did. I started to get really cold. I asked Mason if he was cold and he wasn't. I was starting to shiver. We decided that Mason would drop Milen and me off at home so I could nurse Milen and get warm. Mason would continue our errands with Ava.

I got home, nursed Milen, and Milen went to sleep. I turned on the heater in the room and my heating pad. Threw on all the blankets and yet I was getting colder and shivering harder. I looked in the mirror and my lips looked blue. Not a good sign. Mason had cut errands short because Ava was getting tired. When Mason got home he tried to warm me up with his body heat. It wasn't working. He went to take care of Ava for a bit and suddenly I was burning up. I knew that wasn't good. I took my temperature and I was 102 degrees. Very bad news and I was worried. I quickly took Milen's and his temperature was normal. Ava had come in and wanted me to do her temperature next and she was fine as well.

Just before Mason came home, I had been reading an article that my sister-in-law had posted about a lady that got an infection and got a fever about 2 weeks after birth. The lady had died. Even if my sister-in-law hadn't posted this article, I knew that having a fever after having a baby was bad. My sister-in-law had broken out in a fever when she delivered her boy and he was sick in the hospital for a long time. I didn't want to worry Mason so I of course kept the article to myself. I asked him to call my doctor's office to ask them what to do. I, of course, knew the answer. I would be going to the ER. Mason had to call quickly because my doctor and nurse were almost off. Mason called and they said to go to the ER as soon as possible, just as I had predicted. Mason called my mom to come over to watch the kids and she headed right over.

Mason packed a few things and when my mom arrived we left. I had debated about taking Milen. I was nursing him and we didn't have any formula. I luckily had pumped some milk the week before, but it wasn't much because I hadn't planned on needing any so soon. My mom talked me into leaving Milen and she was right. The ER was no place for a baby.

We arrived at the ER and my temperature was even higher. They didn't tell me, but I'm guessing that it was 103 by then. They put me on priority and told me that it was smart for me to head in so quick. I guess some women don't know how serious it can be. They took me quickly through triage and drew tons of blood. Despite being on priority, it still was a long wait to get a room. The ER was pretty packed by then because everyone was getting off work.

Mason held my hand or put his arm around me for most of the time. I started sobbing. I did not want to leave Ava and I certainly didn't want to leave my newborn. I had no idea how long I would be in the ER. An older lady came and sat across from us. As she was sitting she was telling a nurse how she had been throwing up. After the nurse left, she tried offering me a tissue, which I refused. No way was I going to catch something from her, especially with a newborn at home.

We finally were called back. I knew that the hospital I had delivered at was big, but it still surprised me. I used to work at another hospital in the ER and that ER was tiny compared to this one. My room was in the 3rd section of the ER and it kept going on further. Despite being large I think they do a really good job with the patients. I delivered Ava at a smaller hospital and when they moved us into the maternity section, I felt like we were ignored a lot. I know most people don't like being pestered by nurses, but I actually liked the attentiveness at the larger hospital with Milen. One thing is they have several nursing stations so each nursing station only has a small section of rooms to look after. I also had tons of nice and friendly nurses. They would do anything for me. I only really like the nurses that were there for Ava's delivery at the smaller hospital. I liked the hospital I delivered Ava at, but I liked the hospital I delivered Milen at better.

Anyways we got to our room and I loved our first nurse. She was nerdy like Mason and I so we had lots to talk about. She gave me a really strong drug that was supposed to reduce the fever and help with pain. The theory was that I had an uterine infection. Only thing was I had no risk factors and I had no pain. I had tons of people coming in doing this or that. I wasn't too happy, especially with all the guys. I am one of those people that likes women doctors. The ER doctor was a guy, but he ended up being nice. Still I would have liked not to have gone all through that I did. The OBGYN doctor that was on call that night was not my doctor. In fact it was the first doctor that I tried to get an appointment when I found I was pregnant with Milen. I couldn't get an appointment with her, so they scheduled me with my current doctor (who, I found out from Mason's second cousin, is a favorite of the nurses). Anyways, the on call OBGYN had visited me after I delivered Milen and I really liked her. She came down to the ER and was shocked that when pushing on my abdomen, I had no pain. I had several people push on my abdomen and every time no pain.

We were there for a long time and it came time that I needed to pump. Mason ran the milk to my mom and I felt like he was gone a long time. Again while he was gone I had more people coming in my room doing several tests. The ER doctor came in to reassure me that I would be okay. Women used to often die of infection after child birth, but luckily today we have modern medicine. He just said they were ruling things out and then they would know whether I would be discharged with antibiotics or I would be admitted. I was getting worried that I might have to have my sister-in-law Kim, who lives next door to us, run to the store to buy formula. Especially if my mom decided to take the kids back to her place. It was getting pretty late.

I was hungry since I hadn't had any dinner and the nurse brought me a small meal box. I loved the food system at this hospital. With Ava's we had to call during certain hours to order food. We always missed those hours so I was pretty hungry the whole time we were there. I also thought I was saving money by not ordering at the hospital. You know, keep those hospital bills down. But funny thing was that it was all covered by my insurance. Anyways at this hospital they have you fill out what you want for the next day or two and so you don't even have to think about it. Food is just brought to you and their meals are large. I had tons of food with Milen and lots of snacks too. If it was after hours you could still get a small meal box.

Finally right before Mason got back they told me they would be admitting me. I would be going back to the maternity ward. They also let me know that because I was going back to the maternity ward we could have Milen stay with us. Mason got back and I updated him on the news. I called my mom. Mason would pick up Milen and my mom would take Ava to her place to stay. It was midnight by that point, Milen was being fussy with me away, and my mom was getting tired.

They moved me to my new room that I would stay in for 4 days. Yep, 4 days on 3 antibiotics given to me intravenous continuously. It was horrible and about twice as long as my stay when I had Milen. I refer to it as my lost week. I cried after settling into the room. The nurses were so nice not to say anything.

When I got to the new room I was freezing. It was so cold. The nurses were mean and wouldn't let me have a warm blanket. Haha! I know I had a fever and couldn't have one but still I was so cold. They started me on antibiotics right away. It was 1 in the morning at that point. Mason ran home to get Milen and pack up our stuff for the days that we would be staying. Mason was such a trooper to sleep on that small hospital bed for so many nights. We were so grateful that Mason had requested 2 weeks off. Before Milen was born, Mason got a lot of older people asking him why he would need so much time off. I'm so glad he was there when I needed him. Since Milen was not a patient, Mason had to be with him at all times. I was not allowed to be with Milen alone because of my condition. That meant if he had to run to the snack room, he had to take Milen with him. He said he got some weird looks from other dads, haha! Because Mason had the time off, we were able to keep Milen with us so I could keep nursing. Milen did great during the hospital stay. That boy can sleep and it was a blessing that he did.

The schedule every night turned me into an insomniac. The nurses would come in about every hour from 12 am to 8 am every day to give me antibiotics or do vital checks. My temperature spiked to 104 and my parents timed that it took them 13 hours to get my temperature down under 100 from when I first arrived. They ended having to ice me which surprisingly felt really good and seemed to do the trick.

The days were so depressing. I guess it was a good thing that it rained a lot, otherwise I would have felt like I would be missing trips to the park and zoo with Ava like we had planned.

I thought I would hate the IV more than I did.
I usually can't stand them, but the nurse showed me how it worked
and it helped a lot to mentally accept it.

A lot of the time we hardly did anything. I was confined to the bed and it was horrible. Tuesday night was nice because we have friends that cast games that they play. That night they were playing "Day of the Tentacle." It's an old game, but I love it because it's so funny and fun. It brought back a lot of good memories and helped to pass the time.

My time there is a lot of a blur. My doctor came in every morning to check on me. Some of the mornings, I'll admit, I have no idea what she said. I just nodded my head. I was so tired. This fever really took a lot out of me. It took quite a while to recover from it.

One early morning they did more blood draws in different places to make sure again that there was no infection. Again it all came back clean.

The last night since it looked like my fever wasn't returning and I was feeling better, I had Mason sit next to me in the hospital bed. "The Count of Monte Cristo" was on that night. It was nice to cuddle and watch it together.

Finally after I had been fever free for so long, they let us check out. We went to my mom's to pick up Ava. My first hospital visit Ava did really well. This time she took it pretty hard. She was scared to see me and I didn't push her to hug me or anything. It was a little heart-breaking. She quickly warmed up to Mason, but me it took a long time. Days after she would ask me "mommy sick?" or "you all better?" Things eventually got back to how they were before, but I think it really worried Ava that I was in the hospital so long. She really took the movie "My Neighbor Totoro" to heart.

At my mom's that day I just crashed for most of the day. I was so exhausted.

We finally let Ava hold Milen one night. She loved it for a few minutes, but was very wiggly.

And that's Milen's first two weeks. I have some theories of why I got so sick, but they will remain theories. It really is a mystery why I got sick. My doctor wasn't willing to make any guesses because I had no risk factors and everything came back clean. So I'll never know. I'm just so thankful that we have modern medicine so that I'm still here with my beautiful family.

The First Days

2015-07-02T03:55:00.000-06:00

We were moved into the maternity ward. I think it was about 1 in the morning that Milen received his first bath. Then we settled down to get some sleep and I was quite happy that we got sleep. Of course Milen fed every couple hours but he did really well that first night. The nurses came in the morning and I was so happy to say that our baby slept. They looked at me like I was crazy, because you know newborns sleep, right? Well not Ava. The first night with Ava was horrible. She did not sleep at all. Didn't help that I was up the whole night and day before. It was nice to deliver at night with Milen since I'm a night person and it helped that he is a very easy going baby. Also Mason was a huge help. He was a pro this time. Before having a baby, I didn't think that I would want Mason so involved in the deliveries. Now after going through it twice, I love that Mason was there for every moment and that he helped me through it all.

We spent a very relaxing Sunday together. We sent out texts when it was normal hours and when we finally got a chance. My dad had gone to his bishopric meetings and was quite worried that he hadn't heard any news yet. I just didn't want to wake everyone up so early, especially my brothers that are a hour behind.

Everyone of course had church so we had very few visitors. The hospital still had a ban on children in the maternity ward so Ava was not allowed to come meet her brother. My mom showed Ava a picture of Milen, but she didn't care. She kept wanting to see a picture of her cousin Laila with the Easter bunny instead, haha! Ava did understand some of the hospital visit. Her favorite movie is "My Neighbor Totoro." In the movie, the mother is sick in the hospital. Ava told people at my parents' ward that I was sick in the hospital. People asked her if I was coming home with her baby brother and she would say yes. Whether or not she completely understood that a baby was coming home, she adapted well to the change.

A photographer took pictures of Milen that day and I loved the pictures. With Ava the pictures weren't that great so I wasn't tempted to buy any of them. Milen's were so good and I was really tempted. I begged my brother Brad to take some pictures so I wouldn't have to buy any expensive ones. Brad did an amazing job like always.

Love seeing my man with our boy.

I look so terrible in this picture.
I looked even worse in the photographer's picture.
But hey, it is what it is.
At least Mason and Milen look great.
And I don't want to forget the memory.

At this hospital they do labs really early in the morning. I think it was 3 am on Monday. Mason's second cousin works at the hospital and had been looking for our name. We were thrilled that she was working that morning and she was able to do Milen's labs. Later she came to our room so she could visit with me. It was so sweet and thoughtful of her!

That morning we checked out of the hospital. It was nice not to stay long. I was missing Ava and couldn't wait for Ava to meet her brother. My mom picked up lunch and brought Ava over. Ava was quite excited and was thrilled at meeting her baby brother. We all took a nice long nap together and then had some more visitors.

Then we ordered pizza and watched a movie together. Our first Family Home Evening as a family of four. I looked around at my family and it was one of the most perfect moments of my life. My life felt so complete. I have loved having two kids and our family feels so much fuller since Milen joined it. I love that Ava has a little brother. She is so sweet to him. Giving him kisses and hugs every day. Their relationship is so wonderful. Two kids can be a little demanding at times and I have had some hard days, but I have loved it so far.

A photo posted by Mason Allen (@spacemason) on Mar 30, 2015 at 8:43pm PDT

Welcome Milen Jonas

2015-07-01T03:16:00.000-06:00

Ava's birth story is really easy to tell. I was over 2 weeks overdue so I was induced. 10:30 PM induction started. 5:30 am started feeling contractions. They called off the rest of the induction and I never started pitocin. 7:30 am I got an epidural. 9:30 am my doctor came in to check on me and said I was almost ready to push. Sometime after 10 am I was doing practice pushes with my nurse (loved her!) and Ava started coming. My nurse ran to call my doctor back and yelled for me to stop pushing. My doctor barely got her gloves on when I relaxed and out came Ava. Mason told me later my doctor didn't even have time to catch Ava and she landed on the tray of tools. Oops! Oh and Ava was sunny side up (the reason for my horrible back labor before the epidural). Also, Ava's nurse had stepped out for just a minute or two and was so upset to find out she had missed everything! Ava was born at 10:45 AM, so about 12 hours after my induction was started. About 5 hours after I started feeling contractions. You can read more on this post.

For Ava it was so easy to remember the times that everything happened, but Milen it is more of a blur. This time I was induced for different reasons than Ava. Mason and I arrived at the hospital at 3:30 pm and I was started on pitocin at 4:30 pm. Times were so much harder to remember the second time around. I guess I just wasn't focusing on the clock.

When I arrived at the hospital, they asked whether or not I was going natural (without an epidural or pain meds) and if I wanted a room with a jetted tub. If I wanted the tub I would have to wait for them to clean it. If not, I could just take another room right away. I told them that I was thinking about going natural and wanted the tub. Spoiler alert! I never got around to using the tub. So sad!

My decision to go natural (without an epidural or pain meds) was for multiple reasons. My nurse was awesome. She told me she had coached many through natural labors and would coach me too if I wanted to choose that route. She asked me if that was what I wanted and I said sure, let's go for it. Now I wasn't all that eager (don't let my words deceive you!) but my nurse was, which was good because she got me through it all. She told me that she would let me know when I was at the point of no return. Mason didn't think I would get there because he didn't think I had a high enough pain tolerance. I proved him wrong, haha! But that wasn't one of the reasons I decided to go natural.

I remember around 7 pm the contractions were starting to become as bad as the ones I had had at home. Yep, those times I almost went to the hospital and then my contractions stopped out of nowhere. Definitely not fun.

We watched several movies including Nacho Libre and some Studio Ghibli movies. My brother Michael randomly texted me around 7 that night not knowing I was in the hospital. He asked me if my boy was coming soon and I said hopefully. Haha! I was really hoping he would come as soon as possible. Anyways Michael kept asking questions until finally I revealed that I was in the hospital. Michael was surprised but bragged that he must have super powers. Probably true because we don't text often so it was quite the coincidence that he texted that night of all nights. He also said he was just trying to annoy me with questions because that's what older brothers do. I actually didn't mind though because it distracted me from the contractions.

Later I called my parents to talk to Ava. I missed her so much and just wanted to talk to her. When I called she was already asleep. I talked to my dad trying to focus on the conversation but my contractions were getting worse and it was getting hard to talk during the contractions so the phone call didn't last long.

Next, probably around 8 pm, my doctor called asking my nurse for an update. I was only at a 4 and so they talked about breaking my water. I wasn't sure because with Ava my water naturally broke just before I had her. I was also worried because Milen was still so high up. My babies just never drop, ugh! My doctor came down and answered all my questions and I decided to have them break my water.

Awhile after they broke my water, I decided it was about time I walked around and try and get Milen to drop. It was probably around 9 pm. It took awhile for them to get the monitors set up so that I could walk around. One of them wasn't working and so they had to run and get another. Finally I was all ready to go. Mason and I walked around, talking when I wasn't having contractions. When I did have a contraction, I would tell Mason to stop. Then when it was over we would continue on. It probably was a much longer walk than I remembered but when the contractions were getting really bad, I decided to head back. My nurse put me in some weird position where I was sitting and once I sat, I did not want to move. She asked me if I wanted to try another position and nope! I did not!

My nurse checked me upon returning and I was still a 4. I'll admit I was crushed. I tried not to let it get to me. I realized that I was still doing fine and I could still keep going. My contractions were still manageable.

My nurse was asking me questions to fill out her chart when my doctor arrived. My doctor decided to check me and when my nurse told her that I was a 4, my doctor said no, an 8. That's right, in 15 minutes I went from a 4 to a 8. Hallelujah! It was such a relief to hear that my walking did something. My doctor stepped out to let the nurses station know that I was about ready. My nurse pulled up by my side and said that this was IT, the point of no return. Not going to lie, I was pretty scared.

I guessing it was probably about 10 pm then. The nurses and my doctor started prepping for our boy. I had warned my doctor early on in my pregnancy about how fast Ava came (Ava was delivered by my previous doctor). So they didn't want to take any chances this time. But this time instead of the nurses and my doctor scrambling to get ready, they were just waiting. My doctor told me to let her know when I felt I needed to push. My body already felt like pushing, but I knew it was too soon so I delayed letting my doctor know. Finally after it was unbearable, I let my doctor know.

I think I probably pushed the same amount of time with Ava, but this time it felt like forever. With Ava it hurt to not push, with Milen it hurt to push. Pushing was so painful with Milen. I know it was a natural labor and Milen did have a bigger head, but still, with Ava I felt relief with pushing. I knew better when to push too. The contractions seemed so much longer with Milen. It felt so much harder to focus on pushing because of all the pain. Despite the pain, I was laughing through the delivery and telling my doctor and nurse that I must be really crazy to want to go natural. I also told them that my mom was crazy to say that she liked her natural deliveries better than her epidural ones, haha! My doctor and nurse just told me that I was doing great and that they had never known someone to smile and laugh during a natural delivery. Smiling and laughing, I think, was my coping mechanism. I just tried to tell myself it would be all over soon. My nurse was great in talking me through it and helping me stay focused.

After what seemed like an eternity, Milen was born at 10:54 pm. My doctor placed Milen on me just like I had done with Ava. I couldn't get a good look at Milen so I had Mason tell me about him. I tried counting his toes and fingers just like I did with Ava. I focused hard on Milen, because I was still having strong contractions. My placenta took awhile to deliver this time around. With Ava I didn't even notice and Mason said it was fast with her. But this time it was really hard. I thought I would find relief when Milen was born, but I was in still so much pain until my placenta was delivered.

This boy loves his hands.

After that they gave us what was supposed to be the first hour alone, only it didn't feel that long. I tried to get a picture to text everyone but barely got the picture when they said time was up and I was being moved to the maternity ward.

A photo posted by Mason Allen (@spacemason) on Mar 29, 2015 at 7:06pm PDT

Poor guy was born with long nails and scratched his face right away.
In his ultrasounds he often had his hands by his face and he is still that way today.

I think I'll continue the rest in my next post, but first I'll answer a question you are probably wondering. Which do I prefer, epidural or natural? Which way will I go next time?

First let's compare:

People say that natural is more spiritual because you don't have pain meds. I found this to be untrue with me. Both of my deliveries were very spiritual and there wasn't a difference between the two.
People say that you get this amazing feeling delivering naturally that you don't get with an epidural. Again, not true for me. I don't think that I got an "I'm on top of the world" feeling with either delivery. I was happy and it was wonderful to have my baby in my arms, certainly had adrenaline in me for several hours both times, but nothing crazy. And again, both deliveries were the same. I didn't feel like I was better by any means because I had delivered naturally. I was just happy to have my baby there. Proud to be a mother. And thankful they were healthy.
People say that babies don't respond right away with an epidural and that they struggle to nurse. Also didn't find this to be true. My babies came out very responsive and wanting to nurse right away. I nursed both in the first hour. Both had a strong sucking reflex. Again, I found no difference.
Both times I was up walking and moving around pretty quickly and the recoveries were the same.
So the only differences I found was one had pain and one didn't. One I found harder to push, the other easier. One I felt less in control, the other more.

So for me, I found that an epidural works best and I will be choosing that the next time I have another baby. I think the main difference was that the epidural relaxed my body and pushed Ava down without me doing a lot of the work. Milen I had to do all the work. With the epidural, when it came to the actual time to push, I was able to concentrate on pushing rather than the pain and that worked so much better for me. So I choose the epidural because I felt it was a much easier delivery and I felt that there was no added benefits with going natural.

Now I know that everyone's bodies are different and every delivery is different. That's why I think it's important that everyone goes with what works best for them. Just because something was great for one person, doesn't mean that it is for another. I am lucky that both deliveries went smoothly and were quite fast. Both of my babies were healthy and I am so grateful for that.

Second and Third Trimester

2015-05-06T23:10:00.000-06:00

Last half of my pregnancy:

I felt that I barely got the second trimester energy back before I got sick. I got a cold, then bronchitis, then bronchiolitis (aka RSV). I was exhausted being constantly sick for over 3 months.
Ava constantly kicked when I was pregnant with her. This boy was much calmer. When he did move, he would just stretch or readjust.
This pregnancy I got SPD (symphysis pubis dysfunction). I didn't figure it out for a long time. It started in the first trimester and I just thought I was uncomfortable. The pain became stronger as my pregnancy progressed. I decided to ask my sister-in-law about physical therapy since she gets it during her pregnancies. After talking to her, I decided to give physical therapy a try. My doctor wrote me a script. It had become very painful to get in and out of bed, to sit, to stand for long periods of time, and to walk. I avoided stairs as much as possible and I gave up on doing a lot of housework like carrying laundry baskets. Physical therapy helped a ton. I found out that I had a hip that had rotated. Hence my horrible waddling. My physical therapist put my hip back in place. I felt relief within the hour. It was amazing to walk normally. Unfortunately because of hormones I had to keep going back in since it kept slipping out of place. What I liked about physical therapy is that my therapist taught me certain exercises that helped a lot.
The last month before I had our boy, I had painful contractions about every other day. There were 3 different days where I almost went to the hospital thinking that it was finally time. One time was while my mom was in Oregon and I was freaking out. My sister-in-law Kristen had her boy early (our due dates were only 3 days apart) and so my mom was in Oregon until the Monday before I had our boy. The day before I had our boy, I made Mason stay home from work thinking I was heading to the hospital for sure. After hours of painful, rhythmic contractions that didn't stop with position changes, drinking water, etc., they stopped out of nowhere. I found out I had something called prodromal labor. They used to think it was false labor, but it is now being slowly realized that it is real labor but for some reason the body stops the labor after hours of contractions instead of continuing on.

Started sewing blankets and burp clothes. I'm terrible at sewing so it was a huge deal to get nice rounded corners. I am quite proud of this one. My mom may have chuckled at me.

Ava getting ready for a baby in the house.

My body's version of dropped. This was 2 days before our boy arrived.

Gender Reveal Party

2015-02-17T20:45:00.002-07:00

With this pregnancy we decided to do a gender reveal party. With Ava we just texted family the gender and then posted on Facebook. This time I thought it would be fun to do cupcakes. Kim had a friend that was willing to do them for me and they turned out so cute.

We took Ava to my ultrasound appointment. They had just barely lifted the ban on children and put it back on right after this appointment, so it was perfect timing. I had tried to prepare Ava for the appointment, but she ended up freaking out when they started the ultrasound. Mason had to hold her near me so I could hold her hand and reassure her that I was okay. The tech was really sweet and ended up getting crackers and a toy for Ava. My ultrasound seemed super long, but we found out that the baby was healthy and the gender. Next I had my regular appointment. My doctor was doing a delivery and so we had to wait for her. My appointments went into nap time and it made for a very long day.

That weekend we hosted the party. It was fun to see what everyone was guessing. Online a lot of people voted boy, but at the party most people guess girl.

Our living room doesn't have the best light, so sorry, these next pictures are blurry.

Those that voted boy were really happy.

Soon Ava gets a little brother and we are very excited!

Turning Two

2014-12-16T00:26:00.000-07:00

This little girl is turning two in a couple of days. I decided to fill out a birthday questionnaire this year.

I want to switch out the last question since she is still a little young for that. I asked Ava the other day who she loved more: Mommy or Daddy. She instantly said Daddy. Haha! She is definitely a daddy's girl. She misses him so much when he is away and gets so upset when he leaves for work or goes somewhere without her. When I leave now, which is pretty rare now that I don't work, she just gets confused. Also can't forget that Daddy has the best toys.

First Half of this Pregnancy in Review

2014-11-13T14:33:00.000-07:00

First Trimester:

Was so much less sick than I was with Ava. With Ava I threw up 10-15 times a day until 16 weeks. Then it starting becoming less until sometime after twenty weeks I stopped throwing up. This time around I only threw up at most 2 times a day and it wasn't every day. I started taking medicine at 12 weeks and it helped. I went one day without it because I didn't think it was making a difference. Turned out it was. Sometime before 16 weeks I stopped taking the medicine and I have been fine since.
Sad thing- Ava would go into the bathroom and pretend to throw up while I was throwing up. Not really the kind of thing you want a toddler to copy. At first she thought me throwing up was funny, but later she started realizing that I was sick and would become sad. So glad MS didn't last too long.
With Ava I was sick day and night. With this pregnancy, morning sickness would either build throughout the day and would be the worse in the evening or I would be fine all day and then MS would strike at 5.
Before Ava I believed that you could have control over morning sickness by doing things like drinking ginger ale and eating small meals each day. I found out with Ava that that is a complete joke. I tried so many things and learned I had no control at all. If I was going to throw up, I was going to throw up. With this pregnancy, I actually did feel like I had some control and it seemed more like what I thought things would be like with morning sickness. Yes, I still threw up, but it was not nearly as much. Things like opening the fridge door would still get me. However mentally, this time around it was harder to get through the morning sickness. I was so afraid I would be throwing up for 20 weeks all while taking care of a demanding toddler. I have no idea how I made it through it all with Ava working full time. I think I was just so happy to be pregnant and too busy with work to really dwell on it.
I didn't bother with snacks this time. Ginger ale, again, didn't seem to make much of a difference. With Ava I drank powerade. This time around I got sick of gatorade quick, so I went to lemonade. Got tired of that and moved onto something else, etc. So I was having to change what I drank every 1-2 weeks. I did stop drinking water as soon as I found out I was pregnant, but it wasn't long until I could drink water at night and then a bit later I could take sips throughout the day, something I couldn't do with Ava until after 20 weeks.
I had severe food aversions with Ava. Seriously almost every food would taste absolutely disgusting. Think of your most favorite food and it tasting like it was rotten. So not fun! I had no idea taste buds could change so drastically. This pregnancy I only don't like bacon, onions, avocados, and for the most part eggs. Foods I normally love/like. They don't taste horrible; I just don't seem to care for them or want to eat them.
With Ava I could not stand meat, especially chicken. This time I have been liking meat, especially chicken. I have eaten a lot of Chick-fil-A and KFC. I love hearty meals with mashed potatoes and gravy and biscuits. I also love pizza. You can read about my experience of pizza while being pregnant with Ava here.
So much more tired this time around. Even though Ava is starting to fight her naps, I am so thankful for the days she goes down easy and I am able to nap too.
I had some complications early in this pregnancy that put me on bed rest during the first trimester for a month. It was hard on Ava. My mom came over about once a week to keep my house in order and to give me a break from Ava. I am so grateful for this. Poor Ava started acting out a bit because she is an active girl and loves to be up and doing things. She is also used to a lot of attention. My schedule for the first trimester became that when Ava woke up, I would get her breakfast. I let her eat while I would lay back down in bed. I would check up on her every so often. When she was done, we would do quiet activities like coloring or reading books in my bed. Sometimes I would resort to the iPad so I could sleep a bit. She mostly loves PBS kids and Daniel Tiger (yuck!), but she will also do her educational apps too where she learns numbers, animals, and phonics. Then after lunch she would do music/dance time with me sitting on the couch wrapped in a blanket. Then we would take a nice nap until Mason got home from work. I would let Mason take over from there. On not so fun days Mason would have to work in the evenings too and I would just try to survive.
Had an ultrasound to date the baby and found out this baby is measuring a few days ahead, hooray! So much better than with Ava when we found out that she was measuring behind at the 20 week ultrasound and then I went well past that changed date as well. She was way overdue and you could tell when she was born. Lets hope this baby doesn't go as long, but I'm sticking with the original due date just in case.

Showing much earlier this time around.
A photo posted by @lauraandmason on Oct 10, 2014 at 4:30pm PDT

Second Trimester so far:

No more bed rest, hooray! It is nice to be getting the house back into shape and to be able to leave the house and do things.
Bought some cute maternity clothes. There was a great online sale with Old Navy and so I bought a few essentials as well as some cute stuff. With Ava I hardly bought a thing. I fit pretty well into my regular clothes until the last month. This time around I knew I was showing earlier, like 2 months ahead, so I decided to buy some stuff and be comfortable. Even though most days at home if I know I'm not going anywhere, I just wear pajamas for the day. However, I am really happy with one pair of maternity jeans I got and I think the other pair will work great later on when I'm bigger.
In a lot of ways I feel like I am already in the third trimester. I really hope I don't have a waddle already.
I started feeling Ava move around 17-18 weeks. This time I felt the baby at 16 weeks. Mason was able to feel the baby a few nights ago.
Had our ultrasound and our baby is as healthy as can be which I am so grateful for.
Finding out if it is a boy or girl. We are having a little party with family this weekend to find out, so stayed tuned!

Waiting for the ultrasound.

Colors and Numbers

2014-11-10T00:19:00.003-07:00

So I forgot some things in my last update about Ava. Fun pregnancy brain. I wondered if I should wait and see if I remembered anything more, but I went ahead and published it. Of course the next day I remembered some things.

So with Ava learning colors has been a long process. At first Ava didn't care at all and then she started getting annoyed and eventually mad if I tried to ask her about the colors of certain things. But all of sudden, a few weeks ago, she started liking colors. It started one day as my mom told Ava that the sweater I was wearing was yellow. Ava repeated "yellow" over and over. It's pretty cute how she says it too. I have no idea how to write it. Maybe "yel-low," a long emphasis on the "low" part. Then a few days later I was eating skittles and Ava wanted some of course. I made her repeat the colors after me and she would get that color. It was a great success. She learned red and green and became a pro at yellow. She struggled with purple and orange. She would say red for purple and yellow for orange. We have been working on those colors and she is getting better, especially with orange. But she seems to not be as good with green anymore. Anyways we have a great book from the library that she likes to practice with and it has been fun to see her get better.

With numbers, Ava is obsessed with the number 2. Early on she learned the number. I tried to teach her to say 1 when asked how old she was but she would always say 2. Well back in June we went to visit David and Melody. I asked Laila how old she was and Laila responded 2. Then I asked Ava and Ava also said 2 while holding up 1 finger. Laila got upset with Ava and told her that she (Laila) was 2 and that Ava was 1. Ava took the message to heart because then Ava started responding with 1. After a few months though Ava was back to saying 2 for her age.

I have tried to teach Ava to count to 3 but we seem to get stuck on 2. Conversation usually goes like this.

Me: "1"
Ava and me: "2"
Me: "3"
Ava: "2!!! 1, 2, 1, 2!!!"

We seem to be starting to hit a breakthrough lately though because Ava has been repeating 3, 4, and 5. Before she refused to even say these numbers. Hopefully Ava will be counting to 10 soon.

Almost 2!

2014-11-06T22:38:00.003-07:00

I can't believe that Ava is almost 2. I thought I would give a little update on her.

Ava is very polite. She says please, thank you, and you're welcome. For awhile she would say thank you and I would respond with you're welcome. Then she would say I'm welcome. Such a funny girl. Some how she learned to say bless you when I sneeze. She also started saying oh goodness when I cough. She loves prayers and says amen loudly.
While Ava is polite for the most part, she has also started pushing. She even will say push, push while doing it. She is very territorial and doesn't like other kids being close enough to take toys she is playing with. She throws tantrums when Mason leaves for work. She also started acting out when I was on best rest and had morning sickness in my first trimester.
I love now that she is older that I can read books that aren't baby board books. I got sick of some of the baby books. In October we read "Where the Wild Things Are" several times. Ava and I usually read a couple of books for nap time. Then I leave her to "read" the books herself and fall asleep. Ava loves story time at the library and is always the loudest kid there. She loves doing actions. I guess the staff and other parents like it because they are always commenting on how cute she is.
Ava loves being a helper and is often is cleaning. She likes to clean with rags and she is a good helper with the laundry. Mason bought her a toy broom and dust pan. She loves to sweep and will put her broom back into its place with the other broom. Sometimes she is a little too helpful. When the timer went off in the kitchen for dinner tonight, she ran off to the kitchen. When I got there, I found her with an oven mitt on and trying to open the oven door. I luckily caught her just in time.

"I'm washing!"

Ava has no idea that another baby is on the way. Hopefully she will adapt well with the change, because explaining that a baby is in mommy's tummy definitely doesn't work. The first time she met her cousin Clark she called him a baby doll. I wasn't too thrilled because obviously she wasn't understanding the difference between a baby and a doll. The second time we went to see Clark she seem to understand better and called him baby Clark. I think Clark being more active and not just sleeping all the time helped. She didn't care at all about me holding Clark and I held him quite a bit, so I'll take that as a good sign.
Ava has been fighting her nap a lot of days and some days she has been waking up super early. Definitely not fun for me.
Ava switches back and forth from being a good eater to being a terrible one. Some of her favorite foods are ketchup, applesauce, "nacks" (fruit snacks), spaghetti noodles, peanut butter, and "pots-za" (pizza).

This girl turned 18 months today! To celebrate we let her have her favorite: fries and a whole lot of ketchup. @spacemason
A photo posted by @lauraandmason on Jun 6, 2014 at 10:12pm PDT

October

2014-11-03T21:10:00.001-07:00

I'm so behind on posts it is sad. Hopefully I can find some time to catch up. It is easiest to start with the most recent, so I'll start there and work backwards as much as I can.

This was a good day. We got Ava a Totoro from Comic Con and my mom added a string to make it a purse. Ava loves it.

Ava loves Slimer from Ghostbusters.

Here she was telling us she was wearing a hat.

We spent Sunday Conference with Mason's family. After the afternoon session, the kids jumped on the tramp.

On the Saturday of General Conference, Kim and I went to Wood Connection. I saw these pumpkins on clearance. I painted one at Kim's and then finished the others another day during Ava's nap.

I've been making lots of soups. This taco soup was really good.

Now that I have been feeling better, I have been taking Ava to story time at the library.

Ava loves the play place at Chick-fil-A.

She finally got brave enough to go in the car. Then it was really hard to get her to come out.

Mason's grandparents came into town so we spent a couple of days with them.

The nursery by our house always decorates for Halloween. We finally made it to it this year. They have a maze and then they have a music light show at the end. We were worried that it might be too scary for Ava, but it wasn't.

Enjoyed the haunted Homestead Nursery tonight! Lots of fun! #thisishalloween #thriller #halloween
A video posted by @lauraandmason on Oct 10, 2014 at 9:08pm PDT

Ava was so tired at Mason's parents.

How Ava plays the guitar.

We announced that we are expecting our second child!

Jerica and I took our kids to Wheeler Farm.

pic by Jerica

This girl is so silly and loves her necklaces.

We went to Sweet Tooth Fairy to try out their Halloween cupcakes.

Everyone loved Ava's Halloween outfit for church.

Halloween Ava is ready for church.
A photo posted by @lauraandmason on Oct 10, 2014 at 10:47am PDT

Lazy fall Sundays! @spacemason
A photo posted by @lauraandmason on Oct 10, 2014 at 4:29pm PDT

Uncle Brad and Ava playing the piano.

Ava loves dancing.

Ava and I went to the park one day when Mason was at work.

Ava loved the teeter totter. Every time I tried to get off she would get mad and tell me to "keep going."

We made these monsters as a FHE activity and watched Coraline.

Mason made a Halloween toy area for Ava.

Story time again. Ava made a monster and then destroyed it later in the week.

Ava was super hungry at lunch time and scarfed down her corn chowder soup.

We went to a different library for their jammie time.

Mason had a work conference and brought me home the donut in the bottom left corner. It was amazing! I really want to go to Beyond Glaze and try another.

We went to our ward's trunk or treat.

We went to Gardner Village with Jerica and Ezra.

pic by Jerica

I love Ava's outfit!
A photo posted by @lauraandmason on Oct 10, 2014 at 3:37pm PDT

Ezra had fun too! @jkallenluvbabyz #cousins
A photo posted by @lauraandmason on Oct 10, 2014 at 3:39pm PDT

Library time again. We were sad that they cancelled story time, but they still had trick or treating.

Jammie time.

We then ran some errands.

I got this book for $0.50 from the library we go to jammie time to and it looked almost brand new. So far I'm really liking it.

Getting ready for our gender reveal party.

On Halloween, Mason's work had a big party for families. We went around to all of the offices. Each office had a theme and they had candy at almost every desk. I went with Mason's family and Ava ended up with so much candy.

Had fun at Mason's work today and got tons of candy! #happyhalloween

A photo posted by @lauraandmason on Oct 10, 2014 at 12:30pm PDT

Don't be deceived by Ava's face. She loved riding the horse. The HR department had a farm theme and even had a live chicken that Ava really liked.

Later that night we went to a few houses in the neighborhood.

Before we went trick or treating in the neighborhood. Mason made ghost balloons for our yard and Ava loved them. #happyhalloween #rakingleavestomorrow @spacemason
A photo posted by @lauraandmason on Oct 10, 2014 at 10:57pm PDT

There is a house in our neighborhood that goes all out for Halloween.

Daytime

Nighttime

Mason and Ava crashed after it was all over.

Phew! That was a lot! We had a pretty busy month.

Throwback Thursady: Mason's Halloween Edition

2014-10-23T21:47:00.001-06:00

From left to right: Mom, my cousin Count Matthew, Dr. Mason, and my brother Dusty Bones. Circa 1980s at Grandma Allen's house.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Ava's News!

2014-10-14T15:48:00.000-06:00

More Favorites

2014-06-12T17:01:00.000-06:00

Beauty

I have 2 main eye looks that I have liked to do lately.

One is with L'Oreal's Infallible Eyeshadow Amber Rush. I like to pair it with Mary Kay's Vintage Gold eyeshadow and a highlighter (like Mary Kay's Crystalline) to create a look similar to this.

(source)

When I first put on the Amber Rush it was really intense. The Vintage Gold tones it down so I can wear it as an everyday look.

(source)

I recently bought Maybelline's Bad to the Bronze Color Tattoo. This you can wear without any other eyeshadows. It took me awhile to perfect putting it on so that I wouldn't have to use anything else, but I sometimes still wear a highlighting eyeshadow with it. You can also use it as a base or primer and it works great that way too.

(source)

I have really loved L’Oreal Color Balm in Caring Coral. This has to be my favorite lip product of all time. It is very moisturizing. I feel that it is better than most chapsticks. It goes on sheer. So at first it just is your natural lip color. You can layer it and the more you layer, the brighter it becomes for a pretty coral color. I have been trying to branch out lately and get differently colors than I would normally wear. For a while I was wearing more mauve colors and now I am having fun with corals.

(source)

I bought 2 Tarte products for my birthday this year. (I also got Calvin Klein mascara CK One for free for my birthday from Ulta, but I really didn't care for it.)

The packing for the Tarte products is really cute. I got the butter lipstick in Angelic Nude and I really like the color. The butter lipstick has a nice mint scent to it. I find that both the powder fountain and the lipstick do better in the warmer weather on me. If it is cold, the lipstick is a bit too thick for me (probably the Amazonian clay that is in it). However, when it's warm it is very buttery.

The foundation has been better in the warmer months as well, because when it's cold it seems to emphasize my dry spots instead of having a creamy finish like it does in the summer. You do need a pretty thick brush to apply the foundation, otherwise it is hard to apply. When you put the foundation on at first, it tends to be a bit dark, but it lightens up throughout the day. I got the lightest shade for me. It took me awhile to figure out the best way to apply the foundation for me. At first when I wore it without a liquid foundation underneath it seemed to wear off quick, even with a foundation primer. Then when I wore it over a liquid foundation it seemed like too much. I have been working on it and it does seem to be working better for me. Again I think the warmer weather seems to help, and also taking my time when applying it. I have been trying to get used to wearing less makeup and showing off more of my real skin. So I thought this would be a good product for that.

Another product that I have liked for trying to wear less makeup is Maybelline's BB Cream. I also got this in the lightest shade. I feel like it gives me the perfect coverage.

(source)

Lastly in the beauty section I have been really liking Sonia Kashuk's body lotions and washes. They actually remind me of some scents that Mary Kay used to have a couple of years ago. I really like the pink and yellow scents. So I got both the pink and yellow scents in body washes since it was buy one, get one half off at the time. I then went back and got a small hand lotion in the yellow scent. They are a bit pricey so I only use them for special occasions.

(source)

Food

I have been loving salads lately. I don't know if it is just summer, but it nice to have something light and refreshing. I'm trying to be healthier too. Less eating out and more meals at home.

One salad I have been loving is a spinach salad with strawberries and apples with fuji apple vinaigrette. I ate this everyday straight for lunch for about 2 weeks. I tried the fuji apple vinaigrette at my in-laws and thought it was amazing. So I had to get it for myself right away.

Also love this balsamic vinegar. It is from World Market, imported from Italy. It is the best tasting balsamic vinegar.
I love putting it with some olive oil and italian seasoning and dipping artisan bread in it.

I have also been loving kale in salads. I don't typically like kale, unless it is done right. Melody made a kale salad from a mix and I really enjoyed it. So when I got home, I wanted to get one. When I went to the store, they only had one mix. I was disappointed by the lack of options but I got the mix anyways. It was supposed to be an Asian salad, so I picked up some yummy toasted sesame dressing as well.

I love milk chocolate and when I saw that Ghirardelli was on sale, I snagged some. I had heard about the sea salt and almond bar and really wanted to try it. It was amazing! It is so good! I have been dying to buy some more. I don't really like sea salt, but paired with chocolate and almonds, it is heavenly.

(source)

TV Show

I found Call The Midwife on Netflix's the other week and I fell in love. It is a period piece set in the 1950's and is by BBC. If you like Downtown Abbey, then I think you will really like this show. It's about a girl named Jenny who is a nurse and a midwife. She goes to a poor part of London to work. She lives with other midwifes and nuns at the Nonnatus House, a nursing convent. It is based on the memoirs of Jennifer Worth. There is lots of screaming women giving birth in the show. They don't show anything, but thought I would put that warning out there if you didn't already deduce that. There is only 2 seasons / 15 episodes on Netflix's, so I went through them way too fast. I saw the 3rd season you can watch on Amazon (if you pay for each episode) and that there will be a season 4 next year.

(source)

Book

I just finished Stephanie Nielson's book Heaven Is Here in just 3 short days. It was really good and is so inspiring. I really like her dad's analogy about how life can be like the bath water going down a drain. At first it seems so slow, but at the end the water really picks up speed. I could really relate to that. When we are going through trials, life can seem so hard and progress so slow, but when we push through it life starts speeding up and we can then really see the blessings and progress we have made. Okay so I added in how I interpreted it. I think that the book is a good reminder that we can all do hard things.

The Question I Get Asked A Lot

2014-06-11T16:15:00.001-06:00

So a question I get asked a lot about Ava is how many words can she say. Ava is quite verbal so I have never counted her words. So my response is "I don't know" or "a lot." People don't seem very satisfied with that answer. I guess most parents count. Since Ava is almost 18 months I decided to log a few things. So a few days ago, I wrote down as many words as I could remember that Ava says. I quickly got to 60. I read that once they hit 50 words, they have there explosions of words and will start saying 2 word sentences. Ava has quickly added at least 5 words since I last counted. She also said a few sentences before but she has added 2 more: "little babies" and "more please."

Ava, my mom, and I visited David, Melody, and Laila the other week. I'll have a post soon about it. Laila took Melody's cell phone and was taking pictures of herself, well mainly of her eye. She probably had 15-20 closeups. Laila kept saying "say cheese" each time she took a picture. Ava watched and listened intently and finally burst out saying "cheese!"

I made a little picture so I could remember some of Ava's favorite words.

I have taught Ava some signs. She can sign milk (which I call nurse), more, please, eat, all done, diaper, shoes, and shh (does that one count?). We are currently working on thank you and sorry. Ava can point to most body parts when you ask. She likes to do actions to songs. I think primary had a lot to do with that. She always tries to follow along with the bigger kids. I started teaching her "Wheels on the Bus" and I guess they started singing it in nursery a few weeks ago. I keep getting comments from the ladies in the nursery how impressed they are that she does the actions to the song because she is so little. I usually try to do the song during car rides when Ava is upset or during diaper changes to keep her staying put. This last Sunday I told Mason I didn't want him taking Ava to nursery until after we sang the song "I'm So Glad When Daddy Gets Home" in primary. I have been practicing it with her for a couple of weeks. I was thrilled when she "sang" and did most of the actions to the song. All of the leaders were laughing and/or were amazed, even the sister missionaries who were there to teach were shocked. Ava usually does more actions to the song, but the first time singing the song was her best. After that she wouldn't do the actions. She was too interested in watching the other kids. Soon after Ava fell off her chair, had a bit of a meltdown, and it was off to nursery for her.

Ava has started to try and dress herself. While I was doing laundry one day, she grabbed a pair of her pants from out of the dirty pile and was trying to put them over her shorts. Now everyday it seems like she is trying to put a shirt over her head, pants on her legs, and shoes on her feet.

Since I am writing more than I thought I would, might as well add in another update. Ava is getting so much better about eating, especially eating meat. We had a real struggle with getting her to eat meat. I made a spicy mexican chicken dish one night and was shocked when she gobbled it down. We found that she likes her meat spicy. Mason bought a summer sausage and she loved it. So then I bought pepperoni for her to eat. Now she started eating plainer meat as well. Not all days, but most she is starting to eat more in general. Lately she'll be eating for a hour and then we'll finally be done. She will play for a half hour and then signal that she wants to eat again. I sure hope this means she'll put on some weight before her 18 month appointment.

Anyways, done with my update. I'm kind of glad I got it done before Ava turns 18 months because I'm usually late with the updates and then forget everything by the time I finally get around to it.

At the Park

2014-05-14T03:19:00.001-06:00

The other day I was thinking that I didn't film Ava enough lately. So when we went to the park today I made sure to film as much as I could. This movie might just be interesting to Mason and I, but I'm sure it will be fun to look back on later on. I know that I love the newborn videos that we have of Ava. I think there would be some much that I would have forgotten if I hadn't recorded her.

Monday I went through all the nearest parks to our house. I'm kind of bummed that there isn't a park I could just walk to with Ava. I told Mason that is a requirement when we buy a house. I would love a park that has a forested area with walking trails and also has a kids playground to be near our house. Anyways all of this started because I feel like our neighbor isn't stroller friendly. There is a lot of places that don't have sidewalks because there is a lot of private land and I am getting bored of my usual path through the neighborhood. I feel like to try and go anywhere interesting, I would have to cross busy roads and walk pretty far. We do have lots of great shopping and restaurants near us, though.

Anyways I picked out 5 parks and I'm going to take Ava to all of them. We have one park that is near us that I noticed turned on their water for the splash pad, hooray! I also like that they have two playgrounds; one for the younger kids and one for the older. I don't like, however, their walking trail. I feel kind of silly walking it because it's pretty small and there is nothing to see.

So yeah, crossing my fingers that the next place we move to has a great park within walking distance.

Conversations

2014-05-10T01:23:00.003-06:00

I love that Ava is learning more and more every day. Here are some recent conversations.

L: "Should we go brush your teeth?"
A: "I guess."

A: "What this?"
M: "It's a sponge."
A: "Sponge."
M: "Yep, sponge."
A: "I just say that!"

L: "Should daddy go brush your teeth and change you into pajamas and change your diaper?"
A: *excited* "Teeth brush!"

L: *talking about a strawberry popsicle and about to give it to Ava*
A: Some babbling and then "Strawberry!"

Ava was fussing and note that Ava usually doesn't like going into her crib.
M: "Do you want to go to your crib?"
A: "Yes."
M: "Are you being sarcastic?"
A: "Yes."
I actually don't mind her saying yes to everything. Not too excited for when she learns the word no.

Today

2014-05-05T18:44:00.001-06:00

I'm taking a break from working on my days of happiness week post, because I have to get some pictures from my dad and my brother. Also I forgot some of the days to take pictures so I'm not sure what I am going to do there.

Today has been going great for me, kind of crazy for Mason.

Anyways Ava was cute when she woke up. I asked her if she wanted her milk and she said "yes." So I said that I would be right back, she waved and said "byes." I got her her milk and she laid back on our bed. I was a bit chilly so I turned on our electric blanket. Ahh, it was so heavenly that I started falling asleep. Of course Ava finished her bottle and wanted to get breakfast and it was so hard to pull myself out of the warmth, even though it really isn't that cold.

Breakfast was great and then it was shower time. Then Mason came home from lunch. I took a break while Mason and Ava had lunch. Then I took Ava outside to give Mason a break. It was fun showing Ava "helicopter" seeds and then of course she spotted the neighbor's dogs. Then I cleaned the porch of the millions of "helicopter" seeds which I sure will all be back tomorrow. It just really bugs me having a dirty porch.

Then back inside. Ava had opened a card game the other day that I usually keep in our church bag in case we need something extra to do for our primary lesson (which has never happened). Anyways we had gotten this 3 packs of bible card games at the dollar store. I hadn't ever opened any of them. Well I got looking at the Noah's ark card game today and turns out it will be fun for Ava. It has lots of animals so I figure I can practice animals and the sounds they make with Ava like flash cards. I of course get tons of animal books at the library for Ava. They are her favorite along with books with pictures of babies.

In fact Ava's favorite book at the moment is this one. She even picked it out the other day and carried it to my mom for her to read it.

I also have apps on our iPad so that Ava can see and hear animals. But I like the cards because I feel that I can now test her and see what she is remembering.

Anyways I came across the card that had a fox and Ava really liked it. I asked Mason what noise did a fox make. He didn't know so we googled it and found lots of videos but I thought I would share this interesting one.

When the fox pounced Ava said "oh boys!" haha! Anyways it got me thinking that every couple of days I should focus on an animal like we did today, because it's kind of fun.

Off Mason went to work and Ava and I went to take a nap. Ava has been teething really bad so she wakes up a lot. The first hour of her nap she kept waking every 15-20 minutes, ugh! After that she finally started sleeping better. I'm glad she is finally catching up on some sleep. Also, before I began this random blog post I even got to go to the bathroom and eat some food alone :)

Well Ava is now awake. She is telling me that she dreamed about dogs. Time to get her some dinner and maybe go for a walk. Love these days with Ava!

Week 3

2014-05-02T05:24:00.001-06:00