Uhhh where have you been?

Things have been pretty crazy around here lately, mostly because of sickness, Ava's birthday, Valentine's day and Tyler traveling. Hopefully we're all on the mend. Tyler gets home on Friday from Mexico, and there's a chance I might get to go to Paris with him in April! Thank goodness for frequent flier miles.

Tagged

1. 10 years ago: I was a sophomore in H.S. primarily focused hanging out with my friends, driving around and partying.

2. 5 things on my to-do-list today: Help Jen with her first Shade showcase, blog, make sure Ava doesn't poo herself, feed Violet and make sure Tyler's alive on his business trip!

3. Snacks I enjoy: cheese, bread, cereal, tortillas, animal crackers, cookies (can you say CARBS?)

4. Things I would do if I were suddenly a billionaire: Design our own house in Northern Ca, invest a ton, buy an Audi, hire an in-home masseuse and hair stylist, buy all new clothes for our family, adopt some kids, donate to the Church ... hmm, I'm sure there's SO much more.

5. Places I have lived:
This is so embarrassing. Rochester Hills, Mi and Provo, Ut.

6. Jobs I have had: Counter help at One Hour Martinizing, Waitress, Teacher assistant at a Pre-K summer program, Communication Specialist at Delphi Corp., PR intern at Excel Entertainment, Personal Shopper for Shade Clothing.

7. Things people don't know about me: Let me think ... I'm sort of shy in large groups, I have a terrible memory, I am terrified of free falling (skydiving, bungee, etc..), I like to sing but am very insecure about it because my brother always made fun of me singing when we were little.

I tag: Jen Southwick, Cara Madsen, Bethany Robinson

It's official!

Ava is now potty trained. After four-five days of hard work, Ava is now not afraid of the potty and has embraced its usefulness. Tyler and I are extremely excited about the fact we no longer have to buy diapers for two babies. I am posting a full report on how we potty trained below for any inquiring minds who want to know the dirty details.

To preface this, I had read a couple books and looked online. One book was titled, "How to potty train in one day." This book relies on the child understanding mentally what potty training was all about. I did not rely on this book - Ava's physical readiness cues were enough for me to try!

I was very apprehensive because I did not want Ava to fail and in turn I did not want to fail. For the past couple months Ava displayed a lot of the readiness cues, including: taking pants off, taking diaper off, saying "stinkies" after she went in her diaper and waking up with a dry diaper. She however refused to sit on any potty and acted very afraid. She also constantly ran around with no clothes on. The final straw came when she took her diaper off, put her pants on and pooped in them. That put me over the edge! For Ava's entire two year life she has been an all or nothing girl, so we went to the store, bought underwear and put her in them that night.

For the next three days Ava either had just underwear or nothing on. When she had nothing on she would hold it, but when she did, it was a little hard for her to realize, "hey, I don't have a diaper on anymore to hold this wetness!" We stayed home the whole time and I just watched her very carefully. She would hold it for hours to avoid going, but one morning we just locked ourselves in our 5x5 bathroom and waited until she went. When she did go, she was not on the potty but I grabbed her and sat her down on her elmo potty. Her reward for even sitting on the potty was an M&M. This sort of worked, but not really. So she gradually got the hang of it and although we're not 100 percent every day, yesterday we didn't have any accidents. This morning Ava didn't pull her pants down, but she still went on the potty. She loves going at church on the little potty.

So that's the big long story! Horray!

Ava's 2!

I probably sound like every parent, but I can't believe Ava's 2! Just thinking about the night that we went to the hospital on Feb. 6, 2006 makes me a little sentimental. Her arrival was quick, just like her vibrant personality.

At 2, here's a snapshot of Ava:
-Moves constantly
-Stubborn
-Sweet
-Likes chocolate, vegetables, rice, noodles, gum and oatmeal
-Her favorite meal is breakfast
-She loves Shrek
-Affectionate
-Adventurous

She loves her sister and is talking much more. She is putting together three word sentences and likes to count. She counts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10. So we're working on the seven-eight combo. Here are some photos of Ava throughout the past two years.

Newborn

Six Months

One Year

Eighteen Months

Two Years

A Family Picture

You will notice a new family picture gracing the pages of the Paxventures. One of my best friends Amy took this amazing picture. We braved the below-zero temps and lack of sun and went to Meadowbrook Hall. Meadowbrook Hall is a huge mansion that was built by a relative of John Dodge (founder of Dodge trucks, etc.) It is a mere 10 minutes away. If you are looking for someone to take pictures Amy would love to do it, just drop me a line and I'll give you her contact info. If you're really bored you can also take a virtual tour of Meadowbrook Hall. http://www2.oakland.edu/oakland/OUportal/index.asp?item=3762&site=87

Today's disaster

I was cleaning the kitchen and it got very quiet. I went into the living room and found this. Ava loves dumping things, I guess the baby powder is what got dumped today. Dad said as long as it wasn't on his keyboard (like last time) it would be ok.

Violet's Bindi

In my Introduction to India class we learned the Bindi was worn by happily married Hindi women. What is a berry bindi worn by a 7 month old supposed to mean?

Ava's First Haircut

Ava Before ...
Ava After ...


You can really hardly tell, but there is much less chaos going on post-haircut. Ava's hair was getting really ratty and straggly-looking. Borrowing the highchair technique from Cara, the haircut was a success! I want to grow her bangs out, so I didn't trim those at all.

"Potty" in the basement

I think Violet likes the potty more than Ava. This could be a problem. For all you germ-a-phobs out there, don't worry, the potty still has never been used. My hopes were raised this morning when Ava screamed, "stinkies!" and laid down promptly to have me take her clothes and diaper off. But alas, the diaper was dry and nothing followed. She obviously can hold it pretty well.

The Detroit Mayor

Although the main purpose of this blog is to keep everyone up to date on our family, there warrants an occasional post about other things - in this case the Detroit Mayor. Last week Kwame Kilpatrick made national headlines for committing perjury about a relationship that he had with a member of his staff. Mind you, he is married and has twin boys. Not only did he commit a serious sin and then make a public apology in a church sitting next to his wife, he lied to a federal grand jury about firing an employee illegally. Despite his lies about his relationship, the grand jury found him guilty on the charges of firing two employees illegally and cost the City of Detroit $9 million. Mind you, the city has NO MONEY to begin with. He also has a law degree and could be (and should be dis-barred) for what he has done.

There are so many things wrong with the City of Detroit I can't even begin, but here's a list:
-The mayor got elected again last fall despite rumors of infidelity, parties at the Mayoral mansion, scandal regarding his staff, supplying his wife with a Lincoln Navigator paid for by the city, hitting reporters and above all, a bad attitude about accountability to the public.
-Not enough money to demolish old houses and haul away trash, but somehow they have to find enough money to pay off this lawsuit
-Thinking that bringing in gambling is going to solve all its problems
-No grocery stores in the city - people can't live where there isn't a grocery store near by!! hello!
-Terrible public transportation. In a city driven by automakers, of course they don't want to support effective public transportation.

Anyway, it's really just sad that any elected official who has worked very hard in all other areas of their life is not held accountable for the most important part of their life - their marriage. If you want to read more about this terrible situation, go to The Detroit Free Press and www.freep.com