Last few days

Been busy with house guests over the past two weeks. Had my sister and her hubby, my parents, some friends and this past weekend Joe's parents. Have had lots of fun with all the people but have also found time to catch up on other business. Lots of movies (thanks to Netflix; there's no trips to the movie theater in our future, I'm afraid), a new haircut (it's spring, so let's go with something new) and baking.

Caught up on the latest Hollywood movies - and so far we're batting 3 for 3 (I think that's the right phrase to say that out of three movies, we've liked three movies). Saw Into the Wild, No Country for Old Men and I am Legend.

ItW: Joe and I are almost done listening to the book on CD but can't decide whether we prefer the portrayal of the main character in the book or the movie. In the book, I didn't really feel sorry for him; in the movie, I was left hoping he'd find a way out of the Alaskan wild. I thought the movie was beautifully filmed and presented in a way that made you want to keep watching.





IaL: Makes you feel lonely - was good zombie-type movie (one of our favorite genres) and it didn't drag on (only 1.5 hours) with endless gory scenes and zombie chases. I read that Stephen King really liked the author of the book on which the movie was based and after watching the movie, I can definitely see where SK got his inspiration for "The Stand" - a plague/virus kills/turns humans into crazy zombies. Some are left immune for some unknown reason. There is a woman and a child who doesn't speak. There is a gathering of survivors some place. And now that I think more, there is a dog in both and someone who gives up his life for the greater good. I know my mom really likes The Stand, but I think I really liked I am Legend better.



NCfOM: Coen Brothers score again. It was bloody and violent but not overly such, at least in my opinion. The bad guy is awesome - with a goofy 80s hair cut. I really like the actor so it was nice to see him in a different role to what I've seen him in before.

I'm busy with Atonement - so far I'm enjoying it. I read the book about 5-6 years ago but don't remember all the details. One comment about the movie though: Kiera Knightly needs to eat a sandwhich. Yikes she's skinny!

New hair cut - After all the lovely pregnancy hormone leave your body, your skin looks yucky again and your hair starts to fall out. And I mean FALL OUT. According to one of the baby emails I get, regular folks lose up to 125 hairs a day. I'm nearing the 500 mark! And I hated it. I felt as though I was a dog losing its winter coat. I was leaving a hair trail wherever I went. Globs of hair everywhere. I've even come across globs of hair that got tangled up in towels and then made it through the washer/dryer cycle. So now I have clean, laundered globs of hair. ARGH! So I decided the only way to deal with it was to cut it off. Cute spring hairstyle. Of course, I'm still losing globs of hair, but this time they're shorter. I think I'm winning this one.

Done some yummy baking too. Made a black russian chocolate cake - vodka, kahlua, chocolate. 'Nuff said. Yesterday I made an orange cake - I'm on a quest to find a recipe similar to the cake we had at our wedding. I gave our cake lady a recipe I thought sounded yummy. I'd not made it before. She said, no problem. We got married and ate cake. Yummy cake. It was orange and tasted like orange. On our anniversary, I tried to make the recipe I gave her. It was NOT the cake we had at our wedding. So, my thoughts of being able to bake our wedding cake on our anniversary was foiled. So now I'm on a mission. I think I'm getting close. Next go-round will include some orange liqueur... YUM!

Project for this week: work on plan for shrubs for garden and call Jonathan about hiring his men to plant them for us. Oh, and to deliver the shrubs and mulch. I'm going to have a pretty backyard this summer! Woohoo!

Sweet girl

As we move closer to four months, we are so happy to have mostly full nights of sleep! So far (and who's counting!?) I think we've had 4 nights with no actual wake-ups. Ava sometimes squeaks or cries out a bit, but then goes back to sleep. The last couple of nights, she's not made a peep until 5:30 or 6, which is when we were normally waking her up so that we could keep to a good nap schedule. Of course, on those nights when she made no peep, I still woke up for some strange reason. Woke up to realize that the bathroom light was left on; woke up thinking it was 6 (it was 1:30); was dreaming Ava was in bed with us so woke up to check to make sure she wasn't.

Sigh.

We've got the baby on a schedule now. Perhaps one day *I'll* learn to sleep through the night again!

Good news, though: I think we're nearing our first giggle!

What we see each day

CRAZY hair! We wonder if the side hair will ever grow or if the top will just take over. Note to self: take photo of baby mohawk during next tubby time!
Happy face: "Oh oh hula monkey!"

Spring is starting

Last September we planted some black-eyed susans and purple coneflowers with the hope that they would survive the winter and bring lots of cheery flowers to the front yard. I'm happy to say that all my little flower friends seem to have survived the cold winter and are beginning to bloom. No flowers yet but sure signs of stems and leaves. I'm very happy that the coneflowers, especially, seem to have weathered the winter - 4 out of 5 of them are looking good; one looks like it might be struggling a bit. Wish them luck in the coming weeks as the weather continues to be warm and cold and back to warm. Hopefully we're past all frost . . .

Another photo shoot

Better slow down on the photo shoots before Ava starts acting like a real model and requesting (er, demanding) bottles of Perrier and bowls of M&Ms (ok, that's what I'd request!) in her trailer! Also, I suppose she'd not get out of bed for anything less than $150,000 a day (or whatever the going rate is)!




At least no one can say that she is not a well photographed baby!

My little froggybutt

My term of endearment for Ava when she snuggles (after a feeding or after being picked up out of the carseat or crib). She pulls her little legs way up under her, like a little frog before taking that big jump.

I love my little froggybutt
Mommy kisses

Moms and babies

Sans babies - July 2007
Sans bellies - March 2008

Ava and her boyfriend

Ava meets Devin for the first time! Tristan (our neighbor's almost 1 year old) might get jealous!

Family portraits

A big thank you to Karen for taking these wonderful pictures!

Rinehart B&B open for business!

The bed-n-breakfast is now officially open for the summer season and we've kicked off this year with two great visits!

Our friends Cate and Chris brought their son Devin for an overnight visit while en-route to Hot-lanta! Chris was speaking at a conference there and they decided to swing through our neck of the woods so that the babies could meet each other. The last time we saw them, Cate was about 3 weeks off from giving birth to Devin; I wasn't showing much at all. Now we both have little babies and it was fun seeing each other be mommies.

Before Cate and Chris arrived, we spent the last few days with Karen and Pern. Karen has spring break this week so they drove down on Sunday and left Wednesday around noon. We had a great time with them.

Highlights include:

* another family photo shoot - although I realized too late that there exists not one picture with Karen and Pern and Ava. We need to remedy that the next time we see them

* yummy chicken, spinach, cranberry and goat cheese wrap followed by too much sugar (purchased in the form of chocolate eclair, carrot cake, chocolate cake and some kind of cookie thing at one of two new bakeries in town)

* free lunch (I had a coupon for the aforementioned meal)

* free lunch (Karen found "the letter O" in her black beans while dining at the Cheesecake Factory - yes, the letter O. It was a sticker letter; the manager was highly embarrassed and paid for her meal. Did I mention she also had a gift card?)

* lots of Wii - Pern and Joe played Wii games while Karen and I hung out with Ava.

For reservations at the Rinehart B&B, please contact either of us, but note that this and the next weekend are booked with family. We'd love to have you stay with us!

Before they arrived, Joe and I watched the movie "Into the Wild" - we are almost done listening to the book on CD and knew how the movie/book/story ended (the guys dies - that's no secret). Both are amazing - I'm really enjoying the audio book and the movie was fantastic (I thought so, at least) - I strongly recommend it. Very beautifully and smartly filmed to hold your interest. Two thumbs up.

I also watched a movie produced by Ricki Lake called "The Business of Being Born" - about the healthcare / childbirth industry in the US. Makes me appreciate just how lucky I am to have had such a wonderful childbirth experience. My water broke, my contractions started (and progressed!) on their own, I labored for a few hours and pushed her out on my own. I did not need pitocin; I did not need an epidural; I did not need a c-section, which is how so many births progress according to the movie. Very interesting movie - definitely pro-midwifery but a little eye opening nonetheless.

This post was brought to you by the letter O!

Mommy and Ava

Being technically savvy (using photobooth on the Mac)!

No smiles

Hasn't quite mastered the art of smiling for pictures.

Cheeky monkey

Ava had fun this morning playing with her little monkey. Here's an action shot! Click on the picture above for a surprise!

Baby time-out

Yesterday Ava R-E-F-U-S-E-D to take a nap. She refused for almot 1.5 hours before I admitted defeat and brought her downstairs. But the defeat only lasted a moment as I decided that since she wouldn't nap, she could use some quiet time (as she hadn't napped since early morning). I thought perhaps she would lay on the floor and finally fall asleep. No such luck. Despite being swaddled (though her feet found their way out), she spent 20 minutes cooing and gurgling and being cute for the ceiling fan. It was like she and it were the only ones on earth. Happy as a clam! (She finally became crabby around 4:30 and finally took an hour nap!)

Playdate!

Last Thursday Ava and I hosted a baby playdate - she and I had met these lovely ladies and their little ones back in January. Ava had fun looking at everyone. She's the youngest by about 4-5 months, so all the rest were sitting upright, scooting along the floor and crawling. We had a lot of fun and hope to get together again with all our new friends soon!

Three months old!

Ava turned celebrated her 3 month birthday in style! Following a morning nap (! yes, a nap!), we drove to Target where she fell asleep on our way out (! yes, asleep!). We decided to grab some lunch, so we dined at the ever popular (but not recently visited) Five Guys and enjoyed some yummy burgers. Ava slept through all this and all the way home (! a second nap of the day!). Then after some lunch for her, she and I visited our neighbor Katie for a little while (hence the hat - it was very windy here this weekend) and then came home and took another (dare I say it?) nap! THREE naps - woohoo! Those who have heard me lamenting about the nap situation (or lack thereof) will appreciate how exciting this is for me!

THEN.... we enjoyed another 10-hour night (that's four in a row). Granted, Ava hasn't slept the ENTIRE time (she wakes up, fusses and then goes back to sleep on her own), so that means I have not slept the entire time (I wake up with the monitor when she fusses) but for the past four days, no middle-of-the-night nursing! Woohoo! I think when little baby realizes what she has done to herself (proven that she can sleep through the night without needing food) she might wish she had held on a little longer to the nighttime food, but for now, we're going on the assumption that she can sleep 10 hours without starving! Yay!

From the past few weeks

I love my mobile bugs! They jingle when I hit them!
Me and mom - I can't quite sit upright, but mom props me up on the couch. Mom has also helped me sit in the bumbo - I'm not quite ready to sit on my own as my neck is not as strong as it needs to be, but it's fun to sit while mom supports my head so I can look around the room. Much more interesting than the ceiling fan. Don't get me wrong; I still love the ceiling fan, but it never talks back and just goes round and round and round.
Indi and I love when mom reads poems to us. She reads them really loudly and with lots of emotion and I try and read along with her.
Mostly I just make a lot of noise! Indi really is happy,
even though she looks grumpy.
Here I am smiling at the poem about Sarah Sylvia Cynthia Stout
who would not take the garbage out. I love this poem and the one about Hector the Collector - he collects lots of stuff that people call junk but he loves his treasure. My favorite now is all about spaghetti and about how the guests misheard the host of the party who told them to throw confetti - they all threw spaghetti! I laugh and laugh at this one (well, I sort of laugh; I'm sure when I can actually giggle, I'll giggle at this one! For now I'll just smile a lot!)
I've learned that my hands are pretty useful - I now suck on them a lot and when I'm not sucking on them and making lots of drool, I practice using them to hold things! Mom hopes that this will result in me being happier in the car when I can actually hold my toys instead
of just looking at them!