X is for Xylophone; X is for Xanadu

X is for Xylophone:

Ava loves to play music she is a very musical little girl. She has rhythm, something that I don't possess or can normally even spell (thank you Spell check). She loves to play her keyboard and loves any sort of instrument, even xylophones! The one thing she hasn't really tried to do much of though is sing, the closest she comes is by making clicking sounds along to her favourite songs.

X is for Xanadu:

The term Xanadu comes from the poem "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Coolridge, and means an exotic, luxurious place. That sounds like somewhere I'd like to go about now. How did it become winter? Isn't it supposed to be windy and rainy here in November? Not snowing, twice, a month before Christmas?!

Yes, I would love to be somewhere warm, tropical, exotic and luxurious right about now, lying on a beach somewhere sipping a drink with an umbrella in it and spending a few days without a care. Haha, who am I kidding, I can't take the heat, so I stay out of the sun. Can't take the cold so I stay out of the snow. I guess my kind of Xanadu is somewhere that doesn't get too hot or too cold, but somewhere exotic and luxurious....hmmm sounds like a nice posh hotel room to me, with room service ;)

W is for Wonderment; W is for What a Week

W is for Wonderment:

With the Christmas season almost upon us its a magical time of year. Between warm snuggly mornings under big blankets at home, afternoons colouring and watching Christmas cartoons and going for walks to the park then finishing the day in front of the glow of the Christmas tree lights, its going to be a wonderful Christmas this year with Ava.

We decided to buy a new tree last weekend, and were going to wait until later in the month to put it up, but Ava was so excited that we decided to put it up that afternoon, she has done pretty well not destroying it, but she still manages to take some off here and add a little more to another branch. When we were finished decorating the tree she said to us "Okay, time for presents!" This one is smart, and funny :) I think we will wait a bit to put any presents under the tree, and I think it might help if we'd done some Christmas shopping first!

In more Ava news, she's become really animated in her stories lately. Last night I think she must have had a dream about bumblebee's because when she woke up this morning she told me a whole story about bumblebee's that were flying high up in the blue sky. It was so cute. She's also getting really good with her drawings, she draws faces with legs and shoes!

She is such an artistic little soul and a musical one as well. Ava loves to draw, colour and finger paint, she also loves to dance and listen to music. She also amazes us with her reading skills, we're not sure if she can read or if she just has an amazing memory, either way its impressive.

I know every year will get better for her at Christmastime, but I'm really looking forward to this Christmas. It's the first year that we have to be careful about presents, and about what we say in front of her, the first year for secrets and surprises and the first year for fun stories from Ava and neat little sayings. Christmas is going to be filled with wonderment both for Ava and for her Mommy and Daddy.

W is for What a Week:

So we had a wonderful vacation in Victoria and Seattle, but reality came crashing back in a big way this week. I started the week with no voice on Friday, it was my last day of holidays and we spent the afternoon going to a movie and a tiny bit of shopping in Nanaimo, just the two of us. It was a nice way to end the holidays, on a hot date with my hubby! However, I had no voice! My cold which had gone away for a couple of days while in Victoria, came back full force on our last full day in Seattle. So croaky and barely able to say a word, a couple of hours in a movie theatre was a great way to spend the day (for those who are wondering we saw Skyline). We ended the evening with a very upset Ava. She had fallen asleep just before we got back to Mom and Dad's and when I woke her up she wasn't ready to get up so it took quite awhile to calm her down and have something to eat so we could get on the road. By the time we were in Courtenay she had fallen asleep and didn't wake up until 7 the next morning!

Then Saturday was my first day back at work, I wasn't feeling that great but good enough to go to work. I did pretty well for the first couple of hours, other than having a rough sounding voice, then a couple of hours into my shift I had my first big cough attack, followed by another a few hours later. I ended up going home 2 hours early. I made it through the day on Sunday but had a couple of coughing fits. My cold is slowly getting better, but its a rough one and I keep running into people who say the same things about it. It's tough!

Then tonight, my cold wasn't bugging me much, but just as I was about to go on my break, I got tripped by a customer!!! I actually tripped over someone else's feet! I went tumbling down and slid across the floor with my hands out to stop me! I have a couple of sore, bruised knees but other than a bruised ego for looking like an idiot I'm doing fine. I just hope tomorrow, the last day of my work week, doesn't bring anymore surprises...

U is for Up, Up, Up; U is for Umbrella; V is for Vacation

U is for Up, Up, Up:

"Space Needle goes Up, Up, Up, Mama" my little girl would say many times. "Look, at that Daddy, Space Needle goes all the way Up". Ava loved the going past the Space Needle she thought it was so neat how high in the sky it was. Unfortunately when the time came for us to go up the Space Needle she had fallen asleep as soon as we got there. Maybe the next time we go to Seattle she will be able to stay awake.

U is for Umbrella:

I think we need our umbrella's here, on the Island, more than we needed them in Seattle. My sister lent us her good one, and of course we forgot to return it when we picked up our car on Thursday so I will have to send it back to her :)

V is for Vacation:

Since we all went on Vacation I figured this one I could group together as one word to describe both Ava and Mommy. Our vacation, was much needed and wonderful. It also made me realize how much I appreciate our life at home. It was so nice to experience new things and new adventures as a family. The best thing was having that quality time together that we don't always have between work and more work.

If you are planning on taking your little ones to Seattle anytime a few tips-

-Customs, take something to entertain your little ones so they don't throw impatient fits while having to wait in line or wait for your plane/boat to come in. Prepare to wait longer than you think you will.

-Visit the Children's Museum, but be prepared to stay for hours!!! It is a lot of fun, and there are a lot of things to do and see there.

-Room service is a wonderful convenience, especially for yet again, impatient 2 year olds!

-Don't attempt to visit the Pacific Science Centre on Tuesdays, it won't be open.

-Go shopping on Wednesdays, it tends to be field trip day in Seattle at all the tourist attractions.

-Have a wonderful time, and go at your little one's pace since you will likely have to anyway :)

In all honesty, we had a wonderful vacation and would go back to Seattle again. We may drive there next time and do the Pacific Coast Highway route, or we may go somewhere totally different, but I think we'll be staying put on the Island for awhile now. My travelling bug has passed, now I just need to get rid of this actual cold bug and then all will be well :)

T is for Talking and Teeter Tots; T is for Tired

T is for Talking:

It's amazing how much Ava can talk now, and how many words she can say. It was like the whole time she was just observing and absorbing everything we were saying and then one day she woke up and decided she was ready to start talking. She says some of the sweetest things now too, her latest things are "Mommy I miss you" when I have to go to work, and its so sweet because she says it as she put those little arms around my neck and holds on tight. We went out for lunch with my Dad yesterday for his birthday and every couple of minutes Ava would say "Hi Grampa, oh Hi Grampa" and she kept saying it until he'd say "Hi Ava!" it was too cute, and funny. Last night when she was supposed to be going to sleep she was telling me about Super Bunnies, not sure what Super Bunnies are but maybe I'm supposed to write a book or tell her a story about Super Bunnies :)

T is for Teeter Tots:

Tuesdays mornings is time for Teeter Tots! Ava loves Teeter Tots and has so much fun at the gym. It's a great way to get her out and around other little kids and its nice to see some of my favourite Mom friends (Dese) and catch up on what's new. We were running a little behind this morning since Ava didn't wake up until 9:45 when we would normally be running out the door. We did manage to have some fun times in the foam pit though, and Ava watched as a Dad tossed his boys around in the foam pit. She is getting really good with the routine of circle/song time at the end of class and then going to the stroller to get ready to go at the end of the session. It makes for a much happier time for everyone!





T is for Tired:

I'm a tired Mommy today, last night I had a restless sleep and tossed and turned a lot. Ava woke up around 4:30 and cried out a bit, but when I went in to check on her she had rolled over onto her tummy so I just stroked her back a bit and when it was safe went back to bed. I have a long week ahead of me with 4 nights and a full day shift ahead of me so I am anxiously awaiting Halloween so we can have the day off together. We are both burnt out from our jobs taking up so much of our time lately, so our vacation can't get here fast enough!

S is for Silly Sleeper; S is for Seattle

S is for Sweet Sleeper:

Ava said the sweetest thing to me today, she said "I lub you Mama", so sweet to finally hear those words and know that they came from her, not just because Mommy asked her if she could say "I love you."

In other Ava news, she has been attempting to rid herself of naps lately. She goes longer and longer without napping, until she finally gets so tired she falls asleep. Today she didn't nap all day, and she even made it until after dinner to fall asleep. I'm hoping she's asleep for the night, but I have a feeling that she is going to wake up right when we are about to go to sleep. Luckily neither of us has to get up too early in the morning, so if we have a bad night of sleep, or lack there of well then at least we can attempt to sleep in!

S is for Seattle:

I'm so excited, in two weeks we will be on holidays! This will be our first trip to the States with Ava and I'm so looking forward to checking out all the fun stuff Seattle has to offer! We will start our holiday by heading to Qualicum and staying at Mom and Dad's for the night, then driving to Victoria for the weekend. It's my birthday, as well as my sister and her husband' birthdays all between November 7th-11th, so it will be a fun weekend in Victoria celebrating birthdays. This trip we'd love to take Ava to the Museum and maybe to Miniature World as well.

We'll be heading to Seattle on the Monday of our week off but won't be getting in until mid evening as the Clipper only sails to Seattle at 5pm in the winter months. We're hoping to take in an art museum, the zoo, aquarium, Space Needle as well as a few other little places and hopefully get a bit of shopping in there as well! So we have a fun and exciting trip planned, I just hope it doesn't rain the whole time we're there, but if it does we'll be able to drink plenty of Starbucks to keep us warm!

R is for Reading; R is for Reliving My Youth

R is for Reading:

Ava loves books, she always has and I hope always will. We go to the library every few weeks and usually take out about 7 or 8 books, which we then read at least 3 of those until Mommy and Daddy are tired of them, but Ava can't get enough. The ones we'll be taking back that have been read over and over this time are "How to Catch a Giraffe" "Bear in Underwear" and "Hippo Has a Hat". During our trips to the library Ava will usually sit at the kids computer and watch the Cat in the Hat or the Sesame Street games while I pick out some bright and colourful books for us to read. Ava will occasionally pick out a book or two but usually that task is left up to Mommy, it's also quicker ;)

Ava is also becoming really good at reading numbers out loud, if she knows the number she can say it out loud, we've even heard her count past 10! The other day she said "11, 12, 13" and I'm not sure if 2.5 year olds can usually count that high, but we are pretty pleased :)


R is for Reliving My Youth:

One of the best things about being a parent is getting to relive some of the best parts of your childhood, even watching Disney movies! This evening we sat down with a bowl of popcorn and my favourite Disney movie, "Beauty and the Beast." Ava really liked it and thought the Beast was funny more than scary, at the end when Belle and the Prince are dancing, Ava was saying "Not Beast" so cute and so perceptive :)

It really is so fun to get to see things through fresh new eyes, and to get to do some of the things that I used to enjoy all over again.

Another thing I'm getting to relive again is my love of writing, I have something coming up next month that I'm pretty excited about that I will share with you later, but it has something to do with with the word Mom and the word Posse!

Q is for Quickly Growing Up; Q is for Quick trip to the mainland

Q is for Quickly Growing:

Ava will be 2.5 this month. Hard to believe how fast the time has gone since she was born. In the just the past 2 months alone, she has quickly gone from barely saying a word, to pretty much saying everything she can. I'll say something to her and she'll repeat it or point things out to me. We figure she was biding her time and just absorbing all the information she could take until one day she was ready to speak on her own. She is great in places full of people, but when there are only a few people in the room, especially ones she doesn't know very well she gets very shy. When we are out in public and she can people watch without worrying about people watching her she really comes out of her shell.

I am really looking forward to the next couple of months with her. Thanksgiving this weekend, trips to the Pumpkin Patch and Halloween this month, then a trip to Victoria and Seattle next month and of course Christmas in December we will get to see a whole new world through her eyes and her voice. It's really very exciting.

Q is for Quick Trip to the Mainland:

This past weekend we took a quick trip to Horseshoe Bay to finally celebrate my parent's 40th Anniversary all together. The whole family was there, and it was a wonderful day. Ava was a bit surprised to see Grandma when they arrived, but then was super happy to finally have her "Gamma and Ganddad" back :)

It was nice to get off the Island and the weather was a beautiful day for a ferry ride. We had a nice short visit with my brother and his little family. I brought my camera along and was sad that we suddenly ran out of time and I didn't even get any photos at lunch. Ava had a great time on the ferry on the way over and especially on the way back dragging us all over the ship.