Cambria's new chair!

I was so excited tonight when I found a Bumbo at Target for $20- it was on clearance because the box was torn. For those of you who have never heard of such a thing it is a baby chair that allows the baby to sit up fully supportive. I've wanted one since Gavin was a baby, but never wanted to spend the $40. Even Kyle was impressed with my purchase, that isn't always the case- but I do love a good deal. When I got home Cambria was sleeping, but woke up soon after that to nurse and once she settled down and didn't seem tired I thought I'd try it out. She loved it! She sat there for over 45 min. before she was ready to go to bed. What a little blessing in such a little chair! I look forward to getting the tray so we can put toys on it and eventually food- this will be great since she seems to respond the best when things are right infront of her face.

Zoo!

We finally made it to the zoo with Daddy! It is the first time he has been able to go with us since last summer and of course it was wonderful. The kids had a great time- nothing beats having Daddy around!

The kids wouldn't smile for a picture, just kept acting like garillas! You can just see their passion and imagine how loud the 2 of them can be. We do Love the Zoo!

Avalyn playing on the old train. Her new shirt says "Made You Smile," so perfect for her- she can definantly put a smile on anyones face!

Photography by Gavin

Gavin's Grandpa and Mau Mau gave him a great little kid's Fisher Price camera for his birthday. He love's the thing and is always taking pictures with it. It is great because it has been dropped so many times and still works! It has taken a while for me to actually put some of his pictures up, at first he kept deleting them and then of course there are always lot's of blank or blurry pictures. These were his favorites he picked out to show everyone. He is excited to take it to the zoo today, so I am sure there are more to come!

Our little Fashion Queen!

Here is Avalyn's latest fashion creation. Avalyn has always loved dressing up and the passion just gets stronger as she gets older. The child loves shoes more than anyone I know. I am always taking pictures of her in the creations she comes up with. I think someday she may just be a designer, watch out Project Runway here comes Avalyn. It's funny because she walks around in these outfits for such a long time and she ussually has a "baby" with her wrapped in one of her princess skirts.

Here are just a few of her past outfits, thought you might enjoy!

This of course has it's challenges, she is very opinionated about what she wears out. We saw this early on when at one she refused to wear panty hose or socks (she would just take them off), making dressing for cold weather a little difficult- thanks to footless hose and leggings we survived the winter. There was also the hatred of long sleeves- solved by showing her I could push them up for her and the hatred of the coat- a few weeks of taking her out in the fridged cold of Nebraska took care of that and within a month of winter she was just fine with wearing a jacket and I bought her a new shiney coat that she loved to wear. Praise the Lord it's warm again and she can wear her skirts and sandals all she wants! She loves flip flops, sandals and of course her bright pink crocks. Her newest favorite pair of shoes are princess flip flops my mom gave her, they have actually made her feet bleed but that is what she puts on every time we leave and there are no complaints about pain. She does love jewelry and sunglasses and those are on her all the time. I ussually let her pick what she wears out and as long as it is not dress up clothes or pj's we haven't had too many problems. When she's at home she can wear whatever her little heart desires and she enjoys all her dress up clothes- not too mention changing her outfit several times a day!

Go Spurs!

Avalyn has not been willing to put her jersey on for a picture, but Gavin was more than willing to take his tradional yearly picture in his jersey. Thanks to Mau Mau he has a new one that will fit him for at least another year! We don't hear much about them up here in Omaha, but we have cable so we like to watch the playoffs and of course always show our Spurs spirit. Go Spurs!

Cambria has moved on to oatmeal!

After 2 months of sleeping through the night Cambria decided she would start waking up screaming at 2 a.m. After 2 days of feeding her when she woke up, I realized she was only eating a little bit and it was probably time to start solids! That is one step closer to being done with nursing, I know I still have several months to go but it is nice to lose a few feedings and solids is the begining of that. The first feeding she screamed at the rice cereal, for some reason none of my children have liked the rice. That night she awoke again and I let her cry until she went back to sleep, it was about an hour (so sad, but it worked and she slept fine). The next day I decided to try oatmeal and had a much better response, she at least slurped up some of it. She can't see the spoon and she still doesn't react to facial expressions (she can't see that either- as far as we can tell), so she doesn't know to open her mouth when the food is coming to her. I basically have to shovel it into her mouth. For the past 4 days we've been doing oatmeal at least once a day and I am happy to say she has slept for 10 hours for the last 2 nights! I don't think she loves it, but she is eating more each day and as long as she is happy and not tired or extremely hungry she eats it fine. It is a huge mess, but good to see her progressing well!

BIG Brother Gavin!

Gavin has always been such a wonderful big brother to Avalyn and with Cambria it is no different. He is always talking to her and loving on her, when she is laying on her play mat he loves to get really close to her face and let her touch it and ussually start sucking on his nose. She absolutely loves this and it's funny that when I put my face close to her she doesn't even try to "kiss" my nose- only Gavin.

The other day I walked into my room after laying Cambria on our bed (while I went to get something) and when I walked back in there Gavin was "reading" to Cambria. Cambria just layed there content and Gavin was so proud to be reading his ABC's to her.

Tonight I had to get something and Gavin was sitting on Kyles lap, so I placed Cambria on top of Gavin and she layed there and looked at him for at least 15 min. She doesn't always like to be held by anyone but me especially when you are just sitting on the couch, but she just let Gavin hold her. Kyle and I were so impressed, she is really does love her brother.