We did stuff this summer: Happy Birthday to Rob!

Rob turned 33 this year!  We celebrated.  Ava picked out a huge card for him and a few presents.  In her own words "I got him a jump rope because he likes to exercise, a shark because he likes to watch sharks on t.v. and a football because he likes football and watching football on t.v." 

The giant card Ava gave Daddy

Ava's presents

Twins?

  

No way!  They look completely different to me.

We did stuff this summer: The Big Apple (ridiculous amount of pics)

Every year in August, Rob gets asked by the firm to go out and recruit at Columbia. We decided to make it a tradition to go with him and make sure that we get at least one trip a year to NYC because we love NYC. Lucky for us, this time when we went, our friends The Harrisons had just moved there for work so we were able to spend time with them and their cutie pie daughter. We also watched an outdoor movie with the Hudson river as the backdrop and my friend Monica watched the girls one morning so I could spend some time alone in Chinatown and trek down to Rice to Riches, my favorite treat place ever!


At Riverflicks



Waiting for the movie to start

Ava admiring the view from our hotel window

Ava admiring the morning view from our window

Street Fair!!!  One of my favorite things about NYC

Brooklyn Bridge

B. Bridge

Ava at the new imagination playground.

Building away

Don't mess with me, I'm busy

Her creation

Ava and Elle at the Museum of Natural History

The water park above the museum

C enjoying the water park too

Poop discovery as we tried to get family pics where Rob and I took our engagement photos

Take one

Take two (the couple on the left does not belong to us)

Bathtime after playing in the mud at Central Park

Elle loves Rob

Staten Island Ferry (see the Statue in the background)

Ava loved the subway

Children's museum of Manhattan

Dad and Charlie at the museum

Ava with Alfie the Dragon

Ava dancing with the alien at Mars 2112

The alien flirting with Rob

Charlie and the alien

Times Square

Both girls pooped out after a long, fabulous trip

Sleep

For the last 9 months I haven't gotten much of it.  And since Charlie sleeps in our room, neither has Rob.  And up until a week or so ago, this is the only way Charlotte would sleep much:

In my arms............

Or lying right next to me (the binky on her face is optional)

But we've been given a Christmas miracle.  Rob decided it was time to put Charlie in a pack n play in the closet. (We have a big walk-in closet so nobody call CPS)  The first couple nights all that meant was that I had to actually get out of bed three times a night to feed her instead of just feeding her lying next to me in bed.  But on the third night something magical happened.  She only woke up once!  And I got 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep.  Folks, it was incredible.  I was practically a new woman.  And you know what the best part is? It has continued.  She now will go to sleep around 7:30, wake up to eat around 10 and then only once more at night.  AND she is taking real naps!  Some of you may think I am being way to excited about this but literally before this the girl would take 20 minute naps and would wake up 3 to 4 times between 7:30 and 11 pm and at least 3 times after until morning.  It's only been a week and a half but let's all cross our fingers that this is not just a phase............or that the phase lasts for a very long time.

We did stuff this summer: hop scotch, swimming, waffles & VBS

Ava somehow came up with the idea that she needed to make a "hopscotch chart." I think she saw it on tv somewhere.  So one day this summer when the weather was bearable we made a hopscotch chart and she was thrilled.  There was also a lot of swimming this summer though not as much as we would have liked in our own pool.  Another big thing for Ava this summer was Vacation Bible School.  She loved it!  We sent her to VBS at her future preschool but have since ended up changing preschools but nonetheless she thought it was fantastic and everyday got up talking about 'cation Bible school.'

Ava and my hop scotch



Hopscotching

You think she likes the pool?

A.J. with her water barbie

The girls

I like to eat eat eat waffles for breakfast (actually I just chew on them frozen for teething)

Ava on her way to "Hero Headquarters" vacation Bible school