To Our Avery, On Your Second Birthday

My sweet Avery,

 

Happy birthday, little girl.  Has it really been another year?  In some ways I can't believe you are just turning two.  In other ways I can't believe our little girl is already two.   

 

You seem much older than just two.  I supposed its because you hang so well with Rudy.  Its only appropriate to talk about you and Rudy first, because Rudy comes first in your world.  You'd be lost without him, and often are on the mornings when he is at school.  You mimic his every move.  If he gets hurt, you suddenly have sympathy pains for him.  If he has a preference on what to eat, drink, watch, and so on, you want the same.  Always.  But it doesn't bother him at all, not yet at least.  He'd be lost without you by his side and he does a great job of looking after you.  You two take great care of each other.  One of these days real soon Ben is going to want to join your club.    

 

You are still the sweetest girl I know, but you are gaining plenty of sass too.  You are so talkative.  There's not much you can't say and we often get an ear-full.  You are the most beautiful girl - not just on the outside, but the inside, too.  Your attitude, your expressions, your sense of humor... you make me smile and laugh all the time.  You are so smart, funny, caring, sensitive, and thoughtful.  You are really great at sharing, or expecting to take turns.  You are easy to please and tend to just go with the flow.  If Rudy wants something you have, you typically just hand it over and find something else to play with (although you are starting to stick to your ground more often, and wow, you can be tough!).  It takes you a bit to warm up to new people or places, but once you do you quickly melt the hearts of all who know you. Your laugh, your smile... so priceless.  The way you run might be the cutest thing ever - that pitter patter of your tiny feet, along with the wiggle of your hips... or maybe its the way your brush your hair from your face - little Avery mannerisms that make us smile.  You are a good sleeper, especially when you are snuggled up next to me.  You prefer books over shows and coloring on your belly or face over coloring on paper.  You like snakes as much as you like butterflies and you like playing basketball as much as you like playing dolls.  You are one-of-a-kind, Miss Avery, and I wouldn't change a thing about you.  Your dad and I love you unconditionally and always will. 

 

And speaking of your dad - he's in trouble when it comes to you.  He has a hard time turning down any of your pleas to be held, or reading a book to you 100 times over, or pretending to be asleep just one more time so you can jump on him to wake him up, or chasing after you just to hear your giggles.  If you asked him, he'd move mountains for you.  Your dad is the greatest dad I could ever imagine for you.  We are all so lucky to have him.         

 

You started your "terrible two's" early and I can tell it's going to be challenging.  You already get away with more than you should because you're you, "our sweet Avery." 

 

You are a joy to be around.  And I should know, my little sidekick.  There isn't much I do without you by my side.  But I love the time I get with you and wouldn't trade it for anything.  In fact, if you wanted to spend time with me every day for the rest of forever, I think I'd be ok with that :)        

 

Rudy and Ben are lucky to have you as a sister.  As much as people say how taken care of you will be with brothers on either side of you, they underestimate how well you take care of the brothers on either side of you.  I have a feeling I'll be reminding you that I'm the mom over the years to come.  You aren't just "the middle child, " you are their center.  Rudy looks after you, he is always making sure he know what you are up to or where you are and to include you in his antics (which you'll have to be careful about that, his ideas aren't always the best!).  But you also do the same for him.  You usually grab two of everything, one for you and one for "Ruway."  And Ben.  Ben lights up whenever you give him attention, which is quite often!  You always want to help me take care of him and you do a great job... feeding him, getting diapers, bringing him toys, finding his pacey, pushing him to roll over (quite literally actually).  You three... your relationships with each other are already so strong and you're just getting started.  It is such a blessing to get to be your mom and watch you all grow individually and together.  I can't imagine a world without the three of you and your dad.  I am completely blessed.  When strangers comment, "You sure have your hands full!" I think (and sometimes say), "My heart, too!" And sometimes my heart is so full, I think it might explode...

 

Alright, Miss Avery... just so you know...

I'll love you forever,

I'll like you for always,

As long as I'm living

my baby you'll be.

-Robert Munsch

Happy birthday, my sweet girl. I'm so proud to be your mom and I love you more than words can express.

Love,
Mom

 

Dear Miss Avery,

Wow, another crazy year has gone by and you continue to be our little angel.

Well, you still love doing everything that your big brother does. You guys play so well together, most of the time. You have your fights but get over them very quickly. You want to do whatever he does and he wants to do whatever you do, also. You are always playing together. You guys love each other so much and that makes your mother and I so happy.

You absolutely love your mom as well. You remind me so much of your mother and that's why I love you so much. You have her sweet soft voice. You have her beautiful smile. You have her sense of style also, you make anything look good! Most of all you have her love and kindness. You are so lucky to have her as your mother, please never forget that.

Since your little brother Ben arrived your love and kindness has shown so much. You have been so sweet to him. It's hard for you to share your mom that you love so much but you do. You help her with him and you are such a sweet big sister to him. Thank you for being such a sweet big sister!

You are our little angel and will be forever. Please always remember that I love you soooo much. Everything I do is for you and our family. I couldn't imagine a life without you. You bring such a sweet joy into our house, words cannot describe it. Thank you for being the best daughter a dad could ask for. I love to the moon and back a million times, have a wonderful 2nd birthday.

Love, Dad

 

Guest Blogger Uncle Tony: The Cicci's come to Ca-go. Part 2

Day two was very action packed. It's not every day that they are in 'Ca-go.'  Jen and I made the plan to have breakfast at 'me house.'  I know the kids love donuts so I made sure to have chocolate long johns for the kids. I just loved it. Again I am so blessed that Jen and John made the drive to come visit.

After donuts we did little activities. Patrick and I got the kids "Room on the Broom" and "Five Little Pumpkins" so we had story time.

Also - notice that Oreo that Avery is holding?  So the day before the Cicci's arrived Jen and I were on the phone and Rudy was in the background asking if I had snacks. I told him I would make sure I had snacks but he had to tell me what he wanted. Well Oreos was his choice. I found the Halloween edition I might add, the ones with the orange icing. I gave Avery and Rudy one and Jen was like,  'Are you sure you want them to have those in the living room?' I was like it is no big deal, 'I'll just vacuum.' Jen just smirks, and says 'Ok, yeah... right.' How very wrong I was indeed. Still 2 weeks later and I am finding orange icing around.

Then we found a mask that I had kept from a show where I did an adaptation of The Wizard of Oz where I played the Scarecrow, which lead to putting on the movie. Now I am not sure I have heard the word 'why?' so many times in my life. It starts with someone making a statement and then Rudy or Avery saying 'why?' So 'that is a scarecrow.' 'Why?' 'Cause they scare birds away.' 'Why?' 'Cause they eat the farmers corn.' 'Why?' and it just continues.

But once the witch came onto the screen we had to watch all the witch scenes. We watched the witch melt maybe 50 times. This also lead to a lot of 'why?' questions from Rudy. Also hearing Jen's response was amazing and shows she really knows how this mom thing works:

J:'The witch melts'
R:'Why?'
J:'Cause she is mean.'
R:'Why?'
J:'Cause she hit her sister.'
R:'Why?'
J:'Cause she is mean and doesn't share'
R:'Why?'
J:'I don't know why she would be mean.  It's not nice.'
R:'Why?'
J:'Cause she was mean to her sister.'
R:'Why?.....'

So remember that Oreo I mentioned, Avery left me a gift in one of my candle holders. A completely licked off all icing Oreo half. Found 2 days later. Yeah, I'll just vacuum.

Once it was later in the morning we all loaded up in the new SUV and made a trip to downtown La Grange. It is really close to 'me house.' We started by stopping by and picking up candy of course and an array of different caramel apples to have for dessert after dinner later. We looked around at different shops and walked around before lunch.

After lunch we had planned to ride the 'big choo choo.' The metra train runs from La Grange to Western Spring in about 2 stops and it seemed like the perfect amount of time for the kids' attention span.

It was hilarious. We had to tell Rudy to stay back behind the yellow line and everyone had to hold hands. He was so hilarious when I was taking the picture. He had such a big smile and kept commanding, 'stay back, stay back.'

We got on the train with no trouble - except loading the ginormous stroller and moving three kids along. It was so funny. We had to travel from car to car looking for a seat and the kids were stunned/excited. Defnitely not the choo choo at White Oaks Mall. We finally found a seat by the time we made it to the first stop and I stood in the aisle with the stroller. Then right after that they called our stop, we got up and off very efficently. Literally 2 minutes we were on the train. Perfect amount of time.

I love in this picture how Rudy is checking in with me like 'can you believe we are on a big choo choo?'

Ben also had a selfie moment with Jen on the train. #babyonthetrain

When we got off we stopped by a bakery in Western Springs that makes these really good smiley face sugar cookies. On that day, however, they had monster cookies too. So Rudy got a Monster cookie. 

And Avery got these cute little pink tea cookies. 

Once we finished at the bakery it was starting to rain so we made the two block walk to Sue the Great's house. We ate more cookies, followed by more youtube/ipad games.

Then the Minella's came over after a wedding that they had been to in the morning. 

It was still raining so we had a great time staying indoors for awhile. Aunt Sue the Great had these hilarious costumes that fit Rudy and he would leave and come back in a different outfit every time. A doctor, race car driver, wizard, and many more. I wish I would have taken pictures cause it was hilarious. I commend Jen for always being on top of pictures. When I finally realized, "oh I should be taking pictures," Rudy had moved on but Avery thankfully had tried on the witch costume.

Avery also learned 'I'm a little teapot' with Aunt Sue the Great. They did a little performance for everyone. 

We finally decided that the rain was not gonna keep us from shopping. So we all got our umbrellas and made the walk back to downtown Western Springs to shop in the little boutiques. Thank goodness Aunt Sue the Great had so many extra umbrellas. We wouldn't want anyone to be left out. 

It took us some time to get everyone the right umbrella, convincing Rudy the small green was, 'so cool,' so one of us could have a bigger umbrella for the walk. Then once we made the two block walk to the shops it stopped raining.  However, thank goodness we had to stop for a big choo choo. 

We finished our shopping day and then made our way back to Aunt Sue the Greats to pack up the car and walk over to Aunt Dawn and Uncle Dave the Great's house for bath time and dinner.  Bath time was so funny. 

We gave Ben and Avery these awesome hair styles.

Once we all were laughing Rudy said, "do me hair." Uh, sorry buddy. 

Then it was dinner time and everyone was winding down. Uncle Dave the Great, Rudy and Avery read a book for awhile to find the Gold Bug. 

We also had those amazing Caramel Apples for dessert that we had got earlier in the day from shopping in downtown La Grange. They were all sliced up so everyone could try all the different flavors. There was cheesecake, snickers, peanut butter bomb, and a turtle caramel apple. We all had our own personal favorites. 

I just have to add this action shot of Avery. It is so funny to me because Avery sometimes gives me this look like 'I really don't understand you/get you/you are crazy/not impressed.' It just cracks me up how sassy she can be and she is only 1. I can not tell you how many times she has rolled her eyes at me. 

Before we all did our final goodbyes we had a moment of just sittin down to relax. Rudy and I started a game where I would take a golf ball and put it behind my back and then tell him to pick a hand. Once my hands where behind my back I would then hide the golf ball by sitting on it. So Rudy would choose each hand then look behind me and ask, 'where is it?' Which I would then get the golf ball and make it seem like it was behind his ear. We did this again and again. Every time he found the golf ball it was so exciting. My magic tricks were flawless. The golf ball traveled to everyone, John's shoe, Tessa's Bun, Aunt Dawn the Great's pants cuff, Jen's hair, Kate's hair, and I even coughed it up. This again was one of the moments where I wished I would have been taking pictures. Luckily Avery always takes a moment to catch on to the activity. I was able to get a great picture of Peach looking for the ball and then we found it in her hair. It was so cute when she found it. She ran around telling everyone, 'I found it, found it, found it.' It was a pretty big victory for Peach. 

It was time to say goodbye. I think everyone was exhausted from our two action packed days. After 20 minutes or so of the Cicci's departure Jen sends a text, 'didn't take long."

I can not say thank you enough to everyone who helped me celebrate my happy. I am so fortunate to have my family who made me feel so special on my quarter of century birthday. Especially Jen and John, I know it is not easy to cut out 2 days to make a trip with all the little ones, but I am so grateful for them. This will be one 'happy' that I will cherish forever. Thank you millions. 

Guest Blogger Uncle Tony: The Cicci’s Come to Ca-go. Part 1

The request for a guest blogger is something that has always been very enticing to me. I have thought I would love to write a blog post based off time that I have visited or had any time spent with the little ones. So once Jen posted that she was looking for guest bloggers I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for when they visited 'Ca-go' for my birthday!

We first planned for everyone to come to 'Ca-go' (how Avery and Rudy pronounce Chicago) on my actual birthday weekend. However, this and that happened and the Cicci’s had to cancel. I was very down and decided to do a little shopping at Bath and Body Works when I get a call from Jen seeing when I was off from work and she said they could plan to come the following weekend. When I got off the phone with Jen I squealed so loud it was definitely a scene for everyone working. I was ecstatic that Jen and John where willing to make the trip with all three kids. I felt so blessed.

Well we had some planning to do. I immediately paired up with Aunt Dawn the Great and Aunt Sue the Great for a game plan. They had already thrown me a lovely birthday dinner on my actual birthday and I wanted to help out with cooking for the Cicci arrival. So Jen said she was bringing up Dad’s pasta sauce and I would make meatballs. I am not a cook, sometimes I just don’t get it. So this is where Aunt Dawn the Great comes to my rescue. She helped me find a recipe and gather ingredients.  I had to do all the mixing but she coached me through with great patience and the meatballs turned out perfectly.

Got this great picture when making meatballs that they were on their way!!!

As soon as the kids walked in it was hilarious. Avery was walking around saying ‘Ca-go, Ca-go, Ca-go,' Rudy was giving big hugs and kisses, followed by Ben giving his little smiles here and there. Avery and Rudy then went around saying hi to all of Aunt Dawn the Great’s kitty cats. Once all hellos were exchanged Rudy immediately wanted something to do. Well thank goodness the Minella’s is a baseball house. They found some bats and even were innovative enough to make a tee out of one of the bats so Rudy could hit balls and run bases. 

Something that I adore about Rudy is that he is so inclusive. Everyone had to have a turn running bases, everyone had to have a turn hitting with the bat, and everyone had to pitch. No one gets left out.

The Cheerleaders/Pitcher

Finally Patrick got off work and joined us and we all walked over to Sue the Great's house for Dinner.

Sue made a fabulous salad and Patrick cooked the noddles and I heated up the sauce. Plus the meatballs that Dawn the Great and I made were added into the sauce. It definitely was a group effort for this family dinner.

Sitting down for a family dinner!

Then it was time for PRESENTS, and cupcakes.

Rudy eyeing the Caramel Apple Cupcakes. 

Jen did such a great job with the cupcakes and I always appreciate the little touches she creates. I am very fortunate to have a big sis that really knows how to make everything about my birthday so special. One example is the cupcakes she made with these Wizard of Oz ring toppers. I just don't know how she finds these things but she is amazing at it. 

The kids are so funny. It was like they never have icing. Avery had to dip her finger into the icing of every cupcake.

Once we finished cupcakes and presents it was time for bed. Avery is so good and just seems to welcome bedtime. Rudy on the other hand was not gonna budge. We all had to take turns playing/watching youtube videos. The most popular was this video of someone unwrapping easter eggs with different surprises. 

Very riveting stuff. Totally worth staying up until 11p. 

It definitely was a great first day of Cicci's visiting 'Ca-go.' 

Day Two to be continued...

Mix-up

Things have been mixed up here lately, and the kids have been spending more time at their grandma's and grandpa's houses.  

But who doesn't love pallets on the floor for nap time?!  

and bedtime?!

And lots of extra attention?!

But boy did I miss my time with them!  So we spent some time doing some old favorites, just the four of us…

like baking muffins for breakfast,

the happy observer :)

quiet walks (that miraculously turned into nap time in the garage!),

and playing with play-doh.

It is so easy to get caught up in the long to-do lists of a day (especially lately) - I had to remind myself to slow down and enjoy the little things.  The work, laundry, cleaning, organizing, etc. will all be there tomorrow and every day after - but my babies, as they are right now, won't.