Crazy Love Gamble-Style

Goodbye for now, we are off on a little camping adventure. I love Summer!!!

We had two nights of total stay in her bed success! Yay for that! Just a minute ago at 10:30 at night on the third night it was a little different scene. We heard a little girl voice, looked back and the door is open and the light in on in her room. Uh-oh! We both go back there and what do we find? Every stuffed animal has been moved into her bed. The turtle is in a new location. The white noise is off. She has ditched her jammies and is half way into a very fancy party dress. She announces she is all done sleeping. It took EVERYTHING I had not to laugh myself to death & run to get the camera. But I am a good parent. I just acted mad, checked her feet for burns and sent her back to bed. With lots of warnings about what WILL happen if there is a next time...

Yesterday we went to visit one of our favorite families. Here is Morgan, could she be cuter? The kids have an amazing backyard filled with everything a kid could want. Slides, swings, sandboxes,water, room to run... Morgan's mommy is a little paranoid and she doesn't want Morgan to have too much fun so she make her wear this helmet. I am sure the child will have no issues. I tried to get Ava to pose for me. She never really cooperates. Three kids is NO easier I assure you. Oh good, there IS a reason for her to wear that helmet! Having snacks. Turns on the slide. Time to swing...and giggle. But really is there true fun until we get DIRTY?? I think not.

Last night we un -caged the beast. We took the side off Ava's crib. You might see a big girl bed, all I see is FEAR! Ava wasn't scared. More like through the moon happy. She kept getting in there pretending to be asleep. She wasn't too good a pretending since nothing could get that grin off her face! We explained all the rules to her. No jumping, no crying, no getting out of the bed under ANY circumstances. Daddy even told her the carpet turns into burning hot water once she goes to bed. I am sure he will create no issues for this child. We told her big girls just nicely read in bed. So that is what she did. She stayed there all night, not a peep out of her, she didn't even fall out of the bed. I checked her feet this morning and she must not of gotten up, there were no burn marks on her feet at all...

I wish you could see the detail in this picture, if you could you would see watermelon juice running all down her tummy. She LOVES watermelon! Daddy cleaning her up... ...and holding her like a baby, another of her favorite things. She will always be our little baby.

I am the type of person that tells EVERYONE SHE KNOWS the second I find out I am pregnant. I can't really keep things like this to myself. I want to shout it from the roof tops. I AM HAVING ANOTHER BABY!! I found out at 5 1/2 weeks so I feel like even though I have told each person I come across in my daily life I have yet to announce it here, in this blog. I feels like a secret! Well now, as of today, I am officially 12 weeks. That is one of those magical numbers when you can relax a little and feel like things are going well. This is pretty exciting stuff, as John tells me it is our last baby no matter what! He assures me there is NO WAY I can convince him we need anymore babies. So I guess I need to really enjoy (??) every minute of this pregnancy because I don't get to do it ever again. That makes me sort of sad even though being pregnant isn't my favorite state to be in. I always feel like people sort of write you off as incapable of having any fun, maybe forever

Today I sent Ava off with Aunt Linda and went kayaking with my mom on the Clackamas River It was the most beautiful day and just so much fun!! I absolutely loved it! There were just enough rapids to keep it interesting but not scary. I have to figure out a way to do this WAY more often. The whole time I was out there I kept wishing John was with me. Soon he will be, I will make it happen! After we got off the river we went and had lunch at The Stone Cliff Inn. This was our view from our table: Today made me feel so close to nature, I need a little more of that in my life! I love anything to do with water. Ava had a great day too, she played with Abby & Mahala at Lake Merwin in Washington. Linda said she out-ate everyone there. That's my girl. : ) They were serving fruit all day, so no surprise there...

There is nothing like boots on an 80 degree day, good choice Ava! They do look cute, I will give her that. Pebbles: Checking out the flowers. Hanging out on the counter, one of her favorite spots. Being tickled: She sneaks into her crib to read: She says "Look Mommy, I am working out!" Happy horse riding: Just a few random pictures, hope they brighten your day as they do mine. : )

I began potty training Ava right around the time she turned one. I broke out the potty and began encouraging away. She faked interest in the beginning but soon it became apparent that the child was a little hopeless, to say the least. Throughout the year that followed I realized that this strong willed child would need a little more time, as well as mom backing the heck off. Before she turned two I came across a blog a mom was writing who made a bold statement of parents simply being lazy if they aren't potty training their kids very quickly. I was so mad about when I read that but also felt like maybe she was right all at the same time. It motivated me to simply take away Ava's diapers and sort of force her into being ready. I spent the entire day encouraging her as she had accident after accident. She managed to pee in her potty about 4 times and everywhere else about 347 times. I was so stressed out, so was she. At one point she peed on the floor and looked up at me

This was the scene right before the incident. Maybe Ava saw it coming, she looks scared. The kids were happily taking a shower then next thing you know as Ava was getting out, she totally bit it. Her mouth was full of blood and we couldn't tell if she lost a tooth or what. It was really scary. But she is a tough girl. She eventually stopped bleeding and stopped crying. From what we can gather it looks like her tooth pushed all the way through her lower lip. It looks pretty bad but she should be fine in no time. We are just happy she still has all her teeth. Poor baby!

We went to the zoo today. Rhi was visiting from Newport and wanted to go, otherwise we usually avoid these kinds of things on the weekend. We went pretty early so the crowds weren't too bad. Colton & Ava holding hands. Admiring the ugly Disappearing Pigs. Swingers. Drums! Goats: It was a fun morning. We all rushed out of there to get the kids who actually take naps home in time for them. We want to go to one of the zoo concerts now that we know how much Ava will likely enjoy them. She has been telling people "I saw Steve Miller Band concert!" and asking if a song comes on that sort of sounds like them, "Mommy is this Steve Miller?" Later in the evening we resumed play time in the fashion of a BBQ & games at Erik's. Just got home. Very fun night. Ava did almost knock out her tooth, I will save that for another story. Not to worry, she is good now, She's our little tough girl : )

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Last night, aside from being absolutely beautiful weather, was the perfect night for a concert. Steve Miller Band was playing out at Edgefield , Auntie Jessica got us all tickets for my birthday. We were all really excited, this was Ava's first concert!! This was my first Edgefield concert , what a great place. When we first arrived I was a little scared. People lined up for miles, waiting to get in. Once you go in you are trapped. Turns out the people out at Edgefield have this whole thing down to a science, they got us all in quickly and surrounded us with food and drink. As per usual I took A LOT of pictures. Ava loves being TALL, daddy offers the best view! Auntie helps too. Jumping off the chair, 346 th time. Laughing with Grandma: Dancing!!! Having a blast! Snuggling: Jumping on Auntie's lap. Clapping! My turn! Back to daddy. We all had such a great time. It was such a great concert. It was really fun to see it through Ava's eyes. She was just thrilled the whole