Dream big, Aves :-)

 (while driving in the car today, stopped at a red light...)

A: "Momma?"
 "Yesssss?"
A: "Well, I was thinking about something. And I have a really important question to ask you."
"Sure honey...what's up?"
A: "Well, I was wondering.  One day, when me and Gav get married and have a huge wedding, will you and Daddy be our flower girls?"

At this point, I had exactly two options:
A). Dive into a long-winded conversation about the unlawful nature of incest, and appropriate vs. inappropriate flower-girl etiquette, or
B). Smile, nod, and let her keep this (amazing, hilarious) dream alive.

You'll all be glad to know, I chose B.

Little moments like these make me realize that one day far too soon far, far away, she will no longer talk about marrying her baby brother, the self-proclaimed "handsomest little love of (her) life," because she'll realize the social consequences of such an idea.  She'll no longer build forts with him out of pillows on the living room floor, because she'll be too busy painting her toes while listening to boy bands on her very own pink iPod.  A day will come when her girlfriends and her own agenda will trump spending time with him, and he will inevitably come to me with tears in his eyes wondering why big sissy and her friends slammed the door in his face. Yes, that day will come. When she categorically denies ever having a tubby with him (with an overly dramatic Ewwwwwwwwww!) and becomes even more dramatic when I promise to prove this with photos.

So for now...I will let her keep these big dreams of marrying her baby brother alive. I'll even allow her to paint a magnificent picture in her mind of this incestuous glorious event, and plan every detail, right down to the cake, the dress, and of course, the flower girls: her Daddy and I.

And, keeping in mind the very fleeting nature of it all... I'm going to love and cherish every single second.  :-)

A whole month?? Yikes!

Well hello, blog stalkers friends. Do any of you even remember me?? First and foremost, please accept my apologies for my inexcusable 4-week hiatus from the blog world. To say that life has been "crazy" or "chaotic" or "busy" or "hectic" would all be massive understatements. To the point that trying to recount all of it artistically, in coherent paragraphs, might prove impossible.
And so, without further ado, may I present to you:

"Completely random list of events (both major and minor) that have transpired since my last entry, in no particular order."

• Had major flooding in our basement. Stripped all carpeting, bleached all floors, purchased all new Pergo flooring, laid it ourselves....only to have basement (and all of this BRAND NEW flooring) flood. Again. Spent 6 hours ripping up aforementioned brand new flooring while crying/bitching/moaning/self-loathing the entire time. Wine helped with this sad process immensely. Thank God for Jackie's help into the wee hours of the night that horrible evening. Her quick wit, plus the help of about 40 towels, 3 fans, and a Sharpie ended up saving the day. Had to let all of the pieces dry for a few weeks in a dry, warm basement.  (we just laid the floor down again last week...so far, so good.) On a positive note, this has forced a major revamping of our playroom which, once is finally finished, is going to be pretty kick-a$$.
• Threw a beautiful bridal shower for mi hermanita Meredith, who will be married in less than 2 weeks!! Lots of older, unknown mystery Spanish relatives came, which was oodles of fun, especially considering the "inappropriate lingerie" theme of the day.  Highlights of the brunch would have to include: 1). Meri sheepishly looking up at the tables of Cubanas y Espanolas to try and identify "Rosita," whose satin, crotchless leopard panties she'd just unwrapped, and 2). Jen's box-o-fun ("fun" = "inappropriate toys from one particularly Amazing store") that Meri shamefully opened in front of said Cubanas.  Of course, I wrote an obligatory speech which caught me off-guard when it invoked tears, but it was heartfelt and sentimental, and I am so glad that I had the opportunity to share it with her. The day was beautiful, my sister was beautiful, and it really was such a special time for all of us.
  
• My baby boy hit so many HUGE milestones this past month: Melted my heart on Monday, 4/5/10 when, per usual, we heard him on the monitor waking up in his typical fashion: "A-Da-da-da-da-da..." Followed by silence for a few seconds...and a very obvious, very deliberate, perfect little noise from his mouth: "Ma-ma." I ran into his room faster than I ever thought my legs were capable of moving, and saw him standing there, grasping onto the crib railing, beaming ear to ear. He looked into my eyes, reached for me, and said it again: "Ma-ma!" Suddenly in that moment, every single sleepless night, breastfeeding infection, dark circle under my eyes, smell of spit-up on my shirt, and incident of being peed on were all worth it  :-)  In addition to this, he now knows so many words: Balloon, story, book, kitty, Dada, Mama, Sissy/Ava, ball, and doggy, to name a few.  Clearly he isn't saying them yet, but when I ask him "Where's ___?" about any of them, he points to them/looks at them/crawls to retrieve them instantly.  About 2 weeks ago, he also began WAVING!!!  He will immediately wave back at a person who waves to him (with no prompting!), and/or will wave to someone when we say the words "Gav, wave" or "Bye-bye."  I've started teaching him the word "kisses" this past week-- which, in his mind, means a sloppy, open-mouthed attack on his prey...but it is adorable, and clearly he gets it...so I am excited about that.  Baby genius? I'd say so  :-)  In other news, he is about 2 seconds away from walking.  Seriously.  He pulls up on everything-- couches, chairs, the refrigerator, book shelves, people's legs. He watches his big sissy run/walk all day long and you can just tell he is itching to join her.  He amazed us today, when he actually stood up ALONE for about 15 seconds outside on the grass!!! He has this amazing, proud look of accomplishment on his adorable face, as if to say "Look guys! Look! I'm doing it!!" He soon became wobbly, farted, fell on his tushy, and immediately began smiling and clapping for himself. (oh, that's right! clapping! another big milestone!) Of course we all joined in this celebratory clapping and smothered him in kisses, hugs, and more claps. It was a pretty cool moment, and made us realize just how soon our little man will be walking! He has also sprouted another 2 teeth in the past 3 weeks. So if you're keeping tabs, that's 4 teeth now-- two top, two bottom. Little buddy's ready for filet, if you ask me!  Another huge milestone for Gav was his Christening last weekend...which was a really nice day with all of our family and friends.  He did fantastic, smiled the whole time, and fell asleep right after the ceremony.  Truly, this child is one of the happiest babies I've ever known. How lucky am I to be his Momma?? If you answered "ridiculously lucky," then you'd be right  :-)
• With the help of my sister, I found my biological father. (<---Wow...it's been a few weeks now, and still it amazes me that I can type that sentence out.)  Here it is again, just in case you missed it: I FOUND MY FATHER. 29 years of wondering, of imagining, of dreaming about what he looked like...what type of person he was...his interests, his eye color, his favorite food...all culminating in one brazen, impersonal Facebook email to a man who "might" have been him...who inevitably turned out to be him. The chances of that happening-- especially considering how common a name he has-- were slim to none, so you can imagine my shock and excitement when it turned out that we'd struck gold; we had found the right guy. Amazing.  ('I guess it's half timing, and the other half's luck...') I won't go into details here, in order to respect the privacy and new nature of all off this...but things seem to be evolving remarkably well, and consequently I am on my way to feeling fulfilled, and full-circle, with this part of my life  :-)
• Learned that I have another sibling in this world...wow. Again, still so raw and emotional and fresh to even be able to write that.  But as a big believer in first impressions, I can say wholeheartedly that this person seems wonderful, compassionate, warm, friendly, and--most importantly-- open to the idea of getting to know a sister who she never knew existed, 29 years too late.  I am so incredibly grateful for this opportunity, and am eager to catch up on almost 3 decades of 'stuff' with her.  And although I'm still in the very beginning phases of getting to know this person, I already feel such a wonderful connection.  (Dragonfly necklaces and Kate Spade china? Unbelievable.)  Genetics, you never cease to amaze me  :-)
• Experienced a 'Sonic' burger and fries for the first time ever. (one just opened up about 3 miles from our house, so we figured we'd give it a go.)  Let me cut to the chase: So not impressed. It took Jeff an HOUR to order our food in the drive-through(?!?)  "Fast food?" I think not! Furthermore, the sandwiches were made sloppily, the tater tots were cold, and these "legendary" slushies? Well, let's just say...not so legendary. In a nutshell: Won't be going back.
  
• Heard what sounded like a woman being axed to death in the woods behind our house, and frantically called 911.  The police arrived here in under 5 minutes and began taking a full report. The screeching noise occurred again while the officer was here. He immediately closed his little scribble pad and informed us that this noise was actually a Fisher Cat, and not our lovely Asian neighbor having a deadly domestic dispute in the woods. Oops. Live and learn, right??
• Ava has also had a pretty chock-full month: She participated in her second annual Spring dance recital and did fantastic.  She tapped to "Tutti-Frutti" and did an adorable "Spoonful of Sugar" ballet routine.  She earned a new American Girl doll for doing so great, and of course requested a post-recital celebratory dinner at-yup, you guessed it- Friendly's  ;-)  In other Ava news, she was asked by her piano teacher to perform a SOLO during their next class!!! This was clearly an uber-proud Momma moment for me, and my eyes welled up with tears as she told me the news. Her song choice is "Hot Cross Buns" and she'll be performing (and singing!) it on May 2nd.Way to go, Aves!
  
• Speaking of the Avanator, I experienced perhaps one of the best Avaisms to date. Allow me to set the scene: Jeff had just gotten back from rock-climbing, (one of his newly rekindled passions.) Aves hadn't been feeling good that day, and was still up at 10pm when he arrived home. He sat down next to her, gave her a big hug, and then told her the following news to try and make her feel better: "Honey, guess what?" "What, Dadda?" she asked. "Well, I asked the people at the rock gym how old you have to be to climb...and they said you just have to be five!! So that means, you can do it with me soon!" A cautiously happy, but simultaneously puzzled  look came over her face in that moment. "But Dadda...you're, like, WAY bigger than five. How come they let YOU do it??"   I freaking love four-year olds.

Okay, well that's a quick re-cap of my past month. Hopefully after reading some of this, you'll understand and forgive me for the lack of entries. It's been a pretty remarkable, life-changing month in a lot of respects, and I've just needed some time to digest it all...that's all.   But I'm back, and fully intend on charging full-speed ahead back into the wonderful world of blogging...




Just bear with me while I try and balance it all  :-)