Sleeping Beauty

Ava has pretty much outgrown her afternoon nap. Which means, she's pretty much outgrown naps altogether. But, every afternoon she still has "quiet time." She doesn't have to nap, but she plays quietly in her room, reads, colors, whatever she would like for an hour. She needs that time, I need that time. It works out well. Occasionally, she'll surprise me though and fall asleep (usually surrounded by about 20 books in her bed). This is rare, and usually only happens on days when she wakes up before 8 (she normally sleeps from 8:30-8:30 or 9... except Thursdays when I have to wake her up for her 9am ballet class). A few days ago she was up bright and early at 7:30 and by about noon I knew she was tired. Yet, despite her obvious exhaustion, she insisted she was just going to have quiet time and didn't need a nap. So, I just went through our normal afternoon routine - read a few books, sang a few songs, tucked her in and gave her kisses. She did what she normally does as soon as I leave the room, she jumps out of bed and begins rummaging through her massive book collection. I, on the other hand, was extremely tired that day and went to take a nap of my own. When I woke up about 45 minutes later I went in to check on Ava (who was being awfully quite). She wasn't in her bed, I didn't see her playing in the middle of her room, I panicked. But then, I looked on her stuffed animal-covered floor and this is what I saw:


She was so tired she couldn't even make it back to her bed. Right in the middle of emptying her stuffed animal basket she just conked out. At least she had a soft mattress of stuffed animals to lay on.

So Squishy I Could Eat Them

I'm obsessed with taking pictures of the kids. Not only do I think everything they do is so golly gosh darn adorable, but they are just the cutest little squishies in the world. I snapped these of the kiddos after we returned home from ballet this week. Anytime the camera is near Ava asks me to take a picture of her and Jax together. I think it's sweet she always wants to pose with her brother. I've decided to always fulfill her request so that one day when she's screaming at him to get out of her room or they're telling each other how annoying they are I can show them these pictures as proof that at one point in their lives they actually liked each other.



Here's some other cute ones I recently took:

Becoming Three...

I just had to post these cute pictures of Ava. As she gets closer and closer to three she gets more and more girly. As of late, her favorite accessory is a little crown Grandma and Grandpa gave her for Christmas. She wears it not only around the house, but to the store, the mall, the library and to visit Daddy at BYU. She often refers to herself as Princess Ava and loves to brush "my beautiful locks" while standing in front of the mirror staring at herself. I mean, I can't blame the kid, she's gosh darn adorable!



She's also, as of late, become very enamored with my iPod, often commandeering it and telling me I can have it back when, "I've heard all the songs I want to hear and I'm done dancing." I jokingly said to her one day, "You sure are a bossy little thing." Her response? "That's because I'm becoming three, Mommy." I can't wait to see what becoming 16 is like.

Rub a Dub Dub, Two Squishies in a Tub

Ava loves her bath - not necessarily the getting clean part. She could care less. It's the playing part that sends her sprinting up the stairs when we mention bath time. She especially jumps at the opportunity to bathe with her baby brother. Until recently, we still had Jax in the infant tub inside the bathtub. Which, in itself was quite a feat. He looked like a whale in a guppy tank. Anyway, he'd be in his tub and Ava would sit in the regular tub with whatever space was left. She didn't mind the tight fit as long as she got to wash Jax's toes. Well, despite my hesitance, I finally decided to put Jax in the big tub. To be honest, it was just far too hard to clean deep inside all his rolls when he was scrunched up inside a bathtub meant for babies half his size. So, we took the plunge. The first time, we tested out the water sans Ava. I wanted Jax to get used to the big bath without his wiggle worm of a big sister splashing water up his nose. He LOVED it! He sat on his little booty and rocked as hard as he could, making himself slide all around the tub. Then, he'd lay on his back (his favorite) then roll to his tummy, then back to his back, then back to his tummy... you get the idea. The rolling went on about five minutes, until he decided to take a little taste of the yummy bathwater. That's when I put a halt to the rolling.


A few nights later I took a leap of faith and decided to let the world's two wiggliest children bathe together. I filled the tub, making it ridiculously shallow since Jax would be in it. I took a deep breath, put them both in and crossed my fingers that no one would drown, crack their head open on the side of the tub or worse, get soap in their eyes. The first few minutes were great. Ava and Jax sat upright playing with bath toys, Ava explaining each creature to Jax. Jax splashed with excitement, Ava very gently splashed back.

Apparently, my children are smarter than I give them credit for because they were just providing me a false sense of comfort. As soon as I said to myself, "This isn't so bad" the little buggers went bezerk. It started with Jax rolling. Ava, seeing what fun her baby brother was having decided she too wanted to roll. This caused major waves in the bathtub, which caused Jax to lose his balance and swallow massive amounts (okay, that's a minor exaggeration) of water. Okay, I calm them both down, sit them back upright and take another deep breath. Again, sensing I was comfortable, they start rolling. This time, Jax swallows more water - alot more. To be honest, I was pretty scared, it took him a minute to catch his breath. I vow, in my head, never to allow them to bathe together again.

Okay, so that was me being a little dramatic. Of course I'll let them bathe together again. They love it too much. Both had giant smiles on their faces the whole time, with the exception of moments of coughing up water. Just tonight Ava asked if it was bath night. When I told her no she asked, "Is tomorrow bath night? Then Jax and I can take a bath together."

So, I'll get a bathmat for inside the tub to reduce the slippage. I'll do my very best to minimize the rolling and wavemaking. If they're okay, I'm okay. There's nothing better than happy, clean kids -- and in the Kleinman house, the best place to get those is in the bathtub.

Standing Man

Jax enjoys every moment of his newfound mobility. It's hasn't taken him long to learn that he can follow me around the house, follow Ava around the house, get into the trash, pull the cord out of Daddy's laptop, take the shoes out of the shoe basket, take the diapers out of the diaper basket, take the DVDs out of the DVD basket and most importantly, see the world from a completely different perspective -- standing. So, now the little mancub pulls himself up to stand on whatever and wherever possible. Most recently, he's especially drawn to the stairs, which, I'm pretty sure, makes my heart beat irregularly. He is actually surprisingly sturdy while standing, however, he hasn't quite learned yet the most effective (and safest) way to go from standing to sitting or crawling. He just kinda lets go, stiffens up and falls backward right onto his padded (diaper and chub) booty, again, nearly making his Mama's heart burst out of her chest. Before we know it he'll be walking and then I'm really in for it. I'm pretty sure doctors should just fit me for my pacemaker now because I can tell this one is going to be fearless.

It's all my Fault!

So, the Super Bowl wasn't so super. I'm not just saying that because I'm bitter about the Cardinal's loss (really, three guys in the end zone and no one is on Santonio Holmes?!) but all the flags!! I echoed the screams of fast, drunk, old men everywhere, "Come on refs, just let them play the game!"

I think that the BIG L may be due in large part to Jax's absence during the last quarter of the game. I put him to bed at the end of the third quarter, which means I had to take his lucky Cardinals jersey off. Coincidence? I don't think so. He's worn that thing through every playoff game thus far and the ONE time he takes it off... well, we know what happened. I should have known! So, I apologize Cardinals fans (lifelong and bandwagon) everywhere for sticking to a strict schedule and making the little lucky charm go to bed. It's my fault. Really. Don't get angry about the whole Santonio Holmes in the end zone thing, or the fact the Ben Roethlisberger had 10 minutes to throw the ball every time, or that Kurt Warner decided to throw like a girl the very last play of the game. Nope, it's all my fault. Bring on the hate mail.

Before you write me a scathing letter though, check out the adorableness that is The Bubs in his jersey. G-Ma and G-Pa gave it to him for Christmas. It's a good thing the season is over because he's about to bust out of that thing.

Teeth = MONSTER

After months and months of gnawing on EVERYTHING, drooling, swollen gums and pain, Jax's bottom two teeth FINALLY popped up today! HOORAY! It's bittersweet really. I'm so happy that his pain will be gone (atleast until the next set decide to start rearing their heads), but I'm a little sad because I love his big gummy smile. I know his smile will still be absolutely adorable, but there's just something about a toothless grin...

With his new teeth comes a whole new attitude. We caught this on video tonight when Andy came home. Jax all of a sudden began growling at Daddy. When Andy pretended to be frightened by the roars Jax only made them louder and more vicious. It's pretty funny. Just click on the PLAY button at the bottom of the video (for our less technologically-savvy family members :) ) Please also take notice of the squishy little man-boobs my eight-month old proudly owns.