So proud!

About six months ago Evan learned all of the letters of the alphabet by sight and the sounds they each make. It was so amazing to watch as he learned the stepping stones of reading. A few weeks ago he memorized the sound that the letter 'A' and 'T' make together so it seemed like he was getting close to sounding out some basic words. Sure enough tonight he read his first word "BAT"! It was so exciting!

5 Months

At 5 months now Ava is rolling from her stomach to her back and vice-versa. She just recently learned how to roll from her back to her stomach and loves to show off her new trick. She started eating solids this week and so far she hates it! She makes the funniest faces, it is hilarious! Her legs are getting really strong and tonight Aaron stood her up on the edge of the fireplace and she held on for a really long time by herself. During this time she and Evan actually played for the first time together. Evan was laughing hysterically at the fact that Ava was reaching out for his Thomas the Train. Then as quickly as it came the peaceful moment was over and Evan got upset that she was touching his train. I think it took him by surprise that she was already interested in his toys.

Ava still sleeps pretty horribly but during the day she is the happiest, sweetest baby. She just adores Evan and lights up every time she looks at him. My Mom (a.k.a. Nana) is visiting this week and she really connected with her as well. In the last month she started being fearful around people she did not know well. I was not sure how she would do with her Nana but she loved her!

My Mom gave me a HUGE gift this week - my first complete night of uninterrupted sleep in over a year (I slept very badly during pregnancy as well). It was amazing! Fortunately Ava took a bottle from her even though she's not had one in a couple of months. She actually cared for her overnight for several nights so I could catch up on sleep. Evan was not in on the deal unfortunately and woke Aaron and I repeatedly one of those nights but aside from that we got several great nights of sleep in this week. I have never slept so poorly in my life so I have become a bit obsessed with sleep in case you can't tell!

Halloween

This Halloween was especially fun as Evan was more excited than I have ever seen him get about anything. In the weeks leading up to 'the big day' he perused costume catalogs with Aaron and I and every costume he saw he wanted. Ultimately he waffled between a ghost and dark vader as he called him (he has no idea who he is!). He started waking up in the middle of the night for the last few weeks saying that he saw ghosts in his room so I decided that any scary costumes were out. He had just recently showed a lot of interest in super heroes so I went out on a limb and bought him a Superman costume. Boy, was it a hit! The best $17 I have ever spent. He wore it every single waking minute that I allowed him to. It entertained him for hours. It was so sweet seeing him flying around the house and jumping up and down in his little red cape. By the time Halloween rolled around the costume had numerous holes in it and several food stains. We could barely contain him before we headed out to begin trick-or-treating, he was bouncing off the walls. Finally my Dad (a.k.a. Papa), Evan, Ava and I met up with our neighbors and hit the pavement. After about six houses Evan was more interested in his friend's light saber than he was trick-or-treating, he kept asking me to hold his bag. Ava was a trouper (as she usually is when I drag her around doing activities for her big brother) for the 45 minutes we were out.