Almost Homeless!! (in a good way?)

To make way for another human in our home, a couple of months ago we decided to put our house on the market in hopes of finding something larger. Today, the deal was sealed and soon we'll say goodbye to our first home. It was a good little house and needing to move makes us all a little sad. Well, actually, Ava seems pretty excited but she's a little foggy on exactly what this means for her.

Being that Ava is the boss of the household (I jest. Don't worry...we totally have this kid under control), we let her pen the deal. She likes signing papers and was happy to do the honors.

We don't exactly have a new home to move to, which might make the next few weeks interesting for all of us. Wish us luck...

Today in Ava

Ava: You got a baby in there?
Us: Would you like a new baby in the house? We would need to buy a new house.
Ava: Okay.
Us: Then yes. There's a baby boy in there. That's your baby brother.
Ava: I meet him at the hospital and I feed him.

For those of you who didn't know, our new arrival is coming around Halloween.  We've been trying to keep the news from Ava, reasoning that she couldn't handle the many months of wait.  She can be a little--how should we put this--obsessive, and we were anticipating a bevy of questions about how soon we'd be able to see the baby.  Now that she's uncovered the truth on her own, the gig is up.  And now we look forward to a few months of this scene:

Piggies!!

After--I kid you not--2 1/2 years of attempts, I have finally achieved Piggy success.  It took some convincing. I had to tell her that the brand new baby boy next door would like to see her in Piggies and she was happy to oblige. I have been informed by other parents in the house that it was wrong to convince Ava to pretty herself up for others. Okay, sure, but I don't regret the manipulation. Look at how cute she is. I took 100 pictures and almost cried in excitement.

May 2011

May was a big month for everyone in the family. First, the weather finally started to cooperate, and we were able to get outside. Second, we had a nice visit with Brian's parents. Lastly, Ava packed up her pacifiers and mailed them to the babies in the hospital. As she recounts, "The babies are crying in the hospital. I give them my binkies. Cuz they are crying."  She was rewarded with a "big girl bed" and a pillow, both of which were much more welcome presents before she knew we were serious about the mailman taking her binkies. We hope the babies are enjoying those pacifiers because it has been a grueling four weeks in the Rabold house.  We are currently in a no-nap standoff and Ava seems to be fairly sure this is a battle she can win.