38 weeks.

Last week marked 38 weeks since Ava arrived.

Normally, I don't count her age in weeks (that drives Lee insane) I just thought it was pretty awesome that she had officially been out in the world for as long as she was inside my belly.

Crazy to believe that.

My boy.

Half the time he doesn't listen, he loves to steal my spot on the couch, he is always in the way, leaves muddy paw prints on my clean floors, begs for food, barks annoyingly when the kids are roudy, constantly licks the baby when he thinks I'm not looking, and always dumps his toys out in front of Ava's door in the middle of the night so I can trip over them in the dark.

He drives me absolutely insane but this four legged boy - has my heart.

The sucky sleeper.

Ava needs to work on her sleeping skills.

I'm not sure what is going in with her but I am one TIRED mama.

She is up anywhere from 3 to 10 times a night and I am lucky if she gets in one good nap during the day lately.

Lee said the other day "I guess that's just new babies for ya." To which I replied: "she isn't NEW anymore! She needs to get it figured out already."

I just think she is trying to kill me. Actually, I'm pretty certain that she is.

Our champ.

Kaylee had her competition yesterday and did amazing. Her first opponent got caught in her arm bar, and she fought like crazy against the second one.

She placed 2nd and left there with even more confidence in herself.

Super proud of my girl. She rocked it.

[Insta]hooked.

Its official. I've been sucked into the wonderful world of Instagram.

The grump.

I had a feeling that Ava was going to be strong willed from the time she was in my tummy. Shortly after she was born we knew for sure once her true personality started to show.

She can be super serious, and super stubborn. One minute she is cuddly and sweet, the next? She is grunting and irritated at you because you aren't feeding her quick enough.

She has become very mobile which means she is super curious and wants to touch everything. I have started telling her "no" ALL. THE. TIME. Normally, she will just look at me and go right back to it. But, when I actually make contact with her, say "no" and move her, she then has the worst meltdown. I'm talking: full on screaming, banging her head on the floor and convulsing. I can hardly believe my eyes during one of her fits. Today, I took my phone away from her and she started flailing her arms at me which resulted in her knocking my glasses off of my face.

WHAT have we created?

This just means one thing: we are going to have to be tough on this kid. Starting now.

She may be cute, but don't let that sweet face fool you - this girl has a mighty temper.

#31.

A birthday dinner with the family on Saturday, a very important (but, BEYOND stressful) football game on Sunday, homemade birthday cards (with fun coupons inside) from my sweet kids, my favorite cheese fries for lunch, and new silver sparkly TOMS from the bestie.

Yep, I would say that my day was pretty much perfect.

Around here.

Life is busy. It always is.

-- The holidays are finally over and the kids just returned to school. Its been really weird not having them home all day. But, it is nice to be back on a regular schedule.

-- Speaking of schedules, Lee's will be changing at work next month and I am freaking excited. We will have mornings together and he will be home at night. Its going to be a nice change - one that will be so much better for our family.

-- Kaylee is preparing for her next competition in a couple of weeks and has been training her little butt off. Excited to watch her. She has made vast improvement since her last one. She is pumped.

-- I have been dying to redecorate something in my house so I have roped Becca in, to help me paint the front bathroom. I'm now in the process of picking out decor and trying to find inspiration. I'm hoping to tackle it next month. Excited.

-- Layton has been working really hard on an oral book report for school. They were doing a study on famous people and he picked Michael Jordan. He had to read a book, write an essay and memorize it. Today, he presented it to his class and I went to watch. He nailed it. He totally takes after his dad in that department.

-- I got to see the sketch for my tattoo yesterday. Its amazing. One step closer to getting it done. My appointment is mid-February.

-- I finally caved and joined Pinterest. Sarah also convinced me to try Instagram so now I have TWO small addictions. I can spend hours browsing for recipes, organization tips, and photography ideas. I also find myself taking tons more pictures with my cell phone now. Obsessed? Ehh, not yet. But, just give me some time - I will get there.

The 8 month old.

-- Her vocabulary is expanding. She can clearly say bubba, mama, dada, mmmm (while eating) and bye bye (while waving.) She's a little miss smarty-pants.

-- The girl has some crazy, frizzy hair and it drives me nuts. Most of the time she looks like she stuck her finger in a light socket and water, even gel doesn't tame it. I can't wait until it is long enough to lay down... the in between is torture.

-- We are no longer toothless! She has two bottom teeth now and it's adorable. However, she has already bit me a few times while nursing and THAT, well... that sucks.

-- She is in love with her daddy. When he gets home from work, she will try to follow him around - using her mad rolling skills and scream for him until he picks her up. He can't get enough of it. Half the time, she wants him more than me and I can tell this one is going to be a daddy's girl. She already is.

-- She has learned how to do 'rasberries' with her mouth. (I can thank Layton for this one.) If someone starts them, she will copy them and end up spitting and slobbering all over herself. It's lovely.

-- Bedtime is slowly improving [fingers crossed that saying this doesn't jinx me] and for the last few nights she has only woke up twice. Nap time is usually easy in the morning, but she fights me in the afternoon. Normally she takes a mini one at dinner time and it allows us to eat and for me to clean the kitchen before she is up again. The timing is perfect. I hope she sticks to it.

-- She has always been a busy, busy one and if rolling everywhere wasn't bad enough she has just started army crawling. Lord, help me. I figure it won't be long until she has the real crawl down. SO, I am trying to prepare my house (and me) for it.

-- I have also noticed the more and more I take her picture, the more I notice how serious she always is. Getting her to smile is a J.O.B and not an easy one. Sigh...

Baby chubs.

It's one of my favorite things about this silly little girl of mine.

[It also just-so-happens to be exactly 8 months today since she blessed us with her birth and I can't even imagine life without her… She is one AMAZING little person, no doubt.]

The new ride.

We finally got a bigger vehicle. Whoop!

I must admit, driving around an Expedition is a far cry from what I am used to - a small compact car that is super easy to park. But, I'm already catching on and feeling pretty comfortable with it.

My favorite part about it? Everyone FITS! No more kids screaming and bickering because they are 'touching' each other.

Happy kids... happy mom.