Growing Up Tall

Helloo. Again, it's been a minute since I've stopped by. Sorry about that to all of you who are far away and miss pictures of these two cuties I call daughters. Let me make up for lost time immediately and without fanfare (and I'll try to update you by way of little stories along the way):

Starting off with Havyn, caught in the act of filling Kristina's motorbike exhaust pipe with water. The bike now does not run. : )

 Ava Gray LOVES the water. Who knew!? I have a zillion other pictures of her having a blast, but you get the general idea : )

 Havyn is a little more "sticking to the sidelines" for now. Though just at the end of pool season, she did start jumping in! (Love it that she calls the things on her head, her "gobbles")

 We got to see Linda this year ("Deeda" to the girls). Here are the cousins enjoying storytime with their beloved aunt. : )

 And we have two new nieces!!! Jonathan's sister has an adorable 8(? - I can't keep up!) month old daughter named Ana Marie (pictured later in this post), and Linda is showing off Brian's new little beauty who goes by the name of Jean Katherine. Both of these girls are SO HAPPY and SO BEAUTIFUL! It's ridiculous : )

 Speaking of beautiful.......

 Ava Gray is starting to give us all kinds of grins & smirks and smiles. All of which melt our hearts!

 Here's my other beauty... Is it just me, or does she look all grown up here?

 Still trying to get her "gobbles" off:

 Almost there..... : )

 Okay, so a brief medical update on AG: see the protruding rectangular shape on her forehead? It's a dissolving plate that was helping to hold her skull in place as it fused back together (post-craniotomy surgery). This is at it's wildest-looking state. It's already dissolved so much that at present it's barely noticeable, and per her doc, should be entirely gone in a few more months. What is amazing to me, is that she is so breath-takingly beautiful even with that big block on her forehead. Oh, and regarding seizures and food issues: we're down to 2-3 seizures a month (each usually only 20-45 seconds long). Her anti-seizure meds keep needing to increase each month as she grows in height and weight. We may be changing some of those soon due to the side effects, but she's actually pretty stable, considering. Regarding food: she's loving it more and more! Her favorite thing is a plain ol' graham cracker, but tries & enjoys a lot of things and can drink a little from a small medicine cup. Her new "formula" (made up of real food vs. commercial formula) totally agrees with her. And about her progress in hitting developmental milestones: she is amazing us all! Starting to croon along with songs and music, yell when she's wants attention or is irritated with us, grab & play with toys of all kinds, sit up by herself and try to stand against furniture, get in fights over toys with Havyn, enjoy being read to, and having a ball in her new SleepSafe bed! (a $10,000 bed that insurance finally approved for her). Every day she shows us more of her spunky personality. And one of my favorite new developments: she is starting to kiss us back and even leans in to press her lips against our hand or face. Snuggle time with Ava Gray is the most wonderful thing in the world...

 Like I said, the most wonderful thing..

 Her hair is also developing some spunk and attitude of it's own:

 Her beautiful little hand:

 Checking out what's going on with camera-crazy mama:

 Aaaand, pushing herself up to sitting:

Ok, it's official, you just keep loving them more and more. It seems impossible, but then it dawns on you multiple times in a week that you love them more today than you did the day before:

And here's a funny story. Havyn loves maps. A lot. (Thank you Dora-the-Explorer). This is Havyn. At the zoo. This was her pose as she pored over the map. EVERY 3 STEPS. She would consult with it, figure out where she wanted to go, then look up and point in a direction and declare loudly, "we go THAT way!" And you can't see it, but she's surrounded by bemused fellow-patrons-of-the-zoo. When we go, its like we are our own exhibit. "Map Girl"

 Here's AG sporting a little "Bam-Bam-on-the-side" look:

 And Havyn sporting the "you-can't-see-me-if-I-can't-see-you" look:

How Nashville is this pic? Both girls love to sing and dance (AG does it from a sitting position, but still!) We have some rockin dance parties around here.

East Nashville is a pretty fun place to live. Here we are attending the local "Tomato Fest." AG hates it because it's hot. Havyn loves it because she gets to eat ice cream. : )

Thankfully we have friends who live right near all the festivities and we got to cool off in their backyard.

 So my girls have these best friends. That are my age. Here's Ava Gray with one of them:

And a little shot of Ava Gray and her teeth. Which she is now using to bite people. On purpose. And then smirking afterwards. Not good. Not good at all. Especially as I'm tempted to giggle each time at the spunk in this little one that wasn't even supposed to make it....

And see the legs on this girl? They are both in the 90th percentile for height and weight, towering over most 3 and 4 year olds. This is awesome, but also daunting to those of us lifting them! : )

And here is the promised picture of our second new niece. Ana Marie. Almost always smiling, and radiating such sweetness. We love her!

 Did I mention that we also love sand? Digging our toes in it, building castles with it, eating it....

There's a new water park in town that we just discovered a few weeks ago. Both girls happily spent hours here until "fountain season" closed. Eagerly awaiting next summer!

(This was the day we first discovered it, so we weren't dressed for it. Not that it dampened our spirits in the slightest!)

Pulling a Mary Poppins:

Okay, this next series shows what happens when AG decides she's done with my incessant photo-taking:

 But then she forgives me : )

 And we kiss & make up...

 Sigh. She's slays me!

 Here's another cute pic of our niece Ana Marie, and her sweet mama, Lily.

Oh, then I finally gave Ava Gray a decent haircut (the last time I tried, I butchered it, and all AG's nurses banded together and forbade me from getting near her again with scissors). This time, though, it turned out pretty cute : )

Here we are on the walking bridge downtown. There's such a beautiful view of the city from here. If you come visit us, we'll take you there!

 (Still wet from the water park that's located just underneath the walking bridge):

Another thing we got to do recently was visit Brian & Susan & Rose & Jean in Chattanooga. Here are two cousins. Exploring......

 Pirating...

 Combining a little piracy and exploration....

 And Ava Gray got in on the dressing-up too! When we first put this hat on her, I thought she was annoyed and trying to get it off her head (which is her usual response to hats and/or anything else that touches her head). It turns out, she was just trying to get it perfectly situated so she could model. (Notice her "I feel pretty!" pic below?). Yes, Ava Gray, you are adorable.

Okay. I could go on, but it's really, really late and I've got to call it a night. That's a pretty good update, though, right? If you want to peruse a few bonus pictures, you can check out the post just before this one. And if you're craving more details, just give me a call!

Much love,

Jules