Overdue Update

This update became so overdue that the longer I waited, the more it became pointless to send an update.  First, the biggest and oldest update is that Ava turned 1 in FEBRUARY.  Unlike the fanfare and big parties we gave Elise and Sean, we quietly celebrated her birthday at home.  Unfortunately, she got very sick during her birthday weekend and was not in the celebratory mood.  She took her first step at 15 months but it took a while for her to get the hang of it and only really started walking at 16 months.  Now she paddles around the house in search of something, anything to get her paws on.  We call her our Roomba because that's what she does, spins from room to room and when she hits a wall she turns around and goes the other direction until she hits another wall. All day, that's Ava. Is she talking yet?  If you count "whoa-whoa" then yes. Like her big sister, language doesn't seem to be her forte.  Today, she asserts her independence at the dinner table and does not let her older siblings take advantage of her.  She's obsessed with taking showers because whenever we can't find her, she's in the shower with her face towel.  This happens at least once a day.  They say that with every child, you loosen the reigns a bit.  Our third child is getting the loose reigns alright.  She still drinks from a bottle whereas Sean and Elise were weaned at 12 months on the dot.  She doesn't sleep through the night and our answer is take her into our bed every night because we can't risk waking up the other kids and frankly, because we're too tired to put up a fight.  I don't think Sean has ever slept with us past the age of 6 weeks.  She didn't get a party but she gets to sleep with Mom and Dad.  Maybe we should of thrown her that party...

Sean also had a birthday milestone and turned 4 in June.  He grew 3 inches in one year but still remains in the single digit percentiles.  His favorite things are still cars, cars, and Cars. 

As for Elise, she graduates from You and I Montessori at the end of this month after completing the full 3 year Montessori program.  She's super excited about starting 1st grade at our neighborhood school and we're prepping mentally and logistically for that big day.

As for us, we moved to Palo Alto in April and while we're not quite settled, we're getting our groove back.  The kids love our neighbors and we enjoy the occasional distractions that provides.

That's it in a nutshell and hopefully we'll be back very soon with some new pictures.