Avalon is 30 months old! For those of you having trouble with the conversion :) , that means that she is officially 2.5 years old! Wow, she is certainly more of a big girl than a baby now. She's a complete walking, talking, thinking, little unique person. And as both John and I can attest, she DEFINITELY knows what she wants and is quite happy to do what it takes to try and get her way! Luckily, most of the time she can be partially reasoned with...
Here are some pictures from the month.
Our 4th annual Carver Street block party took place in July. I planned it again this year, but had help from several of the neighbors, and we had the best turnout of all of the years so far - probably close to 80-100 people at one point. The fire department visited with a fire engine, and they even unrolled the fire hose and let the kids shoot the water! We had a huge water slide jumper, and tons of food. In fact, this year we catered both lunch and dinner so that the party could continue all day. The kids were especially excited by the snow cone machine that one of the neighbors rented. Everyone had a great time.
We also celebrated by birthday...if you are wondering, I am pretty sure that it was my 25th, but I have to admit that I've lost count... :) The day before we had a little celebration at one of my neighbor's houses - thanks Lillian and Mike! - it was an unexpected surprise of lots of neighbors and was a great night.
On my birthday, I had a great dinner in Manhattan Beach with John and Avalon, then a walk on the pier, followed up with some ice cream. Avalon was soooo excited! Look how big she is in the picture below - - where did my baby go?!
Soon after my birthday, we also got to celebrate John's...
I made a red velvet cake for him - - my first time making red velvet cake. It turned out great!
There was another birthday recently too - my Mom's! Happy birthday, Mom! Avalon was very excited and asked John if we could get a little cake when they were shopping at the store. So, we had a tiny cake and put a candle on it for my mom. Avalon blew out the candle (several times, as she kept wanting it to be relit!!) and she sang 'happy birthday'. It's funny because my mom wasn't in California...but Avalon was still over-the-top excited to celebrate. Yay for birthdays! :)
Avalon getting ready for a little swim at the neighbor's house...
We had a fun family morning at the beach. Avalon and I ran in waves and built sand castles, while John did some fishing.
Look at that long and gorgeous hair blowing in the wind!
Avalon walked ALL the way up the big hill back to the car, but then sat down at the top and said she was tired. :) Of course, we carried her to the car...but I was so impressed that she wanted to go up the hill by herself!
We recently set up Avalon's big girl bed! Thank you very much to Avalon's Australian Grandparents for helping us to purchase it! We really appreciate it!!! Avalon LOVES the bed - although she is still choosing to sleep in her crib most of the time for now. She has some time, since the baby will be in our room for a few months (at least) after she arrives.
Avalon looking cute during bathtime. She wanted to pose, but I think that she's trying to be modest with the way that she is holding her toy!
Avalon making a little pillow bed to play in right next to our bed.
Avalon's fine motor skills have suddenly made a HUGE leap. She's able to set dolls on top of chairs/beds (like in the photo) and build little towers that are 10 blocks high, instead of just a few. This change literally happened overnight.
Drew and Carly and their mom, Mary, visited us the other week. Avalon loves the big girls so much and she had so much fun playing with them.
Mark (Avalon's God Father) took some nice family photos of us at the beach last weekend. Thank you Mark! It was so special to capture the end of this pregnancy in photos.
Well friends and family, I am now 39+ weeks pregnant. Yes, only a few days away from my due date. We are feeling prepared now. Please send prayers for my labor and delivery to be manageable, joyful and calm. I'm hoping for another unmedicated hypnobirth, in order to bring this daughter into the world in the most relaxing and peaceful way possible. We are so excited to meet her and we look forward to introducing you to her very soon. Our family is expanding - we are thrilled!
All our love, xo
J, J + A...and new baby girl coming soon
