AvaLin.net

Where’s Ava?

Don’t…

… ask…

… me.

I’m the two forehead monster. Arrggghhhh!

I will look even cuter if I put this flower behind my ear? Okay, I trust you know what you are talking about.

How do I look?

Hello there. Our Ava is now 85 weeks old and started off the week with a nice case of croup. Cough cough cough.

Her cough began the previous night and did not clear up in the morning as it would normally. On the way to the pediatrician’s office, Ava started to get upset which made her cough evolve into labored breathing. The doctor immediately walked us into his break room and opened up his freezer. I held Ava there for a few minutes, in hopes of opening up her airway. It didn’t work. Next, he started a breathing treatment on Ava but that didn’t work either. So, he made a call to the ER that we were on our way there. What? The ER again!?!

Yes Ava. The ER again. Ava and I ended up being in the ER for four hours. Dan and Jeremy (his chauffeur for the day) stopped by for a quick visit before heading to Dan’s orthopedic doctor’s office to make arrangements for his second surgery. What a wonderful day.

As soon as we got to the ER, we were whisked away to a room, just a couple rooms down from where we were just about 36 hours or so ago. Oh the fun. TGIF! Ava started off with oxygen. It didn’t help. Then she got a steroid shot in her thigh. It didn’t work. Finally, she got a special breathing treatment with a fancy drug in it. It worked. Thank goodness. Her breathing noticeably got less labored. But the fun wasn’t over yet.

It took about 2 hours to get her breathing normally again, but we had to stay for another 2 hours to make sure it did not return after the effects of the drug wore off… and we had to run a few tests. The nurse had to test for RSV by suctioning mucous from her nose with a long tube that, I swear, almost hit her brain. She was not happy about that one bit. Then Ava had to have a chest x-ray. A few weeks ago, she had one and did fine. She stood up like a big girl and the tech got a great x-ray on the first shot. But at the hospital, they didn’t allow for her to stand up like a big girl. She had to be placed in this contraption that wouldn’t allow for her to move. That way, the tech would be guaranteed one great x-ray and Ava would not need to be exposed to unnecessary radiation if they needed to repeat it. My heart sank when I saw this thing. Ava had to stand in this clear tube with her arms over her head. She looked like what I thought Baby Jessica would have looked like stuck in that well. I wanted to cry but my job was to be strong. I had to distract her. The only thing that came to mind was to put my arms over my head and say ’stretch stretch’, as we do at home when we are playing. She was understandably scared but having me stretch with her calmed her down enough for a great x-ray.

While sitting in our triage room, Ava was hooked up to a pulse oximeter the whole time to measure her oxygen levels. It is just a sticker that wraps around her big toe and shines a red light through her toenail. Ava hates that thing. She hated it at her last hospital stay in Tucson and she hated it this time. Every time she saw it on her toe, she would cry ‘ouch’. But, if she didn’t see it, she was fine. She also had to have her temperature taken rectally as soon as we got to the ER. As soon as that test surprised her, she cried ‘gotovo’, which means ‘all done’. And after that test, every other test got her to cry ‘gotovo’ too. Sorry Ava. Not gotovo yet.

So, after reviewing all of her tests, the doctor informed us that she did not have RSV but she did have pneumonia caused by croup. Since croup is a viral infection, there were no antibiotics to take. It was just going to take time and handed us our discharge papers. Ok Ava. Gotovo.

Later that day, Ava stared coughing again so we spoke to our pediatrician over the phone and gave her an update. She said that Ava might need to go to the ER tonight. Croup gets significantly worse at night… and Ava was already getting worse in the afternoon. Ahhh. She also informed us that she thinks Ava was born with a small airway which is why she is very sensitive to any type of respiratory infection. It is just going to take time for her airway to grow larger… maybe in a few more years. Don’t just love when the answer to your problem is TIME instead of a MAGIC PILL?

If your kid has croup, they recommend that you take them into the bathroom, turn on the shower and have them breath in the warm mist. If that doesn’t work, you are supposed to take them outside for cool air or stick them in front of the freezer. Neither of these things have worked too well in the past for Ava. The doctor gave us new suggestions this time and they work. Hallelujah.

The first suggestion was to bundle up Ava and have her sleep with all the windows open with a cool mist humidifier. Since, having Ava sleep in her bedroom with all her windows open scares the bejesus out of me, we set up the pack ‘n play in our room and bundled ourselves up too. Not only did Ava’s excessive coughing stop that night, Dan also stopped snoring. It was a double miracle. I don’t remember the last time I had a quiet night with no snoring and not having to elbow Dan in the ribs to tell him to sleep on his side. Ava really benefited from having cold humid air. I can’t tell you how many times you hear the opposite. ‘Keep the baby warm when she’s sick.’ No wonder she got so sick in Arizona. The dry desert and the heated trailer sure didn’t make things better.

The second suggestion was to take Ava on after dinner stroller rides around the block to help airway open with the cooler night air. Those walks were so so nice. It was the only time during the day that we left the house with Ava.

The third suggestion was to give Ava popsicles. She sure didn’t complain about this one! I ask Ava all the time if she likes things. She usually ignores me or says no. If she says no to something I know she likes, I ask her the same question over again. She then gives me an affirmative answer by repeating the word I was questioning. But for the very first time, when I asked Ava if she liked her popsicle, she responded to me with a nod and by then said ‘da’, which means yes in Croatian.

Ava was starting to feel better. It was going to take some time to get rid of the pneumonia but we were now on the right path. (Please ignore the midriff, Dada’s shoes, and popsicle drips on her sweat pants. It was a rough day.)

So, in case you forgot, Dan broke his right arm and his left thumb. So, no Ava diaper changing, no gardening, no dish washing, no driving, no showers, no liter box cleaning, no laundry, no nothing for him. And ‘no nothing’ includes no cooking too. In case you don’t know me too well, I don’t like to cook. Sure I can do it but I don’t enjoy it. So it became part of his ‘husband job description’. So, here is a picture of me cooking all by myself like a big girl. Enjoy it while it lasts people… and please ignore the tears in my eyes. Ava was kind enough to help make some invisible appetizers with a dash of crumbs from the kitchen floor.

Dan’s family was also here this weekend. Uncle Eric (whom Ava started to call Uncle Auk) helped her get the recipe just right.

So, what was the consensus of Mama’s homemade Bolognese Sauce?

Ava gave it a raving review. Yeah, I passed the test!

Since we were home bound this weekend, Ava got to dress up like a lady…

… and dress up as Super Ava.

Ava wasn’t the only one who enjoyed being a super hero. Here is Super Ava with Super Dada.

And Super Eric even made an appearance while we was making us Philadelphia Rolls.

Ava is growing up SO fast. She is starting to use a step stool to get on the couch all by herself.

Ava uses that same step stool in the bathroom to ‘brush’ her teeth. Her tooth brush technique does not really involve a lot of brushing. She mostly wets her princess toothbrush and sucks the water out of the bristles. Yum.

When getting her dressed in the morning, I started to give Ava the option of giving my choices a ‘da’ or a ‘no’. After showing Ava four different dresses, she finally said yes to this pink number which was way too short to be called a dress anymore. I threw on the jeans and she chose her pirate shoes over her apple shoes. This is the best ‘cheese’ I could get out of her. Dora just appeared on the TV and she can not be bothered when her favorite cartoon friend is talking.

On our walks, Ava is starting to want to push the stroller all by herself.

If Ava wants to watch cartoons on the television, she will hand us the remote and ask for Dora or Elmo. If we say no to Dora, she will then ask if it’s okay to watch Boots.

I finally got around to buying Ava her first set of washable markers. For some reason, I thought she was old enough and drew with them at school. But I don’t think so. It took a while to explain to her that these were for drawing lines and not for slamming into the table to make ‘dot art’ like she does at school. She had fun trying to name the color of the marker she was using.

Luckily, the markers were washable and the ink disappeared as soon as she sat in the bath tub that night.

Ava also likes to play with play-doh too. She likes telling us what to make. After we make the desired object, she usually plays with it for 5 seconds and them demolishes it into smithereens.

While playing with Dada the other day, she asked him to make her a fish. Once he handed it over to her, she decided to forgo the demolition and give the fish to her friend Yoda.

Yoda wasn’t sure what to do with her new ‘fish’ toy.

Daycare is still going well. I started to drop Ava off in the mornings since Dan is unable to drive. She started a new tradition of carrying her own lunch box into her classroom like a big girl.

When I pick Ava up from school, she gets sent home with a daily log of what she did on that particular day. I always read it in the car before heading back home so I can talk to her about all the fun things she did. I noticed that one of the activities she did on that particular day was jumping in a bounce house. So I asked her if she went into a bounce house. And boy did she respond to my question. She first said ’si’, which is yes in Spanish. After Dan and I both started to giggle, she quickly responded with ‘yeah’ and then ‘da’. Oh Ava. Sorry. It will all make sense one day. I swear.

In addition to asking Ava to use the potty before bath time, I also started to ask Ava to try to pee in her potty after bath time. On Monday, she said ‘kaka’ to me and then proceeded to pee in the potty. On Tuesday, she didn’t say a word but peed in her potty. On Wednesday, she peed on her feet as she was watching the water empty out of the tub. On Thursday, she peed on her feet again. A 50-50 chance of tinkling in the right place is not to shabby. Not shabby at all.

On Thursday, we ventured out to Target to look for some new pajamas. While waiting to pay for our items, Ava noticed a lady behind us in line that looked a bit different than us. Ava pointed to her and said ‘što to?’, which means ‘what’s that?’ in Croatian. Dan looked at me and said thank god Ava speaks Croatian. That could of been really embarrassing.

On Wednesday, Dan had his second and final surgery. It was finally time to fix his left thumb, which has been broken for a week. The surgery itself only took 15 minutes and two pins, but the whole process took 5 long hours because of what was involved with general anesthesia. When it was time to put an IV in his arm during pre-op, the nurse couldn’t put it in left arm since the surgery will take place there. She couldn’t put it on his right arm because his cast extends past his elbow. So, she had to put it into his left foot. So. So. Disgusting. The nurse told Dan sorry before she even started to try to insert the needle since they rarely put these in. It took a few tries and three nurses to finally get the IV in his foot. So, poor Dan had things on three out of his four limbs. Hmmm, I take that back. They forgot to put on his ID bracelet. Hmmm. I guess it goes on his right foot. Nice anklet Dan! (Don’t worry Dan. I won’t point out your Michael Jackson sock!)

Before surgery, we noticed that his thumb was a good half inch shorter than his other thumb. So. So. Disgusting. Thank goodness we didn’t notice it until just before it was getting fixed. And he thought it wasn’t broken. HA! I win. You lose.

Ava and I waited and waited for Dan to be wheeled out. Ava waited and waited to give her Dada a special Get Well Soon card and to get a picture with him… but this nurse would NOT slow down. What did she think I had, a digital SLR? No lady. It’s a point and shoot. Slow the f down.

So, we were back at home with Dada and his new cast. We hope you feel better really soon Dada. We miss your cooking. Real bad.

Have a fabulous weekend! BYE!

Thanks for staying with us through this exciting week of videos! We have had a blast making them and Ava can’t wait to hear from you to know if you’ve enjoyed them. See you here tomorrow for Ava’s 85th-week update post!

This concludes the special week of Ava video posts. Bye bye!!!

People sometimes say that little kids can see spirits due to their innocent nature. Sometimes Ava will stare and point at something that we can not see. Here is one of those times.

Don’t let this scare you. Come back for our last post in the video week series tomorrow. See you then!

One of the only milestones that Ava is behind in is jumping. She still can’t seem to grasp the concept of leaving the ground with both of her feet at the same time. Maybe her big head is too heavy and gravity just doesn’t agree with it.

Two more days left of video week posts. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow!

Ava is now a big copy cat and pretty much mimics everything we do. One of her rubber bath toys is a little green rubber shark. Check her out in this video doing the Jaws theme…

Come back tomorrow for the day-2 of our special week of Ava videos.

Put on your dancing shoes…

…and dance with me!

P.S. Happy 12th Date-A-Versary Dan
P.P.S Video week starts on Monday. Stay tuned.

Hi. Our little Ava is now 84 weeks old. Our week began wonderfully but didn’t end that way… keep reading.

Ava is still enjoying daycare. She is really good friends with Ava R. They like hugging good-bye when we pick her up. And when I mention the word school to her, the first word she says back to me is Ava R. When she says Ava R, it sounds like Ava Eye. Hehe. She likes to hug us too. The other day, she said Mama and gave me a hug. Then it was time to say Dada and give him a hug. And then Ava said her own name and hugged herself! It was too cute.

The two of them hug so much that they even have their own “wall of hugging” at school. In the next month or so, Ava R will be moving up to another classroom and our Ava will be without her buddy for a couple months. The director of daycare said that if our Ava gets too lonely and bored without her buddies, that she might move up to the older classroom a bit early.

On Saturday, we spent the day in San Pedro. Ava got a chance to go to the park again… the one where she didn’t want to play in last weekend because sand was getting in her sandals. This time we were prepared with frilly socks and pirate shoes. She had fun going down slides with Anthony and Marko. Weeee.

Ava also got more stickers from Nona to fuel her addiction to them. Check out her Sesame Street sleeve.

She also ran around like a crazy person after dinner when I tied a ribbon to her hair. Ava had no problem saying Teta Mary before dinner time. But after dinner, when I asked her who was sitting next to her, Ava said Nona Vinka. We all died laughing. Nona Vinka is Teta Mary’s mom. She made the mistake a few times after that too… probably because she knew it made us all giggle.

On Sunday, we were back home and relaxing in the back yard. Dan lost his voice this week so he had to whisper. It was hard for me not to whisper back to him when he talked. Ava didn’t mind his whispering. She actually made up for all the talking her Dada couldn’t do. As for her vocabulary, there are two words that stick out from the others. Not because they are difficult to say, but because they are words from a dialect found on the island of Hvar. The first dialect word is pants. Ava says gaće instead of hlače. The second dialect word is milk. Ava says mliko instead of mljeko. And in case your wondering, her Dida is very proud… and he’s keeping count!

Dan finally got a chance to set up the tent we bought at Ikea last weekend. Ava loved it. At first she was a bit concerned by the grass that was poking her through the tent floor, but she soon got over it.

Dan and I also finished our homemade teepee tent project. Ava loved this one even more. She got to pick out the fabric all by herself. After hours and hours of searching thru reels of fabirc at Fabric Town USA, she finally settled on Olivia fabric. Olivia is a pig from one of her most cherished books. She likes to read Olivia while sitting on Rudy’s bed with a group of her stuffed animals by her side.

Check out Ava wearing ‘bracelets’ in her new tent.

We also spent some time at a local park. I showed Ava how to slide down the slide all by herself… on her tummy. She was so happy that she didn’t need our help anymore. So much so that she started telling the other kids at the park that these were ‘my slides’.

Having two real tents at our house is not enough for Ava. When she is not under our sheets or comforter, she is using pillowcases as mini-tents.

And mini-tents are multipurpose. They also turn to nun hats…

…and into super hero capes too.

When Ava and I are under our comforter on the bed, she screams for Dada to join us. I taught Ava how to put her finger on her lips to say shhh while we wait for Dada. I think we need to work on it some more.

On Wednesday, Dan and our neighbor Bill decided to go skateboarding. I’m not sure why two grown men wanted to relive their glory days but what the hey. Ava and I decided to join them on their adventure. The first hill they decided to go on was pretty steep, so I decided to walk back to the car so I could pick the boys up at the bottom of the hill. As I was walking back to the car, I lost my balance as I stepped onto some wet grass. I was holding Ava in my arms as I lost my balance. It all happened in slow motion. As I was going down, her back was arching and her head was nearing the lawn. I thankfully regained my balance and brought Ava up to my chest before she hit the grass. Afterward, she looked at me with concern and kept repeating ‘Ava Ava’ over and over again. Sorry little one. But as we would find out in a few minutes, this was the least of our worries.

The boys graduated to a larger and windier street. Ava had that ‘Ummm Dada. I have a bad feeling about this’ look on her face as he left the car.

And a few minutes later, she had the ‘Ummm Dada, I told you so’ look on her face. When Ava and I got to the bottom of the hill, Dan was walking towards us, shaking his head and holding his right arm. My heart sank but I was thankful that we were only a few blocks from the hospital and thankful that it wasn’t much much worse.

Dan broke his arm and dislocated his wrist. Since the bone was a bit exposed (yuck!), he had to get a round of antibiotics in him STAT and also have emergency surgery. I quickly drove Ava home and put her to bed so I could get back to the hospital. Bill stayed at our house to watch Ava for a few hours, until Jeremy arrived… who was coming over to work with Dan. Umm, change of plans Jeremy. Dan’s surgery only took an hour but the whole process from ER to prep to surgery to recovery to getting moved to a real room, took about 7 hours. 7 LONG hours. And those 7 long hours also included being moved from trauma room 3 in the ER to hall 1 in the ER. Nothing but star treatment for my professional skate boarding husband. No autographs please!

While in the Surgery Prep room, the orthopedic surgeon walked us through what was going to happen in surgery. At the end of his explanation, the surgeon asked Dan if he had any questions. And what did Dan ask? Ummm, he asked ‘When can I eat?’. That’s my Dan!

Here is Dan a couple hours after surgery. In good spirits and really sleepy… but not hungry at all. I mentioned to the nurse that Dan’s thumb on his other hand was bothering him. It was black and blue and swollen. She ordered an x-ray for the morning, just in case.

In the morning, I got Ava ready for school and made a pit stop at the hospital to visit her Dada. She was happy to see Dan but was scared of the all the tubes and machines. I think it might of reminded her of her hospital stay back in January of this year.

After a few minutes of checking out the room, Ava felt comfortable to sit up on the bed. She saw a cup of water on Dan’s bedside tray and said ‘Dada piti agua’. Haha. ‘Dada piti agua’ translates to Dada drink water. It was her first official three word sentence. But not only was it three words, it was trilingual too. English, Croatian and Spanish. Oh boy. And you thought English-only speaking toddlers were hard to understand.

After completing his round of antibiotics, Dan was free at last… or was he? He actually got a call later that day that his thumb was also broken and it needed surgery. So not only will he have 4 more pins in his left thumb in addition to the plate and 6 screws in right arm, he will also have another cast. Ummm, who is going to have to help wipe an extra ass in our house? Ummmm, not it! Not it! Not it! Not it! Maybe I can drop him off at adult day care after I drop Ava off at her daycare.

After getting released from the hospital, we grabbed a bite to eat. And what did Dan want to eat? Chicken soup? No. Cherry Jello? Nope. A double cheeseburger from Hamburger Habit? You got it.

After teaching Ava how to say cast, Dan and Jeremy talked business and Ava and I played with Play-Doh.

Check out what Ava made all by herself. This fish. And it has an eye in the right place. I swear she made it herself. No cheating. I did roll the eyeball for her but she put it in the right place. I was sooo proud of her that I couldn’t even take a clear picture!

That night, Jeremy was kind enough to help me cook. We decided to throw…. Taco Night! It was delicious if I can say so myself. We also invited Michelle, Grace and Cole over to partake in our festivities. Ole! But ignore the look on Jeremy’s face. I swear he was enjoying his meal. He ate six tacos while my Dan only ate two. What the hell? Anyways, his Ventura business vacation was a LITTLE different that his previous ones. He ended being a babysitter, a chef, a dishwasher, and a chauffeur. Thanks Jeremy! Hmmm, maybe he can come over next weekend to help me wipe butts. OH COME ON!!! Please?

After our successful Taco Night, Ava showed off her new Olivia Tent to Grace. Dan might have multiple injuries, but he sure could still play DADA MONSTER with them. Hehe.

Oh, and you know how bad things supposedly come in threes? Well they do.

#1- Dan needs surgery on right arm.

#2- Dan needs surgery on left hand.

And #3 you ask? You don’t have a #3?
Ummm, yes I do!

#3- Ava gets croup again and PNEUMONIA and a 4-hour ER visit.

If you have a heart, please drop off a box of tissues and a six pack of beers for me on the porch. You don’t even have to come into the house. I’m okay with ding-dong ditchers.

Ava’s babushka picture on her clipboard, where the teachers keep track of her activities, mood and… poops.

Ava’s jail line-up picture on her cubby box, where we keep her sheets, blanket and spare clothes, in case she… you got it… poops.