Today I got a letter in the mail from a girl who was in one of the areas where I served in Brazil. She would always help us teach and now she is on her mission :) It was awesome to hear from her!! She wrote all the whole letter in English, which I loved, and she told me that our old mission split!! It's super exciting that there are so many people serving right now! Her letter brought back so many memories! When I was opening the envelope I forgot that most people don't use the envelopes that have the stuff you lick to close it because those are expensive. Instead they use glue to hold envelopes shut and you always have to rip off a side of the envelope because the flap is so glued shut that it isn't worth it to try to rip that part. And the letter inside is usually glued to the envelope because the glue seeps through. That happened this time, it makes me smile. Brazil is awesome. So are Brazilians. She also mentioned a time we were out teaching when it was pouring outside. I don't remember any specific time, but I remember how much I loved the rain in Brazil! They get the best rain! I'm sure that was a good day for me!
The kiddos are doing great. In the beginning Ava was cute to look at, but was basically a lump on the floor or the couch. She is getting cuter and interacting more so that makes her more than a lump :) She is starting to smile at us which is the best!!! She is super cute and is an awesome sleeper at night! She wakes up at 3 and 6, so if I got up at 6 I could say she only gets up one time in the night, but I prefer to keep sleeping, which is hard because I only get and hour or two of sleep after that feeding and it is soooo hard to wake up after such a short sleep!! One of these days I will just get up at 6 and get some stuff done. That will be a good day. She has had a hard time pooping, she cries and wiggles and it takes her awhile to get it out, but when she does she is a happy camper. She seems to be getting better so I hope it is passing. She has thrush :( I read a bit about what it is and how to get rid of it and it is super complicated!! It reminds me of getting lice and all the crap you have to wash and everything. Annoying. She is getting fatter YAY!! She is already over 10 pounds and its super cute. Her legs are still super skinny, but they are starting to get rolls! She is a super loud sleeper, snoring, nose and throat clearing, loogie making... It's nasty and used to wake us up every second but now we sleep through it. She is also a choker :( Owen has had a hard time with choking his whole life and I think Ava is going to be worse. She chokes on milk every time she eats, how do you choke on liquid?! Owen started solids late because he has such a hard time but he never choked on milk! Hopefully she will get over it.
Owen is still the best ever. He loves Ava like crazy. The other day I had to go to the car and move her car seat to a different spot so I took him and let him run around inside the car while I was doing that. Usually when we do that it is super hard to get him to come out of the car and he screams and cries when we finally catch him. (It is a Ford Expedition, so lots of seats and room to play.) This time when I was done I tried to get him to come out to the door and he stayed in the back where I couldn't reach and instead of going into the car and getting him I just told him we forgot Ava and we had to go get her and he came out :) SO CUTE!! He still shares his Barney and blanket, which he calls Po. He tries to put the binky in her mouth, which she doesn't like. She isn't super in love with the binky like most babies, but she will use it every once in awhile so when Owen tries to give it to her half the time she doesn't want it so it just makes her crying worse. But it is sweet he tries to help. She likes to look at people and when she is crying and I am busy I will tell him to go see what is wrong with her and he will look at her and poke her and tell me she is crying, which gives Ava someone to look at so it helps me out!
This past weekend we blessed Ava :) It was sweet. Matt's parents came on Thursday and then my parents and siblings and their kids came on Friday. Saturday we went prom dress shopping. It was way fun!! It makes me want to wear a pretty dress!! We also went to a fun Halloween thing, it was too crowded, but the weather was perfect! It was a stressful weekend because of all the people, I was happy when everyone left so was Owen. He got really cranky and whiny toward the end!! Sunday was horrible. Church ends 20 minutes after nap time should start, so he has a hard time days when he isn't already in a bad mood. So we didn't get any pictures because he was as bad as he could be and we were sick of it and annoyed. There were some pictures taken of Ava by herself on our floor :) That's enough for me!
