Princess P

I thought I'd give a little background on Ava's personality. Ava came into the world screaming and has always found a way to be heard. When Jack was born he was an easy going, laid back baby. He always went with the flow and had no problem adapting to whatever came his way. He was that kid that people were volunteering to babysit.  David and I have always talked to our kids like "mini" adults, telling the the truth based on what they are capable of understanding at their age. There is no "sugar coating" in our house. So when I became pregnant with Ava, Jack was always apart of everything from the very beginning. He is a awesome big brother and hope the closeness they share now will continue forever.

Ava wasn't a difficult baby but wasn't as easy as Jack. Welcome to the world of girls! She was never a great sleeper but would get through a big chunk of the night. There was a handful of times that she actually slept all night in her crib. Before you become a parent there is always a list of things I'll NEVER do. Then you have a child and that list becomes I'll do whatever I have to do to get through it. Sleeping in our bed was one of those I'd never do things. Ava is the reason we now have a king size bed. She always started out the night in her crib but sometime during the night she landed in ours. By 10 months it was almost comical... go to put her in the crib, she screamed bloody murder. Walk away from the crib she was fine. She did not like her crib and she let us know it. One night out of frustration we put her mattress on the floor. Lo and behold she slept through the night. From that day forward she slept on a mattress on her floor. She still climbs into bed with us more times then we like but at least now she can climb in herself.

Ava is a sassy little one. For the most part happy but her emotions sometimes are like a light switch. She can be laughing and dancing and the next minute yelling at you not to look at her. Somewhere around the age 2 she started complaining her legs and knees hurt. There would be days that she would wake up perfectly happy but within moments crying "My knees hurt! I'm not getting dressed" I won't brush my teeth! I'm not hungry!" Out bursts like this could happen at any time with out any inkling it was coming. At this point she is already on regular weight checks every 3 months because she is not on the charts for height and weight. I brought up on several visits that she has complaints about her knees and legs but there were no visible signs of something wrong, therefore it always was said we'll keep an eye on it. Was I over reacting? Was our child playing us? Is she just a bratty kid? These are things that go through your mind when a doctor is telling you nothing is wrong. After all we know how stubborn she is. When she decides something, there is no changing her mind. We had met our match and there are many people in our family to attest to this.


















Looking back I think maybe I should have pushed harder but as parents we always did the best we could. They gave us an answer to our question but in my gut I knew it was more. You are your child's advocate. Even if it turns out to be nothing, you and your child have the right to be 100 percent sure.