aves, camo, & palmy-pants on Feb. 4, 2014

Aves is getting SO old.  Brian and I can't take it.  She is obsessed OBSESSED with dinosaurs.  She wants to watch national geographic documentaries about archaeological digs and dinosaur fossils and "monster diaries: the dinosaur" ALL the time.  Speaking of watching TV, she would watch TV for 12 hours a day if i let her.  This used to SERIOUSLY bother me.  That she constantly asked for Tv.  BUT- I relaxed a little about it haha.   I ADORE that she loves to feed her little brain with new information.  :)  She's our little talker (although Cam is doing her part to try and follow suit in this department!).  On the RARE ocassions that we get alone time with our little Averton, she will just chat up a storm.  Whatever her eyes fall upon, whatever song she hears on the radio, whatever random thought pops into her mind... all things are worthy of AT LEAST a 10 minute conversation.  She loves facts.  But she also loves to think beyond the surface level.  She wants reasons and motivations and consequences and processes.  She wants to THOROUGHLY UNDERSTAND why things are the way they are.  WHY God created certain things certain ways.  WHY people cry when they're sad.  WHY dogs are pets.  WHY dinosaurs can't be alive now.  WHY planet earth is the one we live on and not Jupiter.  The questions can DEF get exhausting, but B-Riz and I REALLY try to answer and continue encouraging her to be curious!  It's SO challenging sometimes, to keep from tuning her out and defer to autoresponse... "i dont know... i dont know... uh-huh... yep.... coooool....".  BUT- we try!! :)  Because we NEVER want to discourage her from exercising her little brain as much as she pleases!!  My other fav part of Aves is that she LOVVVES to draw.  She comes up with these ornate pictures of allll kinds of things.  Most common are detailed portraits of our family (plus some friends) and/or dinosaur "habitats" hahaha.  But- she'll draw landscapes of all kinds, monsters, animals, hospitals... you name it!  I see our biggest girl as being a great reader of character and an INTELLIGENT woman.  Which can be a gift and a curse all at once!!!  I pray that she stays humble in the midst of her intelligence and stays gentle and compassionate despite her "realist" perspective!  I also see that she seems to be so in tune with other people's emotions.  Even when they're not verbalized.  It's funny, she's SUCH a pleaser.  And a PERFECTIONIST.  She shuts down when she feels like she has disappointed or messed up.  I think of her as an introvert because she always has this crazy storm of emotions going on inside of her.  And she seems to have trouble expressing them and then moving on.  Or MAYBE she actually LIVES IN them and lets them cycle through so that she CAN move on.  I don't know.  I'm still working on figuring her out :) All I can say is that I adore her. 

Camo is growing up too!  My little middle nugget is just a sweet little caretaker.  She still LOVES dressing her dolls and her bears and packs their backpacks and takes them to school and puts them down for naps and makes them lunch and takes them "to the movies"... I love watching her take care of everything adn everyone in sight.  Another little quirk that has shown itself lately is that Camo LOVES to organize and put things away.  Like.  She LOVES it.  And you know what?  I LOVE IT even more than SHE does!! She is perfectly happy to follow Palmer around and put away all the tupperware that she pulls out of the cabinets.  She neatly stacks it all up and puts it away all pretty and perfect.  BUT... if I am ever the one to introduce the idea of cleaning up...she is usually not super pumped about it.  Unless of course Avery gets mad.  THEN Cameron decides it's her duty to put on a happy face and set the example for her seester.  haha...they are so confusing sometimes ;) 

Palmer is starting to get so old too!  Even though her sisters walked at 8.5 and 9 months, respectively, she's still pretty content to speed-drawl all over the place.  Her fav stance, however, is to get up on one knee, like a Soccer Team picture, and inch around the room in that position.  SHe's a goofball.  She's loving to walk around as long as someone holds her hand!  And everrrry now and then, she'll take a few steps on her own.  She's def still timid though. Maybe it's because I treat my sweet little thang like she's still 4 months old.  I am perfectly happy with keeping her a baby for a LONG time.  She is just the sweetest, most precious, blessing to ALL of us.  She is happy and content.  She is joyful and engaging.  She is innocent and beautiful and tender-hearted.  But she loves to giggle and loves to have the attention of SOMEONE in the room :)  I love my sweet baby and SERIOUSLY blessed by her every second of the day. 

It's funny.  I felt the same way about avery when she was a baby.  ESPECIALLY after I found out I was preg with Camo (I think Aves was 7 months old when we found out?) I wanted to soak in every POSSIBLE second and make her feel SO SO SO special and loved before there was another little tiny human around to steal her thunder haha.  Cameron was NOT the easiest baby by ANY means.  She was colicy, she cried a lot, she RARELY smiled, but we adored her nonetheless.  But now... you would NEVER imagine that she had that temperament as a baby.  SHe is SUCH a lover.  A lover of fun, and of people, and of her sisters and her mommy and daddy.  She makes my heart melt CONSTANTLY.  Because she is just REAL.  She doesnt put on an act or try to manipulate.  She never strays from the truth. What you see is the TRUTH.  If she's sad- she shows it.  But she is as resilient as any kid I've ever seen!  I totally see her as the defender of her sisters and of our family.  She loves fiercely and will NOT stand for hurt feelings.  If someone is sad, she cant continue with life until she makes a VALIANT effort to make everything all better in that person's world :)  LOVE THAT LITTLE BUG.  I can see her being SUCH a nurturer.  And a LIGHT.  The LIFE of the party.  I pray that she can use that part of her personality to let The Lord reach through and OUT of her into the hearts of the people she's around :)