Saturday, August 2, 2008 - Update

Ryan and I went on a date today. . .just the two of us and it was wonderful. After lunch we grabbed Spangles' mudslides and ate them by the fountains at New Market. Then, we went to go see The Dark Knight. I hadn't been to a movie since before Olivia and Logan were born. We really needed that today. It was the first time that I actually enjoyed myself while being away from Olivia. Usually, I miss and worry about her so much that I'd rather be home. I will admit, the best part of our date was knowing that we were coming home to this amazing angel.

If you'll notice, we have added links to our friends and families' blogs. Enjoy!

Fun With Dad

Sorry about the glare from the window. Ryan's legs were really sore the next day.

Friday, August 1, 2008 - Update

My cousins, Julia and Rebekah, have such caring hearts.

Head over to Nate's site to see what he's up to now.

Please check on this family whose 15 month old son, Sully, is losing the battle with leukemia.

Sometimes it's easy to ignore other people's battles when it doesn't affect you personally. We're only human and sometimes we get caught up in our own life struggles. On a daily basis, every one of us has our own things to worry about. We never know, however, when our life is going to be touched by cancer, premature birth, the death of a loved one and many more unimaginable things that we feel will never happen to us. Going through all I've been through in the last year. . .it has meant so much to me for others to take such an active part in what I'm going through. You have read my blog, left comments, sent cards, donated to March of Dimes, participated in the March for Babies, learned about premature birth and made a special place in your heart for Logan and Olivia. Thank you.

Thursday, July 31, 2008 - Update

It seems that every day I have less and less time on the computer. Or, maybe that's not the case. Maybe I just have more and more blogs to check. . .and a MySpace and a Facebook. That's probably it. It's like a part-time job. . .although a fun one. People say to never have a television in your bedroom. . .well, we do. (I'm sure we're not the only ones.) It's our nightly routine and it was sorely missed during those early days when we first brought Olivia home. As if that's not bad enough. . .well, for instance. . .right now the television is on, Ryan is playing his DS and I am on my laptop. It's like we have to be doing 5 things at once. . .maybe we do have a bit of that ADHD that everyone is always talking about. Ryan and I are planning to go on a date sometime soon, though, without the television, DS, or laptop. We're really looking forward to it.

I'm proud to say that Olivia finally crossed the 15 lb mark tonight. She's been teetering around it for weeks now. She is still not eating her baby food any better, but since she's taking her bottle. . . I'm not worried. I appreciate all of your thoughts and suggestions. I did buy her some Puffs to try. She had no idea what to do with them. It just sat on her tongue until she drooled it out. I don't think she's quite ready for them yet. We're still trying to get her to use her arms more. I feel like I'm the only one that's worried about that. I just see all of the things that she could be doing if she would just use them more. . .things that she is developmentally ready for. It seems all she wants to do all day long is jump, jump, jump. She doesn't care if it's on your lap, on the floor or in her jumperoo. Maybe she missed out on all that jumping in the womb and is trying to make up for it. Sometimes I see her looking at her jumperoo as we walk by with that 'kid in a candy store' look. Bless her heart. . .I love her so very much.

Izzy Has A Blog

Now, you can keep up with the happenings of Olivia's cousin, Izzy at:

http://www.dizzyfromizzy.blogspot.com/

I also just found out that Olivia's 8 year old cousin, Julia, also started a blog. We're so excited to learn about her life from her perspective.

http://www.gluntquartet.blogspot.com/

We are now officially a blogging family!

Enjoy!!

Having A Ball With Kerry

Not too much to talk about today, so I thought I'd share a video of Olivia having fun with Kerry last week. I wish I would have had the camera when she first started laughing. Still a cute video, though.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008 - Update

Hey daddy. . .my birthday is coming up.
I was wondering if you remembered about that pony.

The tiny one?

Not too much to report today. Olivia has been sleeping a bit better at night. Now she is refusing any kind of baby food. She will sit in her highchair with her lips tightly closed. Even the popular pears and prunes are getting rejected. I'm not sure why that happened all of the sudden. At first I thought that she just wasn't hungry, but she'll take her bottle without any problems. Has this happened to any of you? She used to be a pretty good eater.

Monday, July 28, 2008 - Update

Look out boys!

Okay, so Olivia went swimming today. . .kind of. She has a huge inflatable giraffe pool. Before I tried to figure out how to use the air compressor to blow it up, fill it up, let the water warm up a bit, and lather sunscreen on Olivia. . .I wanted to see if she would even enjoy it. And, I wanted her to try on her swimsuit. So, we put on our swimsuits and played in the bathtub. I know. . .a little odd, but I've been looking for something different to do. She was a little confused at first as to why she had clothes on, but then she figured out that she could jump and splash in the water. I was hoping to get her to use her arms a bit more to splash, but no luck there. I just may have to break out the big pool.

The Big Cart Crack-Up

I wasn't going to post anything more today, but I had to share a story about our trip to Target. Ryan, Olivia and I went to Target to do some birthday shopping for Olivia. This is probably the only year that we will be able to take her with us. Ryan was holding Olivia and I grabbed a cart. As we ventured into the store, we noticed that our cart made a clunk, clunk noise. We didn't want to be annoyed by it the whole time, so we turned around to grab a new cart. As we did, Olivia started laughing loudly. We realized that she thought the cart was making a hilarious sound. Of course, we then had to keep the cart. As we walked around Target with our clunky cart, Olivia continued belly-laughing which cracked up not only Ryan and me, but a few other people in the store as well. A Target employee even asked us if she was laughing because we were laughing. We tried to explain that she was laughing at the cart. Her laugh is so sweet and infectious that she made many people smile tonight. I was so proud to be the mom of the laughing baby.

We ended up buying her quite a few toys and books for her birthday. I'm sure none of them will be quite as amusing as that silly, clunky cart.

More pics

The real party was downstairs at Izzy's house.
Arriving in style
Cutie pie Claire
Adorable Audrey

Soon, Olivia will be downstairs playing with the big kids. I can't wait for that day. I wish Logan was here. He would be the only great-grandson and I'm sure would love all the attention from so many girls.