Saturday, July 18, 2009 - Update

The other day Olivia found this hat in her closet. It was a baby gift for Logan. She thought it was so funny. She'd hand it to me and then pat her head so that I'd put it back on. Then, she'd take it off and hand it to me. . . . .and on and on it went. Who knew she'd like ball caps so much!

Friday, July 17, 2009 - Update

My most favorite doggy in the whole world!

Our neighbors have a golden retriever, which is my very favorite breed of dog. I have always wanted a golden retriever. His name is Cooper. . .and oddly enough. . .I have always wanted a golden retriever named Cooper. Every time Olivia is outside, she has to go over to see if Cooper is at the gate. Nine times out of ten, he's not there, but Olivia is overjoyed when he is. Cooper is quite excited for the attention as well. He's very good with Olivia. I think Olivia also likes him because he's behind a gate and can't jump up on her. Since Ryan and I are BOTH allergic to dogs, Cooper will have to do for now.

Angels

The other night, Ryan was flipping through the channels and we were having a hard time finding something to watch on t.v. Then, I caught a glimpse of Kirk Cameron and after much convincing, Ryan turned it back to Lifetime. Growing up, I had only two celebrity crushes. . .New Kids On The Block and Kirk Cameron. Anyway, it was an episode of Touched By An Angel and it was particulary heart-wrenching. I won't give an entire recap, but at one point in the show, Kirk Cameron's character was contemplating suicide because his life seemed too difficult to bear. It was then that the angel (I don't remember her name) revealed to him that she was an angel sent by God to help him through this difficult time. At this point I'm crying (must have been one of those emotional nights. . .or just Kirk Cameron's acting prowess.) Ryan is trying to clean up dinner and I turn to him in tears and ask, "Why didn't God send us an angel to help us through our difficult time?" Ryan simply looked at me and said, "He did" and pointed to our little angel, who at that time was eating Cheerios off the floor. I've said it before, but this little 1 lb 1.5 oz angel helped carry her mommy and daddy through some of the very darkest days. God must have known that we needed her and I don't know where we would be without her.

So many people must feel like they need their own angel right now. One in particular is little Ben who is fighting a recurrence of neuroblastoma. He was only 2 1/2 years old in 2004 when he was originally diagnosed with neuroblastoma, stage IV. Please click on his picture below to read more about this courageous young man and his fight against cancer.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009 - Update

Well, the second date on our poll was July 15th. Sorry to disappoint the 24 people who voted for it, but Olivia isn't quite to 20 lbs yet. She does, however, weigh a whopping 19.7 lbs which is the most she has ever weighed. Since she began signing "more" her food intake has really increased. She is always wanting more of something. . .usually it's food or books. She has become quite a book-a-holic. I never thought I'd tell my child, "No more books for right now." I bet we read hundreds of stories each day.

Speaking of books, I'd better go. . .Olivia is piling up books beside me and signing "more."

Happy Birthday, Aunt Shelley!

Happy Birthday!!! Can't wait to play with you and Izzy soon!

Ah-Choo

I had some allergy testing done last week. You know, when they draw the big grid on your back and poke you with all kinds of allergens. Interesting results. Here are some things that you might not know about me (because I didn't know them about myself):

I'm allergic to various molds and tree pollens. I'm HIGHLY allergic to marsh elder. If anyone knows what that is, kindly show it to me because I don't think I should get around that. . .ever!

I'm allergic to tomatoes. . .as is my brother and my dad. I'm not sure if that means I can't have ketchup or tomato sauce.

I'm allergic to feathers, dogs and guinea pigs. Now, I wasn't allergic to dogs growing up because I had the best dog ever from the time that I was 4 years old until my senior year in high school. I never had any allergy problems. And guinea pigs? I owned not one, not two, but NINE guinea pigs at one time. After Penelope's death, I am now down to only one guinea pig, my only pet, Harrison. I am a huge animal lover and between Ryan and I, I don't think there is an animal that one of us isn't allergic to. He's allergic to dogs and cats, so I went with guinea pigs. Now, I find that I'm allergic to dogs and guinea pigs. I'm kinda bummed about the whole thing. I had thought of getting Olivia a little bird because she loves tweet tweets, but I'm allergic to feathers. Yikes! Maybe we can get a pet cow. . .I don't think either of us are allergic to cows.

The other results are kind of boring, although it was interesting to find out that I'm allergic to red maples and guess which two trees are in our backyard? Yep. . .red maples. Oh, and don't send me any chrysanthemums. . .I'm allergic to those too. I started on an allergy med and nasal spray in hopes that I don't have to do the allergy shots. You know, I never had any allergy problems until I hit my 20s. Actually, when I moved out into my first apartment is when my allergies started. . .it must have been near a field of marsh elder. I guess that's also when I got my first guinea pig. . .oops.