Saturday, October 24, 2009 - Update

Autumn just helping out with the insomnia.

I thought I would share a few Autumn stories. We've had her for almost a month now and she is truly the best cat. She BEGS for people food. . .on her hind legs and all. I've started giving her canned food so that she'll leave us alone when we eat. The other night, I was warming up left over lasagna. Ryan's piece was in the microwave and mine was in the pan on the counter. I left the room and when I came back, she was on the counter, eating my lasagna. I shooed her away and told her that cats aren't supposed to like lasagna. . .then Ryan reminded me of Garfield. Oh yeah, I forgot. More than people food, however, Autumn loves affection. I joked once and said that I felt like that guy with the really clingy girlfriend. She wants my undivided attention which isn't possible with a two year old. I feel bad going to bed at night and not letting her sleep with us. She looks forward to those nights when I can't sleep and end up on the couch with her. She literally sleeps facing me with her head nestled under my chin and her arms around me in an embrace. The other night, she jumped into bed with us and I tried to let her stay there without Ryan knowing. She has the loudest purr in the world and it was vibrating the entire bed. The more I tried to get her to stop, the louder she purred. Then, she started chasing Ryan's feet through the comforter and that was the end of that. What a great cat, though. . .just perfect.

Friday, October 23, 2009 - Update

We're planning on moving Olivia to a toddler bed in the not so distant future. I'm not quite sure how you tell when your child no longer needs a crib. The thought of her up walking around the house at night is a little frightening. I'm so excited about redoing her room. Don't get me wrong. . .I like her room okay, but the bedding that we picked out was for Logan and Olivia so it's pretty gender neutral. We didn't have time to make her room really special for her. At 23 weeks, we had two cribs ordered, but we didn't have the room put together at all. After Logan died, we were afraid to do anything to the nursery for fear that we wouldn't have a baby to bring home at all. Then, it happened so fast and she was coming home and we kinda threw it together. I always dreamed of having this special nursery to bring my baby home to. I've come to the realization that Olivia may be my only baby and I missed out on that special thing. I envisioned having her name spelled out in wooden letters above her crib and that has yet to happen. But, it will. I found her toddler bedding today and I almost cried. . .yeah, I don't know what's wrong with me. It'll have flowers and be pink and girly and fun. I want border and curtains and I will have those wooden letters with her name spelled out as well. I feel like this is my chance to make up for what I wasn't able to do and for some reason, that is so important to me. And, I had better act fast because if Olivia had her way, she'd probably have an Elmo room.

Thursday, October 22, 2009 - Update

Miss Mess

Every morning when Olivia wakes up, I ask her what she dreamt about the night before. Yesterday, it was butterflies and water. Today it was Izzy and cars. I have enjoyed watching her language skills develop. We met with her speech pathologist yesterday who was impressed by how many words have been added to her vocabulary. She doesn't put many words together, so we're working on that. Also, she can now say her kitty's name. . .well, sort of. Instead of Ahpple, she now says Ah-TON. I found it interesting to learn that when saying kitty, a lot of kids say kiki because the k sound is made in the back of your throat and the t sound is made at the front. When kids are learning to talk, it is difficult to switch back and forth. . .something we don't think much about. I find stuff like that interesting. . .

Hush Hush

This afternoon, I was talking on the phone and I noticed that Olivia went back to her bedroom and got really quiet. When I went back to check on her, this is what I found:

My first question is. . .Is that really comfortable? My second question is. . .Why in the world did I take her picture and wake her up?

Then, my cousin sends me this picture of his dog. Too funny!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009 - Update

We're pretty boring around here, but there is a lot going on in the micro-preemie blog world. Ellie's mom, just did IVF #2 and found out Monday that she is expecting again. Rhys's mom is also expecting. Please keep these families in your prayers. Both have given birth prematurely and lost one of their children. These pregnancies need to go as smoothly as possible. A few months ago, Coy's mom gave birth to Cydney at 34 weeks after 15 or so weeks on hospital bed rest. Riley's mom also gave birth recently to Peighton around 30-31 weeks. She lost 23 week twins, Ethan and Blake, not long ago. Please keep all of these families in your prayers and may their lives continue to be blessed.

There is also a new blog that I have been reading for a few weeks now. Thanks to Kerry and Emily who told me about it. The Stansel's gave birth to sextuplets a few months ago. They have lost 4 of their precious children. Haley and Rachel are now two months old and fighting hard every day. Please keep this family in your prayers and hope that God allows them to bring their two girls home.

Conversation with Olivia

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Monday, October 19, 2009 - Update

The earliest picture of Ryan and I that I have saved on my computer. I think we had just purchased our digital camera. . .December 2001.

Yesterday, Ryan took me on a surprise date. I had no idea what we were doing. It started off with a trip to Target to buy a cd to listen to in the car. Then, we drove across town and ate at Huhot. It tasted amazing and both of us actually went back for seconds. Then, we headed to a movie. We don't go to movies much anymore. We used to go all of the time. . .if there was a movie out that one of us wanted to see, we were there. Any time out of the house is nice, but time alone with my husband is very special. Thank you, honey, for a great time. I can't wait until Olivia is old enough to enjoy going to movies. Right now, the only way she'd make it to a movie is if they made a feature film of Baby Signing Time or Praise Baby. We don't really sit and watch those all that often either because Olivia has discovered the remote control. We watch them in fast forward or rewind or the same thing over and over. I've gotta learn to hide the remote.

In other news, my sister-in-law, Shelley, got tickets to see Wicked this weekend. I'm super excited and it will be nice to have a girls' night out. Can't wait!

Pumpkin Patch Cont.

We had a great time at the pumpkin patch. Olivia LOVED the slide and squealed all the way down. She is not at all afraid of things like that. I, however, discovered that I have some kind of giant slide phobia. Of course, Ryan asked Olivia if she wanted to go down it with mama and she screamed, "YEAH!" So, I did it, but I was terrified. . .mainly because I had just watched this poor woman wipe out at the bottom and the little girl in her lap face planted into the dirt. I just thought, "Please don't let that be me!" We had a great time, though, and can't wait to go back next year.

As you know, I love comparison pictures. What a difference a year makes!

Oct 2008

Oct 2009

Oct 2008

Oct 2009

Oct 2008

Oct 2009


Oct 2008


Oct 2009