Trick Or Treat

This Halloween was the first holiday that Olivia seemed to "get." She was so excited to see people in costumes and ride in her wagon and go up to houses and be told she was cute. She was really interested in her candy. I have to say, this was one of my favorite Halloweens and I have had some great Halloweens. Ryan proposed to me on Halloween 2001. I look forward to all of the holidays to come. Olivia just makes everything better!

Olivia LOVED Rebekah and Julia's costumes.

Rebekah and Julia

To the candy!!

Olivia's first trick or treating house. She even said "trick or treat, thank you, and bye-bye."

She loved trick or treating.

Daddy, I got a lot of candy!

Psst. . .do you have any more Skittles?

Wow, people just gave me candy for looking cute!

Saturday, October 31, 2009 - Update

I think today might have gone down as Olivia's favorite day ever. She LOVED trick or treating! The weather was absolutely gorgeous. But, before our Halloween celebration, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Glunt's house for their annual. . . .

LEAF PARTY!

Wow, these are a lot of leaves!

A lot, a lot of leaves!

Olivia and Daddy

Olivia and Mommy ready to run down the hill.

All of the kids had a blast!

Olivia was beyond thrilled!

Our attempt at a group shot.

Live action shot of Mommy.

Live action shot of Uncle Kris.

Live action shot of daddy (stolen from Kim's blog.)

This is a great leaf party, Grandpa.

I could get used to this. . .

Leaves make me happy.

Our family

The Snyders

The "other" Glunts.

All of the grandkids.

The day I see a leaf is a marvel of a day. ~Kenneth Patton.

To me, a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug. ~Helen Keller

More leaf parties please.

This was the first leaf party that Olivia was able to attend. It was so nice to have everyone together. Tomorrow, I'll share all about the rest of our exciting day. . .

Friday, October 30, 2009 - Update

Isn't she the prettiest cat?

Some days, you just need the love of an animal. . .today was one of those days. Autumn is the most affectionate, sweetest, most loving cat in the whole world. It's as if her purpose in life is simply to sit in my lap. She has even charmed her way into the No Autumn Zone. . . aka our bedroom. Yep, she slept with us last night. She did, however, get kicked out in the early morning because she was ready to play and, well, we weren't ready quite yet. She has been a blessing to our whole family and we are so lucky to have her.

Thursday, October 29, 2009 - Update

Gogum (Gloworm)? Check.
Baby? Check
Unshy bear (Funshine Bear)? Check.
Aff (Giraffe)? Check.
Duh (Duck)? Check.
Lambie? Check.
Bear? Check.
Ankit (Blanket?) Check.
Baba (Bottle)? Check.

Whew. . .I think we're finally ready for bed.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009 - Update

It's almost Halloween!!

Olivia met with an occupational therapist this week. Of course, if the OT would have visited a month ago, I would have had many concerns to share with her. But, Olivia has come a long way in the past month. Her fine motor skills are improving daily. Her delay is most likely due to her sensory processing disorder because of her premature birth. We are going to start working more with things like play doh to strengthen her hands. We are working really hard during "therapy time" each day with stacking blocks, inserting coins in her piggy bank and she is doing amazingly well. I have every faith that she will catch up to her peers. . .it is just a slow process. We've also noticed that Olivia has a really high pain tolerance, which is also common in infants who spent a lot of time in the NICU. The other day, she fell off the chair, landed on her head and did a sort of back flip and just laughed. She rarely cries over bumps and bruises which breaks my heart a bit and makes me worry about her as she gets older. Below is an article that discusses the adult repurcussions of infant pain.

http://www.physorg.com/news173105138.html

Overall, Olivia is doing fabulously and shattering many documented statistics concerning 23 weekers. I'm so proud of her. She is truly the toughest person I know. I don't think Halloween will even scare her at all. . .unless someone is dressed up as an eye doctor or a piano. . .those things terrify her.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009 - Update

After watching me clean ours, Olivia wanted to clean HER potty. I know, you've waited two days for a post and you get one with a picture of Olivia cleaning a toilet. That's how unexciting our life is. :) She is in a cleaning and laundry stage and wants to help me (I'm sure it won't last long.) When she helps with the laundry, it probably doubles the work, but cleaning. . .every little bit helps. She thinks every load of laundry needs towels because she knows where they are, so every load of laundry seems to have a towel or two thrown in. Then, she wants to put all of the clothes in the towel closet, so it's interesting what I find in there. And brooms? She LOVES brooms and went crazy at the grocery store watching someone push a big broom. She should have been a witch for Halloween and could have carried her very own broom. It's interesting to learn what kids find intriguing. Cleaning her own potty was definitely a highlight.

Sunday, October 25, 2009 - Update

Today was a busy day. First, we celebrated my grandpa's 87th birthday. I feel so grateful that my daughter has been able to meet her great-grandparents.

My grandpa

Olivia loved exploring their house. She has to make sure every house has a "poppy." She was happy to find that this one did, indeed, have one.

Izzy and Shelley

They had a blast spinning around in a chair.

My grandpa's new wheels.

Then, tonight. . .Shelley and I headed to Wicked. It would have been an awesome day if I hadn't had this headache for the past 8 hours. Ughhh. . .