Saturday, November 7, 2009 - Update

We had a busy day today. First we went on a shopping spree at Joel and Laura's house. Olivia's cousins were kind enough to pass along a lot of great toys. Tomorrow, I will show you the big surprise that she's getting. Then, we had lunch at Bartelli's Pizzeria. Have you eaten there? It's fantastic and I would highly recommend it. Olivia spent the rest of the day playing with her new toys. . .especially her new keyboard. I think we have a pianist in the making. (By the way, she is not afraid of THIS piano.) The keyboard was even more exciting than the new flashcard app that I got for my iPhone. She can pronounce almost any word now. . . even animals and cheeseburger! Olivia has the same words, however, for Autumn and bathtub (Ah-tun) and for wagon and laundry (war-rey.) Yeah, it doesn't make a lot of sense. Most words she pronounces really well, but some are a little off the wall. The other day, she got out her stuffed opossum and I said "Pah-sum" and she said "Tadpole." I love her newfound communication, though. She is now saying tons of two word phrases. How awesome is that?

This is fun, mommy!

Can I have an iPhone for Christmas?
(I laugh at this, but I'm sure she will ask for one sooner than I expect.)

Olivia and her my iPhone.

Jamming on her new keyboard. Check out that index finger isolation. Woo-hoo!

And Autumn has spent the last few days recovering from surgery by soaking up some sun.

Piggy tails!

Olivia and her pigtails and shredded cheese. . .

For the first time ever, I got Olivia in pigtails! It was quite the ordeal so I probably won't do it often, but doesn't she look adorable?

More leaf jumping fun. . .

Olivia had a blast at Grandma and Grandpa's yesterday. The leaf party must have made quite an impression on Olivia. While playing at Grandma and Grandpa's house yesterday, she said "leaves!"

So, Kaleb and Olivia had to make their own little pile of leaves!

Olivia was so excited!

She loved being outside. . .

and jumping into her own little pile of leaves.

She also loved scooping the leaves. . . .

and visiting Grandpa through the window.

Thanks for a great time. And, thanks Aunt Kim for the pictures!

Thursday, November 5, 2009 - Update

Thanks Brandy!

So, the blog star of the week is Brandy. . .oh, I don't do blog stars of the week? Well, I should because I have some fabulous blog readers. Amanda is another blog reader who deserves to be a star. I found Olivia's bedding at Target (on Maple) on clearance. There was only one left so I bought it and saved quite a bit of money. I saved even more because http://www.target.com/ says that the toddler size is only available online, so I would have paid shipping as well.

We also took Autumn in to get spayed today. I just picked her up and she's acting a bit odd. She keeps closing one eye and wandering around the house to places she doesn't usually go. I wonder if she's just a bit out of it from the pain meds? I'm supposed to go pick Olivia up at her grandparents, but I think I'll wait until Ryan gets home from work to keep an eye on Autumn. I got a chuckle because when I went to pick her up, I was told there was about a half dozen people in line to take her if I had to get rid of her. Fat chance! :) She captured the hearts of everyone there and would stick her paw out of the cage to be petted anytime someone walked by. Please pray for an uneventful and quick recovery.

Olivia and Madison

It's impossible not to believe in angels when you have a best friend. . .someone to go through life's tough times with and someone to make you laugh. I got to spend the afternoon with Stacie and her daughter, Madison. Years ago, we would always meet for lunch at Pizza Hut and talk. . . .and talk and talk. We'd talk about our jobs, our husbands, our infertility struggles and our lives in general. Today, we met for lunch at Pizza Hut, but this time we got to bring our daughters. What a joy they are to our lives and what a blessing our friendship is to me.

Olivia

Remember how I said that having wooden letters of Olivia's name in her room would be very special to me? Well, my friend, Amanda, is making them for us. I got a sneak peek at them today and they are amazing!! I just had to share it with all of you. You have no idea how much it means to me. I don't know how to even go about thanking her. I found some letters that I liked online for $16 per letter. Yikes! I wouldn't pay that. I like these even more!!

This is the bedding that we picked out for Olivia.

http://www.target.com/Circo-Happy-Flower-Toddler-Bed/dp/B001E8MWLC/ref=in_pe_recently-viewed-items_2

We probably won't switch her to a toddler bed until spring, but we're going to do a bit of this and a bit of that before then. I'm so excited. Thank you, Amanda. . . .this means so much to me.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009 - Update

Cheese! (She actually said cheese for the first time in this picture!)

I love cheese.

Most children, of course, like cheese slices or cheese sticks. . .no, Olivia loves shredded cheese. She wants a mound of cheese on her highchair and she grabs a handful and stuffs it in her mouth. Of course, half of it goes in her lap and makes cleaning up a major hassle. But, she loves it. She also loves this Kraft spreadable cheese on her crackers. She would literally eat cheese and crackers all day if she could. In fact, her favorite two word phrases are. . ."more cheese" and "more crackers." Well, at least we're not eating macaroni and cheese every day.

Our Newly Painted Kitchen

We were really busy last Friday. . .painting the kitchen. I have been wanting to do it for a long time. I actually have border that I bought 6 years ago that we're finally putting up. Let's see. . .I got a cat AND the kitchen painted. I'm on a roll. Hmmm. . .what else do I want?

Past Halloweens

2007 - She went as a NICU baby aka the strongest person in the whole world

2008 She went as an adorable "affe"

2009 Prettiest tulip fairy this side of the Mississippi

More Halloween Pics

Happy Halloween

Shhhh. . .I'm going to sneak up and scare daddy!

I love Skittles!

The night ended with a big goose egg on Olivia's head. While on her sugar/excitement high, she was twirling around and ran into the door frame. She only cried for a second, so I didn't think it was very bad until we looked at her forehead.