Saturday, January 16, 2009 - Update

Yummy food

Say cheese!

We celebrated my grandma's birthday today. I feel so blessed to know that Olivia has had the opportunity to get to know her great-grandparents. Happy Birthday Grandma (or Great-Grandma Wanda, as Olivia calls her.)

Jazzercise

Well, the halftime show was a success. I didn't mess up, although I was concentrating so hard that I kinda forgot to smile. What can I say. . .I'm more of a "behind the scenes" kinda person and I haven't danced in front of an audience since 4th grade's Baby Buggy Boogie. Anyway, you can see the video over on Shelley's blog. I prefer it over Ryan's video. . .less close ups of me. LOL !

Funny Story

I thought I would share a short, funny story with you. We have these long, wooden back scratchers that we got years ago. Olivia likes to play with them and finds many ingenious ways to do so. Today, she was running gleefully from bathroom to bathroom with the back scratcher saying, "Yay!" I sort of already knew what she was doing. I peeked in on her as she ran into our bathroom and I saw her stick the back scratcher into the toilet and say, "Clean, clean." I guess she has seen me use the toilet bowl scrubber one too many times. Hmm. . .now what do we do with the back scratcher?

Wednesday, January 13, 2010 - Update

Lunch with her buddies.

Yesterday, Olivia and I went to a playgroup with about 7 other kids and their moms. It was nice and I appreciated Shelley hosting it. Moms need things like that and I love watching Olivia socialize with other kids. Other than that, not too much going on. I was going to share a video of Olivia laughing hysterically while playing with a box, but Olivia erased it from my camera. Yes, she erased it. Olivia likes to watch it and she knows to push the button to play it again. She sometimes, however, pushes the button that says Erase? and after pushing the button again. . .it's erased. She erased multiple pictures too, silly girl. Too smart for her own good. She must be getting tips from Izzy who is a pro with the camera.

We met with her Rainbows therapist today. Olivia is progressing very well and we're not even sure she will qualify for services through the school district when she turns 3. How often does that happen with a 23 weeker? It's just a miracle. . .Olivia is a miracle growing right before my eyes. Just your typical 2 year old who wears glasses and is small for her age. You'd never know all that she went through. What a miracle and one I'm eternally grateful for.

Monday, January 11, 2010 - Update

Woah. . .that's a big tiger!

Mmmm. . .refreshments. . .

Since today was a balmy 40-50 degree day (in comparison to the single digit and teen temperatures we've been having lately) Olivia and I went to the zoo. We met up with grandma, Aunt Kim, Aidan and Kaleb along with a few hungry ducks. It was nice to soak up some vitamin D. . .even if it was in a heavy winter coat. It was also nice to see Olivia interested in the animals. She even fed the ducks for the first time. . .every other time, she has just tried to eat the duck's food herself. She even requested to see the tigers.

The day ended with a nice surprise. I found out that my husband booked us a room at the Chateau Avalon for my birthday. I LOVE this place, but we've only been there once before. I'm so excited to have a nice weekend getaway just the two of us! This will be the first getaway of any kind for probably 4 years. I'm so excited!!

Olivia's Letters

Her room is coming together. We're still not quite ready to move her to a toddler bed as she does so well in her crib. . .except when she tries to climb into it (but, she hasn't ever tried to climb out.) I still have a few more things to finish and then I'll show you the final product. I'm still so grateful to Amanda for making Olivia's letters. It made her room so special.

Kaleb's 2nd Birthday Party

Last night, we celebrated my nephew's 2nd birthday party. My sister-in-law should be a birthday party planner as her birthday parties are always amazingly done. This one didn't disappoint even though on Kaleb's actual birthday, their furnace caught on fire and caused extensive smoke damage throughout their house. They had to stay at grandma and grandpa's for at least a week. And, Kim still pulled the party together, making decorations, baking the cake, baking cookies, etc. It was an awesome party for an awesome little boy.

Kaleb had an alphabet party! And, I forgot my camera so I had to swipe these pictures. . .swipe. . .LOL. . I've been watching too much Dora.

The Nintendo DSi section

Olivia and Katie

Kaleb often gets in trouble for messing with his siblings' DS's. He can't help it. . .he LOVES to play Nintendogs. His face was priceless when he opened his very own Nintendo DS.

Pure joy!

Ryan and Olivia reading books

Kira and Olivia reading books. . .

Playing with magnetic alphabet letters. . .

Finally. . .I can get some serious Nintendo DS playing time in. . .