With my birthday fast approaching, we celebrated with my family today. No matter how old I get (and I’m getting quite old) my mom still gets me a birthday cake. I chose carrot cake this year. . .yum!
Olivia helped blow out the candles.
Her shirt says “I always feel Olivia-ish.”
She will always remain one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever received.
The other day, I went to the mail box and there it was. . .a jury summons. As I began to curse under my breath, I remembered. . .jury duty helped save Olivia’s life. How is that, you ask? Many of you already know the story, but Ryan had jury duty on August 27, 2007. . .the day Olivia and Logan were born. He had taken off work to take me to the hospital a week prior when I was sent home on bed rest. (I should have been admitted at that point, but that’s another story.) The following Monday (August 27th) Ryan was off work for jury duty. I urged him to call and get it postponed since his pregnant wife was on bed rest, but we decided there wasn’t going to be any better time. So, he went and was dismissed around noon. He picked up La Galette for lunch, which is one of my favorite places! That entire day plays over and over like a movie in my head. Instead of going back into work, we decided to go to the hospital. It wasn’t because I felt I was in labor or in any immediate danger. I just wasn’t feeling any better after a week on bedrest and since he just happened to be off work, I thought I’d get checked out again. Little did I know, I was 2 cm dilated, which would progress to 6 cm dilated and 80% effaced thirty minutes later. At that point, labor was imminent and three pushes later Olivia was born. I think about that day a lot. . .well, of course I do, it was the day I became a mother. But, I think about what would have happened had Ryan been at work that day. I didn’t feel bad enough to make Ryan take off another day of work to take me to the hospital. I probably wouldn’t have driven myself, so would I have gone into labor at home? My children’s chance of survival without a NICU available would have been zero. But, Ryan just happened to be off that afternoon. . .all thanks to a simple jury summons that he received in the mail. It’s an annoyance to some, but it forever changed the way I look at life’s little inconveniences. Of course, I still don’t want to go.
We had hair appointments today (me, Olivia and my mother-in-law.) Hair appointments used to be awful for Olivia, but we’ve been taking her to the same place every 5-6 weeks for about 9 months. We used to have to hold her, she wouldn’t wear a cape and she would cry and cry. New experiences are often very very difficult for her. Last month, however, she did awesome! And, it seems the trend is continuing because she now LOVES to get her hair cut. After I get done, she crawls into the chair and says, “Olivia’s turn!” I can’t tell you how much joy this brings me!! She now acts like such a big girl and I’m so proud of her! And, she’s getting beautiful hair!
Well, our room makeover is complete minus a few small touches like a table centerpiece, items for the hutch etc. I loved my old table and chairs. . .they were almost as old as I was and I grew up having birthday parties around them. Sadly, after 25+ years. . .they got a little outdated. I loved my baker’s rack, but it didn’t match our new table. It found a new home with my sister-in-law. I, however, did not love (or even like) my old carpet and linoleum in the dining room/kitchen. I’m so happy with our new laminate floor! I think it really gives the room (and the house) a very updated, classier look. Well, besides the yellow towel on Olivia’s chair. LOL!
Before
After
Before (notice the tape on the carpet.)
After
Before
After
Before
After
And some additional pictures. . .
How adorable is she? I mean seriously. . .could she be any cuter?
The other day I was cleaning out the litter boxes in the unfinished room in the basement. Olivia came in and said, “Hey. . where are the guinea pigs?” Yes, we used to keep the guinea pigs in that room, but our last one died in Sept of 2009. Olivia was barely 2 years old at that time. How funny that she remembered that! I’m just glad that she is no longer talking about the scary hand from Halloween. She’s moved on to the scary vacuum cleaner at Grandma and Grandpa Glunt’s house. She calls it scary and yet she is enthralled with it. . .always looking at it, hugging it, wanting me to draw it. She gets her mind set on one “scary” thing and runs with it. Silly girl. . .always cracking me up.
Tomorrow is the big day. . .I get my new floors! We had to move all of our furniture and our island out of the kitchen and dining room today. That was a chore! My anxiety prone cat (Autumn) and my daughter had a bit of a tough time figuring out why the dining room table was in the living room, the chairs were in the office, etc. And, since we no longer had a table to sit at, we had a picnic on the floor! It was a fun change of pace. . .even if it was Spangles. And if we spilled something on the floor, it didn’t matter because the carpet is getting ripped out tomorrow anyway. LOL.
I can’t say that I’m looking forward to two full days of being stuck inside the house with strange people, a 3 year old, a messy house and little access to my kitchen. But, I think it will be worth it in the end! While Ryan and I were busy moving everything around, Olivia was over at Grandpa and Grandma Sailing’s house. . .playing the piano, of course. I know what she’ll probably be getting for her birthday. . .her very own piano. At three years old, she seriously has a lot of potential! And, as you know. . .she LOVES music!! Making her own is absolutely thrilling to her! I gotta say that I feel quite inadequate. I took piano lessons as I child, but I remember absolutely nothing! Poor Olivia asks me to play songs on the piano that I don’t know how to play. Good thing there are a lot of pianists in the family. And nothing makes my dad happier than to hear Olivia ask him to play the piano with her.
Our budding virtuoso (as my dad likes to call her.)
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