Saturday, November 20, 2010

Well, after a few weeks of talking nonstop about the scary hand. . .we’ve moved on to something else.  Last week, we were eating at Applebees and Olivia went into the bathroom to wash her hands.  Well, you know how the music is always louder in the bathroom?  Olivia deemed it “the singing bathroom.”  Now, she wants every bathroom to be a singing bathroom. . .maybe if they were, she’d be potty trained by now.  She just needs a little music.  LOL. 

As for me. . .I’ve discovered two of my new favorite things this weekend. . .they are totally random, but I’d highly recommend both.  The first one is  Nature Valley Granola Thins in dark chocolate.  I think my exact words after my first bite were “This is the best thing I’ve ever eaten!”  Yes, I have diabetes and they technically aren’t the best for me, but I figure they are packaged as one little square.  One little square can’t hurt, right?  Either they are truly super delicious or I just don’t get sweets very often.  The second thing I’ve discovered is www.mixbook.com.  I’ve had a lot of fun creating with this site.  I’ve used a lot of similar sites and this is by far my favorite!  Now, sit me down with my laptop at www.mixbook.com with a granola thin in my hand (and throw in an iced tea) and I think I’d be in heaven.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

 

Olivia is doing so well in school.  She comes home singing new songs, playing new games and often with a treasure from the treasure box.  (They get this for good behavior.)  I have really seen her blossoming and she’s come such a long way in less than 2 months.  I had a chance to visit with one of her teachers the other day and she mentioned that Olivia’s crying is pretty non-existent.  She says that if Olivia does tear up, all she has to do is tell her the next few things that she is going to be doing and she’s fine.  Olivia just needs to know what’s coming next.  I forgot to tell Olivia that we weren’t going straight home after school one day and I got an earful when we turned the “wrong” way.  She definitely doesn’t get her directional abilities from me. . .I still get lost at the zoo!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

As many of you know, my sister-in-law, Kim, and her family are moving to Arkansas next month.  Kim is Ryan’s sister.  I have been hesitant to say anything because it’s like. . .if I say it, it must be true.  As happy as I am for them and Kris’s new job, we’re heartbroken to see them go.   Kim has been busy packing stuff away and trying to decide what to take with them.  Lucky for us. . .they decided not to take the Leapfrog LeapPads.  So, Christmas came early for Olivia today and she got a LeapPad!  She has been playing with it all afternoon and was overjoyed to learn there was even a Dora book that came with it.  Olivia sure is lucky to have such amazing cousins (all of them) who share clothes and toys with her.  Thank you to Kim who always gives to us so generously.   We are blessed. 

Kris, Kim, Alex, Katie, Aidan and Kaleb. . .we will miss them so much!!

Olivia and Tobey

Tobey’s never too far away from his Olivia.

Tobey with Olivia’s “banklet.”

Olivia and her kitty, Tobey, are the best of friends.  Some days they do everything together.  One example is playing on the slide downstairs.  Olivia will go down the slide. . .then Tobey will climb up the stairs and sit at the top of the slide.  Olivia will give him a push and he’ll slide down. . .then Olivia will slide down and so it continues.  It is adorable.  I managed to catch it on video tonight, but I missed Tobey climbing up the stairs and he sort of jumped off instead of sliding down.  But, I’ll try to post it anyway.  As far as cats go, Tobey can be a real pain.  But, I see how much he means to Olivia and how good he is with her and he starts to rank up there with the best of the best.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Well, Olivia is sick now too, so we just hung around the house all day.  Daddy had to work and Olivia and I were looking for some new things to do.  I pulled out my old Nintendo DS to see if Olivia showed any interest in it at all.  To my surprise. . .she loved it. . .especially Mario Kart.  Sure, she just kinda bangs into walls and goes backwards, but she’ll learn.  She is Ryan’s child, after all.   Olivia has been walking around with it saying, “I’m playing a DS. Kaleb has a DS!”  Ryan got out Mario Kart for the Wii to see if she liked that.  She did,  but she was quickly back to her DS. 

I wonder if I’ll find myself living with 2 video game nuts.  Oh well. . .for now its good for her hand eye coordination and fine motor skills.  And, it’s helped keep her mind off of her runny nose.

Saturday, November 13, 2010 - Update

You know how much I ♥ pigtails!

Ryan and I have been a bit under the weather.  Ryan has a cough/ chest congestion and I was awake throwing up at 5 am.  Olivia, our amazing micro-preemie is holding strong.  We still managed to get some Christmas shopping done today.  We’re hoping to do it this year in little spurts.  I can’t believe Christmas is here in less than a month and a half.  Tonight, Ryan and Olivia then went over to his parents for dinner.  I stayed home because 1) the thought of food is a bit repulsive at the moment and 2) I needed some rest and relaxation.   I never know what to do with myself, however, when I have an evening to  myself.  You’d think I’d kick back and enjoy it more.  :)  Hopefully, I’ll be back to normal by tomorrow. . .or at least I hope my stomach will be. 

Preschool Picture

Well, here is Olivia’s preschool picture. . .LOL.   Hopefully, next year she’ll smile. :)

Wednesday, November 10, 2010 - Update

You know what happens when I don’t have any new pictures of Olivia?  You get pictures of my cats. LOL.  Tobey is getting better and better every day. . .it’s just taking him longer to learn what NOT to do. The other day, he managed to break a ceramic dish and spill two glasses of water within 10 minutes.   He is super, super good with kids, though.  Olivia carries  him around for much of the day and he doesn’t seem to mind.  I think he actually prefers Olivia’s tough love over our more gentle approach.   He has to be in the middle of all the action, whereas Autumn prefers the sidelines.   Two very different kitties, but at the end of the day. . .they both end up in our bed wanting to be cuddled.  Yes, my husband and I are officially declared “cat people.” 

Speaking of my husband, he threw his back out and has been in a lot of pain.  He went to the doctor today and was referred to a specialist.  Hopefully, we’ll find out why he consistently seems to have problems with his back.  He sees a chiropractor regularly, ices his back every night and tries to take it easy.  Even the simplest of tasks can reek havoc on his back.  Please pray that we find some answers and that he feels better soon.

Journey Through Novembers

Well, it’s November and I thought I would do something a little different.  I decided to look back through my pictures to see what I was doing each November since 2002 (the first Nov. that I had a digital camera.) 

In November of 2002, I was engaged and looking forward to my upcoming wedding in June 2003.  That November, my bridesmaids and I picked out bridesmaid dresses.  From left to right: Kim, Stacie, Tamar, Me,  Tiffany and Marilee

In November of 2003, we were newly married and building our first house.  It was completed January of 2004.

In November of 2004, we had a lot of guinea pigs!  All the pictures from that month were of my guinea pigs. LOL. Pictured above is Penelope.  We had started trying to get pregnant in the summer of 2004 and I think the guinea pigs were filling a void. . .or at least attempting to.  :)

I actually had no pictures in November of 2005, so I had to jump ahead to December.  Ryan and I went on a vacation to Orlando, FL and visited Sea World and Universal Studios.  We went to Disney World the year before.  I’m grateful for that time with my husband.

By November of 2006, we had added 2 rats to the  mix.  Again, I was looking for something to nurture.  My husband is allergic to cats and dogs, so we had to improvise.  We were still going through fertility treatments and I was losing hope that I’d ever get pregnant. 

By November of 2007, the sunshine of our life had arrived.  We had been through a lot in the past year.  I finally got pregnant. . . . with triplets, miscarried Baby B, gave birth at 23 weeks to twins, lost my son when he was a month old and visited my daughter daily at the hospital. 

One of my all-time favorite pics of Olivia was in November of 2008.  She continued to grow stronger and healthier with each passing day.  That first year was really hard as we did not yet know how Olivia would progress.  She was sitting up, but not yet crawling.  Boy, was she a cutie!

By November of 2009, she had finally grown a little more hair, had been wearing glasses for about 6 months and had been walking for about as long. 

And here we are today in November 2010.  I’m a mother. . .someone I always longed to be.  I didn’t realize my journey to motherhood would be so difficult, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.  Olivia continues to bless our lives each and every day.  Who knows what the next 8 Novembers hold for us, but I look forward to discovering it with my husband and daughter by my side.  Wow. . . in 8 years Olivia will be 11 years old.  That’s a scary thought.  We won’t even talk about how old I will be. . .that’s even scarier.  LOL!  May all of you have a blessed November! 

Monday, November 8, 2010 - Update

I’ve come to the conclusion that Olivia doesn’t need a lot of stuff for Christmas.  Some of the best gifts can’t be bought.  Sometimes, especially this time of year, we overwhelm ourselves with “things".  Some of the best things are simply sitting down with your child to read a book or color or dance around the house to “The Bunny Song” from Veggie Tales. . .Olivia’s favorite.  It’s like we put pressure on ourselves to “perform” for our family and friends by what we buy them when gifts are not what they really want.  Plus, it’s always the little things that Olivia seems to like the most. . .the unsuspecting items that capture her heart.  So, with that. . .I’m off to go make my daughter smile by just being her mom.   

Sunday, November 7, 2010 - Update

Olivia with her cousin, Julia, looking at a dollhouse.

We are having a hard time deciding what to put on Olivia’s Christmas list.  She has more toys than she knows what to do with.  And, she is not yet to the point where she’ll tell you what she wants.  We even took her to Target today to see what interested her.  A lot of the things that peaked her interest were things that she already has.  I can’t say that I’m in a rush to get to the “I want” stage, but I wish she could give us a few hints.  Santa is going to have a tough time this year. :)  Her main interests right now are watching Dora and LeapFrog DVDs, coloring, Veggie Tales, books, music, dollhouses, trains and whatever the toy of the day is.  That could be anything from the Chipmunks (from a McDonald’s Happy Meal) her Laugh and Learn purse (that I stashed away because I thought she’d outgrown it) or her My Little Pony car.  She isn’t showing a lot of interest in baby dolls or princesses, which dominate the 3 year old market.  I’m sure we’ll come up with some ideas, but if you have any that your 3 year old LOVES, I’d love to hear from you.  I’m especially interested in all of the Tag Junior, VReaders, Leapfrog Explorers, MobiGoTouch, Fisher Price iXL etc.  Boy, there’s a lot out there and I have no idea if Olivia would like any of it.  There are also quite a few highly ranked Nintendo DS games targeted for preschoolers. . .and I already have a pink DS that I never use.  Oh, and there’s that Playskool Alphie robot.  He looks kinda cool.  It’s hard to believe that Christmas is just around the corner. . . .yikes!

Name That Caption

I can’t think of a clever caption for this one, but it cracks me up.  Maybe someone can come up with a clever idea?

Thursday, November 4, 2010 - Update

Every once in awhile, you capture those really cute and natural smiles.  :)  Olivia was watching Leapfrog’s “The Letter Factory” which is her new favorite.  It has Leapfrog Lily in it who is one of Olivia’s dearest friends.  She was thrilled to learn that Lily is actually in a movie.  And, have I told you how funny Olivia is?  She is one of those naturally funny people and is constantly cracking me up.  We went trick or treating at Ryan’s work last week and a lady had one of those bowls with the hand sticking out of it.  Well, it scared Olivia to death. . .so much that she is still talking about the scary hand.  In fact, she even made up a song about it called the Scary Hand Song.  She is constantly telling people (even strangers) about her Scary Hand Song and I have to hurry and give them the back story.  She’s just so funny.

Anyway, Olivia had an eye appointment on Monday that didn’t go all that well.  In addition to the 45+ minute wait for the appointment and 20+ more minutes in optical. . .we didn’t get quite the good news that we wanted.  Her change in lenses doesn’t seem to be improving her strabismus.  We are now adding the bifocal back in to see if that will help with the focusing.  Then, it’s on to a second surgery (she had her first at a year old.)  With some kids, even glasses and surgery cannot  improve strabismus.  I have even had someone, while discussing Olivia’s eye crossing, tell me, “You know, there’s a surgery for that.”  Unfortunately, there is no 100% cure.  A belief in that causes many people to think that parents like myself aren’t doing everything we can for our children.  They think, “Why aren’t they getting their eyes corrected?”  My main goal is to give her the best vision possible and that is what we’re working towards. 

More Leaf Party Pictures

Happy Halloween

Forget the broom. . .this witch surfs with the iPhone.

Ryan put out his Halloween props for the first time since 2006.  I think it was a lot more work than he remembered since it takes 7 hours to set it all  up.  Then, he has to turn around and take it all down. . .usually in the same night.  I doubt he does it again for a long time.   But, the neighbor kids (and their parents) really seemed to enjoy it.  I didn’t know if Olivia would be scared or not, but she wasn’t at all. . .probably because she saw daddy setting it all up.

Woah. . .easy now broom.

 

Olivia LOVED trick or treating this year!  We barely got finished at one house and she was running to the next. 

Decisions, decisions.

Hope you all had a very Happy Halloween!

Annual Leaf Jumping Party

 

The whole crew

Olivia in the huge pile of leaves

Kaleb

Jump!

Alex

Family photo

The Kris Snyder Family

The Joel Glunt Family

Grandma and Grandpa

 

The kids getting ready to throw the leaves!

Katie

Aidan

Rebekah and Julia

The siblings. . .Ryan, Kim and Joel

The “Outlaws” 

Ryan’s flying leap

It’s all fun and games until you get leaves in your pants.