Memory Lane

Olivia has been asking a lot of questions about when I was in kindergarten. Who was my teacher? My gym teacher and music teacher? So, while at my parents house today, we pulled out the old photo albums. (She really wasn't quite as interested as I thought she would be.) But it was a fun trip down memory lane.

Here I am getting on the bus on my first day of kindergarten.



And waiting for the bus with my best friend, Tamar. Tamar and her twin sister Tiffany were more than best friends to me. They lived two houses down until I was 13. They were like sisters to me!


And here we are in our swimming suits. I was rocking the Strawberry Shortcake. LOL!




We always wanted to be mommies.



Halloween was such a fun time. All of the neighbor kids trick or treated together every year.



One year we dressed as punk rockers, but in retrospect we looked more like hookers. LOL! To this day I can't wear eye liner on my bottom eyelid because I think it makes me look like a punk rocker.


Oh those were some fun times!! I'll cherish them always. It still makes me sad that Olivia doesn't have best friends down the street from her. I couldn't imagine my childhood without them!!

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Olivia and Velma

This just sums up my daughter perfectly.



She loves Scooby Doo, but her favorite character is Velma. . .the one most people don't like. Most girls want to be like Daphne, but Olivia thinks Velma is the best. She wants to be Velma for Halloween.



Olivia doesn't care what people think of her, she doesn't care what is in style or the current trends. She is just herself. I hope that never changes. I find myself getting frustrated about her wardrobe choices or the fact that she never let's me fix her hair (and would never brush it if I didn't remind her. LOL!) But those are the same things that I love so much about her. I wish I hadn't spent so much of my life worried about what other people think of me. She truly marches to the beat of a different drum and that makes her so incredibly unique and special. Love my sweet girl!

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Nine Month Checkup

Abigail is doing fantastic! There are just none of the concerns that I had with Olivia.



I'm still not used to the percentiles being over the 3rd. LOL! I learned Abigail is not anemic and has a big head. :-). She has started to pull up to her knees and drink from a straw. She also discovered that we have a snack cabinet.




And she spent a good 20 minutes determined to get into the brownie bites.


Now if people would just start calling her a girl! We were at the grocery store and a lady kept saying," He this and he that. . ." Then she said," He is a boy isn't he?" I almost said," Yes and we always keep him in a dress." Sheesh. Granted, she doesn't have much hair and looks like her daddy, but she is still too pretty to be a boy! LOL! But, the biggest giveaway is that she is in a dress!




Love my little Abigator.


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C25K

For years I have wanted to start running. Years. And it has never happened. I never knew how to get started until I heard great things about the C25K program. Then there was the problem with time and kids. Abigail does not like to ride in her stroller and I can't run while lugging around a 19+ lb baby. I just don't have any time to myself. So tonight I decided that Olivia and I would do it together. Ryan puts Abigail to bed each night and we have about an hour and a half before Olivia goes to bed. So, I pulled the app up on my phone, laced up our sneakers and Olivia and I headed out the door.




She did awesome. It would be amazing to run my first 5K. Even more amazing to do it with my daughter.






We made it half way and she tired out on me. LOL! I ended up carrying her part of the way home. So, I got more of a workout than I planned on.


But, the two of us had a really great time!!

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Sunday, September 1, 2013

We spent the day at home and Olivia enjoyed playing with her new birthday gifts. She received such a variety this year. We are truly blessed. It wasn't as hot today, so it was pleasant under the deck in the shade.



She also received a game called Zingo. It is super fun and I bet we have played it 50 times already.




And this cash register is among the favorites. Not only is it fun to play grocery store with, it also teaches all about money. Olivia was adding up pennies, nickels and dimes very well today! Abigail also loves to push the buttons and make them beep.


And, a funny story about Baby Butterscotch pony.




Olivia got it for Christmas and hardly played with it until Abigail showed an interest in it. It honestly wasn't as neat as I thought it would be. I learned, however, that for the past 9 months it has been in Try Me mode. Haha! So, now it's like a brand new gift. LOL! Oh dear, I worry about myself sometimes.

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Party Time!

Welcome to Care-A-Lot and Olivia's 6th birthday celebration. It's a lot of work to have a birthday party at home. Remind me of this next year. ;-)















Olivia was in heaven with two of her best friends, Sage and Madison.



Uncle Donnie even tried on a Care Bear mask. Awwwww.



The boys (and Madison) were drawn to the train table.



Sage is Olivia's best friend from preschool. Oh, how I wish they went to kindergarten together!



Happy Birthday to Olivia!



Thanks to my friend Amy for making the adorable cake! We had chocolate, strawberry and rainbow!




Madison made the cutest Care Bear!! Could not get over how cute she looked!




Olivia was ready to open presents!




The hit of the party was Olivia's sandbox that Grandpa Glunt built her! It is amazing with benches that fold down. It was well over 100 degrees and the kids did not want to come inside!



Madison and Olivia were the last two standing. LOL! It's never too hot for some sandbox fun!




It's so easy to cover when you are done playing! Awesome!!



Alison and Abigail liked playing together too.



It was a great adventure in Care-A-Lot!




Olivia did help clean up after her party with her new vacuum. She recently realized that her toy vacuum didn't really suck anything up. She wanted a real vacuum and was so excited to get this!


Thank you to all who came, endured the craziness and made Olivia's 6 th birthday celebration very memorable!

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Six Year Stats

Olivia had her 6 year checkup yesterday. After 11 months of only gaining .5 lbs, she has gained 1 lb 9 oz since July. So, the appetite stimulant seems to be working very well.

Weight: 33 lbs 3 oz - less than 3rd percentile

Height: 42 1/2 inches - 8th percentile

BMI: 13

100% Sweet, smart and adorable!



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Beauty And Brains

Abigail is still not crawling, however, she drags herself everywhere and is very very fast. Surely I don't have to be concerned about the discrepancy between her arms and legs strength? She bears weight on her legs, but doesn't pull up yet.



One of her favorite places to go is the bathroom to play with the bath toys. These are the only toys she plays with. She prefers phones, remotes, electronics, computer mice or anything Olivia is playing with. She seems bored with her baby toys. She looks at me like," So, what am I supposed to do with this?". She examines things like she is trying to figure out how they work. Seriously, I've nailed down her first birthday ideas to electronics, bath toys and food. LOL! I had to take down the carbon monoxide detector from the hall outlet because she pulled it off, took off the back and was trying to get the battery out.



All of that mischief wears a girl out! We are wanting to wait to put the baby gate up until after Olivia's party, but I don't know if we'll make it. Right now we have Olivia's bench across the stairs. And I better go move that hammer from off the floor. Geez.

She even looks pretty when she sleeps. Brains and beauty. . .she will be a force to be reckoned with. LOL!


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The Best Day

What an amazing day! Six years ago I never thought I would say that about today.  In fact, I’ve struggled with that over the years. How can I celebrate one of the worst days of my life every year?On August 27, 2007 my whole world came crashing down.  I thought I was losing both of my babies that I prayed so hard for.  The odds were against us.  The chance of survival was slim, the risks were great and the road was long.  But, tonight, Olivia said it best.

"This is the best day ever.  Thank you for giving me this day.”

And that’s not the only time she made me cry today.  The first thing she did when she woke up was sing Happy Birthday. . .to her twin brother, Logan.  What a loving, selfless way to start her own birthday!  Tonight, she had all of us sing it to him while she pointed up at the sky. 

I was able to take cupcakes to celebrate with her at school.  I’m no longer worried about her not making friends.  I’m more worried about her becoming the class clown. LOL!  She was the same goofy Olivia that she is at home.  When we sang Happy Birthday to her in her class, she got up and danced.  It did my heart good to know that she is comfortable being herself.  And who cannot love her?

A friend of mine from high school made these cupcakes for me.  They looked so cute with her Care Bear plates and napkins.  And they were delicious!

We ended the day with dinner at her favorite restaurant, Genghis Grill.  And at 6:18 pm, while we were there, she officially became six years old. We thought it was neat that her number was 56. . .she walked in being 5 and walked about being 6. 

And she swears that she got taller. 

Two of her favorite gifts were her Squinkies mansion

and her cottage bed tent that she is happily snoozing in. May her future far exceed even her best dreams.

Thank you, Olivia, for giving ME this day.

Happy 6th Birthday!

I can't believe it has been six years.  Every year I make a slideshow of pictures from the previous year.  Hopefully it is something Olivia will like to look back on as she gets older.  This year I chose a song from One Republic because they are one of Olivia's favorite bands.  It's called 'I Lived.'

They did not want us to resuscitate Olivia and Logan as they were not considered viable until 24 weeks.  We had to beg them to.  But, she lived. And she has been given this gift of life, much like we all have, and I hope she lives it to the fullest.  I hope she experiences all life has to offer and doesn't hold back on pursuing her dreams. But, please don't actually break any bones, Olivia. ;-)




Of course, tomorrow is actually Logan's birthday too and he would also be six years old.  I can't help but wonder what he would be like.  I think I will always wonder that. I know he is so proud of both of his sisters and I celebrate his birth as well.  The world was truly blessed with two amazing people on August 27, 2007. I still can't believe that was six years ago. 

Sunday, August 25, 2013

We had a great time celebrating Izzy's birthday today at Pump It Up. Olivia has been begging to go back there for some time.


While going down the slide, she got a blister on her arm. Tonight she named her blister "Blisty." And she was so worried that it would be gone in the morning, she made me take a picture of it. I'm so not kidding. Only Olivia. :-)



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