Anniversary Night (Clean)

Last night for our anniversary we lived it up out on the town. We started by dropping off our vacuum cleaner at the repair shop (I guess the motor is shot, so we probably won't have it repaired) then hit Toys R Us. If that wasn't a dream come true for Olivia then I don't know what is. She immediately got the crinkled nose smile on her face and started to run around like crazy, grabbing everything that was soft or bright colored off the shelves. We finally had to put her in the shopping cart to keep her in check. As we walked down the aisles that had the stuffed animals she would screech and laugh. She LOVED it. I put her down again to run around and she would never have two empty hands.
After this we went to a child clothing/toy consignment store that she again had a great time running around in. She loved looking out the window of the store as well and watching people pass by.
Next on the list was Baby's R Us. Same situation, except this time I gave her free reign. She must have traveled the entire store. Up and down aisles, laughing and touching stuff. We need to take her shopping more often, it tuckered her out.
Last stop was Outback Steakhouse. Brooke got a shrimp salad and I got a steak. Olivia even had a small bite of steak but didn't seem to like it much. I guess she is a rib girl. She was great through dinner except for a few throws of her cup. She even ate some zucchini. We had a great time and enjoyed having Olivia as part of it this time!

Video of Olivia doing her "back walk" away from rice (talked about in last post)

Anniversary

Today is Brooke's and my anniversary.  2 years ago we were visiting in Florida and eating out at the Addison, 1 year ago we were sitting at home with an almost 2 month old losing our minds, this year we are all going out to a (hopefully) nice dinner together.  Time flys.
What is one of the first things we started teaching Olivia aside from Lipstick and comb your hair?  It is "where is your nose."  Ok, she learned that, however now she thinks her nose is her sinuses... We will say "where is your nose" and her finger will point to it, and then a lot of times just go up in it.  Now we are trying to break her of putting her finger IN her nose and just touching the tip of her nose.  The learning never ends!
Olivia has also been getting real good at walking backwards.  Last night we ordered Chinese and tried giving her rice.  After her first bite that all ended up on the floor, we kept trying to give her bites.  Every time we held our fork down for her she would look up at us and start walking backwards, then as she took about 10 steps would start to look back over her shoulder and keep going into the hall, then she would turn around and walk down the hall.  Don't know why she would back away from the rice.

Below is Olivia wanting to enjoy one of my favorite things.  Sorry Livi, you are going to have to wait a few years before you can have this.  Plus, you have enough energy as it is!

Christmas Highlights 2

Part two of Olivia's Christmas. This is all from Mima and Grandpa Rob's house. She loves her rocking horse and tent, and is not at all scared of the jack-in-the-box. Such a brave girl! Check out those hip movements on her dancing.
I will have to say that last night's story time with the Peek-a-Boo book was much better. She did get a little restless, and even did some of her signature growling, but all in all, she stayed on my lap. It was a short book, to get her back in the mood, but it went well. We can hope that this is a sign of things to come. Brooke also went to Walmart last night and got some new bins to hold Olivia's old toys. We packed up a lot of stuff she wont ever play with again to make some space in the pack-and-play for all her new toys. It feels a little more organized now. It is sad seeing all the "baby" toys go up in the attic. We were looking through them and saying "is this too young of a toy now for her now?" She has actually graduated from some of her little girl toys and is moving on up! Go Livi, go!!

Christmas Video Highlights 1

Boy, Christmas has made blogging easy for me. I will have 2 days of video highlights for your viewing pleasure.
Here are highlights from the morning at our house, right from the time Olivia woke up. She got a real treat, Lu in her crib!! Then a nice waffle breakfast after she opened some presents.

Christmas Part 2

...after opening presents from mom and dad, we were tired and ready for bed. We went to sleep and were excited to get up the next day and watch Olivia play with her new toys (and play with some of ours as well.) I will say that as I write this, Olivia is sitting captivated by the Disney's Santa Buddies dog video that Grandma and Grandpa got her. She has been very whiny this morning and this seems to have cured her, YAY!! Maybe Emmitt Otter will be next.
I finally got to mess with my new green screen that Marcia and Rob got me. I have been wanting one to help take Olivia pictures. Cutting out a background is such a pain without one, and getting Olivia to pose for anything these days is even harder. Now I can take a picture of her and put her anywhere I want!! Here are my first very rough impromptu 2 minute trials (which would have taken A LOT longer with out the screen.)

My dad wants Olivia to be an outdoor type girl, so he got her some camouflage overalls. I think she can only wear these in the house, because she would disappear in our back yard in these. (LOL, she is screeching, laughing, smiling and dancing in front of the TV right now at that dog movie, it is cute. She loves it.)



She also has been having fun playing with all of her other toys.



We even got some shots of her in her Christmas dress, and out of the 185 Christmas tree shots were were able to get two descent ones. I think we need a third person to get pictures of Olivia. Two are not enough, she refuses to look where you want, sit where you want, or stand where you want. You could not pay me enough to be a child photographer!


All in all it was a great Christmas. I will have to say that Christmas as a kid is a LOT less stressful than as an adult with a kid. I know they will get easier, but trying to open presents while at the same time guarding the trash, knife, drink cups, unopened gifts etc is a pain. It felt more like a job than a holiday at our house that morning! Next year she will be less excited about everything else and be more focused on HER presents. That will be fun. I can't wait!!

Merry Christmas from G, B, O, Z, C, and little L. (And Izzy too, while she is here)

Christmas Part 1

In the spirit of at least getting some pictures up, here is part 1 of our Christmas.

Early Hours:
It was not a good night for Olivia, she shrieked a few time during the night, waking us both up. I was extremely tired yesterday morning because of this, however she at least slept in until 8:00 for me. I got up as usual, changed her, fed her and let the dogs out. Brooke and I had brought all the presents out into the living room on Christmas eve after Livi had gone to sleep. I knew that she would love seeing all the gifts when she got up because it was something new. I was right, as soon as she turned the corner around the couches she got her "confused smile" on. She crinkled her nose and let out her "ahhhhhhhh" sound at the gifts, then started to touch everything.


She walked around grabbing small packages and didn't know where to go next. She finally found her stocking that Grandma and Grandpa sent and started pulling stuff out of it.

But she REALLY loved the trash and wrapping paper of course. We had a hard time trying to keep her out of it. Who would have thought it would be so much work Christmas morning.

Next came my "special" gift from Aunt Gail. Why must I always be tortured on Christmas!!

After Brooke and I opened presents from each other, we had breakfast. We were getting short on time and our new house guest for the weekend showed up. We had agreed to watch our neighbor's new baby chihuahua for a few days while they went out of town. I guess we can suffer through this!!

Next we headed down to Columbia to spend the afternoon with the family. It was a pretty rainy and slow drive but we made it safe and sound. Izzy slept most of the way and is a good traveler. We started out opening a few of Olivia's gifts but she grew tired so we fed her and then put her down for a nap so the adults could open presents.




After eating, we headed home to open presents from my parents..........
(to be continued..)

Traditions

I was excited yesterday because my traditional cardamon bread (home made by mom) arrived yesterday. While devouring a whole loaf (or almost the whole loaf) I decided to be nice and share some of it with Olivia (I did share my ribs with her after all.) She seemed to really like it. I am not sure that I like the idea of her liking it, I am very stingy with that bread!
A day or so ago Brooke bought Olivia a sailor suit while she was out. Last night after the bread, we decided to see if it fit. She looked very cute in it and seemed to enjoy wearing it as she ran all around the house laughing.
It is Christmas Eve! Tomorrow Olivia gets to open presents. We are excited this year for her. This year we wont be sitting around opening presents quietly hoping that Olivia doesn't wake up. This year we will be excited to get Olivia up and have her opening with us. My how much a difference a year makes!!

Ribs Part 2

Second night of ribs. Two racks arrived in the mail, two nights of ribs for me!! Olivia did not have any today, and I polished off the ice cream last night, so no desert for us either. However, I do have video from Olivia's rib eating extravaganza. After the ribs, I shared ice cream with her, and think the ice cream is what caused her craziness you see.
I wish I could get on video how Olivia tries to kiss the dogs. It is actually kind of scary if you are a dog. She comes at them with her mouth totally open making a "ahhhhhh" sound. It is slow and cute, but probably looks to the dogs like she is trying to eat them. She is actuly gentle and doesnt bite, just kisses you with her little open mouth. Such a sweet little girl (at times.) Maybe some day I will get it on video.
Story time still buck and go wild time, but it was a little better than last night. Hope she comes around soon. I miss our story time!!

Ribs

For my birthday mom and dad had some BBQ ribs and ice cream flown in from my favorite ribs restaurant in Cincinnati. I haven't had them since probably '98. They were still as good as I remember. I took down a full rack (still have a second rack in the refrigerator) in about 10 minutes. Well, I actually didn't have a full rack. Olivia got 2 rib bones with a little meat on them to try. She seemed to really like them. That is my girl. She had a face full of sauce and just kept laughing and smiling. I think she liked the spicy BBQ sauce. And in case you were wondering, no, the bib that comes with the ribs is not optional for the full experience. OK, maybe it is, but I had just had to!! We tried it on Olivia but she wouldn't have it. She is not as dorky as her dad at least. Thanks again Mom and Dad, I loved them.

Morning Hair

As Olivia's hair grows, the morning hairdo is crazier. Here she is after having her morning milk. It was much wilder when I saw her in her crib this morning.
Livi is in a new phase of hating her night-time story. I open the book and start to read and the bucking and arching starts. Before I know it she is on her belly over my knees sliding to the floor. She used to LOVE her stories. Hopefully it will pass soon because I liked reading them to her (even though I don't need to even read them anymore, they are in my head.)

Box vs Toys

Box wins...
Of all the toys in the living room, Olivia prefers the empty brown box. She played all day in it. No, not exaggerating, all day, and all night too. It is her favorite. She pulls it over herself, she gets in it, she flips it and tries to stand on it, she dances in it. I would suggest everyone return any gifts you happened to get her and just go out and buy me big gifts in big boxes. It will be win/win. I will get the gift and Olivia can have the box. She will love you for it!
Olivia is officially on a two week hiatus from Young World. Our vacation has begun. Thursday was a busy day for Olivia, she went to get some Sears portraits done and also to see Santa Clause. She even got her hair cut (just a portion of the back, by Mommy) beforehand. Portraits went OK, Santa was not good at all. We have some interesting pictures of her with Santa, crying the whole time. I think it was more of a cranky mood as opposed to a scared of Santa thing.
We also found that Olivia loves Muppets. We were watching a SNL Christmas special and a skit with Kermit came on and she was captivated. She loved him.
The countdown to Christmas is here now. This one will be much more fun than last year. Christmas is not supposed to be as stressful as it was last year. We prayed for Olivia to sleep back then, now we cant wait for her to be awake. Ok, I see her on the monitor trying to wake up (sit up, suck on the bunny, lay back down, sit up, lay down.) I should go get her. BYE!!

Real Genius?

Calculus, anatomy, zoology, languages? Yes, these would be good subjects for Olivia to be learning using her superior intellect, but no, what have we taught her? Get your purse. Get your lipstick, put it on. Comb your hair.. Put it in your purse. Are we raising a supermodel? Well, the pay would be good at least. Perhaps it is time to start the practical teachings. Where is Mommy, where is Daddy. Where are your eyes. Bring me the green ball. Or most important, "NO." (and actually have her obey that word.) Those are all more practical. Let the cutesy learning end and the real learning begin now that she has proven that she is ready!!

Nothing New

Olivia goes back to daycare today for her last week before the new year. She was in such a good mood yesterday when Brooke was running her around that she decided to stop by work and say "hi". Olivia ran all around work smiling at people and not being shy. Guess that 3 hour nap really did her some good. Other than that there is noting new to report on the Olivia front. Maybe she will do something magical tonight.





On another note, why is it that Lu has a whole house to lay in but she decides to lay on my jacket that Livi pulled onto the floor?

Box Climb 2 and Christmas Party

The Christmas party was great. Olivia was in a perfect mood and didn't shy away from anyone and walked around all night. Olivia even let a few people hold her. She had the most fun with Moxie though (the little rat terrier) who she tried to kiss all night. She was very smiley and social and even tried new foods. We got home around 9:45 and put her to bed at 10:00, which is 2 1/2 hours past her bed time. We will see how long she sleeps in today.

The video uploading finally worked. So now you can see Olivia's new trick.

Box Climbing

Brooke decided to braid Olivia's hair last night. It turned out well and she wore it that way for quite a while. I loved it.
This morning I was cleaning up after Olivia's breakfast and looked over and saw her on my winter clothes box that I moved to the living room temporarily. She was very excited to be up there so I had to take a video.
Olivia has been doing fine keeps learning stuff everyday. Still no words except for goya goya goya, her favorite phrase. I wonder what it means.
Tonight we are going to a Christmas party thrown by Alecia and Fernando (in the Psychology Dept.) We are hoping Olivia will take good naps today and be well rested for the party. We don't want an angry baby tonight.

**Something is wrong with the blog uploads so no video, I will try again tomorrow. Has been uploading for 4 hours. Blah....***

Learning

Olivia is proving to us more and more each day that she actually can learn and does know thing, she just chooses when she wants to display these skills. She is very good at going and getting her little pink purse when we ask her to, she can get certain objects out of it that we ask her to get. We say "get your lipstick" and she will grab her little lipstick and rub it around her lips like she is putting it on, or we say "get your keys" and she gets them out of the purse. If we tell her to get her comb, she grabs her comb and rubs it in her hair like she is combing it. All in her own time though, not every time.
Our electricity went out around 5AM today and since we have a lot of things in our house that beep when the power is out, we woke up, Chili started shaking and Olivia started stirring. Though she fell back asleep, it wasn't a very sound sleep, so she was kind of cranky this morning. She was also very hungry because she threw up half her dinner last night. She isn't sick, but just had a bad coughing spell while eating and decided that throwing up would be the best way to stop the cough I guess? I didn't sleep much after the power went out either and am feeling it today... I am struggling!!

Trees

Sunday was the day we went to get a Christmas Tree. We went to the same place we went last year. This year we took Olivia (last year she was at Mima's for the weekend.) We bundled Olivia up and headed to the tree place. After looking for a short time, Brooke found a good tree. It went a lot faster this year than last year for some reason. Olivia had fun exploring the trees and blank staring at the people that ran the place. They tried to talk to her but she put on her shy face and just stared at them. If I didn't know Olivia, I would be a little creeped out by having this small person just stare blankly at me.
The tree place delivers, so they followed us to our house and dropped off the tree, then I put the stand on it while it was lying in the driveway and Olivia explored all the fallen leaves and had fun playing with the driveway lights. After the stand was on I carried the tree around to the Sun room and set it up. Decorating comes next weekend.
Olivia has been doing much better at not throwing her cup. If you remember I said that she liked to sit in her high chair and take a sip, then throw the cup off her right side. She could throw it pretty far actually. Sometimes she would throw it over her shoulder and hit the wall. We started catching her arm and say NO and maneuvering it back to the little cup holder spot on the highchair and have her drop the cup there, then we would clap and cheer. We didn't really know if it was getting through to her or not until Sunday morning when I gave her her food and walked away for a minute. I saw her grab her cup and take a sip, then she lowered it to her cup holder, put it down, smiled and clapped. It was so cute. So I cheered right along with her. She kept doing it. She would take a drink, put the cup down, then clap. Wow, she really can learn stuff, and here I thought she was just put on this planet to defy me. She has also been getting good at following simple commands. We tell her to get her fish and she goes and gets it, then we tell her to put it in the tank, and she puts it in, then of course, she claps, which we do as well. That is her new thing, putting thing inside other things. When we brought the Christmas tree stand down, Brooke had given her her Pepsi bottle to play with. As soon as I put the stand on the ground, she came over and put the Pepsi bottle in the stand, smiled, did her little laugh and then clapped. Now if I could just teach her what poop goes in all will be good!!

Parade

Today was the annual Clinton Christmas Parade. It was colder than we expected but at least it didn't rain. Olivia was totally bundled up and sat nicely through the whole thing. She didn't really care about the floats, but loved the parade of dogs. Everyone kept coming up and giving her candy, she was popular that way.
Olivia has another bad case of diaper rash today. Woke up with a diaper so bad and leaking that she needed a bath first thing. Poor little Livi, but at least once she's in a fresh diaper, she feels good, it is just the changing her that is the problem. Oh, and we also finally put her in her little Gap Bear outfit. She did not fit in it well, but was very cute!!

Cold Livi

Thought I was back in Albuquerque when I saw this one.

Yikes!!


Double YIKES!!


Not sure I understand this picture. Family appropriate?


Another float

Angels and Demons

In the video you will see below, you will see a happy fun loving Livi. I guess at Young World, you will see the opposite. On Wednesday when Brooke walked into YW to pick up our baby, she could hear her shrieking as soon as she walked in the door. She went to the normal room to get her but she was not there, she was in the baby room where they were rocking her and trying to calm her down. Turns out that when they turned the lights out for nap time Olivia freaked (she didn't want to nap.) She was disturbing all the other kids in her room so they tried to calm her in the other room. As soon as Brooke walked in she stopped, but did her little hiccup breathing all the way home. The YW people also have to feed Olivia first before the other kids because she will get upset if she doesn't get her food right away. Poor Livi is having a rough time. Who does she think she is, Mariah?
Yesterday Brooke asked Ms Janice if Olivia was ever happy there and the answer was no, but then she recanted and said that she actually will play for an hour sometimes and then realize where she is and it is all over from there. We hope that this is only because she has not gotten used to it there yet. When you think about it, she started out her first 2 days fine, then got sick and was out for a while, then came Grandpa day so that was only a 3 day week, then Thanksgiving where she went for 2 days only. She has not gotten into the groove yet. However, no sickness yet since that first time. Come on immunities, go go go....
Tomorrow is the Clinton town parade, with floats and everything (Clinton version of floats at least.) We are planning on taking Olivia there, and possibly Lu. Hope the weather stays nice.
We happened to let Olivia have her little blankey out of her crib for fun (which we never do) and she loved it. She was so excited to be able to squeeze it and walk around. It was fun to see her run all around.

Banana and Magazine Morning

Olivia wore another one of her soft jammies last night, this time it was frog themed. She is so cute in them, and I am sure she is toasty in there as well. Brooke went out last night and bought her all kinds of new "real" food. She has been living off of baby ravioli and it has made her breath and poops stink. The poops I would expect, but the breath was like she ate a clove of garlic. She got some oatmeal, Lima Beans, yogurt, turkey cubes, cheese cubes, cereal, and other fun stuff. No baby food. She is really good about trying everything we put in front of her. Can't wait to see what her favorite is. Right now bananas are her favorite still. Anytime you get a banana out she starts laughing and getting excited. This morning I decided to let her eat the banana herself with out me breaking it up or holding it for her. It went well, but she still doesn't understand about taking little bites, so after she was a little over half way through it (3 bites) I took it from her and broke the rest up. You can tell from the picture that she is rethinking the speed at which she was eating it.
She also got excited this morning because I left my bike catalog on the table last night and she was able to reach it. She saw it, smiled and immediately went to it and picked it up and started looking at it. I think it made her morning. Oh the little things in life!!
P.S. Please excuse the morning hair. As it gets longer, it gets crazier in the morning. This morning's was especially wild.

New Month

Ok, November was the month of sickness. We were all sick for most of the month. I ended up getting a mild version of Brooke's stomach bug, but nowhere near as bad (but if you saw us together, you would think I had the bad version, because I am a guy and we are dramatic when we are sick.) I am hoping for a healthy December and New Year.
Mima got Olivia some new jammies at Thanksgiving and last night Brooke decided to put one of the pairs on her. They are so soft and snugly. When she put them on her during the normal night routine, Olivia kind of froze (in a good way) and looked at each arm as she put them in the sleeves. Then she preceded to put her face in her arm and bury her face in the softness just like it was a fuzzy blanket. She loved them, and she looks so cute in them.