Facing Forward

I figured I would post a picture of our mini ice storm. It was actually very pretty out this morning.

Livi is finally doing well with her story time again. In fact, she is even paying attention and learning from story time. Pajama Time is one of her favorites. Now when the page comes up where the character is brushing his teeth, she will rub her finger in her mouth and imitate him. At least she is on a path of good hygiene.

As I said, we turned the car seat around today. She seemed to really enjoy it in the beginning, but then soon realized, same confinement, same boring drive, same nothing to do, same cranky Livi.. Actually, she was better than normal, but still let us know she wasn't happy.
She is still climbing everything she can think of. Here she figured she could climb on her activity table. No pictures of her actually on it because this is one thing I wouldn't allow. Sorry Livi!!

New Trick

Olivia has a new trick.  Well, climbing is not a new trick, but climbing onto the futon is new.  She now can get on the futon and loves to walk around like a crazy girl laughing, running, and falling.  She is very wobbly up there so needs total supervision or else she will end up on the floor.  Such a climber.  We need to keep her off of our couches in the living room though, just like the dogs.  We don't want her climbing on them when our back is turned.
Sunday we are planning on visiting Mima and Grandpa Rob, assuming that the weather holds.  It may be icy in the morning because the roads are very wet right now and the temp is below freezing.  I will take a quick drive tomorrow morning to see how the roads are and make the decision then.  The storm has really iced up the trees and power lines around here.  It is beautiful, but dangerous.  I guess we will know tomorrow morning!  We turned her car seat around today and look forward to driving with her looking at us as opposed to facing the back seat.  We hope it will get her in a better mood on her car trips.

Right Round Baby Right Round

Olivia had her first successful week at daycare this week. Every day was good and to top it off, she napped 1 1/2 hours today at YW. Yay Olivia. Perhaps she is starting to enjoy herself there.
She has changed so much just this week. She has really started talking now. "Doggy", "Cookie", "Kitty" and also knows a lot of her body parts (mouth, tongue, eye, hair, nose.) It seemed to just suddenly happen this week.
Along with talking and body parts, she has taken to spinning. She loves to spin around and around until she can't stand any more. Don't know where she picked this up, was probably YW. It is pretty funny to watch. Oh, and she has also taken to pulling the beret out of her hair so we had to change her hairdo a bit, hence the one sided pony tail.

Another Play Date

Sunday Olivia had another play date with Ellie, the daughter of another professor at PC. They had a good time together, and Olivia is getting better at playing with others. Please excuse the jammies, she woke up 1/2 hour after her guest arrived and wanted to get right to playing.

Olivia has become quite the climber. We have had to take the little blue chairs from her table away because she moves them around the house and uses them to get to high things, or just to get higher up for fun. She even went as far as taking the diaper box we put on the floor when we got home from the store, pushing it to the table, climbing on top of it and trying to get stuff off of the table. She is really a little monkey now.
Livi now officially says "doggy." She has gotten real good at it and knows how to use it as well. I was even holding her the other day and had a bull dog on my shirt and she laughed, pointed to my shirt and said "doggy." I think the words will start coming more and more now.

Big Jammies

So what happens when Olivia wears jammies that are too big? They look like this, and what is even funnier is seeing her run down the hall in these. Guess she has a little more growing to do!

Friday was pajama day at daycare (she wore a different pair) and the end of another week. This was the first week that Olivia made it through with out crying. She even took a nap one of the days this week. Lets hope this is a sign of things to come!

Vacuum Crazy

This is how excited Olivia gets when Mommy is cleaning the house.  I have to wonder, does she love dogs or vacuum cleaners more?

Whose Daughter?

I will let the video speak for itself, but is there any doubt whose daughter this is?
(Google Video is fixed finally!!)

Nice Day Off

We had the day off yesterday, and it happened to fall on Brooke's birthday yay!! So we all had a nice relaxing day off. Brooke got to sleep in, I got to go on a bike ride (the weather was great) and Olivia got to go to the park.

She had a good time there, and enjoyed just running around more than actually playing with any of the structures there. Which ever way Brooke and I went, she went the opposite. She just loves running. It was pretty funny, she is very good now at covering her mouth any time she coughs, or any time anyone else coughs or sneezes. So good in fact that while we were at the park, a semi truck drove by and made a loud pressure release sound (sounded like a loud sneeze) and Olivia turned to us and covered her mouth. Such a good girl.
Her cold is still holding on, though her cough has gotten better. Her nose is continually running though, it is like a fountain. She has gotten to where she knows the wet wipes box signature click of when I open it to get something to wipe her nose, and as soon as she hears it she darts down the hall to the corner. She always realizes she is trapped and gives in to the nose wipe, but still runs away every time, to the same place.

"B" Day Celebration

Yesterday we celebrated Brooke's Birthday in Columbia. We headed down around 9:30 so we could pick up the broken vacuum cleaner on our way (it has been at the repair shop for 2 weeks.) Olivia woke up seeming about the same as the last few days. A small cough, but happy at least.

We ate subs for lunch and then had cake for desert. Olivia took a very long nap and woke up refreshed and happy. We spent the rest of the afternoon upstairs playing pool while Olivia explored and climbed on top of everything possible. She is such a little monkey. She especially loved rocking in her rocking chair and has gotten pretty good at it.

After getting home, we put Olivia in her highchair, took her pigtails out and fed her dinner. Who knew that her pigtails would have cause some crazy hair when taken out? I wish she could look like this every day!!

Hanging In There

Livi felt awful yesterday. Sorry for all the bad news posts. She just whines constantly and there is no helping her. Soon after we put her down for bed we noticed a big wet spot on her sheets on the video monitor. Upon examination we saw that she threw up in her crib, a lot, so we had to do a quick team effort sheet-and-jammie change while keeping her in the dark and not getting her too excited or awake. I am staying home in the morning today to take care of her and Brooke will take over at noon. She would be more miserable at daycare we figure and we want her to be well for Brooke's Birthday celebration Saturday. Today she has actually been pretty good, the coughing has for the most part stopped, and she isn't as whiny. Hopefully by tomorrow or at least the end of the weekend all will be back to normal!!! At least she has her Chili to keep her feeling good.

Sick Again

Olivia continues to suffer from her new cold. Doctors believe she may have developed croup. They gave her a steroid shot that will open her airway up more so she doesn't cough so badly and gag herself. She seems to be happy most of the time, but is really having a hard time keeping anything down. Last night at dinner, after she ate some banana and toast, it all came back up in layers. First came the toast, then on second heave, the banana. Poor Livi, as we were lifting her from the highchair to clean her, she was grabbing toast off of the table and eating it before we got her in the air since she was so hungry. She hadn't kept anything down all day. For bed, she drank her whole bottle then fell asleep pretty quick. Luckily, she kept it down. She was getting so tired before bed time that she kept placing her burp cloth on the ground in the hall and using it as a pillow. It was sort of pathetic, but cute.

Loving The 80's

I recently downloaded the soundtrack to one of my favorite 80's ski movies, and as I was reliving some of my youth, Livi took interest in one of the songs. She really enjoyed it and started breaking it down. Enjoy the incredible dancing Olivia, sorry about the music. You should also know that when you see her pulling herself up to look at the table in this video, we have on other occasions witnessed her lift both feet off the ground when pulling up on the table. Such a strong little girl.

New Vacuum

Our old vacuum had its motor burn out (only had it for 1 1/2 years) so we had to get another one. The fact that it has been 2 weeks since the house has been vacuumed is pretty scary (and emotionally scaring to Brooke.) We brought the box for the new vacuum in and Olivia immediately went to the dog picture on the vacuum advertisement. As always, she loves her puppies.

Oh and what is it with Livi and the dog bowl. I wish I had gotten a better shot, but she loves standing in them. This picture was as she was getting ready to exit the bowl. Earlier she was just laughing and not holding on to the table. I guess she likes to balance in stuff. Chili is wondering "is this my big dinner????"

Ungraceful Exit

Livi is sick yet again. She has been throwing up at frequent intervals yesterday. She is in very high spirits though, dancing around, laughing and playing hard. You would not even know she was sick if it wasn't for the wet spots all over the floor, chest soaked in stinky fluids, and a nose that won't stop running. We are even out of baby decongestant, so have to wait until Monday to see the doctor to get it refilled. Oh well, no real temperature, just a cold, I think she will live.
On another note, what are kids good for if you can't laugh at them occasionally. Olivia will on occasion get herself in a predicament that typically needs parental guidance or a helping hand. What is this good Dad's first response to these situations? Get the camera!! I got it at the end of her little "stuck on the chair" fiasco as she was in that position for a good 20 seconds before I got it. She was trying to get off the chair and for some reason tried to exit it face first and just couldn't make it, all the while chewing on a Cinnabear cookie. Talented, but not very graceful.

Happy Mornings

Olivia was having an unusually happy morning the other day.  She is normally happy in the AM, but she was really doing her "bend over and laugh" a whole bunch, so I grabbed the camera and got some of it on video.  I realized after the fact that she didn't have a hair clip in so she is very disheveled, but cute none the less.  She keeps wanting to play with Lu but can't get the hang of throwing a dog toy instead of her own toys.  Lu has already taken a few bites of her animal puzzle pieces and a bite or two of her little people.
Speaking of biting, as I write this, she just tripped and bit her lip.  I didn't realize it until I went to pick her up to comfort her and there was blood on her lips.  It looked worse than it was, and she really wasn't crying too bad, just her normal I want you to hold me cry.  She would even stop, look around, then look at me, and let out a cry.  Kind of pathetic at times, she can be a drama queen!!
It was another bad week at Young World.  We think she is the kid nobody likes now.  Cries nonstop throughout the day and constantly wants attention that they are unable to give just her.  We still hope that she gets over it (like crying it out) and are not sure what we are going to do if she doesn't.  We will keep you posted.  I still disagree with the lady there saying that she is intimidated by the other kids.  I think she is just bored.  We also think that she needs more food than they are giving her, she can get REAL cranky if she isn't fed as we see on a day to day basis, and it is like a switch it flipped as soon as she is hungry, no warning, just "ahh ahh ahh ahh ahh" the whole time you are preparing it.  She doesn't understand the whole "it will be ready in 1 minute" phrase. So that could be a big part of it as well.

Ride em Cowgirl

Olivia starts daycare again today. Lets hope that it goes well in the new year. I think if she can have a few weeks of straight daycare she will get the hang of it. The holidays are behind us now and there shouldn't be any more interruptions (other than her getting sick.) Speaking of which, she got her second round of H1N1 shots yesterday, so she is on her way to being protected from the old swine!

Livi is loving her pink pony. She keeps wanting to climb on it and ride, but is still having trouble getting on. Her dismount is not pretty, but she can get off of it now with out any help. Check out that form she has, one arm and all, like she is riding the mechanical bull!!

Play Ball

Olivia is now on the next size diapers.  She had overflowed her last diaper the past few nights so we decided to up the size.  She is at that awkward between diaper sizes stage right now, as the new ones go up half her back.  She doesn't seem to mind though.

Brooke and I had a nice night out Saturday evening.  We left Livi with Mima and Grandpa and we went and saw Avatar, then went to a Hibachi place for dinner.  So much food, but sooooo good!!  Olivia had a good time as well.  She even got to snuggle with Mima and Grandpa in the morning when she woke up, a treat that she doesn't get at home (would be as much of a treat for Mom and Dad as it is for Livi.)

One question I have for the other parents out there, when you have a child as cute as Olivia and she does bad things, she knows that they are bad things, but after she does them she just looks up at you and smiles and laughs, how do you not break down and laugh as well!!  I find myself sometimes having to turn my head and silently laugh and get it out of my system before I turn back around with an angry face.  She will bang her cup against the glass window in the sun room, I will say "NO" and she will stop, then do it again and do the cutest squeal laugh and smile.  It gets difficult to be strict, but I am working on it!

Olivia is also getting good at playing with her ball.  She is getting the hang of throwing or rolling it for the dogs.  She also has gotten good at throwing other toys that for the dogs to play with, toys that they will destroy.  Gotta work on that one I guess.

New Table

We got Olivia a new play table when we went to Toys R Us the other night so she would have something to bang on and to color on instead of our coffee table.  She has not taken to it much yet, but does like to flip it on it's side and push it around.  The little chairs are slippery, I put her on one yesterday and she immediately slid down and off of it hitting her chin on the table on the way down.  Very big crys after that.  I felt so bad.

Oh, and we have tooth number 8 coming in.  This makes top and bottom even now!!

Beverly Hills Chihuahua

We finally got around to watching Beverly Hills Chihuahua with Olivia. Olivia loved it. She watched the whole thing, most of it while standing in front of the TV (nothing to be proud of I guess, but cute none the less.)  I really don't know who couldn't like this movie anyway.  Chili and Lu could have been stars!!