I wish I got to be a part of this, but they did it on a weekday. Marcia, Brooke and Steph took Olivia to see the Easter Bunny and get her picture taken with him. Since she seemed to like him last year we figured she would be OK this time as well. Not so. She looks like I do when being forced to sit through an Oompa Loompa scene. Same reaction.
The final product:
Sunday was the annual PC Easter Egg Hunt. Last year Olivia went but was not walking or crawling. This year she is running so we figured she would be all over the eggs. We put Olivia down for an early nap so she would get up a little earlier than normal because the hunt was to start at 2:00 sharp. While Olivia slept, we had lunch and relaxed and got ready to go. Once Livi woke up, we got her dressed, did her hair and headed out to the egg hunt. The weather was not looking too good and we figured it was going to be moved inside, however upon driving by the outside location for the event we were surprised to see that it was actually going to be outside. Much better than inside! We parked, got to the area with the eggs and not less than 2 minutes it began. Brooke tried to get Olivia to get some eggs on her own but all the other kids were just too fast for her, so Brooke had to go guard two eggs so Olivia could pick them up herself. In the end Olivia’s bounty was 3 eggs (two she got herself and one that she was given by another kid.)
After she got her eggs, Grandma and Grandpa had to get on the road to head back to Florida. We said our goodbyes and spent the rest of the time at PC chasing Olivia from one end of the park to the other. She really loves to explore on her own. After about an hour of that, we packed up, got in the car and just missed the rain. All in all, I think we all had a good time. Next year will be the year of Livi and the Easter egg bounty!!
Poor Livi only got two eggs.
Olivia was doing her tough girl walk all day.
Grandma and Grandpa saying “goodbye”
Olivia has photo-bombing down to a science, she took it upon herself to be in that lineup.
Sharing one of her few eggs with Ellie
Olivia’s basket when we got home.
Grandma and Grandpa got here Friday afternoon, just about 45 minutes before Olivia was to wake up from her nap. Olivia really needed her nap as she was in rare crazy form Friday.
We sat around and talked and got to see all the fun stuff they brought for her (nothing at all for me I might add!) Olivia finally began stirring after her 3+ hours of nap and Brooke went in to get her up, do her hair, put her in a cute outfit and present her (it has been since Labor Day that Grandma has seen her so it had to be special.) Brooke put Olivia at the end of the hall so she could walk out as normal, but Livi could tell something was up. She took a while to walk down the hall, knowing something strange was going on.
I will let the very beginning of the video show the rest. Later in the day and after dinner, Grandpa wanted to get Olivia a banana split from Sonic (actually, HE wanted desert and used Olivia as an excuse) so Olivia got to eat her first banana split courtesy of Grandpa.
…more pics and video of their visit to come in later posts.
I forgot I had this video. A few weeks back we brought Olivia to PC with us on a weekend because Brooke had to do some copying for one of her tests. We let Olivia do what she wanted, and that turned out to be anything that was FAR away from us. Such an independent little lady.
Olivia has the date circled and can’t hardly wait. Hurry up Grandma and Grandpa she says!! Forget Savannah, Clinton is where the fun is.
As Olivia gets older I wonder if she is trying to push her limits or really just doesn’t know any different. She loves laughing at the word “no.” Now in reality, if I didn’t have the camera I would have removed her from the rocking chair but sometimes she is too adorable when she is being defiant that it is hard to not laugh. I try not to make it a habit to say “no” more than two times, but for the sake of the blog, I had to kind of let her have her way. Ok, who am I kidding, she typically has her way more often than not. She is going to be a handful. I have had the entertainment center top lined with all the toys I take away because she bangs them on the coffee table. It basically goes:
Olivia: (with a solid toy on the coffee table) BANG..
G: “No!”
O: BANG..
G: “Ok, give it to daddy”
O: Immediately hands it over with a smile.
G: Puts the toy on the entertainment center.
O: Grabs another toy… BANG…
Repeat above until toys are gone and she just uses her hand or a burp cloth. Redirecting sometimes works, but when she wants to bang on the table she has a one track mind.
O: Wait, what, hold up, hey, Mommy, what’s in that glass?
B: You mean this glass?
O: Oooooooo, it is so sparkly! Yes, that glass.
B: It is called white wine. Adults drink it. It is not for kids.
B: No, I don’t think you will like it, plus you are underage and I don’t want to start any bad habits.
O: Ah, come on Mom, you know you want to give me some, it’s no big deal, look at this face, how can you resist?
B: Ok, but just a small amount, you act crazy enough without alcohol.
O: Oh boy oh boy!! I am not even 2 and I get to try an adult beverage! I can hardly contain myself. This will be more fun than those beer bottle and stripper pole pictures back on the 4th of July!
B: Ok, I am going to put a little on my finger for you just so you can get a small taste. Remember, you probably won’t like it. And no, Chili can’t lick your lips afterwards to taste it also.
O: Yea yea, whatever, I can already taste it. The anticipation is too great, it looks so yummy and refreshing. Hurry up with that finger!! Oh boy oh boy oh boy!!
O: Ummmmmmm, ok, never mind. That was NOT the taste I was going for. You drank a full glass of that? Blick! Can I get a milk cup and a Mum-mum please!!! You adults have some messed up tastes.
This is by no means her heaviest (I say that from how this felt compared to others, this is the only one I have weighed) but I sure wish I could lose a pound every night!! Yes, it is pee only, I am gross but not that gross.
I forgot I had this video. A few weeks ago we brought Olivia to Walmart to look for some fun new toys and do some shopping for ourselves. She loved hanging out in the toy aisle (as she always does.) I think we left empty handed (for Olivia that is) but at least Livi got to have some fun during our shopping time.
Poor Livi. Her favorite “toy” has been modified by Lulu. Bad LU!! Oh well, at least Livi still plays with it. It is just a little sharper than it was before.
Friday night we went to dinner at a friend’s (fellow professor’s) house with Olivia. They have a daughter 4 months older that Livi. You may recall a previous post where they had a play date at our house earlier last month. We didn’t get around to taking any pictures this time but Olivia had a blast. Olivia was very pissy and in a bad mood during the ride (we got there close to her bedtime) but when she saw where we were and all the toys she immediately changed her attitude. Ellie and Livi ran around all night playing with toys and each other. It is fun to see Olivia playing with someone, just like a little person. She was of course attracted to the stairs and all night kept trying to sneak up them (which she did unfortunately accomplish once.) We had home-made pizza and some delicious ice cream concoctions (the phrase ice cream balls just sounds bad.) We got home around 9:30 and put Olivia to bed. That is about 2 1/2 hours past her bedtime. Not the best idea considering we have a time change Saturday night, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Can’t always be a slave to her routine.
So the other night Brooke had work meeting she had to do until about 9:00PM so I was to be in charge of Olivia’s dinner and bedtime routine. I got home from work early to take over and Livi was in a great mood, running around, playing, screaming, spinning, laughing, all of that normal Olivia stuff. We waved “bye bye” to Brooke as she left for work. I grabbed the mail that was on the table and sorted through it while Olivia grabbed my tie that I had taken off and ran back to the sunroom where she loves being. Out of the corner of my eye I saw her trip (not uncommon for her since she always run at 110%) and then she just kind of sat there on all fours facing away from me. About 10 seconds later I heard the cry so went over to pick her up and calm her for a second, as these fits usually don’t last long, but when she stood up to come towards me there was blood all over her mouth. I freaked a little but figured she just bit her lip or tongue and brought her into the living room to wipe her face, which caused shrieks and more crying. I could not wipe the blood off fast enough, it kept coming out and she would not let me get near her mouth to see what was wrong.
At this point the dogs were now very interested in what all the fuss was about and came to investigate. After the third wipe of her mouth and more shrieks, I knew she had to be swallowing blood and was a little concerned about that as well. My concerns were confirmed when she started coughing. Lately when she has coughing fits like this she throws up, and this time was no different. Up came a whole bunch of blood all over Chili and the carpet. So I am standing alone in a house with a dog who has Livi blood on his back, blood on the carpet, a baby who is bleeding from the mouth and nobody to tag-team with. I decide to go into the kitchen where the mess can be cleaned up easier and more contained (plus, we have new couches and did not want them messed up in this fiasco either.) I put Olivia down because the kitchen seems to always cheer her up. She immediately stopped crying and started doing her little stomp on the floor. She loves changes in texture on her feet and the kitchen is Linoleum as opposed to the carpet she had been running around on. After that novelty wore off she started crying again so I gave her a spatula (her second favorite thing) and that calmed her down enough for me to investigate her mouth more and wipe it down a little bit. I saw no immediate signs of real damage, tongue all there, check, teeth all there (they looked like she knocked them all crooked but that is just how her teeth are) check, no hole in lip, check, no hole in cheek, check. I figured it had to be that she just bit her lip or cheek and that eventually it would stop bleeding and all would be good. She was getting better also, the bleeding had stopped and she was not crying unless I tried to clean her mouth, the it was a crazy fit, so I just left her mouth as it was after gently wiping her cheeks with a wet wipe. She started to grow tired of the kitchen and I brought her out to the sunroom away from the new couches. She became her old self again, climbing on the futon (and staining the sheet on it with the blood left on her mouth, but it was an old sheet anyway) and played with Lulu. She had wiped most of the blood off of her mouth onto the futon by now and was looking somewhat normal again except for her shirt and pants. I took those off and let her run around in her diaper for the rest of the night until Brooke got home. I also managed to get the carpet, kitchen and kitchen gate cleaned up from the mess. I got Chili’s back cleaned off as well. All in all a stressful evening home alone with Livi.
The next night when we were feeding Olivia dinner, we finally saw what most likely happened to make her bleed. You know the little piece of skin that if you press your tongue up and feel between your lip and gums? Olivia’s piece is crazy because instead of stopping at the middle of her gums it actually goes down between her two front teeth. We have always seen it as strange. Well, this was torn today. We think when she tripped she tore that little piece of skin and it just kept bleeding. In the long run we were going to have to get it snipped if it never broke on its own so in a way I guess it is a good thing that it happened sooner than later.
Yes, I did get pictures of her in the moment (after she was done crying and everything was ok of course) but no I am not going to post them. I do have to document everything. But in lieu of those pictures, I will present you with Olivia being weird while watching one of her favorite shows.
This kind of falls in the “What the heck is she is doing” category. This was before we got her the new chair. It is her way of lazy dancing, she does not want to stand, but still wants to move to the music.
Brooke got Olivia a new chair. She likes the beanbag but it isn’t as easy to just sit in as an actual chair. We weren’t sure about how she would take to it but she loves it. Plus, she drags it around the house and sits in it where she wants. The other day she brought it into the sunroom and set it in front of the window and just looked outside for a while. The only problem is that Lu really likes the chair as well. Now, I am not sure if it is Lu’s chair or Olivia’s chair. Let the battle begin. And no, we did not put Lulu in the chair, she took it over all by herself.
I don’t know who Olivia likes more, Lu, Zoe or Chili. Chili is just calm, cute and soft and keeps to himself mostly, Lu is energetic and loves playing with Livi, and Zoe is the mysterious large white cloud that sometimes allows her to touch her. I think when it comes down to it she is better friends with Lulu. They always play together, sometimes at Olivia’s dismay. Livi had a lot of fun this day playing with Lu, however after playtime was over you should have seen her hands. Little scrapes all over from Lu biting and pulling on them. I may need to keep that kind of play a little more in check.
I think I have reached the point now in Livi’s life (short life so far that is) where I am no longer able to just be me. Sure, I can still keep the silly side, I can still dress the same, my music choices may need to be slightly adjusted (unless I have in earbuds of course) but the days of smacking Zoe on the butt, although lightly, and telling her to move when she is being annoying, or the days of saying (well, in reality, yelling) “SHUT UP” to the dogs when I accidently bump my hand into the table and it makes a sound like someone is knocking on the door thus sending them into a 5 minute bark fest, or even throwing a towel at Chili to get him to come out from under the table when it is time to go outside, are over. I realized this when I was playing with Olivia in the hall. She would run away down the hall to the end and I would crawl after her then do something silly like tickle her or flip her upside down. On one of my crawls toward her, she wanted to get out of the hall and proceeded to push me and say “Go, Go, Go” (A move I am famous for when all three dogs are standing at my feet and I need to get from point A to point B.) I will send out a flurry of “Go’s” to them and use a pushing motion with my hand. Little did I know that even at the delicate age of 16 months, I was already teaching Olivia how to behave. I was hoping that maybe I was reading too much into Olivia’s slurred “Go” aimed at me and maybe I was just projecting that onto her, until the same thing happened to Brooke. So it is official, Olivia has learned how to get someone out of her way in the rudest way imaginable by direct example of me. Hey, after all, if it works for Daddy, that must be the way it is done.
So now I must make it my goal to sit amidst barking dogs and say “Please be quite” or just quietly remove them from the area, I must say “Excuse me please” when the dogs are in my way and I am carrying dinner, I must wait for Chili to decide whether or not he wants to go out now and wait for him to come out from under the table. In other words, I must be polite 24/7. I must actually become an adult. BLAH. Either that or wait until Olivia’s head is turned then do what I need to do MY WAY!! After all, Olivia already knows that maneuver. Just wait until our heads are turned, get very quiet, and get into mischief. Classic Livi. Ah, what am I saying, she doesn’t even wait for our heads to be turned. Thank you kindly for taking time to read this post, and have a very nice day. (blick)
I was being silly with Olivia the other day (imagine that) and I was lifting my leg up and doing exaggerated stomps. Livi loved it and started imitating me. I guess she really started to get flexible and her high steps now beat mine. Check out that little Rockette-To-Be. We are now working on getting her to kick a ball. She has done it a few times but I think it may have just been out of luck. Grandpa Rob will be proud!!
Olivia had her 16 month checkup Tuesday and all was good. She has lost a little weight, but that is to be expected we are told due to kids not liking to eat as much because they would rather be running around. We have found that to be true with our little Lee. Her head is still way up on the charts and her height is still high up as well. She also got an iron test done (little prick on her finger that would not stop bleeding) and her iron levels are great, which surprised us because she hasn’t been eating too much meat recently, but she does lover her green vegetables so that may be where it is coming from.
We have been noticing a dry spot on Olivia’s cheek recently that we have wanted to get checked out, but were waiting for this appointment. Turns out she has eczema. The doctor gave her some cream to be applied 2X per day for about 2 weeks, however it will not go away until she grows out of it. Not sure how long that is but she will have a dry rosy cheek for a long time to come I guess. Poor Live, had to be on her face!
Livi continues to learn new words and explore like crazy. It amazes me how much she loves to experiment with anything she finds. It also amazes me how much regular world items fascinate her more than her own toys. Give that girl a spaghetti noodle box and she is happier than when she has her doll.
We also got a surprise mini-snow storm yesterday. The flakes were HUGE, but no stickage. Work was delayed about 2 hours this morning for those that lived far enough away to be affected by the roads, however, in reality, the roads were fine.
One final thing, what does everyone think about the new ponytail? Her hair is almost long enough to put all of her hair in it. Brooke is really looking forward to that day since doing her hair right now is so much work. It will be a welcome change.
Well, Spring Break was nice for me (for Brooke it is still going.) I had a relaxed weekend with some biking and running thrown in for good measure, but nothing too crazy. Got my new glasses and contacts ordered, my current glasses I got back in 2001 so I am due for something new. Also ate out at Blue Ocean on Sunday afternoon/evening. We are officially in the ‘old’ or the ‘with child’ crowd because we headed out to eat at 4:30, mainly because we had been out all day and rather than go home, unpack Olivia, then pack her back up an hour later to eat, we just decided to go while we were already on the move. Plus I was hungry because I had done a pretty long run that morning and ate lunch early.
Monday night we rented a carpet steam cleaner because we were still smelling the results of Olivia’s throwing up last week. We thought we did a good enough job of cleaning it up when it happened but I guess not. We cleaned all the carpets with the noisy machine after she went to sleep, and she slept right through it. I am amazed, because I even cleaned the hall right in front of her door and to me it sounded like a jet engine there. She is such a good sleeper. Oh yea, Brooke even did some touch up paint in her room the night before with the light on while she slept. I had to go in and touch her feet while she slept just to do it. Sleep baby, Sleep!!!
Olivia is really loving climbing on the rocking chair as well as the futon. She has gotten very good at getting off of both safely too. I am glad because I have worried about her just trying to step off the futon not realizing how high she was. It is still not something I think she can be on unsupervised, but she getting much better at being ‘careful.’ The main problem is she loves to stand on the rocking chair. We keep telling her to sit, and she will say “sit, sit, sit” and sit down, but thinks it is a game. Oh, and can you say “fake laugh!!!”
