Lady Cecilia and the Devine Miss O

Christmas wrap-up

2012-01-18T15:40:00.004-05:00

I am just now getting around to blogging about our first Christmas as a family of four. Everyone told me how much harder things would be with two kids. What they did not tell me was how hard it would be to prepare for Christmas with two kids! It was a stressful holiday season, but wonderful at the same time! I still can't believe that I found enough time to get the decorations up, the tree trimmed and all of the presents bought and wrapped before Christmas. Somehow it all got done in time, making for a very special family Christmas.

A few weeks before the holiday Cecilia made her acting debut. She played Baby Jesus in the nativity play at our church. Aside from the fact that Baby Jesus was not female, Cecilia played the part perfectly. It helped that she is the type of baby that does not mind being passed off to strangers. As I handed her over to "Mary" she gave me a huge grin. I was very proud of my little sweeetie. Not sure where we go from here. Any other acting gigs that may come along won't hold a candle to playing the part of Jesus!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were extremely hectic but a lot of fun. We kicked things off with a Christmas Eve family gathering with Todd's side of the family. We would be spending Christmas night with Todd's family as well, but one of his brothers would not be in town so we wanted to make sure that the kids could all open their gifts together. Olivia and her cousin Ella have become very close over the past year. They are finally at the ages where they are able to play together, and boy do they have fun!

The girls were thrilled with their matching Lalaloopsy dolls. For those not familiar with Lalaloopsy, it is the latest doll craze for little girls. They are super cute and very unique...not tacky, like so many other dolls out there for girls. Olivia asked Santa for a Lalaloopsy set, which she was just dying to get. After opening their presents the girls took a rest, while Olivia read to Ella. Thank goodness for a girl cousin!

That night we all put on our Christmas best and headed to church. Our family was asked to bring up the the Baby Jesus as the final part of the nativity. This time Baby Jesus was plastic, not our sweet Cecilia. After church we headed to the Wilhelms for their annual Christmas Eve party. It is always a fun evening of good food and friends.

We tried to get home reasonably early so we could get the girls into bed and get things ready for the next morning. Olivia was sure to leave the cookies and milk for Santa. She could not have been more into every detail surrounding Christmas this year. I hope she continues to "believe" for many years, as there is nothing more special than experiencing Christmas through your five year old's eyes! Her eyes sure were as bright as could be on Christmas morning when she realized that Santa granted all of her Christmas wishes!

We spent a nice lazy morning at home opening presents, just the four of us. Todd and I soaked up every moment as we watched our girls enjoy their first Christmas together. Olivia was most thrilled with her gift from us...her own little iPod. It was actually my old iPod (Todd gave me a new one for Christmas), but she could have cared less. You should see her walking around here with her iPod and headphones, jammin' to all of her favorite songs. She was also pretty excited about the "Olivia" car given to her by her little sister. We kept things simple for Cecilia's first Christmas. We figured there was really no point in showering a six month old with gifts anyway. Olivia did pick out a cute little hat and hair bows for her sister. The immediately went into her mouth. Cece was pretty interested in her main present, which was a miniature piano. She has been filling the house with much noise since Christmas morning.

After wrapping things up at home we headed to my Mom's for Christmas #2! It was a frenzy of present opening, resulting in some very nice gifts for all. To say that we are blessed is definitely an understatement. Making sure Olivia understands just how blessed she is was top priority this holiday season.

I know these pictures look a bit obscene, but I assure you that all of those presents do not belong to Olivia. In fact they were split between the girls, me, Todd, my Mom, Grandma and Uncle. I love how Olivia seems to be in Christmas present overload in the second photo. Once all of the presents had been opened we collasped into an exhausted pile on the floor! I saw this quote from Andy Rooney over the holidays and it made me smile. "One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don't clean it up too quickly." What was my favorite present this year, you ask? This...

We finished off the day with Todd's side of the family. By that night we had reached our present opening maximum. The girls were wiped out and Todd and I were beat too. All of that preparation, leading up to the holiday was ripped through in a 12 hour span. It was a whirlwind of a day, but one we will always have very fond memories of.

It is now the middle of January and we have hunkered down for the winter. I don't mind cozy, lazy days around the house. Cecilia seems to changing daily right now. I can hardly keep up with her! She is very close to sitting without support. She can usually hold her own for a minute or two before toppling over. She does best with a little help from the boppy. Prop her up, surrounded by her toys and she is one happy girl!

We recently went for her 6-month check-up. Of course she is growing beautifully. She weighed in at 18 lbs. and 3 oz. She is one solid girl! Believe it or not, Olivia weighed almost one pound more at this age! Cecilia's most notable milestone as of late is her decision to start sleeping through the night. Her sleep habits in general literally seemed to improve overnight. She finally started napping better for me on the weekends and not just for Holly (her amazing babysitter) during the week. She stopped waking up to eat in the middle of the night, and last but not least she has learned to soothe herself back to sleep when she wakes. I was prepared to dive into some hardcore sleep training, but my little sweetie decided to save Mommy the stress and take care of it on her own. Thank you, Cecilia!

She is also on the move. In the last week she has started getting up on all fours and rocking back and fourth. She did this for the first time at Holly's. Holly immediately sent me a picture she took on her phone. I love that she keeps me in the loop on all of Cece's developments. She now spends a great deal of time on her hands and knees. She is definitely a girl on the verge crawling!

Cecilia has also recently expanded her palate. She has been eating cereal for at least a month now, but we recently introduced veggies and she loves them. Carrots, squash and peas are on the menu these days. We will be diving into fruits soon. My Mom has offered to make all of Cecilia's baby food. I love that everything touching her lips right now is homemade. Thanks, Mom!

Olivia is always working on developing her life long bond with her sister. She is very interested in helping Cecilia with her toys and is always very patient with her. Watching my two girls play with one another is better than anything I could have ever imagined. Olivia tells me daily how much she loves her sister, and even though Cece can't speak for herself I can see in her eyes just how much she loves her big sister.

Spring still seems decades away, but I am ready to spend a warm, cuddly winter inside with my family. It is the perfect time to slow down and enjoy every single second!

very thankful

2011-12-20T13:31:00.009-05:00

We have been celebrating many firsts with Cecilia lately. Most recently she joined us for her first Thanksgiving. Each year we have family come in from out of town to spend the holiday with us. For many this was their first time meeting Cecilia. For my Aunt Sue this was her second time seeing her great niece. She visited in August, which was a very difficult period for Cecilia. She was extremely fussy and uncomfortable most of the time so she was not able to fully enjoy her. In the past 2-3 months Cecilia has done a 180 and turned into a very delightful baby.

Everyone was able to enjoy Cecilia during the holiday. My Grandmother was especially excited to spend time with her. She lives in Michigan and is able to visit on a regular basis. She has watched Olivia grow up and is now taking delight in watching another great grandchild change and grow before her eyes. My girls call their great grandmother, Nana Cleo and I know she loves being able to see them so frequently. Not many of us really get to know our great grandparents. Olivia has had five years with Nana Cleo. I would love for Cecilia to have five years with her too.

We used the Thanksgiving holiday as a chance to take some updated family photos. It is not too often that so many of us are together at the same time. There are quite a few family members missing from these photos but we were able to take a four generations picture as well as a picture with the grandkids and great-grandkids (those who were in town, anyway).

I have so much more to be thankful for this year. I now have two amazing and beautiful little girls in my life. Olivia continues to impress me with her ever expanding mind and true love of life. Having Cecilia in our lives has changed our family dynamic, but in a wonderful way. We hesitated initially about having a second child, but now that I see Olivia with her little sister I cannot imagine us not being a family of four. Olivia was meant to be a big sister and she has handled the transition with such grace. There is not a day that goes by where she doesn't tell us just how much she loves her sister. Watching these two girls build a bond with one another has been one of the greatest joys of my life, thus far.

With Thanksgiving out of the way it was time to kick our Christmas preparations into high gear. First on the list was getting the decorations up and our trees decorated. Olivia has her own little tree that she decorates on her own. The plan is to get Cecilia a matching tree for next Christmas that she can start to decorate too.

Next it was off to visit Santa. This would be Cecilia's first Santa visit, but Olivia 6th!!! Olivia was only one month old the first time she visited Santa. Now at 5 she is a seasoned pro. She hopped right into Santa's lap and recited her Christmas wish list. After Santa listened carefully Cecilia joined her sister for their first picture with Santa together. I must say it turned out very well. Next year may be interesting, as Cecilia may be a bit more hesitant to sit in the lap of the man in the red suit.

We also took the girls to see live reindeer. It was a little too cold for Cecilia so she was hidden under her car seat cover, but Olivia got up close and personal with a adult and baby reindeer. They were very cute!

Each year we visit the Botanical Gardens with one of Olivia's little friends from school. They love running around together through the Christmas displays. Olivia and Laurel always enjoy their time together and this has become of our Christmas traditions that we always look forward to.

Cecilia often misses out on some of our family outings due to her napping schedule, or lack there of right now. I am having a great deal of difficulty getting this child to take decent naps. She seems to do very well during the week with her babysitter, but once she is at home for the weekends her naps continue to be a struggle. It often involves waking after a short time and then spending a great deal of time trying to get the child to go back to sleep. We need to really get serious with our sleep training but I have been putting it off. It is time for Cece to learn to soothe herself back to sleep when she wakes from naps and nighttime sleep. I remember doing this with Olivia. It was hard at first, but worth it in the end. I am a stickler for sleep and I will do whatever I have to in order to get this child to be a good sleeper. Strange thing is that even with very little sleep she still tends to be a pretty happy baby. Go figure!

Aside from our sleeping issues Cecilia is making a ton of progress developmentally. She is close to sitting up unassisted. She can prop herself up for a minute or so before toppling over. One thing I have noticed about this child is just how strong she is. She has a great deal of upper body strength and can lift her entire chest off the ground. She has been rolling from her back to her belly for about a month and a half now but has yet to roll from her belly to her back. Not sure why, but she just won't do it. She is quite the chatterbox too. That is one thing that her and her big sister have in common. Her smiles go on for miles and she is just most squishy and cuddly little baby.

In between all of Christmas festivities we squeezed in a super fun event at Olivia's school. On the last day of school before break, Peace Montessori hosted their annual International Night. Each classroom represents a different country and prepares food and decorations to show that country's culture. Olivia's classroom featured the country of Holland. My Mom just returned from a trip to Holland so she was able to contribute quite a bit to help them prepare for the event. To say that the food from each country was enjoyable is a understatement. It was a fun night and we left with very full tummies.

With Christmas only a few days away I need to kick it into high gear. It is amazing how much more difficult it is to prepare for this holiday with a second child in the mix. There just are not enough hours in the day. Everything may not get done and it may not be perfect, but that's ok. I am just thankful to have a happy, healthy family to share this special time of year with. I have a five year old who is counting the days until Santa arrives and a 5 month old that smiles constantly...life is pretty darn good!

5 already?

2011-11-28T14:33:00.018-05:00

I can hardly believe it as I say it out loud...Olivia is 5 years old! It seems like just yesterday she was digging into her first little birthday cake. Now my girl is all grown up!

Olivia's birthday celebration was an all week event, concluding with a fabulous party to recognize this important milestone. It was Olivia's "all about me" week at school so she was able to bring in things to share and do a few special things to celebrate her birthday. On that Friday, her actual birthday she woke up to a breakfast surprise...a chocolate donut! She wanted a special breakfast and wanted to be surprised. I knew this would do the trick.

Her special week at school ended with a Montessori tradition, "the walk around the sun". This is a special ceremony that recognizes each year of their lives. They walk around the circle one time for each year. This is a huge hit with the kids because the focus in entirely on them.

The celebrating continued when we took Olivia out for a special "big girl" dinner that night. It was her first trip to Takaoka. Growing up my parents would take me to this Japanese hibachi restaurant each year on my birthday. I thought this would be a fun tradition to start with Olivia now that she is old enough to appreciate it. This is a really fun place to eat. The chefs put on quite a show. Olivia was fascinated by how quickly our chef prepared our food and he did a ton of fancy tricks to keep her interested. Olivia loves Japanese food so she was in heaven once her plate was filled with shrimp and rice.

This restaurant is a popular place for people to go on their birthdays. They bring you a special ice cream treat and sing a Japanese birthday song. You usually hear the song at least half a dozen times during dinner. Olivia had a wonderful time so I think the tradition will continue next year.

The festivities came to a close the next day with Olivia's birthday party. She chose a ladybug theme which was fun to prepare. I found some adorable ladybug decorations which were emphasized by the many different ladybug stuffed animals and knick-knacks Olivia has around the house.

My Mom impressed as always with some amazing ladybug snacks. Her nickname is "Martha", as in Martha Stewart. Can you see why? Only my Mom has the patience and talent to pull off snacks like these. They not only looked adorable, but were quite yummy too.

The cake put the perfect finishing touch on this ladybug party. The office manager at Olivia's school has made her cake for the past 3 years. She does an amazing job! Her cakes aren't just nice to look at, but they taste amazing. Of course Olivia was thrilled with her cake as well and made a super special wish as she blew out her candles.

Olivia received some very nice gifts from her friends and family. Obviously that was her favorite part of her party. She did a good job of thanking everyone for her gifts and showing enthusiasm as she opened each present.

It was a very successful party and a lot of fun too. Olivia is already makes plans for birthday party #6! Cecilia was delightful that night, as she was passed from one person to the next. I hardly saw my child the whole night, but she had no problem being in other people's arms. I love that she seems to have turned into such an easy going baby.

Cecilia has a few new developments to report. She is now pushing up on her hands when she lays on her tummy. She is also able to sit up on her own for a few seconds at a time without support. She still has a way to go but I have a feeling she will be there very soon. This is a very strong child and is able to do things with very little help. She is also starting to react more to Olivia. Olivia has been able to get a few giggles out of Cecilia by acting as silly as possible. I have a feeling Olivia will be Cecilia's preferred method of entertainment for a long time.

We just wrapped up a very busy Thanksgiving weekend. We are all trying to get back on track and into a more relaxed routine. We are also in full Christmas prep mode. I will have much more to share in the upcoming weeks. Can't wait to spend our first Christmas with Cecilia!

all things halloween

2011-11-11T13:07:00.008-05:00

What a fun month this has been. We have spent the past few weeks enjoying many different fall and Halloween activities. This year has been extra special since we were able to include Cecilia in all of our little family traditions. First on the list was the annual Zoo Halloween.

The weather was perfect which meant that Olivia was able to show off her costume and not cover it up with a jacket. She told me she wanted to be a black cat the day after Halloween ended last year. Surprisingly she never changed her mind. My Mom found an adorable little pink kitty outfit for Cecilia, which was just as comfy as jammies. So we strolled around the zoo with both of our little kitties, while Olivia collected her treats. Next year Cecilia will be walking through the zoo with her big sister leading the way!

Next on the agenda was the annual Fall Family Festival at Olivia's school. Each year the school puts on a great festival including games, snacks, costume parade and the very popular trunk-or-treat! Cecilia sat this one out as it was a bit chilly that day.

This year they threw a dunk tank into the mix and it was a huge hit with the kids. Olivia could hardly wait to try and dunk her teacher, Ms. Laura. She shocked us all when she hit the bullseye on her second throw and her teacher fell into the tank of freezing cold water. I must hand it to the teachers of Peace Montessori. There is nothing like showing your devotion to your job than allowing yourself to be dunked into cold water on a 50 degree fall day!

We were enjoying ourselves until the weather took a turn for the worse. Just as the kids were getting ready to start their trunk-or-treat the wind picked up and it started to rain. Olivia and I ran through the parking lot and hit every trunk as fast as we could collecting her candy. Daddy pulled up the car, we hopped in and headed home early. Luckily we were able to enjoy the majority of the festival before the weather forced us to leave.

And as if we did not have enough candy already we still had Halloween around the corner. The weather cooperated again and we were all able to enjoy a nice walk throughout the neighborhood. Cecilia was bundled up in her little kitty outfit and Olivia was prepared with her treat bag. She could hardly contain her excitement as she ran from house to house. She was on a mission to collect as much candy as humanly possible in two hours.

Cecilia was a trooper that night. She just relaxed in her stroller and enjoyed the cool, fall evening as Olivia dashed through our neighborhood at lightening speed. Todd took Cece home once it started getting dark while Olivia finished up her candy collecting. She could hardly hold her treat bag by the end of the night it was so heavy. Once we got home we dumped the candy out on the floor and assessed the damage. I could not believe how much she managed to get in such a short period of time. All of that candy is in a huge bowl on top of our refrigerator and I have a feeling it will take us ages to eat it all. Olivia is only allowed to have a few pieces each day and of course Todd and I occasionally sneak a piece here and there. (It is so hard to resist!).

Halloween was a huge success and according to Olivia, her favorite holiday ever! I can't wait until next year when Cecilia will be toddling around with her big sister collecting candy.

Mixed in with all of our fall festivities was Olivia's first ever horseback riding lesson. We won a gift certificate at a silent auction last year for a couple of lessons and thought she would enjoy giving it a try. Before she began her first lesson she had to get fitted with her horseback riding gear. How cute does she look? My little rider!

I figured that they would spend a lot of time teaching her the basics before actually putting her on a horse but I was wrong. Within minutes of starting her first lesson she saddled up on a beautiful horse named, China and immediately got down to business. She learned how to hold the reigns, how to get the horse to start and stop and how to make her turn. She really enjoyed enjoyed herself and picked up on the instruction very easily. I was very proud of how well she listened to her teacher and how well she handled herself on that huge animal! We may continue with the lessons to see where it leads.

Now for a quick update on Cecilia. She is now four months old and is just delightful. If someone would have told me a few months ago that I would have a baby with the most pleasant disposition I would have said you were crazy. What a difference a few months can make! She smiles constantly. She only fusses if she is tired or hungry. She is laughing, rolling over and trying to sit up on her own. She rolled over for the first time just shy of 4 months old. It was an exciting moment for all of us.

At her recent check up she weighed in at 15 lbs. 15 oz and 25 inches in length. She is a bit smaller than Olivia at this age, but not much. You should see the legs on this girl. They are sturdy, that's for sure! She is also a very loud baby. She babbles and often yells at us, making sure she is being heard. Olivia was a very early talker and I have a feeling Cecilia is going to be the same way. She is sleeping much better now and seems to have settled into a very nice routine for us.

Olivia continues to take her job as "big sister" very seriously. She is always interacting with Cecilia and showering her with hugs and kisses. I could not be more proud of my big girl and how well she has handled this life changing experience. I look forward to watching the bond between my two girls grow stronger as the months/years pass. I look at both of my girls each day and I am reminded of just how lucky I am.

The most recent development in our house is the fact that Olivia is now 5 years old! We just finished celebrating her birthday and throwing a fantastic party. I will recap all of those fun festivities next time.

fall festivities

2011-10-17T10:13:00.038-04:00

Yes...fall is officially here! I love this time of year. The month of October is always a busy one for us. It means that Halloween and Olivia's birthday are just around the corner. Let the planning begin. To kick off fall and begin decorating for Halloween we took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. We have been doing this each year since Olivia was born. Here she is at 11 months with her first little "spooky"!

We love this little pumpkin patch because they have pumpkins of all sizes so she can pick out ones that she can actually carry. This year she wanted to pick out four pumpkins...two bigger ones that represent Todd and I, and two smaller ones for her and Cecilia. She ran all over that patch, looking for the perfect pumpkins to represent our little family.

Once she found her sister's first little pumpkin she rushed over to show it to her. Cecilia was just taking in the sights and fresh air, while watching Olivia have all the fun. I can't wait to take Cecilia back to this pumpkin patch next year. It will be neat watching both girls run around, looking for the perfect pumpkin.

That weekend Olivia spent time putting sticker faces on the pumpkins she picked out. She was pretty proud of her "family of pumpkins".

Another sure sign that summer is over is the zoo closing for the season. With that, we took one last family trip. It was a gorgeous fall day and perfect for walking around. Cecilia enjoyed riding on Daddy's chest, checking out the animals. Olivia took one last ride on the horses. We will go back to the zoo once more for the annual Zoo Halloween. Olivia loves this event each year and it gives her an extra chance to sport her costume.

Now let's talk about Cecilia and her recent developments. She loves playing in her exersaucer now that she is strong enough to support her upper body. It is a great way to keep her occupied while I need to get a few things done. She is also SO close to rolling over. She gets onto her side and gets stuck. That darn arm gets in the way and prevents her from getting all the way over. I have a feeling by the next time I post she will be doing it without a problem.

She is sleeping much better at night and taking better naps. She usually gets up once in the middle of the night to eat and usually goes right back to sleep. It took awhile to get to that point, but I think we finally made it. We still occasionally have a bad night, but I guess that is to be expected. I have a feeling I am still a long way off from being able to have a full, uninterrupted night's sleep. Overall she has become a very happy, good tempered baby in the past month. She spends most of her wakeful time with a huge smile on her face. The giggles are coming more frequently and her chatter is getting much louder. See for yourself...

Each year at this time we have our family photos taken. This year we tried a new photographer...Kathryn Proto Photography. She was amazing! I am waiting to get all of the photos from her, and once I do I will share my favorites. Picking my favorites was near impossible as they are all so great, especially the ones of the girls. The photographer couldn't wait to share this one of Cecilia with me.

She brought along this adorable little pumpkin hat with her to our photo shoot. It barely fit on Cece's fat little head, but we managed to squeeze it on for one picture. The weather was perfect for our shoot which made for a really nice afternoon. We have been very fortunate to find great photographers to take our family pictures over the years. I am always amazed with how great they turn out. I should be able to share them soon. Now it is time to get the final touches on Olivia's Halloween costume and her 5th birthday party! Such a fun time of year!

making strides...and smores!

2011-09-23T15:49:00.003-04:00

Let me start by saying...I AM EXHAUSTED! This baby is giving me a run for my money. Love her to pieces but I would give my right arm for a solid night's sleep right now. In many ways Cecilia has been improving. She is now more content during her wakeful periods and does not seem as uncomfortable in general. Now we need to work on sleep! Her sleeping skills still need a ton of work...and I need a nap!

I started back to work full time this past week. I was ready. After almost 12 weeks off it was time to get back into my regular routine and I think a break from Cecilia was going to be a good thing for both of us. I found the most amazing babysitter for Cece so I was not the least bit worried about leaving her. I knew she was in good hands with Holly and I felt very secure knowing that she was going to be very well taken care of. So far she is doing great over there and seems to sleep very well for Holly...go figure! After being away from my baby girl all day it makes seeing her at the end of the day that much more exciting.

As I mentioned we are still experiencing some sleep troubles. She tends to nap pretty well for the baby sitter but I still have trouble getting her to take solid naps at home. Her night time sleep is also very choppy and quite restless. She usually gives me a 4-5 hour stretch at first and in most cases the rest of the night is usually pretty shaky. She wakes up often and can sometimes be hard to get back to sleep. I am hoping that things improve soon. She and I both need to get a more solid night's sleep. Olivia was challenging at first in this area but she quickly improved and started sleeping well at night by 3 months. Olivia has always been a good sleeper and I am keeping my fingers crossed that Cecilia turns into one as well.

In other developments she is starting to show interest in her toys. She bats at things in front of her and will occasionally grasp them. I am not sure she grabs onto them intentionally but when she gets one of her rattles in her hands she holds on for dear life! There hasn't been any rolling over yet, but she does enjoy playing on the floor now. A month or so ago she would have cried the second I laid her down flat. She also seems to be doing better in the car. The crying seems to have subsided and at least she is not crying each time we go for a drive. The best thing of all is that she is smiling like crazy and chatting more each day.

Switching gears...Olivia has jumped into the school year head first. She has adjusted to full day school so well and loves it! She has been working on her reading and math skills lately and we have seen some major advancement. She has been making new friends and having a great time. As a treat for all of her hard work lately her Dad promised her they could camp out in the backyard. She has been asking him about camping for quite awhile now and we thought that a trial run in the backyard was a good place to start. First they set up the tent. Well, Todd set up the tent, but Olivia helped a little. All she wanted to do was get inside and roll around.

Once it got dark they headed back outside to make s'mores. It was a chilly night so I put Olivia in her footy jammies and a fleece jacket to stay warm. It really was the perfect night for a camp out. As it got later Olivia was begging to go to sleep. She was so excited to get into her sleeping bag. Now I thought there was no way she would sleep outdoors all night. I figured she would wake up in the middle of the night, not sure of where she was and want to come inside.

The next morning I was up bright and early with Cece and I peeked outside to see that the tent was still closed. She slept out there the entire night! She had the time of her life and she cannot wait to do it again!

The weather is starting to change and fall is officially here. We have a lot going on in the next few months. Halloween is our next big event, soon followed by Olivia's 5th birthday! Yes...she is going to be 5 this year! I can hardly believe it myself. I am sure I will be saying the same thing once Cecilia turns one. I know that time flies and your children grow up in a flash. I can't say that I feel that time is flying right now, but I am sure once Cece starts sleeping better at night I will change my tune!

we love our Sue Sue

2011-09-02T10:23:00.002-04:00

Once Cecilia was born my Aunt Sue decided she had to get out to Fort Wayne to meet her ASAP. Well in mid August she flew out to spend the week with us and meet her newest Great Niece. To say that Olivia loves her Aunt Sue Sue is an understatement. She is her BFF and spent the entire week right by her side.

I was going through a very fussy period with Cecilia that week. She was not sleeping very well and she was unhappy most of the time. It made for some stressful days. Having my Aunt Sue around for the week meant there was another extra pair of hands to help with the baby and give me the occasional break. Not only did she relieve me of a crying baby many times that week she also reassured me that this fussy period would pass and things would get better. I do wish that Cecilia was a bit happier during the time Sue was in town, bust fussiness aside she was able to squeeze quite a few smiles out of Cece that week.

Olivia kept her Aunt Sue Sue very busy while she was here. They played at least 100 games of Uno, took a trip to the grocery store to peruse the samples and shop for her school lunches, and had two sleepovers with her. Olivia was sad when her visit was over but happy knowing she would see her again in a few months for Thanksgiving. I am looking forward to Sue being able to come back to a much happier baby next time. Cecilia will be five months old by then and much more active.

My hope is that Cecilia will be as close with Sue as Olivia is. I fear that she will not be taking as many trips to California to visit as Olivia did when she was little. I think Olivia has been five times already. Maybe that means Sue will have to fly out to Fort Wayne a little more often. Either way I do know that I will have two girls that love their Aunt Sue Sue to bits!

The biggest news at our house lately is that Olivia recently started full day school. She is now in her fourth year at Peace Montessori and officially a "full day friend". (That is what they call kids that stay at school the entire day). She was beyond excited to start back again, even though she attended their summer program most of the summer. She went to bed extra early that Sunday night and bounced out of bed on Monday morning, ready to start the new school year. I only hope her love for school sticks with her to the end.

This is her third year with Ms. Laura and she is now one of the "big kids" in the class. I have no doubt she will be a good leader for the younger children in the class, but I also know that Ms. Laura will challenge her in many ways.

I am very excited to see what this year has in store for Olivia. She amazes us each and every day with her intelligence, wit and charm. Just when I think she can't impress us anymore, she does it again! This school has been a perfect fit for Olivia. I only hope that Cecilia can one day thrive there as well.

Now for a brief Cecilia update...she is doing a bit better. A few weeks ago the doctor determined that she had acid reflux, just like Olivia did at this age. We now have her on Zantac. It seems to be working but I still feel she is quite uncomfortable at times. At her two month check up this past week the doctor suggested that I try cutting diary out of my diet. She thinks Cece may have a slight allergy to diary and that could be aggravating her reflux. So I am currently trying to go without dairy to see if that helps her at all. She also seems to be suffering from her second little cold. In her 9 short weeks on earth she has had two little colds. Nothing serious...just runny nose, coughing, etc.

The good news is that she is continuing to pack on the pounds. She currently weighs 12 lbs. 12 oz and is 24 inches long. I think as soon as we can get this reflux under control will be out of the woods and onto happy baby land. I cannot get enough of the sweet little baby smiles and coos. Now I am just waiting for the first belly laugh.

Oh and did I mention...Olivia still loves her sister to bits!

smiles, soccer and struggles

2011-08-22T14:47:00.001-04:00

What a whirlwind this first six weeks has been. We have had our ups and downs and many challenges, but overall both girls are doing well and that is all that matters. Cecilia will be 8 weeks old this week and she is growing like crazy! A few weeks ago she weighed in at a healthy 11 lbs. 4 oz. She is packing it on like a champ, just like her sister did during the first few months! I just love chubby cheeks and thighs and boy, she's got 'em!

Let's start with Cecilia's newest accomplishment...smiles! She has been showing off her latest trick daily for a few weeks now. Olivia tends to be able to get the best smiles out of her. More frequently now the smiles are accompanied by sweet little coos and I just love it! I am treasuring these moments since she has been a somewhat fussy baby the past few weeks (more on that in a bit). So when I see her little face light up my heart does as well. I am sure as the weeks pass her smiles and coos will turn into chatter, but there is nothing like seeing them for the first time.

Olivia is still very much in love with her sister. She has been very attentive and patient with Cece, which has been wonderful considering we have had some difficult days. Not once has Olivia complained about the crying or noise around the house. She has been very patient with her sister and I am grateful for that.

We are wrapping up our summer activities and getting back into the school routine once again. Olivia played soccer again this year through the parks department. She showed off her skills at the end of the season Soccer Showcase. She moved into a higher level soccer class this summer and started learning the skills needed to play an actual game. The soccer showcase gave her class the opportunity to play against another team and show off everything they learned.

She is still working to grasp all of the rules of the game and she needs to work on not being afraid to get in the middle of the all the action, but overall she did a great job. She played goalie for a short time during the game and successfully blocked a goal! She was very proud of herself and so were we. She learned a lot about being a team player this season and had a great time in the process.

So with all of the smiles and soccer going on lately we have definitely been experiencing some struggles as well. Cecilia's first three weeks were a dream. Eating and sleeping just as a newborn baby should...and then she woke up! She started becoming more alert during the day and with that the fussiness began. She continued to eat and sleep well both during the day and night, but would be quite fussy during the short time she was awake. Not hard core crying, just fussy. This continued and got progressively worse as the weeks passed. Finally I decided to take her to the doctor as a precautionary measure.

She is now being treated for acid reflux...the same condition her sister had at this age. Since starting the medicine she seems to be doing better. We have had a few rough days, but overall she seems to be improving a bit. The biggest struggle I am still dealing with is keeping Cecilia happy while she is awake. She does not care to lie on the floor or on her play mat. I put her in her swing but that only works for a brief period of time. Unfortunately I cannot sit on the couch and hold her all day long, as much as I would love to. What I am realizing is just how difficult the first few months can be with an infant. I absolutely love Cecilia to pieces but I at times I wish I could fast forward to the six month stage. Is that horrible to say?

Through all of the struggles I often stop to remind myself just how lucky I am to have two very healthy little girls. Olivia is the most caring, understanding and amazing little girl. I watch the way she talks to Cecilia and I see how much love she has for her sister. Cecilia, aside from dealing with some mild discomfort is thriving and that gives me peace. I realize that adjusting to life with two kids is going to raise many challenges. All I can say is that I am doing my best to adjust to being a Mom of two. I am by no means perfect, but I am doing the absolute best job I can. I have realized that it is a learning process all over again. What worked with Olivia does not necessarily always work for Cecilia. I guess for now I just take things day by day.

A few weeks ago Olivia, Todd and many of my family members met in Florida to attend my cousin's wedding. I chose not to attend the wedding as traveling to Florida in August with a newborn did not appeal to me. I was sad to miss the festivities but I knew I made the right decision. I am glad that Todd and Olivia were able to go because they had a wonderful time. Olivia had a blast at the wedding and spent the rest of her time at the beach. It was the perfect little end of the summer getaway for them.

I have much more to share but it will have to wait. My Aunt Sue just came for a visit so she could meet Cecilia and Olivia just started her fourth year of school. Many great pictures to come. Now I must rest!

our first month

2011-08-02T14:04:00.001-04:00

Our Cecilia is one month old already! It is amazing how quickly my days off of work are flying by. I can't really tell you what I do to fill up each day, but before I know it Todd is home from work, we are having dinner and getting the girls ready for bed. Having not done the whole baby thing in close to five years I have quickly been reminded just how much work they are and how challenging it can be to keep them happy throughout the day. But in four short weeks we have seen our tiny baby start to develop some chub on her cheeks and I believe we are the verge of smiles...I could not be happier!

Olivia continues to be enamoured with her little sister. She has already begun sharing with her too. The first thing she has decided to share...her germs! Olivia recently had a small summer cold and within days I noticed that Cecilia started developing a stuffy nose and watery eyes. Needless to say I was not pleased that my tiny baby has already had to deal with her first cold, but I guess that is life with multiple children. I thought that because I was nursing Cecilia, just like I nursed Olivia that she would be extra-immune from catching anything, especially at such a young age. I think I am a bit naive! It was a minor case of the sniffles and she is already over it.

Aside from growing Cecilia is not doing much else. As Olivia would say..."All babies do is eat, sleep and poop!" She is 100% correct. She has been eating like a champ, sleeping pretty well during the night and starting to be more alert during the day. She has become a bit more fussy than normal over the past week. Not sure why, but it can be hard to satisfy her when she is likes this. During this time I try just about everything until I figure out what is causing her to get so worked up. As I look back on the past week I believe that she usually becomes inconsolable when she is either hungry or tired. I should be able to curb the fussiness as I better learn her cues. Overall she is not a fussy baby. I am just trying to do my best to get her what she needs when she needs it so she is content.

I feel like we are on the verge of our first smiles. I have seen a smile here and there but I am not sure if she is responding to us or just has a bad case of gas! I can't wait until she starts to coo and interact with us more. Not that I am trying to rush this baby stage, but it is hard trying to find a way to keep Cecilia happy and occupied all day. There is only so much you can do with a 4 week old! The one thing I find myself doing the most is just staring at her beautiful face!

An important milestone for the girls recently was their first bath together. Olivia was dying to have a bath with her sister, and as soon as Cece's cord stub fell off we were able to fulfill her wish.

I think Olivia enjoyed the bath a bit more than her sister. She was content for a few minutes but by the end of the bath she was less than pleased.

I have a feeling the girls will have many duel baths together. Olivia may not be as interested in this activity as she gets older, but I have a feeling her sister many feel differently. This past week my Aunt Delia came for a visit. She lives in Bloomington and has been dying to get her hands on Cecilia since she was born. We have not seen her in almost a year so Olivia was excited to see her as well. She is super crafty and is always showering us with homemade gifts. Her forte is crochet and she makes beautiful stuff. She has made us blankets, hats and stuffed animals in the past. On this visit she gave the girls matching hats. They are adorable. As you can see in the picture, Cecilia's is still a tad big and Olivia's fits great when she has it on her head properly.

She also made Cecilia a stuffed bear. She did the same thing for Olivia when she was born and "Stuffy Bear" was her favorite until she flattened him with love. Cecilia's bear is bigger than she is right now, but one day he will make the perfect cuddle pal. She did not forget about Olivia's love of stuffed animals and presented her with an adorable floppy bunny. All of the gifts were so cute and so very thoughtful. It was a short visit with Aunt Delia, but I am glad she was able to make the trip.

Our lives have been all about baby lately. We have been trying to keep Olivia's life as normal as possible. I am trying to stay pretty close to home these days. It is just too darn hot out to do much of anything and it just seems easier to keep Cecilia in the comfort of her own home instead of dragging all around town. Todd and Olivia have been spending a ton of time at the pool and she has also been spending a lot of time with her Nana. With some help from my Mom, Todd and I have been able to take Olivia out and do a few things, just the 3 of us. I think that is important, especially since I have been devoting so much time to Cecilia lately. Olivia has still not shown one ounce of jealousy and that makes me so proud. She has handled this transition with such grace. She continues to enjoy her life to the fullest...which means she is often exhausted!

In the chaos of bringing home baby around the 4th of July Olivia still had the opportunity to enjoy some sparkler fun with her Dad. She is not a fan of fireworks, but is fearless when it comes to sparklers. She made me very nervous holding these sticks of fire but she was very safe, making sure to hold them far from her body. I love watching the look on her face when she is doing something she enjoys.

Life as a family of four is falling into place nicely. I am trying to enjoy every second because I know I will look back and wonder how the time passed so quickly. Taking care of a baby is challenging and often trying at times, but looking at her little face and realizing just how blessed we are makes all the long nights and the bouts of crying all worth it!

introducing...Cecilia Jane!

2011-07-14T13:30:00.003-04:00

Our baby girl has arrived! I am pleased to introduce to you...Cecilia Jane Menor! She was born on June 29th, 2011 at 11:05 pm. She weighed 7 lbs. 14 oz. and was 22 inches long, and she is just perfect!

Let me start by explaining how Cecilia made her entrance into this world. I had a scheduled doctor's appointment that Wednesday morning. At that point I was two days past my due date. I woke up that morning feeling fine, but quickly started feeling a little bit "funny". Todd came with me to my appointment and my doctor said I was about 3 cm. dilated. She had a pretty good feeling that the baby would be coming fairly soon, but scheduled me to come back on Friday if she had not arrived by that time. As I left that appointment I had a strong feeling I would be coming back to the hospital later that day. I wasn't sure if I was in labor, but I knew I felt differently. By 1pm that afternoon I decided it would be a good idea to head back to the hospital. Since Todd went back to work I had my Mom take me. By the time Todd made it I was having some pretty intense contractions and they were only getting worse. Luckily I was able to get my epidural fairly quickly, which made things much more bearable. Things progressed pretty fast at first. My Mom picked Olivia up from school and brought her up to the hospital to see us. We figured that the baby would be here within hours. Seems Cecilia had a different plan. My labor slowed down around 7cm and she became quite stubborn. Olivia had enough time to make it to soccer class and come back.

By then the nurses and doctors were a bit concerned with her heart rate and the fact that I was not dilating further. Luckily after a few changes of position we were able to get her to make a move. They were stilled concerned with her heart rate and had a feeling there was a cord wrapped around something. The doctor said it was time to get that baby out...pronto! After 5 pushes and a little help from a vacuum she made her grand entrance!

She was perfect! There was no cord wrapped around her neck...she was just taking her sweet time. Aside from a bump on her head from the vacuum she perfect in every way! While I was busy pushing out a baby Olivia was asleep on the couch next to me. In a room filled with nurses, a doctor, my Mom, Todd and I she slept through her sister's debut. She was in such a deep sleep that we had trouble waking her up to meet her sister. It was a long day for Olivia too!

The first thing we noticed when looking at our new baby girl was how much she looked like Olivia at birth. See for yourself...

Here is a photo of Olivia as a newborn...

...and here is Cecilia...

I think they look a great deal alike! Cece is starting to develop her own look now, but many people still think she looks an awful lot like her big sister.

When it was all said and done and our little bundle had safely arrived we were too exhausted to decide on a name. It wasn't until the next morning that Todd and I officially settled on Cecilia Jane. We were also considering Hannah, but looking at her now I cannot see her as anything other than Cecilia.

We had a wonderful stay at the hospital. My nurses were amazing and very helpful. The food was equally as amazing, believe it or not. If I had not felt like I had been hit by a truck I would have thought I was at a 5 star hotel. We had a bunch of visitors come to meet Cecilia for the first time, including family members and close friends.

Cece's biggest fan so far, hands down...is her big sister! She has been bursting with love for her sister from the first time she held her. She showers her with hugs and kisses each day and tells me each day how much she loves her. My heart just melts!

After a delightful stay at the hospital it was time to head home and introduce Cece to her new digs. I was a little nervous about leaving the security of the hospital and starting life with two kids, but I knew the best I could do is take things one step at a time.

Cece is now just over two weeks old. We are slowly settling into a routine. So far she has been a model baby. She is eating like a champ and sleeping very well too. Call me crazy but she seems not to have her days and nights confused like babies typically do at first. I am getting up with her a few times each night, but she is giving me good 3-4 hours stretches of sleep at a time and I cannot ask for much more than that at this point.

Juggling the responsibility of two kids is definitely a challenge, but I am trying to adjust the best as I can. I have found that getting to bed at an early hour helps to make me a better Mom. I have to remind myself to be a little more understanding of Olivia and her behavior lately. This has been a major life change for her and although she is handling it like a champ she does have her moments when she wishes I was more available to her than I can be right now. Aside from having some trouble going to sleep at night she has handled everything very well and I am very proud of her. One thing is for sure...she sure loves her little sister!

For now I am going to enjoy my maternity leave. This is the last time I will be doing all of these "baby things" and I want to enjoy every second of it. I must admit...I am going to miss being pregnant and going through all of the "firsts" with a new baby, but I know in my heart that two kids is enough for me! The one thing I have noticed this time around is that I am much more relaxed. I am more confident in what I am doing and I think the baby responds to that. Maybe I am just lucky and she is just a REALLY good baby, but I think the fact that I have done this before makes a difference.

Lady Cecilia had her first doctor's visit this week and I am pleased to report that she has already gained one pound. She is now around 8 lbs. 10 oz. She is at the top of the charts in height and weight and the doctor said she is perfectly healthy. I could not be happier! I love my new family of four and I am so grateful to be blessed with such health and happiness! I am sure there will be bumps in the road, but for now I am loving every second of being a new mom once again!

tiny dancer

2011-06-29T09:34:00.001-04:00

Well I got my wish...I made it through Olivia's dance recital! It was well worth the wait. Our girl did amazing! It was a busy couple of days between my classes that were performing and getting Olivia ready for her performances, but I managed to get through it.

This is the first year that Olivia was performing in two numbers. This was her 3rd year of tap, but her first year of ballet. Both of her numbers were on the second night, which made things a little easier. On Saturday morning we had the dress rehearsal. It was fun to catch a glimpse of how she would look on the big stage that night. It just blows my mind how comfortable she is performing on a big stage in front of tons of people. There is no fear!

She breezed through rehearsal, so all that was left was for me not to go into labor before the big recital that night. Not only was I hoping to see Olivia's performances, but some of my kids had numbers that night as well and I really wanted to be there for them. We headed right home after rehearsal so I could take it easy before heading back to the school that night. Once I realized that I was in the clear and would make it through the night, or at least the next couple of hours, I breathed a sigh of relief. We arrived early that night so I could start to get Olivia ready. I wanted to make sure I had time to take a ton of pictures before the recital started. Her first performance that night was her tap routine. I could not get over how sweet she looked in her costume.

She really hammed it up for me whiel I was taking her picture. When I asked her what she was doing she said, "trying out different poses, Mommy!". The kid sure loves the camera, and it is pretty obvious that the camera loves her too.

Since I am a teacher at Northeast School of Dance I typically stay backstage during the recital, but I managed to sneak out into the audience so I could catch her first dance. I snagged front row seats for my Mom and Todd so I had a great view of my sweetie. She performed her tap routine like a pro. I was very impressed with how well she remembered her dance.

Next up was her ballet routine. The costume for this dance was simply beautiful. Olivia loved the costume aside from the fact that it was quite itchy. She looked like a beautiful princess and she literally took my breath away once she was all dressed and ready to go.
I snuck out into the audience once again, as there was no way I was going to miss her first ballet performance. They danced to a Hawaiian version of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". I know I am doing a ton of bragging in this post, but I can't help myself. She just shined on that stage and I was so very proud of her.

Olivia's 3rd dance recital was a huge success and most importantly she had a great time. After coming on stage with all of the other dancers for the finale she was surprised with a beautiful bouquet of flowers from her Daddy, who was also beaming with pride.
I love the fact that my Olivia has developed a love for dance, just like her Mommy. I hope she holds onto to that, but if she loses interest I will be ok with that too. For now I am going to enjoy every second of watching her perform on that big stage in her cute little costumes. For months I worried whether or not I would be able to watch her perform, or if I would miss out because I would be stuck in a hospital bed. Well I made it and I am glad that I did. Now I am ready to have this baby!

#1 Dad

2011-06-25T21:49:00.005-04:00

Olivia and I may be a bit biased, but we think we're pretty lucky. Olivia will be the first to tell you she has the world's best Daddy! This was most apparent over the past week as we celebrated both Father's Day and Todd's birthday. She had loads of fun thinking of gift ideas and getting things ready for us to celebrate both holidays.

We kicked things off with Father's Day. Olivia could not wait to give her daddy his gift, which was a small photo album filled with pictures of just the two of them. She thought of the idea all on her own. We also gave him a grilling apron with a huge picture of Olivia and her daddy on the front. He loved both gifts. After church we stayed downtown so Todd could attend RibFest. This is an annual festival featuring many different vendors selling the "world's best" ribs. We try not to miss it each year. We also made a visit to Todd's Dad's grave. Couldn't let Father's Day pass without saying "hello" to GP. After an ice-cream run we finally made it home to rest. That night we went to my Mom's for a Father's Day cook-out. It was a fun-filled Father's Day! I almost forgot to mention that I thought I was going into labor that evening, but it was just a false alarm. Whew!

On Wednesday we celebrated Todd's birthday. He had the day off from work and thought it would be fun to spend it with Olivia. Here is a recap of everything they did that day. It started with a trip to Dunkin Donuts, followed by a short visit to the zoo. After the zoo I met them for a birthday lunch. Next they headed to the movies. After the movies Todd dropped Olivia off at my Mom's so she could get things ready for Todd's birthday dinner. She decorated his cake and the house.

That night we continued the celebration with Todd's Mom with a wonderful dinner at my Mom's, complete with presents and cake! Did you catch all of that? It was a jammed packed day and may have gone down in history as one of Todd's best birthdays. According to Olivia it was the best of his life because he got to spend it with her. Gotta love self-confidence!

This week Olivia has definitely been a Daddy's girl and I must admit it has been such a joy to watch. The love this girl has for her Daddy just fills my heart. She knows that there is nothing he would not do for her, like spending his birthday doing all of the things she loves most. The quote of the day came from Olivia during Todd's birthday dinner. We were all eating when she stopped and said, "I have a question. Why does Daddy do all of these nice things for me on his birthday, but I did not do anything for him? That's weird!" Even though the day did primarily revolve around Olivia I think she did more for him than she realized. She showered him with love and attention all day and that was probably the best gift of all!

With our second daughter set to arrive at any moment I am more secure than ever that our girls have been blessed with the best daddy possible. I hope he enjoyed his Father's Day/Birthday week. We enjoyed making it special for him...he deserved it!

love this girl!

2011-06-13T10:42:00.007-04:00

As we count down the final days before Baby #2 arrives, I find myself full of many emotions. Fear...of how everything will unfold. It has been 4 1/2 years since I have done this and I feel like I am doing everything again for the very first time. Excitement...that we are bringing another little person into our family. I can't wait to see how Olivia will react and bond with her sister. Sadness...that I am going to be giving up having Olivia as my only child. I know this may sound strange, but for over 4 years she has been the center of our world. It is strange to think that I will soon be sharing my love and time between two girls. I have no doubt I can do it, it just brings a tiny bit of sadness to my heart that soon she will no longer be my one and only. But out of everything I have been feeling lately I have realized just how full of love I am for this girl. She has given me the most amazing 4 1/2 years of one-on-one time and I would not change a single second of it.

With the baby's arrival days away it is becoming increasingly harder for me to do the day-to-day tasks I am used to doing. I feel like a huge whale at this point and although I am feeling good, it is safe to say that I am ready for this to be over. My current condition has not stopped us from packing in the activities with Olivia in these final days. Just recently we took a day trip to the Indy Children's Museum. This was Olivia final wish as an activity to do with Mom and Dad before her sister arrives. We made arrangements to meet some friends at the museum so our kids could run around together. Once we arrived we immediately made a bee-line for the Dora and Diego exhibit, which was Olivia's main reason for wanting to go.

She had a blast exploring all of the different stations. I was really surprised by how long she choose to play in this area. Usually she just runs from one thing to the next, not taking time to enjoy or explore. But this time was different. I think we spent about 30 minutes in this area alone. The Dora and Diego exhibit seemed to live up to her expectations and helped to make the trip worth while.

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the other areas of the museum. I mainly just sat on a bench and watched her play. Normally she would be begging Todd and I to run around with her but this time she had a little friend to keep her company. I think she enjoyed this trip to the museum more than any other for that reason alone. I was surprised by how quickly the afternoon passed. By late afternoon we realized that it was probably time to head home. It was a fun afternoon at the museum and I am glad we found time to squeeze in one last visit.

Olivia also just ended her 3rd year of school at Peace Montessori. It was another fantastic year and she accomplished so much. We could not be more proud of our little girl or impressed with how much she has grown in the past year. She can read short books all on her own now, do simply math and write many words without help. I give all of the credit to her amazing teachers. This was her second year with Ms. Laura and Olivia just loves her. They work very well together and she has gotten Olivia to progress in so many areas.

She also became very attached to Ms. Julia, who was new to her classroom this year. Unfortunately, Ms. Julia will be moving to another classroom next year. Olivia will miss working with her each day. We have always been blessed with such great teachers, so it is sad to see them move on, or to different classrooms.

Like I said, it was a great school year and the kids all celebrated with a day at the park. They played games, had lunch and just enjoyed spending time with each other before saying goodbye for the summer. Olivia will be attending summer camp at her school for several weeks this summer, and believe it or not she is already excited to go back.

I am pretty sure this is the last blog post I will make before we head to the hospital to have this baby. It is exciting to think that the next time I hop on here it will be to post pictures of our new little bundle of joy! Until that moment arrives I am going to enjoy every second I can with my amazing Olivia. She has taught me how to be a Mom so that I am prepared this second time around. She has showed me just how much love I have inside to share with her and a second child. She means the world to me and I will do everything in my power to give her the same amount of love and attention I have been able to give her during the first 4 1/2 years of her life.

tick tock

2011-05-31T04:40:00.009-04:00

The final countdown has begun. We are looking at about 4 weeks until Baby #2 arrives, unless she decides to make an early arrival. Let's hope not. I know at this point many women are begging to go into labor just so they can stop having to deal with the uncomfortable nature of being this pregnant. I, on the other hand, would rather wait until my due date. The main reason being that Olivia's dance recital is the weekend before I am due. I would hate to miss her two dances and not see her all dressed up in her costumes. Since I have no control over how things will unfold during the next month, I will just keep my fingers crossed that I can be there to see her. This is the first year she will be performing two numbers, one in tap and one in ballet. This is her third year of tap but first year of ballet. She seems to love them both.

As part of the final preparations the baby gear has come out of the attic and started to be assembled once again. The car seats are getting installed and the finishing touches are being put on the nursery. Olivia definitely is at an advantage, being the first born. Her room is probably 3 times the size of her sister's. I realize this will not be an issue for many years, but the day will come when her sister questions why Olivia's room is so much bigger. I wish there was a solution to this problem, but there are only so many rooms in our house. We did the best we could to make Baby #2's room special. Here a few pictures of how things have come together...

I still have a bit more work to do, but I think the final, final touches may come once Baby arrives and a name is officially decided. The name question is always the first thing people ask about and it is usually the question I try to avoid the most. We do have a few in mind and we have talked about them with our family, but I usually avoid the discussion in order to avoid the various reactions from others. So the name will be announced at the same time as the baby...stay tuned!

We have been trying to squeeze in as much quality time with Olivia before things get turned upside down for her. We asked her if there was anything she wanted to do with just the two of us before her sister arrived and she said, "go to the Children's museum and see the Dora and Diego exhibit". I think we can arrange a quick day trip to Indy in the next month. Anything for this girl, who has been such a trooper through everything so far. She has had a grumpy, hormonal Mommy at times for the past 8 months, so I want to make these last few weeks of being an only child memorable for her. She is stoked to be a big sister and I have no doubt she is going to be the best! She has many plans in store for what she intends to teach the baby and how she plans to help. I will miss having her kiss my belly each morning as she says, "Good Morning" to her little sister. And in some ways I will miss our current family of 3, but I am beyond excited to see how things will change for us as a family of 4!

hippity hop

2011-05-10T02:58:00.007-04:00

The clock is a tickin'. Our new little one should be arriving in just about 6 weeks. Hard to believe that after all these weeks of preparation our lives are about to take on a whole new direction. We are all very excited, but nervous at the same time. We have been a family of 3 for over four years. It will be interesting to see how we all adjust to having someone else join our family. My hope is that Olivia continues to possess the same level excitement she has now, after the baby is born. For now we are enjoying the final weeks of alone time with Miss O.

Recently we celebrated Easter. Olivia continues to be very involved in all holidays and this one was no exception. We kicked off the weekend with an inaugural visit to the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo. Each year my Aunt buys us a zoo pass and it is by far the most used gift we receive each year. We went towards the end of the day so it was a short visit but we were excited to check out the new entrance and see some of our favorite animals.

The other thing Olivia could not wait to do was visit her favorite horse, Gail. She LOVES Gail and could not wait to go for a ride. I am afraid that she may be getting a little big to ride on her back, but for now she can't wait to see her each time we go. We are really looking forward to many fun trips to the zoo this summer!

The next morning we woke up early to give Olivia her Easter basket before getting ready for church. For the longest time she has wanted a Buzz Lightyear toy. Not sure why exactly but she is pretty into all of the Toy Story movies. Some of her boy friends have Buzz toys and she has always wished for one of her own. She received some other fun things and of course a little bit of Easter candy.
After we were all dressed in our Sunday best we headed off to church. Olivia got a cute little dress from Todd's Mom the night before and that was what she chose to wear. It was perfect for Easter. After service we went to my Mom's for some breakfast and the first egg hunt of the day.

She enjoyed searching for the eggs and breaking into the treasures inside. Between the money and candy she made out like a bandit! It was shaping up to be a pretty successful Easter for Olivia thus far!That afternoon we attended our annual dinner at the Forte's. Our close family friends invite us to have Easter dinner with them each year and it is always so nice. They treat Olivia just like one of their own grand kids, which makes her feel pretty special. She gets her own Easter basket and gets to participate in the family Easter egg hunt. By the end of day she had accumulated a ton of loot!

It was a lovely Easter! It is hard to believe that next year at this time we will be celebrating the holiday as a family of four with an "almost" one year old!

Now to completely switch gears...I realized that I never blogged about Olivia attending her sibling class a few months ago. I signed her up to take a class at the hospital, designed to prepare her to become a "Big Sister". She learned about different products that are safe for the baby, as well as how to properly hold her little sister. She even got to practice putting a diaper on her bear.

They watched a video that was meant to prepare them for what is about to come. I am not sure anything can fully prepare Olivia for how much her life is about to change, but I think the video was a good start. Next we took a tour of the hospital and the kids got to see where we will be staying when the baby is born. We walked by the nursery and they got to see a brand new baby close up. I think that was the highlight. Olivia really seemed to enjoy it all. The kids got a bunch of goodies to take with them that day. The sibling class was a good idea which I think helped to get Olivia even more excited about her little sister arriving!

So I am still planning on sharing some photos of the nursery, but they will have to wait until next time. I have a few finishing touches I need to make to the room first. I am currently dealing with a very nasty head cold which has totally kicked my butt the past few days. It just so happens that this head cold decided to make an appearance the same weekend as my birthday and Mother's Day. Needless to say I have not been 100% and it has been a rough couple of days. I hope to have a clear head and a better attitude by my next post.

another fabulous trip - part 2

2011-04-28T11:09:00.012-04:00

So where were we? I believe I left off in the middle of our wonderful week in California, visiting my Aunt Sue. We had already been to the beach twice, but Olivia was begging to go back one last time. Hard to resist, considering the weather was gorgeous. My Mom, Aunt and I relaxed on the beach while Olivia dug in the sand and splashed on the shore once again. This time she even found a pal to play with.

Of course all of that running around warrants a snack break. I just could not get over how at home Olivia seemed to be at the beach all week. I could have sat and watched her all day and I believe she would have been perfectly content spending every day there.

After a bit of a rest she was ready to go again. Out of the blue she asked Aunt Sue Sue to bury her in the sand. I was quite surprised, as I would not think that would be something Olivia would enjoy, but she loved it. The best part was busting out of the sand after being buried, head to toe!

Our third and final trip to the beach that week did not disappoint. I know it was one of the fondest memories she has from that trip and I am so glad we were able to spend so much time playing in the sand while we were there.

The next day we took our annual trip to Monterey to visit the aquarium. This was Olivia's 5th trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and at this point she knew the place like the back of her hand. On our drive into Monterey we stopped to see the sea lions. This is also one of our traditions and this time they put on quite a show for us. This time around they were packed on the pier like sardines, pushing each other off to make more room. They were fighting and yelping in a fierce way, unlike anything I have ever seen before. It was definitely entertaining.

Next we stopped for a very nice lunch right on the water and then it was on to the aquarium. We saw all of our favorite things and stopped at our usual picture spots. It was a fun day, but we realized that we have exhausted the aquarium and can probably take a break from visiting next time around.

That night we took Olivia to another of her favorite places...The Red Room. It is a restaurant/bar that we tried last time we were in town and Olivia LOVED it. Not sure why exactly, but she has been talking about it ever since our last trip to California. It is the one time we put on our fancier clothes and do a "Big Girl" thing, during a week filled with kid-related activities. As expected she enjoyed her trip to the Red Room and I enjoyed the Hors d'oeuvres. The only thing that would have made it better would have been a nice glass of wine. A few more months and I will be doing just that!

During our last day in California we took a drive to Los Gatos, a cute little town with tons of fun shops and restaurants. I asked Olivia if she would mind spending our last day doing big-girl things and she happily obliged. We had a nice girls lunch, followed by a few hours of shopping. I was shocked by how well she behaved as we went from store to store, looking at things that really did not interest her. We were primarily browsing through clothing stores and she occupied herself by bringing me things that she thought I may like. It was very sweet and most importantly it was keeping her from being bored. She could not have been a better sport that day!

It was our final night in California and we were enjoying it to the fullest. We went across the street to visit my Aunt's neighbors. They have the most amazing large poodle, Peter, that Olivia fell in love with during the week. Olivia saw Peter multiple times throughout the week and they quickly became besties. He really was the sweetest dog and I realized I could easily get used to having one around someday. Not only do my Aunt's neighbors have two awesome dogs, but they also have the most amazing house. Another highlight for Olivia was the coy pond in their front yard. The fish were huge and she was thrilled to be able to feed them a few times.

The next morning we headed to the airport for our trip back home. We had an amazing time in California, but Olivia was ready to get home to see her Daddy. We have been lucky enough to take Olivia out to visit her Aunt Sue Sue five times in under five years. Each time we have gone there have been challenges with traveling. I can honestly say that this was by far our best and easiest trip. She was a joy to travel with. She never threw any fits and was very helpful to me. I was proud with how well she handled herself the entire week.

I am not exactly sure when we will be able to go back. The baby will be here in a few months and I know I will not be jumping at the chance to hop on an airplane with two kids. One good thing is that now Olivia is older she can start taking trips with my Mom out to see Aunt Sue Sue on her own. A big thanks to my Aunt Sue and Uncle Ron for showing us, yet another fabulous time in California!

In other news I am quickly approaching my due date. We have two months left and still so much to do. Luckily I am feeling great and still able to be very productive. The nursery is just about ready to go and I will post some pictures next time. We also just celebrated a wonderful Easter and I have many pictures to share. So now you know what's to come!

another fabulous trip - part 1

2011-04-12T20:25:00.005-04:00

Olivia and I recently returned from another wonderful trip to Aptos, California to visit my Aunt Sue. This was Olivia's 5th trip to visit her Aunt Sue Sue and probably one of her best. Now that she is older she is easier to travel with and is more interested in doing the many activities we always have planned. We wanted to make one last trip out to California together before the baby was born and it suddenly becomes much more difficult to travel. Although we hope to return eventually with the new baby we realize that will be not be as easy as it is right now.

We had a fun filled week, packing in as many things as possible. We were blessed with absolutely gorgeous weather the entire week. One of the first things on our agenda was getting pedicures before enjoying a day at the beach. For some reason Olivia did not want to go to the beach until her toes looked pretty, so we rushed off to get our $10 pedicures. Olivia did this last year and enjoyed it tremendously. She seems to enjoy being pampered and I can't say I blame her.

Once we all had pretty toes we headed to the beach. Olivia could not wait to get her feet in that sand and dip her toes in the ocean. Although the sun was warm, the water was not. Did not seem to both Olivia though. She was not afraid of getting wet and loved waiting for the waves to crash up on the shore. I think she spent 3 solid hours playing in the sand that day and I am sure she would have stayed longer if we were not all completely exhausted. I got a tad too much sun that day, but it sure was nice relaxing on the beach watching my sweetie play in the sand and sun.

The next day we all took a short train ride to visit my cousin Justin at Berkeley. Olivia hasn't been on a train/subway since she was just months old, so it was a bit of an adventure for her.

My cousin just finished his Spring Break and was not be able to come home during our visit. We settled for lunch and a short walk around campus with him. Olivia has always loved Justin and even though she has not seen him since Thanksgiving they were back to being best buds in just minutes. It was a beautiful sunny day and we enjoyed spending time with Justin.

After two straight days of sun and warm temps, it cooled off a bit on Saturday. That did not stop us from continuing the fun activities. That morning we took Olivia to a lookout that is known for it's big waves and surfing. Because it was overcast the waves were pretty big and the surfers were out in full force. Olivia brought her own camera and was obsessed with taking photos of the waves and surfers.

That afternoon we took her to the Santa Cruz boardwalk. We have wanted to do this for awhile and this year she was finally old enough to go and enjoy the rides and attractions. She immediately spotted the kid's rides and wanted to go on every one. When it comes to amusement park rides Olivia has NO fear. Put a mascot in front of her and she loses her mind, but ask her if she wants to ride a roller coaster and she can hardly contain herself. I wish I could have gone on the rides with her that day, but being pregnant sort of rules out that possibility. Luckily my other cousin, Ryan was home for the weekend and came with us to the boardwalk. He agreed to go on the coaster with Olivia and I think she would have rather him go anyway.

When it was their turn they were first in line and Olivia could not pass up the chance to sit in the front car. My little thrill seeker squealed the entire time the coaster flew around the track. She came off bouncing with joy and I think she would have gone 10 more times if she could.

As soon as she was off that roller coaster it was on to the next ride. She was not tall enough for many of them, which disappointed her, but luckily there were quite a few just for kids. She enjoyed all of the rides that day and as we were leaving she told me it was her, "best day ever!".

We capped off our fun-filled day with an amazing lobster dinner. My aunt and uncle spoiled us with fresh Maine lobsters. It is something that I often crave but rarely treat myself to because they are so expensive, so this was a special treat. I thought Olivia would enjoy the lobster since she does like most seafood, but this was not for her. Part of the reason may have been because of the big deal we made about the lobsters before they were cooked. I can understand how eating something that was previously crawling on the kitchen floor may be a little unnerving for a 4-year old. Olivia enjoyed a pasta dinner while the rest of us devoured our lobsters. It was heaven!

On Sunday we took Olivia back to the beach. It was the one thing that she wanted to do over and over during our trip. First we took a nice, long walk by the shore. It was picture perfect that day, which made for perfect picture taking. I could get used to living so close to the ocean. The view is quite spectacular!

After our walk we went back down to the water. It was cooler that day, but that did not stop of her from getting down and dirty in the sand. I think our girl could also get used to living by the ocean. It seems to be second nature to her.

That afternoon we took another walk. This time we ventured into the redwood forest behind my Aunt's home. I wasn't sure Olivia would be up for a long walk but she handled it like a champ. It helped that she imagined that she was on a big pirate adventure. She talked us through her make-believe adventure the whole way. She collected flowers and other treasures along the way and had a great time! I have to hand it to her, it was quite a walk. Even I was exhausted by the end of it. Then again, I am carrying a bit of extra weight so hiking does not exactly come easy right now.

After a day full of outdoor activities we enjoyed a nice relaxing night in. My Aunt promised Olivia they would bake cupcakes together and there was no way Olivia was going to let her forget it. They did this during our last visit and I think it has become a tradition. She enjoyed it very much but quickly grew tired of icing the cupcakes. I ended up finishing the majority of them, while Olivia snuck tastes of icing at every chance.

It is hard to believe that with all of the fun things we had done so far on our trip we were only half way through the week. I am going to share the rest of our adventures for my next post. The fun continues...

time flies

2011-03-23T10:48:00.002-04:00

I think the last time I blogged I was complaining about the winter and how anxious we were for Spring to arrive. That was over a month ago and so much has happened since then. The weather is finally starting to warm up a bit, but instead of hoping for those long winter days to be over I find myself starting to freak out about the fact that we only have about 3 months until Baby 2.0 joins the family.

Let's get the biggest news out of the way first. For those that do not already know, which should be very few...we are having another girl! We are all thrilled, most of all Olivia. She desperately wanted a little sister and it seems her wish will come true. Todd on the other hand will be spending the rest of his days in a house full of women! He may act like he is in for a life full of torture, but secretly he could not be happier! We are all very excited to meet this "yet to be named" child. I am feeling great and trying to get as much done as I can before my June 27th due date.

When Olivia is not talking about being a big sister she is very busy with her many activities. Most importantly there is school. She is continuing to thrive in her class and I am proud to announce that we have a little reader on our hands. Over the past 2-3 months her reading skills have really started to emerge. Language in her favorite area to study at school so the teacher works with her almost daily. She brings books home each week to read to us and we practice sounding out the words that she does not already know. I am so impressed with this girl. Unfortunately I cannot take much of the credit for teaching Olivia to read. Most of the credit goes to her AMAZING teachers at Peace Montessori...Ms. Laura & Ms. Julia. Let Olivia's reading skills speak for themselves...

Before I get out of hand with my bragging let me just mention a few more things Olivia has accomplished recently. She can count well into her hundreds, she can name and point out all of the planets in the solar system (even I cannot do that!), and she not only knows Spanish but now has a limited Chinese vocabulary. She and her classmates recently learned some Chinese to prepare for the school's annual International Night. Every year the school hosts this fun event where each classroom is transformed into a different country. They decorate the rooms with items from that particular country and most importantly they serve food that represents that country. Each child receives a passport when they arrive and they have the chance to get their passport stamped at each classroom (country) they visit.

Olivia's classroom highlighted China and it was probably my favorite of the night based on the food alone. Olivia tried some of the food in each country but was more interested in running around with her friends. It is definitely one of the more popular school events each year and one the kids really look forward to and spend a ton of time preparing for.

They prepared for International Night with some fun activities. They made numerous Chinese crafts to display throughout the classroom. They also learned about the food by taking a field trip to a local Chinese restaurant. My Mom was one of the chaperones and took some pictures of this exciting event. It sounds like all of the kids had a great time and they were very well behaved.

My Mom said it was surreal to be at lunch with close to twenty 3-5 year olds and see them behave so well. Biggest surprise of the day was that Olivia helped herself to seconds of most of the food. I was speechless! The field trip was a huge hit with all of the kids and such a fun way for them to learn more about China.

Olivia has made so many nice little friends in her class this year. I hear about them every day and of course she has a few favorites. One of the moms from her class thought it would be a good idea to have a class get together so the parents could get to know each other better while the kids do something fun. We decided to take the kids bowling. Olivia had done this once before, but not with me.

Things were set up to make it easier for the kids. They had the bumpers as well as a special ramp to help the ball go down the lane with some speed. The kids had a great time, but Olivia was worn out after one game.

When she is not enjoying school to the fullest she has been keeping up with her swimming lessons, getting ready for a summer full of swimming in her Uncle's pool! We recently got her a swimming cap to help tame her wild hair during her lessons. It became so difficult to keep her hair out of her face while shew was in the water and it very distracting to her. She spent more time pushing her hair out of her face then trying to complete her strokes or take breaks for breaths. She has really improved over the past few months and if I had to bet I would say that she will be swimming without any help by the end of the summer!

Until it is warm enough for us to start going to the pool we will have to settle for brisk bike rides in the early Spring. The weather was really nice this past weekend so we busted out Olivia's bike and went for a ride. She was so excited that we went all around the neighborhood. She has training wheels of course but she does really well on her bike and I suspect that by next year we will be riding without them. I sure hope that our good weather continues so that we can keep doing fun things outdoors.

With a little over 3 months to go until this baby arrives it's time to kick things into high gear. The nursery is mostly complete, but still needs some finishing touches. We are in the middle of a few different household projects and we still have to get the outside of the house ready for Spring/Summer once it warms up a bit. I am determined to get all of my major projects done before my due date. I guess we will just have to see how that goes. Right now I am enjoying the final months of my pregnancy, knowing this will be the last time I have this experience.

blizzard of 2011

2011-02-18T22:47:00.003-05:00

Earlier this month we were hit with the biggest snow storm we have seen in Fort Wayne in years. At the same time I was hit with the worst cold I have had in a long time. Luckily the storm did not turn out to be as nasty as they predicted, but when it was all said and done we were still left with quite a bit of snow. It kept us home bound for one full day, which allowed for some awesome family time.

I don't mind being stuck at home. I can easily find ways to fill a day with little chores around the house. Now trying to keep a four year old occupied for a full day is a totally different story. We started the day with a big, yummy breakfast. One "must" of being stuck home during a snow storm is staying in your jammies all day, and that is exactly what Olivia and I did. After breakfast she got serious with some painting...still in her jammies!

Once Todd was able to get the 10+ inches of snow cleared from the driveway Olivia decided it was time to get out there and play. I think she was out there for at least an hour. She would have stayed out longer if I had not called her in for lunch. The snow may be a pain for most of us, but it means hours of fun for Olivia. I must admit that being stranded at home with the family for the day was kinda nice.

By the next day the city had been dug out from the storm and things started getting back to normal. Unfortunately I was just starting what would be another full week of being sick. Being pregnant kept me from being able to take much of anything to help fight off the cold. I had to suffer through it and it was rough. I started feeling better just in time to celebrate Valentine's Day with Olivia and the hubby.

Olivia really gets into this holiday. It helps that red is her favorite color. Since Valentine's Day fell on a Monday this year we did most of our celebrating on Sunday. During the past few years we have developed a few Valentine traditions and we continued them this year. One of those traditions is making heart-shaped pancakes. We switched it up this year and had our breakfast for lunch. I not only made the pancakes, but I even made Olivia a heart-shaped omelet. I must admit it was one tasty breakfast/lunch!

That night we continued the "food shaped like hearts" theme and made our heart-shaped pizzas. This is really fun because we get to customize our own pizzas and make them just how we like them. Our Olivia has turned into a little chef lately and seems to enjoy cooking. (My Mom is breathing a huge sigh of relief right now!). All of our pizzas turned out great and were super delicious. It was a tasty ending to a day filled with heart-shaped food!

The next day Olivia celebrated more with a Valentine's party at school. That night we exchanged presents and no one was more excited than Olivia. She bought presents for both Todd and myself (with a little help from Nana), and she could not wait to give them to us. I received a cute, red maternity shirt and Todd got some very stylish Sesame Street underwear. Does she know how to pick 'em or what?

Aside from some Valentine's chocolate Olivia got some accessories for her "Olivia the Pig" playhouse and a bath toy she has wanted for awhile. She was happy! I think I was the lucky one that night, as Todd spoiled me with a spa package geared towards pregnant women. I think it is safe to say I will be enjoying some serious relaxation time in the near future! We topped off the evening's festivities with some yummy Valentine's Day cake.

We knocked this holiday out of the park once again this year. I know some people think Valentine's Day is a silly, "Hallmark" holiday but once you have kids all of the silliness becomes validated and so much fun! I think we will continue to do things BIG on Valentine's Day and enjoy it to the fullest!

Now onto some Baby 2.o news. Happy to report that things are going smoothly. I am about 2o weeks, which makes it the half way point. I am feeling good and growing larger on a daily basis. In a little less than two weeks we will find out the gender of this baby and the real planning can begin. Unfortunately we have not taken any time to snap any belly shots yet. I think what people say about not having as much time to take pictures the second time around is going to hold true, but I am going to try my hardest not to fall into that hole. So with that I make a promise to include some belly shots next time around.

bustin' through the winter blues

2011-01-31T22:18:00.004-05:00

January is a month filled with snow, ice and the desperate need to see warmer temps. There is usually nothing exciting that occurs in this month and as you slowly recover from the holidays you realize you have another 3 months until Spring! As a parent January is also a month where you desperately search for activities to occupy your very energetic and stir-crazy child. You can only play so many board games or do so many craft projects before you want to start pulling your hair out! We try to come up with creative ways to pass the normally long winters we have here in Fort Wayne and I would say that we are usually pretty successful.

Olivia has been itching to go sledding ever since the first snowfall of the season. Unfortunately we had not accumulated enough snow to allow us to sled up until recently. At first she thought that since Christmas was over there were no more chances for sledding. Not sure where she got that idea, but once I explained that we still had a good few months of winter left she was willing to wait for her chance. A few weekends ago we finally had enough snow on the ground to bust out the sleds. We decided to head over to my Mom's house. She lives on a golf course and there are some pretty decent hills in her backyard. We all got bundled up and headed out in the snow (even my Mom)!

It took a few tries to get a good path packed down so that we could pick up some speed, but once we did the fun began! We all took turns flying down the hill and Olivia could not get enough! She loves adventure and this was right up her alley.

Even this 17 week pregnant lady took a few turns on the sled. There was no way I was going to just watch from the sidelines. It really was the perfect day. It was cold, but not too cold. There was no wind and the snow was perfect. I think we all tapped into our inner child that day and did our part to bust through some of those winter blues, especially my Mom and Todd.

Once Olivia would get to the bottom of the hill she would throw herself in the snow and make snow angels or just roll around. The cold really does not seem to bother her at all. My favorite part of the day were the short videos I shot. Listen to my sweet Olivia as she comes flying down the hill...

They will probably hate me for doing this, but I could not resist sharing the videos I have of my Mom and Todd taking their turns on the sled. Since I was the one taking the pictures and videos I was spared from having a video of myself show up on my blog!

Sledding was a huge hit with all of us! It looks like we will have some more opportunities to play in the snow as we prepare for a huge winter storm this week. Yuck! We really have not had to deal with too much nasty weather so far this season, but it looks like that may be coming to an end in the next few days. I can deal with the snow, but ice and the possibility of losing power worry me greatly. I am glad that we were able to squeeze in our little weekend getaway this past weekend. We took Olivia to Indianapolis for some away from home time. We stayed in a hotel (with a pool), and took a trip to the Children's Museum. She had a blast and it helped to break up the long winter months!

In other news Baby 2.0 seems to be growing as scheduled. I am currently 19 weeks pregnant and I am feeling great. We should be finding out the sex next month and then the true planning can begin. Olivia is still excited as ever to be a big sister and she is getting a kick out of watching my belly grow, or become "ginormous" as she calls it. So far things have been pretty uneventful and that is the way I like it. More to come!

so very blessed

2011-01-02T11:00:00.002-05:00

I think this Christmas can go down in the history books as one of the best. We did SO much, received SO much and did our best to make Christmas special for our loved ones. I have already touched on a few of the holiday activities we love to do each year, but we still had a few more things to check off our list before the big day.

For the second year in a row Olivia has visited what she calls the, "Christmas House". Some family friend's have what we consider to be one of the most decorated houses we have ever seen. There are more battery operated Christmas toys than I can count and each year they invite Olivia over to gaze at all of the magnificent keepsakes! She loves pressing all of the buttons to see what each gadget does and of course they always spoil her with a snack and a gift. The Christmas house has now been added to our list of Christmas traditions.

We also squeezed in our annual trip to visit Santa. Each year Olivia's puts on her Christmas dress and we drive out to Jefferson Pointe. She has caught on the to fact that there are multiple Santas out there during the holidays and she realizes that some of them look different. This year and last she has sat on two different Santa's laps leading up to Christmas and she wanted to know which one was the real one. We decided to explain it this way...all of the Santas that you see leading up to Christmas are Santa's helpers. They are the ones that talk to all of the children to find out what they want for Christmas. Then they report back to the "real: Santa at the North Pole so he can add their wishes to his list. She seemed to buy that explanation so that is the one we will stick with. Although I do not have the actual photo of Olivia sitting on Santa's lap to post, I can show you how cute she looked that night.

This year we thought we would try doing a gingerbread house with Olivia. I bought a kit at the end of last year and thought it would be a good holiday activity on a cold day. She ended up working on it primarily with her Dad and it turned out pretty well for a first try. It was a little frustrating for her because it had to be done in stages as she waited for the icing to dry, but she did pretty well with the waiting and loved nothing more than sticking candy all over the house at the end. Here is her masterpiece...with a little help from Dad of course.

We took many trips downtown this year to see the awesome Santa lights. We went down one last time the week of Christmas to take a look and stop into Coney Island, right around the corner. After waiting in a very long line for Todd and Olivia to get their coney dogs we ended up eating in the car, since the restaurant was too packed with all of the holiday light gazers. We jammed as much as we could into the final days before Christmas.

So, after all of those pre-Christmas activities the day Olivia had been waiting for had almost arrived. Before heading to church on Christmas Eve, we let her open one special present...just like we do each year. A few weeks earlier she had spotted a "Rudolph" stuffed animal at Build-A-Bear and decided that she had to have it. I made her think I blew it off, but we surprised her with Rudolph that night. She was beyond thrilled and hardly put him down the entire night. His nose lit up and he said a few phrases from the cartoon. He instantly became her Christmas buddy.

That night we attended the children's service at our church. Olivia was front in center for the sermon. We were sitting close enough that I was able to snap a couple pictures of her listening intently to the pastor. This year we were asked to assist by bringing up the manger in the nativity scene. Olivia was thrilled to have a "job". It was a great service and it made for a very special Christmas Eve.

Olivia awoke on Christmas Day ready to go! While I was still sleeping she ran downstairs to see if Santa delivered what she so very nicely asked for. She found 3 specially wrapped presents under her little tree with her name on them. She immediately came upstairs and woke me up because she could not wait to open them up. As you can tell by the look on her face she was very happy that Santa listened to her requests and brought her exactly what she asked for!

After opening our stockings and some presents at home we leisurely hung around the house for awhile before getting ready to head to my Mom's for more Christmas fun! Olivia wanted some time at home to play with her newest treasure...her Olivia the Pig playhouse! She has played with it everyday since getting it and was so happy that her good behavior leading up to Christmas paid off.
There were more wonderful presents waiting for all of us at my Mom's house. This year Olivia went shopping for Todd and I and picked out special presents for both of us. She was so excited to give them to us and so proud of what she picked out. Todd got some new slippers, which he desperately needed and I got some beautiful silver earrings...picked out by Olivia alone.

Santa made a delivery at Nana's house as well this year. He brought Olivia an Olivia the Pig tea set. She was equally excited about this gift and has had a tea party each day since Christmas. So far all of Olivia's gifts have provided her with a great deal of enjoyment. There was a lot of gift giving and receiving on Christmas morning and everyone was pretty happy when it was all said and done.

We finished out the day by celebrating Christmas with Todd's side of the family. There were more presents and of course more family time. Olivia always spends family gatherings running around with her cousin Ella. They are best buds.

Overall I'd say it was a pretty prefect Christmas and such a fun holiday season in general. We did so much and had so much fun as a family. Hard to believe that next year at this time we will be juggling a 5 year old and a 6 month old! It will be interesting to see how our new, expanded family is settling in to a new routine. With 2010 behind us, I am more excited than ever to see how things will pan out in 2011! Happy New Year!

and then there were...

2010-12-21T10:40:00.004-05:00

FOUR!!!

Or there's going to be anyway. Yes, we are expecting and Olivia is beyond excited to be a big sister! I think the picture says it all!

Our new addition will be joining us at the end of June. I will be sure to keep everyone updated with each blog post. But, until June it will continue to be strictly the "Olivia show" around here and on the blog. We will see how eager she is to share the spotlight come summer time. Should be interesting!

'tis the season

2010-12-14T10:58:00.003-05:00

We are in full holiday mode around here. Olivia is more excited this year than ever before. She is crazy for all things Christmas. We started decorating the house right after Thanksgiving. Olivia was napping while I was putting up our big tree. She woke up just in time to help put the finishing touches on it with the last few ornaments. She absolutely loved finding the right spot for each special ornament. I guess I did not realize just how excited she would be to help this year.

With the big tree up and decorated it was time to get Olivia's own little tree ready. We let her take the lead on this one and decorate it as she wished. She took a great deal of time putting each ornament in it's place. The best part was seeing the joy on her face as she clearly has the Christmas spirit!

This year we took Olivia to the Festival of Trees at the Embassy Theatre in Fort Wayne. We have not done this activity with Olivia since she was a baby. Our last experience was anything but pleasant which is why we have waited so long to go back. We wanted to make sure that she was old enough to enjoy and appreciate the festival this time around. Waiting until she was 4 was a wise choice. She loved it! She was fascinated by the beautifully decorated trees, making it hard to keep her hands off of them!

The festival has ongoing entertainment on the stage so we went during the time that the girls from the dance studio where I teach were performing. I was surprised by how long she wanted to sit and watch the show. It turned out to be a much better experience this time around and I am sure we will go back next year.

Another one of our annual traditions is to visit the Botanical Gardens around Christmas time. It is always decorated so beautifully. This year we went with our friends, the McGauley's. Those who read my blog know that their daughter, Laurel is one of Olivia's best friends from school.

They always have so much fun together and this day was no exception. One of the rooms was decorated to look like Candy Land. It was so cute! The girls ran around just like they were in the game itself.

The girls also got to visit Santa while they were there. Olivia did not hesitate to hop up on his lap this year. She very quietly whispered what she would like in his ear. Not sure he heard what she had to say, but she as far as she was concerned she got her message across. The girls also got to see the reindeer. This is something else Olivia looks forward to each year. It was a quick view this year because it was so stinkin' cold out there!

Last weekend Olivia started what we hope to be a new holiday tradition. She had breakfast with an angel at our church. Unfortunately I was not able to attend, but Todd took her to this fun little event. Aside from the amazingly good breakfast (I heard) they had, they also made a craft and had their picture taken with the angel. Olivia very fittingly wore her adorable holiday angel outfit. How sweet is this?

We still have a ton of fun holiday activities ahead of us with two weeks to go until Christmas. This is by far our favorite time of year and this holiday season has by far been the best so far! In completely unrelated Christmas news I am so very proud to announce that Olivia is officially reading! She has been reading words for the past 2-3 months now, but she has just recently started reading short, simple books. I cannot even tell you how impressed and proud I am of this child. According to Olivia's teachers she has really taken the lead with the whole reading thing at school. They have been working with her quite a bit, but she has shown such a strong interest in reading and has picked it up very quickly. I hope to get some of her reading on tape soon and when I do I will share it with you. I hope that everyone is enjoying this great time of year! I will be back soon with more holiday updates! Until then...Happy Holidays to you!

look who's 4!!!

2010-11-28T17:28:00.001-05:00

Olivia has officially turned 4...and it was quite the celebration! It all started on the morning of her birthday. After waking up and putting on her "birthday girl" shirt I immediately spoiled her with a special birthday breakfast. To Olivia a special breakfast consists of a waffle, yogurt and some fruit. Not really that fancy, but you can make anything special but sticking a birthday candle in the middle of it.

Next it was off to school. It was a normal school day aside from the quick little birthday celebration before dismissal. Each child gets their chance to "walk around the sun" on their special day. This is the Montessori way of celebrating a child's birthday. They hold a globe and walk around a candle (representing the sun), one time for each year of their life. The kids really like this because, for this short amount of time the attention is 100% on them. Olivia walked around the sun 4 times with a huge smile on her face!

That evening we had a birthday dinner for Olivia at my Mom's house. She requested spaghetti, which she seems to do every year on her birthday. We were planning on opening presents after dinner, but anticipation was killing her so we decided not to make her wait. To keep her from bursting at the seams we let her open a few before dinner.

The second she swallowed her last bite of spaghetti she was ready to tear through the rest of her gifts. She was most excited about the digital camera she got from her Aunt Sue Sue. She had been asking for a camera for awhile and was thrilled to finally get her very own. She has hardly put it down since. She was also excited about the gift from us...the Leapster Explorer. We thought it was time for her to have her own learning system and we could not have made a better investment. This learning game systems is fantastic for kids and so educational. I cannot even tell you how many skills she is perfecting with this toy.

After the presents were opened it was time for a little dessert! Instead of a big huge cake that we would never eat my Mom made individual cupcakes...yum! Olivia never gets tired of blowing out birthday candles! So much fun!

That weekend was the big birthday party. For months Olivia expressed her desire to have a mermaid theme party. The challenge for me was finding birthday supplies that were not "Ariel" from the Little Mermaid. I wanted cute little cartoonish mermaids, which are quite hard to come by. I did eventually find the mermaids I wanted, but I had to hand make the decorations. Much more work than I anticipated. But it all came together and made for a very cute little party.

Olivia was lucky to be surrounded by lots of friends and family once again this year. She had most of her cousins there and some of her young friends, which made for a very fun night. The highlight of the evening was her mermaid cake. This is the second year in a row that the office manager at Olivia's school has made her cake. Last year she made the "Olivia the Pig" cake, which was amazing! She did not disappoint this year either. The mermaid cake was not only adorable, but it tasted so good! After singing "Happy Birthday" and blowing out the candles we all dug in.
Now my original plan for presents was to have Olivia open them later that evening after everyone went home. I wanted to spare everyone having to sit through present opening and allow Olivia to run around and enjoy her guests. I was going to take a picture of Olivia opening each present and include that picture in her thank you card to each guest. My plan foiled and before I knew it she was digging into all of her presents. I still snapped pictures of her with each gift, but she ended up opening them all at her party. She had a great time, which is all that matters.

Overall I think turning 4 was pretty spectacular for Olivia. As her birthday approached I told her that I was not going to allow her to turn 4 because I wanted her to stay 3. She said that she had to turn 4 and I could not stop her from getting old. It is hard for me to believe that my little girl is 4 now. She continues to amaze me each day with how grown up she is. Her maturity is unreal at times, but she still has the innocence of a small child. I am hoping that sticks around for a long time despite getting older. I also hope that Olivia enjoys each birthday as much as she did this one!

lots of spooky fun

2010-11-10T10:53:00.002-05:00

The month of October flew by in a flash! It is unbelievable to me that it is November already and that Christmas is just around the corner. We knew that October was going to be a busy month, filled mostly of fun Halloween activities. Olivia was so excited about Halloween this year, more than ever before. She had her costume planned out months ahead and the pressure was on for me to find a way to pull it all together in time. Last year she was one of the only kids at her school's fall family festival without a costume because I did not have it completed. It didn't bother her, but I told myself I was not going to let that happen again this year.

So here she is...our little mermaid. Put together (not made), piece by piece by me. The only part I am responsible for is the crown, all of the other pieces I found online. It all came together and made for one cute mermaid costume. The tail...the best part of the costume, I found on Etsy. If you are not familiar with that site you must check it out. It is a place for people to sell their homemade goods. I found a lady that makes mermaid tails and it only cost $19! Bargain! Olivia was thrilled with the costume and that was all that mattered to me.

Her first opportunity to show off her fancy tail was at the annual fall family festival at her school. It is a fun event that we look forward to every year! Olivia was most excited about the trunk-or-treat, which was such a huge hit with the kids last year that they decided to do it again. Last year I dressed my VW Beetle up as a ladybug, but since that car is no more I had to stir up the creativity pot and think of something. I decided to keep it simple and just make it a spooky trunk.

There were tons of fun things for the kids at the festival and the weather was perfect! Olivia enjoyed the little horse and buggy rides, the hay maze and making s'mores. She could not wait to get her costume on so she could start visiting all of the trunks and collecting her treats!

Before the trunk-or-treat began the kids were able to show off their fancy costumes in the costume parade. The best part of the day for Olivia was spending the afternoon running around with all of her little school friends. This is one of our favorite school events each year and this year did not disappoint.

Next on the list of Halloween activities was our annual trip to the Great Zoo Halloween. This was our third year attending this fun event and Olivia was stoked. I was happy with how much use we were getting out of our costume and it really helped that she liked it so much. There were multiple treat stations set up around the zoo for the kids as well as other fun activities.

Olivia was most looking forward to seeing her favorite horse, Gail. We heard ahead of time that all of the horses were going to be wearing costumes as well so Olivia could not wait to see what she was wearing. Unfortunately Gail had the day off but she quickly choose another horse that was dressed like an Indian. She enjoyed her final horsey ride of the season.

As we walked through the zoo collecting treats, Olivia also enjoyed running through the hay maze and playing some games. One of the coolest parts of visiting the zoo at Halloween is seeing all of the cool pumpkins that they decorate and carve. They also manage to make these amazing scenes with animals out of different types of gourdes. It is pretty cool! Overall I would say that Great Zoo Halloween lived up to Olivia's expectations once again.

As you can tell we had a lot of practice leading up to Halloween. Although Olivia had already worn her costume a few times she was the most excited to put it on for the official night of trick-or-treating. We decided to spend the evening walking around our neighborhood. It was a chilly night, but who thinks of that when the most important task at hand is collecting as much candy as possible. And that she did! She walked the neighborhood for over an hour before starting to get tired. I asked if she was ready to call it quits and she said no. She decided she wanted to keep going but wanted to tackle the rest of the neighborhood from her wagon. By the end of the night she had completely filled up her pumpkin. Now all of that candy is sitting in a bowl at the top of our fridge and I feel we may still be eating it a year from now. Funny thing is, Olivia is really only interested a few kinds of candy. The rest she seems to have no desire to try. No complaints here! It was another fun-filled Halloween in the Menor household and now I can relax for awhile before having to think up next year's costume.

Before wrapping up this fall themed post I want to share a few photos I took of Olivia during one of our unseasonably warm days in October. These photos were taken on the day we were supposed to have our annual family photo shoot with Vilma from GEM Photography, but she was ill and we had to reschedule. We decided not to waste the beautiful day and take some pictures of Olivia ourselves. Some of them turned out quite nice. Luckily we were able to reschedule our professional family photo shoot and I am anxiously awaiting the proofs. I will be sure to share them as soon as they are done.

Lastly, our beautiful Olivia turned 4 last week. Hard to believe that I am saying those words. As much as I wish I could have kept her as our little 3 year old, she could not have been more excited to celebrate turning 4. I have tons of pictures from her week long birthday celebration, including her fantastic mermaid birthday bash! I promise to get around to that post as soon as possible. This sure is one busy time of year!

ladybug land

2010-10-13T11:16:00.009-04:00

As a reward for a successful start to the school year we took Olivia to United Art & Education and allowed her to pick out something special. If you have never been to this store you must check it out, especially if you are a teacher or just have kids. There are tons of educational activities, art & crafts and great hands-on activities that are not only fun but great learning tools! Out of everything in the store Olivia chose "Ladybug Land".

Ladybug Land is a small container where you house and grow your own ladybugs while watching the growing process. I think Olivia was expecting for us to open the box and immediately see ladybugs. We were a little disappointed to learn that we first had to send away for our ladybug eggs. Inside of the box there was a certificate that we had to mail in requesting our larvae. For awhile each day she would ask if her ladybugs were here yet. After a few weeks we got a letter stating that the temps were currently too high for the ladybugs to be shipped and that they would send them to us as soon as the temps cooled down. This process required a great deal of patience on Olivia's part...something she is still working on. Just as Olivia was starting to forget about Ladybug Land her larvae arrived in the mail.

For about week the larva crawled around their dome. Olivia enjoyed checking on them every morning to see if they had turned into ladybugs. Finally the larva attached themselves to the top of the dome and started their final transition into the tiny red bugs Olivia loves so much! I have to admit that I may have been more interested in the whole process than she was at times, but it was pretty cool watching these bugs go through their life cycle. Soon all of the ladybugs started hatching and before we knew it we had about 12-15 ladybugs occupying Ladybug Land!

All Olivia could say was, "Awwww...they are SO cute!" She checked on them everyday and made sure they had enough water. We even cut up a few raisins for them to snack on, per the instructions. For the past few weeks the ladybugs have run around their "land" and have captured Olivia's interest.

Once it was warm enough outside we decided it was time to start letting some of them go. We started with one each day. Olivia did not want to say goodbye to all of them at once, which I understood. She insisted that each ladybug crawl up and down her arm a bit before transferring it onto a leaf. We would then say goodbye to each ladybug by saying, "ladybug, ladybug fly away home". I thought she would have a hard time letting her little bugs go, but she seems to enjoy setting them free in the "wild'.

We only have about 6 ladybugs left and we will be letting them go this week. They can only live for so long inside "Ladybug Land" and we want to make sure they can enjoy some outdoor time before the temps cool off for good. This has been a fun and educational activity for Olivia and I am sure we will do it again next Spring.
We are in full Halloween prep mode around here lately. Olivia is super excited about her costume, which is close to complete. But you will have to wait until my Halloween post to catch a peek. We did make our annual trip to the Good Shepherd Pumpkin Patch recently, which we have done every year with Olivia.

We always pick out our small pumpkins at this patch. I love it because they call their small pumpkins "spookies" and "wee-be-littles". They are the perfect size for Olivia's tiny hands and she loves having the responsibility of picking out her own pumpkins. This one of our fun little family traditions and it is hard to believe this is our fourth visit.

There is a ton more fall family fun to come. Just wait till you see Ms. Olivia in her Halloween costume! I thought her crayon costume from last year was cute, but just you wait. And in less than a month Olivia will be turning four! Ugh...my baby is no longer a baby! We have a nice friends and family birthday bash planned for her. This is a busy time of year for us, but it is also one of my favorite times of the year! So much going on!

summer wrap-up

2010-09-18T13:09:00.002-04:00

I think it is safe to say that summer has come to an end. The temps are cooler and leaves are starting to fall. Olivia is back at school, starting her 3rd year at Three Rivers Montessori. Yes...her 3rd year! Hardly seems possible. Before sharing pictures and her excitement about going back to school I need to fill you in on our end of summer activities.

A good portion of Olivia's summer was occupied with soccer. She participated in two sessions through the Parks Department. She liked it so much the first time around she decided to do it again. It was pretty much the same skills and games, but different kids and most importantly the same coaches. It was a great activity for her. She learned a lot, made a ton of new friends and got some great exercise. There were some pretty hot days this summer but it did not seem to bother Olivia much. She says she can't wait to do it again next year but we will see if her interest level is still the same. I hope so because I think she makes a great little kicker!

The coaches of the program were the best! Olivia loved all 3 of them. They worked so well with the little ones and made sure that they had the best time. Each time we arrived at class she always greeted them each with a huge hug and she never left before telling them thank you. Here is Olivia with Coach Amanda, Coach Caitlyn and her favorite, Coach Yahya!

Another highlight of Olivia's summer was her private trip to Black Pine Animal Park with her teacher, Ms. Laura. Todd and I won this trip for Olivia at the school fundraising auction at the end of the school year and she could not wait to go. We took Olivia to Black Pine last year and she loved it. It helped that we had a special behind the scenes tour thanks to one of my Mom's former students, Kellie. She is a volunteer at the park and she showed us a great time. I arranged it so that Olivia and Ms. Laura would visit Black Pine on one of the days that Kellie was working. Kellie was kind enough to give another behind the scenes tour to Olivia and her teacher on their visit.

Olivia loves Ms. Laura and was thrilled to be able to spend the day with her. They were able to see many of the animals up close and personal which has now become a regular occurrence for Olivia. Kellie made sure they saw everything that day! One of Olivia's favorite animals is Johnny the Camel. He is a very gentle animal and one of the highlights at the park. We found out just a few weeks ago that Johnny had to be put down due to health issues. We were all sad to hear the news but Olivia was so happy that she was able to see him once more. Throughout the day Olivia was able to feed many different animals, including a large black bear named "Ben". Olivia and Ms. Laura had so much fun that day that they decided to make it a class field trip this year. Kellie told Olivia that she could be director for the day and help show the kids around since she has been to the park a few times already. She is thrilled about that idea and cannot wait for that field trip!

Taking trips to watch our local baseball team (The Fort Wayne TinCaps) play was another activity high on Olivia's list this summer. Overall Olivia attended 4 TinCap games. She went with her school for a field trip, for Todd's 20th high school reunion, for my company picnic and as a reward for completing the summer reading program at the public library. We love going to these games because there are so many fun things for kids to do. A couple of times I brought my camera along. The night of my company picnic was warm so Olivia enjoyed running through the fountains they have at the park. It was a great way to cool off!

Now she is deathly afraid of the team mascot, Johnny TinCap. So much so that we have to watch very carefully to make sure she does not come into direct contact with him while we are in the stadium. She loves him from a distance but she is still harboring her intense fear of mascots so I try keep it a pleasant experience for her. Since she has no interest in having her picture taken with him like most kids do we settled for a picture with the giant Johnny bobble head statue. Olivia does not have much interest in the game itself but still finds a way to use up all of the time walking around the stadium, playing games, having snacks and visiting the TinCap store.

She was most excited about the last game we attended because she earned a free ticket by completing the summer reading program with us this summer. Once she ticket came in the mail she could not wait to go to "her TinCap game". The field trip was the "school TinCap game", the one for Todd's reunion was "Daddy's TinCap game" and the one for my company picnic was of course "Mommy's TinCap game". She was most excited about her game, probably because she earned it. My Uncle was in town visiting and he came with us. Olivia got a megaphone as her reward for the summer reading program and a free meal that night. She also got her face painted and played numerous games. It was the perfect night for a ballgame and fun was had by all! The TinCaps season is over now, but we can't wait to go to more games next year! Seems to be one of Olivia's new favorite summer activities!

Like most summers we made many trips to the zoo. We love having the zoo pass because it allows us to come and go as we please and not feel like we are wasting money because weonot stay long enough. I cannot tell you how many times we have gone. Olivia loves for us to take her to the zoo but she was pretty excited when her cousin Eric and his girlfriend Jackie offered to take her. She loves spending time with them and they are so good with her. I gotta hand it to my teenage nephew. He actually goes out of his way to spend time with his 3 year old cousin. He offers to take her places and spend time with her, and she loves it!

As the summer started to wind down and the pools started to close we were looking for a way for Olivia to cool off on one of late summer hot days. She loves visiting the splash pads around town so a late afternoon trip to the park was the perfect fix. A little time splashing around in the fountains followed by some time on the playground, and Olivia was one happy girl. While she was climbing and running through the playground she ran into one of her little friends from soccer. The two of them had a great time using their imaginations and going on "adventures" together. She was sad to say good-bye but hopes to see her friend at soccer again next summer.

So as I mentioned at the start of this post, last month Olivia started her 3rd year at Three Rivers Montessori School. This is her second year in the 3-6 classroom and with her teacher, Ms. Laura. Over the summer our school merged with another montessori school in town. This allowed our school to grow and it also brought many new teachers to our already wonderful staff. Olivia has a new secondary teacher in her classroom this year, Ms. Julia...and of course she fell in love with her from the start. To kick off the school year the teachers held a class picnic the Friday before they headed back to class. This gave the kids a chance to meet their new classmates as well as their new teacher, Ms. Julia. Of course a handful of the kids from last year returned which made Olivia very happy. And no big surprise here but she quickly made new friends as well...a skill that comes quite easily for Olivia.

With the class picnic out of the way the stage was set for the start of another great year at Three Rivers. Olivia was super excited to get back into the classroom but even more so, she was excited to show off her new ladybug backpack! When we asked Olivia what kind of backpack she wanted this year she immediatley said, "ladybug!". My Mom was kind enough to get her this adorable backpack to kick off the new school year. The ladybug on the backpack even came with a name, "JuJu". This is currently Olivia's prize possession and she treats it like one of her friends.

She headed off to her first day of school with the biggest smile on her face, just excited to kick off the new year. I really hope her love for school and learning stays with her over the years. In just over one month she has already started the beginning stages of reading. Her teachers are working with her on C-V-C words. Ok, come on...know what that means? I must admit it took me awhile but I finally figured out it meant, consonant-vowel-consonant. She is learning to sound out each letter and put the word together and she is doing a great job! I can only imagine what she will have learned by the end of the school year if this is what she has accomplished in the first month!

So that is a quick review of our final summer activites. Now that we are heading into fall we are really looking forward to all of the things the change of seasons will bring. Olivia is back in her dance classes again and this year she is not only taking tap but ballet too! She is starting back at swim lessons this weekend and of course Halloween is just around the corner. (You'll have to wait until my Halloween post to see Olivia's costume for this year!). And most important we have a birthday coming up. Yep, our little girl is actually going to turn 4 in November! Don't even ask me how that is possible, because I can hardly believe it myself. If there is one thing I can believe is that Olivia will continue to keep us on our toes and make us smile. That is just how our little girl lives her life...to the fullest!

california girl

2010-08-26T09:56:00.002-04:00

Whew! Recently Olivia and I returned from spending a week in California, visiting my Aunt Sue. This was Olivia's fourth trip out there. We try to make it once a year. Olivia loves visiting her Aunt Sue Sue and we always have such a great time. Todd was not able to join us this time. He was sad to see us go, but happy knowing that Olivia would be enjoying her week.

After a good night's sleep we charged forward with our first day's activities. First on the agenda was our annual trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It is such an amazing place. Each year we take Olivia she gets more and more interested in all of the sea life. They have everything from jellyfish and seahorses to penguins and flamingos.
This year for my birthday Todd got me a very nice camera. This trip gave me the perfect opportunity to break it in and work on taking some good pictures. The aquarium was the perfect place to practice. There were so many wonderful things to take pictures of and I think I got some pretty good shots. The first jellyfish picture below just might be the best picture I have taken to date.

My cousin Justin who was home for the summer from Berkley tagged along with us. Olivia loved hanging out with him. He paid lots of attention to her, which of course she loved. He was gone a few days during our visit, but while he was there they were best friends. More on that later.

After the aquarium we headed to a local park for lunch. It was Justin's idea to take Olivia to this park because he knew she would love it. It was called Dennis the Menace park and it was pretty cool. It was the perfect place for Olivia to burn off some energy and for us to have lunch.

That night Sue promised Olivia they could make cupcakes. While the grown-ups enjoyed some nice wine Olivia worked hard baking her cupcakes. We were still pretty tired from the time change so a good night's sleep was much needed for all of us.

The next morning we treated Olivia to some indulgence...her first pedicure! My Aunt had bragged about the $10 pedicures she gets in California so we thought for that price we would all get one, including Olivia! The second we walked in the ladies in the salon fussed over Olivia and made her feel very special. A three year old in a pedicure chair definitely turned a lot of heads from the other customers. After Olivia's toes were finished the owner of the salon even let her pick out two bottles of polish to take with her. She was thrilled! (She carried those bottles of polish around with her all week!) I think she loved all of the attention and she sat through her pedicure like a seasoned pro! I told her that getting her first pedicure was a special treat and not to get used to it!

That night the grownups wanted to hit up happy hour at a swanky little bar called "The Red Room" in downtown Santa Cruz. It was a very velvety, deep colored bar with huge couches. It was actually the perfect place for Olivia. She could lay all over the couches and run around without really being noticed. I am very well aware that traveling with a 3 year old means that most activities need to be child related in order to keep things running smoothly. Luckily Olivia was open to the idea of doing a few grown up things during this trip. Each time we did something that was not exactly up her alley we would be sure to pack up enough activities to keep her occupied. I must admit that she handled herself very well while allowing the grown ups to enjoy themselves.

The next morning we were up and at 'em early because we had some whale watching to do! We had been looking forward to this ever since we heard about all of the whales my Aunt and Uncle had seen lately. We had our fingers crossed that we would have the same luck they have had. Olivia was excited to help her Uncle Ron drive the boat and she even broke in their new little on-board potty. After traveling about 15 miles off shore and driving around for quite awhile there were no whales in sight and Olivia was starting to get a little sea sick.

We were just about to head back into shore when we spotted something off in the distance. By this time Olivia was feeling better so we decided to follow the action. Good thing we did because...jackpot! Humpback whales were spotted! For the next 2 hours we followed two different pairs of whales. It was the most amazing experience. The size and grace of these animals is indescribable. My favorite part was watching their larger than life tails come up after diving. Olivia was fascinated by the whales but her attention span caused her to lose interest after a few minutes. She did enjoy the experience and one day I will show her just was cool it was. I think I took about one million pictures but I below are the best from the day.

The next day it was time for more grown up activities. Visiting wineries is a must while in California. The thing I enjoy most about the wineries in this area is just how gorgeous they are. We packed a picnic lunch and headed out to try some good wine. The first winery was so beautiful. They had a huge garden area that was perfect for Olivia to run wild. We only stopped at two wineries that day but we spent a great deal of time at each one. The key to keeping Olivia happy and occupied while wine tasting is taking along the iPad! This was Olivia's biggest obsession during this trip. By the second day Olivia had mastered that thing. She knew how to navigate all of the apps and play all of the games. Watching her play it was a trip. She turned a lot of heads from grown-ups that could not believe that a 3 year old was playing with an iPad. If they weren't so stinkin' expensive I would buy her one tomorrow.

Since it was such a beautiful day we headed to the beach after our afternoon of tasting great wine. Olivia had been itching to get to the beach all week. We were just waiting for it to be warm enough to take her. The weather is much cooler than average in this part of California. I must admit, it was a very nice change from the humid, hot temps back in Fort Wayne. Since it was so chilly at the beach I thought that Olivia would avoid the water. I was so wrong! By the end of her beach time she was soaked and covered in sand. None of that mattered because she had the time of her life! Olivia loves the beach so much I have a strong feeling that one day she will end up living right on the ocean.

The next day we headed to San Jose to visit the Happy Hallow Park & Zoo. The zoo was not much to brag about but there was a great little amusement park that sent Olivia into a frenzy. There were probably about 10 different little kiddie rides for her to choose from and my brave girl wanted to try each and everyone of them. Luckily the lines were not very long, thanks goodness! Try explaining to a 3 year old why she has to wait in line for a turn on a ride. Not easy!

After trying most of the rides we walked over to the little roller coaster. I was almost positive she was not going to meet the height requirements but when we got up there we discovered that she was tall enough to ride. Now even though it was a kids roller coaster it was still pretty large...big enough that adults could ride with the smaller kids. I thought for sure she would be scared to ride something so large, but nope...she ran right up to the line.

That girl had the time of her life on that roller coaster. She talked about it the rest of the week. Pretty brave I must say! It was a fun filled day and Olivia was exhausted. My cousin Justin took the train in from Berkley and we picked him up in San Jose to bring him back home. Olivia slept the entire way. Spending the day at an amusement park is hard work for a 3 year old!

Our last day in California was a relaxing one. We started the day at a little museum/gift shop down by the beach. There were some little wildlife activities for kids to do and a shop full of souvenirs. Olivia wanted to spend some of her money and buy herself something to commemorate her trip. She choose a small stuffed whale because she went whale watching while visiting Aunt Sue Sue. It was a good choice! Afterwards we took a nice walk down the boardwalk and watched the pelicans dive for fish.

That afternoon we took one last trip to the beach. Olivia so desperately wanted to go back so I wanted to make sure that happened before we flew home. Since my Aunt and Mom were making dinner my Cousin Justin was kind enough to go along. As we drove down to the shore we noticed a abnormal amount of birds hovering in and around the ocean. Once we got closer we were shocked by just how many there were. They must have been feeding on something because there tons of them floating and diving into the ocean. I had never seen anything like it in my life. Whatever was in the water was also attracting dolphins and sea lions. They were so close to the shore and very easy to see. It was amazing! I could have stood there all day and watched this spectacle!Olivia on the other hand was not nearly as impressed. She was too busy building her sandcastle. Justin was a great sport and played along with her. She had such a great time with him all week and he was so great with her. We all decided to get our feet wet one last time before heading back for dinner. We were sad to leave the ocean behind, but hopeful that we could return for another visit soon.
The next morning we got up early and prepared for our trip home. It was sad to leave California behind but Olivia was very excited to get home to see her Daddy. He missed her immensely and could not wait for us to return. He got the biggest, loudest greeting at Fort Wayne International Airport that night. This was Olivia's fourth trip out to see her Aunt Sue Sue in under her four years of life. Each time is more fun than the last. We saw some amazing sights this time around and as always they showed us a great time! Thanks Aunt Sue, Uncle Ron and Cousin Justin for everything! We love you!

a little bit of this, a little bit of that

2010-07-29T09:47:00.004-04:00

So I never thought I would need to keep a social calendar for my 3 year old. That is exactly what I have had to do this summer. This child has been involved in more activities than I can keep track of. It has pretty much been a constant stream of fun things, one after the next. She has gotten so used to being so busy that the first thing she asks each more is, "What are we doing today, Momma?" I feel bad on the rare occasion that we have an event-free day. She has grown accustomed to her "always on the go" lifestyle. So in this blog post I am going to attempt to summarize everything she has done thus far.

Let's start with all of Olivia's water activities. This child is the happiest when submersed in water. I have a rule that when the weather is nice we are outdoors, and when the weather is hot we go to the pool. We always find a way to do something that involves water. Early in the summer Olivia had some serious fun on the water slide at her cousin's birthday party. Long after everyone else was done sliding she just kept on going. In fact, I had to pull her away when it was time for cake. That is rare!

Most weekends we can be found at Uncle VJ's pool (Todd's brother). It has been a pretty hot summer so far so we jump at a chance to cool off at the pool. Olivia's swimming has improved drastically. All of those swimming lessons have really paid off. Not only is she super confident in the water but she is starting to do some things without her swim vest. She still has a ways to go before swimming solo but she is making strides. I am so proud of her! Olivia enjoys herself the most when some of her cousins are swimming with her. It is much more fun to have swimming buddies.

Most of you know that soccer has been occupying a lot of Olivia's time this summer. The local Parks and Rec department offers a ton of other fun activities for the kids to choose from during the summer months. One of the activities that Olivia chose was a Diego Adventure. It was a one hour program that involved crafts and going on pretend animal rescue missions (similar to what Diego does in the TV show). Aside from Dora the Explorer, Diego is one of her favorite characters. She loves pretending to be Diego while going on animal rescue adventures. I think she was the only girl at the program that day but she that did not bother her one bit. She had a blast!

One of our unsuccessful outings this summer involved the opportunity to meet Olivia the Pig. Our local library branch was hosting a visit by Olivia the Pig on a Saturday afternoon. When I told Olivia about the opportunity meet her namesake she was thrilled. That morning she got dressed in her Olivia the Pig dress. She even brought her Olivia the Pig book and doll along with her to show off. The librarian first read an Olivia the Pig story to all of the children before introducing Olivia herself. As the enormous mascot entered the room Olivia took one look at her and burst into tears. She ran into my arms and refused to let go. She wanted nothing to do with Olivia the Mascot and she kept begging me to leave. I tried to reason with her but she was not hearing it. She was terrified of this mascot and wanted nothing more than to get out of that room as quickly as possible. I was really disappointed because I was dying to get a picture of the two of them. Instead I got a picture of a very unhappy little girl and a picture of my Mom with Olivia the Pig. If anything it will be a good story to share with her one day. Olivia is one of the bravest little girls I know, but when it comes to mascots she is not afraid to tell everyone how much she dislikes them. Will she grow out of this fear one day? Hard to tell, but I sure hope so. I do know that for now we will be saving a lot of money on trips to Disney World!

One of the coolest thing Olivia has done this summer is attend zoo camp. My Mom offered to do this camp with Olivia and she could hardly wait. It was only three mornings but it was a great experience. She got to go behind the scenes of some of the exhibits, and get up close and personal with some of the animals. She was very interested in learning all about the animals and was always the first to answer any questions. I believe she is a teacher's pet in the making.

Each day they rode one of the zoo rides and they always came home with a craft. On the second day of camp she made a little friend and they spent the rest of their time together side-by-side. Olivia always enjoys every experience to the fullest and this was no different. The zoo is one of Olivia's favorite places to go so this camp was perfect for her. She will definitely be doing it again next year. It also gave Olivia and Nana some great bonding time.

Last month we celebrated Todd's birthday. Olivia loves birthdays and goes out of her way to make them extra special for people. She is always willing to offer help opening presents, but what she is really holding out for is cake. She knows that her birthday is little over three months away. She is already planning the type of party she wants to have and is constantly adding to her ever growing birthday gift list.

As if Olivia has not been busy enough this summer she has also spent some time at the lake. My Mom took her to Lake George to spend the day at her friend's lake cottage. It was a day full of swimming and boat rides. The weather was perfect which made for a great day at the lake.

We also spent the day at our family friend's lake cottage in Michigan this month. Sue and Fred invite us every year and we usually go up there at least once. This year two of their granddaughters (ages 8 and 11) were there which made the day even more fun for Olivia. She loves playing with older girls and they paid so much attention to her. We spent a lot of time on the boat that day and Olivia even went tubing for the first time. I was worried she would be scared to try it but I went with her, along with the two little girls. Olivia amazes me in that she will try anything. I thought for sure she would be apprehensive, jumping into that tube, but no way...she faced the challenge head on. We had so much fun tubing around the lake. We were exhausted by the end of the day.

This seems to be the summer of trying new and exciting things. A few weeks ago Olivia was invited to a birthday party at a roller skating rink. It was an older girl but her Mom thought that Olivia would maybe want to try rollerskating for the first time. It was a shaky first attempt, but it was fun. She had a really hard time staying on her feet, and most of the time she was roller skating over my feet. Aside from her severe fear of mascots, there is really nothing that Olivia is afraid of. She is a very brave little girl and always excited to try something new. We have covered a lot of ground this summer. With less than one month left before heading back to school we are going to try and see what else we can pack into this crazy-busy summer!

abc...123

2010-07-02T15:37:00.002-04:00

When faced with a sudden wardrobe malfunction during her recent dance recital Olivia told me that she just, "kept on dancin'!". And she did exactly that! Olivia had been practicing her tap routine since last fall, anticipating the chance to get back on the "big stage" to perform again. The week leading up to her recital we practiced her routine every night. It helped that it was a song that she really grew to love over the months...ABC-123 by the Jackson 5. After showing her a video of the Jackson 5 performing that song on American Bandstand she looked at me and said, "Who is that singing, mommy?" When I told her it was Micheal Jackson she looked at me with the most confused look on her face. She has always liked Micheal Jackson's music so I wasn't quite sure how to explain that the little boy singing that super cute song was the same man she has seen on TV and listened to in the car. She is obsessed with the song and walks around the house singing it or listening to it on her CD player.

I was super busy the weekend of Olivia's recital because I am a teacher at Northeast School of Dance. The recital was being held the Saturday and Sunday of Fathers Day weekend and I had to be there both days for the rehearsals and evenings for the actual performances. Olivia's class was performing on Sunday so I took her with me to the rehearsal that morning. Olivia has made friends with a few of the girls in her class and they have enjoyed dancing with each other all year. Here she is with a few of her little friends as they wait their turn to rehearse.

It was the first time the kids were wearing their costumes and practicing their routine on a big stage. Even though it was just a run-though I snapped a ton of pictures and tried to hold back my tears of joy as I watched my little girl do the same thing I did at that age! Olivia is very comfortable on the stage and seems to enjoying performing...shocking, right? Not only is she a pretty good little tapper, she has great stage presence as well. All of the kids did a great job with their run-through, which made me even more excited for her actual performance that night.

We arrived a little early to the recital so I could get her ready backstage. I made sure her hair was super curly that night and for the first time I put just a dab of blush and lip gloss on her so she would show up on stage. Putting make-up on a three year old is no easy task! Once she was all "made up" I decided to do a mini photo session with her. She was just so stinkin' cute that I couldn't put my camera down.

Once the rest of her little tap dancing friends arrived we did a group photo. How cute are these girls? Next we sent them backstage and I dashed out front so I could watch from the audience.

Olivia was so excited to perform, especially knowing that me, her Dad, her Nana and our good friend Cindy were watching in the audience. As she was walking on stage her little hat slipped off and fell around her neck. It was still dark and I could see her try to get someone to notice what happened so the hat could be fixed before the music started. But no one noticed and as the lights came up and the music started Olivia was dealing with an official wardrobe malfunction. I thought for sure she would panic and not dance with that hat hanging around her neck. I felt terrible for her until the music started and she started dancing like a pro. If was as if the hat was not even there. I was surprised because we never talked about what to do if something happened to her costume while she was on stage. I was so completely impressed with the lever of maturity she displayed. She did not let that hat get in her way of performing a dance she had worked all year to learn. And she performed like a pro I might add. I was one proud mommy!

The most important thing is that she had a good time out there. She did not let a little problem get in her way of enjoying her performance. When she got off stage I asked her what happened with her hat? She said, "I don't know, but I couldn't stop dancin'!" She was pretty proud of herself. Now that I am teaching at the dance studio she has become a favorite of all of the dance girls I teach. She loves being at the studio and watching the older kids practice. I hope she enjoys growing up at that dance studio the same way I did. I have a feeling she will. It was another successful recital for Olivia. Take a bow!

Now dance is over until August, and although she is still practicing her dance whenever she gets the chance, we have been busy with other things. Her main summer activity has been soccer. She said she wanted to try it this summer so we signed up her through the local Parks & Rec department. She just completed the first session and she liked it so much she will be going back for the second session next week!

The coaches are so great and Olivia loves them. Her favorite is Coach Yahya. He is a tall, skinny African man and all of the kids seem to love him the best. You can tell he is a great soccer player but he really seems to enjoying teaching the kids. She has learned many of the basic soccer skills, some coming easier to her than others. They play games and the parents even get involved sometimes. It has been a great summer activity for her and she is learning a lot too.

It is hard to believe that we are in July already. I have only scratched the surface of all the things Olivia has done so far this summer. She is one busy girl, but she seems to like it that way. I am always cautious that I may be putting too much on her, but so far she has loved every activity. I want her to experience as many things as possible and get as much out of her young years, before life starts getting difficult. So what's next? Stay tuned!

school's out for summer!

2010-06-14T21:06:00.002-04:00

Hard to believe that Olivia has just finished her second full year of school. She's only three, for crying out loud, but you would think she was about to head into kindergarten. I think she wishes she was moving into kindergarten with some of the older kids from her class. Next year Olivia will no longer be the youngest in her class. With new kids coming in Olivia will love nothing more than showing them around the classroom and putting her very strong leadership skills to use.

I look at pictures from when Olivia started her first year at Three Rivers Montessori and compare them to what she looks like now, as she finishes her second year. It is amazing how much our little girl has grown, not just physically but developmentally as well. Since the beginning of the school year she has learned how to write her name, point out and name all 7 continents, how to mix certain colors to make other colors, count by 10's up to 100, and at the end of the year she officially read her very first word (more on that later). Needless to say we are very proud of her and how hard she worked this year. She also built some great friendships with the kids in her class. Overall it was a great school year for Olivia and I know she is very excited to go back in the fall.

On the last day of school the kids had their Field Day. It was a day full of fun and games and just goofing off before having to say good-bye for the summer. I stopped by the school for a few minutes that day so I could snap a few pictures of Olivia having fun with her friends. They were all very sweaty from their many races, but the smiles on their faces showed they were clearly having a great time!

After the games were over they went inside to cool off for a bit and finished the day on the playground where they would have a picnic lunch. Olivia was having so much fun with her friends that she did not care one bit that I had to head back to work. Before I left I snapped a picture of Olivia with her teacher, Ms. Laura. I think it is my favorite picture from the day! She loves Ms. Laura so much and she has been so good to Olivia this year. We are so lucky to have such an amazing teacher guiding Olivia during this important time in her life. Olivia will be attending summer camp at her school a few weeks this summer. It is a great program because they do a ton of fun outdoor things, while still learning in the process. She will get to see her teacher again while also spending some time with the other teachers. It is a great way to keep Olivia's routine somewhat regular, even during the summer months.
So I am usually always using the blog as a way to keep everyone up to date on things Olivia has been up to. Since leaving the baby and toddler stages in the dust I rarely talk about milestones or ways in which Olivia is changing. Although she is still growing and changing it does not happen as quickly as it did in the first few years. But things still happen on a daily basis which make me stop and say, "I have got to talk about that on the blog", and of course by the time I get around to my blog I have forgotten that memorable moment. So while I am thinking of it I am going to mention a few things that describe who Olivia is at this moment.

1.) Olivia is currently obsessed with what defines a naughty word. She has heard other kids say words that they should not and she has developed a curiosity in knowing which words are good and which ones are bad. She comes to me numerous times a day asking, "Mommy is ___ a good word or a bad word?". Most of the time the words are just normal, every day words, but occasionally she comes to me with a questionable word that she knows she should probably not repeat. So far none of the words have been terrible, thank goodness, but she is cracking me up with this. Her curiosity is adorable and I am proud of her for being able to distinguish the difference between which words are OK for her to say and which ones she should avoid. Hopefully her language will continue to remain on the clean side!

2.) Olivia has recently become infatuated with mermaids. Not exactly sure why, but I think it has something to do with a Dora book we read awhile back. She thought it was fascinating that this girl in the book had a fin instead of feet and she LOVED her long flowing hair. Since then she has been talking about how she wants to be a mermaid one day. I told her that the best I could do is try to make her a mermaid costume for Halloween. She loved that idea! Now she has a few different mermaid bath toys and she is determined to have a mermaid birthday party this year. Who knows, maybe this obsession with mermaids will disappear as soon as she finds the next best thing, but for now it is all about mermaids!

3.) I am very excited to report that during the last week of school Olivia read her very first word! While working on her reading with her teacher she recognized and read the word "at". May not seem like a big deal to most, but it is a big deal for us to see our 3 year old little girl reading her first word! Her teacher then worked with her on adding letter in front of "at" to create other words. She is now able to read...bat, hat, cat, rat, mat, fat and a few others. We are proud of her but she is also very proud of herself. She is doing a great job of sounding out words and putting letters together. Watching your child learn to read is a pretty fascinating thing.

4.) The last thing I want to share is that I currently have the most honest child on the planet. She spills the beans on everything and constantly feels the needs to tell us when she has done something wrong. She does not try to hide it or act like she did not do it. No, she immediately comes to us and says, "Mommy, I did or said ___!" It is too funny. It is as if whatever she has done weighs so heavily on her conscience that she cannot possibly keep it to herself. Most of the time she confesses to things that do not even warrant a confession. The funniest part is the look on her face when she is giving her confession...so innocent! What are the odds that she will always be that honest with us? I think the bigger question is what do Todd and I need to do to be able to keep her that honest? The might just be the parenting question of the century!

Our summer is officially in full swing. There is so much going on. Olivia started soccer last week. (More on that in the next post). She has also been doing a lot of swimming at Uncle VJ's...lovin' that! Next weekend is Olivia's dance recital and Father's Day, and that following weekend we have graduation parties for two of Olivia's cousins! It is a crazy busy month. I think things start to slow down a bit after that which means we can sit back and relax and enjoy the summer!

aunt sue sue comes to visit

2010-05-19T21:07:00.003-04:00

Olivia loves her Great Aunt Sue Sue. So she was beyond thrilled to learn that she would be coming to visit for an entire week. I decided to take the week off from work so that we could all do fun things together. Olivia had school all week but we planned to do things in the afternoons. From the second Sue arrived they were BFFs. and they were inseparable all week!

First on the agenda was taking Aunt Sue Sue to the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo. Each year Sue gets us our zoo pass for Christmas. It is the best gift and we get so much use out of it each year. Olivia really wanted to take Sue to the zoo and show her all of her favorite animals. It was a beautiful day and we got some amazing up close views of the animals. One of the highlights was the crazy close look we got at "Bill" the lion. He was very outgoing that day and came right up to the glass. It was very exciting. All of the animals were active that day, which made for a very entertaining trip to the zoo!

Each time we visit the zoo Olivia begs to go on the "rides". We usually let her choose one per visit. Well this was a special trip to the zoo so she got to choose two special rides! Her first choice was the horses. Last year Olivia developed an affinity for one very cute little horse named, Gayle. Each time she rode the horses she would request Gayle, and she quickly become one of Olivia's favorites. So of course she was thrilled to see that Gayle was at the zoo again this year. She was so excited to be reunited with her and she even more excited to go for a ride!

Since we have a zoo pass we rarely take time to go through the entire zoo in one day, but that day we did. The weather was gorgeous and we were all having a great time. We saw and did everything! Olivia was thrilled to show Sue Sue all of her favorite animals. It was almost as if my Mom and I were not even there. The day was all about Sue Sue!

Another thing Sue wanted to do while she was here was visit Olivia's school and spend a little time in her classroom. My Aunt has experience as a teacher and has worked with young children before so she was interested to see what kinds of things Olivia did her in classroom. My Mom came up with the great idea of decorating cookies with the kids. They were in the middle of a unit on art so it gave the kids the perfect opportunity to be little artists and decorate their own masterpieces. I tagged along to take pictures as the kids took turns in groups designing their cookies. As you can imagine the activity was a huge hit and the kids had a blast! Olivia was thrilled to be able to show Aunt Sue Sue her classroom and introduce her to all of her friends.

Our week of fun continued as we took a trip to the Botanical Conservatory to see the butterfly exhibit. This was something we had wanted to do for awhile but we heard mixed reviews. We heard that there were not many butterflies and that it was not really worth the trip. We thought we would give it a shot anyway with the hope that we would be able to see some beautiful butterflies. It turned out to be so much better than we expected. Olivia wanted to bring her binoculars with her so she could really get a close look. They were all kept in a large white tent and there were quite a few different kinds for us to see. It was pretty cool and Olivia was totally into it!

While we were exploring the tent a woman came up to Olivia and I and asked if she could take some photos of us. She was with one of our local newspapers and she was doing a story about things to do during Mother's Day weekend. As we left she to look in the Friday paper to see if any of the photos were used. That Friday was my birthday and I woke up to see this super cute photo in the "Weekender" section of The Journal Gazette. It was the perfect Birthday present!

"Olivia Menor, 3, looks for butterflies at Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory’s “Butterflies & Fairies” exhibit. Visiting moms will get a free plant Sunday."

It was another jam packed day and Olivia was pretty exhausted. Before heading home for a nap we promised her we would stop for ice cream. This is by far one of Olivia's favorite summer treats. She is still mastering the skill of eating an ice cream cone without getting it all over herself. It is quite a sight, but she is in pure heaven!

Later that afternoon my Mom and Sue took Olivia to her tap class. I thought it would be nice for them to take her so they could see her dance. Olivia was more than happy to show off her tap dance moves for her Aunt Sue Sue. Next month Olivia will be performing in her second dance recital. She is just as excited as she was last year to get back up on the big stage. This is an exciting year for me too as I started teaching at the dance studio and I have my first class performing. So I will not only be there as a proud parent, but also as a proud teacher.

We packed a lot of fun things into the week Aunt Sue Sue was in town. We had some nice family dinners and spent a lot of time playing, reading books and just being silly...all of Olivia's favorite things! Olivia did not want Aunt Sue Sue to go home. She even plotted ways to try and get her to stay longer. But Sue had been traveling for three weeks and really had to get back to California. We all had a great time during her visit and we will miss her very much. Olivia is already talking about her next trip to California. According to her she is going to take a plane ride all by herself out to California. Hmmm...something tells me that she is not exactly ready for that quite yet. But we are always up for a trip out to California, so maybe we will be visiting sooner rather than later. I do know that Olivia will miss her Aunt Sue Sue terribly until we get to see her again.

never ending fun

2010-04-28T20:28:00.002-04:00

Whew! We have been busy lately. Lots of family activities and outdoor fun. Last month, Olivia's cousin, Christopher came home from leave from the Marines. He has not been home in a few years so the last time he saw Olivia she was just a baby. We were looking forward to introducing him to her again and letting them spend some time together while he was home. Little did we know that they would immediately become best friends. She took to Christopher unlike anything I have seen. She just lit up when he was around. Not only did she enjoy spending time with him but he truly enjoyed spending time with her as well. Every time they were together she would want him to play silly games and he would happily oblige.

Christopher came over to say good-bye before heading off for his last tour with the Marines. Another of Olivia's cousins, and Christopher's brother, Jordan came along. Within minutes she had them playing all sorts of goofy games. There was no shortage of giggles, squeals and screams. I have never seen a child so sweaty and exhausted, but most importantly truly happy. She was sad to see him so go, but we were all happy to hear he would be coming home again for a long weekend at the end of May.

Another exciting development in Olivia's world is the addition of her new, fancy swing set in our backyard. After MANY man hours and lots of help from our family friend, Dennis the thousand piece monstrosity was standing tall and ready to be tackled by a rowdy three year old. I am pretty sure that my husband will not be putting another one of these together again in his lifetime. But he did a great job and I know that Olivia will get countless hours of fun out of her new toy. She is most looking forward to inviting some of her little friends over to play.

Right now we are working to teach her how to swing by herself. For so long now we have pushed her on the swings but I think it is time to start learning the "pumping action" so she can do it on her own. She is catching on, but I think it will still be a bit longer before Mom and Dad are no longer needed to get "way up high". She has quickly mastered all of the other elements of her swing set, which is not surprising considering all of the time we have spent on other swing sets at the parks.

Our constant fun of late continued with a super fun birthday party for Olivia's cousin Brendan last weekend. It was at this new ice/sports area in town, Canlan Ice Sports. But there was no ice skating taking place at this party. Nope...it was a party full of bouncy houses!!! One of the ice arenas was full of about 9 different blow up monstrosities. From the second we stepped into the wide open space the child just exploded with energy and went wild. She ran from one bouncy house to the other, hardly stopping to catch her breath. She did stop at one point, turned to me and said, "Mommy...this party is FANTASTIC!!!". Olivia is still talking about Brendan's birthday party from last year at Gymnastics in Motion. I thought it would be hard to top that, but apparently all it takes it a room full of bouncy houses and very few rules to follow. It was a huge success with Olivia and I think we will be going back ourselves for more bouncy house fun in the near future.

This past weekend we also packed in our first trip to the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo for the season. Olivia had been counting the days until the zoo opened, but we were afraid to tell her that we might not be able to make it because of the weather. It was a wash-out of a weekend. It rained on and off for most of it. Because Saturday was packed with a swim lesson and birthday party, Sunday was our only chance to go. The forecast was rain for most of the day and when we broke that news to Olivia the tears started flowing immediately. There was no way I was going to deny her a trip to the zoo that she had so been looking for to, so we got dressed and rushed over hoping to squeeze in some time before the rain started.

We decided to take in the African Veldt first. It is the newest part of our zoo and the part I believe has the best animals. It actually turned out to be a great day to hit the zoo. Because the weather was sketchy not many people were there, and because it was cooler more of the animals were out and quite active. We got some crazy close views of the male and female lions. The monkey's desperately wanted some of the popcorn we brought with us, and there was a leopard that was sitting right up against the fence staring right into our eyes. Just as we were heading over to see the giraffes the rain started, and it kept coming down. So our trip to the zoo was short lived but fun while it lasted. I have no doubt that we will be going numerous times this year and I am really looking forward to it. It is one of Olivia's favorite activities and she seems to enjoy it more each year. I think she is learning to appreciate the animals more now and seems interested in learning more about them.

With Spring here it reminds me that Olivia is just about done with her second year of school! I cannot believe how much my little girl has grown during these two years at Three Rivers Montessori. She has learned SO much this year...not just knowledge but better social skills and problem solving. Her Spanish is amazing! She has even started to throw Spanish words in her normal conversations. It is pretty impressive. She is back in swimming lessons, this time at the Carroll Natatorium. I think we outgrew the Y. The cool thing about the Carroll Natatorium is that they place your child base on their ability, not just their age. Olivia is pretty confident in the water and has learned a lot over the past few years. I am thinking that she will start swimming without a floating device this year. And as if Olivia is not busy enough she will be showing off her tap dancing skills in her second Northeast School of Dance dance recital this summer. She has been working hard all year and is itching to get back up on the "big stage" to perform for everyone. I am now teaching at the dance studio too so it is going to be an extra special recital this year. So much to look forward to...stay tuned!

a sad loss

2010-04-06T22:41:00.001-04:00

Recently our family was dealt a devastating loss. A few weeks ago Todd's father, Villamor, passed away. He had been dealing with numerous health problems during the past 6 months or so, but his passing was still quite a shock. It was a difficult time for all of us, especially Todd, but he immediately stepped up and helped his Mom with all of the arrangements. The biggest task was notifying all of the out of town family members. It was so comforting knowing that so many family members were able to drop everything and come into town.

This was the first big loss for our family since Olivia was born. We were immediately faced with the challenge of how to explain the loss of her G.P. (all of the grand kids called their grandfather, G.P., for grandpa). She saw him in the hospital before he passed away so she knew he was sick. We simply explained to her that because G.P. was sick and not able to get better he had to go live with God in Heaven. We explained that the doctors were not able to make him better so God took him to Heaven so he could be happy and healthy forever. She seemed to understand it as much as a three year old could possibly understand losing a loved one. She does seem to understand that he is no longer here, but we will see how she reacts in the upcoming months when we visit his parent's house. We have told her that anytime she wants to talk to her G.P. all she needs to do is look up to the sky to say hi or tell him that she misses him. I have already caught her talking to him a few times. It is very sweet and I know she will miss him very much.

The one bright spot during all of this sadness was the time we spent with distant family while they were in town for the funeral. Aunts, cousins, nephews, grandchildren...so many were able to be here to say good bye. It gave Todd a chance to catch up with some family members he had not seen in years and Olivia was able to meet some of her family for the very first time. It was so wonderful to see everyone, we just wish it could have been under better circumstances. With it being such a rare occasion for all of us to be together we had to take some family pictures.

Below we are standing with three of Todd's Aunts and two of his Cousins.

And of course we had to take a photo with all of the grandchildren. This is the first time they have all been together since Olivia and her cousin Ella were born. As you can tell it is impossible to get everyone to cooperate and look at the camera at the same time when you are dealing with such a wide range of ages!

This is a family photo of everyone that was in town for the funeral. It includes all of Villamor's children and their spouses, all of his grandchildren, three of his sisters and two of his nephews. Pretty impressive. He also has three brothers that were unable to attend.

Now that the chaos of the past week is over we now are dealing with the reality of no longer having Todd's Dad around. It will be strange not seeing him each time we go to his parent's house for a visit. Thankfully we have tons of wonderful memories that we will carry with us and be sure that Olivia always remembers. He was a kind and generous man and we will all miss him terribly.

As our emotionally draining week came to an end we prepared to celebrate Easter with Olivia. Olivia started talking about Easter egg hunts weeks before the holiday and she knew exactly what she wanted in her basket this year. During a recent trip to Meijer she spotted a Dora bath toy that she just had to have. We are not the type of parents to just buy her things because she says she wants them. We usually wait until there is a good reason to reward her with a toy. Easter was the perfect excuse to justify getting her the bath toy. Well Olivia's curiosity got the best of her and she spotted her Easter basket a day early. At that point we had no choice but to give it to her. There was no chance she was going to wait another day. Even though she blew the surprise she did still want to act surprised. She sat downstairs with her eyes covered and saying, "I'm ready for my Easter basket!". Little stinker.

She was of course thrilled with her Dora mermaid bath toy, as well as the 3D sidewalk chalk and the jelly beans. She is going through a Dora phase right now. Elmo is no longer the apple of her eye. He has been pushed aside for more "grown up" commercialized characters. No matter how much you try to shelter your child from all of the TV shows and the never ending line of commercial products that go with those shows, they always seem to become attached.

Our Easter was packed from morning till night. We started by sleeping in a bit...delightful. After getting dressed in our Sunday's best we headed for church. Most Sundays Olivia attends Sunday school. There is no Sunday school on Easter so Olivia sat with us during the service. Having her spend the hour with us made me realize how young she still is. She does not yet have the patience to sit quietly for that long. I am looking forward to sending her back to Sunday school next week!

After church we stopped at my Mom's so she could give Olivia her Easter basket. It was full of fun little Easter things as well as a cute little spring dress and some adorable Hello Kitty pajamas. She opened everything at lightening speed so she could get on with her first Easter egg hunt. She quickly found all of her eggs and opened them all to reveal money and candy. Nothing makes Olivia happier!

Our next stop was our annual Easter lunch at the Fortes, close family friends of ours. They have us over each year and they treat Olivia like one of their very own grand kids. They include her in their Easter egg hunt and they always give her wonderful Easter basket. This year only one of their grand kids was there so it was a much more low key Easter egg hunt. That did not matter to Olivia, she still had a great time finding her eggs. To make things even better the weather was fantastic that day. It turned out to be just a perfect day but we were all exhausted by the end of it. Not just from Easter but from the whole week.

Things are starting to get back to normal now. Olivia is on Spring Break this week so she is spending a little more time at Mama Kay's than she normally would. I am sure she is enjoying just playing and not having as many structured activities. We did have a few fun school activities prior to Spring Break. There was International Night, which Todd and I were not able to attend last year. We were out of town but Olivia took her Nana and we heard it was quite an event. Each year the school picks a handful of countries to feature and each classroom decorates and makes food for the country they chose. Olivia's classroom was South Africa. The kids do crafts and learn about the country prior to the event. It was a fun night and the food was fantastic!

The week leading up to Spring Break was spirit week. Monday was crazy hair day. It is not hard for Olivia to participate in this task. Last year we teased her hair and made it really wild but it ended up looking just like it does on any given day. This year I put it up in four pony tails. She was excited to show off her crazy hair 'do.

Tuesday was favorite team or school t-shirt day. Olivia showed off her school t-shirt and her colts jacket that day. Wednesday was rainbow day. Each class was asked to wear a different color. Olivia was thrilled to find out that her class had red...her absolute favorite color! And the day she was most looking forward to was Thursday...pajama day! It was the last day of school before the break and all of the kids could wear their jammies. They also had a spring party to kick off the season and the upcoming break from school. It was a fun week for her and one she looks forward to each year.

So as you can tell we have been pretty busy lately. With the nicer weather we have been spending quite a bit of time outdoors. Olivia has lots of big plans this season. There is a new addition to our backyard that Olivia is just dying to break in. You will have to wait to see what I am talking about. In the meantime I have lots of yard work that I need to tackle. It always seems a bit overwhelming at the start of the season. Oh well, it will get done. But with everything that we have been dealing with lately we are hoping that this spring/summer is, if nothing else...uneventful.