Christmas at HOME

This was the first time in 13 years of marriage that we were able to spend Christmas at home. Gran & Poppy came over and we had 4 days of fun. Daddy had a almost 2 weeks off work, so Livie had some serious “Daddy time”…..they both loved it!! •Shopping with Daddy •Surprise visit from Santa (Sunday night, 12/23) •Making cookies for Santa •Writing a note for Santa •Leaving carrots in the driveway for Rudolph •Hearing “jingle bells” outside her window •Waking up at 5:00 am to come to Mommy & Daddy’s bed….whispering “Mommy, I heard the jingle bells” as soon as she woke up. •Acting shy when she saw all the gifts •Going to the beach on Christmas day to look for shells •Opening gifts from Mommy & Daddy and Gran & Poppy later Christmas afternoon •Going to Gran & Poppy’s house with Daddy the day after Christmas (Daddy’s birthday) to spend a couple of days. (Mommy had to work)

Christmas & Birthday Celebration in TN

We went to TN for an early Christmas & a birthday celebration…12/12-19. Visited with all the family, went to MO to see Aunt Margie, Aunt Sherry, Aunt Lois & Uncle Joe. It was COLD! Had a great visit and Olivia was really good for the long car ride. (We flew from FL to TN, but then drove the 2 hours up to Missouri.) Also met friends, Jan & Granger, from Little Rock in Memphis…their kids, Emma & Carson, were so big!....Liv was a little HAM! (Picture of her in cheerleading outfit that was a gift from our friends - University of Central Arkansas.)

Celebrated Christmas on Monday, 12/17 with everyone in TN….had lots of fun opening gifts! Then got up the next day on 12/18, cleared out all the Christmas paper and started the birthday celebration…Olivia turned 3!!!! We had an Elmo cake…celebrated with the family…and again, opened LOTS of gifts. (All the while, Mommy & Daddy wondering how in the world we were going to get everything home on an airplane!) The hit of the birthday gifts was the American Girl Bitty Baby & the Ballerina outfit….she wore it all day. Her shoulders were red where the straps were scratching her, but we still had to bribe her to take it off. BIG HIT! She called it her “hula skirt” and her “badderina dress”. By the way, every skirt is called a “hula skirt” or a “hula dance skirt”…she learned to do a hula dance at school so that term has STUCK!

Potty Training Timeline

April - started pee-peeing on the potty at daycare...but would never do it at home. June -- pee-peed at home July -- poopied on the potty August -- took "big girl panties" to daycare Sept -- soooo close....but still some accidents Dec -- DONE! Never an accident and always tells us when she needs to go potty. She still sleeps in a pull-up at night....I suspect we'll keep doing that for a while...just in case!

1st Football Game & Big Girl Bed!

• Attended her first big football game - ACC Championship at Alltel Stadium (she was somewhat entertained by the band....and loved the popcorn)
• Started saying “good Lord” & “good gosh” (NO idea where she learned this!!) :-)
• Learning the pledge of allegiance (just started reciting the first part one day and we were STUNNED!)
• She's totally potty trained…never an accident and usually dry in the morning (still sleeps in a pull-up just in case....I'm just not ready to take that risk yet)
• Slept in the big girl bed for the first time…slept all night and never got out of bed (12/4)...bye bye crib!!

November

• Thanksgiving
• Visit from Gran, Poppy, Ginnie, JoeJoe, Uncle Steve
• Constantly sings “I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart"
• New blessing at every meal…sings this...”hands so high, hands so low, fold them nicely, fold them slow, God is good, Let us thank Him for this food. Amen”

October - tutu birthday party, boo at the zoo, Halloween

October updates...

Tutu birthday party at Kimberly’s, Boo at the zoo, Halloween costume, parade at school, cowgirl & Cinderella crown....

Halloween - We bought Liv a cowgirl outfit when we were in Jackson Hole, WY in August...thought it would be so cute for Halloween. Liv had other plans....she wanted to be Cinderella. So, I convinced her that we'd heard Cinderella was planning to dress up like a cowgirl for Halloween. This evolved into Liv wearing a princess crown with her cowgirl outfit! Mom's can be so created (or maybe it's just so full of B.S.!).

Converted Back to Crib!

So....turns out we're not quite ready for the big girl bed. We jumped & jumped, took 10 times as long to settle down & go to sleep each night, and generally made life crazy for Mommy & Daddy every night. We put the rails back up today so Olivia is back in her crib tonight. I think she really loved it....she was in "her space" again....went right to sleep and never fussed about having to get back into a crib. We'll try the big girl thing again in a few months....

Big Girl Bed!

We converted Olivia's crib to a toddler bed today. She was really excited and couldn't help herself from jumping, jumping, jumping. (We have to learn that the big girl bed is not a new playground!)

Swim & Play Date with Friends

Olivia hosted a play date with her friends, and also celebrated our neighbor's birthday. All the girls had a great time!!

August vacations

Steve had a business trip to CA that popped up with very short notice…it was a couple’s trip so I tagged along. Thankfully we have Gran & Poppy living close to us now so they happily came over to pick up Olivia for a few days. The trip is a great perk, but the problem is that we already had a vacation planned for Jackson Hole, WY.....a Mommmy & Daddy trip b/c we planned to do lots of hiking....not ideal for a 2 1/2 year old so Liv was going to stay home. Ginnie flew to Jax to take care of her.

We were gone for 5 days on the CA trip, then home for 3 days, and then heading to Jackson Hole for 8 days. Both trips were great, but just way too long away from Livie. The CA trip really messed up our WY trip! CA was perfect...cooler weather....golf for Daddy & massages for Mommy....good wine (we stayed at a resort on a vinyard)....quality rest. And the first couple of days in Jackson Hole was great, too....but then we were REALLY ready to just go home and see Olivia. It was really hard being away from her that long! We were pretty wimpy on about day 3...even checked for early flights home but couldn't find anything b/c it was the week before Labor Day. We snapped out of it a bit and talked ourselves into having fun, but we were still counting down the days until we could go home.

Pics: WY -- Mommy & Daddy in Jackson Hole, Elk on a lawn at Mammoth in Yellowstone. CA -- Steve hovering around Jay Leno at a car show, touring a winery with the group, Steve checking email outside our room

In the end, everyone had a good time....Livie had a great time with all her grandparents! Quality time for Mommy & Daddy, and quality time for Liv & the grandparents!

Company Fun Day

Family Fun Day for Steve’s company. It was so hot!! Liv had a great time and got her arms painted (didn’t want to get her face painted)…one arm had Ariel (princess from the Little Mermaid) and the other arm had flowers & butterflies. She also ate cotton candy for the first time….she took several bites and said she liked it…but was still a bit confused about what it was & didn’t fight much when I suggested we throw it away and go do something else. She kept calling it her ice cream!

Disney with Gran & Poppy

Daddy & Poppy played in a "parent-child" golf tournament at Disney this weekend, so we slipped in a trip to the Magic Kingdom. They played very early on Saturday morning, so Gran, Mommy & Livie drove over to Orlando to meet them in the afternoon to spend a few hours in the park (passes were included in the tournament registration). The day was a bit of a bust!....it rained all afternoon so we headed home after only a few hours. Even with only a short visit, we still had a great time!

On Sunday, Daddy & Poppy drove back to Orlando for day 2 of the golf tournament. We girls stayed at home...had no interest in making the 2 hour trek to join them in Orlando. We had a really nice day lounging around the house, napping, and feeding the ducks & buffalo in the area.

Playing while Mommy & Daddy napped

We all took a nap on Saturday afternoon. Mommy & Livie napped on the twin bed in her room, & Daddy fell asleep on the couch. Well.....Liv obviously woke up before Mommy & Daddy.....and proceeded to play by herself for a while. This is the hurricane that Mommy & Daddy woke up to....

Poopied on the Potty!!!

Liv poopied on the potty for the first time. She said her tummy was hurting so we ran to sit on the potty. She didn’t protest, and in just a few minutes she poopied. She was so proud of herself…and of course Mommy & Daddy were very proud. She waved bye-bye to the poopy and flushed….and then asked “did poopy go home?”….I told her yes, poopy is so happy to get to go home! (When she gets older she'll just LOVE that I snapped this picture of her!)

Visit to Tennessee

Olivia and Mommy flew to TN to visit Ginnie, Joe-Joe & Uncle Steve. We were there Wednesday thru Monday, 6/20-25. Liv did great on the flight there....not so great on the flight home...more about that later. Here's our fun-filled agenda...

Wednesday -- We flew into Memphis and spent the day playing at Overton Park, lunching with friends, & just visiting around town.

Thursday -- Ginnie had made an appt for Liv to have a "photo shoot" in the afternoon, so we spent the morning shopping for a new outfit (we ended up with the outfits we'd brought from home...but who's gonna pass up the chance to shop?!). A long-time friend of the family is a professional photographer...he actually took all the pictures at our wedding...so we took the chance to get together with him while we were in town. He took all the pictures outside around 5:30, and the lighting was perfect....and the location was great. Liv did so good and followed all of his directions perfectly. We couldn't wait to see the prints!

Friday -- We went to the farmer's market, ran a few other errands, and Uncle Steve came over to Jackson from Memphis to spend the weekend with us. Liv & Ginnie had some quality time making cookies, too.

Saturday -- My aunt (Dad's sister) and cousins came over for burgers. It was a great visit...it's been about a couple of years since we'd seen some of them. Livie had a lot of fun and had a blast playing with her 3 year old cousin, Ally. I didn't take any pictures during their visit....kicking myself!

Sunday -- Church and out to lunch....that was about it for the day...nice, relaxing day. Livie also had fun picking blueberries in Ginnie's backyard. She was careful to only get the ones that were "ready".

Monday -- We went the hospital to visit all of Ginnie's friends she used to work with...then home for a nap before heading to the airport.

OK....so the flight home on Monday night. We were originally scheduled to leave around 7:15 p.m....actually boarded the plane.....waited about an hour....then had to change planes b/c of a mechanical problem (nothing serious...some indicator light wasn't working). Liv did fine, but let me just say that it's stressful to keep a 2 1/2 year old entertained for an hour....we should have been almost home in that amount of time! Finally, we're on another plane....Livie was still going great....wheels down in Jax. And then it happened. "Cough, cough, cough....HURL! Four big heaves and Liv was covered...and sitting in a pool of puke! By the grace of God, I had moved our seats at the last minute to the very back of the plane....because we'd have a row to ourselves. That luckily put us right next to the bathrooms, so I just stripped her down and she stood on the toilet while I gave her a quick wipe down with hand towels and changed her clothes. All this while I hear the stewardess on the phone with maintenance..."we're going to need to replace the seat cover". Nice.

But wait, there's more.....

Liv was such a trooper….felt fine & was ready to play as soon as she changed clothes on the plane….a good thing b/c we then had to wait 45 minutes for our luggage! So we get home about 1:00 a.m….Liv is crashed in her car seat and makes an easy transition to her bed. I put her down and then go back outside to unload the luggage (did I mention Steve was out of town….so I’m on my own here). Well, it was trash day so the empty cans were at the end of the drive. Before getting the luggage, I walk down to get the cans & then walk over to get the mail. Just as I’m approaching the mailbox, I notice something lying in front of the box….looks like a stick…but it’s hard to see since I only have the moonlight. I get closer and lean over for a closer view…YEP…IT’S A SNAKE!! So I calmly walk back to the garage to get a shovel and then proceed to hack the snake to bits in the middle of the street. All I could do was laugh…..it was so loud as the metal shovel slammed into the pavement….I know I looked like an insane person standing in the middle of the street whacking at the ground! I was really hoping none of the neighbors would wake up!

Uno, Dos, Tres...

Part of the curriculum at her daycare is that they introduce them to Spanish. Well, tonight, out of the blue, Steve asked her if she was learning any Spanish (we’ve just never thought to ask her). She paused…..looked up towards the ceiling like she was thinking….and suddenly burst out with uno, dos, tres…..the child counted to 6 in Spanish! Steve & I both nearly lost our teeth! She suddenly started beaming with pride b/c we reacted so BIG….cheering & swinging her through the air. I know all the kids in her class are learning this too….but she still freaks us out!

Mother's Day

It was a great Mother's Day! Mommy & Daddy spent a few hours at The Player's tournament (Gran & Poppy were here for the weekend to watch Liv), then spent the afternoon with our girl. We pressed Livie's hands into a stone & decorated it with different colored glass pieces (this may become a Mother's Day tradition....hand prints....we did one last year, too), finger painted, and practiced riding a scooter.

Livie sees the bigger kids on the street riding their scooters, so she's very anxious to figure it out for herself now. Our neighbor let us borrow their "toddler" size scooter for her to practice. She gets the concept and goes through the right motions....but just doesn't push hard enough with her foot to get any good motion....but she's learning fast!

We also bought her an electric scooter last week...tried it out for the first time this weekend. It's a "Razor Jr"....for ages 3-6....2 wheels on the back so it won't tip over and it goes a whopping 1 MPH (perfect speed for Mommy & Daddy to walk along with so we can keep a hand very close). Of course we had to first get the cool helmet before trying out the scooter. She loves wearing it!!!

Then to finish the day...Liv started crying around 10:00 so I went into her room to check on her. She wasn't awake...but I quickly noticed that she had unzipped her PJs (she was wearing a 1 piece PJ that zips up the front) and taken off her diaper! The diaper was neatly rolled up with the tabs securely holding it (exactly the way Mommy & Daddy wrap up the dirty diapers). I couldn't believe it...I had to go get Daddy out of bed so he could see what she had done....and of course I took pictures (she's a bit "exposed" in the pic so probably not the best option for posting on the blog!). Thank goodness she was dry....no pee-pee since she took off the diaper! She still never woke up as I put a new diaper on her!

Changing diapers is her new thing. She has a Minnie Mouse that is about the same size she is...and she changes Minnie's diaper several times a day. She'll put it on her (exactly the right way)....then take it off and put it in a blue plastic bag (the bags we use for poopy diapers). We find several blue bags in her room every day. Needless to say, she's very good at taking off her diaper....we'll have a long talk about this tomorrow!

Look how high I am!!!

Liv & Daddy have a little too much fun in the pool...neither of us could believe how high she was when we looked at these pictures. She was having so much fun! (And Daddy went to bed early after taking a couple of Advil!)

Sweet girl

Livie has her moments of being very sweet....and her moments of being a very "testing" 2 year old. Tonight was all about my sweet girl. She was very sweet & gracious all by herself...without the usual "teachings" from Mommy. "Be nice...sweet girls don't say "No" to Mommy...tell Putter you're sorry for pulling his tail"...etc. She bumped my leg pretty hard when she was scooting her potty around in the bathroom, and she immediately said "I sorry Mommy". Every time she asked for anything tonight...it was followed by "please". "More milk please"..."get my blankey please"..."Mommy, lay in floor please". Then to top it all off, when I tucked her in and kissed her goodnight...she said "sweet dreams Mommy". She is such a doll! She does something amazing every day!

April

All dressed up to celebrate Easter....opening gifts!!