Fun weekend

Friday night was spent with our friends, the Bowe's. They came over for dinner - I successfully made a pretty darn good lasagna and everyone ate it up! Olivia was the party pooper and let us know that she was ready for bed promptly at 7:30pm! Evelyn and Vivian were the superstars and stayed up and partied with Duane. Evelyn roped Duane into reading her a story and Vivian just bounced off our walls! ;)

  

BTW - Duane is wearing his ugly Christmas sweater

Saturday I had a little me-time with a mani/pedi - Duane and Liv went to Fleet Farm and picked up her Christmas gift. Later that night, we had an awesome date night with our friends Joel and Allison. They had a babysitter for their son and Liv's babysitter came to watch her. The 4 of us had drinks/dinner at WA Frost in St. Paul. It was such a fun night - we definitely deserved it!

Sunday was great here - around 40*! Liv took a couple spins around the neighborhood in her Christmas gift - the Radio Flyer!!! She LOVES it! Each time we put her in it, she gets a big grin on her face.

Sunday night we made homemade pizza and it's always a big hit with Liv. Seriously - and I'm not exaggerating - Liv ate 2 pieces all by herself. To put it into perspective, I usually eat 3 pieces....she and I almost didn't have enough to save for leftovers....PIGGY! For "dessert" each night she has some sort of fruit and last night was watermelon. She kept signing "more" and we thought it was for watermelon but no, she kept checking out Duane's plate of pizza! Another thing she loves recently - Cutie's....the other day she ate a whole Cutie by herself!

15-month check up

This morning Olivia had her 15 month check up and it was a tough one. The second I set her down on the table to be weighed, she started screaming. She definitely recognizes the nurse and her doctor! She's doing perfectly so nothing to worry about. She weighs 25.3 lbs (80th percentile) and is 29.5" (30th percentile) long. Her tubes are still in, which is good, as we need them to get us through the upcoming sick-season without ear infections! Tonight should be interesting, considering she had 4 shots - 2 in each leg....

NOT a fan of Santa

Oh man - worst trip to the mall EVER!!! We were a little worried about Liv's photo with Santa but we didn't think it would end like this. I knew it was a mistake to do the picture on a weekend-day but that's the best we could do. We got there about 15 minutes before the photos started but still had to stand in line - 45 minutes later, it was our turn. The second I put Liv on Santa's lap - she started wailing. The cherry on top - we had to buy the photo so we spent $20 on 2-5x7's with this memory. Merry Christmas! Haha!

Stylish little lady

This afternoon, Olivia had her first haircut! We were a little nervous about it since it was close to her nap time and we had to wait a little bit. She actually did really well and only had a few seconds of crying - but we popped in her pacifier just to be safe! I was surprised at how much it cost but like my mother, I had a coupon so we saved $5. Duane was busy snapping photos and I was trying to keep her attention focused on a toy so the lady could do the cutting. It turned out really cute!

Before - a mini mullet was growing!

Wetting down her hair

Drying it to give it some body

a little bob in the back!

After the cut - no more mullet!

O Christmas Tree

Last weekend we put up our indoor/outdoor Christmas decorations. We were able to accomplish all of this when Olivia was napping! When she woke up, we brought her into the living room to see the tree. As soon as she saw the tree, she said, "ball." I'm pretty sure that's her favorite word! She doesn't really make much of the tree but loves a snow globe that plays "O Tannenbaum" and the singing/rocking penguin.

Minnesota girl

Even though I do not own a snow suit, or anything heavy duty for the cold, Olivia has a snow suit! She'll be moving into the toddler room at daycare in mid-January (not sure how I feel about that yet) and the toddlers go outside a lot. I think it has to be below 20* for them to NOT go outside - yikes - I would hate it! Anyway, this past Saturday was "warm" enough for a walk so I dressed her up in the suit and she and I went for a spin around the neighborhood and a nearby park. Sorry about the pictures - I couldn't figure out how to turn them?!

Thanksgiving 2011

Happy late Thanksgiving blog readers! We hope you all had a wonderful day with family/friends! Our Thanksgiving was so great - we went back to Indiana and spent several days with our families. Our flight on Tuesday night went well; Olivia did fine with only a couple, short meltdowns on the plane. Wednesday was spent showing off for her Grandma and Grandpa Potter.

Free ball from Old National Bank - her favorite toy the whole time we were in Ferdinand. She also said, "a ball" everytime she wanted or saw that yellow ball!

Checking out Grandpa Potter's fish

Olivia loved the Thanksgiving meal and ate quite a bit. She even had some pumpkin pie!

Dessert (hanging onto that darn ball!)

Potter family

On Friday, my mom and I shopped in Louisville (we were gone almost 12 hours!) and Alex and Giesla watched Olivia. Saturday was busy seeing family and friends and today it was an early morning with our flight back to St. Paul. We left Ferdinand around 4:30am and were so glad that Liv napped during the flight so we could, too!

this little piggy....

They say the camera adds 10 pounds...I think I believe it in this case! Olivia had a face full of homemade pizza and we couldn't resist capturing it.

One night I made chocolate pudding and sliced up bananas with whipped cream - Olivia attacked Duane and wouldn't let up until they both finished the bowl.

"Hey....whatcha got in there?"

Our little card shark

Here's the proof - Liv is walking!

Hello, hello!

Wow - it's been too long since I've updated this blog! I'm not even sure what's kept us away...I guess just every day is busy enough. Olivia has really taken off with her walking, as of today it seems. We're pretty sure she likes open space when walking - not the cramped, little rooms of our house. While Duane raked and raked leaves this afternoon, Olivia literally took off down our sidewalk. I'm pretty sure she would have walked the whole block, had I not stopped her! It was so great to watch her! She's not 100% confident but each time she falls down, she gets right back up and tries again. She's got the right attitude!

Playing with Daddy after dinner - yes, he's wearing a necklace!

"I'm coming, I'm coming...don't start the bath without me!"

Shaking the cup with water in it

Taking a drink from her bath toy!

Olivia is walking!!!

Yes, that's right - Olivia is walking!!! This week she must have decided it was time and started taking some steps between Duane and me. On Tuesday night, she took 11 consecutive steps - we were so excited! So, Wednesday morning I mentioned this to her teachers at daycare and told them that if she walks there, they can tell us. (They have a policy of not telling parents about milestones until they see/hear it first.) Her teacher laughed and said, "Oh that's great but she's been walking here for days now. Every time I turn around, she's walking somewhere in the room." I almost fell over! What a stinker! We've been trying so hard to video her walking but we always get the video camera ready too late. We'll post her walking debut as soon as we can!

Daycare Halloween parade

Happy Halloween everyone! This morning at the daycare, they had their annual Halloween parade. They send ALL the kids out into a parade through a couple buildings on our campus. A lot of people from the offices lines the hallways and hand out candy. Duane and I pulled a wagon with Olivia and another girl from her room, Bristow. (Bristow was a rocker chick, complete with drumsticks!)

"Hey...what's in here, anything good?!"

At the end of the parade, there was a melt-down across the entire daycare - I think every kid was crying! I can imagine why, though - all the parents are spending time with the kids and then we shove them back into their rooms...poor things!

We walked down the block tonight and then came back home and passed out the contents of Liv's pumpkin to other kids! Haha - can I be anymore cheap?!?! The great idea behind that, though, is that we don't have any candy in the house that we feel compelled to eat. We hope you all had a great Halloween!

Saturday & Sunday fun

On Saturday morning, Olivia and Duane had swim lessons and I went to a friend's Tastefully Simple party. When I returned home, Liv was napping so Duane and I tackled some yard work. It's so sad to be getting all the plants/flowers cleaned out for the snow. It's kind of crazy, though, because most of the trees in our neighborhood still have most, if not all, the leaves on them. Earlier in the week, Olivia received some gifts from her Grandma Kathy. She loves them!

She looks a little crazed because she had just gotten home from swim lessons!

Last minute we decided to invite some friends to meet us for dinner. This is the family we went hiking with a couple weeks ago so it was nice to catch up with them. They recently bought a new house so after dinner we went over for the grand tour. Their two girls, Evelyn and Vivian are adorable and Olivia LOVES them! At 9:00pm we realized that all three girls were still running wild so we decided to call it a night.

This morning was spent running errands and Olivia took a long nap after lunch. Duane and I were able to watch a movie during her nap, which was awesome! When Liv finally woke up, we quickly gave her a snack and headed out the door for ZooBoo at Como Zoo in St. Paul. We met our friends Joel and Allison and their son, Walt. He dressed as Stitch from the Disney movie, 'Lilo & Stitch.' We were too cheap, though, and didn't pay for Liv to get any treats. It was a really fun night! Tomorrow is more trick-or-treating, though, at the daycare parade and visiting some neighbors - so stay tuned for more pictures!

We rode the carousel, too!