Olivia's First Haircut!

Well, I was not as successful in getting pictures as I wanted to! But here's her "before" picture:

During... Sarah cuts Grampy, Grammi, and Mommy's hair (get on board Daddy!) She's going to have a baby too! (#3) Olivia did a great job sitting still for Sarah.
And after...but the picture doesn't look great. I'll post more when I get some!

Missing Daddy...

Oh Olivia was too cute this morning!
When she woke up we walked downstairs as usual, but she started waving bye bye...I thought, silly girl, we can't go bye bye yet! So I said "Bye-Bye?"...she said "Da Da"...yesterday morning when she woke up Daddy was getting ready to leave for work! She remembers!
After breakfast we went back upstairs to Mommy & Daddy's room and she pointed to the bed (a frequent place to find Daddy!!) and said "Da Da", she then proceded to tear around all the covers "looking" for him, all the while saying "Da Da"!
We, of course, had to call Daddy to tell him and we almost had to head down to work to peel his melted heart off of the floor!
So sweet!

The tanning salon

Okay, so I have not been tanning in almost 5 years. Since my wedding. And I think that is a good thing for the most part. I mean, I don't need to un-necessarily increase my risk for cancer. But sometimes, I miss the tanning bed. (By the way, I make myself sound like I used to tan a lot, I certainly never did...but enjoyed tanning once in a while). Since we are going to
ME-HE-CO (!!) in about a month, AND it is the middle of winter, AND I burn easy, AND I just plain wanted to, I figured I better buy myself a few sessions.

Now, the last time I went tanning, you bought the wonderful cancer giving rays by the minute. Apparently it has all changed. Now you buy them by the unit. And one unit is like $7!!! That is insane. In high school I would tan for 10 minutes for like $3. Wow. Talk about inflation. Anyway, so the girl behind the counter should totally go into sales because I ended up buying $90 worth of tanning + lotion. I totally wasnt going to go for the lotion, but she convinced me of it's marvelosity. $90? It better be worth it.

So far, I look like a tomato, tomorrow will probably be more like a strawberry and I'm $90 in the whole. I better look good in my swimsuit. The only thing that makes me feel better is that my minutes, I mean my units, are good for 2 years.

Did you miss me?

Holy moly it was a busy week! After having Monday off, I worked Tuesday and then was at a conference Wed., Thurs., and Friday. I worked a 30 hour week last week!! I haven't done since pre-Oli!
It was good and it gave me a taste of what it will be like when we go on vaca in March. I am looking forward to it, but I am of course, I little anxious about leaving Olivia for 7 days (more about the trip as it gets closer).

Anyway, we are back and not quite so busy! I'll try to get in some cute Olivia stuff tomorrow!!

Bathing beauties...

How much fun can 2 little girls have in a tub? This much!

A girl after Daddy's own heart

Oh Mommy...I dropped my favorite toys! Can you help me?
I can't get them out!
Oh there they are! My buck and my hunting video!
Daddy's girl at heart...

Be Mine?

Happy Valentine's Day!

And so it begins...

Welcome to the world of consistency and consequences! Olivia had her first time out this morning. She got into one of the kitchen cupboards (I know, we need to put our latches on), even though she knows she isn't supposed to, and she broke one of my butter dishes. Stinker. So, I thought, well perfect opportunity! She can see what she did and learn that it isn't okay to get in the cupboards because you can break things. So she had a time out in her chair for one minute while I cleaned up. She handled it fine, of course...because she didn't really get it, but she will!
Tell me about how you first began disciplining your children!!

Olivia's Jungle Gym

Don't worry, she knows when it's hot! :) Her word of the weekend was "hot"...she puts a cute little extra emphasis on the "t".

New things...

One of Olivia's new favorite things to do is to "play" nigh-nigh. She puts her head down on the couch, or a pillow, or a blankie, and says "nigh-nigh"... it is just about the sweetest thing ever. I managed to catch her in the act last week. Can't you just hear that sweet little voice?

What to do on a COLLLDDDD day??

Play in my tunnel! Thanks IKEA for your $15 deal!

I know what I want!

My new favorite thing:
When Olivia is whiny, I say "Olivia, what do you want?" And she answers! Sometimes she signs "eat", other times she says "nigh-nigh", sometimes she signs "more" and we still have a bit of a guessing game!! It is so wonderful that she is starting to be able to communicate to me what she wants/needs. It is refreshing!!

Work

I'm starting to take on a few more hours at work. I'm not thrilled, but it isn't awful either. I somehow feel more productive; I think that knowing I have less time at home makes me a little more motivated to get things done around the house. I have a harder time leaving Olivia though!! She's having a tad of separation anxiety--nothing too bad, but it sure makes leaving tough. I'm thinking about introducing a "transition" object to comfort her when I leave. What have you used with your kids?

Smile of the day...

Olivia @ 5 wks--One of her first smiles (@ Grampy)

Seems like such a long time ago!!

It's funny...

Today I was talking to my BFFOIKYA (aka Bridgit) and we were discussing how nice it is to not worry about things you used to worry about. It got me thinking about all of the things I used to worry about with Olivia, that I thought were LIKE THE BIGGEST DEAL EVER, and now I haven't thought about them in months! Here's a few...
1. Is she getting enough to eat? (She's little, but eats like a horse!)
2. Is her poop the right color? (This one still stumps me sometimes!!)
3. Will she ever take a nap? Will she ever nap more than 20 minutes? Will she ever fall asleep without us? (Obviously this one was big!)

Of course there are more little ones, but I worried about those things SO much when Olivia was little. It just goes to show that you move on, adjust, and become more comfortable and adept at being a parent. I'm so thankful for that!!