Prayers

Please say a little prayer for Elijah today! Elijah is the son of one of my former co-workers, Dan and now blogging friend, Megan. You can read all about his heart condition on his website. He just had his second open heart surgery yesterday, it went well, as is recovery. Looking at that sweet little picture of him, just made me feel like I needed to request prayers so he can heal quickly and be done with those nasty tubes. Please take a moment for Elijah. Thank you!

A trip to the zoo...

Dolphins!
Otters!
Not sure about the goat...
Okay, I REALLY didn't like the goat...especially when he tried to eat my mitten!
Cluck, Cluck!

We took Olivia to the MN Zoo this past weekend. She absolutely LOVED it (well, except for the goats...and the pigs...and the cows...I guess she doesn't really like farm animals...) Ryan and I had a good time too--except for that it was freezing out and she was really the only one to dress warmly...and she got to be carried! :)

That's what she said!

It's back! I can't even tell you how wonderful it was to see my friends Pam, Jim, Dwight, Michael, Angela, etc. last night.

It was a painful episode to watch, but really those are the best!

Who else enjoyed The Office with me last night? Check out the link and see the deleted scenes!

In remembrance...

In honor of the snowy weather today, I am reminiscing about last week.
This weather sucks.

Olivia's Vocabulary @ 13 mos.

It's hard as a mom not to feel proud of your kids, right? Olivia has had a word explosion over the last month and a half and it has been so fun to see her keep learning new words! I'm keeping track of them (well, for the time being!) so we can look back and remember. I thought I would share her words with you...

Words:

ma ma, da da, ba ba (bottle), baby, na na (banana), nigh-nigh, cracker, hot, down, pup-pup (puppy), turtle, book, buck, tickle-tickle, yes, bye-bye, hi, num-numbs, ball, car, peek-a-boo, ride, blue, girl, boy, apple, crocodile, eye, thank you "rock-a-bye", "all done!", "what is that?", "uh, oh!", "weeee!", Papa, Gra-Gra (Grammy & Grampy), MaKa (Mucka-Grandma), David, Mar-Mar (Maren-cousin)

Signs:

More, all done, please, thank you, eat, ball

Animal Sounds:

Turkey, chicken, puppy, wolf, elephant, penguin, bee, bear, lion, tiger, duck, kitty, cow, gorilla, snake

I just love listening to her sweet little voice! It is so much fun to keep watching her change and learn!

You may not know this about me...

I know some of you do, but others of you don't. You may not appreciate what you are about to read.

I am very anal. I like things perfect. I like things CLEAN (although you may not know it by looking at my house somedays!) I don't like dirty things. And as those of you know who have or are around children, it doesn't quite work this way!! I actually have dealt with these feelings much better than I thought I would before I had Olivia. I can clean up poop and puke just fine, I wipe her nose on my shirtsleeve when I have to (gross, but sometimes you do what you have to do!), and I deal with messes on the floor during meals. But still, some things I still anticipate having a hard time with:

1. Fingerpainting (GROSS.) I have memories of preschool gagging while having to fingerpaint.
2. Eating sand and bugs. Really, what parent does like this? But I really have an aversive reaction to the thought of it.
3. Really art projects in general, because as much as I like them, I want them to turn out just perfect. I will let it go, but boy will it be hard not to control!!

Anyway, what I am getting at is that today was a big milestone for both me and Olivia! Her first time "eating" with a spoon!

Are there really words to describe this? SHE LOVED IT. She thought it was probably the best thing that has ever happened to her in her short little life. I, on the other hand, now know to plan these self feeding sessions ONLY before bathtime! :)

You know you live in a small town when...

You start a new ECFE class and two of the other people in your class rode your bus growing up. Weird.

Reunification

I know you are all dying to hear how Olivia did! Well, she did fantastic! She hardly knew we were gone...

When we arrived home, it was 11:00 at night...as hard as it was, I did not wake her up when I peered into her crib. Oh I wanted to SOO bad! To hug and kiss that sweet little babe! But no, I knew sleep was important and I could wait until morning. So I laid in bed...until 1:30...when I finally drifted off to sleep. Awake at 5:30 to pee** (sorry, too much info) and then laid awake till she woke up at 6:30. I went in her room and she just stared at me... I imagine she was thinking, "What the...?" I picked her up and carried her into our bed. She just laid on my chest, not moving, for like 15 min. So not like her. Then she looked up at me, looked over at Ryan, and laid her head down...looked up at me, looked over at Ryan, and laid her head down. She repeated this about 5 times before we got a big smile out of her. It was so sweet! She was just trying to figure it all out!

She was a little clingy during the day on Sunday, just not quite sure what to do with herself. But she is back to normal now!

**I normally have to get up 2 times during the night to go to the bathroom. When I am pregnant this increases to 4-5. Ish. You'd think there was something wrong, but I do not have an overactive bladder other times! :)

You ask for 1, I give you 2...

You ask for 2, I give you 4!
That has to be my favorite quote from our trip as we sat and enjoyed happy hour on our first full day. We certainly are not big drinkers, but it was fun to enjoy a tropical drink by the beach! We had a wonderful time--full of sun, sand, and waves! It was a great chance to be away, enjoy doing WHATEVER we wanted, WHENEVER we wanted. I read 2 1/2 books, swam, spent time with my wonderful husband, rested, and enjoyed some sightseeing. It was a great trip. Here are some links:

Cozumel: If you haven't been, you really need to go!
Hotel: Coral Princess
Sightseeing: Xel-Ha, Tulum

A few good pics...