5/3/10 - It's Monday, 'Nuf Said

Here we are...it's Monday again! The weekend was so packed, as they usually are, so of course Monday came roaring in like the Lion it is. Yesterday was a semi-relaxed day...I spent the day picking up the house (and of course, re-picking it up as Olivia destroyed the house over and over again...) and doing laundry. Christian's dad finished fixing the riding mower (much to his excitement), so he went to pick that up. He decided it's best to keep it in the garage to avoid anymore weather and animal interference, so he spent most of the day cleaning up the garage making room for it. It's sad when you need a vacation from your weekend!

Today was just a Monday like any other. Olivia has started showing a lot of interest in feeding herself lately. We've been letting her work with the fork (spoon = too much of a mess for my liking), and she's really getting the hang of it. Of course this means she is starting to refuse letting anybody else feed her, meal time is becoming much more messy and she's spending a lot more time in her highchair since the process is taking much longer, but, when she shows interest, we encourage her. So, here are some pics from her adventures in learning to use the fork :)

5/2/10 - 16 Months

Oh my Olivia...a year ago you were 4 months old...

You were just learning to roll over and you were spending the day spinning in circles. You were just moved into your very own room, sleeping in your very own crib, and loving every minute of it. You were learning to hold your own bottle (even though we didn't allow you to...) and you were sleeping through the night like a champ! You were about 15lbs, 24.5" long, wearing 0-3 month clothing and size 1 diapers!! You were a chunk, but pretty compact :) You didn't have any teeth, so we were graced with that adorable gummy smile, and often, since you were just learning to laugh, and laughing at random, completely wrong moments. Your lungs were VERY well developed as you started becoming quite the yeller (which you have only gotten better at...)! You were just starting to sit on your own, but your giant head didn't help in that process. It was becoming apparent that you could no longer be left unattended with all of your new activity.

You are now 16 months old...

You are a maniac, from dawn to dusk, you do not stop. And, you never cease to amaze us. You're running, dancing, climbing and showing off at any chance you get. You have been an amazing sleeper lately, and mom and dad just love it! You now have 11 teeth completely out, and 4 coming in (possibly 6). You have definitely mastered the art of throwing a fit, and throwing THINGS in general, which is not very fun for those of us around you. You are learning to use your spoon and fork, and you love to eat just about everything we put in front of you! You love everybody and everything, are the biggest dare devil I've ever met, and bring so much joy to so many people. With each passing day, we look at you and realize just how lucky we are. What we did to deserve such an amazing little girl in our lives, I will never know!

Happy 16 months to our little lady bug! Mom and Dad love you, more than you will ever know!

5/1/10 - Never Say "No Plans"...

So, our weekend of no plans was quickly shattered into pieces!

For starters...baby recalls!!! Not fun. I found out Thursday there is ANOTHER crib recall going on right now. At first I didn't think anything of it...I love our crib, it's perfect, how could anything be wrong with it??? Then, last night, I looked a little closer, and sure enough, there was our crib, like flashing little lights on the recall list. Ugh!!! So, once Olivia woke this morning, we had some breakfast, started looking online at new cribs, then started taking apart the crib we love so much. And boy, it sure comes down much faster than it went up. Olivia went down for a nap (temporarily in mom and dad's bed), and we got ready for the day. Once she was up, we loaded the disassembled crib into the truck, and we were off to Target. Oh wait, make that TWO Targets! We figure, since we need to get her a new crib, and we need to get baby a crib, they might as well be the same! Yet, only two Targets in our area had the crib we like, and each only had one...so they both put them on hold for us. Target one consisted of making the return, which actually went very smoothly. And, of course we no longer have our receipt or anything for it, but I know we paid about $175/$180 for it...unethical as it may be, they basically just handed out a straight $250 refund, so we jumped on that! Grabbed the new crib, and we were off. Target two consisted of picking up crib #2 and some food items.

Now, we were on our way home. To relax and enjoy the night together?? No, not really...to get ready for grilling and boxing. Christian decided last minute it would be fun to order the boxing match, have some friends over and grill some dinner...amidst all of the chaos! Well, sure, why not. Christian and his friend quickly put together Olivia's new crib...and my BFF Kari helped me put all the bedding and everything on (well, I kind of supervised...the big belly is quite an issue here...). The Madrid's showed up a little later, we all ate lots of yummy food and settled in for an exciting fight. And, it actually was pretty exciting! The main event was Mayweather vs. Mosley...we all really wanted Mosley to take Mayweather down...and while we did get pretty hopeful after a couple rounds, Mayweather took over and that was that. It was still a great night with great friends! And, Olivia has a new, SAFE place to sleep. So, all is good!!

Here are some pics....saying goodbye to our beloved crib, and hello to the replacement!

4/30/10 - Goodbye April!

Reading that, floors me. Goodbye April...Goodbye? Didn't you JUST get here?? I can't believe it...it was the 2nd warmest April in history...the weather overall was just to die for! It's been a crazy month, and flew by even faster than the one before! Olivia will be 16 months old on Sunday, I'm officially 7 months pregnant now, we'll be a family of FOUR in less than 3 months...wow....just wow!

Today is Friday, so you can't get much better than that! Oh wait, yes you can!!! I actually got to leave a little early to head to my ultrasound!! Today was my follow up anatomy scan so they could get the face and heart views they weren't able to get last time. YAY, more face time with baby!! All went great, baby was staring right into the "camera", and the heart was on full display. The tech even surprised me with some 3D face pics!! I didn't even know they did 3D's there, so that was really exciting.

After a long day, Olivia and I hung out at home and just relaxed. After work, Christian and a friend got to the house and we just hung out around the house. I was all set on catching up on some shows after Olivia went to bed....but, alas, I passed out around 9:30. Do I know how to spend a Friday night or what!! Oh well, there's always tomorrow :) No big plans for the weekend, so we'll just see what we can get ourselves into!

4/29/10 - Weekend, I Can See You!!

So, here we are again. It's Thursday. The weekend is just around the corner...I can smell it!!

Christian had some last minute overtime at work tonight, and since it's his week to drive Olivia, that meant I got some extra ME time when I got home from work. Some much needed ME time. It was nice to get home and just be able to relax for a while. Love my lady to death, but you know, some peace and quiet was just what the dr. ordered today!

Other than that, today was just a pretty normal day. The weather has been very touch and go lately, and is supposed to be that way through the weekend. Sun here, rain there, cloudy here, wind there, thunderstorms...just about everything is and should be coming out way! Here we go, it's that time of year!

Once the rest of the family got home, we had some pizza and cheesebread for dinner...YUM. It seems we've created a monster..a dipping monster. Olivia is obsessed with dipping stuff now, and it's quite a messy hobby....

4/28/10 - 27 Weeks!

Hello 3rd Trimester!!! 27 Weeks, and it's the final countdown. I am due exactly 3 months from today, how crazy is that! And our baby to-do list is just getting longer...we really need to get going on all that! At least we won't have a ton of clothes to buy...I'll just need to go through what we have and see what will work this time around. Let's see when I actually get to that!

Monday I stopped into the clinic to take my 1-hour glucose test. People complain about doing it, and really, it's not that bad. I think people just psych themselves out over it. Basically, you go in, drink this extra sugary drink, wait an hour, then get some blood drawn. I went first thing in the morning (you have to fast, so right away in the morning is best), and went equipped with a couple trashy magazines. I drank my stuff, and my the time I read through one magazine and worked on the crossword, time was up! Blood drawn and I was on my way to work. A few hours later the results came in...the "pass" range is 70-130...and I came in at 99...YAY, passed with flying colors! So, there's another pregnancy milestone to check off the list!

My rapid weight gain seems to have tapered off, for now anyway, so that's good! I'm still very satisfied with my gain thus far. I think I'm gaining my VBAC confidence back...I'm willing away the fear the best I can anyway! Other than that, we're just moving along. After a week or so of a calm baby...she's back to her evil ways lately. Moving like crazy, kicking as hard as she can. And this one loves kicking organs...Olivia was not like that, so that's pretty new to me! We had a fun poking contest tonight...how easily a baby in the tummy can entertain you! Ha.

4/27/10 - Our First Big Accident

Well, it was another day like usual. Work, then home. What's new!!

Olivia has of course had accidents over time. She's clumsy, she's a dare devil and she's not scared of anything...that is NOT a good combination! Well, tonight she was running around the house with Dad, nothing out of the ordinary. When BAM...down she went. Tripped over the rug, fell face first right onto some toys. She didn't let out a HUGE cry or anything, just a little whimpering. But, the end result was a very cut up nose, a little gash on the chin and a nice mark on her forehead. This is my far the worst injury we've had yet. Poor girl! Below is the best picture I could get of the nose injury...seeing that she never stops moving, it's not easy to capture...you can kind of see the cut coming up the side of her nose. Hopefully she heals quickly! At least we know she takes injuries well :)

4/26/10 - Yark Work...Again?

OK, so we've always had an agreement in our household. I take care of the inside (well, I'm not a maid, but you know, the general stuff) and Christian takes care of the outside. Somehow I keep getting roped into helping with yard work...and I don't like it!! Really, I get recruited to keep the toddler under control, but then I magically get little tasks here and there to do. I'm against this new fad completely, and think that should go on the record!

After another long day of work, we got home, ate quick, then headed outside for a while. We had to lay down some mulch to finish up the yardwork from the other night. It was pretty windy and not all that nice out, but a little fresh air before bedtime is always a good idea!

I was quickly distracted away from mulch duties and played with Olivia instead. She did spend a little time helping Dad, but wasn't really into it either. I got her soccer skills on video now...well, she was pretty distracted by the neighbor dogs and yelling at them, so everytime she'd get going, she stop to yell for a while. But, the videos are still cute!

4/25/10 - Sunday, So We Meet Again

Yes, it's Sunday, again. It came just as quickly as any other Sunday! After another bright and early morning, we spent a few hours debating...should we do the shopping we REALLY need to do, or should we just stay in our PJ's all day and relax. Well, in the end, our grown up sides won out, we got ready, and were on our way to shop, shop, shop! Christian dropped us girls off at Target and went to Home Depot. We needed some final stuff to finish up our yardwork, so he took care of that, then met up with us in the store you just can't escape! We finally collected all of our necessities, checked out and headed back home for the night. Christian made us some dinner...YUM, taquitos! We watched a few movies, and called it a night early. Nothing too exciting, but just what we needed! We watched Four Christmas's, which I really liked. Then watched 2012, which I did not like so much...that was not as good as I expected.

I don't know if it's weird or not, but Olivia LOVES guacamole. I mean LOVES it. When we get Chipotle, she pretty much takes over the guac. I don't get it, but I think she could live off of the stuff!

4/24/10 - Party Down

Today was a busy day! We started off getting to "sleep in" until about 8:00 (which I will definitely take!). My father-in-law came over bright and early to help Christian work on the riding mower. Gotta love that Minnesota weather...NOTHING is safe here in the winter! After a few hours of working on that, they just couldn't get it working, so they loaded it up in the truck so we could bring it over to his parents' house since his dad has all of the tools and equipment he'd need. I'm sure Christian is praying it doesn't take too long to fix!

We then got ready quickly because we were off to celebrate with our friend Skaar (Michelle)! After lots of hard work, she's all done with school, so she had a little graduation party in Stillwater. It was fun getting to hang out with some friends and be there to celebrate with her. Congrats Skaar!! And, we finally got proof that Olivia is NOT a freak of nature...Skaar's nephew was there, is about 2 weeks younger than Olivia, and they are actually the same size! We've never seen another little one the same age anywhere near her size, so that was fun :)

After the party, we stopped at his parents house to unload the mower, then home for the night. Our other friends Nate and Gini stopped by for a while, and Olivia put on quite a show for them...she definitely needs to be the center of attention, that's for sure!

All in all, it was a fun day! A little family time, lots of friend time, good day! At the party, Olivia was happily snacking on some celery, then noticed the veggie dip...the celery soon just became a spoon...nice. She also had to take a picture with the graduate...then proceeded to give her a freaked out look the whole time. YAY :)