11/2/10 - 22 Months!

Oh boy, Olivia is 22 months old! I have officially begun planning her 2nd birthday party! It's going to be a gold themed party for her big golden birthday. I can't wait, and I can't believe how quickly it's coming. My baby is really not my baby anymore.

She continues to grow and learn everyday. She's getting very good at putting things away/back now, which is fun. We're trying to get her into picking up after herself...some days are more successful than others! I downloaded a bunch of kids songs on the iPod a couple weeks ago, so we listen to those on car rides now. I think they really are helping with her memory skills...she responds to the songs and copy's what they say. She's still not into her ABC's or 123's really, but we're not worried about that. She does have "two" down though...strange. She still won't have another doctor appointment until January, but I'm getting anxious to hear her stats and where she falls in line now. Basically, she's still crazy, entertaining, amazing and completely full of life! Love her!

Other than that, today was just a pretty busy day. Christian brought his mom home right after we got home from work, then stopped in to FINALLY get the oil changed in my car. It was SO overdue! He finally got home and we all just hung out around the house for the night. Cooked, ate some dinner, played. Just another day!

I'll have to come back and add Olivia's 10 month photo (oops)...

11/1/10 - Hello November!

It's November! The "busy time of year" has officially in begun. Halloween is over, now it's time to start planning and thinking Thanksgiving, and Christmas shopping! We're pretty much at a complete loss for Christmas gifts this year...better start thinking! I am very excited for Thanksgiving though...hopefully everything turns out as well as it did last year!

Today was a pretty busy day. Christian's mom is watching the girls at our house this week since they haven't had a chance to unpack or setting into their new house yet. It's going to be a little strange having somebody in our house all week long, but it's really nice not having to get the girls up, pack them into the car, drop them off, and repeat after work.

We were both pretty busy at work today. I ended up leaving an hour early to do our weekly shopping since I didn't have time this weekend. Christian's mom "joined" us for dinner I say "joined" because in all reality, she got roped into making dinner! It was very tasty :) After dinner, Christian and Olivia brought her home while I cleaned up a little and played with Amelia. Now, the week and November are in full swing, here we go!

I didn't take any pictures today...since yesterday was Halloween, I'll do a flashback to last Halloween. Our little chicken, my how time flies!

10/31/10 - HAPPY HALLOWEEN

It's here! It's Halloween. And, the last day of October! WOW!

Today was such a great day, and so much fun! I spent the morning doing a little cleaning, and finishing up our laundry. Christian was on kid duty most of the morning, which was a nice break for me!

Luckily we were able to get the girls down for naps, at the same time, pretty early, so we were able to get ready for the "Harvest Festival" going on at a church by our house. We didn't really know what to expect...but it was free, and close to the house, so we figured we might as well check it out. My mom stopped over to see the girls, and decided to join us for the party. The girls finally woke up around 2:30, so we got Olivia in her Costume (and wanted to pass out she was SO cute), and got Amelia in her Halloween outfit (her costume is not car seat friendly, so we decided against it all together), and were on our way. The festival ended up being very cool! They had all kinds of food and beverages, all free. Games and rides for the kids, all free. A little petting zoo and a "hay ride", free! And people just walking around handing out candy. We got home with a full bucket before we even went trick or treating! It was very cool, and we'll definitely be going back next year!

As soon as we got home, Christian's parents came over to see the girls in their costumes, so we got Amelia in hers (and again, wanted to pass out over the cuteness!) and we all visited for a little while. Kari, Jay and Andrew showed up around 5:30, and our parents headed home so we could all get ready to head out trick or treating. Olivia did so great! She said "trick or treat" and "thank you" at every house and just loved it. She got pretty exhausted from walking, but she did so good. Now, I have a house full of candy! Ahhh, what am I going to do!?!?

I never cared for Halloween, but now that I have the girls, I just love it! It's so much fun :)

10/30/10 - Getting Festive...

Today was a good day!

Olivia was pretty excited to have us and her grandparents there to play with when she woke up this morning...I don't think she quite understood what was going on. We were treated to a yummy breakfast by Christian's mom...YAY for that! Christian and his Dad did some work in the garage, hanging up racks and trying to get some stuff up off the ground (of course, to make room for more stuff....). I managed to get a few loads of laundry done and get the girls down for their naps. It was quite a productive morning!

Finally, his parents got the go-ahead to move into their new place around 1:30, so they were all off to get the truck unloaded, while I showered and got ready, and got the girls ready, for tonight's Halloween festivities!

Kari, Jay & Andrew, along with Kelly, Nixon and Meeka came over to carve pumpkins! It's our annual tradition, but is much more about the kids now, which is just that much more fun! Kelly brought some Mr. Potato Head like things for the girls to use on their pumpkins. Olivia was much more interested in running around with Andrew and playing. Of course, 6 year old Andrew is much more on par with her type of "playing" than poor little Meeka...Olivia is just far too rough for her liking! Poor thing. Eventually, everybody headed out for the night, which Christian and I cleaned up and relaxed. I actually stayed up and watched Saturday Night Live...I haven't done that FOREVER! Now we're all just SUPER excited for Halloween tomorrow....we just can't wait!

10/29/10 - Long Day

Today was a long day...but, at least it's Friday! Work was busy, for both of us, as usual. Today was my mom's day to watch the girls, so at least I did get a break from dropping them off and picking them up! And, she has a much more successful day with the girls too! She said Amelia was a completely different baby...thank goodness! The probiotics are definitely working!

After work I came home and took over kid duty. Poor Olivia has the worst diaper rash in the world right now. I have no idea what's going on, but she was just miserable. I cleaned her up and just let her sit around diaperless for a while...she thought that was quite fun actually. Then, I stuck her in a nice warm bath for a while, and that really seemed to help. After that, she seemed like a whole new little girl. She ate some dinner and was happy as can be again.

Christian went right from work to his parents house to help them pack up the last of their house (they are moving over the weekend). What we thought was going to take "a couple hours", ended up with him not getting home until 10:00. I had already gotten the girls to bed and cleaned up and was ready to pass out! His parent's are staying over at our house tonight because they can't move into their new place until tomorrow, so they hung out for a while...I could not hang though!

Right now, we are just VERY excited for Halloween weekend! The girls are going to be SOOOO cute in their costumes (and Olivia loves hers, so keeping it on won't be an issue). We're carving pumpkins tomorrow and spending time with friends. Sounds perfect to me! Here's a picture of Amelia in her milk coma after eating. I just love that!

10/28/10 - Another Lazy Thursday

Well, the trend continues. It's Thursday, and we weren't up to much! Christian had to work a little over time tonight, then headed over to his parent's house to pick a few things up that they are giving us. The girls and I just hung out at home and relaxed. Olivia was a perfect little angel for me too...she even ate ALL of her dinner! That never happens, I just about passed out. Amelia spent a really good amount of time on her play mat, which was a real treat. She even just about rolled over (back to tummy - the REAL kind of rolling over) while she was playing! It's WAY too soon that!

Christian finally got home, and picked some Taco Bell up on his way. So, we just spent the rest of the night hanging out. We watched "Scared Skrekless" on TV...Olivia loves Shrek so she was mezmorized! And, we watched Charlie Brown's "Great Pumpkin". She was more into that than I expected. Finally, it was time for baths and bed. I am so grateful that the girls love their baths...they are total water bugs, and it's wonderful. Even if we have to get Olivia into the bath by telling her she's going swimming...whatever works!

I thought I'd show off the cats tonight! I still think they're cute too :) Rico has his water beard because he likes to drink from the wrong side of the bowl. I just love Frank's baby blues, and Chloe, my sweet girls, was hiding out downstairs by herself. My poor loner, I don't know how she's survived all of these changes over the years!

10/27/10 - Taken A Turn For...Boring?

So, after months of adjusting and chaos and craziness, I think life has taken a turn for boring around here! I don't know if that's a good thing, or a bad thing...maybe a mix of both. It seems like since hitting the 3 month mark, Amelia is becoming quite "easier". She spends time on her mat, or just sitting on the couch watching TV. She isn't crying as much...it's more when she's ACTUALLY hungry, or needs her diaper changed rather than constant random crying. After a short bought of not so great sleep, she's back to sleeping right through to 4:00/4:30, which works for me! Olivia seems to be losing a little bit of her "interest" in the baby, which helps a ton too. If the baby is fussy or crying, she'll want to "help", other than that, she pretty much leaves her alone. She gets a little jealous still...I always have to make sure I say "hello" and give her a hug when I pick them up before I even think about looking at the baby...but overall, she seems like she's finally adjusting to this new world of being a big sister.

It's still hard to find time to do everything. Every night we get home, and Christian and I both have lists of things we need to do...but obviously one of us has to be on parent duty, so it's a never ending battle of who's stuff is "more important" and who needs to just wait...somehow I always get screwed into waiting though...not sure how that seems to be happening.

So, in the end, it was a pretty low key, normal kind of day. Work, dinner, play, baths, bed. Basically, the usual! You don't get more peaceful than this...ahhh, sleeping baby!

10/26/10 - 3 Months!

Oh boy! Our little peanut is 3 months old today! It's hard to believe, it seems like just yesterday I was in the hospital, now she's just this non-stop growing little thing!

Amelia is doing very well these days. She's been on her probiotics for a full week now, and I really do think they are helping. She's staying up for longer stretches during the day, still sleeping through the night - most nights - (barely qualifying for that title though). She's laughing and smiling up a storm now. She still moves non-stop, she can scoot herself pretty far across the room now, and she can roll over onto her sides. She'll be making the complete turn any day now I'm sure! It just seems WAY too soon for all of this to be happening! Her "hand eye coordination" skills are growing by leaps and bounds...she can follow us clear across the room, she watches us go around the corner, and will continue to watch, waiting for us to come back; she's grasping things/toys/string/etc. VERY well all of a sudden - she has QUITE the grip! All in all, she's doing just great!

She's still nursing like a champ, and I've still been able to pump more than enough every day. SO HAPPY about that! 3 months is the first big "goal" when it comes to breastfeeding, and I'm so proud we made it. Formula free for 3 whole months! YAY. Now, time to work on hitting that 6 month mark!

In other events...I was off to the dentist today. I hate the dentist! But, I actually have pretty great teeth, so it was a VERY quick appointment. I had to get x-rays today since I was pregnant at my last appointment. Everything looked perfect. So, whoo hoo for that.

After work, we all just hung out around the house. Amelia passed out on the way home and took a nice little nap, so we were able to spend some time with Olivia, and we were ALL able to heat a nice hot meal together! Success :) We're in the midst of our first fall/winter storm right now. It's been raining/snowing all night and day, and is supposed to continue on to tomorrow. It's been in the 20's in the mornings, and barley reaching 40 in the afternoons. WOW, it seems like things changed very quickly. It's supposed to get back up into the 50's for Halloween, hopefully that forecast sticks! But, yes indeed, winter is on its way! So, after dinner, Christian started the annual project of putting plastic on the windows. So far, only 3 are done, but we'll get there. Also time to drag out the humidifiers, the winter coats and the boots! Oh my!

10/25/10 - HORRIBLE!

Today, was horrible. Last night, was horrible. Amelia has been a really great sleeper, for weeks now, but completely fell apart last night. She's going through the dreaded 3 month growth spurt, and that definitely showed last night! After a late night watching the game, Amelia still wouldn't go to bed last night. I finally got her down around 11:30 (thank god it was Sunday, so I had time earlier in the day to make bottles for tomorrow and wash everything...my usual before bed chore). So, I finally fell asleep shortly after that....but it was short lived. She was up screaming around 2:30 and would not go back to sleep. She just wanted to eat and eat and eat. Finally, she calmed down, finished eating and I was able to take a nice 30 minute cat nap before it was time to get ready for work. Ugh...I REALLY hope there aren't more nights like this in our future!

So, I was basically dead woman walking all day at work. We had a birthday party for somebody at work...of course I forgot my contribution in all the chaos. Luckily, they let me join anyway. After work I was off to do the weekly shopping, and Christian picked the girls up. Thankfully both the girls went to sleep nice and early (and easily), so we will be able to pass out at a decent hour ourselves!

But, no matter how tired I am, how could you be mad at this face?!

10/24/10 - I Say Relax!

Well, we did not do a whole lot tonight. We were pretty exhausted by the long day and late night yesterday, so we just took it easy. Skipped most of the chores. Christian made us all a yummy breakfast, I hung out with the baby most of the day, Olivia was her usual entertaining self. The weather hasn't been too great, so we were stuck inside. Since the Vikings had the Sunday night slot, we were able to grab a nice nap while the girls napped today. It was WONDERFUL! I don't remember the last time I actually got to do that. After naps, we just continued our hang around the house doing nothing routine.

Olivia managed to ware herself out pretty well throughout the day, and actually went down to bed right as the game was starting. It was the big Vikings/Packers match up, so that's a pretty big deal around here! We didn't want to miss it! Well...turns out we probably should have just missed it. The Vikings threw away another game. They had countless chances to win this one (including a Vikings touchdown, ruled NOT a touchdown, even though it WAS a touchdown - and a Packers touchdown, ruled a touchdown, even though it was NOT a touchdown, but our lame coach didn't challenge it). So yes, between the bad playing and the REALLY bad calling, we lost....very reminiscent of the Saints game last year actually...

At least Olivia looks cute in her Vikings gear though :)