Happy 4th Birthday Jerry!!

This year for your birthday, we've decided to give you a home. Our home.

Since you've had your "near-death experience" you've taken up howling.

It's annoying. REALLY ANNOYING. Especially when you are dealing with a crying child or if you are trying to keep a child sleeping...we can definitely lose our tempers with you.

However, we've decided...even though it's extremely frustrating and annoying...that we'll keep you around :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Two Hours at the Pool

Involves lots of swimming and going down fun slides...

And boring "safety breaks" (VERY hard for a 18 month old to understand why she suddenly can't be in the pool).

1st Pair...

...of crocs!

Pretty Cute ... huh???

tooth #7

bottom left molar

Happy Mommy

Now this is something that makes this Mommy VERY happy :) Welcome to the family perfect gender-neutral Coach diaper bag.
I love you.

Pool Party

Today we celebrated Taylor's 6th birthday. She had out all sorts of fun water activities (a pool, sprinkler, slip-n-slide). Olivia, again, proved herself to be quite the fish. Their baby pool was filled to the top with water and Olivia showed us how she could roll UNDER the water!! She would hold her breath because when she surfaced...she wasn't choking...such a brave girl!!

Door Handle

This post is about 1 month overdue...

Look what Olivia can do :)

Happy 18th Month Birthday!

It's your half-birthday!
(and yes, we are celebrating it late on the blog due to sooo many other fun blog posts)

*loves to shut doors...and she's slightly OCD about it
*LOVES to dance
*signs "please" all the time
*when she deosn't know what sign to use or what to say...she uses "more"
*IS GROWING - pushing out of 18 month clothes (all new clothes are 24 months), size 5 shoes, size 4 diapers...OMG, sloooow down little girl!
*6 teeth (front two, bottom two, left and right molars)
*Says "No" - that's fun! Other Words - Mama, Dada, ball, Elmo, bug, ut-oh, wow, night-night
*attempting to run...and is really close
*her jumps are getting better

*can open doors with a door handle (can't do the door knobs) ... we have a house full of door handles :) lucky us!

*takes awhile to adjust to new situations...usually stands back and observes for a bit and then joins in
*kicks her legs and blows bubbles in the pool and is a complete fish...not scared at all about putting her face in the water or being under the water
*sleeps in a big girl bed
*had her last flight as an infant in a lap....next time will get her own seat
*has NO CLUE that her baby brother is going to arrive in >9 weeks...yikes!

*does very well throwing and kicking a ball

*uses a fork/spoon most of the time
*drinks water or whole milk
*LOVES starchy foods...wait, she LOVES all food. Olivia eats a lot. She very rarely tells us she is "all done" but rather we have to stop giving her food

*recognizes the TV as something entertaining...watches Sesame Street...probably an average of 30 minutes of TV time a day

*knows what "clean up" means - can throw away her diapers in the trash can and put away her shoes

*still sucks her left thumb and loves her silky blankets :)

*when she cries...she makes a funny tongue blowing noise (blog post on this to follow)

*after completing a task she's proud of...will give herself two claps

For your half-birthday we were at lake travis...so we celebrated there with cake cones and a birthday present.

You got a PLASMA CAR from Daddy and Mommy!! And you are such a GREAT driver!!! The car goes all over our house...you put your feet on the ground and steer it. As you get older, you can put your feet on the car and just move the wheel to get the car moving. Hopefully we'll get some good videos of her in action on the car up soon.

We love you Olivia Marie!!!

tooth #6

upper right molar (and it's a painful one...eewww)

Happy {Belated} Father's Day!!

We didn't forget...but this definitely deserves it's own post...

And to all the other fathers in our lives...we love you all :)

Forever Friends

It has been a wonderful and yet much too short weekend. I love that we are such good friends and that we are watching our families grow together. To have been there when we were young college freshmen, to dating, and meeting our husbands, and now having children....it's truly a blessing.

I love you girls and can't wait for NEXT YEAR!!!!!

GLORIOUS!

Today we went to Lake Chesdin - and I may have found another favorite lake!!! Sandy beaches, calm water, beautiful houses...it was absolutely glorious :)

The water was a perfect temperature for soaking and with the sandy bottom...it was great to walk on (except when the fish nibbled on your feet). There was boating, wakeboarding, kneeboarding, drinking, eating, sand castles, swimming, and lots of fun!

Olivia had a blast! She played in the water and sand and loved to float around in the tube. At the end of the day...she was exhausted and took a short nap on Mommy. Olivia NEVER sleeps outside of her bed, so I really treasured the cuddle/snuggle time with my baby.

At the end of the day we were exhausted ... and some of us had enough sun. Since my baby was still sleeping...my sweet girlfriends skipped the evening boat ride and stayed back with me. We were sharing stories and just enjoying "our" time. At one point, I'm looking at Joy and Kristen and just start laughing hysterically (tears were coming out of my eyes). We were quite the sight! (see bottom small picture). The sun had taken it's number on all of us. To create shade, we had the tube leaning against us and clothing covering our bodies. My baby was still napping and to keep her from overheating was completely naked.

And we were perfect. It was us, loving our time, and not having a worry in the world. I love you all!!!!

Girlfriends

Today we woke up to Dunkin' Donuts (we have to drive 15 miles to find our closest dunkin')...so delish! Then we were off to Inflation Nation (a jump/bounce house) where Olivia and Claire (along with the daddies) bounced and sweated away the morning.

We arrived back at Joy's house to Kristen and Jacek waiting paitently for us. Let the fun begin! The girls left the children at the house so they could nap and went off for some much needed girlie time. It started with pedicures, a little shopping, some starbucks and lots of chatting. I absolutely treasured every second of just being able to relax with my girls and catch up.

That evening we had a wonderful meal followed by a surprise shower for Baby Mason. This little man is one lucky guy. He is going to be soooo stylish in his new clothes. Thank you girls for all the outfits, toys, blankets, books, etc...we are definitely getting spoiled.

VT Roommate Reunion

Today we flew to the East Coast for our annual VT Roommate Reunion (last year we were in NC).

The flight was pretty stressful. Olivia wasn't horrible...but she wasn't good, calm, patient, or relaxing. Tim and I were on full entertaining and parenting modes for all 2.5 hours of the trip (and we felt every minute of it!). Needless to say, it is not fun to take an 18 month old on a flight. The next time we fly...she needs her own seat with her car seat. She needs to know her boundaries.

HOWEVER, at the end of the flight...the exciting news was that we got to see My Joyful and her husband Paul and two sweet daughters - Claire and Layla.

Love being able to spend time with a great friend...we chatted and sat together on the couch and watched our daughters be SOOOO sweet with each other.
Life is good!

Promotion!

WAHOO!!! Tim was promoted to Senior Manager of the Performance Management Group today at work! We are soooo proud of you!!!

18 Month Appointment

Today Olivia had her 18 month well-check.

weight 24 pounds 3 ounces {50th percentile}

height 32.75 inches {75-90th percentile}

head 19 inches {75-90th percentile}

~growing growing growing~

Both her height and weight jumped!! The weight is definitely not a surprise to us...as she eats and eats and eats!!! This child can put down some food.

I discussed again my concerns with Olivia's expressive language, but was assured that she is doing well. The dr said her receptive language is great and that she will begin to focus on expressive more and more... It's a perfect dr answer, I just want an quick and easy solution. So, we continue to read lots, sing more, and have lots of conversations with our sweetie!

There was only one shot at this appointment and Olivia didn't even cry! (She must have her daddy's pain tolerance...which is a very good thing).

I Love You

Lake Travis - Day 4

Our last full day at Lake Travis :( Definitely very sad about this!!! Of course, on this last day....it was FULL with lots of boating time.

Tim, Justin and Tiffini all got some BIG wakeboard AIR.



There was lots of tubing...which also included AIR :)





And then came some swimming.




Finally a sunset cruise back to the dock.


We've had such an amazing time and are extremely grateful we got to share it with such wonderful friends.









(Today is also Olivia's HALF BIRTHDAY - 18 months!
Since there is a lot of fun stuff going on, there will be a half-birthday blog post later in the week)

Lake Travis - Day 3

So our days followed a glorious pattern. The mornings started off sitting on the deck overlooking the lake, drinking coffee and sharing stories.

Then came "Lake Time". There was lots of boating, swimming, tubing and wakeboarding. And our little girl LOVED all of it!!! She was definitely a fish in the water and enjoyed her time driving the boat and having the air blow through her hair.


We would come back in and take a short break, then head right back out to repeat all the exciting water activities.


It was then time for dinner (we all rotated cooking the meals), take showers, and put the kids to bed.


Lastly it ended with adult time. We played games, watched tv, shared some drinks, and enjoyed great friends!!!

Lake Travis - Day 2

Happy Family


Olivia Tubes


Sunset Cruise


Poker

Lake Travis - Day 1

Today we traveled to 3.5 hours to Lake Travis (near Austin) with our friends Justin/Tiff/and girls and met their very good friends Bryson/Jess/and two kiddos. Justin and Tiff brought their ski boat with them that we'll be using/borrowing/stealing :)

The house we've rented is right on the deep water cove and it's a beautiful lake. The water is so clear you can see your toes, and the water temperature is perfect...enough to cool you down, but not chilly. The skies were blue with a very warm sun.

In fewer words...it is absolutely PERFECT!

This is going to be a great vacation!!

tooth #5

Upper Left Molar!!!