Santa - Take 2

I'm not sure whether or not I mentioned our first Santa attempt, but it didn't go well at all. So, we decided to give it a try again this weekend. My in-laws country club was having a children's brunch with Santa on Sunday. They had all kinds of activities for the kids, including ring tosses, face painting, arts & crafts, cookie decorating, etc.

We were #22 in line to see Santa (when we left, they were calling #'s in the 70's I think, so we were glad to have gotten there early). When Olivia first saw him, her little legs got tight around me, and I just knew it wasn't going to happen. We had to wait about 30 minutes or so before we made our way to the front of the line. During the wait, she had plenty of time to watch other kids sitting in Santa's lap. I asked her if she was also going to it in his lap, and she gave me a definitive "Yes!". I just kept thinking "yeah, we'll see". When it came her turn, she walked up like a big girl and sat in his lap. There weren't any smiles, but that's ok because there also weren't any tears! I was so very proud of my big girl!!!

Doing some art - she LOVES artwork. When I do it with her at home, she never wants to quit!

Gram E bought her this little Santa purse. She never sat it down. Such a priss!

One of our many failed attempts at a family picture. She just refuses to "pose" for a picture.

Hey, at least she isn't crying in this one!
(and isn't my hubby cute?)

Stomach Bug - Yuck!

Yes, I'm still alive and well....ok, well, maybe I'm not well. The stomach bug has made its way into my body and it's been a pretty miserable week! It began Monday and I'm just finally starting to feel better today, although I'm definitely not well. So far, Jason and Olivia haven't gotten it, and I'm just praying they don't!

Let me think back to last weekend....we didn't do a whole lot. Saturday night, we took Olivia to watch the town Christmas tree lighting and fireworks. It just so happened that a cold front blew in right about the time of the event. She spent most of the time with her face burried in my chest (I suppose keeping the wind off). She looked up for the fireworks for a coupe of minutes, but her facial expression never changed. It was as if she sees them daily. Oh well...so much for that! :)

On Sunday, we went to see Santa at the mall. We've been playing up Santa for 2-3 weeks now. She loves all the Santas around the house and says "Ho Ho Ho!" everytime she sees one. So I thought we were ready for the big event. I was wrong. We weren't even within 20 feet of him and she wrapped her legs tight around me and started crying. When we got about 5 feet from him (no lines), she screamed bloody murder. We watched a couple of other kids sit on his lap thinking that may change her mind, but it didn't. So maybe we'll try again another day!


Here are a few pictures from the week. None of them are too great. My good camera is still in the shop (hope to get it tomorrow..yeah!) and it's really tough getting a decent picture with a regular little digital. They are just too slow!

Olivia with her tree in her room....she says "don't touch" when we turn on the lights.

Olivia with Bebe (aka Bentley)

I was trying to get some pics outside one evening, but didn't have much luck...

She just wanted to go inside.

Don't have to worry about this one breaking the lights from stepping on them! She took her biggest step to get over them. That's my sweet baby girl!

Thanksgiving 2010

As I mentioned in a previous post, Olivia and I were both sick for Thanksgiving. I didn't take one single picture from Thanksgiving Day! I was so disappointed with myself after I realized it, so maybe my Granddaddy will be able to email me some that he took! My good camera is in the shop, so all I had was my little one and it's just much more difficult to get decent pictures with it!

Anyway, back on topic.....we went to East Texas for Thanksgiving weekend with my side of the family, which we had not done in years. I just wish my sister and her family could have been with us too!!!

Gotta love these little legs....

Mom taught her to say "Tissss much!" and to open her arms wide in response to the question "How much do you love me?". It's soooooo cute!

Playing outside at Nana's house

Olivia with Papaw (I believe she pronounced it "Papo").

Bad Hair Day

Daddy is responsible for dressing and getting Olivia to school every day (as I leave the house while she's still sleeping). I typically lay out her clothes for him, along with her shoes. One day this past week, he put her shirt on backwards! I about died when I picked her up from school! The teachers thought it was quite amusing and decided to leave it! A couple of days after the shirt incident, I picked her up and this is what her hair looked like. Poor, poor Olivia!

The never ending story...

We've been sick at our house again...well, pretty much for the past month! Olivia has had a stomach virus and now has a cold. If history proves to repeat itself, she'll soon have an ear infection, but we're hoping for the best! I've had a cold/cough for about 3-4 weeks now. It seems to get better but then gets worse again before I recover 100%. I pretty much lost most of my voice over the Thanksgiving holidays, but I'm finally starting to feel better. This could be a LONG winter for our family!

This little girl was enjoying watching TV in mommy's bed. We've done a lot of cuddling the last couple of weeks!

22 months old

Well, I'm a couple of days late, but Olivia is 22 months old! I would venture to say our monthly update is probably going to be pretty similar to last months as I swear I JUST wrote it! Her vocabulary continues to grow daily and she continues to crack us up. She is such a joy to be around. She loves to give big bear hugs now and is giving kisses more freely than she used to.

She seems to have the sweetest little heart. A couple of weeks ago she was sitting on the couch and yelled "Mama!". I said "what?", and she responded "I wub wu"! That was the first time she said it without me saying it first....talk about melting my heart!

She hates bugs. She loves babies. She loves snacks and pretty much lives on them against my better judgment. One of her favorite snacks is "pish" (goldfish). She loves to eat cereal with "nilk" (milk). She loves her dada and her poodles ("Gacie" and "Bebe"). She loves books. She dislikes socks. She loves to wear her bracelets. She loves to pat the couch and tell me to "sit!". She's kind of bossy that way! But of course, I oblige.

While I know that I owe it to Olivia to discipline her so that she turns into a well-rounded, well-behaved little girl, I probably couldn't be wrapped around her little finger any tighter! Just ask Nana......

Bittersweet Visit

Pure exhaustion.....that's how I'm feeling this week! So, please forgive me in advance if I don't make tons of sense! I've been sick for about a week. Luckily, I seem to finally be getting over it, but I'm just feeling super tired!

This weekend was very bittersweet for me. I was lucky enough to get to see my sister and her family who live in Wisconsin, but under very bad circumstances. My sister's stepdaughter was killed in a car accident last week. Charles, Lindsey and the girls arrived in Texas on Thursday. My nieces Ally and MacKenzie stayed with us thru Sunday while Lindsey and Charles stayed in Dallas preparing for the services. For once, I guess I can say I'm really at a loss for words. What can you say to someone who has lost a child? Last night after the funeral, I cried every time I looked at Olivia. The thought of anything ever happening to her is just too much to bear. To my sister and brother-in-law, I can't express how sorry I am for your loss.


On a lighter note, we really enjoyed being able to spend some time with the girls. Ally is turning into a little teenager against everyone's wishes!!! I think we all wish we could make her 5 again and just make time stand still! MacKenzie just turned 7 and is a mess! She's super funny and did really good at my house being that it was the first time away from her parents. She is a bit scared of dogs, and well....we have BIG dogs, but she did so good with them. They were all BFF before the weekend was over!

We were TERRIBLE with getting pictures of the girls this weekend. We didn't get one single picture that was decent of the three of them!

Shelby came to visit one day while they were here. We went and rode the train, which Olivia could have cared less about!

When the camera comes out, Olivia tries to run away. It's getting really hard to get pictures!

Little Red Ladybug

We did less for Halloween this year than we did last year (and we didn't do much last year)! Our town had our Fall Fest on Friday night, which was just really inconvenient so we didn't bother going.

My mom was in town this weekend. We did a lot of running around, and on Saturday, we dressed up Olivia when she woke up from her nap to see if we could get some pictures. We weren't too successful! She hasn't been feeling well the last couple of days, so I guess it was a good think we didn't have any big Halloween festivities planned!

****See Halloween 2009 post here.....it's amazing how much babies change in a year!

Nana and Olivia having a heart to heart about wearing the hat.

Olivia won.

The following pictures were on actual Halloween.

I tried to get a good pic of Olivia and her puppies. This is the best I got.

They won.

Daycare Ballerina

I found out on Wednesday that daycare wa encouraging the kids to dress up on Friday. Her "official" Halloween costume was fairly warm, so I didn't want her to be stuck wearing it all day. So...as we only had a couple of days to come up with something, I just decided to let her be a ballerina since we already had a tutu she could wear. I just paired it with a little pink shirt and we were done! Cheap and easy!

Rainy Saturday

Saturday was a very dreary, rainy day. Clancy and I really wanted to get together and do something, but the weather was pretty limiting. So....we went to the mall to eat at Rainforest Cafe. BIG mistake. Olivia was TERRIFIED the entire time and just laid on my shoulder. She refused to look up. We're pretty certain the life-sized gorillas that went crazy every 5 minutes were just too much for her! After lunch, we rode the little train around the mall. The girls didn't want to get off the choo-choo.

Olivia ready to go.

Maggie on the "carousel"

Olivia enjoying the ride.


Maggie and Olivia in the train

Clancy and Turner riding the train.

Mmmmm....pudding!

If you know me at all, you know that I don't give Olivia anything with much sugar. I don't even give her juice. Most think I'm too strict, but if she's never had it, then she doesn't know what she's missing, right? I just really want to protect her little teeth from rotting out! She does get the occassional birthday cake or a bit of mom's fudge pop, but for the most part, her after dinner desserts are some kind of fruit. ANYWAY....I remembered the other day that I had some sugar-free Jello pudidng in the fridge so I gave it to Olivia for her dessert. You think she liked it???????

Jason kept asking her if it was good. She'd just point to it and say "it mama's". LOL. I think she just felt special to get to share in mama's dessert!

Side note: I didn't ruin her....she's still been asking for a banana after dinner! HA!

21 Months Old (a day late)

You are only 3 months away from being 2! I can hardly believe it! It makes me so sad to see my little baby leaving me, but at the same time it’s such a joy to watch you grow and learn every day!


WEIGHT: approximately 24 pounds, which has been pretty constant for the last few months.

CLOTHING: You are getting a little tall for 18 month pants, but 24 month pants swallow you! You are mainly still wearing your 12-18 month clothes, but I bought all 18-24 month Fall/Winter clothes, so you may just start wearing them big (that is, if it ever cools off).

DIAPERS: Size 5 in Target, size 4 in other brands (apparently Target runs a bit small)

PERSONALITY: You are super funny. You definitely keep us on our toes. Just last night, our heads bumped while we were sitting on the couch…you pointed your finger in my face and said “Mamma, no! no! no!”. I was scared you were either going to spank me or put me in time out next! HA! You are leery of strangers, but you definitely want them to recognize you at the same time. You will yell “Hi” across the store trying to get people’s attention, but when they give it to you, you tend to act shy. At church this past Sunday, a lady said she just had to come kiss you because you were too cute, and when she did, you pretty much looked at her like she was crazy.

VOCABULARY: I can’t even begin to list the words you know. We were doing flash cards the other night and I was amazed at how many you were able to say. I didn’t even know you knew the word “airplane” until I showed you the flashcard! You said “airplane!” and looked up. So sweet!!!

NUMBERS: I just started trying to teach you to count (bad mommy)! We’ve made it to two. HA! I say one…you say two…then we’re pretty much done! Maybe by next month’s update we’ll make it to five!

POTTY TRAINING: We haven’t really started trying yet. You do tend to tell me when you need a diaper and you will sit on the potty for a minute before getting in the bath (which is the only time I ask you to sit on the potty). Tonight you even went potty for the first time in the big potty!!!!! I was so proud of you! However, it pretty much traumatized you, and I think you may not do it again until you are at least 10! HA! Due to the obvious distraught it caused, we picked a book about potty training for your bedtime story! I'm not sure you (or mommy) are quite ready!

Here's a few pics of you tonight before bed...you really weren't too interested in taking pictures.

Holding your potty training book...

I think you have the BEST eyelashes ever! I know I'm partial, but I'm just crazy about you!

WE LOVE YOU BABY GIRL!!!

Olivia's New Slide

On Saturday, a family down the street was having a garage sale. We saw a lot of kids' toys, so we stopped to check it out. Olivia immediately ran to this slide, and I knew we'd have to get it. They play on slides at school, church and a couple of friends' houses, so I knew she loved these little ones, which we purchased for only $20! I found the same slide online for about $75, so I'm very pleased with our deal!

"Thanks Mamma! I love it!"