Life with Lola and Beau

Video

2011-04-18T18:13:00.000-07:00

Just a short funny video from the park a couple of weeks ago...

Clydefest

2011-04-17T18:41:00.000-07:00

We went to Clydefest today in Pittsboro http://chathamarts.org/programs/clydefest.html. It was fun for the kids. It was our first time there. There were lots of games for the kids, face painting, and wood animals (and some real big turtles). On Friday, I took Olivia for kindergarten registration and a tour of her school. I can't believe she will be starting kindergarten already. I can't believe she will be five in June. She's really excited about it. She's also excited about the "shopping" aspect of it. She informed me that she will be needing a new backpack and lunch box. They are having a preschool graduation on June 5th. She had her school pictures taken in her cap and gown.

Beau is getting so big so fast too. He's talking A LOT and he's very smart. He's got a little bit of a temper - he gets that from his daddy:-)

Sorry this is short but I finally found my card reader to transfer pictures to my computer. I'm off to bed because it's late.

Halloween

2010-12-16T10:44:00.000-08:00

Ok so I know that I am way behind on some posts that I really wanted to put up on my blog in the last few months so I'm going to go back and write about each one over the next few days. I'm going to start with Halloween. We were planning on going camping in Asheboro again this year because we had an awesome time there last year but it was just too close to our trip to Disney so we decided not to at the last minute. My friend Susan was nice enough to invite us to her neighborhood to go trick-or-treating since my neighborhood doesn't do anything. Our neighborhood is only about 9 houses and each one is on at least 5 acres so they are pretty far apart. There really aren't a lot of kids in our neighborhood either. Anyway, Susan lives in Cary and she has a little girl who's two and a half. Natalie has the funniest personality. She's quite a little firecracker. She dressed up as Minnie Mouse this year. It ended up being pretty cold and of course I didn't come with the proper outerwear for my daughter so she was pretty cold. I think it was like 58 degrees when we left. Beau was Rex from Toy Story 3 and Olivia was Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Beau actually left the piece on his head the whole time which was shocking because when I first tried it on him when I brought it home - he cried and ripped it off. Kind of reminded me of Olivia's costume at that age. She was a skunk with the same kind of head piece. I have some pictures of her with tears running down her cheeks. She ended up leaving hers on at the party she wore it too though so all was good.

Next post will be about our trip to Disney followed by one about Thanksgiving.....

Best. Gift. Ever.

2010-09-25T18:46:00.000-07:00

Thank you mom and dad. It gets used at least an hour every day.

Trampoline from Heather Fennick on Vimeo.

Beau's Surgery

2010-09-20T17:49:00.000-07:00

Holy crap - I can't believe I haven't posted anything since July 7th. I totally suck at this lately. I'm sorry but honestly I haven't even been taking that many pictures and no video which I feel terrible about. I took so many pictures and video of Olivia for the first 2 years of her life and Beau has totally gotten screwed in that department. I think it's just because I feel so overwhelmed all of the time that I don't take the time to stop and grab my camera or video camera. I'm working on it though - both the stress and the feeling of being overwhelmed all of the time. I don't know what it is but I just cannot shake the fog that I've been in this year. I'm still struggling to lose at least 20 lbs. I have taken up working out again though which has been helping tremendously. I work out with 5 people at work. We run two days and do videos in the gym 3 days. We are going to switch to 3 days running though because we are planning on running our first 5K in November. I am excited about that. I have actually learned to like running. I just need to change my terrible eating habits. My sweet tooth is killing any results I should be gaining from the running and working out thing. I have pretty much just "maintained".

Anyway - Beau had surgery on Friday. He was born with a congenital birth defect condition called hypospadias. I'll let you google it if you've never heard of it. He had a mild case but he did end up with over 100 stitches and a catheter until Thursday. He did so well and is doing so well. I really can't tell a difference in his mood. He does have some bladder spasms occasionally but overall he hasn't been fussy at all. It's a pain to change his diaper - he has to wear two so the catheter empties out into the second one. I'm so worried that he will accidentally pull on the catheter but so far so good. I've got him home until he gets it out though. Daycare said I could bring him but I think it would be too much for them to change him, give him all of his meds and watch that he doesn't straddle anything. My poor baby:( I'm enjoying my alone time with him. It's hard to give each one of them individual attention and I feel guilty. Olivia has been jealous lately saying that I love Beau more and that I do more for him. It breaks my heart when she says that because I don't want her to feel that way. I've been trying to be more mindful of that and spend some extra time at night with her after Beau has gone to bed.

We celebrated Sean's 40th birthday at Lake Norman with his parents in August. Had a great time. We also went home to PA over Labor Day in September. We had a great time there too. Olivia stayed with her grandparents for two nights in a row with her cousin Brea. She had so much fun. I wish we didn't live so far away so she could do that more often. The drive is 11 hours - ugh.....

By the way - all of the pictures are from the hospital on Friday. The one with Beau sleeping was immediately after they gave him valium to calm him down. We had to wait two and a half hours before surgery and he was starving since he couldn't eat after midnight. He was screaming for pretty much an hour. She gave him that and it knocked him out.

Well I will TRY not to wait so long between posts this month.

Happy Birthday Lola!!

2010-07-07T18:45:00.000-07:00

Ok so I am SO LATE with Olivia's birthday post just as I was with Beau's. She turned 4 on June 12th. All she wanted was to have a party with her friends so I planned one at Snip-It's in Apex which is a salon for kids. They have a cute little room in the back and they do their hair, makeup and they dress up in princess dresses and parade into the salon at the end. It turned out great but I stressed about it for 2 weeks thinking nobody was going to show up. Of course people don't know what RSVP means anymore. I could go on and on about it but I'm over it now and I ended up being worried for nothing which is usually the case. There were 7 girls including Olivia and I am so grateful to the parents that did bring their little girls. It meant SO MUCH to Olivia. Beau also got another haircut that day while we were there - his 4th one!! Olivia didn't have her first haircut until she was about 2!!!

I've had a rough month - it seems like I say that a lot anymore. I had two weeks where I felt cursed. It started with me getting a ticket for running a stop sign (I did stop - just not enough I guess). The things were probably minor to most people but it was just frustrating. I'm not even going to write about it now because again it's been awhile now and I've calmed down. Things are turning around:)

We've gone camping a couple of times. We just found a campground across from Lake Norman where we are getting a permanent site so we don't have to pull the camper when we want to go. It will be nice to just pack some clothes and go. I LOVE Lake Norman too. It's so beautiful there. We're hoping to get a boat next summer. We're taking it down this weekend to get it set up and we're pretty excited.

Beau is almost 14 months. He's not walking yet. I think Olivia was 14 months when she started walking. He's also been a bear lately. He's getting more teeth. He has also developed a HUGE appetite and never seems to get enough. I think he's frustrated too that he can't walk. He has quite the temper - he didn't get that from me....

Happy Birthday Beau!

2010-06-01T17:50:00.000-07:00

I'm a little late (over a week) but I wanted to wish my baby a happy 1st birthday. I can't believe he is one already. This year has flown by. It's been a difficult year at times but I'm so proud to be Beau and Olivia's mommy. They are such loving and sweet kids and I wouldn't change a thing. Well maybe I would change Beau's sleeping habits if I could:) He sleeps good but gets up right when I need to get up to start getting ready for work. He's also been having a hard time going down at night. It takes about an hour for him to fall asleep. I've been letting him cry it out the past few days and it's KILLING ME. I hate to do that but he's never going to learn if I don't.

We were actually in Myrtle Beach for Beau's birthday with Sean's parents. We also celebrated Olivia's birthday there too since they won't see her on her actual birthday (June 12th - she'll be four). We had a wonderful time. It was so nice to get away since it's been so long. We went to the beach a couple of days, visited the aquarium and Alligator adventure. We also spent a lot of time at the pool. We also met my parents in Virginia the first weekend in May to go camping in their new motor home. We had a lot of fun that weekend too. I wish we had more vacation so we could do things like that more often. Our next trip is to Disney World in November. We're staying at Fort Wilderness in our camper. My parents and my brother and his family are also going. I can't wait - Olivia is going to be in total overload there. I'm going to sign her up for the breakfast with the princesses. I think it will be something she will always remember. It's not cheap - $150 - but I think it will be worth it. I guess nothing at Disney is cheap though.

Beau is meeting all of his milestones but he's not walking yet. He's almost there. He has been trying more this week. He gets into EVERYTHING too. He'd rather eat stones out of the fireplace, climb the stairs, play with the Dustbuster, pull the flashlight out of the wall or play in the bathroom near the toilet (so gross) than play with any of his toys. I don't remember Olivia being so hard to keep up with. He's a boy - that's for sure!

My sister-in-law Caity is working on a cruise ship somewhere in Europe right now. She's a dancer and performer. We watched a video of her performance while we were in Myrtle Beach. We're so proud of her and I'm so jealous. She's getting to see things most of us will never have a chance to. She's so lucky to have this opportunity. We missed you on vacation though:)

Not too much else to talk about. I'm sure a lot of funny things have happened since the last time I posted but if I don't post it right away, I forget. I really need to do this more. I just wish I had more energy and more time. Maybe someday.......

Oh yeah - I know I suck at adding the pictures in a particular order. I really need to learn more about adding pictures and stuff. They are completely out of order which drives me crazy!!!

April

2010-04-18T18:16:00.001-07:00

Sorry it's been so long since I've put up some pictures. We've done a lot since the last time I posted. Beau is growing up so fast. He pulled himself up to stand completely on his own today and even took one small step while he was holding on the the edge of the couch. I think he's going to walk way before Olivia did. If I remember correctly she didn't walk until around 14 months. Beau will be 11 months in a couple of days.

Since last post we celebrated Easter, bought a new bike trailer/double stroller, and visited a really nice campground that has an amazing park for kids. Sean also picked up the Radio Flyer wagon that his parents got the kids for Christmas when he was home in March. We didn't have room for it in the truck at Christmas. Too many gifts!!

Olivia is also growing up so fast. She's such a sweet girl. She slept with me last night in my bed and Sean slept in hers. I was half asleep this morning with my eyes closed and she woke up and leaned over and kissed me on the cheek thinking I was still asleep. It melted my heart. I took her to church with me this morning too. It has been awhile since we've gone. I haven't wanted to take Beau because he fidgets a lot so I decided to just take Olivia. She did really well. It was cute because she kept asking where Jesus was and I told her that he was everywhere but that we couldn't see him. She asked me in church if her dog was there. I asked her what she meant and she said "her Abby". It almost made me tear up because we had told her when Abby died that she was now with Jesus and since Jesus was there in church she thought Abby was there too. When we were leaving she said to me "mommy church was fun". I said "so you will go with me again next week?" and she said "sure but let's go to another one, not this one."

The weather has been great. I can't wait to go camping. We'll be going with my parents in two weeks - I can't wait!!

My baby got his first haircut!!

2010-03-15T18:23:00.001-07:00

Beau is only 9 months old but he needed a haircut already. We took him on Saturday to Snippits and he did great. He looks like a little man now and not a baby which makes me sad but his new haircut is really cute. I just can't believe we had to do it so early. Olivia didn't get her first haircut until she was almost two. She was bald for a LONG time.

Beau had a rough two months in January and February with three consecutive ear infections. He's been over the last one now for about 2 weeks so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. We did take him to an ENT doctor last week but his ears were finally clear so they made an appointment for us at the end of April to check again and to do a hearing test. I'm hoping that was the last of his infections. He was waking up every night with a fever over 104 degrees.

We've finally moved him into Olivia's crib in her old room and moved her into the guest room. We still need to paint her new room pink (her choice) and move all of her stuff over. Beau is currently sleeping in a very "girly" room. They are both doing really well with the transition.

We also started giving Beau a bath in a bigger tub instead of the infant one in our kitchen sink. It's a big yellow blow up duckie - Olivia had the same one. She of course had to try it out again too. She barely fits but she doesn't mind. She's taken all of her baths in it this week.

January

2010-02-07T17:57:00.000-08:00

Sorry it's been so long since I have posted anything but January was a hard month and I just didn't feel like spending much time on my computer. I didn't really take many pictures either. It was just a stressful and depressing month. It's always really busy at work because it's year-end and we also had to say goodbye to a good friend that was killed in the line of duty. One of Sean's oldest friends, Paul Richey a PA state trooper was shot and killed on January 13th. We made a quick trip home for the funeral and I have to say the viewing and the funeral were the saddest two days of my life. We hadn't actually seen Paul and his family in a few years since we moved to NC and of course we now regret that. He left behind his wife Carrie and two beautiful children. My heart is just broken for them. Life is definitely too short and sometimes so unfair.

Beau has been sick off and on. He's had two ear infections in the past month and the typical cold, cough and runny nose. I've had to keep him home from daycare a few days which makes it hard on me for work. Luckily I can work from home but it's sometimes difficult to get things done when he can be so unpredictable. I manage but it's hard. I'm looking forward to the warmer weather so maybe he can go a full month without getting sick. We also had some snow last weekend. We were pretty much stuck in the house all weekend because the roads were pretty bad. My parents were here from Friday night until Sunday morning. They were passing through on their way to Florida for the month of February. We wanted to go to the zoo but that didn't happen.

Well I'm off to bed - sorry it's so short but I'm exhausted as usual.

December

2009-12-30T18:01:00.000-08:00

December has been both a good and bad month. We had to put our St. Bernard Abby down a few weeks ago. She was eleven years old and she lost control of her back legs all of a sudden. She couldn't stand up at all. She wasn't able to get into her dog house or stand up to go the bathroom. I'm not sure if she developed hip dysplasia all of a sudden or if maybe she broke something. She was also breathing heavy. She lived for eleven years which is great for a St. Bernard. It was hard because she's been with us since she was a puppy and Olivia LOVED her. We just explained to her what happened last Sunday. Abby was an outside dog and it's been cold outside so Olivia hadn't been outside to play to see her. Sean told her that Abby had been sick and she went to be with Jesus. It broke my heart because as she was crying she said that she wanted Jesus to bring her back. I still tear up when I think about it. Sean took her out to Abby's kennel and they said a prayer and Olivia turned to Sean and said "it's ok daddy, we'll get a new one". It was cute because she was trying to make him feel better. We probably shouldn't have waited to tell her but it happened before Christmas and then we went home to PA for a week. We leave when it's dark in the morning and get home when it's dark so she hadn't seen Abby recently.

It seems like these things always happen at the worst time. We had to put our other dog Harley down last year the day before we were supposed to leave for vacation in Tennesee. I came home from work and she was suffering. She was dying and I didn't want her to suffer. She was twelve. We are now without any pets and I think we will stay that way for awhile. I think Beau is a little young for a puppy. We talked about getting a smaller dog (Harley was a black lab) and maybe keeping this one in the house when we do. Not too sure about that yet. I always said I would never have a dog in the house again - I can't stand the dog hair.

Christmas was great. Olivia really had fun this year. Both of the kids got a ton of new toys. Our house looks like Toy's R Us. I just finished getting everything put away today. Olivia even got to ride a miniature horse. Our friends Jesse and Shelly and their daughter Alysseia have horses. She had so much fun and it was so nice of them to take her out on Christmas Eve. I missed it because I had to do some last minute shopping. Sean took her but I wish I could have been there after seeing how cute the pictures were.

The week flew by as usual. It's always hard to leave but once we get back to the great weather down here in NC we are fine:)

Baptism

2009-12-03T18:03:00.000-08:00

We finally had Beau baptized on Tuesday November 24th. I didn't want to wait until he was 6 months old but we just never had a chance to have it done until now. Beau has gotten so big that the hat that came with his outfit didn't fit. He's already wearing 12 month clothes. He had his 6 month appointment on Monday November 23rd and he weighed 18 lbs. 4 oz. and was 28 inches long which is in the 95th percentile. He got both the seasonal and swine flu shots. He did really well - he only cried for a few seconds.

Thanksgiving was nice. My parents and my brother's family all came down. We had a house full of people. Olivia loved having her cousins here. She doesn't get to see them that often but they always get along really well and she talks about them when we're not together. We all went to Monkey Joe's on Black Friday and then to a park on Saturday.

Beau has had a cold for over two weeks now and he's been sent home from daycare I think three times in that period. He's been throwing up a lot. But he really hasn't been acting "sick". I got a call yesterday that he had puked up his peas everywhere so I took him to the dr. and we are trying baby Zantac for reflux. I've given him three doses now and it seems to be working. He was coughing every few minutes all day long and that has pretty much stopped and he only spit up a little this morning. I just want him to feel better. I probably should have taken him sooner but I hate to be the parent that runs to the dr. for every little thing.

We're going to take Olivia to the Christmas parade on Sunday. They have a school Christmas show on Tuesday night that she's in also. I'm not sure what they are doing but it should be cute.

Halloween at the Campground

2009-11-05T18:08:00.001-08:00

We had a great time last weekend at the campground for Halloween. A lot of campers went all out to decorate which I just realized I didn't really get any pictures of for some reason. Olivia ended up wanting to wear her Snow White dress instead of the mermaid one that i had bought her. She was a little scared of the people dressed like witches and one guy that was dressed like a werewolf. The weather ended up nice on Saturday. It was around 70 degrees. Olivia spent probably a total of 3 hours off and on at the jumping pillow. They also did a lot of nice things for the kids. They had a haunted house, a haunted hay ride, pumpkin carving and the trick or treating. We really like it there and that will probably be the place we go to the most since it's only 45 minutes from our house.

The kids daycare also had a party on Friday but Beau wasn't allowed to go in Friday because when I picked him up Thursday he decided to puke EVERYWHERE right in front of the main office. He wasn't sick. I think he just had an upset stomach. They told me that I had to keep him home even though he didn't have a fever. I understand because they are trying to be really careful about the flu. A girl in Olivia's room was sent home this week with the flu. It was nice to spend the day alone with him since I don't get to anymore now that I'm back at work. He was fine.

Sick of being sick

2009-10-27T17:48:00.001-07:00

I'm so sick of being sick!! We have all had a cold now for the last month. It seems to go away and then comes right back. I was starting to feel decent again and then I started to get another sore throat last night and now I'm all stuffed up. Seriously... how long can this last??? I guess I shouldn't complain though because it's ONLY a cold. The kids seem to be much better this week too. They still cough every once in awhile but that's about it.

It's also been a week of crappy sleep. Olivia has started to show up in our room between 2-3 am every night. I don't have the energy to fight with her so I've let her get into bed with us which is probably not a good idea. I told her tonight that she needed to stay in her room all night and she said she would so we'll see how that goes. Last night she showed up with just her underwear on. She took off her pj's for some reason.

On Saturday their daycare had a consignment sale and I stopped by with Olivia after her dance class. I was able to get Beau a high chair for $45 - it's a Chico and it's in excellent condition. I also got them a Step 2 car for $25 that looks brand new. Olivia scored a bag of "bling" for $1. It had a bunch of necklaces, bracelets and sunglasses in it. It's the best $1 I've ever spent!! She even shared with Beau - LOVE LOVE LOVE the picture of him in the pink glasses. It makes me laugh every time I look at it.

Beau also started on solid food this week for the first time. He did great. I had daycare start him on cereal yesterday and he loved it and at all of it. I tried peas and applesauce last night. He liked the peas but the applesauce not so much.

He's also getting good with the hand eye control. Can't you tell from where he dropped his binky?

They are having a Halloween party on Friday. Beau is going to be a monster and Olivia is going to be The Little Mermaid. We're also going camping this weekend and they are having trick or treat there too. I'll put up some pictures this weekend.

Swine Flu Shot

2009-10-16T18:08:00.001-07:00

Well we have all been sick for like the past three weeks. Luckily it's just been a bad cold with sore throat and cough and not the flu. I have been really worried about the swine flu since both of the kids are in daycare. It hasn't hit their school yet but it's probably just a matter of time before it does. I read the news every day and sometimes I think I shouldn't because it makes me worry. I've just read a lot of stories lately about children dying from the flu or becoming very sick. This story on msnbc was one of them:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33243690/ns/health-swine_flu/

I did take Olivia to get her H1N1 vaccine this week. There's currently only one place in the area that offers it. She does have to go back for a second dose in one month. She hasn't had any side effects and I feel a little better now that she has had it. I'm just nervous about having to wait for Beau but I will be taking him as soon as he turns 6 months. In my opinion the risk of not getting it far outweighs the risks of getting the vaccine. I think I mentioned it in an earlier post but there was also a colleague from the UK whose healthy 14 year old son died from it last month.

Before she had the vaccine, Olivia was sent home twice in the last two weeks with a fever and I did take her to the doctor the second time to make sure she was ok. She had to put on a mask in the waiting room - it was a little big but looked cute.

Beau has been doing great. He is getting so big. He was almost 17 lbs. when I took him for his 4 month visit a couple of weeks ago. I bought him new pajamas yesterday in 12 month size and they fit! He's started to roll over and he loves to suck his thumb while he's sleeping. It's so cute. He's a really good baby. We are very lucky. He sleeps through the night most of the time now so I can't complain. He seems to really like school too. He's just a very happy baby - especially in the morning. He wakes up every day smiling in his hammock. He LOVES Olivia. He'll just stare at her and smile. She's really good with him too and loves to lay in our bed with him every morning while we're getting ready.

Olivia is going to be a mermaid for Halloween. Beau is going to be a monster. We're going to the campground for Halloween. They are doing a lot of activities for the kids and have trick or treating. It should be a lot of fun. We're also going camping tomorrow for the second time. Hopefully the weather is good!

Monkey Joe's

2009-09-27T18:27:00.000-07:00

We took Olivia to Monkey Joe's today for the first time. It was a pretty cool place. Same concept as Chuck E. Cheese but with big bouncing playgrounds. Sean, Olivia, Beau and my dad were all wearing their Steeler clothes and the guy at the entrance let us in for free because of that. We spent almost two and a half hours there and didn't spend a cent!

Beau had his 4 month appointment this past week too. He's now 16 lbs. 7 ounces. He is a BIG boy!! He got some shots too which was hard. One minute he was smiling and laughing at the nurses and then they shove the needles in both of his legs and he started screaming. It made me tear up a little. I forgot how hard that was to watch. It didn't take him long to recover though.

I don't have too much to write about today but I just wanted to put up some new pictures because I got some goods ones this weekend. Oh - and I think Beau is going to be a thumbsucker. Just like Uncle Scot:)

September

2009-09-20T17:43:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted since August so I thought I would just call this one September. I can't think of a good title tonight for some reason. I just noticed on Facebook that Caity was wondering why it's been so long since I posted some pictures so I thought I should maybe add some recent ones. Sorry!!

Olivia started at her new dance place last Saturday. It's a really nice place - a little more formal than her other one. I didn't get any pictures of her in her class but I took some in the changing room. They turned out kind of neat with the mirrors.

Beau will be 4 months old on Tuesday and he also has his dr. appt. that day also. I think he has to get some more shots. I'm not looking forward to that. He's talking A LOT and he also can roll over now. He's also been drooling like a fiend so I'm pretty sure he'll be getting some teeth any day now.

I never did post about Labor Day weekend but we took our first camping trip with my in-laws then. We bought a camper in July and that was the first time we got to use it. Weekends over the summer were busy with Olivia's dance and I think I was a little hesitant to take Beau while he was so young. They both did great though. My parents are coming down this weekend and we are going to go again. We found a really nice family oriented campground in Asheboro. It takes about 45 minutes to get there which isn't too bad. They have a swimming pool and lots of activities for the kids. They are open year round too.

By the way, the picture of Olivia in the "blue shorts" is actually her wearing Beau's 0-3 month pants. She came out of the room wearing them yesterday saying "look mommy I'm wearing Beau's pants!". She's silly. They actually look like they could be her shorts!

The Police

2009-08-29T18:40:00.000-07:00

Sean and I are going to hell. We have found a new and very effective way to get Olivia to behave. I don't know how it came up yesterday but we told Olivia that if she didn't behave and act like a good girl that the police were going to come and take her to jail. Sean is even considering having our neighbor who is a state trooper pull in with his car some night. We've used it a few times since yesterday and it's worked like a charm each time. This morning when I told Olivia to brush her teeth she started to throw a fit and I asked her if she remembered what I told her yesterday and she said "mommy I don't want to go to jail" and she stopped fussing and brushed her teeth with no problems. Yep - we are so going to hell:) She's not a bad girl - she just has a little bit of an attitude (which she totally inherited from her daddy) - and she can be a little "challenging" at times.

She's finally fully potty trained and she has been sleeping in her underwear for the last week all night with no accidents! I didn't think I'd ever see this day. It kind of just clicked with her one day and she just decided that she didn't want to wear pull-ups anymore. Yeah - saves us at least $20 a month!!

Beau started school last week and ended up sick by the third day. He's had a stuffy nose and cough for the last week and a half. He's doing great there. They keep telling me he's such a good baby which is always nice to hear. He's been really good at home too. He tends to get a little fussy every night around 6. He's just tired and we've been putting him down at 7:30 every night and he goes right to sleep. He was sleeping 10-11 hours straight until he got sick. He's been getting up once around 2:30 since then. Hopefully once he's well again he'll go back to sleeping through the night. It still hasn't been too bad though. He usually eats his bottle and goes back to sleep. He's been talking and cooing A LOT. He's also drooling a lot. I think he might be getting some teeth already!

Olivia starts dance class at a new place in two weeks. I signed her up at the Cary Ballet Conservatory. It looks much more professional than the place we were taking her before. She LOVES to dance so I'm excited to see how she likes this place. She can always go back to the other one if it doesn't work out. It was nice there too - it's also a little farther than Cary.

Notice Olivia's shoes in the picture with Beau. She puts them on the wrong feet all the time. She does it just to mess with me.

Well I'm off to bed. I have great intentions of updating the blog more often but I end up choosing sleep.

Beau's First Day of School

2009-08-17T18:05:00.001-07:00

I went back to work last Thursday for the first time in 12 weeks and it was GREAT. Great to be out of stretch pants and worn out t-shirts. I feel human again. Today was Beau's first day at daycare. Sean stayed home and watched him on Thursday and Friday because the daycare wouldn't take him until today. He did really well - didn't nap too much but that's not unusual. His daytime naps have become a lot less frequent but he is sleeping 10 1/2 hours straight now!! I can't believe it because it only took Olivia 18 MONTHS to sleep through the night.... He is doing great at night and it makes me VERY HAPPY:) He talks and smiles a lot which is so cute. They even commented on that today at school.

Olivia is also doing really well with the potty training. I think she is pretty much fully trained. She has pooped on the potty for the last 5 days straight with no accidents. She's also been waking up dry all week. She gets really upset now if she pees in her pull-up at night. Last night we had put her down and I was making dinner in the kitchen and heard some loud noises coming from upstairs. I had forgotten to turn on the monitor. Sean came in from grilling outside and asked if one of them was crying. I went back the hall to check and I could hear Olivia screaming and pounding on her door because she couldn't get out and had to pee. I felt SO BAD - she was crying hysterically and I had to check her hands to make sure they weren't bleeding. I left a light on in the bathroom and left her door cracked so she could get up and go on her own during the night. I heard her get up twice after that. She didn't say one word on the monitor so it worked out really well. Thanks for the idea Mom! I'm sitting down in the living room typing this and I just heard her go again. I'm so proud of her!!

Vacation

2009-08-04T19:18:00.001-07:00

I just got back from taking the kids home to PA for a two week vacation. Sean wasn't able to take the time off and I thought it would be a good time to do it since I am still off on maternity leave. I go back to work on August 17th. We had a great time. Olivia especially had a great time. I tried to do a lot of fun things for her since we don't seem to get out much at home. We took a trip to the Erie Zoo with family and Chuck E. Cheese and just spent a lot of time with grandparents and family. I took Olivia home when she was a month old so I wanted to do the same with Beau. It's hard for a lot of our family to come down to NC to visit so we try to make it back to PA at least twice a year. I feel bad because I didn't get to see the friends that I wanted to see. It always seems that there just isn't enough time no matter how long I'm there. It's also a lot of work to drive two young kids all over the place to see different people. It's so much easier to just meet at one place.

Beau will be 11 weeks old on Friday. He has been so much easier in the last two weeks. He isn't fussing as much and he will actually let me put him in his swing or bouncy seat without crying. He's also riding much better in the car. I bought him a regular car seat before the trip home to PA and he did great. He pretty much slept the whole way up and back. He's started smiling a lot recently and he laughs and coos which is so cute. I got a great picture of him smiling recently.

Olivia is doing great too. She was a little homesick while we were away and missed Sean terribly. She started developing a little bit of an attitude the last week we were there and for a few days since we've been home but she seems to be getting better. She's back into her normal routine and has been great the last two days.

We just bought a new camper before I left and hopefully we will be able to go camping this weekend. We wanted to last weekend but I didn't feel that great and the weather wasn't cooperating. We just wanted something to get us out of the house and I know the kids will love it. I have great memories of going camping when I was younger. My parents were both teachers so they had the summers off and we would go camping a lot. They still go.

Beau is 2 Months old today

2009-07-17T19:13:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that two months has gone by already. I'm not going to lie. It's been really hard work. I give people with multiple kids a lot of credit because it is hard. It hasn't started getting easier yet. Beau is a good baby but he doesn't like to be set down. It sometimes seems that he doesn't like to be held either. I had a lot of errands to run today and he spent a good part of the day crying in and out of the car - about 6 hours total. I think he hates his car seat. I bought him a new one today but Sean doesn't think he's old enough for it yet. It's rated for newborns to toddlers but he thinks it sits upright too much and his head will go forward. I wish they made them more comfortable for newborns. I'm using a Graco one that you can pull out and carry and it just looks so uncomfortable to me.

I've decided to go home to PA for two weeks and I'm not looking forward to the ride home. My parents are going to pick us up because Sean isn't coming along for work reasons. I was hoping we could use the new seat. We are going to test drive it tomorrow on the way to Olivia's dance class because I'll sit next to him on the way there.

Not too much has happened that is worth talking about lately. I feel like every day is pretty much the same right now - kind of like the movie "Groundhog Day". It's not terrible - just kind of boring. It's too hot to go outside so I spend a lot of time at Target and Wal-Mart and it's KILLING my budget. I will have to go without pay for two weeks in August before I go back to work which will suck.

I had to put up a picture of Olivia's room. This is what happens when we put her down for a nap during the day. I swear it was completely picked up when we put her down. I think this was the worse it's ever been. She's starting to do this at night too. We put her down at 8 tonight and I went up around 9 because she was still up and she had pulled out all of her DVD's and they were strewn across the floor.

Oh and by the way - the mouse really is DEAD!!! Yeah - actually two of them:)

The Mouse is DEAD - Warning there is swearing in this post

2009-06-27T18:32:00.000-07:00

We have a mouse (AGAIN) in the house and if I catch it with my bare hands I'm going to break it's little neck. We live in the country so it's to be expected but we get them way too often and they shit in the drawer under my stove and I just about lost it yesterday when I woke up and noticed that it had somehow managed to get into my kitchen sink and drag out green peppers and onions from the pan that was soaking back up onto the countertop right behind the basket that has all of Beau's bottles drying in and shit all over the counter. I had a headache that day and almost puked. I have had to sanitize everything multiple times this week because of that little bastard. How the &%^# do they get in and out of a kitchen sink. Do they have like duct tape on their freaking feet? They have also managed to get into the top shelf of my bedroom closet before too. I'm not a dirty person - really - and I pay Terminix to come to my house quarterly. WTF???? We have tried everything to catch them and it's like we have freaking mighty mouse living in our house. Last year one escaped a snap trap (minus it's one leg). We never did find it so either it went outside to die or it survived. I HATE MICE!!!!!

Anyway - thanks for letting me vent a little. Beau has been doing well. He is A LOT like Olivia was at this age though and does not like to be put down at all. He doesn't like the swing, the glider or any other baby contraption meant to give parents a few minutes of peace. At least he is still sleeping a lot but I feel like I can't get anything done. I decided this week too that I wanted to go back to work in 4 weeks which would make it 8 weeks but I was informed by my daycare that they normally don't take babies until they are 4 months old. Again - WTF???? Who the hell can afford to take off 4 months from work?!?!?! I legally can only take 12 weeks with FMLA. I only get paid for 8 and after 12 I'm not guaranteed a job. Most people only take off 6 weeks because that's all they get paid for. Since I had a c-section I get paid for 8 - lucky me:) They are going to let me take him in at 12 weeks so it will work out. I've just been really bored at home. It's too hot to go for walks during the day. It's been in the 90's here. This is the hard part about living here with no family. I won't ever get used to that.

We did have a snake on our porch right outside the kitchen door the other day. Sean ended up killing it after having a sparring match with it. It lunged at him a few times and I think he had to change his underwear after. He hates snakes - more than I hate mice:)

I started Olivia back at dance class for the summer. She'll get to do tap and ballet. Today was her first day in about 4 months. They were all so cute. She did great. We stopped at the dance store after to buy her tap shoes. I didn't realize she needed them until last night. It was ok - she wasn't the only one missing them today.

I took Beau for his first month appt. last week. He weighs 10 lbs. 9 oz. now. He's gained over 2 lbs. in a month. The doctor said everything was great. We've just been a little concerned with the swine flu thing. There are some kids at the high school up the road from their daycare that have gotten it. When I took Olivia in for her doctor's appt. two weeks ago there was a teenager there wearing a mask. I think he was being tested for it. Her doctor said that they had seen about five cases in their office already.

Olivia received two more birthday gifts since my last post. My parents got her an easel from Step2 (very appropriate gift from a former art teacher) and my in-laws got her a Step2 house for outside. They had gotten her a bouncy house just like we had gotten her so we exchanged it for the house. She loved all of her presents and had a very nice birthday this year. She's not spoiled or anything:)

Olivia's Birthday

2009-06-15T17:29:00.000-07:00

Olivia's birthday was on Friday. She turned 3 - I can't believe she's 3 already! We've had a lot of company since Beau arrived 3 weeks ago. My parents were here for the first two weeks and my sister-in-law Caity was here for a week and my in-laws just left yesterday morning. It was really nice to have everyone here and they were all such a big help. Sean's parents were here for Olivia's birthday on Friday which was really nice. We went to her school and brought cupcakes for her class and had a little party. We took her to the zoo on Saturday and then had a little party at home. I bought a Wilton cake pan in the shape of Little Mermaid and my mother-in-law ended up making the cake for me because I just didn't have time. She did a great job - it turned out great and Olivia loved it. She got a lot of nice presents. Her big present was a bouncer for outside. She had a lot of fun playing in it over the weekend.

Beau was 3 weeks old on Friday. He's already changed a lot. His face is really filling out. He has been a really good baby - we are so lucky. He eats A LOT. He's starting to stay awake more during the day. It's hard at this age though because there's not much you can do with them. He doesn't really like to be laid down on his play mat or in his swing very much. He likes to be held if he isn't asleep. Olivia was the same way. I haven't gotten much done since I've been off. I am enjoying the time with him though because it goes so fast and they aren't this little very long. I didn't really enjoy that time with Olivia because I didn't know what to expect and I was stressed out worrying about keeping her happy all of the time. It is definitely easier this time around. I do wish that Sean didn't have to go out of town at all though. It is really hard to juggle two kids at night by yourself. Olivia has been great though. We were really worried but she loves her little brother and doesn't seem to be jealous at all.

I just want to say thanks again to everyone who came down for all of your help. We really appreciated it - and we miss you!!

Beau is Here!!

2009-05-26T18:59:00.000-07:00

I'm too tired to write a lot but Beau arrived on Friday 5/22 at 12:15 am. He was 8 lbs 5 oz and 21 inches long. I went in on Thursday morning at 6 to be induced but ended up with a c-section after a full day of only being dilated 2-3 cm. I'm glad I went in a week early because the cord was wrapped around his neck twice tightly. It all worked out in the end and I'm just happy that he is healthy. He's been a wonderful baby so far. He doesn't cry a lot and seems to be very content. He's got blonde hair and blue eyes - even though we haven't seen much of them yet. He sleeps A LOT - I am enjoying it now though because I know that won't last long!! He had his first dr. appt. today and everything was great. I am still pretty sore but every day is getting easier. The pain pills have really helped too:)

I feel bad because I haven't taken quite as many pictures of Beau as I did when Olivia was born. I think because it's been harder for me to get around but I'm trying to make up for it now that I'm home. Attached are a few from his first days. I'll try to add more later this week - and maybe say a little more too.

One More Week!

2009-05-13T18:59:00.000-07:00

I went to the doctor today and I am scheduled to be induced next Thursday morning. I'm getting scared now! My due date is May 28th (I thought it was may 26th) and my doctor said it was safe to induce up to a week before and next Thursday was what's available on the hospital schedule. The baby is really kicking the crap out of my bladder today - it's really uncomfortable.

We took Olivia to the mall last weekend and she finally did a Build-A-Bear. We've taken her there a few times and she never seemed to want to build one but she did this time. It was of course pink - her favorite color. She named it Olivia too. We let her play in the kid's area too for a little while.

We were playing on her playground the other day and she asked me to swing with her. After a few minutes she told me to get off because my butt was too big. Her brutal honesty kills me sometimes.

We took her a couple of weeks to have her hair cut too. She does really well which surprises me every time.

New Playground

2009-04-29T18:35:00.000-07:00

Sean's boss was nice enough to give us their playground because his daughters are both teens now and they haven't used it in awhile. Sean went to pick it up on Saturday and spent Sunday putting it back together. It needs to be stained again and it needs a new roof over the fort part but it's still in good condition and Olivia LOVES it. We had been looking at Rainbow playgrounds and it would have cost about $5,000 for a similar one. There are some monkey bars Sean still needs to attach to it but he needed help holding them up and I couldn't. I tried but it was a little heaving and pregnant women aren't supposed to lift above their heads. Along with the playground, they sent up two pretty cool bikes. They are still kind of big but Olivia got the hang of it and was able to move it. She also got a new sandbox. We had a pretty busy weekend getting it all set up. We still want to put in some landscaping ties and fill in the area with mulch. It will be nice to have something to do outside now. I want her to love being outdoors. Next is a pool - maybe next year:)

The picture of the bird house that is falling apart is for my mom to show my grandpa - I need a new one!! He built it for me a few years back and it has been used so much that it's falling apart. There are actually baby birds inside of it right now. I hope it doesn't drop to the ground before they are able to fly.

I had a doctor's appointment today. I'm 36 weeks along now and if the baby doesn't arrive by his due date (May 26th) I'm going to be scheduled to be induced on that day. My doctor said it wasn't a problem. My feet and legs have been really swollen lately and it's been close to 90 every day down here. I'm ready for it to be over.

Dry all day!!!

2009-03-30T18:25:00.000-07:00

Olivia was dry all day in her big girl underpants!! I have been terrible working with her at home using regular underpants but we decided to dive right in this weekend after they put her in them at school on Friday and she didn't have any accidents. Saturday did not go so well. I think she had about 10 accidents. Sunday was much better. She had 2 accidents but both times she was trying to make it to the bathroom and just didn't make it quite in time. So this morning I put her in regular underpants and when I picked her up she was still wearing the same clothes. She was dry all day!! After Saturday, I thought it was going to take FOREVER. I felt bad though because I got a little upset with her on Saturday when she seemed to think it was funny to pee on the floor and I raised my voice a little. Yesterday after she had one of her two accidents, she asked me not to scream at her. I thought I was going to cry. I didn't think that I had screamed at her but that must be how she took it. Anyways - it seemed to work so I guess I shouldn't feel so bad. I made sure I told her many times how proud we were of her.

Over the weekend she got into the ENTIRE box of Pet Shop band-aids and put them all over herself. She loves stickers and band-aids. At least it's cheap entertainment!

Sean watched Olivia on Saturday while I went to Furnitureland South to look at baby furniture - specifically for a new glider/rocker chair. If you have never been there you have to go. It is the biggest furniture store I have ever seen and you can usually get things 50% less than regular stores because they carry pretty much all manufacturers. It literally takes a full day to see everything. We bought Olivia's furniture there and our living room furniture. I didn't really find what I was looking for but I did find myself a new kitchen! It was made by Habersham and it was AMAZING. I have never heard of it but apparently it's been featured in Architectural Digest. There were no prices listed for the kitchen but there was a huge closet that retailed for $122,000. It wasn't really my style but it was still pretty neat. Attached are some pictures I took with my IPhone - just got that too and I LOVE IT!! I wish I hadn't waited so long:)

Cankles

2009-03-13T19:07:00.000-07:00

I've been a little bitchy this week because the cankles have finally made an appearance during this pregnancy. I had them really bad when I was pregnant with Olivia and was hoping that I wouldn't get them again but they made an appearance the other day and haven't left. My feet are HUGE!!! And they hurt like hell. Those people who say they love being pregnant are either #$&@*!( crazy or full of @#$*. Sorry - just had to vent a little! I've only got 11 more LONG weeks to go so I guess I just need to suck it up.

We've all had a bit of a cold this week too. I picked Olivia up yesterday from school and she was crying when I got there. Her teacher said that she hadn't been feeling well all day and then asked me if she sleepwalked at home. During her nap she apparently stood straight up and was looking around but didn't hear anyone talking to her. They said it was really strange like she was sleepwalking. They layed her back down and she went back to sleep. It made me think of something strange that happened the other night. We put her to bed and about a 30 minutes later I heard her on the monitor get out of bed and run across the room and back and then it sounded like she was back in bed and asleep.

We're still working on the potty training. She drank a lot of milk last night and woke up at 5 am this morning saying that she peed. Her sheets were wet so I changed her and put her back to bed. She woke up again at 6 and came downstairs to watch tv in my bed while I was getting ready. I was in the bathroom and I hear her say "I'm sorry". I asked her why she was sorry and she said that she had peed in my bed too. So I had to wash all of these sheets tonight. It's 10:30 and our sheets are still in the dryer. Potty training stinks:)

The pictures are from a playground we went to last Sunday in Cary.

Circus

2009-02-10T17:43:00.000-08:00

We took Olivia to the circus on Saturday. She had a great time and did great sitting through the whole thing which was over 2 hours long. It was a little upsetting pulling in because there were protesters standing outside with signs that had pictures of elephants in chains and talking about abuse of circus animals. I hope that it's not true - I wasn't expecting them to be there.

It was nice to get out of the house and do something different. Last week was kind of a rough week. They are still laying people off at work and my friend Lori was let go on Thursday. I called her today and she's doing good. I know she'll be ok but I know it's really hard to find work right now with the way things are going. There seems to be no slowing down - they have still been laying people off this week in other locations I heard today.

I go tomorrow to have another ultrasound. I will be 25 weeks on Thursday. They noticed that I have a low lying placenta and if it doesn't move they will have to do a c-section so they are checking to see where it's at now. I guess it's nothing major and the majority of people that have it have no problems because it ends up moving.

We are making progress with the potty training. Not quite there yet but she is going on her own at times without me asking. I heard her upstairs the other day calling for help. I went to see what was going on and she was sitting on top of the big potty trying to put on her big girl undies and she had both legs in one hole and was stuck. She did go potty on her own and was trying to change her pull up to undies on her own so that is definitely progress!!

Snow Day

2009-01-21T17:51:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Olivia's daycare was closed due to the weather so I got to spend the day at home with her. We had fun playing all day. Sean had been out of town so he didn't get to stay home with us. It would have been nice to have all of us at home but it didn't work out that way unfortunately. I did take Olivia out in the snow for about 20 minutes in the morning. I don't really have any snow clothes or boots for her since it never snows here so I tried to bundle her up as best as I could. She doesn't have any gloves so I didn't want to keep her outside too long. She was fine until we went back in the house and you know that feeling you get when your hands are really cold and they start to thaw out - well she learned about that once we were back in the house. She ran into my room and curled up on a pillow on the floor yelling "I"m freezing!!". It was really funny. I felt bad because she was crying but I knew she was ok. It took about 10 minutes for her to thaw out.

I also thought that it would be a good day to try wearing "big girl" pants again so I showed her the new princess underpants I had bought a couple of weeks ago. She was really excited and had to try them all on - all 20 pairs of them! I tried to explain to her that she can't pee in them like a pull up and that she needed to tell me when she needed to go potty. It didn't go so well. She peed on the floor three times. She did actually go to her potty once by herself though which was good. When we got home again tonight I thought I would try again because she found a clean pair and wanted to wear them. I explained it to her again but she peed on the floor again. It's very frustrating. She's very smart and picks up things very quickly so I thought she would pick up on this quicker than she has. I started about 6 months ago and I don't feel we've gotten very far. She needs to be completely trained before June to move up to the next class in her daycare so I have my work cut out for me.

It's Snowing Here!!

2009-01-20T04:54:00.001-08:00

It's snowing here today!! I haven't seen snow here since 2004 I think. We already have a couple of inches. I took these pictures this morning. I'm going to take Olivia outside a little later so she can touch it. She thought it was pretty neat.

It's Been Awhile

2009-01-13T18:10:00.001-08:00

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything but I have just been so exhausted when I get home from work that the last thing I want to do is get onto my computer. Weekends are the same. I'm hoping that the feeling of being so tired all of the time will go away soon. I didn't think it was suppose to last past the first trimester but I'm already 20 weeks along. I'm having a lot of heartburn too which is not fun. I guess I can't complain too much though - I really didn't have any morning sickness. I never did really post anything on here about being pregnant again but I think that the small number of people who read this actually know all about it:)

We had a really nice Christmas. We went home to PA for a week which as usual was not enough time to see everyone we wanted to see. We always have the best intention to visit all of our friends but it seems to never work out that way. We hit a cow in my car the Friday before we left which sucked. I just got my car back last Saturday. It ended up being $4,200 to fix. I only had to pay a $100 deductible but being without my car for 3 weeks was a pain.

Olivia loved Christmas this year. She really understood everything and was so excited. Her big present from us was a Barbie Jeep which she really likes but isn't ready to drive yet. She likes to just sit in it and turn on the radio. It is for ages 3 and up and she doesn't turn 3 until June so hopefully she will learn to drive it later on. Otherwise it's a pretty expensive jungle gym. She LOVES to dress up in pretty dresses and shoes so she also got some new ones. She always loves jewelry so I got her a really cute bracelet engraved with her name from Etsy. She's totally a girl. The other day she painted her eyes with her watercolor paints like she was putting on eye shadow. I was only in the kitchen for a few minutes!

Well I'm off to bed. I will try to post more frequently - Promise!!

Thanksgiving

2008-12-04T17:38:00.000-08:00

My parents and my brother's family all came down last week for Thanksgiving. We had a really nice time and it's always nice to have family around during the holidays. I hadn't seen my nephew since he was born in July either so I was excited to see him again. We went to the zoo again on Friday. It's always a nice place to take the kids. Olivia loved having her cousins around to play with. They all left on Sunday and we put up the Christmas tree. Olivia is so excited about Christmas this year. I don't think she really understood it until this year. When I ask her what she wants for Christmas she says "presents". I asked her what kind she wants and she said "big ones".

She's been saying funny things lately. Sean thought it would be funny to teach her the word "duh" which she now says ALL of the time. I hate it and I've tried to get her to stop because it just sounds so disrespectful when she says it. She uses it in perfect context too. I mentioned it to her teacher the other day and told her it would be alright to give her a time out if she said it but she just laughed and said another little girl in her class says it all of the time.

I also got home from work the other day and had taken all of my clothes off to put on some comfortable ones. Olivia came in and yelled "put some clothes on!". It was too funny! Since when do little kids care about clothes? She runs around in just her pull up all of the time.

The Zoo

2008-11-17T17:28:00.000-08:00

I'm a little late in writing about our trip to the zoo since it happened last Sunday but I got some nice pictures and we had a really nice time. Sean's parents came down for a long weekend. We had a really nice time and Olivia loved having them here. We usually go to the zoo a few times a year. I love our zoo - it's in Asheboro. It's sort of in the middle of nowhere but it's in a very natural setting and you have to do a lot of walking. We'll be going again in a week and a half when my parents and my brother's family come down for Thanksgiving.

We're still working on the potty training. It's not going so well. She was doing great but has seemed to take a few steps backwards. It's also really difficult on the weekends when we're running around everywhere. I hate to admit it but it is SO MUCH easier to just have on a pull up. Sean thinks she'll be 20 and still in a pull up. At least we won't have to worry about boys!! :)

Halloween

2008-11-01T16:58:00.001-07:00

We took Olivia trick or treating for the first time last night. She had a great time. We actually went to a neighborhood in Pittsboro. They don't really do anything in our neighborhood since the houses are on such large lots and so far apart. We went with our neighbors across the street who have two young girls. Olivia's school had a party during the day too. She wore her cat costume (minus the mask - her head is too big and it kept popping off) during the day and her mouse costume at night. She was so cute! The first house we went to she was so excited that she grabbed three handfuls of candy from the bowl. She did great walking too. We walked pretty far and she walked herself the whole way and wouldn't let anyone carry her bucket for her.

I'm too tired tonight to write a lot but I wanted to put up some pictures since it's been three weeks.

Potty Training

2008-10-08T17:57:00.000-07:00

So I started potty training Olivia last Thursday. I had ordered some regular underpants and that's the day they came so I figured what better time to start? I also ordered a video from Amazon called "Potty Power". Olivia had already been using the potty a couple of times a day at school. I had talked to her one teacher at school and she said that they would work with her using regular underpants and lots of extra clothes. So I take her in on Friday with 8 pairs of underwear and like 6 outfits. I told the morning teacher what I was doing and she seemed ok with it. When I picked her up that night and got home I realized she had a diaper on and that NONE of her underpants were used during the day. I was not happy. The one teacher that I know well has been out the last week and just got back yesterday. She asked me what happened today with the underwear. I told her what happened and she said that the girl had complained that she had an accident so that's why she put diapers on her. HELLO - that is the whole point!! She told me to bring them in again tomorrow and she would work with her. I'm just having second thoughts about her new school. She also came home today with a big scrape on her chin. I didn't see it until we were home. At her other school they would fill out an incident report for everything no matter how minor it was. She's come home from her new school with cuts and bruises and I haven't seen any reports or received any explanation. I'm just feeling like maybe I made a mistake.

Play Doh

2008-09-24T18:05:00.000-07:00

I finally caved and let Olivia play with Play Doh in the house. She's received a couple of gifts of Play Doh that I've kept hidden in the closet until yesterday. She was having a MAJOR meltdown (don't even remember why) and I thought maybe that would help her calm down. It did the trick! We played with it for almost two hours last night. I stopped at Target on the way home and picked up another set - one that makes ice cream sundaes and cones - to play with tonight. It kept her busy for over an hour again tonight - yeah! I hadn't really found anything that would keep her interest that long. Until now!! I always thought that it would be a nightmare to clean up but it's actually pretty easy. It doesn't stain and it dries up on the carpet and you can just vacuum it up. I wish I wouldn't have waited so long to let her play with it. I need to relax a little bit sometimes;)

She's still wanting to put on her "dress" (Halloween costume) every night. I bought her a new car seat so we have one in each car. I bought another Britax because we were very happy with the first one. This one is a cute cow print. It looks so comfortable - wish my seat was like that.

I also bought her some new Nick and Nora pj's at Target. They make the cutest pj's. I bought her two pairs of flannel ones last year and they were so adorable. She was dancing around in it tonight.

Dress Up

2008-09-17T19:07:00.001-07:00

Olivia has really been into dressing up a lot lately. She is definitely turning out to be a girl that way. She LOVES to dress up in different outfits and put on all of her shoes. Today was no exception. I had pulled out her Halloween outfit from last year to sell on Ebay and she wanted to wear it. It still fit which is amazing. She also wanted to wear her "dress" which is her Halloween outfit for this year. It's a cute cat costume with a twirly dress and a cat mask with long black gloves. She loves to put it on and twirl around in it.

She's doing really well adjusting to her new daycare. She came home today with some new tattoos. She loves showing them off to everybody. She's actually had tattoos for the last month and she gets a little upset when they start to wear off so her new teacher was nice enough to bring some more in today.

Well it's pretty late so I'm not going to write much tonight. I just wanted to put some new pictures up!

FINALLY!!!

2008-09-09T17:59:00.000-07:00

I have been waiting for over 4 years for DSL and it's finally here - and it is WONDERFUL!!! I can't believe we finally have it available - I never thought I would see this day! AMAZING!! I'm so sorry it's been so long since I've written an entry but it used to take FOREVER to upload pictures. This will be the real test.

Since my last post, we have lost our dog Harley, gone on vacation, switched daycare centers and GOT DSL!! We've had some rough times this past month - we had to put our dog Harley down. She was 13 years old and she got really sick the night before we left for vacation last month. It was definitely a bad start to our vacation in Gatlinburg. We did end up having a great time. We went with my parents and my grandparents. I was so happy that my grandparents were able to come. We had a wonderful time and it was very relaxing. I'm ready for another one already.

Olivia started taking dance classes last Saturday. It was too cute!! There were only three girls in her class so hopefully more will sign up soon. She did great! She actually followed along and paid attention. She also started her new daycare this week. Her last day at her old one was last Friday. I think I was more upset than she was. I loved the center and the teachers there are wonderful. I told myself as I drove there to pick her up on Friday that I wasn't going to cry but as soon as I walked in all of the teachers were waiting at the door with some gifts for Olivia. As soon as I saw them I burst into tears. It was very hard - they have been taking care of Olivia every day for the last two years. It was very sweet and they made us feel special. I will miss all of them very much. The reason that I moved her was because she was spending 2 hours a day in the car with me. She's now only about 15 minutes from the house. She's done great adjusting which has been a big relief. I was really worried she would have a hard time. She's always talking about her friend Mia from school and I wasn't sure how she would handle it.

Attached are a few recent pictures from the vacation and Olivia's dance class.

Books

2008-08-11T09:30:00.000-07:00

Well my promise to update weekly isn't working out so well. I try to work on it at home but get totally frustrated with my internet service. It takes FOREVER to upload pictures at home. Living in the country sucks (probably not the best choice of words but that's exactly how I feel). We went to VA last week to visit our friends John and Courtney. They had a baby a few months ago and we wanted to see her. Her name is Natalie Grace. She was adorable! She looks a lot like her daddy. I named the post "Books" because Olivia has been obsessed with books lately. All she wants to do is read "her books". She carries them everywhere with her and has a fit when she drops them out of her carseat. I have become very good at driving and reaching into the backseat to retrieve her books. I can also change a movie from the front seat - I know SCARY. She's going to be transferring to a new daycare on September 8th. I've had her on the waiting list since the month she was born. She finally got in which I'm so excited about because it's only 15 minutes from the house and she won't have to spend almost 2 hours in the car with me everyday. I'm feeling sad though because she loves it where she is at now and I do really like her teachers there. I haven't told her current daycare yet. I'm supposed to give them 2 weeks notice and I will probably tell them today. I'm just dreading it though. They love her there. They call her "Miss O".

We're leaving for Gatlinburg on Saturday for a week. I cannot wait to go. I really need a vacation. Work has been really busy lately and I'm starting to get a little stressed. I'm really looking forward to just sitting on the front porch swing.

Life with Lola

2008-07-29T09:26:00.000-07:00

I thought I would give this blogging thing a try. I have been TERRIBLE with sending pictures of Olivia to the family so I thought this would be a great way to journal her life. I wish I would have started a little sooner - she just turned 2 in June - but I guess it's better late then never! I named the blog "Life with Lola" because we have called Olivia "Lola" since she was born. Sean came up with that nickname and it's kind of stuck. I like it though. It totally fits her personality.

We went to Baby Loves Disco in Charlotte two weeks ago. It was so much fun even though I had a terrible headache that day. We went to one in Atlanta last year and I was glad to see one closer to home this year. If you ever get a chance to go it is so worth it. It's too cute to watch all of the kids dancing to disco music!! Check it out at http://www.babylovesdisco.com/.

Anyway - attached are a few recent pictures and some from Baby Loves Disco. I'll try to update the blog at least once a week. I'm having a little trouble with perfecting adding the pictures so it might take a few more posts to figure out how it all works. You can double click on a picture to enlarge it for now. I also am adding one of "The King" (aka my dad). I thought he would like to be famous for a day:) I also had to add one of my new nephew Cody because he is too cute!!