Mommy's Little Olive

OGA v 5.5.002

2011-07-30T20:42:00.000-07:00

OGA v. 5.5.002 (OGA) is a beautiful brown-eyed, brown-haired, olive-skinned big kid complete with an advanced sense of humor, a quick wit, delightfully kissable cheeks and nose, and the power to melt your heart. OGA will keep you busy, entertained, and on your toes nearly 24 hours a day 7 days a week. This model is sure to delight you, bring joy to your heart, and occasionally drive you to drink.

FEATURES

OGA now includes the following applications:

Knows all Her Letters 1.0---Executes nearly perfectly. Refer to the Known Issues section for more information.
Counting 1.0---Executes perfectly up to 100 and to numbers above 100 semi-perfectly. Also executes very well when counting by 10s. Refer to the Known Issues section for more information.
Writing and Reading 1.0---Executes with the following features: 50 sight words, sounding out many words correctly, and writing out whatever you spell for her nearly perfectly.
Ask 100s of Questions 1.0---Executes non-stop from dawn to dusk.
Riding a Scooter 1.0---Includes steering and stopping.
Drawing 1.0---Includes very imaginative and elaborate drawings.
Singing and Dancing 1.0---Executes non-stop from dawn to dusk.
Walking Miles and Miles 1.0--Executes perfectly when the unit is powered down appropriately.
Handling Crowds and Traffic 1.0--Executes perfectly when Overseen by Parental Unit 1.0 is also running.
Protect Baby Brother 1.0--Executes perfectly unless Not Enough Sleep 1.0 is running. Refer to the Known Issues section for more information.
Play with Baby Brother 1.0--Executes perfectly unless Grumpy Pants 1.0 is running.

OGA installs all of her own peripherals and automatically launches Dressup 1.0 and This Doesn't Match But I Don't Care 1.0.
OGA automatically launches Putting My Hair Up 1.0, Putting Your Hair Up 1.0, and Putting the Cat's Hair Up 1.0.
OGA is nearly completely waterproof and can continue functioning in up to 5 feet of water when running below the water's surface.
OGA is nearly completely compatible with similar models and integrates easily allowing you to have full networking capabilities.
OGA is completely portable and functions reliably in most operating systems. Refer to the Known Issues section for further information about operating systems in which OGA does not function reliably.

KNOWN ISSUES

The following list includes known issues included in OGA v. 5.5.002. These issues will be addressed in future releases of OGA.

OGA launches Knows all Her Letters 1.0 reliably but often confuses lowercase versions of the letters b, d, i, and l.
OGA launches Counting 1.0 reliably but often runs it incorrectly when counting past 100. Install and run Counting with Mommy 1.0 to correct this issue.
OGA does not perform reliably when run on the Too Much Stimulation operating system or on the Not Enough Rest operating system. For optimum performance, avoid running OGA on these operating systems.
OGA may include a faulty installation of Sass 1.0. Reinstall Ask Nicely 1.0 and No Nickelodeon Shows after 4:30 P.M. 1.0 to disable Sass 1.0.
Tip: If installing Ask Nicely 1.0 does not disable Sass 1.0, put OGA into Timeout mode for 3 minutes and then reinstall Ask Nicely 1.0.
Occasionally, Not Enough Sleep 1.0 gets caught in an infinite loop and launches Sass 1.0, Tantrum 1.0, Whining 1.0, and Uncontrollable Crying 1.0. If this situation occurs, put OGA into Timeout mode and launch Ask Nicely 1.0 and Calm & Happy 1.0. If these programs do not launch, power OGA down for at least 10 hours.
If you install Too Much Sugar 1.0, OGA may launch Punch Drunk 1.0, and this application may get caught in an infinite loop. Install Quiet Time 1.0. If OGA continues to run Punch Drunk 1.0, power OGA down for at least 1 hour.
OGA may launch Inappropriate Questions 1.0, which is silently installed with Sass 1.0. Use the operating system tools to uninstall Inappropriate Questions 1.0.
OGA may launch Miss My Friends 1.0 and run the application in an infinite loop while also launching Many Tears 1.0. Run Skyping with Friends and Family 1.0 to fix this issue.
OGA may launch Not Nice to Baby Brother 1.0 if the system has not been rebooted in the last 10 hours or if Tantrum 1.0 is launched. If OGA launches Not Nice to Baby Brother 1.0, put OGA into Timeout mode for at least 3 minutes. Repeat as necessary. If OGA does not respond, power OGA down for at least 10 hours.
Depending on recent system performance and how often Not Enough Sleep 1.0, Tantrum 1.0, and Whining 1.0 are launched, OGA may not launch Eat Your Dinner 1.0 as requested. Try launching the program again. If it does not launch, put OGA into Straight To Bed with No Books mode and power OGA down for at least 10 hours.
Whining 1.0 may get stuck in an infinite loop if Not Enough Sleep 1.0 is running. Launch Ask Nicely 1.0, which is designed to shut Whining 1.0 down. If Whining 1.0 does not shut down, put OGA into Timeout mode for at least 3 minutes.
To ensure consistent and reliable performance, run Brush Your Teeth 1.0 at least one time each day (twice is optimum), launch Time for a Bath 1.0 at least one time each day, and ensure that OGA is powered down for at least 10 hours each day.
Tip : If OGA does not stay powered down for at least 10 hours a day, be prepared to run Quiet Time 1.0 and avoid running Too Much Sugar 1.0.
For optimum performance, run Time to Play Outside 1.0 for at least 1 hour each day. Additionally, running Playing with Friends 1.0 can enhance performance as long as it is not run for more than 3 hours each day.
Run Hugs 1.0 and Kisses 1.0 often throughout the time that OGA is powered up and again right before you power OGA down.

Big Kid

2011-02-08T14:35:00.000-08:00

hiya, bug

i have been getting weekly newsletters from babycenter.com since you were born. it's been bittersweet to watch them recategorize you every couple years, but this last categorization just did me in. they told me you are a big kid. i stuck my tongue out at them and told them phooey. but, they are right. you are a big kid. i watch you zoom around on your scooter getting further and further away from me with barely a glance back. you want to see your friends WITHOUT me. you have already entered the phase where your friends are WAAAAAYYYYY cooler than your parents. okay, maybe just me. NO ONE is cooler than your daddy. you have become tender and protective of smaller/younger children...unless they live with you...then you swing wildly between tender & protective and irate with a side of shoving.

in the last few weeks, you have had movie dates with two of your best buds, and you LOVE it. you sit next to your friends several seats away from me or any other adult, and you quietly (mostly) watch your movie. every once in a while, you might confer with the buddy nearest you, and you pause to gnosh on your movie meal, but for the most part, you are focused on the movie. this is VERY different from your first couple of movie dates with your buddy, victor, when you were 2ish. you were like a ping pong ball back then. we actually had to leave kung fu panda half way thru b/c you just couldn't take the containment anymore. it seems like yesterday that you were having playdates with victor, but it's actually been almost 2 and a half years.

we are now just 2 weeks from our big move to china, and you are seeming to be more accepting of and ready for the changes. i know that the first few weeks/months will be tough, but overall, i think you will enjoy our big adventure. you have made it clear that you understand we will come back to texas in a couple years...you also have made it clear that you look forward to that. you check with me several times a day to confirm how old you and quinn will be when we move back. i try to squelch my frustration with the repeated questions b/c i know that this is a way in which you are coping with the changes ahead, but i do find it frustrating to answer the same question or slightly different permutations of the same question over and over and over. patience is not one of my virtues, bug :-)

lately, you are working super hard on sounding out letters and seeing how they form words. i love how much you love words. you also continue to hone your art skills. you got a million great gifts for your bday, and many of them are centered around art.

i love you my little bugasso,

-mommy

Funny Bug

2010-12-25T22:15:00.000-08:00

hiya, bug!

it's been a while, eh? let's just say that i've been too busy having fun with you and brother to write about the fun that i have with you and brother. we have been having a blast...lots of adventures. you, as usual, have been keeping us in stitches much of the time. you have been learning to skip, learning to add and subtract, learning to sound out letters and words, and learning how to push your parents' funny buttons. your interest in advertisements continues. you are now the proud owner of a big-top cup cake, and you and daddy made a cake with it a couple weeks ago. you got me a kangaroo keeper for christmas. the other day, i laid down to rest with you during quiet time, and i asked if you minded if i shared your pillow. you said no, and then once my head was settled, you asked if i felt comfy. i said i was okay, and you very plainly told me i'd be better off if i had a total pillow. you were completely serious when you made this statement, too. at least you've finally stopped telling us that you need a tempurpedic mattress ;-p

one of my favorite things about you right now is how much you are into your friends. i really didn't expect this until much later, but here it is. you want to know as soon as you wake up each day who we are seeing and when and for how long and what're we doing after that and after that and after that. yes, you exhaust me :-) i like to think about how your friends are truly your friends...you are now beyond the playdate stage where you are happy to play with anyone who's around...you want to be with your friends and pretty much only your friends. on the occasion that we are out and about with people you don't know well, you make do with your social self, but it's not the same as when you are with your friends.

we are preparing to move halfway around the world, and you are very focused on the negative aspects of this...moving away from your friends. i know it's natural for you to feel this way and that it's not a huge deal, but i still feel guilty for moving you away from your friends. i know that the experience of living in another country is invaluable and that i can help you maintain your bonds with your friends here, but i can't seem to explain this to you very well.

celebrating your fifth christmas with you has been a real treasure. you are at the age where you get very, very excited about christmas, but you also are still perfectly satisfied with what you are offered...you are not yet at the stage where you lament things you didn't get. you are super easy to please...your creativity is flourishing and getting you things that help you be creative is fun and is always a winner. you are the proud new owner of several musical instruments and art supplies, and you started creating with all of them just minutes into christmas. you make cards for us every day, and you love to make cards for your friends and our friends, too. your coloring and drawing is very neat and detailed. you remind me a lot of your aunt kimmy at this age...she, too, was very creative and loved to draw. she still does. i am interested to see if this is a hobby you will always have.

in addition to being creative, you also are quite sporty. your progression in gymnastics is astounding to me. tonight, you did a front walk over. granted, you nearly broke your neck in the process, but you did it! you also did very well at soccer and really enjoyed it. i hope the you will always find sports as fun as you do now. it's fun to watch you move your little self.

i love you my funny, moving, shaking, dancing, singing, creating little girl!

-mommy

Supah Stah!

2010-09-04T18:59:00.000-07:00

hiya, bug!

bug, you are my dancing, singing, performing queen. you LOVE to be the center of attention and ask us often to come sit on the blue couch in the yellow living room so that you can give us a show. you also often ask us to get you on T.V. we have yet to help you understand how that all works. not only do you love to watch dancing and singing on T.V., you have a thing for commercials. you have dropped daddy and me to our knees in laughter with your explanation of how you need a tempurpedic mattress because the springs in your mattress hurt your back and keep you from sleeping. there's nothing like hearing a four-year-old mutter complaints about her spine not being aligned in sleep. you also have a lot to say about the cupcake-shaped cake pan that is advertised on the disney channel in the afternoons. you are non stop, bug!

you are back in gymnastics and have been for a couple months now. you love it as much as you did when you were itty bitty. you have a near-perfect cartwheel and a roundoff that is not far behind. you are trying to master rolling backward and standing on your head....you are close. the balance beam is still your favorite apparatus (next to the trampoline). i still don't know where you get your balance from...not me :-)

you have thoroughly enjoyed your summer. i am hoping that you also will enjoy going back to preschool next week. you will be in 2x a week this year rather than 3x. you are starting yet another new school. i hope this one works for you, bug. just in the past couple months, we have gotten out and about a lot, and you've enjoyed every minute of it. it's been a wonderful summer overall, but the last month has been a really tough one. a dear member of our playgroup died from a rattlesnake bite at the beginning of august. since you are older and understand more, we have explained to you a little bit about what happened and that our dear friend is not coming back. i'm not sure you understand, though. you have made attempts to process the information, but i have been unable to help you. dealing with my own grief does not leave much for you. fortunately, you are at an age where you don't understand all of it; that is a blessing, bug. you know that mommy and daddy have been very sad, and you very sweetly create cards for us and for the family of our friend. you have a big, soft heart bug. this is one of many things i admire about you.

i love you very much, my crazy girl. remember your old mother when you make it big in hollywood, 'kay!
-mommy

'Nuf Said

2010-07-04T13:55:00.001-07:00

bug, you are something else. the things that come out of your mouth...my god, child! i think i am getting a preview of what your tween, pre-teen, teen, and young-adult self is going to be like, and i am afraid this preview might be the g-rated version ;-p here's a list of things you have said recently:

"mommy, you know what's different about you and daddy? daddy sometimes let's me do things i'm not supposed to!"

"i have sassy girl toenails!"

"i have sassy girl shorts!"

singing : "...brush my teeth with a bottle of jack!..." (this is a direct result of your mother having abysmal taste in music)

singing : "...riding on a disco stick..." (again...direct result of my taste in music)

"i'm a baby just like quinn!!!"

"is my hair crazy?!"

first thing in the morning before you eat breakfast : "i am going to go put my hair up and put my makeup on!" (this is actually a true statement...you have figured out how to put your hair into what you call a "ball" (it's basically a pony tail tucked under) and since i got you a set of play makeup, you have diligently put it on every morning.

"mommy, when are we going to move back to california?! i want to be a california girl!" bug, we have never lived in california, and it will be over my dead body that you become a california girl...at least before you are 18, that is.

"mommy, can i have skunk hair like you?" this comes after an unfortunate highlighting experience i had.

"i am going to be a doctor when i grow up. no, wait...i'm going to be a nurse so i can give shots!!!" you followed this up with a very maniacal giggle that made me and daddy shiver.

"mommy, we need a new van, this one smells!" this comes after many days of running hither and yon in the van and quinn's car seat collecting all sorts of "tidbits" from my efforts to get the child to eat.

"mommy, we need a new house; this one is old" i have no idea, bug. i don't know what you think we're going to be able to do about this one ;-p

you spend a lot of time talking, bug. or singing. you are rarely quiet. you and i took a road trip up to DFW to see some friends, and i had the privilege of sharing sleeping space with you one of those nights. sleep. that's a strong word that does not actually convey what really happened. i came to bed a couple hours after you fell asleep, and the minute i laid down beside you, you sprung up like a jack-in-the-box, mumbled something unintelligible, and then flopped over on top of me like you were boneless. you did this ALL NIGHT LONG. i am a very light sleeper, so every time you did one of your acrobatic movements, i woke up. i now understand why your hair is insane in the morning, why i find you in all sorts of contorted positions when i wake you, and why your blankets and 3 million stuffed animals are hither and yon all the time. i wonder how well rested you really are considering how actively you sleep!

you successfully night potty trained yourself while we were in DFW, and you've been clean and dry all night since! this is pretty amazing considering how hard it was to potty train you at all.

you are out of school for the summer, and we are having a ton of fun doing all sorts of fun stuff...sometimes it's planned, but we mostly fly by the seat of our pants. you will be starting at a new school this fall...not sure where yet, but we did not leave your last preschool with a positive impression, and neither did you. finding the right situation for you in what is your last year of preschool is actually a high-pressure task!

you have recently become very interested in games. you and i play games together quite a bit, and you also play with your friend, spencer. you are pretty sweet when you play with spencer, but when you play with me or daddy, you have no sportsman-like conduct, bug. you are a very sore loser, and when you win, you are worse. hmmm. i'm not sure how to "fix" this. you will start soccer this fall...i'm interested to see how you do with that. i have a sneaking suspicion there will be a lot of tears. oh, goody.

i love you, you crazy girl. you drive me to distraction, but i wouldn't have it any other way.
-mommy

Four-Year Stats

2010-03-23T11:31:00.000-07:00

hiya, bug!

you had your 4-year well check today, and everything went great. it is so much fun to watch you be able to be the one to answer the doc's questions and to be involved in your well check.

you had an eye exam, a bit of a survey about how you move (move it! move it! i like to move it! (according to you)), and the requisite exam of your tummy, eyes, ears, and nose. you also got a lot of vaccinations, and that was not fun for anyone. quinn came along with us for his H1N1 booster, and it was a symphony of crying. if i could have gotten away with it, i think i would have cried along with the two of you.

despite loud protests, you handled your shots pretty well and after a playdate at the park that lasted almost 2 hours, you have pretty much forgotten about them. wait. nope. you just asked me to get you up on the sofa b/c it hurts you to do it yourself. my little drama queen :-)

you continue to grow on the same curve you always have. i now know why i have begun having a hard time picking you up and holding you. you are now 41.75 inches tall and weigh 46 pounds fully dressed.

i love you, my big-girl bug.
-mommy

survival mode

2010-03-10T11:47:00.000-08:00

hiya, bug!

well, the last few weeks have been a HUGE challenge for all of us. you are in a pretty terrible state these days, and we're almost out of ideas. i think our next step is family counseling. i just don't know how to help you and help me and keep us all sane and functioning. this is the part of parenting that i had no clue about. if you were not my daughter, but instead were a friend or a co-worker or a stranger, i would not be required to tolerate the way you treat me or speak to me. i could just walk away and feel okay about feeling angry or hurt. since you are my daughter, it is my job to help you through whatever is driving this behavior, push my own feelings aside, and only ever react with gentle, open arms. i suck at this, bug. i am angry. i am hurt. i am frustrated. i am at a loss. i know that a lot of what is going on is perfectly normal developmentally, but what really trips me up is that you lack any sense of sympathy or humility. i swear i read that at the age of three a person begins to develop a sense of both.

there is so much of your character that is admirable. you are a very strong person. you don't bend or sway in any direction that you don't want to. you are incredibly smart. you are very analytical. daddy and i sometimes joke that you will grow up to be a lawyer because of your ability to argue any and all sides of a point. you are innately a very sweet girl. you are physically a very gentle person, and in a lot of cases, you are very slow to anger.

i miss you, bug. i miss only ever having to worry about you...having every one of my moments ready to give to you. i know i am pulled in a lot of directions right now and that your age and level of independence leads to your getting less of my time than you would like. i'm not sure how to give you more time and still keep everything else functioning as it should. maybe this is just a tough time to be your age when your brother is the age he is. i dunno. i'm to the point that i'm starting to just make it up as i go along.

we'll figure it out, bug. i love you to the moon and back infinity.

-mommy

Hannah Montana

2010-01-24T07:35:00.000-08:00

hiya, bug

baby, you are growing up waaaaayyyyy too fast, literally and figuratively. you will be four in less than a week, and i cannot believe how fast these four years have flown. it feels like it was just yesterday that i was meeting you for the first time.

you are such a big girl in so many ways. you speak fluently and clearly, and you love words. you love to learn new ones. you love to tell me the big ones you know. you like to pretend you know what they mean until i ask you what they mean, and then you meekly ask me to help you with the definitions.

you are simply beautiful. every day you look more like a little girl and less like a baby. you are taller and thinner every time i look at you. you so badly want to be older than you are. you want to play with bigger kids, do what they are doing, wear what they are wearing, watch what they are watching, and listen to what they are listening to. you are obsessed with hannah montana and icarly...you have never seen the hannah montana show, but you still recognize her mug from advertisements. we (ahem...daddy) have allowed you to watch icarly a couple times...that has to come to an end b/c the show is targeted to preteens and is just too much for you. you love it, though, and tell us all about what's happened to the characters. the characters from the show work their way into your imaginative play...well, to me it's imaginative play, but to you it's real (a point you LOVE to argue).

you love to sing along with the radio and your kidz bop CDs. i know i should be more patient with this, but your penchant for singing the wrong words and the tone deafness you inherited from me make a combination that drives me to distraction. i know it's selfish of me, but driving in the van is pretty much the only quiet time i get...i can't work on my freelance stuff while driving, you and quinn are buckled in and unable to clamor all over me, and all i want to do is live in the music a little.

bug, you are a mouthy little girl, and it's a problem. obviously, i cannot change who you are or change your personality, but teaching you to reign in your natural impulses and to be respectful is a challenge. i realize that this is not a big deal and that lots of little girls have this struggle, but i'm still pretty new at this mommy thing and i am strugging to figure out how to consistently and gently redirect you and teach you to use your words nicely and carefully. it turns out that i have a much hotter temper than i ever thought i did, and i often react very poorly to your mouthiness, which just exacerbates the issue. i'm still learning and growing, too, bug...though you'd never guess that someone so OLD would still be doing so :-)

i love you, my little spitfire. i can't wait to help you celebrate your birthday next week...and i'm cringing at the thought that as soon as you turn 4, you're going to start talking about what's going to happen when you're 5.

-mommy

One Year Ago Today...

2009-11-11T19:02:00.000-08:00

...your world was rocked to the core, bug. it was 1 week after your baby brother was born, which was enough of an adjustment for you, and daddy and i both became very seriously ill. daddy had septic pneumonia and i had a ruptured bladder and impending multi-organ failure. daddy had to stay in the hospital for 2 and a half days, and i had to stay for almost 8. while we were gone, your beloved aunties rayo (and uncle brian), tika, and nano took wonderful care of you and quinn. grammie also came to take care of you and quinn.

there is no way i can ever understand what it was to you to have both of your parents disappear after having them around at all times for 2 years and 9 months. we had never been apart from you for more than a couple hours.

i truly believe that this horrible chain of events has a lot, if not everything, to do with all the challenges we've had this year. okay, you being 3 has a lot to do with it, too. there was no way we could help you understand that even once we were home, daddy and i were in really bad shape. i know it was a month before daddy was 100% and at least two months before i was. even when we finally fully recovered, there was the fact that you had to share attention with your brother. if i could rewrite any part of history, bug, this time period would be what i would rewrite...for all of us. i don't think i will ever emotionally heal from the chain of events that led to such disaster. we almost lost your brother, and then daddy and i also got on the short list. it was a scary, scary time. i surely hope that we have used up our bad luck quota for the rest of all of our lives.

if i could make it up to you, bug, i would.

i love you,
-mommy

Crickets Chirping

2009-10-26T10:37:00.001-07:00

hiya, bug!

it's been a little bit quiet around here lately, eh? well, at least in blog land :-) you have been anything but quiet. you sing, talk, yell, hum, "whistle", and generally verbalize pretty much non-stop. you ask a lot of questions. some we can answer, and some we can't (there's no answer b/c the questions are so bizarre). you make a lot of statements, too. lately, you have begun insisting that you have 11 sisters and 5 cats at your new house in maryland. when i say, "oh, your pretend sisters and kitties at your pretend new house?", you INSIST (loudly and longly) that the sisters, kitties, and house are REAL. you also like to insist that daddy is your cousin ;-p

i am all for encouraging imaginative play and thinking, but we're coming up on some situations that are just plain UNTHRUTHS. i am really struggling with how to teach you about telling the truth vs. telling a lie in a way that you understand and that doesn't crush your imagination. i think you might have a better understanding than you let on b/c when you say something untrue when it is in regard to something we've asked of you (like throwing away your pullup after you go pee pee in the morning or washing your hands after you use the restroom), you laugh and giggle and wiggle around when you tell us an untrue. daddy and i have decided that you have NO future with the CIA. not that you don't try, but bug, you are the WORST liar. this is a good thing...i think.

in other news, you have been doing really well the last little bit...lots of good listening and behaving nicely...until about a week or so ago. you've been in a challenging phase again lately, and it's tiring for all of us. i just keep reminding myself that "this, too, shall pass" (i hope). you are getting excited about halloween and celebrating my and quinn's birthdays. you ask us or tell us every day how old quinn is, and you sing happy birthday to him at least once a day. i have a total of 4 birthday cards already...that you have made for me. you also go around telling anyone who will listen that your birthday is january 29th. you also like to tell people that you're either 5 or 11 (?!?!). you don't like it much when we remind you that you're 3. you keep asking us when you get to go to kindergarten, and any time we pass a school, you ask if that's where you will go to kindergarten. you get crazy excited when you see a school bus, too. i am not at all ready for you to go to school, but i am eager to see if you are this excited about it when the time actually comes.

i love you, you goofball. go easy on your OLD mother, okay. i have ENOUGH grey hair already...please don't add to my collection :-)

-mommy

First Day of School!!

2009-09-10T08:08:00.000-07:00

hiya, bug!

yesterday was your first day of school at your new school and on a new schedule in which you go 3x a week instead of 2x a week. i know you were apprehensive at first, but it seems that you settled right in and made friends with a girl named maddie. at your new school, each student in the class has a job each day, and i know this is something that you will enjoy. your job this friday is to help pass out snacks. i wish i could be there to see you do your job...i am certain that you will take it seriously and do it well. you are always a great helper at home...you love to help with whatever chore i am doing.

i have had so much fun having you home for the past two weeks, and i missed you tremendously yesterday. i will look forward to christmas break. i think quinn missed you a lot, too...we both have gotten so used to doing fun stuff with you.

i am still adjusting to your new short hair do, but the adjustment is easy. i LOVE your hair short. it really shows off your beautiful face, and if possible, it makes your big brown eyes even BIGGER! i kinda wish i had taken you to get it cut short earlier, but it's important to me that it was your decision to do so. it's YOUR hair, not mine.

this past weekend was the last weekend for the pool season. this makes me so sad...and frustrated. it will continue to be in the 90s and up for so many more weeks...i wish the pools stayed open here until the end of september, at least.

you started a gymnastics class at a local rec center last week. you seem happy enough with the class...i think you like talking to all the other little girls. you are satisfied with the little bit of movement you get in the class, but i know that we will not sign you up for another gymnastics class at this center...it's floor only, and it's none of the fun stuff you like to do. it's pretty lame, actually. you spent 30 minutes moving a ribbon on a wand, crab walking, duck walking, and jumping with your feet spread at last week's class...pretty mundane stuff. we'll have to scratch up the dough to send you back to one of the actual gymnastics schools around town so that you get some time on your beloved beam and bars and so that you can work on all the floor stuff you want to learn and are constantly trying to do around the house.

i love you, my gymnastically-inclined bug!
-mommy

Brocolate

2009-08-27T12:59:00.000-07:00

hiya, bug!

you know, we've been trying for YEARS (literally) to get you to eat broccoli. daddy and i both love broccoli and i think i make it with 5 out of every 7 dinners, so you have had a LOT of exposure to broccoli. even your little brother seems to like it and munches down the tiny pieces of steamed broccoli i give him. you are getting a little bit better about taking at least two small bites of the broccoli on your plate, but you still gag when you do.

the other night, you and i made some chocolate chip cookies. after dinner and bath, you settled down on the couch to read books with daddy, and he struck up a conversation with you about your day. along the way, he started talking to you about the cookies we had made and how they had broccoli in them (they didn't). he went on and on and on about how the broccoli was in the chocolate chips and wasn't it yummy...you started crying. HARD. you were so upset to think that your chocolate chip cookies had been harboring broccoli. along the way, you somehow coined the term brocolate. we've been using it since. you still don't like it when we do ;-p

i love you my non-broccoli-eating little girl!

-mommy

OGA v. 3.5.003 Release Notes

2009-08-01T18:17:00.001-07:00

OGA v. 3.5.003 (OGA) is a beautiful brown-eyed, brown-haired, olive-skinned preschooler complete with an advanced sense of humor, a quick wit, delightfully kissable cheeks and nose, and the power to melt your heart. OGA will keep you busy, entertained, and on your toes nearly 24 hours a day 7 days a week. This model is sure to delight you, bring joy to your heart, and occasionally drive you to drink.

Features

The following list includes the latest features included in OGA v. 3.5.003:

OGA now includes the following applications:
- Singing the Alphabet Song 1.0---Covers most letters. Refer to the Known Issues section for more information.
- Counting 1.0---Covers most numbers up to 20. Refer to the Known Issues section for more information.
- Writing Her Name 1.0---Includes most letters - backward.
- Ask 100s of Questions 1.0---Executes non-stop from dawn to dusk.
- Riding a Trike 1.0---Includes steering and stopping!
- Drawing 1.0---Includes recognizable people and flowers!
- Singing and Dancing 1.0---Executes non-stop from dawn to dusk.

OGA installs all of her own peripherals and automatically launches Dressup 1.0, This Doesn't Match But I Don't Care 1.0, and Are My Shoes on the Right Feet 1.0.

OGA automatically launches Putting My Hair Up 1.0, Putting Your Hair Up 1.0, and Putting the Cat's Hair Up 1.0.

OGA reliably deposits all output in the appropriate receptacles with few errors.

OGA reliably throws understandable and documented error codes, which provides streamlined debugging and repair.

OGA is nearly completely waterproof and can continue functioning in up to 5 feet of water when the appropriate peripherals are fully installed.

OGA is nearly completely compatible with similar models and integrates easily allowing you to have full networking capabilities.

OGA is completely portable and functions reliably in most operating systems. Refer to the Known Issues section for further information about operating systems in which OGA does not function reliably.

Known Issues

The following list includes known issues included in OGA v. 3.5.003. These issues will be addressed in future releases of OGA.

OGA launches Singing the Alphabet Song 1.0 reliably but often runs it incorrectly. Sometimes OGA will run Singing the Alphabet Song 1.0 without the letters "m", "n", or "o". Install and run Singing the Alphabet with Mommy 1.0 to correct this issue.

OGA launches Counting 1.0 reliably but often runs it incorrectly counting to 14 correctly before skipping ahead to 19 and then back to 12. Install and run Counting with Mommy 1.0 to correct this issue.

OGA does not perform reliably when run on the Too Much Stimulation operating system or on the Not Enough Rest operating system. For optimum performance, avoid running OGA on these operating systems.

OGA may include a faulty installation of Sass 1.0. Reinstall Ask Nicely 1.0 to disable Sass 1.0.

Tip: If installing Ask Nicely 1.0 does not disable Sass 1.0, put OGA into Timeout mode for 3 minutes and then reinstall Ask Nicely 1.0.

Occasionally, Not Enough Sleep 1.0 gets caught in an infinite loop and launches Sass 1.0, Tantrum 1.0, Whining 1.0, and Uncontrollable Crying 1.0. If this situation occurs, put OGA into Timeout mode and launch Ask Nicely 1.0 and Calm & Happy 1.0. If these programs do not launch, power OGA down for at least 10 hours.

If you install Too Much Sugar 1.0, OGA may launch Punch Drunk 1.0, and this application may get caught in an infinite loop. Install Quiet Time 1.0. If OGA continues to run Punch Drunk 1.0, power OGA down for at least 1 hour.

OGA may launch Inappropriate Questions 1.0, which is silently installed with Sass 1.0. Use the operating system tools to uninstall Inappropriate Questions 1.0.

OGA may launch Not Nice to Baby Brother 1.0 if the system has not been rebooted in the last 10 hours or if Tantrum 1.0 is launched. If OGA launches Not Nice to Baby Brother 1.0, put OGA into Timeout mode for at least 3 minutes. Repeat as necessary. If OGA does not respond, power OGA down for at least 10 hours.

Depending on recent system performance and how often Not Enough Sleep 1.0, Tantrum 1.0, and Whining 1.0 are launched, OGA may not launch Eat Your Dinner 1.0 as requested. Try launching the program again. If it does not launch, put OGA into Straight To Bed with No Snack/No Books mode and power OGA down for at least 10 hours.

Whining 1.0 may get stuck in an infinite loop if Not Enough Sleep 1.0 is running. Launch Ask Nicely 1.0, which is designed to shut Whining 1.0 down. If Whining 1.0 does not shut down, put OGA into Timeout mode for at least 3 minutes.

To ensure consistent and reliable performance, run Brush Your Teeth 1.0 at least one time each day (twice is optimum), launch Time for a Bath 1.0 at least one time each day, and ensure that OGA is powered down for at least 10 hours each day.

Tip : If OGA does not stay powered down for at least 10 hours a day, be prepared to run Quiet Time 1.0 and avoid running Too Much Sugar 1.0.

For optimum performance, run Time to Play Outside 1.0 for at least 1 hour each day. Additionally, running Playing with Friends 1.0 can enhance performance as long as it is not run for more than 3 hours each day.

Run Hugs 1.0 and Kisses 1.0 often throughout the time that OGA is powered up and again right before you power OGA down.

Identity Crisis

2009-07-20T09:53:00.000-07:00

hiya, bug!

lately i've been thinking about you as a baby a lot of the time. i think that this is b/c your brother is a baby and is going through all these crazy developmental spurts that bring you to mind at the same age. every time i think about some new thing he's doing, it's your little face that pops into my head and i remember you at the same stage. instead of seeing strawberry blonde hair, blue eyes, and fair skin, i see your big brown eyes, silky brown hair, and olive skin. it's a little odd. it does seem, though, that the longer your brother is doing some new thing, the more my brain realizes it's him that i'm thinking of and not you. it is a fun trip down memory lane though...remembering you when you first started crawling, pulling up, cruising, and talking. i love wallowing in those memories!

you are SUCH a big girl. we just got back from a trip to nana's house. you did awesome. you stayed on track with your pottying, listened pretty well, ate well, and had an absolute ball with the children of daddy's friends. it's so much fun watching you blossom into such a sweet and social butterfly. when daddy's best friend came over for a visit, you talked a blue streak to him, told him you loved him, and requested that he hold you. it was adorable!

you did awesome on the plane, too. i know that being stuck in a chair for 3.5 hours with not much to look at is not fun...it's not even fun for me and i'm OLD and not at all interested in running around all day. you did great, though. you enjoyed your toys and art projects, slept a little, ate a lot, and asked a lot of questions.

you did all of this while suffering from a pretty nasty cold. it didn't slow you down much, though. you kept going with your usual level of verve. in addition to playing with lots of kids, you spent a lot of time helping your nana in the garden, doing art projects with nana, and swimming in nana's pool. you also enjoyed playing with nana's new puppies. your baba came down to spend some time with you, too, and you had a wonderful time with him as well.

it was a fun trip, bug! it's always fun to see you take on challenges and conquer them. it's especially fun to see you through others' eyes.

i love you, bug!
-mommy

Footloose

2009-07-05T07:06:00.000-07:00

hiya, bug!

you are one funny little girl, bug! lately, you are really into these pretty crazy dressup getups...and dancing. i've gotten some great video of you doing your own version of footloose while singing the alphabet song ;-) you are dressed in a grass skirt, shiny pink top, and a gold sparkly shrug over the top of that. oh, and you have ballet shoes on! even funnier is that you now insist on stripping down to your birthday suit before donning your dressup clothes. more than once in the last week or so, i've found you gallavanting around in your grass skirt with no panties on...i'm always surprised to see your little bum appear during one of your dance moves...gets me laughing every time.

recently you had the opportunity to visit with a friend you haven't seen in almost 2 years. you knew this friend from the time you were born until you were about 15 months old, and then she and her family moved away. it was AWESOME to see you two girls interact with each other. you both enjoyed a lot of time with the dressup clothes. i especially enjoyed seeing your friend all "grown up" since i hadn't seen her in almost 2 years. i get a little lost in the changes in you b/c i see you every day, but seeing the same changes in her was HUGE simply b/c i haven't seen her in so long.

we're having a great summer so far. we've had a lot of fun playdates, took a trip to boerne (you did AWESOME), and are preparing to head to MD to see your nana. you've made a couple new friends, and i am eager for you to have lots of playtime with them. there's a super sweet 5yo girl down the street that played with you so nicely yesterday...we will be having more playdates with her soon. you also met two little boys that are exactly your age. actually, each boy is either 6mo younger or older than you (they are nearly irish twins)...they are super sweet and fun. i can't wait to set up some playdates with them, too.

unfortunately, i have had to distance you from another friend b/c she seems to be teaching you some pretty unacceptable behavior. i've repeatedly attempted to explain our house rules to her and since she's almost 5, i am expecting her to be able to follow and respect those rules. but, it's not happening. i really didn't expect to have this kind of problem before you were in school. i'm shocked that it's already happening.

another shocker is the politics between 3yo girls. i am QUICKLY (or not quickly enough, maybe) learning that playing in groups of 3 is a bad idea for you right now. someone always gets left out. you have a good friend from school that doesn't like to share you with other children, and it's rubbing off. this was heartbreaking, but you snubbed your very best friend in the world the other day b/c this little girl from school wanted to play with you. i don't know how to direct this type of behavior in a more positive direction at this age. i have tried to gently talk to you about how it might feel when friends exclude one another, and you agree that it would not be fun, but putting that into practice is much harder. for now, my solution will be to make sure you are with just one good girl friend at a time. when you are playing with boys, this doesn't happen...again, i am shocked at how early these icky political games actually start!

i love you, bug!
-mommy

The Things You Say

2009-06-16T12:52:00.001-07:00

hiya, bug!

i have been doing a pretty lousy job of telling you how well you communicate with us. not only do you make yourself very clear and show your curiosity, you are DARN funny. sometimes you mean to be funny, and sometimes you don't. it's the times you don't mean to be funny that i find the funniest! here are my favorites among the funny things you say:

may i have a danola bar, pease? (your pronunciation of granola bar kills me! currently, the l sound still escapes you.)

after bethfethst, after ni-night, what're we going to do today?! (you clearly understand the idea that you are referring to a new day, but you still use "today" to refer to "tomorrow". i LOVE the way you say breakfast and find ways to talk to you about breakfast often :-)

mommy, watch me make mewgwick! (this is how you said music until about a week ago...i suddenly realized that you were saying music correctly, and it made me a little sad. i also find it funny that you want me to watch you make music rather than listen to you make music.).

quinn/daddy/mommy! guess what? i yuv you! (this is your favorite "surprise" thing to say)

mommy! watch me do benactics! (this is how you used to say gymnastics...you recently started saying the word correctly, and it breaks my heart a little. your teachers at school used to like to get you to talk about gymnastics just to hear your pronunciation of the word.)

in general, you are such fun to listen to. i often get an idea about what you're most interested in, scared of, and worried about. i also often hear myself in what you say and how you say it...that's a truly humbling experience at times. other times, it makes it clear to me that you do undertand the relationship between unacceptable behavior and the loss of priviledges. this morning, you told copper he couldn't watch a movie tonight b/c he stole your waffle right off your plate. you also called him a bad dog, which bothers me. daddy and i are both careful to avoid using the terms "bad" or "good" to describe you as a person. we will tell you that your behavior is not nice or is unacceptable or is awesome or that you did a good job. it makes me wonder where the concept of good and bad is being demonstrated for you. i think the playground at school might be one place...you tell me about games that you kids play and conflicts that arise. i hear you call one classmate a bad boy pretty often...he is a trouble maker at school, and i wonder if he's being labeled as "bad". this is something i want to talk to your teacher about, but am not sure how to do so in an appropriate manner.

anyhoo, bug, you are pretty darn funny. recently, you had the chance to play with a centipede (yech!). you not only say centipede exactly correctly, but you made it clear that you knew centipedes can't jump and told me so, in no uncertain terms, after i told you that your centipede had jumped from my hand into the toilet while we were making a potty run. you gave me your stern eyebrows and told me straight up "mommy, centipedes don't jump!". i promise that i did not purposely launch the centipede into the toilet...nor did i try to keep him crawling on my arm (did i mention blech?).

i love you, bug!
-mommy

star rewards

2009-06-05T08:16:00.000-07:00

hiya, bug!

you've been working hard on building up your star chart. you've had some days where we can't put any stars on for you, and then you've had days like yesterday where you got 3 stars in one day (you did so fantastic yesterday...it was a very long, hectic, and tiring day, but you did awesome with listening, following rules, and just plain doing a good job).

you now have enough stars for a trip...that was one of the rewards. in two weeks, you and i and quinn will be heading down to boerne to hang out, visit grammie and aunt kimmy, swim in the hotel pool, go to the ranch, play at burger king and various parks, feed the ducks on the creek, and possibly go to sea world if i can convince your brother and i feel strong/crazy enough to brave it by myself with two kiddos. i am so looking forward to this trip...i think we will have an absolute blast!

i love a good road trip, and i hope to develop the same love in you. you are always up for something different. you are very adaptable, and that's always been one of my favorite things about you. when you were just a baby, you were my best accessory b/c i could take you anywhere anytime and you thrived. brother is slightly different...he is definitely more comfortable with routine and familiarity, but he's still a pretty chill little dude. just not as chill as you were. you were peace personified as a baby, bug. we called you the zen Buddha baby...nothing phased you. you are still like that now...you just have some spunk behind the peace ;-p

i love you bug!
-mommy

soccer ball

2009-05-19T06:54:00.001-07:00

hiya, bug!

i just have to tell you, baby, it looks like you might have some mad soccer skills in the future. you love to kick your soccer ball all around the yard...you even dribble it. you also like to kick it back and forth with me or daddy, and you're doing really well with stopping the ball gently and kicking it in the direction you choose. when you're not kicking with me or daddy, you like to kick it into a net. i can't wait to get you into a soccer program. we had originally thought we'd try this year, but i think we're going to wait until next year. there is just too much going on for you right now, and i think you need more practice following instructions/listening...otherwise, i think it'd be frustrating for you and possibly for your coach/team mates. of course, if we put you in now, you'd be in with a bunch of other 3yo that are doing (or not doing) the same things...so, maybe it wouldn't be as bad as i'm thinking. hmmm. maybe we'll revisit this idea in the fall.

we've been working on a star chart for you, bug, and it's working pretty well. we are purposely vague about what earns you a star, but we're careful to exhuberantly reward great behavior the minute we see it. you've earned a good number of stars. you are on your way to earning enough stars for a fun trip next week when school is out. you've also cracked the code, though, and when you pick up your toys or put your dishes in the sink, you inform us that you need a star now. we have to distract you from that notion, and after a couple minutes and a short discussion, you forget about it. we want the element of surprise and exhuberant positive attention to help steer you in a more positive direction rather than all-out simple/expected bribery. we're so complicated, aren't we?

i love you, bug!
-mommy

diapERs

2009-05-08T14:19:00.000-07:00

bug, you landed in the dell children's ER last night! this whole diapers vs. panties and pooping vs. not pooping thing has caused some major, major upset. daddy and i are waving our white flag. you are back in diapers and will be for the foreseeable future. after finding some blood in places blood ought not be, your regular pedi's office told us to get you to the ER. you checked out okay, but after an xray of your tummy showed a lot of icky stuff that has to come out, they seconded the prescription for FOUR months of miralax and told us to expect to see more blood over the next few days/week. miralax is helping you get back where you need to be, but it is removing control from the equation (a good thing in this situation, yes?), so the diapes are a necessity. it breaks my heart to have to go backward with you and i worry about the emotional impact for you and for me, but we'll just take this whole thing one small step at a time, 'kay?

i love you my non-pooping girl!
-mommy

pokin' things

2009-05-06T12:36:00.001-07:00

hiya, bug

for the last few months, you have been fascinated with what you call pokin' things. these include prickly weeds, poky caterpillars, cactuses, and now, apparently, your butt. or, more specifically, your poo.

so, you are in the throes of another incident of impacted bowel and all the horrible treatments it takes to remedy the situation. i had a lot of time to hold you close and talk to you softly yesterday as you went through the reactions to one of the horrid therapies, and i started talking to you about why things are going (or not going) the way they are for you in the potty department. you didn't give me much of an answer, and i let the subject drop. this morning, after another round of horror, i again was spending some time comforting you and talking to you quietly when i asked you again why you didn't want to go on the potty. you told me that your poo has pokin' things and it hurts, so you don't want to let it out.

hmmm. i guess this explains a lot. but, if you aren't going to let it out, you aren't going to let it out. you seem to have some amazing powers of control that no medication can dismantle (and i find this fascinating, yet frightening). daddy and i have decided it's time to move on to a professional or two that can help you in ways we cannot. we're looking for a child psychologist, and possibly for a GI specialist to make sure there's not something more sinister going on. it prolly sounds ridiculous, but i feel like this issue could have life-long health and wellness ramifications, and i want to get it settled/fixed/whatever now before you end up in emergency surgery for a twisted bowel or some other horror.

love,
your mommy who desperately wants you to poop (in the potty, please)

life lessons

2009-05-04T19:08:00.000-07:00

hiya, bug

wow, it's been some month, baby. i haven't written since ippy went to heaven. up until that point, we had been in a really good groove together. we had seemed to have gotten over some of the humps that came along with all the changes in our world. we put you back in panties around the end of march, and you had been doing great. well, things change. you are using your panties as a weapon of sorts :-) you seem to be deliberately messing them or staunchly refusing to relieve yourself, causing much ado for both of us. it's not fun. you will have to go to the doctor tomorrow to face another round of horrible procedures b/c your tummy is once again in a terrible state. i hate this.

you also are back to having some challenges with listening and following rules. you seem to love to test the rules, which i think is perfectly normal for your age, but it's driving me to distraction. today was a pretty unfun day since almost all of your privileges disappeared by the end of the day. it wasn't fun for any of us, really.

since the weather has warmed up, we've been letting you ride your bike to the park while we walk. this quickly became a little game with you where you would tell us you were tired and wanted to be carried and have your bike carried home. not good times. we put up with it for a bit, and then made a rule that if you didn't ride your bike home, it stayed in the park for someone else to take home. you tested this several times, and much to my chagrin, we didn't stick to the plan 100%. we'd all walk a good 20 to 30 feet away, all the while making a big verbal deal out of leaving your bike, and then you'd go get it. the worst was when i took you and quinn to get pics in the bluebonnets behind our house. you were on your red bike, which is a classic radio flyer that weighs a good 20 pounds. i had quinn in the mai thai on my back. we got to the flower patch just fine, did pics, and then started home. it took us nearly 45 minutes to get home b/c you were playing all sorts of games regarding your bike. i made the mistake of making a big deal about leaving it and encouraging you not to.

you had a period of about 2 weeks where you shaped up and didn't even consider not riding your bike home....until this weekend with your big wheel. this time, we left it and didn't talk about it much. you had nothing to say at first, but now you keep talking about how you are sad to not have your big wheel b/c you decided to leave it at the park. i know you get it, but it still irks me/pains me to have to teach you this kind of life lesson. i checked today...sure enough, your big wheel is gone. we made a new rule this past weekend...the priviledge of riding to the park is gone...it's become clear that losing a fun toy like this doesn't impact you.

ahh, how i long for the days when you were my peaceful little dumpling, bug :-) well, not all of the time. you are a true delight in so many ways...you are funny, kind, and smart. i am spending too much time letting your qualities get overshadowed by the challenges you present me. i get bogged down in the details and lose sight of the big picture.

off to dig out of the details...

i love you bug!
-mommy

heaven

2009-04-06T13:04:00.000-07:00

dear bug,

we've begun talking to you about heaven in terms of where people go when they aren't here anymore. you've asked us many times where your pop-pop is. for about 6 months after he passed away, we changed the subject any time you asked thinking that introducing the subject of death/heaven would be too much for you. and, i think it was too much for us at the time, too. lately, you've started asking about pop-pop again, and we've explained to you that he's in heaven and that he can see you and loves you, but that you can't see him anymore...you can just feel him in your heart, look at pictures of him, and hear stories about him and how much he loved you.

yesterday, my best dog, ippy, went to heaven. it had become obvious saturday afternoon that she had become very, very sick. i explained to you that she had to go to the doctor. when you woke up sunday morning, ippy and i were not in the house. when i came home without her, you asked where she was, and we told you she was in heaven. and that she was sitting in pop-pop's lap. and maybe he was throwing a ball for her or taking her swimming or for a walk. you seem satisfied with these explanations, and i really and truly hope that this is exactly what ippy and pop-pop are doing right now.

you've been very tolerant and sympathetic/empathetic with all my crying and sadness these past couple days. part of me thinks i should keep this from you, but the other part of me realizes that you need to know that it's okay to be sad and to show your sadness.

thanks for being so understanding, bug. i love you!
-mommy

BGPs Part Deux

2009-04-02T18:33:00.000-07:00

hello my little bug!

this has been a BIG week for you. after starting to wear BGPs (big girl panties) in december and keeping yourself clean and dry through the first couple weeks of january, you started having some issues. namely, you were pooping your pants many, many times a day. i put you back in diapers and shelved the whole BGP thing thinking you weren't ready. it turns out that you had a medical issue...an impacted colon. after some intensive and truly horrid therapies, you are now over that particular malady. you have been asking to wear your BGPs a lot lately, and this week we started you back in them in earnest. you have done wonderfully. you've had very few accidents and are handling both bathroom functions very well. i have promised you and myself that no matter what happens, we're not putting you back in diapers. that was a bad move on my part...i think it set you back emotionally. now i know what to look for in the event that some tummy troubles come your way again...and i know what to do to prevent any serious issues like what happened in january.

i am incredibly proud of you my big girl!

love,
mommy

pink flowers

2009-03-26T18:49:00.000-07:00

dear bug,

today while you were at school learning and having fun, brother and i had a special visitor...your beloved auntie taz. she was sad to not see you, but we will all catch up with her together soon. she brought over some beautiful pink flowers, which you discovered as soon as you got home from school. you've been looking at them and asking me about them all afternoon. this weekend, we will transplant them outside so that they can get lots of sunshine and fresh air. i love having the opportunity to learn what interests you. you've been pretty interested in flowers for the past couple months, which is a little strange considering how much you fear plants in general. you have no fear of flowers and love to take care of them. you've been mothering some flowers we got a month or so ago...pretty much anytime you go outside, you are talking to them, touching them, rearranging their dirt, or watering them :-) i love to watch you when you don't know i'm there. i learn so much about you!

i love you, bug!
-mommy

a week of quarantine

2009-03-22T19:14:00.000-07:00

hiya bug!

you poor girl...you've been so sick again this week, and this was spring break. you had off of school this week, and we had so much fun stuff planned. none of it came to pass, though. you started out just snotty and cough-y, but by the third day, you had fever...pretty high fever. on the fourth day, you woke up during the night complaining of ear pain, so we went to the dr. the next day. yep...you have a double ear infection. this is your first infection since september. i am very hopeful that it's not the start of another batch of non-stop ear infections...i am assuming it's the result of having clogged sinuses/congestion for most of this past month.

you did pretty well this week despite feeling icky. you were sad each day when i had to tell you that our fun events wouldn't be happening. you fell asleep on 3 out of our 5 walks this week. you even fell asleep in the car 2x...you haven't done that in AGES. you fell asleep so soundly in the car today that you didn't wake up as daddy got you unbuckled, picked up, in the house, and deposited on the couch. you slept on the couch for more than an hour.

i am hoping that we can get back into the full swing of things this next week. we did make up for some lost time this weekend, though...saturday was daddy's birthday and today we went to the rodeo. we had a great weekend!

i love you, bug!
-mommy

sweet

2009-03-09T09:40:00.001-07:00

hi, bug!

oh, my poor girl, you have been so sick for the last week. you are finally on the mend, but still not 100% yourself. despite your feeling so rotten, you were such a sweetie all last week. you've started to become interested in what i am making for dinner. you often tell me "i don't like that!" and THEN you ask me what it is :-) last week, as i was preparing a bulgogi marinade for some pork loins, you came over and told me "mommy, you a good cooker!". i about melted on the floor.

this past weekend, we went to a rummage sale that benefits baby ike and his family. i told you all about ike, how he's little like quinn, and is in the hospital and how we were helping him. you were pretty excited about helping ike, and you thoroughly enjoyed picking out all kinds of toys and items for quinn. you picked a few things for yourself, but you picked far more items for quinn. and, you have proudly given him each of his new toys as it's finished it's turn in the washer. you are such a sweet girl, bug!

love,
mommy

3-year stats

2009-03-04T13:49:00.000-08:00

dear bug,

today you had your 3-year well check. it mostly went well, though the doc did discover an issue with your tummy, and the fix makes you feel quite terrible.

you checked out well for everything else. i got to fill out a fun questionaire about the things you like to do.

you are 38 inches tall, you weigh around 38 pounds (this was with clothes/diaper on and a tummy full of something icky, so who knows what you really weigh), and your head is 20 inches around. all of these numbers put you in the 95th percentile and up, which tracks with your percentiles since you were 2 months old.

i think you will be a tall woman when you are grown, but we will just have to see. daddy was a big baby and child, but is now around average size. i was a tiny baby and child for the first 3 years, and then quickly grew to be very tall and thin by my pre-teens. by the time i reached adulthood, i was just slightly taller than average and was an average weight. it all gets figured out over time...we'll just have to see what your growth patterns are like as you get bigger.

it is always fun to see how you're doing, bug!

love,
mommy

a bug

2009-03-02T19:43:00.001-08:00

dear bug,

today you are pretty desperately ill with a bug (har har). it's some nasty virus that has you burning up with fever and suffering with pretty extreme head congestion. i haven't seen you this sick since you and i both got the flu around this time last year. you fell asleep on the couch...twice. i don't think you've ever done that! i could barely get you to eat most of the day, though you did perk up and eat your dinner. strangely enough, you were much less cranky than you usually are :-) of course, i'm using the term "cranky" to describe your typical stubborn behavior...i'm sure that, to you, being so stubborn has nothing to do with being cranky :-)

we'll have another day at home cuddling on the couch tomorrow. i hope your fever, at least, is gone tomorrow. you and brother have your well-checks on wednesday...i have a feeling we might be changing that appt. to sick checks (brother is sick, too).

i love you, bug!
-mommy

sweet, sassy, and SMART

2009-02-23T20:03:00.000-08:00

dear bug,

i just have to tell you how multi-faceted you are. you are the most intriguing person. you are so incredibly smart...your powers of observation and reasoning are a force to be reckoned with. you keep me and daddy on our toes :-) you are also incredibly funny! you tell funny stories all the time. today, you and quinn and i took a REALLY long walk (4 miles), and along the way you just sang and chatted to yourself. i heard you telling yourself a knock-knock joke! i guess it's kinda rude in a way, but i love to eavesdrop on the conversations you have with yourself. i learn so much about you.

you have such a strong personality, bug! i admire you for it. yeah, sometimes it's a point of contention, but overall, i am SO glad to see how strong you are and i hope that you always feel this strong. being a strong female will serve you well in life. i'm so glad to see that you are not timid and shy like i was as a child. as much trouble as it can cause, i am secretly glad that you are so contrary with me. i only hope that as you grow and mature that you are not contrary for the sake of being contrary...that you use this power to state yourself to stand up for yourself.

you are also an incredibly sweet little girl. you are developing such a sense of empathy, and it's heart warming (and sometimes heart wrenching) to see. a couple weeks ago, you were talking to me while i made dinner. i slipped with a knife and cut two of my fingers pretty badly. you were so worried about me...you offered me lots of kisses and kept asking if i was okay.

you've also become such a big helper! you help me set the table most nights, you like to help me make quinn's bottles, and you are so great about putting trash in the trash can. ms. pam, your preschool teacher, told me about how you stayed back from the play area last thursday to help her clean paint off the table. when quinn and i came to pick you up from school, you were cleaning the table again.

speaking of quinn. i know it's hard that you and i don't get to do a lot of stuff together right now. i have been so thoroughly enjoying our weekend time together. the past few weeks, we've gotten out to chuck e. cheese's, kiddie acres, birthday parties, and shopping for the pink flowers you requested. this coming weekend, you and i will transplant those pink flowers...and name them.

i love you bug. you are a bright, shining light in my life. i am incredibly lucky to have the honor of being your mommy.

-mommy

My Bug

2009-02-09T19:15:00.000-08:00

dear bug,

tomorrow marks 14 weeks that you've been a big sister. 14 weeks seems like such a short time to me, but that's b/c i'm SOOOOO old :-) to you, 14 weeks is not a small chunk of your life.

it's been a pretty crazy 14 weeks, but you've handled the changes pretty gracefully. you love your little brother and are very sweet to him. you are very understanding and kind to him about the attention he needs, but you are a little less understanding of me. i am now able to see how much it's hurting you that i cannot give you my undivided attention. i know this is a natural progression of things and that as you get older, you will naturally be more and more independent, but generally speaking, that progression doesn't take just 14 weeks.

i hope that i'm humble enough to tell you this often as you grow up, but i'm only human. i screw up a lot. much of the time, i have no idea what i'm doing. like now...i am at a loss as to how to help you understand that i love you more than life itself and that when i'm taking care of your brother, it doesn't mean that i have forgotten you or that i love you any less.

your sunshine-y personality, sense of humor, and immense wit keep me laughing a lot of the time. i love your imagination and your creativity. i love how seriously you take yourself sometimes with your furrowed brow and pouty lips. i love to play games with you and help you with your puzzles. i am sorry that so much of the time, your brother needs me before we finish these fun times. someday soon, your brother will need me a little less and i will be able to play a whole game of memory with you or help you put your "are kangaroos mother's too" puzzle together more than once. and, i will also be able to help you paint and draw rather than just setting you up with a craft to do. quinn and i will be a rapt audience when you want to dance and sing for us. someday soon, bug...

i know we'll find our way, bug. in the mean time, i'm trying to find us a less bumpy road for our travels :-)

i love you snuggle-/love-/stink-bug!
-mommy

Aaaaannnndddd....We're Back!

2009-02-09T19:07:00.000-08:00

with a new format and new perspective. discontinuing this blog was a big mistake and symptomatic of a whole host of other mistakes i've made as a new parent to two children. i have figuratively, and sometimes literally, pushed livie aside as i learn about and care for quinn. this has had some dire consequences, the biggest being a huge impact on livie's daily life.

i am struggling to learn how to balance getting quality time with livie while also tending to a somewhat needy newborn. the squeaky wheel gets the grease, as the saying goes, and that means that livie's not getting enough "grease". while she doesn't "squeak" as much as quinn, she is finding other ways to get attention, and much of these are negative.

since she's 3, i'm not sure what livie's memories of this transition will be, but i want her to be able to reflect on the experience positively. from this point forward, i will be keeping letters to livie on this blog in hopes that someday she will read them and understand that while the day-to-day reality is that she gets far less one-on-one attention than she used to, our love for her is unchanged. i'm also hoping that writing these letters will help me focus on livie's unique qualities and her lovable, funny, smart self.

Big Sister

2008-12-02T13:15:00.000-08:00

livie is a big sister! today livie's little brother, quinn, is 4 weeks old! it's been a crazy 4 weeks, but we've survived it!

quinntin rusty anderson was born at 6:34 p.m. on tuesday, 11/4. he weighed in at 7 lbs and 12 oz and was 22 inches long.

livie is doing great with adjusting to being a big sister, and we are all finding a new groove as a family of four.

a new groove needs new digs. to chronicle the goings on of both kiddos, please join us here : http://theloyalsubjects.blogspot.com/.

Spooky Seven!

2008-11-01T19:50:00.000-07:00

halloween has been a ton of fun this year, and it's turned out to be a week-long event! with livie being 2.75 and very aware of the concepts of dress-up, candy, and parties...it's been all-out fun for 7 days! after getting to wear her costume to gymnastics last weekend, livie also got to go to halloween parties on wednesday, thursday, AND friday. each day, she gladly wore her "super dee dee" costume, but by friday night, she was over it and wanted to wear something different to hand out candy (she chose an assortment of items from her dress-up box...we called her butterfly princess in this outfit).

we did kinda have halloween come to a screeching halt on friday afternoon when it became apparent that the nagging dry cough livie's had during sleep for a week had become a nasty-sounding deep chest cough. so, we kept it to a dull roar. livie followed us to the door to watch us hand out candy, but we did not take her trick-or-treating. we also turned the porch light off early to ensure livie got to bed on time. i know, i know...this is kinda cruel. but, she doesn't know (yet) what she missed out on.

a trip to the dr. today got livie some good meds and verified that she does not have anything serious. she is doing much better on the meds, and we're hoping for some solid sleep over the next few days to help her heal.

here are a couple pics of livie's halloween celebration at school as well as her outfit for helping hand out candy last night.

super heroes like chicken nuggets and juice boxes :-)

silly class picture

enthusiastic butterfly princess ready to greet trick-or-treaters

October : A Poignant Year over Year over Year Review

2008-10-28T14:42:00.000-07:00

this month's year-over-year review is quite special. this is livie's last month as an only child. her baby brother, quinn, will be here in no more than 9 days. he has the option to arrive on his own, and if he chooses not to, he's getting "evicted" on 11/6 (gestational diabetes + large baby + leftover complications from livie's birth = not taking chances with trying to birth a 10-pounder :-).

in part, i feel really sorry for livie b/c this entire year, or nearly, she's had to share me with her brother. okay, maybe not in the explicit sense, but given the typical first-trimester ickiness, shared bouts with the flu, upper respiratory infections, and sinus infections, and then the lovely third trimester inability to move faster than a slug...she's had to share.

i desperately miss romping with livie and playing with her freely, and i can't wait to do it again. she's super excited about her brother and asks, nearly daily, if he's coming out yet. she's enthusiastic about helping with him, and i know she's a tender-hearted little girl who will love him dearly. but, there's the reality that her world will forever be changed. she will not be our only princess anymore....she will have to share the spotlight with our prince, and i know that will be tough for her. i am eager for and anxious about this transition ahead of us. and, i stay up at night thinking about how it will feel to livie.

this blog is livie's ... it will remain livie's. i want her to have a record of her days as an only, and i want her to be able to read about the special brand of love, joy, and *ahem* frustration she brought us before she had to share the spotlight with her brother. so, when quinn gets here and i'm able to find a few minutes to blather on about my new family of four, it will be on a new blog in a new space. stay tuned for that information if you want to follow this new leg of our journey. in the mean time, enjoy these silly pictures of our beautiful little girl, olivia grace.

hamming it up in oct '06

looking adorably less-than-enthused in oct '07

looking SUPER in oct '08

Hair Did

2008-10-27T06:57:00.000-07:00

livie still has beautiful hair! the stylist did a great job of getting off the damaged parts of livie's hair without drastically changing the length. to me, the result is darker, curlier, fuller hair.

see for yourself (enjoy the dance video, too):

btw, the only way i could get her to cooperate for this video event was to tell her that victor wanted to see her hair. boy, does she miss victor. she asks me at least 3x a week where he is!

Verbalizing

2008-10-27T01:27:00.000-07:00

these days, livie's verbal skills are changing daily if not hourly. we are getting more and more glimpses, if not wide open views, of what livie thinks about, how she feels about things, and what she likes and dislikes. she has a great imagination! this has been fun to explore, and sad, too. the incidences of nightmares, and fears in general, are becoming more and more frequent. at a halloween party this weekend, livie cried hysterically when she caught sight of an 8ish-year-old boy in a "scream" mask. it was heartbreaking to see her so scared, but awesome that she could tell me what had her so upset and what she thought about it.

my favorite thing about livie's verbal prowess is her ability to tell me what she imagines. apparently, we have a whole assortment of bears and mice in our back yard, and they come in fascinating colors :-)

last night, josh and i got out for one more date night before livie's little brother arrives, and the bug got some love and attention from her auntie rayo and uncle brian while we were gone. she looked forward to seeing them ALL afternoon. in between enthusiastic puppy-like romps to the front window to check for their arrival, she gave us detailed descriptions/plans of what they'd do together.

well, when the time came, livie became morose. apparently, she missed us. it's also become apparent that she's got a little cold.

last night, when brian and rayo were leaving, brian asked for a high five and told livie he'd see her later...she casually looked up from toy story 2 and said "see ya later, brian". she was totally serious...her intonation was that of a distracted adult (or sullen teenager (yikes)). funny, yet not so funny...

i prefer the version of livie that enthusiastically insists that she has a pink bear in her back yard to the rather sullen, monotone version :-)

Dun Dun Dun!

2008-10-25T08:12:00.000-07:00

after blogging that i refuse to cut livie's hair, i came to the realization this morning that we HAVE to cut it.

i put some french braids in livie's hair today, and as i was combing it out to get started, i realized that the bottom of her hair is very damaged and broken, which prolly explains why i am untangling knots from the bottom of her hair all the time.

when livie's hair started growing, it grew out in layers -- she had her very own shag. well, the bottom layer of that shag is going to have to come off. i'm making josh do this (as i have for every hair cut...i've attended only one and i had to keep walking away...couldn't watch).

so, when i get home from my volunteer gig today, i will be confronted with my beautiful little girl having a lot less of her beautiful hair...i'm already mourning her hair! (silly, i know!)

pics later....

Suuuuuuuuuuper DEEEEEEEEEEE DEEEEEEEEE!

2008-10-25T08:02:00.001-07:00

(the goggles are livie's customization of her costume :-)

here are a couple of preview shots of livie in her halloween costume. she got to wear the costume to gymnastics today. when asked what she is, livie responds with SUPER DEE DEE!

random side note : though livie still calls herself dee dee, no one else is allowed to do so. if we call her dee dee, livie responds with "no! you call me eee eee (her pronunciation of livie without any consonants...she's still working on "L" and seems to have "V" down only as an initial consonant :-).

this may end up being one of two costumes. starting yesterday, livie decided she wanted to be a kitty for halloween, so she and i may be making a kitty costume over the next couple days. stay tuned for more (and hopefully better) pics of livie in costume!

Feeding the "Needy"

2008-10-25T07:50:00.000-07:00

livie and i met up with a couple friends at northwest park yesterday, and after some active playtime in the cool weather, we stopped for snacks. we left our snack paraphernalia on a picnic table only to look up and see 3 or 4 squirrels getting into all of it. i sat down at the table to drink some water, and these two squirrels didn't budge. they weren't going to let me interrupt their foraging.

not pictured : squirrels drinking out of two sippy cups, a squirrel eating out of an applesauce container i was holding, and another squirrel scratching and biting holes in my diaper bag trying to get to the snacks inside. these guys were persistent.

Gettin' Into the Swing of Things

2008-10-19T19:16:00.000-07:00

livie's been working on this all summer and seems to have mastered the big-girl swing!

Klept-Olivia

2008-10-15T13:29:00.000-07:00

livie has become interested in bags, purses, containers...whatever she can use to amass large collections of unrelated items...which she then stores in unlikely places.

saturday morning, josh and i were cleaning out some cupboards and generally not paying a lot of close attention to livie. well, the time came to pack up for gymnastics, and i noticed that livie had an HEB shopping bag that she was happily toting around and that she took with her to have in the van on the way to gymnastics.

after josh and livie leave for gymnastics, i spend a few minutes finishing up my grocery list and preparing to head out when i realize it's time to test my glucose. hmmmm...no meter. no food journal. anywhere. in. the. house. so, i call josh who confirms that livie has shoplifted my glucose meter and my journal, which i now have to retrieve from gymnastics class! do i dare tell my endo why i had such a fantastic post-meal number (i'm usually running too high after breakfast and am always in trouble for that. well, when you take an extra 30 minutes to test and you run around like a crazy woman for that 30 minutes, your glucose levels come down nicely :-)

i am now much more careful where i put my glucose meter, but just this morning i couldn't find the TV remote...until i started digging through livie's toy shopping cart...

Possession is 9/10 of the Law...

2008-10-15T13:17:00.000-07:00

unless we're speaking of livie's hair :-)

i love love love livie's hair. i can't keep my hands out of it. i love to play with it, look at it, admire it, and tell her how beautiful it is. we often have this conversation : ME - "livie, who has the most beautiful hair EVER?!" LIVIE - "dee dee do!!".

the other day, we're wandering around TRU looking for a bday prize to get for livie's friend mee-anna (marianna from school), and livie spots the hair salon that's inside TRU. we used to take her to this salon to get her bangs cut and get the length of her hair trimmed. as soon as she spots the salon, she states "i wan get mah haih cut!".....

josh and i look at each other and let the silence hang for a bit. she makes the same statement a couple more times, and then i break it to her. despite the fact that the hair is on her head, i have ownership for at least one more year. i do not want to cut livie's hair. ever. okay...when it gets to her lower back, then yes, i'll consent to cutting it. but not before then...or before she turns 3.75...whichever comes first...

ABCs, 123s, and More...

2008-10-07T20:58:00.000-07:00

so, livie's been back in school a whole month now (plus some), and it's coming along swimmingly. her class is much larger this semester, which worried me at first, but she seems to be adjusting well. her favorite school chum, marianna, is in class with her this semester, and that's working out great. i do get reports, however, that livie and marianna are best friends one minute and crying/yelling at each other the next. i did not think that girl drama would start this young ;-p

i am going to hazard a guess that cooking class is her favorite thing about school...right behind music class. on the days she has cooking class, she comes home decorated in whatever she made that day...pretty cute :-) when i ask, though, she ALWAYS tells me that music is her favorite.

one of the greatest benefits of livie's larger class at school is all the birthday parties she's invited to. our girl has quite the social calendar. she's racking up the birthday party miles faster than we can count. this coming weekend, she gets to help marianna celebrate her 3rd at radijazz (there should be a good nap that day). last weekend, she and marianna were helping another schoolmate celebrate her 3rd with tons of outdoor activities and time spent sneaking candy bits off the birthday girl's cupcakes (BUSTED! marianna, who speaks mostly spanish, told me how she and livie were taking stuff off the cakes. it was too funny and cute to scold them for it, and it turns out that most of the birthday party guests (under 4 feet tall) had been doing the same thing).

September : A Year Over Year Over Year Review

2008-10-01T06:52:00.000-07:00

september '06, when livie would still wear a hat for more than 3 seconds

september '07 when livie started to discover the joys of playing dress-up

september '08 — just plain beautiful, even with a brown marker smudge on her forehead :-)

Teeth are NOT for Biting!

2008-09-28T20:30:00.000-07:00

today, livie, josh, uncle brian, aunt rayo, and i all headed down to boerne to visit with grammie and aunt kimmy (aunt kammy, according to livie).

we had a great time catching up, sharing a yummy meal, and heading out to the ranch to check out all the pettables. livie has been talking about grammie's kitty, sarah, aunt kammy's dog, emma, and all the horses at the ranch where aunt kammy works for WEEKS...since the last time i took her down there. after she got time to pet sarah-kitty and scratch the emma-dog, she was ready to conquer the horses. once we got to the ranch and she was done investigating the emma-dog, she was all over the place offering hay to all the horses and trying to work up the courage to pet their soft noses (she's cool with ponies, but she's still pretty unsure about the big horses).

after she worked up a bunch of courage, she offered her sweet little hand to a sweet and inquisitive horse named julio. well, julio was happy to investigate livie's hand and mistook one of her fingers for something yummy. she got a little scrape and a bruise, but it was enough to make her a bit scared of the horses and ready to find emma-dog, chase some cats, and meet a squirrel that aunt kammy is raising after it was orphaned during a storm.

not to fear, livie is back to talking about the horses non stop and is already asking to go back to see them. we will work harder to teach her how to keep her fingers out of horse's way next time!

oh, and for the funny part...it was livie's middle finger that got nibbled. guess who can (proudly) flip the bird now. she'll flip you the bird and tell you all about the horsey that bit it. this is going to go over SO well at school, i'm sure :-)

Pohawk

2008-09-25T18:26:00.000-07:00

i admit that i don't have the hair gene. i was absent the day the hair gene was handed out. i'm barely able to maintain any sort of hair decorum for myself, but i LOVE LOVE LOVE playing with livie's hair! of course, every once in a while, i get a wild hair (har har har) and do something super silly to it. today, it was a pohawk. what is a pohawk, you ask? see below...

checkin' out her pohawk. she added the more civilized and cute head band (and i tied it).

making sure i'm checking out her pohawk

thrashing her pohawk. i had no idea that thrashing was an innate behavior. i did NOT tell livie how or demonstrate how to thrash one's pohawk.

A Not-So-Mini Reunion

2008-09-25T18:20:00.000-07:00

it's been a while since we've seen our friends, taz and baby aadil. well, funny things happen when times passes...namely, babies GROW. aadil is just about to celebrate his first birthday, just had his first haircut, and just cut his first FIVE teeth at one time (poor boy). here're a couple pics of livie and aadil hangin' out together the other day while taz and i got caught up on the goings on in our lives.

it is ever-so-slightly CRAZY to realize that these two will soon be scampering up and down the playscapes together. they grow too fast!

No Whammies! No Whammies!

2008-09-23T12:45:00.001-07:00

(this title and image will make sense only if you are familiar with the 80s game show, Press Your Luck :-)

well, livie got a double whammy. after 3 months with no ear infections, she's got a nice double ear infection going this week. she is still really stuffed up and still has a post-nasal-drip cough that started last week, which the doc attributes to allergies, and it seems that the funk in her sinus cavities is also clogging her ears and has caused them to be infected. here's hoping that livie is not at the start of another months-long ear infection endurance event.

now, if we could figure out how livie has allergy symptoms when she is on once-daily zyrtec AND veramyst nasal spray....those are some TENACIOUS allergens.

my poor baby...

Daddy's Helper

2008-09-21T21:20:00.000-07:00

as i get more and more GIGANTIC in my third trimester, i'm pretty much 100% benched for all the fun stuff you can do with an adventurous toddler. after my little radijazz adventure that i thought had put me in to pre-term labor, i'm laying low. daddy's the man these days. he's the fun guy who can play tackle and chase, take a girl bowling, ride bikes, play basketball, and play soccer. i feel kinda sad and left out, but i have big plans for a lot of rough housing once i'm no longer hosting livie's baby brother :-)

here, livie is "helping" josh put up a basketball net. we've always had the hoop (since we moved here), and livie and josh like to play together (he lifts her up so that she can make a slam dunk), but without the net, the ball ends up all over the cul de sac. now they can play like pros. josh also got livie a soccer goal this weekend...she's been pretty excited about kicking the ball around with josh, and now she's REALLY excited about kicking it into a goal.

i can't wait to get her started in team sports. i think we'll start early...like next summer...and mostly for the entertainment it will provide us (you know, 3yos kicking the soccer ball into the wrong goal :-)

Blue's Birthday Cake

2008-09-21T21:13:00.001-07:00

one of livie's favorite books is blue's birthday in the blue's clues collection. she loves to find the clues and follow along as blue's friends prepare to help her celebrate her birthday. after reading the book before bed last night, livie very sweetly (and with the appropriate "nice" words) asked to make a birthday cake.

this morning, i asked livie what flavor she wanted (i'm strictly a box cake kind of girl). i gave her the option of vanilla or chocolate, and she answered with "b'nana". so, that's what we got.

we had a great time mixing and pouring. just before i put the batter in the cake pan, livie told me she wanted a blue cake. so, together we added copious amounts of blue food coloring to our banana cake. the effect was a little ocean-ic in color, but it was the right amount of blue for livie :-)

Company Picnic as a Distraction

2008-09-21T20:47:00.001-07:00

on thursday, livie got to skip her nap and josh got to come home early so that we could all drive up to reunion ranch for josh's company picnic. the drive up was pretty tough simply b/c livie was running very low on reserves. she's had a little cold or allergy attack this week (not sure which) that left her with a post-nasal drip cough. so, after not getting good sleep wednesday night and skipping her nap thursday, she hit a wall earlier than normal...and right when we happened upon some stop-n-go traffic on I-35 during rush hour. we nearly turned the van around to come home, but once we got to reunion ranch, livie perked right up. there's nothing like some open fields, playscapes, and lots of other kiddos to snap her out of a funk.

we had a grand ol' time, and we got home in enough time to give livie her bedtime routine and get her down at her usual bed time. she did pass out cold before we'd even finished kissing her good night and closing her bedroom door, but i'd say it was worth it for the amount of fun she had!

Oh, Glorious Day!

2008-09-15T20:08:00.000-07:00

okay, i don't say that about many mondays. but, wow! the weather today! wow! i mean WOW! i actually got to wear jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. WOW!

livie and headed out for some blissfully cool and breezy park time today. i would say that we had a blast, but livie's not quite herself today. i'm not sure what's going on...cold? allergies? monday blues? who knows. since she was fever and snot free, we headed out despite the less-than-livie-like mood.

to avoid any dawn-and-victor related sadness/missing, we went to a park we haven't been to since just before livie turned 2 (and that we've never been to with dawn and victor). i think it's called robinson park. here is what livie did with her time there...

uh. where did my baby go? who is this crazy tall little girl? dressing livie in pants today kinda "brought home" how much she's grown this year. so. not. ready. for. this!

Friday Night Fun

2008-09-15T19:56:00.000-07:00

this is the only picture we have b/c all the others are a blur of sprinting toddlers

for the past couple weeks, sarah and i have been trying out a little toddler swap so that each of us can get some time to ourselves and/or with our hubbys.

on friday night, isabel came over to play with us while her 'rents went to see a movie. the girls had a blast. first of all, riding together in the car seems to provide endless entertainment. livie is VERY close to outgrowing her britax roundabout car seat, so we recently got her a graco something-or-other that's rated to 65 pounds in the 5-point-harness. so we moved livie's roundabout over to the seat next to livie so that we can take isabel with us pretty much whenever (and easily).

you would have thought the van was disney world with all the enthusiasm and glee going on in there on the 10 minute drive to .... THE BOUNCE HOUSE!!!

we took the girls to ready set play late in the evening, which meant that the place was all ours!!! what fun! the girls ruled the toddler inflatable, jumped themselves silly in the palm-tree hut, and generally ran amok. we look forward to doing that again!

Gymnastics

2008-09-15T19:36:00.001-07:00

all gussied up in her leotard and trying to put on a fancy bow

it seems like forever since livie was last enrolled in classes at little gym, but it's actually been only a few months. "our" little gym closed in the spring, and we were sort of "forced" to finish out our semester at the lakeline location (in order to get our money's worth since we paid for the semester in full). we seersee (term courtesy of victor) HATED that location. the classes were way over-enrolled. the coaches did a pretty amazing job of remembering the kids' names and skill levels considering the chaos of 20-something kids trying to use all the equipment (in a class where there's little to no organization (b/c 2-year-olds aren't really all that "into" organization)), but even my social butterfly did not enjoy the level of chaos.

since may-ish, we've been without gymnastics. i can't say there's really been a void b/c we filled our time with all sorts of other fun stuff, but we missed it nonetheless. we especially missed gymnastics after watching all the fun gymnastics events during the olympics. livie was inspired...she perfected her forward roll (she no longer lists to one side), and she perfected her landing stance (arms thrown up with exuberance). she also started asking to go to gymnastics. every day.

we enrolled livie at capital gymnastics. our first class was a week ago this past saturday, and i must say it was a bust. there were 3 classes going on at the same time, and one class was missing a coach, so our class doubled in size. half the class was parent and tot, and half the class was tot only. this, coupled with having to form lines, wait to be called on, and being told "no balance beam today" made the experience pretty un-fun for livie. that, and i had to keep on her constantly to listen to her coach and me, wait in line, sit down until called, and not sprint into other areas of the gym. it was a long 45 minutes, and i left thinking about finding another program for livie.

well, this past weekend was HUGELY improved. the missing coach showed up, and i realized that our class actually has only 4 or 5 children in it. also, we got to know livie's coach much better since there was far less chaos.

livie did 99.9% FANTASTIC with waiting in line and waiting to be called, and she seemed to really enjoy the planned activities rather than pining for other equipment. there was one incident where i turned my back and she was off like a shot headed for the jump track. the scariest part is that she ran right through an advanced tumbling class and a coach had to stop a gymnast mid-move to keep livie from disrupting her to the point of injury. i was very embarrassed and NOT happy with my bug. i had to work pretty hard to keep my tone "nice" and my volume down as i scolded her for this move and warned her what the consequences would be the next time she pulled that stunt.

other than that near catastrophe, the class was very pleasant, and livie and i both had a great time. livie got to swing on a rope like a monkey and to do her very first hand stands (with the help of a "cheese wedge" to get her feet up); she finally kept her arms "strong" (straight) instead of trying to stand on her head. best of all, her coach gave the class a few minutes of free time at the end of class, so livie's itch to investigate all the other equipment (meant for people taller than 37 inches) was finally scratched.

I Don't Wanna!

2008-09-15T19:24:00.000-07:00

i have been avoiding writing this post for more than a week now. our beloved friends, dawn and victor, have moved away. far away. to illinois. they've been gone just a week, and already we miss them. today, livie told me "i wan go to zoo with mah victor!" um. SAD! we took livie to kiddie acres on sunday, and since daddy was with us, it was a different enough experience for livie to not be searching for "her" victor the entire time, but the visit left me blue.

the weekend before they left, livie and i met up with dawn and victor at chuck e. cheese. the kids had fun. dawn and i talked about just about everything except the fact that this was our last playdate for a long time. and then, it was time to go. the kids were oblivious, but i was having a bit of a time keeping from blubbering.

joint mouse inspection

offroading

just plain cute. as in giving-you-a-cavity cute. this was victor's ride that livie helped herself to. victor is such a sweet and patient guy (not to mention crazy smart and incredibly cute)!

dawn got a lot of REALLY cute pics. check 'em out on her blog. you'll have to go back a few entries b/c, unlike me, dawn does not seem to have avoidance issues :-)

ugh. dawn and victor, if you are reading this, know that we MISS YOU! today was the perfect zoo day, but i just couldn't bring myself to make the trip knowing you wouldn't be there!

Mommy Got a Time Out

2008-09-03T19:44:00.001-07:00

on the way home from a morning full of fun today, i made a grave traffic error and ended up in "time out".

we pass a school zone right before we get to our house. i had slowed to the appropriate speed approaching a traffic light, but after stopping for said light and then accelerating again, i neglected to follow the posted speed limit (i was too busy talking to livie about what i was going to make for lunch and was not paying attention).

of course, since it's the beginning of the school year, the school zones are heavily patrolled, and i got busted. it was fun explaining to livie why we just sat in the car for 10 minutes when we were SO close to home and lunch. i decided to explain it as my having gotten in trouble and being put in time out. she thought that was rather funny ;-p

oh, and on top of blazing through a school zone, i was also sans wallet. so, this citation will be a doozy. hopefully, i'll be able to get the citations for lack of license and proof of financial responsibility dropped.

Fire Fightin'

2008-09-03T19:35:00.001-07:00

today, livie had her first tour of a fire station and fire truck. she LOVED it! she just jumped right in and wasn't shy about checkin' stuff out and interacting with the fire fighters. we toured a small fire station, which had lots of benefits, but it would be cool to see a BIG fire station, too.

happily driving the big truck (thanks for the pic, nicole!)

more driving the big truck

group shot

Quotable Quotes

2008-09-02T18:40:00.000-07:00

lately, livie's vocabulary and speech have really taken off and now that she's comfortable mastering new words, she's working on inflection/expression and, seemingly, her own brand of humor about the world around her. here are a few doozies that i just have to record for livie to look back on (and for me and josh to look back on).

reflections on mommy
********************

anybody who's a parent knows that it is IMPOSSIBLE to get to use the restroom by yourself once these little people are part of our lives. well, to add to that "pleasure", i am in the stage of pregnancy that has me familiarizing myself with just about every public restroom in austin, and livie gets stuck having to accompany me on these many trips. last week, while crammed into a stall with me, livie took the opportunity to wax poetic about my physique. i got "mommy, you big!". i readily agreed. then, i got "mommy, you butt big!!!" this is when i lost it and ended up laughing hysterically (along with livie). when we came out of the stall, the restroom was empty. i don't know if it had always been empty or if our little exchange chased everyone out ;-p

today, i was telling livie about a fun trip she and i are going to take tomorrow morning. we will be having our first fire station tour! so, i told livie about it by telling her "guess what you and mommy are doing tomorrow morning...." after i finished my explanation, i got a concerned look from livie and "and my fends, too?!" hmmm. it seems that we have already entered the phase where livie would MUCH rather be with her peers than her parents.

on theatrics
***********

lately, when livie works herself into a frenzy or even a fake frenzy (my lord...i didn't know i would be getting FAKE tantrums along with real ones), she'll calm down long enough to tell us "i upset. i need take bake." i know i am not supposed to laugh at my daughter's angst, but this one gets me just about every time.

when we have to break livie's heart by telling her that we cannot do a particular activity or go to a particular place (b/c it's not the right time or it's closed or she's in trouble), we get the expected tantrum about 70% of the time. the other 30% of the time, we get this little adult "okay. meybeee ater." or "okay. meybee sumdeeey." it's REALLY hard not to laugh!

when faced with a timeout for her or for her toys after misbehaving, livie will immediately launch a campaign for better health with cries of "my tummy huuuhhts!" or "i huuhht mysef!"

on jokes
********

livie has started to laugh at funny scenes in movies and books, and she's even made up her first joke, though i'm reasonably sure she learned it on the playground at school. she loves to tell us "1-2-3 POOP!" josh thinks this is HILARIOUS. i am less impressed but have to admit that it's funny that she's making a joke!

************
i absolutely love watching this little person emerge and grow into herself. this parenting gig is definitely the hardest job i've ever done, but it is certainly the absolute BEST job i've had or will ever have.

First Day of School!

2008-09-02T18:33:00.000-07:00

pretty school girl

settling into her new class with the help of play doh ("squeeze" to livie) and scissors!

today was the first day of school for livie's new school year. since it was time for her to move up a class, this meant a new room, new teacher, and new classmates...along with mommy having new jitters.

silly me. livie did great. josh took her to school and reported that she did great at drop off. when i picked her up, she morosely told me she wanted to go back to school. when i told her we'd be going back on thursday, she wailed "NOT ON THURSDAY! i want to go cool!!!" hmmmm. i think that means she wasn't thrilled to be going home with me and away from the fun of school and her friends.

August : A Year over Year over Year Review

2008-09-02T18:24:00.000-07:00

here're the august comparisons...two days late!

looking scrumptious in aug '06

eating something scrumptious in aug '07

again looking scrumptious in aug '08

Love is in the Air

2008-08-28T19:11:00.000-07:00

dawn caught this shot and more of the two lovebirds as they frolicked at springwoods park.

man, does livie love her some victor. her crushes on her two favorite red heads are very overt at home, but they are in stealth mode when she sees those boys. with victor, the mere mention of his name at home first makes her glow and second prompts her to talk about him. non stop. she tells me all the time that victor's a nice boy, that he fed her cocklecorn (popcorn) at the movies, and so on. tonight, livie decided to stall/delay bed time by insisting that she pick her own books to read for story time. well, she found one of the animal baby issues that victor got her for her birthday last year, and she said "victor gave me!". um. we haven't talked about that for at least 6 months. my kid's got a crazy good memory...especially when it has to do with victor :-)

victor and his family are moving to illinois soon, and i really haven't talked to livie about it much. i'm not sure how to. i know what will happen, though...she'll start asking to see him, and i will have to explain that he lives far away...and that's when the sadness and most likely tears will happen. i'm sad thinking about it. one thing that makes me feel better is knowing that he and dawn (and james) will occasionally visit texas and we can get the lovebirds together again. that, and there will be copious amounts of cards and pics going to illinois so that victor doesn't forget livie :-)

Galveston Island 08/08 - Deep Thoughts

2008-08-27T20:41:00.000-07:00

i am not sure i can verbally do justice to the amount of fun we had on this vacation. we took livie to galveston last year, and we know that she thoroughly enjoyed it, but we don't know that in her words b/c she wasn't talking much then. now, she talks non stop and it was AMAZING to hear what she really thought of the experience. part of me wishes we'd waited to do the innaugural trip until this year so we could hear what she thought of her first experience with the beach.

one bit of magic, though, was seeing the Hons family see the beach for the first time. this was crazy fun! i especially loved watching my friend, sarah, discover all sorts of new things for the first time. i almost caught a great video of her chasing a crab on the beach, but i was too slow. it's always nice to see things thru someone else's eyes...especially when it's a new experience for that person. this is my number one favorite thing about being a parent. i never thought that i'd get the same opportunity thru a peer.

isabel is a very enthusiastic and cheerful kid about 99% of the time i spend with her (i know that kids can be quite different when there aren't non-family members around, which is why i qualify this statement in this manner). even still, it was pretty amazing to see her experience the beach for the first time, too. i especially enjoyed watching her dig around in the sand and marvel at its texture. at one point, i tried making a "sand man" to distract livie from a funk/oncoming tantrum. well, livie wasn't impressed, but isabel was. i got a few more requests to make sand men. both girls seemed to delight in squishing the sand men :-)

i can't wait to do this again and see how the experience grows and changes for everyone. we are really hoping that the Hons family can go with us again next year...sharing the vacation made it that much more fun and special! and, getting to see both girls experience this stuff is awesome b/c they are such different little people.

Galveston Island 08/08 - Journal

2008-08-27T19:44:00.000-07:00

Wednesday
our trip down was long, but uneventful...well, kinda. we hit some major rain storms on the way thru houston. after a quick stop for lunch and fresh pants for livie, we got going again only to realize (within a couple minutes) that livie was not buckled into her car seat. you wanna see something funny (not really), you should see two parents losing their sh%$ while going 70+ mph on the highway in the rain with a gleeful toddler figuring out she can "run free" in the van. negotiating a stop on the side of the highway to secure the toddler is not fun either...especially in the rain and on a busy highway. we're super glad we got sylvia before the trip b/c we have walking access to the rear compartment, which means no one had to get out of the vehicle to get to livie.

after that little side trip, we got the rest of the way to the beach without incident. we quickly unloaded the van, got unpacked, gave livie a little time to decompress, and then shuttled her back into the van to head to the grocery store. grocery shopping was mostly uneventful (there were some rough and weird folks around, which gave us a bit of pause), and we got back to the house in time to unload groceries and head down to the beach before dinner.

Thursday
our first full day dawned with a NASTY rain/thunder/wind storm that woke livie very early (and scared her), but it turned out to be a gloriously overcast day that was just the right temp. the cloud cover allowed us to spend a good amount of time on the beach without dehydrating or taking in too much sun.

Friday
our second full day dawned much sunnier and a little hotter, but still quite nice. the entire day was spent in anticipation of the Hons family arriving (isabel and her 'rents). we couldn't wait! to distract livie a bit, we took her down to moody gardens to enjoy a little waterpark/beach there. the park is specifically designed for little ones, and they even can go down the slides alone! livie loved that aspect :-)

once the hons family arrived, we had a great time catching up and watching the girls play and play and play! they stayed up pretty late playing, dancing, fighting over toys, and then reading stories with josh. then we put them to bed. and then we put them to bed again. and again. and again. we thought we'd try letting them sleep in the same room. sleep would be the operative word here...no go. we gave them until midnight to get to sleep...that didn't happen, so we had to separate them. it seems, after conversations with livie the following day, that the last two hours of raucous play and non-sleep were actually conducted in a sleep-like state. livie couldn't remember much of the evening when she woke. hmmm. i wonder why ;-p

Saturday
the first full day with our friends was a blast! we headed down to the beach for a couple hours of fun and frolic before it was time for lunch. after giving the girls a very fluffy bath in the jacuzzi tub (add some body soap and you're off), we fixed them some lunch and dispatched the men for take out lunch. after lunch, the girls helped me bake cookies and seemed to be winding down for nap. so, sarah and i struck the deal that the guys would stay at the house and drink beer while the girls napped, and we'd do a little grocery and souvenir shopping.

well, it turns out that the girls had other plans...that didn't include ANY sleeping. so, the guys didn't exactly get the relaxation they were hoping for. we headed down to the beach for some fun without the hot, hot sun, and we had a blast. the cooler temps and warm water made us want to stay out there forever, but we had to get the girls down to sleep at a decent time after their sleep strike the night before and that day's nap. we adults got a little bit of peace and quiet when the girls went to sleep without a fuss/fight that evening.

Sunday
we took a picnic lunch down to the beach and enjoyed some very calm and warm waters along with some subdued water play. well, livie was subdued...isabel was her usual sprightly self. we didn't stay out too long b/c it was extremely sunny and hot, and the UV index was super high (erik and sarah have a nifty digital tool that tells the UV index!). unfortunately, the Hons family had to leave shortly after that beach trip, but we did get in one more crazy bubble bath for the girls.

sunday evening, we were feeling pretty blue with our friends having left, so we decided to head down to the busy area on the sea wall and rent one of those bikes that a whole family can ride. um. that was pure torture. let's see...one gear, stick shift brakes, and three people on a busy street (sidewalk next to it). um. not fun. well, livie had fun.

Monday
sunday night, livie had declared "i not go to beach anymore!", so we decided to do something different on monday. we went back down to moody gardens to take livie to the aquarium and back to the beach/waterpark area. well, that was a partial no go. the beach/waterpark had closed its summer hours! so, instead, we took livie to see a 3D movie about sharks. that was a big mistake. the poor girl cowered in josh's lap and kept saying "no bite me!". she did enjoy the less toothy scenes that included sardines and baby jelly fish. she even tried to reach out to grab them (she was wearing the glasses at this point). she's a smart cookie...when a scene came on that she didn't like, she took off those glasses and staunchly refused to put them back on. after the failed shark movie, we took livie to the aquarium where she got to look at fish, penguins, sharks, and interesting plants. she even got to touch a star fish and a star fish relative that looks like a dog toy (very spikey).

after a good-ish nap on monday, we took livie back down to the beach for some evening play time. there were tide pools this time, and livie thoroughly enjoyed splashing around in those almost exclusively. she played around a little more on her boogie board, too.

Tuesday
we decided to skip the beach tuesday morning in order to get the house cleaned up and us packed up and out before our noon checkout time. we wanted to track less sand in (less cleanup) and ensure that we could be back in town in time to get our fur beasts out of prison. we were all ready to head back home, too, though livie did shed some tears about "her" beach house. we can't wait to do it again next year!

Bloopers and Outtakes

when booking a property, always check to see how much greenery is around your house. the more greenery, the more standing water, and the more standing water, the more hungry m'keetos (livie's pronunciation of mosquitoes). my good god these things were VICIOUS. and sneaky. when we unloaded the van upon returning home, we found about a half dozen stow aways in the luggage. yes, they bit us. when i went out to clean the van later tuesday night, i found one lone little m'keeto clinging to the side of the van for dear life. i also found blood smears on the driver's side from where josh had smacked a couple of the little buggers. eewww.

find a way to check gang activity in the area. while minding our own business at a local wal-mart, we got caught in the middle of a verbal war between two gangs. i was closest to the lovely folks perpetrating the mess, and i could not figure out a way to indicate to josh that we needed to get the he** out of dodge. fortunately, it was all hot air and no violence occurred, but it was scary nonetheless.

if possible, try to find out how futzy your prospective rental house is. the house we stayed in was very nice, and very spacious, but was decorated in a very fussy (i.e. breakable) non-toddler-friendly manner. we had to do a lot of reorganization to keep little hands off breakable items. we also had to do a lot of intervention and defense to keep one particular toddler from splitting her head open on the marble tables, jumping off the top bunk, and scorching herself with the tap water that was set to a lovely 150+.

look closely at the pics of your prospective rental property. we saw the bunk beds in the "kids'" room of the place we rented but mistakenly thought we could just take them apart. nope. livie found and scaled the built-in ladder to the top bunk within a minute of being in the room, so josh devised a plan to push the beds together and keep the ladders unreachable. no dice. she just scaled the lower foot board until she could get a good grip on the upper foot board and hoist herself up...and then stick her hands in the ceiling fan and on the lights. *sigh* best (or worst) of all, she taught isabel to do this, too!

Galveston Island 08/08 - Pictures

2008-08-27T19:43:00.000-07:00

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Bad Blogger

2008-08-26T19:31:00.001-07:00

i know i'm WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY behind! sorry grandparents and other interested parties! we've been cramming in so much fun while school's out that i'm just kinda overwhelmed with all i have to tell you. here are some highlights:

boys — livie got to spend some time with her two favorite boys a couple weeks ago, and i have to say that she's not focusing very well. she's had a mad crush on joseph (formerly jophess according to livie....now joseph) for more than a year. well, now she's got a crush on jonson (who is 8ish years older than her and is joseph's brother!). yesterday, she told me "i want to see jonson. i want to sit next to him." YIKES. she had a pool playdate with these guys where she was perfectly happy to have them throwing her into the pool and including her in their rough-n-tumble boy games. good lord are we in trouble.

birthday parties — livie had another bday party to go to two weekends ago, and it was for one of her school classmates. it had been 3 weeks since school had let out when we went to the party, yet livie still knew that two of her classmates were missing (other summer plans) and asked for them repeatedly. i'm not sure why, but this astounds me. she had an absolute blast running around with her pals and inspecting their baby brothers/sisters.

summer vacation to galveston island — i just downloaded the pics, and there are over 250 of them....this one's going to take me some time to put together. the highlights are lots of sun, sand, and water and, best of all, getting to share the vacation with her beloved isabel. isabel and her 'rents came down to stay with us this past weekend, and the girls had an absolute blast. i didn't think it was possible to have that much fun and go full out for that long, but it was. pics and stories later.

school — this is livie's last week before school starts again for her. i've also enrolled her in another gymnastics class (the olympics inspired her greatly!), and she's also about to start tae kwon do...oh, and she is taking a music class. so, it's about to get CRAZY again. i'm hoping that livie can recover from her racaous vacation fun pretty quickly b/c i want to make the most of our last few class-free days together before the schedule gets nuts next week!

First French Braids

2008-08-10T07:49:00.001-07:00

i'm not sure how long they'll last, but she did a great job letting me put them in (thank you, word world).

Radijazzed

2008-08-10T07:37:00.000-07:00

on thursday, livie and i got out to meet some friends at radijazz. it's been several months, if not a year, since i've taken livie to radijazz. i completely forgot to factor in her newfound ... um... CRAZINESS.

my child ran wild. literally. from one end of the building to the other. she launched herself into the lava pit with glee many, many times. she scrambled up the playscape and in and out of foamy boats over, and over, and over again. she was non-stop.

my friend helped me chase, catch, and retrieve livie quite a bit, but she had her own 2yo to keep an eye on, too.

after a while, things got a little tricky when livie noticed one of the attendants throwing big kids into the lava pit and playing dodge ball with them. she was all over that and instantly requested that i throw her in.

so, that's what i did. for an hour. guess who couldn't move for the entire rest of the day on thursday and took until saturday to fully recover? that would be me.

to help josh appreciate the level of workout radijazz presents for parents (and why he had to make dinner for him and livie on thursday night (b/c i couldn't move)), we took him down there saturday morning. after a couple hours of chasing, throwing, and retrieving livie, he was tired. and, he's not fat and pregnant ;-p

All Clear

2008-08-10T07:29:00.000-07:00

on wednesday, we took livie back to her ENT to further discuss treatment options and plans. livie's been ear infection (EI) free for 1.5 months now, which absolutely THRILLS us. because of this, extreme treatment (surgery) is indefinitely delayed (and hopefully will never have to happen). we, of course, are on the lookout for recurrent, untreatable EIs. if it happens again, we will have to re-investigate extreme treatment options. at this point, livie will undergo a hearing check/pressure check in a few months. hopefully, we'll learn that her hearing loss has been recovered and this painful six months will be long behind us.

Together Again

2008-08-05T21:40:00.000-07:00

july was a bit of a long month for livie. it was an entire month without the company of her beloved isabel. isabel was in canada with her 'rents visiting lots of family. over the course of july, i lost count of the number of times livie asked for isabel. also, livie's pronunciation of "canada" got pretty amazing since we talked about it all the time. also, sadly, after several months of calling sarah "yaz" (don't ask...i have no idea why), livie started calling sarah "seerah" while they were gone. she's also started to pronounce isabel as "isssbel" sometimes, but most of the time, she still calls her oh beh doh.

today, we were reunited with our beloved friends, and we had an absolute ball. we took the girls down to teacher heaven to find some flash cards and other teaching materials to work on various things. we're working on numbers and letters with livie while sarah's working on words/phonics with isabel. teacher heaven is, indeed, heaven. i could have spent the entire day (and our savings) in there today. i had a little control though, and mostly stuck to the original plan.

after visiting teacher heaven, we took the girls over to phil's ice house to eat lunch and play. they had a blast and worked off enough energy to eat their lunches and get sleepy enough for naps. we took home two pink, sweaty, and extremely happy girls. well, livie was happy until we dropped isabel and sarah off at their house. after that, there was a lot of weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. poor livie!

here are some pics chronicling our fun...

Melissa's Photographs

2008-08-05T21:27:00.000-07:00

this past weekend, livie had a sitting with melissa of Melissa's Photographs.

this is livie's second sitting with melissa. we fell in love with her photography last summer, and i have been waiting anxiously to have her photograph livie again this year.

when i say "sitting", i'm using the term very loosely. melissa specializes in candid photography, and she's genius at it. she somehow gets all her equipment set up to get all these amazing shots all while keeping pace with an active and curious toddler, and the entire time, the toddler is pretty much unaware. that's talent. oh, and her results....STUNNING. i love this woman!

to see proofs of livie's shoot from last weekend, click here and enter lori83 for the password.

i LOVE them all, but pics 3, 15, 17, 18, and 20 are my favs.

oh, and one more thing...melissa took the stunning "ballerina" pic of livie last year. that pic was selected by United Way as a contender for their national ad campaign. they did not ultimately choose that photo, but melissa has chosen to use it in several of her advertisements (web, print, and busines cards). this gives me goosebumps and makes me lightheaded and giddy. :-)

Livie & Victor Sittin' in a Tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G....

2008-08-05T21:26:00.001-07:00

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Splashtacular

2008-08-05T19:48:00.000-07:00

livie and i hosted a little splash playdate with our pflugerville meetup group last week. we had a blast. my dear friend, jennika, and her son, jacey, have joined this meetup. this works out splendidly for me and livie b/c we get to see them along with jillan and lillie more often. here are some shots of the splashers.

Pflugerville Farmer's Market

2008-07-29T20:59:00.001-07:00

when livie and i were at the pflugerville farmer's market last week, i entered a raffle to win a basket of goodies from the farmer's market. well, lo and behold, i won!

so, today, i headed off to the farmer's market to pick up the goodies, and wow were they goodies! we ended up with a basket full of beautiful fruit, vegetables, locally produce honey and jam, and a delicious-looking vegan brownie. we also ended up with some local free-range chicken that i plan to cook up tomorrow night. what fun!

if you live in the area and you haven't been to the pflugerville farmer's market yet, i highly recommend it. make your first stop the methodist church's tent for a nice cold bottle of water to sip on (or gulp) as you make your rounds!

July : A Year over Year over Year Comparison

2008-07-29T20:30:00.001-07:00

today, livie is 2.5 years old. i cannot believe how fast time is flying. i remember her infant and baby days like they were yesterday, and then i turn around and there's this BIG girl in my house. and what a beautiful, funny, sweet, and strong big girl she is. here is a little comparison of livie over the years and a list of my favorite things about her.

hangin' out with grammie in july '06

enjoying the new-found concept of a bounce house in july '07

simply looking beautiful in july '08

My Top Ten Favorite Things about Livie

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10 her love of suspense/surprises. livie's favorite games include us pretending to sneak up on her. she's usually shrieking with glee before we even get to her :-)

9 her running commentary, which is often sung. livie talks or sings pretty much non-stop from the time she wakes up until the time she goes to sleep (if she goes to sleep).

8 how slowly and badly she wakes up. i can appreciate this b/c i wake up the same way. josh, on the other hand, is one of those people who springs out of bed full of verve. livie and i do our best to burrow back into the blankets and growl/snap at anyone that tries to get us out of the blankets.

7 how she breaks out dancing any time she hears music.

6 her adorable "old lady" power walk. when livie wants to get somewhere quickly but doesn't want to run, she scrunches up her little shoulders, bends her arms at the elbow, pokes her elbows out, and heel walks as fast as she can without running.

5 her insistence on participating in or starting conversations with whatever she knows. a popular opener for livie is to discuss the fact that beep-beep hurts her ears (fire drill at school) or that marianna bit her (best friend at school sometimes bites when wrestling with her friends). when introduced to new people, this is often what livie tells them (rather than her name or how old she is).

4 her insistence that she is four. for the past few weeks, i've been getting "i four!" while livie holds up four fingers on one hand. i start out gently telling her that she's two, but the conversation typically goes downhill fast. livie gets madder and madder that she's not four, and i get more and more panicked thinking about her getting older ;-p

3 the fact that she spontaneously breaks out into her personal rendition of "happy birthday" several times a day most days of the week.

2 her bravery. livie is afraid of almost nothing. she goes into almost all situations full steam ahead and with a big smile on her face. interestingly enough, the only things she's afraid of right now are leaves and grass. yes, i said leaves and grass. **UPDATED (thanks taz) : livie is also afraid of her pal, aadil, when he talks to her loudly! if she wasn't so serious about being afraid (she burst into tears and hid her face in my chest), it would be HILARIOUS that livie, who does plenty of screaming/screeching herself, is afraid of aadil's exhuberance. i'm hoping this passes soon!**

1 her loving nature. livie tells us "i whud you mommy" or "i whud you daddy" many, many times a day and most often it's unsolicited (and believe it or not, it's not always from the timeout chair, either). livie has started to put together loving actions and words. when i grab her up for a hug or a kiss or when i smooth her hair and caress her cheek, she tells me she loves me. this just about kills me...in a good way.

Marvelous Monday

2008-07-29T19:03:00.000-07:00

here's a shot of livie and her aunt kimmy. livie's not at all sure about that big, soft, grey nose you see protruding out of the bottom right corner of this pic, though it was her idea to be picked up so she could get closer to the horses ;-p.

on monday, livie and i drove down to boerne to visit grammie and aunt kimmy. we had an absolute blast. we started off visiting at grammie's house, and then we headed to burger king to get some lunch and let livie play on the indoor (and blissfully air conditioned) playscape. we ended up spending a lot of time there b/c livie was having a BLAST running around with a pack of big kids.

when i was finally able to pry her off the burger king playscape, we headed over to the ranch where aunt kimmy lives and works so we could visit and see some baby horses. since we left the ranch, livie's been calling those baby horses deer. the youngest one we saw was only 5 days old, so i guess it looked like a deer to her.

livie had a ton of fun running off to explore the ranch, and i didn't die chasing her ;-p i do really miss the stroller days sometimes. after a while, aunt kimmy had to get back to work, so livie and i went back to grammie's house to cool off and chat for a while, and then we headed out to go visiting.

we started off by visiting a friend of grammie's who runs a dry cleaner. livie had a ball investigating the entire store and chasing the clothes as they went round and round on the ... um .... round and round clothes thingy. after that, livie and i went to visit my old boss from a job i had 20 years ago. while we were there, livie took off her shoes and laid down on a couch, so i figured it was time to get back in the van to head home.

despite her sheer exhaustion, livie slept only 30 minutes of the 2-hr ride home, but she seemed to enjoy the rest of the ride without any drama or any "need" for extreme entertainment (a.k.a. portable DVD player).

we had so much fun that we can't wait to do it again! maybe next trip it'll be a nice, cool 95 degrees outside ;-p

p.s. one side effect of livie's freedom is fewer pics. since i spent the majority of my time keeping livie from wrecking grammie's house, tormenting grammie's kitty, running amok in grammie's apartment complex, shocking herself on hot fences at the ranch, and knocking down all the saddles and bridles in the tack room at the ranch, i have very few pics. grammie got several pics, so i'll post those when i can!

Bug Fun

2008-07-27T20:13:00.000-07:00

we spent a good part of the day today in and around town lake, and we all had a great time...most of all, livie had a great time!

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All By Myself!!

2008-07-23T15:46:00.000-07:00

okay, actually, it was livie (or her body) that did something all by itself.

the ear saga continues. on top of dealing with recurring infections, we're also now dealing with a medical practice that is QUITE rude and it's been taking FOREVER to get another consult scheduled so that we can ask more questions before we proceed in any one direction.

a week ago sunday, we took livie to urgent care because she was complaining of ear pain and she was "off". those docs said she had fluid on both ears and that both ears were slightly inflamed. they did not prescribe antibiotics, which actually made us quite happy.

so, for the last week or so, we've been watching livie like a hawk and asking her each day how her ears are. we've gotten a lot of "they huuht!" and "they baaaaaaddddd!". we've also been seeing some sleep disturbances (up at night when she hasn't done that in a long time).

so, off to dr. k we went this morning. and the verdict is.... NO EAR INFECTION!!! NO fluid. and, NO inflamation. since this whole roller coaster ride started, this is a FIRST. we're ecstatic, and we're hoping that livie is on the cusp of outgrowing this situation without anymore medical intervention.

now we "just" have to figure out what's up with livie's sleep. i, sadly, have a sneeking suspicion that naps may no longer be "required". she's sleeping well for nap, but not going to sleep or staying asleep at night. and, she's wired for sound (at night). i'd far prefer that she take a daily nap until she's about 30, but it doesn't look like that'll happen ;-p

Meet Sylvia

2008-07-20T13:07:00.000-07:00

last night, josh and i sort of accidentally bought a minivan! we've been eyeballing the kia sedona for a while, and we decided to go check one out last night. well, the deal was too good to pass up (end of year model closeout), so we made the trade and brought one home. meet sylvia.

sylvia is quite a bit bigger than tree, our subaru forester, was so josh had to completely reorganize the garage to fit her in there.

we're looking forward to the spacious ride, being able to fit more people in the car (yay for carpooling to see grammie!), and hauling all our recycling downtown (pville does not recycle cardboard/paperboard, so we stack it up for WEEKS and then haul it all downtown). we are quite sad about the loss in gas mileage, but we knew that was a hit we'd take getting a bigger vehicle (and hybrid vans are not available in the states yet! bleh!). on the bright side, this will be good incentive to keep our driving to a minimum and to carpool as much as we can!

Party Girl

2008-07-20T13:00:00.001-07:00

livie has been quite the party-goer lately. she went to her third bday party in as many weeks yesterday, and i think this one was her favorite of the three.

she got to help a 4yo boy celebrate his big day with a bounce house, a bouncey water slide, a wading pool, a playscape, two 1yo puppies, three other 4yo boys, and one 6yo girl. live also took a shine to some really fun grandparents. the birthday boy's great grandparents spent HOURS playing in the yard with all the kids, and livie really took a shine to the grandpa, attempting to claim him for herself (she dragged him all over the yard by his hand).

needless to say, livie was NOT happy when we told her it was time to go home!

climbing the water slide

enjoying some birthday ice cream cake

O'McDonald's

2008-07-17T19:12:00.000-07:00

livie having conqured the playscape at last!

ahh, toddlers :-) the other day, i asked livie if she wanted to go have lunch at mcdonald's and play on the playscape. she said no and that she wanted to stay home and eat noodles. so, we stayed home and had a leisurely, yummy lunch of noodles, watermelon, and a cereal-based snack.

at the end of said leisurely lunch, livie started asking for "o'mcdonalds" (she confuses the song and the restaurant). i tried to gently explain to her that it was not time to go to mcdonald's, which, of course, resulted in hysterics. after ignoring said hysterics for a while, i was able to finally distract livie into some other activity before nap, and all was forgotten. i thought.

as soon as daddy got home from work, we started dithering about what to do about dinner since the chicken i had left over from another meal was now VERY sketchy. livie chimed in with "O'MCDONALDS!!!". we caved.

livie managed to get down about 2 and a half chicken nuggets before deciding it was time to hit the playscape. she had a pretty good time at first, though she was timid about the playscape (she clearly remembers and speaks about her nasty accident there a couple months ago).

after a while, a dad and two kids showed up. josh and i got to talking to the dad, and the two kids (aged 9 and 5) took over playing with livie. she had an absolute ball having them help hoist her up the playscape, play hide and seek in the playscape, and then play hide and seek on the ground. livie didn't quite get the concept of hide and seek, and she kept just walking up to the person counting and saying "hi!". livie also got her very first piggy back ride from the 9yo girl! it was adorable to watch. we thoroughly enjoyed relaxing and talking to these kids' dad while all of our kids played together.

DIY Water Park

2008-07-17T19:04:00.000-07:00

recently, livie and i made a trip over to an old favorite park we hadn't visited in a while. in fact, we hadn't visited this park since "winter". i didn't realize that the playground equipment is in full sun and as such gets SUPER hot in the summer. surprisingly, the plastic of the slides gets hotter than the metal of the structure! anywho, we ended up playing in the water fountain to avoid burns.

looking adorable in the (shaded) play house

getting a cool drink

playing in the cool water

DIY sprinkler

looking crazy tall next to this fountain compared to last year!

Pat-a-Cake, Pat-a-Cake

2008-07-17T18:56:00.000-07:00

livie is getting more and more interested in anything and everything we do, including cooking. i'm not much of a baker, so a box cake is about my limit. well, box cake is just about perfect for little hands to help with. here are some shots of livie's first time helping me "make" a cake:

pouring in the cake mix

pouring in the oil

pouring in the water

helping me crack the egg

most important part : tasting the batter :-)

A 4th of July Comparison

2008-07-10T21:57:00.000-07:00

livie in nana's porch glider during the 4th of July in '06

livie in nana's porch glider during the 4th of July '08

Random Maryland Montage

2008-07-10T21:56:00.001-07:00

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Smithsonian's National Zoo

2008-07-10T21:39:00.000-07:00

here are some random shots from our visit to the Smithsonian's National Zoo in D.C.

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Crazy Like a Fish

2008-07-10T21:12:00.000-07:00

this is a ton of video from livie's pool time at nana's house. again, i aspire to be livie.

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The Countdown to Nana

2008-07-02T21:31:00.000-07:00

we've been telling livie all about our trip to see nana for a couple weeks, and we've been working on the concept of time by telling livie how many days are left before a special event occurs. here's a fun little conversation i had with livie about her upcoming visit to see her nana (and baba, gramma sandy, and aunt mariana!).

Brotha Brian's Double

2008-07-02T21:26:00.000-07:00

as livie has gotten older, and especially since her eyes turned brown, i've been seeing a lot of my brother and sister in her (they both have big brown eyes). in this shot, livie looks strikingly like my brother, brian, did as a baby. he had the biggest brown eyes and the most scrumptiously chubby little cheeks...just like livie. brian used to make this "who, me?" expression all the time, too...though with him, it was genuine "i didn't do it!". with livie, it's "ha! i did it, but i'm gonna pretend i didn't!".

don't you just wanna squeeze those little cheeks?!?!

June : A Year over Year over Year Review

2008-06-29T19:12:00.001-07:00

sportin' mommy's shades in june of '06

sportin' some jackie-o shades in june '07

sportin' her very own dora shades in june '08

Near Miss

2008-06-29T19:08:00.000-07:00

livie now loves to remove all of her clothing and her diaper...many times a day. we make moderate efforts at keeping her dressed most of the time, but step it up a bit for sleep. the day this pic was taken, she had had leggings and a tshirt on over her diaper. after a nap strike, this is what i found.

and, this was an "extra special" diaper, if you know what i mean. whew! near miss!

Six out of Six

2008-06-27T06:51:00.000-07:00

today will be livie's 8th day on her nth round of antibiotics. she's on her sixth distinct ear infection since january, and it's now time to move onto the next level of medical professional.

very early yesterday, livie and i met with an ENT in the same office/hospital where her pedi is, and went through some hearing tests and exams. livie has moderate hearing loss, which completely breaks my heart. though her ears were free of fluid yesterday, her left ear still showed that it was under a lot of pressure. the ENT recommended that livie have surgery to remove her adenoids and put tubes in.

i don't like this. i don't want my tiny little girl put under anesthesia and under the care of someone with a knife/laser. i know it's not logical for me to feel this way, but i do. i am in the process of researching some alternative therapies, but i'm pretty certain that we will end up going the surgical route.

even more than i don't want her to have surgery, i don't want livie to have to stay on constant antibiotics that don't work but tear up her body, or to stay on constant pain killers that stop working effectively over time. and, most of all, i don't want her to be in pain/discomfort and unable to sleep. the biggest hit livie is getting is sleep deprivation (she rarely complains of ear pain. when we ask her how her ears are, she tells us "they good"). we're starting to think that some of the changes we've seen in her personality are due to chronic sleep deprivation and the resulting irritability.

Boy Crazy

2008-06-25T20:52:00.000-07:00

today is an extra special hump day in our household...it's not just any old half-way marker. today, we are 20 weeks pregnant with livie's little brother! he's due to arrive in november, and we are so incredibly blessed, happy, and excited to be expecting him. we are hoping and praying for a happy and healthy pregnancy, delivery, and adjustment for the bug.

please excuse the quality of the image...it's a picture of a picture b/c our scanner's not working correctly.

top five funniest and cutest things livie's said about her baby brother
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5 to josh : "mommy ate baby"
4 to me : "i ate baby" (said while poking out her tummy and patting it)
3 to me and josh during a recent sono : "that's quinn*!" (this was her response when we pointed to the screen and asked who that was during the part of the sono where they were getting baby brother's profile)
2 to my belly : "i whud you baby" (said while doing her night-night rounds)
1 to me while pointing at a lady with a car seat "that my baby brudder". when i told her that baby brother is still in mommy's tummy, she replied "that my baby sister".

*baby brother's name will be quintin, and we'll call him quinn for short.

Dinner Out

2008-06-25T20:40:00.000-07:00

the other night, josh had a business dinner, so livie and i were on our own for the evening. after a rather long day and a grouchy awakening from a long nap, i made the executive decision to throw our schedule out the window and head out for some evening fun.

we started off at the pflugerville farmer's market where we looked around, listened to music, and got some delicious dressing to dip bread in. we never last long at the farmer's market b/c we usually go at 4, when it's the hottest it could possibly be. even though we headed out later this time, it was still HOT HOT HOT.

after our quick jaunt at the farmer's market, we headed over to dairy queen for some health food and time on the playscape. livie had a ball. i brought home a very sticky and tired little girl.

just plain cute

mastering those pesky risers

accomplishing the purple slide (the highest/longest one, of course...couldn't have less from our dare devil now, could we?!)

Mobile Ice Cream Cone

2008-06-25T20:37:00.000-07:00

logic would have dictated that this was a bad idea, but we threw logic (and caution) out the window.

here's livie enjoying a nakie post-swim ice cream cone...in the car.

Sad Dog

2008-06-25T20:33:00.000-07:00

85 pounds of triple-coated "fluff" that rarely leaves the air-conditioned couch can't keep the copper dog from standing guard at the back gate until his favorite 36.5-inch human has returned safely from the park.

Jumping Bean

2008-06-25T20:22:00.000-07:00

Pretty Girl

2008-06-19T20:22:00.001-07:00

here are some snaps of livie with a rather unusual hair style. i'm trying to figure out how to creatively get livie's bangs out of her face while we wait for them to grow out. in the mean time, i cannot get enough of being able to see all of livie's gorgeous little face. her bangs are cute, but i love to see her expressive little eyebrows and all of those BIG brown eyes!

Fantabulous Father's Day

2008-06-17T20:39:00.000-07:00

for father's day, we spent most of the day at zilker park. we were having so much fun that we didn't get too many pics!

we started off in the springs where we thoroughly enjoyed the cool water but could do with less slippery slime on the bottom. from there, we hitched a ride on the zephyr. we enjoyed some expensive bad food, and then headed over to the playground for some play time. all in all, it was a very enjoyable family day!

The Sleep Chronicles Cont.

2008-06-17T20:36:00.000-07:00

livie's in ANOTHER weird sleep pattern (ear check to follow shortly). after the incident in which she figured out the lever lock on her closet door and helped herself to the top of her changing table for sleep, livie's become quite interested in her closet door and the surrounding area. this past weekend, she decided it all looked so comfy...

The Artiste

2008-06-17T20:30:00.000-07:00

man does livie love her some finger paints. of course, they are more than just finger paints for livie...they're more of an all-over artistic expression :-)

contemplating untouched paint

artiste's silly smile

masterpiece in progress

protesting the necessary bath after the paint