One

This sweet little guy is now a year old.  Sigh.

At this point with Olivia I was just trying to get through it (actually I'm still just kinda trying to get through it and she's almost 4) but Bowen has got my number.  Now I understand when people are so sad to see their babies grow up.

We didn't throw a party, but my mom came over to celebrate.  (Dad was out of town and was sorry to miss the fun cupcakes).  Being the good big sister she is, Olivia helped show Bowen how to do unwrap Grandma's presents.  Wrapping paper and the card envelope were plenty of entertainment for the birthday boy.

Then he saw the toy.

You can't really see, but he was making motor sounds the whole time. All boy.

Mom also brought a necklace that her sister Ruth had sent for Olivia.  Good timing with a sibling gift, ladies.

And later on our friends brought a balloon for Bowen.

Kick, punch, giggle, repeat

And then we got a box in the mail from Steve's parents.  Thanks!

Happy birthday to our sweet Bowen!

Water fun

After unsuccessfully looking for a water table at yard sales this summer, I found one on clearance at Wegmans.  Olivia loves it!  A theme to her patio play this summer has been moving water from one container to another... 

Fill the watering can, pour it into the sand pail, then into the dump truck.

And now the supply chain includes dumping that into the water table.  Good, clean fun.  Sometimes she paints with water and an old paintbrush on the sidewalk.  No cleanup.  We haven't even been to the local pool this season, mostly because it's only open in the afternoons (naptime), but also because we have found enough fun here at home.  Our friends Sarah and Catie visited us last week, and the girls played in the sprinkler. 

Note the grass and leaves, indicative of how hot and dry it has been.  It has been great to have thunderstorms rolling through this week to cool things off and give our plants a drink.  I'm ready for fall!

The Rest of May

Hi, world.  I'm still here, it's just that I don't give much priority to blogging these days.  What's new? 

I spent last weekend at Lake Anna with three of my college roommates, catching up and relaxing.  These are still some of my dearest friends and I cherish any time I have with them.  I had seen two of them at our class reunion last fall, but it's so much more fun to relax on the dock with no kids to corral. 

Back on the homefront, several of our weekly activities have wrapped up for the summer, plus Steve hasn't had to travel much in the past few weeks, so it has been rejuvenating to spend time together as a family again.  Just the three of us, the dog, and little Nubbin who has started moving enough for me to feel.  For those of you who were not exhausted by my blogging every nuance of my first pregnancy, I apologize that I just don't have the time any more. Regarding FAQs: I'm feeling good, the next ultrasound is in June, and we are planning to share the baby's sex if you promise not to tell my dad because he wants to be surprised. 

Olivia has one more week of nursery school so I'm trying to cram in my appointments and work before she's all mine for the summer.  (By the way, work is going well! I just don't take the time to blog about it.) We're not going to talk about how naptime is no longer a sure thing (gah!).  At least the pools are open now, so that's something to do during nap strikes free afternoons that we can't do in the mornings (when pools are closed for swim team and lessons).  Oh, and?  Yard sales are awesome for finding inexpensive new toys. 

Yesterday we went to the farmer's markets for the first time this season (Berryville & Purcellville).  Strawberries, eggs, summer squash, cupcakes.  I figured buying local produce even at these prices is still cheaper than a farm share and then we're not stuck with mass quantities of kale and stuff.  We're just not big vegetable people.  Or maybe we're just not big vegetable adventurers; we stick with our favorites.  After Olivia's nap (the first in three days, but we're not talking about it) we picnicked with playgroup families.  I can already tell a difference from last summer (same picnic hosts) how independent Olivia is in terms of us not needing to hover while she plays.  At the playground she's able to do so many more things this year, too, but one of us still tends to walk around and help her get unstuck.  I expect it will be like starting back at square one with the new little one, but I dream of someday being one of those moms who can read a book at the playground.  Someday.  There will still be books around when Nubbin is yelling, "Look, Mommy" from the top tower. 

Today after church Steve got to play golf with friends, a rarity, and Olivia is napping (after I went in to put the kibosh on her playing frog for an hour), so all is well.

Dolls

Olivia has been taking more interest in her stuffed animals lately, teaching the rabbit its letters and pushing bear around in the doll stroller and shopping cart.  She'll tell me she's going to the store to buy bananas, except she pronounces it like Sha Na Na and it cracks me up even more. 

We're slowly cleaning out extra stuff from my parents' house, and my mom keeps procuring fascinating "new" toys like the Sesame Street club house.  (It's funny how Steve's mom still has great old FP play sets, but different ones. We had the A-frame, they had the Tudor. We had the airport, they had the barn.)  I figured now would be a good time to bring home the beautiful oak doll bed and dresser from beneath my parents' ping pong table.  My great grandfather made the set for my grandmother when she was little.  And here I am playing with it when I was little. (Notice the lovely console TV.)

Olivia helped PaPa sink some nails to fix it up.  And Grandma made a new mattress and linens and gave Olivia a "new" doll she had kept from my childhood.

The whole concept of sheets and pillows is new for Olivia, but she is loving it.  Some things are worth keeping around for the next generation!

1 ¾ years old

A lot of people describe speech development in toddlers like a switch flipping on.  I didn't believe them, but now I see where they're coming from.  In a couple months Olivia has gone from repeating simple words on command to identifying things on her own like cereal, lawn mower, CD, TV, flag, flower, frog, knee, the letters M ("um") and W ("doubadee"), and Elmo.  We'll be in the grocery store and Olivia will see an Elmo balloon in the distance and yell it out.  I think it's a super power, the ability to sense Elmo's presence in the most obscure places.  Maybe it's just effective marketing on the part of Elmo's people.

The other night we were driving home from my parents' and she kept saying, "Moo.  Moo."  She keeps repeating something until you acknowledge what it is, so I was all impressed that she remembered that there are normally cows in the field next to the road we were on.  But after me saying "Cow!" and "Moo!" she kept saying it until I realized she was pointing in the other direction, at the moon.  I just about cried I was so proud. We've read books with the moon in them (Caterpillar, Goodnight Moon, Pajama Time) but I didn't know that she understood that that thing in the sky is the same thing on the page of a book, and I don't remember pointing out the actual moon before (Thanks, Grandma?).  Once I figured out she was saying moon, she said, "I see it!  I see it!"  She is a little person.

I'm amazed at what she can understand.  She can follow directions ("Put the cup back on your table.") and follow our finger if we point to something.  I was describing to someone what Riley looks like (brown patches with cookies 'n' cream ice cream) and I noticed Olivia was sticking out her tongue like this.  It took me a minute to figure out that we taught her how to lick an ice cream cone by sticking out her tongue.  She heard me say "ice cream" in a normal-speed sentence to someone else, and assumed the position.  I gotta watch what I say!

Olivia likes to see what I'm cooking on the stove, so she'll ask for me to hold her: "See? See?" and loves to watch things bubble and be stirred. She likes to walk into the grocery store or school(Walk? Walk?) and loooooves to play with the dog. Riley's favorite game is to be chased, and Olivia loves to chase her so it works out well.

A couple of weeks ago Olivia had a cold, and on Saturday morning she was wheezing.  Steve was concerned, but I figured the nurse would just remind me of the comfort measures, so I was like, "She's fiiiiine. We'll just run the humidifier."  But Steve has asthma so he's a little more in-tune with the symptoms, and when all was said and done we were the proud owners of a nebulizer.  (It administers albuterol like an inhaler.) The clinic hours are sometimes really busy, but we got in and out really fast.  Olivia got one treatment in the office and the wheezing stopped immediately.  That evening we gave her another one, and has been fine ever since.  Dr. Eisenberg (the doc on call) said they don't diagnose it as asthma at this point, but it may be an indication that Olivia will develop it.  And she may very well grow out of it. 

We're enjoying being part of a local playgroup.  It gives both of us social time and something to do together that is equally fun.  (I don't love playing with toddler toys, she doesn't love the fabric store.)  I've met a lot of fun moms in our area whom I wouldn't know otherwise.  Here is Olivia with her friends Conner and Ellie (and Ellie's mom acting as the mother duck) after a picnic lunch at the state arboretum.

We also went to a local orchard farm market for a wagon ride and picking apples and pumpkins.  It was 90 degrees out and Olivia was ready for the tractor to start pulling us.

Tiny clothes

I know how to sew curtains, pillows are no problem, I have made quilts with straight lines, but lately I've been learning how to sew garments from patterns, a small feat for me.  They actually have to fit something, a body with curves and stuff.  Granted, I've limited myself to clothes for Olivia and my mom has helped get me going, deciphering the cutting layout maps.  Pattern sizes don't correspond to storebought clothing sizes, so when in doubt I make it bigger.  Case in point, I made this shirt in size 2, according to Olivia's stats at her last checkup.  (Note: turkey baster + funnel = most awesome toy ever.)

It looks okay in the picture, but it falls off her shoulders in a sort of too-sexy-for-toddlers/Flashdance type of way.  I'm guessing she'll grow into it by next pink & green season.  (I'm having flashbacks of my grandmother sending me homemade clothes with deep hems to be let out when I got bigger.  I appreciate the amount of work that goes into a handmade garment, but I'm still afraid of becoming that kind of seamstress, the one who tries to make a piece fit from 18 months until kindergarten. 

My latest finished piece is a corduroy jumper, largely because I have a history of losing interest halfway through a project, so I thought planning a fall outfit would be a reasonable timeframe.  BUT, I am also instituting a rule (that I will probably break) that I finish one sewing project before moving onto the next.

I am happy to report that I finally finished sewing the (second set of) slipcovers for our porch furniture, this time with Velcro closures and a more practical print.

I have a bit of a fabric-collecting habit.  I get it from my mother.  We buy fabric with a specific project in mind, then either don't do the project or forget what it was, and here I am with shelves full of 1-yard lengths of pretty fabrics.  (It was all purchased on sale and none of it is going bad yet!  Packrats unite!)  I've seen my friend Trice at the fabric store twice in the last month, and our other friend Heather has seen her there another time by chance.  So I'm not the only one who goes to JoAnn Fabrics on a weekly basis with hopes of making cute stuff for our little ones.  Either we need to stage an intervention or we need to get a sitter and have a sewing party.  Or a field trip to a quilt shop that carries (ahem) better-quality fabric(as I am a bit of a fabric snob).  I'm just glad to have local friends who sew!

Back from the mountains

Last week Steve, Olivia, Riley, and I were in western North Carolina at our family cabin in the woods. We love spending time there because it’s so peaceful and relaxing. Warm days, cool nights, waking up with the birds, having the peepers & bullfrogs singing us to sleep.  Two summers ago this was where I first felt Olivia moving inside my belly. Last summer we’d put Livi on a blanket with some toys and she was happy. This summer I realized that the very circumstances that are peaceful and relaxing for Steve and me are quite boring for a toddler, especially when you don’t count the stuff she’s not supposed to get into. We brought some toys along, but it’s only a matter of time before a “busy” kid like Olivia wants more. A laundry basket and lettuce keeper are only new and fascinating for so long.

It rained during some of the afternoons which, coupled with the cool breeze coming in the windows, makes for a great nap. At home there’s always something else to do during naptime, but on vacation it’s the only thing to do. Entertaining a toddler wears me out.

[Speaking of Livi, add peas to the list of veggies she eats. Baby peas, in butter sauce with a cherry on top.  But she wouldn’t touch sweet potato fries at Three Little pigs, so we’re still kinda at two veggies (corn being the other). Gotta keep up that sweetness!]

On the mornings when we were hanging out at the cabin we’d walk down to the pond and throw sticks for Riley to swim out and fetch.  Then we'd all walk the long way back up to the house, hoping to have tuckered out both of the girls. We finally realized the dog leash was more useful tied around Olivia’s waist because, given the opportunity, she’d run right into the water or down the side of the hill. Riley is a much better listener now that we have the remote trainer. Now it’s so fun to watch her run full-tilt through the meadow and swim in the pond without having to worry about her running away like before.

A couple of mornings we drove into Asheville to check out some things we’d never done… the farmer’s market (ripe peaches!), the chocolate lounge (liquid truffle OMG), the artisans at Grove Park Inn and the Downtown Market, and the brewery on Lexington which I had never even noticed because of its location directly across from the bead store.  Asheville is one of those places (like San Fran) where I could visit again and again and it never seems the same.  I look forward to our traditions (pork with apple-nut stuffing and plum sauce at Weaverville Milling Company – and this time we had a sitter!), but it seems we’ve barely scratched Asheville’s surface so I always look forward to going back. That doesn’t even count the regional things we’re saving until Livi is a little older, like whitewater rafting.

What's new

I get bored playing with a toddler all morning and I don't get all my to-do's finished during Olivia's naptime, so I've started doing things *nearby*, which seems to be a happy medium.  While I washed windows O played with her kitchen toys, which include a turkey baster, a silicone funnel, Tupperware orphans, empty containers, her duck walker, lawn mower, a mini-tart shaper. (I don't know why I have one!  I even have two jars of lemon curd but never made the things.)  She's happy because I'm nearby and can answer all her questions*, and I'm happy because I didn't have to waste naptime washing windows. 

*Olivia says a lot of words, but none of them are English.  I am told her voice goes up at the end of a phrase because she's mimicking me; women tend to do this ("cow? fan? shoe?") while men's inflection stays even or goes down.  Most of the time I just agree with her or say, "Oh, really?"  "You don't say!"  I fully expect to hear her say these things later, like a little parrot. 

Two people have claimed to hear her say "ga-ma" (one of which is her grandma), but I remain skeptical.  Steve maintains that she has a word for "Riley."  She started saying, "mama" on Mother's Day, but I don't think she is referring to me; it may just an abbreviation of her previous "mamamamamama" word.  ("Mama?" "Yes, Baby."  "Mama?"  "That's me!"  "Mama?"...)  When we put on her shoes, she'll say "soss".  So shoes are socks and socks are socks.  We haven't figured out what "au jus" means, but she says it a lot and never incorrectly prefaces it with "with" (i.e. French Dip sandwich with au jus).  She seems to try to say other words like "duck" and she'll consistently woof when she sees, hears, or hears the word for "dog."  She signs "more" and "all done," although most of the time it's after being prompted. 

Oh and?  Olivia climbs up on chairs, which means the baby-proof zone has gotten a lot smaller.  I found her on a table in her nursery playing with tiny little ponytail holders which had been "safely" on top of the chest of drawers.  I use this yellow chair to keep her dresser drawers shut so she doesn't lick the batteries, but now she climbs on the chair and can access the top of the dresser.  I'm sure it's only a matter of time before I find her sitting on top of the dresser.  Now that she's such a monkey I've started teaching her to crawl down the stairs.  She still wants to walk right off the first step, though.  No fear!

If you ask her to twirl she'll slowly spin around.

She claps and laughs along with people on TV.

Give her a hairbrush and she'll brush her hair. 

If you leave your shoes laying around she will take them and try them on.  She will steal your shoes through the gate at the bottom of the stairs, and hide one.

She'll "brush" my teeth with the toothpaste tube as I brush hers with the fingertip brush.

Several people have commented lately that her hair has some red in it.

If you give her a handful of crackers she'll stuff them all in her mouth and drool until they dissolve, unable to chew.  Part of me thinks this is hilarious.

When I drain the tub she realizes her bath is over and kneels face-down, trying to hide like, "If I can't see you, you can't see me!" 

She greets strangers at the store with a "hi" and now a wave.  Sometimes she'll lean over the side of the cart with her arms out for them to pick her up.  I know she really wants them to hold her for three seconds and then put her down so she can run around.

But kids will make a liar out of you, so if you see her don't expect her to do any of this.

Getting Out

I tend to stick around the house most of my days because, well, it's easier.  It's a controlled environment, and Olivia is happy to play in her safe zones (Family room, nursery).  I prefer running errands alone during naptime because it takes twice as long if I have to get her in and out of the carseat and feed her goldfish and find her shoes that she dropped somewhere back there.  But sometimes it's a long time between Steve's work-from-home days or I have work to finish, and I wind up getting tired of being at home.  And now that we've dropped the morning nap it's a much bigger window of opportunity to go somewhere with Olivia.  On Monday we went to Target and Olivia didn't like being contained in the cart, so I bribed her with goldfish (actually gold bunnies, as Pepperidge Farm apparently has a copyright on yellow fish crackers).  Yesterday we went to the mall, probably the first time since Christmas pictures.  Olivia, aided by a steady stream of Kix, did great in the stroller and I was able to find her some summer clothes on sale.  We also went to Costco, something I apparently have never done with her because I never noticed their double-child carts.  Livi busied herself trying to buckle the other strap while I shopped.

Clothes.  Up until now I've found most of what we've needed to clothe our child from thrift stores.  I'm kind of proud of it.  I'm sure some of you are horrified.  The clothes for sale are in good condition and barely worn because babies grow so quickly.  Plus I'm supporting the local hospice even though I'm only spending $2-3 per item (or less when it's half-off-kids'-clothing day).  But I'm starting to realize there's a smaller selection now that we're into larger sizes, which makes me sad. 

The other night Olivia woke up every few minutes after going to bed, and I finally realized (damp hair) that her fleece footed sleeper may be -- ahem -- a little much for warm weather.  I have found it hard to believe that while I sleep with blankets pulled up to my chin, little ones don't need all that even with the air conditioning on.  So Monday's trip to Target was in search of summer pj's and I raided the clearance rack, which in my book is one step below the thrift store.  And then the consignment stores or the mall, which is another step down because now I'm paying $7 for something I paid $2 for last year, and that's when I can find it on sale.  I refuse to pay retail for anything unless we really need it.  (Pay retail=fail)  Yesterday's trip to the mall was to find a pair of patchwork-plaid shorts we'd seen while in San Francisco, but apparently I waited too long because they were no longer at our store.  (Alas, I found them online on clearance - it pays to procrastinate!)

Today we needed groceries. (I woke up with a scratchy throat - thank you, pollen - and couldn't find any lozenges so I determined this to be grocery day.)  Olivia likes the grocery store because she gets so much attention and there is a lot to look at.  But on the way to the store I remembered Cherie saying she took Olivia to the park while we were on vacation.  So we took a detour and swung by the park to see what kind of play equipment they have.  When we pulled in we were the only ones there for a few minutes, but it was like universal playtime because people trickled in every few minutes.  I recognized one of my friends from growing up here, and another gal was someone I knew of but hadn't met.  (That always makes my day.  It's a smallish town, but big enough that I only see people I know once in a while.)  She and her friend brought three kids, all under two, so although the younger ones needed supervision they all had fun on the jungle gym.  She greeted another little girl by walking up and patting her on the back, but Olivia didn't share well.  There was one spot where they play with pipes to make music and if another kid played on the other end she'd swat him away.  Olivia loved the slide, tried the stairs, but didn't want anything to do with the swing.  I'm adding "park" to the list of "things to do when Mommy is bored with blocks" this summer.  Also on the list: the pool.  Playdate anyone?

Stairs.  Olivia doesn't do stairways yet, mostly because I'm too scared to teach her.  She was able to crawl up stairs before she could walk, but getting down is the hard part.  We have a straight run of stairs with hardwood at the bottom, and our brave unaware child would walk right off the edge of a cliff if allowed.  My parents have taught her to hold onto the doorway when going up and down their single step, but OJ walks like a toy soldier so the "step down" often ends in her rolling onto the floor.  Or else she's holding onto the doorframe with both hands and creeeeeping down.  So at the park today we practiced turning around and crawling down the stairs. 

Other Olivia news... 

• She twirls, turning around and around until she has to cling to something because she's dizzy.  It makes me want to make her a big, full skirt, but she's growing so fast that making clothes is not worth it for me yet.
• She says, "Hi!" every time she sees Riley and sometimes when she sees new people.  She says a lot of other things, too, but it's not English.
• She has started waving hello to people (as well as goodbye).  
• She likes to take her shoes off, and immediately wants to put them on again.  Once she dropped on on our walk so Steve retraced our route in the car, and he found it!  Livi puts a lot of things on her feet.

Bloom

Ahh, the Apple Blossom Festival.  My hometown population grows tenfold, not counting those natives who like to get out of Dodge for the weekend.  Steve's first visit here was for The Bloom, after which he commented that Winchester is an interesting mix of rednecks and rich people.  That's never more evident than during Apple Blossom.  There are concerts, dances, breakfasts, luncheons, 10K, golf tournament, two parades, carnival, circus, midway, craft show, car show, and then all the unofficial private parties.

Friday is a local holiday, so schools and business are closed because the traffic situation is tricky and, let's face it, people are mostly thinking about funnel cakes.  Everybody wears pink and green, so my mom made this dress for Olivia to wear.  (Notice the very expensive box toy that kept her entertained for several minutes: a record.)  The festival committee tries to bring in celebrities; this year I'd actually heard of Val Kilmer.

Growing up I watched the the parade from the lawn of a family in our church who lives on the parade route (blessing or curse?).  During middle & high school I marched with my saxophone and polyester band uniform.  I went off to college and then Steve and I lived in PA and DE, but we'd still come for Apple Blossom because it's Winchester's Homecoming.

Now that we have a little one it's a little different.  The big Saturday parade coincides with naptime, so this year we went to the Friday night Firefighter's Parade instead.  There's lots of drama about certain fire companies breaking the rules and blaring their sirens during the parade and subsequently getting suspended from future parades.  And for the first half-hour or so it was pretty quiet, but then the sirens started.  I plugged Olivia's ears to begin, but then realized she didn't mind the noise at all.  She did really great in the backpack, actually.  Lots to see and Festival Food to eat: ice cream, corn dogs, gyros, Slurpees...  We definitely loved the Firefighter's Parade, although we didn't stick around for the fireworks.

The festival has a queen, usually the daughter of a celebrity in hopes that he will come to coronate the queen, and this year it was our governor and his daughter.  On Saturday's big parade she rides on a float with a court of princesses and junior princesses and pages and ...  Why?  I don't know why.  Anyway, for the Firefighter's Parade they just had the queen in a convertible, but not just any convertible.

It was the very car we rode in on our wedding day.  It's a 1979 Excalibur kit car, but to me it could have been Jay Gatsby's.

(As we drove through town that day on the way to our reception, the local track team was out for a run and one of them yelled, "Nice catch!"   I looked at Steve and asked, "What did he throw?")

Anyway, back to The Bloom...  Mom and Olivia and I checked out the craft show this year for the first time in a long time and, well, it makes me so glad I don't sell my jewelry at shows.  Lots of work and a hot day and this show's crafters are competing with a parade and carnival and circus.  Afterward I dropped Mom off to meet Dad at the parade and took OJ home for her nap and to make fruit pizzas.  (Does anyone normally eat star fruit? I think God made it just for this.)  Then we hung out at the Spences' to watch the end of the parade on TV and eat an awesome dinner. 

They have cool toys like Matchbox cars, balloons, and a cell phone.  Who needs the circus?

Update

Olivia is indeed cutting her first molar.  All this time I've been feeling way too far back in her mouth, but now we have a good Orajel routine down.  AND I brushed her teeth for the first time without her biting me (it's a silicone fingertip brush).  Oh, and she was probably cold because I didn't realize our heat was off and the weather is back to cool and rainy.  Oops.

Did I mention that she likes to stack things?  We'll stack empty containers (trash makes the best toys) and she'll knock them down with the biggest grin.  Oh, and Steve taught her to eat with a fork back in February but I still haven't gotten any pictures.  And she'll place an item on a spoon and then put it in her mouth, but I haven't let her scoop things much on her own.  Oatmeal on the wall, anyone? 

My puttanesca leftovers were way better with the addition of the missing red pepper flakes, plus flavor-melding with the extra chicken in the fridge for a day.  On Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Meals yesterday she was making "raw" puttanesca sauce: halved cherry tomatoes, anchovy paste, lemon juice, parsley, and otherwise the usual ingredients.  She served it with grilled halibut on ciabatta toast, which looked like giant bruschetta (yum).  I'm not a big fish person, so maybe burying it in puttanesca would help.

I think I'm going to create a drinking game for that show.  Every time she says "EVOO" you have to take a sip of whatever you're drinking.  If she proceeds to explain that it stands for extra virgin olive oil you have to take another drink.  Drink if she says "yummo," "hang out," or "delish."  Drink if she uses a 12oz mug as a measuring cup, measures EVOO in terms of "turns around the pan," or adds "a palmful" of a spice.  Like, how much is that?  At least we have the website so we don't have to jot down the recipe as we watch like in the olden days.

Okay, I just googled this and I am way behind.  Some of my favorites that others have noticed:  
Take a drink if Rachael...

• comes back from refrigerator or pantry (literally a step away) carrying too many ingredients
• mentions the garbage bowl
• over-pronounces any Italian words in her sentences like MO-zah-RRREH-lah

Mom, I am totally kidding about the drinking game.

News

It is 52 degrees outside, so we are seeing the last of the 18" of snow that fell mid-December and stayed around because of the cold.  We went for a walk, the four of us.

I had what I think was a stomach bug on Friday.  Saturday I kept down my crackers but spent the day in bed.  Yesterday and today I still feel a little weak and queasy, but I'm making myself eat anyway.  I don't remember having this before, so I'm trying to rest and drink fluids and not get freaked out.  No, I'm not pregnant.  Thankfully I didn't seem to give away the bug, which kinda makes me wonder.

My brother the pilot had a layover in DC on Friday, so I picked him up so he could surprise my parents for dinner.  It happened to be the night our dear aunt Agnes and uncle Ray were in town, so it was extra special.  I ignored the nausea as best I could.

I think Olivia has 6 (8?) teeth, but she won't let me look at them unless she is giggling hard enough to throw her head back.  Her hair is getting longer, especially in back where it curls to keep her from having a mullet.  She is starting to open up books and look at the pictures by herself, which is awesome because up until now she didn't seem very interested.  In the nursery I am told she is gregarious to the point of being in-your-face friendly/nosy.  A "spark plug" said one nursery worker.  She steals the other kids' pacifiers (she doesn't use one herself, so they're kind of a novelty).  She is very busy, and seems to be a social butterfly.  She has started noticing the TV more and will sit in your lap (!) and watch almost 5 minutes of Sesame Street before she's on to other things.  She loves her new mailbox toy and shape sorter that she got for Christmas/birthday, but she puts the square in the circle hole because it will let her.  I hope this isn't indicative of her management style.  (Incidentally, I saw the beginning of Office Space again last week and noticed that Initech has a big statue outside the building of a square peg and round hole. Chuckle.)  Olivia has a basket in the living room into which she'll put a small toy and carry it around.  If you bob your head and say, "Dance-y dance, dance-y dance!" she will squat-dance and crack up. 

At Thanksgiving she wouldn't have anything to do with Chef Boyardee ravioli, but now she likes it.  (Hey, Mikey!  He likes it!  Note to self: Try Life cereal.)  We're transitioning her to milk from formula and she's still sleeping well, but I'm getting the whole gamut (skim-2%-whole) of advice from friends, magazines, friends' pediatricians, websites.  Right now we're sticking with whole and will probably drop down to 1% (what we drink) when she's a little older.  Feel free to comment, I'm always open to advice.

Snow-ceries

This was a poll on our local paper's website...

And judging from comments on FaceBook it's not just Frednecks (and other locals) that do this.

I got none of these staples even with the expected 10-16" of snow.  For most of my visit I was actually thinking it was Crazy Christmas Shoppers who were crowding the aisles, and I was getting ingredients for party food like Chocolate Chex Mix and Rolo Turtles. (Thanks, Kerry!) 

I also got cheese slices for grilled cheese sandwiches, which Olivia actually liked.  She actually ate oatmeal and yogurt from a spoon today, too.  I guess she just wanted a break from spoon feeding and now it's okay again.  ???  Every day is a guessing game.  Oh, and picky eaters drive me crazy so it kills me to be giving her chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, cereal bars, and other soft, carby things that are devoid of vegetables.  But, that's what she'll eat. Dr. Dameron did say that if she doesn't like green vegetables it would put her in the majority, so not to worry.  She still "likes" frozen peas, which means she'll eat six of them before they thaw and become toys.

Other Olivia news...  She's learning "nose" and likes to play Last week I started limiting her morning naps so she will sleep in the afternoons instead of talking to herself.  But it doesn't seem right to wake a sleeping baby, and this week she has a cold so she's taking two full naps just fine.  Maybe she's not ready to drop that morning nap.  She has mastered (and loves) her gumball machine toy, so now she can hit the dispenser lever AND put the balls back in the top to complete the cycle.  She also puts hairbrushes in the top, and she puts them (and the gumballs) in the Diaper Champ so I always have to check it for stowaways.  Livi likes her Mozart cube and has started humming when it plays.  The batteries are starting to go so, although I don't get tired of the music, the flat notes bother me.  Once a band nerd, always a band nerd.

Enjoy the snow, East Coasters!

Holiday Photo-Ops

I'm learning about obligatory childhood photos, mostly from people who post pictures on Facebook (and I'm not talking about any one person here - you all have great photos).  You'll see their adorable children at the pumpkin patch, in a pile of leaves, picking out the Christmas tree, etc.  I use the excuse that Fall/Christmas is a busy time for my business, but really I just didn't feel like dragging the baby out to do photo shoots.  And for the same excuse/reason we haven't sent out Christmas cards for several years.  (In case you don't know, we moved to Virginia.  There!)  Or baby announcements.  (Oh yeah, we had a baby, it's a girl.)  But, after some gentle hinting from my mother this fall, I bought a little dress (not too fancy, and only $8 on eBay - NWT), made a little black hair bow, and took Olivia to the photo studio to do Christmas portraits.  We were late, as usual, but still had to wait for another baby to get his milestone (9 month) pictures. [I had full intentions of doing high-contrast black & white naked newborn pictures when she was a month old, but at Week 3 Olivia got some awful baby acne and by the time it went away she didn't seem like a newborn any more. And then I just couldn't be bothered to have quarterly milestone portraits taken, on account of the 1.2 million candids that have filled up my hard drive.  Now I just tell myself we'll do portraits with the next kid so they'll have an equal number.]

Patiently waiting, executive-style, for the little boy in the sailor suit...  (Hairbrush is her favorite toy.)

The photo shoot went well.  Livi smiled a lot, played with the Christmas background, and kept her shoes on.  Afterward she patiently ate Cheerios while I chose shots and decided which coupon would warrant the best deal.

Then we had lunch at Chick-Fil-A and Olivia surprised me by (slowly, in small pieces) eating chicken nuggets.  It's magical how the food that big people eat can actually sustain a little one in the event that Mommy forgets to pack the fruit she cut up.  No more jars of baby food.  Epiphany!

Last night Steve and I went to pick up the photos, then decided to swing by the Santa display to see how long the line was.  There was no line at all (!) and we were excited to check off another obligatory childhood photo-op when I asked if I could just take a picture with my own camera.  They ask that you shell out $18 for the smallest package make a minimum purchase, so we passed on that opportunity (no wonder there was no line).  I noticed at the other portrait studio there were lots of kids in fancy Christmas clothes, passed out on their parents' shoulders on account of it being 8pm.  So glad I booked O's appointment between naps; I can't imagine trying to photograph cranky kids.  (Lydia, my condolences.)

So maybe next year we'll get the pumpkin photos when Olivia's able to walk around and do candid non-posed things.  Until then we'll have plenty of pictures of her sitting in her high chair, feeding Riley.  Oh, and in case I don't get these mailed out, consider this your Christmas card from us!