A Good Night's Sleep and other stuff

I realize that most of you parents out there do not celebrate a single night of sleep, but it is pretty much a party at our house. To wake up at 6:30am and realize that you have not been awakened to cries, coughs or voices for 8 solid hours is just short of a miracle. Since we are teething and have a little cold, I know the cause of the poor sleep, but it still does not make it any easier. Last night was AWESOME!

I haven't done an update on what she is doing lately for a while so that is next. First off, I am not certain many times that Olivia actually exists, for what I mainly see is a blur. She absolutely never stops moving!

• Lots and lots of words, new ones every day, and when she doesn't know the word, it is "dis" or "dat". Holding a blanket saying "my dis" or pointing at my shirt saying "mommies dat".
  
• Sentences too, the favorite still being "I wan juice" or "I wan tati" ( post your guess in the comments)
• She loves, loves, loves playing with other kids. Christmas was awesome because she was constantly occupied chasing the big kids around.
  
• She has begun practicing for her career as a stunt person. She spent 15 or so minutes last week falling down, getting up and falling down again, laughing all the while. Last night, again, except with the addition of singing and her stool. Specifically, she would stand atop the stool, look at me and sing a few unrecognizable bars, then "fall" off (or jump off) and land on the floor, laugh hysterically (me and her), repeat, again or "gen" as she would say.
• She walks all the way up the flight of steps just like you or I, stepping over to the next step. It is amazing to watch those little legs take such big steps. She even did it carrying two Christmas presents up from the basement. Such a big girl.
• She is just under 36 inches tall and around 30 pounds. Not eating much the last few days, but it could be the teething and runny nose.
• She loves Big Bird and now has two Big Bird movies and one stuffed BB. That, her doll that she got for her birthday and her bodiless frog are her three best friends. They ride in the stroller, eat and generally hang out with her most of the time. But, the baby does not get to go to bed with her - it has this nasty habit of crying or laughing, so it sleeps where ever it was last played with.
• Play-doh is another favorite toy - she is especially fond of shredding it.
• She is starting a Kindermusic class next week - it will be our first class. I am sure there will be more info on that to come.
• She loves a bath and plays like crazy in the tub. At some point in time she will roll onto her tummy kick her legs and blow bubbles. She will also color or put water from one container into another - last night it was from a tiny empty bubble bottle into a mesh bag. It looked as if it was going to take a really long time to fill it up!
• After she gets out of the tub and wraps up in her dog towel, she MUST go show Daddy herself all wrapped up looking cute in the towel.
  
• When she does not want me to sing or say something, she will put her hand over my mouth and tell me "no" or "top it".
• Speaking of me singing - her favorite is "If your happy and you know it..." except that I add the verse of "If you are happy and you know it, kiss your Mommy (or Daddy)" which she does with excessive glee and requests of "gen" "gen" when the song is over.
  
• She always takes some time to warm up in new (even familiar new, like Grandma's house) situations. She will initially be a bit clingy and not want to interact with others for a few minutes.
• A favorite "game" is if Daddy gets her from her room in the morning, she will run to get in bed with me, in Daddy's spot, the yell for Daddy to come and lie down too.
  
• Speaking of yelling, Olivia is LOUD. Several of our friends who have visited recently (and also have small children) have commented that she is louder than your average child.
• Much to my chagrin, she wants the tv on all the time. She doesn't really watch it unless it is one of her shows, but she likes to have it in the background.
• She still loves to do whatever we are doing - cooking, cleaning - she always wants to help saying "I hep mommy".
  
• This morning there was a piece of cereal that got dropped on the floor. I asked Olivia to pick it up and put it in the trash. She tried, but it had been stepped on, so it was crushed. So, she went to the pantry, got the dust broom and dustpan and proceeded to "sweep" it up, then emptied the empty dust broom in the trash. All without a word to or from me, except "I sweep it mommy".
  
• All colors are blue or "boo" when asked "what color is this?" but if I ask her for a specific color like "which one is red" she knows it. She has really wanted to work on learning colors a lot lately, so I think she will get it pretty soon.
• She still LOVES music. It is extremely rare that we can take a trip in the car without one of her music CD's on. Fortunately, we have a wide variety of children's music, including soul, zydeco, world, folk and rock. Have you heard 7 8 9 by the Barenaked Ladies it is so funny:

I am sure there is more....

Christmas in Pictures

Christmas Cards - Where is Lily?

In our wonderful collection of Christmas cards from, quite literally, around the world, Olivia will walk up and pick out Lily without hesitation and without me showing her. Once she does, she will then point to Nick and Blake and have me say their names and then tell her that they are Lily's brothers!

A Christmas Eve Photo

Olivia and her cousins.

Holiday Happenings

First - a Merry Christmas to all!!!

(If I were more awake, I would insert a festive holiday photo here)

The next few days will be busy around our part of the world. The festivities begin today with a trip over the river and through the woods to my dad and stepmom's house. Much merriment will ensue, and I am sure the food will be yummy. My sister, BIL and nieces will be there, along with my step-sister and her family. Just enough kids to keep Olivia well entertained!

The big day will start with our little family enjoying Christmas morning at home. After presents, we will make my traditional Christmas morning breakfast of Eggs Benedict and hash browns. Maybe church, maybe not depending upon the schedule of things. Then, to Grammy and Grampy's for more presents, more food, and visiting with Aunt Michele. Then a nap (?) before heading off to my mom and step-dad's house for lasagna, more presents, and more visiting.

The fun continues on Saturday when Micheal's extended family gets together for their annual Christmas gathering. There will be lots of people and lots of fun!

Whew. I am tired already - but that could be from the fact that Olivia and I were awake from 2am to 5am last night. I really, really dislike teething. Here's hoping for a fabulous nap today and a wonderful night of sleep for all tonight!

Sound Mind, Sound Mom Book Club

I came across this when it was posted and am excited about participating. Let me know if you are planning on joining in.

A celebration!

This is late arriving... still recovering perhaps? Nah, just busy trying to get ready for Christmas. Anyway, on Sunday, Michael, Olivia and I hosted a get together for our playgroup of friends with little girls from China about Olivia's age.

It was a fun, wild time. Six adults and seven children - a little adult beverage, a lot of lemonade, tons of food and massive amounts of merriment. The kids played, ate, ran, ate and ran some more and seemed to have a really good time. The Christmas tree remained upright the entire evening, no blood was shed (at least not that I am aware of - once I looked around and realized all of the adults and none of the children were present and accounted for, and it seemed eerily quiet. Fortunately, soon the bouncing herd emerged from a bedroom.) and there was a below average amount of tears.

As many of the adults were meeting each other for the first time, there was the typical conversations about work, and as is typical among China AP's, conversation about China and adoption.

I didn't take many pictures and haven't looked through them yet, but what I am imagining is on the camera is a series of blurs. That is certainly what I saw. Use your imagination to picture two rambunctious, energetic boys, a sweet, smart, chatty almost 5 year old girl and 4 near two year olds, three of which are from China - all in constant motion. Okay, all but one - A was pretty happy to let chaos happen around her while spending a good deal of time enjoying her cake. It was priceless.

Everyone should be so lucky as to have such fun, interesting and gracious people in their lives.

Now I Know....

that it is just plain silly to try to do a gingerbread house with a two year old. Well, at least my wild candy fiend of a two year old.

It started out as a good idea but QUICKLY went down hill when Olivia got the first taste of the candy. I let her have a few pieces. Then I told her no more. Half a dozen time outs later she finally got the hint - she would put the candy in her mouth then take it back out when she realized what she had done and had been busted.

I was not hoping for perfection... I was hoping simply for something that I would not be embarrassed by. After realizing the piping with the icing bag was not working and then discovering that one side of the roof was on upside down I gave up and let her at it. She had a good time and there will not be pictures forthcoming.

Family Foto Fun Friday

I am participating in the:

The theme for this week is "Party Time" in which I am to share a picture related to a party. I chose this picture from Olivia's 2nd Birthday party in November. The guests had all been visited with, the food and cake had been eaten and the presents had all been opened. Olivia took her new baby doll and accessories and simply went "bye bye" for a while. She walked around and then finally sat down to play with her.

I spend a lot of time capturing the smiling, silly side of Olivia, but not as much capturing the quiet, independent side that really just wants to do her own thing once in a while, even with 30 of her closest friends and family members nearby.

Tree Hunting and Harvesting

This is late getting up, but on Saturday we went Christmas tree hunting with Dad and Jeri. We met them in Warrenton then took the back way to Pumpkin and Pines. While Olivia wasn't into the whole process all that much, I think she still had a good time. Her FAVORITE part though was looking at and talking to some chickens that were in a pen. Santa was there, with no line. Olivia and I looked in at Santa. We looked in again. I asked her if she wanted to go talk to him. She said no. Later we looked in again and I asked again. No again.

After the tree festivities, we ate lunch back in Warrenton then headed home to put the tree in its stand and get Olivia in the bed for a nap. We were successful on both counts.

A big thanks to Grandma Jeri for being the photographer for the day. Olivia was in an "all mommy all the time" mood so I had no chance at all to snap a picture. Had they not been along, we would have had no pictures to commemerate the occasion!

Blog Giveaway

The really cool person who designed the new look of my blog is hosting a giveaway. Check it out here: Diana's Daily Ramblings Coco Bonbons. Coco Bonbons has adorable children's clothing - it is so worth a look!

Shopping with Amy and Lily

Amy and Lily headed to St. Louis today for some shopping so we met them at a mall and hung out for a couple hours. The girls were a little subdued at first, but after a little lunch they got pretty wound up and had a lot of fun. They ran around, giggled, played and generally had a fabulous time.

Amy and I have been out with the girls a few times together but this was the first time that not one, but two people asked us if the girls were twins!!!??? It was especially weird since the first time they were both in their strollers and Amy was pushing Lily and I was pushing Olivia.

Christmas Card Preview

These are a few of the photos that did not make it into the Christmas card! A special thanks to all our friends at Troy Flower Shop for allowing us to hang out for a while and take the pictures!

Thanksgiving - What? No Pictures of Olivia

We had 18 people and 10 pies - you gotta love those odds!

Just a few pictures from Thanksgiving - I didn't take many and by the time I started taking them, Olivia was already covered with beet juice. She spent the remainder of the day in only a diaper, which only rarely makes for good photos (see below).

The day was great - Thanksgiving is so much easier now that I have learned to share the cooking responsibilities. The food was amazing and the day was a lot of fun despite a massive amount of dishes.

Olivia had a late night - at 9:30 I looked at the clock and realized it was WAY passed bedtime. So, I put an end to the Apples To Apples game and everyone took that as a cue to pack up leftovers and hit the road.

Thanksgiving Thankful Thursday

Lots and lots of things floating through my mind to be thankful for but the one that most stands out is this little description:

Olivia and Daddy are usually home by the time I get home from work. Most often they are in the kitchen cooking dinner or having a snack. As a result, they can hear the garage door go up as I pull up and in. When I get out of the car, through the kitchen door, I hear "Moooommmmmmiiiieeeeeee" repeated several times in a glee filled voice. Then I open the door and find a very happy, adorable little girl waiting to hug me.

I am thankful for that absolutely amazing moment that happens most days.

I am thankful that today my house will be filled with family. I love Thanksgiving because I get to prepare and share a wonderful meal with loved ones.

I am thankful for all my friends, irl and online. You all mean the world to me.

Picasso in Diapers

A very busy couple weeks has let to an unexpected break in blogging. Since there were too many thought swirling through my head to make a coherent post about anything but the obvious, I opted for the "sure thing".

Olivia and I watched Mae's vlog entry about her girls painting while daddy was in charge, and I laughed myself silly once again. Olivia then immediately went to her paints to give it a try! You can see the wonderful results. And, I LOVE the Melissa and Doug easel and paints. We used the paints on her birthday (11/2) and not again until today. I had only put a tiny bit in each cup. I figured they would be totally dried out. Not so, I just added a bit of water, gave them a stir and we were good to go!