Bought and Paid For!

So I have been on the edge of my seat waiting for this movie to come out FOREVER! I had an especially rough moment when they pushed back the release date (it was supposed to come out the same time as Twilight and then they pushed it back to the summer). I Fandango'd my tickets yesterday and Thursday (OUR movie day) will pretty much be the best day of my LIFE! I may or may not have screamed like a teenager when I saw the trailer for the first time in theaters (which may or may not have been followed by my applause).
Marcus and I are going to see it with our good friend Trevor, so it should be a blast. Kaitlyn alas is out of town (Trevor's wife) but we have plans to do round two and see it in the IMAX at the end of the month altogether. Don't feel too bad for Kaitlyn because she will be watching it with her family while on vacation!
So I pretty much can't wait for Thursday, YEAH!!! Anybody else getting into Harry Potter Fever?!

Olivia's Favorites...

Big adult sized hat that covers up her face half the time...

Rain boots that are three sizes too big and unbelievably awkward to walk around in!

These two things usually make their appearances about an hour after she wakes up. She pulls the boots on herself and then proceeds to truck around the house in them. Because they are so big, they are very easy for her to put on. When she has decided that her house has become too boring she will put the boots on and then open the front door in an attempt to make it over to "ga-ga's" house (ga-ga being a combo of grandma and grandpa and is what she calls both of them). As a result the front door must remain deadlocked.

In her defense she does inform me about her intentions to leave by repeatedly pointing in the direction of their house saying "ga-ga" over and over. It isn't until I give her the definite "no we are not going over there right now" that she takes matters into her own hands and calming and quietly starts planning her escape. The first few times I felt a draft from the door being open and found her in the driveway on her way until I discovered that pad locking the door foiled her. She has not quite figured out how to open up the others doors in the house but I am assuming that isn't too far off.

The hat is her favorite accessory and is usually followed by headbands as necklaces or her purse for fancy occasions!

This is how Daddy's babysit...

Just relaxing and watching a movie... or at least Olivia is watching the movie

Don't worry Dad, I'll pick the channel!

Marcus works really hard, so anytime he slows down his body goes into instant hibernation mode. It's really cute because I catch them like this a lot, Olivia just chilin' out watching TV or whatever and Marcus totally passed out! I'm pretty used to the Marcus taking random catnaps thing but it totally cracks me up how good Olivia is during these times. She could totally be raising all kinds of heck without anybody REALLY keeping an eye on her, but she just sits there like a good girl and hangs outwith her Daddy.

Marcus has also instituted Tuesday nights as "Daddy daughter night". It's been so great for both of them. He says I am allowed to tag along if I want, but it is such a good opportunity for me to run errands, get cleaning done, completely veg out or whatever! He just thought it would be a good idea if there was at least one night a week that was totally focused on Olivia, even if they are hiking around the property checking on the animals. It also gets him thinking during the week of fun things to do with her, so if there are ever any nights when I am at my wits end and just need a break, he has some things in mind already for "daddy daughter date" material and then he can just take off with her instead of trying to scramble to think of something to do. So far they have played around the house, done random errands together, played at parks and visited various pet stores. The pet store idea is genius because it's totally free and Olivia loved looking at all the little critters and the dogs that would come into the store with their owners while they shop.

He has gone above and beyond to make things easier for me and help me out as much as I need it. It makes such a difference in my day just knowing that when Marcus gets home, even if he is exhausted, he is there 110% to help out! I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband and father to my kid(s).

Gratuitous Belly Shots

I like to think of this one as "thoughtful mother to be in deep reflection"

So weird that my belly is almost as big as my TODDLER! What am I growing...a full sized adult??

In this one I am on top of the big hill next to my parents house, aren't I a supermodel??

A couple of weeks ago, on a lazy Sunday afternoon, Kaitlyn and I set out to get some pregnancy shots taken of me before my size reached epic proportions. She just got a new camera a while ago and has been experimenting with all the different ways to use it.

It was so much fun to just take our time and find cool spots to take some pictures. The location was my parents house, with my Mom serving as babysitting for Olivia and artistic director for which spots looked "visually appealing". I was kinda self conscious at first and then I just decided to go for it and get into the fierce model mindset. I kinda feel a little bit vain in posting a whole montage of JUST ME, but it's not like there are a lot of pictures of me on here in the first place. Plus it's a family blog and I AM a member of said family, and it's for posterity...right?? Pregnancy hormones making me over analyze much????

Anyway I am so grateful that I have an amazing best friend who is also so crafty and talented! I never got any pictures done like this with Olivia and it was so fun to just have a laid back afternoon. I am so proud of her and how her talent is growing and growing! These are just a few of the like 300 pictures that we took, I am really excited to see some of the other ones too!

What have we been up to??

Sleeping! Olivia has been being such a great girl at taking big long afternoon naps for Mommy. Not to mention sleeping in until 8ish every morning. Don't get too jealous because my night time sleep has been almost nonexistent, so at least I have chances for quiet relaxing time during the day!
~Jefferey (the giraffe) is also her nap time companion and Olivia enjoys chatting up a storm with him once she wakes up ;)

Hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa's house. There is slowly becoming less and less space on Mommy's lap for Olivia to lounge on.

Anyone interested in a friendly game of badminton?

Who knew that a package of toilet paper could turn into a wild bucking bronco?

I didn't have the heart to put it away until she had worn down her fascination with it. It had nothing to do with the fact that I am getting lazier and lazier and just didn't feel like putting it away!

And of course hanging out with her favorite person EVER! G-R-A-N-D-P-A !!!!

Upside to living next door is that short daily visits are very easy to accomplish. Downside is that Olivia can see anytime Grandpa is working outside and proceeds to be VERY unhappy until Mommy takes her over to say Hi!

Note to self: Must try to get a picture of the two of them together, without heads cropped off. This was the only picture I could find!

I am also at the 30 week mark, yeah!! I am excited to meet this little girl that has been kicking in my ribs everyday. I am also totally cherishing and having a blast in my last weeks of only one child. Olivia is such a good little girl and I am definitely enjoying how easy life is for us right now. She is getting more and more independent each day and it is so fun to watch!

Good Week/Bad Week

Why is it bad?? Well it turns out Olivia has a sinus infection + ear infection + eye infection which equals a huge snotty goopy mess.
Why is it good?? Because at least I know what is going on with her will hopefully be all fixed in a week or so.


She was sick like three weeks ago when that flu went around and then proceeded to cut a molar right after, so she had a continuous runny nose. I felt like I would make ground with her and then her nose would get REALLY runny and then start to clear up...etc. I took her in for her eye, which was all red and puffy and then found out about everything else.
My first reaction: TEARS! {Hey, I am hormonal and I kinda felt like a bad Mom b/c she was infected all over the place and I was oblivious}. Poor Dr. Wallace had to reassure me that the ear infection had only developed over the last day or so, I couldn't have really brought her in for it any earlier if I wanted to (it wasn't full blown yet). And the sinus infection is hard to peg when you combine teething along with it. FORTUNATELY Olivia LOVES medicine so she does a happy dance whenever I pull it out of the fridge ~ so cute!!

Moral of the story:
1) I love my pediatrician, he's the best!
2) Hormonal women (especially ones named Vashti) cry A LOT
3) Even with her face all puffy and full of goobers, Olivia is the SWEETEST little babe! I don't think I would be as mild mannered if I had the same things going on with me!

This is saving my life

So I bought one of these pools at Walmart for 7 dollars, and I can say already it is the best 7 dollars I've ever spent! I have been roasting already in this heat. Our house doesn't stay very cool and has been around 80 INSIDE my house the past couple of days. Not to mention that I have an old school car that does not have air conditioning. Olivia and I were starting to get grumpy being so dang hot. We've been using our pool almost EVERYDAY, sometimes more than once a day and it has been wonderful!

Olivia loves the fact that it is a "bath" that she can get in and out of (she is dependent on Mommy and Daddy to get her out of her bathtub inside). She spends most of her time stepping in and out and in and out. I sit in a chair next to the pool with my feet soaking in the cool water, and instantly start to feel better. We do it at my parents house because they have a paved parking lot (which warms up the water just enough to take the chill off) and shade so I can put it part in the sun and part in the shade. Mom sometimes sits by my with HER feet in the pool and we just chat while Olivia tries to see how many times she can go in and out in five minutes. Olivia squeals and start laughing when I start to fill it up and gets very mad if Mommy doesn't strip her down fast enough (she got so impatient she got in fully clothed today!).