Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas!

The first of our multiple Christmas' began the weekend before Christmas, as we ventured to Pella to Aunt Dani and Uncle Pat's house to celebrate with the Bortscheller clan. Grandma and Grandpa B were there along with "The Godparents" (Uncle Jeff and Aunt Maureen), Aunt Anita and Uncle Raleigh and all 10 of Olivia's big cousins. We missed Uncle Ken, Aunt Amanda and Alexis tremendously, but were lucky enough to see them at Thanksgiving. The day was great and the gigantic snowflakes falling from the sky made the day perfect. However, the blizzard like winds when we were packing the car up to leave and driving home was not so perfect.

Our annual Christmas Eve celebration with my dad's side of the family was postponed due to extreme cold weather and my dad having been in the hospital for almost a week and still recuperating. So, I made some of my now famous cheese soup and some beer bread and my parents came over for dinner and a little card playing. While playing cards , I whispered in Olivia's ear that Santa was going to come while she was asleep and bring her lots of great presents. Pricelessly (is that a word), Olivia pulled back from me, gave me a HUGE smile and nodded her head.

Christmas morning was wonderful. Santa left his gifts for Olivia, which she immediately crawled towards and started playing with. Actually, she plucked the sheep from The Little People barn and promptly put him in her mouth, but she had a big smile on her face while doing so. We spent the next 45 minutes unwrapping gifts (Olivia unwrapped gifts) and she only needed reminded a couple of times to stop eating the paper. After Olivia's morning nap we went to Grandma and Grandpa Mackin's house for our Christmas morning, where Olivia continued to unwrap a boat load of gifts for the next hour and a half. She finally grew tired of unwrapping the presents and crawled around the living room as we unwrapped our gifts. Later that day we had a small Christmas with Aunt Patty, Uncle Bruce and Benny. Olivia received her first ever Vikings jersey (Adrian Peterson #28) from my cousin Chad (he wasn't able to make it), which she will be sporting for the big play off game. Finally, we all ventured over to Great Grandma Betty's and Great Grandpa Russ' house. It was a L O N G day, but Olivia was a trooper, especially for waking up the next morning with a new tooth!

Teeth, Getting Better, Real Food, Standing and Walking

So, tooth #5 arrived sometime after Thanksgiving, but because Olivia is a stinker and refuses to let me in her mouth, I have no idea when it came through. I did see that tooth #6 is trying to pop through while investigating tooth #5.

Olivia is finally doing better, though she did have a temp last night, but I contribute that to teething. We still have a little snot and a small cough from time to time, but other than that, all is good. Chuck is also doing better, though he woke Sunday morning with a rash covering his body from head to toe (are you kidding me). So off to the doctor he went, only to find out that he is allergic to the antibiotic they had given him. He is now taking steroids for the reaction and seems to be better all around. I finally went to the doctor last week and started an antibiotic, but it makes me extremely sick to my stomach, so I have now stopped taking it.

I have gotten over my fear of giving Olivia "real" food (I was afraid she would choke). Since Saturday she has had grilled cheese sandwiches, yogurt, toast, scrambled eggs, banana bread, chicken and noodles, carrots, chicken nuggets, mandarin oranges, and graham crackers. She LOVES mandarin oranges. She sucks the juice out of them before she eats them. I have also found that she is a little piggy and tries to shove as much food as possible into her mouth at once. We have had a couple talks about this and she is doing better. We have also started Olivia on whole milk, which we mix in with her formula and water. Within the next week she will be drinking only the milk. SHE IS GETTING CHEAPER!

On Monday, Olivia decided that she was secure enough in her ability to stand that she could now do so without holding onto anything for an extended period of time. She is also beginning to walk while holding onto someone's fingers. I am sadly anticipating the day when she will figure out how to move the laundry basket out of the way in order to escape to the other part of the house. It will happen.

What, What's That You Say?

So, Olivia was up at 1:45 a.m. the night before last and all she wanted to do was play with the dog. As you probably already guessed I was just thrilled with this. I leaned over and let her pet him and then she gave him a kiss. Apparently, that was not enough and she continued to reach for him. Then all of a sudden she said "pup, pup, pup" multiple times. Since that night every time she sees KB she says "pup". Its very cute.

Because Olivia continued to have a fever the nurse at the clinic said we needed to bring her back in. So, off we went for the third time in 2 and a half weeks back to the doctor. Good thing, because Olivia now has double ear infection. Her pink eye has also returned. She is now on an antibiotic and hopefully things will get back to normal. Does it ever stop?

Update

Olivia's pink has now spread to her other eye. She woke at 2 a.m. and had a temp of 101.3, which was gone by the time she got up for the day at 6 a.m. However, she started to feel warm a few minutes ago and it is back up to 101. All of this and she is an amazing mood.

So, you know in the movie Father of the Bride II when Franc (the a makes the ah sound remember) gives Mr. Banks (ah sound again) that little pill to help him sleep and it makes Mr. Banks very loopy and pass out. Well, that was Chuck last night. Chuck has not been able to sleep worth a crud for years and he has tried multiple things. The doctor he saw yesterday prescribed Ambien for him. Holy cow! I ended up calling the Walgreens pharamcy and talking to a pharmacist, as I thought he had overdosed on all of the drugs he was taking (Ambien, Musinex, Tylenol, antibiotic for his sinus infection, nose sprays etc). He was a complete loony bin. Of course, my fuse was rather short from dealing with a sick Olivia all day and I had finally setlled in for the night with a good book. Then here comes drug boy all hyped up on sleeping pills. After witnessing him multiple times falling into the wall, not being able to walk, dropping a glass of water and me telling him to just get in bed, I was ready to knock him out myself. Chuck was dead to the world, but not before asking me if I saw the corn waving in the wind. What?! When Olivia woke up at 2:00 a.m. and screamed out of control for a good 15 minutes, Chuck did not stir. I told him he wasnever taking them again.

Mmm Bop!

OK, this is the best. Wait, I know what you are thinking Kim, two blogs in one day, what the heck! OK, back to the best. For some stupid reason I sing that old Hanson song Mmm Bop (you know you are singing it now. Mmm Bop, Bop Bop, Mmm Bop) to Olivia on a regular basis. I have no idea why I started singing it. Maybe because Olivia says "mmm" alot. Anyway, this evening Olivia began singing it back to me. Hers sounds more like "Mmm ba" but it was definitely the song. We played, ate dinner, took a bath, played some more and the entire time went back and forth singing Mmm Bop. Man she takes after her mom and is so smart and entertaining. All with pink eye and runny nose too!

Are You Kidding Me?

It is absolutely never ending. I spent a good portion of desperatley needed, in order to function, beauty sleep last night rescuing Olivia from her snot filled mattress. I have NEVER seen so much snot come out of that little of a nose in my life. After getting up at 9:45 (yes, I was already in bed and had been asleep 45 minutes) and spending a good 10 minutes cleaning her face up and suctioning her out, then spending another 10 minutes listening to her scream and cry, I was ready to be done with snot for the rest of my life. However, Olivia had a different idea and we went through the entire routine at 4:00 a.m. as well, then at 6:30 a.m. During our clean up sessions I noticed that Olivia's eye looked a littel icky, but just thought she had smeared snot into it. However, by 7:30 this morning I knew it was something more. The other thing that tipped me off that things weren't right was the widely spreading rash that had worked its way up her torso. Oh, and the ten tons of snot I had already waded through. So, of course we went to the doctor.

By the time we got to the doctor at 9:50, Olivia's nose was a faucet and her poor eye was a goopy mess. So what was it you ask? Well, a virus caused the rash and snotty nose. But, the virus turned into an infection in her eye and she has pink eye. Luckily, the infection had not yet reached her ears. However, have I ever mentioned that I get pink eye at the drop of a hat? Great. By the time we got home, her eye was practically swollen and gooped shut (see photos below). And her nose, holy toledo! That thing is running like you wouldn't believe. At one point I looked over and saw a huge string of snot plunging out of her nose. Mmm, pleasant. Of course we have eye drops, which are virtually impossible to get into Olivia's eye. She squeezes that baby shut as tight as she can and screams. She is also a little smelly. The doctor said it is because of all of the white blood cells her body is producing to fight off the sickness. Great, I have a snotty, goopy, stinky child.

With all of the crappy news there is one bit of happy information. As we were leaving the doctors office, Olivia waved to the receptionist (I know she waves at everyone) and said "bye bye"! She then began waving at random people and telling them "bye bye". Ahh, I love it!

Hello Clarice.....

Isn't it Hannibal Lectar in the movie Silence of the Lambs who bites people in the face? Do I really need to say anymore?

What a Week,..... Is it Over Yet?

Well, Olivia is officially better. I think. I can't remember exactly where I left off before, but diarreha (there's that word again) continued through Wednesday (are you kidding me). Just when I thought all was well, she would have another blowout. We ended up switching to soy formula for a while and ate nothing but apples, bananas and rice cereal. Then lucky me, Chuck became sick by Tuesday morning with the same thing. Let me just say that between Olivia's poop and Chuck's vomit, our house smelled marvelous. Things were looking bleak for our Thanksgiving plans, as we weren't sure if traveling was a good idea for anyone at that point. However, we were able to make it to the farm after all without any major catastrophies. Luckily, by the grace of God, I came down with nothing. Of course, once Olivia stopped having diarrhea, she went polar opposite. UGH. There is no happy medium with that kid. However, I know how to deal with constipation. That was our life for months. So of course, I loaded her up on prunes, prune jusice, apricots etc. and ended up with a HUGE mess this morning. Why do I make so much work for myself?

We spent Thanksgiving at Chuck's parents house. I would like to say that it was relaxing, but it really wasn't as Olivia will no longer allow me to leave her side without having a huge outburst and repeatedly saying "mama ma". I believe this is all due to our "bonding" this past week while she was sick. Olivia also decided that sleep for her parents was overrated and they needed to either stay up all night while she slept on one of them or, they could attempt to fall asleep sitting up in the recliner listening to little Raleigh make atroscious sounds in his sleep while she slept soundly in one of their arms. Apparently sleeping in the pack-n-play is no longer cool and something Olivia wants nothing to do with. Nice. Thankfully when we returned home, things were back to normal and Olivia slept through the night in her bed and had no problems with her naps.

In the span of one day, Olivia has changed tremendously. The minute we stepped foot in our house yesterday Olivia was all over the place and into everything. Yes, I know this was the case before yesterday, but it has increased ten fold. Within the span of about 1 minute this morning I dug out a piece of a plastic bag, a string and foam (foam?!) from her mouth. Olivia has also begun talking a lot more. Now when I ask her to say mama she says it. She also says dada when asked and she says ba for puppy or KB. We now have what I call "laugh time" right after our bedtime bottle and before bed each night. For about 20 minutes Olivia sits on my lap and we play and just laugh. It is the perfect way to end my day.

Chuck just informed me that I talk a lot about poop in my blogs. Oh well.

Puke and Poopy Pants (for real)

Olivia has officially had her first stomach virus. Oh, wait, not had, HAS, as she still has it. Chuck woke me up from a sound slumber close to 12:00 Friday night. He needed some help, as he said that Olivia had gotten sick. I was not prepared for the regurgitated smell of vegetable beef baby food that was literally covering Olivia's entire mattress. When I say covering, I mean covering, everywhere. Olivia was also covered, head to toe, in her puke. Nice. We quickly got into the bath, changed, and went back to bed only to have Olivia vomit the rest of the contents of her stomach within about 2 minutes of laying down. Needless to say, I remained up with Olivia on my lap sleeping. I tried to put her down twice more, but both times she vomited and began gagging the second her head hit the mattress. She did finally lay down around 4:45, but was up for the day by 6:00 a.m.

Fast forward to Saturday morning. Chuck gave Olivia her bottle (not a good idea) which she promptly vomited everywhere. She also had a low grade temp of 100. Later that morning we ended up going to the doctor, who prescribed Pedialyte and then told me what to do once she was able to keep the Pedialyte down. Luckily, Olivia was able to keep all of her Pedialyte down the rest of the morning and all afternoon. She was able to eat some applesauce for dinner and even had a Pedialyte/formula cocktail at bed. However, by 6:00 p.m. we were dealing with full fledged diarrhea. Even nicer.

Fast forward again, to Sunday morning. Olivia slept through the night, but when she woke at 5:45 a.m. she had horendous diarrhea. By 11:00 a.m. we had gone through 4 sleepers and had already taken 2 baths. Olivia was still able to keep her cereal and applesauce down, as well as her Pedialyte/formula cocktail. Because she had diarrhea so bad, I wanted to continue with the Pedialyte, which she then refused to take. Grr. Her diarrhea (let's see how many times I can add that word to my blog) continued throughout the day, but the vomitting had stopped. So we thought. After eating some bananas for dinner (the doctor said it was ok) and having another poopy diaper, Olivia decided to spice things up and puked up her entire stomach. On to sleeper #5. Olivia also developed another low grade temp off 100 and continued to poop.

Fast forward to right now. Olivia is currently sleeping, probably with poopy pants by now and I fully anticipate a blowout that requires a bath in the morning. The good news to all of this. Olivia is honestly in a wonderful mood, laughing and smiling. Though she spends most of her time on my lap sleeping and cuddling. The other piece of good news, all of this, and I wouldn't trade motherhood for anything.

For those of you who don't know, I have been calling Olivia "poopy" or "poopy pants" for the past few months for some odd reason. I guess the name is fitting now!

Diarrhea (I just wanted to say it one more time).

I have found that it is much more difficult to keep the blog updated now that I am back at work. I also know that I am falling behind when Kim gives me a hard time about there being no new updates and she sees Olivia 5 days out of the week!

So, what's new?

While Olivia has been waving for quite some time now, she currently waves at EVREYBODY! There is not a person Olivia will not wave at. She waves at the check-out clerks at the grocery store. She waves at multiple servers at restaurants. She waves at random people at the mall. She waves at the neighbors. She even waves at KB.

Olivia also likes to make clicking/clucking noises with her tongue and mouth and can turn her tongue sideways in her mouth, which she does often. Olivia also gives kisses (even to the dog). This requires her to lean forward, open her mouth and stick her tongue out when her mouth reaches yours. Nice.

Livy currently enjoys playing with objects that are not "toys". Such items are the remote control, the phone, my cell phone, plastic hangers, her sippy cup, the plastic egg shaped container to her finger tooth brush (oops, I need to remember to use that more often) and KB's stuffed lobster Linny. Which by the way KB will retrieve for her and lay at her side every stinkin' time I take it away from her. The other day I took it away from her 4 times and each time KB would wait a few minutes, go get it and give it Olivia. I think that is his way to spend time with me by distracting Olivia. He is a smart dog. Dodo, but smart. I think the one thing that Olivia enjoys playing with the most is her socks. I can not keep the darn thing on her feet. This afternoon she pulled one off and shoved it in her mouth, which is where it stayed for the next 10-15 minutes (see pictures below).

Olivia has begun eating Stage 3 baby food and does get "people" food from time to time. Unfortunately, Olivia is much like her mother (poor girl) and the consistancy of some foods bother her. The child gagged on mashed potatoes. Who the heck gags on mashed potatoes? I started giving her chicken and noodle baby food, which has pieces of noodles and chuncks of carrots. It only took 4 days, but she no longer gags. Tonight she even had spaghetti and meat sauce baby food (who the heck thinks that these things would be a good idea to make into baby food when they are coming up with baby food flavors) and actually really liked it with no gagging. Soon to come is vegetable beef, broccoli carrot and cheese and lasagna. Mmm . . . . . . . . .

I have a couple of videos to share, but they aren't downloading at the moment. I will add them as soon as I can (that may be another 2 weeks in my world).

Happy Halloween?

I think I was more excited for Halloween than Olivia was (duh). The child would NOT smile the entire time she was in her costume. She did make some fishy lips, but other than that there was absolutely no affect what so ever. However, once I took the darn thing off she gave me a big smile and said "mama". Olivia visited Grandma and Grandpa Mackin, Grandma Linda and Grandpa Dale (my parents good friends who live across the street from them) and Aunt Patty and Uncle Bruce. She also wore her costume to Kim's house that morning.

Olivia has been having some issues with sleeping, oh wait, lack of sleeping lately. I tried getting rid of her 3rd nap of the day, as it was occuring so late and she was not waking up until 7:00 from her nap and then going to bed for the night after 9:00. Well, I successfully got rid of the nap, but it messed EVERYTHING up and we were up at all hours of the night, as it seems that Olivia was thinking that was her 3rd nap and then was up and ready to play for a while. Needless to say, I gave the 3rd nap back, tweaked it a bit and we are doing much better. However, stupid day light savings time screwed it all up today. UGH!


Tooth #4 came last weekend and #5 is ready to bust through. I hate teeth. Hoenstly, they are so overrated......

Here are a couple pictures of KB. The poor dog is tortured, lovingly tortured, but tortured none the less by Olivia on a daily basis and then Chuck had to go and decorate him with Olivia's linky loos. He is a trooper. (Notice Olivia in the background watching).


Poor KB is also going through a bit of anxiety. Ever since we had the car accident (remember KB was with us) he has had HUGE issues with riding in the car. This makes me so sad, as KB used to LOVE riding in the car. Now he has so much anxiety that he literally pants the entire ride to wherever we are going. Unfortunately, two weekends ago that was a 3 hour trip to Dubuque and then a 3 hour trip home. He panted so hard that I thought his poor heart was going to jump out of his chest. It has also gotten so bad that when we go to my parents every Sunday he will now refuse to get in the car to return home. He is fine getting in to leave, but then pants all the way over, but when we leave my parents later in the day/evening he absolutely

refuses to get in the car. In fact, tonight he wouldn't even leave their living room. Poor puppy. That makes me so sad. With that said, KB is fine as long as he is not in a car. He is wonderful with Olivia and takes a lot of CRAP!

Is She Still Beetlejuice?

Olivia had her 9 month check-up on Monday. She now weighs 18 pounds 8 ounces, is 28 inches long and has a normal size head. Olivia is in the 50%ile for height, weight AND head circumference. No more Beetlejuice head! Dr. Wadle said that Olivia is doing great and is certain that she will be walking before her 1 year check-up. Dr. Wadle also said that we can start giving Olivia more table food (that would be great if she ever ate when we did). However, when she has eaten with us she has had bread, peas (she likes regular peas, just not baby food peas) chocolate muffin, cake, ice cream and just this weekend pancakes and noodles from The Godmother's (Aunt Reeny) homemade chicken noodle soup. There were no vacinations this time, but she did get half of her flu shot (she gets the other have in 30 days).



Olivia is pulling up onto things like you wouldn't believe. Its like it just happened overnight (doesn't everything seem that way)? Last night Chuck and I were both in the kitchen and when Chuck returned to the living room there was Olivia standing up at the couch trying to get KB. He was just out of her reach, which I do believe he was relieved about. There have been a couple more falls, but Olivia has figured out to bend her legs and sort of sit-fall. She has even gone so far as to hold on with one hand and tonight briefly let go with both hands.



When Olivia and I got home this afternoon we decided to have some mommy/Livy time and played for a good 45 minutes on the floor. Olivia started this new thing where she would crawl straigt towards me and once she got to me she would fall over and roll twice. Of course, I decided that I need to do the same, which got KB all excited and wanting to play. So, Olivia decided she would then crawl over to KB and roll over and flop herself onto him. He was not amused and quickly returned to his comfort zone on the couch. Olivia and I went back and forth like this for at least 10-15 minutes. Of course, when I tried to have her show Chuck later she wanted no part in it. Typical.

9 Month Pictures

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Olivia, Aunt Stacy and I ventured to Portrait Innovations on Friday to get Olivia's 9 month pictures taken. I was so excited because Olivia was in a great mood, in between naps and had just had her bottle. So, this would be a piece of cake with awesome pictures, right? Hmm, not so much. I did not take into account that Olivia is very mobile now and tries to put EVERYTHING in her mouth. It also did not help that they were running about 30-45 minutes behind and she was extremely tired of sitting still. Though in the end we did get a few good pictures, I can honestly say that this was the hardest and least photogenic photo shoot yet.

*Remember, the pictures youa re looking at are not cropped or anything, so the ones we ordered actually look much better. There are also about 20 other pictures that I did not add because Olivia was either crawling away, eating her hand or sucking on the arm chair. Go figure.

Oh, one more thing. Olivia claps now. Actually, she has been able to clap for a week or so now, but I haven't had time to add it to the blog.

Ahh, Relief. . . . . . Sorta

Tooth #3 made its debut sometime between 7:45 this morning and 8:38 this evening. It is her top right (left if you are looking at Olivia). Only an entire mouth left to go . . . . . . . . .

Spitty, Spit, Spitting Video

This is video of Olivia spitting her food all over last week. Enjoy!

What's New?

Oh my, it has been a while since I have shared any exciting news with anyone. Let's see, where to begin. . . . . . . . .

Olivia continues to crawl everywhere. We have put up a baby gate to the kitchen, as she likes to go in there and chew on our shoes. We also shut all of the bedroom and bathroom doors. However, there is not a door that can be shut that leads into our dining room. This was not a big deal at first, but the other day Chuck and I turned around and the little speed demon was gone. She had figured out that she can get to the kitchen via the dining room. Now, we wedge a laundry basket between the chair and the footstool.

About a week ago Olivia decided that life on the rugged floor alone was no longer the life she wanted to lead, so she decided that she was going change the view by pulling up onto things. She started with pulling up onto Chuck or I and has since graduated to the couch, her exersaucer, and the footstool and magazine rack at Grandma and Grandpa Mackin's house. She took her first big spill the other day, which made me cry and then yell at Chuck for not paying attention to her (she was pulled up onto him). She fell straight back and hit her head on the floor. It reminded me of high school when you have that group of friends who you are supposed to trust to catch you as you fall back. Unfortuantely, Olivia didn't have that group of friends.

Just this week Olivia has begun putting her lips together and making a popping sound and just this morning started blowing kisses on her own (thank you Kim)! She has also discovered that KB has paws and better yet toe nails. The other night Chuck and I looked over and Olivia is trying to naw on KB's toe nails (how disgusting is that). Chuck thought it was hilarious as I am freaking out and telling him to move her. Poor KB just moved his paw, but then she discovered the other front paw. After moving that one she found one of the back ones (she is very persistant and determined). Chuck finally picked her up and she moved on to other things.

We went through a very short (thank the lord) period where Olivia would spit mouthfuls of food everywhere. I am not talking spit it down your chin spit back out, but full fledged spraying it all over herself, me and the dining room. She thought this was the funniest thing and laughed the entire time. I also think she was hamming it up, as she saw Chuck out with the camera.

Teeth 3, 4, 5 and 6 are trying to break through and man is she being a trooper. Because Livy won't let anyone in her mouth, I budged my way in with her yelling and hitting my hands out of the way last night to see what was going on and all 4 of her top front teeth (I know there are only 2 front teeth, but you know what I mean) are just ready to bust through. Her gums are swollen and you can see a white outline of all 4 teeth. Poor baby.

I saved the best for last. Each night when I put Olivia to bed I sing Hush Little Baby to her (my mom sang that to me every night until I was at least 10, serious). The other night I sang her the song and was snuggle cuddling with her before I put her to bed. All of a sudden she put her hand on my cheek and started humming. I took that as a cue that she wanted me to sing again. So, I did and she stopped humming. However, the phone rang and interrupted us. As soon as I hung up the phone, she started humming again until I started singing. Olivia now hums whenever she wants to be sung to. After a 20 minute sobbing, hyperventilating, 2:30 in the morning saga Thursday night, I picked Olivia up and she started humming. I started singing and she was out in minutes.

Oh wait, this is the best. Olivia has said mama at least 4 times this week!

Look Who's Sorry Now!

Every person who voted that Olivia would say Dada first on the poll owes me a HUGE apology! There have been a couple of times that I have thought I heard Olivia murmur Mama. One time being the evening of the accident when Olivia was in the back seat of Anita's car, starving and sobbing. There have also been a couple of other times, but I really didn't think much of it. However, on Wednesday night, Olivia clearly said that one little word 3 times! Once while she was crying and crawling towards me (she just stopped dead in her tracks, looked at me and said "Mama" dropped her head back down and continued crying). The second and third time was when I had handed her to my mom (Grandma and Grandpa stopped by for a surprise visit) and I left the room. She looked towards where I was walking and said "Mama, Mama". Of course she has yet to say it again, but when I say "say mama" she looks at me and smiles.

So, Olivia can now give fives (to Kim, Aunt Stacy, Grandma, Grandpa, Chuck and myself) give kisses (to Grandma, Grandpa, Chuck and myself) wave bye-bye (to Kim, Grandma, Grandpa and myself) and say MAMA (of course to me)! Kim is working on blowing kisses.

When It Rains, It Pours

What else can go wrong after Friday's accident fiasco, right? Well, in all actuality a lot can go wrong, but you get the gist of where I am going with this. To darken Chuck's already gloomy mood, he received a phone call at work from our neighbor last Wednesday afternoon telling him that a tree branch had fallen in our backyard. Not only had the branch fallen (stupid trees) but the branch fell on top of the phone line that connects to our house. Now, you are probably thinking "oh, a little tree branch is no big deal". Think again. This "little" tree branch was bigger than a lot of people's trees. In fact it was bigger than ALL of the trees in my parents yard. To top things off, our backyard already looked like a forest, as it hadn't been mowed in over a month and if it goes unmowed it literally starts to sprout trees, some of which are now up to my knees or higher (no, we are not white trash). And do you think we own a chain saw? My question is, why the heck are there HUGE branches falling out of my tree on an 80 degree, sunny, windless day?



On to a brighter subject. . . . . . . .



Olivia has been able to crawl for some time now. However, in Chuck's words she now crawls like "someone has put a rocket in her diaper". All of this transpired in the span of one day. Saturday, she was putzing around. By Sunday afternoon she was everywhere and could get there fast. Whenever she wants me to pick her up and I am either busy or haven't picked her up in her alloted time frame, she will crawl over to me, grab my pants and start crawling up my leg. Olivia is still giving fives and has broaden her span of who is special enough to get them. She can also give kisses now and has even randomly leaned in and given me a couple unprompted. For the first time today, Olivia waved bye-bye to me when I left Kim's house for work and she waved bye-bye to Kim when we left this afternoon. Kim gets all of the credit on that one!

Pictures from the accident

Here are some pictures of the accident our insurance guy sent me. Apparently, the car is repairable and is currently at the body shop. They are going to tear it down to assess how much internal damage there is.

Crash BOOM bang!

We decided to head to Dubuque this past weekend to see Jeff, Maureen and the kids (Jeff and Maureen are Olivia's Godparents and Jeff is Chuck's brother). Chuck got off early on Friday and we had the car filled with gas and packed with all the baby and doggy essentials (KB got to go on this trip too)! It was gloomy and raining, but that didn't dampen our spirits. At least not at first.

After making it through downtown and getting on I235 at the 6th street entrance heading east we were ready to go. By the time we made it to the SE 14th St. exit (two exits from where we got on) our trip had taken an unexpected turn. Traffic was slow due to rush hour, the rain and people just not being able to drive worth a crap. Who would have thought that it would be so slow that for some unknown reason the lane we were in, and ONLY the lane that we were in, came to an unexpected stop. The instant Chuck saw the tail lights in front of us, he hit the brakes. Unfortunately, we didn't stop. Instead, we pretty much hydroplained into the car in front of us. Stopping only after hearing a loud crash. I immediately thought of Olivia, who by the way only made one little cry, and was starting to take my seat belt off to turn around and check on her. However, something stopped me and I decided not to take my seat belt off just yet. Good thing, because within 5-8 seconds we were hit from behind with a BOOM! Olivia made a little longer of a cry this time, but it was more like an annoyed knock it off kind of cry.

To make an even longer story short, our hood was pushed into our windshield, the radiator pushed into something and that something pushed into the engine. Chuck's driver side door was jammed some and our Viking license plate thingy was destroyed (indicative of the Vikings season so far this year). Chuck, Olivia, KB and I were all perfectly fine. Poor KB probably got the worst end of the deal not being tethered down or anything. He has a hard head though. Needless to say our spirits were now dampened and we did not make it to Dubuque for the weekend.

With all the bad that happened with this car accident there were definitely miracles at work by God. First, we are all safe with not a scratch on us. Second, I knew buying the Cadillac of car seats was the right thing to do. Though, I had to purchase another Cadillac of a car seat after the accident on Friday night, as car seats are only built to withstand one accident. Third, I believe that God has a plan and does things for a reason. You know how sometimes your seat belt will just randomly lock on you for no reason and you feel like you are being strangled? Well, my passenger side belt has NEVER locked on me at random. However, just before we got on the entrance ramp to 235 my seat bealt locked. I pulled and tugged and honestly thought to myself "what is wrong with this stupid seat belt"? I feel that was God's way of saying "just making sure it works and I am keeping you safe". I also feel like God was the "something" that kept me from taking off my seatbelt before getting hit from behind. He truly works in mysterious ways.

Notice, I did not use bang in my blog. There really wasn't a bang but it sounded good in the title.

One Smart Cookie

Olivia is so stinkin smart! We worked hard yesterday learning how to give fives when someone puts out their hand and says "give me five". Olivia knew exactly what to do last night each time Chuck or I put out our hand. Of course, she would not follow suit when her proud mom took her over to the neighbors to show off. However, once again this morning she knew what to do when I asked her to give me a five. We tried to show Kim once we got to her house this morning, but Olivia found it more interesting to chew on the metal part of the diaper bag, as opposed to sharing her new skill. She did finally give me a five before I left for the day. She left Kim hanging though!

Go Vikings Let's Win This Game!

Too bad they lost. Olivia experienced her first ever Minnesota Vikings game (at least half of it) last night. She and Chuck were all decked out in their Vikings gear and were ready for a big win against the Packers. Maybe next time........

Poopy Pants and Other Stuff Too!

As I was taking Livy out of her highchair this morning at 7:39 I had a feeling that she had pooped. I was hoping this was the case because she had been constipated and pooping nothing but rabbit pellets that were as hard as rocks for the past 3 or 4 days. Even though I leave at 7:40 I thought I could quick change her and be on my way (you are welcome Kim, trust me). As I was making one last wipe of the butt, Olivia decided that she wasn't done just yet and proceeded to poop for the next 5 minutes while I held her legs out of the way and slid diapers under her rear. Needless to say, she is no longer constipated.

So, it is now 7:44 a.m. (who in their right mind would think that they can change a poopy diaper and be out of the house in a minute) and I am rushing to get out of the house. I am carrying Olivia around in my right arm and she is facing away from me. All of a sudden I feel this warm goo on my wrist and hand and I realize that she has puked, which more than likely means an outfit change for one of us. Chuck proceeded to clean my hand off, but I quickly found that her warm vomit had made its journey under my shirt sleeve and down (or is it up) my arm. Nice. Miraculously, that was the ONLY place the puke got. Nothing on Olivia and nowhere else on me. I decided that an outfit change was out of the question, rolled my sleeve part way up to let it air dry and was on my way. Mmm, the aroma of sour milk whenever my wrist and shirt sleeve made it close to my nose was wonderful.

Olivia has somewhere picked up the trait of making fishy lips. It is very entertaining. However, it is very difficult to get a picture of her doing it, as she always seems to stop when I am trying to get the picture. I did succeed a couple of times (see below).

Every night and nap time Olivia now sleeps with her pink giraffe (I say its a giraffe, but it has also been called a horse, zebra, dragon or dinosaur). This stuffed thing now has a name thanks to my niece Maddie, who so fittingly named her Debbie. Don't ask me where this came from, she just picked it up and said "Debbie". I laugh everytime I say the name. Not just because I think "why Debbie" but because it also makes me picture a chick from the 80's with big hair.

Well. Because Olivia weighs an arm and a leg (an adult arm and leg) I have made the executive decision that we are finished toting her around in her baby car seat. I decided that it was time to move up in the world of baby gear and purchased a Britax, Marathon convertible car seat. This is the Cadilac of car seats and WELL worth the money. I actually ordered and received the car seat over a week ago, but was hesitant to switch seats because a) I wasn't sure how Olivia would do in a front facing stroller (we still sit her car seat in the top portion of the stroller so she is facing the person who is pushing) and b) I knew Olivia didn't do so well in the store cart seats. However, Olivia experienced her first ride in a forward facing stroller about a week and a half ago and did marvelous (thank you Suzie). Then about a week ago, Olivia rode in the Target cart for at least 30-45 minutes without making a peep playing with Debbie. My decision was made. The new car seat was in that afternoon. Other than arching her back and screaming like a mad woman just about every time I put her in (she did that with the old car seat too), things are going well. She just recently learned that mommy has to take her arm out of the arm harness before she can reach up to me to get out. Believe it or not, she gets it and waits patiently every time we get out of the car. She's one smart cookie!

What is That Sound?

Olivia has come up with a new sound that she makes. I know in using descriptive words I cannot do this sound justice, but think of the sound of an old man who has smoked a pack a day for 20 years and the sound that is made on The Family Feud when a wrong answer is given and they throw that red X up on the screen. That my frineds, is Livy's new favorite sound. Pleasant. I have already lined up services with my friend Suzie who is a speech pathologist, as I consider this abusive voice patterns and I know she will end up with nodules on her throat and be threatened into silence or surgery (I don't think Suzie is on board with me, but its too early to tell).

Livy's new favorite food is Guava. I have no idea what it is, I am assuming it is a fruit of some sort. It tastes like grapefruit and is very refreshing (every 7 month old , yes she is 7 months now, needs a refreshing treat like Guava to eat every now and again). She also likes those little puffy things that taste like bananas (I think I like them more than Olivia) and we can't forget the biter biscuits. They make and incredible mess, but man does she like them.

What a Week!

Olivia spent all of last week with two of her big cousins, Maddie and Ella, who came down from Green Bay. We had a great time with the girls and can't wait until next year! I put together a little slide show (Hoops and Yo Yo, from the slide show are now possibly my favorite characters. Listen carefully to what they are saying. Very witty.) Between hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa Mackin's house to Adventureland, the Science Center (twice, grr) slumber parties where we kicked Chuckie Woo out of bed for two nights, making bracelets at a bead shop and having a birthday party for the girls we all kept extremely busy. I even dislocated a bone in the top of my foot in the process (lucky me I some how popped it back in while waiting at the doctor for an hour and a half. No charge for that visit, as my doctor said I fixed myself).

Make a Smilebox slideshow

And she's off....

Olivia is officially crawling! She took her first couple of crawls on Saturday and has been increasing crawls ever since. I have found that if I want her to crawl I have to lay her on her tummy and put an object of interest just out of her reach. That object was her cousin Ella on Saturday and since has become her binky, KB or her stuffed giraffe. However, she rarely crawls on demand. You just have to be watching and catch her. She's tricky like that.

Unfortunately, Livy has come down with some sort of a bug. She has been a BIG snot ball since Friday and absolutely hates when I suck her nose out with that sucky thing. I must say that child has an impressive amount of snot for such a wee one, which of course means that I spend a longer time sucking the stuff out because it just keeps coming. It has dawned on her now that once I am done with the sucker, she can breathe better. The look on her face says, "Oh, I get it". Finally, by Sunday night she had decided that she was no longer going to put up a fight or cry (wait, I mean wail) anymore and just sits back on my lap and lets the sucker do its job. Though, she always thinks I am going to put it in her mouth instead of her nose and opens wide.

Now for the gross part (snot is not gross). We had just gotten home Saturday night, Livy was sitting on Chuck's leg, I was getting Livy's pj's ready and KB was lying on the living room floor. I picked Livy up and Chuck said "Her pant leg is wet for some reason". I then look down and see that Chuck as a huge wet spot on his leg. We quickly found that Olivia had a HUGE blow out. I initially tried to change her on the changing table, but realized that was not going to happen. We ended up filling her tub with water and going directly to the bath, clothes on and all. Let me just pause here and say that there is no possible way that a child of this age can have that much crap in her (well, apparently there is, but you know what I mean). Olivia's left pant leg was full of poop, oh and not just poop, but diarrhea poop, down to her ankle. She had it up her back to her shoulder blades and up her front to her collar bone. Chuck ended up with poopy pants and I had a poopy shirt. The best part, Olivia laughed the entire time.

Lot's Going On!

So, it has been brought to my attention by more than one person that I have been slacking on my posts. And now seeing how much I have to share those people have been correct.

Let's see what's first?

Last Tuesday, Livy and I joind Amanda and Korben for a Mommy and Me class. Unfortunately, this is the ONLY one we will be attending, as I go back to work in four days (UGH)! We did a lot of singing, dancing and playing instruments at Mommy and Me. OK, so I did a lot of singing, dancing and playing instruments and Livy fell asleep in my arms while I was doing all the hard work. Typical baby. . . . . .

On Sunday Livy went to her first ever Iowa State Fair. She was a trooper and did a wonderful job. Of course, I forgot the camera, so no pictures.

After eating carrots multiple times (and liking them) Livy decided that she no longer liked them while Aunt Stacy was babysitting Sunday night (Chuck and I were at the Foreigner/Night Ranger concert at the fair). According to Stacy, who I must say elaborates things, Livy screamed, cried and spit the carrots out all over. I personally just think it was Stacy, but I'll never know.

Monday, Olivia and I went over to Amanda and Korben's for our Pool Party which was cancelled a couple of weeks ago. Livy absolutely LOVED the pool and being in the water. She would kick, splash and lounge back with her arms up on the pools edge. Korben was a little more aprehensive and very serious about the whole ordeal. While changing into her swim suit, Livy was lying on the floor next to Korben and he reached over and grabbed her hand. Adorable I tell you. (See pictures below)

Livy tried chicken (the baby food kind, duh) the other night and literally gagged repeatedly. I thought she was going to throw up at one point. We are done with that. We will be trying chicken and noodles (the baby food kind, duh again) soon. However, she does like the Pear Pineapple fruit I gave her. There is such a larger variety in Stage 2 foods. I am so excited for the Guava and Hawaiin Delight!

And finally, Livy went to bed alst night around 7:40ish. She watched her fishies (Ocean Wonders Aquarium in her bed) and then started crying. I could tell from the sound that she didn't have her good buddy binky in her mouth, so I went to to put him back in. However, to my surprise, binky was gone. Now, I had no clue where he could have went seeing that we have a bumper around the crib bars (dont worry, it's a breathable bumper, which makes it so Livy's arms and legs don't get stuck in between the rails of the crib, which they did repeatedly before this little miracle of a bumper, and which allows her to still breathe without problems when her face is smashed up against it. I know it's breathable bc I stuck my face up to and tried it. Smart, huh?). I looked on the floor, because Olivia has been known to let binky fly a couple of times, but no binky. Then for some reason, I decided to look inside the front of Olivia's sleep sack. Guess who? Apparently, Livy decided she would put binky somewhere safe and sound, but also a place where she couldn't get him back out on her own!

Soooooo BIG!

So, I heard Livy up in her crib after her first of many naps that she takes. After a few minutes she grew quiet. I decided to go check on her thinking that she was fast asleep again. Wrong. As quiet as can be, Livy was trying to crawl in her bed! Apparently, she was trying to keep this a big secret from me. I watched for about 4 or 5 minutes as she would grind her head into the mattress, slide her legs up under her onto her knees and then push up on her arms. She really couldn't do much else, as she was in her sleep sack and it is rather hard to go anywhere in those (or so I assume, I don't personally wear one). Once I got her up I decided to take her FAVORITE toy (her stupid pacifier, she spends endless hours exploring and playing with that thing) and put it just out of her reach in front of her. I layed her on her tummy and prompted her to get on her hands and knees. She did a very good job, but quickly grew tired of this new game and decided to roll around the living room instead. But wait, this is the best part. KB was extremely intrigued by Olivia's new trick and even got down from his comfy perch on the couch to join in the fun. He stood just on the other side of her pacifier, brow furrowed, ears flopped forward but with interest, with his head cocked sideways. He would look from Olivia to me, as if to say "are you really going to allow this"? He then layed down, flopped on his side and went to sleep. Smart dog.

Where's the Love?

WHY THE HECK DOES EVERYONE KEEP VOTING FOR CHUCK ON THESE STINKIN POLLS!

Bettlejuice, Bettlejuice, Bettlejuice!

Olivia had a her 6 month check up and shots today, though it is almost 7 months (not our fault). Anyway, she is doing very well. She weighs 16 pounds 6 ounces, is 26 inches long and still has a stinkin small head! Olivia is in the 50%ile for her wieght and height, but get this, she is in the
3%ile for head circumference. Who the heck doe she get this from? I think it has to be a Bortscheller/Fish because my dad has a big head and my mom's doesn't look small to me, nor do any of my relatives have dinky heads. Who knows. Livy received 3 shots and gave the nurse the "eye" once she was done. I am telling ya, you do not want to be on this kids bad side. She only cried for about 10 seconds and was completely fine once I picked her up. Dr. Wadle said that Olivia can move up to Stage 2 baby food and can start eating more of it (Livy will love this, as she would rather eat food than drink milk any day). She can also have those baby biscuits and puffy cereal baby thingys. I am also not to worry about the fact the Olivia literally punches herself in the right eye socket or on the left side of her head while she is eating. Dr. Wadle's words were "she won't hurt herself". I guess maybe I should have asked if was "normal" as opposed to wether it was hurting her or not!

It's Play Time!

Olivia had her first "official" play date last Thursday (going to Kim's, the sitters, doesn't count as a play date - Sorry Kim!) The original plan was to have a pool party with Korben and Samiya. However, it was freezing (ok 69 degrees isn't freezing, but for late July it sure is darn chilly) and it rained a good portion of the day. So, the morning was spent talking (the mom's, not the babies, though I am sure they were communicating in their own baby way) napping (the babies, not the moms, though I am sure we would have liked to have been napping as well) eating (all of us) and having fun. While baby Korben was sleeping in mom's arms (sitting up and facing outward, hmm comfy) Samiya decided that she was going to try and drink from Olivia's bottle, but then decided to feed Olivia in stead!

Gagging, Teething and Singing

After a break from eating peas, Livy had them again Monday night. She did a rather good job eating them at first, but I soon learned that she was stock piling spoonfulls of peas in her cheeks. After about 4 spoonfuls she decided to let loose and spit them ALL back out. We were done with the peas for the night. Tuesday night I tried the peas again. She ate the first couple of spoonfulls without a problem. Then all of a sudden she made this horrible face and gagged. I thought maybe she just choked and gave her another bite, which she ate. However, after the next bite Livy gagged again. This continued with every bite of peas (about 3 more bites). Of course the gagging became progressively more dramatic with each bite, as did the expression on Olivia's face. We are done with peas indefinitely.

Tooth #2 made its debut today, right next to tooth #1. Livy officially has her front two bottom teeth. When you ask her to see them ("say ahh") she opens her mouth, but then sticks her tongue out so you can't see anything. We have learned that baby Motrin works much better than baby Tylenol and Olivia still HATES the Ora-gel.

Olivia's new favorite song is "If You're Happy and You Know It". She literally started giggling when I sang it to her today. I jazzed it up a little and gave Livy some feet and hand motions. Here favorite part is when you "do all three". We tried "The Wheels On the Bus", but didn't fair as well.

Oh, and the shrieking has ceased for the time being.

Our Ears Are Bleeding!

As of this weekend Olivia has begun shrieking. I am talking ear piercing, high pitched shrieks. I would like to say that it is only an occasional shriek, however it is not. Olivia shrieks, when she wants attention, she shrieks when she is happy, she shrieks when she is in a fowl mood and she shrieks to entertain herself and others. Livy will lay in bed forever in the mornings just smiling and shrieking. Of course, I try to steer her away from doing this by looking her in the eye and saying something along the lines of "that is just not acceptable". She responds by shrieking even louder. Go figure.

Say Cheese!

Livy had her 6 month pictures taken today at Portrait Innovations (I should get paid or something for mentioning their name in my blog). Despite the fact that it was nap time, she was teething and she was forced to smile for a bunch of strangers, she did great! Of course, she was far more smiley AFTER the photo shoot, but that's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. We received a CD of her photographs, which I so cleverly made into a slide show.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Who Needs Teeth Anyway?

Well, ok that's a dumb question, but in all honesty we could just gum our way through life and still survive.


Anyhow, I have decided that teething is God's evil trick on mothers. We have been trucking along cool, calm and collected; Sleeping through the night, getting the poop and tummy aches under control and then this. I could not figure out why Livy was starting to wake up in the middle of the night moaning and whimpering and then getting up for the day at the butt crack of dawn. Because the informational book on all things baby that I have doesn't really say much about teething, I consulted the internet. Sure enough, one of the signs of teething was waking up at night and not sleeping as well. Crap. After our third night of 1 a.m. drama I broke out the Tyleonl and baby ora-gel. And wouldn't you know it, the next morning Livy had her first tooth. He's a sharp little rascal too! I was relieved that the worst part was over for us and then it dawned on me that all of this had only just begun. She still has a mouth full of teeth to get. Crap again. The moaning and whimpering continued through the day and overnight again last night (3 a.m. this time).


Of course we can not go through such a major milestone without Olivia being dramatic. She HATES the ora-gel. The first time I used it she had no idea what it was (duh) and willingly opened up, only to give me "the eye" after I got the stuff in. Livy quickly caught on to the fact that this stuff does not taste as good as it smells and that it makes her mouth feel funny. Because I give her the Tylenol first, she knows what is going to follow. Now she clamps her mouth shut and moans/cries/screams, which is very entertaining to watch. I have to pry her mouth open, which is hard to do when you are trying to hold her arms down and have ora-gel on one finger. I think her lips and tongue are probably more numb than her gums, but oh well. Once the ora-gel is in, Livy screams for a couple of minutes, gives me "the eye" and then realizes that she feels better.

Yummy Pruney, Prune, Prunes. . . . . . . . .

I will not touch the prunes, as they smell nasty and look like barbeque sauce. Olivia on the other hand loves them. Perhaps more than the sweet potatoes I gave her last week (what is wrong with this child)? I do believe green beans and prunes, followed by a shot of formula, is her favorite meal. I can't wait to see the diaper tomorrow. Trust me, I will let you know. . . . . .

Nappy time sucks. End of story.

We are currently going through the experience of Olivia getting in her first tooth. So far, not too bad. However, being the dramatic child that she is, I am sure she is just warming up.

Holy Nap!

So, Operation Nap Time wasn't as easy as it started out to be yesterday. Thankfully we only had one bout of crying (for an hour) and that was it. However, by today you would think that Livy and I were old pros at this, as her morning nap lasted an hour and her afternoon nap lasted 2 hours and 40 minutes! She is currently 58 minutes into her third nap (which Dr. Weissbuth said was ok - he wrote the book I am reading). Our next step is an earlier bedtime, which we are going to try tonight. Oh, and there was no crying today.

Tattors and Nanners

Mmm, nothing like sweet potatoes and bananas! These are Olivia's newest dinner choices (ok, they are my dinner choices for her). I must say that the sweet potatoes are excellent. By far the best of any of the fruit and vegetables we have tried. The bananas are just weird. They sort of have a tangy taste somewhere in there and they smell rather unpleasant. I am learning that Olivia is a lot like her mom (go figure) and the consistancy of things are going to bother her. While the sweet potatoes taste great, they are sort of grainy, which Olivia doesn't exactly care for (looks like we have another OCDer)!

Ok, so the rest of this post has nothing to do with sweet potatoes and bananas, but I thought I would add it instead of starting a new post.

Olivia once again has introduce me to a new trick. She is now at the point where her feet are very interesting and she is constantly holidng her toes and feet when she is lying on the floor. If I remember correctly, someone said "wait until she starts sucking on her toes". Let me just say that my daughter will NOT suck her toes. That is completely disgusting. Feet are repulsive and yes, even a 5 1/2 month old has stinky sweaty feet (I know I wash those feet).

Operation Nap Time started this morning. Livy is a marvelous sleeper at night. She sleeps at least 9-10 hours. Naps are another story. I was getting extremely frustrated that she would take around five 30 minute naps throughout the day. Well, after talking to my friend Suzie and Suzie explaining why she is only sleeping 30 minutes at a time (if you want to know why ask me) I decided to put the hammer down this morning. I fully prepared myself for a hellish day and even predicted that I would have a migraine and need a drink (remember I don't really drink) by the time Chuck sauntered in at 5:30. I know that it is only 9:15 a.m. on the morning I started the covert operation, but Olivia has been asleep in her crib for the past 45 minutes and only cried for 5 minutes before falling asleep! I may need a celebratory drink by the time Chuck saunters in at 5:30. . . . . . . . . .

On a sad note, Olivia is losing her newborn sounding cry. If any of you have had a baby or have even been around babies you know what cry I am talking about. She is now beginning to sound like a regular old baby. How sad.

Update

KB no longer has red crusty ear flaps. They are just a smidge pink now. Looks like the prednizone worked!


Olivia still doesn't have red crusty ear flaps (whew). However, she did have one more trick up her sleeve that she has been sharing with me on a regular basis the past couple of days. She thoroughly enjoys sticking her tongue out at me. If I happen to do it first, then she copies me and does it back. Many of you have heard me say that my favorite part of the day is going into Olivia's room to get her up first thing in the morning. Now when I go in to get her she gives me her big smile and then sticks her tongue out at me. She doesn't put it back until I stick mine out as well.


And on a final note; It is not a good idea to take a 5 1/2 month old to the dentist with you.

Hey Ma, Look What I Can Do!

Olivia has learned a couple little tricks lately. Where she has learned them is beyond me.

Livy's newest attempt to make me feel guilty when I put her down and she doesn't want to be put down is to flip on to her tummy, cross her arms in front of her and then burry her face straight down into her arms and pout or make a muffled cry. As soon as she realizes I am back she immediately rolls to her back and gives me a big smile. Unfortunately for Olivia, instead of feeling guilty I laugh and take her picture (see below). Such drama I tell you.

The other day I was changing Olivia's diaper. After showing and telling her which Sesame Street character was on her diaper (I believe it may have been Zoe, our FAVORITE character) I securely fastened the velcro fastners on the diaper and then folded the dirty diaper up and put it in the Diaper Genie II. As I get back to Livy to finsh her up, she has expertly unfastened the left side of her diaper and has a big ole smile on her face. I carefully re-fasten the diaper, only to have Livy smile even bigger at me and attempt to unfasten the diaper again. This game could have been fun, but if anyone knows me, they know I am very OCD (obsessive compulsive) and yes, Livy's diapers have fallen into the throws of my OCD's. You see the velcro fasteners have to be directly in line with each other and equadistant apart and yes, if the diaper doesn't look right to me I re-fasten until it does. So, Livy unfastening my hard work more than once was not my idea of fun. She tried her dirty little trick the next day as well, but has ceased doing so for the time being.

Olivia's final and most impressive trick is her ability to sit up on her own. She did so for the first time on the 4th and for at least a minute long. No leaning or holding on to anyone. After a while she does start to resemble a little old lady with a crappy spine though.

Poor Puppy

So here's the down low on KB. A few months ago Do Do was diagnosed with pancreatits, which meant no more people food. EVER. A few weeks after that when they were re-testing his blood levels they found that he has hyperthyroidism, an overactive thyroid. He is now on medication twice a day to regulate his thyroid. Unfortunately, within the past couple of weeks he has become alergic to something (not sure what) and has been to the vet twice. He was initially put on benedryl and an ointment for his red, crusty ear flaps (pleasant, I know). Well after about 5 days, he was actually getting worse. So, after another $75 to which we added to the already paid $400 or $500, he is on prednizone (a steroid) for a week and ointment for his still crusty ear flaps. Hopefully this will do the trick!

Olivia on the other hand does not have pancreatitis, a thyroid disorder, or red, crusty ear flaps. Good to know.

Green Beans Anyone?

So, Olivia finished off the last of the peas for dinner last night (and she didn't even spit any out)! Being the brave mother that I am, I decided that it was time to venture to a food which is a little less sweet; The Green Bean. Let me just start by saying these things smell atrocious. With that said, I actually like the taste better then the peas (guess that doesn't say much about me). After the first shovel into Livy's mouth, the look on her face said "what the hell was that"? After the second bite you could tell she was thinking of spitting, but restrained herself from doing so. By the time the third bite was securely in her mouth and was partially spit back out I knew that her next bite had to be pears. The look of pure relief and joy on her face after eating that bite of pears was priceless. Being the trickster that I am, I switched back to beans for Livy's next bite. I took a gamble and got one more spoonful of beans in her before I swapped back to pears. After the pure excitement of her pears, I once again grabbed the green beans. However, I was dooped. The little turd began screaming when I put down the pears and picked up the green beans. Of course I thought this was just a fluke. Wrong. Every time I picked up those stinkin' green beans the kid screamed. Needless to say, we were done with the beans for the night.

Mmm, Peas........

Unfortunately, I have made the mistake of giving Olivia fruit before vegetables, more accurately before green vegetables. I am slowly learning that it is very difficult to reverse the taste buds that have already become accustom to daily pears and peaches. She hates it, but she eats them any way (simply because I make her). I try to trick her by going pears, peas, pears, peas. As soon as she knows color recognition, I'm busted!

What A Week!

What a trooper Olivia was this week! Our sitter was on vacation for the week and our alternate sitter plans fell through, so Livy spent the week with a few different people. Monday she enjoyed the sights and sounds of 4th and 5th graders, as she attended her first day of school with me. Tuesday, my friend Susan graciously took her for the morning. Grandma Mackin was lucky contestant #3 on Wednesday. Our friends Sue and Kris were blessed with Livy's presence on Thursday and Chuck took Friday off to spend some quality time with her. She was perfect all 5 days, but you should have seen the smile on her face when she saw our sitter Kim this morning!





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Oh, To Finally Be Baptized!

Olivia was baptized on May 4, 2008 at Christ the King Church. I must say that she did an excellent job and didn't even flinch when Monsignor embedded the chrism oil on her forehead (I think I can still see the shine of the oil and smell its fragrance) or drowned her with the baptism water. Chuck's oldest brother, Jeff, and his wife Maureen, are Olivia's Godparents. Olivia loved seeing her grandparents, aunts, uncles and all of her big cousins. She especially enjoyed Saturday night when Chuck and I decided to host the entire Bortscheller/Mackin clans over for beer and pizza (24 people, 11 kids and 13 adults - a lot for our house)!

I Don't Know About This?

A couple of our friends have blog spots to update their friends and family on their new babies and the happenings in their life. So, I thought I would give it a try. Besides what else do I have to do with the summer off and Olivia sleeping? Instead of sending updates every week or so on I decided to start a blog. Now, it is up to all of you to make sure you read our blog on a regular basis if you want to be updated. Don't send emails asking how things are anymore (just kidding)! Hope you all enjoy!