Mild Update

Nothing wild going on here... Just trying to keep up with a fast-paced life, enjoy all the blessings that come with it, and stay awake and non-grumpy though pregnancy hormones kinda defeat that endeavor at times. A few updates on our little (but growing bigger) family:

~Our little Bun in the oven is 16 weeks along! This pregnancy has been WAY easier than Livy's in many ways. I've not been as sick to my stomach, as sad or weepy, or even as busy. (With the first one, I taught and worked about 20 hrs/wk at an hourly child care center.) However, I have had a tough time not worrying about the health/wellness of this babe, and it's very different being pregnant when you already have a child. Forget about the catnaps after work or relaxing in the evenings. You don't feel well and are overcome by fatigue...suck it up and make dinner, Momma! Thankfully, I have a sweet husband and daddy for my little girl that has made up for my deficiencies.


~Halloween brings about so many fun events for a preschooler. Our little Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader (Guess who pick out that one!) trick-or-treated at the high school, paraded at her school, attended a library event, went to a Boo Bash in the park, and hung out with little buddies at a huge church festival. Luckily, we didn't even end up with that much candy afterward.





~We made it to the circus with Aunt Becky and cousins Alan, Jessie, and Jackson last month. Aaron and Becky each took Livy on an elephant ride. She was very tired during the show but was super excited to ride the elephants. The cutest part was watching Olivia love on Jackson and seeing how enthralled Jackson was by the entire show. His bright blues were glued to the performances. Livy fell asleep before we could get out of the parking lot. :-)

~I NEED two things right now in my life: jalapeno peppers (LOTS!) and pickles. Why is that? Surely pickled peppers and cucumbers don't have anything vital to a pregnant woman's body, so why do I crave them?

~Livyisms - "Ban-Bans" are now "Band-Aids." Boo. "Birds" are now "Birgs." Adorable. "Thirsty" is somehow "Grosee." I love it.

A couple weeks ago we were in the car telling each other sweet things. Like "I love you SO much!"..."I love YOU so much, too!"

"You're cute!"..."No, YOU'RE cute!" ...Etc.

I told her, "You're my BEST friend!"..."No, Mommy, Synee is my best fwiend."

Aaron called a bit later and I told him his daughter just broke my heart and explained how. We laughed at how cute it was. A few days later she said, "Momma, you're my BEST friend!" When I told her how much that meant to me she said, "You're heart is not broken anymore?" How sweet it is to be loved and cared for by a three-year old!

~For the past two nights, Livy has stayed dry through the night!!! That's like getting a small raise. The negative side to this is that she wakes up and cries every time she has to "go" during the night, but we can work on breaking her of that after she is in the habit of getting up to go potty. I'm equally proud of her for growing up so nicely and sad because she is growing up so quickly.

~I have quite a doozy of a class this year. Our classroom is filled with cute and sweet third graders, but compared to other third grade classes, this one is filled with more tears, accidents, arguments (with me and each other), medical issues, and Dennis the Menaces than any other. Thankfully, I've pretty much fallen head over heels for all these kiddos, even though they make me tired. Very tired. I just keep telling myself it's better to have this class this year when I can sleep at night than next year when I'll be sleep-deprived. Watch for an upcoming post where I share a sneak peek of my students.

Little Ballerina

Little Livy Lulu has been ecstatic about her dance class, and we finally made it to the first day of "dancin' school." Her excitement waned for a bit as she became overwhelmed at the beginning of class, but it didn't take her long to feel more comfortable, start shaking her hips, and sneak peeks at Mommy and Daddy (who were eagerly watching every move from the window in the door).






Olivia even earned a "too-tat" (purple bear ballerina stamp) on her hand for listening to her teacher at the end of class. Oh, it was all just too cute!

Oh, yeah.

So, that funny thing I was trying to remember was actually more embarrassing than funny. We were in the grocery store last night and a pregnant lady was about fifteen or twenty feet away from us. Olivia saw her and yelled in an astonished voice, "MOMMA! Her tummy is BIIIIIIGGGGGGG!"

I was shocked but not as shocked as the lady with the baby in her belly. I said something like, "Yes, she has a baby in her tummy, just like 'so-and-so.'" We quickly changed our shopping route to move towards the far corner of the grocery store and I quietly told Livy, "Honey, when we see someone who has a big tummy, we don't talk about it being big."

To which she replied, "BUT MOMMA, it was BIG and BIIGG and BIIIGGG and BIIIIGGG!!!!" We were not yet very far from this poor lady; I'd be shocked if she didn't hear this. I was SOOO embarrassed, but I have to say, it is one of the funniest things she's ever said. Oh, Olivia. My little stinker.

Funnies

New phrase this week (I have NO idea where it came from): Oopsie doodie!

I KNOW there was something else, but I can't remember now. It'll come to me later. She did ask me this afternoon, "Can I hold you UP?" She's realized, "Momma, can I hold you?" is not completely correct and is working on it.

Back to School

Well, today was Miss Olivia's first day back to school this year. Though we LOVED her preschool from last year, we hopped on board when the principal from my district's development center called to see if we wanted a spot that opened up. Evidently, the kids on the waiting list were just a little too old for the twos and threes class. We weighed all the pros and cons and called her back in about two minutes to say YES! So now, my girl will be about five minutes away from me and is going to school were she was as an infant.

She will also be with this little guy and gal:





This summer, she went to the zoo, swam, played, hung out at the library, and fed animals with them, so she is thrilled to already have friends at her new school. When I asked her tonight, "So do you like your NEW school or your OLD school better?" She said she likes the new one. Phew! Makes going to work a lot easier.

Here is Olivia with the same little friend when they were in the infant room...you know, so many years ago:

Hmmmmm, I'm thinking that is one cool paci...

Thanks, Buddy!

My Happy Biwfday!

Aaron wanted to take pictures on Olivia's last night of being TWO.

Livy took this one. I don't think she's HALF bad. Get it? HALF? Yeah... never mind.

Boy, I sure love these two.

Is it just me, or is she looking nostalgic?

BIRTHDAY MORNING: Livy saw her decorations, complete with helium balloons, showed us how old she is now, and opened her gifts from us - a cute party dress and an umbrella. (I know, pretty modest presents. We figured she would do ok at the party, and she was REALLY happy with her Tinker 'Blell' umbrella.)




THE PARTY:
I think Great-Granddad got more oohs and aahs than the kids!

This is when Aaron tried to kidnap our little cousin. I think he would be happy to have a Jackson one day. Jackson was actually one of our two favorite baby boy names before we had one in our family. That's probably for the best - Aaron would have wanted to pair it with Andrew.

The next three pictures are obviously out of order, but I'm thinking this could make for a great 3rd grade sequencing lesson.



Aunt Becky made the chocolate princess cake, and Livy is STILL talking about it.









Our little girl is SO blessed to have such a wonderful group of family and friends to care about her. I'm so amazed at this gift of parenthood and with our precious baby, or little lady. It's unbelievable how time flies right by. Weren't we bringing her home from the hospital and losing all our sleep just yesterday?

Now she's old enough to ask why things are as they are (and why again when you give her an explanation, and why once more when you provide the next answer, and the next, and the next...) She's starting tap and ballet in a couple weeks, LOVES to play with friends young and old, tells her daddy how 'hansome' he is and her mommy that she's 'beeootiful.' She uses furniture to climb up on counter tops to reach the M&M stash and claims she has 'nuffing' in her mouth when questioned about it, but her chocolate breath and guilty expression give her away. Her songs about life fill our home and cars with joy (at a very noisy level!), and she pulls us up out of our seats to 'dance wiff me' whenever she hears music, especially the Princess kind!

What joy and responsibility she brings us, and I couldn't imagine a sweeter role in life than being her Mommy.

Love you, big Three Year Old!

My Girl

(I was pretty tempted to call this post 'That's what she said,' but I decided against it.)

Here's the lingo at our house. An almost-three-year-old says some pretty cute things.

Chick-a-fla and NickDonald's are her favorite places to play. Well, those and 'The R,' also known as the mall - The Rave is at our mall, so she recognizes the giant R on the building, thus the name.

Buhfly = Butterfly

Sursizing = Exercising

Tootats = Tatoos (She is fascinated by these. The more ink on the guy or gal, the more she wants to noisily point it out!)

Corn Horsey = Unicorn

Big milk - If she's had lots of milk already and wants more, I tell her, "OK, but just a little bit." Now she specifies how much she wants every time. "Momma, can I have BIG milk?"

Often, she will clear her throat very daintily while holding a little closed fist up to her lips. She follows it with a polite little, "Scuse me."

When someone asks if she's about to be three, she adamantly replies, "I'm gonna be two FIRST!"

The other night, I was hoping to tire her out and took her to play at Chick-fil-a (or Chick-a-fla, depending on who you ask). She wanted juice with her meal but it was too late for so much sugar, so I told her she could drink water and have the juice for tomorrow. She was fine with this until it was time to leave. She spent the whole ride home being overcome with woe over the stinkin' juice box. I actually almost caved (but I held strong!) when she pitifully said, "Mommy - sometimes, I just want juice forEVer."

I hope three is just as cute at two! We'll soon find out.