Dancing with her Daddy

While listening outside Livy's door after bedtime, I heard some sweet little happy sounds. I used my motherly detective skills and figured she might not still be in bed. Until now, when she gets out of bed, she tries to get to Mommy and Daddy or cries just inside her door. Tonight, she got out of bed to play. When I opened the door, I found her in her Cinderella ("Love") dress-up skirt twirling and singing. It was so cute. I wanted to tell her what a beautiful princess she is, but settled for putting her back to bed with a hug, kiss, and "I love you." Princess time can resume tomorrow, but tonight she needs her sleep. We're pretty used to all things princess around here. Livy even gets Daddy in on it.


Olivia talks Daddy into wearing Cinderella's glass slippers. They fit him like they did the ugly step-sisters.


The princess gives a dance lesson. The Gray Ghost watches from outside.


Not related, just cute. Posing for the camera is new for Olivia.

I'm So Bad!!

Really, only two posts for June? No new posts in over two weeks. Sheesh. I get a serious case of bloggers block. Writing, creative ideas, and sharing are not my forte. But I figured if I just start a post, something will be better than nothing. At least it will keep this habit of blogging once in a while going until I have something post-worthy. So, with that, here I go...

TADPOLE UPDATE
8 tadpoles minus 1 tadpole (tear, very small one) = 3 of the tiniest frogs I've ever seen and 3 tadpoles with big mouths and little frog legs

Livy is super excited about them and wants to see them daily. "Momma, tahpohs, lehs, frohs," she tells me. (For those who don't speak 1-yr-old, this means, "Hello Mother. Take a look at these fine little tadpole friends. They now have legs and are toward the end of the metamorphosis process.") The only problem is the smell. Oh, my. It's horrid. But I dream of being the mom that does neat nature projects, bakes with the kids, works on creative crafts and activities, and makes their childhood a fun and memorable time in their lives. All children deserve that, so I will live with the smell until they've grown enough to drop them off at the pond. (The frogs, I mean, not the kid.)

Tadpoles and other Summer Fun

Olivia and I were able to spend a week together at home between nannying and Summer School and had a great time! Now she is spending four days a week with the best sitter I could have asked for - her Aunt Becky. The only problem is that Olivia's not too interested in going home with me and cried for 'Bucky' tonight when I was putting her down for bed! That's fine by me, I'm so thankful she has such wonderful grandparents, aunts, and uncles! She's crazy about them all. :-) Here are some snippets from the past couple weeks.

A couple weeks ago, her 'Mawma' and 'Papa' (her Daddy's parents) got her set up with some tadpoles and all the ingredients for a little pond habitat for them. She concentrated intensely and worked very hard as she dutifully completed the steps to build them a happy home. Notice she's wearing her Tinkerbell dress up shoes while assembling the dirt, rocks, pond water, and plants.



When Livy's Uncle Adam came to town, she did a fabulous job playing the role of hostess and entertaining our guest. Actually, I think they were entertaining each other.



I can't quite decide if we have a tomboy or girlie girl on our hands, maybe it's both. Lately, though, she is on a BIG dress up and Cinderella kick. Cinderella is lovingly referred to as 'Love' because of the song she dances with the prince to. Livy was a little piggie swimming in swine the other day wearing a Cinderella dress up outfit, sitting in her princess chair, and watching her favorite movie. She twirled, danced, and sang her little heart out. My parents (Dammaw and Guhpah) have fueled this little flame by buying her a set of fine jewelry, complete with tiara, clip-on earrings, necklace, and ring. It feels so good to this Mommy to watch her daughter look in the mirror and love what she sees. And it's really very cute. (Back to the tomboy mode, Aunt Becky narrowly escaped the projectile tiara the other day.)

Oh, Random Things

I initially created this blog so I can log special little memories of Livy's childhood (since I'm not exactly up-to-date on the baby book). So here are a few things that have made me say, "Aw" lately.

~At lunch today, she wouldn't eat her carrots. Not because she doesn't like them. She wanted to share them with the horses that live next to us instead. "Here, horsey. No, no, Momma, for horsey." We fed them a few the other day, and I have a feeling we won't be able to keep carrots in the house for very long anymore.

~We're working on giving an answer to the question, "What's your name?" Olivia's answer: (well, usually it's, "No. No, Momma.") On a good day, "Uh-wee-wah Cake." It really is quite cute.

~For just over a week now, we've had a very cute and sneaky visitor join us in bed at about 4ish each morning. I finally mustered enough awakeness the other day to bring her back to her room, rock her for a few minutes, then put her back to bed. Yesterday and today, no visitor. It kinda made me sad.

~Aaron and I were watching a movie after the Girl's bedtime about a week ago, and she woke up SCREAMING. Very unusual. Crying and sneaking out of bed aren't unusual, but this was. We both literally ran to her room and picked her up. I don't think I've ever seen her so afraid and upset. It really broke our hearts. We rocked, hugged, kissed, and talked to her. Once she calmed down, Aaron left the room and I rocked her as she fell into a deeper sleep. She then started smiling in her sleep. Next she talked in her sleep. She topped that off with an all out laugh in her sleep. That made my heart feel better.

~Today, Daddy was whispering in her ear, telling her secrets like, "Go give Mommy a hug," or "Tell Mommy, 'I love you.'" She got a kick out of this new thing. At first she would just run up to me and giggle or put her hands on her hips, but she started to get the hang of it.

~Here's how Livy counts money..."A, B, C, D..." Adorable. She loves her A,B,Cs and wants me to sing it QUITE often. "Again, Mommy." Sometimes I start to sing something else to mix it up a little. "No, Momma, no." *sigh*

~Here's my list of acceptable songs and activities for the 30-45 minutes leading up to bedtime: take a bath, read stories, nursery rhymes, Twinkle, Twinkle, You are my Sunshine, any lullaby, So this is Love (Cinderella), You are so Beautiful, and prayers, both recited and written on the spot
-Here's Daddy's list: tickle monster, throw the child in the air and catch her, hide and seek, peek-a-boo, tag, The Hokey Pokey, The Wheels on the Bus, any kind of hard play or activities that induce wild laughter
-And the winner is...Daddy's rule-breaking somehow helps Livy to go to sleep faster and without sneaking out of bed nearly as much. I've been convinced and have moved to the dark side. Tonight we played tickle monster, Livy and Mommy. She went right to sleep without sneaking out of bed even once. It's nice to have a husband who helps me be a better mommy.

Something Happy!

Here are some fun pictures that made me smile! ...of feeding the pigeons when the ducks were full, Livy after she put on her make-up (I pretended not to notice while she was getting in to it), and hanging out with friends at the park and zoo.

Goodbye, Dear Friend

Tonight our family had to say goodbye to our beloved dog, Bubbles. She came to us several years ago when she followed my dad and a bag of burgers to our home. Since then, she's provided us with endless love, laughter, and friendship. We will forever miss her , but she will always be alive in our hearts and memories. I love you, Bubbles.

Mom's Day Letter from Livy

Mommy,

I just needed to write you a letter to tell you how happy I am that you are my Momma. Below is the list of things I could think of:

I get to wake up to you every morning.

Whenever I need to randomly take off my diaper, you are there to put a clean one back on.

Whenever I need to take a bath, you give me one.

Whenever I needed to be born, you birthed me.

I learned how to pick my nose because of that horrible elephant nose thing you used to use. (Nose sucker)

I’ve had some pretty bad diapers, and Daddy never changes me.

You taught me my current favorite song – Where is Thumbkin?

You taught me A, B, C, D, etc…you know how it goes, but I get a little lost after D.

You taught me to say 2,3,4 after you say 1.

You take me to see horsies.

Whenever I am crying my head off for no reason, you pick me "down."

Whenever I need down, you let me down (as long as I’ve taken enough bites and have said “all done”, and have said “I luv you Mommy” and have said “I luv you Mommy much” and have said “thank you”).

You taught me not to hit others even though that’s the one of the first games Daddy taught me how to play.

You let Daddy know when he is tickling me too much (sometimes it hurts even though I’m still laughing).

You play ring around the rosies with me

You helped me a lot when I was going through the ‘teething’ part of my life.

You taught me that every book reads first “I luv my Daddy because”

You took me to the Circus

You read with me every night.

You brush my teeth every day.

You taught me to go poo-poo in my potty.

You obviously love Daddy so much, I mean come on Mommy you don’t even try to hide it!

You have helped me grow so much this last year.

You put me in the prettiest/cutest things so that everyone always tells me how pretty I am.

No matter how many times I take off my socks and shoes, you put them right back on.

You let Daddy and I go to the park by ourselves every once in a while so we can have one-on-one time.

You know, I’m getting sleeping and Dad just fell asleep, and I just realized that it’s five o’clock in the morning so I better get back to sleep because I usually get up at 6 am, so I was planning on going on to 9 million, but I think I’m too tirrrrr…zzz

I luv you much!

Wow, thank you Olivia for the sweet note. And thanks to her Daddy for dictating. I luh you much!