Picture with Santa

Mom and I took Olivia to have her picture taken with The North Pole's most famous Elf in December. He was an excellent Santa, the best I had ever seen, and Olivia thoroughly enjoyed herself.

Santa did give us tips for next year's photo in order to make sure it goes as smoothly as this one did, and so I will share his jolly wisdom with all of you:

1. Even if your child is super excited to see Santa, never let him/her walk up to Santa. Always carry your child and place him/her in Santa's lap. Santa can seem rather large and scary upon approach when you are only three feet tall, and once your child becomes frightened, it can be really difficult to undo.

2. Pull out last year's Santa photo early and show it to your child. Talk to them about how much fun the last trip was and let them see themselves sitting in Santa's lap. This gets them used to the idea before the Big Day.

3. Never force your child to sit in Santa's lap. Not only will the photo capture a moment you will likely want to forget, but it will also create lingering problems for future years.

Olivia's First Christmas

Since everyone is familiar with what happens at Christmas, I'm not going to narrate these photos. There were presents, lots of shiny paper, a few moments of struggling for the same toys with her much stronger and more agile cousin, and in general plenty of smiles.

And since it's February, I can tell you that two months later, all of these toys are still bringing lots of noise, headaches and happiness to our household. (Kind of like Olivia, no?)

Little Miss Independent

This picture and video may be six weeks old, but boy are we ever still dealing with this in the worst way. Here, when Little Miss Independent started wanting to do it all herself, it was really cute and she was still (mostly) agreeable. See how happy she is to sweetly stick the fruit in her mouth without swiping the tray clean with her hands or smearing it in her hair or throwing it at her mother?

Let me assure you, Cute ended weeks ago, and meal times have become the worst part of our day (Nap Time has become a Close Second, but that is a whole 'nother post). Not only does wanting to feed herself really limit the things she can eat, but she's also pretty much decided that she's tired of eating the things she can feed herself. She wants food that requires eating utensils but wants to do it herself.... and since the maid I keep dreaming about has yet to materialize, I'm not quite ready to yield my floors, walls or sanity to her demands.

*SIGH* The day is coming, however.

Y'all pray for me (and Mom, stop laughing).

Olivia VS. Alice

One of the benefits of Olivia's new-found mobility is her ability to explore the house. She scoots from room to room and investigates all of the mundane things that we don't look twice at. Case in point is Alice, our roomba vacuum cleaner. She's actually been out of commission for a while (her rotator brush is broken, so she doesn't pick up dirt, but she still runs) and just sits patiently in a corner waiting for us to fix her. I haven't really thought much about Alice until recently. I think the exact moment was when I heard her start-up music and then the sound of her motor was drowned out by panicked crying. See for yourself:

Bathroom Update

Remember how we were going to remodel our bathroom over a long weekend? Yeah.

So C took off two days of work in December, a Thursday and Friday, so that we could try to knock out the bulk of the remodeling and get our bathroom back by Christmas. It was a good plan, except for the part where Olivia got double earaches on Wednesday afternoon. It was like having a colicky newborn -- we didn't sleep more than a couple of hours at a time the whole weekend. Even with ear numbing drops, which were a lifesaver, Olivia was still miserable. Anyway, the point of all of that is that we didn't get a whole lot of bathroom work done those four days.


Chad did get all of the plumbing lines replaced with new... uh, pipes? I'm honestly not sure what he did, something about the homeowner's insurance preferring a different material I think. Anyhow, after a couple of weeks of no discernible change, we were ready to make visible progress.

Next up was installing the new not-so-heavy-that-it-feels-nailed-to-the-floor bathtub and putting up sheet rock and cement board. Pretty, huh?


We put in shelves in the side and back of the tub, then started hanging the stuff on the walls. The bathroom is small enough that it become very difficult for more than one person to work in there at once...which is to say that all of my "we" talk means that my duties are more supervisory in nature.
I know all of you just laughed at that, but I had to remind C on all three walls of the shower to include the decorative tile band, which he forgot until he had gotten past it.


The red stuff is the waterproof backing for the shower surround. It goes on like a paint and dries as a thick solid coating. We got a few splotches in the tub, but it peeled off once it was dry.

Next up is tile!

Thanksgiving Weekend, or The Longest Post Ever

Since C had the day after Thanksgiving off of work, we took the opportunity to spend several days at his parents' home. What with the dysfunctional bathroom and all, they haven't been able to come to our house and spend the night since this summer. So we loaded down the SUV and headed for the lake to do lots of eating and watching Olivia.

There was a time when we would have all sat at the counter or on the sofa and talked to each other or even watched TV. Now we all sit on the floor and watch the baby. She looks innocent and harmless enough, but don't let that fool you.

Olivia can get into pretty much anything that she shouldn't in less time than it takes to grab a camera. Here she is, ready to help get out the dishes while Gran cooks breakfast.

Look how happy she is to "help!"

Whew! Look how tired Liv is after all that work in the kitchen. Her break didn't last long, though. Lord have mercy, that little girl didn't stop for four days straight, and she didn't get back onto a regular schedule until Christmas (which messed it up again).


I think everyone who reads this blog has spent good money purchasing toys for our child. Try not to think about that money or feel too badly while you look at her favorite toys: kitchen cooking utensils. It could be worse, though. At least you don't have plastic rings, colored balls and battery-eating music makers littering the floor of your entire house and often ignored in favor of the dish towel drawer.


Olivia got to hang out with Uncle B-rad while we were there. I think she's big enough now that he doesn't get nervous about holding her or playing with her. And she's old enough now that she's not nervous about him either, which is why you can see her in the picture asking, "Uncle Brad, when is the last time you got a haircut?"


I wish I had thought to get video of Olivia rocking herself in this chair. She was pretty pumped to swing those little legs and get things moving. Which is why Uncle Brad is holding her hands, because she tended to just swing right out of there.

Can anyone see her shirt in these photos? It's the most adorable turkey that has lovely feathers made out of pink and turquoise fabrics, and her name is embroidered on it (although you can't see that part). Lynsey made it for her, and she's got a Christmas one, too.


Speaking of Lynsey, this is Olivia visiting with her daughter, Ollie. Olivia is two months older than Ollie, although Ollie seems to have Olivia licked when it comes to mobility. They didn't really know what to make of each other, but I know they'll have lots of fun playing together as they get older!


It turns out that the humans weren't the only ones who sat around watching the baby while we were there. Aubie and Olivia enjoyed staring at each other. Well, at least Olivia seemed to enjoy it. I'm not sure that Aubie was having nice thoughts. I was surprised to see him at the back door (or front door, according to my in-laws) because he usually hears us show up and disappears.


We also made a trip to see Olivia's great-grandmothers. Here she is visiting with Grandmother, and saying hello to Grannie below.


Last but certainly not least, we headed to Montgomery for an evening to visit Aunt E and Uncle T. It was way too short, but it was great to see their new apartment and whatnot. Also great to see was Olivia's very first attempt at pulling herself into a standing position. We were all sitting on the sofa talking, and when Aunt E looked down, there was Olivia pulling on the coffee table!

Scooting Ovation

C and I were watching Olivia the other day and I looked at him and said, "If someone has told me before we became parents that I would get so excited over simple things like this, I would have laughed." Because clapping is something we all do all the time, without giving it a second thought, you know? But it was pretty exciting to see Olivia do it all by herself without any prompting from anyone -- in fact, I was surprised to see her do it because we had never even tried to teach it to her. She picked it up from us all by herself.

Video: December 5th

Hello World

Well, all three of my readers have been wondering what happened to me, so I guess it's time to jump back into the blogging world. To be fair, I got busy in the last two months. Right after my last posting, Olivia developed infections in both of her ears, which let me tell you, was F.U.N.

Then, there was the Christmas shopping and more work on the bathroom that has become the bane of my existence. Before I knew it, 2009 was gone and January took us by storm. There was a visit with some of my cousins as they passed through town (from ATL to NO to see the Saints play) and I turned 30. We had a visit from Kimmie, and I started a new Bible study. Oh, and C was baptized! See, like I said, lots of stuff has been going on. Anyway, now that Olivia is doing some exciting things, I figure I'd better get back in the saddle and start posting again.

So... the next few posts will be from the last couple of months, starting with Thanksgiving at my in-laws.