Busy, busy, busy!

No, we are not busy people, but this girl is into EVERYTHING!

Yesterday we just stayed home because she had a rough night the night before. She has been really congested and didn't sleep well. After breakfast, she started her morning in her kitchen.


This is her current 'cheese' smile. When I say, "Olivia, say cheese!" She says "che!" and her little smile goes crooked! This one is pretty good!




I was in the den and knew exactly what she was doing. I peeped around the corner to find her kitchen turned out into the middle of the room and she was working away. As you can tell, she was very proud of herself!




She loves the computer. I have no clue why! Everytime she is near it she is told 'no,' but she still wants to get into it.




Afternoon tea anyone?



More 'che.'







She was SOOOO happy to see her daddy when he got home from work! We sit at the window and wave in the mornings and she runs to him in the afternoons. We miss him so much!








She has cut 4 molar teeth in the last week, so we bought a couple teethers since I had a few bruises on my arms from teeth. She likes them.....and so does Oscar!



This morning, I caught her into things that would normally be an immediate 'no,' but instead I grabbed my camera.










Yep, she is in the middle of the coffee table! She seemed pretty proud of herself. She even threw in a 'che' for me. Nice!!








Though this doesn't look horrible, she literally jumped from the first position to the second. She just learned how to jump in the past couple weeks, so she does whenever she gets a chance. From the stomach position she did a front flip (on purpose) off the chair --and laughed about it!! She is one tough girl with NO FEAR! Sheesh! I gotta get my monkey into MyGym!




After she flipped out of the chair, she decided it was time to read! Too cute!!!




Later in the day, Oscar also decided it was time to read! No, we did not pose this.










We went to see daddy for lunch today. He said he had little greasy fingerprints on his desk and ink pen. She ate a bit and then 'worked' a bit!!!



Tonight, John's family came over for dinner! We had fun while they were here, but she was so ready for bed.

Olivia got up several times to sit with Nana.


Olivia must be checking out Allayney's hair.


She seemed to really like Brittney!



She went to John after they left signing 'more milk' so we knew what she was after. We got pj's on, read our books, got her blankie and got her milk. After a few short minutes of rocking she was asleep. I hope she sleeps better tonight. However, for not feeling great and being tired, I think we had a great day!

21 months!

I can't believe that our baby girl is 21 months old!!!! I still feel sad when I think about the 19 months that we missed, but I hope the longer she is home, the more that feeling will fade. Though we are still keeping her world small, for the most part, we are finding that she enjoys going and doing.
She is trying to say some more words this month, but has dropped some of the ones she was saying before. In some ways, this month has flown, in others it seems like it has been forever! I am trying to soak in the normal daily stuff because I know too soon that I will be back at work and we will have yet another 'new' normal.

She feels a bit under the weather today, so I am hopeful that it isn't a long night. She is very congested and has a TON of snot. However, she still seems to be in a good mood. My real concern is her little cough. If it worsens, we will have to go to the doctor.
I really don't have a ton of new news. My picture taking has slowed down, but I will work on that! :) With John not here, we are doing the normal daily house stuff. You know....laundry, dishes, constantly picking up the same thing that I just picked up minutes before! We both miss him being here!










She is running through the house playing with Oscar. They are getting to be really good friends!



Grammy stopped by after work. Leslie and Annelyn spent their last day of spring break with us. ALL (ahem....Oscar) of her grandkiddos were excited to see her. This was the best shot we could get with 3 moving targets. :)



They are even napping together. He loves to go in and snuggle with her!

One year ago today.....

A year ago today, we received a picture of a little 8 month old bald beauty. We were so excited to see this face. I will never forget that day. We went to meet with Stephanie to discuss our process. After our meeting, we went to lunch and then headed home. We were both tired from the day, so we laid down on the couch. Soon, my cell phone rang. I said, "just leave it...I will call them back later." Then, John's phone rang. I said the same thing about leaving it. Finally, our house phone rang. John got up and said, "well, crap." He answered the phone and on the other end was Stephanie saying, "where have you people been? Don't you want your child?" John said, "are you serious?" She said, "um...yea, you have a daughter." I was still laying on the couch and he is saying, "you can't be serious!" He handed the phone to me and she said, "get on your computer! I am sending you a picture of your daughter!" Here is what we saw when we logged on!



I immediately knew she was ours! We NEVER expected to get a daughter and had already planned a name for our boy! We were thrilled!!! We looked over her referral as best as we could and immediately made a phone call to Vanderbilt Adoption Clinic. Thankfully, they read her file and called us in 2 days! I don't think I even needed to know what all they told us, as we already knew we were accepting her!
We got a couple of updates, 1 video and 4 pictures while we waited. It made for a long 11 months, but we made it! It was a leap of faith, and we would leap again in a heartbeat!
After our LONG wait, we are finally all under one roof! What an amazing year it has been!

Going to the zoo!

Yesterday was John's last day home with us. So, we decided we would head to the zoo. I don't think Olivia really got it, so we will have to go back and try again. It was really crowded because several school systems are out on spring break. It was a beautiful day! Here are some pictures from our first zoo trip.


There were too many people around so she was shooting a glare!


She wouldn't look up because so many people were around. It was so crowded. We were waiting in line here.


She was not going to ride by herself! The ride hadn't started yet.


Looks like she likes it here, right?


And this is how we rode once I was told I couldn't ride with her. I tried to keep her up there on her own, but she was not having it! Maybe next time!














She was getting brave!




After the zoo, we came home and ate lunch then Olivia had a nap. While she napped, my niece, Annelyn, John and I worked in the yard. Annelyn quickly was ready to move onto something else, so we got out the bubble machine. She loved this!






When Olivia woke up, she came out to join the fun!















After playing for a bit, we headed to mom and dad's for dinner. We all went out for ice cream afterward. We had a great day all around! Unfortunately, John returned to work today. We all sat at the door this morning to wave bye. Olivia and I played at home, got some cleaning and laundry done, ran a couple errands, had lunch and nap, walked Oscar and then daddy was home! She was one happy girl to see him! I haven't taken any pictures today. It was the first day with just us two, and we stayed very busy. Off to play some more