Off to work

Yesterday was kindergarten registration at my school. When I left on maternity leave, I said I would definitely come in for this day. John agreed to take the day off and it wasn't going to be a big deal. Unfortunately, the lovely state mandated test that John has to give was bumped up a week making Friday his last teaching day before the test. I found this out on Monday and knew I had already committed to being at registration, so we were in a spot. I haven't left Olivia except for once and that was earlier this week to just prepare for yesterday. So, thankfully, mom and dad jumped in to help. I had to be at work by 6:45, and Olivia had a rough night but always wakes up at 6:00 to go back down for a couple hours with me. This day was different. I couldn't go back to sleep or snuggle. I had to get up. She laid in bed with John while I got a shower, but then she joined me in the bathroom while I got ready. So, off to work I went for the first time since she had been home. As I pulled out of the garage, she was blowing kisses, and seemed ok. Mom came at 7:00 so John could leave for work. She did great with mom, but took an early nap since she had gotten up so early. We were hoping to avoid this, but that wasn't optional. This is not at all how we wanted to go about leaving her. We wanted to be able for me to be home and mom to be here for a few days with me outside and mom inside caring for Olivia. Once she was ok with this, I was going to go run some errands anther time leaving her here with mom. We were going to build up to the whole leaving thing. Instead, it was basically 'oh, now you can hold her--by the way, can you feed her, change her, and watch her for a full day?' We had only been letting people hold her for a week (parents 2 weeks), so this was just not the ideal way to work her in to this. However, she did great while mom was here. She ate well, and watched the Royal Wedding with mom and waved at Kate everytime she waved to the crowd. I came home and since then, she does not like it if I am out of her sight. I don't know if it is because she is tired or if it because we left. We are going to step back and go about our 'warm up routine' that was originally planned before the big leave yesterday. No damage done, but I hated that I had to leave her. It was just not an option. When I got home, she seemed initially less than interested in me, and of course my brain went to 'great, she isn't attached!' I think the attachment worry is just going to be there for awhile with me. I pulled up and saw mom's car and then saw my dad's motorcycle. Really, it was a gorgeous day and dad was not on his bike, but in my kitchen giggling with Olivia. I am pretty sure Olivia could tear our house down and my parents would say, "she's just little and she just doesn't know." Please people, this kid knows EXACTLY what she is doing. They are just being the good ole Grammy and Grampy--and we love them very much! :) Thanks for pitching in and helping!
I have to add--it was so nice to be able to actually ask for help. That wasn't even optional 2 weeks ago. I still feel like it is a very limited option, but I know if I am in a pinch or need a couple hours that I can call on them. That alone is a big load off for us!

What's new at 22???

22 months that is! This month has flown with a lot of laughter, some sickness, learning more about each other, and making good memories. Some of the things that have happened this month are:

1. She is sleeping in her bed....and we are in OUR BED!!!!

2. She no longer takes a bottle.

3. She threw up for the first time.

4. She walks around saying 'do tou' which means, "don't touch!"

5. She has learned how to walk backwards.

6. She has been held by family and friends. We left her for the first time yesterday with my mom. I had to run up to work for a couple hours. She did great! I on the other hand am not ready for that, but that's life.

7. She can take her clothes off and on.

8. All of her medical issues checked out!!! Thank goodness!

9. She took her first 'road trip' to Chattanooga. She slept both ways and was great!

10. She had her first professional pictures done.

11. She has visited both daddy and Grammy at their schools.

12. She is trying to say more words. Some of them are: Oscar, more, up, no, hello, down and continues to babble.

13. She has learned how to spin.

14. She has belly laughed several times. It is hilarious!

15. She hates riding in the cart at stores. That is an ongoing battle.

16. She is more curious everday! She climbs on EVERYTHING!!! (gates, her kitchen, cabinets, etc.)

17. She went to her first basebal game.

18. She saw fireworks for the first time and LOVED them!

19. Olivia loves to pick up my camera and make a "ch ch" sound as if she is taking a picture.

20. She tries to snap her fingers.

21. She had her first holiday with us. We had a wonderful Easter. I have imagined having a child in my arms several Easter's at church. It was so nice to be able to have her with us. Sometimes it is still hard to believe she is really home!

22. She responds to "no" some of the time! Hey, we will take it!!!! :)

Happy 22 months sweet girl. I am so glad that you are home with us. We are really blessed to have you as our daughter. We look forward to each new day with you. We love you!!!

Easter Weekend

We spent our Saturday at the zoo. We went to do the egg hunt, but we missed it and it was SO crowded that we didn't mind.







It was a gorgeous day! We came home for a nap and then went to the Sounds game. We weren't sure that she would make it through the first inning, much less the entire game! To our surprise, she made it. I think it was the constant entertainment of Everley and Erin! :) She had fun eating cotton candy, dip n dots, foot long corndog, fries, and chicken tenders. We enjoyed the game with several Guild Gators from our school spring reading program. After the game they had a great firework show. We weren't sure how this would go either, but live and learn, right? Well, she LOVED them!!! She was reaching out to try to grab them. Do I have any pictures of this fun night? Well, no....ding dong left the camera in the car! UGH!


We got up Sunday morning for early service, so we didn't have time to see what the easter bunny left before heading off to church. She did great at church this week!! Maybe we need to become early service goers? We came home and got a few pictures and then let them (yes, Oscar too) open their baskets. I posted two pictures of us because notice the choke hold she has on poor Oscar! What a good boy he is!
They both seemed more interested in the other ones basket. Typical! They seemed to really love what the bunny brought. We asked my parents to come get Oscar so he could head to their house for the afternoon, so we got a couple pictures with them, too!











After a quick nap and sitting in the closet for a few minutes during a storm, we headed out to Johns' mom's house. We had a great lunch and the kids (all kids under 21 mandatory participation :)) had an egg hunt. As you can see below, Olivia figured out at Mia and Macy's birthday party that the eggs have stuff in them. She was too busy trying to get the candy to look for more eggs. At one point, she was looking right at us and had her hands in her basket trying to open more candy. We had told her no more, so she thought she was being sneaky. She spotted Belle, and went to see her. She got licked in the face and squealed with excitement! We all went inside to see all the candy the kids got.














After visiting a bit more, we headed off to my parents house. We got there and luckily it was half time of the preds game so we could have our egg hunt. Priorities, right? :) Again, Olivia was much more interested in one or two eggs and the candy that they had in them. Annelyn was a pro and scooped them right up, but was so sweet to come and put some in Olivia's basket.
We came in and the bunny had also visited Grammy and Grampy's house. Oscar was very interested in the baskets. Olivia got lots of goodies as did Annelyn. We ate a another excellent meal and then it was time to dye easter eggs. Olivia was randomly interested. She would dip an egg for a while and then go play and return. We do have some pictures, but Olivia was topless and I don't think she would appreciate me sharing. :) We will keep those to ourselves, but they are pretty cute! Here is one of our big girl dying her eggs. I look back at past Easter's and can't get over how much Annelyn has changed!
It was late so we headed home after egg dying and she slept pretty well.






























Guess what? She went to bed without a bottle!!!! (since this post has taken me ALL DAY to work on, I can now say that she has done this twice!) YAY!!!! This could be the beginning of no more bottles, but we will see.