Happy Spring

Two Firsts

Olivia had two "firsts" this week:

First smile: She smiled at Grandma Mary on Tuesday, then smiled at me on Wednesday. I told her before we left that she wasn't allowed to show her first smile to Grandma Mary. She did not listen.

First intentional thumb sucking: Olivia stuck her little thumb into her mouth on purpose and by herself for the first time yesterday. Abby was impressed - her dad not so much.

We had a nice time visiting family and introducing Olivia to lots of Great Aunts and Uncles and cousins and also Great Grandma Lorraine and Great Grandpa Harley. Abby had so much fun that she didn't want to leave. This morning she woke up and said "Abby lives here okay." But she was pretty excited when she got home and her dog Maize was going wild with excitement. I'm hoping a night in our own beds will be a good change. Abby is getting her two-year molars and they are really bothering her. She named the new tooth "The Beast", so she is frequently asking for medicine for "The Beast." I hope she can get over the discomfort soon!

Revolving Doors

I feel like we are stuck in some revolving doors lately... mostly at the doctor's office. I think they are getting tired of seeing us. And the worst part is that all these visits and none of them have been emergencies or sickness related. Today is my turn for the 6 week after having a baby check-up. Yippee. With Abby's birthday and annual well child exam falling into the mix, we've been to the doctor's office 5 times in the 5 weeks we've been home with Olivia.

The other revolving door is unplanned and sometimes sad trips down toward Hastings. Our last unplanned trip was the middle of the night ambulance ride/chase to take Olivia to DeVos Children's Hospital, which in the end was a very good thing. Tomorrow will be the unplanned trip to attend my Great Aunt Barbara's funeral. I was thinking last night about what a great example of Godliness she was to those of us fortunate enough to know her. In all of my memories of her I could not think of one time where I felt she was unkind or uncaring. I hope someday when people are thinking back on my legacy they can say the same about me. There aren't many people I know that I don't have any "bad" memories about. And I'm sure someday I will see her in Heaven - there is no doubt in my mind that her faith was in Jesus Christ for salvation and that she served Him faithfully in her lifetime.

So tomorrow I will cross my fingers and take my first extended road trip with two small girls. Hopefully one will sleep most of the ride and the other will watch her dvds. And we are very excited for Olivia to get the opportunity to meet more of her wonderful family. So to those of you in Hastings, we will see you soon. Poor Steve will have to entertain Maize until Friday.

Excersaucer

Olivia is a pretty strong girl. In fact, she has mastered holding her head up pretty well. So last night Abby and I got out the exersaucer so that Abby and Olivia could play together on the same level. They had a good time. Olivia's little eyes were moving super fast to keep up with everything Abby was trying to show her. And Abby was being most adorable and trying to feed Olivia pretend food. Abby is pretending a lot lately. She will pick nothing up from the floor with her little fingers like she is pinching and then hand me any number of things (horses, cows, sheep, princesses, food, really anything). So last night she was holding her flat hand to Olivia's face and giving her all sorts of wonderful "foods." I hope they continue to enjoy each other this much into their adult lives.

Olivia slept 5 hours again last night, but it was a miserable 5 hours for me because she was gassy and uncomfortable. So... the foods I can't eat list is now up to chili and barbecue sauce. The chili I'm not too sad about, but the barbecue sauce is one of my favorite foods. This is going to be a long, long year nursing Olivia if I can't have barbecue.

Sleepless in Sault Ste. Marie

Olivia slept 5 hours last night, which was awesome. Unfortunately Abby was up two separate times during that 5 hours. These girls need to communicate better so I can get some sleep.

Abby has decided she wants to wear big girl "underwears" but she has not decided that she needs to use the potty also, so my laundry is increasing exponentially. And my floors are really clean from all the mopping.

Other than those two events our life has been pretty uneventful in the last 24 hours. I'm enjoying that uneventfulness. Now we just need some really nice weather so we can go outdoors and enjoy some fresh air.

6 Kid Craziness

I survived 6 children under 3 for 10 entire minutes on my own today. It was not nearly as bad as you might think. We had Abby's friens Autumn, "baby" Abby, Rian, and Huron over to play and have lunch. For the most part there was another adult around, but for a little bit I was flying solo and flinging food toward lots of little people.

Abby had her 2 year old check-up today. I got to fly solo for that too. Abby wasn't too happy about being the one getting the check-up, but she did do almost everything she was supposed to do. She cried about being weighed and measured and wouldn't let the doctor look down her throat, but she did okay for her shot and even thanked the nurse for the band-aid and sucker afterward. She was 29 pounds today and 34 1/4 inches. Olivia also sneaked onto the scale. She was 10 pounds 9 ounces and 21 1/2 inches long. During the check-up Olivia visited and snuggled with the front desk staff - I think they were in heaven.

And, we finally got both girls to take a 3 hour nap at the same time, so I got a nap and a spin on my elliptical now that I'm done with any restrictions.

Hello Old Friend

Abby wanted to take a walk after dinner tonight and we wound up down by the locks, since she has a little bit of her Great Grandpa Steve in her and loves looking for the freighters. While we were down there she ran into her old friend - the Rodger Blough. She has some history with the old guy and a very nice picture of the first time they met.Olivia wasn't quite as impressed with the freighters. She slept through our whole adventure. It's too bad since we ended up watching three huge boats on the lower river and saw two pass within yards of each other. We also got to see a little tug boat taking things off the Rodger Blough while it was moving and putting more supplies on. Maybe it was laundry, or food... Either way Abby enjoyed her boat adventure.

Grandma and Grandpa Hodges Were Here

And Abby had a good time, right up to the point where she tried to give Aunt Emily a kiss goodnight and Aunt Emily wouldn't let Abby kiss her on the lips. She gave Emily one good night kiss on the lips and then decided she would give her a second one, but she didn't close her mouth all the way, so Emily said no. Abby was heartbroken. Her little eyes were all welled up and she didn't even try to give Hannah a hug and kiss. It was funny but I felt bad for her poor little girl feelings who don't know that big girls don't like open mouth kisses from nieces. She wouldn't even give Emily a good bye hug when they left this afternoon. We have some rehabbing to do before our next visit apparently.

We had lots of fun with Grandma Mary, Grandpa Scott, Aunt Hannah, Aunt Emily, and Carson. We took them to The Antlers and let them see all the real fancy stuffed animals. We even let the wolf hold Olivia's car seat for her (Grandpa Scott assisted). Abby had a lot of fun with her birthday presents - a radioflyer wagon and an art easel (Thanks Mel, Glenn, & Jack!). Hannah and Emily also searched the basement and found Abby a GI Joe doll to be "The Beast" and they found the old doll clothes we had for a barbie doll version of the beast, so we had lots of fun playing with him and the "Belle girls".

And we had a yummy birthday cake with all of Abby's favorite princesses to celebrate her birthday. She really loves the birthday song and has been singing "Happy birthday to Abby" ever since Wednesday. It's been pretty cute around here. Except at 5:00 a.m. when Olivia decides to wake us up and stay awake. Or 6:00 a.m. when Abby decides to make our bed into her bed. I just keep telling myself I only have a few weeks of this left. I hope.

Happy Birthday to Abby

So yesterday we were too busy to post, since we had to do lots of fun things with Abby the birthday girl. Here's a rundown of her day:

6:00 a.m. - Abby wakes up and wants to sleep in "mommy's bed," so we make room and go back to sleep.

6:40 a.m. - Steve has to get up for work. Olivia decides to wake up for food. Abby sleeps.

7:10 a.m. - Olivia is still awake. She needs a diaper change, on attempting to change it she refills the new diaper and also soaks her clothes. All the excitement wakes Abby up.

7:20 a.m. - Steve is summoned upstairs because Abby the birthday queen does not want to walk. He carries her downstairs and she opens her presents from mom and dad. She gets parts for her Mrs. Potato Head, a Snap and Style doll (imagine a bigger, chunky 3-D paper doll), an Olivia book, a music c.d., and a toddler laptop with learning games. We spend the rest of the morning playing with the new toys and watching "Abby's news" (read Veggie Tales).

12:45 p.m. - I take Abby and Olivia for a walk in the stroller since it is in the 70's but had rained all morning, so the park was too wet to play. We walked for over an hour. Abby wanted to go see the boats, but just before we got to the locks she fell asleep. She woke up 25 minutes later when I tried to move her from the stroller to the house. She did not nap again.

2:30ish - Abby wanted to watch Beauty and the Beast (you're shocked... I know) so I told her she could only watch it if she laid down on the couch and didn't get off until the movie was over. Apparently this idea worked. I must have slept through a good part of the movie, but she never moved from next to me.

4:00 p.m - Abby and I planted seeds in our garden. We planted pumpkins, corn, and beans. Olivia slept in her car seat in the shade under a tree. Abby and I got pretty filthy.

5:30 p.m. - Steve comes home from work and we ask Abby where she would like to go for birthday dinner. She picks Taco Bell - nice. We enjoy dinner, come home for ice cream and watch Shrek. Around 8:30 we go upstairs to put away all the laundry I managed to get done yesterday (4 whole loads). Abby goes to bed around 9:30.

Other items of interest - Olivia is now 10.3 pounds says Nintendo Wii. She is also starting to hold her head up on her own and is super close to intentionally smiling. She loves checking out Abby. Also, Grandma Mary, Grandpa Scott, Aunt Hannah, Aunt Emily and Carson are coming tonight. Abby is pretty excited... it is going to be a long day of waiting for her.

Birth Date and Party Time

Today, April 14th, was Olivia's due date. She turned 5 weeks old today. And she was wide awake the whole time Abby napped. That whole "sleep while your baby sleeps" stuff does not work when you also have a toddler.

And that toddler is turning two tomorrow. That doesn't seem possible. For real... I can't be old enough to have a two year old. We had a birthday cake to celebrate with her friends at our Bible study tonight. She was pretty impressed with her Snow White cake, I was not as impressed with my frosting job. Especially since I couldn't find my decorator tips, so I had to just squeeze the pink frosting from the tube onto the cake. But it tasted good and Abby liked her doll, so that is all that matters.

Other than cleaning to host the Bible study and making the Snow White cake, we had a very uneventful day. The car guy came by and gave us the estimate for getting it fixed, which he also sent to the insurance company. Now we just have to wait to see if the other driver's policy will pay the 1/2 of our deductible that our insurance company is asking them to since he was at fault. Then "Big Black" can get her new bumper and hopefully that will make Abby feel better, since she was pretty sad that her car got "hurted." She is pretty attached to some very random things around this house.

Last night she earned the right to go to bed extra early because she was flipping out whenever Maize sat down anywhere. Apparently Abby was sitting everywhere because everywhere Maize sat was "Abby's spot." I wasn't about to put up with that nonsense, so Abby got a very early bedtime and ended up sleeping 13 hours. She must have been pretty tired.