Christmas: Part 1

Our Christmas started a little early this year (the 18th actually) because Alex's family decided to drive down for a few days to help us with the drive back up (YAY and THANK YOU :) ). I'd say they are a little crazy for volunteering to drive 26 hours in 3 days, but I'm so grateful, and it really did make our drive SO much easier. We were doubly excited for them to come down early because we were trying to figure out an opportunity to tell them our exciting news: our little family is growing next year!

After driving the entire day on Sunday (the 18th) they came over for a pizza dinner and to hang out a bit before heading to the hotel. I had wrapped a pair of boy booties, a pair of girl booties, and a book entitled "I'm a big sister" to give them as an early Christmas present. After the initial shock - Mary won't be pleased but her initial remark was 'Are you SERIOUS?' - everyone was very excited, and I was glad not to have to put on airs because I have been ten times more sick with this pregnancy than with Olivia.

Monday morning Olivia and I drove to the hotel to have breakfast together, then we played at the park a little bit before her morning nap. I just love these pictures (Thank you Ashley) of Olivia playing with Auntie Ashley and Grandpa Gary. She was thrilled to have people to show all the ins and outs of her favorite park to.

 That afternoon we headed out for lunch, to Deli Delicious (would totally recommend, but they might be a Fresno chain). Olivia has never been timid or anything, but it was funny to see her acting up to show off to our visitors...what a ham!

On Tuesday we had a more relaxed day, I actually did some last minute shopping while the Casqueiros watched Olivia at home, but in the evening we headed to the Fresno Zoo for zoolights. It was much more fun than our first experience with zoo lights (in the pouring down rain last year with a 2-month old at the Oregon Zoo), and even though it was super cold, Olivia had a blast, and was enthralled with all the blow up toys and lights. We had to pose by the Yo Gabba Gabba characters of course!

This zoo has a cool 'Sting Ray Bay' where you can go touch sting rays. There are a whole bunch in this shallow pool and they will swim right up to you.

This is my one and only group shot...great pose everyone :)

Goofy Andy and Ashley :)

I couldn't miss this picture, because Cindy Lou Who has a special place in my heart. Ever since I can remember, I have always been 'Lacey Lou Who' to my Grandma Bonnie, and I have no idea why or how it started, but it makes me smile every time. So here is Olivia Lou Who :)

Wednesday morning we got up, finished packing, and played for a while, all while waiting for 10:00 to roll around so Olivia would be ready for her morning nap and we could get on the road. I don't know why I still plan trips around her nap, because she's a horrible car sleeper, but  that was the plan so we stuck to it. I actually drove up with Mary, Gary, Ashley, and Olivia, and we left Alex and Andy to leave the next day (Alex had to work). This worked out great, because it gave us less stress to get there in a hurry, and gave Olivia and I one more day with family.

A couple hours into the drive we started our magical quiet baby trick, the car DVD players. They worked like a charm. Honestly we didn't need them on the way up, Olivia was well entertained by everyone in the car, but they were a huge blessing on the way home.

I don't think Olivia has ever watched more than like 30 minutes of a movie before, just because we rarely have the TV on and she doesn't have a long attention span, but she got very into Fantasia 2000, and at one point was apparently worried enough to clasp her hands so tightly her fingers were turning white :). A good mom might have had reassuring words or fast-forwarded, but I made sure to take a picture first.

We originally planned to drive to Ashland or so and get a hotel room for the night, but we made awesome time and didn't have to stop very many times so we decided to go all the way, and I got home around 11:30. Bless Gary, who drove the entire way! They dropped Olivia and I off at an abandoned gas station, where my mom picked us up so we could spend a day with my family before heading up to Keizer on the 23rd. A super fun start to a great holiday trip!

December Pre-Oregon :)

So I'm splitting December up because we have SO many pictures! Before our trip to Oregon it was pretty normal, but I can't help but post some of the hundred-or-so pictures anyway. It's so fun having a toddler because everyday is something new. Some days it's a new level of clingy-whiny-ness, or a new stubborness I hadn't seen before, but most days it's some fun cute new skill she shows off or trick she learns.

We start the month with a fun tradition from my childhood. Each year on December 1st our family got one of those super nasty chocolate advent calendars, and fought over who got to open each day. But after mom and dad set up a fair method (youngest to oldest some years, or roll the dice - each kid got a number), we would each guess what the chocolate would be shaped like. I don't know why this sticks out as one of my favorite Christmas traditions, but it was one I am very glad to carry on. However, I'm equally glad that we have upgraded our advent calendar and have a very beautiful one to use each year. It has a door for each day, so Alex gets to fill each day with something fun and different and exciting. This was our first year doing the advent calendar, and I was excited that Olivia was old enough to be excited about the candy, even though she didn't really understand what the calendar signified.

I'm pretty sure I've posted purse pictures before, but this purse (a birthday present from Grandma Terece), is a huge hit recently. She will find it each morning, sit and empty whatever I have put in it (for some reason she thinks purses should be empty), then carry it around like a real purse for a while, until she's distracted by some other toy. At first she couldn't put it on right by herself, so she would carry it over to Alex or me and stand with her arm outstretched just waiting for us to slide it onto her shoulder. She then walks around very carefully (see bottom picture) with her hand straight up in the air so the purse doesn't fall off. Some days she holds her ear for additional protection :).

The evening of December 1st Fresno (and most of the state of CA) had a huge windstorm. Entire trees blew over, and branches and debris littered our entire apartment complex for days before the cleanup crew was able to fix it all. Olivia really enjoyed playing in all the branches.

I'm a sucker for park pictures. I take way too many and find cute qualities in each one so I post a lot too. Here are a few from a trip to the park with dad. LOVE this holding hands picture...I can't say anything more about it.

And we surrendered the spoon! That's actually a lie, this was Olivia's first entire meal with her own spoon, and she wasn't very interested. She took one bite with the spoon, then ate the yogurt with her fingers...I guess we'll keep trying :) I'm ready for a completely independent eater!

On December 4th Olivia and I went to our first FSU basketball game! Alex works all of the womens events, so he was and he was able to get us second row on-the floor tickets, which worked well for Olivia because she loves to be involved. It also meant that their mascot was always walking around our seats. I couldn't help getting a picture with him, and O was completely enamored. She sat on his lap and just smiled up at him, never once looking at mom for help or assurance...I couldn't get a picture of her smile because she would only look at him, and every time he passed us after that she would point and laugh, trying to squirm her way out of my lap to go see him again. Her fondness of this mascot makes me sad that we have yet to get her a picture with Benny Beaver, but hopefully soon :)

 I

Olivia's high chair buckles onto a regular chair (or can sit on the ground, as we usually have it), so it doesn't have a footrest. I didn't notice this when I bought it, but recently have seen her swinging her legs, so I've wondered if having a footrest would be better. I was relieved to find out that she is creative enough to come up with her own temporary solution, the toe-stabilization device :).

I've gone through this post a few times looking for pictures I can cut out to make it shorter, but the truth is that this age of toddler-hood has meant a new adventure every day, and I don't want to forget any of them, or let any of the pictures get lost in the abyss of storage on the computer. So our next adventure happened just one day later, when Olivia rediscovered the toilet paper :) At least I won't lose her! Luckily we were able to talk about it and she helped me roll it back up. She's old enough to understand that she shouldn't do it...whether that actually makes her stop or not will be seen.

A new favorite food was discovered on the 6th. Whenever the fridge is open Olivia goes straight for the lemon juice and carries it around the whole house sucking on the lid. Alex decided that it would be good to let her try it (against my better judgment), and she ended up loving it! Our attempt at deterring her from taking it was a total fail, and now she tries to get the lid off - unsuccessfully so far - every time she grabs it.

P.S. please ignore the half pj's, half too-small sweats, and one sock with crazy hair.... :) sometimes that's just how we roll.

An early attempt at small-time burglary

On the ninth I was able to watch Ellie for a while, and the girls had a blast playing around the entire house. I had way too many pictures, so I made them into a collage, but on top we have some "sharing", then the bottom pictures show the girls playing catch with a glittery bouncy ball with a flashing light inside. They played for about half an hour, just chasing and throwing back and forth. The bottom left is actually Olivia dragging behind Ellie, who has the ball when it's O's turn. I maybe should have stopped it, but neither girl seemed to mind very much, so I took a picture instead :). Olivia loves having such a fun friend to play with!



Occasionally after bedtime Alex and I have a game night. Neither one of us is competitive at all *cough cough* so we have to alternate who picks the game. I'll admit I was surprised by Alex's choice, Disney Princess Monopoly! I found it at a garage sale in November, and brought it home saying this was the only monopoly he would ever get me to play (I hate games that last more than an hour). He proceeded to beat me mercilessly (4 games out of 5), so I'm glad that when Olivia gets a little older she will be able to enjoy this princess game with her daddy.

Park pictures...

Another helper moment, when Olivia was trying to tell me she wanted italian for dinner :). The closest I had was canned ravioli, but she seemed to enjoy it (lower pictures), so I guess she got her wish. I regularly come back from the bathroom or a quick trip to a different room to find messes like this. Part of me thinks that she goes around the house and scouts out possible mess-making opportunities, then waits for just the right moment to strike :). So far they have been relatively harmless, and I still enjoy the guilty face that she has when I catch her, so I guess it's all good!

The day after this (12/18) the Casqueiro clan drove down to spend a few days before Christmas, and our official vacation began. That post requires a lot of picture sorting and editing, so don't expect much very soon :)

Future boy band member?

On Friday (1/6) I officially learned the first thing that Olivia wants to be when she grows up. On our way to the park, I was flipping through radio stations to find a fun song when N*Sync's 'Bye, Bye,Bye' came on the 90s station. I'm always up for N*Sync, so I started singing along and dancing in the front seat. I hadn't looked to see if O was enjoying herself, but I got my answer during the chorus when her 'ba, ba, ba' echoed from the back seat :). I wish I had stopped and recorded it, because I haven't been able to get a repeat performance for video yet, but hearing my 14-month-old sing N*Sync was a very good moment.

And we're back :)

I could make a million excuses, but instead, I'd just like to celebrate that we are back! I have 3 weeks before my next trip, then 4 between that and the next, so maybe I'll even make a little progress on this blog, which I'd like to cherish as my memory keeper, if I ever get caught up :)

Anyway, some big news from the last few weeks is that Olivia has two words! Mostly she is in a point and grunt mode when she wants something, but we keep working :). In Salem at Christmastime she started saying "hi" (which sounds a little more like 'haaa') as a response if you say hi to her, which we have some cute video evidence of. I'm calling that her first official word. Video to come soon...

I should be mostly excited about her first word, but honestly, the second one caused me the giddiness that I was expecting. on January 4th I was cutting Olivia some cheese, her favorite snack, but hadn't told her what I was getting her, just that 'mom had to go get a snack ready so you keep playing'. She was playing with her new toys, but must have looked up because she came "running" over (okay it's a really fast toddle) saying 'ch, ch, ch, ch' and just stood at my feet until I gave her a piece. Her first unprompted word! :) First time momminess is pretty fun, I have to admit.