Merry Christmas from The Nuetzels!

The best Christmas card ever?

Annie and Olivia both got Christmas cards from Grandma and Grandpa tonight. Lately Annie has developed a sassy new attitude to match her sassy new haircut because she didn't seem interested in opening her card at all. She was deeply engrossed in an insightful and very unpredictable-not episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and couldn't be disturbed. Anyways, once the show was over and dinner was on the table I showed Olivia's card to her and she opened it up and started reading it out loud...I told you she was smart! Anyways, the card went something like this...

"I love you and you love me and I'm going on a trip and nobody cares about me"

I said, well that's unfortunate!

Gosh, why are 90% of all the posts on this blog about Annie? Here's a tidbit about the world's cutest and most happiest baby, Olivia. I took her to the doctor this afternoon for part 2 of her flu shot and she didn't even frown when they shot her up! Once I got home, I checked the voicemails on our answering machine and found out that she has to go back for her 9 month checkup this Thursday...poo, I should have checked my calendar closer!

The Cutting Edge!

Tim and Annie decided to wrap some presents this afternoon. I was in the living room taking some photos of Olivia with her pretty christmas outfit in front of the tree, so I'm not exactly sure how this happened...but when I walked into the kitchen Annie was holding the scissors in one hand and in the other, a big chunk of hair that wasn't attached to her head anymore...she had a big smile on her face and told me that she got a new haircut! We had just gotten a real haircut on Friday that I thought turned out super cute, but I guess Ms. Annie wanted it a little bit shorter...it actually doesn't look too bad, and I guess it does help with the hair in the eyes problem she seems to have.

Visit with Santa!

Annie asked for an assortment of random things...a stop sign, a lion, a postman, cherrios, stairs, a goat, crayons, a christmas tree...Olivia didn't ask for anything that I am aware of.

Baby-O is 8 months old!

So so late on this Olivia update...she is after all almost 9 months. What is new with her? She is crawling around like crazy and putting anything and everything in her mouth, nothing too unusual with that for an 8 month old. We started giving her a little finger food, star poofs that melt in her mouth and she enjoys munching on them as much as Annie likes dishing them out to her. She is finally over her multiple ear infections. I thought for sure that she had another one because she had been so grumpy, not at all like her normal super happy baby self, but the doctor thought she was just teething. So far no teeth have shown up yet! She is pulling herself up on anything, chairs, couches, dogs...she hasn't figured out how to move any farther from the spot she pulled herself up with, but I think she is getting close. I'm starting to wonder about her hair. I'm not too sure that it will be turning blond like Annie's did...and I'm wondering if it will be a little curly too. She is starting to be more vocal...voicing her discontent when Annie takes away any toys she has been playing with and she has also developed a trademark high pitched screech which she uses when she is happy and having a good time...when she is tired, she blows raspberries.

A Week Before Thanksgiving Miracle!

Last Monday after dinner, I told Annie that we had to talk about bedtime. The conversation went something like this...

Me: Annie, let's talk about bedtime.
A: Okay.
M: Tonight we are going upstairs to go to bed at 8 o'clock. Were going to read 2 books....
A: How about 3 books.
M: Okay, 3 books. Then we are going to brush our teeth and go to bed, and you can't get back out of bed until the sun wakes up.
A: Can I have some milk for bed?
M: Sure.
A: Should I bring my cup to you when the milk is gone?
M: No, you can just put your cup on your nightstand.
A: Okay.
M: Really? Okay!!!

And beleive it or not, it actually worked! For the most part, all week long she has been going to bed like we talked about and only getting up to go potty. In fact last night she asked me if she could go to bed at 7:45! Amazing. And as a result she is so much happier in the mornings and ready to go to school too. I don't think she said once all week that she didn't want to get up or go to school. We should have had this conversation months ago!

And another good note - today while I was pretending to be asleep because it was 6:30 and Annie had just come in to wake us up - I heard her tell Tim that he was her best friend...

People let me tell you 'bout my best friend...

Poor Tim…for the last week Annie has grown extremely fond of me, and tells me at least 3 times a day that I am her best friend. It’s very nice for me to hear her gush over me and want to give me extra hugs because we are best friends. It’s gotten to the point where she wants me and only me to play with her, eat dinner with her, read books with her…anything. If I ask her…

Me – Why don’t you want Dada to play with you?
A – Dada is not my best friend
Me – Why not?
A – He’s your best friend, he’s not my best friend.
Me – But he likes you a lot, he took you to the movies, and he goes hiking with you…
A – Blank stare…He can be Lib-ler's friend

Poor Tim. It even seems like I’m Olivia’s best friend too. If she is sitting with Tim and sees me walk into the room she will almost try and push herself out of Tim’s arms trying to get to me. Oh well, next week I’ll probably be the odd mom out…

Family Photos - finally!

So we have been a Family of Four since March and this is our first family photo since the one under the fluorescent lights at the hospital when Olivia was born! I wanted one so badly that it took 5 times to the park to get everyone in a decent mood - Annie was honestly only happy because she is the one holding the remote control, so I guess all credits go to our blooming photographer in training - Ms. Annie!

More Candy!!!

Last night we carved our pumpkins to decorate our front porch for the trick or treaters...I think they turned out pretty good, and Annie only almost caught herself on fire just that one time when we were lighting them up so that was a plus too! Soon after 6 we headed out with the intentions of only going to the neighbors that we know pretty well but we were only two houses in when we ran into Annie's girlfriends, Abby and Zoe, so we hit the whole block with them. Fun fun fun! Annie and the girls kept taking turns ringing the door bells (they all took turns at the same house, but at least they were taking turns!) We also noticed that the girls didn't quite understand that you are supposed to leave the house after they give you candy, and usually you should only take one candy if they let you pick one out yourself. There was also one house where Annie led all the girls around the back, apparently she thought that was the way to go...silly flower! Olivia fell asleep about 10 houses in and after a while Annie's bag was getting heavy and she was having a hard time keeping up with the other girls, but I think everyone had a great time including the adults who got to catch up on all the latest neighborhood gossip. Annie got some good candy (or should I say Tim and I did, because there is no way we're going to let her eat it all herself). Today I asked her if she would trade it for the chance to pick out a new toy from the toy store and without even thinking about it she agreed. Not sure if she understood all the details of the deal, but she must have figured it couldn't be turned down since there was a toy involved. So tomorrow we ceremoniously dump the candy in the "trash" and head out to the toy store.

Happy Halloween!

Annie the Flower and Olivia the Ladybug

Another Fish Story...

Yesterday on the way to school, Annie told Tim “Panda watched our fish and then she took the orange ones home with her, but it's okay because we got 5 guppies and they like to hide in the shell.” Um, yeah…if you take a closer look at the fish tank than a 2 year old would, you would notice that there is a half eaten guppy stuck to the water filter intake. And if it’s lucky there is another lonely and very scared guppy still hiding in the shell...the other 3 are gone. We don’t want to cast blame anyone, but either the big yellow meanie fish who likes to chase other fish or the “I only come out at night” vegetarian algae eater had a little early Thanksgiving feast of fresh caught guppy…and I think now it is waiting for the dessert to come out of it’s shell.

Isn't she lovely!

Annie found my makeup this morning...lover-ly!

'Cause it's ladies night...

Tonight Tim met some friends for happy hour after work so Annie, Olivia and I had our own little night out. First we toured around the nrighborhood looking for good Halloween decorations. We found an awesome house that was covered with a bunch of huge spiders. Since Annie was really into the house down the street from us last year that had 2 big spiders in a web on the front porch, I thought for sure she would flip out about this house. Well, I guess spiders were totally 1 year old decorations and she is over that. Now she is into skeletons. After our tour of the neighborhood decorations we headed out for dinner. I asked Annie if she would like a Happy Meal and she wouldn't commit...kept gabbing about random things saying "I don't want a sad meal...no I don't". So I decided to go to Qdoba which is my favorite burrito place. I bribed Annie with a cookie to get her to eat her quesadilla and Olivia was just happy to play with my credit cards (I'm telling you that girl is happy doing just about anything) and then we headed home. We spent the rest of the evening playing in the kitchen...Annie did her favorite activity....sat on her favorite potty chair and played with a bunch of stickers she got from Nana and listened to her keyboard play Christmas music. Weird, I know....Olivia just hung out..rolling and dragged herself around the room. As soon as I realized she was chewing on Annie's shoe I decided we should start getting ready for bed.

We had a great relaxing evening and I think the best part was that I had everyone pretty much in bed before Tim even got home! Maybe he should go out for happy hour more often.

All Olivia

Olivia is 7 months old now! I can't believe how fast time is going with her and I'm a little bummed that the weather is getting colder because that means we have to put away all the pretty summer clothes and get out the winter wear. Oh well, last hurrah for warm weather with these photos...

Olivia has been up to everything this last month. She is weathering a pretty bad ear infection well and has taken a liking to her medicine. She is all about babbling now too and I swear I heard her call me mama last week, and she is also loving all the solids food (except for green beans, but I don't blame her for that). She has just started dragging herself around. I'm not calling it crawling, it is definitely dragging...her legs have no idea what is happening and her arms do all the work. I think she will be pulling herself up soon since she was almost doing it with the pumpkins while I was taking the photos. I didn't get a shot of it though because I was afraid to take my hands off her while she was up there!

7 Months!

Tough Girl and the Ballerina

Annie and I have started taking Mom and Babe ballet classes on Friday mornings. Today was our second class and Annie really seems to like it a lot. Generally there is a lot of prancing around in circles, or hopping...waving wands and silky scarfs around. I have to say that Annie is a natural! Future ballet star for sure. So that is the Ballerina portion of the post...now onto the Tough Girl! For the last 2 weeks or so Olivia has had some pretty bad poo problems and a really bad diaper rash. Since we had recently started her on solid foods I thought maybe that was the problem. So last week we stopped feeding her anything other than milk and rice cereal. Still the poo kept coming, but only in the mornings so I almost didn't believe her daycare teachers when they told me she had been going through diapers left and right. So yesterday I took her by the doctor and we found out that she has a horrible ear infection! I was very surprised because 'Libler hadn't once made a peep about having ear problems, in fact I can't remember the last time she cried. So she is on cherry flavored medicine now, and a probiotic, and special diaper cream, and something else...I can't remember. Anyways, we figure that she has a high tolerance for pain, and I guess that comes from having Annie the Amazon as a big sister!

Go Pinks!

Two weekends ago the Salt Lake City Nuetzels (Mark, Piper, Jonah, and Faith) came for a visit. What did we do...can't remember exactly, but I know we did have a good time. Annie and Jonah got along great and both learned a few new games from the other. It did put a strain on their sharing skills once in a while, but overall I think they had a great time, and Faith hung in there too and I'm sure next year she will be more in the mix with the big kids. Here is our attempt to get 4 kids all smiling and looking in the same general direction. While they were here we went to an apple cider festival on Saturday. I was sure that Annie would be afraid of half the things there, but she wasn't. She rode the ponies (all by herself) she rode on the barrel train (I was going to ride it with her, but she told me she didn't need me to, she could do it by herself) then she rode on the hanging swing ride (I was sure she wouldn't want to do this on her own, but she did...I guess she doesn't need me anymore). Anyways, I guess you gotta let go sometime. Other than that, one of my favorite moments was a conversation between Annie and Jonah. Jonah told Annie his favorite team is the Browns. Annie told Jonah that her favorite team is the Pinks. Annie is so awesome that I decided to make her a tee-shirt for her favorite team...

Do you know who is running for a State House Seat?

Annie does! Lately she has been figuring out that word in books and on signs mean something. She asks me every so often what a certain sign says, or tells me what she thinks the words are. For example, there is a sign on the corner of the sidewalk by her school. The other day we were walking out to the car and Annie, lolly-gagging as usual, walked the other way towards the sign and asked me what it said.
Me – It says, “come over here”
A – Oh, it says “come over there?”
Me – Yes, now come over here, let’s go home!

Yesterday on the way out of school she walked over to the sign and told me “This sign says Come over there”. She’s got some memory!

Anyways, finally in the car and further down the road we passed some political signs. She saw them and said, “Does that sign say Molly Cullom? Is she running to the State House?” Now this I did not tell her about previously. I wonder if she remembered the lady that knocked on our door last week trying to get us to vote for Molly Cullom, or maybe she is considering a career in politics…she did enjoy the trip we took to D.C. a few years ago.

6 Months!

O-Baby, Baby O is half a year old! Look how cute she is...big ears and all! So what is new with her? She can sit up now, somewhat reliably, she babbles constantly...she has a rock solid grip and in fact has almost ripped my cheek off a few times already (ouch!) She loves to stick out her tongue...loves to smack her lips together to make funny sounds. She is weighing in at close to 16 lbs and I can tell is gaining more every week. And following in the foot steps of big sister Annie...head circumference in the 95th percentile!

Here is Annie at 6 months...seems like just a few weeks ago when she was that young, but I can't really remember it either! And yes, that's the same hat...poor 'Liblear doesn't get anything new...

I thought this might happen...

...I just didn't think it would happen so soon! While we were in Ohio on vacation, we had planned on drive to Lake Hope State Park to camp with my sister Andrea and her 2 boys, Luke and Kyle. We got a late start from Lima and got tired in Columbus so we spent the night at a hotel down there. The next morning while walking out to the car, Annie stopped and looked at an inlet that was in the middle of the parking lot. She looked up at Tim and told him that rain came down from the sky, and went into the inlet...the she pointed over at a detention pond and said that the water ended up over there. Ummm...we were flabbergasted! Did someone tell her this or did she figure it all out on her own? I kinda figured she would someday be interested in engineering since that is what both Tim and I do. Tim said he was impressed with Annie's smarts but also disappointed that he spent 4 years in college to learn where water goes after it rains...I'm just disappointed that it appears that she has chosen to go into drainage engineering...couldn't she have picked at least structural engineering? I mean everyone knows water runs downhill...on the other hand, I guess it did take Tim 4 years to figure that out. Just Kidding!

Weekend Wedding and Camping Plus a Major Milestone!

This last weekend we attended Rachelle and Quentin's wedding up in the mountains around Vail. Of course we had to camp that weekend also. Honestly I was a little worried about the weather report. As loyal readers all know we've had a few "issues" with Poppy the camper, I wasn't too thrilled about camping when the weather lady says it could possibly snow. Tim, on the other hand threw caution to the wind (it was either that or shell out a few bills for a hotel room for the weekend!) I loaded about 10 blankets into the camper and some food and off we headed towards Vail on Friday morning. Anyways, cutting to the chase we were behind schedule and got to our campsite with enough time to get dressed and to find out that the camper had blown a fuse...heater not working! I was thinking to myself - Great, we just pulled a 2000 lb dressing room all the way to Vail. There was no way I or the girls were going to stay there that night without heat. Not to worry, a few switch a roos and we are out hot water but in with the warm furnace.

The wedding was great fun...great food, warm heat lamps...excellent cupcakes. In fact it was so fun that a local Moose decided to get a closer look. He came up to dine on the marsh grass that grew in the lake just a few 100 ft away from the wedding. Annie was pretty excited about that and I thought she would never want to come back in, until I told her that the dance was starting. She can never say no to an opportunity to run around like a crazy baby, so we went in to enjoy the rest of the evening in relative warmth. By the way, here is one of my favorite moments...Jeff dancing with Baby O and singing a totally inappropriate song to her...

The whole evening was capped off with a glorious sunset and a much welcomed ride back to our campsite by the nice shuttle driver.

Back at our camper I was thoroughly relieved to find that the heater was working great, I even woke up later that evening thinking it was too hot, but I was too tired to get out of bed to turn it off. Even better than the warm camper, and the best part of the whole night...Baby O sat up all by herself! Look at her...what a cutie pie!

The next morning we woke up to the wonderful melody of Blue barking at the Moose who was munching on some breakfast at the creek that was back from our camp spot. Tim ran out and saw him, but by the time we got Annie and I out of the camper he had headed for higher ground. We decided to get up and see if there were any more up by the lake but none were found. Instead we saw a fine mist rising up from the lake...pretty cool! Kinda makes you want to get up early every time you camp out in the mountains! After not finding any Moose, we hiked up a trail for a bit, got tired and hungry and went back for brunch. Since the weather was so nice, we thought about staying for another night, but I had not packed any food or clothes for Sunday. We spent the rest of the afternoon lounging and playing with the girls. Olivia and I took a nice nap together only to be woken up by a herd of people who thought our campsite was a parking lot. I'm not joking...I woke up thinking I was in a dream. Some man was yelling for someone else in Spanish not more that 10 feet from our camper. I got up to take a peek outside and saw 5 cars parked there. We were practically in the middle of the wilderness...couldn't they find there own place! Oh well...people...what can you do? Anyways, we had a great weekend, and only one minor problem with Poppy...I think he is finally warming up to us! Maybe our next trip will be smooth sailing (not!).

If you'd like to see more photos from our weekend...click here...

http://picasaweb.google.com/ReyneeandTim

A post I started a few weeks ago about our trip to Ohio...but neglected to post...

We just flew back in from Ohio...and boy are my arms tired! Seriously, my arms are tired...Olivia fell asleep about 20 minutes into the flight and it wasn't very comfortable to hold her that long. I was afraid to move because I wanted her to stay asleep! I think we all ended up catching a few zzz's on the flight back to Denver. When we left Ohio is was 97 degrees and horribly humid...Denver was a sweet 75...breezy and wonderful!

Anyways, I can't remember exactly what we did while on our trip but here are some photos (in the next post) of a few things we did in no particular order, but chronologically arranged.

Random Photos from Ohio!

Annie, Luke and Kyle wrestling Uncle Tony in the basement.

Here we are at the Shawnee High School Football game...where the Indians thoroughly whooped on Kenton with a K. (as opposed to Canton with a C). Annie was pretty excited to see the marching bands at halftime...I say they weren't as good or as big as when I was in the band...she was also pretty excited about the 2 for a quarter suckers at the concession stand.

Two fatties at Cousin Mayme's wedding, I mean Uncle Justin and Unkle John, fighting over the rights to dance with Nana during the mother-son dance, which was followed by the father-son dance, then the sister-second cousin dance, then the bartender-busboy...etc, etc.

Annie breaking free from the sand at Lake Hope State Park...apparently there are places to camp at in Ohio. We spent a few days there with Aunt Andrea and company, and then Grandma and Grandpa Nuetzel joined in the fun for one night. We went for a hike one day and found 2 box turtles...cool!

The Life of a Fish...or Two...or Four

While we were on our vacation in Ohio 2 of Annie's fish, Flick and Flack, kicked the bucket. Okay, I made up those names, but I feel bad that we didn't name them in the first place. Anyways, our friend Amanda was house-sitting for us when one day Flick (or it may have been Flack) was found belly up. Apparently Flack couldn't live without his dear friend because he decided to part ways with the fish tank the next day. Honestly, I was surprised that they lasted this long...with Annie overfeeding them, and playing with the tank water...I mean we only bought the fish that were on sale for 99 cents or less...I really didn't think they would survive much past Valentines Day. Amanda felt bad so she took a photo of the departed and headed to the pet store to replace them. Well, those 2 fish took a one way ride down the toilet the next day. Anyways, we've been back from vacation for about a week and Annie just realized the other day that the population at the fish tank has been cut in half. I told her that Flick and Flack went to live with Amanda and she seemed okay with that answer and would occasionally tell me that the fish went to live somewhere else, but then yesterday she told me that we should get the fish back from Panda - I'm not sure if she remembered Amanda or thought a Panda had the fish (we had just watched a cartoon about a panda). Tonight Tim was on the phone with someone trying to get our Tivo to work again and Annie insisted that she had to talk to the repair man about getting her fish back from Panda. When Tim told her no, she couldn't talk to the man, she told Tim, "Okay, you tell him the fish are living with Panda." It is kinda amusing...I'm wondering if we should get some more fish to replace F & F, or just hold out a bit longer to see how many more comments about the fish she has.

That's My Baby!

Here is Olivia, all dressed up for her 5 month photos. We took them at the greenbelt down the street. Of course Annie had to take some photos for me (unfortunately they didn't make the cut to be published on our blog). So what is new with Olivia this month? She's a rolling machine! If you lay her down on a blanket she is not there for long. She'll roll towards anything than catches her eye and then proceeds to stuff whatever she found directly into her mouth. She talks and babbles a lot, and just discovered the joys of banging toys around to make loud noises. She is getting better at sitting up if she is supported with a boppy. She is getting more and more spoiled each day and will throw a fit if things are not going the way she wants them too. Lucky for me she still sleeps through the night like a baby (a good baby)! Annie is absolutely in love with her and babies her constantly. It is really cool to see how tender Annie is with Olivia and how she gives kisses and hugs. I love the fact that Annie will always drop everything to run and get a fresh diaper for me, or get a new toy for Olivia if she thinks she needs one.

Future Olympian...or Future Clutz?

The other day we were watching the Olympics and they had a human interest story about a Chinese acrobatic school for orphans. They showed each kid do a back bend one after another. Annie got excited about it and exclaimed "I can do dat!". She got up, put two legs on the couch and one arm on the other couch and proceeded to support herself with one arm on the ground. I was pretty impressed by her feat of strength, but I had to give it a 3 (mainly because it really wasn't technically correct form for a back bend and secondly because feats of strength such as that should really be saved for Festivus). Next came Annie's version of the floor exercises which turned out to be a bunch of running in circles with a few jumps mixed in and then a fall to the floor. She was practicing a new move last night...a high starting value dismount from the couch. Unfortunately she didn't stick the landing...she ended up landing on a toy train engine that was (no surprise here) just randomly sitting on the floor, and hurt her foot. So now I think she will have some trouble qualifying for more events...we think she may have twisted her ankle a bit because she says it still hurts her and she is walking a little gimp-ily. There is nothing quite as sad as a 2 year old with a limp (okay, a 1 year old with a limp is sadder - she injured her ankle last summer too)....well forcing orphans to do back bends is pretty sad too, I guess.

Visit from Grandma and Grandpa

Last weekend it poured poured poured rain all day on Saturday...just in time for Grandma and Grandpa's visit to Denver while on the way to Denver to visit the girl's newest cousin Faith. Since it was pretty cold and wet outside we decided to check out the Denver Aquarium....along with the rest of the people that live in Denver. I didn't think that Olivia would get much out of it, but she had a good time, and loved the tanks featuring bright ocean life. Here she is checking out some...not sure what these things are but apparently 5 month olds love them.

Grandpa bought some of the most expensive sardines for Annie to feed to the rays. She wasn't afraid to hold the fish, but when ever a ray would swim by she would pull her hand out of the water. It was fun to watch and I think this photo tells the whole story!

On Sunday, the rain settled down somewhat so we went to check out the Colorado Railroad Museum...and then to Golden for some pizza. Our waiter was possibly from Italy, and offered us appetizers for dessert. The pizza was great and I highly recommend Tony Rigatoni's...so delicious that Annie almost cleaned her whole plate. After lunch we wandered down the street to an art fair, complete with free rides on a little train with a crazy driver who weaved around the streets narrowly missing parked cars and pedestrians. We also took a free ride on a horse drawn carriage. Here is Annie and Grandma talking things over with Doc, the horse.