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.

Olivia's first phrase!

I just heard Olivia utter her first words!

"Why Because"

No, I'm not asking why I heard them...those were the words! I swear it to be the truth. Well, okay it was a bunch of baby babbles that from across the room sounded exactly like "why because" but at least now we know she has the capability to say those words with meaning in the future...great!

Happy Bert-day to Kyle!

At least that is what Annie would have said...we forgot to call Kyle (Annie and Olivia's cousin) for his birthday, I really meant to because he is 3 now, and whenever Annie and Kyle talk on the phone it really is pretty funny. Oh well! We also forgot Kyle's brother Luke's birthday (we remembered it, but forgot to call!) So Happy Day to Luke too. At least we didn't forget to call on their mom Andrea's birthday...but we did forget to call to wish her and Eric a happy Anniversary...wait, that's tomorrow...i think...(Happy Anniversary A and E!). And while we are at it..Happy Birthday Dadda! Tomorrow Annie and Olivia's old man turns older...I think 32, but it could be 33. We are celebrating with a chocolate raspberry cake and Mexican fiesta! Aye-yay-yay August is crazy!

Anyways, today Tim and I toured a new daycare that opened up very close to our house. We originally scheduled the appointment without knowing how much tuition was...when we found out a few days ago how much it was going to be, well, I almost fell out of my chair with the giggles (translation...is mucho expensivo). Well, we already had the tour scheduled so we figured we would go just to see what made this place so special...maybe the walls were lined with silver and gold, or the floors overlaid with gummy bears to both cushion and flavor any falls. No, none of those things, but I still loved it! And what the original tuition quote forgot to mention was that the second kid gets 10% off, and the first month is 50% off...so of course being an engineer (with access to excel) I set up a little spreadsheet and figured out that...

1. We could have probably paid for at least 2 years at a decent college with the money we have already spent for daycare.

2. The new school would only cost a few hundred more a year than our current place.

3. We pay a lot of money for daycare.

So we have some deciding to do...I like our current school, but the new one is so new and shiny...

Long time no post...

I know! I don't know what we have been doing to keep me away from posting, but here is a little ditty for ya!

The other day we were getting ready to go to our friend Audrey’s first birthday party. Annie was all ready and itching to go so she headed out to the garage to climb into the truck…then she got distracted by a pile of books that I had just bought at a garage sale that were sitting on the floor of the car. A few seconds later I heard Annie crying in the garage…she had bonked her head on the corner of the car door…ouch! I ran out with Olivia in my arms to try and comfort her. Once Olivia saw that Annie was crying, she started bawling! I’ve never heard her cry like this before. It was almost a scared kind of cry, and it actually took longer to calm Olivia down than it took to get Annie back together. Poor babies! It used to be that Olivia would laugh her head off when Annie started to cry. Apparently she has since learned that it isn’t very nice to laugh at the pain of others. After that Annie walked back out to the truck and bonked her head again…other than that the birthday party was fun!