How do I love thee...let Annie count the ways

The other night I was snuggling in bed with Annie, which Tim hates but I love to do it. Anyways, we're snuggling away and Annie starts telling me how much she loves me. Here is her little speech, as best as I can remember.

"Mommy, I just love this family. I love you and I love Daddy, and Bailey, and Olivia. I love you all day, and I love you at night, and I love you at school and when you are at work. I just love you. I love you Mommy, when your old and fat."

WHAT? Actually I think I might have heard that last part wrong, she was rolling over while she said it and then seconds later she yelled at me, "Mommy...rub my back!"

First casualty of the summer

Poor Annie - I got a call from daycare yesterday letting me know that Annie's eyelid was red and swollen and that Annie kept rubbing it and they suspected that Annie wouldn't be able to open it up when she woke up from her nap! So Momma called the doctor and the doctor said...bring her in. Then he told me that it looked like a bug bite. She had another bite on her shoulder that was swollen up too. Poor girl! They told me to give her benedryl and apply a cold compress, but it would probably get worse before it gets better. She looks like Rocky during the fight scene with the Russian guy....but without all the blood.

Girls Night Out in the Backyard

So it was Ladies Night last night in the backyard. I didn't realize this until 9:45. Annie has been talking about going camping for the last couple of weeks and Tim thought it would be a great idea if he and Annie pitched the tent and camped out in the back yard. I thought it was a great idea too...I could put Olivia to bed and Tim and Annie would be bonding in the back yard...I could lounge away the night watching Lifetime(not!) movies. I actually ended up watching a Futurama movie...all was going well, I was raiding the snack cabinet and sipping beers...and then Annie walked into the living room, and I start shoving fruit snack wrappers into the cushions in an attempt to hide the evidence from Annie.

Me: Where's Daddy?
Annie: I don't know...what are you watching?

Since it's an animated movie, of course she thinks it should be a good one for her to watch. There was only about 5 minutes left so we snuggled on the couch until it was over and then out to the tent to see if Daddy was still out there.

Me: Daddy, are you missing someone?
Tim: Sawing logs.

Annie refuses to go to bed unless I lay in the tent with them. I figure, whatever...the movie is over, it's already 9:45, she should fall asleep in no time. 60 minutes later, she is still messing around with her sleeping bag, adjusting the lantern, asking random questions like "Mommy, why do people have birthday parties at the swimming pool?" I'm guessing birthday parties are a pretty big deal for a three year old. That's about all she talks about lately. Her birthday is coming up "tomorrow and a lot of days" according to her, and she is always going over who is invited and who cannot come, etc...Every once in a while I asked her if she wanted to come in and sleep inside with me, but no she really wants to sleep in the tent. A while later I hear Olivia crying upstairs so I tell Annie I'm going to check on her and I will be back. Fingers crossed, I think she'll probably be asleep before she realizes I'm actually curled up in my own bed. So I curl myself into my own bed and about 30 minutes later I hear Tim and Annie coming in, Annie is losing it, crying all over the place. Apparently she really wanted me to sleep outside with her. At this point I don't care, I guess I was destined to sleep in the tent. So, yeah. Tim's grand plan, didn't end up so grand for me. Honestly I never realized how noisy our neighborhood is in the evening. Cars driving by all night, airplanes narrowly avoiding a crash in our back yard, wind chimes! You know, I love those wind chimes, but not at 3:15am. So, I'm a little tired today. Let's hope Annie will hit the sack early tonight.

We went all the way to Ohio and all we got was 27 bug bites, poison ivy, and a farmers tan.

Well, just kidding about the poison ivy, kinda! Olivia did grab a hand full of that stuff, but I rushed her into the bathroom and washed her hands real good. Anyways, Ohio! Yes, we flew out of Denver to Ohio two weeks ago, but it feels more like last year. Olivia got tired during the last part of the flight and was kinda cranky for about 30 minutes and some rude lady kept staring at me. I gave her the evil eye...didn't do much to get her to turn around though. So we start our approach to land and honestly, I'm a very nervous flyer. I can't remember when I starting being a nervous flyer but I can say that within the last 6 years or so, I've been run over by the shadows of airplanes flying overhead about 27 times. Of course I take this as a sign that I'm destined to get crushed by one some day, or it could just be that we live about 2 miles from a little commuter airport. So anyways, I'm getting nervous...Annie's sitting next to me saying things like "Oh, were going down now!" Of course being a freak, I take that to mean that Annie is somewhat psychic and we are in fact going down. I casually prompt her to say that we are going down but...we will be landing safely, right? She agrees to this and we continue on...going down, everythings okay....kinda bumpy...touching down any second...going back up? What's going on! We shouldn't be going back up! Okay, all hell breaks loose (in my mind that is). I'm quite certain that Annie's first prediction was correct and we are in fact going down....in flames...no landing gear...big crash. Well, obviously, we didn't crash, this time. The plane circled around, in what I can only describe as a death circle, and finally landed. I gave the pilot the second evil eye of the trip as we left the plane...I don't think he noticed.



On to Lima! So one of the reasons we are in Ohio was to celebrate my Grandpa's 90th birthday. I can't imagine what it is like to be 90! He seems like he is in great shape, and still pretty sharp too. Annie sang happy birthday to him, I think he liked it.



We spent the rest of the weekend hanging around Nana and Papa's house, paddling around the pond, watching a momma duck trying to get her eggs to hatch, making a mess out of Nana's house, the usual stuff. Monday afternoon Tim headed back to Denver and left me alone with Olivia - scared of everyone except her nephews and me, and Annie - the little demon...so needless to say, I wouldn't call it a vacation for me. I did manage to ditch the girls one evening and go shopping, but didn't end up finding anything for myself that I liked. One day we went to a rummage sale with Nana and our soon to be cousin Lily. That sale can be described with one word only...totally awesome (okay, two words). They gave you a shopping bag when you walked in and for the low price of one dollar, you could leave that sale with everything you could possibly stuff into that bag. It got a little tense at times between Annie and Lily, seeing as they both like things that are either shiny or pink, but in the end they both took home quite a nice haul. Annie kept asking me if she could have some little stuffed animal, or Christmas ornament, or whatever. I said "Who cares! It's only a dollar!" Ha, jokes on me...that dollar turned into $15 dollars after we couldn't fit all our treasures into our suitcase and had to fork out the dough for another one on the way home.

Did I mention that I had the pleasure of sharing a room with Annie? Did I mention that she snores louder than anything? Something tells me that it's not normal for a 3 year old to snore like that. Someone remind me to ask her pediatrician about that.


By the second weekend, I was pretty much going crazy being stuck with our two little angels...thankfully, Olivia was finally warming up to everyone else. On Sunday we had Bonnie's bridal shower. Annie and I got there early to help set up and make food, etc. Unfortunately Annie saw the pool and really, really wanted to go, really. Poor girl, lucky for her Uncle Tony agreed to drive over and take her swimming for a while. I guess Tony was so excited to be there for her that he jumped into the pool with both his cell phone and wallet still in his pocket! After their swim Annie came back in while the shower was in full swing. Of course she had no interest in being there and decided to drive me up the wall. Thankfully, my cousin Jenny (the blog's biggest fan!) offered to take her over to the park. They apparently had a great time and found the most awesome baby rocks for us to being back to Denver...don't tell Annie, but they never made it back home...in fact we almost didn't make it back home either! We were running late to catch our flight but finally made it...no thanks to the security guard who had to do a test on Olivia's milk. I was a little bit worried about flying alone with the girls, but everything was fine and we only had to try landing once this time!

I did it!

So Saturday afternoon, it dawned on me that I would have to wake up around 4am in order to get to the race in time to start my leg of the relay....panic set in as I searched for different ways to get downtown without having to wake up at the crack of dawn. Eventually Tim volunteered that if I drove myself down there, he would get up early and get the girls ready in the morning and meet me at the finish of my leg and drive me back to my car. Yes! Now I get to sleep in until 5! I put Annie to bed and told her I had to get some things together for my race. She told me that I would run fast, and she wanted me to win so that I would get the Golden Trophy! I told her, yes, I probably would win. So, at 4:30 the stupid loud mouth birds start chirping away, and of course I'm up and can't get back to sleep. Anyways, long story short..I wake up, get dressed, quick breakfast, drive downtown and park a couple blocks from the starting point, walk to start, wonder what I'm supposed to do, decide to stretch a bit, wait around, stretch some more, look around for people I know, start getting nervous, how does this relay transition work? There are about 100 standing around in random stretching poses, and then finally the first runner arrives! Everyone rushes up to the fence, numbers are being called out, it's all very exciting, maybe I should stretch a bit more....I have to go potty! Getting nervous now, and I can't hear any of the numbers they are calling...finally I see my girl, she hands off the timer do-dad and I'm off! Like the wind! For a block I'm running with the pack, I'm excited! This is fun! Then one more block further and I'm falling behind but I seem to be keeping up with some lady in blue who looks like she should be a really fast runner...I'm confused as to why she is running so slow, then she starts walking...could it be true? I'm finally passing someone! Sweet, a bridge expansion joint. 2 minutes later, lady in blue is back and she passes me...darn! Ok still chugging along, why did I agree to do this? I'm never doing this again. Hey, I'm about to pass lady in blue, I rock! Another bridge expansion joint...Running, running...oh shoot, here comes a hill, oh shoot, lady in blue is back, what the? Made it up the hill and stomp on the mile marker, almost done(not). Random homeless guy watching me run...this part of Colfax is pretty run down and depressing...what am I doing out here, and why did Tim tell me to wear pants? Daydreaming about the last 5k I did in the 8th grade, wonder ehat my time was back then...I'm hot...need a drink, oh that's convenient, here's the Gatorade stand. Might as well walk so I don't drip Gatorade down my long sleeve shirt (thanks Tim). Ok, back to running, lady in blue is back...this is getting irritating! I gotta be half way there by now, right? Oh God, Brother's BBQ...the smell makes me feel kinda nauseous...run! Yes, passed Lady in Blue...oh no, there she goes again...oh wait she 's walking again? Cell phone's ringing, Tim must be here somewhere. Crossing guard tries to encourage lady in blue...she says she already finished her 10k leg and is going to the end of 5k leg to meet friends...now it's all clear, she is just there to aggravate me...she takes off even faster...Hey, I see the girls and Tim! Run faster legs (we can't, we're short and out of shape) oh, shut up! Annie is cheering for me, I'm encouraged! Olivia sees me, she wants to be out of the stroller and in my arms, poor baby...Tim decides to make me feel even slower by walking the stroller next to me... a marathoner (I assume he is the winner) runs the other way, crap! He ran 17 miles in the time it took our team to run 8? Thanks buddy...I see the finish! Running, running, running...hold Olivia's hand so she will stop crying...running...running...I'm done! And that is pretty much how it went. Annie asked me where my trophy was...I told her they were going to mail it to me and it would arrive in 6-8 weeks...and it better!

Have I posted this already?

Well, if I have posted this already, I can't remember, but I was just trying to get my photos organized and Olivia looks so darn cute that I had to put it on here. This is her "official" 1 year old portrait. We took it on the back patio and I had to practically lock Annie in the house just so she would stop trying to take the picture herself. You know she got a camera for Christmas, but apparently it isn't good enough for her, she really prefers mine, as do I, so it gets kinda tense between the two of us sometimes. Anyways, back to Olivia looking cute...awe Bav!

In other news, I just finished my final run before the big race on Sunday. I'm feeling pretty good about my abilities...much better than my first run when I barely made it around the block. I have to say that I could be getting more support from my "coaches" (Tim and the girls) and my running buddy Bailey also. He almost made me fall hard today. He got distracted by a random gutter tennis ball and stopped right in front of me. Disaster averted! As far as Tim goes - I once returned from a run that I thought was pretty challenging. He asked me where I went and after I described it he was all, "Oh great job! That's pretty good!". Then a few minutes later he asks, "now which block were you talking about?" When I told him and he realized that I hadn't run as far as he originally thought, he says "Oh, well I guess that is okay too". Tim! You should have kept that to yourself! And the girls...girls, girls, girls...or should I say Annie. I have taken the girls out running with me twice. And it is hard work to run with a stroller! So the first time I took them, I got not even 5 minutes away from the house and the following conversation starts:
Annie: Momma, can we start running now?
Me: (out of breath) I am running, I don't run as fast as Dada.
Annie: But I want to run.
Me: I am running! See, this is me running....and now I going to start walking so you can tell the difference.
Me to myself: (Oh, there isn't much difference between me running and me walking.)
So we start running again...and 5 minutes later...
Annie: Momma, can we start running now?
Me: &*(*8!@

So yes, I am a slooooooooow runner and Annie apparently feels the need to rub it in. In fact the second time I took the girls out we had just about the same conversation over again. But whatever Annie, I could totally beat you in any race... it's on! (like donkey kong)

Funny 'cause it's true

Well, I guess it was bound to happen. Yesterday was really nice and Baskin Robins was giving out 31 cent cones. Since we like bargains, we all headed over there after dinner to enjoy some ice cream. Olivia got a scoop of strawberry in a cone and ate the whole thing by herself, even finished before Annie did! After the ice cream we headed back home and spent some time in the back yard. I was chatting with Tim about something or other and looked over at Olivia…she was holding something in each hand. I wasn’t sure what it was….she raised one hand to her mouth…at that point I realized what it was…and then the world started moving in slow motion…I yelled out Ohhh-liiiiiv-eeee-aaaaa, Nooooo! And ran over there and shook her arms and two lumps of crusty old dried out dog do-do dropped to the grass. Now, if the poo actually made it into her mouth, I can’t say. We pried open her jaws and saw no residue so I don’t know…it’s still gross! I sanitized her hands and we decided to get on with the poop tester the vet gave us a few months back. From what I’ve read online (apparently this happens more than you would think) she should be fine. I am starting to wonder about her taste in food though. Last Sunday, we were out working in the garden and Annie found her little friends (the worms) again. She tried to bring them inside, I told her to put them back outside…she put them on the back porch step, where Olivia found them, and then Tim found them in Olivia's mouth. I’m starting to think we should enter her in some baby Fear Factor competition. What could they make her eat that is worse than worms and dog poo?

Oh yes, and to end on a positive note - Olivia said her first real word yesterday - "Bye-bye"