A Year Gone...A New One Starting!

It is so hard to believe a whole year has come and gone since Olive was born. I will admit, the infant stage was NOT my favorite. The lack of sleep, the constant demands, the hormones...I am relieved it is behind us, even though the stages ahead will surely be more challenging!

Why didn't anyone tell me one year olds are so much fun?? Olive has the best sense of humor! She actually plays jokes on us now, it's such a hoot. And, I don't want to brag, but she IS a genius. She likes to take pencils from my purse, and then she will find paper and draw pictures. She also "types" on the computer. Clearly, she is advanced.

Her birthday party was a grand affair, attended by over 40 friends, family and neighbors. We worked for days to prepare the food, a lavish taco bar with grilled meats and all the fixins. We spent hours on the decorations, we cleaned for days. I thought it was perfect until a neighbor girl came to me and asked in her squeaky little voice, "Where's the kid drinks?"

yep, I totally forgot to offer children's drinks. Oh I didn't forget the margaritas! But there was no kool-aid to be found. I improvised and mixed up some Crystal Light peach tea. I justified it in my mind that it is actually BETTER than kool aid as it had no sugar!

The best part of the party is Olive received tons of BOOKS. I am looking forward to the happy memories they will provide Olive, as soon as she is old enough to not eat the pages.

Check out flickr for the latest pictures. I just uploaded some really cute ones, but you have to be a contact of mine to see them, as I don't want random strangers seeing nekkid pictures of my bebe.

Oh boy, here comes trouble

Guess who's walking? Wait, let me modify that....Guess who's running? As with everything Olive does, she didn't start off slowly. Her first steps were running starts. She can walk a mile holding our hands now, and every day becomes more sure on her feet. By her birthday party she will be training for a marathon!

Summer is going way too fast. Our new garage is framed out and will soon be done. Then the retaining wall work will begin! In the meantime Olive is going to a new "school" and is having so much fun with the big kids! She may be moved into the toddler room early because she's so "active." That's our girl!

We hope to see everyone at Olive's birthday party on August 16th! We are busy planning a mexican fiesta (and cupcakes).

xoxo

Aint She a Peach??

Every day she looks completely different...Olive has an old soul, I am sure of it. She looks at us and I just feel like she knows exactly what's going on, exactly who she is, and where she's going. I don't think I am going to be able to keep up with her...




Oh hey, did we tell you about our hail storm? It was crazy!


Those are PILES of hail outside Matt and Jolie's house. Not hail covering a pile of something else...piles of pure hail. CRAZY! Luckily our cars were relatively unscathed.

Love Letter to Auntie and Uncle

I hope no one minds indulging me in a bit of sentimentality today...

I was sitting on the front lawn with Olive, Jolie and Leah the other day, and the mailman came walking up with a box addressed to Miss Olive. Of course we couldn't wait to go inside to open it! Inside was the cutest hooded jacket and a jumper for Olive from our favorite Elmhurst family, the Husains. It just so happens it was getting a bit chilly, so Olive put the jacket on right away and we snapped a couple of shots:


This was just one in a line of packages and cards that come from the Husain residence, and lately I've been thinking about my Aunt Bini and her role in my life. My fondest childhood memories are of my aunt whisking me away for adventures in Chicago and beyond. We ate exotic foods, visited museums, spent many hours at "the dark place" (the mall), and wiled away days at her adorable house in Oak Park, where I would catch fireflies, pick blackberries in her backyard and run around pretending to be a city kid. My time spent with her was a refuge from my sometimes tumultuous home life. She was also an important connection to my mother, who lived so far away.

Then along came Uncle Itrat, with his funny mustache and funnier laugh. From the very start he treated me like his own flesh and blood, introduced me to wonderful food and people, and put up with me through my bratty teen years and never once judged. Together Bini and Itrat had two wonderful children who have grown up into wonderful adults, each as caring and kind as their parents!

I am writing this because I am just awful at letting people know how much I love them, and I am touched each and every time a package arrives, or a card, or an email inquiring about Olive's latest adventures. Bini and Itrat have been a huge part of my life and so many of my good memories involve them. They have been more than "just" and Aunt and Uncle, and they continue to be more to Olive and I feel so grateful to have them in my life.

So, thank you.

And our first word is...

Yesterday I was in the living room with Olive, and Hannah was whining at the back door to go outside. She'd been outside just a moment before, so I knew she was just trying to lure me back there to throw the frisbee for her. I tried to ignore her barks and whines, but finally grew impatient and called sternly,"Hannah!!"
"Annah" a tiny voice chirped back at me. No! I thought...there's no way she just said her first word.

"Hannah" I said again.

"Annah"

"Hannah!"

"Hah na"

Since then she has said it 3 more times, each time parroting back when we say Hannah first. It figures her first word wouldn't be mama or daddy, but the word used most in our house. We say Hannah about 1000 times a day, usually followed by "No!"

Along with talking, walking seems imminent. Olive now pulls herself up to standing easily, and is starting to pull such daredevil maneuvers as taking both hands off the table at once. This is usually followed by a crash to the ground, but she is also learning how to balance quickly. I'm very, very scared of the walking phase.

Mother's Day was very nice. We had a beautiful day. I got to sleep in! Then we went to Costco and bought some nice steaks, and Andrew prepared them using an America's Test Kitchen preparation, which involves heating them in a low oven until they reach about 100 degrees, then quick-searing them on the grill. Best steaks he ever made!

We've visited the test studio at Lifetouch twice to have photos taken. Supposedly we have prints coming, but I didn't get them in time to send to Grandmas for mother's day, so I'm feeling a little let down about it. We did manage to get some of the photos on disk though, so we will probably just make some prints ourselves.

As unbelievable as it may seem, I am already planning Olive's first birthday party! Save the date for August 16th and get your ticket to Minneapolis. She is growing up so fast!

Spring in Minnesota

Yep, this picture was taken on Monday. The day before we had taken a nice long walk with the dogs in the sun, looking forward to the emergence of Spring, then Minnesota knocked us back into reality with an all-day snowfall. This is now melted though, leaving us with a gaping mudpit where our backyard once existed.

We had a fun, if too short, Easter visit to Chicago. Olive got to see Aunt Bini, Uncle Itrat, and cousins Joey and Amber. They took some adorable pictures (see our flickr page here). She also got to meet her Auntie Kata from Hungary. Forgive me if I misspelled her name!

We are at the awesome baby phase right now. I am convinced this is the exact age when parents look at each other and say, "don't you ALWAYS want to have a baby around???" Olive is just the cutest little bug. She is happy and curious and active and willful. She will eat anything I put in front of her (and anything I accidentally leave within her reach). She is kind-of crawling, but prefers to roll, and she's very good at it! She has also learned how to pull herself up in her crib, so her mattress had to be lowered and her sweet vintage circus mobile has been packed away. The babyproofing has begun!

There have been lots of changes here lately. Andrew started a new job as the help desk supervisor, so he is in town almost all the time now! We are very excited about that. I am starting my part time job share at Ameriprise next week, so I will have more time to post. We are looking forward to a nice summer spent with Jolie, Leah and Joseph at the park and wading pool.

Be sure to check out our flickr page for more photos!

Late Update

I'm sorry we've been MIA and haven't had an update in a while! On Valentine's Day we left for our first family vacation together to Las Vegas! We met Grandma Jackie there, and us gals hit the outlet malls while daddy won big ($300!) in a poker tournament!

Since that trip we have all played a round robin game of pass-the-flu. It started out as stomach flu, and has morphed into head colds for us all. Add to that the emergence of Olive's first teeth (top and bottom!!) and it has generally been a miserable time around here, and I just can't WAIT for the first signs of spring.

So far Olive is an indiscriminate eater, and I hope she stays that way! She will happily eat anything we put in front of her, and I can't think of anything she has rejected yet. We discovered she LOVES ice cream in Las Vegas. We went to our favorite chocolate shop, Vosges, and each got a scoop of ice cream. I got the Naga, which is a combination of curry and coconut. On a whim I let Olive taste it to see if it would appeal to her. Well, she grabbed the cone right out of my hand and shoved her face into it, lapping up as much as she could before I could take it away from her. I guess she likes ice cream!

Pictures WILL come soon, as soon as daddy figures out how to get them off the video camera.