Fighting the good fight!

For several days O has been puttering around the floor. Not crawling fast, but demonstrating the traits of a baby who is about to be on the go. In addition to that, she has been sitting up from a reclining position, and pulling herself up on whatever was around. However, this is the first time that she actually scared me with her acrobatics...



Yesterday, she was (supposed to be) taking a nap, when I heard her playing. Never did I dream she would be standing in her crib! I was freaked out! Well, this is apparently her new favorite thing to do. Tonight, we fought her for a solid hour to get her to lay down and go to sleep. Each time one of us went in, she was either standing or sitting and trying to pull up on a different side of the crib. Lordy, here we go....

A New Day

There are so many things happening so fast...
Olivia is a crawler. In a matter of days, it seems, she is scooting all over the living room. She is no crawling powerhouse, at least not yet, but she is getting there. (As soon as she gets fast enough, there will be video. It sometimes takes her longer than a minute to get moving...)
Olivia is pulling up. On everything. The side of the crib, the bathtub, our legs, whatever. We have to lower the bottom of the crib tomorrow.
Olivia is rolling all over the place. Just last week she could only roll from her belly to her back. Now she flips all over the crib, floor, and changing table.

I had to go back to school this week and leave her again. I did well not crying, well, maybe I did a little, but I am very thankful for those few days before the kids get there, just so I could adjust to not being with her during the day. As tiring as it is taking care of her full time, I miss it so much. She is my heart.

Our babysitter? Her dad. Michael is being a stay-at-home dad and full time college student this semester. When he is in class she will be with my grandmother. He has gotten a pretty good taste of just how tiring being a full-time parent is. I'm thankful for him though. He's doing the cooking and the cleaning too. Such a good man. :)

I'm off to a good start at school. This is the first time I have had to teach Freshmen in four or so years. I think I actually missed it. I really do like my ninth graders. They are still sweet; I hope that I have not just jinxed myself. I have successfully managed to keep my New Year's resolution by dressing professionally and feeling better about myself. And that big fat Premier CZ ring doesn't hurt. One of my students asked me yesterday if it was real...I told him, "Yes." :)

ADD and a labeler...

Her daddy has too much time on his hands. Let's have a contest to see who can come up with the best caption...

My New Year's Resolution

I know most of my posts are about Olivia and family life, but I am taking time this time for just me. Today is my birthday. I am 29. I never in a million years thought this would affect me, but for some strange reason, it has. Not the actual day - I had a great birthday, a cake, presents, friends and fam - the works. But I am sad! I have actually cried several times today, and have no idea why! I don't know if I feel this is the beginning of death of my youth? Ugh, I am such a freak.

HOWEVER -- I feel that I want to embrace this, not fight it. With age, comes wisdom, right? I am adopting a new policy for this year - a resolution, if you will. (BTW-Teachers have their own calendar - August starts our year, not January...) My very good friend, Carrie, is my inspiration for many things - blogging, being positive, not slapping people, etc. At the end of the school year in May, she said that she wanted to start this year dressing more professionally because she thought it would make her feel more positive about her job. I think she is right, so I am doing this too. At the end of my year, I had all but given up on myself. I went to school in baggy clothes, t-shirts, gauchos, and flip flops (not the nice, sandal-y ones - hubbed out ones). I let my weight gain during pregnancy get the best of me - literally. I hid behind whatever I could. Even though I can't wear my pre-pregnancy clothes yet, I do not want to go back to school looking or feeling this way about myself, because the kids pick up on that very quickly. Now, I am not going to be wearing suits or anything - that's just not my personality - but I do want to focus on looking like a teacher, not a college student. So I will be taking my birthday money clothes shopping, and I am sort of excited. Another exciting thing is all of the new jewelry that I will be wearing. Thanks to Carrie, again, I will be sporting new [FREE] Premier jewelry, and I am freaking out excited. Without meaning to sound superficial, I know this will make me sparklier, and with the more professional clothes, will help me to feel better about myself.

SO, here's to the last year of my twenties...they've been fun and I will be VERY sad to see them go, but I am really looking forward to what my future holds...

Fun on the Farm

Last weekend Michael, Olivia, and I went down to Linden to spend the afternoon with Robyn and her family. We had such a good time!! There is just something about flying across an open field on a four wheeler that makes you feel free! And no, I didn't do this with O - we only went about 3mph - if that! She got to see and ride (well, sit on - which is STILL more than I have done) her first horse and fourwheeler. She loved Dixie, when she wasn't trying to reach up her very large nostril! Thank you to the Glass Family for having us on your farm!!

Robyn and Dixie
Dixie tasting Michael

Cowgirl, up!!

I thought she would be scared!

This girl is going to be a tomboy!

New Best Friends!

This week has not proven to be as bad as I thought it would be. I volunteered to puppysit, not one, but two more dogs while my parents and grandmother were on vacation in Gatlinburg. I thought that maybe, just maybe, I had bitten off a bit more than I could chew with these two new dogs, a baby, a husband who sometimes acts like a baby :), and two other BIG dogs. However, it turns out that Olivia LOVES having them around! I think they have become new BFFs. She especially loves Abbie, the Yorkie because she is a bit older and MUCH slower than Sophie, who is somewhat of a spaz, to say the least. Here are some pics of them just hanging out.
Abbie hardly ever left Olivia if she was on the floor. Sophie in a calmer moment...

This took some work and about 87 pictures, but we finally got them BOTH looking at the camera!

Puppy Lovin'

I was very concerned when we found out that we were pregnant how the dogs were going to handle the new baby. For months after she was home, I refused to let the dogs in, mostly because they were shedding like crazy, but also because I didn't know how they would act around her. Little by little, after the shedding slowed, we began letting them in for short periods of time. Olivia loves them! She squeals in delight when she sees them, and if I would let her, would probably crawl all over them. They haven't quite gotten used to her yet, but they are warming up. Sadie enjoys mocking her, or vise versa?