She's officially mobile!

We've been seeing the signs for a few weeks now, but here it is on video!! She's a mover and a shaker!! The video is of her crawling, well, hopping, but since I took it on Saturday (9/5/09) morning, I have seen her do a hand/knee crawl with no belly flop. She was seven months old on Wednesday, and she is also pulling up on whatever she can latch on to. I just watched her pull up on the outside of her exersaucer. (Then teeter over and hit the floor, but she pulled up!)

I will not fall asleep, I will not fall asleep....

Friday night after we got home from Bryant's game, we put Bitty in the bed around 9. We heard her playing around 10, so I went in and found her on her back, laughing and talking to Spots. So, I laid her on her belly. We heard her laughing and playing still, but instead of going in there again, I just decided to go when I heard her stop. I would straighten her out then. Before I went to bed at 11, I went into her room and this is what I found. Sitting up, sound asleep, holding Spots.

Bitty's Got Bling!

For her seven month birthday, I finally convinced Michael to let me pierce Bitty's ears. She only cried for about 30 seconds, because she quickly became enamored with all of the other pretty jewelry hanging on the walls of Claire's...ahhhh, her Dad's ADD mixed with my love of pretty things...

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...