It's my Birthday!!!

Even though I am getting old, I still love my birthday...some people don't like their birthday , that is definitely not me! My birthday has started out great... Olivia woke up with NO fever, Chad made me a great birthday breakfast, "egg in a basket" ( a egg cooked over easy inside a slice of sourdough bread), and I've already gotten phone calls from my dad and my mom and stepdad. :-)

Here is a link to some interesting facts, events, etc. that have happened on August 21st!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_21

Also, I found some old pics of me and my sister growing up that were kind of cute...

Sick baby :-(

Today I am home with Olivia cuz she has a bad cold, flu, or something that is giving her a temp of 102 degrees or so and a very runny nose... :0( She is a trooper though....she played in the tupperware cupboard while I did dishes this afternoon and we both enjoyed some lentil soup and toast for lunch ( I am not feeling great either...). I think that she is teething too cuz she is drooling like a Pavlov-ian dog. Anyway.. we couldn't do an outing today and since my washing machine is STILL broken ( 3 weeks later)... we couldn't do laundry either. *sigh*.

The one light spot on our day... since she is not feeling great she is constantly taking time out of her busy schedule to run up to me and give me hugs and kisses. Very sweet. I feel a little guilty about liking that part of her illness but she is soooooo lovie today.

xoxoxo

Summer day dreams....

Things on my mind today:

1. It is HOT outside! I went to the beach twice this last weekend..on Friday I took my niece and nephew to Zuma in Malibu and yesterday Chad and I took Olivia to Santa Monica Beach.. the valley is roasting!

2. At this time last year I was 38 weeks pregnant and about to pop...it is so hard to remember what it felt like and so amazing that it has been almost a year since Olivia came into our lives.

3. I need to get milk at the store... oh , and lettuce too. Milk and lettuce, Milk and lettuce...

4. Chad's brother and his wife are returning tonight from Egypt where they spent 10 days on a mission trip for their church. I am SOOOO glad that they will be back. I am excited to hear about their adventures and relieved that they are coming back home safely.

5. My dad in Wisconsin... I miss you pops!!! xoxoxo

6. That I will be 32 years old next week!! Aghhh!! I still feel like a teenager though...young at heart...that's something right?

7. Did I mention it's hot here?

xoxo Melissa

Olivia Month 11

Olivia's 11th month started off with a bang!! Fourth of July was a great way to start the month and she thoroughly enjoyed her first taste of watermelon, BBQ chips, and veggie burgers! She developed some new skills this month: saying " hi" , waving bye-bye, nodding her head "yes" and "no" (mostly "no"!), and of course WALKING!

My dad once told me that once I had a baby that time would cease to exist and that before we knew it she would be 18 years old and out the door..... I totally didn't believe him but now I do. It seems impossible that she is already a little person and that in one month she will have been in our lives for a whole year. Crazy.....xoxoxoxo

She's up... she's mobile!!

Well, it finally happened... Olivia started full-on walking this week.. here's a little video of her walking to Gamma and also saying her new word " hi"!!!

Have you been Simponsized?

My step-dad and mom found this great webisite where you can get simpsonsized... well, here we are as "simpson" characters!!
By-the-way... go see the movie.. it is AWESOME!!!

Trip to Illinois!!!

We took a trip back to Pittsfield, Illinois for Chad's family reunion from July 18th-the 22nd.....we enjoyed visiting with all the Barber, Wilsey, and Aber family members and just enjoyed our time together as a family. We stayed with Chad's grandmother (Olivia's great-grandmother) and visited the nearby sights of Illinois and Missouri. We took a trip down the Mississippi on a riverboat, saw a lot of deer and other critters running through the corn fields, and visited a water park in Grafton, Illinois which happened to be on the banks of the Mississippi River... too cool!! Anyway, it was a nice trip and was over way too soon!!

Olivia Month 10

June was an great month for Olivia. She got to visit with her Grandpa, go to the beach for the first time, visit her friend Bryce in Riverside, and enjoy her new sandbox!

She is pretty close to walking but still prefers to crawl everywhere. We are hoping that she stays in the crawling stage for a while because we are pretty sure that once she is walking our lives will be over....ha!

She now knows the sign for "milk" and "all done". She has 4 new teeth and really enjoys using them to chew on our coffee table... good times!!!

xoxoxoxo

Happy 4th of July!

Our day started with making red, white, and blue sugar cookies!



We took them to a party hosted by some friends of ours who have a huge block party every year and then watch the fireworks from a park next to their house. We stayed for the BBQ but not the fireworks since Olivia would not have made it to 9 pm ... :-)


We played in the yard...
Enjoyed some watermelon...
Then fell asleep on the way home...



It was the perfect way to spend the day! HAPPY 4th of JULY!!!!

States I have visited!!

I've still got a lot to go.....

create your own personalized map of the USA
or check out ourCalifornia travel guide

Major Mommy Guilt!

....so every thursday Olivia spends the day with my dear sister-in-law Jen and her two kids. ( my 5 year old niece Hadley, and my 2 year old nephew K.C.)... well, this morning as I was about to leave their house and head to work ,Olivia, for the first time, started crying and reaching for me as I turned around and walked away. It felt like my heart was about to break into pieces. My only comfort was that I know how much she LOVES Jen and the kids so i knew that after I was out the door ( and she couldn't see me anymore) that she would be o.k. I wish that I could have peeked inside somehow to see that she was smiling again...Jen told me later that she stopped crying almost immediately after I left... Whew... what a relief. Still, I really wanted to be with my baby, not on my way to work... blah.

Anyway, I know all you moms out there can relate and I'm sure that I will get used to it...but man did I have mommy guilt today!

Ok... now I feel better... nothing a little venting couldn't cure. *sigh*.

Playin' some music!!

Olivia usually serenades us daily with many of her musical talents.. here is a sampling of her new favorite activity!

First Father's Day!

Chad celebrated his first Father's day on Sunday! He is such a wonderful "da-da" ( as Olivia calls him)....he interacts with Olivia in a way I never could have imagined... so gentle and sweet. We went to brunch at "The Inn of the Seventh Ray" in Topanga Canyon with our dear friends Jamie and Todd and their little girl Rachel ( 4 months old). The brunch was FANTASTIC with lots of Vegan and Vegetarian food but most importantly the babies were on their best behavior. Olivia really enjoyed the fresh pineapple and the penne pasta. We were seated in a private little gazebo overlooking the entire patio area... what luck! The weather was gorgeous too... very cool and breezy.

We celebrated the rest of the day with some napping in the afternoon and then a nice walk in the evening before putting Olivia to sleep for the night. It was a great day!

A Day at the Beach!

Olivia had her first true "California" day at the beach last Sunday! Since my dad was in town from Wisconsin we decided it would be fun to drive down to Orange County ( about an hour from us) and go to Newport Beach ( one of Chad and my favorite spots). The day was perfect...it started out cool, foggy, and misty and then by noon the sun came out and it was the perfect temperature with a slight breeze. We found a great spot to lay out our towels and put up our umbrella. Olivia didn't know quite what to think at first...she loved squeezing the sand between her fingers and sure enough a couple handfuls ended up in her mouth. (we are still finding sand in her diaper....hee..hee.). She really enjoyed pouring the buckets of COLD ocean water all over herself and laughing... it was such a joy to see her doing something that Chad and I love to do. I'm sure that we will have many more beach trips to come this summer..:-)

A visit with Grandpa!!!

My dad came to visit from Wisconsin last week and Olivia loved playing and spending time with him. We took a bunch of day trips including Olivia's first beach visit to Newport Beach ( I'll blog that next). We spent lots of quality time together and were very sad when he had to head back to the land of cheese. :-( We miss you Grandpa!

Olivia Month 9

Olivia can stand-up! She can crawl! She can fly!... Oh wait.... maybe not that last one.....

With every day, there is a new achievement....so it wouldn't suprise us if she did just take off and fly one day... ha! She is such a good baby and thrills us constantly with her all of her new skills.

She now weighs in at a healthy 20 lbs, is 27 inches tall, and is in the 100% for head circumference....we are convinced the last stat makes her a genuis... :-)

At least that's what we thought until she ate another lint ball off the carpet... *sigh*

Playing with my friends!!

We had our dear friends Robyn and Travis ( with their son Bryce- 14 months) and Jamie and Todd ( with their daughter Rachel-3 1/2 months) over for dinner and dessert on last Saturday evening....Olivia and Bryce played pretty well together ( Rachel is still a bit young, but she'll catch up soon enough)... although Olivia acted like a tease...handing Bryce toys and them putting right back into her mouth. He was such a gentleman, he never protested.
Then later they took a bath and it was hilarious to watch them interact. They were so adorable... mostly Olivia just wanted to stand-up and show me her pink lizard but eventually she figured out that someone else ( Bryce ) was in the tub with her.... then they splashed a bit together... Fun!!