A December Update

Olivia is doing well but not enjoying the chilly weather today! It was too dark, gloomy and wet to play outside. She was bummed, but Hailee came over to play so that helped.

She started on short sentences a while back but her new favorites are:
* I love you, too.

* More juice please.

* Two lights on (or two candles hot, or two eyes, or two whatever! Two is her favorite number because she can count up to two things rather easily!)
* All done, down please.
* No Mommy, no thank you! (I hear this one more than I would like to.)
* Daddy home soon.

* Go outside, shoes, hat, coat!

* Snack, eat apples, cheese and crackers please!

* Too loud!
* Cassidy puppies night-night?

Yesterday was a beautiful day so we finally got outside and put our Christmas lights up! The inside of the house is all decked out so it was about time the outside was as well! Aaron did a nice job listening to me shout things like, "Up higher!" and "That doesn't look right..." He was pretty nice to me throughout it all, but I think it's just because I'm pregnant and starting to get uncomfortable.

Speaking of the baby -
He has started to kick up a storm! Aaron even felt him yesterday for the first time! I have another appointment on Wednesday to check on the little guy. All is well so far.

We're getting ready to head out next week on what I'm calling the "Crazy Christmas Drive of '06" because I'm actually frightened about the drive home. We have three states to visit and lots to do while home, so I'm sure our time away will be a blur. Many of you have asked and no, we are not bringing the puppies with us; the puppies, cat and fish will all have a "sitter". They are as cute as ever and have not yet opened their eyes but are becoming louder and a little more adventurous. Cassidy is doing an OK job in her new role as Mommy. I'm sure 6 little terrors bugging you 24 hours a day would get to you as well! For now, we're having fun with them.

A Pile of Puppies

"Put me down!"

They're so snuggly!

A close up.

The Big Girl

This is the big female puppy - there are only 2 girls out of them all.
She's the 2nd biggest puppy and was the 3rd born.
She's a sweetie.

Olivia's Christmas Pictures

Christmas pictures of a very uncooperative Olivia Ann.

Getting our Christmas Tree

On the hunt for the perfect tree!

We were hoping for some SNOW to be here when we went to go get our Christmas tree, but as you can see, we have NO SNOW. (Actually, this morning, I saw about 10 flakes on the porch roof when I woke, but they were gone by the time I was done getting ready for the day.) We headed out into the chilly day in search of our perfect tree. The lights are up, the cat is intrigued, the stockings are hung by the chimney with care, the shopping and wrapping are well under way and I'm starting to get into the Christmas spirit! Olivia is even working on her Santa "Ho, Ho, Ho," although it doesn't quite sound right coming from a 25 pound little girl - she does her best.

This is Olivia's way of helping daddy cut down the tree. (I was too busy laughing.)

"What?! I am helping!"

Puppies, Puppies, and MORE Puppies

Yup, we have puppies. 6 of them. 6 little black puppies that look nothing like Cassidy and came from who-knows-where. Yup, 6 of them. Do you want one? Come on, they're cute! Anyone? Anyone? You know how to reach us...

A visit from Uncle Jason

December is just around the corner but you wouldn't know it in New England - no snow at all! It's 54 today already and although I know the cold weather is coming, the snow doesn't seem to want to follow. We'll just have to wait and see.
Uncle Jason, Aaron's brother, came for a Thanksgiving visit last week. Olivia had fun calling him "Silly Gee" and showing off how cranky a tired, hungry baby girl can be. Here are a couple of pictures of Silly Gee reading to Olivia. Unfortunately, our camera is acting up so I didn't get any more pictures of them together. We'll have to take some more at Christmas, which will be here before you know it!

It's a Boy!

We had the ultra sound yesterday and had a really good experience! (Check out where the arrow is pointing in the picture above!) We had both a pediatric cardiologist and a midwife go over the results. The pediatric cardiologist was doing some training taking ultra sounds but really knew his "stuff" and showed us all around our little guy's body. It was really an incredible experience and very reassuring to know that he has all the right parts in all the right places with all the right sizes and dimensions. Olivia went with us but really didn't care what was going on, the snacks Daddy had in her bag were much more interesteing and she was pretty sure Mommy was just going to go "night-night" on the table. She did point to the screen a couple of times and say, "Baby" but we're not sure if she could tell it was an actual baby or if she just knew that's what we were looking at!
I'm starting to feel him every day now. He likes to swim around a lot and kick Mommy when he can!
Everything looks perfect so far...

Football Fun

On Saturday we went to a Dartmouth football game (they actually WON) and Olivia had tons of fun playing in the bleachers and on the track. She got her face painted and really enjoyed the beautiful day outside. It was "Kids' Day" so they had a clown, face painting and a few other activities. Olivia had a green D painted on her face, but she wasn't too excited when it was happening! She did, however, LOVE the clown's big, blue shoes.

Aaron calls this her "Abbey Road" picture.

Olivia sporting her green D, compliments of the clown in the big blue shoes!

IF ONLY MOM WOULD LET ME!

I'm pretty sure this is how Olivia would dress herself if I would let her. Well, she would probably have shoes and a hat on, since she does like to accessorize...

To the Montshire!

It was chilly out yesterday so we headed out to lunch and to the Montshire Museum for a little Sunday fun! Olivia had a great time playing with all the cool toys, looking at the animals (especially the turtles) and playing with Mommy and Daddy.

Carving pumpkins

Olivia had a great time carving pumpkins this year. (She helped to scoop out the pulp.) Her pumpkin had stars and a moon on it. She is obsessed with the moon right now! It's a good thing it's a full moon because she LOVES going outside at night to look at it! She spots moons all the time and lets us know by saying, "Moon Mommy, moon Daddy!" I wish I took a picture of her pumpkin before it got all icky...

She did a great job Trick-or-Treating! It didn't take her long to figure out what was going on and where the candy went. Since she was a doggie for Halloween, we had a dog bowl as her candy dish! It got full of candy for Daddy in no time.

Play Group and Update on Words

The above pictures are of Olivia's Friday playgroup. She has tons of friends there but her favorite little girl is Nora, my friend Jen's youngest. The pictures of her in the blue tunnel are from the first time she went in it. For weeks now she's been so apprehensive about going in, but for some reason, on this particular day, she headed straight for it! She also braved the small trampoline and LOVED it!

She has been busy lately learning TONS of new words and some different body parts (elbow is a new favorite)! I need to compile a new list but here are a few of the most recent additions to her vocabulary:
Balloon, Hailee, Kim, Cow, Duck, Outside, Up Please (or Down Please), Hop on Pop,
Potty, Cookie, Cracker, Knee, Daddy, Mommy, Carrot, Pea, Milk, Kiley,
and we are really trying to get her to say "Trick-or-Treat" but it comes out "TeeTee".

On a walk.
She spotted a HUGE leaf and carried it with her for a bit. Then she got bored with it, and dropped it when she found another, bigger leaf that was worthy of being carried with her. This is when the collecting began. Usually, it's rocks, but this time, leaves were too interesting. She had an entire bouquet by the time the walk was over.
A couple even made it into the car with us and all the way home, safely gripped in her tiny little hands.

Saturday Fun

For Mommy's Birthday, Daddy took us to the Children's Museum of Portsmouth, NH on Saturday. It was a great day to go and avoid the rain! They had Trick-or-Treating, costumes to try on, Dracula up in the rainy attic, and a Wacky Scientist. Olivia had so much fun playing and made Mommy and Daddy tired from chasing her around all the fun activities.

Here are a few pictures of our day:

Playing with the big Thomas the Train table upstairs.

"Olivia the Paleontologist" - we couldn't get her out of the sand!

"Olivia the Astronaut"!

I have no idea what this is called but Olivia LOVED it!

Pumpkin Festival

We went to the Keene Pumpkin Festival in New Hampshire today and Olivia was in the costume parade! She had so much fun looking at all the costumes and trying some yummy food. She was all tuckered out though, and we didn't get to stay for the lighting of all those pumpkins. I put on a picture from last year's Festival so you can see what they look like when they are all lit up! Getting ready to join the parade.

A puppy with sunglasses? Why not?!
(With Daddy at the start of the parade.)

Checking out some pumpkins.

A "Wall of Pumpkins" (from last year).

Waiting for cookies is hard to do!

A visit with Nana and PawPaw

Olivia enjoyed a weekend visit with Nana and PawPaw from Indiana.
We got our Halloween pumpkins, did some shopping, had some yummy food, visited a farm and got some new toys for a very busy little girl.
Here are a few pictures of our visit: At the pumpkin patch,

Opening presents with Nana.

Olivia hangs out with the men while Mommy and Nana shop in Woodstock.

Walking around Keene, NH