Blowing Kisses, Pics and FLIPBOOK

Just a quick photo flipbook of our evening tonight. This was a 5 minute span after a bath. I just sat back and took pictures.

FLIPBOOK

I know I sound like every other mother when I talk about the newest little trick my child has learned, and proclaim it to be the cutest thing yet! I think this is though. Blowing Kisses. I tried to capture it on video, but didn't do a very good job because it is dark in the house. Olivia started blowing kisses because it looks similar to "thank you" in sign language. She would hand me things, and I'd sign, "thank you." She would laugh and try to do it back, but it looked like she was blowing kisses. Well, it was so darn cute, I let it go, and now when you tell her bye-bye, she'll wave and then tell you "thank you." Ha ha! She now thinks it's hilarious for me to catch the kisses.






Lastly, here are some quick pictures of December happenings because I know I won't post for a while due to Christmas.

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"Baby Mack, are you ready for your "Aunties?"

I had the pleasure of hosting a baby shower for one of my very best friends this weekend! Melanie is due mid-January, and it just seems like it's gone by so fast...then again, I'm not the pregnant one. :-) It was made so much more special too because so many of our friends could be there. It was like a mini college reunion, but without those people you don't want to see. Melanie looks so beautiful, and seems like she's never been happier...even if she says swelling is starting to kick in.

Click here for pictures of the shower



In other fun news, Olivia is getting her 2nd tooth. This would be a happy occasion since it means there are actually teeth in there, but she might be one of the world's most pitiful teethers. Then again, she's never done this before, so hopefully she'll catch on before the molars! The funny thing about the tooth monster (as I've been calling her), is that it makes us appreciate the 10 minutes a day she is happy and silly. Here, I caught a few minutes of happy time on Sunday.

At the shower, my friend Ashley commented that it looks like Neil and I have so much fun with Olivia. It's true. Nothing is as entertaining as your child. I mean, c'mon look at this monkey.

Thanksgiving and Everyday Fun

It's been a while since the last post, and I have no good reason for this other than it was a holiday. Thanksgiving was busy while we bounced around from place to place, but there is nothing like family at the holidays.

Click here for pictures of Thanksgiving.

Now for everyday fun. We love to take mini videos just around the house, and I highly recommend anyone with a baby to get a little camera to take mini vids. (Much easier to upload) The newest funny of Olivia is her fake laugh. Generally it is a squeaky silly high pitch giggle that mocks you if you laugh first. However, last week, it took a strange turn...see video below.




We also like to think we teach Olivia something new every day. This day it was a premium dance lesson from Mommy...





Lastly, tonight we had a kitchen sink bath. It's just so much easier sometimes (on your back mainly) and it also saves a lot of water. :-) Please don't look around the horribly messy kitchen. That doesn't get cleaned up until after Olivia goes to bed. Anyways, she's going through a fussy spell at the beginning because she's cutting her 2nd tooth...that's right, 2nd! Ha ha ha. So I quickly distract her with an amazing cup and the trusty shaky jaw.





After the bath, I dried Olivia off while she lay in front of the fire resting her head on a pillow watching GoDiegoGo. I then rubbed/massaged her with lotion, greased her bottom, combed her hair and put on a fresh pair of pj's. I gave her her bedtime bottle only to have her ditch me for her "big girl" chair. (Notice the leisurely crossed feet) One day she'll tell me thank you...I hope.



PS - Thank you Mom. I love you. Meena, I know Neil says the same.

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Cruisin' on my Hog

For her birthday Olivia received her first riding toy from "Meema." True to form, Olivia is completely serious; however, now will not sit still to ride unless she is being nearly thrown off the thing. Here is Neil going at the right speed for her while she cruises confidently on her hog. Notice how she starts to get mad when he stops.





At one of the first pit stops, she waves to her fan base...the ever attentive Bennigan.






Just another Saturday afternoon at the racetrack.

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O

Birthday Pics

Okay, so here are pictures of Olivia's first birthday party. I won't bore anyone with drawn out details of how hard yet awesome it was to see her turn one, or how much life has changed in the past year, or how I never knew I could love her like I do. Let's just let it suffice to say, I wouldn't have changed anything, and am so glad she consumes my every emotion. Amazing. Happy Birthday LoveBug.

Olivia's First Birthday Pictures

(www.LoriJacksonPhotography.com)

Humpy Gator

Olivia's Birthday was on the 3rd, and we had her party on the 8th. I'm loading up pictures of it now, but thought I would share one of her favorites from the day. All toys seem to thrill Olivia, but this one has Neil and I rolling. We affectionately call him "Humpy Gator." Look close and you'll see why. Our friend Kim Salyer is to thank!

Halloween!

It was a fun night out with our Friends Kim and Zach and their kids Daniel and Zoe. Olivia had fun running around in the street, and thankfully Kim has a very child friendly neighborhood.

Here are more pictures from Halloween. More Olivia Birthday pics to come!

http://www2.snapfish.com/share/p=76291226283889180/l=448015231/g=37860802/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Pictures

Okay, I know I've been bad at not posting any links to pictures lately, especially with Halloween under our belts. We're trying to get ready for Olivia's birthday party, and just this week turned our office (the most cluttered room in the house) into a playroom. Our internet was down for days due to Time Warner Cable deciding you can only have internet connection on one cable outlet. Anyway, here is a link to pictures from the past month. I will post some Halloween ones as soon as I get them uploaded!

CLICK HERE FOR NEW PICS/VIDEOS

Squeaker Sneakers

It's so funny how many opinions you have about being a parent before you are one. I didn't understand those "crazy" mom's who put leashes on their kids, or wouldn't be with their child every second of every day...who needs babyproofing, you'll be right there! Then there comes being a parent, and you'd better throw out any opinions you had before because chances are you're going to break every imaginary rule you had, and praise the awesome ideas other mom's came up with like the leashes, or my latest discovery, "Squeaker Sneakers." Reality is that mom's aren't there holding their kid's hand every second, and once your baby is walking, it makes it really hard to keep up with them. Olivia's been walking well for about two weeks now. I turn around for one second and she's GONE! There is always an adrenaline rush for the two seconds it takes to find her, but I hate it. In come the sneakers, example #1. See video below...




The motto is, "Let your ears be your eyes!" So true. Just another quick laugh at myself and the mom I am, is how anything is open to being a toy, as long as it keeps Olivia occupied instead of breaking picture frames, opening cabinets, banging stuff on the glass coffee table. Example #2:

Paternity Test

One of the best things about spreading your DNA is getting to pick out what feature(s) you think your child will have of yours or your spouse. My family joked for years about how Tiffany would have this prissy little girl, and we would have the bully of a boy, blah blah. Caroline, though girly, is very tough and wild (in the best way!) When it came to me though, I KNEW I was having a boy. If for some strange reason it was a girl, we knew she would look just like me, be wild, have dark curly hair, be a chunky monkey, and such. God has a sense of humor. In the delivery room Neil said, "Okay, Bird, one last guess." I immediately responded, "it's a boy, I've known it from day one...95% sure." Instead, when the doctor pulled her out, Neil said, "It's a girl...and she looks just like ME!!!" He was thrilled, and of course I was too because Neil was a rather pretty little boy. Ha ha ha!

Now that almost a year has passed, I have once again come to the realization that God laughs at me, or with me probably. Instead of the rough and tumble, laughing wild child I was, God has given me one of the most cautious, timid, reserved, makes-you-work-your-butt-off-for-a-smile (or give you the death stare) babies I've ever seen. Then to make matters even more hysterical, she is the spitting image of Neil. The blonde hair (he was blonde as a youngster himself), the wide smile, the long monkey toes, the skinny legs, even their sneezes are the same! I keep looking at Olivia and thinking I will see some of myself in her, and some people say they can see it. Then today, Meena sent me the picture below of Neil at about a year old...nevermind. :-)

*Just to clarify too, I don't think Neil's hair was curly in this picture. I think he was sweating in his sleep just like he does now, and yep, you guessed it...just like Olivia does!!!

I guess the moral of the story is that you never know what you're going to get, but whatever it is will be EXACTLY what you didn't know you needed. At the risk of soundy like a hokey mom, life has just begun now that she's in it. I hope all of God's surprises are this good.

Note to self...

Note to self...

Never make a dental appointment for the morning if you plan on coming back to work. This is especially important if you work with a bunch of a-holes who would take a picture of you laughing during a lunch meeting after said appointment. I made the mistake of not covering my face as I laughed. I would only share this picture because number one, it is now posted in other places on the internet so the gig is up, and number two, I would have done the same thing to one of them. Enjoy.





The caption is based on the following SNL skit that has been the greatest stress reliever at work, yes, we are adults:
The Lawrence Welk Show

How Does this Work?

So, this is apparently the new rage as I have many friends with Blogs now. I'm not really sure how to do it, but it's got to be easier than Facebook or MySpace. I've recently deleted both accounts, so I'm going to try this now. We don't really do much of anything exciting, but I'll try to keep things updated still.


Our most recent dilemma is how to spell Olivia's nickname. It originated after she was born, and I started calling her "Turkey" because it was near Thanksgiving. That morphed into "Turkey Toodle" which then became "Tookie" by accident. None of this makes sense, which is similar to my nickname not making any sense, but at any rate, we call her "Tookie Bird." The dilemma is that we don't know how to spell the shorter nickname we call her which is phonetically "Toook." Well, if you spell it like I want to "Took" that is really just took, like I took your book. But then it looks weird to spell it "Tuke" like Duke, although that's how we say it. This has only recently become a problem because I email Neil something about her, and I never know how to spell it. We rarely call her by her real name, which could be a problem come to think of it.