pumpkin patch

monday night we took olivia to the pumpkin patch. i thought it would mostly be a quick little stop where i could get some obligatory pictures, but boy was i wrong. apparently olivia has learned about the pumpkin patch from somewhere. (maybe the dora halloween episode she's watched about 14 times?) as soon as we got out of the car she was trying to get down saying, "yeah! yeah! yeah!" so we put her down and off she went. she wanted nothing to do with us and refused to let us get any sort of decent picture. but it was fun seeing her have so much fun. even though she might have been sweating to death. apparently 87 degrees at 7pm is not a good time to force your child into a sweater. she was a good sport. pretty sure she was bugged that all she got were 2 tiny 50 cent pumpkins instead of the monster ones she was trying to pick up out in the field. doesn't her face in the carseat shots say it all?

sunday fun

adam had a few things to do right after church on sunday and we were in one car that day (someone t-boned adam on friday--for another post) so olivia and i were waiting for him. here's what she found to entertain herself. who knows where her shoes are and please note her addiction to the binky. good times on sunday afternoon with 8 year olds in the gym. we are so reverent.

nigh-night mama, nigh-night

so, many of you may already know about olivia's walking dilemma. here's a rundown if not:

i'd say she probably took her "first steps" at least 2 months ago. since then she's had spurts of days where she is all about it, then days where she reverts 100% back to crawling. for the past month, she's probably walked 30% of the time. for the past 2 weeks specifically, she's probably walked like 60% of the time. and the past 2 days? she's up to like 90%. so i think we're on the home stretch here at 15 freaking months. yeah. i was a little panicked about it but the doctor told me she is otherwise developmentally totally fine and that some kids simply see crawling as the faster way for longer than other kids. she could tell i was a little worried i think because she asked me to say all of the words olivia uses (i counted 10) and she said the average 15 month old has 3. hm. don't know about that. whatever. anyway, i'm just glad my 26 pounder is finally seeing the joy that is walking. because i'm pretty sure i can't carry her much longer.

anyway, lamenting about the anti-walker is not the point of this post. with her new found freedom, she is obsessed with walking around stores. inconvenient stores like pier 1 and old navy. but, i just let her, because she's pretty good at just cruising around touching all the clothes and she is too big to wrestle into the stroller at my current size. today at old navy she was toddling along just fine and apparently she got a little tired, because i turned around to find this:

i knew it was nap time, but apparently she needed to remind me.

68 degrees!

you might think olivia is smiling so big in these shots because she loves the swings. true, but i think she's smiling because we are finally at the park and NOT sweating!

we've had two park days in the past 72 hours that have been basically heat free. we are a happy family.

in other news, see below to find out what happens when you leave your lunch in your child's reach when you go downstairs for 10 seconds......

delish, mom! please note this is after she REFUSED to eat her own lunch.

halloween 2009

binky + dora = mom can try on earrings for olivia's pirate halloween costume AND take a picture without so much as a blink. how do they look?? i figure i can get her fully dressed (eye patch, head scarf and all) this way on halloween and maybe have a better chance of getting one good picture before she starts ripping the costume off her body and into shreds. sounds like a good plan to me! it's all for the pictures anyway, right?

read all about it

1- three cheers for adam who got out of a $545 ticket yesterday. no, i'm not married to a criminal. he swerved around a car who slammed on the breaks for a stopping bus so 1- adam consequently did not stop for the bus (big fine) and 2- he was "following too closely" if he had to swerve around the car in front of him (another big fine). leave it to adam to leave a 14 minute conversation with a cop in jokes with NO ticket.

2- the orlando heat and how much i am hating it right now is being overshadowed by some lovely new arrivals. 2 H&Ms and a nordstrom rack... none of which we currently have... all in the next couple weeks! could be trouble.

3- did you know you can text 911 now? well, only in iowa so far. i've always wondered why this hasn't happened sooner. i heard about it on the radio this morning and they said it should be making its way around the country soon. but don't worry, not before 911 call center employees get lessons on "texting lingo" so they can accurately and appropriately address problems. kind of funny. l8r sk8rs.

summer, summer GO AWAY

i can't believe i'm typing those words...but i think pregnancy + a cooped up toddler = cooler weather, please. you can't really tell in this picture, but olivia is about as red as a tomato at the park in this shot. not right for october, people!! and don't even get me started on being pregnant in this heat. anyway.

i guess i am also anxious to have the outdoors as an option in my life since olivia....get ready for it... is now only taking 1 nap a day. waaaaaaaaaaaah. i knew this day was going to come, and it finally has. i guess she is still on the fence and has occasionally taken 2 in the past week or so, but we're definitely wrapping that up. she did sleep from 12-3:30 today though, so i guess i can't complain. at least it's a LONG "one nap," right?

#20 (had to look that up)

so when i came on to post, i had every intention of linking up to an oh-so-similar post from last year. but, i guess i never posted it?? here's what you should've read about last june.....

in short: adam spots shaq in his huge bus parking in a discrete parking lot at the mall. i think he's nuts and go in to some stores while adam decides to go back to bloomingdales (where he thinks mr. famous has parked) and check it out. they had a run-in just as shaq was coming in bloomingdales and adam turned on his papparazzi switch. just imagine that there is like no one else in bloomingdales except shaq and his kids and what probably looks like a photographer. needless to say i was glad i had stayed in PB kids while adam did this embarrassing deed. shaq was surprisingly not very nice and these are the only pics adam got. i think there actually might be one more with shaq staring in to the camera like he's going to kill adam but i can't find that one?

later adam followed him in to the mac store where shaq picked up like 6 laptops for the slew of kids that were with him. can i get one?

so, now. back to present day.

we're at ikea last night and i see what seems like a pretty tall black guy talking in french on a cell phone. but seriously? we're in ikea. he could be a tourist for all i know. i don't think much of it. but, leave it to adam to practically have the cart up on two wheels (with olivia in tow) just when he hears the voice. as soon as he connects it to the body (apparently that of mickael pietrus from the orlando magic), he starts practically running after him saying, "let me get a picture!!"

i think my face like froze and turned bright red. luckily he had gotten off the phone so i didn't feel any MORE awkward as i was fumbling in my purse trying to find my stupid camera so adam didn't have a heart attack when we had to let this celeb slip out of our reach. i couldn't find it in the sea of diapers and string cheese and binkies so i had to take it on my phone. luckily 20 minutes later when we were leaving ikea, i found the camera with one reach into my bag. haha. anyway, this guy was really nice and made magic small talk with adam.

i always thought i'd be someone who wouldn't miss out on the chance to take a picture with some celeb they really liked...but after observing this twice with adam and his NBA loves, i'm not so sure i would have the guts.

maybe i should also add that we were pulling out of the parking lot when adam sees mickael leaving with his purchases. adam rolls down the window and half joking says, "hey do you need some help?" apparently the humor did not translate to our friend the frenchman because i think he totally thought adam was serious and was half expecting him to say, "can i get your phone number too? want to have a sleepover?" he just told adam no thanks and we drove off.

seriously maybe the embarrassment won't make it through to you via the blog but hopefully you get a good laugh. i sure did. and on the way home adam made a good point. aren't i glad that i'm married to someone who is not afraid to do these embarrassing things and make me laugh? definitely got a real life LOL.

the BFFs. clearly blackberry does not realize that EXTREMELY important photos might be taken on their phones because this is not such a great shot. olivia does not understand what all the excitement is about, obviously. it did take me like 5 minutes to get her to stop looking up at this new friend that was hovering over her. lol.