predictions

so maybe i am getting a little anxious about whether this baby will be a boy or a girl. at first, adam was telling me to cool it with my need for it to be a girl. i was envisioning the cutest girls' room you've ever seen and it only makes sense since they will be like 5 minutes apart, right? i'm kind of over that now and i've been seeing lots of cute boy babies that make me realize that would be fun too. so i'm not sure what i think. with olivia i think we both wanted it to be a girl and kind of always just assumed it was....and it was. 

with olivia i also did that chinese birth calendar thing and i swear it said girl but i just checked it with those pregnancy stats and it said boy. so that was wrong. for this pregnancy it says girl...and i just did that weird pencil test someone told me about and it said girl also. even though i'm pretty sure if i do it later in a different room it will probably say boy. whatever. a few more weeks and i'll know. just funny to wonder and imagine what olivia's little partner in crime (or worst enemy) will be....i bought her a baby doll at target the other day and she made nice with it and patted its back and hugged it for like 5 minutes and then she just pretended it was a phone. everything is a phone. sometimes she just puts her hand up to her ear and shrieks, "yeah?? dada???!" 

birthday neglect

so you would think i'd be more on top of posting about olivia's birthday. i just couldn't get around to sorting through my photos i guess. anyway, here they are. we had a little family party (plus a few elite friends) for her the day after her birthday and although we were pushing it close to bedtime with our bbq birthday bash, she held up pretty well. 

opening her present from us the night of her real birthday. she knew a little too well how to rip right into it.

 

trying to get a shot of her in her party dress. she was not in to it.

b-day girl with the girls in my family

cousin coleman drowning out some of the noise

loving her 1st birthday song!

testing out her little personal cake....

coleman deciding the rainbow cake must be up for grabs!

getting crazy!! (after being transferred to the kitchen for mess control.) i don't even think she thought it was food. more like play dough or something.

wrapped in a towel to go take a mid-party bath

refreshed and ready to open presents. pretty bows from her cousins!

taking a nap on her new blanket

having cousin coleman "read" to her from her new olivia book.

 

party's over! needless to say, she passed out the second i put her in her crib. happy birthday little baby who's not really a baby! you are the cutest and the funniest and the smartest! we love you.

no title idea for this one

so apparently all i'll be wanting/needing/getting for christmas this year is one of these....

and another one of these.....

and lots more of these.

surprise. due in january. we are over the shock now and happy to share it with the blogworld. PS sorry to all those i've lied to recently. why is it when you're trying to avoid a certain topic, it comes up constantly??! 

the waiting game

sometimes when we know adam is on the way home, olivia likes to wait outside for him. she goes crazy when she sees his car pull up. we gave it a whirl in her new chair the other day but only lasted about 3 minutes before the mosquitoes found us. 

hurry up, dad!!!

and maybe this is just me convincing myself, but adam and i both cracked up at this video because we think it sounds like she's saying "are you there?!" it's what we always say to her when we're pretend talking on her many toy phones.

what we've been up to.....

yes, i'm still here. the past couple weeks have been busy and pretty fun, yet somehow we don't have that many pictures. olivia and i spent 4 days at the beach (adam couldn't go so we had fun for him) and we had a 4th of july bbq at the house. here is a taste of what some of it looked like! sorry for the olivia overload. i realized during my 4 days of single parenthood, it's hard to take pictures (let alone be in them) when you are chasing a little baby who thinks she can walk and swim.  yes, i know i will laugh at this statement when i have more than one child.

apparently vacation means wake up way too early every single day. we were up by 6ish. not cool. 

whimpering by the door. little puppy wants to go outside.

 

striking a pose

enough with the pics, let's go swim!

little swimmer girl loves the pool (as you can see, we are finally hitting the motherload with the teeth. she only had the 2 bottom ones for so long! now those top 2 are all the way in, and she has 4 more coming along nicely as well.)

thinking she is real fancy standing up in the pool (with a fake smile)

 

getting good at the juice box on the 4th!

not loving the post-pig tail hair do. cruella deville anyone?

looking like a 2 year old eating pretzels and reading books at grandma's

little fishy

so thanks to the hot tip from my cousin shelly, i found this little get up at the wal-mart for olivia. it makes me a bit nervous because it makes her think even more than before that she knows how to swim, but she seemed to notice the difference between when she had it on and when she didn't. so swimming lessons are in the near future, but for now it is hilarious to see her jump right in and swim off! she took a few gulps (maybe about a gallon or two :)) of water before getting the hang of things. don't mind her random friend in the pool cheering her on. she was loving playing with olivia but asked me a few times, "does she understand people?" apparently she was looking for more conversation....(ps this video is from my phone...sorry about the quality.)

here we are trying it on in wal-mart last night :)

dinnertime

i made this for the second time last night so i thought i'd share. i think it's pretty good. bonus to last night: olivia tried it and loved it! her sample turned in to like 10 bites. so far i don't think she's found anything she doesn't like. she also had salmon last week. girl loves to eat! 

chicken curry in a hurry

1 1/2 T olive oil

1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced

3/4 c heavy cream

1/2 c plain yogurt

2 t curry (i probably use a little more)

1 rotisserie chicken (obviously you could use any shredded chicken, but it's nice that these are already flavorful)

1 (14.5 oz) can of diced tomatoes, drained (optional-- i leave these out)

white or brown rice, as much you want to make

salt/pepper to taste

heat oil over medium heat, add onions and cook for about 7 minutes. sprinkle with curry powder and cook for another minute or so. 

add the yogurt and cream and simmer gently for 3 minutes. stir in the s&p and tomatoes (if using). remove from heat.

toss shredded chicken in mixture and serve over rice!