Lay-offs - Round 2

Ding ding! Round 2 of our lay-offs are over and, once again, I made it through. Thank goodness! There are no guarantees that there won't be anymore lay-offs in the future, but for now my group is okay. Phew!

John and I are looking into finding a new day care for Olivia. The cost is just killing us, and I've been seeing an ad for a woman with an in-home daycare for a couple of months now, in several different places. It finally clicked with me that something is telling me to contact this woman. So I did, and I think she is great. Olivia and I went over to meet her last week, and John is going to meet her on Friday. I was ready to say yes, but John is still concerned about safety and all of that since the home daycares that aren't affiliated with the AZ Department of Economic Security aren't really regulated. But I've talked to 3 references (one of which was a family law attorney who joked that she and her husband say that this woman raises their kids better than they do!) and I felt comfortable while I was there. They are within a mile of our house, have land with grass (!), and have 2 cats, 1 dog, goats, chickens and ducks. It's like a farm. O would love it. So we'll see what John thinks on Friday. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Olivia's Walking!

Here is a video from the day care of Olivia walking for the first time. She is still being shy about it at home for some reason, but she'll get it. She will take a few steps if John and I are sitting on the floor and she can walk between us, but she still hasn't taken off on her own like she does here.

This is what happens when dads try to dress their daughters

Well, this is what happens in our house. I had laid out an outfit for O to wear on Tuesday. John takes her to day care that day so I don't see her in the morning to dress her. This is what I laid out. It has pastel butterflies on the skirt, and some pink socks. John called me at work and said that she wasn't wearing what I put out for her. When I asked why he just said "She has a huge head". So apparently her head wouldn't fit through the top of the onesie and he got out another onesie. I just said that we'd use another shirt with it tomorrow and he said "Oh, she's still wearing the skirt. She may not match though." Sure enough, I show up to pick her up and this is what I see. Still wearing the pink socks, no less.I know it could have been much worse than a primary colored heart onesie paired with a pastel butterfly skirt and pastel pink socks, but it still made me laugh. This is the same guy who paired pink striped socks with a blue and brown outfit. I'll give him some slack though, those pink stripes are pretty light so he may not have been able to see them.

Just everyday stuff

First, I just want to say congrats to Renee and Travis on their pregnancy. Little Rogers is on the way and I am so excited for them. Renee, I hope you've read my past posts so you know what is in store. Of course, I won't sugar-coat anything for you so send me your questions!

Jenn made O a hooded blanket and I finally remembered to send her some pictures. Here are a couple of the better ones. It's getting difficult to get a good non-blurry picture of a 13 month old.

Yes, this is her smile for the camera. I don't know why she scrunches her nose like that.

She is very good at getting food in her hair. Somehow she ended up with a yogurt melt and some broccoli up there. I used to not have to wash her hair more than twice a week. Now, it's almost every day.

O had her first taste of a sugar free kool-aid like drink and she loved it! But also got it all over her. She looks like a demon child in this picture but really she is smiling her crazy smile again.

Aunt Erin got O a bathing suit and a hippo pool for her birthday and the next pictures will tell you kind of how she feels about the pool.

Don't feel bad Erin! We're working on it. I think she's just a little frightened of the hippo head at the top of the pool. She wasn't a huge fan of it deflated either. We'll try again another time.

Our fourth of July was a nice one. We went over to Kyle, Andi and Landon's house for a bbq with them and their friends Shawna and Aaron and their son (who live in The Woodlands - small world!). We had a really great time hanging out and watching tv. No fireworks for us though. Olivia was asleep before they really got started. Hopefully one year we'll live somewhere where it is actually comfortable to go outside on the 4th and enjoy the fireworks. It's not so much fun when it's 105 out.

We also took Olivia to the mall for the first time (and to try on bridesmaid dresses for Erin's wedding - both she and John were SO excited to do that). She had a great time in the pet shop and loved laughing at the dogs play fighting with each other. Of course she enjoyed watching all the people around but got tired of sitting in her stroller so we left because dad was not about to carry around a 26 pounder the rest of the afternoon.

O had gotten an adorable 4th of July outfit from my Aunt Robin and Uncle Andy. It's a bit big on her but she wore it anyway. How cute!

These last pictures are from the Coyotes first open house which was a huge success! The city really came out to support the team and keeping it here in Phoenix. The auction for the bidders interested in keeping the team in Arizona is on August 5. Hopefully there will be a new owner soon after and decisions will be made as to cuts, jobs, etc. We're keeping our fingers crossed that things work out the way we hope that they will.

Working, but for how long?

It's a little frustrating living in the state of Arizona to say the least. Especially now. Most of you know how I feel about the people here, and about living here. Not a fan, to say the least. It's even more frustrating to work for State government when you have elected officials who can't find a way to work together to come to an agreement on a budget that was due two days ago and has now been extended to a special session starting Monday. A government shutdown almost came to fruition yesterday because these people can't sack up, put their pride aside, and stop acting like 4 year olds. A little harsh? I don't think so. Apparently the Senate locked the doors to their room so that the Governor couldn't get in to veto their budget. You tell me that I'm being harsh when grown men and women are acting like children. I was almost forced to take unpaid time off yesterday because of these people. I can't afford that! I want, and need, to work! We may be forced into having a tax increase because of these people. Somehow the great State of Arizona went from having a significant surplus at the end of FY 2006 to having a $2 billion deficit now at the end of FY 2009. How does this happen? I don't have the answer, obviously, and the government doesn't have an answer either. Things just seem to keep getting worse. The only thing we have to be thankful for is that we are not as bad off as California. But we could get there if these people don't get their heads out of - I won't go there, but you know what I'm saying. Thank you very much to Department of Homeland Security director Janet Napolitano who left her Arizona governership and the state in the crapper. Much appreciated. And with the way Barry Obama is going the country may be in the same situation.

Wow, anyway. I'm off my soapbox. I don't have a political nature so I don't know where that all came from!

On a lighter note, here are some pictures from Olivia's first birthday party day. We have very few family pictures. We really need to work on that. I had a mousepad made for John out of the first picture for Father's Day.

No big plans for the 4th of July weekend. We hope all of you out there have a very happy and safe holiday weekend. Have fun and enjoy the fireworks!