Mmmm, tasty!

My mom forwarded me a great site that I had never visited before called Still Tasty.  You can check the shelf/fridge/freezer life of all sorts of food.  So that ground beef that's been in your freezer for 2 months?  You have 4 months left before you should get rid of it.  What about that feijoa on your counter?  2-3 days or until ripe, a little longer in the fridge.

The site has listings for everything from spelt, to bison, to deer, to alcoholic beverages.  Even goat and chocolate chips.  Check it out if you have questionable items in your kitchen.  I know we all do.  I don't think I need any help with that plain yogurt that's been in the back of my fridge for a while though.  Yuck.

Feijoa, by the way, is also known as pineapple guava.  Who knew?

Pumpkin patch

John's mom was in town a couple of weekends ago so we decided to all go to a pumpkin patch and farm.  I was interested to see how O would react to all the animals and people.  I was not at all surprised to see her reaction to the horses, cows, pigs, goats and chickens.  She LOVED them.  She is such an animal girl.  I turned on Animal Planet last night to try to distract her from her whining and she stopped crying immediately and ran at the sea lion on the screen.  She even loves our stupid cat.  He provides endless entertainment for her.  And that's great for Mom and Dad.

First time meeting a cow - I love that they are looking at each other

She really enjoyed all the pumpkins - of course she tried picking up ones much too big for her

Yeah, she's not his kid at all.

Things have been going well here.   It is finally getting cold here.  We are expecting a high of only about 62 tomorrow!  Break out the winter coats!  Of course, it's supposed to be 80 again by Saturday so it'll be short-lived.  At this point, I'll take what I can get.

Jobs are the same.  Although we just learned yesterday that the Coyotes "owner" Jerry Moyes has agreed to sell the team to the NHL for around $141 million.  He could have gotten $150 mill from Reinsdorf a couple of months ago.  I'll keep my opinion on the guy to myself.  It looks like he and Wayne Gretzky (again, I'll spare you my opinion) will get to split between $9-11 million which I think is hilarious.  So where things go from here remains to be seen.  The NHL is still saying they are looking for a buyer that will keep the team here but who knows what will really happen.

O's hair is starting to get crazy.  She won't leave barrettes in her hair unless she is distracted when I am putting it in and doesn't realize it's there.

I'll leave you with this.  It was posted on a fence at the farm we went to for the pumpkin patch.  I can appreciate the sentiment.

Toddler puke - NOT AT ALL like infant spit-up

John and I learned this first hand yesterday.  I had just been thinking, Man, O hasn't been sick in a long time and I am so glad.  I'd even just called the pediatrician's office to find out when they thought their flu vaccine shipment was going to come in.  When I returned to my desk from a training session there was a missed call on my cell, a message on my desk phone AND an e-mail from John saying "Call me on my cell".  Oh great.

Turns out O had thrown up at her babysitters after she woke up from her nap.  Not once, but twice.  John went and picked her up about 3:30 and she proceeded to vomit in the car as well.  Fabulous.  John lucked out though because it all ended up on her and in her carseat.  Nothing got on his seats, and I really don't know how that happened.  So I stayed at work since he was already with her and told him to give her some water and crackers if she seemed hungry.  He didn't know how she couldn't be with the amount of stuff that come out of her.  Nice, honey. Thanks for that.

She perked up after getting rehydrated and ate the crap out of some crackers.  I, in the meantime, called the pediatrician's office, yet again, to see if they thought I should bring her in.  By this time she was playing and running around like normal.  She didn't have a fever or any other symptoms of being sick.  The dr.'s office said to just keep her hydrated, give her some watered down Gatorade and keep an eye on her.  They said that if she got worse or developed a fever to call.

Well, none of that happened.  She ate dinner, had a bath and was put to bed.  Shortly after John and I went out to his truck to reinstall the car seat that had been thoroughly cleaned.  When I came back in I hear her crying.  It wasn't one of those "I'm just making noise" cries.  It was a real "There's something wrong" cries that all moms learn to interpret (yes, Renee, you'll know what each cry means - I didn't think I'd be able to tell, I mean, a cry is a cry, right?  Nope.).  I walk in and she had thrown up again all over herself and her crib.  Back into the bath we go.  John stripped the bed down to the mattress, pad and all, and put new sheets on. 

Poor thing was shaking and wimpering.  I hate that feeling and it was awful seeing her going through it.  Good news is, though, she hasn't thrown up since!  I worked from home this morning to make sure she was okay.  She had breakfast and a snack while I was with her, with no return visit from the food.  So I took her over to daycare and headed in to work.

Of course then I had to go rinse out the sheet, her pajamas, and everything else.  I almost became the third victim to the puke wave going around (the cat threw up twice yesterday too - ugh). 

I had always heard people say that the vomit gets worse as they get bigger and eat solids but I didn't think it would be too bad.  I'll just say that you could tell every last thing that she had eaten.  And I don't know how her little stomach held so much.  The smell wasn't roses either.  I'm crossing my fingers that this doesn't happen again any time soon.

First Word

It's official.  O's first word was . . . daddy.  Yes, daddy.  Not dada, not mama, but daddy.  I think it's only appropriate because she can be a world-class daddy's girl when she wants something.  She is a great babbler and I was starting to wonder when she would ever come out with that first word and then this past weekend we heard it.  Very exciting!  She will say it for us all the time when we ask her to.  Now, to get her to say mommy.

I realized something as I was writing my post from yesterday.  John and I have spent every wedding anniversary we've had in Arizona.  We've lived almost our entire married life (with the exception of the first 5 months or so) here.  It's a little surprising to think of that.  The time has gone by so fast!  We are definitely ready to spend the next 7 years somewhere else though!

Happy 7th Anniversary!

I just wanted to wish my wonderful husband a very happy 7th wedding anniversary.  It's hard to believe that it was 7 years ago today that these pictures were taken.

That day was one of the happiest in my life.  And one of the most fun!  I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

I love you John!  You are my best friend and I have no doubt the next seven years will be just as wonderful as the first seven.

Austin and more . . .

I went to Austin a couple of weeks ago to do some wedding stuff with my mom and sister. It was a blast. I documented it on the travel blog I co-own with my friend Jenn. Find it here. But here are a few pictures from dinner on Friday night at a restaurant called, appropriately, Olivia. (Awesome, by the way!)

Mom and Danny
Me and Erin, ready to eat

Olivia is a piece of work. I guess that's a nice way of saying it. She had her 15 month shots last week, but we will have to go back for her flu shot soon. They didn't have their shipment in yet. She is into everything and is extremely smart, if I do say so myself. She has her daycare lady and dad figured out, but hopefully not me yet. I don't let her get away with as much. Yes, I will be/am the disciplinarian when it comes to her. Her hair is getting really long and floppy and, combine that with the fact that she won't leave barrettes in her hair (she likes to pull them out and then try to put them back in herself), it seems that it's always falling in her face as you can see below.

My little girl LOVES LOVES LOVES to be outside. She was scared of her sandbox at first but now she can't get enough. I think she likes the cleaning off part just as much because she gets to sit on the sink in the kitchen and play with the water coming out of the spout. Luckily it is finally getting cool enough where we will be able to start going outside in the afternoons and evenings to take walks and play at the park.

She does manage to get sand all over herself, including in her mouth.

I don't know why she just decided to lie down on the floor, but she did. I guess it was nice and cool.

Some of O's favorite things are: toothbrushes (she will gnaw and gnaw on them), yogurt melts (she has figured out how to open the pantry and other doors - not good when you are trying to go to the bathroom), going outside - especially to the front yard, Elvis - she chases him and gives him her bibs to wear, her ladybug and sheep lovies (Ladybug seen in the picture above), anything with buttons and makes noise - especially remote controls or the lock/alarm key fob for the cars, BOOKS! - which I am so happy about, and anything that mom and dad have - doesn't matter what it is. I think she's a pretty typical almost 16-month old.

She had just woken up and, while it's hard to tell, she has a sweet mohawk and kinda looked like Kenickie from Grease. =)

P!NK

Erin and I went and saw P!NK perform about a week and a half ago and she was awesome! It was a great show. And I do mean a show. There were lights, costumes, props, people flying through the air, and slides. Part of the stage shot out into the middle of the crowd on the floor and that is where she emerged from (through trap doors) to start the show with my favorite song, Bad Influence, off her most recent album.Two things I decided while watching was that I want her body. Talk about solid. And I want her hair. I had actually tried to have it cut like hers a while back and it didn't really turn out like I had hoped. I recently decided that I wanted to try to have longish hair again so I am now growing it out, but seeing Pink in concert may have changed my mind. So, my 4 readers, what do you think? Should I go Pink short?

While I enjoyed the performance one thing that bothered me was the song Mr. President. Not because I disagreed with the message but that it was there at all. Why does there always have to be some political statement made? What made it even more out of place was the fact that the song was directed to G.W. who isn't even in office anymore. I just don't get it. I don't want to hear an artist's political views, whether I agree or not, when I go to be entertained. Just sing your songs.

I know that I am terribly behind on getting updates of O up here. I plan on doing another post this weekend if at all possible. We had O's 15 month check-up last week and she is 32 inches (88th percentile) and 27 lb. 11.5 oz (95th percentile). Her weight has leveled off a bit so I think she may start going down in the percentile rankings. But she is happy and healthy so I am not that worried about it. I just wish she would start saying actual words! I will get more pictures up soon.

As far as John and I we are the same. Really. There is not much happening with us, jobs or otherwise. There still is no decision from the bankruptcy judge as to who won the auction, or if there actually was a winner. Gretzky resigned last week, finally, and the team has a new real-life coach. They open the season on the 3rd with their home opener on the 10th. We are looking forward to being there for the white-out that's planned. They will definitely be playing here for this year so the staff is getting to work making sure everything runs as it always has.

A budget still hasn't passed for the State and it's getting very frustrating. They have actually asked all agencies to do proposals for what would happen should they need to do a 15% decrease or a 20% decrease. I don't know what that means for me. Nothing as of right now, but who knows. I do know a bill was passed a couple of weeks ago that will require all agencies to reduce positions by 5%, effective immediately, to be completed by February. Keep your fingers crossed that it's not me!

Don't show John!

First, I just wanted to say Happy 28th Birthday to Erin and Happy 35th Anniversary to my parents. Both were yesterday. We love you guys!

John will have my head if he sees what shirt Olivia is wearing in these pictures. Danny got it for her for her birthday and I finally put it on her last night to sleep in (while John was at his softball games - I knew he wouldn't see it). He hates the University of Texas and was dead-set against her putting it on even once. Too late. I hope he'll forgive me. I got some cute pictures last night of O and me that I wanted to put up. I haven't put up pictures in a long time so I figured an update was needed.

I love her big blue eyes!

Chillaxin' before bed in her Barbie papasan chair

O is doing great. She is about 14 1/2 months and is all over the place. Walking, trying to run, babbling up a storm, squealing. Sometimes she is extremely loud and we all know where she gets that. Definitely not from John's side. Her hair is starting to get pretty long but also super crazy. It sticks out, hangs in her eyes, and easily gets food in it. It doesn't help that she likes to put her hands in her hair when she's eating too.

Stuck in her book basket - she wasn't happy shortly after this picture was taken

John and I are doing well too. Still waiting to hear about all the Coyotes stuff. The next important days are September 2 and September 10. Hopefully there won't be another delay. I am headed to Austing September 11-14 to do wedding stuff with my sister and my mom. I'm so excited! Dress shopping, visiting the reception site, etc. I don't know yet if O and John are going to come with me but I'm hoping they do. It'll be nice to get away from PHX for a while but John doesn't want to be gone if something happens with the Coyotes.

Also, we are having a margarita night on the 29th! A great group of friends has been assembled for the night. We have Margaritaville margarita mix in regular and mango flavors. Yum. Also, we have the tequila ready to go, and a new blender. We're planning on tacos/fajitas for dinner. Who else wants to come?!

Shopping for me? What's that?

I did a little shopping yesterday and realized how much fun it was and how much I missed shopping for myself. I had actually gone in the store to get O some sandals and ended up finding something for myself. Something that I didn't NEED. I can't remember the last time that I did that. Shopping has taken on a whole different meaning for me now that O is here. It's not about what I want anymore. It's about what she needs (or what will look cutest on her). John got me a gift card to Old Navy for my birthday and said I could use it with one stipulation: that I spend every last cent of it on me. I promised I would do that but it's not going to be easy. I love getting O stuff, and let's be honest, she looks much better in her clothes than I do and that makes it easier. I'd rather she have the cool clothes, shoes and accessories. I don't mind shopping at Goodwill for myself as long as she has what she needs and wants.

That being said, I LOVE MY NEW SHOES! I don't know the last time that I bought shoes just because I wanted to. But I am so glad that I did. Here they are:

I can wear them with a lot of things because they are a neutral color and will work with skirts, jeans or walking shorts. I am wearing them at work today and they're awesome. Everyone needs to go right out to Payless and get some.

Other than the excitement over new shoes we're still hanging in around here. Last week the bankruptcy judge opened up the Coyotes' auction to bidders looking to relocate the team as well as those wanting to keep the team here in AZ. That makes it all a whole new ball game. On September 2 the judge is supposed to rule on whether Balsillie's bid will be considered since the NHL owners have already voted to not accept him as a team owner. Right now he has the highest bid at $212.5 million. The next closest is $148 million and that's the Reinsdorf group's bid. It's fairly interesting to follow but it's also incredibly frustrating and stressful. Just figure it out already! Is the team going to be moving or not? Is John going to have a job or not? Seriously, how much longer can this go on!? As of right now, September 10th at least.

Delay

So the sale of the Coyotes has been pushed back to September 10. Great. Now John gets to sit around for another month waiting to hear what is going to happen. And, to make things even better, Reinsdorf's group (the only real legit offer) is threatening to pull their bid because some confidential information was leaked and has been all over the media. Ugh. John might actually have a chance of keeping his job if Reinsdorf takes over. I think all the other options will involve a relocation. So more waiting for us on that front.

We moved Olivia to a new day care last week. It is the in-home place I blogged about earlier. We really like it so far, and so does O as far as we can tell. Those of you who know me and my family (well, my mom anyway) well will appreciate the following story that the woman who watches O told me last week. Olivia LOVES animals and the woman has 2 cats and a dog along with other barnyard animals. Apparently one of the cats, Wolfie, comes in a lot and hangs out and O just thinks that is the best. So she goes after Wolfie and squeals, screams and laughs at him. One day last week as this was happening the woman's son says, "She's loud." Yes, O has gotten my voice, and my mom's voice. We call it our "gymnasium voice". We hear it all the time at home now too and it can do some damage to the ears if she gets super high-pitched. We're going to have to watch the screaming in the future. =)

On another note, O has her third tooth! Yes, it is only her third, at 14 months. It's her top front tooth on the left side. You can't really see it yet, but you can definitely feel it. I am so glad she is finally getting more!

Also, congrats to my dad who is now officially retired! For the second time! Yay Dad! You deserve it!