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!

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!

First time in a pool!

Happy Father's Day a day late! I hope all you dads out there had a wonderful weekend. We had a nice one out here in hot Arizona. The temp has started creaping up for the season and we are all disappointed about it, but we were able to spend a little time outdoors on Saturday at another 1st birthday party. O's friend, Emma, had her party (John and Shawn, Emma's dad, work together and they were at O's party too). They have a pool so I tried taking O in. It was her first time in a pool and she was NOT a fan. I slowly got her further and further in but she didn't want much to do with it at all. We'll try again another time. John and I realized that we should have put her in the swim lessons we've been talking about much earlier. Before she developed fears of anything. Our neighbors have a pool so we'll try there too. She'll get it.
Olivia also got a great gift from the Olsen's. Can you believe that we had not gotten her a glove before this?! She now has one and she really enjoys the ball that came with it. It's softer than a baseball or softball so it bounces really well and she just cracks up at that. Now we just have to wait to find out if she is in fact right-handed.

She's not quite walking on her own yet. I tried to get her to take some steps by herself this weekend and we only got 1/2 a step, but she did stand on her own for a bit so that's a move in the right direction.

First birthday celebrations!

Olivia had a couple of very nice celebrations. Yes, we celebrated Olivia's birthday twice. The first was on her actual birthday with just John and I. She got a chocolate cupcake with cookies 'n cream icing on her actual birthday. It took me having to dip my finger in the icing and stick it in her mouth to get her going, but once she did she didn't stop. The before, during, and after pictures are below.

Olivia also visited the doctor and got her 12 month check-up and shots. I know, I know, on her birthday. Yes, but she reacted poorly to her 6 month shots and I didn't want her not feeling well for her party the following weekend. She ended up being fine, but you never know. She weighed in at 25 lbs 2.5 oz, 30.5" tall, with a head circumference of 18.5". She is in the 95th percentile for weight, 90th for height, and I don't know about her head.

She got some awesome gifts! You have seen the ball hut already, but she got some really neat books, a singing baseball bear (from Aunt Barb), and a great educational light up singing bear from her Granny. Of course she got a ton of clothes (thank you everyone - I can't name you all, there isn't enough room - they will be well used). We really tried to get her to open her gifts but she'd pull the wrapping paper off at about 2 square inches at a time and hand it to John, so we helped her out a bit.With her "Olivia" book, from her daddy

And her singing bear from Aunt Barb (it sings "Take Me Out to the Ballgame")

My mom, sister and brother were able to make it in for Olivia's party on the 13th. It was great that all of them could make it. My brother hadn't seen her since Christmas! My dad, unfortunately, wasn't able to make it. He was flying all over the globe the weeks before and wasn't scheduled to arrive home until June 14th. Seriously, the man was all over - London, Manila (where he called from on O's actual birthday - though it was still the afternoon of June 4th here - he wanted to be the first), Cairo (how cool! - his first time to the continent of Africa), Riyadh, and Bahrain. We just told him he'd have to come out at another time.

My mom took this at bath time. Sorry Olivia! It's just too cute, and it's right before she peed all over the floor. Oh well.

The party was really great. We had a lot of fun. Thank you to everyone that was able to attend. We do appreciate all of you being there for Olivia and for us. We had a nice spread of food and an adorable Curious George cake which I, of course, forgot to get a picture of. We had to sing Happy Birthday 3 times because we forgot the video camera and then Erin messed something up and didn't record the second time, but we got it done. I made the cake that we let Olivia dive into. She was hesitant at first but after I cut off a hunk of it for her she really got into it. Once again, before and afters below. It's hard to tell because it was a yellow cake with cream cheese icing, but it is all over her, including in her hair. She had to take a bath in the middle of her party if that tells you anything.

Here are some more party shots.

Bobcat showing her the ribbon

With her friend Emma (who is 2 weeks younger)

John said she would never wear this shirt (thank you Danny!)

Mom, seriously?