Ready for the New Year

I decided not to bother with new year resolutions. I have my Olivia home and am comfortable and happy. Why mess with a good thing!?
Olivia loved Christmas - new toys, boxes to play in, lots of people all paying attention to her! Our house looks like the toy store exploded in it.
We have our post-adoption home visit coming this month at some point. Time to clean the house.
Right now I'm stressing about how to get Olivia's Social Security number before we file our tax return. Like filing your taxes isn't stressful enough!
I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year!

Here is a picture of Olivia and her cousin Mia at Christmas. The other is Olivia with her dog, Macie.

Christmas is coming . . .

I'm wanting to get a good picture of Olivia for our Christmas cards, so we've been doing photo shoots at home. It's been rough though since Olivia throws a huge fit everytime I put a hat on her head! I did get lucky with a couple though, here they are:

Just Pictures Today

olivia's new shades



bath time couldn't come soon enough!

Houdini

Excited about Obama!

Okay, so this post is not about Olivia, but I am just so excited that our new president is Barak Obama. He won by 4%. I have been a strong supporter of Obama since I first heard of him. I just watched McCain's speech and was touched it. I'm very glad that he pledged his support to Obama and our country. I think he went out honorably.
Now it is time to move forward and make this a better country. I hope that everyone can follow McCain's lead by supporting our new president and banding together to make America great.
Congratulations to Barak Obama!

Halloween

So it's been a few days since Halloween. I'm running a little behind.
For Olivia's first Halloween she dressed as a sunflower. When I got off work we went back in to show off to my co-workers. Then we went to FTIA to the Halloween open house. We couldn't get candy (not old enough yet), but we visited with Amanda and Kathy and other FTIA parents. Olivia played with a little baby boy from Guatemala who is a few months older than her. She chased him around the room.
After FTIA we came back home to pick up sissy and daddy and headed to Boonville. My mom works at Buehler's so we stopped there first. Then went to Aunt Glenda's, then to Uncle Danny and Joann's, and finally to Susie and Dennis's. It was a long night for all of us and a lot of driving. I think everyone liked seeing her, but I think I'll be glad when we can just walk the neighborhood to collect candy and call it a night.
By the time we got home Olivia was in melt-down-mode. It was the only picture I got from the night, so here it is:

A friend of mine sent this to me recently. I really love it, thought I would share.


Two Women. One Child. Two kinds of Love...

Once there were two women
Who never knew each other.
One you do not remember,
The other you call mother.
Two different lives shaped to make you one.
One became your guiding star,
The other became your sun.
The first one gave you life
And the second taught you to live it.
The first gave you a need for love,
The second was there to give it.
One gave you a nationality,
The other gave you a name.
One gave you a talent,
The other gave you aim.
One gave you emotions,
The other calmed your fears.
One saw your first sweet smile,
The other dried your tears.
One sought for you a home
That she could not provide,
The other prayed for a child
And her hope was not denied.
And now you ask me through your tears,
The age-old question unanswered
Through the years…
Heredity or environment…
Which are you a product of?
Neither, my darling. Neither.
Just two different kinds of love.
- author unknown

We're sick

Well, Olivia and I both woke up sick this morning. I had noticed she's been sneezing a little the last couple days. Now it's full-blown. She has a faucet for a nose and my throat hurts.
We've had a rough week. This past Saturday my Uncle Terry passed away. He had been fighting cancer for a very long time. I will miss him so so much. I am very glad that Olivia and I were able to visit him a couple of times in the last couple months and I got lots of pictures of them together.
Tuesday and Wendesday I spent everyday either at work or the funeral home. Tuesday was Olivia's first day at daycare. Wednesday was her one-year-old doctor's visit. So much going on, why wonder we're sick.
Olivia's first day at daycare went just fine. Daddy got the pleasure of dropping her off. It made him feel pretty guilty, but they said she never shed a tear for us. She really likes playing with older kids and she knows at least one of them that go there, so she will be fine.
Her doctor's visit went well. She is pretty advanced for a Guatemalan baby her age and she is pefectly healthy. Olivia is now 18 pounds and 28" long. We still have to finish her shots though since we were pressed for time that day. Her doctor said I should expect more temper tantrums now. He says this as she's screaming because I'm trying to put her clothes back on. I'm like, "you have to be kidding me!" More fits!? Yea, not a big surprise - she throws fits over everything. She is my little drama queen! I guess he isn't aware of the Guatatemper!

1 YEAR OLD!!!

Well, my baby girl is a year old today. She has been home for 2 months yesterday. Olivia fits right in with the rest of our family. She is loud, messy, and demanding! Her third tooth just broke thru in the last couple days. Now she has a full tooth on the bottom and a new one on bottom as well as a new one on top.
Olivia is still sleeping well, except for a few interuptions because of those darn teeth. She eats like crazy. Of course, she seems to be a meat and potatoes kid which figures since I don't eat red meat.
We had Olivia's birthday party last Saturday at Roca Bar. She didn't seem overwhelmed at all. She really enjoyed having people circled around her! Some of the family that hadn't gotten to see her yet were there. She showed everyone how well she's walking and how she jabbers.
She got a lot of cute outfits and lots of toys. She didn't know what to play with first!
Today, after nap, we're going out to use her gift cards and to pick out a gift from momma and daddy.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLIVIA!