The Nutcracker

 

Abby and I went and saw The Nutcracker on Dec. 17th with several of my friends and their daughters.  I'm lucky-- there's lots of girls to share girly-friend things with!  Abby wore her "lady bug" Christmas dress, we curled her hair, and she even got to wear a little makeup.  She felt like such a big girl!!

 Abby and the nutcracker

 Abby and Clara.  Clara who won the nutcracker giveaway at intermission!

This face is going to get her out of trouble in 10 years.

 The girls in the box.  I have decided the box is the only way to go.

 Our future ballerinas.  Abby keeps telling me she wants to be on stage!

 Abby and Mommy

Hard and work coloring ornaments

A few more pre-Christmas pics

 A couple of weeks before Christmas we spent an evening at the Myriad gardens looking at Christmas lights and playing with our friends.  Abby liked the big Santa chair.

 Abby and Daddy

   

 The walking kids 

                                                                   

 

The DeLeons

 The Combs', DeLeons, and 1/3 of the Lindenaus

 

The Combs', DeLeons, and 2/3 of the Lindenaus

The Letter O

Olivia obviously enjoys the letter O.

Surgery #2

Olivia had her second surgery on Dec. 8th.  She had a second, larger set of ear tubes placed, and we had planned to have her adenoids out as well.  Luckily, once Dr. Digoy looked she had "nubbins" for adenoids    so she got to keep them! 

 She explored her crib and room a lot more this time.  I did get to stay with her until she was asleep in the OR, which is different than last time.  She started making this horrible noise when the gas put her to sleep, which luckily the anesthesiologist had warned me about.  But it was still hard to hear.  Hopefully this will be the last surgery we have to go through!!

She was quite funny when her valium took effect though-- I have a video on my iphone I'll try to upload.  Reminds me of the youtube video where the kid is stoned after a dental procedure.  But, she's recovered nicely.  Follow up appointment in January to retest her hearing and see Dr. Digoy again.  Will keep you posted.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving at the farm this year.  For some reason, I didn't take too many pictures.

 The playset at the farm, built by Desi and Po, complete with grandkids names.

 Livi at a bunch of dirt.  And was enthralled with one of the dogs.

 The girls got good bonding time with Aunt Desi, who's home safe from Afghanistan.

And Livi bonded with Uncle Richard. 

 Abby with cousin Pops.

 Abby and Rie.

And, somehow, that's all I got!! I do know it was 90 degrees on Thanksgiving.  SO didn't feel like Thanksgiving!

Sic Em, Bears!!

Many of you may know that Baylor beat OU last night.  It was a very exciting few hours around our house.  I may or may not have taught Abby to say " oh shit" when Baylor fumbled the ball.

 But since my Bears did win, we proudly sported our gear at church this morning.  Here's Livi showing everyone to do  "Touchdown!!!"

I love these girls. The picture might have been better BEFORE letting Abby have ketchup for lunch.   

And Livi has been making this face a lot more lately.  Not sure what it is, but it's kind of cute!!

Go Bears! 

Sorry!

Sorry it's been so long since I've blogged.  I'm not even sure where the last 2 months went.  I've been working a lot lately, up until this last week, so that'll be my excuse. 

We're all doing well, in general.  Abby's growing and getting smarter all the time.  She can use my iphone better than me.  She's definitely better at Angry Birds.  Livi's walking well, starting to talk (favorite works are Mama and Abby.  Also working on book and duck).  She's also now on her second ear infection in 2 weeks with one blocked ear tube.  Heading back into the ENT's office soon.  Proof that surgery doesn't cure everything.

I had LASIK done last week-- can't believe I waited so long to do this!  It's awesome to wake up and be able to see.  I'm not even sure where my glasses are right now and it's awesome!

Dave's doing well too....he's making great progress at the gym and his running times.  I'm so proud of him. 

I'm getting exciting for Christmas....I refuse to put my decorations up until after Thanksgiving, but I'm so ready!  My real next step is to try and find someone to put up Christmas lights for us outside.

Promise to be in touch again sooner than before.....

A Few From Today.....

I haven't pulled out my camera and taken many pictures lately.  Guess it's true what they say about second kids!  But, I was testing the light at different times tonight in preparation for Christmas pictures this afternoon and got some good ones of the girls.         



((Livi:: do SO BIG!!))

 I love the pure joy in this picture (she was chasing the cat, if you have to know!)

Cat went under the fence.  Love her painted little toes.

And Livi, with her goopy puff eyes and snotty nose and scratched cheek.   But she's beautiful!

Pretending to be a tiger.  Cause they're all over the place here in Norman this time of year.

And, her new favorite pasttime:  walking our friends' dog, Ginger.   She feels so grown up walking her, like one of the big kids.  Now I'm just waiting for her to start asking for her own dog.

My little bugs

Sadly, I didn't get an individual picture of either of my Halloween bugs, or even of just the two of them together, but I did manage to get these two.  A couple of days before Halloween we went to a church even with our friends.  The top one is  all the girls outside in the church's pumpkin patch.  I have no idea why Abby looks like this.  She wasn't scared, mad or crying.  Who knows.

And here's the cutest little ladybug in the state!!

The Orange Queen

Don't you wish your Halloween outfit was this awesome?  From the striped leggings and pumpkin socks to the sparkly silver shoes, this girl rocked her awesomeness on Halloween!!t

Really, I just wish every girl had THIS girl's confidence!!

Mom, STOP!

I know I'm really cute with my owl shirt and pumpkin, but please stop taking my picture!!

You've Come a Long Way, Baby!

It's hard to believe it's been a year. And this little 8 pound thing is now almost 25 pounds. She's tall too, and she has a big head (but you wouldn't know it to look at her!) She's walking pretty well.

She says mama, dada, meme, papa, abby, baby, and bye bye.

(forgot the 3 month...it was christmas time and we were moving!)

She's starting to feed herself, drinks out of a sippee cup, and is onto milk.

She's started in daycare, sleeps about 10 hours at night, and goes to sleep easily by herself (although she sometimes gets rocked too).

She has the BEST laugh. She loves her big sister best. She is always a happy baby, but is happiest in the mornig when she first wakes up.

Still has clear blue eyes with a little brown in the center.

She has 6 beautiful little teeth, which she'll gladly bite you with if you get too close.

(forgot the 11 month too...oh well!)

And I can't remember life in our family without her. Happy birthday, beautiful girl!!