Thanksgiving in Maryland, First Haircut

We had a lovely visit to MD for Thanksgiving!  It was a nice and relaxing trip with no stress and chill time hanging out and letting Olivia explore the coffee table drawer and all the interesting things hidden inside!

Olivia was so excited to visit Mum-Mums and Pop-Pops that she had trouble falling asleep on the red-eye flight out and made friends with everyone as the boarded the plane - "Hi!... Hi!"  over and over with her cute little waving.  When the plane accelerated, Olivia, who was sitting on my lap facing me, had a huge smile on her face and started yelling out, loving the rollercoaster!  What a blast!  I couldn't keep from laughing myself. :)

We arrived in MD Wed morning and spent much of the day recovering from the overnight flight.  Kevin slept upstairs, I napped on the couch.  We watched a few of the 8mm videos my parents had converted to digital  - very fun!

Thursday was Thanksgiving and Olivia managed to sleep in until around 10 am which Kevin and I appreciated.  Olivia discovered the stairs on Thursday and after her practice run of going up and down three, the next several times she went all the way up... and then all the way down!  What a fun game at Mum-Mum's and Pop-Pop's!  We were very careful to keep the door to the basement closed so there were no rolling-down-the-stairs accidents.  Mostly, Olivia enjoyed wandering around and checking everything out.  She didn't eat much while we were in MD, but she did enjoy saying "more!" and feeding Eloise banana from her high chair.

Thanksgiving was a lovely event - the turkey was perfect, everyone was relaxed.  Friskies were flowing.  We made our jalapeno poppers (with jalapenos imported from the Janeiro's garden in California) and they were a hit!  You never knew if your jalapeno was a true POPPER or not until you bit into it - most of them were pretty spicy!  Let's see, who was there - Mom, Dad, Barbara, Bart, Margaret & Price, Bradley, Aunt Sarah, Caroline & Freddie Moore, Peter & Evie, Kathryn, & Eric & Baby Walter, Elizabeth & Paul, and us.  I ate too much.  Olivia refused to take a bath (screaming bloody murder) and wore the cutest little jumper Mum-Mums made for Sarah as a baby.  How cute!  We brought it home for Olivia to wear Christmas Eve. :)

Olivia had fun both Thursday and Friday nights going down for sleepy time at the regular time, and then waking up around midnight for an hour or so.  We tried having her fall asleep in the big bed with us, but she was too rolly-polly, so back to the pack-n-play she went!

Either Thursday or Friday, I declared that I wanted to find a rocking chair like the one my parents had for us growing up (fine, sturdy piece of furniture) for Olivia.  I was sitting in the chair at the time, and Olivia had been playing with it - in and out, in and out, not happy when Mom was sitting in the chair.  So on Friday while Kevin watched Olivia and put her down for her nap, my parents and I went out to BeCraft, the same store on Rockville Pike, near Gaithersburg High School, where Mom & Dad had bought the chair for Sarah, and where Grandma and Grandpa Litwin had bought several pieces of furniture, and proceeded to buy two rocking chairs - one for Olivia, one for Walter.  They are manufactured somewhere in Virginia, so this is truly and East Coast import to Cali!  How fun!

The antique store was very cool - with a fire in the fireplace and four elderly folks around waiting, and hoping, for business.  I ended up purchasing a muddler for Kevin, a butter dish, and a small bud vase as well... then a somewhat expensive necklace for me!  Business has been hot and cold, the owner said, and I'm afraid that store will be out of business soon.  There wasn't any new blood to take it over and upgrade.  Apparently there used to be 3 cousins making the chairs we bought, but 2 went out of business, partly because the unions got all up in their business.  So sad.  Stupid unions, they make a mess of things and I'm not really sure what they help these days.

Dad is still trying to figure out how to ship the little rocking chairs out here.  Sounds like the good ol' USPS may be the best bet!

Pop-Pops had fun leading Olivia around and trying to get her to walk.  He got her down to one hand being held, and you can tell Olivia is really getting ready to take the leap!

Friday night we all piled into the car and saw the Holiday Lights in Seneca Creek State Park.   We had Olivia out and riding on Pop-Pop's lap in the front seat as we saw the lights at 2 mph and she was totally into it!  Mesmerized and laughing at everything for the first half.  Then she was so overwhelmed, Olivia got tired and started fussing so we headed home.  Perfect length trip for our little girl.  After getting her to sleep, we hung around enjoying a fire in the fireplace, a couple of nightcaps and chatting.

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Saturday was uneventful.  We mostly hung around watching Olivia, and trying to get her to walk on her own.  After Olivia's short nap, we packed up the car and all headed to Great Falls for a little walk before the Janeiro's were off to Dulles for our evening flight home.  The Falls were impressive as always and we managed to take a few cute family pics.  We lucked out on the flight home and had a row to ourselves.  Olivia was a little tricky to get to sleep - I ended up laying down with my head on Kevin's knee and Olivia on top of me - then she finally passed out.  We tried setting her down on the seat between us a few times and after about 10 minutes she would wake up.  At one point, Olivia had saturated her diaper so much that she ended up peeing on Kevin.  It was pretty funny.  Fortunately, I had extra clothes in her diaper bag... but Kevin was out of luck!

Today, I gave Olivia her first haircut - to tame the mullet!  As if it was even possible, but she's even cuter now!  What a sweetie pie!  Olivia followed me all around the house as I was trying to unpack and straighten up a bit.  I'm pretty tired - and took a 3 hour nap the afternoon.  I took Olivia to the doc this morning since she had a pretty bad cough on the plane, but she's recovering.  We braved the rain and had a quick breakfast at Panera and picked up the safety scissors for her haircut at RiteAid.

I still haven't heard back about that management position I applied to the other week, so hopefully I'll hear tomorrow so I can stop thinking about it.  Oh how I'd love to just take tomorrow off and do some Christmas shopping and pull the house together a little more - just have some "me" time.  I'm sure looking forward to Christmas break!  This work thing is getting to me.

Ok, time for sleepy sleeps.  Kevin is already snoring next to me

Olivia doesn't want to leave MD

Prepping for Turkey Day!

We are looking forward to visiting Mum-Mums and Pop-Pops for Thanksgiving!  Olivia is just about ready to walk and will take off running in MD (so I predict!)  

This past week was tough being away in Connecticut, but on the up-side I was able to stop in and see Laura Twilliger (Weyland) and her boys for about 45 minutes before catching my plane out of Boston Logan Airport.  Her house is beautiful, boys are adorable, and she looks the same as always - fun times!  Next trip out there I'll have to spend the night and really have a chance to catch up with Laura and see Kevin too!

I came home fighting a nasty cold and unfortunately the worst of it hit Friday when I was interviewing for a new position within Lockheed.  I should know tomorrow or Tuesday if I was selected.  Fingers crossed as that would be a nice treat for the holidays.... a promotion into a position that theoretically has some longevity to it.  My current role theoretically terminates at the end of next year (although all these failures are making things last much longer).

Kevin came down with something yesterday, and it was raining... so I took advantage and while he watched Olivia I caulked some of the crown moulding!  Yay!!!  That has been bugging me for ages!  Today a little more progress was made during Olivia's nap and the net result is the guest room, hallway and half of the kitchen are caulked!  What remains is our bedroom, the family room and the den.  Then there is the touch-up painting of course  - all reasons that I would love to have a 2 week vacation at home to finish up a number of half-complete projects around the house.

Kevin and Steve worked on the pergola today, planning out the top rafters.  I think the plan is complete, the first set of end cuts have been made and markings drawn.  Kevin is taking Monday and Tuesday off to work on the pergola since the weather will allow and he has extra comp time and vacation.  Steve will be able to help tomorrow too - getting close!  It'll be so nice!

Olivia was Olivia - as sweet as ever.  Yesterday we dropped by Anne, Joe & Julia's house for a pre-party to their annual Thanksgiving party.  Olivia cannot be social over the lunch hour since that's her nap time and woe to the person who messes with nap time!  She fell asleep within 5 minutes of us leaving. :)  It was a nice time to see them though without a ton of folks around.  Olivia loved the chips Joe offered and danced to the music.  She parallel-played with Julia a bit and Lena arrived early with her two boys as well.  Yay social!

Last night we had dinner with Rich & Debbie and Olivia was a little trooper.  We kept her up way past her bedtime.  

Today we hung out around the house, went for a nice long stroller walk, played with Christmas stickers on her diaper box (she kept pulling them all out of the bag, then put them back in... over and over - very impressive fine motor skills).  We drew with crayons and pulled her tricycle out front.  Olivia can now push herself forward and backwards on her tricycle.  She's been standing on her own a bit more lately and still loves balls.

Oh!  I finally brought George home from Megan's desk at work and she remembers him - still loves cuddling with that little monkey!  Very cute!  

Olivia makes it known that she likes stroller rides - she'll pull herself up on her stroller and squawk / cry until she gets a stroller ride.  Too funny.  Olivia also let's you know she's hungry by pulling up on her high chair.  I think Olivia needs a little play kitchen where she can emulate me rather than come trolling around the stove as I'm cooking bacon, etc.  I love her little smile and that sparkle in her eye when she figures something out.  

First Steps!

Olivia's first steps caught on video, though dad doesn't agree.  Then repeated when Papa-J and Mama-J were over.  Mom and dad had a quick date night to play some pool in Sunnyvale.  I can't remember the last time we went out together the two of us.  How lovely!   We have to find a way to make this more of a regular thing. 

Love the new padded playmat.  Thank you neighbors for the idea.  Olivia is more confident on it too.

Olivia won't let go of her little Kong balls, so I'm still using them in the car.  Poor Trixie is so confused.  Olivia chases her down to get the balls back, and has now started crying just to get Trixie's toys.  Trixie has a new trick - jumping up on Kevin's desk to look out the front window. She's wreaked havoc on his computer.  It's pretty funny.

I'm on my way to Connecticut and Massachusetts for work.  I'll bet Olivia will really be walking when I return.  Good luck to Kevin in my absence!

Last night was dinner for Papa-J's birthday.  Olivia loves being the center of attention!

The last big beam of the pergola is up and the next step is all the cross beams.  It's looking good!

Otherwise, a good weekend with a little tummy trouble, but mostly happy Olivia.

I'm thinking I'll be falling asleep on this plane.

I keep meaning to mention that Olivia helps out with getting dressed.  She knows one arm, then the other.  She also LOVES the sweater that Mum Mums made her.  When I go to take it off, Olivia gets so upset!   When she sees the sweater across the room, she'll call for it.  Too cute.

Olivia also has learned a few signs... she's very good at the "more" sign when she's hungry.  We are working on "all done" and "stop".

New Friend?

We had a good weekend the last few days.  Saturday we made it to the toddler park and Fremont library off of Stevenson in the morning, then home for a good nap!  Post-nap was a late lunch at the Reilly's (delicious cheeseburgers!) and Olivia loved exploring a new house.  So much to see!  We were originally supposed to have them over for dinner, but Kevin's work travel ran late and he didn't return home until Sunday morning ~1am.   I ended up doing laundry in the evening, eating lots of ice cream, and watching "Maleficent" twice!  How fun to watch a movie about my favorite 'villain' - it was really well done.  Angelina Jolie was *perfect* for the part.

Today, Olivia was up just after 7am and we had a lovely morning of eating eggs, running to the grocery store, walking around outside on the sidewalk with her sit-to-stand toy, and finally having a play-date with our new next-door neighbors!!!  For the car, my new trick is to have a set of those small kong colorful balls that live in the car and they're perfect Olivia-hand size.  Now whenever I put her in the car seat, she's looking for her "ball!" and then holds on tight, or throws them across the car.  At the grocery, she held on to two of them, only dropping one about 3-4 times.  Then she would put them in, and take them out of my purse.  Too funny!  When she'd see a balloon, it was a point and "BALL!"

Olivia loved walking around outside and is really gaining confidence.  We went all the way down the block and back, making friends with a new neighbor that moved in ~4 months ago across the street.  When we came back inside, the next door neighbor had responded to my text and we went over there after lunch for a quick playdate with their son, Lucas.  We've been trying to have the playdate for awhile now, and it finally worked out. :)  Olivia was excited to be exploring another new place, and Lucas, notoriously shy, eventually started showing me all his toys as we toured the house to check out all the renovations.  What a sweetie!  I also love the play mat they have, and ended up purchasing one this evening - waterproof, large, padded... what's not to like?!  Even if the dogs have an accident on it, the play mat will be MUCH easier to clean than the carpets we have around.  The padding will save Olivia's big noggin, and the floor, from crashes.  Finally, Olivia let me know she was done with being social, and it was naptime.

During the precious nap hours, and while Kevin was still catching up on Zzzz's, I made a trip to Lowe's for picture hangers, and Michael's for more picture frames.  My recent project was a set of 9 family photos to hang above Olivia's mini-table so she can learn her family by sight, and lots of B&W photos for along the hallway.  We managed to hang the family photo set today, and Olivia is SO excited about it that she laughs her really loud adorable laugh!  I have 9 5"x7" photos framed, today I purchased a variety of frame sizes to mix things up a tad.  Hopefully, this week I'll find time to pic more photos for all the new frames.  I also need to find time to add photos to this blog!!!  Perhaps tomorrow night when I've gotten all my work hours in.

Kevin awoke about the same time Olivia also awoke from her nap.  We had some down time at home, and at one point, I was on the floor on my tummy trying to read Olivia a book, when she decided that Momma should be rode like Rody!  So she crawled on top of my back and started bouncing.  Too funny!  Kevin snapped a photo or two, but I haven't seen them yet.

We were going to spend time together as a family, but it was also a good time to see Papa-J, and Mama-J so we went out for dinner.  Olivia was a little tired and a bit of a handful, but it was a good visit.  We decided that next time we'll just order take-out and it'll be easier to chat and Olivia will be happier at home.

Back at home, Kevin put little girl down to sleep (I snuck in later and clipped her long fingernails), and I took Trixie & Kiwi for a short walk in the nice evening.  Now we're watching the recorded 49ers game, it's a nail-biter!  Kevin has to be in early tomorrow so we'll probably head to bed shortly.  Kevin thinks he may take a day off this week to work on the pergola.  The poor guy did work two 21-hour days in a row, there's no reason for him to work a full normal work week.

I really loved hearing Olivia's laughter today!  KinderCare folks have mentioned how much she laughs, but I hadn't really heard it until this afternoon.  She's such a little ham!  Still reaching for the doorknobs, and uses her little chair as a walker around the house (I put baby socks on the feet to protect the floor, and she promptly took one off).

I'm starting a low-carb diet today (hence the ice cream binge last night!).  It's sure affecting my energy levels, but I'm sure that sugar binge yesterday didn't help.  So, I'll stick to it for the next week and see how things go.  I'm hopefully that the slightly reduced stress at work will also help the waist (and butt) line.

Looking forward to heading home to MD for Turkey Day!  That's just right around the corner now.

So we'll see how this week goes at work.  There are a few things hanging over my head, but it's all good.  I'm still waiting to hear back about a position I applied to awhile back, but it sounds like the hiring manager is very excited to have me on her team and it's just a matter of time.  Apparently she spilled the beans to my manager (who was already aware), talking as if I was already going to be a part of her team.... when we haven't even had the interviews yet!

Whoops!  49ers won in overtime!  Yay!  Nighty Night!

Uh oh! Doorknobs!

Olivia opened the back patio door today all by herself!   Time to keep the doors locked!

She also didn't want to eat her banana slices, but preferred to eat off mommas banana.  Big bites!

We had a nice morning walk with the dogs this morning after a good night's sleep.  Olivia and momma are both much healthier today after fighting a little cold.

Halloween was somewhat uneventful.  We took Olivia around to a few neighbors and then passed out candy to about 30 kids during the rest of the evening.  I don't even remember what we watched on TV.  Exciting.