Talking up a Storm, and a Week OFF!

I am taking the next week off for a stay-cation!  Hopefully the weather will cool off a tad, and I can't wait to get a few things done around the house - find a new housecleaner, choose pics for the frames on the walls, figure out printing the blog, update the blog, work on the garden, maybe finish caulking the crown moulding finally - YAY!!!  The variable at the moment is Olivia - she's been pretty sick today.

Yesterday was a wonderful "Christmas in July" party at Steve & Patti's house.  Olivia was a party animal, socializing with everyone, skipping her nap and being in a good mood virtually the entire time.  The party started at noon, we arrived around 12:40 and stuck around until ~7:30pm.  The food was catered street tacos - delicious - and they had a photobooth which was loads of fun. :)  The weather was perfect, all good things.

This morning we met up with Annie, Joel & Walter at the Academy of Sciences for a lovely morning.  Olivia was a little more chill than usual, and as the time progressed it was clear she was quite sick.  We had fun watching the penguin feeding, and the fish feeding frenzy in the main tank.  Olivia really enjoyed everything, but at lunch time it was definitely time to go home.  She was whimpering in the car on the way home and has been coughing and in and out all afternoon.  After a dose of medicine and albuterol she perked up for a bit, but went to bed early.  She's been coughing and I may try to give another albuterol dosage here in a minute.

Hm, so what else has been going on?  Well, Olivia is picking up words daily, and it's so much fun!  She repeats every word she hears and is stringing together 3-4 word sentences.  I put together storage furniture from Land of Nod the last two nights which has really helped to straighten up the family room.  Olivia continues to point out everything she sees, asking "What's this?"  She had two of those bad bug bites the last week - one on her foot, one on her knee.  They turned into nasty blisters, but don't seem to really bother her.  Lots of neosporin and bandaids has been the answer.

We've been trying to hang out with some other LM moms who live in Fremont, including a playdate at Newark Community Park last weekend - fun.  When we tried to join them for the Fremont summer days festival the next morning, Olivia lasted for 10 minutes before throwing a severe tantrum such that we had to go home - and she went right to bed.  Kevin was on travel the last two weeks and worked through both weekends.  He gets a little break right now and then will be one for about a month, or so he says.  But who knows, it always changes. Kevin is going to try and take Thurs & Friday off this week so we can do some projects together.

I'm bringing Olivia with me to MD when I have training 9/14-16.  She'll get to see my parents for a week, which will be fun.

Oh yes, and I'm restarting the no-carb diet tomorrow, and gosh-darnit, I'm sticking to it!

Oh so fun!

Olivia counted to 10 with me last night.  She's learning the letters of her name, with the help of the wooden letters above her changing table and daddy's coaching.  Olivia is picking up words left and right and creating 3-word sentences.  How fun!

Today we went to our second swim class (not a fan of being on her back) at Silliman Center, then hopped in the car and went straight to Del Valle Regional Park where we met up with Toni and her son James.  They live way out in Mountain House now, so Livermore was somewhat in the middle.  We had a BLAST!  Toni is super chill and the two little ones were totally into one another.  All four of us waded into the lake for a bit and had a picnic lunch.  We had so much fun that we're planning to return there next Friday for the Fourth of July holiday. :)  Very much looking forward to it.

Otherwise, Kevin is shipping MUOS to the launch base tonight.  I just called him and could hear the propellers in the background - they were going wheels up right at that moment.  He did not join us today for the activities because he'd had a late night transporting the container to the airstrip and onto the plane.  There was an internal auditor watching him this time, and apparently Kevin was complimented at the end that it was one of the best operations the auditor had ever witnessed!  This is a big deal because earlier in the week there was a full ATLO stand down for a day due to errors that had happened in both Sunnyvale and Denver.  So one would expect extra attention to be paid to Kevin's op since it's a big deal transport.  Yay sweetie!

Work is ridiculously busy for me.  We are working through multiple personnel items and trying to roll the Tech Refresh into the SBIRS baseline.  It's funny, I know what needs to be done, but now that I have a family, I don't have the energy to put in the long hours and do things as fast as I'd like.  Apparently I'm doing fairly well though - HR put in a good word for me with our VP and I was asked to attend a Happy Hour with the execs last week.  But.... my heart was aching a bit again, so clearly I need to cut the prolonged stress somehow.  Or at least my anxiety about it.  In the meantime, they want to give me more people in Systems Engineering.  It makes sense, but I hope we can prolong the transition for a month or two so I can get a little more momentum going with the Configuration Management folks.

Tomorrow, Olivia and I have a fun day planned.  We have music in the morning, then a playdate, then nap time, then hopefully swim in the neighborhood pool in Quail Run with my new friend Sasha and her two little kids.  It's possible that they'll just lend us a key, but I'm hoping we get some bonding time.  Maybe we'll play at their house for a little while first, then go the pool.  I need to fit in a run with the dogs too, and would like to make some camping reservations... maybe at Del Valle.  In fact, I'm going to look into that right now!

I can't wait for my week off before Olivia's birthday.  I plan to add photos to this blog, and finally put pics in the frames on our walls.  I'm hoping for a lot of cleaning house and maybe some actual relaxing at home (imagine that!).  I miss my husband - we hardly get to see one another.  Perhaps tomorrow I'll set up a date night for next weekend as well.  Hmmmm....

My parents are in Alaska having a blast.... vacations are such a good thing!

Nighty Night!  (I just have to figure out why there's a high level of background stress for me... wondering if I should go on Zoloft or something like that.)

Artist!

Olivia found the sharpies in my desk drawer last night and made beautiful artwork on the kitchen cement floor.  Thank goodness it wasn't the hardwood!

Books!

I still need to make a longer entry about our fabulous trip to MD over Memorial, but for this morning.....   as we dropped Olivia off at school (where she's always excited to see Ely and Gigi) the teacher Ms. Gurdeep was there early and commented on how much Olivia lives books!  Apparently,  she's always bringing them over to the teachers and they read for some time yesterday.  They say Olivia's words are really good, and she understands a great deal if things.  That made mamma and papa proud. :)

Our trip to MD was a hoot.  We took the Thursday night red eye and Olivia had a bit of trouble during the first half of the flight, but mercifully slept for the second half.  Friday we made it out to the zoo in the afternoon following a good nap for the West Coast folks.  The elephants were moving around and monkeys / gorillas were fun.  The other animals were mostly hiding.  Oh!  The tiger was in his pool for a bit and then fairly active.  That was fun.

Our evenings were a little tough due to the time change, and Olivia had a fever the first night.  Saturday we basically hung around the house and Mum Mums had a number of fun activities planned.  We spent quality time on the deck in gorgeous weather for an extended brunch. Olivia had a blast decorating cup cakes with Mum Mums!  Several Litwin clan folks, the Dunkelbergers and Morrissons  came over for dinner and to celebrate Dad's 70th birthday early.  A lovely evening!  Olivia continues to be a social butterfly. :)

Fun Little Updates, Exponential Learning

Olivia is a sponge from the ocean floor, sucking up all sorts of new information!  Cute things:

- heard the dogs barking outside, went to the back door and called them both inside by name.... and they listened! !!!

- she is turning into a monkey.   I turn away to wash a dish, turn back and she's on top of the table!!  She's done this a few times now.

- Olivia does not like getting dressed in the morning.   I've resorted to occasionally bringing her to daycare in PJs... if they aren't soaked through with pee.  Today I changed her into clothes at daycare, worked like a charm.

- Olivia is picking up new words like crazy, "bedsheets" when I was doing laundry, "shells" and knows the name of her vook, "Bark Park" from Mum Mums.

- we had dinner night with the Reillys Sat night and had a blast.   Olivia was showing off like crazy and Sat next to Michelle, talking up a storm. 

- True to form, when Kevin left for Denver last Monday, Olivia and I went to urgent care that night.  Hard to say, but it seemed like a UTI.  She didn't sleep well and Tuesday morning she was up at 4:45 am crying like crazy.  I had to call on the network for help as I'd been out last Thursday with her when she was sick and couldn't miss another day so soon.  Drama.

- We saw Helen, Wes, Cooper and Nina at the Fremont kite festival on Sat, a fun outing.

- Yesterday on a run/walk, I met a neighbor in Quail Run with two children.  She was super excited to meet me and after our Memorial Day trip to MD I'll have to schedule a coffee with her.  How fun!!

- Google contacted me out of the blue on Sunday about a phone interview,  which is now scheduled for Thursday afternoon.  It's to work in Google X on project Loon as a Systems Engineer.   We will see what happens!  A little stressful, I will admit.

Kev is home now, yay!  Time to watch Game of Thrones and go to bed! 

Mother's Day, Mermaid 10k

Kev is on travel this week.  Booo!

Last weekend was the Mermaid 10k that Deanna invited me to.  I managed to run 4 miles of it and walked the last 2 due to my knee issues.  I was pretty happy with the 4 mile run as I am incredibly out of shape and figured my knee would go out at mile 2.  Annie also came down with a few friends from Berkeley and they all did the 5k.  We went out for delicious Indian food afterwards and it was a super fun morning.  I couldn't believe how sore I was the rest of the weekend!  Inspired, I managed to fit in a run Monday and tonight (Friday) for this week.  Stretching could be better though.

Deanna and I are going to try Zumba next....  can't wait!

Mother's Day was a hit.  We all went to music class at 9:30, then Kevin made us eggs and bacon for brunch - he's the best hubby there is!  Olivia bought me a balloon and flowers and a card - love it!  :)  We cleaned up the house, Kevin worked his butt off prepping food, and we had the Janeiros & Browns over for dinner.  It was a very nice and relaxed family dealio and Olivia was loving all the attention.  She was so amped up that she refused to go to bed with all the people in the house.  We are all excited that Kathy is very close to being offered a new job!

Charlie & Delores brought over a toy fire engine, which is a total hit. 

Kevin left on travel Monday morning for Denver.  Olivia and I went to Urgent Care Monday night - she has/had a UTI or bladder infection.  Daycare told me when I picked her up that Olivia would grab her diaper and cry "Pee Pee" every time she went number one.  She was clearly in distress.  Olivia seemed fine at home during our little run around the neighborhood, but when we were out in the backyard and I was just about to work on swapping out some plants, she came over to me fussing/crying, grabbed her crotch and cried.... so we were off to Urgent Care!  Charlie was a trooper and came over later in the evening to put O to bed and watch her while I picked up the prescription... and then.... Tuesday morning Olivia was up crying at 4:45am.  She must have really been hurting.  I ended up calling in the troops to help out and Charlie was back at the house by 6:45am to watch Olivia so I could go to work.  Since I stayed home with her last Thursday when Olivia had some 24 hour bug, I really couldn't miss another day so close.  Thank goodness for the support network!

Work has continued to be very busy, but I think progress is starting to be made, so that's good. :)

Kevin returns Tuesday morning... that's still some time away from now!  Booo!

Olivia now climbs in and out of her high chair, which is super cute.  She pets the dogs gently (most of the time) and gives them hugs.  When people she knows come in the door she gets SOOO excited, she starts screeching, shaking her hands and runs all over the family room, somewhat around and around the coffee table, then stands between the couch and coffee table still happily screeching and laughing.  It's SOOOOOO cute!  Maybe I'll get it on video Sunday if Dave & Kathy come over.  Olivia is picking up more and more words, very fun.  Tonight we ran to what will be her Elementary school (Warwick) just to see how far it feels to walk there - not far at all!  The puppies enjoyed their exercise too, but I didn't stretch at all (all three of them attack me if I try to stretch in the family room)

I meant to work some more tonight, but a blog update was needed.

Can't wait to visit MD next weekend - hope to pack this weekend.

Looking forward to John & Michelle coming over for dinner tomorrow - something easy, like ordering pizza, is perfect to me!  I need to go pick up some goodies for appetizers though.

Ok, I think it might be bed time. :)

Terrible Twos have Arrived, and Pismo

So many things going on, I'm falling down on the blog job!

Olivia has turned a corner and has amazing displays of emotion at the drop of a hat these days.... Terrible Twos are here!

Yesterday,  Olivia started saying her "name".  She will point to herself and say "Loo Loo" and then keep her lips pursed.   So adorable! 

We went to Pismo last weekend for our anniversary,  and Olivia proved her skills at opening the hotel door and bolting after Kevin.  Yikes!  The trip was nice and relaxing, gorgeous weather, we ended up falling asleep each night while waiting for Olivia to fall asleep.  Olivia was a bit scared of the waves... probably because one little one got her feet wet the first day... so she only wanted to be held on the beach.   In the last 10 minutes we were there, she finally figured out that playing in the sand was fun.  I guess we will have to go back! 

Olivia is getting quite good at putting on shoes, climbing into her high chair all by herself, and is picking up new words daily.  This morning she was fascinated by inspecting my hands for "Boo boos".   When she finds one, she picks at it! 

Earlier this week, she walked all the way to the park for swings.... and then all the way back!!  But she still prefers the stroller. 

Yesterday was our 3rd wedding anniversary and Kev took me out to dinner. Olivia had a blast with the Janeiro's.   This upcoming weekend we had a last minute change to Kevin's travel schedule and are hosting Mother's Day and Delores' birthday.  On Saturday,  I'm running a 10 k with Deanna and Annie is coming down with Berkeley buddies.