Olivia's School Picture

So Olivia has already had regular class pictures, they were done in the Fall, but in the Spring they do alternative school pictures. They work with a local company and bring tons of costumes for the kids to wear then dress your child up in a costume that "fits their personality." Picture day was several weeks ago and I've been looking forward to finding out what costume they were going to dress Olivia in. Clearly Olivia didn't particularly enjoy being dressed up as a fairy princess but I just couldnt' resist buying one of the pictures. I think that the look on her face is priceless.

British Columbia, Canada

So we had a great time in British Columbia. We really enjoyed riding the ferries (which were unlike anything I'd ever been on before). They have snack bars and shops and some of them even had play areas for kids on board (similar to what you'd find in a mall). Victoria and Vancouver were beautiful and the weather was fantastic! In Victoria we went to a butterfly museum where Olivia actually grabed a butterfly. I was expecting a squishy mess when she let go but thankfully the butterfly just flitted away. In Vancouver we spent the day having a picnic on the beach and then visited a public market with a great kids area. It was different to go on such a family centered trip. All of our other little vacations either involved spending time with family or Mike and I spending time alone. We're glad that we had a trial run of a little family vacation before our longer trip to Hawaii this July. It was a great weekend! Although we did feel a little wierd about spending our country's Memorial Day holiday in a different country...it seemed so unAmerican to visit a different country on that holiday.

O Canada

So Mike is finally due to come out of the field (he's been gone for almost 3 weeks). One thing I've learned quickly about his new unit here at Ft Lewis is that they like to go to the field, a lot. During his time at Ft Carson he only went to the field a handful of times (Of course he was also deployed for 2 of the 3 years we where there). Here he goes to the field often at least 3 or 4 days a month, if not more often. So I guess you never know what to expect.

Anyways to celebrate his return from the field, and the long Memorial Day weekend we're taking a trip to Canada. We're only a few hours from the border here and we've been wanting to take a trip up north but haven't because Olivia doesn't have her passport yet. We just found out that she doesn't actually need a passport so away we go. I've planned quite the elaborate weekend get away, we're leaving this afternoon on the ferry to go to Victoria, British Columbia for the night, then tomorrow we're off on a different ferry to go over to Vancouver, British Columbia for Saturday and Sunday nights then we're driving back across the border into Washington and home (by way of Ikea to hit their big Memorial Day Sale) on Monday. I hope that Mike gets some sleep on the way home from the field because I've got quite the weekend planned! Check back next week for pictures! Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend!

A new addition to our family

Olivia is going to be a big sister! While Olivia is certainly the center of our little world this November she will have quite a shock as she adjusts to her new role as big sister. I'm well into my second trimester now and I'm thrilled to have more energy. The first 12 weeks were a blur of nausea and complete exhaustion. I think that I only threw up one time the entire time I was pregnant with Olivia but this time around it was a daily occurance. We are both very excited that Mike will be here for most of the pregnancy with the exception of a few extended trips to the field. Here's a picture from our first ultrasound a few weeks ago.

J-E-L-L-O

Olivia has many favorite foods, she loves scrambled eggs and peas and jello. She loves the stuff, can't get enough. She does get a little frustrated though because Jello is pretty hard for a toddler to eat. It's too slippery to pick up with her fingers and it's too slippery to stay on the spoon. Olivia gets so disapointed that she can't eat it that she resorts to trying to eat the jello like a dog directly from the table or bowl. While I realize that a 22 month old is not going to have perfect table manners eating like a dog is not acceptable so I help with the jello. Here's a little clip of Olivia enjoying her jello this past weekend. Notice the baby sign language for more (fingertips together) which is one of her favorite "words".

Hospital Visit

I know it's been a while. I was off to such a good start with the blogging but things have been crazy lately. Olivia spent most of last week in the hospital again with the same type of eye infection she had back in January. She's home now and we're finally getting back into our routine. The good news is that while we were in the hospital the doctors were able to do a lot of tests to determine exactly is causing these repeat infections. It turns out that Olivia's sinuses aren't developing properly, this is causing a sinus infection which can cause other infections, in her case she gets an eye infection. Now that they've identified the problem they are going to do sinus surgery in a couple of weeks. Olivia was a trooper and actually had a great time in the hospital, who knew it could be so much fun. There was a special room that only Olivia could go into (the locker where patients store their personal belongings) and the crib had magic walls (transparent guards to keep kids from climbing out). She had fun but we're so glad to be back home!

Chuck E. Cheese

Recently we met some friends of ours at Chuck E. Cheese for dinner. The other couple we were meeting has a 2 and a half year old son who LOVES Chuck E. Cheese. We thought that Olivia was too young to really get into it but she suprised us by having a fantastic time and staying up way past her bed time to play. Here are some of our favorite pictures from Olivia's first trip to Chuck E. Cheese.