Major catch-up

I've been a slacker. Yes, I know. So, here's a bunch of pictures from the last month and a half!

Liv thoroughly enjoyed playing with the Halloween candy... the wrappers made crinkly noises so who wouldn't? :) We didn't have a single trick-or-treater so all that candy went to work with Kurt the next day!

Our view of the smoke from the Yorba Linda fires. We used to live right there. Crazy! You can also see that our little neighborhood is now complete. I am so thankful for the peace and quiet after months and months of construction!


My friend Lara is expecting twin boys in January! We had a shower for her here in November and unfortunately I didn't take many great pictures! She's going to put this & sign on the wall in between their two cribs... so cute!


I attempted to copy Sprinkles with the little fondant circle on top of my cupcakes. They were pretty cute but Sprinkles' taste a whole lot better!


Loungey girl!


Love those big blue eyes and check out those eyelashes!


Cat was here from Ohio so we had a Monday Night Girls get together with our boys! I love these girls!


Eilee came over to play and once again she pushed Liv around! One of these days Eilee is going to realize she's getting the short end of the stick but for now they both enjoy it! Eilee loved wearing Liv's sunglasses!


I'm so glad these two are friends.


We got our tree the day after Thanksgiving and this year is so different than last! Liv wanted to help Daddy make sure the tree was straight in the stand! She loves the tree and goes over to it every morning to smell it and give it a little pat-pat. :)


Blurry pic but cute anyway. My mom gave her this shirt and it couldn't be more appropriate!


My friend Tanya got a new job in Washington DC and they moved out there a couple weeks ago. :( Before they left we had a fun girls night out!


We went to Koji's for some shabu shabu for my brother's birthday last week. Liv had a ball with the VERY sticky rice!


Michael & Pam. They find out what they're having on Pam's birthday, December 29! I can't wait to know if I'm getting a niece or a nephew!



Liv & Wallace had a blast on the little train in Crystal Court. They smiled and clapped and waved the whole time!


So... there you go. Mom, are you happy? ;) I'll post more soon!

Happy Halloween!

We went to Treats in the Streets yesterday afternoon. Liv liked her pretty little butterfly costume!

scowly face

Liv has been discovering some muscles in her face this past week which has resulted in some new expressions... namely a fierce little scowl. Here's the evolution of the scowl:

This is last weekend. It started as an innocent little squint.

Then the brows started to furrow a little further...

Today at lunch... a full-fledged scowl.

Fortunately she doesn't really associate it with being angry or upset, actually she's almost always smirking underneath the scowl. :) I know that will change at some point but for now it's kinda cute.

In addition to some new expressions, Liv has also become a little more fond of snuggling! Kurt and I are both so excited when she decides to be a snuggle bug for a few minutes! (And check out that curl above her ear! Yay for hair!!)

Tagging

I've been tagged by my friend Jenni and I'm supposed to say 7 random things about me. So here it goes:

1. I'm a blog stalker, okay? I just admitted it. I read people's blogs who I don't even know that well. For some reason people are just super interesting. It's one thing to be up-to-date on the lives of friends you see periodically but quite another to know all about their friends, too. So, chances are if your blog is linked to on one of my friend's blogs, I've taken a peek (or three!) at your life. I really should start commenting. If you're stalking me, feel free to leave a comment! I'm probably stalking you too!

2. I've gotten kicked out of Disneyland. Apparently they don't appreciate you wearing your own costumes there.

3. When Kurt and I got back from living in London we watched the Nickelodeon cartoon Kipper whenever it was on... it's super babyish but the two dogs on there speak with British accents and we craved hearing not only the accent but the "funny" words too. (Did you know they call a flashlight a torch?) The other night I happened to flip through the Sprout channel (never heard of it til then!) and Kipper was on. Of course I stopped and we watched it... Liv thought it was pretty cool. :)

4. Kurt gets me a glass of water every night before we go to bed. He's just nice like that.

5. I am a procrastinating, messy perfectionist. What?! Yes, you read that right. In my head I have grand plans of having the perfect birthday/anniversary card/gift purchased weeks in advance but I will usually get to the big day and either not have a card (which should have already been mailed!) or the card that I did buy weeks in advance has gone missing. So, I often don't do anything. Because in my sick twisted perfectionism, if I can't do it totally right, I seem to think "what's the point in doing it at all?" Hmmmm. Also, I LOVE the idea of a completely organized closet, pantry, garage, you name it. And, sometimes my perfectionistic side takes charge and I organize like crazy. At other times I am a complete failure in this department!

6. I don't have any cousins. Not. even. one. My mom has two brothers who never married and my dad has one brother who never married... so I also don't have any aunts. Needless to say our family gatherings and holidays were quite small and I've always longed for the big family holidays you see in movies and some of my friends actually have in real life! I keep telling Kurt we need to have at least 8 kids so we can have those wonderfully chaotic gatherings, but he's not buying that idea (& I'm not that crazy!) Fortunately, it's not just us contributing to this dream... Liv is gaining THREE cousins in 2009! Lucky little girl! We are so excited that my sister and her husband are in the process of adopting the two foster boys they've had in their home for the past 2 years! We've already had one very fun Christmas with them last year and we are looking forward to many, many more! And, we are thrilled that my brother and his wife are expecting their own little bundle next May! That makes 4 grandkids for my parents with the potential for more in the years to come!! Yay for cousins and insane family get togethers!

7. I LOVE decorating for Christmas. I've had different themes & colors for our tree - blue & silver (way back in the day!), pink, lime green, turquoise, black & gold, red, white... you name it. That being said, I have WAY too many boxes of Christmas decor. :) I also really love wrapping presents. I usually find awesome wrapping paper for Christmas at K-Mart. I don't usually like K-Mart but the Martha Stewart Christmas stuff they have is usually pretty cool & the wrapping paper is cheap! They also have great deals on cool glass ornament balls too. I'm a nerd and love to coordinate my tree with the packages underneath it. I haven't decided what I'm going to do this year... but I'm thinking about it!

So there you have it! Now I'm supposed to tag 7 more friends to do this. Don't hate me, ok? I tag: Meghan, Missy, Alissa, Erin, Jen, Cassi & Lara.

This just in...

Liv has been walking pretty well for awhile now... IF she's holding our finger. As soon as that finger's gone, she plops down on the floor and won't even try walking on her own. The past few days she's been standing up more and more on her own without holding on to anything. We figured that was a move in the right direction. So, just a few moments ago, I decided to video Liv as she crawled around with a sweatshirt on her head (she thought that was hilarious!) Here's what happened next:

Pumpkins!

Today Liv and I met up with Erin & Eilee at a fun Pumpkin Patch in Irvine. It was so fun to let Liv crawl around checking out the pumpkins... it will be even better next year when she's walking!


Liv LOVES feeling things. Her favorite page in her texture book is the one that has sandpaper on it... she could scratch that page all day. Anyway, there were so many fun things for her to touch at the pumpkin patch. Of course the smooth skin was great fun to rub and pound on but she was drawn to the little scratchy bit at the bottom of each pumpkin!


She also loved feeling the straw (and the dirt underneath, of course!)


There were some goats hanging out and Liv loved talking to them and feeling their noses. She lectured them a bit like she does with that cat that hangs out on our patio. :)



I don't know why but we've never taken Liv on a carousel ride... until today! Ok, this was probably the world's smallest carousel but she LOVED it! She was kind of small for this ride but she did such a good job holding on tight and balancing!


After the little carousel, Liv checked out a little race car that she thought was pretty fun. Good thing she's been practicing her steering with Daddy!


Eilee is just 6 months older than Liv but she seems so much bigger... and she has a lot more hair! :) She walks really well and was so sweet to take Liv on a little wagon ride. When she got tired of pulling Liv, she decided to push her for a bit! It's going to be fun to see them play together even more as they get older.


Here's Liv & Eilee sharing a couple pumpkins...


I hardly ever get pics of just me & Liv (yes, even with a photographer for a husband... hmmmm...) Anyway, another mom offered to take our picture which was so sweet. So here we are... don't you think this is the best shot of Liv you've ever seen? :) Oh well.


We had a great morning and I'm really bummed that my camera battery died right before Heidi & Dahlia joined us. We had fun with them too... it's just not documented!

The last month or so...

Well, it's been awhile so I have a lot to catch up on. I know I still haven't even blogged about Liv's birthday... I will, I promise! But, here's some of the fun stuff we've done over the past month.

Our good friend, Jason Vasquez, was in town from Washington DC so we had a fun high school reunion lunch at the Filling Station one day. It was fun to see him and some other friends I hadn't seen forever! Jason & I have been friends since kindergarten... I can't believe we're "adults" now!
Liv & I have really been enjoying our morning walks lately. We've made a point to walk through the campus of Chapman University because it is so beautiful and peaceful. Liv loves the fountains and especially loves staring at the students riding their skateboards to class! I think the students like seeing a smiley baby too!


It was so fun to be back in Old Towne for the Street Fair. We used to live right above the circle so we'd always have people over to enjoy the festivities. We are a little farther away now but still had fun walking over with some good friends!


This is my inherited friend, Carol Ann and her boyfriend Brett. Missy's been good friends with Carol Ann for quite awhile and now I'm in their Bunco group so we've become friends too! She is hilarious and Brett is such a nice guy. It was fun to hang out with them a bit!

Liv cruised around on Kurt's back for a bit... she kept trying to touch all the people we squeezed by! This was so much easier than trying to maneuver a stroller through the crowds! I love Sara and Carol Ann enjoying their grub in the background... so street fair!


Miss took a turn holding Liv and she loved it!


Our builder gave us some Metrolink passes so we took the train down to San Juan Capistrano for breakfast one morning. Liv loves trains and waves to them even when we're just at home and she can only hear their horns!



Kurt's mom was in town for a week so Liv got some good grandma time in...


Liv got this super fun bouncy pony from the Kennedys and Mellemas for her birthday. She thoroughly enjoys it! I love this shot of her!


We've had this toy for awhile now but Liv finally figured out how to make the little doors open on her own... so fun!

The Metrolink passes were good for awhile so Meg and I took the kids down to SJC again. We had an adventure that day with a bunch of delayed trains and whatnot but it was fun... kind of. :) We are so lucky to have pretty easy going kids who were happy for the most part with lots of cheerios and book reading! Wallace is walking now... I think Liv's a little jealous of his increased mobility and freedom!


Last week we went to the Santa Ana Zoo with Erin & Eilee and Rebecca & Logan. Liv really liked the monkeys and it was fun to be with these friends!


Kurt gave me this awesome bike for my birthday back in March. I've been wanting to ride it more but we didn't have a seat for Liv (and I usually don't leave her at home by herself! :) We finally got the right seat and Kurt installed it for me last weekend. Liv & I have been enjoying our little rides! The other day we rode over to JDW to say hi to our friends!


That's it for now... are you happy? I still have to work on Liv's bday post and I need to write about my Westmont girls weekend away AND tomorrow morning I leave for Napa with the 7 girls. Man, I have a lot to do today!

First "Sentence"

Yesterday Liv verbalized a complete thought for the first time. There's this cat that thinks we are its family. We are NOT this cat's family, nor are we willing to pretend that we like having it on our front patio loudly meowing in our windows every time it sees us. So, we've been pretty vocal about it leaving the premises when it comes around. Liv, on the other hand, has been pretty captivated by this creature that sits on the ledge just a screen away from her. She has been pressing her face up against the screen and talking to the cat who loudly meows back at her. So, this past week Liv has finally learned that cats do not bark, they in fact meow. Liv's meow is more like "mmmmowwwwww" (think meow without the e sound). Yesterday I was holding Liv and the cat came to the window. I shook my finger (granny style!) at the cat and said "Go away, kitty!" Or something to that effect. Liv looked at me, looked at the cat and then shook her fist at the cat and said "No, no mmmmmowwwww!" :)

Toddler

To me, that word sounds so much older than newborn, infant and baby. But, I am realizing that my baby is now venturing into toddlerhood. My email updates about her development now say "Your Toddler This Week" instead of "Your Baby This Week." Her super cute pink jacket from BabyGap, sized 12-18 months, also says Toddler right there on the tag. There's no escaping it.

She's also exhibiting some toddler behavior... wanting a little more independence and freedom, racing to try to get up the stairs when we're not watching even though she knows she's not supposed to go up without us, saying "no" - even though I think it's more of a mimic at this point, getting frustrated with "rules," talking, engaging with other little kids and exploring like crazy. Sometimes Kurt and I look at her and shake our heads... where is our little baby and where did this toddler come from?

And then there are times when she snuggles for a minute, or lays her head on my chest, or just needs to be held (even though that's usually followed quickly by squirming to get down!), or reaches up to touch my face while I give her a bottle and I realize that even though she's getting bigger and learning more and more each day, she's still my baby.

Happy Birthday Liv!

Today Liv is 1 year old! How can it be that this year is already gone? We had a party and all sorts of fun. I will post pictures of that soon but here's a shot of our little muffin on her birthday morning.

Thirty-three

Today Kurt turns 33. Am I old enough to have a husband who's 33? Yes, I guess so. :) Happy birthday, babe! I love you and I know another little girl who thinks pretty highly of you, too!