Friends, St. Patrick's Day, Daddy's Birthday, Easter

Todd is still romantic and surprised me with this cute bouquet just because yesterday.
Daddy and I have been watching March Madness and I hate when our teams don't win.

After a bath in my princess robe.
Look at my pretty Easter dress. The tights are a little big for me still.
The pink lamb is from Grandma Hedges and the cute Easter bunny is from Aunt Becky, Uncle Brian, Cousin Caroline and Kyle.
The beautiful Easter basket is from Grammy and Grandpa Cox.
Look at my cute shirt it says Mommy's Little Sweetie.

She loves her Grandma Hedges.
Look at my cute parents. The great thing is that mom can get her arms around my dad now. :)
I am holding Malik, Grammy has Olivia, Todd and dad are in the back and Grandma Hedges is in front of Todd. This was our first Easter with Olivia.
Todd, Grandma Hedges and sleepy Olivia in her after church outfit.
We wanted a picture of three generations.

She loves sleeping on her daddy's chest.
Mommy caught me in a great mood so she took some pictures of me.
Malik and Abby met us for church on Easter Sunday.
Malik loved Jackson and Joe at my parents house.
This is our family photo on Easter.

Olivia meeting Liz for the first time. Poor Clara was a little tuckered. She was awake the entire visit, but our Olivia was asleep until we finished eating.
Olivia and Clara giving their best faces to the camera.
Clara didn't want to see us go. Olivia was a little dumbfounded to hear another baby upset.
Thank you Aunt Patsy for the adorable jumper. It was perfect for church. As you can see I slept through the whole thing. Grammy ran me around the church.
Happy St. Patrick's Day. Mommy woke me up just to take my picture so she caught me stretching.






Todd's birthday our babies (dogs) and Olivia hanging with daddy on the couch. The next picture is of Todd and I on our anniversary sitting at the Willie Nelson table at Texas Roadhouse.

We did eat some of our wedding cake for our anniversary. It was a little scary, but it still tasted good. Thanks Natalie for the instructions and also the Happy Anniversary wish on the box. Olivia's favorite thing to do now a days is eat her hands. The picture of her in the swing is of her passed out after her day of shots. She was so tired. Look at her little chubby arms.



We have had a busy couple of weeks. Olivia just had her two month visit to the doctor. Her doctor says that she is doing great. She is now 12 lbs 1oz and she is 23 1/2 inches long. She got her vaccinations and I cried since it was the first time that I had ever heard her cry like something hurt her. She was just a little fussy later in the afternoon and evening. She still doesn't enjoy tummy time, but we are still doing it just in short intervals. She does however like her gym time especially the little mirror that she gazes into. She also loves when daddy leans in and kisses her. She is starting to anticipate when you are leaning in. Her head control is so much better. She is also arching her back now when she gets upset. You will get to see that in one of her pictures. She is smiling more and more and the doctor said it won't be long before she starts to laugh. We are so looking forward to this milestone. Olivia coos all the time now. She is starting to imitate us when we make noises at her. The other big news is that she is already teething. She is trying to get a tooth on the top of her mouth. This has been challenging because she is so little so she can't hold a teething ring by herself or anything else for that matter. This makes teething a little challenging, but we know that we will survive. :) Poor baby girl. She got to meet her first little friend Clara (Liz and Jeremy's little girl) friends of ours. Clara is 1 day younger than Olivia, but was already 24 inches long when we met up with them 2 weekends ago. It was so great to see them even though it was a short visit. I will post a couple of pictures of the girls. Olivia gets to meet her uncle Josh for the first time tomorrow and we are so excited.

Todd celebrated his 37th birthday. It was a good time here at home. We watched Dan in Real Life which was a fantastic movie by the way. Of course this was the first birthday that Olivia has ever experienced with cake and candles that is. :) Todd is slowly, but surely getting more energy and at least his cold is mostly over. The other wonderful thing is that we celebrated our 1 year anniversary. Grandma Hedges watched Olivia for us so we could go to dinner and a movie. It was fun to sit in theater and get to watch the entire movie without interruption. We have had a whirlwind of changes in our first year of marriage, but it has been amazing. We are so blessed to have each other and now our love and God has created this beautiful baby girl. God is truly amazing and has continued to bless us! We have received so many cards, phone calls and gifts for Olivia and for us to wish us a great anniversary. Thank you all so much for loving and blessing our family.

I survived intersession last week. I did earn every last cent though. :) This week Olivia and I have been busy with doctors appointments. I have had two and she has had one. I will have one more week with her and then back to work I go. It is such a great schedule to be on a year round calendar because I love these extended breaks (especially now with Olivia). The other great thing is that I have been able to see friends for lunch or coffee. This is always good. The dogs are doing great still. They are really enjoying the weather when it is warmer.

We survived!

Olivia smiling at her Grammy Cox during nursery duty on Sunday.

My Grammy is so funny she is always making me laugh.

This is the adorable outfit that Tyra one of our bus monitors bought her.

Olivia is smiling at Grandma Hedges. She had been asleep the whole time Grandma Hedges watched her and we woke her up just so Grandma could see her smile. It was well worth it seeing Grandma enjoy the smiles so much. This is the outfit that our neighbor Kim bought for her.

This is Olivia and I two Friday's ago after my first week back at work. As you can see she is doing her tired stare while I took our picture.

This is David Steele holding Olivia for the first time. He said it had been a long time since he had held a baby. He held her while Annie and I went across the street to see the gym that was used in the movie Hoosiers.

This is Diane Steele holding Olivia and talking to Kalleen(who is serving in Iraq). Kalleen called when Annie, Olivia and I were visiting the Steele's in Knightstown. Diane gave us the best afternoon. She had a special tea for us with great little sandwiches and desserts.

I love this picture of my baby girl getting ready to go run some errands with mommy.

This is Olivia and Todd at the last Upwards basketball game. She loves her daddy so!

Todd and Joe with the boys from their third and fourth grade basketball team.

This is Olivia and Daddy before we got ready for bed.

Olivia sitting in her bouncy chair while Mommy made dinner. This was two weeks ago and you can already see how much she changes.

Daddy bought Olivia this outfit when we went on our first date. She looks so cute in purple.

Well, we have two weeks down. Olivia loves "Grandma Mary's" her sitters house. They are so aware of what is going on with her when she is at their house. It means so much to be able to leave for work and know that your baby girl is taken care of. I get to drop her off in the morning. The first Monday that I dropped her off I boo hooed all the way to work. I didn't realize how difficult it would be. The great news is that I don't cry anymore and I am getting much more used to our daily routine. The other cute thing about the sitter's house is that there is always at least one little boy that is waiting to see Olivia when I drop her off. I just think it is so cute that he waits to see our baby girl. Olivia is so much fun! She is smiling now on a regular basis which of course just warms our heart. Our favorite thing is that after a night of sleep the first thing she does when she opens her eyes is she smiles at us. She really likes the Itsy Bitsy Spider song and just people singing to her in general (especially mommy and daddy). Olivia has the best pouty face ever, it is so sad.

I have enjoyed being back to work. My team at work has been so fantastic to allow me to pump when I have a break and help me plan some of the activities and get the classroom organized. I only have three days of work this week and then I get to be back with Olivia on Thursday and Friday. I did sign up to teach intersession for one week and they needed me so I will be teaching 4th grade. :( This is a tad unnerving, but it is only for a week and I will be back at Eagle Creek for that week. I will keep you posted on how this experience went. I will have two weeks off after the intersession. I have high hopes to get our house back in order and do some spring cleaning. I also have hopes of getting into the routine of working out. I have lost weight just from simply breast feeding, but know that I need to exercise for more energy and to lose even more weight. Overall, I am feeling good and enjoying the fact that I am getting much more comfortable with the routine of getting Olivia and myself ready on a daily basis.

We recently found out that Todd has mono. This has been an adjustment for our family just because Todd is needing to get extra sleep. He is feeling a little bit better, but he still is needing a lot of rest. I think that the worst part about him being sick is that he can not kiss on his baby girl's face. He is still working and thankfully he is able to take some breaks throughout his day to make sure he doesn't overdo it. This past Saturday he had his awards ceremony for Upwards. He was coaching a first and second grade boys team as well as a third and fourth grade boys basketball team at the church. Olivia and I went to watch Daddy coach, but now the it is over we finally get to have our Saturdays back and he gets to have his Thursday nights back. He really did enjoy coaching with Joe and is looking forward to playing basketball with Joe in the spring.

Lexie and Bentley just had their annual visit to the vet and they have a clear bill of health. They are still doing such a fantastic job with Olivia. They get really excited when we bring her home and check her out as soon as we set her seat down. Olivia is much more interested in the dogs and she follows them around the room with her eyes. She does not seem to be bothered by them sniffing her and occasionally kissing her.