Memorial Day

Today we spent our memorial day at our neighborhood pool. Since we had a pool party on Saturday and yesterday we went to the lake we hadn't visited our pool yet since it opened. Alivia absolutely LOVED sitting in her big girl seat in the wagon and especially liked us pulling her in it on the way to the pool. I was very shocked that she didn't like the water today because when we went swimming in the indoor pool on Saturday she really liked it and didn't even mind jumping in and going under. I think maybe it is because the water is so cold. Well we will keep working on it. As all of you know Ben and I definitely like going to the pool a lot in the summer so I am sure she will get broken in before long. So for now she is our tanning babe instead of our water babe. Happy Memorial Day everyone!

All packed up and ready to walk to the pool! Bye, bye!

Taking a snack and drink break. I think she sat here for at least 30 minutes maybe longer. Our tanning babe!!! :)

Pretty Toes!

I have been wanting to paint Alivia's toes for a while but I haven't been successful in "how" to do it. Today I decided to try it while she was eating lunch in her booster seat. Well it actually kind of worked because she was still while she was eating and then they had time to dry when she got done. I missed a few toes but doesn't she have the cutest feet ever??? :)

First Lake Day

Today we had our first lake experience with Alivia's god parents, Chad and Kristin. Every year we usually go out on their boat during the summer and we were really looking forward to Alivia going with us this year. She absolutely LOVED the boat ride and was such a good girl and we were even out for 3 hours! However, actually getting in the lake was another story. Chad and Kristin, thanks for a wonderful time yesterday! We are so lucky to have you as Alivia's god parents and great friends to us!

Getting ready to leave on the boat! No, we did not plan to color coordinate our outfits!

Trying to wear her hat but a couple seconds later she ripped it off!!

LOVED this part of the boat!

Mommy and Alivia both making a funny face because she hated the life jacket!

First time in the lake!! I think she was a little scared because she normally loves swimming! :(

This was actually the cutest thing ever! You know, I have posted before how she says Daddy all of the time. I really can't remember the last time she said Mommy. Well here was our moment. She was screaming, Ma, Ma, Ma and it just melted my heart!! Needless to say she was scared to death!

Back safe in Mommy's arms!

Passed out before the cook out!! What a good little girl!

Visiting Heather and JR

Today we visited my good friend Heather because they just got a new puppy. Isn't Bruiser cute? Alivia had a great time visiting with them and LOVED seeing a dog that didn't jump all over her! So good to see you guys! We love you!

First Water Play

Tonight was Alivia's first time actually playing with the water in her table! She LOVED it. Rosy cheeks and all just like her mommy!! I think she would have stayed out there all night long if we would have let her. Mommy and Daddy enjoyed being outside in the sun playing in the hose too! The dogs even got in on the action. What a great start to our summer fun!

Doesn't she look so big? I actually took this picture yesterday but I had to take one because she wore this tank top last summer, he, he!! 3-6 months!

Splash....splash!

LOVE the boats!

So fun!

I LOVE being outside!

After we came inside from playing we were taking Alivia's clothes off for bath time and she started hitting me while I was holding her. She knows what happens when no is said to her more than once...timeout (which is against any wall)! So here she is in timeout for hitting. I am so mean! :(

Trying to leave but sat back down when Mommy and Daddy said no. That is a huge success for her AND she is in timeout without throwing a fit...YEH!!! :(

Slide!!!

Before I left for class tonight Alivia was sliding over and over again since she couldn't go outside because of the rain. She LOVES to say the word slide too! It was pretty funny. She has been doing this trick for a couple months but I haven't ever caught it on video. ENJOY!

Daddy's Little Girl

Well Alivia has definitely become Daddy's little girl. She is always saying "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!" She even runs to Ben when he picks her up and runs the opposite way when I pick her up from the babysitter. Ha! Of course, it hurt my feelings at first but I now I know it is just a phase. After all, she does say, "ma, ma" when she is upset or sick. Here are some pics of Daddy and Alivia fort building tonight!

Peek-a-boo through the ball pit fort!

Where's Aliva?

There she is!

This is my favorite game ever to destroy the fort!

Fun Sunday!

Mommy spent much of the day today working on homework but we had some fun pics in between nap times! Here are a few pics from our Sunday!

Big girl with a spoon all by herself!

So big!

This is so fun Mommy!

I LOVE dipping my chicken in ranch....I know, bad habit but I was wanting to treat her since I had been working on homework all day and didn't see her much yesterday too! lol!

My new favorite way to sit on everyone!

Kelly Visits!!!

This weekend one of my best friends from college was visiting some family in Kansas so she stopped by for a visit on her way back to St.Louis. It was so good to see her. We miss her so much! She is such an amazing friend to us! Love and miss you Kel!!

Alivia and "Aunt" Kelly!

Mommy misses her so much!!! Don't we look like twins? Everyone in college always got us confused.

Saying "No!!"

This is Alivia's new thing to do while she is eating in her chair. The dogs, especially our beagle Daisey, begs on both sides of her while she is eating. Well, needless to say she has had enough and yells, "No!" at them!! LOVE IT! I am NOT looking forward to her saying no to Ben and I though! I am sure that is coming soon....

Daddy's Vegetable Garden

Ben is quite proud of his new vegetable garden he created. The last couple years he has wanted to do this and now he has done it! He even went to Home Depot and watched a learning workshop on how to plant it correctly. He planted different kids of peppers and a tomato plant! Can't wait to see how it grows!! Great job Daddy!

Happy Mother's Day

Today was absolutely the best day ever. I woke up to McDonalds breakfast in bed (my favorite) and roses with Alivia standing over me with a card. So so sweet! After I ate my breakfast I opened up this red box. It was a new home phone. This was kind of a joke between Ben and I because our home phone has been broken for a while and I mentioned something about wanting a new one. Anyway, after I opened it he said wait, you have another present. He then whipped out the envelope of Carrie Underwood Tickets!!!!!!! These are not just any Carrie Underwood tickets........FLOOR SEAT-CENTER SECTION-ROW 10-SEATS 1 and 2. Can you tell how excited I am???? I am so lucky to have such a great husband and daughter. We also had a great day with both of our Moms and families! Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Breakfast in bed!

Ben and his Mom!

Our family!

4 Generations...3 Mothers!

ok...I had to post this picture because it is too funny! Ben kept snapping pictures of Alivia pulling my hair because she thinks it is so funny when I say ouch....even though we keep telling her no...what a stinker! Can you tell she is feeling better now?

Happy Graduation Brooke

Our niece, Brooke is graduating from High School next weekend so we had her graduation party yesterday. We are so proud of her. She is such a beautiful girl inside and out. We love you Brooke! Congrats!

I LOVE YOU BROOKIE!

With the beautiful graduate!

Special Visitors

This morning my very good friends from high school, Vicki and Katy came to visit. Katy was just in town for the weekend so it was so it was great to see both of them. Vicki had her niece Morgan with her. Alivia already knows Morgan since I am also friends with Jami, Morgan's mommy. They had so much fun playing together. What a great Saturday morning play date! I am so glad Alivia is back to her normal self again!!! YEAH!!! :)

Each riding their own "ride"- Alivia actually looks tall in this picture because Morgan's car is low to the ground and Alivia's horse is high...ha!

Ball pit fun!

Both of them going in for kisses!

They both LOVE books so much!! :)

Katy and Vicki- Thanks for coming to visit. Hope to see you soon. Morgan, we LOVED your sunglasses!

15 Month Check-Up

Today we had Alivia's 15 Month check-up. I was sad to have to take her back to the doctor again but she seemed to be feeling a little better so I went ahead and took her. Dr.Powell said her ear was good now so that was good to hear. She weighed 18 lbs 6 oz (3rd percentile) and 28 1/2 inches long (5th percentile). Dr. Powell estimated Alivia to be 5 "1" and weigh 1oo pounds when she is older. That was too funny to hear! I am not sure about the 100 pounds part but it looks like she is going to take after her mommy on the height. I can't say we were surprised to hear that. We still haven't gotten a big girl car seat yet so I guess we don't need to hurry since she still has up until 20 pounds before we have to get one. Here are 15 of the many things we love about Alivia!
1. Says "outside" everytime she looks out the window and after dinner time
2. Snuggling and reading a book before bed time
3. Blowing bubbles with her mouth in the bath tub
4. Being a really picky eater (we don't really LOVE this but it is a trait of hers) She actually likes feeding the dogs her food and says "no daisey" "no izzey" when they try to eat her food but she feeds them anyway because it is way more fun than eating
5. Dances to "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
6. LOVES pulling up her shirt when you say where is your belly button
7. Points to her nose, eyes, ears, head and toes
8. Does the itsy bitsy spider motions with her fingers and Wheels on the Bus
9. Patty Cake motions makes her smile
10. Peek-a-boo is her favorite game but you have you to chase her!
11. LOVES saying the "k" sound with her magnetic letters- starting to get into liking her letter factory CD
12. Animal sounds-lion, monkey, cow, chicken, dog
13. Says "bach, bach, bach" when she sees chicken on her plate
14. Goes to bed by herself at 7:15 and wakes up at 7:15
15. Her fun and independent personality!!!!!

Chalk with Daddy

WOW...we have had quite the busy and tiring week. Mommy had something to do every night this week, including starting her specialist degree on Wednesday night!!! Mommy was really excited about it because she has wanted to start it for a while. It was a pretty busy week to start class but we got through it. Tonight was writing night at Mommy's school so this was Daddy having fun with sidewalk chalk outside. Daddy actually sent this picture to Mommy during writing night on her phone. It made me smile so much!! Thanks Daddy for the sweet thought! Alivia is feeling a little better so she was excited to go outside finally tonight. She is still pretty high maintenance so she has stayed home all week! Hopefully we are on the mend to this yucky sickness. We will see Dr. Powell tomorrow for her 15 month check-up so hopefully the ear is doing better. Have a great Friday everyone!

Ear Infection

My mom took Alivia to the doctor today and they said she had an ear infection. I was very surprised because she wasn't pulling on her ear, didn't have a runny nose and wasn't acting like she was in pain. She has had a high fever since Saturday, thrown up and had diarrhea so I guess those can be signs too unless she just has had a mixture of everything. My mom had her weighed and measured and she was 18 lbs 5 oz and 29 inches long (3rd percentile). Looks like we can stay in our baby car seat for a little longer! At this rate she is going to be in a booster seat in middle school! lol! She was actually up and walking around today when I got home and is on amoxicillian so hopefully we are on the mend of this yucky sickness. I will say I missed not being able to cuddle with her on the couch tonight. By the way I have heard about this recall on motrin and tylenol and thought I would pass it along. Of course, I had been giving Alivia both of these so it looks like I need to go buy new bottles! What does everyone think about this?

http://www.mcneilproductrecall.com/page.jhtml?id=/include/new_recall.inc

Sick Alivia :(

Well our poor baby officially has her first case of the "flu." She had her first temperature, vomit and diarrhea all at the same time. Mommy and Daddy are NOT used to Alivia sitting still for anything but she has been sitting on the couch cuddling for the past 24 hours. Of course, we hate seeing our little baby not feeling well but we really have enjoyed our cuddle time since Alivia is not a cuddler at all. I actually got to rock Alivia to sleep for the first time and boy did I LOVE it. At the same time it has been really hard to see her not feeling well. She actually got up and walked around a little bit today and ate a few crackers so hopefully she is getting better. Grandma Stewart is staying home with her tomorrow. Hopefully she won't have a temperature in the morning so she can go back to Janets on Tuesday. We hope you get better soon Alivia!

I don't feel good Mommy but I LOVE my pacie and my baby doll. They make me feel so much better!

Note from Ali

Ben is always leaving me notes on a paper towel like this. I would have to say this is one of the many things that I love about him. This morning he let me sleep in and took Alivia to run errands with him. This is the note he left. Alivia's nickname is Ali and her middle name is Kathleen so Ben likes to call her Ali K (for Ali Cat) so that is why it says Ali K. TOO CUTE!