New playgroup

I've been taking Olivia to a playgroup since she was around six months old and it's been really cute. I like being able to get out of the house and get her around kids close to her age. I also love talking to the other moms, we share some interesting stories. We go once a week and we were going to a class for babies up to 12 months old. Olivia is 15 months now and last week she was running around, nearly knocking the babies over and just being crazy. I decided it was time that we switch her to the next age group (probably should have a few months ago). In the baby group they just read some books to the kids, sing songs and then let them play with toys. The babies just lay there or crawl around and steal each others pacifiers. In the toddler group they are much more aware of what is going on and they are all developing their own little personalities. It's really funny, they crack me up. Today is the first time we went to the toddler group and it was so much more fun (even for me lol). The teacher was blowing bubbles (they were all in awe) and singing songs, then she gave all the kids instruments and they all marched around the room, it was adorable and humorous at the same time. She also pulled out a parachute and we all held on and let the kids run under, it reminded me of my childhood because we used to do that in gym class (so fun). At the end the teacher brought out some toys for free play and a ton of those little ball pit balls and dropped them all on the parachute and the kids were so excited to play with them. It was just so cute to see Olivia running around with all the kids and having a blast. I love being able to do things like that with her, seeing her happy melts my heart. When we got home, she was completely exhausted and took a really long nap so I was able to relax. It was so gross out today and the whole house was just hot and muggy. I ended up giving her a bath just to cool her down because she was sweating pretty much all day, her hair was extra curly (so darn cute). Anyways just wanted to give a quick update about her new fun little playgroup! :)

 Sorry about the blurry pictures but she was having too much fun to stay still!

Three cats and a baby

We have three cats (Rooney, Peyton and Gabby). Before having Olivia, my cats were my babies. I was obsessed. Despite my allergies and feeling like death the first few weeks we got them, I still loved them. After having Olivia, my feelings have definitely changed. I still like the cats (sometimes) but they are more of an annoyance than anything. After having kids, pets are just so much harder to take care of. I can't speak about dogs because I don't have any but I assume they would be much harder since I specifically wanted cats so I didn't have to walk them or play with them 24/7. Also, I would have felt bad leaving a dog home alone for eight hours a day, cats don't seem to mind (I think they actually prefer it). Ever since I've been a stay at home mom, the cats stare at me like they are plotting my murder. I know this is going to sound mean but, finding a new home for the cats wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. However, my husband is dead set against that which I understand. Since he is against that, he takes all responsibility for them (feeding them, cleaning up after them and buying them litter and food). Unfortunately being home all day, the burden still falls on me more than I would like. The most annoying and disgusting thing is hairballs. If you have never seen a hairball, please Google the image, now go wash your eyes out with soap (and trust that it's much worse in person). Only one of our cats vomits hairballs up on a weekly basis but it is the most disgusting thing you will ever see. I rather clean up Olivia's diarrhea on a daily basis than clean up Rooney's hairballs once a week. Not only are they gross but they appear at the worst times! Always when I am trying to rush out the door because I'm late to Olivia's doctor appointment or play date. I'm thinking "yay! we are going to make it with one minute to spare!" and then I turn the corner into the kitchen and bam! A massive disgusting black hairball. Sometimes I debate just leaving it there (ugh too gross) but I can't. I have to clean it up while gagging the whole time. Here's a horror story for you.. one time one of the cats (not sure which one) threw up some undigested dry cat food. Before I realized it was there, I saw Olivia grab something and put it in her mouth. NOOOOOO. Yup. My child ate cat vomit. I quickly moved her and cleaned it up but it was too late. I kept giving her cookies and goldfish (crackers not real goldfish) to eat to get rid of the taste but she didn't even seem bothered by the taste. I can't help but cringe every time I think of it but she was completely unaffected. We keep the litter box in the basement (which is finished) but every time I go down there it smells terrible. I just hate the smell of cat litter, even mixed with air freshener it's just gross. Rooney and Peyton beat the crap out of each other a few times a day and it causes fur to fly everywhere, they usually do this in the carpeted areas of the house (thanks guys!) So I'll admit that I rarely vacuum, I hate vacuuming so Paul does it. Although I find it quite pointless because fifteen minutes later, cat fur is everywhere again. It amazes me how much Rooney sheds. We can make another five cats out of the fur he leaves around the house during the week. Another pain in the... is when they get in my way, I am constantly tripping over a cat. I swear they do it on purpose. They are always making me spill something. Olivia absolutely loves the cats, so much that I started calling her Elmira (the little girl from Tiny Toons who takes her affection for animals a little too far). She loves them so much she wants to squeeze them to death (literally). Her favorite word ever is "cat". Unfortunately her love is not reciprocated. In fact I'm pretty sure that the cats hate Olivia with a fiery passion. She likes to pull and bite their tails, attempt to rip out their fur and smack them on the head. This has led to a few scratches to the face. I try my best to teach her "nice" or keep them separated but it doesn't work all the time. They drive me insane (Jackson Galaxy, please come to our house!) Playing referee is getting old and cleaning up baby puke and poop is enough for me, I don't want to deal with an animals mess along with it. Here's a quick run down on how our cats have changed after Olivia was born.

Rooney in Olivia's high chair (eye roll) and making a creepy face on my lap.

Rooney before Olivia - The fur ball who loves to vomit. Our craziest cat. He used to be a wild, rough, active cat who was not much into cuddling. He was a bit of a bully to the other cats even though he is the smallest.

Rooney after Olivia - He is now an overly needy little mama's boy. The second (and that's not an exaggeration) I sit down on the couch, Rooney is on my lap. It's sweet sometimes but mostly very annoying because I don't want a cat on top of me 24/7. He also cries outside the door whenever we are in the bedroom. Super annoying. He is okay with Olivia and will usually just run away from her instead of trying to attack, I appreciate that. Sometimes when she is bugging him, he shoots me a look like "get this kid away from me or I'm drawing blood" So at least I can tell when he's thinking about it. So far no documented Rooney attacks, they have luckily all been avoided.

 Peyton trying to fit his fat butt into a box and jumping on the counter to avoid Liv.

Peyton before Olivia - My Favorite! 90% of the time you will find Peyton sleeping on the couch (the cushion is permanently saggy because of him). He really only gets up for food so the other 10% of his time is spent eating. He's our sweetest cat, he's so big (about 20lbs) but wouldn't hurt a fly. We always call him our gentle giant. He was in my lap a lot and loved affection from me but was always pretty lazy.

Peyton after Olivia - Still super lazy but a lot less affectionate and a little more mean. I thought he would do the best with Olivia but I was wrong. He's been the worst. He is the one who has given her a few scratches to the face. Although warranted because she bit his tail, he's still a jerk. However, he loves her when she's feeding him baby food off her fingers. We like to call Peyton "Lennie" now (Of Mice and Men) because we don't think he really means to hurt her, he's just a big dummy and doesn't know his own strength.

 Gabby laying in the living room (rare occasion) and staring out the window.

Gabby before Olivia - "Who?!" Yeah we have a girl cat but she hides in the basement for at least twenty two hours a day. She was a stray and taken away from her mother too early so she never learned social skills. She is so darn adorable but only lets me pet her every once in a while. She steers clear of Paul and Olivia at all costs.

Gabby after Olivia - Exactly the same except she comes upstairs even less than before (unless Paul and Liv are sleeping). At least she runs away from Olivia instead of attacking her but I'm pretty sure she's Liv's favorite cat. Probably because Liv barely sees her, she gets super excited every time she does but she ends up yelling in excitement and Gabby runs back downstairs within seconds.

Happy Mother's Day!

Today was a nice relaxing day (for the most part). Olivia did not want to take her nap, I knew if she didn't then she would be a beast at my parent's house. After an hour of jumping around in her crib she finally fell asleep but then she woke up an hour later, ugh. Luckily she wasn't too cranky for the rest of the day/night. We ate dinner and hung out for a while, it was a fun day. I still don't feel like Mother's Day is about me though, I always forget. I feel like it's all about my mom but obviously I'm a mom too. My mom got me a present (which she totally didn't have to do!) and that was really sweet. Paul got me some yummy chocolate covered strawberries (gigantic ones) and two very cute cards. I feel very lucky to have such an amazing mom, we love you so much! We also love our guardian angel Gina (my mother in law), we miss her everyday. I am so blessed to have a happy, beautiful, healthy and sweet little girl (most of the time), I am so proud to be her mom and I can't say that enough. I hope all of you had a great Mother's Day!

 My sister, nephews, mom, Olivia and me. 

All three of these kiddos are so dang adorable :)

Mother's Day giveaway

The other day someone posted a video and at the end I saw this book. I heard that it was hilarious so I had to get it. While I was at the bookstore skimming the pages, it was so funny that I decided to get two and do a giveaway! This is for all the moms who get thrown up on, have boogers wiped on them, get food flung at them, change a diaper only to smell poop five minutes later, have to deal with a screaming baby and terrible headache at the same time, make it through the day on two hours of sleep and lock themselves in the bathroom so they can eat for five minutes in peace! No matter how exhausted you are or how terrible you think you look, you are awesome and a great mother so don't forget that. Special thanks to my mom, I finally fully understand everything you had to deal with, you're amazing and I love you. I hope all of you have the best Mother's Day tomorrow!

I'm going to end the giveaway on Monday (5/12 at midnight) and send out the book sometime during the week, sorry it's going to be a little after Mother's Day but it was a last minute idea. Good luck!

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Friday night IN

It's funny to think how different my life is now. It was only six years ago that I was single and stuck in party mode. I would go out to bars/clubs every weekend without a care in the world. Now a Friday night consists of spending time with Paul & Liv, feeding her dinner, giving her a bath, reading her books, getting her to bed, watching a movie or TV and relaxing on the couch. "Going out" consists of going to the store or maybe running errands. I'm sure all that sounds boring to people without kids but I actually love it, I wouldn't have it any other way. Maybe I'm old but it's nice to feel settled. I had a lot of fun when I was younger but I wouldn't ever wish to go back. I really don't miss hangovers, although sometimes I get so sleep deprived that I feel like I have one and it brings me back. Don't get me wrong, it's great to have a "girls night out" every once in a while but going out and getting wasted every weekend does not sound fun at all. Before I had Liv, I would always see people posting tons of pictures of their kids (it never bothered me) but I didn't think I would ever be "that mom". The truth is, I am. I post pictures and talk about her all the time because she is my whole life. I guess it's hard for some people to understand but I'm sure they will get it one day. Plus, I much rather see pictures of kids than gym selfies. Actually to be honest, nothing anyone posts really bothers me unless they are complaining about what other people post.. and now I just became part of the problem ha. Anyway, the whole point of this post was because I realized it was Friday and I started thinking about how much has changed, I am completely happy to be where I am now and so grateful for Olivia.

 Left: 2007 - Long live the duck face. Right: 2014 - My whole world.

Toddler tag

I saw this toddler tag on a vlog so I decided to do it for Liv. 

1. Name? Olivia

2. Age? Almost 15 months (on the 16th)

3. Favorite food? Pizza (like mommy!)

4. Favorite snack? Teddy Grahams and Goldfish

5. Favorite drink? Water

6. Favorite TV show? Dora the Explorer

7. Favorite book? If I Were A Cat

8. Favorite toy? Cell phone

9. What makes her mad? When we tell her no or take something away that she shouldn't be playing with

10. What was her first word? Dada

11. Favorite comfort item? Binka (binky)

12. Favorite activity? Chasing the cats

13. Nap time? She usually only takes one nap, between 12-1pm and she naps for about two hours

14. What makes her a little crazy? She's always crazy lol unless she's really tired

15. What makes her awesome? She's a goofball, she is always doing something silly to make us laugh. Plus she's a heart warrior, she's been through a lot in her short life and she's so resilient!

 Left: Feeding the cat some yummy puree. Right: She woke up and her hair looked ridiculous.

Busy weekend

Sorry for slacking with the posts, this is the first time all weekend I'm sitting down to relax. Okay, maybe a bit of an exaggeration but it was a pretty busy weekend. Yesterday we went to my friends daughters first birthday party, we had a really good time. It's cute to see Liv "play" with kids around the same age as her. They have an outdoor cat and when Olivia saw the cat, she started screaming in excitement. The cat ran away of course (smart move) and then she kept trying to chase her, she's nuts. After the party, we went store hopping looking for a red shirt, I wanted one for today (red for heart disease). When we finally got home I had to give Livy a quick bath, feed her dinner and get her to bed. She fell asleep quick, we were out pretty much all day.

 

Team Livy - Heart Warrior! Her lovely parents/grandparents/cousins/aunt & uncle

WE LOVE YOU OLIVIA! 

Today was the March of Dimes 3K walk (although we took the long route so I think it was more than a 3K for us), Olivia was still sleeping when it was time to leave this morning so I had to wake her up. She was cranky when we first got there but once I started pushing her in the stroller she was fine. The walk was fun, Team Livy was taken so we were Team Livy - Heart Warrior. There wasn't many of us because I kind of gave short notice, other people wanted to come but had previous plans and I also forgot to mention it to everyone. I think next year I'm going to have shirts made for Team Livy, that will be cute. I am glad we were able to recruit a few people though! We earned over $500 for the babies. Thank you to everyone who donated and a special thanks to everyone who walked with us! It's great to have such awesome support from our family and friends. We actually made it on the news for a split second, that was pretty cool to see. Olivia was exhausted by the time we left, even though she just sat in the stroller and ate the whole time. I'm glad that she slept on the car ride home but then she was cranky for a few hours so she took another nap. I got a little sunburn and now I'm beat, tomorrow is going to be a nice relaxing day (I hope). Fingers crossed that Olivia sleeps in so I can too!