Meet Lola Jane!!!! And a picture for John.

I finally brought my camera on one of our visits to see Little Lola, Janet's new baby.




So precious, I love those blue eyes!!!
Liv giving Lola some diapers.
Tyler and Jenene came to visit also. Here is Tyler doing the Heisman Trophy pose. He stayed like this for a few minutes. Jenene and I could not stop laughing.
John this pic is for you, when we told Tyler he could not be a Derek Jeter fan, this was his reaction.
Nicholas holding his baby sister Lola and does it look like Janet just gave birth 4 weeks ago?
She is just about back to her regular size.

Fun at the park and what to do about Liv's Birthday!!

Finally the last week or so we are enjoying some nice spring weather. So we have been hitting the park scene almost everyday. When we get in the car, Liv will look at me and say "weeeeeeee", The sound she makes on the swings, to ask me if we are going to the park. I of course say yes and we usually stop at the park on our way home from Grammy's or where ever we are that day.


Cool chick on the swings "weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee"
Coming down the big slide all by herself.
Throwing rocks in the stream, she could do this for hours.
Pure cutness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Some friends have asked what we are doing for Liv's birthday this year. I have been telling Vinay no big party this year. For her first Cinco de Mayo birthday Liv was overwhelmed and hated the whole thing. But Vinay was set on doing a huge party again. Well when I hosted Easter last month Liv was so clingy, didn't want anyone to hold her but me, didn't want get down and play that much, she just did not like all these people over. So that decided it, we would only do something small this year. Just our immediate family. This way Liv can enjoy herself and Mommy can enjoy herself. Sorry to all our friends who want to be there, we promise next year to have a huge bash. Vinay was thinking a drive-in movie theme with a big movie screen in the backyard, and all little kiddie cars lined up for the kids to sit in. Should be fun!

For Vaishu Akka and Uncle Jake

Vaish and Jake bought Olivia a ball pit for Christmas. We didn't have a pump and the balls were left at Vinay's Mom's, so we never blew it up. On night when Olivia was really cranky, we took a ride to Kmart and finally got the pump and some new balls. Well Liv's mood perked right up and she has been loving this ever since. She still screams with delight at the sight of it every morning.




"See you put the ball in here"
"Then you watch it go down.
"Then you can lay down in the balls"
"Then you start all over again"


Thanks Vaish and Jake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A little Tiger Woods

Golf season has begun in our house, and since Vinay got new golf clubs for his birthday, he was eager to get out and play. Liv was eager to play also when daddy got home and was trying to clean off his clubs.



"All you have to do is hit this little ball"
"Four"
"Here caddy hold my extra golf balls"
"Let see how many golf balls did I loose? Oh less that my daddy, great!"

Fowl phobia and falling

Liv is a very cautious child. I hear people talk about their toddlers and how they are fearless. In many ways Liv's cautiousness is good. In stores she walks right next to me, she will rarely run away from me. Being cautious also makes her not climb on things or touch things that she is not suppose to. Liv will always look to me for the OK before she does things she is not sure of.
Unfortunately her cautiousness also makes her more prone to being scared of things.

Lately Liv has developed some phobia's that are so scary to her. About a month ago Liv and I were at the park. We go to a park that has some animals. We brought some old bread and crackers to feed the goats. As soon as I opened the food, a nearby Canadian Goose let out this squawk, and it must have been some bird call for every Goose in the park. Within seconds Geese were surrounding us. I closed the food bag and put it in my pocket. The Geese kept coming so I yelled "Get away" and waved my hand to shoo them away. Still these Geese are squawking and walking towards us. I quickly picked up Liv and had to run away. Poor Liv couldn't even enjoy the playground because she kept looking for the Geese, which are everywhere. After that day if Liv even hears a bird or sees one, it doesn't matter what kind, she says "Get" and waves her hand. She is so scared of any bird now and I worry that she will be so scared of seagulls this summer that the beach might be out of the question.

Liv's other fear is the stairs. She was late in climbing stairs. So it's only been in the past few months that she will go on the stairs. At my Mom's a few weeks ago I was letting Liv go up and down the stairs herself. She was doing good holding on to the railing, so if I went upstairs for something she would follow, and then she would be right behind me coming down. She was getting her confidence up by the end of the day. Of course later that night Liv was following me down and as I walked into the other room I heard her tumble and than a Smack as she hit the floor. She feel down about two steps, but somehow hit just above her lip and her nose was bleeding a little. She cried so hard and I felt terrible, but she was OK. Ever since that incident she won't go down my Mom's steps and she won't go down any steps without me holding her hand. I feel so bad for her but I want her to be comfortable going on steps. I dare not force her but try to encourage her and to reassure her that she can do it. I know that fear in toddlers is common, I just don't want them to rule her life.




Liv shedding some tears after she slipped going up the garage stairs this week.
Watching the nickjr.com radio made her feel so much better.

Tax time is a good time!!

For the past 5 years I have dreaded tax time. For some reason we always owe money. Even last year with

Olivia's adoption we owed Uncle Sam money. But finally we are getting money back. Some of our money is going to http://www.eaglesnestint.org/
to help this little guy out and others just like him.

Kevin and other children are taken care of at Eagles Nest Orphanage in Guatemala. The orphanage was supported by the adoptions, but since Guatemala has shut down there is now no money to support the children.

Kevin and the other children at Eagles Nest are stuck in the system until adoptions open up.

It is 250$ to sponsor a child like Kevin, which is allot of money. But if you can even give just a one time donation it would help the orphanage out. All the money goes directly to the care of the children and the orphanage. Just go to the website and click on "How can I Help"

Please keep these children in mind at this time of year, tax time, and if you are getting money back please think about donating some of it to help out Kevin and the other children just waiting for a chance to be adopted.

The dreaded time out episode

For the most part Olivia is a very well behaved little girl. However she does have that temper that will flair to remind us that the terrible two's are just around the corner. I have been dealing with behavior issues as they come. She knows that I am immune to crying, all my years working with kids has made me deaf to it, so unusually she will complain a little then do the right thing.Well that was not the case last weekend.

Olivia had been coloring with her Bappamom. Accidentally her coloring book fell, Liv let out a "ughhhhhhhhh". I said "It's OK just pick it up and color again". Her response was to throw her entire box of 46 Crayola crayons to the floor. Calmly I replied, " Oh Olivia that's not nice, now help me pick them up". Her response was to shake her head no. At that moment I felt the room narrow and we both stared each other down like in an old cowboy movie. This was it, she was testing me, but was I prepared. She usually will help me pick them up. "Olivia, help Mommy pick up the crayons. " I said to buy myself more time and to give her a chance to give the right answer" She shakes her head no again without taking her eyes off me.

This was it, I had read it in the books, and I knew I could not walk away. She wasn't sick, she wasn't tired, there was no excuse. I had to pull out the time out card. I like the time out method since it not only gives them a time out but you also. But suddenly at this moment I forgot everything I had read. I had to go on instinct. Where is Supernanny when you need her?

"Olivia help pick up the crayons, or your going to have to go in timeout. Do you want to go in time out?" I said as I squatted down to her level. I'm expecting another another no. Her response, she said "yes". A lump grew in my throat, Parker covered his eyes, Vinay and his Mom just watched. It was all up to me. "OK you have to go in time out", I said as I took her hand. Problem was I hadn't decided where time out would be. I hadn't bought a naughty chair, I hadn't designated a certain step. So I just led her two feet to the step between the kitchen and the family room. "OK Olivia, here is time out, you can't play until you clean up the crayons. Will you help clean up the crayons now?" She shook her head "no" and looked very content to sit on the step. Again not the answer I was looking for. I dare not look at anyone but her. I actually wanted to laugh, is this girl for real. She had seen other kids in time out, I knew she understood what was going on. At that moment she started sliding around on her butt. I went over and put her back in her spot and said. "Olivia you can't play until you help clean up the crayons. We're going to color without you." I motioned to the two statues, just watching this all go down. I mean Vinay and his Mom mine as well have had a bucket of popcorn, they were watching so intently. They started shuffling thru her coloring books. "Olivia will you help clean up now?"

Please say yes, please say yes, was all I could think. She shook her head "no". How long can this go on, come on, I was out of ideas. So finally I said "Oh well Olivia, I guess your still in time out, but I'm going to play with your kitchen set?" As I walked over to her playroom. "Olivia do you want to play with your kitchen" "Yes" was her answer. "OK will you help clean up the crayons?" "Yes" was her answer. YES she said YES. Thank God she said YES. She got up helped Vinay and his Mom clean up the crayons and we all played kitchen set.

Was this one small step for Mom and one giant leap for parenthood? Probably not, I mean did she really get that if she doesn't do what we say she will be in time out? Will she remember that I won that battle? I'm thinking no, but at least I knew that I could do it. I knew that for that one small minute she did not rule the house. I was in charge and in control. For the rest of that afternoon the house was in perfect harmony. But only until later that night when she tried to eat a penny after I told her not too, and I had to dig it out of her mouth. But hey one step at time.

Happily sitting on the time out step, but just on her own, I didn't put her there.

The scene of the confrontation. The coloring table.

Enjoying some coloring before bedtime.