A room of ones own

We try to keep things neat around the house. We switch out toys, because I don't like allot of toys around and I am trying to keep reminding Olivia to clean up after herself, now if only Vinay would finally learn that. But I think it's important to have a little space for yourself, where you can decorate it yourself, and keep it however you want. So I cleaned out half of Olivia's closet and told her she could have it for her secret hiding space. She loved it and stayed in there for most of the day, reading her books, listening to her CD player, and just hanging out with her dolls.
"Mommy this place is all mine!!!!"

Being silly and rolling around with a package of diapers

Now I need a little privacy please, do not disturb.

PS please don't think I never change my daughter clothes. Olivia is still insisting in wearing PJ's all day and there are very few outfits she will put on, this happens to be one of them so she wears it at least twice a week.

Clifford and the potty!!

So when Vinay and I got back from Mexico I decided it was a good time to really start potty training seriously. Unfortunately Liv had other plans. It seems that while at her grandma's she developed a fear of the potty. Crying, refusing to go on, not even wanting to go on the potty at restaurants, which she always wanted to do.

So I let it go for a week or two, That's what one book said to do, hoping she would forget.

So for the past few days I have been bribing Olivia with Clifford the Big Red Dog books, to get her to go on the potty.

These are her favorite books lately and I got a good deal on a bunch off ebay.

I hide a box in the closet by the front door and every time she pees on the potty, I have her go to the front door look out and then tada, I have the box. The last few times I put in one book and a small piece of candy.

So far this is going ok, she still gets upset to go on, I have to hold her hand, and really talk up how proud Clifford and I are of her and how he is going to leave her a surprise.

The thing is I'm running out of books, she got about 5 the first time she went on because it was a big struggle to get her on, and I wanted her to be excited about going on. She also already had some of them.

So not only are there not many books left in the series, but there is not much Clifford merchandise out there. No little figurines or stickers. Oh and to top it off her favorite character on the show is T-bone, not even Clifford.

Just wondering if anyone knows where I can get some Clifford merchandise, anything, all I have are the books, and at the rate we are going, we will be potty training for a long time!!!!!
Also if anyone has the name of a really great potty training book, I'd love to know it!!!!

Happy Birthday Vinay

This weekend we celebrated Vinay's Birthday. Vinay you are a wonderful husband and an incredible father.
We Love you,
Nik and Liv
This is the only recent picture I have of all of us.

Happy Birthday Vinay!!!

Liv's list

I haven't done one of my Liv's list in a long time, so here is a list of some of Olivia's favorite things right now.

1 Her CD player. It's for the side of the crib, but she carries it around with her everywhere lately, also carries her collection of Cd's

2 Favorite CD right now. Barney's Imagination Island, I am ready to toss that thing out the window.

3 She is always telling me she's cold, so that I'll snuggle her in a blanket.

4 She is loving pears right now, but eats them in slices and will not eat the skins.

5 When she sees a toy on TV that she wants, she thinks she can still ask Santa for it.

6 She suddenly has a fear of bugs, She use to laugh at the huge spider that was living in our garage last summer.

7 Olivia was doing so good at going on the potty, then just last week started refusing to go on the potty, and has even cried when I put her on. What is up with that?

8 Favorite song to sing and dance to, "Part of your world" by little mermaid

Enjoy a performance!!!

FFF Love

This weeks theme is Love and we all know who my little love is!!!!
Here is Miss Olivia getting in the Valentines Day spirit

At the library for the valentines day story time and parade.

Decorating the front door for Valentines Day

The mantel all decked out for Valentines Day.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!!

New Jeewsey

While on vacation last week, we were with Vinay's colleagues from all over the country. When I mentioned that we live in New Jersey. People always get the same look in their eye. In their mind they are imagining how we could set up our lives in that garbage dump of a state like NJ. Sadly NJ gets a bad rap. Although some of the generalizations are a little true in certain parts of the state, for the most part it is a beautiful state. Here are some interesting facts about the great state of New Jersey.


New Jersey is a peninsula.





Highlands , New Jersey has the highest elevation along the entire eastern seaboard, from Maine to Florida .





New Jersey is the only state where all of its counties are classified as metropolitan areas.





New Jersey has more race horses than Kentucky .





New Jersey has more Cubans in Union City (1 sq mi.) than Havana , Cuba .





New Jersey has the densest system of highways and railroads in the US .





New Jersey has the highest cost of living.


New Jersey has the highest cost of auto insurance.


New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the nation.





New Jersey has the most diners in the world and is sometimes referred to as the "Diner Capital of the World."





New Jersey is home to the original Mystery Pork Parts Club
(no, not Spam): Taylor Ham or Pork Roll.





Home to the less mysterious but the best Italian hot dogs and Italian sausage w/peppers and onions.





North Jersey has the most shopping malls in one area in the world, with seven major shopping malls in a 25 square mile radius.





New Jersey is home to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.





The Passaic River was the site of the first submarine ride by inventor John P. Holland.





New Jersey has 50+ resort cities & towns; some of the nation's most famous: Asbury Park, Wildwood, Atlantic City, Seaside Heights, Long Branch, Cape May.





New Jersey has the most stri ngent testing along our coastline for water quality control than any other seaboard state in the entire country.





New Jersey is a leading technology & industrial state and is the largest chemical producing state in the nation when you include pharmaceuticals.





Jersey tomatoes are known the world over as being the best you can buy.





New Jersey is the world leader in blueberry and cranberry production (and here you thought Massachusetts ?)





Here's to New Jersey - the toast of the country! In 1642, the first
brewery in America , opened in Hoboken.





New Jersey rocks! The famous Les Paul invented the first solid body electric guitar in Mahwah, in 1940.





New Jersey is a major seaport state with the largest seaport in the US, located in Elizabeth. Nearly 80 percent of what our nation imports comes through Elizabeth Seaport first.





New Jersey is home to one of the nation's busiest airports
(in Newark ), Liberty International.





George Washington slept here. Several important Revolutionary War battles were fought on New Jersey soil, led by General George Washington.





The light bulb, phonograph (record player), and motion picture
projector, were invented by Thomas Edison in his Menlo Park, NJ, laboratory.





We also boast the first town ever lit by incandescent bulbs.





The first seaplane was built in Keyport , NJ .





The first airmail (to Chicago ) was started from Keyport, NJ.





The first phonograph records were made in Camden , NJ





New Jersey was home to the Miss America Pageant held in
Atlantic City .





The game Monopoly, played all over the world, named the streets on its playing board after the actual streets in Atlantic City .
And, Atlantic City has the longest boardwalk in the world,
not to mention salt water taffy.





New Jersey has the largest petroleum containment area outside of the Middle East countries.





The first Indian reservation was in New Jersey, in the
Watchung Mountains.





New Jersey has the tallest water-tower in the world. ( Union, NJ !!!)





New Jersey had the first medical center, in Jersey City.





The Pulaski SkyWay, from Jersey City to Newark, was the first skyway highway.





NJ built the first tunnel under a river, the Hudson
(Holland Tunnel).





The first baseball game was played in Hoboken, NJ, which is also the birthplace of Frank Sinatra.





The first intercollegiate football game was played in New Brunswick in 1889 ( Rutgers College played Princeton ).





The first drive-in movie theater was opened in Camden, NJ ,
(but they're all gone now!).





New Jersey is home to both of "NEW YORK'S" pro football teams!





The first radio station and broadcast was in Paterson , NJ .





The first FM radio broadcast was made from Alpine, NJ, by Maj. Thomas Armstrong.





All New Jersey natives: Sal Martorano, Jack Nicholson, Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Jason Alexander, Queen Latifah, Susan Sarandon, Connie Francis, Shaq, Judy Blume, Aaron Burr, Joan Robertson, Ken Kross, Dionne Warwick, Sarah Vaughn, Budd Abbott, Lou Costello, Alan Ginsberg, Norman Mailer, Marilynn McCoo, Flip Wilson, Alexander Hamilton, Whitney Housto n, Eddie Money, Linda McElroy, Eileen Donnelly, Grover Cleveland, Woodrow Wilson, Walt Whitman, Jerry Lewis, Tom Cruise, Joyce Kilmer, Bruce Willis, Caesar Romero, Lauryn Hill, Ice-T, Nick Adams, Nathan Lane, Sandra Dee, Danny DeVito, Richard Conti, Joe Pesci, Joe Piscopo, Joe DePasquale, Robert Blake, John Forsythe, Meryl Streep, Loretta Swit, Norman Lloyd, Paul Simon, JerryHerman, Gor den McCrae, Kevin Spacey, John Travolta, Phyllis Newman, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Eva Marie Saint, Elisabeth Shue, Zebulon Pike, James Fennimore Cooper, Admiral Wm. Halsey,Jr, Dave Thomas (Wendy's), William Carlos Williams, Ray Liotta, Robert Wuhl, Bob Reyers, Paul Robeson, Ernie Kovacs, Joseph Macchia, Kelly Ripa, and, of course, Francis Albert Sinatra, "Uncle Floyd" Vivino and Marion McMahon, Bruce Springsteen




The Great Falls in Paterson, on the Passaic River, is the 2nd highest waterfall on the East Coast of the US .

Last week

Last week Vinay and I were in Cancun on vacation. Olivia stayed at her Bappamama's (Vinay's Mom). and came home talking up a storm. Very clear words and even spitting out sentences!!!
More pictures to come but here is a preview.
I was the first one in our group to get a kiss from the dolphin, and he scared the crap out of me!! A few minutes later I was in the water and swimming with about 5 of them, it was awesome!!!