What's for dinner?

She loves to sit like this in her highchair. One leg up, one leg dangling.

Last night Olivia ate her first meal that did not include any babyfood. She has gotten better with eating, she will try more things as long as mommy or daddy are eating them first. So last night I gave her tri color pasta w/veggies and fishsticks. I finally felt like she was feeding herself enough, that I didn't have to supplement it with a jar of babyfood. But now what do I feed this girl if not babyfood? I will usually cook dinner, except if Vinay is away, then it's just soup and sandwich. So I was just wondering what all of you with toddlers feed your children? Do you make something separate for them or do they eat what you eat? Any advice is greatly appreciated. Happy weekend everyone!!!

She's got the moves!!!

Ok so her birthday was 2 months ago. But Liv found this hat in the closet and when she put it on and we sang happy birthday she started to dance. Of course if we had wanted her to do this for her birthday she never would have done it. Enjoy Liv's first ever solo dance party!!!
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Beach Bums

Our vacation was great. We went to the beach everyday, and were really able to just relax. Olivia loves the sand, everyday she would just be covered. What really made me so happy was the bonding between Liv and Vinay. Usually Liv is a total Momma's girl. But Liv really fell in love with her Daddy on this trip.






Liv dancing on the deck.
Emily and her parents came over one night to go to the boardwalk.
Patiently waiting to go on some rides.
Liv's first merry go round. She really enjoyed it.
Liv's first ride on the fake dumbo ride. This one scared her.

Just chilling with daddy. And sitting in MY seat!!!!
" Daddy dig me a hole to play in."
Mommy showing Liv the water, don't know why this came out sideways.
Or this one.

Washing off some of that sand.
Playing at the restaurant.
We visited the aquarium on the day it rained. Liv enjoyed watching the seals.
Bathing beauty dancing to the weather channel music.

AU NATURAL

Whats a girl to do when you run out of swim diapers, it's been so hot this week and Liv has been in the pool every day? Well you go Au natural!!!!!!!





In the pool with a diaper before it exploded. Yes they do explode, I never would have believed it.
"Mom should I really go skinny dipping? What will daddy say?"
"Hey who needs a bathing suit when you've got a great hat!!!!"
"Oh boy indecent exposure at only 14 months, I hope this doesn't go on my permanent record."

Well tomorrow the craziness continues. I am off to my sister-in-laws bachlorette party down the shore. So I will leave my Little Liv with daddy all weekend. Then Monday we are off to our vacation for the week down the shore, so I will be MIA for awhile. I will be checking in on my blog pals for any PGN outs, Pinks, and continuing to pray that all these babies come home safe where they belong.

Working hard at playing.
Olivia has really been into pretend play lately. She is no longer just into reading her books, now she likes to play with her doll house, push her toys around in the stroller, and she loves to cuddle anything soft.

Eating update:
My little Liv has gotten very daring this week with eating. Yesterday she ate some past salad,
and some sliced turkey. Then today I offered her a green bean and said "Liv do you want fries?" and she ate them, hey whats a little white lie. She has also added baby carrots to her diet last week, so I'm hoping we are going in the right direction.



Cuddling this teddy bear she found stashed in the office closet. She carried it around for days!
In the morning when she gets up the first thing she goes to play with is her doll house.
Playing with her doll and her stroller.

Last week

Sitting cold on the beach on the 4th
Mommy and baby keeping warm

Last week we were all over the place. On Tuesday we went down the shore to celebrate the 4th. Tuesday was bright and sunny so we got to enjoy the beach, but on the 4th it was cold and rainny so we headed home with out seeing any fireworks. On Thursday we dropped Olivia at Vinay's mom's. Vinay was in a wedding so we had the rehersal dinner Thursday and the wedding on Friday. If that was not enough excitment then on Saturday we had a 1st birthday party to go to.

Agreat way to spend a Saturday

On Saturday we went to a little BBQ and had so much fun. Liv really enjoyed herself playing with her 3 friends Nicholas, Tyler, and Ava.

Tyler going for a swim with his dad John.

Olivia and Ava had fun playing with this little people farm.
Ava keeps Nicholas company. Ava is defiantly one of the best dressed toddlers I know. Hey Ava, Liv loves hand me downs, hint hint!!!!!!!!!

Now for some funny pictures. Here is Liv getting ready to ask for a hug from her boyfriend Nicholas.
Nicholas goes in for a bear hug
They had to be ripped apart, but look at the smile on Livs face. She loves it.
Then liv decides to chill in the pool with Tyler.
Finally she goes for a swim with Daddy, before she took a nice long nap in Tyler's pack and play. I am so lucky Liv will sleep anywhere.

Babysitter

Last night we left Liv with a babysitter for the first time. One of Vinay's coworkers daughter does babysitting. I was worried at first when Vinay suggested it, but the girl is in college (Brown University) she is 20 years old, and has been babysitting for years. So I figured what's a few hours right. Well I was nervous when it came down to it. But still I made myself do it. She came about 6, and ate pizza with us while I fed Olivia. I showed her where everything was and then went to sit Liv down and of course she clung to me like a monkey. She has been doing this so much lately. Finally Liv loosed up and by about 7 was engaged with Lauren, the babysitter, long enough for us to sneak out the door. I know your not suppose to do that, but I didn't want her to see us go and then for her to cry.
We went to the movies, which we haven't done since Liv got home. We saw "Knocked Up", it was really funny, however I could only enjoy the first half of the movie, then I was getting antsy to get home. So what if I clutched my cell phone the entire time. All in all everyone did good. Liv was very good for Lauren and I think she really enjoyed playing with someone new.


I didn't take many pictures this week, but I did get a few shots of Liv's favorite toy. An old makeup bag of mine with some old make up that she love to play with.Luckily she can't get any of the makeup open.


"Mom this bag has some great things in it"
"This blush brush is my favorite"
"Let's see if I can leave one thing in each room so my Mom can go on a hunt for them later"

Liv's social life

Well my little girl has quite the social life. She get's invited to more parties than we do. This weekend she had a great time at her friend Emily's party. It was a beauty and the beast theme. they had a petting zoo and poney rides. Happy birthday Emily!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11



"Why did my Mom sit me in the middle of all these dirty animals!"
"Oh does this bird want me to pet it, ok, don't bite."
"Emily I just love your Bell dress! Don't look so sad, OK it's your party and you can cry if you want to."
"Mom get me off this thing."
"Who's enjoying this poney ride more, me or my Mom?"

Oh what a year!!!!!!!!!!!

I couldn't let this day go by without a post. On June 20 2006 I held my daughter for the first time. When they placed her in my arms, and she looked up at me with those big alert brown eyes, I knew that I was meant to be her mother. All of my fears and worries about us meeting and my insecurities about being a mother just fell away as I cradled her in my arms. I had no time for self doubt, I had a responsibility to this child. Suddenly my feeling were not so important. What was important, was soaking in every precious moment I had with my new daughter. Of course 5 days wasn't long enough. Even now that she is home, 24 hours a day is not enough for me to spend with my little Liv.

Liv has taught me so much since that first meeting. She has taught me how to be a mother. How to find patience, when I swear I've run out. How to find the joy in playing with just a plain old box. How to be sick together. How to share, yes I had to relearn this one. How it's ok to go off schedule a bit, and to not be so scheduled all of the time. She also taught me how to listen, not just to the words, but to body language. I've learned that some of the best moments in life are spent just cuddling. Liv showed me so many qualities in Vinay that I never even knew were there. Like his endurance of sleep deprivation, and how nurturing he can really be. She shown him a thing or two also. I learned that everything does happen for a reason, even when I can't see that reason at the time. I've defintly learned to not be so controlling. I learned so many things about myself, Vinay, and just life in general. But mostly in this last year I've learned to stop fighting Gods plan and let him take the lead.

Thank you Olivia for all that you've given us, taught us, and have brought to our lives. I could never give you enough kisses to show you how much I love you, but I'll keep trying!!!!!

Shower details

Well my sister-in-laws shower went very good. The fact that the shower is already done, signals the arrival of all the wedding festivities to come. In July we have the bachlorette party and in August is the wedding.
Vaish is having 2 ceremonies like Vinay and I did. 1 Indian and 1 catholic, what does that equal, a whole weekend of fun. Since Vinay and I are the closest married couple to Vaishu, we are actually doing all the parts of the Indian ceremony for her. The actual giving her away. I don't remember what exactly was done during our wedding so I hope the priest can give us a crash course before the actual event. And since I'm the matron of honor for the catholic ceremony, that means busy busy me for the next few months.

Well here's pictures of the shower




Here is the basket I made for Vaish, her towels and some bath stuff
Here is the favor I made. It's a dish cloth, and i just rolled it, tied it w/ a bow and put a charm on it.
How cute is this bride to be. I just love her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111
Here we played the question game, every time her answers didn't match Jakes, she had to chew a piece of gum. By the end she had about 6 pieces in her mouth. too funny.

All the brides maids, and Vaish in her bow hat.
Of course Liv had to come at the end and show her cute self. She was at a birthday party w/ Daddy so she was so tired.
Opening the gifts.

Me, Vaish and her Mom.