Michael's New Showing

Michael is participating in a benefit show. Proceeds from the show will go to a woman that just had a double lung transplant. Please see the website and help if you can (and go see Michael's work).

www.breatheintheart.webs.com

Monday, 5/31

Well, the school year is almost over! Thank goodness, I need the summer to "de-tox" and get my head straight. I'm teaching summer school but it's just half days with smaller groups so I'm not worried.

I'm still stressing over Olivia's birthday party. I don't know what to do! I would like it to be "perfect" :) I've played with a few ideas:

1. Fiesta- pinatas, fajitas, mmmm tortillas

2. Backyard BBQ- ribs, pasta salad, watermelon

3. Luau- just for the decor, I don't think I want to roast a pig in the ground in the backyard :)

The backyard BBQ would be the easiest to pull off with minimal decoration. I'm looking for easy yet fun!

More to come later!

Wow! It's been nearly 6 months!

I haven't had time, energy, etc. to blog lately. I forget my name some days.

Summer vacation is 7 days away (technically 10 days, but field day is Friday, Monday is Memorial Day and I am not counting the last day of school)! I am however teaching summer school this year. The pros: I'll be teaching first graders at a different school... and the extra money is awesome! The cons: I have to wait 16 additional days to my summer vacay... Oh well, I'll have to make the most of the time I get.

Olivia's first birthday is fast approaching. I think we'll be going with a BBQ theme. Something simple and not over the top.

Olivia's First Christmas Eve

Just wanted to share some pictures I took this morning.

Yippee-Ki-Yay!! Ride 'em cowgirl!!

Olivia finally gets to play with that pony that Michael promised her...

Finally, an update :)

Well, its been over a month since the last update. With school in full swing and a baby, I've had absolutely no time to blog, email or even take a long shower! Olivia is growing fast. At her 2 month checkup in September she was a whopping 13 pounds! I bet she's close to 15 or 16 now. She has greater control of her "punkin noggin" and likes to sit up (assisted, of course or in the Bumbo) and watch the action. Actually, she likes to watch the TV. That's a scary thought, Olivia is already a couch potato. She loves Bob Marley. Michael wakes her up to "Three Little Birds."

Michael had a good showing at the Arts Google in Fort Worth last weekend. He made a couple of good contacts and got some information about local galleries. He has a show for the month of November at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center. The reception will be Friday, November 6th at 6:00 pm (adult beverages and fingers foods will be served). Here's a link to his June show: http://www.fwcac.com/?exhibitions/past_exhibition.

They haven't updated

their website to show

the November

exhibition (maybe

they have a baby at home too.)

Here are some pictures from September and October. ENJOY!

Michael, watch the baby while I eat breakfast... and don't fall asleep.

Back to School...

Today I am headed back to school. I hate that I will be leaving Olivia all day long, but she'll be at "Daddy Day Care" so I'm not as anxious as if I had to leave her at regular day care.

It feels good, on the other hand, to be getting back to work. I got my classroom nearly set up on Saturday and only lack a few things to do before the kiddos arrive at 8am. I'll probably end up shoving things into lockers, closets, desks, etc. to make it look good (and curse later when I can't find what I need because its crammed into a "special hiding place.")

It's going to be a good year I think.

Week Five and Back to Work

Well, here we are. The end of August. That means only one thing... Back to School. Not only for all the kiddos out there; it means for me too. I have to start back to work tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock. I don't want to. I want to stay home until Olivia goes to kindergarten. I won't be able to focus at all tomorrow (I hope there isn't any "important" information in my trainings).

Week Five pictures were taken today because when I get home tomorrow I'm not going to have time to take a picture: I'll be holding Baby Olivia to tight!

Week Four- One Whole Month!

Olivia was born four weeks ago today. She'll be going to get her one month portraits this week (hopefully she won't be cranky for them!)

Olivia has started to reach out for her bright colored peacock that's attached to her crib, it crinkles when you touch it. She also enjoys what we call "The Clown Show" which is her Cirque du Soleil mobile that plays the song Alegria. Olivia seems to really like being sung to. I sing "Accidentally in Love" by the Counting Crows (from Shrek!) and last night we had a sing and dance moment to "Jump Around" by House of Pain (video should be posted shortly!)

For the last 3 days Olivia has been sleeping through the night and getting on a schedule of sorts. This makes me happy because I may be starting back to work next week and that's one less thing to worry about.

She looks so happy

I was able to catch this smile in the act with my cell phone. I love those early smiles, even though I know it's probably just gas ;)

Everything is going good. We have our bumps in the road but we manage. We did start on the bottle last night since I'll be going back to work soon and I was glad that she took it with no problems. Olivia hasn't taken any of the pacifiers we've tried to use so I was afraid she would have problems taking the bottle. Thank goodness for small miracles. I'm glad that Michael can start to have that good one-on-one time with Olivia.

Week Three

We've made it 3 weeks already! And today we officially had our first blowout! Mommy and Daddy were very surprised that a tiny baby could hold so much poop! It was everywhere and it looked like Olivia had been saving it for quite some time ;)

By the way, this is what happens when Mommy forgets to turn off the flash on the camera before taking the picture!!

Week Two

Here it is, week 2!

Olivia is proving to be very cranky indeed! We went to the doctor this week only to discover that baby has PMS. She's got too many hormones from the pregnancy in her system and it's like she has PMS. Poor Michael. I am hormonal because of the pregnancy and so is the baby. He can't win!

Adjusting to life with a new baby

Olivia will be two weeks old tomorrow and Michael and I are adjusting to limited sleep and life with a newborn. We tried something new last night (music on the CD player in Olivia's room, lights off all night- which makes feeding a little challenging, and the dreaded paci) and it seemed to work. We'll see.

A couple of days ago Olivia found her thumb. That would be nice if she could soothe herself without having to reach for the pacifier, but as you know, newborns cannot control their limbs! As soon as she was content with that thumb, whoosh, the arm flailed away! We'll work on that.

On a side and extremely exciting note, I can wear shoes again!! I haven't been able to get shoes on since the first of June because of swelling.

Mommy can wear shoes again!

Week One

We made it! We all survived one week! After a few mommy tears and baby tears and daddy tears, we made it! Olivia is perfect in every way. I can't believe how much she's changed in the last week.

Olivia is here!!

After waiting for several long months, Olivia Quinn is finally here! Olivia was born July 13th at 10:52 pm. She barely made it. She was 8 lbs, 2oz and 21 inches long.

On Monday morning I woke up at about 4 am with pain in my back. Worried about the pain accompanied by bleeding, Michael and I headed to Labor and Delivery. When we got there I was dilated only 1 cm and the bleeding was just part of the process and we were sent home. I took a nap when we got home but was awakened about an hour later with real contractions.

About 4 pm we headed back to the hospital because the contractions were about 5 minutes apart. Imagine my surprise when the labor nurse said I was still 1 cm!! Are you kidding me?!? (Let me interject that at this point I was ready for an epidural. I was on the fence about that before, taking a wait and see attitude to natural childbirth. All it took was about 2 hours of constant 5 minute apart contractions to change my whole outlook.)

They decided to go ahead and admit me. By 6pm I was 4 cm dilated and finally approved for that blessed epidural. I never knew you could love another human so greatly as I did for the anesthesiologist. He was a godsend! Once I got the epidural about 8 pm, I relaxed and in no time at all, I was dilated to 10 cm and ready to go.

After about one hour of pushing, my Olivia Quinn was born. She was so pink! Her APGAR scores were 8 and 9. She was perfect! Apparently when they whisked her away to the nursery to get cleaned up, she was not happy! So starts the trend of Cranky Olivia!

Michael thinks that she was born on Monday because on Sunday night, after hearing me complain that this baby was never coming out, he told Olivia that if she came out, he would buy her a pony. Now look at the mess we're in, and where are we going to put a pony!?

13 days and "patiently" counting

Well, here we are in July. I was sure that Olivia would make an early appearance but she has proven me wrong. Apparently, she likes it in there and wants to stay the duration. I'm trying very hard to be patient. With school out and not much to do but wait, I am kind of bored.

I'm hoping for a full moon baby because that's next Tuesday ;) Michael jokes that something big is coming and we should be prepared because of all the "signs".

First, there has been several earthquakes in the area over the last few months. No big deal if we lived in California. We're in Texas! There hasn't been earthquakes in Texas for as long as I've been here!

Second, the plague of fleas. We battled and battled and then spent $$$ to get rid of the pests. Let me tell you, my feet are just now healing from all the bites. I think the dogs lost weight from all the stress! (Oddly enough, fleas were one of the biblical plagues in Egypt; I didn't know that!)

Third, the floods. Our street flooded, like it always does when it rains hard, but still...

This is what I've been reduced to: sitting at the computer looking up biblical plagues. I know that Olivia will come when she's good and ready but that doesn't make it easier to wait.

Michael's 1st Show!

I guess I should have posted this earlier in the month...

Michael just finished up a gallery showing called "Faceless Saints" at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center (FWCAC). He's going to pick up his work today (I'm hoping that some of his work sold!). He's got another show coming up in November called "Old Friends, New Beginnings" also at the FWCAC. Our good friend, Leslie, set up a website for Michael. It has pictures of his most recent work.

Visit both sites:

Fort Worth Community Arts Center

Michael's Website

Baby Shower Today

Today was the shower. It was fun. We had it at a local tea room thats in an antique store. It was small and cozy. When we first arrived there was another shower going on in the dining room. It was a bachelorette party. I wanted to go over to the girls and show them what happens when they use all those fancy panties they were flaunting around (hee-hee).

Anyways, it was fun. My little girl will be better dressed than me! My mother in law got me two Cirque du Soleil dolls that will go PERFECTLY in the nursery. I can't decide if these will be for decoration or for Olivia to play with.

Well, it's not the snappiest car on the lot, but it has 4 doors!

After our harrowing adventure on Wednesday and Thursday to get a car,

it finally worked out.

We got into a Ford Focus on Friday evening.

It's not my first choice in cars

(I would have preferred a BMW)

but its what we can afford at this point.

Introducing,

the Hocus Pocus Focus!