Riley & Olivia's first day in Texas

My nephew and niece, Riley & Olivia, arrived this afternoon from Salt Lake City, Utah to spend six days with us and we are all so excited. After collecting their luggage, we headed over to the Rainforest Cafe in the Grapevine Mills Mall right by the airport. The cafe was a bit too much volume wise for Oliver, but Riley and Olivia really seemed to enjoy it. I have been to one in Denver with my Aunt Jerry before, but I had forgotten how lush and beautiful it was. The food was good and ample. When we had finished, we headed to the gift shop and picked out some souvenirs and then we did some birthday shopping for Riley at Tommy Hilfiger. We then collected our purchases and made the hour long trip from the airport to Plano in rush hour traffic. No one seemed to mind the extra time we spent in traffic as we were all enjoying each others company in the car. Riley and Olivia brought Oliver a special gift in their suitcase that Oliver just loved: it was a huge fire truck that even has sound effects. Oliver has played with the truck every day since then. We had a light dinner and after we got Oliver in bed and the dishes were done, the kids played some games. That marked the end of our first day, here are some pictures we took of the day:

The pictures on the left of the collage were taken while we were waiting for the plane to arrive. Since Rye and Liv were unescorted minors, we were able to go through security to the gate to accept guardianship of them and Oliver had no problem passing the time watching airplanes, tractors, police cars, etc. Oliver warmed right up to his cousins and let Riley hold him without any questions.

I loved this picture of him snuggling into Riley

waiting for our food

some of the scenery at the Cafe

reading the instruction book for a strategy game -- Riley's favorite type of game

Riley & Olivia playing Go

Oliver's Easter Basket from Grammy & Gramps

Earlier this month, while I was in Salt Lake, Oliver's Grammy & Gramps gave me something to take home to him for Easter. I finally was able to go to the store to get fabric stiffener to finish the basket, and....voila! Oliver's very own basket made from a doily. My mom finds the cutest ideas! I gave him this basket a few days before Easter so he could enjoy it as well as what the Easter Bunny would bring him on Easter.

I'm Mommy!

I took Oliver to the doctor yesterday morning because his cough became scary for me overnight, and they determined it was just a virus giving him all this trouble and that he wasn't contagious any longer since he had been without fever for over 24 hours. His cough is still interrupting his sleep, and that has been really difficult for my little guy since actually falling asleep is something we have had to work on since we was like a month old. Hopefully he will be feeling up to all the fun we have planned this weekend with his cousins in town.

On a positive note, I learned at his doctors office that he now weighs 28.3 lbs. That is an almost three pound gain since December, so that places him a lot closer to 50% then he was at his 2 year check-up. Hooray for Oliver! As you will see in the pictures, he is still tall and skinny...just not so skinny! :)

So on now to the reason for the post: Last night Oliver found a bag of mine in the closet and put it around his neck and started declaring that he was Mommy. He then proceeded to say that Daddy was Oliver and Mommy was Daddy...pretty complicated for a two year old, eh? We asked Mommy (who is really Oliver) what Mommy should do for Oliver. He decided that she should buy him a Dinoco Blue Lightning McQueen (which I really did last weekend). The funny part of the whole story is that without prompting, Mommy (which is really Oliver) had to wash Lightning McQueen before he could have it. Those of you who know me well, know exactly why he did this...I admit, I am a little bit of a germ freak! :) I was both amused and impressed with my little boy all at the same time. :) It is always interesting to see yourself in another's eyes.

Here he is showing off his Mommy bag. For those of you who may be wondering, no I do not parade around the house in my underwear with a bag ! That is one he did not learn through example! :)

Daddy & Oliver having fun together

Oliver loves his Daddy, but in this case, Mommy was actually hugging Oliver! :)

sickness update

We thought Oliver was getting better yesterday, but I let his temperature get too high around lunch time and he vomited again. Poor little guy! I don't post unhappy pictures very often, so here is a picture of him whining to me:

Clayton mentioned that you can't really tell that he isn't smiling. I don't know if you can see it, but one look at the expression of his eyes and I know right away this is not a very happy boy!

After a great night sleep, this morning brought with it a very happy boy who seems to be feeling so much better. He still tells us "I siiiiwck." with a sad voice, but I think he is just a little sick now. No fever today and no vomiting equals one happy mommy! He even wore a tail and swam around like his fishy Blue:

I was thinking he looked a little more like a cat with a long tail than a fish, but he was happy and you won't catch me bursting his bubble! :)

And finally, here he is reading to himself in our spare bedroom right before we put him in bed. He has a pillow on his lap underneath the blanket, his version of a desk. :)

My little guy is sick again!

I can't seem to come back from SL without getting sick, and unfortunately if I am sick, Oliver gets sick. My whatever it is, is very mild; just a dry nose and tiredness. Oliver's is both those things amplified plus he has a fever. I could tell it was happening yesterday evening because he started sounding a bit dry congested in his nasal passages like me. He woke up in the middle of the night incredibly sad and the same way this morning. He vomited his morning water all over me and then came down with a fever over 102 before lunch. Poor little guy. I don't have any pictures of my sick little guy, but I do have some random pics for you.

First, my little guy loves to take pictures with my camera. He chooses some interesting angles and has actually shot some ok pictures. Here are some things he was photographing yesterday before the sickness hit:

He actually moved these things to this location to take this photo.

A poky bush (according to Oliver) in front of our house

interesting angle of the lawn/new fence

sweet innocent Oliver, he actually thinks this is a flower

And second, this is a picture of what has prevented Oliver from napping most days this week. We are getting a new fence, well half a new fence and the work is awfully loud. Yesterday Oliver was very tired after lunch and I figured there was no way he could take a nap with all that noise. So we decided to rest instead. We proceeded exactly as if it were nap time, only I continued to hold him and tell him stories and sing to him and after many "what that noise" questions, he actually fell asleep in my arms with his bunny covering his ears to block out the noise. He slept there for well over an hour until I couldn't control my bladder any longer and I had to put him down. Twenty minutes later I hear a loud call "Mommy, you left"! Anyway, here is a picture of our new fence in progress. I'll post more pics when the fence is actually finished and looks better! :)

What I have been doing

So the whole reason for my solo trip to Utah was to meet my brand new niece Layla, so without further ado, here she is.
Isn't she beautiful? She was so incredibly sweet. She is still in the phase where she sleeps a lot, but sometimes she would just lie there taking in everything from the conversations around her. Thanks for letting me hold her so much Michele, I loved every minute of it!

Oliver did surprisingly well while I was gone. I left Saturday morning and returned late Tuesday evening. He had known for weeks that I was going, so on the morning I left I told him we needed to hurry and get dressed so we could go to the airport. Once again, he told me that he wanted to come too, and added in my fave "that be a good idea?". He then said that he wanted to bring his suitcase like Mommy. I agreed without knowing quite what he was talking about. He ended up bringing back a car suitcase he got for his birthday last year that has a handle and rolls, just like mine. We let him bring it to the airport and I think it made him feel big. I don't think he grasped the longevity of the situation as he said goodbye to me so easily. He did surprisingly well for those four days; by the second day he was asking where I was and wishing I was there, but aside from a few meltdowns, Clayton and Oliver genuinely enjoyed each others company. He was incredibly excited to pick me up at the airport, Clayton said he was shaking when he got him out of the car seat. It was such a sweet reunion. I missed my guys so much!

Even though I missed my guys like crazy, I had a great time. It was wonderful to get to spend time with my sister and her sweet family. For those of you who don't know, Michele's little Avery is only 7 weeks younger than my Oliver. I wouldn't have thought it possible, but it actually helped having her there. She was very receptive to all my loves and has some of the same mannerisms as Oliver, and the cutest little girl version of Oliver's toddler voice that just melted my heart. Madi & Emily were also dolls to be around. They definitely kept me going and helped make up for my lack of exercise while I was there with all the games and rough housing they like to do.

Thanks so much for being such fantastic hosts and making my time there very enjoyable! Prepare now for picture overload.

Emily, Aunt Pamela & Layla

Madi, Michele, Avery, Layla, Aunt Pamela & Emily


Mom's don't get their picture taken very often, so we took these of Michele the day I arrived. I thought these turned out so cute; I love them!

Madi told me she didn't want any pictures taken, here she is trying to block her face. Please don't start that yet Madi, you are not old enough! :)

Such cute sisters and best friends: Madelyn & Emily

Madi, Aunt Pamela & Avery

Emily wearing Aunt Pamela's bracelet

Madi wearing my necklace

Layla early in the morning, holding her Binky in her mouth

These girls love, love, love their baby sister. I agree with my sister, Madi would like to be the Mom! :)

Travis with his sweet new baby!

Look at how teeny Layla looks in her bouncy seat!

The Layla baby burrito

Madi ready for school on the "hats off to her teacher day"

My Mom, my sister April, Me and my sister Michele (just missing Debbie)

trying to be silly!

Avery, Madelyn & Emily at the Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum

The girls playing it the water area

Here is a video of Avery digging in the sand/water

Digging in the sand

Avery was more interested in burying herself, than unburying the bones!

Michele & Travis

Layla along for the ride in a front carrier

Gramps holding Layla

Emily making a PB & J all by herself the day I left. I was so impressed that she wanted to make her own snack and I thought these pictures turned out too cute!

Unfortunately, I didn't get to see my brother this trip, nor several of my nieces and nephews. I did however get to see Debbie and Preston briefly and the way to the airport and had a nice quick visit, too bad I packed my camera and didn't get any pictures! Hopefully we will be returning to Salt Lake in May and will have more time to visit everyone then.

Girls night out!

I haven't had a girls night out since before Oliver was born, so Michele & I made some plans for my first night in Utah. Michele, my mom & I met Lori (my best friend since I was like 3) at Cafe Rio in Lehi. We laughed so much and took some incredibly silly pictures. After dinner we went to see the movie Confessions of a Shopaholic which received some mixed reviews from our group, but was fun to go to nonetheless. Thanks to Lori for making the long trip to Lehi and thanks to everyone for making it such a fun night!