Happy Birthday Megan!!!

My darling toddler turned two today...though we won't be celebrating until Pete gets back from his 6 day trip tomorrow!!! Meg has brought us two years of joy, sleep deprivation, and amazement! Being Megan's mom has been one of the greatest blessings of my life. We are so blessed to be the parents of our busy, very verbal, intelligent, and precocious Megan Grace!!! Happy Birthday Megs!!!

Boy are these two girls different!

Though Madie is not yet even a week old, I am constantly amazed at the difference in personality and temperment between my two darling girls. After only 6 hours of life, Megan had decided it was time to take charge, and started making demands! She cried a lot, slept very little, and had to be held constantly. So imagine our surprise to have a newborn who sleeps, only cries when she is hungry, and can calmly and happily be laid down, awake for stretches of time!!! How grateful I am for both of them, and so glad Heavenly Father sent them in the order he did!!!

Baby Madie is here!!!!

Baby Madilyn Faith Olsen arrived via C-section December 1, 2008 at 11:14 am. She weighed in at 9 lbs and 2 oz. When we arrived at the hospital I was really hoping to keep trying for my VBAC, but the Dr. was very candid saying she didn't feel comfortable letting my pregnancy progress past 41 weeks and I was already three days over that. She said if I was showing some progress she might have been willing to consider letting my pregnancy continue, but that things were not ptrogressing despite the contractions I was having. I am grateful we went a head with the c-section for a few reasons...#1 There was a true knot in the cord, which could have ended badly had Madie thrashed around too much or been able to descend for a vaginal delivery, #2 is size...She is bigger than I thought she would be, though her head is a little smaller than Meg's was, and #3 I don't have to decide about trying next time for a vaginal birth...I can schedule my c-section at 39 weeks! This c-section has been more painful in someways, but now we are home and things are going well. Megan is adjusting well to little sister and sure enjoyed all the extra time with Daddy. Daddy is doing great, although he may be feeling a little outnumbered... My mom is here helping and that has been great!!! Thanks for everyones well wishes and prayers!

Patiently Waiting!

Happy December 1st!!! I can't believe December is here and I am still waiting for this baby to be born. I have a C-section scheduled for 12:30 today, but am going in early to see if I can get the Dr. to give me a few more days to go on my own. I have been having a lot of contractions, and it seems as if my body is getting started...just slowly. So we will see what the Dr. says today, today may be the baby's birthday, or it may not... I am just amazed at my ability to wait...as it patience has never been my thing!

Meg Singing!

Here she is singing I Feel My Saviors Love

A new way to say Good Morning!!!

This morning Meg woke up, just as Pete was leaving for work, so he went and got her out of bed, brought her to me, and got her the sippy cup of milk she was asking for. She said bye to daddy and drank her milk. Then she and I lay down to snuggle. 5 minutes later she was asleep. Great, so I got out of bed to check my email, do some online holiday shopping, etc. 45 minutes later she woke up and I waddled over to sit by her when wham...all the sudden she threw up, all over my bed. She threw up three times in rapid succession, and managed to get every layer, the duvet cover, the duvet, the sheets, and the mattress pad. I hope this is not our new morning greeting!!!

Why am I ditching church....

because I am in PAIN...but no, don't get excited, I am not in labor, just strained a muscle in my neck and can hardly move. I decided to skip church and lay around at home, not moving!!!

Its been a fun week. Pete's Aunt Delora and Uncle Grady, and Miss Monique the bunny came down from South Carolina for a visit. We had a blast. They brought us all presents and took us out for Ethiopian food (Very good). Megan loved Miss Monique too much, and had to be told on numerous occassions not to squeeze the bunny and to be gentle. Miss Monique was a trooper!!! We went to the zoo and Megan played in the fountains until she was soaked, much to the delight and entertainment of half the zoo's visitors. We had a great week with Delora and Grady, and can't wait for them to visit again...and of course bring Miss Monique.

As far a pregnancy goes, I am 39 weeks and 1 day and thus far remaining patient. If anything I don't want to go into labor until my neck feels a little better. Last week the baby was -1 station, and that I was 50% effaced, and fingertip dilated. So while it probably won't happen before my due date...it probably will happen before my scheduled c-section of December 1st!!! My gut feeling is that baby will come on Thanksgiving!!! Yeah for me!!

Oh the funny things they say...

Megan has been super funny and cute the past week, which almost makes up for the non-sleepi ng that has been happening at our house lately. Yesterday morning when I heard her stiring I, went in to get her up and the first thing she said to me was "Are you picking your nose" I laughed, replied no and then asked her the same question. She nodded in the affirmative. Apparently we have another bad habit to break?!

Sunday we were playing on my bed. She likes to play with my hair, and pul it all into my face...drives me crazy, but in the midst of this she looked at me, put her arms around my neck and said"I love you so much". And so of course after that I had to let her keep playing with my hair.

Yesterday we took her to vote, but she was sure we were talking about "Boating" and not voting and kept singing..."Row, row, row your boat" and I am sure she was a little disapointed when we got there and there were no boats and no water. Course her dissapointment is no where near my level of dissapointment over the outcome of the election. :(

Well to day I am 37 weeks and 4 days and am anxiously looking forward to the upcoming eviction of this baby. Everyday I make Megan tell baby sister to come out...hoping that a little positive peer pressure will do the trick. But by December 1st this baby will be out, so I am just trying to be patient.

The day the Binky died!!!

Just when you think you have life somewhat figured out, something terrible goes and happens. Our tragic event involves the death of one of the few things that have kept us sane through all our moving, traveling, poor sleeping habits, and parental upheaval...Yes Megan's last Binky kicked the bucket. For those of you who are smart enough to use your average Joe, easily replaceable Binky's, you can't understand the trauma involved. In your head your saying go to Walmart and replace it...Our problem is that our Binky's were ordered for us, by a good friend off some cute website, the nipple is unlike others I have seen in the store. So I tried to solve this dilemma by getting on and ordering a couple new ones...no dice!!! They have been recalled! We are out of luck. So I went to Babies R US and bought a few she could try...we even tried calling one "the Harry Potter Binky as Megan loves all things Harry Potter...not working.

My mother said, "Well now you just have to wean her, I guess." The problem is I don't want to wean her....I need a binky for my happiness and survival,...oops I mean her happiness of course. She isn't napping, or sleeping well, and church has become a noise fest, and the best part of all is we have a little less than a month to get it all settled down before Baby #2 makes her appearance and throws a wrench in the already broken nap and sleep routine. Sure I can't sleep through the night anyway, at this point, but that doesn't mean I want my toddler for company at 4 am. Pete and I are mourning the loss of our greatest parental friend and I am sure we will be for a while. I just am happy to know that all Binky's go to heaven.

Home to stay...what a beautiful phrase

We are back from our Utah trip. We enjoyed seeing family and friends and survived all the craziness of Pete's sisters wedding. It was a great day, but a long one and I think Meg handled it better than I did, by the reception I wanted someone to start a morphine drip and find a flat place for me to lay down, but it was a lovely occassion all the same.

So we made it home on Thursday and to prove to ourselves our committment to stay put, we finally bought Megan a crib. Yes, we have finally moved her out her very protable pack 'n' play into a real crib. While I know most of you probably are moving your kids into toddler beds at this point, we are a little slow, so maybe early next year everyone will get another upgrade. Meg keeps calling her new bed, her "Jesus Bed."(Shrug) I don't know if this is because it is now against the wall where her picture of Christ and the children hangs or what but for some reason she has made this association and it will probably last a while. The first time she got in it, she kept jumping up and down in it while repeating "No jumping on the bed"...oh the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

I am officially 35 weeks today and while I still have a ton to do, I am almost ready to mentally check out of this whole pregnancy thing. It is to the point where you can't sit, you can't stand, and you can't lay down because it is all so darned UNCOMFORTABLE!!!! I see the CNMidwife on Thursday and hopefully this will encourage me to have the patience to continue to shoot for a VBAC and not just schedule a repeat C-section.

Attatched are some pictures from Europe as we can finally access them. Ignore the poor quality I am a horrible photographer.

We might just survive

Life can be pretty hard when you are 21 months and you've never lived anywhere longer than 4 months. Meg and I are back in Florida waiting for Pete to return (on Saturday) from Germany. Last night we went and had dinner with some friends (Jenn and Travis) who now live in our condo complex and on the way back Meg started getting hysterical and crying, she kept saying over and over "go home, want to go home." I kept telling her we were "home", but I am not sure what that even means to my little world traveler. We have one more trip planned (to Utah on Monday) and then I am staying home until atleast January. This kid needs some structure and stability and she is going to get it...sort of.

Today she was sitting in her high chair during lunch and I was wandering in and out doing chores until I heard her singing "we love Megan, she loves me, we love baby sister, yes siree, she loves us and so you see, we are a happy family." I wanted to cry, I was so happy to hear that she plans to love baby sister.

I have been worrying a little about how Meg was going to handle a new sibling, and in the past few weeks she seems a lot more excited and wants to talk about the baby all the time. Now she says... "Baby out, Doctor, in November." Today we went to my OB appointment and Meg was excited to hear "baby heartbeat" she was not so excited when they took my blood pressure though. Today I am 32 weeks and 5 days, and I am praying that this baby will come at 38 weeks so that she won't be quite so large. So just maybe we will all survive afterall. I sure love my little girls...and their Daddy too!

Meg and I made it back to the good ole' USA

After an exciting and very long 20 hour day, Megan and I made it back to Florida. We were sad to leave Pete in Germany for another month, but happy to be home...briefly. We got home on September 2nd at 6 pm and leave this morning at 6 am for the airport to go to my parents house.

A trip east

Last week we took a trip to Garmish Germany. Garmish is the lovely area where crazy Ludwig the II built Neuschwanstein. It was a beautiful area. We drove about 5 1/2 hours and met our friends Miro and Joanna (from Italy) there. We stayed in a guesthouse, which is like a boarding house where we rented a room for two days and the landlady made us breakfast. It was a neat expereince, my only complaint might be that the shower and toilet were down the hall and not attached to our room. This wouldn't be an issue if it weren't for the fact that baby #2 tends to dance on my bladder in the middle of the night and that invaribly I must get up and empty the dance floor 2-3 times a night...but anyway my nocturnal bladder habits are somewhat dull so I will continue with other more interesting things.


We were able to see the beautiful area, some castles and churches and then we also drove 2 hours so we could go into Austria to see the city of Salzburg, birth place of Mozart. Salzburg was a neat little city and I wish we would have had more time to spend there. By 4pm we had said good bye to our Italian friends and jumped in the car to make the 7 1/2 hour trip home. Our timing of getting in the car was good as it started to rain heavily at that point, but we also ended up in a stau (german for traffic jam) between Munich and Stuttgart that last a little over an hour. I don't know who had a harder time on the way home...Megan or me, but I was so happy to pull into base around midnight and finally get out of the car. Megan refused to fall asleep on the ride home until a little after 10pm. But happily while she was transfered from the car, diaper and PJ changed, she went right to bed without a peep.


I think my need for travel quota has almost been met for the year and I will be glad to get home and stay put for a few months, until the need to travel gets to me again. Besides the reality of adding another member to our family is beginning to dawn on me and I think this might discourage me from even wanting to leave the condo to go to the grocery store let alone treck across foreign soil with another little person in tow.

A trip to Paris

So we went to Paris last Thursday and I fell in love with a city. I always thought all the qoutes about Paris from movies like Sabrina were a little romancizied and overdone. But I had those same warm fuzzies for the culture capital of Europe.



Of course when I imagined going to Paris I never imagined going with a toddler in tow. But for the most part Meg was a champ. Her favorite part was riding the subway all over the city, mine was the pastries, and the paintings, and the museums, and everything we saw and did. Meg also made some weird association between Paris and Harry Potter and kept asking "Watch Harry Potter?" Maybe it was the train...who knows how this little girls mind works.



We went to the Eiffel Tower, the Arc De Triomphe, the museum d'Orsay, the Louvre, the basilica Sacre Coeur, Notre Dame, and Versailles. It was an incredible trip. I hope to post pictures later.

Update

So our laptop won't let us retrieve the pictures from our digital camera, so I haven't been posting in part because how fun are our Europe bloggings without some good pictures. But here is a brief update: We are alive and well. We have gotten to travel a little. We went to Amsterdam and Belgium and had a great time. We went to the Van Gogh museum and the Rieks Museum in Amsterdam. Thursday we are suppossed to go to Paris for three days and I am so excited.

My German Dr. thinks most likely we are having a girl though he is still unsure because baby has not cooperated with providing good pictures. Whoever is in there is getting big and already has big feet. I go back to the Dr in late August and hopefully we will know for sure. I don't really want to be surprised, but maybe we won't have a choice. I am 22 weeks and have already gained 9-10 lbs which is twice what I'd gained with Megan by this time. I blame the German pastries but after our trip to Paris I am committed to quit eating dessert everyday and hopefully slow down my weight gain so I don't have a 9 lb baby this time around!

Our trip to Berg Eltz

Pete had most of the day free on Saturday so we decided to travel about an hour to see a castle. Here castles are sometimes called a Berg. So we set out to see Berg Eltz. We were hoping Megan would sleep on the way, but this did not happen. So we followed the directions to the castle and come to a little parking area with a trailer, still we can see no castle, but the sign says Berg Eltz. But Peter, talks to the lady at the parking area, who seems to think we shouldn't park there because we have Megan and she says its a 1.6 kilometer walk(this is all in German mind you, so I don't understand anything that is being said) or we can drive 18 kilometers and park a little closer. We decide we have our beat up German stroller and we don't mind walking a little ways. So though the lady looks at us a little disapproving and is probably shaking her head and saying crazy Americans, we pay to park.

So we load Meg in her stroller and head down the paved little road. Then abruptly the paving stops, still no castle in site, but maybe its just around the bend. The path is very rocky by this point and our old German stroller is not enjoying bumping, bumping along, though Meg still is at this point. Then as we head further down the path, and now there are tree roots crisscrossing the path and now Megan is no longer enjoying the bumpy ride either. The path comes to a little glen area where it breaks off in a couple directions, we head up the steep path because we can see the castle through the trees. We have to ditch our stroller half way up because even without Megan it is now almost impossible to push. This is the view from the top of the hill.

No we look around for the rest of the trail and it seems to scale down the hill side, so we begin scaling down the steep hill, really having to make our own trail as the trail doesn't seem to be very good. Honestley, it was exceddingly steep and the whole time Pete and I are saying how crazy this is, so we finally get down the hill safely and meet up with the real trail, and realize somehow we missed the real trail. As we come up the trail to the castles all these people are standing at the top, apparently they had been watching the "crazy Americans" scale down the mountainside with a toddler. Probably not the safest thing we have ever done with Meg, but Pete did an awesome job.

We finally make it up to the castle and buy our tickets. We go and start the tour with a group of Germans, in German. ( I get a paper with the English translation for .60 Euros) and the tour starts. Well about 2 minutes into the tour Meg decideds she is done and begins to cry...loudly. We tried everything as the people in our group are staring us down. Finally we decided to leave and our Tour guide says, why don't you take turns, so Pete takes Meg out to the little restraunt to get a bratwurst and some french fries and I stayed and finished the tour. We weren't allowed to take pictures during the tour, but the inside of the castle was awesome. The furniture, the painintgs and tapestrieis, the weapons, and the metal work were all so neat. I can't believe the quality of the workmanship.

Then Pete and I switched. Did I mention it has been raining off and on since we got up to the castle and its cold. While Pete is taking the tour I chatted with some Americans and chased Meg. When Pete finished we headed back up the trail (sticking to the real trail). Meg decides she wants to take a nap and only wants Mommy to carry her...yeah I was dying. As soon as she had fallen asleep I handed her off to Pete, we retreived our stroller and walked the rest of the way back. I was trying desperately to not get too out of breathe but I think I was lucky just to make it all the way back to the car pushing the stroller. The moral of this story is when a little old German lady says you should drive to the other parking area, you should probably listen to her. But the castle was still worth the hike.

We survived our trip across the ocean!!

Well, we made it! Whew.....Meg was actually very pleasant. However, the first night here as Mom and Dad were trying to get over jetlag Meg spent the night throwing up. Yeah fun for Mom! The housing situation is a little irritating. The people in charge are telling us that we will have to move rooms every 3 days since summer is the big miitary moving season. It has also been cold for us newly acclimitized Floridians...I guess less than a month ago they had an ice storm here. We didn't really pack for winter, so we will be making some wardrobe adjustments if it doesn't warm up soon.

Everything else is great. The countryside is beautiful. We are in the perfect spot for traveling. Paris is 3 hours, Amsterdam is 4, and today we went down to explore Luxemburg. It's onlyabout 30 min's away. We went to the ward today and it seems like it will be great, everyone was very nice and friendly and Meg stayed in Nursery alone for the last hour...yeah! Luxemburg was cool, the little we saw and I did take a few pictures...mostly of Meg trying to crawl into all the fountains and picking flowers. But Luxemburg is close enough that we take several short trips to see all the cool sites on days that Pete doesn't have to work a full day or has 4 or 5 hours available.

Leaving tomorrow

We are leaving tomorrow for our European adventure. I wish I could say we were 100 % packed and ready...but we aren't. So I will get off here and get busy. I promise I will still try to blog and keep up with everyone, even from our new location! Tschuss!

Tagged!!!

I was tagged by cousin Claire and by my friend Kristin, so here it goes...

What was I doing 10 years ago?
I was just graduating from high school and getting ready to leave for BYU which I did less than 2 weeks of graduation. Met some of my best friends that summer. Oh the stories we could tell on each other, but dont cause we are still friends!

5 things on my to-do list?
1.Pack
2. Clean
3. Take a nap
4. Make a bunch of important phone calls
5. Laundry

If I were a billionare I would...only do number three from my to-do list! First I would take a nap. Then I would hire a maid, personal chef and an accountant/personal assistant to do all the paper work that I HATE doing. Then I would take another nap. Then I would set up a scholarship fund for nursing students. Generously give to the church and my family. Buy an island and an airplane and live quietly and remotely. Oh and probably adopt a bunch of children so I would never have to be pregnant again!

Bad habits...I occasionally swear for emphasis, I speed often, and I dislike leftovers.

5 places I've lived...
Florida, Michigan, Oklahoma, Texas, and Utah and that is just since Pete and I got married!!!

6 jobs I've had
RN at VVRMC, TX
RN at Primary Childrens, UT
LPN at Primary Childrens, UT
TA at BYU, UT
MTC Teacher, UT
Mormon Missionary...if you consider that a job...I didn't get paid much though :)
Sales Associate for a .com, UT

3 things people don't know about me... I have excellent directional sense and can read a map very well, but without a little mole on my right hand, I couldn't tell you left from right. I was born at home in Chino Valley AZ. Two midwives were there to help my mom. I love books...which some of you know...but I love Tom Clancy books...I am currently reading Executive Order.

I tag whoever feels like they should post something and doesn't have anything exciting to post.

Saturday Matinee

So we decided it had been a long time since we had seen a movie and decided to see how Meg would do in the movie theater. Today we went to see Prince Caspian. We tried to get Meg to take a nap this morning(which she normally does) but it was a no go, so we risked it and took an overly tired little girl the movie anyway. She was really good...for a while and the movie was good. I look forward to renting it someday to see all the parts we missed. However, I think she might have made it through a 90 minute movie, just nothing over 2 hours. So it wasn't a disaster, but we did have to spend the last 40 minutes juggling and walking up and down the hall with a little girl who was just done sitting. She loved the horses and Aslan though and the snacks. Peter had Friday off and also has Monday off, so we are enjoying our looooong weekend as a family!

PS I did finally get into a Dr's office and they are going to let me try to VBAC if I want. We will see how I feel about it as we get closer, but it's nice to know there is a chance. Well, I need to get off here, cause Pete is cooking bacon and the smell is making me sick...I love being pregnant!!!

Sunday with the Olsen's

So we are almost settled into our new place and our new life. I taught nursery at church today and Megan quite enjoyed playing with "kids". She has been saying the words kids and Jesus over and over all week as she has been so excited to get back to nursery. Yeah, she is still a little young, but I figure if I am helping out in there they can hardley say no...right? So we enjoyed a loud and rowdy day at church and then after our naps and some clean up went to Picnic Island...a little beach park where we went looking for puppies. Megan is obsessed about dogs right now and since we don't have one and won't be getting one anytime soon, we occassionally try to meet her puppy needs by going out and finding some for her to pet, chase, and yes...kiss. (Gag) Today we saw three or four and she was in Dog Heaven. She tormented one of the smaller ones, Eddy by chasing him around and shreiking happily at him. He will probably have nightmares tonight, but Meg was thrilled. Then we went up the beach a little ways, swung on the swing , watch a fellow Kite Surf, met a bunch of nice, friendly kids and then returned home for a late and hurried dinner before putting Megan down to dream of puppies and kids. What a beautiful Sunday!

In other news, our summer plans have changed...again. We are now leaving for Germany the first week of June and will be there until the end of August or the first day of September. We are excited to get another month to experience Germany, but are a little stressed about all the stuff that needs done on a three week timeline, when originally we were thinking we'd be leaving in 7 weeks. I have yet to get into a DR. here and reaaly must before we leave the country. If you have a passport and can find a cheap ticket we welcome any visitors.

By special request from Aunt Anna...Megs in the pool

Please ignore the voice of the narrator(me). I sound like a big nerd.

In other news yesterday was Pete's 31st Birthday!!! Happy Birthday, Honey!Meg got daddy some balloons...so she could play with them. And I got him a new pair of shorts...which he actually liked...He is incredibly hard to buy gifts for,not because he is picky, but just cause he never "wants" or "needs" anything. WhenI asked him what he wanted this year...he said, "A hug." I said "nope, I can't wrap a hug"So I am thrilled the shorts were a success. Maybe I'll go but a few more pairs...onefor Father's Day, one for Christmas, and a pair for our anniversary next year!!!HA!

An Announcement....The zoo has moved and will be expanding

So I guess it is time to announce that the Olsen Zoo will be getting a new attraction come November. The Mother elephant (I already feel big) will be giving birth to the hopefully little, but most likely large, baby elephant. So yes for those who didn't know, we are expecting!!!

While gestation for elephants is usually longer...I am on the accelerated program only 9 months...but I am sure it will feel like two years!!! I am very excited but not feeling well and I am just praying that baby #2 will be a better sleeper than Megan was/is and that he or she will be healthy!!!

Pete is hoping for a boy this time, and I would be happy with another little girl, but we will take whatever Heavenly Father gives us and just be grateful we are going to be having two. I have to say that 2nd pregnancies really do go faster than the first one, but still not quite fast enough through the first trimester...Blah!

I was Tagged... 8 things about Megan

Chelsea...thanks for tagging me...
8things about Megan...

1 Megan is really a fish!
Meggie loves to swim, bath, and even just play in water in a bowl or cup while sitting in her high chair. She has always loved the water and now that we have moved to Tampa, Fl(story to follow in later post) Megan goes swimming once a day!!

2 Megan is addicted to her binki.
We sadly have only one binki left that Megan will take....she is very particular about her binkis. We lost it the other day at the commissary and had to make three trips back to the store so we could finally retrieve it! Thank goodness there was a lot of crying and very little napping until it was found.

3 Megan is not a sleeper.
I love her to pieces...just the way she is, but if I could change one thing about her this would be it! She is getting better as she gets older which is a blessing, but I would love her to just sleep all night and take two good naps.

4 Megan loves Elmo
Yes, I realize most toddlers love Elmo. But Megan has an Elmo tooth brush and that is her favorite Elmo and if we would let her she would brush her teeth a billion times a day. So while her oral hygiene would be impeccable for my sake I limit it to twice a day!

5 Megan is an Extrovert
She loves people and assumes that everyone wants to be her friend. She says hi to everyone and goes up to strangers as if they were old friends. She is also always ready and willing to share whatever they have...with them.

6 Megan thinks Daddy hung the moon
Megan loves her daddy. All day she asks about where daddy is and when he is coming home? "Home soon," "Home soon" is one of the phrases she says the most at our house.

7 Megan loves Jesus and her scripture book.
Since about 12 months, church has become more of a workout than a spiritual uplift. We spend most to all of our time out in the halls walking from picture to picture of Jesus and identifying him. She wants to pray over every meal and often reminds us when we have forgotten. She also loves to read from her first Book of Mormon book especially the stories about Alma and wicked King Noah.

8 Megan loves to call people on the phone...especially OPA
Megan loves to play with and use our cell phones. Some morning she waked up asking to call Opa (Grandpa Olsen). She likes to walk around the house with the phone tucked between her ear and her shoulder and pretending to chit chat with Opa. Pete claims that is my influence since he is not a phone talker!!!

I tag Alissa (just do three for each of yours), and the Emily's

New Shoes...while the cats away the mice will spend his money

So Pete is in Florida for the weekend (working of course) and Megan and I went to the mall. And while at the mall we bought shoes...we bought three pairs of size 4 shoes for Megan. I have never been a shoe girl. I wear my shoes til they are barely recognizable because I hate to shop for them and I HATE to break a new pair in. I like flip flops better than shoes, but I only have two pairs of those and my favorite pair is over 5 years old and sadly will probably have to be replaced this summer as they will probably disintegrate before my very eyes. But I love those flip flops. I agree that three pairs of shoes in one day might very well seem like overkill (if they were for me it would seem crazy). But Meg actually likes shoes, needed shoes, and they were reasonably priced. So now we merely get to justify our possibly excessive purchases to the bread winner. Of course, we have to do something to entertain ourselves while he is out of town, right!!!

Our exciting Easter Weekend...or Poor Peter

Pete left on Thursday evening to fly to Germany. This was his first international flight and he was very excited to fly over the Atlantic and fly into Europe. Everything went well, but during the landing(which he did not do) they blew a tire. So he got stuck in Germany. Poor Peter. Stuck in his favorite place, visiting castles, eating bratwurst and hanging out in Germany. Poor Peter. He is hopefully on his way home. He was suppossed to be back Sunday afternoon and now it is Wednesday. Sadly he did have to reschedule his job interview that was suppossed to be on Tuesday for April 10th, which is a little dissapointing to both of us, but it will all work out. We sure missed hime while he was gone and wish international phone time wasn't so darn expensive.

Megan and I left also on Thursday for Ohio. We went to go visit one of my college roomates for the weekend. Megan had received two immunizations that day and was not entirely herself. Emily and her family made us feel right at home. Meg felt so at home that she decided after crying for 30 minutes at bedtime to throw up on mom and the carpet. Lucky Megan. The next day we discovered that on top of the shots, Meg had about 4 new teeth coming through at once. Lucky Megan. The next day was Sunday and Meg had the good fortune to fall down a whole flight of (carpeted)stairs and land on the tile floor below. She had a little bump and was a little shook up but otherwise she was fine. Lucky Megan. Sunday night after a delicous Easter dinner of Ham, rolls, garlic mashed potatoes, salad, and pumpkin cake, Meg went to sleep only to wake up around 2 AM with a mild case of croup. Yep...Lucky Megan. So after reading about our weekend how many of you feel sorry for poor Peter?

PS Despite all the Megan fun, we did have a lot of fun in Ohio. Thanks Emily, Nate, Camden, and Aiden. We enjoyed our trip and look forward to meeting up in Findlay for another fun adventure.

Megan and her baby doll

A few minutes of Meg, Mom, and the baby doll.

Trip to Tampa

We went to Tampa this last week. Pete had to go for work and we met him down there. Many of you probably know that were/are planning to move down in the spring, but I can honestly say we aren't sure we will be going anymore. The area is beautiful and the weather is lovely, but the housing is out of control expensive. So we are very open to anywhere Pete finds a good civilian job, and we will plan to vacation once a month when Pete has to go down for his reserve weekends.

Gotta watch what we say....

Today Pete and I were chatting about something and I said ..." It sucks" to which Megan said..."SUCKS" Pete and I both gasped and then died laughing, apparently we will have to be a lot more careful about what we say unless we want our 14 month old walking around saying who knows what. From now one we will be editing and censoring our language at the Olsen home.

We went down to Texas this last week. We had the chance to see a few of our friends in Del Rio. Thanks to Chelsea, Sven, and Soren for letting us stay with them and taking such great care of us!!! It was fun and the weather was beautiful. We didn't get to stay very long Tuesday afternoon through Thursday morning. Traveling alone with Meg is starting to be as real work out, even though she is such a good little girl(most of the time). We are suppossed to follow Pete down to Florida the last week of the month to look around, find and apartment, etc. And I am not looking forward to all the airports, airplanes, and traveling again. But the weather will be beautiful and I will go a lot of places to stay warm.

Meg...covered in cookie and making animal noises

We took this video tonight because she was so covered in cookie!

Your baby can read....yes she can!!!

I think I wrote about this some months ago but here is an update. We bought the DVD program called Your Baby Can Read. Our friends, the Garbers started their little boy on it and by the time he was 2 1/2 he could read. So we bought it for Megan and have been watching it pretty faithfully since she was about 7 months old. Yesterday it was on and the word umbrella was on the screen, and before they said it Megan said 'brella, this morning we were watching it and the word ball was up and before they read it out loud she said "Ball" I really think she is learning to read, and I also think that the videos have helped a ton with her vocabulary which is pretty advanced for her age. So here is my plug for the program. If you have any interest get on www.yourbabycanread.com and check out the video of the inventors 9 month old reading. You can also find them on amazon and ebay for less. Happy reading!!!

We are now home in Detroit. We got blasted with snow last night. I am trying to stay happy despite the yucky white stuff outside!!! I hate the cold, and snow is a symptom of it being cold!!! Yuck. Bbbrrrrrrrrr!!!

I feel almost like new...or Mom's are great!!!

I am feeling 99.9% back to my old self. My doctor said I could resume, exercise and such when I could jump up and down without out pain...and I can. My parents have been taking great care of us, especially my mom who has gotten up with Meg if needed at night so I could sleep and heal! Thank goodness for Mom's.

Meg is still congested and has a runny nose, but no fever so I hope she is getting better. Today we were up at my Grandmas visiting and Meg's nap time had come and she started to whine and say "night-night....night, night!" So maybe she is still not feeling 100% because she was begging to go to bed which is unusual for the child who never sleeps. Thanks so much to all of you who left comments. We are doing better and will probably head home Tuesday or Wednesday of next week to be with Peter again.

Megan decided that Grammy's house was better than ours for walking and has started to really walk independantly since we got here. It is amazing and scary to watch all at the same time. It also makes me sad, she is yet another step closer to toddlerhood and another one away from being a baby. Nest thing you know she'll be asking to borrow the car...

Well I survived....and Megan did too!

Surgery went allright. I can't remember even some of the parts I was awake for thanks to an interesting drug called versed. It is mostly an amnesia drug with a little bit of pain killer, mostly you feel the pain, but seconds later you don't remember so you don't care. Interesting!

They found endometriosis, but for the most part were unable to remove it because it is all over some of my organs like carpet! The polyps they thought they saw via ultrsound were just uneven distribution of tissue and therefor not polyps. My only real complaint is that my belly button now looks deformed, but I am sure it will look better when it has had a little more time to heal.

The babysitter situation worked out beautifully. A big round of applause for the Kerby's!

And so now comes the recovery. Which I was really doing allright with until Megan decided that she was going to be sick and that her mommy was going to have to be up with her at nights. I am not suppossed to lift anything over 10 lbs for a while and so Pete has been having to handle a lot of it, but last night we kind of had to slpit it and he leaves to go out of town for 4 days on Tuesday morning and I have decided I can't do it by myself so Meg and I are flying home tonight to my parents. Pete is flying with us and will come back tomorrow morning. I feel like I am being a pansy, but I just don't think I can handlea sick toddler and recovery without a little live in help so we are off to Missouri tonight!! Thank goodness we have flight benefits still so it doesn't cost us anything to go home!

Why can you never sleep when you really need to

Meg in Grammy Sherwoods 52 year old dress

Its 2:04 am and obviously I am awake. For those of you who don't know, and don't feel bad if you don't because it is not a big deal, I am having out patient surgery tomorrow. They are going to check to see if I do indeed have endometriosis by laparoscopy and also to remove some uterine polyps they think they see on a scan. Not a big deal, but of course I couldn't eat or drink after midnight...so of course I wake up at 1:30 thirsty as can be and technically I am not supposed to drink anything. Origionally I was told I would be having surgery around 8am and then a few hours later they called and said 12:15 which means I am going to be pretty hungry and thirsty by that point. Good thing we are used to fasting eh?

Also now I am sitting here worried about the best thing to do regarding my babysitter dilema. I have one on back up so Meg will be taken care of, but there was a little miscommunication some how with the first one...I am sure its my fault...and her mother felt bad and left me a message saying that she wouldn't leave me in the lurch and that she would watch Meg if needed. The only problem is this woman is a nurse and I would hate if she felt she has to miss a day of work to watch my little one because of my miscommunication with her daughter. She left a message on my phone at 10:30 pm but of course I was already asleep, so now I am wondering how early is too early to call...okay obviously 2 :18am is too early, but maybe 5:30 am would give her the chance to get to work. I don't know. Oh well. I guess it will all work out! Now back to sleep...maybe a glass of warm milk...oh snap! Never mind counting sheep then...it doesn't involve eating or drinking!

Well here's hoping I can fall back asleep for a few hours!!!

updated pics of Meggers

I just can't get over how cute she is. She is also starting to talk up a storm. Its like owning a parrot. If you say it, she tries to say it too. She is now saying "animal" "baby" "no" stop" elmo" but when she tries to say Megan she says "Me" Which is usually the correct usage but not what she is trying to say so I'm not sure how best to reinforce. Oh well!

The weekend is always too short!

Saturday we went to the Detroit Science Center. It was interesting. Meg enjoyed t, but will probably be more excited about it when she is about 5. The Electricity show was my favorite part. The did some cool things with electricity, like blowing up stuff. Megan didn't like having to have her ears covered for her during the loud explosions.

Sunday we went to Church. We came home and made sushi for dinner. Our new favorite kind of home made sushi is with SPAM. Sounds totally gross and wierd, but it is actually delicious.

And then the weekend was over.

Our little Christmas Angel

Megan loves pens. Hopefully letting her write on paper every once in a while won't come back to bite us. I was watching her careefully because she was sitting in arms reach of the couch and I love my couch the color it is, free of scribbles.

Pete's Dad playing Guitar Hero. He actually did better than me...which isn't hard. I sucked, but hey its all in good fun right! His sister Maria is very good, she can play on expert or something.

Meg opening her animal train Christmas Eve. She was a little confused about the whole open presents thing at first! She soon figured it out though.

The animal train by Fisher Price was a good choice for Meg. It makes a little too much noise for Mom's taste, but she loves it. Thankfully I know how to shut it off and when all else fails remove the batteries.

We were given this angel costume and it won't fit us by Halloween so I thought she could wear it for Christmas. She looked so cute, but was not a fan of the "halo". It last long enough to take one picture and then she threw it behind her. Right now she goes through the room picking stuff up, looking at it, tasting it if necessary, and then throws it behind her or backwards over her head when she is no longer amused by it. It's funny to watch, but occasionally she doesn't clear her big noggin' and then it's not so funny.

My daughter the aspiring dentist

We are bad parents and have only recently started brushing Megs teeth. In our defense this is partly because we are lazy and partly because the child only has two teeth. The other day we bought her an Elmo tooth brush. She called him 'MO. However, since we started Meg wants to brush her teeth every time we go into "her" bathroom. She also cries when it is time to stop, but lets face it I have a few other things to do than stand in the bathroom and brush my 1 year olds teeth for hours on end. Even though her daddy always says, "oral hygiene is very important." Her front two teeth have finally started to peek through her gums...sadly a little late for Christmas. This morning Meg was playing with a pen, and Pete came and picked her up. She immediately took the pen and stuck it in his mouth while saying, "AAahhhhhhhhhh." We both started to laugh. Maybe she will follow in Pete's aunts footsteps and be a very successful dentist. It's funny what they pick up from a few attempts at teeth brushing.

Meg might make a better dentist than a doctor because the other day I asked her where her belly button was and she pointed to her nipple....hmmmm we will need to get all that anatomy confusion sorted out before she starts med school!

Home from the Holidays

Meg in her lamb costume. This has to be one of my all time favorite pictures of her, it's even better than the monkey.
Meg with Pete's grandma Olsen

Meg on her first Birthday. She blew out the candle all by herself...twice because we made her do it again after the first time to make sure it wasn't a fluke.

Our family picture for Christmas this year.

I can honestly say I was ready to come back to our little apartment after two weeks of visiting family and get back to "real" life, whatever that is. Megan had the stomach flu on our trip and lost the 2 lbs I was hoping to loose. Isn't that just the way life goes. Pete was suppossed to be heading for Gaum, but his trip got cancelled, so we are happy to have a little more family time.

On Friday I took Megan to the Dr for her 1 year check. Meg greeted the Dr by saying "Dok tor" which impressed the Doctor alot. Meg is in the 75% percentile for height...the Doctor said...So you know she's tall" and I almost fell down...how could a child of ours be tall? So though I was shocked I was also thrilled. Meg got a few immunizations which was anything but pleasant...but all told we survived and will only have to go back for more immunizations in 2-3 months.

Today Pete and Megan hung out at home and I went out Shopping all by myself! It was awesome! No crying, whinning, stopping, pouting, and no, I am not refering to Megan....those of you with anti-shopping husbands know what I mean. Bless Peter's heart he is a good sport when I have to drag him along, but he was grateful to stay home this Saturday too! I bought winter clothes for Meg for next year...as right now is sale heaven...and I had a wonderful, relaxing, quiet time doing it! I came home ready to be a better mom and wife. Retail therapy works!!