Time to catch up!

Alivia had her 18 month check-up last week. She passed with flying colors! She weighs 27 lbs. (83%), was 34 inches tall (96%) and her head circumference is 84th%. Very balanced and above average! We've recently added a few new toys. Alivia has enjoyed playing with her water table, although she usually gets more on herself than anything. She loves to dump it out on the deck.

Look at how wet she's getting!

We had dinner with our friends Julie, Jeremy and Natalie this weekend too. We took the girls to the neighborhood pool and they loved it. There's a baby pool too, that is just a foot deep. Alivia loved walking around and playing with her raft.

Natalie loved the raft too!

Mommy was very thankful that Daddy got in the water to swim. Bathing suits just aren't my thing right now! If you're asking why Brad is wearing a t-shirt, it's because he had already been in the sun too much on Saturday. He worked for hours putting new mulch in the landscaping.

Floating in the big pool.

Going under!

Sunday we headed to Logansport for a baby shower for Andy and Lisa. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of them, but Alivia had a ball on the swing set. She was spoiled with some extra love and attention from Nana and Papa too. Despite a fussy baby on the way home, we had a good time. And after two nights of not nearly enough sleep and two days of not wanting to eat, I took Alivia to the doctor today. It appears that she has the 'mouth' part of 'hand, foot and mouth disease'. Yuck! It's been so painful for her. She's getting better and we're crossing our fingers she'll sleep well tonight.

Playing on the swing

And maybe the best part of the weekend was getting a new car! We met Grandma Cinda in Kokomo so she could give Alivia her little surprise. Alivia helped me put it together today after her nap. You can imagine how much fun that was. She just loves it though! She's driving it around the house when we're not outside and wearing her new sunglasses too. I'll try to get more pictures soon. This was the end of the day and she was so tired.

Thanks for the new wheels, Grandma!

Alivia's Daddy and Mommy's Best Friend

Yesterday marked a very special day for all of us. Brad celebrated his second Father's Day and it was also our 6 year anniversary. The time has gone by so quickly and we feel very blessed to have a happy, strong marriage and a beautiful daughter. Last year we decided that we would attend a major league baseball game for Father's Day each summer. It's always been a dream of Brad's to go to every major league park at least once. This year we chose to stay close to home since I'm pregnant. We celebrated last month in hopes the weather wouldn't be too hot for both Alivia and me. It worked out great. We traveled to Wrigley Field and watched the Cubs play the Astros. Alivia did so well on the drive to and from Chicago and sat pretty well during the game considering it was very crowded. The added bonus was that Aunt Lane was in town visiting some girlfriends. She was able to meet us for lunch and walk with us to the ballpark. We had a great time!

Eating lunch at the pizza place in Wrigleyville.

Alivia and Aunt Lane

Alivia's 1st trip to Wrigley Field

Since we made the trip to Chicago, we decided to stay home for a day of relaxation on Father's Day. We slept in, all took naps in the morning and then went downtown to walk along the canal after lunch. We decided to go for a ride too. Alivia enjoyed it, but Brad and I were exhausted. We realized afterward that we had walked 3 miles and pedaled for more than 3 miles too. That's a lot for a lady carrying all of this extra weight! So we decided to come back home for another nap. :)

Getting ready for our ride. At least I was able to get one of them to look at me smiling. Alivia is so hard to photograph at this age!

Saying cheese!

We wish all of the dad's a Happy Father's Day! And thank you to Brad for being such a loving father and husband. Happy Father's Day and Happy Anniversary! Alivia and I love you!

A few funny stories...

I know I've said this a hundred times, but Alivia is at such a fun stage. She's cracking us up with how much she learns and retains when we aren't even paying attention. Here are a few stories we wanted to share.

This girl loves McDonald's. I realize it's not the best, but she eats their chicken nuggets better than anything else. So when you're on the go, it works. She doesn't want the apples and will only eat a few fries, but very regularly eats all 4 nuggets that come with her meal. We did decide maybe we've been there a few too many times. She's starting to recognize the place and begins to balk like a chicken when we pull in! Brad came home one day last week with a McDonald's cup and again she started balking. What have we done?!

Our babysitter, Miss Angela, had a new baby boy 2 weeks ago. She's now back to watching the kids this week (Amazing!), so Alivia is getting a taste of what it's like to be around a new baby. So far so good, but there's just one problem. His name is Blake and every time you ask Alivia about baby Blake, she blinks her eyes thinking you told her to blink. It's hilarious and no matter how many times we say 'It's Blake, not blink' she still does it. :)

Many people have asked if Alivia understands that we're having another baby. She realizes there is a baby in my tummy and since Miss Angela has also been pregnant, we feel like she often thinks everyone has a baby in their belly. It's not unusual for her to point to Brad's stomach and say baby, which doesn't go over very well with Daddy. Last week Brad and Alivia were walking through Target while I was up ahead getting a few things. Alivia is extremely friendly, so she said hi to the man walking by, then pointed to his belly and said 'baby'. Yikes! Luckily Daddy was thinking fast on his feet and said "oh, you see a baby on the movies" as they passed the video section. Brad said the man looked very confused. We were thankful I wasn't standing right there or it would have been obvious what she meant. Is it too early to teach her not to talk to strangers? It could get a little awkward if this continues!

I think that's all for now. We spent last evening at the Indianapolis Indians game with some of my friends from work. I didn't get much of a chance to take pictures, but we had time to walk along the canal before the game and I snapped a quick photo of Brad and Alivia. Hope everyone has a great week!

Work, Work, Work and a little Play

We spent most of the weekend working on projects that need to be finished before the baby arrives. Brad painted Alivia's room while I finished painting the trim. Brad also hung the new blinds in the baby's room and we put one coat of paint on the shed. It was a little exhausting, but it's nice to have a few more things done. While painting the shed, Alivia played with her toys and followed us around. She's been known to be under us everywhere we go and proved it wasn't the best move on Saturday. She accidentally fell right into the paint tray while we were outside and wasn't very happy about it. She of course landed with her hands in the paint, then got rather upset when she tried to wipe it off and it just smeared all over. She had it in her mouth, on her arms, legs and clothes. What a mess! After that we decided to take a break and a bath. :)

We met Grandpa, Carole and Aunt Leslie for lunch on Sunday at Applebees. There was a little carnival across the street that Grandpa insisted we check out. Alivia loves the carousel, so she and Daddy went for a ride. Grandpa decided to play a game so Alivia would get a prize, too. I didn't manage to get a picture, but it's a priceless unicorn that we had to have.

Sorry I haven't said much about the pregnancy lately. Everything is going well. I'm growing and it seems that the baby is too. I've started going to the doctor every two weeks now for check-ups. I'll post a picture soon. Oh! Here's the good news - the camera is working fine now! Can you believe it? I'm usually never this lucky. After drying out for the week, I tried it again today and it appears to be fine. Yea!