So In Loooove

Alright I swore today to be a laptop free day. So I just have to get this out of the way so I'm not tempted all day. I also have to promise myself that my reader will still be there tomorrow, full of all the wonderful unread updates...

But okay so here, I think this link will take you to see the pictures. photobucket.com/opie_disneyland. (I have been fiddling with editing so ignore the random pictures of mouths and randomness...)

And here is my one favorite picture, just in case you particularly feel like going through 70 or so pictures.

So classic. So in 100 words or less here's how Disneyland went: Got in the park Saturday 7am. Breakfast at Goofy's kitchen, where Olivia warmed up to the characters. First ride we went on was Peter Pan. Olivia whined, and clinged to me for most of it. Dumbo, Teacups, and the carousel were her favorites. The inside rides with all the cool animatronics were sort of scary to her. But her all time favorite was def. the Tiki Room. She was shrieking and gasping like crazy. She was also dancing! It was so cute, and I wish you could take pictures in there because she had the best faces. We did it twice. She loved it each time. We also to go on the new Toy Story ride which is so much fun. And we got the yummiest corndogs ever from Cali. Adventure. And the best pizza from Napolini. (The food is one my favorite things about Disneyland.) Olivia actually took her two naps, and slept well at night. She was an absolute doll the whole time. Even the 6 hour car ride home she was a peach, even though she only slept for about 40 minutes of it!

And now, normally I hate to blog about wonderful my husband is for fear of sounding like TAMN. And when I just write about what he's done I really don't need to say anymore. But I know he reads, and he loves the shoutouts :) So I just want to say how incredibly grateful I am to be married to someone who loves me so completely, and lives to make me smile. Just small details that will give you an idea how incredible he is. Besides planning the whole Disneyland trip (did I mention we stayed in THE DISNEYLAND HOTEL! because he knows I get a little skeeved out at Motel 6's) without me having a clue, the night before we left he also stayed up until 10:30 cleaning the kitchen, even mopping the floor, because he knows when we go on a trip I LOVE coming home to a clean house. And here are just a few daily things that sometimes, too often go without recognition:

He hangs up his ties after work, he bathes Olivia so I can have 10 minutes to myself, he always kisses me goodnight, he says thank you for cooking him a delicious dinner (every time, even when it's not so delicious), always tells me I'm beautiful (all the time, even when I know I've looked better...) makes sure the house is locked up every night, comes home for lunch as often as he can because he loves spending time with his girls, sometimes he even makes the bed, he washes his dishes, just yesterday he downloaded me my favorite Christmas song because I hadn't heard it yet this year... just those little thoughtful things. And I could go on, but I'll spare you, and maybe I'll just write him an email with the rest :)

Christmas came early... AGAIN!

DISNEYLAND!

So I woke up Friday morning ready for a weekend of babysitting my neices, MAT school, and lots of other busy stuff. We were having our usual morning and Aaron said, "Look, you have a present under the tree." And I didn't think much of it... oh that's nice I said. He was like, "Don't you want to open it?" And I was like, "No, I want to wait until Christmas." (Which I absolutely never say this...) Eventually I said I wanted to open it, I pretty much thought I knew what it was since I've been wanting a digital camera forever. So I opened it, and it was a digital camera... and I was like, "Oh that's nice, yay thank you." And then there was a note inside that Aaron told me to read outloud. It said this camera was to take pictures of Olivia at Disneyland! I was confused, asked when are we going to Disneyland? And he said, "Right now! Get ready, we're leaving as soon as we're packed." AND WE DID!

We literally just got home so I just uploaded a couple of the 121 pictures I took. I'll make a slide show and share more details later since Olivia is demanding my attention right now.

Pictures!

Our house all pretty for Christmas :) Olivia helping bake cookies...

... still helping

Thank you happy helper!

...Did I mention I took on a small side job of baking cookies for Opie Chiropractic?

Only 6 dozen a day.

Which = about 2lbs a day.

So by the time is done I will probably have gained back any weight I lost.

...Did I mention I was losing weight? Down 17 lbs! (before the cookies...)

Still no pictures

Sorry I still haven't gotten any pictures onto my computer... but here's what we've been up to.

Put up Christmas lights... looks oh-so-lovely and wonderful. So excited and fun to have a house to decorate!

Purchased a Christmas tree.

And got Olivia's picture with Santa. She was petrified. I was really shocked because she's so social and happy with everyone... but she screamed her little head off when I tried to let Santa hold her. And it was quite hilarious because then Santa gave us a whole psychoanalysis, and refused to hold a crying baby because he didn't want to damage her psychi. He told us we wouldn't believe how many adults tell him how they were scarred as children with their parents laughing at them while they cried and Santa held them. He doesn't want to scar any children. Which I appriciate, but it was funny nonetheless. He went on about how precocious Olivia is, and what a Christmas angel she was. He even sang her Twinkle, Twinkle. Which she calmed down, but still wouldn't go to him. He commented that she's clearly bonded to me very well. It was just so funny. Very nice man, and I am not making fun of Santa... I just couldn't stop laughing on the way home, reliving the situation.

And I'm trying to get Olivia to take naps on her own. This has been a challenge. At night I rock her and nurse her then lay her down and she falls asleep no crying. At nap time, she just won't fall asleep unless I hold her until she's asleep. Sometimes this is 5 minutes, sometimes 50. I just don't know what to do. Yesterday I let her cry, and she cried for a solid hour. Now she's been crying for 20 minutes. I really don't know what to do. I don't mind holding her for 5 or even 20 minutes, but when it takes FOREVER I get frustrated. So we're working on it.

Our Not-So-Traditional Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in Rocky Point, Mexico. It was beautiful, relaxing and so fun.

I was a bit worried because I adore Thanksgiving with my fam in NJ where it's freezing (I think I remember more white Thanksgivings than Christmas's) and we are bundled up and enjoy an insane amount of food and have fun with lots of family. So while on a beach in Mexico sounded nice for any other time of year... I wasn't so sure.

But all my worries were in vain, because it was sooooo wonderful.The weather was perfect. We swam in the ocean, built sandcastles, laid out, napped, and still enjoyed a most delicious Thanksgiving feast. Which we got to enjoy outside on the patio overlooking the ocean. It was absolutely gorgeous.

I left Weds with Olivia and Aaron's mom and siblings. Aaron and his dad were going to leave Weds. night after the office closed. We got there safe and sound Weds night. Aaron should have arrived around 11, or maybe 12. By 3am and he wasn' there I was almost sick. I kept praying, and reciting this quote over and over in my head. "Worrying is like paying interest on a debt you may never owe." But after a couple hours sleep, waking up at 5am and still no Aaron I started imagining life as a single mom. But around 7am he showed up. Apparently a wrong turn, 3 hours in the wrong direction, 2 hours back, but the border was closed because it was after midnight.... so they had wait until 5am when the border opened again. FRUSTRATING. But needless to say I was grateful on Thanksgiving to have my hubby alive and well.

Olivia was of course a peach. She slept great the whole trip. She loved the sand (to play and eat) and even "swam" in the ocean with us.

We didn't have a camera so I'll have to get the pictures up later. But it was so fun.