Dallas

This post is a little late, but earlier this summer, Olivia and I made a quick trip up to Dallas to see the Gannons and Uncle Ryan/Uncle Douglas (Matt went to play poker with Uncle Lloyd).  

While Olivia napped, I got in some quality time with sweet Blythe and helped her make some muffins!

Once Olivia woke up, we packed up both kids in the car (which Olivia LOVED) and headed to the splashpad.

 Followed by some ice cream

That night, Olivia wouldn't eat peas when I asked her, but gobbled them up with Blythe offered!

I even got to sneak out for an adult dinner with Uncle Ryan while Erica and Greg babysat Miss O!  Talk about luxury!

We spent one morning with Uncle Ryan and Uncle Douglas checking out the new Perot Museum.

Such a fun trip -- can't wait to go back!

Fashion Queen

Lately Olivia has had some pretty strong opinions about fashion and, despite my better judgment, I've been letting her have some freedom in this department.  The results pretty much speak for themselves.

Uncle Drew & Olivia-isms

We also were lucky enough to have Uncle Drew in town for a few days and he spent one afternoon with us. Olivia took to him immediately and they got along famously.  I think I see a trip to Nashville in our future...

Olivia has said/done a couple of cute things lately that I wanted to record for the memory book:

1.  No way!  This is Olivia's new favorite thing to say and its pretty funny to hear that phrase come out of that mouth in her baby voice.  A few weeks ago she woke up at 5:30 and refused to go back to bed.  I asked her if she would sleep if I let her come in our bed.  She said yes.  So I brought her in and, of course, she was being silly and loud and wouldn't sleep.  I reminded her, "Olivia, you said you'd sleep if you came in mamma's bed, right?"  She replied "No way mommy!"  To which Matt and I burst out laughing.  So now, it is a constant phrase in our house and gets a laugh pretty much every time!

2.  The other day I took Olivia to Wonder Wild and when it was time to leave she was very said (who wouldn't be?!).  Unfortunately, she expressed her anger in a less than optimal way -- by hitting mommy.  I was completely shocked by this and frankly stammered for the right words to say.  Despite my lack of clear words, I guess she got the message that mommy was NOT pleased.  We had been home about 30 minutes when I called her over to eat dinner.  I picked her up to put her in the highchair and I wasn't really looking at her because I was fumbling with the straps.  But I noticed that as I was holding her, she started rubbing my back.  Then as I put her in the seat she said "hug mommy" and gave me a huge hug.  Now Olivia's "hugs" usually entail her leaning in close to you and you hugging her.  Not this time.  That little cutie put her little arms around my neck and HUGGED IT!  If that wasn't enough, she then said "kissy" and pulled me close and kissed my lips.  As I fought back tears and tried to buckle her in, she said "you a nice mommy."  I mean, seriously??!!!  This kid!!

3.  Singing.  Over the past few weeks, Olivia has become quite the music lover.  She insists on certain songs from her CD in the car and will randomly bust out a song no matter where we are.  Twinkle, Twinkle is a fan favorite and can be heard often.  She also likes "I'm Bringing Home A Baby Bumblebee" - which I didn't even know she knew until she sang it at the top of her lungs at a Chinese restaurant the other night!  And a few times we have heard "Shoo Fly" and "Skip to My Lou."  Here she is doing the ABCs..

4.  My toes!! Ever since she was a baby, Olivia has hated to have her toes covered at night by blankets.  Lately, she has been hyper-vigilant about making sure that Matt and I don't cover her toes at night by yelling "My toes!  Not my toes!" every night when we put her in the crib.  Trust us, we know.....we will not cover those toes!

5.  Matt was going to take out the trash the other day and she said "See ya later, alligator!"  Another phrase she must have picked up from school....

Japan

The delay in blog posts is due to the crazy work schedule that Matt and I have had for the past few weeks. We have taken turns going out of town and when both managed to be in town at the same time, we have been scrambling to catch up at work and home!

Last week, I had my first international work trip to Tokyo, Japan. It was an unexpected trip that had me a little nervous – to leave Matt and Olivia, to figure out how to get around in a new country, and to (arguably most importantly!) give my clients some sound legal advice that would help move along the project. But, thankfully, my worry was for not.

The best part of my trip were our daily FaceTime calls.  Although the time difference proved a little rough, we were usually able to talk twice a day. Thank goodness for FaceTime. Seriously – how did people survive before it?  Pretty awesome to see this smiley little face every morning and before bed!

The trip went about as well as I could have hoped.  Tokyo is a very modern city with a rich night life.  All the different names on this sign represent the different bars inside!   (Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to go inside...)

It rained most days I was there, but that certainly did not shut the city down...it was just a busy and chaotic as you'd imagine.

This charming entryway paved the way into my meetings each day.

While I was there to focus on work, I made sure not to neglect the local cuisine!  I enjoyed some "Japanese ramen" -- SO much better than the stuff we have here --- and some amazing sushi!  

And I even managed to find a toy store -- it was 5 levels of nothing but toys!  Olivia would have loved it!

I picked a baby doll, who much to my delight has risen the ranks of the many babies Olivia already has to be one of her favorites!  Great trip, but glad to be home to my family!

(Despite the distance between them in this picture, O really does love this doll -- the one with clothes on!)