Lately

Poor Matt has been traveling a TON recently and caught a nasty bug on his last trip, so he came home super sick.  Which means Olivia and I have been spending a LOT of mommy/daughter time solo recently.  I am really trying to soak in all the time I can get alone with her before baby comes, so I've loved it!

Matt was in town for actual Valentines Day, so we celebrated with a fajita dinner and chocolate fondue for dessert.

We had a sleepover with Annabelle because both the daddies were out of town, which included some hot tub time + matching pjs

We have been soaking up some unusually nice Houston weather with lots of park time and eating outside

Olivia and I worked on a little art project to hang in brother's room for him.

We are in full on "nesting" mode over at Casa Dean, so most of the free time these days is spent getting ready for brother.  We have some trips coming up in March and I'm guessing before I know it, so things will only get busier this Spring!

Practically Perfect

We recently joined Cate and Emma to see Memorial High School's production of Mary Poppins.  Olivia was not excited at all to go! ;)

The cast hosted a tea party before the show that was absolutely precious and all the girls loved it.  They had "tea", colored pictures and got autographs from all the characters.

At the end of the tea party, Mary Poppins came for a quick photo op.  Holly, Patrice and I all marveled at what a good picture this is with EVERYONE looking and smiling?!  How often does that happen?!

The show was amazing!  We were so impressed with these kids and Olivia instructed me to "sign her up for plays like this" when she gets into high school!  After the show, the sweet cast stood outside taking more pictures.  It was a great afternoon.

And completely unrelated but wanted to document for posterity, today (2.9.2017) Olivia felt baby brother kick for the first time!  I have been feeling little flutters for a while now and yesterday while we were laying in bed, Matt felt him moving around.  I have been waiting for Olivia to be able to feel him and I guess a little breakfast smoothie woke him up and got him kicking this morning because the entire drive to school, he was very active.  When we pulled into the parking lot, she put her hands on my belly and waited patiently.  All of a sudden a little kick happened and she got a huge smile on her face and said "Okay, I am going to tell EVERYONE I felt him kick."  (then my mommy heart swelled even more...)

January Flies By!

As always, January rushed by in a huff of catching up at work and work related travels.

We continued our New Years’ tradition with a weekend in Dallas with the McGuires. It was especially sweet this year because baby Grady was there. As you may suspect, someone hogged the baby while Matt and I waited patiently for our turn.

 Per usual, there was lots of laughing, a kitchen dance party, and plenty of snuggles to go around.

It was the perfect way to begin the hustle and bustle of a new year.

We have been having plenty of checks on baby brother, who is growing perfectly!

Enjoying Olivia's new science experiment kit from Popo and Tutu.

After 4 years of refusing to wear jeans, Olivia asked for me to buy her a pair of "skinny jeans" - and, shockingly, she LOVED them!

And we also enjoyed Pajama Day at her school!

Two quick stories for the memory book:  First, Olivia's latest thing after nap/bed is to call for me by singing "Bring back, bring back, oh bring back my mommy to me, to me."  So cute.  Second, she has been very curious about jobs and working and stay-at-home mommies v. working mommies.  She told us one day she is going to be a working mommy and she is going to be an IVF doctor like Dr. McKnight.  Well, then a few days later, she told that she was worried about being an IVF doctor "doesn't so much know how to do that." We assured her if she went to school, she could learn.


It was a busy and productive month!