Abu El Banat

From the minute I found out I was pregnant, basically everyone we knew (especially Matt and I) thought we were having a girl. When we got confirmation of this, I was over-the-moon, but instantly mindful not to force my daughter to be girly if she didn’t want to be. If she wanted to be Sporty Spice, then I was sure-as-heck going to become an expert in sports! But, to my delight, she came out as girly as they come. We have bought her trucks and balls that she wants nothing to do with. She doesn't really like playing in dirt or mess at the park.  If her hands do get dirty, she immediately cries for us to wipe them off.  She loves her baby dolls, her tea set, and her purse. But lately, she has really taken things to an extreme.

And I’m not sure poor Matt knows exactly what to do with her. He recently likened himself to an old episode of West Wing where the President visited Egypt with his family and the tour guide constantly introduced him to everyone they met as "Abu El Banat." After that introduction, people would always buy the President a cup of tea. When asked, the guide told him it meant "father of daughters" and that the locals paid for the President's tea out of sympathy for the special difficulties faced by a man raising girls! (I’m sure my own dad wouldn’t have anything to say about that! ;)

Olivia got some sunglasses for Easter and has been obsessed with them! They go everywhere with us, although she usually puts them on upside down! She will also freak out if she can’t get them to stay on the top of her head.

On Sunday we went to HEB. Grocery shopping on Sunday is stressful enough, adding a precocious little baby in the mix certainly elevated things! For starters, it was an effort to even get out the door:

Once we were at HEB, she refused to let anyone but me push the cart. She would constantly hand me the phone (usually to “talk” to Mimi) and insist I talk (while also trying to maneuver the cart through the Sunday crowd at HEB!). But it wasn’t enough to simply pretend to talk to them, I had to do it for a sufficient amount of time and also laugh while having the conversation. If I didn’t talk long enough she would shake her head and refuse to take the phone back. If I didn’t laugh, she would chastise me in a very harsh tone – “No! Ha! Ha! Mama!!” and hand the phone back to me. I tried to tell her that Mimi wasn’t being funny, but it didn’t work!

Poor Matt just shook his head the entire time at HEB. Good thing she’s cute!

Acquarium

Matt recently did a 2-week stretch of traveling for work and I am happy to report we all made it through unscathed. This was our first time for two weeks back-to-back and thankfully they flew by for us here in Houston (although I know they dragged on for poor Matt in Michigan). Matt did come home late Friday night...only to turn around and leave again on Sunday afternoon, so we celebrated our ONE day together (Saturday) by making an impromptu visit to The Aquarium in downtown Houston and had a great time!

Olivia hasn't been the biggest fan of carousels thus far, but she said she wanted to ride it.  So we got a ticket and stood in line.  Finally it was our turn and she seemed excited.... 

 Starting to look a little unsure as the music begins to play...

And she's out...she just got a panicked look on her face as soon as it started spinning and began screaming "bye bye! bye bye!"

So, I held her for the rest of the ride and we waved to daddy as we passed by

In true Olivia fashion, as soon as we got off the carousel she held her arms up to Matt and said "Again?"  Our logical arguments that we had just ridden it and she got scared didn't mean anything to her.  SO...off they went to try again.  This time she stayed on the entire time, but she never quite looked like she was enjoying it!

The train was a much better experience!

The train was actually pretty cool...it went under an aquarium with sharks.  We can't understand Olivia's fears....fake animals on a carousel are scary to her, but real sharks 10 feet away only separated by a thin layer of glass cause her no concern!

 She really liked looking at all the fish and kept asking what each one's name was.

TIGER!!  So, there's a random tiger at The Aquarium.  Olivia was pretty spent by this point, so we didn't get a chance to read the sign to understand why he was there.  Despite her yelling at him to "jump in wa-wa!" he continued to just lay there.  As her yelling got louder, we made a quick escape so as not to bother Mr. Tiger or any of the other guests!  All in all it was a great trip and I would highly recommend for anyone in Houston!

Little Things

A few weeks ago, one of my friends sent me the link to this blog (which I'm sure you've all seen by now!) where a father details all the seemingly silly reasons his son is crying.  Matt and I spent the better part of a date-night looking at the blog, relieved that toddler irrationality is a common occurrence and then joking that we should do our own blog about reasons Olivia is crying.  We even drafted it and put a few pictures.  But, I could never bring myself to publish it....I would never want Olivia to think I was making fun of her or her sweet little feelings.

But then last night, we were having a long-distance call with Matt since he's out of town and Olivia got so tickled by a random song he sang.  We were talking about how happy we were that tomorrow was Friday and that he was coming home.  Matt sang "Friday, Friday, everybody loves Friday!"  Then, Olivia absolutely died laughing!  And it struck me that although its frustrating when she gets upset because I won't let her lick her shoe, its exhilarating to see her giggle at a random 5 word song that her sweet daddy made up.  I'm so happy I was able to capture part of it.

I decided that I'm going to try not to let the little things that bother her, bother me....and just try to enjoy the little things that make her happy.

So..without further ado...reasons my daughter is crying...and laughing!

Because I said she could wear my necklace (like she wanted to) and that she could put it on herself (like she wanted to)....but then she couldn't put it on herself and refused my help

Because we were done shopping at HEB and I said we had to go home.

Because she has a wonderfully silly daddy (the pause in singing is because he is laughing too hard to sing!)

Waco Weekend & Whole30

I went to law school at Baylor, so Waco holds a special place in my heart. One of the main reason is because of my 2 dear friends Lara and Breyer. They got me through some tough times during those 3 years and I am eternally grateful to them. So, I was thrilled when our schedules coordinated for a weekend visit back to Waco.  We had such a great time! Olivia absolutely loved Breyer's twin boys - Kyle and Kase. She thought everything they said/did was hilarious! We also tried out the Waco zoo which is an absolute hidden gem.

She also held her own with the boys and at times seemed to be too rough for them!

Matt and I also came away with a new understanding of food after Lara and Breyer told us about how much they loved the Whole 30 Program.  After much discussion on Paleo and the Whole30 program, we were very curious.  So, starting May 1, we are going to take the challenge ourselves. I’m pretty anxious because my daily diet includes a lot of dairy, grains, peanuts, (and added sugar if I’m being honest), but I am very interested in seeing if it really will change the way we think about food, our tastes, our habits and our cravings, especially as Olivia gets older and begins her own relationship with food.  If I had to guess, I’d say this is going to be a tough 30 days for me, but I’m determined. Wish us luck!

Fun Friday

If Olivia could articulate her perfect day, I'm pretty sure she would describe the events of the day on Friday!

We started out with a trip to Kolache Factory for some "lachees" and then headed to HEB.

What's that you say?  No 18 month old likes HEB?  Wrong.  My daughter loves it.  And who can blame her?  The selection, the stickers, the nice employees -- its a foodie wonderland and she knows it.  In fact, this is her last week because she didn't want to leave HEB.

Then we went to "nastics" (i.e. Gymboree)

Met Carol and baby Cameron for lunch.

We came home for a quick nap and then headed to Mimi and Gra's house for Aunt Naz's 26th birthday party.

First Gra brought out the harmonica.  Gra is an excellent musician and can play any instrument...the rest of us just had fun trying..

Then we did some rocking, reading and puzzles

Soon everyone else arrived, and it was time for the party!  What party would be complete without a hula hoop?

As usual Mimi decorated the house so festive and cooked a delicious meal!

Naz got a lot of "help" opening her presents and I'm pretty sure Miss O wanted to steal her new Michael Kors purse!

   
 And then Olivia went to bed and all the silliness stopped...

Including the most confusing rendition of "Happy Birthday" ever sung:

Happy birthday Naz, we hope you have an awesome year!

     
I'd have to agree with Olivia that it really was a perfect Friday!