Some more October

As far as I can tell, this is going to by the last of my weekly posts. I'd love to get caught up enough to post by event or day or something. I know that I take way too many pictures, but it's hard not to when Olivia is doing new adventurous things each day. I love my job :)

The first story comes with two possible plot lines. The first being Olivia's fight against the California heat. She has never experienced this part of the year before, but it's against every grain in my body to wear shorts every day instead of jeans and a sweatshirt.

The other plot, which I find a lot more likely, is the 'C'mon mom, get out of here, I'm getting something to eat'

I love this next one because what she's really doing is asking for help (with her grunt language), because the fridge door keeps bumping her in the bum every time she turns around. The only way to prevent getting smashed is to keep pushing the door away, and sometimes her hand-eye coordination isn't that fast. Don't worry, I laughed a little, took a picture, and when she got louder I helped her out of the fridge.

In case you haven't heard, Olivia is training for the olympic sport of 'giving my mom a heart attack'. I wish I had a better picture, because when I actually came into the room, Olivia had climbed on top of her bumper (by squeezing her foot between the slats), and was bouncing up and down laughing and dancing, dangling 3 feet above the ground. I didn't want to encourage the behavior, so I didn't try to reproduce the accomplishment, but you can trust me that it was plenty scary.

I'm not entirely sure why O isn't dressed in any of these pictures. I had a stomach bug over these couple days, so maybe I just didn't notice, but I couldn't help but capture this cute moment when Olivia discovered Alex's belly button. He is extremely ticklish, and his laughing only egged her on. She would smack his belly, dig her finger into is belly button, then stand up laughing hysterically. I was so glad to encourage this!

Like I said, last Wednesday and Thursday I was very sick, and stayed in bed most of the time. Alex was awesome, and completely took over running the house. THANK YOU to his boss for allowing him to stay home!

While we make breakfast Olivia usually gets to watch a  cartoon. She has a habit of walking up to the TV and standing WAY too close to watch it, so Alex thought of this invention to keep her seated. He made her her own couch! She loved it, and sat by herself the whole time he made breakfast.

Later that day (Thursday), I kindly asked Alex to take Olivia and run some errands because I wasn't feeling very good at all, and would love a quiet house. I got her dressed, and he took her out for over 2 hours :). I don't know everything they did, but I also didn't care at the time, because I got a good nap in, which was exactly what I needed. They also brought home my favorite treat, Jamba Juice! Olivia loves JJ too, and is getting good enough at using a straw that we are willing to share with her.

I took this picture the next day because I though it was amazing that a girl with literally dozens of toys a foot away is playing in the toolbox with Daddy's tools. There is some pretty scary stuff in there, so I didn't let her play with it, but I had to take a couple pictures while she didn't know I was there.

On Saturday (22nd) our little family packed a picnic lunch and went to Fresno State to walk around campus. I had heard that they had a pretty arboretum to walk through, and we had a fun time exploring and touching all the flowers. They have some pretty cool statues that Olivia liked, but her favorite thing by far was the fountain. It had some sort of soapy substance in it, which made it all the more fun to play in!

Sunday we decided to go to a pumpkin patch. I had purchased a groupon for a corn maze that I read was right off of 99, which I though was the freeway 5 minutes from us to the west. There is a freeway 5 minutes west, 2 minutes east, 10 minutes south, and 30 minutes west from us. Turns out I had my freeways mixed up, and 99 is actually the 30 minutes west one, so we had a little bit of a drive.

We took some pictures right after the corn maze, and you can tell we are all a little pink from the sun, None of us were really sunburnt, but silly Oregonion Lacey brough jackets to the corn maze instead of sunscreen, and it turned out to be a 90+ degree day! We let Olivia walk around in the pumpkins for a little bit, but in order to get a non-monstrous sized one, we would have to walk out into the patch, and we were all too hot to do that, so we ended up just heading home. The corn maze was really fun, but it made me miss the overcast, rainy pumpkin-picking at Twedt's Farm that I had growing up.

The last picture is one of my favorites :) I love these two!

Sneak Peak: Corn Maze

Sunday afternoon we went to a corn maze/ pumpkin patch...here's a little sneak peak!

Crazy Adventures our second week

Well I devoted the first week of living in Fresno to unpacking and organizing, as well as getting Olivia on a routine that would give me two solid naptimes again. Those two missions semi-completed, I decided to hit the ground running our second week. To get things started right, we had bath time Sunday night...LOVE this picture of my two best people :)

Monday after Olivia's first nap (around noon), we grabbed a quick snack and headed to the park. It is only two blocks away according to the map on my phone, so I thought it would be a quick stroll. Half an hour later (in California heat, mind you) we arrived at the park. We played for a little bit, got a few pictures, then I heard the grunts that are typical of Olivia doing some business...now that's not a problem at all, I had a blanket I could lay on the ground and plenty of wipes. Problem is, I didn't have a single diaper. I took a peek, and knew that this diaper was not going to last a half hour walk home, so I had to call Alex and have him rescue us :) We did have a lot of fun, and we got to see plenty of bumpy sidewalks :), so I'll call that a semi-successful outing. And I haven't left the house without a diaper since.

Monday afternoon I received my first taste of my crazy daughter the climber. I just thought this was cute, and took a picture to show her adventurous spirit. Hindsight is 20-20, and now I wished I had moved everything that could be climbed on out of the house, because there have since been many adventures...

Tuesday morning we headed out early to the library for infant story time. I trusted the GPS in my phone, and 1/2 an hour later we arrived at the library, about a ten minute drive from our house. Luckily they have toddler time right after infant time, so we still got to hear some stories, and Olivia still had the opportunity to get in the personal space of some kids :). When we got home, after a nap, we went on a little walk to check the mail, and I let Olivia push the stroller. She's getting very good at walking, so now I just walk in front of the stroller to give encouragement, and she gets all the independence she wants. I wish I had a better picture, but it seems every time I pull out the camera she swerves into a car or bush or person, so this is the best I've gotten so far.

We didn't have anything on the schedule on Wednesday, so we went to Riverpark shopping center, one of the 3 big malls within ten minutes of us (not to mention the hundred other shopping centers, on almost every corner). When we got back from our shopping adventure, I was prepping dinner a little bit, and Olivia was strangely quiet, so I went into the living room to find this:

Now that's a guilty face if I've ever seen one :). I have no idea where she stashed that cracker, we never give her ritz unless she's in her high chair (too messy), but sometime she stole it and stashed it under the recliner I guess.

Thursday we made our way to a different library for infant storytime, but this was at a much larger library, and it was story and music time, so we enjoyed it a lot more. Since the Woodward Park library is a little bit further away, we just go to both libraries most weeks. It gives us two outings that are social, educational, and free, so I'm all for it.

My favorite adventure of the week was Olivia climbing on her rocking horse by herself. She was so proud of herself, and sat on there longer than she ever has before. She's not quite strong enough to make it rock yet, but she loves to play with the mane. Thanks Janet!

Of course Olivia couldn't have lasted the whole day without giving me at least one heart attack, so here we come to the next picture. In the afternoon I was working in the kitchen, Olivia was playing in the living room, and all was good in the house. I ran to the bathroom real quick, and came back to this sight. The cooler was under the chair, and she apparently pulled it out and used it to climb onto the chair and start dancing in about a minute. Oh baby...

And we will end this week with her favorite mess to make (and also one that I don't mind so much). She does this at least once a day - or as many times as I clean it up. I have tried to clean it up with her, but that only makes her close enough to start taking them down again...lose lose for me. So for now she helps me clean up her toys and books, and I leave the DVDs until she goes to sleep. In a few weeks we'll work on it, or get a DVD shelf that closes, but for now I just get this sight every day :)

And that's a week of adventures from the Casqueiro house. Every day I get someting new, which is one of the things I love about staying home with Olivia.

Our first week

So our week started out pretty good...I organized my shoes, do you see a problem?

You got it! There is a hole on my shoe rack...must mean a shopping trip is in my near future :). The shoe organization happened on Tuesday, and here is my cute Olivia picture from that day, O is enjoying her newfound freedom in our apartment, there isn't doors to shut between each room, and there is as many of her as there is of me most days :).

And on Wednesday morning, I checked my room and made sure she was safe while I ran to the bathroom really quick. I didn't see any outlets or potential danger-zones, so off I went. And I came back to this very cute and very guilty face :).

Now I was a little disturbed that all of my shoe organization (by color) had gone to waste, but I could also tell that she was having her first fashion dilemma. Olivia has always loved shoes. Mostly she likes to eat them, but in this case she was carefully examining each shoe before scattering them on the ground. First she went for the sensible flats,

but was quickly distracted by the cute polka dot heels. Are they worth it? I think yes :).

After some careful deliberation and a quick pro-con chart, she had taken all the shoes she liked and scattered them around the closet, and was ready to make her next mess.

That afternoon, I was trying to make dinner (a feat I've learned is very hard while Olivia is awake), and I needed a distraction tool. I've always thought I would be the mom who had an educational activity for her kids to complete instead of plopping them in front of the TV, but with a young toddler with a 2 minute attention span, the Disney movie is a wonderful invention. Olivia stood, talking to Rapunzel from Tangled for about 20 minutes, which gave me plenty of time to finish what I was doing in the kitchen, and didn't create any more messes. A success in my book!

On Friday (October 7th), I got a package in the mail that I knew was my wedding present from Alex, but I didn't know what it was and could hardly wait the 5 hours until he got home so I could open it. When he finally got home, I got to open the box and pulled out this lovely frame with a spot for a wedding picture and our vows below. I LOVE it, and I have the best husband ever :)

Alex had a couple home games in a row the weekends after we moved, so Olivia and I had a lot of time to get things organized and cleaned as we unpacked. It also gave Olivia a lot of time to think of new games! This next picture is of a game that occupied her time for about half an hour one Saturday morning. She just barreled into this little stacking block, eventually with enough leverage to push it across the floor, causing her to fall to the ground. She would then laugh, look up to make sure I wasn't looking (if I was she would whine like she was hurt), and go again. It was very funny to watch :)

Olivia has always loved football. When she was a newborn it was the only thing that she would watch on TV, and it continues to be her favorite, though Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse are closing in (we watch cartoons before breakfast most mornings). I know that I should be concerned about her being so close to the screen, and for all you worried grownups, I always take the picture then go grab her and bring her back to the couch; I just think it's funny that she prefers to be two inches away.

This football game, however, was a little different for Olivia. She is starting to notice people on the TV and phone, mostly because she sees pictures of her relatives on Mommy's phone a lot. I'm pretty sure that she saw these big, strong men playing football, and it encouraged her to 'get her swoll on', so she can be big and strong someday...

Last I'm just throwing in a quick daddy daughter picture from our first real day as a family. Alex had Sunday off, and this is how we started the day :)

The rest of our new place

Alright all, here's the rest of our house pictures for those who are interested, then I'll get back to the cute baby pictures for the rest of you :)

So we're starting out with the dining room. Alex and I have learned that we have the maximum amount of stuff that will fit in an apartment (well we have some stuff and Olivia has TONS of stuff...), so our dining room is a little storage, a little office, a little craft room, and a little dining room. This angle is from the recliner in the living room.. We are looking at our dining room table (to match the red/black kitchen we will finish someday ;) ), with a stack of photo frames that will soon become our picture wall (wall above the table). We are waiting for Olivia's 1st birthday pictures and all of our wedding pictures, then will arrange it eventually :). Also, the white table (Thanks Gary!) is our desk/craft table. The desktop computer that is in our near future, and my bow making stuff will be on that table.

Now we travel to the kitchen. You can see Alex working at putting locks on the cupboard (suddenly completely necessary...), and the typical apartment kitchen. The nice thing about this apartment is the bar/kitchen counter area right in the front of the kitchen, is a nice place for the junk/mail piles :) and eventually decorations.

And the stove area, complete with about a month's worth of taco soup leftovers...at least it freezes! We miss the friends and family in Oregon that we would normally share this with :(

I don't really know why I'm including this picture. All it shows is that the dishes are NEVER done, there's always snack messes and bibs and everything left. However, in our defense, everything in this picture except the bib in the sink is clean and drying :)

And we're traveling to the room where the magic happens ;). The beautiful quilt courtesy of my wonderful Grandma, who made it for as a wedding gift. Our room is where the boxes will never be empty. For some reason I brought the box of guest room stuff (quilt, decorations) with us, and we just have more stuff than storage. But maybe we will find something to decorate the walls with. Can somebody be my personal decorator? This is definitely not my strong point.

As far as bathrooms go, we have a half bath in our room, and the full bath is in the hallway. It's sad for us to downgrade from two bathrooms, but we are glad to have a place, and have settled in very well.

This is the part where I say how glad we are to be in Fresno, and how we are loving it. However, it's been a pretty hard move for me, and I think the stress is spreading to Alex and Olivia. I really miss Oregon, but mostly I miss seeing people that I know. That said, it's so great to have my little family all together, and to be settled into some sort of a routine. This summer was INSANE, and I don't plan on repeating anything like it for a long, long time.

There are some things about Fresno that are awesome, so I'm making a list to share with you :)

1. Garage saling - it still is going strong, and the deals are great! Both weekends that I went out I went to 15+ sales, and took advantage of some great deal (my proudest being a new, wrapped in plastic Cranium game for $2). In Oregon there is about 4 garage sales with baby clothes in the entire Corvallis area, which means driving ten minutes in between each sale. Also, the prices in OR are about $2 per piece of clothing ($1 if you are lucky), and here it's .25-.50 per piece.

2. Library infant times - Olivia and I both love these story times, and we library hop throughout the week, so far we have gone to two different libraries each week. She gets to play with other babies, and we get to sing songs and learn new rhymes

3. Shopping - need I say more? Oregon shopping is dismal at best, nonexistent if you are being honest. I live within five minutes of everything shopping-wise I would ever need, and a 3 story Forever 21 is about a block from Alex's work. :) My bank account may not thank me later, but it has been fun to explore all the shopping centers around my house.

4. Going to a corn maze tomorrow, in shorts and tanks...I know I will miss the rain and clean-ness, but right now not needing sweaters all the time is great :)

And that's all for now...not because that's all that is good here, but because Alex just got home from his volleyball game, and it's time to write some thank yous (they never go away...)