Christmas in Hollis

We've been busy enjoying the holidays the last few weeks and we haven't been shy of indulging in everything the season has to offer.  Why not?  You're only a one-year-old once!

In an attempt to keep up with recording her daily feats, here are some random things she now loves to do:

--wake us up with kisses

--blow kisses at anyone (dogs included!)

--knock on doors

--help set the table, empty the dishwasher, pick up stuff when you drop it and hand it to you

--sign for what she wants, including more, eat, potty, milk, and open

--point to people in her photo book when asked to find them

--look at word books (can't get enough!)

Olivia is known for being a great helper, and it was no exception when Mommy did some Christmas baking.  Check out the Ya-ya checking out some of her and mommy's creations:

Yum in the tum ;-)

When Nanny and Pap came to visit a few weeks ago, they brought a Christmas tree with them for the Girlie!  We decided to set it up on our balcony so as to prevent any disasters that could happen as a result of someone with an overactive healthy curiosity.  

That's not the only thing that the Girlie was surprised with that day.  Nanny and Pap also brought her Christmas present with them, since it wouldn't have fit in our car if we had to take it.  (That's a clue right there).  The Girlie now has her very own kitchen!  She has more pots and pans than Mommy now.  Yowsa.  Here's the unfolding surprise:

Wait till Nonna sees all of this cooking going on-- she just might pass out from pure joy.  

The kitchen even comes with a phone, which the Bambina started using right away:

And now (get ready for this, Pap) we've discovered that she makes the best coffee:

We don't remember teaching her that, so either she picks up on things really quickly, or we drink a whole lot of coffee.  I'm thinking it's a little bit of both.

What will they think of next?

We did some decorating in the Bambina's room to keep that Christmas spirit flowing right through our home.  We made some felt garland and hung the stockings with care, knowing the Girlie soon would be there:

We went elsewhere to find the spirit of Christmas, too-- in the form of St. Nick, of course.  The good news is she didn't cry.  There is no bad news.  No news at all really, judging by the expression:

Confusion, perhaps?  We'll take it!  

And lastly, nothing says Christmas spirit like a little bit of music and dancing.  And, Baby, have we got a bit of the happy holidays in our step:

Happy Birthday, Mr. A!

The Girlie's friend Asher turns one today!  We got to celebrate with him yesterday, and we had quite the lovely time.  The Bambina was still so excited that she didn't even want to go to sleep last night.  Yikes!

Check out the birthday boy:

Love the shirt, Asher!  Way to rock it :-)  Can your hair be any cuter?

Was that a "yum" I heard?  I think he would've sat there the entire evening finishing up the cake.  Not that there's anything wrong with that ;-)  It's OK, more for the next day!  

I loved the decorations-- it all looked fabulous!  

Can you blame the Girlie?  Who wants to sleep when you've got fun on the brain??

We all had a blast!  Everyone was so friendly.  Good food, good people, good times.  We always love going to see Mr. A!

And just for good measure...

Happy birthday to you!  Happy birthday to you!!  

Happy birthday, Dear Asher!  Happy birthday to youuuuuuu!!!!!

Yay for cake!

Mamma's B-day

Birthdays are always fun because Daddy makes them extra special, and today has been no exception.  It's Mommy's birthday and we started off the day fabulously.  In a flurry of epicurean brilliance, Daddy whipped up some yummy pumpkin pancakes for breakfast as a surprise.  The Girlie loved them!  She kept giving the sign for more.  That's saying a lot for this food-critic-in-the-making.

Daddy got prepped and ready for work-- shaved, suited up, looking fly-- then we saw him out the door and onto the elevator.  A few minutes later he came back saying he had forgotten something.  I believe it went something like, "I forgot my wallet, and oh yeah, I also forgot I TOOK OFF TODAY.  Happy birthday!!!"

Ha!!  Totally fooled us!  That Daddy...  We love his surprises.  The Girlie was a bit confused for a little since we don't usually have Daddy come back that fast!

The whole family got to go to Gymboree today, and then we dined out for lunch.  We decided to try a Greek restaurant that has gotten great reviews.  Wow-- we had not had greek food until today.  It was delicious!  We felt like we were in Crete or something, very authentic.  Our waiter added to the experience with his accent, impeccable recommendations, and Mediterranean sunny disposition.  Makes us want to travel!!  Alas, we forgot to take pictures...

To make up for it, here are some pics of our Thanksgiving in Raleigh:

We had a lovely time :-)

Now it's time for some merrymaking in the form of Christmas cards.  First and only stop-- Shutterfly.com.  We ordered our birth announcement/Christmas card from that site last year, and it looked beautiful.  This time it took a while to decide which design to go with (so many options!), but I've finally got it narrowed down to one.  In the spirit of today-- shhh... it's a surprise :-)

Some Updates

Last week, the Girlie had her 12-month checkup and passed with flying colors.  Reading Rainbow, butterfly in the sky flying colors.  She's that good.  Not that height percentiles mean anything is for sure at this point, but she is on her way to being taller than mommy.  Yay for a future of regular length pants!  Only petite people can truly understand how lucky she is.

Height:   31 inches (95th percentile)
Weight:  22 4/7 lb (70th percentile)

She is stretching out like Gumby!  Where did those chunk-a-chunk arms go??  Actually, they're still there thank God!  And look at those teeth:

She loves to use them, too.  Her favorite food at the moment seems to be dried apricots.  But one day she  might like something, and then the next day she won't let it within a foot of her mouth.  She can sign for "more," so that's been useful.  She is picking up sign language pretty quickly.  We've been doing the "potty" sign for a while now.  A few weeks ago she started getting up on her own from the potty and walking off when she's finished.  It's really comical, and that little tush just makes it even cuter!  

When she wants something she usually points to it.  She loves pointing at doggies and other kids, two of her most favorite things.  She nods her head "yes" or shakes her head "no" to answer a question, or she just toddles off and ignores the question.  You just have to laugh.  She likes to start a game of peek-a-boo by peeking around something and giggling.  She likes to cook, too:

And she is such a great helper!  Besides putting crumbs and paper in the trash, she loves helping empty the clothes from the washer into the dryer.  She gets so into it, literally.  She's not afraid to reach her whole torso in there to pull something out.  What would we do without her!

She even likes to accessorize her outfits.  This ensemble needed something a little more, so she decided to add a scarf and shoelace.  She's gotten it to lay perfectly!

Eat your heart out, Karl Lagerfeld.

PS  We had a lot of fun last weekend at our cousin-to-be's baby shower.  We can't wait to meet him!  We loved talking and playing with our gal pals Nanny, Aunt Annie, and Aunt Chelsie:

And of course our bro Uncle Danny:

XOXO

One Year Home

This time last year we finally brought the Bambina home after an extended stay in the hospital following her birth.  This weekend we celebrated the anniversary of bringing her home with loads of playtime, a relaxing hike, and a visit to the Halloween happenings on the Alexandria waterfront.  

There was so much beautiful fall foliage we kept getting glimpses of, so we found a place to take it all in:

Check out the giant tulip poplar that the Girlie and Daddy found on our hike.  It's nice having a tree expert in residence, even if he insists on quizzing Mommy nonstop.  Do I really have to hear the latin name, too?  

On Sunday we had some downtime in downtown Alexandria.  After a lovely ethnic lunch, we checked out some of the art on display for Dia de los Muertes:

Funky and wonderful!

Then it was time for a stroll:

We topped off the weekend by giving out candy to some trick-or-treaters.  The Girlie welcomed them with open wings (sans headband of course):

Happy Halloweeeeeeeen!!!