She's growing up!

My little baby is getting older! Olivia let me put her first ponytail in her hair today. It's not the prettiest job, but I had to do it without a brush or I'm sure it never would have happened. I've got a box full of hair "pretties" (as I call them to her) so I was so excited to be able to get one in her hair finally. My next try will be side ponies, but I'm sure that will be awhile-one style at a time. I'm just lucky she lets me at least put a clip in it.

Olivia has a new cousin!

Congrats to Pat's brother, Bill and his wife Meagan and big sister Lily on the birth of the first Froehlich boy! Callen William was born Friday, February 26th and was 8 lbs 7 oz & 19 inches long. Callen is #12 on the Froehlich side for grandchildren. We haven't seen pictures yet, but will get some posted soon I hope!

Into the make-up

I'm usually up and ready before Olivia wakes up, but this morning she woke up a little too early so I put my make-up on in the living room while she was playing. But, she always likes to grab a make-up brush or tube of something while I do this. I didn't even notice her grabbing my eyeliner and draw all over herself until it was too late....

Happy Valentine's Day

It always takes me a couple days to get things posted, so Happy (late) Valentine's Day to everyone! For the day, we drove over to Mankato and ate at Buffalo Wild Wings with some friends that we've met here in New Ulm.

Here's an oldy but goody...Pat and I on Valentine's Day back in 1995? 96? We are at Pat's apartment where he made me a lasagna dinner.

This and That of the week

Olivia and Pat reading her favorite book-In the Jungle.

Olivia being Olivia-always a dare devil

Here's the latest of Olivia's doing. On Friday I was trying to get her to nap at around noonish. After getting her up a couple times, she finally fell asleep at 4:30, but here's what she did in the meantime-she CHEWED up her crib. Any suggestions for what we can put on it?

Twice a week the rec center has toddler time that we go to. Olivia loves running around here and playing with all the fun equipment. And she's usually ready for a good nap when we get home :)

Monkeying around

Last weekend we were in Mpls for the Super Bowl and a seminar that Pat had all day Saturday. We stayed Friday night at friends Holli and Brad and then Sat at Molly and Andy's. This is Olivia and her cousin Jack-both in their monkey pajamas having fun.

Olivia is 18 months today!

Hard to believe that our little girl is already 18 months. When I just read what she was doing at one years old, just 6 months ago, it seems like she has matured by 3 years. She is really learning quick and doesn't miss a thing. She is our monkey see, monkey do girl. Some of her favorite things are the stairs-she doesn't miss an opportunity to go up or down them with us, and cell phones-she loves them and talks on & on. Pat just updated his blackberry, so she gets to play with the old one and she loves it. Olivia is already into the hair products, lotions, and makeup. She insists that she holds 3 or 4 of my things while she watches me get ready & then she tries to imitate me. Not sure if Dad's ready for that! She also loves her bathtime and brushing her teeth. All you have to do is mention the words and she's running for the bathroom. She even turns the bathwater on and tries to crawl over the tub dressed if you don't get in there fast enough. And speaking of teeth-she has 10 of them now (8 more than at 12 months). She has already bitten 2 little girls here that we just met and it makes me worried. I hope it's not the start of something. For toys, she is getting into her baby dolls more and acts like a cute little mother with them; her building blocks are her favorite-she spends alot of time building things; and she loves books-she's sitting still more and more to be read to. It's my favorite part of the evening! Along with getting a little older, she is starting to have little temper tantrums too-it's hard not to laugh when she gently places herself on the floor, being ever so careful not to hurt herself, and then throws a fit for attention. She still gets along with the dogs, but I'm afraid she probably learns from me too well-she chases them around pointing a finger at them saying "no, no, no". Just today, she has put two words together for the first time and says "no dogs". Just so she doesn't start using other words with it. Other words she says are mommy (and when she's tired, it's nanny), daddy, up, Coco (she won't say Abby anymore), dog, cheese, keys, Jesus, bbrrrr (something she learned since we moved to MN!), and she says no very very well. She also has alot of gibberish words that Pat and I can understand, but not sure if they're quite in the English lang. Sometimes she gets to rattling on and on it's almost like she's talking Chinese. It's so cute-wish we knew what she was thinking half the time!
So that is our Olivia-we thank God every day for her and are blessed to have her in so many ways. She continuously brings a smile to our face.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Happy Birthday Pat! Today we celebrated by going out for lunch at Applebee's and then for dinner I made his favorite-enchiladas. Here Olivia is opening his card for him and Pat is sporting his new coat he got from us.

Olivia's pre- pre- pre- school

Olivia and I attended our first day of "school" yesterday. We are enrolled in a program here called Early Childhood Family Education (through the school system). It's for children from birth to kindergarten. They separate the children according to ages and for an hour we get to do different learning activities, singing, reading, etc. with them. Olivia had a good time-lots of running around & playing. We sat in a circle and sang some songs and we happened to be sitting next to one of the ladies running the program. The short time that Olivia would sit for it, she wanted to sit on the ladies lap! It was cute. For the program they also have them do one specific project each week and they take alot of pictures. At the end of the 9 weeks they put together a scrapbook for you to keep. It'll be a great keepsake through the next few years to build on. Yesterday we did her footprints with paint and she loved it-she wanted her feet to be brushed again with the paint after I got them cleaned up.
We have also gotten involved in a MOPS group, a playgroup, and are going to be going to the gym shortly where they have "open gym" for kids to go run & play 2x a week. Although I am still looking for a job daily, I am loving staying at home and meeting great moms & friends.

Grandma and Grandpa Froehlich Visit

We had visitors last weekend from Grandma and Grandpa Froehlich! We enjoyed having them and showing them around New Ulm. Kathee and I went to a few of the fun shops in town-for the size of it, New Ulm has some great shopping! We went to church Sat night and this time tried out the other Catholic church-St. Mary's. Olivia and Pat saw a whole 10 minutes of it. Olivia didn't have much of a nap and was quite vocal about it. But, there was a statue of Jesus in the hallway and Pat said his name to her once, and she remembered it. One more word to add to her vocabulary! She even said "ouwy" when she saw Jesus's hands. Afterwards, we went out to eat and had some good ole 1919 brewed root beer-brewed right here at the Schell's Brewery. Sunday we had some breakfast and then G & G left-although it was a quick trip, we had a great time!