The many faces of a two yr old

Here Olivia is very excited about reconnecting with her baby walker - that she barely touched back at the time. But now it's a blast to be SO big for it. I got it out to sell on Craig's List and she was immediately interested and wanted me to make it taller.

This is a look we get very often nowdays. I'm asking her to look at me and smile. As her look states, she's bothered by my question and obviously busy drinking her milk through a crazy straw. There is no time for a photo. She's feeling extremely big about drinking through the straw.

Again I'm asking her to let me take her picture after eating a brownie cupcake with green frosting and this is the pose she gives me.
 

Today we went to a nearby church's pumpkin patch to pick out what else...pumpkins. Olivia was super enthusiastic and ran around checking out all of the available pumpkins. Since she was so chatty, talking about Daddy, Momma and baby sized pumpkins everywhere I thought I could surely get a couple of shots with a smile. Not to be. Every time she saw me get the camera out she would run the other way or when I asked for her to smile she would just stick her tongue out. Her Aunt Amy is going to have to tell me how she gets her girls to pose so well. What can you do when dealing with a two year old???

Go Cowboys!!

Are you ready for some football?!?!

Bye bye diapers!!

We are officially done with diapers. Woo-hoo! It was certainly my choice to use cloth diapers and I'm happy we did it, but Rob and I are overjoyed not to deal with the poopies and the never ending washing of the diapers. Olivia seems to have a bladder of steel and can hold it through naptime and all through the night. Her diapers have been dry for the last few weeks and so when I discussed it with our pediatrician at her two yr well check, he said to go for it wearing panties all night. That was a week ago and she's been dry so far. She even noticed and said in a giddy voice, "I'm wearing panties to bed."

ROAR!

Olivia's splashpad birthday party @ Pease park

We celebrated Olivia's 2nd birthday party on Saturday at the splashpad in Pease park. With the extreme Texas heat this summer we decided to have the party from 9:30 am - 11:30 am to keep us all from melting. Instead of cake, we opted for chocolate sprinkle donuts. A chocolate sprinkle donut is pretty much Olivia's favorite treat. We usually have one before we go to play gym on Friday mornings. She and her guests all seemed to enjoy the tasty treats.We had a terrific turnout. Mimi, Aunt Christie and Aunt Kim & Bennett all woke up bright and early to drive down from Dallas. We also had the Benavides, Langhouts, Browers and half of the Borths join in the fun. The kids wore themselves out running around playing in the misters and exploring the playground.

After the party, we came home to open gifts and have some lunch with our family in from Dallas. Then Sheila and Rebecca brought Trent over to play since he couldn't make it to the party because of a soccer game. Olivia had such a wonderful day playing with her family and friends (even with no nap). It's so hard to believe she is 2 years old. As they say, time passes so quickly!

Look who's 2!!!

Miss O was very excited about her birthday cupcake. More to come...

Davis Cup - US vs Spain

This past weekend Austin was the host of the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup tennis matches. The US took on Spain at the Erwin Center. This was such a huge deal for our city to host. All week the USTA held promotional events leading up to the matches so my friend, Bobbi, Olivia and I braved the heat on Tues afternoon and got to see Andy Roddick hit balls to kids. Look how close we were. Mardy Fish and the Bryan Brothers were also there hitting on other courts, but Olivia was partial to Andy. Or maybe it's Mommy. ;-) She had a great time playing with the kid size racquets and tennis balls.Friday the first match was Mardy Fish vs Feliciano Lopez and it was awesome except we lost. Five sets of high level tennis. Our seats were on the very top row of the Erwin Center so we could stand up at anytime which was nice since the match lasted 4 hours. After the loss Andy was up next vs David Ferrer. Our crowd was supportive, but a little deflated after the five setter. But the Spanish Armada was in full force. They had at least 2-3 sections of fans who were extremely animated and having a great time. That theme would continue throughout the weekend. Andy played 2 tough sets that he lost 7-6, 7-5 and the 3rd set was a roll for Ferrer 6-3. The best part of the night was that we moved down to the expensive seats and got to see how the rich watch matches...pretty nice.
Saturday brought a renewed spirit because the Bryan Bros were playing the doubles match. They just won Wimbledon and I believe they are considered the best doubles team ever. So we liked our chances. Turned out we were right and had something to cheer for going into Sunday's match.Sunday's match was packed and the crowd was rocking (including the Spanish fans). We started things off with Mardy vs Ferrer. Tons of pressure on Mardy to win so Roddick could play his match. It was another tremendous match. Mardy had lots of break point chances but the "bulldog" Ferrer kept digging out of them. In the end Ferrer held his nerve better than Fish and the US lost in 4 sets, which meant we lost 3-1 and Spain advances to the semis. We hated to see the Spanish so happy but all of the matches were so incredible to watch live. Austin was fortunate to host this international event and we were so glad to be a part of it. USA 2012!