Livi

Livi has turned into quite the little lady with quite the vocabulary and I want to write down some of the funny things she has said and does the last few weeks.

In order to teach Livi to look both ways when she crosses the street, Phil always tells her, "if you don't look both ways you might get hit by a car. If you get hit by a car you will have to go to the hospital for a long time, or you could get really hurt and you would have to go and live with Jesus in heaven."  Too much? Maybe. It does the trick, but I'm thinking it's sending the wrong message...  The other day while I was making dinner Livi was playing by me and singing to herself.  She started singing, "Nobody likes Jesus."  Suppressing my laughter, I asked her why she said that.  She got a really sad/upset face and said, "because I don't want to go and live with him, I want to stay here with you and daddy!"

We were checking out at the grocery store, after the cashier handed me the receipt Livi in the sweetest, most polite voice asked the cashier, "May I have a pair of stickers, please?"

Driving home from the park, after we had ridden some paddle boats and Livi's skirt was a little wet, Phil asked Livi if she would rather go home and change her skirt or go to Costco and get an ice cream cone.  She thought for a second and then said, "I would prefer to go home and change and then go to Costco and get ice cream."

We are big proponents of "Parenting With Love and Logic."  Giving your child choices and letting them decide.  Livi has quickly picked up on this and tried to negotiate with us.  Sometimes after I give her her choices, she'll shake her head and say, "here's my deal.." and proceed to give me what she thinks are the better options.

She loves letters and the alphabet and is constantly writing her name and asking me how to spell things, or what words begin with some letter.  She will write out a bunch of random letters and ask me what they say.

She is SO excited for her birthday in a few weeks.  Every day she asks for something new and says, "can I get that for my birthday!!"  Today alone, she asked for hair clips, hair bands, bracelets, nail polish, a bean bag, and a tractor (a real one).  I just keep saying, "we'll see!"

She is SO helpful with Jack and is so good with him. I love watching them play together.  They run around and chase each other, laughing hysterically.  She helps him do puzzles and she helps him hammer his shapes into their holes, and cheers him on when he does it.  She is still obsessed with his hair, and it never fails that she has to rub his head before every nap and before he goes to bed.

Livi is such a joy to be around, you can't help but smile when you're with her!

Triathlon

Phil completed his second triathlon this Saturday!  We drove up to The Woodlands at 5:30 in the morning, dropped Phil off to check in his bike, then the kids and I went and picked up some donuts and chocolate milk. We met back up with Phil at the park just before his heat got in the water. Walking around watching all of the people get ready, I got the exact same feeling I would get before a track meet.  The butterflies in your stomach, hoping that it would just hurry and start so you could stop thinking about it already! This was the triathlon that I had signed up for but withdrew when I found out I was pregnant.  When Phil went and picked up his packet he said mine was still there.  I guess I could have still done it, but since they had already reimbursed me I didn't want to push it.  Plus I really didn't want to do it. But I will do one someday!!

Phil did such an amazing job.  It was so hot and felt like the humidity was beyond 100%.  I don't know how he didn't pass out. He completed the race in 1 hour 32 minutes, finishing 12th out of 60 plus people.  Before the race people were going around handing out little cow bells.  Livi and Jack had a blast ringing those things. After the race Phil went straight down to the tent for a free massage. Then he and his friend Doug headed over to the tent with food and loaded up on breakfast burritos, muffins and fruit.  They had a live band playing and it was a really cool atmosphere. I couldn't believe how many of the athletes were drinking hot coffee afterwards.  I was sweating just watching them.
I don't know what it is about these things, but every time I watch him compete my love for Phil grows exponentially. I'm just so proud of him!

The Big 3-0!

My 30th birthday was last Tuesday. I can't believe how old I used to think 30 was and how, in many ways, I still feel the same as I did when I turned 20!  It was a fabulous day filled with many wonderful surprises.  The first surprise came when I woke up and Phil told me he had taken the day off of work and was taking me shopping!  We went to the Houston Premium Outlets and he watched the kids and played with them for a whole 3 hours while I shopped till I dropped.  I know how exhausting that is. He then surprised me with dinner  and cake and ice cream with several friends at our friend's house.  I couldn't believe he had talked to my friends and worked it all out without me knowing! I definitely underestimated his sneakiness.
The night before my birthday I asked him what we were doing and he totally played it cool, telling me he had a meeting until 4 and then he would come home and do whatever I wanted.  So I was basically preparing myself for a let down.  I'm happy to say it was anything but a let down.