Atlanta

Livi and I went to Atlanta last weekend for my brother Nate's wedding. We had such a great time. I rarely get to see Nate so that was lovely and it's always fun to hang out with my parents. Having them on the same flight as us was a LIFE SAVER! Livi was thoroughly entertained by my mom and she loved to sit on Don's lap and open and close the visor on the window. We stayed with Don's sister and that couldn't have been better. They have an awesome new home, Livi and I had our own room and they even had a crib for her! They made us breakfast every morning. My first experience with legit southern grits and eggs. Not too shabby. AND let us borrow their van (with GPS) the whole time we were there. Also, they took us to the airport at 5 in the morning on Sunday. I'm trying to figure out some wonderful gift I can send to thank them.

Thank goodness for grandparents!

Initially, we weren't going to go to the courthouse to see them get married. They just wanted to go by themselves and then celebrate with everyone afterwards. Well, they went that morning to get married and found out that Atlanta only marries people once a week on Friday afternoons at a certain time. They put all of the couples in a court room and they all get married at the same time. Luckily, it was a Friday and they hadn't missed it. So they came back home to eat lunch and picked us up and took us back with them. They first had all of the couples go up and sign the marriage license and then the judge came in and called the couples up one by one and said the, "Do you take...." to each one. They would say, "I do." Then go and sit back down and the next couple went. I missed that part because Livi was finding running around the court room to be much more exciting than sitting in the jury box observing, so we stepped outside. It was a really neat experience actually. There were some interesting people getting married that's for sure.


waiting to sign the papers and for the judge

Making it legit!

Dinner afterwards. Poor Livi was exhausted.

Nate was only a block away from a fabulous antique shop. We went there twice. If I had room to carry stuff back I would have bought this sweet mirror. I also saw a legit retro swimsuit that is exactly what I have been looking for. But I didn't get it because I couldn't try it on and you never know if they will fit.

Leah is so beautiful and sweet. She was so good with Livi, even getting her a little toy car.

Awww. I miss him.

There was a vast selection of alcoholic beverages. They were very considerate though and had apple, peach and pear pseudo champagne for us Mormon folk. It was delicious.

Thank goodness for this chair. It kept her entertained for about 30 minutes. Which at 9 o'clock at night is fabulous.

For those of you that know Nate, you know he is genius. For those that don't. He is a genius. All these books are what greet you when you enter his apartment. The sheer number is impressive to me, but what is even more impressive is that many of them are in foreign languages. And I'm not talking Spanish, that would be too easy. He speaks Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic and can read French and German. He actually teaches Arabic at his university. What!? He is getting his PhD right now and we were told by all of his advisers and professors (who came to the celebration) what a rare student he is. He has only had two A- in all his grad school years (that's a really big deal) and that is a lot of years. Anyway, I guess I'm done bragging for a moment. I really am just SO proud of him.

Just as Livi was beginning to break down another little girl showed up and they played for a minute.

It's always good to come home, but I was really sad I didn't get to spend more time with Nate. The weekend went by far too quickly!

Time Out

I'm afraid that Livi is making her way towards the terrible twos. She is only 16 months but she is definitely getting a little spunky and defiant. She has started to "yell" at me when she doesn't get what she wants. She will stand right in front of me, stare me down and then "yell". That is in parentheses because it isn't really yelling but I don't know how else to describe it. All I know is that it's loud. But her face will start to turn red and the veins in her neck pop out. She has also starting hitting. There are two times when she hits, when she thinks you are wrestling and having fun, or when she is mad because you didn't give her what she wanted or you took something away. I am strongly opposed to the logic that if your kid hits, bites, or pulls hair you do the same to them. What kind of message is that sending? So my pediatrician told me when she acts out that way to hold her arms firmly, look her in the eye and say, "we don't hit, or bite etc" That has actually worked miracles for the pulling hair department. I have also started putting her in time out. It only lasts for about 30 seconds but she doesn't like it.

Today I was babysitting my friends daughter Lucy. They are BFFS and play so well together, being only 2 weeks apart. But today Lucy wouldn't let Livi play with the piano she was using so Livi popped her on the head. I grabbed her arms and firmly said, "no, we don't hit." She looked really upset and then proceeded to the corner and sat there for a few seconds. She put herself in timeout! She walked back over to Lucy and gently patted her on the head to show me that she knows how to be soft. It's amazing how much she knows and how quickly she learns. I'm going to have to be really careful about what I say around her!

Thunderstorms

We had quite the torrential down pour the other day. I happened to be running errands when it started as a light drizzle but by the time we got home it was officially crazy. Just to give you an idea of how bad it was, Livi and I were both under an umbrella and we only had to walk about 10 ft. The wind was blowing so hard that it blew the rain straight into us from the side, paying no heed to the umbrella. Poor Livi didn't know what was going, she kept trying to burrow into my shoulder to escape but everywhere she turned she would get pelted in the face. It was crazy.

Mosquito Bites?

Last week Livi and I were at the playground and the next day I noticed that she had several mosquito bites on her legs. Other than the fact that I could tell they would itch her once in a while I didn't think much of them. They were almost completely gone and then yesterday and today they have all of sudden swelled up into these odd rings. I took her to the Dr today because I had no idea what it could be. He was pretty surprised by them and still isn't sure what they are. He is assuming that it's a delayed secondary reaction to the mosquito bites so he prescribed some steroid cream. If that doesn't work then he is thinking maybe it's ring worm. Crazy. Aside from the irritation they obviously cause her, it's so sweet how she tries to kiss them better.

How Cool Is This!?

My brother Nate is getting married in October in Atlanta. Phil can't go because he has class that weekend so I was not looking forward to flying by myself with Livi. Granted, it is only a two hour flight and it's direct, and she generally does really well on planes. She should be used to them by now. In the past 14 months Livi has gone to Utah, Washington DC, Vegas, Boston, and Utah two more times and now she will be going to Atlanta. I don't think I even stepped foot on a plane until high school, maybe even college. That's what happens when three of your brothers decide to get married, two siblings come home from their missions and of course Christmas.
Regardless of all of the practice we have had over the last several months I still just don't like to fly by myself. It's stressful when you have your carry on, your diaper bag, your checked luggage, a car seat and a stroller. How is one person supposed to manage all of that? Well my mom and I have been talking about tickets and flights for a few weeks now. She bought her tickets last night and realized that she is coming through Houston on her lay over. So I went on Continentals website and booked the same flights as my mom and step dad! Now when they land in Houston for their layover, I will be getting on with them, and when we leave Atlanta we will board together and I will get off in Houston and they will have a layover. Isn't that amazing! I don't have to travel by myself! I was even able to pick seats right by them! I was excited to go before, but now I am even more excited!

Little Miss Livi

Livi had her first experience with a sucker the other day. We were at the post office and the line was of course long, and she was getting restless and wanting to get out of her stroller. When we got to the register the clerk asked if she could have a dum-dum and I thought why not. She LOVED it! She had a perma-grin the whole way home. I asked her if she loved it and she enthusiastically nodded her head.

Livi absolutely hates to have anything in her hair. I try to sneak in a bow or a clip, nothing huge and overwhelming, just something to hold her bangs back or to convice old ladies that she is in fact a girl. However, immediately after putting anything in her hair she pulls it out. The other day I was noticing how long the back of her hair is getting so I thought I would try some pig tails. I put her on my lap and distracted her by handing her her shoes and telling her we were going outside and to put them on. No, she doesn't know how to put shoes on but she will definitely try. The pig tails worked and she looked like such a little girl! But, just as I predicted, they lasted about as long as it took to take this picture. You can tell she is actually on the cusp of ripping out the right side. It was fun while it lasted.

And then we went outside.

Christmas In August

One of Phil's wonderful co workers came to work yesterday with a car full of his kid's toys he was getting rid of. He asked Phil if we wanted any of them, which of course we did, and so now Livi has more toys than she could ever need. I'm going to box half of them up and rotate them around so she thinks she is always getting new toys. Apparently that's what my mom did. When Phil called me on his way home from work and told me he had a car full of toys I thought he was exaggerating. He wasn't. The best part is that now we won't have to buy Livi any toys for a LONG time. Thank you Paul!