eighteen months

my baby girl is a year and a half! waahhhhh! time is flying by. she’s losing her baby status and it is giving me anxiety! i look at her baby photos and i desperately want to cling onto those precious moments. but as they say, let your babies prosper and grow. hmph, i’ll hold onto her forever!

via tandeminlove.com

{photo taken on 5.28}

weight: 23 lbs 16 oz.

height: 33 inches

there are so many things miss olive is doing now. she surprises me everyday and i love, love watching her personality grow and her communication foster. she loves to repeat almost everything. so, that is now where hc and i need to watch what we say around her! i love teaching her words. it delights me when she correctly repeats what i say!

another adorable moment? one day, i was sitting in bed with her. she had just nursed and we were laying around. i sneezed and out of nowhere, while she was playing with her toys, she casually says, “bess gou”. i just about died. bless you?! she just said bless you?! i die. my heart almost exploded!!!! it, so far, has been the cutest moment to experience!

when i reprimand olive or she knows i am upset with her, she does this thing where she hyperventilates! yup. she looks right at me with sad puppy dog eyes and starts gasping for air. oh my goodness. she gets me every time. such a smarty pants. i can’t stay mad or upset with her! i give in and give her a hug or a back rub and start apologizing. yup, i am a sucker. she’s got me.

she loves to snuggle. period. need i say more?? she’s a snuggler, cuddler, and the best buddy to lay around with.

olive is still nursing. yes. who knew it would go on as long as it has?! we are throughly enjoying it. i keep telling myself that i am going to stop but every month, it’s the same story. i keep thinking it’s going to be next month, and then next month rolls by and i am still nursing! we are both happy and happy to be doing it so if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. but seriously, i think next month will it! harharhar.

she does say a few vietnamese words! she says water, eat, oh no, dad…just a few. my parents love teaching her! it’s too cute. who knows? we will see how many more words she will learn and understand!

she’s obsessed with shoes. she has learned how to put on her shoes! she mostly gets the shoe on the wrong foot but of late, she’s nailing it. she’s putting the right shoe on the right foot. i get super proud and excited when she puts both shoes on the right foot! i let her know that every time she gets them on. what a fast learner!

another cute, cute thing?! the last few weeks, olive has learned how to say hug! i completely melted when i was sitting around one day and olive walked up to me and said, “hug?!”. wow. my heart did cartwheels. she proceeded to put her arms around me and squeezed me and patted my back. what a freakin’ doll!!!!!

olive’s eating habits have completely changed. natch. she used to be a trooper {eating everything given to her} but then she had to go and form an opinion! well, overall she is still a pretty open and good eater but it comes down to when she’s interested and not distracted {e.g. playing is usually the culprit}. we do our best to always eat with her or when she does eat, she eats with somebody {whether it’s grace or other kids}. another thing she is crazy about? spicy. this baby girl loves hot, spicy foods!! she craves it. she loves noshing on it. kung pao, spicy chips, peppery flavors, you name it, she will consume it! eeekkkkkk.

she is still an amazing sleeper. we have been so blessed with this. i can only imagine that our next child will be a terror with her sleeping habits!! yikes! olive sleeps through the night and hardly ever wakes up. she will, once in a blue moon, cry out at night where i just have to rub her back and tell her to go back to sleep and she always does. what a sweetie.

well, there ya go lovies. olive in all her glory at eighteen months! she is sooo wonderful, sweet, and loving. we love you so much and can’t wait to see your progress at your next big milestone…two years! oh my! {well, we might sneak in another update from now until then 😉 }

xoxo

sun, brunch, and ice cream

 i was hoping to see my friend andrea again, while she is on her maternity leave, and we were able to make it happen. i’m so glad we did because this lady {who is a traveling fool} was jetting out {again} and wasn’t going to be home for the rest of her leave!

olive and i started the day with her wellness check up. it’s so cute, just so cute. everything about her. i love her. she is the most precious thing on earth. my heart just melts looking at her. she gets so scared by strangers and clings to me…and i just melt over her cuteness. i love being her momma and i love protecting her.

she did just fine this time…every visit gets better and better as she becomes more aware, wiser, and knowledgeable. she got the thumbs up from her wonderful doctor and we went on our merry way to andrea’s house.

via tandeminlove.com

[my sweet baby girl]

via tandeminlove.com

[my heart melts for her]

it was such a beautiful, perfect day. i was super excited to hang out with andrea and annabelle. after we arrived at andrea’s, we set out to walk the neighborhood and find a place to eat. i love wicker park…it’s such an eclectic, artsy area.

we decided to eat at milk and honey on division. we nabbed a seat outside and enjoyed our delicious meal. the avocado and smoked gouda sandwich was ah-maze. after we finished eating, olive wanted to be out of her highchair, so i let her roam around the table. she is always so good about staying close, it amazes me that she does that {so far…}.

after brunch, we did some more walking. we headed towards the actual wicker park to hang out. as we cruised there on this beautiful sunny day, i soaked in all the city goodness. i love the craziness, the people, the scenery, the energy of it.

via tandeminlove.com

[olive checking out miss annabelle]

via tandeminlove.com

[the beautiful baby girl]

via tandeminlove.com

[mmmmm….juice]

via tandeminlove.com

[such a sassy lady, ootd: shirt by shop childish, shoes by target]

via tandeminlove.com

[no selfie shtick]

via tandeminlove.com

[this avocado and smoke gouda sandwich was deeeeeeelicious]

via tandeminlove.com

[her interest in annabelle peaked and waned]

when we arrived at the park, we found a spot where i could nurse olive. i figured she would be so distracted that she wouldn’t nurse that long and i was right. she ate for a bit but then she wanted to explore her unfamiliar surroundings.

as we walked towards the playground, olive was tagging behind us {and the park was not crowded}. she was, maybe, 15-20 feet away from me {with my eyes on her the entire time, constantly calling for her} when this women on a bench yelled out “she’s too far away from you!”. ummmmm, ‘scuse me?!!! i proceeded to yell back at the women. she said it again and i said, “too far away?! too far away for you. i’m her mom and you have no right to tell me what to do or how to watch my child! how ’bout you MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS?!!!!”. well, i was seeing red and i’m sure what i said came out something like that! as i retorted to this nosey women, another passerby chuckled at our exchange of words. by that time, olive was standing by my side and we moseyed along to the park without a flinch. hahahaha.

via tandeminlove.com

[she looooooves the swing]

via tandeminlove.com

[and the slide]

via tandeminlove.com

[and the tunnel]

via tandeminlove.com

[and the stairs]

via tandeminlove.com

as we were leaving the park, andrea suggested that we stop for ice cream. yay! hooray for ice cream! duh…i can never say no to ice cream! they had just opened up a jeni’s on milwaukee, so it was the perfect pit stop. olive was too stinkin’ cute drinking her root beer float. i ordered myself some sorbets and we were happy campers noshing on our afternoon treats.

via tandeminlove.com

[at jeni’s splendid ice creams]

via tandeminlove.com

[intense root beer float drinking]

via tandeminlove.com

after delicious brunch, a play in the park, and a sweet stop for ice cream, i’d say it was the most perfect, sunny afternoon! i had such a great time with andrea and annabelle. it was so gorgeous out {great weather is the best!} and we had the most wonderful time walking around. we love you andrea and annabelle! muwah!

xoxo

april snapshots

oops, i totally forgot to post my april snapshots. i mean, like i never even bothered. i didn’t remember. i never realized it until about a few days ago, so i thought, eff it, i’m going to post one anyways. only because i love to keep order and document everything!

it’s so funny to type about easter and such, because it feels like it was soooo long ago! my how time flies by. it was a fun month of trips, holidays, and get togethers. a few of april’s highlights were our trip to antique archaeology, visiting andrea and jamie to see their newborn baby girl, easter, and hc’s birthday!

we also hit the first anniversary of buying our house! what a milestone for us. it’s been an amazing journey buying & living in this house. it’s had it’s ups and downs {the remodeling drives me bananas!} but in the end…it is our home and there’s nothing better than home sweet home.

anyhoo, april was a busy busy month for me and olive. we had non-stop activities, lots of photo sessions, and plenty of play time together {hello pto!}. i love spending my time with this sweet baby girl. well…here’s our april in rewind!

via tandeminlove.com

[it’s blurry but i love this pic!]

via tandeminlove.com

[bubbly bath time]

via tandeminlove.com

[sipping water and watching the telly with dada in our hotel room]

via tandeminlove.com

[her easter basket]

via tandeminlove.com

[little chunker watching her favorite movie]

via tandeminlove.com

via tandeminlove.com

[in-between her photo sessions]

via tandeminlove.com

[our beastly, only pretty in spring, bush]

via tandeminlove.com

[i love this little bugger face]

via tandeminlove.com

[baby annabelle grace]

via tandeminlove.com

[visiting our favorite antique shop]

via tandeminlove.com

[one of my favorite pics of late]

via tandeminlove.com

[she makes my heart melt]

via tandeminlove.com

[lunching with dada]

via tandeminlove.com

via tandeminlove.com

[hc’s birthday]

via tandeminlove.com

[opening up her easter baskets]

via tandeminlove.com

[nom nom nom…strawberries]

via tandeminlove.com

[black and white theme]

via tandeminlove.com

well there, my april snapshots are done. haha…now it’s time to post our may snapshots! i swear, i won’t post it in july! or maybeeeeee. april was a great, fun month full of lovely activities.

xoxo

happy doughnut day!

it’s national doughnut day! yay!

yesssss, we love doughnuts. so, this is also a flashback friday because i’m going to reminisce about our trip to nyc. on one of the days that we were there, i really wanted to go to the doughnut plant.

while we were in nyc, we literally walked everywhere. it was the best exercise and so refreshing to absorb the city that way. we were quite fortunate that the weather was so agreeable. every day, it was in the 70’s, sunny and perfect.

i was super excited to have an anniversary breakfast at this yummy doughnut shop. we arrived and it was doughnut overload! the decor was fun and crazy and i couldn’t stop drooling over the menu. we selected some yummy combos of doughnut flavors, got coffee, and juice and we were set.

i love visiting new places. it’s always so exciting, novel, and fun. soaking in the experience is everything and doing it with your best friend just tops it all off. traveling for your holidays is just awesome and we definitely don’t do it enough.

via tandeminlove.com

[super ecstatic to be at the doughnut plant]

via tandeminlove.com

via tandeminlove.com

[my sweet hubby]

i’m excited that it’s national doughnut day! doughnuts are seriously the best combination of goodness. it’s breakfast, it’s dessert, it’s a meal, it’s sugary sweetness all rolled into one. my favorite doughnut is simple: glazed. but i don’t deny many, i wouldn’t say any because i don’t care for creme filled ones. i’ll eat ’em but like i said, it’s not my favorite. it’s rare for me to find a creme filled one that’s done well…most of the time, the filling is not yummy!

anyhoo, happy doughnut day everyone! i hope y’all have a doughnut or two or three. eekkkk, i started early…i had a few doughnuts last night. Eeeepppp!

xoxo

fun, rainy day

my day started off kind of crappy. yes, yes it did. olive had regressed a bit in her sleeping patterns. i totally blame the molars. i greatly dislike you molars, with a passion. she’s been getting up at night (usually just once) and having terrible, terrible cries. or she’s waking up much earlier than she typically would.

so, this past morning, it was an early wake up call of 5:45am. now this is quite early compared to her usual 8am wake up. we did our usual lay around in bed after she nursed and slowly got ourselves ready for the day.

on the agenda? eating breakfast somewhere yummy. it was a gloomy day but we were going to make it a great day! we packed up and went to egg harbor cafe in downtown downers. we had a nice corner table and ordered up some good stuff to eat.

olive was completely entertained with the crayons and her coloring sheet. she’s such a funny, neat gal {like her mama!}, after she was done using the crayons, she actually put them all back into the jar from where she grabbed them. haha! i wonder who she learned that from?!

after we ate and snapped a few fun photos, we decided to head home and chillax on this rainy day of ours. it was definitely low key and needed. sometimes our days can be such a whirlwind and it’s nice to just do nothing. well, {hehehe} grace and rich do nothing, i’m usually running around doing something! ha!

via tandeminlove.com

[a very cold and rainy day]

via tandeminlove.com

[she loved that the crayons were inside this mini mason jar]

via tandeminlove.com

[ready to get her draw-on]

via tandeminlove.com

[she loves juice…i actually limit her juice intake, i’d rather her have fresh fruit!]

via tandeminlove.com

[hc and grace]

oh baby olive

[she was sooooo neat. after she used the crayons, she would place them back into the jar]

via tandeminlove.com

[i ordered the lobster omelet…it could have used less cheese.]

via tandeminlove.com

[lil’ buddha belly // shirt by lemonteeshop, leggings by littlemisshaven, headband by littlekutiesboutique]

via tandeminlove.com

via tandeminlove.com

anyhoo, and that is what i call a fun rainy day! albeit it was cold and wet but we, for sure, had a swell time hanging out together as a family!

xoxo

memorial day fun

i am, obvs, a bit behind on my blog posts and a bit out of order…oh well! life can get so busy, hectic, and time is so darn precious! but nevertheless, it’s always better late than never!

so, we were double booked on this beautiful, glorious day. we could’t have asked for better weather…it was sunshiny, warm, and the most perfect temperature. hc was chomping at the bit to drive the jeep. how could i say no? everything was in alignment to do so.
we were headed to marina and corey’s house for their going away party. yes, sad but true, they’re moving to boston. i’m so excited for their new adventure but super bummed they won’t be around town anymore.

we were the first guests to arrive. we wanted to get there as soon as we could because we had plans with hc’s parents as well! as soon as we pulled up, the boys were in awe over hc’s jeep! i told them that they could jump inside and they were all so excited!

we walked up and said our hello’s to marina, corey, and her parents – muma and poopie. i love them. i’ve known marina since 7/8th grade and pretty much have known her parents since then too. they are such good, sweet people. i could hang out with them all day!

via tandeminlove.com

[i love how i caught hc in the reflection of my sunglasses!]

via tandeminlove.com

[ready to party!]

via tandeminlove.com

[the kids were soooo excited to see hc’s jeep pulled up…they all jumped inside!]

via tandeminlove.com

[such a cute picture with tilly, that is dana in the background…she was so sweet with olive]

via tandeminlove.com

[me with the mrs. that is moving away…wahhhhh]

via tandeminlove.com

[i love these two…they are the sweetest]

slowly but surely, more guests started to arrive. we mingled, nibbled on random apps, and imbibed refreshing beverages. i couldn’t wait to meet miss amelie! i had not had the chance to meet the little beauty. oh, she’s sooooo sweet. such a little princess, just beautiful! of course i only had her in my arms for just a few minutes…miss olive found me and started to throw a little fit. she does not like babies in my arms! boo…i only had a few minutes with the babe but it definitely was wonderful for the few short moments!

via tandeminlove.com

[me and the beautiful amelie…she’s soooo precious]

via tandeminlove.com

[rich loving ben]

via tandeminlove.com

[the two cutest peeps]

via tandeminlove.com

after a few hours of hanging out, we had to go. we were super bummed…let me tell ya, we could have hung out there for the whole day. it was so great seeing everyone {love them all!} but alas, we had to get to our next engagement!

***

we cruised back home, switched out our cars, and jetted on up north to hc’s parent’s house {right off the river} to continue our memorial weekend fun. when we arrived, his parent’s were out on the boat so we put olive in the swing and she was a happy camper. that girl just loves the swing!

as soon as they came back, aunt wendy started grilling. we all hung out on the patio while the food was being cooked. olive was definitely having a fabulous time {she was super giddy to see her sister grace!}, she was at gramma and papa’s house, they love to spoil her by letting her do whatever she wants and feeding her lots of sugar!

via tandeminlove.com

[olive loving the swing]

via tandeminlove.com

via tandeminlove.com

[red white and blue]

via tandeminlove.com

[the fox river]

via tandeminlove.com

[pretzel sticks and yoohoo…so healthy!]

via tandeminlove.com

[missy, aunt wendy, and hc]

after we ate and had our desserts, we all just kind of chilled. olive was a hot mess. she was sweaty, sticky, and dirty…yuck! we gave her a quick bath there before we went home. baby girl was not going home like that!

it was such a fantastic day with everyone. we had the best time hanging out with our friends earlier and had so much fun hanging out with the fam later on in the evening. it was a perfect day…weather, people, and fun all rolled into one lovely time.

xoxo