All Vaccinated!

Liv and I drove into Alameda this am for a check up & Liv's second doses of her flu shots.

Cheese BALL!!

So we are both set for the Seasonal & H1N1.

SNOW??!!

So, I'm not sure exactly how unusual this is... but everyone assures me it's very rare.

It only snowed for an hour or two, but seems to have stuck for a while in the higher elevations. (We're at about 1200 ft)

A Quick Update

Hi, all! A brief update from our little corner of the world to yours...

We are happily embracing the Christmas spirit. Putting up some decorations we haven't had space for in years like this beautiful nativity my parents gifted to us.

We are little by little furnishing our new home. We've done most of our shopping on line and the UPS or FedEx truck is stopping by pretty regularly! which is such fun to have new stuff to see for the first time and make it part of our home and daily lives. We have a couple new rugs down, a few new paintings up, a couple new chairs built and doing their thing!

One of my favorites is "Mommy's New Rocking Chair" Liv and I cuddle here before bed with a couple books and some warm milk. It feels great on my pregnant back & I expect it to be my favorite nursing chair when Liv's little sister arrives in mid/late January.

I'm 33 (of 40) weeks along in the pregnancy. Feeling big! I thought I was going to loose it last week when I realized that I'd out-grown at least half of my maternity tops - Holy Crap! I'm really fortunate I don't have to get dressed for a professional atmosphere every day!! But everything is going great. I feel good! I'm not even too fatigued! Baby is active and growing. I have some preparations to do in the Baby-Gear department, but nothing too overwhelming.

Jeff is doing well. He returned Friday from his last travel for the year! I don't think there is another boiler outage scheduled until sometime in February!! Hoo-ray! He has an office at the local plant (about 20 minutes away) and usually goes there to work during the week. As much as I miss having him around all the time, it resolves a lot of the stress that we shared trying to facilitate his productivity with a toddler under foot. He took vacation over the T-giving week and got to get out golfing several days! He's enjoying the challenging courses they have here at Diablo Grande.

Liv is doing well! She's grown into 24 month/2T clothes - even though we still have to roll up the cuffs on some things! I bet she's still right around 25 pounds (although I don't know, for sure). She's seems to be developing very well. Of course, I think she seems very bright and clever - even though she hasn't shown too much of that vicious drive for independence that some toddlers develop... YET! For example, she's not super keen on trying to dress or undress herself - except for occasionally removing her shoes. And she is generally happy to ask for or accept help. I guess I'm ok with that! And while she does often get frustrated, she also is learning to remind herself to "try again." Which makes me very proud!

She's having a blast figuring out how stuff works and relates in the world. She's a good talker! Regularly stringing together sentences of 5 or more words. Playing around with verbs and tenses.

((She and Baby-to-Be share an Amazon wish-list here.))

Here she is observing the bread machine as it stirs the ingredients together!

Liv's New Playground

Liv and I took the stroller down to the new playground in the neighborhood. Unfortunately,  we were the only ones there this morning.

Not that that stopped us from having a great time!!

We rode the cow! Liv solo & then both of us together!

We  must have gone down the slide 2 dozen times!

Big 'Ol Grins - every time!

And counted our way up the stairs (every time). She can recite the numbers 1-10 (almost always in order - lol) . But is still working on assigning the numbers to quantities of things.

We had a great time at the park - lots of fun. And even made the hike back up the hill afterward! :)

Christmas Tree!

Liv is pretty excited about the pretty tree & lights in the living room.
(even if it is artificial)

We put the tree up a few days ago but just today we started putting on the ornaments.

And here's a cute shot (if blurry) of Liv & Daddy video-talking on Skype to Grandma & Grandpa Ruoss.

A Short Hike

It's been a while since Liv and I last got out for a hike...

This morning we got our act together & got out!!

Jeff went out for a round of golf, and he called & said the course was practically empty... so I decided we'd walk down along the cart path and meet up with him for a couple holes.

Look who else was running around the cart path! A road-runner!!

We met up with Jeff and jumped inthe cart with him & tagged along for a couple holes.

Liv likes to drive the "baby car"

Seems satisfied with the parking job.

At the bridge here is where we parted ways. Liv & I hung out on the bridge for a while; Jeff played on!!

She fell asleep about half way home.

Had to post this!

So I have been telling Olivia she can be an astronaut. Of course one of the first things you need is a helmet right???