My Birthday Weekend

I have had a great weekend! On Saturday, Mom and I went to Edinburgh, IN to the outlet mall for some shopping. We didn't get the best deals, but we had a great time together. I've decided that I'm finished with outlet mall shopping. Occasionally I find a decent buy, but for the most part, the sales are no better than what you would find in town. I think next time I get this itch, we will go to Erlanger to the Gap outlet...much shorter drive and better deals. Anyway, once we arrived home, I met Larry out for dinner at Bravo's (his Mom watched the kids). We went there when I was pregnant with Olive, and I wasn't able to eat any salad b/c of the soft cheeses or have any drinks, so I made up for it this time !!

Today was fun too. Mom, Adam and Isabelle came over for Dolphin Day (as Spencer calls it). Of course we lost again...I believe we are 0-7. It's pathetic really. But, we still manage to have fun. We had cheeseburgers from Beef O'Brady's for lunch and then we went to the Homemade Ice Cream & Pie Kitchen to get desserts this afternoon (sort of a family birthday celebration)...except Larry and Olive couldn't come b/c she was napping. Above is a pic of Adam, Bev and I today at the Pie Kitchen. I love this place. It's fairly new in the Springhurst area. It has a juke box and Spencer and Isabelle were dancing around eating their ice cream....so adorable.

I wish Dad could have spent the day with us too, but he was able to call from Korea to wish me a Happy Birthday....it was great to hear from him. So, I'm 35 now...I don't feel any different, but I've been told by some that I am now in my late 30's. No wonder people have mid-life crises. Mom said she would trade me any time....and at some point down the road, I will most likely try to make that deal with Spence or Olive....scary isn't it?

Olive takes a bottle !!

Well, today marks a big day in the life of Olive Raible. She finally decided to put the kibosh on the whole nursing thing. She actually made the decision a week ago, but it took me that long to realize she was serious. But now what? I tried giving her some of my milk in a sippy cup...nothing, she wouldn't go near it. I tried formula in a cup and she would only take a few sips, then spit it out. The doc says she can't start whole milk until she is one. I started to panic last night since it had been a week.

Finally, out of desperation, I made her a bottle of formula before bed. Historically, the child has never taken a bottle. But, low and behold, she drank down 7 ounces like she'd been taking a bottle her whole life. She took another 7 ounces this morning. She loves the stuff.

So that's it, the kid gave it up cold turkey, and... It's a bittersweet ending for me.

The Great Pumpkin!

On Wednesday, Fall finally arrived. We had already planned on heading out to Huber's to get our pumpkins that day, so it was nice to have the cool weather....or so we thought. Once we made it to the pumpkin patch, we realized that it was almost too cold for comfort. We all had on windbreakers, and we were still freezing. Poor Olive was bundled up so, you could hardly even see her face. We didn't stay very long, just enough to ride the tractor out to the patch and let Spencer search for "The Great Pumpkin". If you couldn't tell, he's watched the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown quite a few times this year. To everyone's relief, Spence was very decisive and picked one out immediately. We didn't even wait for the tractor to come back and pick us up, we just walked back.

Since we've had bad experiences the past 3 years we've eaten at the restaurant there, we decided to go to the Spaghetti Factory downtown instead. The food wasn't great, but the atmosphere was nice and we had a good time. Spencer and I especially enjoyed the spumoni. Olive loved the bread and kept trying to dip her pieces in the butter dish. Even Larry, who is currently "Atkin-izing" managed to find something he could eat.

Olive has learned 2 new skills this week: Waving and clapping!! If she hears music, she will start clapping and bouncing (her way of dancing). I will try to catch it on video. Spencer continues to use Olive as his magic show assistant. He puts blankets over her to make her disappear, scoots her around the floor, puts funny hats or his underwear on her head, and balances stuffed animals on her head. She doesn't seem to mind, in fact she loves the attention from him. She thinks he's the greatest. She laughs when he runs around acting silly, she watches and screams in delight when he throws things in the air and does his special jumps from the coffee table to the sofa. And as long as no one gets seriously hurt, I'm OK with it all!

Balancing Act

No school for Spence today, which translates to: No free-time for me this morning. We actually met up with Spencer's friend Tyler and his little brother Ryan at a nearby park. The boys ran around for a while while Olive had a snack, her first nutrigrain bar and she loved it ! Then we had lunch at Chic-fil-A. Spence had fun and I was able to hang out with Tyler's mom, Amy. Here is a pic of my munchkins.

It's funny, the social conversations you have now versus before you had kids. Now, Everything somehow works its way back to the kids. Every topic manages to relate to them. It's true that having children changes your life, but you don't even realize the magnitude most of the time because you are so caught up in being a mom. A wise woman once told me that you lose much of yourself to your children, and it's so true. So how does one find themselves again, or is it a lost cause? I guess you can never find that old self, it doesn't exist anymore. Don't misunderstand me, I love my kids, I'm just wondering, seeking some sort of balance. I know my friends who are mothers reading this have to agree with me. Although, they may have other outlets where they "get away", maybe this is something I should consider. A trip to Tahiti would be nice...but not in the cards anytime soon unfortunately.

I'm attaching a video of Olive from this afternoon. She was feeding her cookies to Bob...her new best friend.