Parent teacher conferances

We are so, so, so very proud of Miss Cecelia! She has had quite a few adjustments this year...new baby, new school and soon to be a new house, and she has handled everything so very well. She absolutely loves her second grade teacher and so do we. She's one of those people that you can sense has a good heart and absolutely loves what she does and I'm so thankful that Cecelia got her as a teacher. Cece's teacher did not have enough good things to say about her. She is doing excellent academically. She is reading at a 5th grade level! Seriously? Seriously! And she is one of the only kids in her class who will be learning multiplication at some point this year. Basically, if she keeps on the same track that she is on now, next year she would most likely be recommended for the "gifted and high achievers" program. Which would be amazing because it offers these kids so many extra classes to choose from based on their interests. I'm so happy when I think about what an amazing big girl and big sister she is becoming that it brings tears to my eyes. I love you baby girl soooooo much! I'm so proud to be your mom!

Oh, and since when did Halloween costumes cost $37? Cecelia wanted to be a bumble bee for Halloween this year...she couldn't just settle for any old costume from Wal-Mart or Target or even Nobbies for that matter (granted Nobbies didn't her size). I have to admit it is a pretty cute costume. She still will need a black short sleeve t-shirt and a pair of black leggings, and she really wants one of those pin on stingers to pin on her bum. She is going to look adorable. Stanley got his costume too. He is going to be a turtle. Oh how he enjoys dressing up every year (insert sarcasim) LOL. He probably really despises us. And of course, Olivia is going to be an Angel. Very fitting for her because she is such a good little girl. I do want to find her some kind of Halo or something to wear on her head.

Vala's pumpkin patch next Tuesday (Aaron's day off). So excited to go again this year. It is our family tradition. Turkey legs are so good!

Olivia had her 8 week checkup yesterday. She is now 11.4 lbs. Which puts her in the 61st percentile for weight! She is also now 23 inches long. Growing like a weed:) She is such a good baby! The other night while I worked, Olivia slept 6 1/2 hours straight for Aaron! She usually on sleeps 3-4 hours for me so maybe this is a new trend. But she has also started doing this reverse feeding schedule I have heard some babies do. She eats minimally when I am gone and then makes up for it when I get home. So for me this means I work at night and her and her dad get great sleep. Then when I get home she nurses and cuddles/sleeps with me all morning long when I'm trying to sleep, luckily I can sleep through her nursing. I miss her terribly when I'm at work so I love hopping in the shower when I get home and then hopping in bed to snuggle.

We found Cecelia's 1st Halloween costume (an Angel) and thought it would be so precious for Olivia to use it for her 1st Halloween. Then hopefully save it and let the next baby use it. Meanwhile Cecelia is unsure of what she wants to dress up as. We are planning on going to find her a costume on Saturday. She was thinking of being a little devil...I think she just wants to play with the little red pitchfork that comes with the costume:)

The house is coming along great! It's almost completely finished on the outside...it still needs grass and our back deck needs to be built still. Cabinets and counters are scheduled for the 16th and carpets are scheduled for the 24th. Carpet is obviously scheduled to be installed last since they don't want contractors walking allover your new carpet. Our closing is scheduled for Friday the 4th. I will have 5 days to move and put our house together so I'm anticipating a very exhausted week. But Aaron took off work and then has his regularly scheduled days off so I will be putting him to work as well.

Did I mention that Cecelia and Aaron went to the Vikings vs. Chiefs game in KC? They had a blast and I wish I would have went but I thought it was better to stay at home with Miss Olivia pumkin. Aaron has totally turned Cece into a Vikings, and football in general fan...not my cup of tea:)

Well, I'm exhausted...I miss sleep. I was sooo spoiled before. Aaron always took Cecelia to school in the mornings since he would go work out afterwards, so before Olivia, I could sleep in all week long until I was rested. Albeit I was pregnant and needed my rest but most nights I was getting 10+ hours of sleep. Now I'm getting sleep but it's choppy:( Oh well, it's a season of life and I'm going to miss these days when they are gone. Kids grow up way too fast!

Olivia is the cutest little bug:) She is talking and cooing a ton these days. Probably about 2 weeks ago we started to be able to get her to smile on command. Of course, Aaron can get a smile out of her easier than I can...little girls love their daddy's SO much!!! She is sitting in her bumbo chair about once a day and actually like it. I think she likes the new views from sitting up straight. She still continues to be a happy spitter...although at times, I would call what she does projectile vomiting. But, it doesn't seem to bother her at all. And if it doesn't bother them, Doctors don't want to give them anything for it. I did read that you can start adding rice cereal to their milk to thicken it up a little in hopes of getting less spit up. I'm going to ask the doctor about this, but I'm hesitant to do it because I don't want her to get filled up with basically nutrition less rice cereal and then take breast milk less. I went back to work:( There were a few tears but I'm doing fine now. Liv did great for Aaron, only waking up once during the night. And then the next day, she just wanted to sleep with me and nurse all day...I'll take cuddle time ANY time. I love my life. My kids are amazing, my husband is wonderful. God has truly blessed us.

This week Liv found her hands! Yay, this is part of her learning to self soothe...which will eventually mean a full nights sleep for me (hopefully). She also is taking her binkie more than before too. She also rolled over!!! The first time it happened I laid her down on a blanket naked...for a little tummy time, while I went to the kitchen to prep her tub for her bath. I walked back in the living room and she was off the blanket and on her back. Cecelia didn't do it because she was at the kitchen counter working on homework. I was shocked, so of course I wanted to see if she could do it again. So, I laid her on her stomach again. Although she wouldn't roll again for me on command, I could see how she did it. She got her legs so far up and then gravity did the rest and she just rolled. So, because it was gravity primarily, I wasn't going to count it as her first roll. But then, today she was laying on her back and sure enough, 2 minutes later when I looked over again she was on her stomach. This is astonishing to me that a 7 week old baby can already roll over.

Olivia is 6 weeks!

Maternity leave has flown by:( This is my last week before I return to work. I'm so sad to be leaving my family, even if it is just 3 overnights a week. Olivia is getting so big! She has her two month checkup next week and I can't wait to see how much weight she has gained. I'm not excited for her to get her immunizations but of course it's a necessary discomfort.
The house is coming along nicely. Hopefully this week they will be siding the house. It's amazing how quickly they can build at hearthstone! We are all so excited to move and I've been able to utilize maternity leave to get quite a bit of packing and deep cleaning done. I'm hoping to get a few more boxes done this week.
I got a second job. It's just very part time, maybe one weekend a month. I have a girlfriend who works for a home health care agency and has been telling me to come and apply for months now. They gave me what I asked for in terms of salary right off the bat and it's really easy work...dressing changes and drawing labs, and IV infusions, primarily.
Rachels wedding was 2 weeks ago and was beautiful! Cecelia was the prettiest flower girl ever!
Cecelia ajoined Girls scouts and loves it. They only meet every other week at the school so it's easy to fit in to our schedule. She continues to improve at gymanstics! I was so impressed with her back bend walk over the other day. She is getting so big and she is soooo good with Olivia. She is a great big sister and such a good helper to me. Never complaining when I ask her to help me with something...and since I'm breastfeeding I need more help sometimes since my hands are tied at times. We haven't been back to church since before the baby was born and Cecelia has been begging to go but every weekend we accidentally over sleep or baby is nursing and we run late and havent' been able to make it, until today. We were both so happy to go to church today.
Aaron's birthday is next weekend. He is turning 29! Old man:) We are having his family over for his favorite meal. A chicken dish, sweet potatoes, fresh green beans and better than sex cake. Then the following weekend, Aaron and Cece (along with a bunch of Aaron's family) are going down to Kansas City for the weekend for the Vikings game. I was originally planning on going...this was before the baby was born that I agreed. However, now that she is here and nursing is going so good, I hate to leave her. So, I gave my ticket to Cecelia and she is so excited to go to an NFL game with her Dad! Were now on the hunt for a Vikings T-shirt for her.
Life is good in the Culver house! We are so truly blessed!

2011 AirShow

Aaron had to work and Cecelia REALLY wanted to go to the airshow so I recruited two of my best friends; Karissa and Summer (and Summer's son, Chas) to join us at the airshow. We only stayed 2 hours but the kids loved it! Cecelia got to rock climb, she made it all the way to the top...I wouldn't expect any less from my monkey. They also had a bull that the kids could ride. Cecelia didn't want to at first, but we talked her into trying it and she loved it. She held on for dear life for about a minute and a half and then when the going got rough, she jumped ship! Everyone in line was laughing hysterically. She is so entertaining. I love her:)

Baby Olivia is 1 Month old!!!

She is such a good baby! I couldn't ask for a better baby. She is calm and relaxed. She only cries when she is hungry. She knows that night time is for sleeping and just wakes up to nurse and is back asleep shortly after. She is growing so much! She is really filling out. I love it!!! She is spitting up more than ever. Apparently, this spitting up peaks at around 6 weeks and then tapers from there. So were hoping that soon this will start to decline. I'm enjoying maternity leave and am ambivilant about going back to work. I will be happy to have a full paycheck again, but I'm going to miss my pumpkin when I'm working:(