Busy weekend!

What a fun weekend it was! Yeah! I love those fun weekends. We had some friends visit, Jen and Chris, who just fell in love with Olivia. They were so good with her, and really seemed to have fun with her. Lulu was definetly flirting with Chris, which I thought Jen handled pretty well. He got the most crinkly nose smiles that I've seen in awhile, but in all fairness, Jen got her fair share as well. On Saturday Jenn T had a picnic for our undergrad Brockport crew. Everyone seemed a bit tired by the unexpected heat, but all in all we had a good time. She made some awesome food, and Jenn and Keith were the "hosts with the most" as they always are! They really know how to make you feel at home. :)
Monday we had the family over and did some planting, along with eating lots of food. We stuck with the all american menu of potato salad, corn on the cob, burgers, caprise salad, apple pie, pineapple summer cake, and lots more. Ralphie was a big help with the planting, which is good since I know nothing about gardening. I wish I had paid more attention when my mom was slaving away in our gardens growing up, but I always had better things to do like talk on the phone, or sunbathe. :) Livy started copying everything we said this weekend, and doing her best to repeat it, such as the phrase, "good girl" was "ga ga." When we said " ca ca" in warning her not to put something in her mouth, she would keep saying it over and over. So cute! She is really really blossoming, and changing daily now. I feel like we're leaving babyhood and heading into toddlerhood. So fun and amazing!
I"m getting nervous about my 2 upcoming interviews. How do I get two interviews in one week? Isn't it funny how life works....you go from zero to two in a matter of 24 hours. Crazy. Wish me luck...I feel out of practice. I better brush up. I'm feeling so sad about leaving lulu....it really is bothering me, but I'm trying to get hired first before worrying. It will be good for her to be with her grandparents a few times a week, but at the same time I'll miss her.
On wednesday Livy's new friend Aiden is coming over for a few hours. His mom has an errand to run so I'll be watching Aiden. His mom Deb is our neighbor, and we decided to trade off here and there for babysitting. He's only a few months older than Livy so it will be great for her to have a playmate now and again.

Oooey Gooey Day

Olivia has started saying more than one word at a time now...well I call them words but sometimes they're just sounds. Her latest combo is " A Gaa." That started yesterday. I swear she wakes up and its all different...all of the sudden shes doing something completely wonderful and different from yesterday. Today we went to the "ooey gooey" playgroup, and many of the Holistic Moms were there. They're all such wonderful and nice women, very comfortable to be around. Olivia was in her sling just watching all the action because she was still a bit young for many of the activities. I think it was more fun for me to be there talking to the moms. The need to be around other moms is intrinsic, and its a need that I have to meet. While grocery shopping a few days ago, I ran into a mom from the "Babies Love Babies" group that I attend. We briefly stopped to chat, and we both wanted to talk about so many things together becuase we have children the same age, but her daughter started crying, and we both looked at each other and I could feel that we both knew it was time to move on. Right now our lives aren't our own, and we're at the beautiful and amazing call of our prescious children. It can feel stiffling at times, like when you want to just have a chat with another mom in Wegmans and you can't because your child needs something from you. You're always trying to be one step ahead of their needs so you can get your shopping done, and so they'll remain peaceful and comfortable. I realize that this journey of raising my children is going to go faster than the speed of light. While right now I'm wishing for 15 minutes to read "People" magazine or have some time to myself, someday I'll have lots of time to myself. Olivia will be grown, and I'll be toodling around thinking about how I wish I could have that time back when she was just a babe. Isn't that scary? To me it is. Right now I'm living the very memories I'll be longing for when I'm old.When I was working with the Elderly I learned that the time with our family is what we reminsicne about most, and they would always say that they would give anything to have it all back. Even now I just wish I could hold Olivia when she was first born. I want to hold her and just really look at her in pure amazement. That was only 7 months ago and already I want that time back again.

Another Olivia note...she tried Avocado today. Missy was here to witness the interesting gags and looks of uncertainty that I was receiving. Then she gave me the wonderful idea of just adding some water, and it worked. It helped thin out the thickness a bit. Missy has been here to witness many of Olivia's accomplishments. She rallied almost daily for her to roll over, and Missy would literally get on the floor and demonstrate over and over how to roll, and she waited so patiently for Olivia to do it. Finally one day she got her sweet rewards, and Olivia rolled for Missy, and then she never stopped rolling, and rolling and rolling. :) Olivia and Missy are definetly buddies. Heres a pic.

As a sidenote, Missy and her husband, Mr. Wayne, have just adopted a 12 year old boy in their community who needed a familiy to call his own. He's an amazing young man, and they are amazing people, who live their life according to God's will and plan for them. Missy you're going to make a wonderful mom to Jordan, and we wish you all the love and support that God has in store for you. Jordan is very blessed to have you as parents, and you're even more blessed to have him as your son. Happy Mommyhood Missy!

Identity theft is awful

My poor friend from high school called last night, and updated me on why she hasn't been in touch lately. Danielle had her identity stolen, and I feel the need to blog this on her behalf. She had a package stolen that was delivered to her apartment, and the package contained most of her personal information. The thieves have her entire life, bank account numbers, and all financial information contained inside this package, as it was a copy of her mortgage paperwork. Yea...thats right...mortgage paperwork...shes closing on her new home like next week. Ugh. The worst part is that the thieves emptied all of her accounts, leaving her no cash at all. I wish Danielle would blog this herself because I'm not doing her story any justice, but basically since the bank cannot prove it WASN'T Danielle who took the money out, shes completely OUT of cash. Lots of cash.....we're talking thousands here. She isn't protected in any way to get her money back. This could happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere, and it isn't due to the internet. You could fill out an application for anything, and it could be on someone's desk since they're working on your file, and someone could come along and steal the app, or make a copy of it, and do what they want with your identity. Danielle's identity is out there, and theives are making money selling it to other thieves, and things could be opened in her name for the rest of her life. This could happen to any of us....it is very very easy to rob our identity at any time. Danielle's story may appear on Dateline in the future.

The best part of the story was when Danielle said that she contacted Social Security to change her number. One would think that this would be a good idea, right? Well SS said that she could change her number, but she when she retires, nothing from her previous work will be calculated...meaning it will be as if she never contributed to Social Security until right now...the last 10 years wouldn't count. Did you know this? There should be legislation against this....we American's should be protected better than this. If we have to change our number due to identity theft, we shouldn't be penalized for it. I'm writing my legislators...and I hope someone introduces a bill to congress to change this. (As a sidenote I just wrote my legislators about an issue with a local sex offender, and several have written me back with updates, and even called me. One congressman wrote me back twice with what he's doing on this issue. So our voice matters, we just don't think it does.)

When I spoke with her last night she told me this horrible story, and how she has worked two jobs over the last few years to save money for her first home. Now she has nothing left, nothing. I just feel awful for her, and am asking everyone to pray for a miracle. She has an attorney who is working on recooping some of her funds, but this is a long and expensive process....attorney's dont fight hard for free. Please keep her in prayer. She was kind enough to email all of her friends and urge them to buy identity theft insurance from State Farm, and sign up with Equifax. Equifax will email you immediately if someone is opening something in your name, and this would help you stop the transaction if you weren't the one who intiated it. State farm will cover you for up to $20,000 in legal fee's...which will be a drop in the bucket if you're fighting multiple companies to protect your identity.

Danielle, you sounded so brave on the phone last night. I admire your courage, strength, stamina, and fortitude to fight this awful situtation. Let us know if Dateline covers your story! We're rooting for you.

Heres a few links that might be helpful for the rest of us.

http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/

www.equifax.com

http://www.idtheftcenter.org/index.shtml
Lisa

Livy Update, 7 months

Mealtimes are becoming quite interesting around here. Livy is ready and willing to try whatever we give her. This week our big introduction was tofo. I pureed it and added it to fruit, and later some veggies. She also tried yogurt this week and ate it right up. I can't really tell if she has a favorite food, but if she doesn't like something then she gags on it and looks at me with a very confused look. She tried some mashed up fresh organic banana's and she really really liked those. She sits all by herself now, and has been for about the passed month. Her vocabulary consists of "Mama" and "Baba." She also has started drinking from a sippy cup, but I certainly wouldn't say we've mastered it. She lets me hold it and she'll drink from it, occasionally grabbing for it. She loves to play "back and forth" games, meaning she'll make a noise and then we copy it back to her...this goes on for awhile. Her favorite is a pathetic fake cough, then I do it, then she does it, and this goes on and on. :) She also has been doing this whole new "crinkly nose" smile, (pictured above)where she smiles at you, then finishes it off with a complete crinkling of her nose. We go crazy over this smile...I have to get it on video! Getting her to belly laugh is more of a challenge...interestingly she will belly laugh when I'm kissing her tummy, but its only because my hair tickeles her face. Jenn (Auntie E) discovered that livy loves to have people's hair tickle her little face, it just makes her laugh and laugh. Go Auntie E!

Rainy day

What a rainy day! Ack. Boring rainy day. However, it ended with the sun coming out so Lulu and I headed out for a walk to the drugstore. While we were there we chatted with the manager, who has a son lulu's age. He spoke of how hard it is to leave him at daycare every morning, and trust his son in the hands of someone else. Which made me think how hard it will soon be for me, when I go back to work, to leave Olivia for the day. I received a call for a job interview today, so now reality has struck that within a few weeks I could be joining the land of the working folk again. I will have to establish a new routine and schedule, and drop Olivia off at my in-laws. We'll have new mountains to climb, new adjustments to make as a family, and new transitions. I'm getting ahead of myself here because I haven't been offered a position yet....but it just made me think. The reality of leaving Olivia in the caring hands of my in-laws will be a change for me. But if it happens, then its God's timing, which is always perfect.

Speaking of changes, my family pet coco isn't doing too well, and may be passing on sometime this week. She has been a loving and devoted Dog to our family, and it is with great sadness that I even write this. She used to meet me at the bustop, and wait joyfully for our afternoon strolls. When I lived at home we used to walk and walk, me and Coco, just talking about life and all its idiosyncracies. :) My high school friends knew coco well, as did my college friends. She was the friendliest dog you could ever hope to know, and she still is. Even Olivia got to meet her, and just adored Coco. She is a beagle/shepherd mix, and has lived 16 wonderful years, 14 of them with us. She spent her early days roaming Ridgeway avenue until someone turned her into the Humane society where we were lucky to have found her. I will miss her dearly. Here she is with Dave and I, on the church steps at our wedding ceremony...we couldn't have passed up the opportunity to be photographed with such an amazing soul. I love you Coco.

Lisa

Happy Thoughts

When I opened my email this morning I found an email from Sharon (my old supervisor from my graduate internship who I still keep in touch with) pleading for my help. She just had surgery and needed a ride out to her doctor in Canandagua. She had a very early appt, which would leave me barely any time to get me and Olivia ready....but I decided that maybe I should consider helping her out. Normally I'm not so flexible, but today I decided that maybe God wants me to start being more flexible. In doing so I dropped her off at her doctor's appt, and was able to drive around and kill some time. My hubby and I had our reception in Canandagau, so I drove by the place, just for fun. Livy was fast asleep as I pulled into the parking lot. I have been back there a few times since my wedding, and always enjoyed going. But there was just something about today. It was really special. I drove up and saw the awning outside, still the same, where we had our receiving line. Then I saw the porch overlooking the lake, where our guests enjoyed their meal, and the gorgeous view of the lake. I thought about all the people who came to wish us well, and traveled in from places near and far. Then I saw the windows of the room that we stayed in, and how we peaked our heads out the morning after to wave goodbye to our family/friends who stayed there with us. I thought about the way my family danced til the end, and had more fun then I seen them have in awhile. I recalled my feelings as we walked down by the docks for pictures, and I remembered how I kept thinking, "Cherish today, its history in the making, and you only get to live your wedding day today. Today is the only day we get to be bride and groom." It was trully a perfect day.

Going there today reminded to celebrate more often the reason's that I married Dave, and why I was so happy on that day. There has always been something special about that place, and it brought back all those feelings of why I chose to have my reception there, and celebrate one of my most beautiful days on Earth. So if you're married, and you haven't been back in awhile, go to that special place and re-live that beautiful day together. My happy morning was a reminder that sometimes when we don't feel like being flexible, we might miss out on what little Miracles God has in store for us. Peace, love, and happy thoughts.

Happy Mothers day to all the wonderful moms out there! Today was my first mothers day with Olivia. She is 7 months old. To say I can't believe where the time has gone is only half true. Although its going fast, I've been blessed to spend these past7 months watching Olivia grow into this amazing little person. For my mothers day gift she chose today to pull herself up into the standing position. Dave and I were there to bear witness to this amazing event. She placed her litttle hands on the side of her crib, and pulled with all of her might. She toppled over right away, and did what lulu does best...she laughed at herself and tried again. Then later in the day she showed off her new trick to her grandma and grandpa Rizzo, and they were in awe. We're all in awe of her, she has changed our lives and added so much more. This little lulu-bean.....some days are long and tiring, but even in my most tired moment she will do one small thing and I'll forget everything except that moment, and cherish it for the rest of my life.

To celebrate Mothers day we went to see a band play at the Lilac Festival, and Olivia got to expierience her first concert, and the Lilac's. She was rather chill during the concert, but afterwards enjoyed sniffing the lilac bushes and of course wanted to feel the lilacs, and she would have eaten them if we hadn't stopped her. Rachel,Ben, and beautiful Hannah were there to share in the fun!