So, I promised that I would blog about John's gift to me for Mother's Day. Well, John and I are pleased to announce that we are in ESCROW on a house! John didn't actually buy it for me for Mother's Day, but he did get me a gift card from Lowe's that said "The Gift of Home" and he said it is the gift of "OUR" home. It was sweet. With little Olivia mobile, we have pretty quickly outgrown our little condo and are excited to have more room to spread out and a GUEST room! We expect visitors! More details to come!

My First Mother’s Day!

My first Mother's Day (with Olivia on the outside) was great! Unfortunately, John left for a conferece in Seattle so he was unable to be here. But we had a great weekend anyway! My mom, sister and niece came down from LA to celebrate with Olivia and I! We hung out on Saturday and on Sunday met up with my brother and Kylee for lunch and a bay cruise on Mission Bay! It was a really nice Mother's day. Olivia did great even though the cruise kept her from her afternoon nap… she got a little fussy so Kylee, Ryan and I went down one level to let her crawl and play. She met another little girl (2 years old) and made fast friends. The little girl waved at Olivia and Olivia waved right back. The girl crawled over closer to Olivia and Olivia crawled right up to her. The little girl flopped down and rolled around and so did Olivia. Then Olivia promptly SAT up and LIFTED UP her shirt! We were cracking up and then, the little girl stood up and LIFTED UP HER DRESS! We were laughing so hard. Leave it to MY daughter to teach someone else to "flash" in public! What a great mommy/daughter day… and time with my family. It was fun!

More to come in the next few weeks on what John "bought" me for Mother's Day!

Here is a picture of my family waiting for the boat:

This time with Kylee!

Mom and Olivia enjoying the cruise, I love this one!

 
  Crawling around and having fun!

With our new friend…

Rolling around! (And she didn't even have mimosas like I did at lunch!

   
 
All my "pre-mommy" thoughts of my beautifully dressed daughter in white not with a spec of dirt on her have clearly gone out the window! 

Clowning around with Uncle Ryan! She really loves getting tickled and "chased". Since we live close to Ryan and Kylee she warms up quickly and wants them to hold her and play with her!

 

I am so blessed to have a beautiful, healthy baby girl! What a great Mother's day! I couldn't ask for more… well, I would have LOVED to have had my husband with us, but he is having fun in Seattle.

Happy Mother's Day to all my friends, neighbors and family who are mommies and mommies-to-be!

New baby Lily

Olivia has been really interested in giving kisses to her Elmo and our nanny told me she loved the baby doll at our friends house. So on my day off Olivia and I went off to Babies R Us and I bought her her FIRST baby doll! Her name is Lily. At first Olivia gave her sweet kisses. But then she saw that Lily has “patent leather” shoes on and now insists on hanging her upside down and shaking her! I am not sure what that is about but she also tries to take her shoes off! She really shan’t held or kissed her at all since we left the store. Oh well, my little one will have to wait to play with baby dolls! (Either that or I am raising a child abuser) The best part is that it cracks her up!!
Happy Friday!
Amanda and Olivia

Just Daddy and Me

Here is my routine when it is just daddy and me.  I wake up between 6 and 7am, and just hang for a little bit in my crib…mostly babbling with a couple of loud yells for Dad to wake up.  I can now watch for him by pulling down the bumbers on my crib.  Dad makes me a bottle and then we take James for a walk.  This is fun, for all involved.  I get to wear my hat that Nonna bought me and get wrapped up in a warm Longhorn blanket.    James is very quick and we walk him to his favorite spots.  Then it is back to the house and James gets fed.  I usually play a bit with my toys and then Dad gets me dressed.  Today is St. Patty's day, so I got to wear my new outfit Mom bought for me.    Then we are off the see Jessica (our nanny).  I get to play with my friend Cassidy and we often take trips to the beach or park for some sun.  Dad picks me up at 5:30 and then we head home for dinner.  Last night I tried peas for the first time and loved them.    After dinner I get a bath, a bottle, and then back to bed for more beauty sleep.  It is fun having this time with Daddy, but I miss Mommy too.  That's my day. 

Love,

Olivia

Crazy Times

I am going to try to post more often.  To say that we have been busy would be an understatement.  Here is a fun example of our crazy lives right now:

This morning, I have a 12:30am conference call with Basel.  Novartis headquarters are in Switzerland and the meeting I am presenting at is at 8:30am (UTC+1), which is 12:30am (UTC-7) here in San Diego.  Amanda leaves for Europe at 5:00am and will make a 10 day tour of Amsterdam, Paris, and Frankfurt.  She is launching her new product in Europe this week and will have a few free days in Paris…nice!!!

 
More to come… 

Ready for teeth

Hallo-weiner

This weeend was the “world famous” Halloweiner. (maybe! Among the Dachshund community?!)
Anyway! It was a gorgeous fall day, high 70s and sunny so we packed up the family and headed to Balboa Park to see the Doxie’s all dressed up. Of course, James was not dressed up because 1) we forgot his costume and 2) that would have sent him over the edge.
It was great! There were some adorable costumes and we had a blast! If you can see, Olivia’s dress even has Dachshunds on it! She is soooo “in”!!
Happy Halloweiner!

The Great Pumpkin!

We went to the pumpkin patch today! Thanks to Auntie Becca, we were the BEST dressed baby there! Olivia was thoroughly unimpressed even with the pumpkins and petting zoo! Oh well!
Olivia’s Uncle Ryan was able to join us and Olivia enjoyed seeing him! She web giggled at him! We are glad we got to see him because this week he goes in for surgery on his chest muscle with a 10 month recovery!
In other news, Olivia now rolls over from back to front and front to back! She doesn’t do it too often, but CAN!! She is 4 months old today and I just can’t believe it. Where has FOUR months gone? It is flying by!
Now we have to carve our pumpkins!!

Big Day!

It was a HUGE day around the Joslin household. We started off the day as usual waking just before 6am! Now that Olivia sleeps through the night, can I ask for a little later wake up time? No, ok! I won't press my luck! This was even after a late bedtime because we spent Saturday at my Aunt and uncle's house! It was so fun to see them and we got to eat YUUUMMMMMY homemade Mexican food!! yuuum!!!!

Then after breakfast, I put Olivia down for tummy time and guess what? SHE ROLLED OVER! Not just once as a fluke, but she did FOUR times! It was so fun to see!

Then we got dressed, (thank you Auntie Alana for the darling outfit) and we headed out to Costco. It still amazes me that a few items (well, ok, it was more than a few items) can cost so much! Thankfully they have our formula and it is the best price!

Then we got to Skype with Nonna and Sparky  and then Mimi and Poppi! Thanks for Skyping with us! It was fun to get to talk to you!

Until Next time!
Amanda

Three months old!

Little Olivia is already three months old!!! While she finds no need to roll over yet, she is soooo close! She loves to “gab” and talk and is such a Happy girl! She is sleeping through the night (6:30pm-6:30am!) and wakes up laughing and giggling! It is so fun! She loves to sit up and would rather sit up than be layin down! She can pull up a little and loves her little Bumbo chair!
I am back to work full time now and actually enjoying it! It is nice to talk about something with actual words and go to lunch (and the bathroom) when I want! Olivia is with her friend Cassidy and our nanny situation is working out really well!
It is Longhorn season and John and Olivia watched their first game together!
Next weekend is our five year wedding anniversary and we are going away for the weekend!! Olivia and James are going to Grammy’s house and we will be on our own!! …first time away from Olivia!
Happy Friday (and three month birthday to Olivia)!!!