The Big 0-2 and 2-9!

Here is the complete post, finally! Thanks for your patience on this one; it was a doozy.

"Happy Birthday to Livie! Catch Air Time!" - all spoken with the utmost of enthusiasm

The big 2nd birthday was one for the history books! I got to have my birthday party at my favorite place in the entire world, Catch Air; although, for months I was convinced that I was having my birthday at Grandma's house, but since she never extended the invitation, I had to quit telling people it was there. Before leaving the house to head over for my very own birthday celebration, Grandma came over to drop off my birthday present, which is a Radio Flyer wagon just for me. Now, I don't have to wait for Lucas to come pick me up to go on a neighborhood wagon ride. I was so excited when Grandma brought it into the house! I was sitting on the couch, in a somewhat grumpy mood from a shortened nap I might add, when I laid eyes on the bright red beauty, and a smile spread across my face from ear to ear. Some of you may remember the exact moment when you heard about the assassination of JFK or the election of President Obama, but I will always remember the exact moment that I became the owner of my very own Radio Flyer wagon - pure joy! Thank you, Grandma! After a quick ride around the living room and several hugs for Grandma, we headed out for the big event, my 2nd birthday party. As soon as we stepped into Catch Air, I immediately screamed, "Catch Air Time!" with so much excitement that I was literally shaking. Now, this is my scene; no one needed to say anything before my shoes were off and I was running towards the slide, balloons, wagon, weights, jump-jumps, dance floor, arcade games, and yes, water fountain. The picture to the left is only half of the room too! My friends and family began arriving, and when all was said and done, I had a great group: Grandma, Aunt Steph, Aunt Mal, Mrs. Sharon, Great Aunt Marsha, Great Uncle Ray, Cameron, Haley, Mrs. Sindy, Mr. Marcus, Selina, Mr. DJ, Tyler, Mrs. Olga, Boris, Mrs. Laura, Mr. GT, Madden, Mrs. Joanne, Parker, Mrs. Stephanie Molletta, Mr. Eric, Madelyn, and, of course, Mrs. Allison, Mr. Ben, Lucas, Mommy, Daddy, and me. We all had a ball, and, like always, I was just one of the boys, which is made pretty obvious in the group pictures. I promise I did have a couple of my girlfriends there as well; they just weren't down for the group picture; I totally get it - way too much to do. Mr. Ben got right in and played with us while Mrs. Allison sweetly took tons of pictures, and Mommy and Daddy talked to all of my guests. We even got to have a dance party with Yoshi in my honor; although, none of us would actually go near Yoshi. During the dance party, we got to watch ourselves dance on the big screen, which caught all of our attentions, and I actually thought it was pretty cool. Boris was by far the most excited about the dance party; whereas, I preferred the bubbles. Mom even put together a very lengthy slide show that played on the big screen during the party; I think the grown ups enjoyed the chunky pictures of baby me; although, my friends and I didn't have time to even take notice. During the hour and a half of playtime, Tyler spent most of it playing in the balloon room and flirting with Mrs. Sindy while Selina played in the ball pit, and I kindly graced Lucas, Parker, and Boris with my presence in the wagon. The wagon did cause a few fights, especially between Lucas and me. Everyone thought it was quite funny how Lucas and I act like siblings; he hits me, and I laugh before pushing him back; that's just how we work. I have definitely become a lot more docile in the past year though. Does anyone know where Madden was the whole time? Oh, that's right; he spent most of his time finding his way into the party room to check out the cake. The anticipation was killing him! To build up a nice hearty appetite for the aforementioned birthday treat, I did a few laps on the kids' treadmill before the parents tried to get a group picture. The boys and I sat for a few minutes, but by the time Selina and Parker made it over, we were all off in different directions. My Tinkerbell cake was then served in the party room where everyone sang my favorite song, "Happy Birthday to Livie", and I got to put my candle blowing practice to good use. All of my friends were excited about the cake, especially Madden. Lucas decided to stick only to the icing, and Parker just picked the whole thing up with her hands and started shoveling it into her mouth. I, on the other hand, placed my napkin on my lap, about which several people commented, before daintily using my fork to take very small bites; I just have to share this because this is about the only thing I do in a dainty manner. Every single one of us downed our juice boxes like we were in a chugging contest before the present opening commenced. I love presents, and I got so many awesome ones! Parker and Lucas were nice enough to help me open them. When I got a very cool dress from Mrs. Sharon and Mr. Carl, I held it up very seriously and said, "Super Cute!" I've got to stop hanging out with Mom so much, but at least, I have got great taste in clothes! It was made quite apparent that Aunt Steph is an exhausted new mom when I opened her card, and it contained a sweet birthday message from the card company to the "birthday boy"; it's okay Steph, it had a big, yellow dump truck on the front and stickers on the inside, so it can say whatever it wants, and I couldn't care less. I desperately wanted to open and play with each gift, but the 'rents thought it best to wait until we got home, with which I was totally cool until I got the doctor's kit from Lucas. There was no way I was waiting to open that! Each friend took a piece from the kit, and we all took turns listening to each other's hearts, giving each other shots, and taking each other's temperatures. I mainly just wanted to play with the ear thermometer, and no ears were safe in my presence. I did, however, take a break from temperature assessing to give Cameron a couple of really good shots in his arm; I just want to make sure that he stays healthy. After present opening, everyone began to disperse, and thankfully, Mrs. Allison, Mommy's brain on most days, reminded Mom to hand out the goody bags, which forced Mom to chase down some of our guests in the parking lot. "Silly, Mommy" as I like to say! The party was a huge success, and I loved every minute of it. Thank you to everyone who made it, and thank you for every single one of my awesome gifts; you all are too much! I hope everyone had just as much fun as I did.

After Catch Air, the party didn't stop! Grandma, the Buices, Aunt Steph, and Aunt Mal all came over to my house where we were met by Uncle Ian and Harper. I immediately forced Cameron to go upstairs to my playroom, and he let me open my train conductor gear and train set, both of which came from the Buice family. Cameron is very good at putting things together, so he put my train set together as I donned my hat and blew my train whistle. Thank you, Marsha, Ray, Haley, and Cameron; we all know that I am obsessed with trains! I also look super cute in the train hat and bandana. Eventually, we headed downstairs to open the rest of my gifts, with which Aunt Mal helped. I pulled out the clothes Aunt Steph and Uncle Ian got for me, and said, "Oh, beautiful!" before serving Uncle Ian cookies and making Cameron pull me around in my new wagon while I took pictures of everyone and everything with the new camera that the Wheelers got for me; they totally spoil me. I even took a picture of Daddy taking a picture of me. We are so crazy! I got a couple of good shots of Harper in between kissing her and touching her face. I love looking at my baby cousin, but only for a few minutes at a time because I am a busy, busy gal. She is so beautiful, and I become more and more interested every time I am around her. Mom, Grandma, and Aunt Mal are bad though; they totally fight over who gets to hold her. Mom won out when it came to feeding time and got to feed Harper her bottle while Aunt Mal tried to convince me to stop for a minute and eat a slice of pizza; don't you know that I do not have time to eat, woman. I made sure to get some Harper-time for myself though. It is so good to have tons of the fam over; it is the best kind of chaos. After dinner, I was forced into my PJ's before insisting on a few more minutes to play with my new wallet. The economy should be getting a nice boost her shortly because now, I've got a credit card, a license, and some cash; thank you, Bauer family! That was one heck of a Saturday! Happy Birthday to Livie, and it wasn't even my REAL birthday yet!

I spent the rest of the weekend and the rest of the week discovering new toy after new toy. I was very much enjoying spending 90% of my days in my new wagon until Mom banished the wagon to the garage. Oh well, I still have found plenty of time to play with it, and I even coerced Daddy into taking me outside to help him plant flowers; two seconds of flower planting and one big hug later, I was sucked in by the power of the wagon. I've also built some huge towers with my new blocks, and I have proudly forced Mom to take a picture of each one. I can now say that I have found almost all of the items in my Thomas and Friends: Look and Seek book, and I must say that I am getting pretty good at putting my Thomas puzzle together. I have my own private diary as of the birthday party, but, unfortunately, it is even too private for me to see since I lost the key. I doctor Pooh everyday, and take mine, Mommy, and Daddy's temperatures about 20 times a day. I just want to make sure everyone stays healthy; flu season is upon us, people. Then, I come back around to the wagon; Pooh, Violet, Mickey, Baby - whom I have randomly named Amy, a name Mom has no idea where I got - are also reaping the benefits of the new wagon. I got so many great gifts that I can't even think to mention them all, but I do love them all!

The birthday celebration doesn't even stop there! Wednesday, the 13th, is what Mom and Dad have been referring to as my "actual birthday". I knew that it must be a special day when Dad came up with Mom in the morning to help sing "Happy Birthday" to me, which sounds much better when the groggy parents aren't singing it, before we headed downstairs to discover 2's everywhere! I had a great time finding one 2 after another; that's right, ladies and gents, I am the big 0-2! Mommy made a noteworthy attempt at a Mickey Mouse pancake for breakfast before we headed out for library storytime with Mrs. Allison and Lucas. I got to wear my new dress from Aunt Steph and a button that proclaimed me as the birthday girl. Lucas and I had way too much fun at storytime; the theme was mice, and we read different mice stories while jumping around and acting a little crazy. After meeting the story characters, Lucas and I gave each other a huge hug, which ended in a huge fall. Lucas caught me, so I only got a little bump on the side of my face, but Lucas hit the floor hard and ended up with a nasty bump and bruise on the back of his head, as well as a terrible red mark on the side of his face. Mom got a picture of the hug right before the fall, and every time I see it, I say, "Lucas and Livie bump heads". Needless to say, we both left storytime crying and refused to hug for the remainder of our time together. That was the only glitch in my otherwise perfect day, but at least, it started with a hug. After the library, Mrs. Allison and Lucas gave me a big strawberry cupcake for my birthday before Mommy and I headed over to see Daddy at work. I drew Mrs. Lori a picture to hang at her desk, and then I tested out the new kiosk prototype, which uses Mommy's voice, by the way. After my Daddy-visit, I headed home to enjoy my cupcake and open all of my birthday cards. Gramma sent me gift cards so that I could go shopping at one of my favorites, Tarjey, which I already spent on an Elmo pumpkin kit, an outfit, and new boots, so thank you, Gramma. Grandma Trish and Grandad sent money for my savings account/college fund; Mom and Dad are already jealous of my nest egg. Ivey League, here I come! Thank you, Grandma Trish and Grandad. Mr. David and Mrs. Peggy sent me a Brewster's gift card, for which Opie also thanks you since he always gets an ice cream from there whenever I go - Yum! I also got a very cool $2 bill, about which I kept shouting, "I got money!", from Great Aunt Wilma to mark my special age occasion. I immediately left the greeting cards on the floor and scooped up all of the gift cards and cash, - just like a woman - and Mom eventually found all of my gifts stuffed inside my new purse; I totally get how this works - leave the card and stash the cash. I even got eco-friendly paints and paper from my Godmom, Kate, and an awesome new coat and the aforementioned purse from my Great Grandma Jenkins. I am so loved, and I know it! Thank you, everyone! I then took a quick nap before Aunt Mal headed up. Daddy came home a bit later with my birthday present, an art easel, which I love, and Daddy, Mommy, Aunt Mal, and I headed out to dinner. I kept telling Aunt Mal, "No Bock-Bock" for dinner, "just ice cream". I know the deal here; I'm the birthday girl, so I want ice cream for dinner, darn it. I eventually did get my ice cream sundae, which came with a birthday performance by the servers. I pretended to be shy and hid my face on Mommy's shoulder, but really, I loved every minute of it. Balloons, 2's, a cupcake, ice cream, cards with cash, a hug from Lucas, and some time with Daddy, what more can you ask for on your birthday. Oh, the easel isn't bad either; I've already used up almost all of the paper with my original designs! "Y0u, draw picture; Livie draw picture."

Just as a side note, Ms. Suzanna is back from her trip to Russia, and I was so excited to see her last Monday when I walked into Publix. I immediately ran towards her, gave her a huge hug, and said, "Miss you, Ms. Suzanna". She was excited to see me too, and she even brought me back a couple of presents from her country: a pillow that has "Happy Birthday" written in Russian and two big chocolate bars that were her kids' favorites when they were little. Thank you so much, Ms. Suzanna; you are too good to me, and I couldn't be happier that you are back!

October must be the month to be born because within the last few weeks, many new baby friends have come into the world, and I have a lot of announcing and congratulating to do:

McKenzie Jane finally joined the Germany family on October 7th. She has the most beautiful head of hair, of which I am completely and devastatingly jealous. Baby McKenzie is just the most alert, sweetest little girl, and I cannot wait to go over and play with her this weekend; Mommy already got to meet her at the hospital and said she was an angel. By the way, Mrs. Teri, my Aunt Steph cannot believe that you had McKenzie in a full outfit with a matching bow propped up in her Boppy for pictures the day after having a C-section; Aunt Steph wants to know how you do it! Congratulations, Mr. Justin and Mrs. Teri; we could not be more excited about your new addition. That being said, I did ask for you both several times at my birthday party, but I suppose Miss McKenzie is a valid excuse to miss one year. McKenzie, I cannot wait to share my bows with you, and actually, I should probably just give them to you. Congrats, again, Germany family!

Henley Jones arrived the same day as Baby McKenzie; although, Henley didn't take quite as long, which is good news for Mrs. Kelli. Henley was born on October 7th weighing in at 7 lbs., 11 oz.; she joins her big sister, Reese, who is also my Godsister. Henley is so adorable and looks just like Reese did when she was born, red hair and all. I so wish they didn't live in Texas because I cannot wait to meet Henley. Hopefully, she will be coming this way for one of the upcoming holidays. Mrs. Kelli had a really easy time with this delivery, which she totally deserves since Reese wasn't quite as easy. Congratulations, Mrs. Kelli, Mr. Gaither, and Miss Reese; your new addition is just beautiful, and we love you all!

Last Friday, October 15th, marked the arrival of Mrs. Olga and Mr. Ivan's twin boys! Roman came into this world weighing in at 6 lbs. and 3 oz.; whereas, his brother Andrew weighed 4 lbs. and 15 oz. Both babies and mom are doing great! Boris is really excited about his new little brothers, and according to Mrs. Olga, he immediately put all of his cars and trucks in front of their cribs when they arrived home as a way of welcoming them. Mommy and I got to head over on Friday to see the new little ones, and I was really excited. They are so tiny, and they contentedly slept the entire time. Mrs. Olga seems to calm and looks amazing! Congratulations to Mrs. Olga, Mr. Ivan, and, of course, to my good friend and new big brother Boris.

Andrew & Roman

Also, a big congratulations goes out to Mommy's friend Sunni Ystrom and her husband Jannik all the way in Denmark who welcomed their first baby Matthias Neal Ystrøm on October 12th at 9:06 a.m. He was a big boy weighing in at 8 lbs., 12 oz; we are so glad everyone is doing well, and we hope to meet Matthias someday in the near future. Congrats Ystrom fmily!

Believe it or not, we are still waiting on at least one more October baby to be born!

Speaking of babies, I got to go and visit my cousin and Aunt Steph the Thursday before last, which was also Harper's one-month birthday, so "Happy One-Month Birthday to Harper". Aunt Steph swears that Harper can be very fussy, but I have yet to see it. She was wide awake when we first got there, so Mom got to hold her and play with her while I made sure that Elmo was comfy in one of Harper's swings. Harper looks so much like Uncle Ian; however, she is way more beautiful; I'm just sayin', Uncle Ian. Eventually, Harper decided to take a little nap while I played with all of her stuff. She has a rocking elephant that I loved, and to everyone's amazement, I discovered that when you hit the top of its head, it sings! That is probably the funniest thing I have ever seen in my entire life, and my pure look of joy just proves it. We may be fighting over that elephant in about a year, Harper, so this is your fair warning. One of Aunt Steph's friends, whose name is also Stephanie, came to visit and got to hold Harper for most of our visit, to Mommy's dismay. The corner of Aunt Steph's living room is now a dreamland for all of my babies with swing after swing after bouncy seat. Harper doesn't know what she is missing by only hanging out in that bassinet, but she'll figure it out soon enough. I did manage to scare Bobby, the kitty cat, half to death while I was there, so that's an accomplishment; I suppose. I also weighed myself several times and had a good time throwing away tissues in Steph's bathroom. I need no entertainment! Aunt Stephanie looks great, and I had so much fun visiting with them for the afternoon, so thanks for having us!

To top off the October birthdays, Mom celebrated the big 2-9 on October 17th. I got to spend that Saturday with Dada during the day while Mom went down and watched the Little 5 Points Halloween Parade and with Grandma that night while Mommy, Daddy, and a group of friends went to dinner and the Cumming Fair. Grandma also kept Baby Monroe for the evening, and I was quite fascinated with him. When Grandma, Baby Mo, and I were sitting on the couch, Baby Mo kept touching my face and grabbing my ear, so I would rub his arm and give him little kisses; it was really sweet. Mom and her friends had some good, clean, old school fun riding the fair rides and running around like teens. I think it was a good night had by all. When I woke up Sunday, I was excited to find Aunt Mal and Mr. Chris had stayed over; I proceeded to force Chris to read me all of my library books and served him soup that I made in my little house. It was a fun Sunday morning. Daddy and I gave Mommy her gifts, to go along with the Kings of Leon tickets he got for her in September and the beautiful flowers he sent her earlier in the weekend. We planned to spend the day at Burt's Pumpkin Patch, but after driving all the way up to Dahlonega and realizing that there was an hour and a half wait just to get into the parking lot, we scraped that idea and spent a nice relaxing day at home. Happy Birthday, Mommy.

Also... Happy Birthday, Cameron! Happy Birthday, Mrs. Joanne! Happy Birthday, Hannah! Happy Birthday, Mr. Monroe. Happy Birthday, Tyler, & Happy Birthday to any other October babies I may have missed on my list!

The only drawback to turning 2 was the terrible doctor's office visit to culminate the event. It didn't even help that Mom and I practiced several times with my doctor's kit because as soon as we got into the car, I started whining, "No doctor", and by the time we pulled up to the actual building, I was in full tears. I cried hysterically the entire time Mom checked us in, and although everyone was saying, "Awwww", I'm sure they really meant, "Awww, great" followed by an eye roll. My attention was diverted for a few moments in the waiting room when I found a little boy who was watching "Thomas and Friends" on his DVD player and stationed myself right behind him for my own viewing pleasure. The calming effect of Thomas didn't last long, for the tears reemerged as soon as the nurse called my name. She was unable to get a very accurate weight or height measurement as I was not exactly cooperative, but she did seem to think I was pretty cute. I really threw down when Mom tried to get my clothes off; at first, it was "no shirt off", and when that came off, it was "no pants off", and by the time the pants were off, I was left with "no diaper off", which I repeated over and over again. I had to hold on to some sort of control. I was fine whenever the nurse or doctor was not in the room, and Mom and I even played a little color game with the squares on the floor, but as soon as one of them reappeared, I lost it again. The doctor just laughed at me the whole time and again commented that I am very smart and manipulative; she actually lumped me in with just a few of her other patients as far as intelligence goes, which I suppose is a good thing. I was using every line in the book to try and get out of there. Here is the good news though: I've easily hit and exceeded all of my milestones, and the doctor estimates my current percentages to be between 75 - 85% for height and 25% for weight, which she predicts will also remain my percentages for my adult height and weight. I tried to tell you all in the beginning that I am a supermodel in the making. The visit ended with two nasty shots and one lousy sticker, but at least, I am done with that for another year. As you can see from the pictures, I am good at playing doctor; I'm just not good at going to the doctor.

Mommy finally got to return the favor, and Mom and I watched Lucas the other day while Mrs. Allison went to her own doctor's appointment. Lucas, Mommy, and I attended the moving around-themed library readtime, during which Lucas and I went buckwild. We went from chasing each other around in circles while Mom grabbed our shirts and pulled us back to our mats to laying on the floor cuddling with each other and trying to tickle one another. The lady behind us actually moved at one point, but I can't imagine why. I think that Mommy realized how much energy little boys have and how much energy I muster up when I'm around Luke, not that I am lacking in energy in the first place as you can see from the "Typical Night at my House" video below. We both got to pick out a few books and totally fought over the scanner as we checked them out; I'm sure we were quite the scene. In the car, we ate our plums, drank our juice boxes, and held hands on occasion; you can't deny that we are really cute together. At home, Lucas vacuumed while I drew pictures on my easel. He was very interested in our Halloween decorations and thought it was hilarious to peer inside the pumpkin. Eventually, we made it upstairs where we fought over each toy in turn and tried to slam each other in the door of my house. Don't worry though; we shared a lot of big belly laughs as well. That's just how we work; we have a love/hate, sibling-type relationship, but when all is said in done, we are best friends, and we take care of one another. Thanks for coming and spending the afternoon with me, Lucas; it was so much fun, even for Mom.

Typical Night at my House:


Speaking of Halloween and pumpkins, I am still refusing to try on my costume, which should make the day quite interesting, but I did make my very own Elmo pumpkin. He is awesome!

2 Noteworthy New Phrases:
Whenever someone tells me "No" now, I follow it up with "We'll see" so that the conversation isn't completely closed. For example, I'll ask if Opie can go with us to the store, and when Mom says, "No", I say, "We'll see". I don't like being told no. Also, whenever Mom asks me a question of any kind, like "Do you want some juice?", I say, "Ummm...sure!" I'm a nonchalant girl.