a year of wonder

one year ago today was one of the happiest days for our family....we were able to bring miss olivia home from the nicu after 19 long days struggling to gain strength and eat. funny how much has changed in one year. this time last year, nathan and i were begging miss O to eat 19cc's of food and now we fight her to stop eating everything in sight! she has proved to be an amazing eater and boy has she grown fast!! in looking back at our journey, it makes me sad, happy, full of tears and amazement. we were filled with such fear; fear of the unknown, fear of the pain she was going through, and fear of how it would all turn out. thanks to the nurses, doctors and advancements in the medical field, we have our little miracle with us today.

miss olivia a few days after her birth

the day we got to steal her from the hospital staff....her revised birth date, January 26th, 2009

look at her today...a girl and her bling. our little walking miracle. january 25th 2010

Please help others like me who had to endure the challenges of being born too early, a nicu and the march of dimes!! without the help of MOD, we would not have come so far so fast in medicine to allow babies like me to survive. The March of Dimes makes miracles happen....please donate today and allow a baby the best fighting chance they can have!! just follow the link on my page.....every penny counts.

Thanks and much love

Miss Olivia

circus fun

ringling bros circus landed in jacksonville this year and we were lucky enough to take jackson again. last year, nathan surprised jman and i with tickets to the show as a mommy and me date.....see, when the circus was last in town, miss O was just born and still in the hospital. jackson had been a trooper putting up with being shuffled from sitter to sitter and i had just a "teeny weeny" bit of mom guilt because of it. it was the best day for both of us in so long and i very much enjoyed the one on one time with my little guy. this year, we decided that daddy should be included, but sissy would still stay home with kiki. Littleman still has to share us so much of the time with littlemama, we thought he deserved a date with just mommy and daddy (and a few friends). all in all, it was so much fun. jackson enjoyed the show even more this year and danced his fannie off the whole time (video of this to come soon).

jackson aka ringmaster

jackson suckering daddy this year into a "not" so cheap spinner

my little love

mama on the move

little mama is walking like crazy and getting into things jackson never thought to do....most other babies have done it, but it is new to me. baby-proofing has gone to a whole new level in our house. funny thing though, with as much as olivia is walking...the pics below catch her on all four. when she wants to get somewhere faster, she still crawls. oh my, what do i have in store to come?

toilet paper tag...she was squealing in delight during this pic

olivia trying to catch me as i chased her around the house

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday Daddy-O aka Nathan. We hope you have as wonderful a day today as you provide for us to have every other!! thank you for sharing your life with us!!!! xoxoxox

Nicole, Jackson and Olivia

silly moments

after many busy days last week , we have taken this one much slower. enjoying time with littleman and miss.o. family time and some fun playdates too. the weather slowly got warmer and today finally hit some "florida style" winter digits, yay! here are some quick pics of our funny outtakes

spaghetti dinner....who wore it better, the bib or miss. olivia's face, hahaha?!?!

playing with the remaining balloons from the party...man, they were worth the $$. still going strong almost a week later

if i had known that balloons would make littlemama so very happy, i would have not stressed about getting her a real"gift".

playdate with friends...music madness

finley cate showing miss.o the ropes of playing

heartfelt goodbyes

having my family in town was one of the best treats of the week, but saying goodbye is always SO very hard. we had so much fun mom and aunt joan!!! Thank you a million times over for coming so far to share olivia's special day with us!! it meant the world to all of us....and thank you for all the laughs too. the air pump is not in the underwear drawer anymore (wink, haha).

scallops!

aunt joanie giving miss olivia a special gift similar to what she gave me years ago!! and also saying goodbye right before leaving for the airport.

raggedy ann

jman and olivia "busting in"on gran in the morning...snuggle bugs

jackson, olivia and aunt joan on their last morning in jville

gran and olivia fast asleep after a long party day

granny helping miss o open some of her bday gifts

Ladybug lady party

before the holidays, i came across the cutest invitation that lead me onto the theme for miss.O's big celebration party.......Ladybugs. not super original, but oh so very cute i must say. i love planning parties and decor and had the most fun with this one!! red, black, white and lime green oh my and some polka dots thrown in for fun. surprisingly, a while ago i had found olivia some clothes with smocked ladybugs, so once i decided on this theme, i saved them for her big day. The find of all finds was a super talented 16 year old girl who makes unreal cakes. It was the "icing on the cake" for the decor...see below. all in all, it was wonderful to be surrounded by all of our dear family(near and from far away) and friends on her special day....i can only hope she feels this loved for the rest of her bdays and more. thank you mom, aunt joan, maren and a few special others for putting so much time and help into making it such a wonderful day and for offering up your help. miss o appreciates it so much!! all i can say to you aunt joan....never forget scallops, hehe

miss o all cleaned up at the ending of her party (outfit #2, my girl of course had more than one thing to wear...like the oscars for her, haha)

my lovie

ready to get her cake on..thank you Ms. T for the adorable bib!!

oh..yummy yummy

work it girl!!

after enjoying the cake...needing to get "prettied" up again

4 lovely ladies

some of the decor

a 16 year old girl made this cake and mini cake for Miss.O, super talented Kaitlyn!! many thanks

playtime with the Muchacho clan before the festivities began.

Little Birthday Girl!

As stated in previous entries...i have been a bit emotional this week of celebration. mostly because my littlemama is One!!! and because we were lucky enough to have my mom and aunt visit for the big day. I cannot believe that a year has passed so very fast and that olivia is ONE! i look at how much she has accoplished in such a small amount of time and yet, i want more time with her as my baby.....she is so very funny, on center stage from the time she wakes up in the morning. too much......Daddy, you are so in trouble. Get the armor oiled to protect her!!

We have enjoyed time with aunt joan and mom. My aunt has not been here since our wedding 7 1/2 years ago...so much has changed. we just kept the days as low key as possible and had fun in the simple daily duties.....laundry, cooking and cleaning are so much more fun (bearable) with my family here! We had to have a cake on miss O's actual bday, thursday. we invited nathan's parents over for the famous "braid" and cake. it was a wonderful time and i think we could have posted olivia eating her cake on america's funniest home video (and probably won some $$) see Below. Happy 1st Birthday Miss Olivia...we love you. x0x0x0x0x

wearing the cake

come on brother, you know you want a lick

here you go....

never mind hands...lets just bite the cake...face first

she could not get the cake to her mouth fast enough

hmmmm...what is this?

with both grandmas, granny (left) and kiki (right)

love you babe

o'brien women

sissy love and aunt joan

oh, daddy-o

aren't i so cute!!

a year gone by, oh my!!!

ok, so Miss O turned the big one and since i have posted these pics of her from her big day, i have been at a loss of what to write. i find myself almost avoiding the idea of putting into words what is rushing thru me at this moment in time. I keep reflecting back to where we were just one year ago and where we are now. one second it feels like it was yesterday that she was born and on the other hand it feels as though we have experienced a lifetime of things in 12 short months. see, can you tell i am a bit emotional?!?!?! I cannot even begin to write about the things we have gone thru since your arrival because i think i will break the computer with the tears.

Olivia...i will keep this simple. You are a ray of sunshine in our lives and a light to all that come to know you. You are the most amazing, sweet, happy, silly girl and we are so very blessed to have been given such an amazing gift from God. You captivate me every day and i can say that every time i look into your sweet little face, i am filled with love beyond words. thank you for bringing such joy into our hearts and lives! we love you to the moon and back (and then some)

tickle tickle

walking with dolly

taking her first real steps this very week

ready for some yummy cake

dear God, please give me that yummy cake, now!!!