Happy Halloween!

With the arrival of Mia, things have been a bit busy around the Ackerman household, so my blog posts are slightly out of order. Last year, Olivia dressed up and went trick-or-treating (mostly in our arms), but she was still too young to fully enjoy Halloween. This year, however, Halloween was so much fun as Olivia was old enough to really enjoy and understand the concept of trick-or-treating. For the entire week leading up to the big day, Olivia "practiced" trick-or-treating around the house, carrying her bucket and knocking on imaginary doors or walls saying "trick-or-treat," "thank you" and "Happy Halloween" and placing imaginary candy into her bucket. She regularly recruited me and Peter and my parents when they visited to trick-or-treat with her. It was so cute!

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go with her door-to-door as it would have been too cold to venture out with Mia, but Olivia had a blast with her Daddy! Peter said she was unstoppable, going house to house. "One more house," she would exclaim. Some other parents even commented on how good she was at keeping pace with their older kids for only being two years old. Together, Daddy and Olivia made quite the haul in candy!!

Boo...Whoo...Whoo...Here comes Olivia the Owl!

Watch out! Olivia is ready to get some candy!

Our final stop was my parent's house per Olivia's request. She liked the pumpkin decorations hanging from the tree along their front walkway.

Mia in Fruitport

After church last Sunday, the four of us drove out to Fruitport to introduce Mia to her Great Grandpa and Grandma Ackerman. We had a wonderful dinner together, and everyone enjoyed Olivia and Mia!

Our Newest Addition

On Sunday, October 17th at 11:49 am, we welcomed Mia Rose into our family. She weighed 6 lbs 15.4 oz and was 19 inches long. She is a beautiful and perfect addition to our family with her striking steel blue eyes, dark brown/black hair, olive complexion, and long skinny fingers and toes.

Peter and me in the labor room, awaiting the delivery of our little girl.

6 lbs 15.4 oz

Mia's first picture with her Mom & Dad, courtesy of Dr. Menapace.

Big Sister Olivia was so excited about meeting Mia!

Our new family of four!

Mia's first bath. Olivia enjoyed watching Mia get her first bath and requested a bath for herself too.

Olivia made a special card for her baby sister while she was at my parent's house. Peter and Olivia came back to the hospital to visit Mia and me before going home for the night.

Olivia stickered Mia with some of the stickers from her card.

My two girls!!

House Guest

This evening Maggie came to over to our house. We are watching her for the weekend while Aunt Julie and Uncle Jay visit Mom and Dad. Olivia was so excited to see her four-legged friend.

Oohh! Maggie kissed Olivia!

Saying goodbye to Aunt Julie.

Playground Playdate

Yesterday afternoon, we met Lindsay and Jenna at Wealthy Park Elementary's playground for a quick playdate. We had tried to schedule a playground playdate last week, but it ended up raining on our planned day. Yesterday, though, the weather was perfect...sunny with the temperature in the low 80's. Olivia had a fun time playing with Jenna. She was a pro at swinging on the swings, going down the big windy slides, and even climbing up the ladders, which the spaces between the rungs were almost as wide as her little body. Jenna was great at playing with Olivia on the playground; although, when we were leaving in our cars, Jenna said, "Olivia wears me out." She also went on to say, "Olivia has lots of energy...too much energy."

Olivia swung on the regular swings for a long time. Jenna put her on the swing and gave her some big pushes, and Olivia did great at balancing and hanging on tight to the chains. She even let go with one hand once to wave to Aunt Lindsay.

While swinging, Olivia chanted, "La la la" and "weeeeee."

This was the ladder that really scared me, but Olivia climbed up it like a pro!

I wanted a cute picture of Jenna and Olivia sitting or standing together under the tree, and since Olivia is hard to direct for any photo shots, I asked her to hug the tree simply to entice her to head toward the tree. Jenna and Olivia both took my request literally. This isn't what I had in mind...oh well.

This shot is a little better.

Jumping on the bridge.

Happy First Day of Autumn!

Our fall leaf cookies in celebration of the first day of Autumn.

Just us Girls

These past few days, it has just been Olivia and me (with baby girl). Peter was in Chicago for the week for job training. We dropped him off about 7:15 am Sunday, and we will pick him up tomorrow (Thursday) around 10:30 pm. As much as I dislike being sans husband, it has been a fun time, just us girls!

Sunday, after dropping Peter off at the train station, we came home and had an hour to get ready for the early church service. I figured since we woke Olivia up out of a dead sleep to drive to the train station, I would just keep her up for church and then have her take an early nap when we came back home. It was Olivia's second time in the 2's Room. When I picked her up and the teacher called out her name, she was still busy playing and not ready to go. Then she saw me and exclaimed, "Mama!" I asked her if she had fun, and she threw her arms up in the air and yelled, "Yes!!!" Sunday's lesson was "We bring our pennies to church." I received a coloring sheet for her, a coin purse with her name written on it, and a note to parents explaining what they had talked about and the special can all the kids helped decorate for depositing the pennies they bring with them to church. After church and some cartoon time, Olivia took a nice long nap. Then, we went to visit my parents and had a wonderful Sunday dinner. We also helped Papa with some yard work, and Olivia even rode the lawn mower with him! She loved it!

Monday, Uncle Roel and Oliver came over around noon so I could go to my 34 week OB appointment. I came home to two hyper two-year-olds. It looked like they all had a good time!

Snuggling in Mom's bed for storytime.

Tuesday, we went to Toddler Time at the library and then we walked through the Grandville Farmer's Market, which is set up outside the library in the parking lot. We then did a little shopping and browsing at Bed Bath & Beyond. In the evening, we visited and ate dinner with my parents. Olivia got to ride her tricycle around before dinner, which she LOVED! She is unable to push the pedals herself or steer, but she does a good job keeping her feet on the pedals while someone pushes her along.

Sitting outside the library after attending Toddler Time.

Venturing through the Farmer's Market. Olivia's back was turned toward me, and when I asked her to turn around to take her picture, she started turning in circles.

Our Farmer's Market purchase.

Today we had another semi-eventful day. After going to Michael's to pick up some cookie cutters, I decided to see if Lindsay and Jenna wanted to meet up for lunch. Jenna's school was closed due to a power outage, so she was volunteering at Lindsay's work for the day. We met at Wendy's and had a nice lunch date! After lunch, Olivia and I celebrated the first day of fall by baking fall leaf cookies. Then in the evening, my parents stopped by to watch Olivia while I went for a haircut. I had enough hair cut off that I was able to donate it to Locks for Love! I think I had about 10 1/2 inches cut off by the time I was all done. I hope Peter likes it!!! When I got home, we made pizza for dinner.

34 weeks 6 days and a new haircut.

It's been a fun few days, but I definitely miss Peter. Fortunately, his training ends earlier than we originally expected and he can come home tomorrow night instead of late Friday night.