The Holidays! The most magical time of the year! We are strict observers of a very sacred day called Meat Night, in which, as tradition goes, I invite myself to my bestie Megan’s aunt and uncle’s house for their party the night before Thanksgiving. During college I decided to insert myself into Megan’s family and just pretend like I had been there all along hoping to then get accidentally get taken on family vacations and the like and it worked like a charm. Here is just a sampling of some of my secret adoption family events in history:

New Year’s and 4th of July at Megan’s parent’s house

Family Trip to the Dominican

Not pictured but forever in our minds and hearts: Many events, but especially Megan’s mom’s surprise 50th birthday party. Those pictures, if they exist, are surely NSFW.

Anyway Meat Night is the official kick off to the holiday season and it is celebrated by eating all the meat. ALL OF IT. But it is vegetarian friendly, of course. Only the vegetarian option is all liquid. And all the liquids contain alcohol. Still, a very inclusive event.

Then the whirlwind of holiday fun continued with a meat hangover straight on to Thanksgiving, which was spent in Rapids as usual but with a potluck family meal at the rehab currently housing Poppi after his latest medical troubles. It was wonderful to see everyone and to see the joy on Poppi’s face with all the visitors and love. Olivia enjoyed an afternoon next to him and my mom in his room snuggling and playing on his bed, happy as a little clam to be the center of attention. She also enjoyed being able to crawl around after the other cousins and participate in the time-honored tradition of HOOHOO! with my dad, a game where he hides and yells HOOHOO from his hiding spot until children spot him and then he roars and chases after them and they scatter, delighted for hours on end. Soon they will be old enough for the other Larry Classics: Lion in the Middle, sock tag, hide and go seek in the dark, and of course being wrapped up in the horsey blanket and swung around and then dropped in a room and you have to guess which room you are in. The best.

We’ve had Packer games and Bucky watching parties and a holiday planter making class and fun with friends and family and all sorts of jam packed weekends going on.

In our spare time we have been busy stripping and cleaning the BV house to get in order for the new owners, and starting to piece together our new house, box by box, garbage bag full of hastily packed miscellaneous items after suitcase stuffed with pots and pans and soap and socks and power drills, bit by bit at a time. Have we unpacked our clothes yet? No. Is there a working washer, dryer, or fridge? No. Does Olivia have the basic necessities required for the rearing of a toddler? Heavens no. We have been too busy taking care of the very vital parts of homeownership: shopping for and hanging up unnecessary but attractive décor and also and making sure tailgating gear is always ready to go.

Priorities in order. Always. Besides, it’s that time of the year where the garage doubles as the Polish cooler. So we’ve got 10 cars amount of fridge space until the spring thaw.

 

The animals seem to be settling right into their old tricks and treats at the new house: Brauny just thrilling us all with his usual antics and hair:

Cis terrified of everything and everyone in her path:

Shockingly though, she tolerates Olivia quite a bit, even lets her grab onto her fur and stuff her face into her belly, which she is fond of doing. This doesn’t even elicit even one little trademark Cis growl or swipe. Quite unbelievable, given her typical homicidal attitude towards literally everything.

Also she drinks out of the bath faucet like this which is just bizarre.

Olivia is just on the go 24/7 and is hilarious/exhausting to spend time with. She is this close to walking and flies around the house pushing her little walker toy for hours on end, screaming “UH-OH” as she heads straight towards walls and crashes into them, then scoots around and turns around the other way for another go. She absolutely loves crawling up the stairs, but hasn’t figured out the going down part yet so will fuss until we carry her back down so she can scurry right up again.

She also enjoys:

Pulling books off of shelves and “reading to herself”:

Making this face:

Accosting the cat and yelling: “HI CICI” right in her face:

Chewing on dog toys, and yelling “BALL” any time she sees anything vaguely round:

Digging in the toilet:

Shopping and shouting “HI” at everyone:

Showing off her curves:

Playing with a toy for 5 seconds and then getting bored and throwing it:

Creeping:

Touching Mama:

Being sick… but only because she loves the sickly sweet pain meds:

And being the absolute stinking cutest:

OG continues to amaze us with her ever expanding vocabulary and general quick learning – repeating new words daily, identifying body parts and clothing items, remembering names, learning games, etc etc. So basically we are in awe of her average and expected milestones, as every new parent is. Eating continues to be a challenge with her, as she is much too busy to be bothered to eat, and is prone to throwing whatever is in front of her on the floor and shouting “DONE DONE DONE” and banging her feet until we release her from her chair. But she seems to be growing and gaining just fine, as evidenced by her cute little belly and stout little thighs, so we just roll with her being a free-range squid and stash little nibblets around her play pen/etc and figure she will sniff them out if she is ever nutrient deprived. She has been crushing it at bedtime lately, with only a 3-10 minute screaming meltdown and then crashing down into a zonked out butt in the air position very frequently through the entire night… my how far we have come in a year!

We are looking forward to Christmas with our families, one last Packer game, hosting a housewarming party, ringing in the New Year, and then starting 2018 out with one of our annual food holidays (that I invite us to at Megan’s parent’s house of course) – Soup Day! Which is exactly what it sounds like.

As for me, I can’t wait to have every last freaking scrap of us out of the Bayview house and never have to worry about last minute requests from pushy buyer’s for a very long time. Until then, suds please!