Law & Order While Alivia Sleeps? I HOPE SO!!!

She isn't sick - and she's not cold! The purple lips are from grape Italian Ice, and if she's up until 11PM, the person who fed her this delicious treat will have to watch her and the Phillies at the same time. There is a new Law & Order on tonight! Yay for Mommy :)

Slacking on the Job

To all of the millions of fans who follow Alivia's blog, I'd like to issue a public apology. You see, Alivia has needed some rest and relaxation from all of her newly found stardom, and she decided it would be best if she spent a few days at the spa. I promise, as her personal agent, that the Alivia Marie Ernest blog will be up and running in full force by tomorrow, 9/30/2009. Please take note: today marks one month before Alivia's 1st birthday. Oddly enough, last year at this time I was very immersed in the planning of an event which earned the small firm where I was working, over $65,000. Our CEO, who was as proud as a peacock regarding the success of the event which "I" (as in me alone, just myself, no one else, etc.) planned, never offered me a compliment. Yeah, so... That stings. A lot. Needless to say, I'm now a stay-at-home-mom working on this blog... among other projects. So, if "I'm slacking on the job" of writing the Alivia blog... it is merely just desserts.

Target and Pancakes with Alivia (Finally! Just not in that order.)

On Thursday, Alivia and I had an extremely busy day. I will have to post most of the pictures that I took that day the next time I write in (there are just too many, and I'm sneaking in this blog entry while Bob is out picking up dinner - Vietnamese soup (Pho)  - which I LOVE!!!). We started out by visiting the doctor for me. 10AM. So fun. I just needed a quick physical and some blood work to make sure everything has returned to normal since giving birth to my little angel last year :) She really is...




Then, we drove across the street and finally had breakfast together! Alivia had one pancake, an orange slice, and some apple juice. I barely touched my breakfast because I was busy feeding her, and she was tired - and grumpy. Just for fun, I let her take a look at the menu. I thought it might make a cute picture! At least it isn't upside down...

I guess she chose pancakes! But someone's eyes were too big for their stomachs!!!

Later, when we got to Target - where we went to purchase Formula at a price that doesn't break the bank (well, it is really only a few dollars cheaper than Giant, but Target is right down the street and Alivia needed some Gerber Puffs and winter clothing, too) - we found an empty shelf. I SWEAR I circled the baby section aisles at least five times in total disbelief! I'm talking ZERO Similac powder! What do you even do when you have a baby that has a sensitive stomach, can't take milk, soy, or lactose products, and only likes the taste of Similac??? I guess you um, panic... and then you frantically call your husband! Ahhhh! "There's no Similac." " Ar ya sore you jus don't see it?" my darling husband asks while at work, recovering from dental surgery. I sent him a picture of the baby formula aisle. Check it out.



I found out later, via the Internet, that the poor Similac Company "supposedly," had beetles found near some of their powder product. From what I read, 99.8% of the Similac was NOT affected by these beetles, and a few pediatricians on BabyCenter.com even said that beetles would cause only a mild stomach upset, anyway. Now, I'm not a proponent of beetles, or any bugs for that matter. I pretty much despise all insects - except for the beautiful lady bugs, of course! But, this Similac problem has been a HUGE inconvenience for two weeks now. My baby likes Similac. I mean, she LOVES her Similac!!! And I can't find it! I guess, once it comes back from never-never land, my husband and I (new parents, of course), should keep one big container of Similac on reserve at all times. With my luck, Alivia Marie will fall in love with Cow's milk, which she can start drinking in 25 days - on her first birthday. She has already been eating plenty of foods containing milk, so if we switched now, it probably would not even phase her. Let's see: $29.00 for a container of Similac Sensitive RS, or $4.00 for a gallon of milk... You do the math!

Bees in Scott's bonnet and Desitin in Alivia's... mouth???

When my brother Scott entered high school in 2006, my mom explained to him that the only acceptable grades were "bees in his bonnet." Four years later, Scott and I still joke about her strange phrasing to describe the grade "B". Since he entered college a month ago, I haven't heard a word regarding his grades. Today, however, I received a call from him. He had earned an 88 on an English paper! I teased him, of course... saying that I always did better than that in English. (This is the same boy, who, in third grade used the vocabulary word "luxury," in the following way: "I luxury that ring.") To my surprise, today, Scott shot right back at me with: "I'll accept bees in my bonnet." "Touché," I thought to myself. Just then, I saw my baby Alivia grab the Desitin and immediately open it with her bottom teeth. (How ironic - wasn't I just boasting about her teeth earlier today???) I quickly snatched it away from her! But I wondered, "what's so great eating about Desitin?" Babies. Ha! They always want what they cannot have.

Ladies and Gentlemen... We have a sixth tooth!

I love Alivia more than you can measure, but I have to admit; I don't exactly think that writing about the eruption of her right lateral incisor (I think I got that right!) is the most interesting of subjects for blog followers to read...! But, maybe I need to stop second guessing myself? Yesterday - my first official day of writing content - had me second-guessing whether or not writing about the spelling of my Alivia's name was "blog-worthy." I can't do this to myself everyday obviously, so if the content doesn't interest you, please just kindly skip it. And, in the same way, I'll keep striving to write about more interesting things than teeth. I promise. We already know that Alivia uses her crib as a teething ring (many varieties of frozen teething rings have been offered to her, and yet rejected in the past), so I think we shall leave it at that. Alivia has a new (sixth) tooth! Yay! That explains the cold she had for almost two weeks and the sleep that Auntie Meredith missed during that time period (We love you Aunt Mer!).

Law & Order While Alivia Sleeps...

Dun dun. Every day at 1pm while my baby naps, I try to watch Law & Order - SVU. Although I changed the spelling by one letter, I named my ALIVIA after one of the main characters on the show, Detective Olivia Benson. The other main detective, Elliott Stabler, "sweetly" refers to his partner of 12+ years as "Liv." My plan is to do the same with my baby! Right now, Alivia Marie Ernest goes by the following names: Piv, Pivie, Pivlet, "the Piv," and "Dibs/Dibbers (by my dad ???). Her name is NOTAllie/Ali now, and it never will be. I like the nickname Liv so much, that I actually considered naming her Olive, just so people wouldn't get confused. Have you seen Little Miss Sunshine? Or, maybe you have heard of Aerosmith's Steven Tyler's daughter, Liv Tyler? Regardless - my little daughter's name is Alivia, spelled with an A not an O. This may seem like strange blog post content, but the point is simple. My baby has a unique name! Her nursery wall doesnt lie!!! Dun dun.

Pancakes with Alivia

Before Alivia was born, Bob and I used to go to eat breakfast at a local coffee shop on Saturday mornings called Grumps Cafe, Annapolis. I really looked forward to our breakfast, their Eggs Benedict is to die for - but more importantly, I just liked having alone time with my husband. While truth be told, Bob was not the biggest fan of eating at what he considered to be such a fu-fu place (it's so not!), I usually had to beg him to take me. Picture this: me, eight months pregnant, begging for breakfast on Saturday morning, um, around noon-ish. I was literally ready to eat the entire apartment! He was a good sport and took me about half of the time. The other half of the time he offered up some lame excuse like, "it's too expensive," or "you don't get enough food for what you pay." Like I said; lame. Neither was true. The cafe - if you can even call it that - is an order your food then sit down - type of place. There is paint splattered (on purpose) all over the walls, chairs, and tables, and the "servers" literally wear their pajamas. Two adults can eat (including drinks) for about $30. These days I go to Grumps Cafe with Alivia. She never says "no."

Since they don't wait on you like a traditional restaurant, you receive an order number which is issued to you on a child's toy. This place is very cute and the food is great. Alivia literally LOVES their pancakes. Stay tuned. I'll be posting more pictures tomorrow. If the weather holds up, she & I will be walking (me) and riding in the stroller (Alivia) to Grumps Cafe.

Check out their website: http://www.grumpscafe.com/