What will you bring?

Dear 2011,
First let me say welcome! We're very glad to see you and to bid goodbye to your friend 2010, which was a very challenging time for our family. I have very high hopes for our relationship and promise to do my best to be my best this year. While I don't want to put too much burden on you in these first few days of your new position, I do have some requests:
1) Please keep our families and friends safe, happy, and healthy.
2) Help us to focus on what is truly important - love.
and finally...
3) Please lock Sarah Palin in Alaska and don't let her out.

With sincere thanks,
The O's

Going Viral

The Wally Spot has been know to my immediate family for a very long time, but for those of you who may not be aware here is a short description. Whenever my dad would pull into a crowded parking lot he always seemed to get that one spot right by the door. No matter how crowded the lot, he always got a good spot. It happened so often we started calling it a Wally Spot. It's been a lot of fun to see the 'Wally Spot' page on FB grow and see people post their own stories about getting a Wally Spot.

So this holiday season as you're doing that last minute shopping and you get that great spot, take a look up to the heavens and say 'thanks' because you just got a Wally Spot!

Here is a photo of a Wally Spot John got at Starbucks, during rush hour. As John said to me "Is it any wonder they're together!"

Peace. Joy. Love.

Our blog has been 'Out of Service' for some time now, but with the new year comes resolutions. So, we have resurrected our blog to facilitate our resolution to keep family close. We hope this will keep people better updated on the comings and goings of our little social butterfly.

Here's a quick wrap-up of all that Maggie has been up to:
-Talking, talking, talking! She repeats absolutely everything, but my favorite things she says are: please and thank you. I've never known a 17 month old to use those words so often and appropriately.
- Walking. She's been doing this since a little before her 1st birthday, but now she's really mastered it. She's working on climbing next.
- Family. Maggie loves looking at pictures of friends and family. She knows so many of her cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents and friends by name. She loves pointing out people in pictures.
- Loss. Unfortunately at only 17 months old Maggie has already experienced the loss of two grandparents. We're grateful that she is too young to understand and that her smile gets us through each day.

40 Week Picture

Here I am at what should have been 40 weeks pregnant - surprise, where there was a big belly there now is a little Maggie! Big changes coming to the blog soon. Now that Maggie is here she can start doing her own blog entries. And of course we are no longer "Waiting for Baby O", so a title change is on the way too. Keep checking back!

37 Week Picture

So, I know we got a little lazy at the end with posting my belly pics, but here is the last one we took. It's me at 37 weeks and 5 days in the hospital waiting for Maggie to get here. She just couldn't wait any longer, she HAD to get here a few weeks early. It was a lot of hard work, but she was definitely worth it. Pictures of Maggie coming soon...

Here it is...Maggies room

So even though she is not going to be sleeping in here for a while, here is what she has to look forward too. Lots of pink! Ill bet you want pictures of the baby don't you? Well just hold on a second.

Willa likes the baby's room

We were putting up some finishing touches in the baby's room yesterday - well, John was putting up some finishing touches while I supervised from the comfort of our new glider rocker, when Willa comes running in with one of her favorite toys (her "baby" that she carries around). She sat on the floor contentedly playing with her toy while we worked. Isn't she just adorable!