First Birthday Party

    I am a little behind.... as in 2 weeks.... but we celebrated Olivia's First Birthday on

February 25, 2012!! It was a success and so much fun! Olivia had a great turn out for her party... so many family and friends to be thankful for. The theme was "You are my Sunshine." I sing this song to her all the time and she just smiles through the whole song. Such a happy girl.  I actually made it through the "Happy Birthday" song without crying.... because I practiced.... a lot. I seriously can not believe a whole year has gone by. Livvi was not too sure about the cake... she touched it and looked at me... then reached for the balloons attached to her highchair.... seriously.... she's my child... not eating the cake?? The cake and cupcakes were delicious.... thanks to Grandma Nancy who did such a wonderful job on them.... I loved it!! Opening presents was not Olivia's thing either... but I had a blast opening everything!!! All kinds of awesome new stuff... Olivia looked at a few things... then walked around to visit.... then came back to peek... and so on. I'm sure next year she will be more into it!! All in all.... she had a wonderful day!!

The Invite!

 the only crafty thing i have ever made:)

 mmm mmmm good!!!

Happy Birthday to You!!!!

Here Mommy..... you try it!

Present time!!!



Olivia Grace is One!!!!!!!

    Well here we are!! February 21, 2012.... I blinked and all of the sudden my newborn baby girl is a walking babbling little girl. I feel like it was just yesterday that I was anxiously awaiting her arrival and praying for a healthy baby. Wow.... I know I say it over and over..... but time really does fly. I am so very thankful for the perfect child that God had given me and I am so proud to be her mommy. I can not imagine life any other way and even during the difficult times I am grateful.

    Now, enough of the sappy stuff. Olivia is so independent now. She starting walking about three weeks ago... and is now trying to run! She has a shoe fetish.... but absolutely hates to have them on her feet.... she just carries them around and DOES NOT let go... pretty funny. Olivia has also been quite the conversationalist. Of course I do not understand a word she says.... but it sounds a lot like Chinese.... by baby must be bilingual!! Hehehe. Another thing Olivia has perfected is climbing the stairs (with me right behind her) She loves to be tickled, loves to dance, and just loves to smile at everyone.... and waves all the time.... even to the TV. So entertaining!

    Ben and I were both off work today so we had a wonderful family day!! These are few and far between! We went to lunch at Bahama Breeze with Ben's mom and then went to the Zoo!!! Olivia had such a good time looking at the animals and walking around on her own. I think she thought she was hot stuff because she got to walk all over outside while we followed her around. After we got home we all took a short nap and then went to dinner at our local Mexican place.... Olivia loves Mexican food.... it's her favorite!!!!! Especially guacamole.... she fits right in with our family:)

 Olivia, Jax and Lilly checking out her new presents

    She knows where her shoes are.... heads straight to this drawer every morning

Walking around the zoo

Ooooo..... it's MY Birthday!!!

First taste of ice cream!!! Cookies n Cream



      This weekend is her birthday party.... the theme is You are My Sunshine.... I can't wait to see her dig into the cake!

11 Months Already?!

    Olivia turned 11 months this past Saturday on the 21st! Mommy was out of town for a girl's getaway weekend but was pretty impressed to come home to find that Grandma and Daddy took care of the monthly picture! She is 19lbs 15 oz now... growing like a weed. We also found out this month that Olivia probably has allergies... just like her daddy. She had been coughing for several weeks and I finally took her to the pediatrician who told us to start her on Zyrtec daily.... that has helped tremendously!

 New this month:

• attempting to run with her push toy
• took 4 steps by herself!!!!!
• babbling mamamamamaama and dadadadada
• squishing up her nose when she laughs
• feeding the dogs most of her food... which she finds hilarious
• pointing at everything
• putting both arms in the air when music is on
• started to brush her teeth... she actually likes it

  I am starting to plan her first birthday party which is fun.... but also sad... I'm sure I will tear up on her birthday... I can not believe she is almost one!! Who knew that finding birthday invitations would be so hard.... mostly because I am indecisive. We are doing a You are My Sunshine theme and I am finding allll kinds of stuff that I want to buy for it.... but like Ben keeps reminding me.... she is not going to know the difference so save up for parties in the future:) I can totally understand how people spend tons of money on parties.... so very easy to do!! I'm going to try to reign it in though.

All Smiles at the window

Giggles.. and stealing the remote!



Olivia's First Christmas 2011

     Christmas has come and gone and I must say it was wonderful! This was the first Christmas that Ben and I spent together (one of us has always had to work) and we were so blessed to have our bundle of joy with us too! Olivia did not know quite what to do yet with the presents but she has enjoyed playing with all the toys since. Jax actually opened most of her presents.... he was showing Livvi the ropes. We spent Christmas Eve with Ben's dad, Bill, and Jan at the Christmas Eve service at Hope, such a wonderful service! On Christmas morning my mom, and Ben's mom, Lee and Aunt Beth came over for breakfast and mimosas and we opened presents. We really enjoyed spending the morning relaxing and enjoying each other's company. Although I really enjoyed the morning... I started feeling sick mid morning.... pretty sure I had the flu!! Seriously?? But yes, I felt so bad because I was useless. Ben, being the wonderful husband that he is, made the food to take to my mom's house. We spent the afternoon at mom's where my sister and her crew came. Of course there was alot of action there and they all kept Olivia busy! Finally, we went back home and dad and Deb came over and brought MORE presents. After it was all said and done we all crashed in bed! I'm sooo thankful that we were able to spend time with everyone we love.

Christmas Eve at Hope!

Yes, that is tissue paper on Jax... and Yes, that is Jax's toy in Olivia's hand

and yes, after alllll the new toys.... she still has Jax's new toy in her hand

celebrating Christmas is exhausting! especially since this was her first nap (at 6pm in the car)



Our Little Mover is Ten Months Old!!

  I can not believe how fast time flies... I'm sure if  I reread some of the past blogs this exact statement would be in all of them though. Just a few more days until Christmas and we are ready! However, I'm sure Olivia will care more about the wrapping paper than anything else. She is such a busy body... ALWAYS on the go! She is constantly trying to get into the fireplace (which is gas and is never on), tries at least once a day to pull the Christmas tree down, and anything else that she should not have... she attempts to get:)

New this month:

•  4... yes 4 top teeth coming in!! and she's still in a pretty good mood!
•  feeding herself at every meal... she eats anything and everything...pretty much whatever we eat
• walking with her walking toy
• dancing! anytime she hears some music she starts moving around... has taking a strong liking to grandpa's ipad
• constant babbling and singing
• climbing the stairs (we stand right behind her and steady her when she decides to stop and turn around)
• starting to become afraid of strangers now
• has stood on her own for several seconds at a time

 I love watching her expressions and wonder what she is thinking.... you can see the wheels turning!!

Here are several pics from this  month.

Someone got an early Christmas present

Hilarious!! She got stuck in her toy box:)

Happy Girl

It's just not as easy to take her picture with a paper sign anymore:)



Tis the Season

  It's Merry Christmas time!! We took Olivia to meet Santa today... she really was not too sure about him but after he gave her a candy cane to play with she figured out he's not a bad guy after all. Although we never got an "official" smile out of her while she was on his lap.

  Meeting Santa must have worn her out because she fell asleep in the car and almost slept through lunch in her car seat at Osaka, our favorite sushi place.

  After some yummy sushi and some chicken fried rice for Livvi (healthy right... but hey there were veggies in it too) we went to the Collierville square to take some holiday pictures. We took a MILLION pics of the sweet girl and a few of us too. I was sooo excited because I got a picture of the three of us for our Christmas card by using the self timer on the camera, and Olivia thought it was hilarious that I was running to get in the pic.... so she has the biggest smile on her face:)

Look... I'm standing!

Santa's chair

Looking at the pretty flowers right before she tried to eat it

I absolutely love this pic of them

(she really is a daddy's girl)

Daddy was supposed to be taking pics of mommy and baby.... but we see who the star is

Shoulder Ride!!





  Now we just have to get the Christmas tree up and we can really enjoy the Christmas Season... Happy Holidays!!

Nine Months and time for Thanksgiving!!

 

Look Who's 9 Months Old

    So, today I had two people tell me, "she is very persistent." Yup, that's my girl, very determined... which is a great trait to have in life. However... right now her persistence consists of fighting diaper changes and getting dressed... getting into the TV wires... speaker wires.. etc...etc..... but I would not trade it for the world. Olivia is very inquisitive and really concentrates on whatever she is doing, slightly hard headed.... I'm not sure but that MAY come from mommy?? She also has a high tolerance for pain... like daddy. She is one tough cookie!!

  Today at the pediatrician she weighed in at 17lbs 14oz and is 26 inches long... doing great! Much better than the last month or so. She had her first sick visit to the doctor... she got antibiotics for a sinus infection.... then 2 weeks later she had her second sick visit.... she had RSV, two ear infections and bronchiolitis. Poor baby.... I felt so bad for her... but through it all.... she tried to keep that sweet smile on her face.

  Those two teeth that I saw coming in last month are now in... and Dr. Zeibarth said there were several more trying to come in... he thought maybe this weekend... we shall see. Olivia is crawling all over... pulls up on everything, claps her hands, and is starting to feed herself at mealtime... although she really would rather stay clean and let me do it.

hmmmm.... what toy do I want?

  Thanksgiving is two days away and we are ready for some turkey!! I am so thankful for all the blessings we have and so very thankful for my beautiful, healthy baby girl. We will be celebrating with everyone at my dad's house this year.... hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!!