23 months

Wow, in a month Olivia will be 2 years old. I will no longer tell people how old she is in months, she is a big girl soon. 2 years old. I have a lot of catching up to do on my posts but I wanted to do one more monthly type post before the big 2.

-Olivia is SO much fun these days! Every stage is always my favorite, but it is true! She is communicating so well putting many words together. She says "I love you too" and "I love you mommy" or "I love you daddy" She always wants to help with cooking. She gets her point across by saying "I sit down." This means she wants to sit on the kitchen counter while we mix something, etc. She LOVES to help. She helped me make cookies the other day by stirring the dough in the bowl on the kitchen floor. She was too excited to just sit on the floor and stir!

-She has a couple things she loves to say frequently these days. One is "Hi mommy!" She says it in the cutest way, and says it extra often when she has done something naughty. Makes it hard to be mad with her! She also says "daddy mean" when John says something to her she doesn't like. I think she also knows we think it is funny because she is relentless when she gets on a kick of saying it! She won't say "daddy nice" no matter how hard I try!

-She is still an outdoor girl at heart. She could play outside all day I think. She loves to dig in the dirt, play with the hose, and pull weeds. Although when George was at Jenny and Nick's last week, I discovered she really doesn't like to be outside alone. I let her outside while I was in the kitchen and she kept saying "come on mommy! Outside mommy!" so cute! Her favorite is going to the park. Once we mention the park, it is all over. She will bring us our shoes, get dressed, put on her own shoes and say "YAY! Park!" until we go.

-She is wearing a lot of 24 month and 2t clothes. She has 18 month pajamas that are getting quite snug, but her 2t pajamas are very roomy. She *loves* anything "cozy." Anything soft she will proclaim "cozy!" and cuddle it. I have found she tends to nap better when I change her into "cozy pants" before nap time.

-Speaking of naps, she still does 1 nap a day around noon. Today she slept for 3.5 hours which is on the high end for her, but it is typical for 2-3 hours. I hope she continues it for a long time. She really does love to sleep and needs it!

-She also continues to sleep great at night. She usually goes to bed around 8 pm and gets up around 7am (earlier on days daddy wakes her up) Although I think she actually normally wakes up quite earlier that 7 am but doesn't start calling out for us until that time which is very nice. She did have one off day last week where she woke up crying hard (VERY unlike her) at 4 am. She ended up going back to bed at 630 am and sleeping until 10 or so, which was nice for mommy!

-She is in "big girl diapers" now aka pull ups. Not because she is close to potty training, but because regular diapers started really irritating her upper legs where the tabs where for some reason. I still have a ton of diapers and try them every once in a while. She continues to say "owie" so pull ups it is. They are more expensive but I think they are a lot ore comfortable to her, so that's what is important. Hopefully we can get her potty training soon! We have tried here and there but only had one minor success when I caught her working on something and ran her to the toilet!

- She is still around 25 lbs and I don't have an accurate "height", although I think she is still tall for her age. We were at the public market the other day and another mom said Olivia was much taller than her 2 year old. Still not sure why we have a tall girl! ha ha! I think her hair makes her look older too....

-Speaking of her hair, it is getting so long and light. Almost everyone comments on it when they see it. The summer really lightened it up. It will be interesting to see if it lasts! She still has her beautiful ringlet curls, especially in the bottom half of her hair if that makes sense. Just like me which feels like more of a curse! Anyway, her hair has the most perfect curls that I hope stay!

-Olivia is much more interested in tv these days, a favorite is still "Elmo", but she has watched a few episodes of the wiggles without protesting to watch elmo so I think she likes that too!

-I downloaded a few apps on my ipad for Olivia and she has really enjoyed them. One is "counting game" as Olivia calls it, and another is "painting." I am glad to have some activities on the ipad to entertain Olivia, especially when out and about! I downloaded a piano one today for her and she protested "no!" after playing with it for about a minute. Oh well, I tried on that one!

-Olivia also loves to dance these days. She bounces around, spins in circles and hops. I have to try to get it on video one of these days. It is so cute! I think she really likes an audience too since she seems to dance more enthusiastically with more people watching.

-She likes that same foods as always, crazy about fruits, yogurt, cheese, crackers(crazy about fruit snacks),not so crazy about meat and not even trying eggs. We continue to try!

- I think Olivia is getting into the "terrible 2's" at times... crying at the drop of a hat when she doesn't get what she wants and throwing mini tantrums. Nothing too serious yet though!





Here are a few snapshots of Olivia at around 23 months. Here is her sad face- aka the "daddy mean" face. ha ha

Dancing up a a storm with her friend Brenna at the park

Swinging on Vashon. One of her very favorite activities.

Splashing in the water- another one of her favorite activities. You can see how wild she gets!

A little bit serious. About to go down the slide. Yet another one of her favorite activities.

I can't believe it has been almost 2 years since our life changed forever! We continue to have so much fun with her and are amazed every day by something she does or says. We are so lucky to have her in our life!

Olivia lately

*Olivia really likes to play and interact with Elsie lately. She was so interested in grabbing her hand for some reason! She was also such a nice friend and pushed Elsie on the swing!
*Olivia has a new playset and really likes the slide part of it! I thought she would love the swing, but she seems to be more interested in the buckle on the swing than the actual swing!

*Olivia continues to love fruit, and recently loved all the fresh berries we picked! *Olivia is absolutely crazy about lawnmowers. She will say "daddy lawnmower" in our garage or say "papa lawnmower" at my dad's house. If she hears someone mowing the lawn in the area, she likes to watch them cut the grass! Such a silly girl! Here she is with her very own lawnmower from papa and grandma Sandy. *

*Olivia has become so good at taking her own shoes off and on. She has a few of the croc style shoes that are great for wearing out in the yard and perfect for her to learn putting shoes off and on! *Lately Olivia has been jumping all the time. She is so cute how she squats all the way to the ground to get ready and jumps with all her might! She loves to show off her jumping skills.
*Here she is with the garden stone she made for her daddy. She loves that stone and remember that she made it with her hand print. She likes to go up and put her hand in the hand print.
*Olivia had her first (and hopefully last!) surgery on Monday June 27th at 7:30 am. She had to get up early and not drink or eat before surgery. She was most sad about no water. She had the little bump on her lip removed and her lip looks great now! She was a little sleepy but VERY thirsty after the procedure. I was so glad everything went ok! My crazy happy girl was back to normal within a couple hours I think! Here she is in her hospital pajamas and socks.

*John captured this cute picture. Olivia was so proud of herself. It was one of the first times she has ever eaten raspberries and she decided to put them on her fingers all by herself! It amazing what she thinks of at her young age!

*My beautiful girl has had a runny nose for the past week now. I have had it too and I am thinking she may have inherited my allergies! Poor girl! I think it is harder for us than her though, she doesn't seem bothered too much by it!

Well, that is a bit of Olivia and what she has been up to these days! She talks so much now that it is hard to remember everything! John and I are amazed almost daily of the words we don't realize she knows, and understand their meaning! She is still such a happy girl almost all of the times and is happiest being outdoors running around! Last night the weather was pretty mild and she ran around outside in the backyard totally naked with the garden hose spraying everything she could having the best time! It was so much fun watching her!

random

I have been such a bad blogger because I have been so busy between chasing Olivia, working and now making hair clips and other things for my new etsy shop! Anyway we are all doing great over here- John is busy building a fence in the back yard, Olivia is running around talking more and more every day, and I am busy chasing her and taking her to play groups and tumbling class (as well as working). Olivia says tons of words now, and just today started saying "Elsie" and "off". I also felt inside her mouth and she is getting one of her back teeth! That will put her at 9 teeth, She has 4 upper front and 4 lower front right now. Here she is on the ferry heading to Vashon. Picture with daddy. Family picture!

Group photo with the kids on our way to the beach. Wussy Julie stayed inside the house.

Walking on the rocky beach with daddy.

Playing inside with Madeline. They love each other so much and Olivia even says Madeline (in her own way, but it is understandable!)

Being a ballerina practicing with the potty.

Stops briefly to stare up at the tv (elmo was on of course)

picture of us

she absolutely loves the ipad!

staring off today

Still kind of dazed with happy Elsie.

Giving Elsie a hug. She was so sweet and gentle for the most part with Elsie all day! She kept saying her name over and over and even fed her puffs (but ate more herself of course)

running through the park

the girls. 10 months apart.

Olivia learned TODAY how to climb up into the equipment and slide down the slide by herself! Scary but exciting also. She didn't know how to turn around so she went down head first. She even got off without falling at all.

That's all the photos for now, but I will try to add some more from previous weeks another day. Olivia is so much fun but active as ever! Like I said before, she is in tumbling and seems to REALLY like it! She ran and laughed pretty much the entire 30 minutes. She learned how to log roll and can do it by herself now! She loves the somersault mat and the little high bar. Fun times!

15 months

I am a few days late on this one- but I really want to try and keep up on her monthly stats since she continues to change so much! Hopefully I can do this until she is 2 years old.

- You are such a "little people" as daddy likes to say. Running around "talking" in only in a language you understand. You look at us like we should totally get what you are saying. It is so cute!

-You know how to sign "all done" and "more". We haven't been too consistent on the signing, and I think you would pick it up pretty fast if we were better about teaching it!

-You say "mama' "dada" "oscar" "papa" "baba" (I think for your bottle AND your pacifier) "da" for dog. I have heard you say ba ba for bye bye. You whisper "hot", although we were thinking last night you may think hot has to do with lights! (since the fireplace is lit up and the stove is lit up when hot- you pointed at lightbulbs at costco last night and whispered "hot") I also swear you said kitty cat the other day when you had a cat on your shirt, and in the past you repeated waffle and powder after I said them.

-You understand a lot more than we think sometimes! If we ask you to get your dolly or get Martini's toy- you will run and get them. I asked you to pick up your plastic banana last night, and you went and got it!

-You have 6 teeth now! A 3rd one has finally popped through on the top this month.

-You are such a happy girl most of the time. You constantly laugh and love making everyone else laugh. You make an O face with your mouth when you want people to laugh.

-You still love everyone- including strangers! We set up your first savings account for you yesterday, and you immediately wanted the banker to hold you the whole time. You played with her keyboard and keys, and smiled and waved at other workers! Everyone loved you! You are not a shy girl!

-You are wearing 12 month pajamas still since the 18 months are pretty baggy, but wearing 12-18 month clothes in pretty much all brands.

-You love to play peek a boo, have us chase you around the house, carry you on our back and play on the couch. You love when we put something over your head like a blanket or shirt so you can run around like a crazy girl! You are really loving shutting doors lately. You always shut the cabinet doors if they are open, and your bedroom door if you are in it! You are climbing on the big chair in your room all by yourself now, which makes me nervous!

-You still sleep through the night- going to bed between 7 and 8 pm and waking up around 7 am or earlier if daddy has to take you to papa's house. You nap 1-2 times a day depending on what we are doing. Usually you nap 2-4 hours total throughout the day.

-You are still a good eater. You love cheese, fruit, waffles, and ham. You still will not let eggs near your mouth- no matter what we do to disguise them! It is kind of funny how you can detect them!

-When I say "Is daddy home?" You run to the front door and look out the window. If he is home you start waving like crazy and banging on the window and laugh.

-Your hair is getting so long, but I don't know if I will ever cut it! I love the way it looks and all your little curls in back.

Well that is pretty much you these days. You are silly, happy, crazy, running around constantly, busy, climbing, and exhausting, but we love every second with you!

A rare moment laying on the ground

Where did my baby go?



This is you- laughing with big smiles.

Standing behind your chair.

Playdate with Elsie

Elsie and Amanda came over for a fun playdate and to have lunch! Olivia really likes seeing Elsie but I think got a little jealous of whoever was holding her! She would want to be held with Elsie too. It was pretty funny. Oh and when Elsie laid on the boppy- so did Olivia. I'm sure these 2 are going to have tons of fun together soon! Elsie is so cute and is much more interactive and less baby-ish than last time I saw her! She loves to smile!

14 months

A little late, but better than never! Olivia is 14 months. We have a little toddler on our hands now! Here are her stats:

- She is wearing 12-18 month and some 18 month clothes

- Size 3 diapers, and sometimes size 4's (she fits in both according to her weight)

- We haven't weighed her this month and she is currently napping, but I would guess she weighs between 23 and 24 pounds.

-She still loves to eat most of the time! She loves cheese, all types of fruit, pasta, and sometimes meat (but not too often). She still does 2 bottles a day ( in the morning and before bed)

-She has 5 teeth to eat all that food with. 2 on top and 3 on bottom, with the two next to the top ones *very* close to popping through!

-She has been a little more fussy lately and it may be due to those 2 teeth.

- She has been wild and crazy with her adventurous personality these last few weeks! She currently likes to pull out the bottom stove drawer and stand on it to get up higher on the stove. She also likes to get up on the fireplace and stand up there dancing and laugh, and just yesterday put an entire shape toy in her mouth. Good thing it had a breathing hole! That one got taken away... Oh and she also stands on her little rocking chair and "surfs". She does that on her little piano sometimes too. She LOVES to climb!

-We took her to Santa the other day and he was the first person she was absolutely terrified of.

-She still really hasn't had any illness *knock on wood* other than a runny nose /congestion around the time of her birthday. We are taking her out more to play with other kids though, so that may change soon!

-She is still sleeping all night- going to bed around 7 pm and waking up around 6 am with *usually* 2 good naps a day of at least an hour each.

-Still loves her bath time! She just uses the big bath now and has tons of toys to play with in there.

-We think she is the cutest thing in the whole world and love every day with her! Love you baby girl!

12 months

I realized I still haven't written Olivia's monthly post! Her big 12 month post. I can't believe she is already a year and not really a baby anymore. She a little toddler, and she definitely toddles! She is still the sweetest most adorable girl in the whole world.


- you wear size 4 diapers, but they are a little large sometimes!
- you are in pretty much all 12 month clothes, and some 9 month onesies.
- you weigh 21 lb 4 oz (55%)
- you are 30 inches long (80%) still so tall!
- your head is 18 1/4 inches around (85%)
- you love to eat, but your favorite is any sort of fruit. I don't think you've met a fruit you didn't like. You still dislike eggs and don't love meats.
- you are walking and sometimes running everywhere! I am surprised now if you crawl at all.
- you had 3 bottom teeth on your birthday, but we noticed your top one coming through yesterday!
- you love to point at everything
- you know where your nose and belly are
- you do "how big is Olivia, sooo big!"
- you wave hi and bye and sometimes blow kisses
- you have started macking clicking noises and kissing noises at times!
- you are saying mama quite a bit and "ma" which I think is for martini. You also know ball now!
- you like to scrunch up your nose and breathe deeply to be funny!
- some of your favorite toys right now are your plastic balls for your ball pit. You love crawling in and out of it!
- another obsession lately is any part of your Halloween costume ( a cupcake) it is made of fleece and I think you like how soft it is. You don't seem to like wearing it though, just holding it.
- you also seem to enjoy carrying a wrapped string cheese. Kind of funny but true!
- we had a photo session with amber last week and you did great. We lost your hair clip but you are cute no matter what you are wearing!
- your naps are still hit and miss but you usually have one good nap and one short one. You still go to bed around 7 pm on average and sleep until 6 am or so.
- you love your daddy so much you get sad when he leaves and you watch him from the window when he mows the lawn. You love when he waves at you!
- we love you so much baby girl and still can't believe you are ours. You are the sweetest happiest girl even while teething! How did we get so lucky to get you? Happy birthday baby.