Livvy's first Christmas!

Christmas was SO much better than anything I could have imagined! It's true when  people say that once you have kids, Christmas gets exciting again. We had a Christmas Eve dinner at my parents house and then went back home to open our Christmas jammies. Livvy was more interested in the tag than anything.

How could Santa not love her?

Then on Christmas morning, we went back to my Dad's house to open presents with the whole family before Graciee had to go to her Dad's house. Olivia was so interested in everyone else and all of the excitement going on that she didn't really care about anything related to her. She just loved watching it all!



Once we got back home though, and there wasn't so much going on, she was really excited to unwrap all of her presents and play with the ribbon and paper. I have no idea what she was thinking in these pictures, but I think her faces are HILARIOUS!

I tried buying toys that she could play with on her own, but she still only wants to play with them if Mommy plays too. She looooooves Mommy time!



It was over way too fast, but we loved every minute of it! I hope everyone else had a GREAT Christmas!

Olivia meets Santa!

Skyler and I took Livvy to see Santa Saturday morning, and it was a lot more fun than I thought it would be! We went to the Carousel at the Riverfront. The line was short, the people were super nice, it was affordable, AND we were allowed to take our own pictures. When I sat Olivia down on Santa's lap, she was a little nervous, but we hurried and distracted her with some jingle bells.

I love this picture! She was looking at the glitter on his sleeve when he called her name, and she was so surprised to look up and realize that she was sitting on his lap! 

And then the surprise. I thought it was going to be a candy cane, but it was a bell! PERFECT for an 8 month old! I sat her down for a minute to get everything together, but she was so content with her bell that we stayed and let her play for another couple minutes. Right before we left she realized that it jingled and she shook it the entire way home.



I was so proud that she wasn't afraid! She loves santa!!

8 Months!

I thought that month 7 was a big month for growth, but month 8 has been even better! We took you to OMSI to play in the toddler area, and it was amazing to watch you climb the blocks, and you were so proud of yourself when you got to the top.

It's exciting to watch you go for the things that you want, and get rid of the things you don't. You LOVE things that glow! Laptops, phones, computer mouses, and anything that makes noise. You also started your love for dolls this month. We went shopping for Graciee's 1st Birthday and chose a doll, and all week you were trying to play with it.

You've also turned into a little comedian. Whenever I try to take a picture of you, you stick out your tongue or blow bubbles at me. You're just soooooo hilarious ;)

And you realized that you can make pretty cool breathing noises when you open your mouth wide, and then blow in and out of your nose really fast. You do it every time you get excited for something, such as me coming home from work, seeing your reflection in a mirror, or seeing pictures of people you know.

And your THUMB!!! You started sucking your thumb! You don't do it all the time, but if there's nothing else to suck on, in it goes.

You love bathtime even more now too! You're always splashing, and whenever I wash you, you try to steal the washcloth from me so you can put it in your mouth! You've almost outgrown your baby tub too, so soon you'll be taking a regular bath like a big girl.

I LOVE this age!! I miss you every second I'm away from you. I love watching you play, and learn. You finally learned how to sit back down after standing, and it made me so excited to see you accomplish something. You laugh more, love more, and give so much more emotion. I love you so much!!

Livvy goes to Daddy's

Jamel FINALLY got back from Afghanistan Monday afternoon, after being there for an entire year! (minus Livvy's birth, when they allowed him to come home for a couple weeks)

Yesterday, him, Chelsea (his girlfriend), and her brother JT, took her for the day and kept her overnight and she did amazing! It didn't take long for her to warm up to him at all, and she loves watching her older brother. They stopped by my work yesterday, and she was so concerned every time he would move to something else in the room. This is going to be really different and new for me. I miss her a lot! But I'm so excited for her to have all of her family around, and I know that she is going to love her Daddy so much, and he is going to spoil her!! It's also going to be nice to have some time to myself! Weird, but nice :)

Zoo lights!

A bunch of us went to the Zoo lights at the Oregon Zoo this weekend, and had so much fun! It was buy one ticket, get one free and it was PACKED!! We had to park away from the zoo and take the school bus to get there.

Livvy didn't mind the wait at first, and was loving all the attention she was getting, but after standing in the same spot for a half hour she started to get bored and fussy.

Her hat was so funny! Since she was sitting back against the seat, whenever she would move her head, the hat would stay in place. So when she moved her head forward again, the flap would end up covering her entire face! And the funniest thing was that she would just sit there covered until one of us noticed.

We FINALLY got to the Zoo an hour and a half later!

Auntie Shaylee, Me, Chelsea, and Auntie Brittanee

The lights were SO pretty! I was impressed with how much they put into it and how many decorations there were. They had so many lights! And the way they lit up, it was like the animals were moving around and playing... more action than the actual zoo :)

They had costume animals all over the Zoo too! Olivia didn't really care about this cow when we were talking to it, but then while we were taking pictures she happened to notice that he was standing next to us, and then she cared.

It was a lot of fun, but I still think Livvy was too young, and it was COLD!!!! I really enjoyed time with my family and friends though, and I can't wait to see what they do to top it off next year!

Happy Birthday Graciee!

Yesterday, we celebrated Graciee May's FIRST Birthday!! It really seems like yesterday we were sitting in the living room on Thankgiving counting Britt's contractions. Time flies SO fast!

Brittanee held it at the NW Kids Club and Gracie was SO excited! She was running around with a HUGE smile on her face for about the first half hour she was there. There was SO much to do!

After the little ones played for a while, we decided to let them try out the bouncy house. Olivia was nervous at first, but once I climbed in there and she saw her older cousin having fun, she decided it was okay.

And then there was cake!

And presents....

Graciee was so funny! She kept running over to Olivia in the middle of opening presents to kiss her and play.

And then Olivia thought she should help too.

I'm SO proud of Britt! I knew she was going to be a great Mother, but still, she never fails to surprise me at how amazing she is!

Good job Sis, you made it through the first year!!!

Olivia's first Thanksgiving!

This was definitely the BEST Thanksgiving ever! (Olivia would say the same, if she could talk)

I wanted Livvy to be able to enjoy a good Thanksgiving dinner like the rest of us, but didn't want too big of a mess, so we stripped her down, and put her in her easy to clean travel bed.

At first, she was a little confused, and I think she was scared to eat her food because she tries to eat off our plates all the time and we are constantly telling her no.

But then she dove in. I'm still not really sure how much of it ended up in her mouth, and how much of it ended up on her body and the travel bed, but she had A LOT of fun playing with it!

Once I realized that she was making a huge mess, I picked her up to wash her off and she saw an opportunity to eat Mama's food too. She grabbed it and plunged it into her mouth as fast as she could! Oh well, it's Thanksgiving.

At least she wiped her hands off after :)

7 Months!

Olivia, you're 7 months old!! I know I say this all the time, but it's crazy... one day, you'll understand. This by far has been the biggest month for growing. You're able to sit up perfectly by yourself now, and love sitting in shopping carts :) It's so much easier for you to see everything that's going on!

You're crawling like CRAZY!! I got home from work one night and uncle Skyler was so excited! It took a lot of coaxing, but you finally crawled to me, and I was so happy, I cried. The world is so interesting to you now. You love to explore and get into EVERYTHING, but I don't mind it as much as I imagined I would, it's just a habit now to put the DVD's back on the entertainment center every night.

Your toys are FINALLY getting used...

It's getting hard to get pictures of you now, because you always want to take my phone! You saw me taking this picture, and crawled towards me faster than I've ever seen a baby crawl.

You can pull yourself up now too, but you can't get back down and you'll cry. Anyone who sees you right now, will think I beat you! I can't even count how many times you've pulled yourself up and then lost balance on your way down. It's so hard too, because I want to just help you down, but then you'll never learn how to do it yourself.

Weekend mornings are my favorite; we wake up early and cuddle on the couch. You're finally showing me that you know who I am, and that you miss me by getting sad when I leave, and excited when I come home. You give loves, and you're starting to give kisses. I have been waiting SO long for this, and am loving every minute of it!

I love you more and more every day!

Love, Mommy

Olivia's first Halloween!

I remember Trick or Treating with Brittanee last year, both of us pregnant, and thinking about how weird it was going to be having babies to take around. It was SO much better than anything I imagined!

Sunday night I made potato soup and rolls for dinner and then we carved pumpkins while watching 'The Nightmare before Christmas'. Then we had apples, ice cream, and caramel for dessert.

This is Livvy's first pumpkin. We traced her hand and then carved it out. I tried to do both hands, but that was pushing it! I'm glad we at least got one :)

Monday (Halloween), I got home from work and put Olivia in her costume. I was SO surprised at how much she didn't care that it was impossible to move around in. She didn't love the hood at first, but got over it pretty quickly.

Everyone met at Grandpa's house... Skyler, Shaylee, Kayla, Ashley, Brittanee, Graciee, Dad, Pat, Cinnamon, Gabby, and Kyle. It made it so much more fun to have a big group!

Olivia wanted to hold her bucket, which worked well for a few houses, and then she just wanted to throw it. I LOVE this pic! By the time we got home, her ribbon was SOAKED from her chewing on it.

The other great thing about a big group? Taking turns! I only had to carry Olivia to a few houses and then everyone else wanted a turn. Here's Livvy and Grandpa :)

The girls were troopers! I was suprised at how content Olivia was going around to all of the houses. Once we were finished Trick or Treating, we headed back to Grandpa's for hot cocoa. It was the best Halloween yet!