Time-outs and Potty Training.

This is what I saw when I walked into the church nursery after service on Sunday.     ...this is Olivia in the time-out chair.    Apparently she refused to keep her clothes on.  Highly inappropriate for church.  See, in the nursery there is a toddler bathroom with a half door that has a toddler size toilet and Olivia is obsessed with it.  She likes to "help" all the kids who are potty training and I guess she figured that if she kept taking her clothes off the Mom's working in the nursery would get the hint that she wanted to use the potty.    She did successfully go potty while at church so I figured I'd take advantage of her eagerness and interest and go with it.    After church we went straight to Target and bought her big girl Minnie Mouse panties!  She was so excited.  On the ride home we talked about going potty and wearing her big girl undies.   I put her new undies on her and she was so excited to show them off to Daddy, Gram and Papa.     She spent the rest of the day in her big girl panties, slippers....     ...and sometimes a tutu!   I'm so proud of Olivia.  This is a pretty big transition and she's doing an awesome job with it.  After each successful potty-ing she gets a ton of claps, praise and high-fives!  She soaks it in...which could explain why she went potty about 3 times in the first 10 minutes of wearing her new undies.    My girl is a rockstar - I'm so, so proud of her!   Now, if you'll excuse me, we have some reading to do.    

Birthday weekend re-cap.

This past weekend my baby girl turned 2 and we had a blast!!!  All of our efforts paid off when we saw the sheer excitement on Olivia's face during so many special moments throughout the weekend.  Birthday's are a big deal to me and I like to make them extra special.   ...and the best part, the celebration isn't over yet, her birthday party is this coming Saturday so my girl gets to have another day of fun dedicated to her!    (Planning her party for the following weekend as opposed to on her actual birthday was the best idea yet.  We spent family time together and did a bunch of fun things just for Olivia and next weekend we get to have more fun all over again!)   Saturday was her last day as a 1 year old.  We spent the day at a local festival and had a ton of fun walking around and enjoying the crisp fall weather.     Putting her to sleep that night was so bittersweet for me.  My little girl, growing up.  I lingered in her room a bit longer, gave her some extra hugs and kisses and snapped the last picture of her before she turned 2. 

Sleeping sweetly - October 6, 2012.   Her last night as a 1 year old.

After Olivia was asleep my husband and I blew up 3 dozen pink balloons and filled her room with them for a morning surprise!  When she woke up Sunday morning she was so excited with the "bloons!" 
I made her breakfast, her favorite, pancakes and bacon and we ate together as a family.  Olivia totally knew that it was her special day because she kept cheering "it's my bir-day! Hooray!"   After breakfast we opened presents.      We got dressed and played for a while.     We bought her a few things but her favorite was this Melissa and Doug shape sorter puzzle set.   My husband and I decided to take her out to lunch at one of our favorite little diners where she proudly ordered a "hot go (dog) and fries".  She told everyone "it's my bir-day!" and enjoyed all the attention! 

Acting silly at lunch!

 After lunch it was time for apple picking and unfortunately it was also time mother nature decided to start raining!  So, we improvised and had a short trip to the apple orchard and pumpkin patch.  Olivia loved it just the same.  We bought a few huge apples and some little pumpkins that Olivia picked out because the other ones were "too heavy!!!"  Since the weather didn't cooperate, we're going back one afternoon this week to do the corn maze and wagon ride.  

When we got home Olivia and I baked birthday chocolate chip cookies and enjoyed a couple of them warm, right out of the oven!     After dinner Olivia was pretty tired so we had a quick round of birthday cake, sang "Happy Birthday" about 5 times, took a bath and she fell fast asleep!      Olivia, I hope that you thoroughly enjoyed your birthday weekend!  Mommy and Daddy tried our best to make is super special and a ton of fun.  We love you more than words can express.  Happy 2nd birthday love!   (this week I'll share more about our plans for her birthday party this coming Saturday)   All pictures were previously shared on Instagram (my camera isnt working right, so sorry for the doubles)   Follow me on IG under username - Camarogirl819. All pics from this weekend are #OliviaTurns2 and #HappyBirthdayOlivia 

Today you're 2!

My sweet Olivia, today is your 2nd birthday.  Two whole years on this earth as part of our family.  What did we ever do before you were here?  Today you are waking up to dozens of balloons filling your room to celebrate you!  You're going to love it.  Today is going to be all about you.  We'll make your favorite breakfast of pancakes and bacon and spend the day doing fun things in honor of your special day!
  While we're celebrating, I won't be able to help but think back to exactly two years ago, on this very day when I was able to hold you in my arms for the first time and meet the baby I'd been loving for the past 9 months!  Meeting you changed our world.    Before it was just us, a couple, and now we were a family of 3.  Parents with a child.  A perfect little girl.  What a blessing!   We've had our moments over the past two years, two young parents learning how to be a married couple and how to be parents all at the same time.  It was amazing and rough, simple and complicated, fun yet exhausting...but most of all, it was perfect.  Not perfect as in nothing went wrong, perfect as in perfect for us.  For our story.  Exactly the way that God planned it to be for us.   Daddy and I are so, so grateful for you.  We are so thankful that we were chosen to be your parents and we pray every day for the ability to do our job as parents the best we possibly can.  We love you more than words can ever describe.    Happy birthday Love!  xoxo 

Photo taken by my dear friend Jenn for Olivia's 2 year photo shoot!

 ~Mommy     

In 6 days...

This week I'll be reflecting on my baby girls first 2 years of life.  It's amazing how fast, but yet how slowly this time has gone.  After this week I plan on discussing my faith journey a bit more to share how I've come to know the Lord and bits and pieces of my testimony thus far.  Hope you stick around.   In 6 short days our sweet Olivia will be 2 years old!  Two!Years!Old!  How does this happen?  Where has the time gone?  I swear there is some kind of time warp after you have children.  There is this mixture of feeling like she was just born but yet not remembering life before her.    Our life has never been richer.  Filled with love and excitement at seeing everything through the eyes of a child.  Our child.    It's an amazing feeling to show the world to this little being.  Watching her explore and seeing her grow.  Witnessing her heart grow kinder and more compassionate.   Seeing her become the caring little girl I long for her to be.    It's been (almost) two years with her and these have been the best two years of our lives.  Nothing compares to having a child of your own.  She's filled a spot in our lives that we didn't know was missing.    

Taken October 7, 2010.  First day on earth.

  

Olivia is 15 Months Old!

My sweet girl is 15 months old.  Here is a highlight of some things she knows and loves to do!

Girlfriend has started climbing everything lately. 

She's particularly interested in the blinds and tries her hardest

to reach the choking hazard cord all the time.

She loves this little book called "100 First Animals"

She got it for Christmas and hasn't put it down since. 

She points to all the animals and asks "what's that?" in the sweetest little Minnie Mouse voice.

She knows the sounds that elephants, dogs, cats, owls, guinea pigs and lions make

and she says them when I ask.

Her favorite picture in the book is the Spider... 

She loves to sing "the itsy bitsy spider" poor girl is sure to be

traumatized when she realized what a spider really is!

Her favorite place to get into mischief is the dogs water bowl. 

She constantly circles it in an attempt to plunge her chubby little fingers into the water. 

When she's on her way to the water bowl and hears us coming she always walks

a little faster to try to beat us there...and most of the time she does!

She loves Elmo and Mickey Mouse and becomes entranced by the shows on TV when we let her watch.

She loved looking at Christmas lights this year and we took her to

LaSalette Shrine to see their display called the Festival of Lights. 

It was so pretty!

Here's my husband and Olivia in front of their gorgeous Manger.

Olivia,

You bring such joy to our lives. 

You have us laughing all the time with your funny ways! 

You're so inquisitive, always asking "what's that?" 

You certainly keep us on our toes too with all your climbing and water bowl playing! 

You're the sweetest little soul.  You are so gentle and loving. 

You are so generous with hugs and kisses and we love to receive them! 

You love talking on the phone and playing with all electronics. 

You've unprogrammed all the remotes in the house countless times. 

You put Pepere's cell phone in his slippers and you steal the cordless phone by the bed all the time!

We love you more than words could ever describe!  Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you. 

Olivia's Antics

   

Olivia is growing faster than I ever imagined and there are so so many things she's doing and learning
that I dont want to forget.  I wish I could just bottle her up and keep her just the way she is for just a while.  It seems like every time I turn around (literally) she's doing or saying something new!

     Her favorite thing to do is "drop" things, although she isnt truly dropping things since it's all pre-meditated.  She even announces "I rop" (drop) before she does it.  It can be anything from her toy to her sippy cup or ood... whatever.  It's become a game.  I've tried to explain that she's throwing things, not dropping them, however, reasoning with an almost 14 month old is useless.

     She's just started walking, she can walk the length of a room without falling but now she's started trying to haul things with her.  She finds the heaviest, most awkward toy to carry and tries so hard to bring it with her.  Makes the journey much longer from point a to point b. 

     She's learned to "roar" when asked "what does a lion say?" - her reply is "roar, roar, roar" although its more of a growl.  It's adorable!  She also knows how to bark, since we have 2 loud pups, so we ask "what does a doggie say" and she barks.... a.d.o.r.a.b.l.e!

     Whenever I tell her I love her, a ka-trillion times a day, I point to my eye and say "I", then I point to my heart when I say "love" and then I point to her when I say "you" and now she's doing the same thing.  Melts my heart!

     She is in love with our 2 dogs.  Whenever they walk by her she says "Hi dog" which sounds more like "Hi duh" but, I know what she means!  She touches them any chance she gets and has also learned how to play with them with their toys.  She brings the dogs their toys and even throws it to them sometimes.  A couple of days ago I turned around for a second, looked back and she was eating a dog bone.  Nice, mother of the year right here!  At least it was all natural.

     When I say "where's Olivia" she covers her eyes and hides!  Sometimes she moves her hands away quickly and other times she makes us wait and say "where's Olivia, I cant find her, Where is she?" a million times before she's ready to reveal her self.  And when she finally does, she squeels some string of high pitched words together to announce herself and is super excited.  We're working on turning that into just saying "ta-da!"

I seriously could go on and on and on for days, but for now, I'll just leave you with an adorable picture of my munchkin!


Cutest "concentration face" ever!

~Laura