My new beauty!

Here is the new baby! He/she is growing fine! After seeing the baby this size I am thinking its a girl but I am letting it be a surprise. Up till now I was convinced it was a boy! Oh the fun of it!

22.5 weeks~Livy was a much different shape!

Birthday!

Olivia started her birthday out with a morning present! She did pretty well unwrapping. I knew she would not be focused enough later at the party to open gifts so the morning was perfect to document her first present.

I made all the decor and bibs for the guests. We had a cupcake theme more or less. I baked numerous kinds of cupcakes, it was quite a display. It turned out so beautiful. Everyone had fun!

Birthday bib! I cannot even believe she is one. Even her clothes labels are starting to say toddler! I am shocked, where has my baby gone?

Here she is in her birthday dress. It had a vintage print of a cat, cake and a "1". She really just wanted to take it off :( It was also impossible to get her to smile for ANY pictures since there were 20 people over. Distracted and overwhelmed was how she was acting, but happy too. Until.....she cried when we sang happy birthday. Apparently that was a little much.

She bounced back very quickly and was ready for her cake! She did huff and puff but Mama had to blow the candle out.

Yumm!!

One year pictures!

My best friend is really the best. She came to California for a short visit and took these beautiful photos of Olivia. I wanted to have a professional session marking her one year birthday. These totally blew my expectations out of the water. Of course it doesn't hurt that the subject is darn near perfect!

Drop it like its hot.

Uh-oh

Here is a fun video of Olivia naming her new sibling "uh-oh". So funny for many reasons...

I am getting ready for my baby's ONE YEAR birthday party this Saturday. Seems impossible. What a busy year. It completely boggles my brain to look at all the developments she has conquered. It makes my heart surge with pride too! She is perfection at its very definition.

As for baby 2...its starting to sink in but honestly I am so distracted with my "almost toddler" its hard to give this budding one enormous amounts of attention! Today is baby 2's 20th week gestational birthday ;) I do feel so blessed to get another child, since I am sure he/she will be just as wonderful (and challenging) as Liv. I think about that a lot. Its hard to imagine but I hear everyone says that before their second baby.

Baby 2 is half way to being here!

:)

Blossoming Babe

Livy updates! She is developing at a rapid rate...all of a sudden I realize she understands almost everything I say and she has her own "words" for them. Of course I think she is brilliant. Liv loves her shoes (like Mama!), she knows what they are and where they go! She has a stuffed Cat and she will go find her if you ask "Where's your kitty?" The same goes for her baby and ball. She has begun to play ball. This is sooo fun. She throws it and I roll it. Kitty is "Na-Na" ball is "Do-Do". Obviously she knows "ba-bas" (breast milk) and bottle. I have to be careful if I say one of them that the product is delivered fast! One of my favorites is the sweet open mouth kisses I get when I say "Can Mama have a kiss?" and she does high fives!

I want you all to know broccoli is back in! She LOVES it. I was actually worried about the amount she ate the other night. I was thinking she would wake up all night with gas! It turned out ok though.

So resourceful and smart! ;)

PS walking should/could happen any day!

Baptism!

Happy Halloween!

I am in love with a monkey baby!! Livy had a costume party with her friends this Wednesday. She is so lucky she gets to wear her costume twice! We had a lot of fun.


And this...is her new favorite thing and she does it ALL the time.

Dont you just want to eat her?!

Olivia loves peek a boo. That's no surprise but now she is hiding longer and longer under the blankie and giggling with anticipation. This video is the end of a looooong peek a boo session. I wish I thought to grab the camera earlier. She was hilarious!

Olivia is a sicky right now but is getting a lot better. She got an anti-biotic for an ear infection (no wonder she has been tough) and she has a runny nose. She had been fighting this ear thing for 2 weeks before it got full blown.

Thank goodness my angel is back!

Pumpkin Patch Day!

silly cont, video did not upload!

Silly lovebug!!

I took these pictures because when we went to Safeway today you would have thought she was a celebrity. I cannot count on two hands how many people stopped to talk to Livy and tell us she had the cutest hat ever! It didn't help that she was waving and making googly eyes with everyone ;) How could you pass her by? It was a bit crazy though!

Love of my life. Hat courtesy of Jackie from Disneyland!

Livy is so funny on cushy surfaces like the couch or the bed. She does the diving thing and plays all around in pillows and blankets. Today I caught a touch of it. Its so cute in the bed though, its like she really enjoys the padding and throwing herself around. She even jumps and lays out on top of me. Perhaps she will be a WWF wrestler? Eh, probably not, lol.

My beauty.

Such a pretty thing...Walking will be soon!

I could never be mad at this face! Its amazing, even when I have a bad day (like yesterday) and I see this, it all goes away.

Baby #2 is pretty quiet so far. He/she just makes me an emotional trigger. Other than that its a perfect pregnancy so far. Maybe this one already knows it wont be able to get a word in while Livy is around. ;)

In case you find it interesting at all what Olivia is like when she is eating, here is a video! This is the first half where you can see how dinner gets pretty messy. But in the second video I actually capture the moment she decides she no longer likes broccoli. I feel like a nature photographer! Warning, you may be grossed out if you are a sensitive eater.

Send back up!

I don't think I have ever done a vent blog, but I have to or I will bust. I would normally never share these thoughts because I do not want to be seen as a bad mom or a weak person but here you go....

When is this supposed to get easier? I swear some of you have said that once you are out of the newborn stuff it gets so much better. I know I am not a wimp...so why can't I handle anything my baby throws at me? She is out of control. A nicer way to say it would be: she is now a character and discovering her power. But to me, right now, she is a terrorist.

I am completely exhausted everyday. After I put her to bed I have to pray for the strength to clean up after her: bath, toys, dinner, dishes, food stuck to the floor, in the cracks of the table.... Yes, today was particularly tough with a two hour cry session in opposition to an afternoon nap. I am not always so down but honestly,today is not the first day I have felt this. I think that's why I am at the explosion phase. Sometimes I just think "this cant possibly be my life".

I should just put this into a "bad week" category and move on. Those are the weeks when constantly the joys DO NOT out weigh the terrible. I have to move on, I have no choice. I am so jealous of you people with "easy babies" or maybe you are just better humans than me. I don't know, but I wish there was an escape button. I would be back in a time where I got a pedicure whenever I wanted and was able to pee without rushing it. Those were the days...

PS. If you can even believe it: I dropped my new camera in the sandbox and it broke. Thank goodness Costco will take anything back. But that is the reason for the picture delay. Camera karma?

PPS. I do in fact love my child.

Up, down and all around

I love how babies have perfect posture. She is inspiring me to sit a little straighter. Here is my big girl in her first 12 month size onesie!

Livy enjoys eating leaves in her spare time but HATES the grass. We are spending time outside watching the world go by. She can watch for minutes, which in baby-land a few minutes feels like an hour. We love the yard!

All day long I clean. Since she is into everything, she makes a mess of everything. Dinner is the craziest time. She wants to do it herself which means, see how far I can push Mama. Its a hot button because by this time of the day we are both so tired. So we go from dinner to bath to bedtime.


Here is Olivia's workout. Notice the grunts! This is long but I just wanted to show you how many squats she does a day! If only I could do one for every five she does. Or if I could be as challenged by getting two items into one hand!

crawling proof

And so it begins,,,,

If you haven't yet heard through the grapevine, here is my official blog announcement...I am expecting another baby April 5!!!! I loved being pregnant with Liv and so far I feel the same. I cannot wait to have this little baby in my arms but am fully enjoying the experience we have had together in womb.
My little monkey....my little monster and my angel. These are all the names Olivia goes by these days. We have entered a whole new dimension of baby-hood, almost toddler-hood. The temper tantrum. She is just so vocal now and can fully express herself in other ways than crying. She squeals, bites, pounds stuff, hits, yells and so much more. While it is fascinating to watch this develop, its pretty hard to adjust to. I have to start "discipline". Whats even more amazing is how quickly she can go from laughing to crying. I am using "No!" and everyday she is just pushing me more to see what I will do. Its exhausting because I am so concentrated how I act and respond. I want her to take me serious without being overly harsh.
Today is the first day I have heard her say "Mama" more than once. Its been a couple months of "Da-Da" so I am hoping this sticks. Its the best. Yesterday, Livy started trying to comb her own hair after the bath. These are the little things that I love. She is becoming so capable, cute, aware and active.

Music maker

I think on an unconscious level I thought a blog post with no pictures just wasnt worth anyone's time. Olivia has done plenty of blog worthy stuff since my last post in July but just lately it seems she is changing overnight. Things are happening so fast I cannot keep track and I feel badly not capturing it! So today I broke down and bought a camera...again. I never did find my last camera...lost in the move.

Livy is losing some baby face features. I cannot put my finger on what it is exactly but she is totally looking bigger. She is crawling like a champ, pulling herself up, talking a LOT, trying to stand unassisted, dancing, eating all big people food, playing music and mostly just getting into EVERYTHING.

So now that I am fully equipped for blogging. I am back.

Eli + Livy = looove!

Who could be the center of attention? (Colorado, end of June)


Eli and Livy took their first bath together while we were in Colorado. Livy's first big girl bath and she slipped moments after this picture was taken! It was so good to get the classic baby picture of them so we can tease them when they are older.




Whats new with Liv? Crawling is consuming her. She is sooo ready but cannot take off. She even sleeps on her knees, butt in the air with her face down. It is causing all sorts of sleep problems. She is waking up pushed up on all fours crying. Same with naps...as I write this she is fussing every few minutes because she wont lay down and go to sleep! I cannot put her on her back to dress her, play or change her diaper without serious tears.

She is sleeping through the night. (although the last few have been once a night cries due to the problem above). That has been nice for me, finally! I was surprised because I did not feel a huge difference like I thought I would, guess I was pretty adjusted to the waking up.

I am afraid to say but, I cannot find my camera! Somewhere in the move it got misplaced. So "dated" pictures will have to work for now. I am making everyone else take pictures and send them to me so I should have some recent ones soon.