One year

Olivia Grace,

Today is your first birthday. You are one year old.

Your " dada" and I have watched you grow from a tiny, helpless newborn to a fiercely independent, sometimes stubborn, little girl. You no longer need us to rock you to sleep, or hold your bottle, or carry you with both arms. And boy, do we miss doing those things for you.

But, we are so proud of how much you have learned this year. You say "mama", "dada", "dog" and "duck". You also say "uh-oh" whenever you drop something, and tell us that the dog says "oof-oof". You can sign "more" and "all done" and we are working on signing please and thank you. You give dada a "high-five" whenever he asks for it, but you are very scarce with your kisses. You love to wave to people, and you smile at strangers in public quite often. You have started to laugh out loud, and you love when people laugh back at you. In fact, you are quite a ham.

Occasionally though, when things don't go your way, you get quite angry, which often results in screams & tears. You know exactly what you want, and you aren't happy when you don't get it. You do not like to have your diaper changed, and you are not happy when you are hungry (Dada calls it "hangry" and you get that from me). Dada and I are working to help you learn that sometimes, in life, you can't have it all.

Truth be told, I wish you could have it all! And I wish I could be the one to give it to you.

You have 10 (yes, ten!) teeth already and you wear 12 month size clothes. You are long, but still on the small side in your weight. You aren't quite standing or walking alone yet, but I know you will when you're ready. You eat three real meals each day, along with snacks throughout the day! You love blueberries, yogurt, crackers, and peaches. You don't love whole milk, but enjoy drinking water from your sippy cup.

You are loved by so many people, and for that, we are so lucky. Although, you are easy to love. You keep us laughing every day and you certainly keep us on our toes!

We would do anything for you, Goosey, and I pray you always know that. You have brought an immeasurable amount of joy to our lives. In just one year, you have shown us what it means to have real, true, unconditional love. You are truly the light of our lives.

Thank you, baby, for the absolute best year of my life.

Love always and forever,
Mama

Two Valentine's

How lucky am I that this year, I have two Valentine's?!

Two people who make me smile daily. Whose hugs and kisses brighten my day. Who I look forward to eating dinner with every night. Whom I fall more in love with every day.

But the best thing??

Seeing the two of them together!

I love these two Valentine's of my mine so stinking much and I am reminded every day of how lucky I am to have them!

Happy Valentine's day, D! And happy first Valentine's day to my sweet Goosey-girl!

6 months later...

Tonight, something happened I wasn't sure 6 months ago would ever happen...

I hit my goal weight at Weight Watchers!

Back in July, my mom and I joined weight watchers together. It was my first real attempt to lose my baby weight. When I started, I had almost 30 pounds to lose. It seriously felt like a daunting task.

BUT...

I did it!!!!

I have been sticking with the plan and making better choices and tonight, at my 21st meeting, I finally hit my goal weight.

And dang, it feels good!

Here, a before and after pic...

This was me (and my sweet girl!) in July 2014

This was me tonight, after my Weight Watcher meeting!

I cannot explain how happy/excited/proud I feel tonight! This has not been easy, by any means, but weight watchers has such an awesome and truly live-able plan. I have been able to eat sweets, drink beer and have pasta (all in moderation, of course!). We all know I could never "diet" if it meant I couldn't have those goodies!

So thanks, to everyone who has encouraged me and helped me reach this goal! And a special, special thanks to my momma, who has been there with me every step of the way! Love you Mel-t!

Ok...

All done bragging on myself!

I will leave you with a recent pic of my 11 month old bestie!

Oops

It's been 6 months since my last post.

I guess going back to work full-time, and trying to soak up every possible minute not at work with my best girl, has not left much time for blogging!

BUT...

Our baby is approaching her 11 month birthday.

And we all know what that means.

I have an almost-one year old.

I could cry just thinking about it!

I have been doing a lot of reflection on this past year. I mean, last year at this time I was attending baby showers, organizing a nursery, elevating swollen feet and HUGE!

Now, I am trying to keep my daughter out of everything, chasing her around the house, laughing out loud at her daily, feeding her real food, and planning a first birthday party.

Crazy.

Our girl has come such a long way. She now has 8 teeth ( and we are 99% sure she is working on the 9th), lots of hair and is wearing 9-12 month size clothes. She is in a size 3 shoe. She crawls really well, and is working on standing and walking. She can do both with assistance but not alone quite yet. She loves dogs. It is pretty cute. She calls every animal a "dog-guh". She also loves books- which makes this teacher momma happy. She is still an overall happy baby and a good sleeper, for which we are so thankful!

I promise to try to do better about posting again. I will certainly be back with a one year post and a party post later!

5 months

Olivia Grace is five months old today!

We ended up at the doctor today to make sure the low grade fever and fussiness that has been hanging around for the past 2 weeks wasn't something other than teething (#firsttimemom). Doctor confirmed she is fine, just that darn tooth giving her such a hard time. Poor girl. At the doctor, she weighed in at 13 lbs 5.5 oz, all the way up in the 14th percentile.

Olivia loves to roll over, stand up (with help of course), chew on fingers and grab for objects. Countless people have referred to her as a "wiggle worm" because she does not like to sit still for very long. She has discovered her toes and reaches for them whenever she is in the sitting position.

She has eaten oatmeal cereal, sweet potatoes and bananas, and bananas definitely seem to be her favorite so far. She loves to reach for the spoon and bottle to feed herself, but can't quite master getting it in her mouth at the right angle.

She has become a much better car passenger, and finally doesn't scream every time we go somewhere. In fact, she usually falls asleep! Her hair has started to grow pretty long. It is thin and blonde and so, so soft.

I am enjoying spending every day at home with her and watching her grow. She grows and changes so fast, and I feel so lucky to be able to have this time at home with her. I feel like she is developing such a fun little personality and I love watching how she expresses herself.

I can't believe how quickly time has passed, but I'm loving watching Livi hit all of these fun, new milestones!

Reaching for those feet

Refusing to smile...

Hands in her mouth... All the time!

"Mom, I can feed myself"

What's up Wednesday

Here is Whats Up in our life these days...

- We just got back from our trips to NY and GA. Olivia got to meet her Great Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and visit with some good friends. It was so much fun, but we sure did miss Daddy!

- Our girl has her first tooth! I have had a sneaking suspicion she was teething, but she is still so young. One tooth finally popped through last week, and another one is waiting to come through any day now. Poor girl has been in some pain, and very clingy to mommy, so hopefully that second tooth makes it's appearance very soon!

- We are looking forward to more visits with friends over the next couple of weekends. My Washington girls will be here tomorrow and my MOH is coming for the weekend. Then next weekend, Olivia gets to visit with her friend Sasha, who was born 13 days before her! And finally, my brother and his fiancé will be here the first weekend in August to visit. I. Can't. Wait.

- I have decided to join Weight Watchers to help lose the rest of my baby weight. Wish me luck!

- I am still in awe of my baby every day. When I wake her up in the morning, I am greeted with her sweet, sleepy smile and I still can not believe she is ours. I wonder if this feeling will ever go away?

- We scheduled Olivia's 6 month photo shoot (6 months?!) for August and I am already excited for them!

- Speaking of August, I have no idea how I am going to manage to go back to work. It's going to be absolutely awful. Livi is at such a fun age and I feel like she is doing something new every day. I will be so sad to miss out on all of my extra time with her. But, for now, I will enjoy the remaining month we have together!

4 months

Wow, I haven't posted since Olivia turned 3 months old, and now she is almost 4 and a half months! She is getting to be such a big girl!

We had her four month check up with Dr. Barry last week. She is up to 12 lbs 1.5 oz (9th percentile) and 24 in long (25th percentile), so she is still pretty petite! Dr gave us permission to start spoon feedings, so we started with some oatmeal cereal yesterday. She did OK with it, but I didn't expect much because I'm sure it tastes pretty bland.

She is now rolling over from her back to her tummy, and sometimes from her tummy to her back. Most of the time, though, she rolls onto her tummy and cries for us to roll her back over. It's a fun game we play in our house these days. She is so close to sitting up on her own, and has once or twice, but only for a few seconds.

She still puts absolutely everything she gets her hands on her in mouth, and gets frustrated when she can't get something into her mouth just right. She likes to spend time outside, watching people and in her jumparoo.

Olivia is generally a pretty happy baby. She does a lot of smiling and laughing, especially when she sees daddy. She loves that man and it's quite heart-warming to see her light up when she spots him in the room. She usually gets fussy around 8 each night, when she should be sleeping but wants to fight it. She is a good sleeper though, so we are thankful for that.

We have had a busy month. Olivia has been in the pool for the first time, been to her first parade, and is getting ready to make two big road trips! First we are going to NY so she can meet her great grandma and grandpa, and lots of other family members. Then, we are road tripping it to GA with some friends to visit two of our favorite girls (and one precious little baby-in-the-tummy!). I will do my best to update again soon!

First time eating cereal in her high chair!