ONE YEAR OLD!

Princess. YOU ARE ONE YEAR OLD! What??? 

This year has been the most joyful, fulfilling, fun, exciting, draining, challenging, and happiest year of my life. You are an absolute delight and our little sunshine. 

It's incredible how much happens and changes in 12 short months. You are a little human being who has her own personality, wishes, desires, and plans and it's been so fun watching you develop into the little bitty Olivia that we love beyond measure. I'm so proud to be your mommy and daddy and I are your biggest fans. 

I made this milestone poster for your first birthday party that is a good summary of what you are up to at one year old. 

That may be hard to read on the screen, but at one year old you love to read books, chase the dogs, CLIMB onto anything you can, go on bike rides (as a passenger), play with the dog bowls, flop onto pillows and soft surfaces, take things in and out, splash in the bathtub, shake rattles and shakers. You can say, "dada", "mama", and "no, no, no". You're 18.2 pounds, just shy of 28 inches tall, and have 7 teeth. You do this tiny little march when you are excited and it's just about the cutest thing ever. You're still taking 2 naps a day (on a good day) and pretty much sleep through the night (7:45 pm till around 6:30 am) regularly at this point! 

Olivia Jane, we love you so much it hurts. I am so lucky to be your mommy and hope to have many, many, many more years celebrating your birthday with you! LOVE YOU BBG!!!  

Olivia 11 Months

Olivia, baby girl. I cannot believe you've been here for 11 months!!! Where has time gone? Every blog I write something about how wonderful life is now that you are here and how I am just bursting with joy to be your mommy. That hasn't changed this month. You are the best thing that has ever happened to Daddy and me and we are so thankful to the Lord that we are your parents. 

That being said... this month has really tested my patience as you have definitely started exerting your will and expressing your desires. Mix that with your new walking independence and you're a handful.  You are fast and curious and want to get into everything. Like any baby your age. You're learning about the world around you and you want to test limits. 

You love to climb! You try to climb the stairs no matter what obstacles we put in your way! You've learned to scale the baby gate that we put on the stairs, so we've had to put a yoga mat over it to impede your ability to grab onto it and pull yourself up (... it's a great look... I think decorators will soon be making this a trend). So you've decided that climbing the side of the stairs is almost as fun and you make mommy so nervous. I haven't yet found a great solution to this problem, but you're definitely keeping me on toes dashing to pull you off multiple times an hour.  You also try to climb the bookcase, couch, and climb into your toy bins. 

We keep super duper busy and I'm grateful to have a packed schedule because it keeps you entertained. We go to story time, kindermusik, and have lots and lots of playdates. We hang out with your baby best friend, Samantha, and her mommy a lot and that's been really great for us. We go on a lot of walks and enjoy going to the beach and park. Swinging is a big favorite of yours and you also like to go down slides with our help.

This past month you've had more teeth pop up! You now have three on bottom, your two front teeth on top, and two more flanking them are right there trying their hardest to come through. 

We're putting your new teeth to use by giving you more and more solids and experimenting with table food. This month you've learned to feed yourself and some of your favorites are blueberries, grapes, raisins, carrots, chicken, black beans, tomatoes, bananas and, of course,  you still love avocados. You've also tried greek yogurt, some cheese, peaches, mango, apples, strawberries (you loved these for a minute but seem to be over it now), rice, squash, and zucchini. You've also learned to drink water from a sippy cup with a straw all by yourself. It's pretty stinkin' cute. 

When you were still pretty new I thought you might be introverted, but I'm pretty sure I was wrong. You are happiest when you are around other people. You can self-entertain, but you prefer to be playing and interacting with someone! Some of your favorite things to do are to roll a ball back and forth, play peek-a-boo with daddy's hat, chase the dogs, play with the dog bowls, and you LOVE reading. It's the cutest thing when you read with daddy. You'll hand daddy a book and then plop down between his legs and read together and it's just so sweet! You help turn the pages of books and particularly love flap books and books with textures. One book we read has a polar bear that you love to kiss each time, and it's so cute. 

Like our fireplace baby proofing? haha!

You love being outside - especially with daddy - and love exploring. Picking up leaves and sticks and acorns is a great way to keep you entertained. 

You're sleeping better!!! HOORAY! Well, let me restate that... you're sleeping better at night! Unfortunately, you're not napping well during the daylight hours. You seem to pretty much protest naps most days. And girl, you are persistent. You can scream and fuss and cry for ages before finally giving in to sleep. 

Also, you've recently started having some stranger anxiety. You cry now when we leave you in the nursery or with a sitter and it's hard on mommy. You reaching out for mommy or daddy and screaming just breaks my heart. 

I spent my first night away from you since you were born this past weekend. We both did well and I'm proud of us pumpkin. Plus, you had a blast hanging out with daddy. 

My first night away from you this year compared to the same time and place last year when I was waiting for your arrival

You don't have too many words yet. But you can say "mama" "dada" and sometimes "zoo". 

Let's see... what else happened this past month.... oh! You celebrated your first Halloween. We had a friend from Atlanta sew your costume and it turned out so cute! You went as Little Bo Peep and mommy and daddy went as your flock of sheep. We pulled you around the neighborhood for about 45 mins and you had a lot of fun people watching and "participating". You collected some candy but we recycled it when we passed candy out at our house later in the evening. 

Well, that's all I can think of at the moment from the last month. You are our joy and we love you so much!!!! Happy 11 Months baby girl!!! 

Olivia 10 Months!

Princess. My beautiful, little girl. I love you SO, so much! You've now officially lived longer in the world than in my belly and I cannot believe how fast time has gone. Every thing is brighter, I feel deeper than I knew was possible, and every event has more meaning now that you are in our lives. 

I feel like this month you have grown up in folds. You are walking like a PRO. There have been times that you walk so fast you catch yourself in surprise as you are almost running. 

Your top two teeth have come in (after a really hard two weeks of teething!). We've started giving you less pureed food and have experimented with you feeding yourself. Though, to be honest, I think the dogs are benefiting most from the process ;) 

This month we all experienced our first hurricane together. Hurricane Matthew hit Savannah a couple of weeks ago and you, daddy, the dogs and I packed up the car and evacuated to your grandparents' house in Atlanta for about a week.  

Our house took some damage, but we are really thankful to the Lord that we were able to return to a pretty much intact home. We lost our two beautiful trees in our front yard. But luckily, they didn't fall through the house. And, now we have firewood to last us a lifetime! 

This is the base of one of the trees that fell (baby for scale)

While we were in Atlanta you were able to spend lots of time with both sides of the family, go to your first pumpkin patch, you learned how to go down a step safely all by yourself, and lots of other fun things. 

Sadly, while we were in Atlanta on our evacuation-vacation, you had your first bad boo-boo. You fell into an umbrella stand and sliced your face on the one, teeny, tiny sharp edge. You cried and then stopped fairly quickly so it took Lolly and me a minute to even realize anything was wrong. It wasn't until we noticed the blood running down you face that we even realized you were hurt! My heart just exploded and fell to my toes at the same time. I was so scared for you. The cut ran all the way to the very edge/corner of your eye, but no further. We praise the Lord that you didn't scrape your eyeball! We ended up taking you to Children's the next day to make sure it wasn't seriously hurt or at risk of getting infected. We were given the a-okay and some topical ointment and sent home. No more injuries, okay, baby girl?

With your new mobility, you've become more and more curious. You're always getting into things and especially love exploring outdoors. You enjoy picking up sticks and leaves and I often find yard debris in our house after your adventures outside with Daddy. 

You're sleeping better and better and we've had a string of nights where you sleep through the night!! Mommy and daddy are very grateful! Let's keep it up! You're still taking about two naps a day, averaging about an hour each. However, recently you have been protesting many of them. You're obviously exhausted but fight sleep so much. My little extrovert, you just can't stand not being awake and being a part of whatever may be going on!

Every day you work on your verbal skills. You babble and babble and pshhhhpshh your lips. You try and mimic mommy and daddy and you've got us making silly sounds on the regular in an attempt to see you try and copy us.... making the three of us crack up in laughter! You can say "mamma" and "dada" but the clearest thing you say is "No, no, no". You wave your finger back and forth when you say, "no, no, no" and it is the absolute cutest thing! I think you've picked up the motion from me. I only recently put together the fact that I make the motion when I read the line, "No, no, you say, that isn't right, the pigs say oink all day and night", from Moo, Baa, La La La. Regardless, it's so cute when you do it! 

This month you've started to develop attachments to certain stuffed animals and lovies. When I go get you from your crib these days you're always holding one of your crib lovies and I often hear you "talking" to them in the morning before I get you out. You are also all about your Teddy that your Granny and Poppy gave you. I love that you love it and that it is almost your size but that you are insistent on carrying it around with you. 

Oh princess, I really cannot say it enough. I LOVE you SO much, so much it hurts. I thank God for you and cannot believe that each day brings so much wonder and joy watching you grow. I pray you know Jesus as your savior and continue to grow healthy and strong. I think you're the best and love that God made us YOUR parents! Happy 10 months, love bug!

Olivia 9 Months!

Pumpkin! You are NINE months old! You are the absolute cutest and I can't believe how much I keep falling in love with you more and more each day. 

This has been a big month for you and you've achieved some big milestones!



We, along with you, experienced our first Tropical Storm. Hermine visited Labor Day weekend and turned out to be much stronger and more intense than we had expected. I suppose I assumed the Weather Channel was exaggerating the severity of the storm. However, I learned I was mistaken. We didn't have very strong, scary storms, but we did have crazy intense wind! We had a lot of debris and damage from the wind, including a tree top that fell on our porch and destroyed some patio furniture. We didn't have power for 36+ hours, but that didn't seem to faze you one bit. You are a trooper and just rolled with things, like having no AC, like a rockstar. In fact, this leads me to your next big milestone...

Princess you were NOT feeling the photos today 

... the first night we were power-less, girl... YOU. SLEPT. THROUGH. THE. NIGHT!!!!!!!!  Huzzah!! Mommy couldn't believe it when I woke up around 5:30 am and realized you hadn't been up once. I may have mildly freaked out and ran into your nursery to check on you, but overall I was just really happy! Daddy and I think maybe you just needed your room to be slightly warmer to get a good night's rest. Since that night you have hand a handful of nights that you sleep really well. I am so grateful. I feel like a different person now that we are collectively getting more rest. You still wake up occasionally but we let you cry it out and you usually go back to sleep fairly quickly. Woo Hoo for more sleep!

We've been busy filling our days with a lot of activities. We're still going to story time at the library and you've got the routine down like a pro. This month we've also started attending a music class that you really seem to enjoy. The class sends curriculum back with you to practice at home too. I've also started going to MOPS and am excited about that. We've also been having fun at some playdates with friends.

You've been working hard on those upper teeth!

I think Daddy is your favorite person, probably because he does fun things with you like letting you climb the stairs, bike rides, swinging, and goofing off with you. You're lucky, you've got a wonderful Daddy!

During the day at home you play, play, play. You love your walker and we do many laps around the living room. Flap and texture books are your favorite and you're really proud of yourself when you turn a page, open a flap, or point out a texture. Your favorite toys are an egg shaker, your monkey shaker, the ring stacker, keys (from Aunt Sarah), and any kitchen tool we let you play with.



Most days I'll turn on Disney or Toddler music and we dance around for a bit. You giggle and giggle and it makes my heart soar! You seem to really respond to anything musical, which I hope is a sign that you will be more musically gifted than mommy. You must get that from Daddy. This month you've started clapping and you can open and close you hands when we sing "open and shut them"  and "twinkle, twinkle, little stars". You "sing" along sometimes and it's the cutest!



You went to North Carolina this past month and added another state to the list you've visited. So far that makes 4 states. Not too bad for 9 months! We visited Charlotte with Lolly and G-daddy and you got to splash around in the pool with them, which you loved!

You got to spend some time with Aunt Jessie and Uncle Juan when they came to visit and you loved it! You even got to watch TV for the first time while you cuddled with Aunt Jessie!

Look at those teeth!

We also were able to spend some time with your Aunt Sarah, Uncle Jared, and cousins this month. You love your cousins. It's adorable watching you watch them and trying to keep up. I'm so glad you have two great cousins in your life to play with! Karis and Evan are SOOOOO sweet with you and it just warms my heart! 

You're still nursing. We tried formula for the first time this past month... and you straight up, absolutely refused. I mean, you weren't having any of it! Ha. So yeah, we're still nursing. It's my goal to nurse you for at least a year anyways, we were just trying formula right before bed in an attempt to get you to sleep better, but you seem do be doing that on your own now anyways. You're eating solids really well and this month you've tried cauliflower, spinach, and yellow squash in addition to everything else you've had.

You attended your first major league sporting event this month! Daddy and I were so excited to take you to a Braves game! We had our first date there over nine years ago and went to many, many games over the years. It felt surreal to take our daughter to a game. We went with Lolly and G-Daddy, you did really well, and we all had a great time. And the Braves won!! Whoop whoop!!

Baby girl, you've achieved so much this month, BUT the biggest thing you've accomplished so far also happened a week before you turned 9 months! YOU STARTED WALKING!!! That's right, my strong, determined girl, you started walking at 8 months!!! Mommy and Daddy are incredibly proud of you. And you are pretty tickled too.

You took your first steps at your Aunt Sarah and Uncle Jared's house. I've had a hard time getting a video of your walking because you see the phone and know you can get there quicker if you crawl. But I finally got one where you took more than two steps.

Olivia, you truly are our joy and delight and we thank the Lord for you. You are our precious, precious gift and we cannot believe how enriched you've made our lives the past nine months. We love you to pieces little one. Happy nine months!! XOXOXO

Olivia 8 Months!

Princess, do you remember when I used to post your month recaps on your actual month birthday? No? Well, the first couple of months I did! It's a bit harder now that you're mobile and don't want to sit still for photos or while I blog. 

You are SO much fun, Olivia! Oh my goodness. I can honestly say - without the slightest exaggeration - that sometimes it overwhelms me how much I love you and how much joy you bring to your daddy's and my life! It is my sincerest wish that everyone can experience being a parent, because there is just no greater gift from the Lord, truly. 

You're definitely coming into your personality and you crack me up. Recently, you've become more and more giggly. Your laugh sounds like heaven! After hearing you laugh, Lolly said, "You can understand why J.M. Barrie wrote that fairies are born from baby laughs".  Yes, completely! Nothing cracks you up more than the dogs. But, you also have "found" yourself in the mirror this month and just laugh and laugh and laugh at your reflection. You also think mommy is hilarious when I put one of your toy links or paci in my mouth. You laugh and then remove it and then try and put it back in my mouth. Turning on and off the xbox is also a favorite of yours. You think the light turning on and off and the little noise it makes is great. 

I may have also accidentally taught you to grab people's noses. I made the mistake of honking once when you grabbed my nose and you may have the expectation that people honk when you grab their noses now... oops. 

Anything that rattles is a win in your book too. You particularly love your monkey rattle and the top ring of your ring tower thing. You sometimes crawl around with one of the baby links in your mouth, and it cracks me up and I think it's pretty cute. We've started keeping some little lovies in your crib too, that you seem to love. You're usually holding one when I go pick you up out of your crib. 

You're interacting with books more and more. You can turn the pages, open the flaps, and you reach out for all the textures. Your favorite books seem to be That's Not My Bunny, Peek-a-who, and Peek-a-boo Farm. I love reading to you, mostly because I love you curling up in my lap and cuddling with me while I read to you. 

 We go to story time each week and you're really getting more and more into it. You like to dance and shake the egg shakers and "sing" along in your baby babble way. 

You're crawling like a rockstar! You are super fast! We've had to install a lot of baby gates and each morning I have to push furniture around to baby-proof the room now that you're on the move. You've mastered pulling up and can walk yourself around furniture. You can also stand on your own for a considerable amount of time. I think you'll be walking soon. Daddy and I walk you around each day and you squeal with excitement. You're also quite proud of yourself when we let you climb the stairs (mommy and daddy are spotting you of course). You also try to climb out of your bath now, so bath time is definitely an adventure. 

You've tried more solids this month. In all you've eaten bananas, carrots, sweet potatoes, zucchini, peas, avocado, and kale. Recently, you have become distracted while nursing and very busy. You flip back and forth and take breaks to look at things. We've gone back to see the lactation consultant and we're trying some new techniques, but I'm a little nervous that we may be coming to the end of our nursing days, and it breaks my heart. However, we weighed you and you're just over 17 pounds, so it's not like the doctor is worried about your growth, but we're still nursing about every 2-3 hours and still getting up to feed multiple times a night. 

You seem so biggie to me and it just blows my mind. We put you in the church nursery for the first time last weekend, and though mommy was super nervous to leave you, you did really well. You're busy, busy now and dislike taking breaks for such silly things as diaper changes... and taking photos for blogs (see below) ;) Too many things to explore. Never stop being curious little one. 

Munchkin, you are SO loved. Thank you for the best 8 months of our lives.