Oh my precious girl. We are coming up on the last few days of being a family of just us three. I think you're going to be a great big sister and I pray that our transition bringing home a new baby will go as smoothly as possible. It breaks my heart slightly, though, to think about this season of life with you as our one and only baby coming to an end. You have enriched our lives so much it makes me tear up just thinking about it! You made us parents and we are so grateful to the Lord that he blessed us with YOU! Nothing and no one could ever make us love you less.
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| You're a big helper at the grocery store and always get rewarded with a cookie from the bakery when you ask politely. |
You are a handful and a hoot right now. You are SO busy and into everything. You have no fear and like to push your boundaries and test your abilities. Mommy freaks out the majority of the time you are experimenting with your boundaries because this often includes you throwing yourself off of various objects.
Since you were about to throw yourself out of your crib, Daddy and I went ahead and transitioned your crib to a toddler bed. You've done... um... okay with this? Honestly the first couple of naps and nights you rocked it! But, then, you discovered your freedom and it's been an adventure that's for sure. Some nights you've run around for hours before you finally collapse onto the floor. For a while you were climbing all over the rocker and tumbling off in all sorts of manners. Your poor little legs have bruises all over them from your late night adventures. This week I think you've finally started to put together that your bed is more comfortable than say, the floor, and we've found you've tucked yourself into bed under your blanket.
You're becoming more and more verbal and I'm glad you can communicate using your words more often. You like to say, "oh no!" and hold your hands up on either side of your cheeks which is pretty precious. When you're in another room we will often hear, "mamma?" or "daddy?" and when we answer, "yes, Livie?" you reply with "what ya doin'?". You're just checking in on us. Pretty cute.
You like to sing and your favorite songs right now are Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Row, Row Row Your Boat, The Potty Song and Baa Baa Black Sheep. You will break into song in your carseat or sing to your baby dolls and it just brightens my day to hear you bursting out your 21 month old versions of these songs.
The dogs are still favorites of yours, though you like to terrorize them. Emma is surprisingly much more patient with you than Jackson. Emma will let you hug her and fling yourself on to her. Unless you are eating or offering Jack a treat, he pretty much tries to steer clear of you.
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| Patient Dog! |
You like your people - people that you know. You're pretty skeptical of strangers and give them that "look". However, if it's someone you know, you love being with them. You enjoy your playmates and love your cousins, especially Karis, who you now ask for on a daily basis. FaceTime is one of your favorite things and you love to talk to Lolly and your cousins.
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| Swinging with Uncle Juan and Daddy during our Hurricane Irma evacuation |
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| You love Baby Charlotte!! |
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| Hugs for Samantha |
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| Double trouble |
I think we have definitely entered the era of "the twos" as you ask for one thing one second, and then are utterly offended when we deliver on your request the next second. You've started to throw fits when you don't get your way and I admittedly have a difficult time with this when we're out in public. This is probably compounded because I'm very pregnant and have little energy to begin with. This new chapter is a challenge and we're exploring some ways to combat this in a healthy and productive way.
You are also Miss Independent and like to do things yourself. You also love to "help. You say, "help?" all the time whenever I'm doing something like cooking, cleaning, or getting ready. It's adorable and I love that you want to help and learn how to do things on your own. We recently got you a stool so you can help out more effectively in the kitchen and you love it (though, you don't understand why you can't help out with the hot things or sharp things.) You like to walk up the stairs by yourself, brush your teeth by yourself (daddy still brushes your teeth at night though, so the job is getting properly done!), brush your own hair, put your shoes on yourself, etc. You are very concerned and aware when a door is left open that is supposed to be shut. You'll shut the fridge door for us, close baby gates, and love shutting the dishwasher to "help" us. You're also really great about throwing your trash away, whether a tissue, dirty diaper, or snack wrapper.
Recently, you've been really curious about the potty! We have a potty book that is a song and you love it, I think that kickstarted the whole potty interest. We've spent a couple of days going potty on and off on your little potties, and some days you are ALL about it. You ask to go potty and take your diaper off and actually go in the potty! We've had two accidents on the floor, but that was mild and a-okay. You'll be all about the potty one day and the next day seem disinterested. So, I think we are close to being ready, but not quite there just yet. Though you're also showing signs of being ready as in you now tell me when you have a dirty diaper and ask to get a clean one. I'm curious to see where all this leads once your little sister is here.
At the early part of September, we had to pack up our house, board up our house, and head to Atlanta to escape Hurricane Irma. When we left Savannah, the predicted path lead straight to our home, and my OB suggested we leave before the mandatory evacuations because she didn't want me sitting in hours of traffic at 35 weeks pregnant.
Packing up our valuables and driving to Atlanta was really stressful, but it was great to see family and you loved the adventure!
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| You enjoyed some time with your Abby at dinner and then the playground! |
You love being outside, though, mommy hasn't been up for many outdoor activities since it's been so hot! Daddy takes you out a lot when he is home though. You still love going to look at the turtles and riding your bike around the neighborhood. You're getting SO fast on your bike too! Unfortunately, bugs seem to like you when you're outside. When you get bitten you swell up pretty badly. The bites don't seem to bother you too bad though. You're mostly excited to tell us and show us that you have a boo-boo and get a bandaid.
I'm sure it's going to be an interesting transition as you become a big sister. You seem to like to take care of your baby cousin Charlotte and play "mommy" with your babydoll so I'm hoping you take to your new role fairly well. You've been a big helper getting things ready for baby, even though I'm pretty sure you still have no idea about what is about to happen.
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| Helping Daddy clean the infant carseat |
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| Testing out baby sister's carseat |
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| Testing out sister's rock-n-play |
As I write this I am a week and a half away from Juliet's due date. I am SO excited to meet baby sister, but it makes my heart ache to know that this special time with just you is coming to an end. I will always cherish these days we had together just you and me.
And just for giggles and kicks, here is a video of what happened to me last week. Pregnancy is so glamours hahaha!
