Our Little Toddler!

Olivia at 18 months

Once again it has been way too long since our last update, but it is amazing how quickly life happens when there is an active toddler running around. If you notice the date on the blog says July 3rd.  I have been working on this update for a month! :)

Olivia has really come into her own in terms of personality!  She loves the computer, so it makes it difficult to update this blog with her around.  If we turn on the computer she walks over and says, "up please" and when she is on our laps, she will point to the computer and say, "fish!"  We recently showed her some YouTube videos of her new interest, fish, and she loves to watch them...all the time!  In any case we have a lot to update about and I am probably missing so much more!

Helping plant Spring time flowers! Check out that ponytail! 

 There are many physical changes lately in our Livy Loo!  First she is growing much taller, and her feet are getting bigger too!  We recently noticed that her toes are starting to overhang her sandals.  Her feet are size 4 at this point and I think she finally made it into size 5.  The only problem is that the stores are not really stocked with sandals anymore!  So, unfortunately we may have to stick with flip flops for the rest of the summer!
The other big change is her hair!  Dan and I were both bald until we were about 2, so we have been pleasantly surprised lately because her hair has been growing like weeds!  We have to pull it back into a ponytail daily, and our favorite style is two pigtails.  The best part is she usually leaves the rubber bands in her hair, but while riding in the car likes to pull the hair clips out!  That is always fun in the morning when we are running late to school and we have to stop to redo the hair before we go into Miss Sharons!  Oh well!  I am looking forward to braiding her hair!

Our little helper, making the graham cracker pudding dessert

We have quite the  little nosy, but helpful daughter on our hands! She loves to help out with anything, especially with food! She is obsessed with what we are cooking and always wants to help out.  Of course her favorite part is licking the bowl and utensils!  Other favorite helping activities include sweeping, and washing...anything, including her blanket, "night-night."   She has recently begun to challenge the whole cleaning up system, so this can become a battle at times.  Just this morning we were playing with Legos and it was time to clean up.  She bought into my whole "which color can you put in the box" game, when suddenly she picked up the box and dumped them all out, yelling, "Oh no!"  A little frustrated, I said again, "okay time to put in box."  She ran away and started circling the dinning room table, laughing!  A little upset I decided to ignore and read a magazine until Dan came down the stairs and she wanted a hug from him!  UG...we did get them picked up, but it seems that she is becoming Little Miss Independent!

Miss Olivia Grace has really come into her own in terms of language development.  It was just after we got out of school we realized she was speaking in short complete sentences (about 19 months) and this summer has just blossomed as a communicator.  She certainly knows what she wants and how to communicate that to us!  Some of our favorite saying are as follows:

• "Four, five Hurley poops" she likes to count our dog's poops in the backyard and whenever we ask how many she counted out there she replies, "four, five Hurley poop."  My favorite is when she tells Dan to, "get bag, pick up." It is pretty funny!
• Early Spring/beginning of the summer everything was responded with by saying, "kay."  We would ask her to do something and she would reply with, "kay."  Recently she started saying yes and no, but I like the days of "kay" much better! 
• "Hug...fill in the blank."  She loves to hug anything and everything!  She will hug the bugs that land on her outdoor play climber, she hugs the bears in books, her baby, Hurley, and of course family members and friends!  She is a hugger, not a fighter!  
• She counts everything!  Often starts at four, five and gets to ten, but more recently has started at one and can get to ten with help from us!  We often count the steps and other objects.  She will sit in her car seat and count her shoes! 
• "Some...fill in the blank"  again it is hard to sneak a snack anymore.  As soon as she hears a package being opened in kitchen, she darts in and says, "some cracker" or "some cookie"  it is strange she always knows what we want to sneak to eat!  That should help me with my diet in the fall!  
• "Ride Jeep"  her favorite car to ride in is by far the Jeep and she is disappointed when she has to "ride mommy's car."  I think mostly because she can see out of the windows better, but she loves to ride, especially with the doors off and the back rolled up.  There is something about the wind in her hair she is just like her dad!  
• "I go potty."  During Spring Break we bought a little potty to start the introduction of the potty to Olivia.  Well she certainly has the idea and is a little obsessed with it!  If I go into the bathroom she is right there sitting on hers too!  She loves to say "I go potty" and go to sit down.  To be honest, we have had three successful pees and one poo on the potty.  To be even more honest, she is ready to start the process of potty training, but Dan and I are very hesitant to commit this close to the new baby being born.  Hope we can have success in the next few months!
• "Climb" the stairs, the couch, the bed, the dinning room chairs...she is ALL over the place and loves to climb on everything! 

There are so many more, but these are just a few of our favorites! 

Water fun in the sprinkler! 

Many of her favorite things include being outside, playing with any kind of water, including he sprinkler, the pool, and of course the ocean!  She loves this puppy she received as a present that barks, wines, and then sleeps by snoring.  She adores this toy and brings it everywhere!  She still loves her books and her recent favorites include, The Napping House, Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom, Daddy Hugs, and Click Clack Moo.  I think I have all of them memorized!  She still is loving food of any kind, especially "ice cream" and "cookies!"  There are more things she loves, but I forget right now :)

Playing outside on the 4th of July

We constantly have music on in the background of house and always in the car.  The music is in her soul!  She enjoys singing so much!  She will sit in the car and just sing to herself.  She says, "I'm singing"  it is very cute!  In early July we joined Gymboree and she attends class once a week and loves the music element to the class.  She will come home and sing the songs all week.  Her new favorite song is, "The Wheels on the Bus" We have sung every verse I can think of and her favorite is the people go up and down.  She throws her self down on the ground!  Yesterday morning I was getting ready for work and I could hear her in the crib saying, up and down and then jumping down on the mattress! It was pretty funny to hear. 

Our daughter has become quite tech savvy too!  She loves our new iPhones, especially the FaceTime feature and a doodle app.  She loves to "see" the person she is talking too.  Currently, my parents and Aunt Laura are the only ones we FaceTime with and she is so much fun to watch!  She will wave into the phone and have a whole conversation! The crazy part is that she is growing up in a era where seeing people on the phone is possible!  Whoever would have thought it would be a common thing.   She also plays with a doodle app we have on the phone and a Skeeball game too!  We do not often let her play with the phones, but when she gets a hold of it she can navigate through it to the places she wants.  It is pretty crazy to see her playing with the phone! 

Last nap in her "old" room! That smile melts our heart!

To end this long and much needed update, it is important to talk about the other changes in our family.  We are about 15 days away from Lil Sis' due date of August 17th.  We have been busy working this summer on a new room for both girls to share and trying to get Olivia to understand what is about to happen.  We did switch the rooms up and both girls are in our former guest bedroom with two cribs and two dressers.  She will look at the other crib and say, "sisters," but I am not sure how much she really understands that soon a baby will be in that crib too!  She will hug my belly and say, "hi baby" and "hug baby" I think she will adjust well when Lil Sis arrives, but it will certainly be an adjustment period!  We put the pack-n-play up in the living room for naps and changing the baby when Olivia was sleeping the other day.  When she came downstairs she said, "my bed!"  She is noticing the changes in the house and she seems to be doing well.  Time will tell!  For now, we wait and wait and wait!  I know I speak for myself, I am SO OVER this pregnancy.  We are all ready to meet Lil Sis!

I am sure our next Blog update will contain the great news of Lil Sis' arrival!  Until then, keep us in your prayers!  Thanks as always for keeping up with our lil family!

Love to all,
Laura, Dan, Olivia, and Lil Sis