Ward Christmas Party

Bob was on call tonight, so Olivia and I went to the ward Christmas party on our own. We were lucky that when we got there cousin Marianne and Aunt Lyona pulled up beside us. Marianne helped carry in the potatoes so I could grab Olivia and the diaper bag.

We sat by Branda and Elsie, who's dad was also working. I was quick to get in the line (I was starving, and I don't like to wait...) and Olivia and I got our plate to share. Just as we were about to sit down, Bob walked in. Instead of getting in line, he sat down with us and we all 3 shared my plate. Olivia's favorites were the deviled egg and tree shaped jello.

The YM and YW performed musical numbers for the entertainment and it was a wonderful night.

 Let's just say, this isn't Olivia's best picture.

13 Months

This month Olivia has started walking. She started taking a few steps with people helping her, but she wasn't too consistent. One day my Dad came over and I got her to walk to him, which was about 7 steps. We were so excited. But then she didn't do much after that. Then one night, right before Bob got home from work, Olivia started standing up on her own without pulling on anything. She would take a few steps on her own, fall down, and then stand back up again. Since then she has been doing really well.

It was fun to go downstairs and have Olivia walk from one end of the living room to the other. My Grandma and Grandpa Hales were so excited for her. Since living here, we try to go down to visit for a little while each day. So they were able to see how much progress she has made too. Now that she is walking, it's going to be a lot of work for me. Grandma's house is far from baby proof. She also likes to go after their dog, Bogey.

This month her favorite foods have been pancakes, clementines, Reeces Puff cereal, chicken, corn, and blueberries. When she is finished eating she throws whatever food is left on the floor.

Olivia's theme song has been "I'll I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth." She has been vampire baby for the last couple months since she skipped her two front teeth and the next two grew in. As a mother, I am happy to announce that her left top tooth made it's way in. She now has 5 teeth, and I am sure the  6th will be coming soon.

She has started being a total cry baby and when she doesn't get what she wants, she immediately starts crying. She loves to throw a fit when I stop her while she is playing to change her diaper.

She wears size 3 diapers and anything from 9- 18 months.

Olivia loves the Christmas tree. She spends part of her day standing next to it, grabbing the ornaments and strands of beads. She pulls the tags off of the presents and there are a few that she likes to pull at the paper. I know she won't totally understand Christmas, but I hope she will join in on the unwrapping.

I finished weaning Olivia right after she turned 1, and she hasn't looked back. We were both ready to be done.

Her favorite toys right now are her baby doll, play farm, kitchen, and shape sorter. (Although she doesn't know how to sort the shapes yet.) I love seeing her walk around the house with her baby doll in hand. She also tries to feed her with the baby bottles, she usually points the bottle at her neck.

She took her first big fall in the kitchen the other day and got her first bruise on her forehead. She was a little more cautious as she walked around the house after that.

She met Santa, she studied him, then she stared at me with no expression. He gave her a candy cane, which she liked but still no smiles.

Her new favorite trick is to stick her tongue out. She still likes to whistle, clap, and wave.

Olivia meets Santa

Last Christmas Olivia was 6 weeks old. We were still hibernating, so we didn't get a picture with Santa.  I was excited to take her, because she still has entered the stranger zone, and loves everyone. Santa hadn't arrived when we got to the studio for our appointment, so Olivia played with some toys and other kids for 15 minutes. By the time we saw Santa, she wasn't thrilled to be taken away from the toys.  Both myself and the photographer were bending backwards trying to get her to smile. But she just had a blank stare. But I'll take that any day over crying. I put her in her jeans and they are 6-12 months. They fit great around the waist, and if she is standing look cute. I didn't realize they were floods until she sat on his lap.

Birthday Pictures

Here is a sneak peak of Olivia's 1st Birthday Pictures. I can't wait to see the rest.

Thanksgiving

We enjoyed our Thanksgiving dinner this year at my parent's house in Spanish Fork with the Andrus family. That morning I woke up early, (setting my alarm for the first time in months) and started on my pies. I made a banana cream and chocolate pecan. I was super excited for both pies. I used Bob's family recipe for the banana cream and the pecan recipe came from a cooking magazine. As I made them both, my hope for the banana cream fell when Bob told me the filling tasted like marshmallow. I could only hope that the pecan could win the contest.

(So hard to get a good picture these days...)

I was also in charge of veggies for the dinner. I made 2 batches of baked corn in our oven. Then I went downstairs and used my grandma's oven to bake a green bean casserole. I bought the extra large can of green beans from Costco and use the whole thing. Grandma and Grandpa Hales were going to join us, but Grandma ended up not feeling well so they stayed home.

We had around 10 pies for the annual pie contest. Before the judges begin, everyone has to "plate" a piece of pie. When I cut into the chocolate pecan, it totally fell apart and I told my brother that it wouldn't win. When they announced the winners, I was pleased to hear that the banana cream had won 2nd place. My Mom's Chocolate/Eggnog had won 1st place. Over the next week, I ate a piece of the chocolate pecan each day. It just needed a day to chill in the fridge and then it was wonderful. Bob finished off the banana cream for breakfast the next couple days.

 Before and after of my pies

Family Party

Grandma and Grandpa Hales, Andrea, Brent, and baby Jensen came over to celebrate Olivia's birthday. We missed Ayrika, who had a good excuse (mission), and Dan who didn't have that great of an excuse (intramural game.)

We took a few pictures and then opened presents. Olivia was spoiled with lots of gifts from everyone.

She was still grumpy from her ear infection but the meds had kicked in enough that she had a few smiles.

We brought out the cake and she went to town.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl! 

My Baby is 1

Happy Birthday Olivia Faye! 

Olivia at 1 year:
Weight - 16 pounds 15 ounces, 10% (This is her exact same weight as her 9 month appointment.)
Height - 28.25 inches, 17%
Head - 18 Inches, 71%

Olivia is getting so smart, when I ask her to come over so I can change her diaper she will look at me, laugh and then crawl away. She loves to say hi to people and will wave and say "Hey." She also loves to wave when it is time to go. Her favorite word is DaDa. And she says it all of the time. It melts my heart when she is looking at Bob when she says it. She says MaMa occasionally but it is usually when she is super tired or sad. She also says Uh Oh and Boo.

She is still obsessed with books, she loves reading. We try to go to the library at least once a week and get new books. Right before we moved we checked out a few books from the Orem library. One of them was called Happy Birthday Pookie. After returning them, I got a call that the book had been returned chewed on and I had to buy it.  - Orem library's slogan for board books, "You bite it, you buy it."

I knew it was Olivia's bite, because she is still a Vampire with only 4 teeth. The teeth marks were spaced perfectly to show that she is missing her 2 front teeth.

Olivia made the transition to her new room and our new house really well. I was worried about her sleeping at night and for the first week slept through the night. Since she has had her ear infection, it is another story. She is up crying usually 2-3 times per night. She will cry for 20- 30 minutes. We have been spoiled with a great sleeper and not cranky baby. So the last week has been hard on me.

She doesn't seem too interested in walking on her own right now. She is great at walking along furniture or when holding our hands. Grandpa Hales likes to hold onto a pen and have her hold the other end while walking together. She loves to zoom across the living room and kitchen behind her walker. The other day she was pushing our kitchen bench around while I was making dinner.

Occasionally Olivia will crawl with both feet flat on the floor and her bum high up in the air.

Just this week her hand finally found it's way into the toilet bowl. She is curious about everything.

She loves to throw things, toys, food, binky, cup... you name it, she throws it.

She is just about weaned, with only nursing once at night before bed. She drinks milk from her sippy cup and eats just about everything. She loves to eat what we have on our plates.

I can't believe that it has been a year. Time goes by so quick, and I cherish everyday with her!