22 Months

Olivia can count from 1 -10, but usually stops around 5. Sometimes a minute or so later I will hear her finish 6-10. She also likes to count according to what she is playing with. Ex: 1, 2, horsie. 1, 2, 3, chickens. She also has started singing the alphabet and knows up to E. The other morning I found her in the rocking chair in her room looking at an alphabet book singing to herself. One morning she woke up and said, "Mom let me out!" I am so impressed with her vocabulary. She also called my Grandma's bear Pooh Pooh - which everyone thought was hilarious. She had made the connection from her Winnie the Pooh Bear.

She has a little play kitchen that she has started putting food into. Obviously prego mom was laying on the couch one day not paying attention and I was letting Olivia eat plain noodles from a bowl. The next day she told me she wanted noodles and while I was getting her some, I saw her grab the old bowl from her kitchen cabinet and start eating. Yikes! We now {try} to check daily to make sure she isn't hiding anything.

We are making progress in the potty department. She tells us she needs to go during the day, but once we sit her down, she doesn't go. Usually about 10 minutes later she will poop in her diaper and tell us. So at least she is making a connection with her body. On the 8th of September I bought all of the stuff and sat in the living room with Olivia all day having her drink and pee. She did great with minimal accidents. But the next morning she started bawling when I asked her to sit on the potty. I think it was a little too much going at it all day. So we are trying throughout the day, but not nearly as intense as I thought we would be doing it. Princess Sophia panties and stickers along with peanut butter m&m's are part of her bribery.

This month we bought a toddler bed for Olivia. Her room is super small already, but somehow we made it work with both a crib and bed. She loves sitting in it and reading her books, or bringing all of her stuffed animals and babies into bed with her. The first week naps were basically play time but she has improved and now naps after a short play time. Some nights she sleeps in her bed and some nights she sleeps on the floor next to the door. As long as she is sleeping it doesn't matter to me. Since she can't reach the door knob, she will knock on the door when she wakes up each morning.

Lately she has been super whiney. When she wants something, she wants it right then. I have been trying to teach her about "nice voice" and such, but it's definitely a work in progress. "Please Mom, please show." {Please Mom, can I watch a show?}

She is definitely on a baby kick. She gets all of her babies and stuffed animals that she is loving at the moment and brings them to me. Then she grabs all of her blankies and we swaddle them up. They also get milk and juice throughout the day by bottle.

Her bottom right I tooth is mostly in and the left is on it's way. I am sure it's related - but is quite annoying that she has had a runny nose almost all month. I swear her nose is a fountain.

She is obsessed with all farm animals. We play with her little barn, animals, tractor, and people for at least an hour each day. A friend who babysits for us has a field of cows near her house. It makes dropping Olivia off so easy, because she gets distracted by the cows. There also is a pasture of horses right next to our new church building. Olivia now relates church to horses.

She calls my Mom, "Mama Sue, or Grandma Sue" and my Dad is now "Papa Hales." She is getting really good at remembering the names of people. I need to print off some of Ayrika's pictures from her mission so she can become familiar with her. Hopefully by the time we Skype at Christmas, she will recognize her.

I broke my finger this month and Olivia has let everyone know that she also has one too. She tries to take my little finger brace and wear it. Then she will use her sad voice to tell everyone that her finger is broken and she is sad.

We have a bunch of containers in the living room with Olivia's toys. She has been dumping all of the toys out and stacking them. THen she likes to stand on top of them and jump. She also calls this doing a bow.

Westin's Wedding

Today my cousin Westin got married. It was such a nice day until we went to drop Olivia off at the babysitter and that was when the thunder started. The wedding was being held at the Springville Museum of Art here in Springville and was supposed to take place in the gardens. By the time we got to the museum it was seriously pouring rain. Andrea and I ran as fast as we could with me being pregnant and her in heels. We helped set up some chairs inside as they had to move the ceremony inside. It was so fun to catch up with cousins and be with family celebrating Westin and Miranda.

The rain had stopped so we were able to eat our meal outside. I didn't get a picture but the tables were decorated so beautifully. My Aunt Shauna has the eye for that kind of thing and I seriously loved it all. After dinner we grabbed some family pictures before some of the family had to leave.

We went and picked up Olivia and on our way back to the reception she started unwrapping their gift. {I say this is all Bob's fault because he has been talking to her about her birthday and Christmas and presents. Needless to say, he is a little excited about the upcoming holidays.}

They had a cheesecake bar at the reception which was delicious. As I am trying to only have 1 dessert a week, I was glad I waited for that one. Since the reception was outside, Olivia was running all over the place. She loved the fountain the most, along with the statues and this little corner of the garden. My cousin Addi and my mom were kind enough to tag a long with her so I could sit down and talk for a while.

32 Weeks

I am so excited that I am 32 weeks, although 8 more weeks sounds like a long time to me. I am trying not to wish time away, and enjoy my time with Olivia. But as I get bigger and more uncomfortable, it's hard not to wish for our sweet baby to be here.

32 Weeks with my dirty mirror.

This month was kind of a hard one. Probably because I broke my finger, which is such a small break but you do so much with your hands. I also will call this month the month of the bowling ball. Up until now my belly never really got in the way. But now when I bend over to change diapers or pick things up I feel like there is a bowling ball attached to my belly. Lucky for me it's not, it's a cute little baby.

I was lucky enough to get a pedicure this month. A couple days after I broke my finger I went to the salon to have them blow dry my hair. There was no way I was going to try and attempt washing and blow drying my hair after that. And while I was there I decided to treat myself and it was so nice. I told Bob that might have to happen a couple more times before baby comes.

It's funny how no matter what stage of pregnancy you are at - you feel like you are so big. The main picture on my blog is of me at 17 weeks and I remember being at Mitch's wedding feeling so big. And now I look back and I don't even look pregnant. Right now I am feeling huge. But I know that I will continue to grow and look back thinking that was nothing.

I have been buying a few things. Bob might say a lot of things. Mostly a bunch of headbands and bows, and a couple new sleepers. I have also been looking up ideas for our newborn pictures, which will also include getting family pictures for our Christmas card. I need to find what we will be wearing because that has to be done before baby comes. I am thinking that the colors will be gold, navy, and maroon.

I start seeing the doctor every 2 weeks for the next 2 and then every week after that. We are getting so close!!!

For the first time in months I actually blow dried and then curled my hair with the curling iron. But my picture taking skills aren't up to par so I didn't get all of my head. I am super excited about this new robe I got.