Happy Birthday, Olive!

Wow.  Where did the year go?  It is just crazy to see how much a baby grows in a year.

At birth, Olive weighed 6 lbs. 11 oz. and was 19 inches long.

On her birthday, she weighed 20 lbs. and almost 30 inches!!

And she doesn't have any teeth yet. Amazing. I guess that means that the ones she get will be really good, right?

She has flown on an airplane for three different trips this year and will fly again next week.  (We meet Grandma Rawson in Vegas to drive to Manassa for Pioneer Days!)

Olive recently discovered screaming. She will scream at super high pitch and hold it out. It's a pretty clear scream and I always think to myself that she will be an opera singer with notes like those. At least it's happy.

We threw a fiesta for her first birthday.  Posting pictures soon.

4th of July

Well, it is hotter than hell by now.  Does hell have humidity?

Olive had quite the red-white-and-blue fashion show this week.  Because she was due on July 2nd, we got a lot of stuff for the occasion.  Here are just a couple of the pictures of her cute little outfits from the weekend!

For Independence Day, we were brave and ventured out to downtown Gulfport.  We walked around and looked at some of the booths and a car show.  We pushed Olive around in the stroller and had slathered her with sunscreen beforehand.  I happened to glance at her and thought something was terribly wrong.  She was quiet but looked like she had been crying.  She had a blotchy rash all over her face.  At first I was thinking heat rash, but then Kevin reminded me that she must have rubbed her eyes and gotten sunblock in them.  I think he was right.  By then we were all sweating profusely anyway, so we decided to head home.

Later, the school had a dinner and fireworks.  We didn't quite make it for the fireworks at 9:00 because of Olive's bedtime but had a really good time!  Kevin and I noted that Utah does indeed have the best celebration and were wishing we were at the Stadium of Fire. 

The Headband Stylist

Olive wears lots of headbands.  She likes to pull down the one she is wearing so that it hangs around her neck like a necklace.  Then, she tries to put it back on.  Here are a couple of her special attempts.  She always looks so special.

It almost always happens during a car ride.  I go to get her out from the back and it is almost always what I find.

Shubba Dubba Dubba

When Kevin put Olive's headband on like this, we decided that she looked like Mia Michaels.  If you don't know who Mia Michael's is, shame on you.

Oh and do you remember this picture?  When I posted it on facebook, many people noted that Olive could be terrified of sewing machines in the future.

I am happy to announce that so far, this is not the case.  In fact, sometimes I set her down to play while I sew and she crawls over and stands herself up against the chair so I can pick her up.  She just likes to see what I'm doing.

I'm so glad when Daddy comes home...

If Olive were to articulate her feelings in song, "Daddy's Homecoming" would be sung on a daily basis.  As soon as she hears the the door unlock, she starts squealing.  As soon as she sees Kevin, she starts bouncing in her seat.  This isn't a new behavior, but it just never gets old.  Olive is definitely her daddy's girl.  I thought it was appropriate to share that for Father's Day.  Thanks for being such a great dad, Kev! 

I still cannot believe that Olive's birthday is in a couple of weeks.  It's hard to believe how much a baby grows in one year.

Ooh la la

Olive is a little singer already.  I love it.

She really loves Rodgers & Hammerstein, but one of her favorite songs at the moment is the Elmo Song.  She totally lights up whenever we play it for her.  It was stuck in my head the other day so as I was singing it, she started singing it too.  Quite often she will actually sing the "la la la" part with the right timing and everything.  Other times, she just goes on and on with the "la la la" part...

11 Months Old

My little sweetheart is eleven months old!  I can't believe it's almost time to have her first birthday. I am not really sure that she will walk before then. She pulls herself to stand on furniture and people though. Sometimes when she is propped up on furniture she will take a few steps sideways, holding onto the furniture. And she really tries to hop onto the bed.  (She did it once when I wasn't looking, so I'm not sure how she did it since she hasn't been able to do it since.) She doesn't like it when we hold onto her arms and try to help her to walk, though, so I'm really not sure what kind of time we are looking at. Things can change so quickly.

She learned to clap her hands. She has sort of been doing it for a few weeks but her little chubby hands were fisted and she would clap because she liked playing patty cake. She just figured out the other day to open her hands to do make sound with it.

She is so funny. Whenever I whip out the hairspray or a can of cooking spray, she makes this kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk static sort of sound to mimic the spray. She was making the sound the other day in the workroom and when I turned around she had found my can of basting spray. What a funny girl.

She also really likes playing peek-a-boo now.  She has always enjoyed it but now she joins in!  She will lift whatever she is holding over her head.  It's hilarious because she will hold something small up that doesn't cover her face at all but she still plays like it does. 

That's really all I can think of about her for now. I am staying busy just working on several projects for the blog and McCall's--including a cabinet we bought from goodwill to distress and house our television. Kevin did some of the glazing and all of the sanding. Doesn't it look awesome? I think Kevin sanded it better than I ever would have and made it look like something from Anthropologie. Oh and originally it was bolted onto this ugly black metal base but we just bought some legs and the clamps from Home Depot and gave it a classier look! Now, to figure out what other decorations will go with it and what overall look we want!

Crazy for Elmo

I have a testimony of Elmo.  Olive just loves him.  I found the "Elmo in Grouchland" movie to be especially invaluable on the four-hour plane ride Olive and I shared a couple of weeks ago.  It works like a charm.  

Oh and Aunt Shan and Uncle George got Olive her first Elmo doll.  My sleep-deprived child received it after a red-eye flight, and as you can see, Elmo has worked his magic again.  Thanks Aunt Shan and Uncle George!!! 

Oh and let's not forget the Elmo measuring cup toy that Granny Goertzen had for Olive during our visit to Utah.  I am going to have to invest in one of these! She loved it.

While I re-arranged the furniture, Olive was content to watch Sesame Street.  She kind of just stared at the program until the "Elmo's World" came on.

And who wouldn't love Elmo?  He is the cutest.  And if you haven't seen the celebrity lullaby with Ricky Gervais, you are definitely missing out.

Happy Birthday, Kevin!

Happy 29th, my darling birthday boy.  I love you. 

Unfortunately, I was out of town for Kevin's birthday last Friday.  We had a delicious birthday dinner a few days before, and his birthday present was a tasty little trip to NY, which you can read about here.  Still, I really hated to miss it. 

I thought I'd celebrate with a montage of some of my favorite pictures.  

  

xoxo

Mother's Day

 

Did I really give birth ten months ago?   

Sometimes I watch Olive play and just cannot believe that she was once a hurled mass--kicking and poking around inside my tummy.  I know that today is proclaimed "Mother's Day," but it will truly fall on July 7th for me.  Yes, in two more months, Olive will celebrate her first birthday.  She will most likely destroy a cake and consequently fight the afternoon nap.  And I will just sit back, smile, and beam over the day she made me a mom.

 Speaking of the little kicker...

Silly baby

Lately, Olive has had a really weird sleeping habit. She ends up doing this almost every single nap/sleeping occasion.  It's kind of ridiculous.  I mean how uncomfortable does it look?

I guess she is just trying to maintain that incredible flexibility!

Happy Easter