dancing queen

olivia started taking dance classes shortly after her birthday. everyone thought i was a little crazy for putting her in it so early but she begged to dance all the time. she LOVED dance class. she would do almost anything if i told her she would miss dance class.

she did a tap dance to a song for toy story 

and a ballet dance to "animal crackers" by shirley temple.

overall we LOVED the dance program we did and can't wait till next year to do it again.

the ants go marching....

olivia asked what month it was and when i told her it was march she laughed at me. then she said," but then why isn't anyone outside marching?" she proceeded to laugh for a good minute at her joke

terror

night terrors have been a weekly occurrence in our house for about 3 months now. they are so difficult to watch and so hard not be able to comfort a child when they are screaming. olivia has them anywhere from 2-4 nights a week. they last about 5-15 minutes depending on the day and they are so painful to my heart. she cries, screams, thrashes and just looks like something awful is happening. i can't touch her, talk to her, or hold her. if i leave the room it gets worse but being in the room is hard. i am anxious for her well check appointment to talk about this with the good dr. hopefully he will have some insight. here's hoping that she grows out of it soon..

break my heart

lately olivia has been very cuddly and wanting some extra snuggles that she usually doesn't want. she is also having a harder time with glenn leaving each time for work than she use too. poor girl cries and cries for her daddy. the thing that breaks my heart is that now at night she holds on super tight for her hugs and says, " don't go your my mommy." i tell her that i have to tuck the boys in because i am their mommy too but she just doesn't care. she tells me that i am only her mommy and that she wants me to stay. she holds on soo tight and it just breaks my heart for her. some nights i can indulge her and stay a little longer but other nights i have to get those boys into bed.  poor little ladybug.

cut cut cut

so i had been debating about cutting olivias hair for about 2 months now. the other day the last straw was broken when she proceeded to take her hair out of the french braid she had in. when we got to the airport to pick up glenn she looked like a HOT MESS. i was soo frustrated. so i finally broke down and cut it. i wish i would have done it months ago.. i LOVE it. she looks older which makes me sad but her hair looks so much better. sorry for the blurry phone pictures. its all i gots

she is a HOT mess

olivia found a tube of diaper cream and went ahead and covered herself in it. she thought it was either lotion or hand sanitizer- she loves both. she put it everywhere and it took forever to get it all washed out of her and the carpet

sad that she got into trouble for making such a HUGE mess

close up of her face- it was in her hair- i think we washed her hair like 3 times

her hands and legs- it was everywhere-

s.l.e.e.p

so all of the kids are different sleepers and the pattern is going from great to worse. wyatt is an AWESOME sleeper, drew is okay once he goes to sleep and as long as he doesn't nap and olivia is horrible. she has only slept through the night for 6 months of her life- do the math- for 18 months i have not been sleeping through the night (give or take a few random nights)
the only way olivia will go to sleep at night without banging and crying at her door, is to go to sleep in our bed. i finally gave in and allow this b.c she was banging on the door for 10-45 minutes each night and bruising her hands. so we have evolved to a calm tuck in but its in daddys bed ( she only calls it daddys bed) and she will wake up if you move her or if you get lucky and can move her she will wake up somewhere in the night screaming and banging and freaking out. i held out for one week and let her cry it out and she slept through the night for 2 days. then it was back to square one. it is horrible. i have tried just about everything and it is maddening. i am ready for her to sleep in her own bed and for an entire night. so if you have any children like her, give me the advice. i have tried the following
crying it out, super schedule, letting her stay up later, late naps, early naps, no naps, sleeping in her room, putting her on my floor, putting her in bed with the boys. none of this worked for more than a night or two... HELP...
isnt she cute snuggling pink bear. she has to have him to sleep and then halfway through the night throws him and then wakes up hours later frantic she can't find him.. its strange

snip, snip

so it had to happen- olivia's first haircut- she had this special level of hair going on and i just could not take it anymore- it needed some help. so we went to a local kids cutting place and this kind lady went to work. overall we took the tiniest amount of hair off but it made a difference. her hair is more even and less mullet-like looking. my mom thought i was crazy but my mother-in-law had a great advice for me. if olivia was a girl who had curl or whose hair was growing in nicely i would not have cut her hair but it was neither of those things. i am so happy and she was so great. the lady was surprised that she sat so still ( i have been doing her hair as soon as it was possible just for this reason) of course in true jessica fashion i didn't snap an after picture- good thing there is always next time :)

happy, happy birthday Olivia dear

i can't believe its true. my baby went from this

to this-

she is such a joy to have in our family. i can not imagine my life without my little lady. it has been such a blessing to get to learn how to be a mom to a girl (it is sooo different) the drama and the girlishness- it is fun. i am so excited to watch her grow and learn and becoming a little lady. we all love her so much and are so thankful that two years ago she came in to this world  (rather quick and painfully)

ps ( i love the post schedule option and purposely set my post time for her actual birth time :)

girls = drama

olivia has entered the world of tantrums and i hate it. boy tantrums are so much less dramatic. i mean they have their issues too but girls are so intense. olivia wanted to push the trash can around the house and i said no and the following is what occurred because of that no.

mad face at me


full on screaming because the trash can won't move

screaming at me because i had the nerve to take a picture

hands on the face screaming.

this lasted 20 minutes- all over a trash can. it was tiring to listen to and i imagine tiring to go through. silly girl- i have a feeling the terrible twos are going to really test us...

the dr appt that sucked

olivia finally had her 18 month check up the other day. it was a not good experience. wyatt had to get a shot for school and so i scheduled their appts for the same time. good in theory, bad in reality. glenn got wyatt freaked out about his shot and in the end it was a horrible experience with me holding wyatt down. the worst part is that i learned he needs 2 more shots.. i think i will let glenn go to that appt. so after wyatts freak out it was olivia's turn. she needed 2 shots and she did better than wyatt. we had to get her follow up blood test done on her iron level. everything came out fine which is great.

for my records

weight 20 6 1/4 oz (3-10%)

height 32 1/4 inches - (75%)

ladys don't dance on tables

i think i say that about a million times a day. olivia has a strange fascination with being on tabletops. she even tries to get on them at stores as we are checking out , it is pretty funny. here is some of her best work. i love her on the picnic table.

our caboose

she is the caboose to our family but she is a spunky one. if she were a real caboose she might have a lot bright colors on her. she is reaching a fun and hard stage- she wants to be independent but still doesn't have the motor skills to do it just yet. she can walk but will crawl as long as she can and then when we yell at her to walk she will stand up and do it for a minute and then plop down on her bum. she is starting to really play with toys and her doll now. its so cute for me to see. when she wants my attention but is not getting it from just yelling mommy or momma at me she yells MA as loud as she can. it cracks me up every time. she is a blessing and a joy to have in our house. its nice to know that someday we are going to "hopefully" be great friends and have that wonderful bond i was always able to have with my mom. we love our little priss and can't wait to see her grow and grow.

lets go olivia lets go...

..she has a future in cheerleading and has been prepping since birth. what you may ask am i talking about? olivia sits in a herkie position any time she is on the floor. she has done this for as long as i can remember and its so funny to see. the picture is a little blurry but its the best i could find of her in her favorite position.

happy birthday Olivia!!!

how time flies... it feels like just yesterday you were wrapped up and being cuddled in the hospital or sitting on the couch and snuggling up so comfy. you have been such a joy to have in our life. i love you little girl.. happy first birthday.

birthday day girl!

few days old- my favorite outfitsleepy girl..about 6 months old- sucking on her toes...birthday party girl... such fun

Its your party and you can cry if you want to...

yesterday was olivia's birthday but we had her party on sunday afternoon. it was so fun to watch her eat her cake and play with a few new toys. i can't believe that she is one already... here some pictures from the party.

happy girl.here want a biteso happy and so full of sugaryummy cakestrawberry shortcake- cakemommy and me

my very own cakewhat do i do now?checking to make sure the ballon is still attached to my chair..

uh-oh

olivia is starting to say more "words" besides mama and dada. maya taught her to say uh-oh.. i caught it on video this week. ignore drew's constant talking..he just really likes to be included.

getting into everything

this little lady gets into everything now. my dad has these decorative stick things in a pot that the kids like to play with. when we got here we worked on keeping the boys out of the sticks and now its keeping olivia out of them. she is such a stinker that the minute i turned my back and this is what i found.

she was so happy

wait i dropped one

here is the fruits of my labor

she finally

C R A W L E D...

yeah. i never thought it would happen but it did. last night she crawled from the kitchen into the dining room and then back around the kitchen. poppy got to see it too which was nice. he is usually one of the last people in the house to see her do new things. i, however, was the last to know that she could clap.

on a totally unrelated note, i had a few people ask about the elastic i used to make olivia's tiny but cute pony tails. they are goody brand and i got them at target. they are clear and the smallest size they make. i am on the look out for some small colored ones though. the clear get lost very easy..

amazed

two things have me amazed right now..
1) my daughter is 10 months old. she is official been with us longer than she was in my tummy. she is such a little stinker and a joy to have in our family. here are some things she has been learning lately. she can clap her hands, stand up and move around on things. she loves the shoe basket (and rightly so), she hates baby food but loves table food.

2) we were able to attend a dinner/silent auction for WeeDream Foundation on monday night. glenn wanted to golf but by the time we knew he would be home it was too late. they were all full for golfers. what amazed me the most about the night was the kindness that was so abundant. if you don't already know about WeeDream and what they are doing for a good friend of mine go here and you can learn about Elle and Whit. i made some bows and was actually shocked that someone bid on them and that they went for a pretty good dollar amount. in today's world i feel like people stopped helping each other the way they use to and this night helped me see some of that back in society.

of course being jessica my camera battery is dead and i didn't get a picture of olivia in the shoe basket but hopefully i will one day.