1 YEAR OLD!!!

Well, my baby girl is a year old today. She has been home for 2 months yesterday. Olivia fits right in with the rest of our family. She is loud, messy, and demanding! Her third tooth just broke thru in the last couple days. Now she has a full tooth on the bottom and a new one on bottom as well as a new one on top.
Olivia is still sleeping well, except for a few interuptions because of those darn teeth. She eats like crazy. Of course, she seems to be a meat and potatoes kid which figures since I don't eat red meat.
We had Olivia's birthday party last Saturday at Roca Bar. She didn't seem overwhelmed at all. She really enjoyed having people circled around her! Some of the family that hadn't gotten to see her yet were there. She showed everyone how well she's walking and how she jabbers.
She got a lot of cute outfits and lots of toys. She didn't know what to play with first!
Today, after nap, we're going out to use her gift cards and to pick out a gift from momma and daddy.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLIVIA!

Almost a year old :(

I can't beleive my baby is going to be a year old soon! We are planning to have a party at Roca Bar next weekend. She will turn one on the 9th and I go back to work on the 15th. Not looking forward to going back to work.

11 months old

Olivia turned 11 months old this past Tuesday. She is making progress in leaps and bounds - too fast in my opinion! She is now not only walking, but trying to run. She runs about 4 steps, falls, and gets up and does it again. I feel like I spend all day hovering over her because she's into everything. About a week or so ago her first tooth finally broke through. So far it's the only one.
Olivia's favorite word right now is "dog". Everything is dog, but when she sees Macie, who is now apparently her dog, she gets sooo excited. Macie and Olivia play together, share food, and hang out together. For those of you who don't know, Macie is a two-year-old white german shephard.
I weighed Olivia on our home scales recently and she was up to about 18 pounds. She eats like crazy! I don't know where it all goes - she's still pretty small. She is still in 6-9 month clothes!
Well, it's nap time and someone is very cranky!

Movin' right along

Well, I quit counting steps when Olivia got up to 25 at one time. She's moving faster and faster and getting into a lot. Her favorite thing is to find tiny pieces of stuff on the floor and stick it in her mouth. I usually get to her in time, but there have been a few times that I've had to go in there and dig stuff out.
I have her sleeping about 12 hours every night and she sleeps straight thru! Then she takes two naps that last about an hour. The later nap tends to be hard to get in just because we are often out running errands. I've learned to get as much done out of the house between 11:00 and 2:00 as possible.
There have been slightly less fits being thrown now that she's getting more sleep and settling in. And she is eating really well. Olivia takes 3-4 feedings of formula a day. In the afternoons she uses a sippy cup instead of a bottle. She eats finger foods really well. She'll try just about anything and likes an assortment of foods in one sitting. She likes fish, green beans, peas, olives, corn, bread.
I'm trying to think of ideas for Olivia's first birthday party. Since not everyone has seen her I want to invite as many people as possible. I'd like to find a building that would be inexpensive (or free) in Newburgh. I'm thinking for about 40 people.

On to the fun stuff

Okay, so for now I'm skipping all of the stuff about the pick-up trip. On to the present . . .
Olivia took her first steps alone two days ago! Yesterday she was taking 6-7 steps at a time. She crawls, stands really well on her own and now is starting to walk!
Yesterday I gave her a baby fork and put some fruit on it and she was using the fork to eat the fruit! Can you believe what a big girl she is?!
Today was her first doctor's appointment since she's been home. He said she is doing great. She is 16 pounds (so tiny - still in size 6-9 month clothes), but is developing really well. She's already had most of her vaccines. She has a couple teeth coming in on the bottom, but none have poked thru yet.
Olivia is very smart and clever. She figures things out quickly. I think we're going to have our hands full!
The only problem we've had so far is her temper. She has the worst temper of any baby I've ever seen. When she gets mad (and it happens easilly) she screams and screams, bangs her fists and throws things, kicks her feet, pulls her hair, scratches herself with her nails. It's quite a site! It was really stressing me out at first, but I'm learning to shrug it off. The more we shrug it off the less fits she throws. And, of course, it gets worse when she's tired. If she's doing this now, at 10 months, I hate to see her at 2!
On the bright side, Olivia is sleeping thru the night now - has been for the last 4 or 5 nights. Naps are a little harder, but I'm learning tricks to get them in.
The doctor wants me to start getting her away from the bottle a little now. Olivia hasn't accepted a sippy cup - she prefers straws. So, I will keep working on the sippy cups and went ahead and bought a couple kids cups that have straws. Thru the whole store she was trying to suck on the straw thru the package.
Well, lots to do. I actually got her to bed at 8:00 tonight. She gets up every morning at 7:00.

We're home!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our flight landed at 10 pm last night. We are sooo glad to be home - especially with Olivia! She is wonderful!! I will write all the details (and there is plenty) soon, but it's very late and I should be getting to bed.

Only about 12 more hours!!!!!!!!!!!

We have only about 12 more hours before we meet our baby girl!!! About 6 hours before the plane leaves Evansville. And 3 1/2 hours before we have to leave for the airport. I was going to try to go to bed around 8:00 tonight, obviously that worked out for me (it's midnight!). Surprisingly, it didn't work out for Ken either. He usually gets to bed long before I do. I didn't get to sleep until about 4 am this morning. It's been like that for about 3 weeks now. I get a few short hours of sleep each night and then go go go all day. I guess I'll be ready now for when we bring Olivia home!

Reservations made - now must sleep

I have just finished finalizing our reservations for our flights and hotel. We are leaving Monday and returning on Friday. And we will be staying at the Crowne Plaza. It seems nice and it was even cheaper than where we were going to originally stay. Now just wish us luck on getting in to the Embassy while we're there!