Olivia and all her brilliance.

I wanted to document Olivia and all of the things she has learned lately. I figured if you are checking this blog, you would want to see just how smart our little Olivia is too. I forgot to get her to sign all of her words, so I guess that will be a video to look forward to.

I haven't blogged in a while. I really just haven't had any time, but I don't want to begin again so I am hoping to get motivated again with this one. Since I have last blogged Olivia has started her school. We absolutely love it. It is so refreshing to know that I am leaving her in such great hands each day. In the beginning she was a little hesitant about me leaving her each morning, but now she typically just gets down and joins her friends to play. We love her teacher and have been very impressed with the overall quality of everything.

To catch you up to date. Olivia now has 6 teeth, 4 on top and still just 2 on bottom. She gets everywhere she wants and loves to climb. Tonight we bought one of her new carseats. Since we had a great box, we decided to turn it into a little house for her and she LOVED it. Instantly, she crawling through the door and out the back window.

She is almost 21 pounds and is 29 inches long, which puts her into the 40 percentile. She is learning to communicate with her words and with sign language. She can sign please, thank you, hungry, more and wash your hands. We are working on water and bath, but they aren't coming as easily. She will also say please when she signs it and it is SO cute, because it comes out like "peas".

Parenthood is still wonderful! Rob and I constantly reflect on how blessed we are and do not want to take for granted one minute of this experience. We hope you enjoy our latest video. The fact that we actually caught all of this at one time is a miracle in and of itself. Usually she will do a couple of the things we ask and then she goes on her way. I guess tonight she felt like being a star.

First Birthday

Daddy and Olivia playing on the floor.



Licking a beater of mashed potatoes, like mother like daughter.



Olivia had more fun squishing her cupcake between her fingers than eating it.



She is showing off her homemade birthday card from mamaw.



My little birthday princess


What a great first year!!! Olivia has been such a blessing to Rob and I and we have enjoyed every minute of it. Just to give you an update about what she's up to these days. She is walking all over the place. She has definitely discovered her independence. She has also started her new school. Rob and I love it and think it is a great environment for her each day. We are also super excited that Rob's schedule allows that she is home with him two days a week, so they are getting some great father daughter time together. The first day of "school" she came home talking and pointing out her "shoe". Apparently they had practiced putting their shoes on that day and she really caught on. pretty cool! Also she has starting signing much more in the one week there, because they use it there as well. She can say please, more, and all gone. Love it! She waves to everyone and will blow you a kiss. She loves spending time outside. I can't imagine that it gets any better than this, but a good friend of Rob's says that he would think that at every age of his daughter life too. Here are some pictures from the past month and also from her birthday.

First Trip to the Ocean

The reason the picture is a little cloudy is because there was SO MUCH humidity that our camera kept having to make the adjustment to the climate.

This is her favorite funny face to make and it is a challenge to catch on the camera

This is Alicia, the bride. Olivia was fascinated with her and would hardly let her go.

Rob and Keith

We returned from Charleston, South Carolina this morning. Rob was in a wedding with one of his great friends Keith. He and Keith lived together in Iraq and Rob was honored to be apart of his wedding this weekend at the beach. We took this opportunity to let Olivia get her feet wet in the ocean. I am posting some pictures of the event so you guys can see the happy couple. Then following I am posting a video of Olivia's ocean experience. We did not get completely in the ocean, I was super nervous about having Olivia out in the sun for very long. Therefore, we just allowed the water to rush in on her little toes.

Our baby girl has taken some small steps!!!

Today was a monumental day for this family. Olivia took her first steps. Rob and I have been anticipating this for weeks and today when it happened I almost cried. I was cooking and Rob was working on school work. Neither of us were prompting her and she simply stood up and took two little steps. I squealed and she clapped. Rob just so happened to have witnessed this moment from the other room too, which was perfect!! Then we started getting her to take more and she took a couple of steps towards me and a couple towards dad. It was so exciting! This has been something we have spoke about for a while and yet when it happened... it was kind of sad because this is our little girl and she is growing up SO FAST! She took many more steps throughout the night and we caught two little ones on video and thought we would share them with you. I want to warn you that it is a short video and you will need to turn the computer, because I couldn't figure out how to rotate the picture.

First Vacation and the Big 30!!!

We recently went to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Rob wanted to do something big for my 30th birthday, so he booked a beautiful cabin in the mountains. It was wonderful and definitely my best birthday thus far. Not to mention it was Olivia's first official vacation. We had a wonderful time. We got to take a fun ski lift into the mountains... and see a bear....I mean seriously, people have been there a ton of times and never seen a bear this close. Of course, Olivia didn't get to take that ride... maybe next time. We played putt putt down the side of the mountain at the famous hillbilly golf. We saw a fun dinner show. The guys golfed and the women shopped. Overall a fabulous and relaxing vacation. Not to mention I got a fun little 10 inch laptop from Rob for my birthday. It is perfect for me since my main goal is surfing the web and it so easy for travel.

My Georgia Peach

I wanted to share with you all about my little Georgia Peach. Last week, Olivia and I went to Walmart to pick up some groceries and she saw the peaches and made her famous grunt. We were done shopping, so I picked up two peaches to complete the trip then headed to the checkout. I mistakenly gave her one of the peaches to hold on to. In the ten seconds that it took me to walk to the line, I looked down and to my surprise she had taken a huge bite out of the peach. She has never eaten a peach this way so I had no idea that she would even know what to do with it. When I tried to get it from her, she was quite determined to get it back and let everyone in Walmart know about it. So I gave it to her and let her eat it on the way home. When I got home, she had eaten the entire peach.... obviously not the seed. I have attached a video of what she looked like when we got home. She was a sticky mess, but she enjoyed herself. I have been joking about not even giving her a birthday cake for the big day, but a peach instead. I think she would love it.

First Mother's Day

Yesterday was my first official mother's day. Obviously I was muy gorda last year, but I don't really know if I count that. Contrary to what I have heard, it's just not truly mother's day until you meet your new little sweets. Olivia has turned our world upside down and it's wonderful. She has forever changed my perspective on so many things. I think Rob would probably second that motion. When I sent my mom her mother's day card this year, I just had to explain to her how much I never really understand about her love for me even until now. Being a mom is definitely a wonderful feeling. Olivia is such a wonderful blessing and I am thankful each day that God allows me to be her mom.