Family Pictures 2014

On October 25th we finally got around to having pictures taken of our little family. The last time we took "posed" family pictures (via JC Penny) was December 2012 when Olivia was still discretely in my belly. I had been wanting to have a professional photographer take pictures of the family but those critters can be hard to schedule if you aren't already on their client list. Fortunately, I was able to schedule with Shawna Florida Photography (Shawna is a good friend of a friend of mine and has an amazing portfolio) and then the countdown began. I took the advice of my sweet friend, Kristin, and found what I wanted to wear first, then matched the rest of the family to me. They boys were easy and I found Olivia a cute outfit online in the same color family (not as easy). Of course, being in Texas, it was hot on photo-shoot day and my poor Livy-bug was rosy cheeked and glistening by the end (note: girls do not sweat). On the bright side, it was sunny and cool(ish) in the shade and we managed to find a beautiful setting for our pictures - Katy Heritage Park. I had in my mind that I wanted flowers as part of the scenery but we didn't want to haul the kids downtown to the parks in Houston. As documented elsewhere, Olivia is not the happy traveler and I didn't want to be frazzled and upset from an hour car ride before taking pictures.

We took Lolo along for the photo shoot to help corral the kids and try to get smiles out of them. We told Nathan that we would go get ice cream after taking pictures and he only asked about a hundred times, "Is this the last picture? Can we get ice cream?" Poor baby. I told Shawna that all I really wanted was that magical "perfect" shot of all four members of the family looking at the camera and smiling. Thanks to Olivia, who is still a little stingy with her smiles, I didn't get that particular image, but Shawna definitely did not disappoint! She took some amazing pictures and it was so hard to finally decide which ones we wanted to print and put up in the house. The grandmas found it equally as daunting but we all persevered. Included here are some of my favorites.

Date Night and Anniversary Trip

Back in August 2014 (I write this in January 2015), the hubby and I went on a date night for no real special reason. Then, in November we went on an anniversary trip to celebrate 7 years of marriage...5 months late. Our original trip was scheduled for earlier in the summer (end of June) but had to be cancelled due to Jimmy and both kids getting sick. Mommy was NOT a happy camper, but we ended up having a fun weekend anyway with Grammy in town. For the nights captured below, we didn't do anything super exciting, but I think it is important for our kids to someday see that we did, in fact, nurture our marriage and try to put each other first because it is so hard to do with little ones in the house. I love you, honey bunny!

Date night - Painting with a Twist right by the house. 

The painting was named something clever like, "Midnight in Miami" 

Jimmy's water turned out better and more "water-y" than mine...

...but I like my trees better.

This is what we came home to. It is a wonder I get any sleep at all.

Anniversary Trip - Our first night out we decided (on a whim) to take in a Rockets game.

We got pretty good seats and arrived in time for a little pre-game entertainment a la 6 year olds with pom poms, loud music and very little synchronization. But they were cute.

This is Brad Stevens, the coach of the Celtics (formerly coach at Butler University)...I include this picture because we saw him in the elevator of our hotel before the game. I knew I recognized him, but couldn't place the face until we got into our room. A quick interweb search confirmed I was right! Jimmy thought I was a little crazy at first.

Next day we went to the Museum of Natural Science to see the dinosaur exhibit and we went through the butterfly garden. It reminded me of our honeymoon when we did the same thing and got some amazing pictures. These butterflies weren't as bold as the ones on the island, though.

Pictures from Grammy (who was monster-sitting). Keeping the wild one contained with the iPad. Hey, whatever works, Grammy.

Because watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is an occasion worth getting dressed up.

Olivia 15 Month Update

My sweet lady bug turned 15 months old on October 11th and we celebrated the occasion by going to the doctor for lots of vaccinations and a blood draw to test for anemia (not to worry, all clear). My littlest angel is full of spunk and met some fun and not so fun milestones this quarter. Author's Note: Yes, auditor mommy thinks in terms of quarters. If your life and livelihood ever revolve around that special three-month span of time, you will too. 

The statistics: Length 31.5 inches (80th %) and weight 20 lbs 13 oz (44th %). She is wearing size 18-24 month clothes and still in size 4 diapers.

So much has happened in the months since she turned one year old. At this point (as I type) she is 17 months old and full of energy. So. Much. Energy! We sometimes refer to her as Olivia the Destroyer because she isn't content with simply playing with toys. Oh no. She wants to deliberately trash the house with whatever comes to hand. Be it movies, crayons, blocks or books...all are fair game to our resourceful girl. As mentioned in her one-year post, she started walking in August at 13 months old. She has that down now and is working on mastering the art of running. It is hilarious to see her whole little body move when she gets to running. Well, usually not hilarious at the time because if she's running she probably has eaten something or gotten a hold of something she's not supposed to have and is high-tailing it away from you. But I digress.

I noticed that these last few pictures are all from the same day. It was a good day for destroying apparently.

The week of Thanksgiving (16 months old) my angel caught a virus and worked on a fever coupled with cutting two of her first year molars. Girlfriend does not handle teething pain well.  All of that combined with travel and sleeping in a place other than her bed meant some rough nights for Mommy and Daddy. I am frequently reminded of the phrase, "This too shall pass."

Olivia is still a better eater than her brother, but is quickly adopting the toddler diet and has been more picky than usual. She still loves yogurt, crackers, pasta and fruit (her favorite is blueberries). Sometime between turning one and now we took away the bottle. She was only taking one to go to sleep at night, but it was interfering with her transition to a sippy cup and I'm "that mom" who won't allow milk in a bottle or formula in a sippy cup because I feel it just prolongs the transition process. Olivia's sweet teacher at daycare suggested switching to giving her milk at night in a sippy cup instead of formula in a bottle as part of our going-to-sleep ritual. We were really really nervous about it because Olivia always fell asleep while taking the bottle. Less sleep and more drama at bedtime is definitely not what this mama wanted! But, as with most things, this went much better than expected and her transition to sippy cup started gaining momentum. She can now drink (with help) from a regular cup. In fact, she always wants to have a drink or bite to eat of whatever you are having. She's a first class mooch.

Taken 8/5 - Yay Cheerios!

Taken 8/26 - Already looking like a big girl and enjoying some puffs (aka "baby crack")

Taken 10/23 - Look at the change from August to October! Also - this is Daddy's first pony tail...good job Daddy!!

Olivia isn't the book worm that her brother is, but she still likes to read a little during the day and really enjoys the reading ritual at bedtime. Lately she has started telling Daddy which books she wants to read by saying "no" and pushing away unfavorable titles. She especially likes books with animals in them. She is still obsessed with cats and "pup-pups" (dogs). Speaking of that (see what I did there) her word explosion happened just after the 15 month mark. When I took her for her 15-month appointment she really had only a handful of words that had clear and distinct meaning. Since then she has been increasing her vocabulary daily. She is sometimes hard to understand and I think a stranger wouldn't be able to interpret all of her "words" but Jimmy and I are usually pretty good at figuring it out.

One other unique and fun characteristic is that she loves to accessorize. She can put on long necklaces by herself (the kind that just go over your head) and still loves to wear hats. She usually has on at least one and sometimes up to five necklaces at one time. She also likes to carry around her bags, including ones that are way too heavy for her to budge such as my work bag. Typically those attempts result in frustrated noises and cries until we either lighten the load of the bag she's trying to carry/drag or give her a replacement "purse" to carry. She is determined, I'll give her that.

Her favorite toy right now is her bunny lovey given to her before birth by Aunt Ashley. Running a close second is the "cat" she got from the zoo. Her other favorite toys are whatever Nathan happens to be playing with at the moment (in true second-child form). Also, like big brother, she loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and dancing along to the hot-dog dance at the end. Anytime she hears music or singing she starts swaying and twisting her little body with a huge grin on her face. Maybe I will have a future ballerina after all.

I should mention that her favorite servant person is her Daddy. As soon as he gets home she is in his arms and telling him where to go (by pointing and grunting) and what to bring her (such as milk). She certainly doesn't pull that act with her Mommy. Well, not too often anyway. Daddy puts her to sleep every night and generally gives the kids his undivided attention all of the time. They play a game, where Olivia will say, "Daaa-Da!" and Jimmy will respond with, "Oliiiiivia!" Back and forth this goes until Olivia gets bored or Mommy changes the subject.

Olivia, my sweet angel, Mommy loves you very much. It is so fun seeing the little girl you are becoming and I look forward to the days to come. Now, please get back to sleeping through the night. Mommy needs some rest!

Here are more pictures from August through October.

I came in to find her like this one morning. Evidently she was ready to get those pajamas OFF!

Miss Independent wants to do things herself. Even taking her own temperature with the temporal thermometer. Rotten girl.

She loves playing with Bubba. Whatever he is doing she wants to do, too.

Playing with Popo while Lolo supervises. Livy-bug loves her some Popo.

Doing as Bubba does.

"Bubba, pay attention to meeeeeeee!"

"And we're outta here!"