Happy Birthday, Olivia!

On March 18th, Olivia Mei turned 3 years old! We didn't put on a big party this year. We just had three small, separate celebrations, ha! Ethan and I are very blessed to have such a happy and healthy girl and for her to be a big sister to Callie.

 

 

Callie's 4 month picture I forgot to post. She will already be 5 months this Sunday!

 



As Ethan says, "Two China dolls!"

This was the look on Olivia's face when she heard Taylor Swift playing over the speakers. Have I mentioned that she is in love with Taylor?!?

Smallcakes sells cupcakes, and also has a great play area and crafts for the kids. They had fun activities all week during Spring Break.

 

We came back to Smallcakes that same week to meet up with another sweet friend.

Callie says "Yea, I know I'm cute"

All smiles. This is one of my most favorite hand-me-down outfits from Olivia.

All month long, Olivia has been saying, "It's so hard to wait for my birthday."

We've always had photos done for Olivia's birthday, but being so busy with Callie made me forget to schedule some to be taken by our photographer. This was Sunday afternoon, in the morning on the way out the door to church, Olivia was twirling on the tile floor and tripped over her own sandals. Needless to say, a bloody busted lip did not keep her from the celebrations.

1st celebration: dinner at Chuy's!

 

Bitty Baby! She's named her "Little"

Aunt Faye stopped by

2nd celebration: Chick Fil A dinner at home!

Olivia is always so gentle and sweet with Callie.

2nd birthday cupcake

3rd celebration: Mommy visits school. Olivia was the "show and tell" helper that day.

Just gotta say how cute it is to see small people eating their lunches at a small table, on small chairs.

Mommy brought a cookie cake to share with her friends.

She has remnants of the cookie cake on her face.

Feeding "Little"

 

Playing with Daddy

Two kids for four months

Last week marked the 4-month anniversary of us having two kids in the family! What a joy and blessing it's been. Joy - to see these two sisters grow to learn and love each other. Joy - to have two little people who are COMPLETELY dependent on you. Blessing - to have two healthy girls. Blessing - to have daily opportunities to be parents and learn how to manage a few bumps (tantrums, sleep issues) along the way.

Callie just returned from her 4-month check-up. She is 88th percentile in her height (25.75 in.) and 67th percentile in her weight (14lb 14oz). Everything looks good and healthy! The nurse said she has a tooth coming in, but then her doctor couldn't see anything at all. Who knows, but if it is teething, that clearly explains the random crying bouts we've had in the middle of the night recently!

This week, we also began offering rice cereal to Callie. Recently, as I put her down for the night, I've just had this intense feeling in my gut that she's not getting enough food. She's currently on a 4-hour eating schedule during the day, and that's really taken a toll on my BM supply. I am satisfying her to a degree, but if I don't have my oatmeal and drink lots of water during the day, my supply quickly wanes as the day progresses. She's a very happy baby when awake, so I thought it wouldn't hurt to introduce solids to her. Olivia at this age did not care for solids at all, but Callie took right to it! She loves watching us eat at the dinner table, so I guess she's been practicing her eating skills in her mind! I plan on making most of her food, as I did with Olivia.

We practice the Babywise method and have become a hyper-scheduler because of it. It's a good method to use when planning your days with an older child, making appointments etc, but horrible when things just don't go as planned. Olivia was a textbook BW baby. Callie is not. But, we trudge on because we know this method works in structuring sleep during the day and night and regulating their metabolism so that they can sleep through the night.  This type-A mom just needs to learn that and go with the flow... the Callie-flow :o) We learn of what works from what doesn't.

Anyways, here are some snapshots of my wonderful, sweet, little family from the past month:

 Everyday is Crazy Hair Day

 

 She loves the view from her high chair!

 

 Big sister has to check out the view too.

 

 A chunk of smiles.

 

 Rice cereal - yum!

 

 I know, I shouldn't put the Bumbo on the counter. I promise I won't do it again.

 

 Can't get enough!

 

Had to get this picture of these two! Olivia loves playing on Daddy's iPad!

 

 Rodeo Day at school

 

 

 

 



One Happy Baby

This week, Callie will be 4.5 months old!! Just a few weeks ago, Callie started grabbing at toys and rolling from one end of the floor to the other. She's also practicing and learning how to sit up in her Bumbo and high chairs. And to mommy's relief, she is no longer eating in the middle of the night! But one of the more fun things to watch Callie do is to be more aware of her surroundings. She watches big sister, the TV and listens to music. And my favorite, she is giggling and smiling. Click on the video or link below. To this mommy, I never get tired of watching things like this:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88yuiAqU4ys

 

 

 

 

 

Our Budding Performer

I'd like to say that Olivia never watches TV or YouTube, but that would be lying. One of the fascinations she's become obsessed with is Taylor Swift, have you heard of her? I can't complain if Olivia has become a fan of hers - she is very talented and doesn't ever curse in her songs. We have a DVD of her "Speak Now" tour and we watch all of her music videos on YouTube (minus the ones where she is making out with a boy).

So it wasn't a surprise when she asked Santa to bring her a guitar and keyboard. Below are two songs from Taylor's newest album performed by Olivia. I'm thinking I need to submit these to the Ellen DeGeneres show! Maybe she'll give us free tickets to the sold-out concert in May. Okay, I may be dreaming, but I might throw some change down to buy a couple tickets from scalpers ;o)

Click on the videos below to play:

   Olivia sings "We Are Never Getting Back Together"

Or click on this link to watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFjWhOw9-4o

Olivia sings "22"
Or click on this link to watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6wjmhRJN1I

Happy New Year!

 

 

So whoever said that going from one child to two is challenging, is EXACTLY right! No wonder I only find the time once a month to keep up with the blog! We've had a big start to the year....Callie had her two-month check up. She weighed 12 lbs, 10 oz and was 80th percentile in both her length and weight. The other thing is that Olivia is finally potty-trained!  

 

 

 

Hanging out at the Children's Museum. Pretty soon, Olivia will be too old for the Tot Spot. So sad because she practically grew up in there!

 

 

Shopping with Daddy at the HEB store inside the Children's Museum

 



Family photo

 

Callie and Sophie

Impromptu play date with the kids

 

 



Sisterly love

What is this contraption!?!

Three months old!

 

Daddy and his two girls.

Olivia plays pretty gently with Callie.

Don't ever send Olivia to the store with Ethan...daddy always comes back with an impulse buy!

 

 

 

Sisters acting silly together.

We celebrated two straight weeks of potty success with dinner at Chick Fil A! It was something I promised to Olivia as a reward for learning to use the potty, and we waited SIX long months for it to happen. That CFA meal was so so so good.

 

I took Olivia back to the Children's Museum, where she was a cashier this time at the HEB.

 

We've really enjoyed this spring-time weather! Can't believe Callie is already sitting up like a big girl!

Olivia learning to use scissors.

Olivia showing off her show-and-tell item.