Monday, November 12, 2012

Celebrating Our Little Lady

We celebrated our Little Lady's first birthday a few Sundays ago. 

It was a wonderful day filled with lots of smiles, laughs, pictures and a few tears. 

She even took the cake that day by taking her first steps!

We feel truly blessed by this sweet little lady and love her to pieces. 

She has been taking her time talking, walking and moving quickly. 

Of her limited vocabulary, she tries to say each of her brothers names and tries to say "boys" after I yell it downstairs or into the other room to get their attention. 

So sweet!

Olivia had her one year check up and she is definitely the smallest one year old of our crew.
She remains a peanut at 19lbs 5oz (fully dressed and with a clip in her hair) and 30 1/2 inches long. This puts her in the 90th percentile for height and only the 25th for weight.  Our boys haven't ever been below the 99th percentile for height and I am pretty sure they haven't ever been below the 50th percentile for weight either ;0)

Just out of curiosity I peeked at Isaac's one year stats (who was our biggest one year old): he was 25 lbs 13 oz and 32 1/2 inches long!
No wonder she seems so small still!


My parents graciously allowed us to host the party at their house as they have more room than us. 
Thanks Mom and Dad! 

Here are a few pics from the party...

Pink Peanut Butter Hug cookies....they were quite good. 
I found the recipe here.

I found the balloons on amazon for a ridiculous steal..


The boys helped me create this 3D #1 out of a diaper box and we I wrapped it with pink zebra wrapping paper I was using for her presents


The crown was a foam sparkly craft in the $1 at Michaels and I added a fluffy accessory and a zebra #1 I cut out of zebra cardstock.

The banner was the inspiration for the zebra/pink party because I found it at Target on sale for $2 a month prior to her birthday when I was trying to decide on a "theme" that wasn't princess or obnoxiously pink (per a family members' request).

I printed the monthly pics I had taken of her and attached them to it.


This picture frame was from Gordmans and was a result of a credit I had to the store and jumped into my cart when I passed it by a few days before her birthday!


I ordered her cake from O' For Heaven's Cakes rather than stressing about making one. 
Richard was out of town the whole weekend prior to her party for state Cross Country and I knew it would be too much to try get ready for the party and make her cake. 

It was a cupcake cake and it was delicious!
Chocolate, chocolate chip (Jonah and Elijah helped me order it) with the real frosting!

The best part was it came with a free "smash cake" that matched!

Here is the party girl with her biggest brother!

GGP (Great Grandpa Tony), Jonah and Miss Olivia


Great Grandma Sharon, Miss Liv and Jonah

Our good friends the Fialas joined us for the party.


Tom, Nikki, Liv and baby ???

Auntie Laura and Miss Liv

I used the second zebra banner and made a sign for her high chair with some glittery letters I had at home.  I put her in the chair before the party got going to make sure I got a picture as the sign was a bit unpredictable and I didn't know if all the letters would hold up!

She put up a #1 as I was snapping the picture per coaching of her big brothers!

We had sloppy joes, fruit and chips. So yummy!

Olivia really enjoyed opening her presents and it was so fun to watch her reaction.




Now we have a few girly things for her to play with!

Isaac has been enjoying playing with her. 

We attempted to get one family picture before she got into the cake and this one turned out the best...

Isaac was VERY excited for this part, as he had been practicing for quite some time!

She thought it was pretty fun to have us sing to her too.

The boys were VERY excited to have her finally be 1 as they said their friends had a hard time understanding that you could be zero for 12 months!

When it was time for cake she got right down to business...





She thoroughly enjoyed the frosting and was unimpressed with the actual cake.




The lighting is poor in this picture but I love her smile...


She might have enjoyed her cake more than all three of her brothers...

After she was cleaned up she had to put on her next birthday shirt (I found 3 of them for next to nothing after she was born last year and have been excited for her to wear them).


Me and my little lady!

Daddy and his princess! 

Overall it was such a wonderful day celebrating!  Everything went so well and we were all able to enjoy the time together and it was pretty relaxed!  Olivia seemed to really enjoy herself and the boys were just as excited for her birthday as she was. 

It was a pretty sweet day and so fun that she took her first steps that day too!

A few that morning at church, a few during her party and a few more when we got home that evening. 

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Happy Birthday Olivia!

I can't believe my baby girl is ONE!

Has it really been a year since I was holding you in my arms for the first time Miss Olivia Joy?


We are celebrating later today and I am hoping to get those pictures up shortly after. 

Life has required me to take a blogging break and I thought this was a great time to jump back in!

It isn't every day your baby girl turns one!

I asked the boys if they remembered her being born a year ago and Jonah was the first to say YES and provide me with intricate details of waiting all day for her to be born and coming up to the hospital to see her and being so excited that God had given him a sister. 

Elijah got really excited too, but he could only communicate his memory of watching the karate kid in the hospital after she was born. 

Isaac seemed a bit confused and just kept saying "No, my Livers J is not sick. She not need to go to hospital. She having happy birthday soon. I eat her cake. I love my Livers J"

I remember that day so well, yet it's hard to believe it has been a whole year already!

Here is a short tribute to our little lady. 


To the Princess who has stolen our hearts...

You are such a delight to us and bring so much laughter, smiles, and happiness to our home.

You still have such a happy personality and are rarely upset. 

I love the way you scrunch up your nose when you laugh or smile.

I love your cold little fingers pulling on my leg when you need me or are using me as support to stand.

I love how you get so excited to see the people you love and know.

I love how you have your daddy wrapped around your little finger.

Your big brothers continue to adore you and you them.

In fact, they can make you laugh harder than anything or anyone else can.

It melts my heart every time!

You are still a peanut, but I am thankful for that as you will seem little a bit longer than your big brothers did!

You haven't taken your first steps yet, but you are SO close.

Maybe today?

You have dark brown beautiful eyes, strawberry blonde hair, and are a pretty good mix of both your dad and myself.  You also look so much like ALL your brothers, but are so feminine at the same time!

Your hair is curly when it is wet and has started to curl up a bit in the back and the sides!

You have really started to communicate more to us with signs, words, and sounds over the past few weeks especially. 

It has been so much fun watching your personality develop and watching you interact with your doting big brothers. 

You and Isaac have had lots of time together now that school is back in session and it has been wonderful to watch you two play together. 

It has also been entertaining to watch you aggravate him, as he is often the one doing that to Jonah AND Elijah!

So funny that the smallest one is sometimes in charge ;0)

You are definitely a momma's girl and this has recently become a bit of a problem for your dad. 

(It also makes it even harder for me to go to work)

You get very excited to see him though, especially at the end of the work day!  Or even hearing him talk on the phone makes you smile, laugh and clap!

You prefer "big girl" food and amaze me with what you can eat despite your lack of interest in anything other than nursing for so long!

Some of your favorites are lasagna, chicken, apples, grapes, cherrioes, popcorn, bagel, cheese, yogurt, rice, corn, carrots, and crackers. 

You have 4 teeth that came all at once last month! It was rough for us all and your daddy and I are okay if you don't get anymore for a bit longer ;0)

You LOVE baths, playing with your brothers, reading books, going for walks, dancing, listening to music and exploring our house.  

You don't seem bothered by the dresses, skirts, tutus, tights and hair accessories that you wear daily.

You have just a little bit of pink in your closet.

You have also recently developed a shoe fetish! You love checking out the shoes in the front closet, taking them off the shelves and inspecting them.  

You also like carrying your shoes around the house...which makes it tricky to find a match sometimes.

You are a pretty good sleeper and have only been taking one afternoon nap for quite some time now because we were never home in the morning!

Olivia, we love you so much and are so blessed God gave you to us!

It's hard to imagine what life was like without you!

Happy First Birthday Sweet Girl!

Love, Your Adoring Family

Here is a picture each month of our little lady over the past year!

Newborn picture

1 Month


2 Months

3 Months

4 Months

5 Months

6 Months


7 Months

8 Months



9 Months


10 Months 

11 Months



 12 Months!

I am looking forward to celebrating your birthday later today!

The "theme" is zebra and hot pink!

Your brothers are so excited and have been anxiously waiting for this day and helping me prepare.

I better get my camera and kleenex ready for a fun filled day of celebrating!

Happy Birthday Little Lady!