The Little Arteest

I love when Olivia comes home with new artwork. So I thought we would share some of her latest pieces.

Hand Print Flowers

 Caterpillar

 Hand Print Caterpillar

 Finger Print Bugs

Her Alligator

Growing Up with An Older Sister

I knew that this day would come! I have seen the result of an older sister/younger brother situation, my cousins have pictures. So when I came back into Olivia's room and found Benjamin dressed up in one of her fairy costumes all I could do was laugh.

I let him keep it on just until Daddy came home! Benjamin didn't seem to mind that much that he was sporting a dress. I like to think he was just trying to make his sister happy, and that she was just because he was dressed up just like her.  It was cute to watch her brushing his hair and telling him what to do.

Mom, one day I am going to get you for this.

Trying to butch it up a bit.

13 Months {Benjamin}

He is officially over 1 year old now, a toddler and no longer my little baby boy. Ok so let's be honest he never was really LITTLE! But I now have 2 TODDLERS, where has the time gone?

Benjamin is just growing, growing, growing and he is becoming more and more like a boy. At least what I assume little boys are like, since he is my first experience. He is into EVERYTHING! Touching, picking up, putting it in his mouth, and throwing EVERYTHING! He has choked on his fair share of stickers and eaten stale cheerios he found in his hidding spots. Daddy and I have learned to be very watchful over this one now.

He is even showing a little sign of a temper, that damn toddler temper! Olivia will come and take something away from him or Daddy and I will remove something that he shouldn't have from his hands and then it hits. He screams and puts his head down or lays on the ground in a short temper tantrum. But as quickly as it starts it's over and he is on to something else. Thank goodness for that.

Now that he has 8 teeth he is way more interested in eating regular food. If you are eating it he wants it! He still gets a bottle of milk when he wakes up in the morning, then a little later he will have his breakfast which usually consists of cheerios (his favorite), oatmeal, fruit, and banana's. He snacks throughout the day on puffs, yogurt melts, and whatever he can get his little hands on. Lunch he gets a little fruit and veggies and then dinner is whatever we are having or if he can't eat it we make him a variety of noodles, green beans, rice, chicken, mashed potatoes, carrots, and he also gets a fruit and yogurt. Yup this kid can eat. We end the day with a bottle before bed.

We are working on getting him off the bottle and have done really well. He drinks out of a straw which I never thought a 1 year old could figure out or his sippie cups but they also have straws. The only thing is that he will only drink milk out of his bottle. If you put it in any other type of cup he refuses to drink from it. I do remember Olivia going through this same thing but I have no clue how we fixed the problem. Oh well things could be worse right?

Lucky for us this little boy still loves his naps, and takes 2 naps a day for about 2 hours each. There are still rare days where he will only take one but they are far and few between. All you have to do when you see he is getting tired is put him in his crib and down he goes. I will be so sad when these fall off his schedule. Especially because his second nap generally falls in line with Olivia's nap.

He is beginning to say more words now, he knows;

Mommy

Daddy

Truck

Baby

Ball

Duck

Banana

He also is learning animal sounds:

Cow - Moo

Duck - Quack Quack

I just want to freeze time because he is so much fun right now!

Chatting With Olivia

Conversation #1
Olivia came running over waving ACE bandages
Mommy: Olivia, were you in Uncle James' room?
Olivia: Not right now.
Ahh at least she was honest.

Conversation #2We had to move Olivia's car seat into the middle so she could be next to brother because of this conversation we had
Olivia: Mom, I can't reach him.
Mommy: I'm sorry honey!
Olivia: But Mom, he wants to hold my hand.
All I could see was Benjamin's little hand reaching out over the side of his car seat. Heart Melted!

Conversation #3
About going to a school friends birthday party
Olivia: Are my friends going to be there?
Daddy:  Yes!
Olivia: Corey? Livi? Hannah?
Daddy: I think so.
Olivia: Is Mrs. Rosina going to be there?
Daddy: No Honey, I think your teacher needs a break!

A Whirlwind Weekend

This past weekend was well a crazy and fabulous weekend. I think we saw every family member, all of our friends, and made new ones. Between Saturday and Sunday we attended 4 birthday parties and 1 surprise party, Leah turned 2, Emma turned 2, Anna turns 30, Nathan turned 1, and Hannah turned 3. We also squeezed in a group date night with margaritas and mini golf. After all the parties Saturday I really enjoyed those margaritas. I even was able to do a photoshoot for an amazing family. More on that here.
So check out the photos because it really sums up the weekend.

Leah's 2nd Birthday and Olivia got her face painted for the first time which topped off her day.

Leah enjoyed every bit of icing from her cake and then went after another.

Heading to Party #2

Anna's Surprise 30th

Emma Grace's Lady Bug Birthday, adorable.





Date Night at City Walk



Nathan's 1st Birthday was a hit he loved his sprinkles. Olivia went to her very first school party for her friend Hannah. She wanted to know if their teacher was coming.



So tired.

Grocery Store Run

The Fish Song

On our way to Nana and Grandpa's for Easter, Olivia busted out singing this song. It was the cutest thing, especially because she never wants to sing for us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfcEH8tHkQY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Happy Birthday Benjamin

It's here, it finally happened, Benjamin is a ONE year old today!!! It's such a mix of emotions for me, excitment and sadness that my little baby is not a baby anymore.

 One Year Stats

Height: 29 inches

19th Percentile

Weight: 20.13
45th Percentile

So we are starting off his second year with 6 teeth. He puts those teeth to good use too, he is still an amazing eater. We are down to only 3 bottles a day which we have transitioned over to milk. Ok yes, I would not have done that a week early with Olivia but this boy he can handle it. He eats 3 meals a day and has snacks in between. Favorites still seem to be his puffs, yogurt, and anything that is on our plates.

Benjamin has been walking for awhile now and he is really getting the hang of it. 95% of the time he walks although there are times when he knows he can get there faster by crawling. He keeps right up with his sister, it's so cute to watch him follow her everywhere she goes.

He still is an explorer, we have to put everything in our mouth. That makes Mommy and Daddy's job super hard to make sure that Miss Olivia picks up anything that Brother here can't get his hands on. We have had numerous occasions where he has thrown up because he choose to eat a sticker. But Olivia is learning that if she wants to share her stickers that they have to go on his back.

Mr. Motor Mouth may talk just as much if not more then his sister does. He wakes up talking and goes to bed talking. I only wish I knew what he was saying. I have been assured that he has the vocabulary of a 15 month old. Here are the words that he can say so far: Mommy, Daddy, Hi, Bye Bye, Ba Ba, Duck, Papa, No No, and Ok.

Happy Easter