1094 Days

May 22, 2010

May 22, 2013

I became a mom 1094 days ago, not including the nine months of pregnancy (which I consider part of it but I know not everyone does). In those many days I have learned so much about myself, our babies, and my husband. But the thing that I have learned most is that time goes by so quickly and as much as I want to bottle up the past 3 years I can't. Which is why I photograph every moment that I can of their lives. I don't want to miss anything!

With that in mind this girl up here, she turned 3 Wednesday. I remember the 9 months leading up to Olivia's birth and all the things Ben and I talked about and swore we would and wouldn't do. Well we have done or not done those things and thats ok. We are molding this little human being into what I hope is a wonderful productive member of our society. I pray every day that we are doing the right thing, that we love her enough, and that she thinks we are doing a good job because in the end that is all that matters.

I know she may not even look 3 but her attitude, demeanor, and vocabulary beg to differ. I think she is turning 18! I love sitting back and listening to her talk whether it be to me, someone else, or no one at all. The things that come out of it amaze me. She has always been ahead vocab wise but I don't know how she has learned the proper sentence structure.

We can count up to 20 and up to 10 in Spanish. I can't even begin to keep track of how many words she knows but its SO MANY!

She loves being at school but not always the drop off part, we still have tears every now and then. I know within 5 minutes of us leaving she is fine and playing with all of her little friends. Oh and by the way she has a best friend and her name is Livia. They are only about 3 weeks apart and of course Livi is a little blond with curls and super petite just like Olvia. When I pick Olivia up from school I hear all about their adventures from the day and she clarifies all the time that only Livi is her best friend. I actually met her Dad the other day and he was like so your the infamous Olivia's Mom. Apparently their ride home must be very similar to mine.

Olivia loves her brother and the feeling is completely mutual. They adore each other and their relationship is just blossoming. I melt every time I hear her say "look Brother is holding my hand". They laugh at each other all the time, they hug and kiss, and then climb on each other. It's honestly the most adorable thing I have ever seen.

Our biggest accomplishment this past year is Potty Training. We had been working with her without pushing since she was about 18 month's old. But it never really took, then one day she said she wanted to go potty on the big potty and the rest is history. She has been using the big potty ever since. Almost every night since then she would wake up dry as well. So consistent that she now sleeps in panties and we haven't had more then one accident since.

Happy 3rd Birthday to our sweet little Princess!

A New Class

This past Tuesday Olivia proudly began a new class at school. She moved up to the 3 Year Class and met her new teacher Mrs. Christina. It is proving a little bit of a challenge to get used to for her and there have been tears each morning as Daddy or I leave. But just like before she doesn't want to leave when we come back at the end of the day.

Here she is already for her first day in her new class. This was the best picture I could get. She has a mind of her own and she uses it when I really would rather her do what I want.

I can't wait to see all of the fun new things she learns this year. 



Olivia's Three Year Photoshoot

A Look Back {Three Years}

I have done this type of photo each year with her and I plan to continue for ever! :) Look at how much she has grown.

Olivia Almost THREE

End of A First Year

Today is Olivia's last day in the 2 Year classroom at school. When she walks in next week she will be joining her friends in the 3 Year room and she will only be 2 days from actually turning 3. Where has the past year gone?

What she has learned this year:
-Biggest Accomplishment: POTTY TRAINED
-Counting to 10 in Spanish
-Gets dressed all by herself
-How to spell her name
-More songs then I can count

Julie's Getting Married

My sister-in-law Julie is getting married in August and so as we get ever closer to the big day the parties are keeping us busy.

A few weeks ago Jamie and I hosted her very first Bachelorette Party out at The Morse Family condo in Daytona. It was a wonderful weekend with Julie's amazing friends and a very nice girls weekend away for me. Although Olivia was very upset that she couldn't go to the beach with us.

Below are some photos from the Bachelorette party.

A couple of weekends ago we had Julie's bridal shower. It turned out to be a beautiful day in the midst of a 7 day rain .

Life Lesson: Stupid

Stupid

Well, Olivia learned this word a long while ago now and it creeps up on us every now and then. At first she just said it to say the word, then she said it to Benjamin because it made him laugh, and now she is putting it together and not a nice way.

We aren't sure where she learned it, probably from a TV show, since I have heard it on many children's shows. Who knew children's shows were littered with words you never think of as "bad words". I only realized  recently that one of her favorite shows to watch had the kids in it calling each other stupid until we actually were paying attention it caught us completely off guard.

So a couple weekends ago as we were driving home I hear her say stupid really low, she always does this. It's almost as if she is just testing to see if I hear her. I turned around and reminded her that we don't say that word and she asked "why". Yup we entered the WHY stage about 3 months ago...so much fun! I said "because it's a bad word and we don't say bad words." which was followed by "why don't we say bad words" and so I turned it over to Ben to field that question. He said "because it is a bad word and bad is right in the name so we don't say it." Which was followed by a lot of questions...

-What if Correy calls me stupid?
-What if Hannah calls me stupid?
-What if Aunt Jamie calls me stupid?
-What is Daddy calls me stupid?

So we decided that if anyone calls her stupid she needs to tell her teacher, Mommy, or Daddy. But she is really stuck on the last one. I told her that I would spank Daddy if he ever said that to her, but she should know that he would never say that word to her.

I have been at a loss at how to explain this to her so hopefully we did a good enough job for now but I am sure that there will be more "stupid" questions in my future.

Talk Talk Talk

Olivia has always loved to play with our phones, play phones, and things that look like phones. Now if you put a real person talking back at the end of that phone she clamps her little mouth shut and won't speak. But if she is just babbling to any list of people for pretend she can talk forever.

I can hear her talking and when I ask who it is she is talking to it could be, Aunt Julie, Aunt Jamie, Brother, Daddy, Gigi, Nana, and the list goes on. She has full on conversations with them about what she is doing, buying, or making up something she could be doing or buying. I love listening to her little voice just jabber on and on while she walks around with the phone between her ear and shoulder. Ahh I can see the teenage years that we have ahead of us. I will surely have an unlimited plan for this girl.

Going, Going, Gone