The Robinsons: August 2011

Well it's 10 days after Olivia's first birthday and I'm starting her 12 month blog post but we'll see how many days it takes me to finish it! I haven't done an update since 9 months and there have been a LOT of changes so get ready . . .

Olivia weighs 21lb 13oz - 60th percentile

Does this diaper make my butt look big?

She's ~33 inches tall. I'm at the beach and don't have her stats sheet with me but she's around 33 inches. Anyway, that puts her in the 85th percentile for her height - tall like her Daddy!

I can almost reach the counter

She is in the 50th percentile for her head circumference. I'm still not sure what the significance of that measurement is but right in the middle sounds like a good place to be.

Mommy just thinks this is a funny looking picture of me.

Olivia wears 12-18 month clothes towards the 18 month end. She is so long that 12 month shirts tend to be "belly shirts" on her

This jammie top is getting a little too small

We are still using Pampers #3 diapers. **If anyone in Austin can find Pampers #3 Dry Max diapers, please let us know. There is a shortage in the area!**

How embarrassing Mommy!

She has much more hair now and it's a blond/light honey brown color

Look at those golden locks . . . yes, my child is smelling her Mr. Rabby.

Still won't let me put head bands, hair bows, or hats on her

Get this thing off of me!

Her eyes are still primarily blue but have hazel centers

Mommy clearly doesn't have a picture that shows the color of my eyes!

Man, what an eater we have and quite the mature palate! Among other things, Olivia has had chicken, turkey, venison, lamb, beef, egg, blueberries, banana, honeydew, strawberries, apple, zucchini, squash, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, asparagus, broccoli, lima beans, spinach . . .

What? Do I have something on my face?

Olivia would eat her weight in blueberries if we let her

These blueberries are accompanied by tortellini

Snacks are blueberries, graham crackers (any sort of cracker really), and cheerios - yes, a dreaded round, choking food! They have holes in the middle so her airway can't be fully obstructed. Mommy is still super paranoid about choking.

Snack time!

What she will not eat - raw mushrooms, bleh.

I'd rather eat my feet than raw mushrooms

NO MORE FORMULA! Woohoo! We are now on to organic whole cow's milk which is MUCH less expensive.

First sippy full of cow's milk, doesn't she look thrilled?

She drinks 12-18oz of milk a day out of a few different types of sippy cups. The bottle went bye-bye at ~ 10.5 months and with little resistance.

These bottle-like night time sippy cups were the last to go. We don't even use these anymore.

When she has her sippy in her high chair, she will put it in the cup holder now instead of dropping it on the floor when she is done . . . most of the time.

Should I put this sippy in the cup holder or throw it on the floor? That is the question.

Olivia has 9 teeth now with the 9th just coming through this morning. She has the top 2 and the ones right next to them, the bottom 2 and the ones right next to them and a bottom right molar. The bottom left molar is on its way as are the top ones. The molars have been awful, there has been a lot of Motrin involved.

Look at those chompers!

She is a master crawler and crawls "normally" now instead of the army crawl. When she really gets going she looks like a little bulldog.

Nothing gets in my way!

Olivia pulls herself up on everything and cruises around the furniture. She likes to pull cushions up to the couch and try to climb up, which she can do successfully and has to be monitored.

Cruisin around the table just wishing I could climb up

Standing up by herself is her new favorite thing to do.

So strong!

Every time I think she is going to take a step she lunges towards her target instead. She likes to "dive bomb" onto things like couch cushions, her little soft chair or any unsuspecting person.

Completely unrelated cute picture

Olivia can clap, tell you that she is "this big", and show you where her belly, nose, and head are.

THIS big!

If you ask her to put an object inside a bucket or basket she will

Hmmm, what's in here?

She can tell you that the owl says "whoo" and the tiger says "aargh". We hear Mama and Dada every once in a while and she says "cat" in her own little way. She's figuring out how to say "no" and I think she said "book" today as well. She says "uh-oh" VERY clearly, mostly right before she drops something on the floor.

I may not say a lot of words but that doesn't mean I don't do a lot of "talking".

She knows the signs for "more", "all done", and "milk".

What's the sign for "I probably shouldn't have pulled this corner protector off the end table?"

She understands more than she talks. Ask her where her books are and she'll crawl over to them. Ask her if she's hungry and she'll crawl towards her high chair. Tell her it's bath time and she heads towards the bathroom. If you ask her where the cat is, she looks and points.

I love my books

Ah pointing, and reaching for that matter. She points to things she wants and constantly asks to be picked up. We do pick her up a lot of the time especially if she is tired or doesn't feel well but we don't oblige every time. We don't want her to think that she can raise her arms and say "eh, eh" and she'll automatically picked up. Some call it mean, we call it learning independence and it's not like we ignore our kid.

I'll take that please

Anyway . . . back to cats. She is much better and petting the cats rather than grabbing clumps of their hair. If you say "be sweet to the kitty" she will put her head against them for snuggles.

Awww, so sweet!

Olivia will "be sweet" and give hugs when asked - most of the time.

Who wouldn't want to hug this face?

We have had a couple of temper tantrums. Olivia does NOT like to be told "no" or have something that she is not supposed to have taken away from her. We are pretty good about keeping things that are not for her out of reach so as to reduce temptation but every once in a while she gets her hands on something that isn't for her. Oh my! She cries and screams and rolls around on the floor like a crazy person. We have chosen not to spank her and are currently ignoring the tantrums. When she realizes she doesn't have an audience she gives up.

This picture was taken immediately after a meltdown - see the tears?

Olivia LOVES books and will play with them for hours, turning pages and reading to herself. Other favorite toys include her new chair/couch from Beth Matthews, a little toy house with little plastic people and a toilet that makes flushing sounds, blocks, her stand up music table, and her push toy. There are lots of other toys but we have started putting some away that she doesn't play with anymore.

Reading books in my fairy chair

She is our little water baby and loves to swim. She will kick her little legs and "jump" off the side of the pool for us to catch her.

Loungin by the community pool

We let her watch a little bit of TV but only 1, maybe 2 shows a day. She likes Franklin (about a turtle) and Olivia (about a pig) but her absolute favorite is Fresh Beat Band because of the music. Olivia LOVES music and loves to dance. If you ask her to dance she will stick her tongue out and shake her head side to side.

Dancin

Still 2 Mr. Rabbys, we haven't lost one yet. She does drag them around the house with her so they are washed frequently.

Sleepy baby with her Mr. Rabby

Olivia still loves her paci - make that pacis, as we have about 8 of them. I am not looking forward to the paci fairy coming to take the pacis away, I think it is going to be a traumatic experience for all of us.

Pretty paci baby

Naps - or should I say nap. We consistently get about a 2 hour nap in the morning but in the afternoon IF she naps, it's only for an hour or so.

Peacefully sleeping

She sleeps from 7:30pm - 6:30am and usually only wakes up in the middle of the night if she is teething. There have only been a handful of times that we have had to go into her room, otherwise she finds a paci and goes back to sleep.

This picture is from ~a month ago. Olivia went through a light sleeping phase so we don't risk waking her up with pictures anymore.

We love bath time! Olivia loves to splish splash and has figured out how to hold her toys under water to fill them with water and then squeeze them to squirt the water out. She is allowed to bring as many bath toys as she can carry out of her bath while we put jammies on and then she is a good girl and puts them back in the bathtub.

Soap head

Olivia does not like having her diaper changed anymore. She doesn't like to lie still and often times needs something to distract her.

What diapers?

Putting clothes on/taking clothes off is a crap shoot. Sometimes she is helpful, offering up arms and legs to shirts and shorts and sometimes she is a squirmy terror and we can barely get clothes on her.

Would this angelic face ever give anyone a hard time?

Well if you're still with me then I applaud your dedication. It only took 2 days to finish this post and probably about as long for you to read it! You're officially up to date on Miss Olivia's life.

One year ago today at 3:12pm God gave us one of his angels. I thought that I knew what love was until I looked into Olivia's eyes and realized that I was looking at a piece of my heart. The last 12 months have been amazing. There have been lots of tears but a lot more laughter and every day that goes by I fall more and more in love with my daughter. Happy Birthday sweet Olivia mouse.

Now I was one of those people who said that I would take a picture every month in the same spot to document how much Olivia grew . . . then I had a kid and realized that brushing my teeth on a daily basis is a huge accomplishment. By the time my head stopped spinning enough to get organized (and remember to brush my teeth), Olivia was a few months old and I was over it. So these are all pictures that were taken on or within a few days of the 16th of each month.