Dear Olivia,

You are sick. With a cold. Well we all have it except Dad. Which is strange because your father has the worst immune system. Usually he is the one sick. Anyways, the point is, you can't breath through your nose. For a baby who usually falls asleep sucking on a binky, this is a BIG problem. You were up pretty much every 30 minutes to an hour last night. It was a long long night! I remember half way through I was wishing nighttime was over already. I was so done waking up all the time. I don't blame you sweet heart, but it is exhausting. Mostly I feel bad for you. You're little cry is so pathetic and you look so dang cute with your little red nose. I love you and I hope, for your sake and mine, you get better really soon! :)

On a side note, you love solids! You get so excited when you see food coming your way. It actually freaks me out a little bit because you are starting to nurse quite a bit less. Well maybe I should talk about nursing. I have a hard time accepting that you are growing up. I was nursing you every 2-3 hours and you were hardly eating. I was getting worried till I read online that a six month old should be nursing every 6 hours! Now we don't go that long but I pushed it back to every 4-5 hours and your nursing is so much better. I guess I really just didn't want you to grow up!

I love you so much Miss Olivia. You are the cutest baby a Mommy could ask for! I seriously love you so dang much!

Love,
Mom

Dear Olivia,

Yesterday you got to do another first! We went swimming! I wanted to go so bad but your Dad wasn't very into the idea. I then I asked Bently if he wanted to go swimming. I figured I get your stubborn 2 year old brother on board and Dad will have no choice but to go or face the consequences of cranky Bently. To my surprise he said "No swimmins stay home." I thought all hope was lost but then not 5 minutes later Bently decided he did want to go swimming! So we all got dressed and off we went! I was so excited! We hadn't been swimming for probably 6-8 months!

You looked pretty darn cute in your pink swimsuit! I was dying over the cuteness! I especially loved that we could see your cute chunky legs! :) You were pretty adorable in the water. You at first seemed pretty indifferent. But pretty soon you started kicking and splashing. There weren't very many smiles but I could tell you liked it! :) I was sitting there with you and suddenly I was remembering things I hadn't thought about in a long time. Like I went to that very swimming pool right after we found out you were a girl! That's where I told your Aunt Shawna and Aunt Janaye you were a girl! :) I was so excited that day! Knowing the little thing inside me was a tiny beautiful girl! :) I also remember your Dad and I went later on and we talked about how fun it will be when we have a tiny little girl with us in her pink swimsuit! (It was ironic you were wearing a pink swimsuit last night!) It was a great chance to reminisce about that time. The time where we had nothing but wonder and speculation at to what you would be like. It was truly exciting! With that said I am so grateful to not have to wonder anymore. To know you, to be able to kiss your sweet cheeks every day and snuggle you! I love you so incredibly much! :)

Love,
Mom

P.s. I have been cosleeping you still but I think it's finally time to stop. You fell out of bed again today. This was your 3rd time. I just love sleeping with you! :( I'm going to miss having my little snuggle buddy next to me! But I don't want to risk you getting seriously hurt! Our bed is really high! So it's crib time for you beautiful! Wish me luck! It's not going to be easy!

Dear Olivia,

You turned six months old 2 days ago! Six whole months darling! I can't believe it was 6 months ago that I had you! You got to start solid foods!!! I decided to try and make most of your baby food so I whipped you up some sweet potatoes! You loved it! You have been reaching for food and watching us eat like a hawk! You seriously were so ready! You aren't that great at swallowing it. You probably swallow only like 25% of each bite. The rest you manage to spit right back out! It was adorable watching you eat! You smiled after pretty much every single bite! :) It was pretty adorable!

You are still improving every day on sitting up! It amazes me watching you sit by yourself! when I took your 6 months photos you sat for a long time! You have also started doing this thing where you shake your head back and forth like you are saying no. I don't know why you do it but it's adorable!

I love watching your relationship with Bently just get better and better! He now calls you "sister" some times and it melts my Mommy heart! Boy oh boy! I can't wait to continue to watch you two learn and grow together! You smile and laugh more for him than any one else! You are always watching him!

I love you my dear Olivia Beth! You filled an empty space in my heart I didn't know exsisited! You are my little girl and I am so blessed and incredibly grateful for the chance to be your Mom! I love you more than anything!

Love,

Mom

P.s. I included some pictures I've taken on my phone the past couple of weeks! I love watching you grow! :)

Dear Olivia,

Oh my beautiful baby girl you are getting so incredibly big! I can't believe in a few short days you'll be 6 months old! 6 months! How did that happen! You will start solids soon. I can't decide if I'm excited for sad. I was so ready to start solids with your brother. In fact we started them a couple of days before he was six months. With you though, it's more bitter sweet. I really do love breast feeding. And once you start solids it's all down hill from here. Only 6 more months and you'll be a year.


You are quite the roller now! You can pretty much get anywhere by rolling! I can tell you want to crawl so badly but you aren't quite there yet. You'll figure it out eventually. It's fun watching you get around everywhere. You always get so happy when you reach a toy you want! Now we just got to get your brother to stop stealing them from you! :)


We took you to California and you were so mad during that car ride. You hated it. You screamed and screamed and screamed! You lasted about 6 hours and then you were so done. You hated every second of that car ride! Lol. I felt so bad. We would stop and you would grin and grin and laugh while you were out of your carseat. As soon as we set you back in it the screaming began again! I felt so bad for you!


It was worth it though! I got to introduce you to your Great Grandma and Grandpa Stetson! I love Grandma and Grandpa Stetson. I don't think I have ever met kinder more generous people in my life! I'm pretty sure they are going straight to heaven when they die. They are so amazing! You smiled for them and I just loved watching you interact. You rolled your baby bum over to Grandpa Stetson's chair and laid their on the floor looking up at him just smiling. It made his day! And Grandma loved holding you! She always wanted you in her arms and constantly commented on how beautiful you are! :)


We also got to go see my Dad's grave, your Papa Tim! You sat there with me the whole time. It was so nice to be able to hold you in my arms. You brought a lot of comfort to your Mom. Going to his grave is good and hard. It always is such a cruel reminder of what I lost. But I'm always grateful for the opportunity to feel closer to him! I know with all my heart we will be with him again one day Olivia. If there is one thing I've learned from the trial of not having my father on this earth it's a testimony of the next life. I'm so grateful for eternal families!


We also went to San Francisco. You mostly just hung out the whole time. And screamed when you go hungry! lol! We had a blast though! We'll have to go again when you and your brother are old enough to remember it!


We came home all of us sick. That wasn't very fun. But guess what? A couple days ago you did something amazing. I put you in your crib in a feeble attempt to have you fall asleep and to my great and utter shock you did! You didn't even cry! You slept for three hours! I was for sure it was a fluke. A one time occurrence but since then I have gotten you to sleep in your crib almost every nap time! True sometimes you don't sleep more than 30 minutes but heck, it's a start! :)


I love you Miss Olivia. You have brought so much incredible happiness to my life and I love you more than you'll ever know!


Love,
Mom

Dear Olivia,

We've had a busy couple of days! I've been working a ton of hours! This last pay check I had 14 hours of overtime! Throw in there a trip down to St. George for Dad to test for an agency and December has flown by. Thus we haven't had any time to do our usual traditions! :( I've hated it and has really made me a little grumpy. So on the 23rd we finally got around to going to temple square to see the lights. I was so excited. Bently is obsessed with the lights and so am I. I couldn't wait to go. Finally around 7:30 we loaded up in the car and headed out. We decided to go to Arctic Circle and get some food first. Little did I know nothing was going to go according to plan. Coming around a bend Dad looked out his window just as the girl in front of us slammed on her breaks. And just like that our plans for the night were over. It wasn't a huge accident but it sure did cause some damage. You only cried for a minute and then you were fine. We did end up going to Arctic Circle but by then it was too late to see lights. I was disappointed but what can you do.

Christmas Eve was pretty overwhelming for you. Really for me too! We spent the night with Dad's family and boy are they loud! All 16 something Grandchildren and boy was it loud and active. You got extremely over stimulated. You already cling to us pretty hard core and being so outside of your element just made it worse. Everyone wanted to hold you, especially since it was some of Greg's family first time meeting you. But you weren't going to have it. Whenever anyone else was holding you, you would cry and scream. I felt so bad. I knew you were tired but wouldn't sleep. We did manage two little cat naps through out the evening but that was it. You didn't play baby Jesus but we did put you in the manager for pictures. You were adorable! Though you were screaming the whole time. You were in a Mrs. Clause suit and it totally gave me flashbacks of Bently. He was in a Santa suit when he played Jesus. It was adorable!

Christmas was pretty fun. You didn't get too much based on the fact you are 5 months old and really don't need anything. I loved holding you and snuggling you all Christmas Day! I marveled at how cute you are! I couldn't believe it was your very first Christmas. I felt like the luckiest Mom in the world that's for sure! You make me so incredibly happy my beautiful little girl! You are mostly happy and your smile is cute it makes me laugh every time I see it!

Merry first Christmas my little Livvy! I cannot wait for the Christmas to come! :)

Love you more than you'll ever know!

Mom

Dear Olivia,

Last night we went and saw Christmas lights. Considering you are only 4 months old I think you liked it! You just stared up at the lights. Your little eyes filled with wonder! I loved it! We even let you sit in the front seat with us while we slowly drove through the park! You are so stinking adorable! We got out and walked around and your Mom forgot a hat for you! So I took off my scarf and wrapped it around your head. You looked pretty cute and hopefully you were warm because I was freezing! :)

I love you so much beautiful girl! I can't wait to spend your first Christmas with you!

Love,
Mom

Dear Liv,

I can't believe it's been so long since I've written you. I am so sorry baby girl. I will try and be better about writing you more often!

Liv I can't even explain how much happiness you have brought into our lives. You smile all the time and every time it just makes your Dad and I happy. There have been days where your cute smile is about the only thing that keeps me going! But things are getting easier. You are getting older #1 which means you don't eat as often. Also, you are less breakable so Bently isn't such a threat. #2 I've been working on your sleep patter and we're slowly getting there. You nap in your own bed about 90% of the time now which is amazing. You still sleep with us at night but I'm planning on working on that during my vacation in January! :)

It hit me the other day that I really have a daughter. I know that sounds weird but it's just all so surreal. I can't believe that I have a little girl! I get so excited as you get older. I can't wait to see your littler personality even more! I can't wait to watch you and Bently together! I hope you guys are best friends!

This is kind of a scatter brained letter. I'm just going to make a random list of things I think you should know or might be interesting later. :)

#1 Like I said before your adorable smile. Seriously so cute1
#2 You can now hold things and put them in your mouth and you are pro at hitting the dangling elmo and big bird from your toy.
#3 You are now big enough that I can hold you on my hip and you keep your own head up!
#4 Your hair is mostly gone but don't worry you are still so cute! I'm not going to lie though I dream of the day when I can put your hair in pigtails. To be honest I think your dad is more excited than me! ;) He thinks little girls in pigtails are the cutest! :)
#5 You still have that baby smell and I love it!
#6 You still spit up but not as much as you used to for which I am super grateful!
#7 You fit into 6 month clothing even though you are only 4 months old. I was freaking out because you didn't have any clothing and then when I realized you fit into 6 month clothes your wardrob has like tripled. One drawer is not enough for you anymore! :)
#8 You are REALLY big for you age. At your 4 month appointment you were in the 90th percentile for both height and weight. :)
#9 You sat in the shopping cart for the first time this past week! You loved it. You REALLY hate your carseat.
#10 Your first Christmas is coming up and I can hardly wait. Seriously I can't even explain how magical it's going to be. I wish you could remember it. I can hardly wait!

Love,
Mom