Sunday, November 8, 2015

Dear Olivia,

We had the best Halloween! And you were adorable so I have to write you a quick letter to tell you about it!

It all started off one day in September in Smith's. They had barley set up their Halloween aisle and of course we had to walk down it since Bently, and now you, are obsessed with Halloween. As we were walking your eye caught sight of an Anna costume from Frozen. You immediatly started pointing at it exclaiming, "Wear it! Wear it!" So we tried it on and it was adorable! And you didn't want to take it off! So we changed our plans for costumes and bought you the 20 dollar Anna dress! Then we put it out of sight so you wouldn't wear it constantly! :)

We did lots of fun things for Halloween this year! We went to the library for there little activity. We also went to our church Halloween party. It was quite the adventure. It was our first big function as a family of five and you could tell we were newbies! You and Bently basically ran crazy as your Dad and I tried to figure out how to juggle holding Lincoln and dishing up 4 different plates of food. We failed pretty bad at it. We finally got food when you fell down and split your lip open! You decided on this day to be a Mommy's girl. It was so unexpected and rare. I enjoyed every minute of being the favorite parent! You didn't want Dad to hold you so I ran off to the bathroom to help you take care of the blood. Luckily it wasn't too bad. You just had one little whole from one of your top teeth on your lip. Then when we got back Lincoln was ready to eat. So we went to the mother's room to feed him. You came along because you wanted to be with Mommy! Even though Daddy had the food! Usually I would have said no and made you stay and eat but I really was relishing in the fact that you wanted me over Dad! I remember thinking, at least Greg and Bently will get to eat. At this point I had eaten a roll. While in the mother's room you had diarrhea. As soon as I finished changing your diaper, Bently and Dad walked in. Where he informed me Bently and him had not been eating like I thought. They had both been in the bathroom because Bently had diarrhea too! Oh boy! By the time Lincoln was done eating, was our food gone. Oh well.

The rest of the party went much smoother. We played some games and did the trunk or treat and got our picture done in the picture booth! After the party we hit up McDonalds. Because we were all starving. Haha! So much for not having to worry about dinner that night! ;)

We also went to the Christian Academy's Halloween party. We went in with pretty low expectations. It was super crowded and it was free and we were late. We figured we missed all the good stuff. Luckily that was not the case. The first thing we did was hit up the bounce houses. I was worried because you were so little that you would be crushed in the bounce houses. Well I should have known my stubborn little girl would hold her own. You had no problem jumping along with all those big kids. You looked adorable in your Anna costume going crazy! You kept yelling out to Dad and I, "This is fun!" (A common phrase for you right now!)  We let you bounce for most of the time because you loved it so much! Then we went trunk or treating. For reals this time. The church one was actually inside, this one was the real deal. We went at the very end so everyone was trying to get rid of their candy. We got A LOT of candy! At one point you stopped and tried to pick up a candy wrapper thinking there was candy inside. A nice lady noticed your disappointment and dumped and ton of candy into your bucket to make up for it! We had pounds of candy from that trunk or treat!

Halloween day wasn't very exciting for us. It's hard to find things to do during the day! We went shopping for dinner and watched "Hotel Transylvania". You ended up falling asleep during the movie and woke up in a horrible mood. We had dinner and even got a few trick or treaters. You loved handing out candy. You even called one girl back to give her more candy. I think you might have enjoyed handing out the candy as much as you enjoyed getting it! You were pretty dang adorable trick or treating! You loved to knock on the doors even though your tiny knock were mostly unheard. After every single house you would exclaim, "Mom (or Dad) I got lots of candy!" It was adorable! You were so excited over every single piece you received! :)

That was pretty much it! We had a fantastic Halloween! I love that you are old enough now to really start getting holidays! Bently is already explaining Santa Clause to you. I know you'll be very cute on Christmas morning! :)

I love you beautiful girl! Tonight I went in just to check on you sleeping and I couldn't get over how adorable you! Not only that but your hair! You had a bath tonight and it was just sitting there in the most perfect ringlet! I continually pray that your hair never goes straight!

Love,
Mom


Friday, October 16, 2015

Dear Olivia,

You are such a good helper. You always want to help me with whatever I'm doing. You help with dishes and cooking and picking up toys. I love it! You get so excited when it's time to clean up. It's sorta hilarious! You sing the clean up song and willingly go to work. You always want to help carry Lincoln's car seat. 

I think you're finally starting to get jealous of Lincoln. Not to say you don't love him, because you do. You're actually obsessed with him. I can't set him down anywhere without you laying on him or trying to pick him up. The other day I caught you full on holding him while standing. You had pulled him off the couch. You were proud of yourself and I had a heart attack! 

But like I said with all the love does come some jealousy. I don't blame you newborns require a lot of attention. You get mad whenever I have to feed him and beg me to hold you. You actually beg me to hold you whenever I'm holding Lincoln. It's pretty rough and I have no idea how to handle it. I try holding you as much as possible but you don't want to be held unless I'm holding Lincoln. It's pretty rough to be honest. But we're getting through it!!

Love,
Mom






Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Dear Olivia,

I could listen to you talk all day. You amaze me with all the words you can say! It makes me so happy to hear a little of what's going on in that head of yours! 

You are currently obsessed with the show Daniel Tigers Neighborhood! You call it Tiger Hood. ;) your favorite episode is the one where Daniel gets hurt. You once watched it three times in one day. Bently and I are getting pretty tired of it. Bently even started quoting it today. :) don't worry we still love you!

You are a good sister to your brother! He is going through some pretty intense fears and refuses to basically go anywhere in the house by himself. I'm hugely pregnant and not willing to walk everywhere with him. But 99% of the time, when asked, you willing grab his hand and walk him to the bathroom or the bedroom. It's pretty adorable to watch you walk up take his hand, and lead him away! You are a good sister!!! And I really appreciate your help! 

I love you beautiful! 

Love,
Mom

Sunday, September 20, 2015

Dear Olivia,

We went down to Davis County to buy a van. Yup, we are minivan people now! Honestly it needed to be done so we did it. I love our new car and you like it too! :) It came with a DVD player which I think is your personal favorite feature! :)

Now a couple weeks ago Uncle Bryan offered us a twin bed they weren't using. We had been discussing moving you from your crib. You started to get very into thing that are yours. It began to be, "my crib". I worried you would have jealousy issues with the new baby taking over your bed. While a free bed would be nice, we had no way to get it to our house. We lived three hours away with no way to transfer it. If we rented a truck it would be cheaper to buy a new bed.

So anyways, while we were down we were at Bryan's with our new van and he mentioned the bed would probably fit in the van. So after convincing from your dad that we could make it pretty, we took it. The bed was black. Aunt Brittney had painted it and I just didn't like it at all! So we drug it back up to Vernal and first thing went to Lowe's. A very nice man helped us on how to do it and off we went. We painted the bed white and was pretty cute and looked so much better. So it took all day. Between painting and getting a mattress and traveling home from Davis County. So we started putting it together about 7:30 ish at night. Now uncle Bryan gave us what he thought were the right screws. Well they stuck out on the inside and we were worried they would tear the mattress. So we went and bought shorter ones of the same screw. Well that semi worked. We got one side together with the shorter screws but for some reason the other side wouldn't go together with the shorter screws. After calling Bryan he informed us the screws didn't reach the mattress and we could use the longer ones. But we had already returned the longer ones we had bought. So we all loaded back up in the car and went back to Lowe's. (3rd trip that day) After putting it together we realized we were missing nails. So I stayed home with you and Bently while Dad went and bought nails. It was a nightmare. Especially because you and Bently had been off schedule and were both exhausted and emotional and naughty. Finally after 8 ish hours working on it the bed was together. You had already fallen asleep in my bed so we just moved you over! I was really worried you would fall off but you never did. You did get stuck between the bed and the wall once.

The first night you slept in it, (September 18th) you woke up a lot and ended up camping out with your Dad. But since then, things have been smooth sailing. So far you haven't gotten out of bed. You treat it like your crib and stay in there till we come and get you. Except in the mornings you'll come out with Bently when you guys wake up! It was weird the first morning having both of you come into my room! :) I'm so grateful it's been easy thus far. I know eventually you'll probably learn you can get out and it'll be a whole new adventure but for now, I'm just going to enjoy you being an easy child! :)

You are big girl now and love your bed! :) You call it your new bed and tell us all about how you sleep in it! I can't believe you are growing up! It's gone by fast beautiful! I know once the new baby is here you'll seem even older! I love you! Don't grow up too fast okay?

Love,
Mom

Dear Olivia,

We went to California to visit family! It was pretty dang fun! Of course it had it's highs and lows but mostly we had a grand old time! :)

When we drove out there we decided to drive through the night. But we got tired fast so we pulled over to sleep. While, in usual Livvy fashion, we hadn't been stopped more than 2 minutes when you started to cry. From the time you were tiny you will wake up the minute the car stops moving. It is so strange. So Dad tried to hold you and sleep but that didn't work. So I took over and I realized why he was struggling. So I turned "Frozen" on the portable DVD player and we watched it/snoozed together.

I think you enjoyed your time in California. It's hard visiting a bunch of old people when you are 2 but you won them over even with you all the trouble you caused! I was actually surprised how fast you warmed up to Grandma and Grandpa Stetson. We hadn't been there very long when you were calling them Grandma and Papa and letting them play and hold you! Watching you with Grandma and Grandpa Stetson is something I hold very dear to my heart. They are the closest thing I have to my Dad in a lot of ways and watching you interact with them is incredibly amazing! :)

We went swimming in our hotel pool and had such a blast! It was one of my favorite parts of the trip! It was just us 4 and we had the pool all to ourselves! We brought a little floatie thing for you and you actually like it more than I thought. You still spent quite a bit of time in your Dad's arms swimming around! You of course were more brave than I wished you would be! You had no problem jumping off into the pool to your Dad or trying to climb in with no adult help! You had a blast though and didn't want to leave!

We also went to the beach! I was so curious to see how you would react to the water. I thought you would love it or at least like it more than Bently since you are such a brave girl! But nope. You didn't like it. It scared you. It was one of the first times I heard you use the words, "I scared!" Your reaction was too cute and funny! You would come out in the water if we held you but you still didn't really want to touch it! I think part of the problem is it was pretty chilly and you get cold easily. That being said you had a blast in the sand! You enjoyed every second digging in the sand and exploring the beach! At one point your Dad and I buried your legs and you thought that was the coolest thing ever! You didn't ever want to get out! :) I can't even describe how magical our beach day was. We were there just before sunset and we just got to relax and enjoy being together! It was my favorite day of the whole entire trip!

So those are just a few highlights from our Cali trip. Next up, camping!

So Bently really wanted to go camping so camping we went! Now you didn't have any warm girl 2T clothing. At first I was worried we would have to buy you new clothing just to take camping and get dirty. But then the thinker I am realized we had Bently's 2T clothing in the closet. So yup you were boy clothing for the majority of the trip! It was a little strange to see you in Bently's clothes but it was good too. Amazing the memories clothing can bring on!

So we arrived for our very last minute one night excursion to find out we were pretty much the only people camping there. Us and an elderly couple. We chose our site and started setting up. Your brother and I spent the setting up time getting into as much trouble as possible. Mostly crawling under the tent your Dad and I were trying to set up!

We had tin foil dinners which you didn't love. :) Then we explored the lake that was right by our campsite. You loved throwing rocks in the water. A little too much actually. You kept getting your shoes and your pants wet. We only packed one pair of pants and closed toe shoes so you might have been cold the rest of the night. I'm not really sure! :)

After we went back and just hung out around the campfire. We sang songs to keep you little ones entertained. You insisted on singing all of the Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood songs a million times. That show is you recent obsession. You love all things Daniel Tiger. You also entertained yourself by tipping brother and his chair over. First it was funny, then it got annoying. Especially for poor Bently! ;) You laughed and laughed every time though! :)

That night we looked at the stars and then it was off to bed. We had planned this trip very very last minute and hadn't charged our air pump. Bently ended up on the cold hard ground and you, Dad, and I, slept on the half blown up mattress. It was pretty bad but not as awful as I thought. Every time we sleep someone where not home you have a moment sometime in the night where you wake up and cry for no reason. I mean, cry. There is no making it better. It's just waiting for you to get tired enough to stop! So we had one of those sessions which was fun! I remember being grateful that we didn't have anyone even remotely near us! :) Dad slept in the  middle and since it was only half blown up we all ended up squishing dad! But on a positive note, we were toasty warm! :)  

The next day we had breakfast and threw rocks in the lake again. Honestly for our very first camping trip just our little family, it was pretty much awesome! I spent the next week looking back over the memories with fondness! :) I'm pretty excited for next year!

Okay I think that is everything! I love you beautiful!

Love,
Mom


Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Dear Olivia,

Hello sweetheart! It's been awhile hasn't it? Well I made a list of random things I wanted to remember about you one day! So here we go!

 You are seriously at the most fun age imaginable! You turned two and out of no where you can talk. Like sentences and you say things every day that surprise me! With Bently it was very gradual increase of language skills. You just had this burst of words and all the sudden you can pretty much tell us anything and everything you want to! I still struggle with some words. Like thirsty sounds like horsey. :) But I'm catching on! Okay mostly your helping me by saying drink instead of thirsty! ;) But either way we communicate now! :)

You have actually stopped doing this as much since I wrote my list but you say Umm when you're trying to remember or think of something! It's really adorable! Especially because most of the time it ends in you not knowing. You'll say, "ummm... what?"

You are such a Daddy's girl! I try not to get too offended and most of the time I don't mind. But we went to California for a week and so you had a lot of Dad time! Boy did you never ever want me to hold you or help you, or do anything for you! It was actually a little sad for me. I do a lot for you Miss Thang! You better start showing me some love! ;)

You have the cutest hair! It's so crazy curly and I love it with all my heart! When I took your 2 year old pictures I didn't bother to do anything to it but put some gel stuff in it! I wanted to get the full extent of the crazy curly hair! Your top half is already a lot straighter and I'm already worried you are outgrowing it! I never want your hair to loose it's curl! Don't worry I'll still love you with straight hair! But I'm going to document it as much as possible while it's curly! Because I love it!

You have gotten obsessed with babies/stuffed animals. You constantly are holding them and playing with them and putting them down for naps! It's actually getting out of control. Currently as I'm typing this you are sleeping with 7 different dolls/stuffed animals! And you will notice if one is not there. I get very cranky having to run down stairs to grab a forgotten stuffed animal. I try and  not let you take them out of your bed because it has become such a hassle!

You love to read books! You love looking at them yourself and you love us to read to you! Bently has a few of our main books memorized so he will also read books to you! You are always coming up saying, "Read it! Read it!"

You are a much better looker than Bently. I don't mean you are prettier, I mean you find things easier. I will ask you to pick something up, tell you it's by the TV and you can find it! I'm impressed because Bently still has not managed this skill. :) My favorite part is you very enthusiastically exclaim "GOT IT!" when you find something! It's one of my favorite things you say!

You want to be held all. the. time. It's actually quite awful because I am rather largely pregnant currently and picking you up/holding you is no easy thing! :( We have had many a battles over my holding you. I will be on the couch and you will randomly fling yourself to the ground crying your eyes out while exclaiming, "Hold you! Hold You!" (I think you say hold you because we always ask if you want us to hold you! :) I will tell you "come here and I will hold you!" But no! Getting up and walking to me is just too much for you to handle! So instead you lay on the floor and scream and I sit on the couch trying to pretend like your screaming isn't bothering me. To be honest you win most often. I will come and get you after 10-15 minutes of this continuing. You are a stubborn girl!

I love you beautiful girl! You smile and laugh all the time! You are constantly telling me "I silly!" and you are! I need to take more videos of you! You are just too dang cute!


Love,
Mom

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Dear Olivia,

I am so sorry I've been such a slacker at writing you. Life has been crazy as of late and it's really hard to find computer time! And I despise trying to type out anything long on my Iphone! But I am finally writing you and since it's been awhile you know what that means, a long random letter that has no organization whatsoever. ;)

Okay you are so expressive! I love it! I cannot get over all your cute facial expressions you do! I am constantly trying to capture them but it's so hard! My favorite ones are the ones where you are surprised or startled! And you never know when something like that is going to happen! Thus, it's hard to capture on camera! :) I hope you always remain super expressive! Hopefully you'll end up in Drama class like your Dad and I.
Here is a small classic example! This is your face after I blew a bubble. You thought they were pretty dang amazing! ;) 

Your talking is really starting to take off! Everyday I'm amazed at all the words you can say. I still have a hard time understanding most of what you say. Your Dad is much better at speaking Olivia than I am. He's always yelling at me from across the room what it is you want! I'm really trying I just don't think I'm imaginative enough to figure it out! 

Let's list some things you like currently shall we? (Sorry for the randomness)
-You love TV. It's actually annoying. Your favorite shows are Super Why and Tangled. You really like frozen but because Bently is afraid of it, we don't get to watch it. Ever.
-You love to go. You will randomly come up to us, shoes in hand, and insist we "go". I never know where you want to go and the destination never really seems important. You just want to get out of the house. It's really hard where we have no where to go. There have been many a tantrums over this issue. 
-You love to be outside! You love bubbles and playing with chalk and pushing your shopping cart around!
-You love candy and love to ask for it! You know exactly where it is and will point at it and beg for candy. Girl after my own heart!
-You love Daddy! When Daddy wakes up, well that's the best time of the day for you! You do have Mommy moments too thank goodness. But overall if you had a choice you would choose Dad over me. 
-You love to dance! Any music and you are saying, "dance dance!" Good thing Bently is such a willing dance partner!
- You love Bently! Or you can't stand him. This one is very hot and cold. You don't call him Bently hardly ever. Mostly you call him "brother". So that has pretty much been his name around here the past couple months. When you two do get along it's stinking adorable! Your favorite game to play together is "Arctic Circle" (like the restaurant) You go under the kitchen table and use the bench as your window or serving area. You guys make us the most interesting food!
-You play pretend all the time! You are always bringing us food you made in your play kitchen. You smile lights up when we drink or eat whatever you made! Melts my heart every time. 
-You love Grandma Kay Lynn. We stayed at her house last week and you two were thick as thieves. Grandpa Paul had surgery early one morning so Grandma Kay Lynn wasn't there when you woke up. That was not okay with you. You were very cranky. I love watching how close you are with your Grandma.
-One of your favorite phrases is "Where'd it go" Or "Where'd _____ go?" You are very interested in where every one is all the time! ;) 

I know there is more that I could say but my fingers are getting tired so I better go! I love you Miss Olivia! I can't even describe how cute you are right now! You make me smile every single day! 

Love,
Mom