Catch up

I understand it's been 2 months since I've updated this. I'm blaming the 2nd child :) Who has me so tired at night that my poor husband has to hang out alone almost every night after 8 or 8:30!

Last time I wrote, Libby was going through a whiney phase. Thankfully she's over that - for the most part anyway. She still gets that way, but it's not all the time. She has come SO far with her language skills in the last 2 months it's really unbelievable. She still uses her few signs, but she actually speaks a ton of words and it seems she learns a new one every day.
She always tries to be polite by saying "please" when she wants something. She can point to almost all of her little body parts when you ask her to. Her favorite is belly, which she will randomly show off with a huge cheesy grin - Too cute! She's starting to repeat family members names, and she recognizes the faces of her grams and gramps and aunts, uncles, cousins.
She understands pretend play, which is really mind-blowing to me. She pretends to feed her baby dolls with her new kitchen she got from Santa. She brushes their hair (and ours) and makes them "pretty" with a blush brush I gave her. She brushes her teeth - no water or toothpaste, she just holds the toothbrush up to her teeth and shakes her head.
She is learning to blow kisses and melted my heart the other morning. I dropped her off at daycare and she sat down to play with something and ignored me when I told her goodbye. I kissed her on the top of the head and started walking out. When I got to the stairs she stood up and said, "Mama! Mama!" It sounded so urgent; I turned and asked her "What baby?" And she blew me a kiss. It was just too darn sweet!
She loves her puppies, and all of her new toys from Christmas.
She loves playing rough with daddy, jumping on him and slapping his belly and getting tickled. She scratches his back for him and hugs and cuddles with him.
She continues to love to read books. Over and over and over again. The girl eats pretty much anything - knock on wood! Cheetos and cheeseballs and anything cheesy continue to be on her favorites list.
She only gets a bottle at night - the rest of the day she uses a sippy cup. I can't even say we weaned her from the bottle, because she never really cared where the milk came from  - a boob or a bottle or a cup - just as long as she gets some.
Libby is only 3 months away from being a big sister. There are times when I feel guilty that she's going to have to share us; that we're going to have to share our time and attention with another child. But I know it's going to be really great and she's going to be a super big sis! It may take a while to adjust, but she will grow to love the little one and I'm sure she will be a great role model and have a friend for life.
It's hard for me to imagine that I can love another as much as I love her, but Josh assures me I can and I will so I hope he's right! He usually is :)

This year has been one of so much change and so much growth. Within myself and our family. It has been the best and most complete year of my life. I love and appreciate my husband more than ever - he really keeps our family together and takes the best care of us. It hasn't been easy all of the time, but we have worked through the adjustments and changes and come out stronger than ever.
Our daughter is really amazing and she teaches me so much more than she will ever know until she has kids of her own. It's so hard to express all that she means to me.
I hope I have shown them both that they are #1 in my life and that I have done for them as much as they have done for me in so many ways.

Here's some pics to start...the rest are on my computer at home (not that I'm blogging at work ;) I will get another post up this weekend with more pictures and some videos.....

Whiney Wilma

I sometimes don't realize how I post about all of the goodness of our baby. She is a bundle of goodness, but let me tell you  - - lately, she's testing our patience!

The past week has been a little trying for mommy. Olivia is a little smarty-sign language user, which I was sure would be so great because it would cut out the whining. But guess what? She STILL WHINES! She just does it while she's using her little smarty-fart signs!!! She stands in the kitchen crying the cry with no tears and slapping herself in the mouth to get food or squeezing her hand to get some milk. Or she stands at my feet or next to the couch and holds her arms up in the air whining for me to pick her up. Typically she can stand at my leg and yank on my pants and cry all she wants and I can tune her out and sing a little song (Not that I ignore her or never give her what she's asking, a.k.a. demanding). But this week it just seems out of control.
My wonderful mom witnessed some of the whining over the phone the other day and she just thought it was hysterical! So I was totally hoping this is a short-lived phase (like 1 week) but then i decided: No. I hope it lasts another week, so when Libby is at Oma and Opa's house for the weekend my dear mother can witness and then see how funny it is :) Although I'm sure they will just hold her and give her her every desire and won't have to witness a thing! Love you guys!

I think a lot of this has to do with the recent time-change. Olivia is such a creature of habit and is very set in living on her schedule, so even though it was just an hour change, it has thrown her whole world into a life of chaos and confusion. We have tried to ease her into it, but she wants to eat at 5pm because she thinks it's 6. And go to bed at 6:15 because she thinks it's 7:15. And wake up at 4:30 am because she think's it's 5:30. Trying to explain to a baby that the time has changed and she has to wait an hour is horribly and utterly impossible! She just cries even louder and looks at us like we're morons. It's Thursday now and she's finally starting to get there...hopefully by the end of the week (tomorrow) she's got it figured out.

"We spend the first twelve months of our children's lives teaching them to walk and talk and the next twelve telling them to sit down and shut up."

"Children are gleeful barbarians."

So that's what's new this week. ..It might be frustrating and it might be annoying, but it's part of who she is - at least for right now. It's kind of like golfing: You can hit 10 terrible shots and want to quit the game and drink a beer, but all it takes is one great shot and you're back in it to win it. All it takes from Olivia is a sweet smile, a pat on the back or a little dance and we forget what we were even frustrated about. (Still might be nice to have a beer though!)

I'll do anything for a Cheet-O!

So I got some Cheetos for Libby last night when I went to the store. If you didn’t know – she LOVES Cheetos! I showed her what I got and she got all excited and twirled in circles and squealed and was just super-excited.

So I did the sign for “Eat” and gave her one. Then she wanted another, so I did “more” and “eat” and guess what? She signed them both back to me! It was so darn cute and she kept doing it everytime she was ready for another one. When she does “eat” she slaps herself in the mouth – HILARIOUS! I will have to get a video of it to share with all of you.

We are loving watching her use all of the things we have been teaching her. It's very rewarding to me and I know Josh is loving it, too! It will make her life easier to be able to communicate instead of just whine for everything (which she still does a lot :)!

Grandma and Grandpa V got her some books for her birthday and she really likes the ones with no words – just pictures. We go through the pages and point at the animals and say what they are and what sounds they make. She loves this game! So when we get to the monkey, I always  say, “Ooh Ooh Ooh, Ahh Ahh Ahh” like a monkey, you know? Say it - you'll get it...

Well yesterday she started doing it back. But her just goes “Ahh Ahh Ahh.” LOL – She’s a funny little stinker. We pucker our lips like a fish on the fish and she is sooo intrigued by it. She tries to do it but instead just smacks her lips together...at least she's trying!

She is also obsessed with the dog book from Oma and Opa Hopp. She has torn out all of the “pop-up” pieces and broke the binding because she has read it so many times.

The potty chair she got for her birthday is not so much a potty chair to her as it is a foot stool or a bouncing pony ride. She uses it to climb and she sits on it and bounces up and down. Strange, right? But she loves it none-the-less.

She is forever carrying around a stuffed animals – a puppy or a bear or an octopus…a little nurturer she is going to be. She squeezes them and kisses them and just loves them all to piecesJ I DO hope she loves her little sister/brother just as much!

On Her Own Two Feet

Well, everyone...She's done it! Libby is a little walking tot :) By the 2nd week of her trying to keep up with the kids at daycare she was walking like a pro and she hasn't crawled since! It's been a few weeks, but I still love to watch her and am just amazed at how fast they pick up on things. She practically runs across the living room sometimes - she's a little boogier.
She's starting to talk more - she says "Puppy, baby, bye-bye, hiiiiii, dada, mama" Quite a list for a 1-year old. Yes, that's right! She is ONE YEAR OLD! It's hard for me to believe it's been a year, but then I feel like she's been in my life forever. Olivia is such a blessing. Love her soooo much!
We had a birthday party for her - much of the family came down to Des Moines and we opened presents and ate cake and ice cream - just had a good-old-time! I was surprised at how she loved to be the center of attention. She's never really been that way in a crowd, but she sure was enjoying it. She all kinds of great presents. Books and dolls and stuffed animals and clothes and a potty chair...lots and lots of stuff.
We got to Skype with Aunt Katie and Uncle Mike so they could watch her open her pink Oopsie the Octopus that Katie made her - that was fun to be able to do that - thank goodness for internet!
Thanks to everyone for everything - it was a really special day.

Other than that, things are going along pretty smoothly. We are getting some work done on our house which is never fun and trying to prepare a little for the next baby's arrival. Our ultrasound is on the 16th, so I will hopefully have a fun post sometime after that. I am just starting to feel the little tiny baby move around - - seems like it's going by so quickly! I'm sure April will be here before we know it.

We had Libby's one-year pictures and new family pictures taken yesterday. It will be 2 weeks before we get them, but I will share as soon as we do. I hope they are cute! Daddy loves his little baby too much and gave in on buying a little stuffed puppy for her that day. She decided it was best if she held it in many of the pictures. It actually is probably a good thing - if we're going to try to depict who she is at 1 year old, then it shows how attached she is to fuzzy little stuffed toys!

Anyway - here's some recent pics for you to enjoy. Talk to you soon - take care!

Hey everyone! Can you believe it's already the 2nd week of October?! What a crazy and busy and great month-and-a-half it's been!
To start off the month of September, Libby's daycare suddenly and sadly closed. It's kind of a long story, but ends with our family and about 200 others without childcare and with much stress. We searched for a couple of weeks for a center and never found one we were comfortable taking Libby to. I really don't think our standards are that high but there were places we visited and interviewed that I seriously wouldn't even leave her in for an hour. Dirty and unfriendly and at one of them, the 1-year old room teacher didn't even speak English. I just don't know how any parent could take their child to some of these places every day and feel good about it. Maybe our standards are higher than other parents but maybe if all of our standards were higher there wouldn't even be places like we saw.
Anyway - We ended up finding an in-home daycare just a couple of minutes from our house. Libbs has only been going there for a week, but it was a really good first week. Her personality is blossoming more every day and it's so fun to watch. She is funny and cuddly and active and bossy and the girl knows what she wants and will do what she thinks she has to to get it! She is having a hard time "playing nice" with the other children sometimes - she pushes and shoves and takes things and yells... Some of you might know that I've always, even before she was born, had a fear of having a "bratty" or misbehaved child. So when I took Libby to the doctor this last week for her ear recheck (another story in itself) for her ear infection  I told the doctor about how she is acting. The doctor actually said this is not necessarily a bad thing. She said that it's a sign that, like her early motor development, this shows early social development. Tantrums and pushing and taking things are all part of social and lingual development - learning what she wants and working to get it. Average age to start these things is 15 months, so she about 6 months ahead of the curve. Doc says this is good because she will (or should) outgrow it at a younger age. But bad because when kids go through it closer to 2 years old, they have some speaking capabilities and more understanding of what you're saying to them. This way you can tell them this is not how you act - you need to say please and all that good stuff. But Libby is only 11 months old, so we can tell her that, but she's not really going to get it and she's certainly not going to do it. All we can really do is ignore her tantrums so as not to encourage them and tell her no and redirect her when she is acting out toward other children.

We have been using some basic sign language with her since she was about 3 months old and she is starting to use it! She can now give the sign for milk when she's thirsty and the sign for all done when she's full. She can point to your eye and your nose and give kisses and wave bye-bye. She claps and and dances (which is stinkin' hilarious!) and plays musical instruments. AND just this week while she's trying to keep up with the older kids at daycare she finally started walking - not just the 4 or 5 steps to get from here to there but seriously walking around the house! It's so awesome - she's getting so big! Oh yeah - and she's such a little book worm! She spends a lot of time looking at books and having mommy and daddy read them to her. Like seriously a lot of time...sometimes I have to, err, I mean get to, read a book 3 or 4 times in a row. If you need ideas for birthday - I would love to read new stories:)

So I guess that pretty much brings us up-to-date. I feel like I just totally down-played everything so I could fit it in here without writing a novel....It's really been an amazing month!

Little Tiny baby Banta is doing great as well - I got to hear it's little heartbeat at my appointment last week. And I felt the little munchkin move in my belly for the first time on Friday, the 7th!! My morning (or all-day) sickness is getting a lot better - hopefully it will go away for good soon! Last Friday I threw up so hard that I broke a bunch of cappillaries in my face! I looked terrible - there were purple spots all over my face. 6 more weeks and we're half-way through and we get to have our 2nd and last ultrasound!! It's so different from being pregnant with Libby that it makes me think maybe we're having a boy, but deep down I think it's going to be another girl! I guess we'll find out in 6 months since my husband is SO great and agreed to keep it a surprise again:)  Love you baby!

Speaking of loving my husband - we just celebrated 5 years of marriage on Friday!!! It seems crazy that our wedding was 5 years ago, but at the same time I feel like we've been together so much longer than that. It has honestly been the best time of my life and I'm so blessed to have such a great husband and best friend.

Also speaking of love - my sister got married in September! I was honored to be her Matron of Honor. It was so great to see her and spend some time with her and the wedding was beautiful and so much fun! I am very very happy for her and Mike and I wish them a lifetime of happiness together!!

WHEW! What a whirlwind, right?! I hope I'm not forgetting anything...

Enjoy the pics and the musical concert below! She's way better at the flute now - I'll have to get another video for you...

Ravioli!!

Snuggles with G-ma (windchimes)

Family (except Katie and Mike)

Poopin in the dog kennel :)

Cardboard house mommy built me

Sisters

Mama and daughters

Our little family

Newlyweds

Cheezeball eating Cheez-its

Puppy Love!

So this morning I was changing Olivia's diaper on the couch. The boys were outside on their chains going potty and they started barking. Libby turned her head at the sound of their barks and said,  "puppy." Just like that - like she has said it 100 times! It was completely crazy - I have never even heard her make a "p" sound!
I freaked out, of course and almost started crying. It was so awesome...I just can't believe she's already at the age when she's going to start TALKING!!!! Man, I love her.

She's also starting to stand like a Pro...she can stand for quite some time all by herself and then she will take one step - but only one - and then lunges toward whatever she's trying to get to. It's not going to be long! I feel like I've been saying that for a long time, but I'm serious - she's on her way :)

Libbs had a case of Hand Foot and Mouth disease a couple of weeks ago. Poor thing had blisters/sores in her mouth and on her bottom for about 9 days. She wasn't allowed to be at daycare (which is where she got it) so I had 6 days of working from home and hanging out with her. It was so stinkin' fun...She is just so happy and talkative and fun. So she went back to daycare Monday and then they shut down for the next 3 days; Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday...due to a case of Whooping Cough! I had to hire one of the ladies from daycare to come over and take care of her at home for those 3 days and I think she had a lot of fun. Rhonda and Libby really get along well...I am glad I spend so much time at the daycare so I have gotten to know the girls well enough to be able to have them do this for us. Tomorrow's Friday and she can go back to daycare. Let's hope the kids can get healthy and stay healthy!

Last weekend we went to Gray's Lake as a little family unit. We walked and walked and walked and then stopped at the beach...we didn't plan for this, so she had to go in her diaper but the water was so warm she absolutely loved it! She thought the sand was the most interesting thing she had ever seen. She grabbed handfuls off the bottom of the lake and studied it before dumping it out and grabbing the next handful. She splashed around and giggled and had tons of fun...Great idea by Daddy!!

Her top two teeth have cut through finally - it's darn cute :) There is a gap between them which I think is super cute and I also think it's pretty normal for babies. She is getting very tall - at her 9 month appointment she had jumped up to the 75th percentile for height - she is 28-1/2 inches tall and she is still in the 50th percentile for weight at 19.4 lbs. Kinda funny - she sure looks chubby to us!
It's getting about time to switch her from the baby seat to a convertible car seat - gotta keep an eye out on Craigslist for a good deal.

Oh my, you guys - our little baby girl is going to be 10 months old on Sunday. Oh my...I look at her now and I don't see a baby; I see a toddler and it makes mama so happy and so sad all in one. She is ever-changing and it's the most amazing thing to be able to witness the changes in her on a daily basis.



Goooooood Morning!



First Trip to the Beach - - Looved it!



O-Water Baby!!

If you read the previous post about Harvest Time, you know that O.G.B. got down and dirty in the garden. And what do you do when you're done playing in the dirt? You go swimming, of course!!!
We got Libbs her very first pool!
Side note: if you wait until July 31, they only cost $7 :) End side note.
When Daddy got home from work we had him fill the pool with water. It was about 3:30pm and it was darn hot outside. Libby got changed into her bathing suit and out we went...The water was very very cold so at first she just leaned over the edge and splashed with her hands. Josh stuck her feet in but she wasn't havin' that cold stuff on her feet; at least not alone. Great idea by daddy: he stuck his feet in to show her how fun it was and then she followed suit. Eventually after dipping and splashing and distracting, she sat down in the water and played. And she loved it! She chased the rubber duckie and the water pig and her daddy's toes. She splashed around and farted and looked as cute as ever with her little ruffles and the bow in her hair.
We were out about a half and hour or so before it was time to go in and get ready for Brandon and Teri (Libby's Godparents) to come over for dinner. They are really great about coming over to hang out with Libby every couple of months or so and I love that they want to have a relationship with her. They got her a new outfit, too! It's going to come in really handy pretty soon when the Hawkeyes take the field!

I need to relax now, so I'm out...xoxoxo

Just splashin'

First Foot Dip - Not lovin' it

If Daddy can do it so can I!

Fully submerged

Cute as can be, right?

Brandon, Teri and Libby

Iowa Booty