Olivia Grace {weeks 29-32}

Oh Livi-loo. Where to start?! She has grown up so much these last few weeks and has started doing so many new things! At 29 weeks, she'd gobbling up her organic pouches, just like her sister liked. She could get up on all four's but moved backwards, silly girl. She was and is still sleeping up to 6 1/2 hours most nights and has done a few 7 & 8hr stretches too! Praise the Lord above. She's sitting up and playing and rolling around to get her toys (and some of Hannah's too!)

Christmas was such a joy... getting better each year with these sweet girls around! Liv sat on Santa's lap and even smiled at him! She did great at the family gatherings and sat in several highchairs, which made her look so grown-up. She received a bigger carseat that matches Hannah's, and car rides have been going SO. MUCH. BETTER. She also received a glow sea-horse, soft baby and green blanky from my family that have been her new lovies. With her blanky and soothie... she SLEEPS! 

At 31 weeks, Liv was being woke up by her Sister... ornery. We hear them "playing and talking" on the monitor most mornings. It's such a precious sound. Hannah will hand her toys and Liv giggles and smiles. 

At 32 weeks, our girls has seriously turned a page... gone are the fussy days (for now) and she's is content to sit and play for long periods of time with her sister. She pulls all the toys out of her bin and spreads them out on the floor. She says "blah blah blah" which is hilarious and giggles at everything Hannah does. Her favorite game is to try to steal Hannah's binky and then laughs while Hannah says "No, no Sissy!" She's scooting forward and ready to crawl any day now! We just love her more and more each day, and can hardly put her sweet, cuddly, squishy self to bed at night after she falls asleep on Mama. We're so smitten!

Hannah's Photo Project HERE.

Olivia Grace {weeks 25-28}

Oh Livi Loo... such a character. She's hot or cold, and never between. We've decided that it will always be loud in our house... her presence always known. I'm okay with that... just such an adjustment from our Hannah. She was very good and went with the flow at Thanksgiving. I hosted one dinner and we all ended up cuddling and napping after the meal... her Auntie didn't mind the snuggles. 

The next week, she started scooting! She'll be across the room from where I left her in no time at all! The whole family caught the flu... poor baby didn't even want to eat much, and that's her favorite thing to do! She still weighed 16lbs after a week of fasting... what her sister weighted at a YEAR. Our perfectly average sized Liv... flying through the hand-me-downs that I thought would work out perfectly! She's still SUCH a Mama's girl... needs me all day, everyday... or else, tears.

She's started sitting up to play, and I think she is MUCH happier doing so! She loves to sit by the toy bin and pull out all the toys, one by one. She puts EVERYTHING in her mouth. She still takes her soothie binky, but only when she's sleepy. Otherwise she chews on it. Sophie the Giraffe is her BFF... that rubber toy has some sort of magic baby powers. The car rides have gotten MUCH better overall... she still isn't too pleased to be trapped in her carseat for long... but thank the Lord for no screaming each time we go anywhere!

At 6mo and two weeks, she started eating some food! She seems to really like bananas, sweet potato and even parsnips! Still munching away on Mum Mum's and reaching for everything we eat... sometimes we let her try things, but she seems to be disturbed by what it actually tastes like once it's in her mouth, ha. We love our girl and are so excited to see more and more of her personality emerge! It's going so quickly with our second baby... we're trying to soak up her littleness while it lasts. Our beautiful girl will be chasing the sister she adores around the house before we know it!

Hannah's Photo Project HERE.

Thoughts on Advent {and being humbled in the process} ...

It's been a long time since this little Mama wrote an actual blog post (other than Liv's updates).  I was starting to feel like blogging was taking up the precious time that I had to be Mama the Memory Keeper, to be in the moment with my babies.  I was starting to feel pressure (self-inflicted of course) to keep up with blogging, even though I was completely stretched thin for time and creative energy. I also didn't want to be that Mama who appeared to have it ALL together, when so much of the time I'm humbly feeling like a hot mess. So I've been spending my time getting the hang of being Mama to two and trying to enjoy the little moments with those sweet girls.

I knew that I wanted to implement an Advent calendar with Miss Hannah this year. She may only be two and a half, but she walks, talks, and acts like a 5 year old most of the time. I thought that if I kept things simple, she could certainly understand the main concepts and that it would keep our entire family's focus on the true meaning of this special season. I found an adorable printable kit, and knew that I wanted something to decorate our kitchen wall with anyway.

God often uses the everyday experiences, and many times my children, to humble me... to bring me back to him and to remind me what's REALLY important. As I sat down to put together the Advent calendar/bunting, I was s-t-r-e-s-s-i-n-g. The printer was out of ink, my activities needed to be organized, I ran to the craft store for supplies, but they were now scattered everywhere... Liv was of course crying while Hannah begged to dig in to the supplies. I was trying to wrap my mind around how to make our bunting, organize the days, include Hannah, and all I could here was "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!!!" and a fussing baby. Cue Mama-melt down... laid my head on the table and almost cried.

In all my over-dramatic glory, I looked over and saw the Jesus Story Book Bible that we'd be using for the Advent and quickly remembered that this was NOT about a perfectly crafted display. It was not about me being an organized super-mom.  It was about showing my girl what this IS all about. I quickly grabbed some Christmas-y scrapbook paper, stickers and crayons from my box for her to create with. I took a deep breath, and I opened up the Bible to read the first story. I was instantly humbled and amazed by how intently she was listening.

I'm learning--more and more each day-- that in every situation, she is watching. As her Mama, I set the tone for the day and often the direction that our attitudes and moods will go. That is why our family is  taking time during this special season, each day, to read a piece of THE story...that will lead our girl to Jesus. We will also do an activity--nothing fancy or difficult,  that helps me to pause and spend precious moments with her, and make sweet memories. THAT above all else is what matters... NOT perfect crafts, or Pinterest-worthy decorations, shiny floors or squeaky-clean bathrooms. Amen? I pray that each of you pause to spend this kind of quality time together with your family this Christmas.

In case you're interested...

The printable kit is found HERE, by Heather at Life Made Lovely.
Inside each craft paper envelope is the Bible Story for the day from The Jesus Storybook Bible.
On the back of each piece of scrapbook paper is that day's activity. Some days it's just coloring, and some days there is no activity due to a busy weekend. Here are some of the things we're doing...

Put up/decorate the Christmas tree
String popcorn for the tree
Make paper snowflakes
Color a Christmas Coloring sheet
Surprise- a new special book
Surprise- a new Christmas movie
Hot Cocoa, Popcorn and family movie night
Bake sugar cookies
Write a list to take to Santa
Go visit Santa
Make a peg-people nativity
Paint Ceramic Christmas ornaments
Make a hand-print ornament with Sissy
Go see Christmas in the Park (Christmas lights)
Make a gingerbread house
Go shopping for a small gift for Sissy
Sing Christmas songs

HERE's another post about how we keep Christmas simple around here.

I hope to be back soon!

Olivia Grace {weeks 21-24}

I simply can not believe that we've had our Livi-loo for 5 whole months! She is doing new things each day and growing up so fast! At 21 weeks, she laughed at her Daddy for the first time. She's always giving us a big cheesy grin, but this was an actual chuckle. She reaches for everything and puts it all in her mouth. We started letting her chew on Mum-mums (rice husks) while we eat dinner and she devours them, leaving soggy rice bits everywhere... sometimes all over her face. It's adorable. You reach for our food, and Hannah says; "No no Sissy! You have milk!"

Halloween was so much fun this year... she didn't seem to mind her bunny costume too much, and even went around the block with us to "Trick-or-Treat." She was nice and warm and our neighbor called her a "butterball baby." She still only wants Mama and cries a lot when I'm not right there with her at all times... it's difficult, but I'm just glad I can soothe my baby girl. She's still eating every 3hrs during the day and can go 5-6hrs at night (thank you Lord!)

She still requires lots of sleep, and is pretty grumpy when she isn't well-rested. We don't mind. Mama can rock her to sleep pretty quickly, but she gives Daddy a run for his money. She's wearing the same size diaper as Hannah (craziness.) At 5mo she wears Hannah's 9/10mo clothes. She HATES her car seat, which makes going anywhere a little nerve-wracking. I even bought a mirror that lights up and plays music and she still screams. Hannah says; "It's okay Sissy, don't cry" on repeat the whole drive.

Our Liv just adores her big sister. She's constantly watching Hannah and smiling at her--even giggling when Hannah acts silly and gives hugs and kisses. It's so precious to watch the two of them interact. Soon enough Liv will be crawling after her Sister. She's already trying to scoot and rotating 180 degrees on her quilt when we play on the floor. She tries to sit up in her bathtub and her rock-n-play... meaning we'll be transitioning to the crib shortly for her safety. I'll miss my baby girl being within arms reach and pray the transition is a smooth one!

Hannah's Photo Project HERE.

Olivia Grace {weeks 17-20}

Our sweet Liv... still loves to be swaddled up tight to sleep. I love to rock her in the evenings, such precious moments. Sometimes I sneak in an afternoon nap with her too. She's our good little sleeper... such a change from Hannah, and such a blessing. Mama is getting a good 6hr stretch of sleep, followed by a few more hours usually!

We borrowed a jumpy from a friend and she LOVES it. She spends so much time happily jumping away, always smiling and playing with the toys attached! She squeals with delight and Mama can now cook dinner with out bouncing her on my hip! She weighed 14lbs at 18weeks! She's in the 55th percentile for everything, and didn't even cry at her checkup!

I'm so thankful for this sweet girl... she's developing such a fun personality! She keeps me on my toes most of the time, but her smiles melt me completely. I'm also so thankful for our special time together nursing and rocking. It forces me to stop, take a time-out, and breathe a bit before tackling the next few hours. Such a sweet gift to have that relationship with her too.

Bri took the day off one week to take us to the Pumpkin patch and Liv was such a good baby! She loves to be held, and worn in her Beco! She was all smiles and even let Hannah try to "hold" her for a few pumpkin pictures! We are so enjoying our happy baby!

Olivia Grace {weeks 13-16}

 

Our sweet, sensitive Livi girl. She's definitely a Mama's girl through and through. She can make quite a noise when I'm not holding her! She also hates loud noises--her little lip quivers and she starts crying when something startles her, then she needs Mama cuddles to console her. On Sept 6th, our sweet girl had a little procedure done at Children's Mercy to fix her upper lip-tie. She did beautifully! It was much harder on Mama and Daddy since we couldn't hold her. They gave her topical and local anesthesia, and she nursed well and even smiled at Mama after! Then she cuddled up and slept in the Beco on Mama.

 

 

She LOVES to talk to herself in the mirror! I set her there to get ready in the morning and she cracks me up talking and cooing and touching her reflection! She "plays" with her toys now, holding them and trying to eat them. She holds her head up and looks all around when I'm holding her over my shoulder... acting like such a big girl. She rolls over in 2 seconds when put on her tummy. She even plays on her mat for a bit before starting to yell for someone to come hold her!

 

 

Sweet Liv has been talking so much lately. She is usually yelling at me, but it's adorable even so. She's our squishy little chunk-a-monk. She's outgrown her 3mo clothes and is flying through her Sissy's hand-me-downs. We had to buy her new Halloween jammies, since that size has already been put away. On Sept 25th, she rolled over from back to front and then did it three times in a row! Since then, she rolls across the room if we're not watching!

She has played in her crib a few times now, and Hannah LOVES to join her! They cuddle and Hannah gives her toys to play with. She's a good little sleeper, and she seems to still love sleeping next to Mama in her rock n play, all swaddled up tight. She'll eat at midnight and then once or twice before she's up for good around 8. She only takes her binkie when she's sleepy... otherwise she just chews on her thumb. We are so in love with our little peanut!

Zuku Quick Pops & {A Popsicle Recipe!}

Now that Summer is winding down {aparently I've been a little busy lately} I am now posting pictures of popsicle-making and recipes. Save 'em for next year folks, or maybe you live in a climate like the midwest, where it may be fall this week, but 85 again the next?

Miss Hannah's sweet Great-Aunt sent us this awesome Quick-Pop maker and we were so excited to try it out!

She bought us the 3 pop maker, single pop maker, and extra pop sticks... the perfect amount of sticks to make most of the recipes I found! We put the makers in the freezer for 24hrs and then were ready to start!

The great thing about popsicles is how many combinations/flavors you can make! Hannah LOVES fruit, so pretty much anything we put in these pop-makers she will love! We started out with THIS yummy recipe.

I love simple ingredients in my kiddo's food and this recipe is just that. 1/2 cup of yogurt - 3 bananas - cup of blueberries - juice of 1/2 a lemon. I added just a few teaspoons of sugar, which it didn't really need.

We poured them in the popsicle maker and started a timer for 9min...

So glad this is a "Quick" popsicle maker because toddlers have no patience.

 

There's an "easy removal" screw on top... but it took a little muscle to get them out!

 

 

I think it's safe to say that she loved them! The twelve we made were gone in no time.

 

 

The Zuku is available at Williams Sonoma, but this yummy recipe will work in any popsicle maker!