Thursday, January 27, 2011

Who wants to be a ballerina?

NOT Emma!!

For months, all I have heard was "I want to go to dance school like Angelina Ballerina!" So, I signed Emma up with Julie Nichols, a woman from my old ward, who teaches out of her home. Emma was really excited. We bought her dance clothes and ballet shoes, and she pretended she was Angelina as she played around in them...and then the first day of class came...and, as you can see from the above pictures she wasn't so excited after all! I made her go, because well, 1. I am not raising my children to think that just because you don't want to do something, you don't have to, and 2. because I spent a lot of money on said class and clothes, and by golly, she was taking that class! The first class was rather horrible. While all the other little girls were twirling and trying, she was completely standing still with her hands clasped together, frowning. I didn't care. She was finishing the 8 week course no matter what, and if she stood still for 8 weeks and didn't move a muscle at the end performance, so be it! However, when we got in the car after the first class was over, Emma said to me and I quote "that was awesome, can I do it again?" Wait, what? Apparently, through all the sulky and standing still she managed to have fun. Go figure. The next week she did great, and we have class number three tomorrow.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Wait...what? Already?

So, I walked into the kitchen the other night, after stepping out of the room for something, and what did I find? Olivia, standing up! She had apparently used the open dishwasher as her support, and up she went! She's only 7 1/2 months old and she's not only crawling, but now standing? It really is a good thing she wasn't our first, or we would have thought there was something wrong with the rest of our children. NO ONE else crawled until after nine months at the earliest, and sometimes not even that. And no one else was standing until closer to a year...she's growing up too fast :(

I love this picture because she's making the "what, mom?" face! Also, please excuse my dirty stove. Olivia LOVES to put her hands, fingers, mouth, you name it, on the appliances lately so everything is gross!

Coming to get me!!

Cutie, tooties!

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Has it been 7 months already?

It's hard to believe that it's already been seven months since this sweet baby girl joined our family. I don't know if it's because life is busier these days, or just because I am getting older, but time seems to go faster and faster with each child. I remember with Aidan, a year, felt like a year--now, I look at all of my children, especially the baby, and wonder "where has the time gone?" It is bittersweet. I am so happy for her growth and accomplishments, and yet at the same time I don't want her to get any bigger.


This is a pretty typical Olivia face--the "come on, stop torturing me just because you think I look cute in this car" look. At 7 months she weighs 18 lbs (yup, just four pounds less than her two year old brother,) is sitting up by herself, crawling--both with the army man style and on her hands and knees, she is eating solid foods, and starting to drink from a sippy cup. She can take baths in the big tub now, and loves to run her hands under the faucet as the water comes out. She is in love, and I mean in love with her daddy. She can't get enough of him, and if he's home she has to be near him or held by him. She loves Aidan the best, I think, of her siblings. He is the kindest and sweetest to her. He plays with her and aside from Matthew and I, he's the only one that can make her laugh. Her favorite things to play with right now are her Baby Einstein activity center, her rattles, and anything she can put in her mouth and chew on. She still doesn't have any teeth, the only one of my kids to not have teeth at this age. Although, I suspect some any day now. She started sleeping through the night at 3 weeks and decided about a month ago to abandon that tradition. Now, she gets up once a night at midnight for a "topping off" bottle. So kind of her! She is beautiful--a pudgey- perfectly-round-headed-brown-eyed-double chinned-beauty and we are so grateful she is ours!