Quick note about the blog..

Just wanted to mention that I've heard from lots of people that the pictures are so small that they wish they could click on them to see them bigger. Well, you can't do that and I can't do anything about the size of the pictures because of the setup that I chose. However, everytime I add pictures, I will add those same pictures to the bottom of the blog too where they are MUCH bigger. You have to scroll quite a ways down to see them. When I add a new entry though, I plan on deleting the old pictures and swapping them out with the newest ones so you better be keeping up if you hope to see those big pictures at the bottom. Hope that helps!

Our professional flower girl...

Although Olivia looked absolutely adorable in her Easter dress, I have very unimpressive pictures to share. I'm hoping someone else will send some to me and I'll pass them along. We were all fighting off a 2nd round of cold/cough stuff so with the cold temps outside, we really didn't have an egg hunt either. But it was nice to be with so much family. Because of the passing of my grandfather, Olivia's Uncle Marc and Uncle Greg flew in for a couple of days as well and she really seemed to like their silliness. Probably the most exciting thing though was Olivia being asked to be a flower girl for her 2nd wedding this summer!!! My cousin JoAnna is getting married in June and we're very excited that Olivia will be helping her down the aisle.

Olivia continues to surprise us with a new word everyday. So far, she has the following under her belt: Mommy, Daddy, Babi (Ukrainian for Grandma), Didi (Ukr. for Grandpa), Nanny, Pop Pop, yes, no, milk, jeans, bunny, book, boogie, baby, hat, peas, water, juice, up, out, shoe, boy, girl, away, bus, off, bubble, cheese, hotdog, monkey, sticker....I feel like I'm forgetting some but those are the ones that we hear pretty regularly. And she's so close to a ton of other words. Oh, it's so fun!

Hockey and a Hair Cut....

OK, OK....I will post my entries more regularly. I'm getting a lot of slack from some people but that's good. At least I know you're reading.

This is SUCH an awesome age! Olivia is so much fun. She just loves to be tickled, walk around with her hands in her pockets and be just plain silly. Her vocabulary is growing and growing every day. It is so crazy to hear it. She can even tell long stories. She will tell you, "Clop, clop, clop....Big...(stomps floor)....away." Translation: "I saw a horse (with a buggy) at the grocery store yesterday. It was a big horse. He went like this with his foot. Then he went away and went home."

We took Olivia to her first Bears hockey game. I was hoping that she would at least stay put for the first period so I could watch. However, I am happy to share that we got to see the entire game. I kid you not. She just hung out and people watched, or she enjoyed her hot dog and popcorn or she played with her friends who were also with us. But she was totally content to be in her seat area for 3 periods of play. She even clapped when she heard everyone else clap, which wasn't all too often in the 1-0 loss. Her highpoint was probably meeting Coco the Bear while we walked around the concourse between periods. Although repeating the words "Hot dog" over and over again came in a close 2nd.

She got her first official haircut last week too. I snipped her bangs when she was tiny but this was her official "professional" haircut. She was perfect, perhaps a little confused about why she was sitting in that chair with a cape around her neck, but she just sat and watched and waited for the girl to finish. Don't worry, she will have long hair to put in ponytails but we just had to even up the back since it grew in at different lengths.

Hope everyone has a Happy Easter and we'll be sure to post some egg hunt pictures.

Chatty Cathy!

Sorry for taking so long. Olivia has been fighting a cold, croup and now a dry cough so I wasn't exactly getting prize winning photos of her lately. But perhaps her sore throat is a result of all of the talking she has been doing lately. Not everything is a clear word but she tries to repeat everything she hears now. It is so fun to hear. And if she can't say a word, she finds another way to communicate her thoughts. Mike was getting her ready for bed and he pulled out her butterfly pjs. Olivia said no and started scratching under her arms and making monkey sounds. She wanted to wear her pjs that have monkeys all over them.

Another cute story....she was standing on the kitchen table bench with me (well, I was sitting of course, not standing. Don't want you to think we get completely out of control when Mike leaves us alone for the day.) and I picked up my cup to take a drink. She grabbed her bib that was laying on the table and ran over to me to put it under my chin like I do to her when she practices using a cup. It was so cute.

We're getting ready for Easter now. Babi bought Olivia a BEAUTIFUL Easter dress so I'll be sure to take lots of pictures of that.

18 months old...

We had our 18 month check-up at the doctor's yesterday and it went very well. Olivia is 22 lbs 11oz which is in the 25th % and she is 32 in tall which is 60th%. She has met all of her developmental milestones and (spoken like a mother) actually met them several months ago. Based on what we were telling the doctor about what she has been doing lately, he gave us one stern warning. If we plan on having any other kids, they will NOT be like Olivia. She is just too perfect. Oh sure, that last sentence wasn't a direct quote but he did want to make sure that we knew that she was not a typical 18 mos old.

She had a little cold the last couple of days so we haven't done anything too exciting to share but today she had had enough of being in the house. She got her shoes out from her closet, did her best to put them on, got her coat off it's hook in the closet and put it on (just one sleeve and upside down), and patted her head to tell me to get her hat. She was going outside, with or without me. We can really tell that her speech is about to take off. She has really started using "Mommy" and "Daddy" a lot and she has recently added "Babi" and "Didi". Oh, and she loves to say "Bye" when someone is leaving or when she is leaving the room or when you flush a bug down the toilet. She has a lunch with friends this Thursday and dinner with a different group of friends this Friday so I should have some good stories and pictures for you after that.

Time for a tu-tu!

It warms my heart to share that Olivia has been walking around the house a lot on her tip toes. I'm going to start saving now for those dance lessons. She is definitely drawn to music. She loves to dance and her foot stomping is usually pretty darn close to being on the beat. In another example of "Like mother, like daughter", she also beats her little fist on her chest after she burps or coughs. It's amazing (and a little scary) how much a child picks up from you without you thinking about what you're doing. She is still working hard to form real words. She currently has her own partial words for "bug", "apple", and "bird" among others.

I've been a little behind with my postings but I'll try to be better about this. I must say, comments that are left definitely motivate me to get my butt in gear. It also let's me know that my husband isn't the only one to read these. So c'mon people!!!! Give me some feedback, would ya?!

Some recent good times...

Although a bit of a stomach virus has torn through our house recently (which Olivia started!), we did manage to have loads of fun the week leading up to it. Olivia normally enjoys taking a bath. She loves taking off her clothes and running around the house until we can corral her. She loves dumping all of her toys into the water to create her "fun pool". And she loves to play with those toys once she gets in. But one day last week, she just took it to a new level. She decided that life was too short and she was going to take the most fun bath that she has ever taken. She was just going crazy in the water with non-stop splashing so I sent Mike for the camera and we captured this beauty of a photo to the left.

We finally got some snow. Maybe 2 sad inches but it was something. So we suited up and took Olivia out for her first sled ride. Everyone had a good time flying ("flying" being a relative term, she is only 1 and 1/2) down our street which is a hill. (with speed bumps, for extra added fun!) She seemed to have more fun just walking around the yard through this odd, white stuff until we witnessed Daddy accidentally running over our new sled in the driveway with his truck. No worries though....best $12 we ever spent. There wasn't a scratch or crack on it.