Olivia's 2nd Birthday

For Olivia's 2nd birthday, we ended up having a small party at a local park with just Allison and Jeremy's parents and sister. It was a fun, relaxing day.


I can't believe that Olivia is 2-years old. She has turned into such a wonderful little girl. Here are a few of our favorite things about Olivia:

1. Olivia is such a ham. She loves to dance, especially if people are watching. Her favorite move is to put both her hands on the ground and raise one leg into the air.

2. Olivia is getting so verbal. She is easier to understand each day, and she has the cutest little voice. We've had to work through some awkward phrasing, though, particularly her pronunciation of the word "fire truck" which came out sounding much like a very naughty swear word.

3. Olivia loves her sister Ellie (or as she says it, Eh-yee). She gives her hugs and pats her back. She is pretty good at sharing toys, and tries to comfort her when she is upset. When Ellie is napping, Olivia will constantly say, "baby, wake?", hoping we can go wake her up.

4. Olivia loves her daddy, and lately, her daddy's car. She is always asking to ride in it, and is so disappointed every morning when she has to get in mommy's car to go to daycare.

5. Olivia loves the sun roof in her mommy's car, but hates the sun. She will point at the sun roof, and say "ope" (open), and the minute I open it, she covers her eyes and cries "sun! no! go way!". If I shut the sun roof, she gets upset and wants it open again. Unfortunately, the sun is still on the other side.

6. Olivia loves animals. She always wants to watch videos of animals on you tube, or TV. She likes to make animal noises, as well, but lately, all any animal does is growl. Including giraffes.

7. Olivia loves stickers and loves coloring. Both activities can keep her preoccupied for hours. She also likes to watch other people color. She often brings Jeremy or myself her markers and asks us to color so she can watch. If we open her marker and hand it back to her, she gets so upset and says, "no! mama color!".

Ellie has grown leaps and bounds in the past few weeks, as well. She has mastered sitting up all by herself, and it provides her with a new sense of independence that she thrives off of. She has recently become a really good sleeper at night, as well. It literally occurred overnight. We got to the point where we had her sleeping for 2-3 hour stretches at night. Then one night, she slept for 5 hours. The following night, she slept for 7 hours. The night after that, she went for 9 hours. She now fairly consistently only wakes up once during the night. Her tummy troubles have also seemed to clear up, and she is now eating some solids. She LOVES her food, and lunges at the spoon.

The following are some pictures from our summer, so far: