So long 2011, It's been wonderful!

2011 has been a big year for us. It's definitely been wonderful!

January: 

Announced to the world that we were having a baby.

February:

Found out we were having a girl on Valentine's Day. (This dress was my Valentine's present from Russ.)

Visited Bandelier National Monument.

March:

Went to Disney World and Universal Studios.

April

 Celebrated Easter and Olivia's baby shower, (which I don't have any pictures of... hmm). Here's Olivia's first piece of mail - an Easter card from her Grand Nana! 

May:

Went to our siblings' high school graduation in OKC (the same weekend as the Thunder playoffs). 

Moved to Tulsa. Yep, my apartment has an orange wall in the living room... it's very different.

June:

Took maternity photos at Theta Pond in Stillwater.

Met our precious Olivia.

July:

The dogs were introduced to Miss O.

One month completed successfully!

First smile.

August:

First cloth diaper.

Two months old.

September:

Olivia's baptism

Her first pool experience.

Three months down.

October:

First 5k.

Olivia learned to loved her playmat.

Four months old and Olivia's first Halloween.

November:

I turned 25 years old.

Olivia tried rice cereal for the first time.

Russ completed his first marathon.

And then our girl learned to roll over and made it to 5 months old. (Holy cow!)

December:

Olivia made bath time her ultimate playtime.

And met Santa and celebrated her very first Christmas.

2011 has been a year! I'm grateful for every experience we were brought this year and feel incredibly blessed.

Merry Christmas!!!!

Baby Talk

Just in the last week, Olivia has started to make consonant sounds. Before that, it was all noises in the back of her throat, very guttural. (They were noises that we actually used in choir for warm-ups, haha.) Last Thursday morning, she made the "da da" noise for the first time! She was actually looking at Russ and I'll pretend that she knows that's his name already. 

I've heard her say "ga" and "pa," too. Just the other day, she spent several minutes softly repeating the K noise to herself - it made me smile.

Who's that funny man with the beard?

Olivia sneezed on Daddy

but, that didn't bother her at all. 

Water baby

Several weeks ago, I abandoned Russ to managing bath time on his own.... Miss O likes to splash and he doesn't mind getting a little drippy.

She's sitting up in her tub now, which definitely keeps him on his toes.

Olivia loves bath time and, knowing Russ, she'll be swimming around the tub by January 2012. 

Pooh Appreciation

Olivia was nibbling on Pooh Bear's ear.

He was one of my favorite toys and I hope she loves him as much. 

Olivia sitting on Roxy

Alternate title: Torturing the dog.

Sometimes we giggle a lot

Season of Advent

I love Advent! There is so much anticipation and joy that comes with this season!

We have three different Advent calendars distributed throughout our home. This one, I've had since I was very little. It was made for me by one of my Nana's good friends but I do need to replace a few of the ornaments because Roxy chewed on them... bummer.

Russ' mom made this one for us and it has chocolate.

Here's Olivia's calendar made by my Nana's friend. (Becca has one, too.) Hanging up these ornaments throughout the month of December has always been one of my favorite traditions and I hope Olivia looks forward to it the same way I do.

My Advent wreath, which my mom made because we couldn't find one already put together. Not at Mardel's, Michael's or Hobby Lobby - weird.

Happy Advent Season to you all! May your hearts grow full of joy and excitement in preparation for Jesus' birth!

Go POKES!!!!

Miss O wants cheer on her Cowboys (and eat her tutu)!