Teatopia

Happy Birthday, My Precious Girl!

I can't believe I'm the mother of a 2 year old. An amazing, smart, funny, compassionate, and completely awesome 2 year old! God has richly blessed us. I can't stop kissing Olivia's cheeks and thanking God she's here. I love her more than I can express. Hard to believe she's only been here 2 years.

I'm a couple days late posting this, but it's been a busy couple days and I just now found my laptop, which is where I upload and edit all my photos. I have tons more to post (belly pics, house, etc) but I want to just focus on Olivia right now.

It seems like Olivia's more like a little girl these days, even though she's still a baby. (toddlers are babies, right?) She understands humor, and we have conversations back and forth all day. She says sentences with 10 words regularly. It's so much fun to hear what she'll say.

The other night, I wasn't sure where she'd gone, so I called her, and she said, "okay, I'm coming out!" and this is what I saw. She asked me to take a picture of her, and gave me the goofiest smile, which I just loved! It's sad when a toddler can walk in heels better than her mama.

Olivia truly is a girly-girl, although I fully expect that she'll also be a tree climber and sports player because of her energy. In fact, a friend of ours wants to plant a magnolia tree in our yard as a house-warming gift because he said Olivia needs somewhere to climb. :-) She loves her dolls though, and jewelry, too. She got earrings in her Easter basket (clip-ons) and she wears them all the time. I put them on the other day and she told me, "No Mommy. You already have earrings on. I wear those." Ha!

We actually didn't tell Olivia it was her birthday on Friday (the actual day) because her party wasn't until the next day and we didn't want to confuse her. She knew she was getting presents, balloons, and cake and I knew she'd expect it Friday, so we told her yesterday was her special day. So, since we celebrated yesterday instead, I spent Friday in somewhat quiet thought about how this was her last birthday as an only child. I think reminiscing about giving birth to Olivia really brought out my anxieties about having another baby. I think in that sense, I'm glad to have a boy because Olivia can still be our little princess. :-)

We just had family for the party. I had a wedding to go to in the afternoon (go wish Rebecca congratualtions!) and we kept it small.

Here's our new dining room with Hello Kitty decor, which was what Olivia wanted.

It was so neat to be able to set a table and accommodate everyone. We only had a 4 person table at the old house, which is now in the breakfast area. I'm used to squishing everyone in, so it was exciting to have my first "big dinner." :-)

Olivia was so excited by her presents and wouldn't leave them alone!

She didn't want to unwrap them. She was too focused on whatever had just been opened, so I had to help out with the unwrapping. She wanted everything out of the box right away. We took some of the stuff out for her to play with while I cleaned up dinner and got the cake and ice cream set out, and when I called everyone to come to the table, Olivia took 5 minutes because she was trying to carry everything with her. :-)

Here's the cake:

My blood sugar results are always so good (I test at least 5 times a day) that as my bedtime snack (which I am required to eat about 2 hours after dinner), I had a small piece of cake with not too much icing. It was divine! Now the stupid cake is sitting on the counter calling my name, and I am trying so hard not to look at it. I am definitely taking it to my parents' tonight and leaving it there until it's gone.

Olivia got a doll from my aunt and uncle that cries and makes noises when she drinks. My sister bought her an "Alice in Wonderland" doll and the movie, my parents got her a tricycle and an "Ariel" doll, she got a wooden puzzle (she loves them!) from my grandma and some books, and from us, a Leapfrog toy that teaches ABC's, a cash register, Barbie DoodlePro, a stuffed dog that comes with all the stuff to care for him, and some other things. All morning, she's been changing various dolls' diapers, feeding them, and styling their hair. I love to watch her! James joked that Olivia got so much stuff that we might have to buy a bigger house, which of course we couldn't afford anyway. :-) Besides, I'm never moving again, at least not until my kids are old enough to help. LOL! We managed to create a good space for Olivia with all her toys. Her room is bigger at this new house, which is nice. I just wish she had some little girls to play with. My 2 closest girl friends have boys, and she adores them, but they aren't doll players. Olivia likes to brush their hair, put "product" in it (she sees me use leave-in conditioner and sometimes other stuff).

Olivia's new room:

There's another wall with a closet and a few baskets of toys and small fort, and then the other wall has a small Princess themed couch (just Olivia's size) and a toy box. For some reason, I didn't take pictures of the rest of the room, but you get the idea: crowded and pink. :-)

I'll do another entry with the almost-done nursery and other rooms, but I wanted this entry to be about Olivia.

Here are some other recent things I want to remember:

-- the other morning, I was getting dressed, and I put on a pair of V's Secret underwear with purple and pink polka dots. Olivia took one look and said, "Mommy, there's pictures of moles on your panties." HA!

-- Yesterday morning, she shook me, saying, "Mommy get up!" and then she told me (which is what we've been telling her) "I say "K kkk cookie, NOT tookie!" (she often says "t" for "c/k")

-- In typical 2 year old fashion, Olivia is getting a little bit of an attitude. When ever James and I are talking to each other, or my mom and I are talking, Olivia yells, "No talking. Just talk me!"

-- Although Olivia LOVES dolls, she doesn't like anything that makes noise or moves. They scare her, so we keep all the dolls turned off mostly. Whenever a doll gets turned on and makes a noise, Olivia throws them and says, "Mommy, I scared when dolly cries. Turn off!" We're working on leaving them on. There are such neat toys out there and it seems wasteful to keep them all off. I'm trying gradually to make her feel more comfortable, so I hold her when we turn on the doll, and then she's ok with it.

-- Almost every night, when James bathes her, she knocks the towel off his shoulder and snuggles into his neck, saying, "this is my favorite!" I think it's his favorite, too.

And I'll leave you with that. I won't be a stranger, promise. I've got my laptop back!

Posted by Hannah at April 13, 2008 12:02 PM