A Ray of Sunshine
I’ve been kind of down in the dumps since Wednesday. Blogging about my dad sucked the life out of me. Realizing things for the first time Wednesday literally 5 minutes before I blogged really REALLY upset me. Livie obviously knew that I was upset because don’t kids get vibes off of us? I dunno. Anyway, I told y’all that she had started to get braver and take more steps. All week long I’d get home from work and she’d stand up right away and take 4 or 5 steps to me. Last night I was in the kitchen and she got up and walked clear across the living room to me. I was just standing there in amazement. Like OMG FINALLY this child is walking. So I got a video. Of course, when I’m recording her she doesn’t walk as well but I don’t care. At least I got it documented that yesterday was the day she walked across a room for me…to me.
Hannah’s got her last regional dance competition this weekend. Then we FINALLY get a break until recital in 4 weeks. Nationals aren’t until July so the break is welcomed. Getting up at 6 am on Saturdays is not exactly my forte.
Then again, neither is talking on video. Good lord, you think I’d just stop already.
Happy Friday!
Round 2
Hannah is stubborn. Hannah is spiteful. Hannah has a strong personality born to lead and taking orders from people, for her, is not an easy task.
Hannah is just like her father.
I’ve mentioned before that I really hoped that Livie would be more like me. More passive. Not stubborn. Go with the flow. I knew if she was like this she wouldn’t shine as much as Hannah did and that she might have issues with living in her shadow but I promised myself that I’d make it up to her. I’d let her know she was just as fabulous as Hannah even if she wasn’t as funny or outgoing. I’m not outgoing. I would know what she was going through.
Except in the past 2 weeks, Livie has shown us that she is not like me. She is also just like her father. Maybe even more than Hannah is, if that’s even possible. Hubs mom was telling me this morning that Livie pulled something that Hubs used to do when he was her age. She put her down for a minute to do something and Livie was all offended by this. When she said “Ok…come here. Let Nana hold her” instead of coming to Nana…she freakin laid down on the floor…sprawled out…giving her this look…and WOULD NOT COME. Hannah did some similar things like this but never actually did this exact thing. The exact thing that Hubs used to do. I won’t even get into her fits now of throwing things when she’s mad.
So, while I prayed that I wouldn’t have 2 strong, stubborn, BIG PERSONALITIED children…that prayer was not answered. They will bicker even more than I thought. They will fight me on everything, just like Hannah already does. But they’ll make me laugh so much like Hannah already does. They’ll come home with stories about boyfriends and school and dance that I’ll share here and we’ll all laugh together. I’m scared of the gray hair I’ll be getting from these two. I’m dreading the future arguments with Livie I was hoping to avoid with a more passive child. But when I look at the big picture, I’m kind of glad about this. I’ve always hated how passive I am…how I let people walk all over me. My daughters won’t be like this. They won’t take crap from anyone. They’ll be strong and independant.
They’ll be rockstars.
Speaking of rockstars, Livie sang to me last night. Like all night. I decided to get a video of it. Right before she sang she decided to destroy my living room with toys so excuse that mess.
We have steps!
I told y’all yesterday that Livie took a few steps this weekend. The quality of the picture I took of her standing alone sucked but thanks to Hubs’ thinking quickly, we have 2 videos of our baby getting up off the floor on her own and another one of her taking steps to her big sister. These videos melt my heart for 2 reasons.
1. The obvious that hello, she’s getting bigger and I predict full walkage by next week. She continued to take steps all evening last night.
2. She’s walking to Hannah. She loves Hannah so much, even if they nitpick with eachother now and then. The bond they share as sisters melts my heart and turns me to mush because I’m not close to either one of my sisters. It’s nice to see.
These were taken with Hubs phone so the quality sucks but SHE’S ALMOST WALKING!
Now I wish someone would just make me shut up when I’m in a video. Seriously. Anytime I hear my ridiculous baby talk voice it just kills me. I was annoyed at myself watching Hannah’s baby videos a few weeks ago and apparently I didn’t learn my lesson. MAJOR note to self: DO NOT TALK IN VIDEOS!
At this rate, I’ll be chasing after her in no time.
Hold me.
Break dancing
I know this is hard to believe but both my girls became break dancers at an early age.
Exhibit A: Hannah at 12 months old. This video is kinda sucky because it’s a video of a video. Hubs’ mom took it at Livie’s 1st birthday party. I brought the old video camera over to remind them how Hannah used to break dance because Livie YES LIVIE!!!! has started to do it too! It’s about a minute long but you can see Hannah on the tv breakdancing, me in all my fatness sitting next to the tv, and Livie on the floor next to the tv break dancing too.
Exhibit B: Livie break dancing this past weekend. Video taken on Hubs’ step sister’s iphone.
So, really, this is crazy. No one taught my girls how to do this. They both started doing it on their own around 10 or 11 months old and ran with it. Then one day Hannah stopped. I’m sure Livie will too.
Also, I’m mostly sure this break dancing gene comes from me. I never break danced but I DO dance better than Hubs. You know, because he can’t dance AT ALL. And I can shake my ass like there’s no tomorrow.
Happy 1st birthday, Livie!
Dear Nimmie,
As I go through my Flickr at all the pictures I have of you (973 total) during your first year of life, I’m amazed at how much you’ve changed. Not so much in your face….your sister takes the cake on that one…but moreso in your expressions, your smile, your eyes, your look. You were born a year ago today at 7:27 pm. You only weighed 5 pounds 13 oz and were only 17.5 inches in length. You were a teeny tiny little peanut, according to the nurse that weighed you right after you came out of me.
And was she ever right. You were the tiniest baby I’ve ever held. You were my baby…the baby that I carried in me for exactly 36 weeks. You were considered a preemie but you never acted like one. You were as healthy as any other full term newborn. My little fighter.
You didn’t let your small size hinder you at all and you started growing so fast.
Before we knew it, you were smiling:
and rolling over and trying to walk:
You were a fashionista at a very early age:
Everyone waited with anticipation for you to arrive, especially your big sister.
Right from the beginning she took on the role as your protector.
She worried about you rolling off the bed or crawling into something you shouldn’t be into. Oh, you’ve had your moments and sometimes she annoys you but in the end, I can already see how much y’all love eachother. You try to read like she does and she tries to dress like you do:
Everyone thought that it was me forcing y’all to dress alike but really, if I ever got an outfit for you specially made, Hannah made sure I got one for her too. I think she likes looking like you since she loves being your big sister. And as much as this might shock you, sometimes you get on her nerves too. Then she has to do things to make up for it.
Livie, we waited for you. We prayed for you to come to us….all 3 of us did. You took 9 months to make it from heaven into my belly and nothing made me happier than knowing I was pregnant with you. The day you were born changed our family forever. You completed us… the 3 of us. You made our little family whole.
The year brought many fun milestones and events. Not only did you learn to smile, sit up and crawl but you also pulled up on furniture and tried to take some steps. You grew FOUR teeth this year. 4 teeth that indeed brought us all a little hell but it was worth it to see that toothless grin change into a grin with pearly whites. You also had lots of first holidays including your first Halloween:
and Christmas:
and even your first beach trip:
I am so excited to watch you grow up. I can’t wait to see what kind of person you’ll be. Will you be sarcastic and witty like your sister and father? Will you be more reserved and inwardly funny like me? Will you be outgoing? Will you be shy? Will your hair stay curly? Will you dance like your sister? Will you be dramatic or will you be logical? Will you be spontaneous? All these things I wonder. And in time, I know they’ll be answered.
Your first birthday has brought so many emotions to the surface for me. The year went by so fast. In a way I want you to stay a baby forever…to stay innocent forever. In other ways, I can’t wait for you to get older…to hear you say words and watch you run and read and write.
Today, the day before your big party, before I have to share your birthday with everyone else, I will cuddle you and kiss you and whisper in your ear that you’ll always be my baby no matter how old you are.
You are an amazing person already. Only a year old and already have taught me so much. I’ve changed because of you. I’m a better mother, a better person because of you. Thank you for letting me be your mother, Olivia Grace. We thank God for you everyday.
Happy first birthday, baby girl. We love you.
ACTUAL WORDS, PEOPLE!
Here’s an update that I should have put with yesterday’s post but really, it kinda needs it’s own. Much like when I got so excited when Hannah lost her first tooth…or heck, when Hannah took those first steps…well you remember that I wondered if I’d be excited when Livie did things like crawl or stand because Hannah’s 7 and already does so much more. I wondered if I’d be as excited because I thought crawling is nothing compared to the dancing and reading that Hannah does.
Well, let me just tell you- just because Livie is the 2nd kid does NOT mean that it’s not as exciting to me. It’s like the 1st time all over again. I failed to tell y’all that about 2 weeks ago she started saying “uh oh”….and IN THE RIGHT CONTEXT. She’d drop her paci- UH OH. She’d drop her bottle- UH OH. I couldn’t get her to say it on camera though but Hubs’ mom did!
I guess after months of hearing me say it, it finally sunk in! Then this weekend while riding this thing:
I said to her “BYE BYE!!!” and she WAVED TO ME and said “DYE DYE!” I was like OMG. You just said bye bye and IN THE RIGHT CONTEXT complete with a WAVE!
WORDS PEOPLE. ACTUAL WORDS.
*faints*
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