Olivia's first pigtails!

Olivia, 16 months old

Dear Olivia,

  You are 16 (and a half!) months old. You blow my mind with your vocabulary of words you understand, and the words you speak are becoming more and more clear every day. It's so much fun for us to watch you learn new things, and the recognition, pride and joy on your face when you realize what you've accomplished is priceless!
--You can sign more, please, milk, thank you, drink, and all done.
--You can say more, Daddy, Mama, door, book, ball, this, help, yeah, and no (no no no no nooooo! along with shaking your head and waving arms frantically). I am sure there are more that I am not
thinking of right now, but those are the ones you use the most frequently.

 --You rarely sit down for more than a minute or two. I tried to take you and your sister to see Brave, but you wore me out running up and down the movie theater aisles and I finally had to take outside the theater. Luckily, both Grandmas were also in attendance so Staci could still watch the end of the movie.

--One of my favorite sounds is when you and Staci are laughing together.

--You love to dance and twirl. You will turn your own music on and just dance around the living room. Or 'ask' for a dance party by going to the keyboard in our room and letting us know. I love it!

--You have started to like playing dressup. You will bring me the purple fairy costume or a tutu and say, "this! this!" and then happily step into it and run back to whatever you were playing with before.

--Your favorite foods are sausage and squeezy applesauce

--You still wake frequently at night but are finally beginning to let your mama sleep a little longer. Last night you were only up twice which was heavenly.

--You are still nursing between 6-8 times a day. Sometimes more, but probably never less than 6.

I just wanted to take a moment and write this all down before you changed again! Here is a mega-cute video of you and Staci twirling to music. Most of the time, when I ask you to give Staci a hug you grin and take off and tackle her, but this time you decided I was the one who needed a hug. It made Staci a little sad, but then she came in for a group hug so everyone was happy :) I love you miss Livi, and so your Daddy and sister!

Last night at bedtime...

Olivia went over to the guitar case and said, "Hep! Hep!" (help) while trying to get it down herself. It was her way of asking for music before bed, so this is what we did!

Best GF pizza dough ever

Posting here so I can remember my changes! I followed this recipe from Gluten Free Goddess. I changed a few things:

1) I only used 1/2 C tapioca flour, replaced the rest of the starch with 1 C arrowroot powder and 1/2 C potato starch.
2) I used egg replacer instead of eggs
3) I had to add more warm water to get the dough the correct consistency.
4) I don't have pizza pans so I used cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.
5) After baking for 10 minutes, I brushed them with olive oil and sprinkled with garlic salt and baked a few more minutes.
6) spread 1 tsp of minced garlic (jarred) over each crust, then topped with BBQ sauce, BBQ chicken, onions and spices.
7) spices I used were: parsley, oregano, and chives. Finished with another sprinkle of garlic salt and baked another 10 minutes. A few minutes under the broiler crisped the top very nicely. And voila! Gluten free dairy free egg free BBQ chicken pizza that was to die for!!

Hide and Seek Staci

my little performer

Dear Anastasia,

So, I'm late with your Happy Birthday letter, and I want to apologize. I just want you to know I love you. So much it hurts sometimes. It brings tears to my eyes when you tell me you love me, or that Olivia is your best friend. I scolded you yesterday out of frustration and immediately felt bad. I apologized and said, "I'm sorry Staci. I shouldn't have said that to you." Effortlessly, you said, "it's okay, Mommy." You are hands down one of the most beautiful people I have ever had the privilege of knowing.

We played a real game of hide and seek yesterday for the first time. We've hid from each other before but this was a REAL game. You covered your eyes and counted to ten, and then would exclaim, "ready or not, here I come!" and look around for me. Then, it would be my turn to cover my eyes and count and for you to hide. It was some of the most fun I've had playing a game with you so far, and I can't wait to do it again!

--You are wearing size 4T clothes

Staci and Mommy during ONT (Olivia Nap-Time)

--You give the best hugs in the history of ever
--You are passionate
--You excel at puzzles
--If you had things your way, you would only wear your 'swirly whirly dress'. You don't care if it's dirty.
--Favorite food: Sponge Bob squeezable applesauce
--Favorite show: Sponge Bob; I'm mean though and don't let you watch too much of it. It is seriously the most annoying TV show ever created.
--I love taking you to our neighborhood park. You have no fear and are so self-confident. You will walk right up to any kid and introduce yourself and play with them. It's one of my favorite things about you, your lack of 'shyness'.

cutie patootie

silly girl!

--You have been in swim lessons for 2 summers now, and have mastered floating on your back. You can sing the whole alphabet while you do it! You can also swim under the water and are *this* close to being able to roll over onto your back into a back float all by yourself. This mama is PROUD!