We're so PROUD!!!

Halloween

LADYBUG!! They had a costume parade at daycare….Liv was a bit in shock! Trick-or-treating on the street with the neighbors…Liv was shy at first and watched the bigger kids to see what was going on….then hit her comfort zone and started charming the neighbors. Waving, yelling bye-bye (loudly…and over & over), and blowing kisses after getting candy….that often got her 2nd pieces…smart kid!

12th Anniversary

October 22: Mommy & Daddy’s 12th anniversary. Our neighbor, Teresa, offered to watch Livie so we could go out and have a nice dinner….but decided we’d rather stay home and have pasta with Livie. We went to the park in the afternoon….then dimmed the lights and had a loud, messy dinner with our girl. It was great!

Disney - Magic Kingdom

October 14: Livie's first trip to Disneyworld -- Ginnie came for a visit so she went with us. We met the Valentine's there because they were celebrating Elese's 6th birthday.

Livie was amazed with everything. She didn't know any of the characters but she had a blast seeing them! The first of many trips to the Magic Kingdom! (The picture of her sleeping in the carseat is about 5 minutes after getting in the car...the end of a fun, busy day!)

Misc October Update

• Discovered it's fun to put socks on her hands
• Makes the sound of several animals…she’s now up to snake, cow, dog, cat, monkey, horse, owl…she learns so much at school (daycare – we call it school!)
• Celebrated the Autumn Moon festival with our FCC group
• Started trying to sing along with the alphabet song…makes the “B”, “D”, “P” sound at the right time….but doesn’t really identify letters when she sees them yet.

Eating Chili

Liv ate Chili for the first time...LOVED IT!

Misc September Updates

• Labor Day at the beach
• A trip to the zoo (coloring in the playroom at the zoo)
• Eliza Valentine came home from China...Liv met her at the airport!
• Our friend, Jan, came to visit from Arkansas
• They finally finished our pool
• Playdate at Rina & Annalisa's
• Sliding
• Eating cereal with a spoon…and doing pretty well!
• Started trying to count….she’ll say “1”…and hold her fingers up when Mommy & Daddy count to 5 with our fingers (she doesn’t always hold up the correct number of fingers…but will make motions with her hands to mimic Mommy & Daddy).

Bark like a dog...

Today we were in the car and pulled up next to another car that had a little dog riding in the front seat. I told her to look at the dog and as soon as she spotted it she started making barking sounds. OMG!! Never heard that before! She just giggled and was so proud of herself!

Grandparents come to visit

August was a big month for visits from the grandparents... Ginnie & Grandpa Joe came to visit…brought her a little wooden crib for dolls. It was Ginnie’s and then Mommies when we were little girls. Grandpa Joe added spindles, reinforced the bottom and painted it; Ginnie made a little mattress and pillow. Liv loves it…the first thing she did was try to climb in it. She’s really getting interested in dolls…loves putting her doll (or any other toy, actually) into the crib. Gran & Poppy came to visit --- play, play, play!! Livie stayed home from daycare for a couple of days and really got spoiled. We all went to the zoo...Liv loved seeing all the animals...mostly the snakes (maybe it was the air conditioning in there!).

Liv's vocabulary!!

It seems like it took so long for that first word to come out....but now it seems like she's says something new every day. Here's everything she's saying now.... momma, dadda, putter, boo-boo, shoe, water, juice, milk, elmo, golf cart, bye, hi, stinky (dirty diaper...Daddy taught her that one), apple, cow, “moo”, “arf”, Riley (neighbor’s baby), baby, turtle, frog, pool, owl, “hoo-hoo”, cat, “meow”, towel, bath, duck.

Misc July Update

Fireworks scared her….didn’t cry but held on tight to daddy. Turned her first flip – leans forward with her head & hands on the floor…she finally figured out how to push off with her feet and turn a little flip….perfect the first time (I think she got lucky)…a little crooked the other times. She loves to climb, run, jump…everything. She's so happy -- we're so happy! We're amazed every day with this precious angel!

18 month check up

Holy Cow....she's grown 2 inches in 2 months!!! Liv is now 32 inches tall (50th %ile) and 22.10 lbs (25th %ile)…keep eating those veggies!!!

Riding in the Jeep

We've talked about buying a Jeep Wrangler for a couple of years, and we finally just went and bought one over the July 4th weekend. Blame it on the weather. It was perfect outside...the perfect weather to be cruising on the beach in a Jeep. We strapped the carseat in the back and went on a few long drives over the weekend. Livie LOVED it!! She was wearing a little sundress, bare feet kicking, arms in the air to feel the wind and her fine, black hair blowing like crazy! Definitely a moment we don't want to forget! (We didn't have the camera...what were we thinking??!!)

Misc June Activities

This month at daycare, Splash Garden officially opened! Livie's class gets to play in the "Splash Garden" for 30 minutes on Monday mornings...so she wears her swimsuit & water shoes (the teachers change them into dry clothes later). She's not old enough to remember Splash Garden each week...so we can't really talk it up on Sunday evenings...but Mommy & Daddy still get excited for her...we hear from the teachers that they all have a blast! Livie started talking a bit more this month...more and more every day now. She now says "bye-bye", "hi", "ball", and very solid efforts at "Putter". She’s such a toddler now…no longer a baby! New food: corn on the cob…knows exactly what to do with it. It's messy...but everything is messy at this stage!

June Playdate

Livie hosted the June playdate at the World Golf Village!! (We were planning to move the party to the house after the girls finished playing in the pool...but that never happened!) The neighborhood pool has a great kiddie pool...perfect for little ones. The girls (and Mom's) had a great time! (Pictures of Jade, Annalisa & Kimberly.)

Tennessee

I had a work trip to Memphis so Livie & I took the opportunity to extend the travel dates and visit the family. Grandparents, Uncle Steve, church, kiddie pool, catfish, TN barbeque....it was a good weekend!! (But we missed Daddy...he couldn't join us.)

Memorial Day Weekend

Cookout with the neighbors...kiddie pool and water toys in the backyard....