To Eliza with Love

I told Livy I wanted to write a blog post about Eliza, but I didn't know where to begin because she is already 2 months old.  This is what Livy suggested, in her own words:

Dear Eliza,

Thank you for smiling at me.  You are so good when you come on a trip with us.  I love sitting next to you in the carseat.  Eliza, when you get bigger you will like going on picnics (pronounced pic-a-nics) with sandwiches, knives and apricot jelly, milk and corn.  I like to watch you and stroke your face and pat you.  You love me.  And you like swinging in the swing.  And I like swinging from the big girl swings out on my swing set.  I like doing things with you.  I like to watch you when you are drinking.  I like to snuggle with you and I like to pat your head when you nurse from mommy.  

I love you. 

Love, 

Olivia      

I took this picture right after I finished nursing Eliza.
  Livy had been snuggling with us and fell asleep while still patting Eliza's head.    

Things I Love About My Three-Year Old

I love Livy's "big girl hair cut" now that she's three :)  I finally found a lady who knows how to cut hair for cheap.  Livy loved Patsy and even said she might want to be a "hair cut lady" when she grows up.  Actually she also said she wants to be a mommy or a doctor but not a dentist.  I asked her why not, and she just said, "Because that's not what I want to be."  She already has some strong opinions, and come to think of it, that is something else I love about her.  I've always appreciated that even though Livy is a gentle soul, she tends to speak her mind and doesn't let other bossy kids talk her into doing something that she doesn't want to do.  She can be a little bossy herself, but usually not in a mean way.  She is a first-born, after all and sometimes she reminds me of my older sister, Laura.  Like Laura, Livy is already good at making up interesting stories and coming up with names for things and games.  

For anyone who doesn't know this about Laura, when I was little most of the games we played had names that were made-up by Laura or maybe Mandy McGrail.  Our detective agency was called "Mini Car, Large Car"; We played a chase game around the ping pong table called "Alligator and Tripper"; The town we made in the basement was called "Sharonsville".  I already see Livy coming up with things like this and can only imagine the fun things she will think up as she gets older.  When we met up with Laura, Henry, Louisa and Clara at the Please Touch Museum in Philly, Livy said, "Hey Henry and Louisa, lets be the red brick trio! We have to run and jump over to the red bricks!"  Here is a picture of the Red Brick Trio:   

Livy loves her cousins.  She was so happy to see them!

I love that Livy's first writing samples have lots of letters that look like "O's" and lines and a couple backwards "a's" because she's practicing the letters in her name.  With a little help, she is getting good at writing her name and some other words like "mom" and "dad" but she mostly practices writing "words" any way she wants and they come out like this:  

I love that Livy is adventurous and knows how to have a good time!
We went to Cape May over the weekend of May 12-13 and Olivia had fun swimming in the cold, cold pool and also riding on Grandpa's new boat for the first time.  Livy giggled the whole time and said, "I love the bumpy parts!"  She fell asleep on the ride home on the boat.

I love that Livy is already a good big sister.  She talks and sings to the baby and kisses my tummy.  She
talks about all the things that she wants to do with and teach her sister how to do when she gets big enough.  I know it will be a big adjustment for her when the baby actually comes, but so far so good...  

I love the way Livy looks in the morning when she comes in my room all smiley.  (And I like that she sleeps in until 9:00)  Here Kyle brought us back bagels to eat in bed.  In the back you can see we have our suitcase packed for the hospital and the cosleeper crib is put together.  But in the meantime, I'm enjoying my morning snuggle and fun time with just my sweetheart, Livy.

I love that Livy is a great eater.  She will try eating just about anything and has a wide variety of foods that she loves.  I just asked her what her favorite foods are and she says, "shrimp, all kinds of soup, tuna fish, cherries and yogurt."  The only food that comes to mind that she doesn't really care for is chick peas, which she will still try but says she doesn't like.  Since my last trimester started, I've been craving avocados.  Livy and I share an avocado with cherry tomatoes every day.  In this picture, we walked to Heavenly Temptations to buy thank you gifts for Livy's teachers.  We had a nice lunch date together with split pea soup and corn muffins :)

I love that now that Livy is three, she is brave and can be a good listener.  She was a perfect patient at her first dentist appt. that I took her to earlier this week.  She got a full teeth cleaning and fluoride treatment.  The dentist said she was an angel.    

Livy made sure to make herself really comfy in the chair.  She asked the dentist if she could take her shoes off because her feet were hot :)  












Livy, there are so many things I love about you.  I'm sorry I haven't been good at keeping up with the blog.  I've really been enjoying this special time I have with you before your sister is born.  Her due date is a week away, and our days of it just being you and I (or you and I and Daddy) are coming to an end.  But my hope is that I am giving you a friend for life and someone else who will look up to you and love the special things about you, just like I do with my sisters.

Smiley, Happy People

Livy is becoming quite the artist lately.  She has long little fingers that are good at doing things :)  

She drew these pictures using the stylus and iPad.  You can see how she progressed from her earlier attempts to her later ones.  

Basic face with legs

Face with legs, arms and hair

"Daddy swinging Livy"

A little bit of Livy

I have a feeling someday I'm going to wish I had written down more things that Livy said.  But here's just a little sample of quotes from age 2 and a half: 

Kyle:  "Get your shoes on because we're about to go to the grocery store."  Livy: "Okay, but first I gotta fix your hair because it is funky!"

Cousin Nicholas showing his muscles:  "I'm really strong!"  Livy:  "Are you stronger than a lion?"  Nicholas:  "No."  Livy:  "Are you stronger than a snowman?"  Nicholas:  "hahahaha!"

"Thank you, Daddy!  I was wishing for orange popsicles!"

"Wait, first I gotta do my stunts!"

At bedtime: "I think I need milk because water just helps me stay awake."

We were in the car listening to The Kids Praise Album and Livy said, "I don't hear you singing, daddy!  C'mon, I know you have a good voice!"

Sarah in the front seat:  "That's funny!"  Livy in the back seat:  "Did you say bunny?" "No, I said that's funny." Livy: "Hey, bunny and funny are rhyming words!"

After Kyle came out of the shower on Saturday morning:  Livy: "Daddy, is it bagel time?"

"Can I use the iPod, oh, I mean, iPad?"

 

Christmas Pageant

Sorry these videos never look very clear on my blog.  But here is Livy's first Christmas pageant.  She is a sheep on the second step, two down from the little girl in the red dress.

 Here she is holding Mrs. Mary's hand after the show.  

Livy's gonna be a sister!!

       Today I had my 12 week ultrasound and we found out that we are having a girl!!! The due date is officially June 8.  Kyle and I were both quite surprised, not because we didn't think there was a good chance of the baby being a girl, but I guess just because in general finding out the gender is such a surprising thing!  Most people don't even find out at 12 weeks, which is why we weren't quite expecting it, even though we had found out with Livy.  But the same ultrasound tech was right about Livy and seemed very confident about this one too.  The baby looks very healthy and normal.

       We all went to the appointment, but Livy just had fun stepping on the scales and watching me get my blood pressure taken, while remaining completely unaware of the reason for the appointment.  We are waiting till I'm further along before we tell her.  But Livy was really cute talking to the staff there.  As we were about to leave, she asked the ultrasound lady, "You know what I want for Christmas?"  and she whispered to the lady that she wanted a "Bitty Baby".  For those of you who don't know all about dolls like we do in our family, that is the baby version of the American Girl doll, and Livy has wanted one ever since she somehow managed to lay eyes on the catalog.  I'm just hoping Livy's adoration of all things baby will last right through June!  

       Now that we know it's a girl, I suddenly feel more worried that Livy is going to feel like she is being replaced.  In fact, I'm going to have to rename this blog that was once entirely dedicated to Livy.  Our family is going to have to make a lot of adjustments, but it is all going to be worth it.  I know I can't imagine my life without sisters.  I mean, really, every girl should be so lucky as to have just one sister as good as either of mine.  Most importantly, Livy will now have someone to act out The Parent Trap or ABBA with if she wants to.  And when difficulties arise between sisters, both girls will know they have a mom who understands them on some level.  I'm both an older and a younger sister.  I can relate to both.  I can do this!  Kyle, on the other hand, is still shell-shocked :) 

       After the appointment, we went out to Friendly's to celebrate, just like we did when we found out Livy was going to be a girl, except this time Livy was there too, grabbing for sugar packets and giggling about the funny looking sundae faces on the menu.  Life is good!  Praise be to God!             

Something Livy learned at school...