We just got back from Olive's 1-year checkup. She is 21 pounds and 28 inches long, which means her weight is average and her height is short! It's about the 10-20th percentile. I'm kinda glad about that because maybe she won't have to go through what I went through being the awkward tallest girl in class all the time. Ha! Olive reached for the doctor when she came in the room, and when the doctor picked her up she put her head on her shoulder and loved on her for a few minutes. The doctor just melted. She was really delighted at Olive's personality and progress. She said she's very advanced socially and with all her skills. She was impressed that she's walking so well and eating everything we give her and being off bottles. She went on and on about what a great baby she is, and that was really gratifying for me. I asked about putting her to bed with milk, and she said we really shouldn't do it because it causes all kinds of dental issues. She suggested putting water in her cup instead of milk when it's time for bed. So that's my homework - transitioning her from milk to water to go to bed. I want to make that transition before Lucy comes so that Olive doesn't have any extra stress at that time. And I think that'll eventually make it easier for her to go to bed without anything at all. She got 3 shots in her thighs and a little heel poke to check for anemia (which I guess is something they do once the baby has moved from formula to whole milk). She cried for about 2 minutes and then forgot all about it and just wanted to play. She's a champ! Now that we're home, she's sleeping soundly in her comfy new bed. We really are so blessed with such an easy, independent, funny, smart, pretty little girl.

Happy 1st Birthday, Olive! She danced, and went to the park for a picnic, and ate lots of cake, so you know she celebrated properly.

Olive started whole milk this week. It was no big deal at all moving her from formula to milk. She's made so many transitions very easily, I'm lucky. I also took her off her bottles yesterday. She has this sippy cup with a soft spout that's a lot like a bottle nipple, so that was an easy one. I want to get to the point where we put her to bed without milk though. I feel like it's a bad habit.

The other day I started asking her, "Olive how old are you?" And then holding my finger up and saying one. She's getting the hang of it. I can't believe her birthday is a week from today!

When I went to the doctor on Monday Olive totally started dacing when she heard Lucy's heartbeat. It was so cute!

She loves to play in our closet and play with our shoes. She also loves to open and close doors. She continues to love music and be very talkative and funny. We are pretty crazy about her!

So much to write about! I made a list of all the things Olive's doing these days --

1. Biting! She thinks it's so funny to bite with her 6 tiny teeth (4 on top and 2 on bottom). It's very cute, but she's done it a little too hard a couple of times.

2. Olive loves to pull things out of cabinets or get into our shoes or laundry basket. It's fun to watch her kinda sort things when she gets them out, but it's frustrating to clean her little messes all the time. When she pulls the laundry out she'll often put it on her head as if she's getting dressed or something. And if she's made a little pile of laundry, or if there's a blanket on the floor, she loves to get down and rest her head on it and get cuddly and just smile.

3. She pushes the bar stools around on the tile. I'm not sure why that's entertaining to her but she does it all the time.

4. She gets pretty squirmy when it's time for a diaper change or to put on clothes. Unless I give her a bottle or something to occupy her. It's quite a battle. She also loves to pull her socks and shoes off. Not fun for me.

5. Sometimes I'll give her her little comb or brush to play with, and she puts it up to her head. Guess she knows what it's for.

6. There's a lot of gibberish and "talking" going on. She "talks" all the time. Some of the sounds she more frequently makes are "data" and what sounds like "what." The other day I asked her, "Olive where's the birdies?" And she immediately looked out the window. She's done that a few times since then, so I guess she pretty well recognizes that word. She still does a lot of Dadada and Mamama. More Dad than Mom lately. I think she's really gravitating to Chris a bunch these days.

7. When she's tired or wants me to hold her she'll come to me and hug my legs. I love that. I told Chris that when she does that it makes me feel like a real mom.

Olive and I are staying with Laurie's family for a few days. Laurie always gives Olive cute clothes she finds at thrift stores. This time she gave her a baby doll too. Olive loves it. She went straight for it when she saw it. She hugged it and talked to it in a high voice. My little mommy.

Yesterday in Vegas we had lunch with Amber and the kids. When Olive saw Merick she wrapped her arms around him and they hugged each other. It was so cute. She's definitely more cuddly lately - putting her head on my shoulder, and stuff like that. Can't get enough of that girl!

11 months

Olive is really sick. She caught a bad cough and cold. I hate it for her. I swear I'd have a thousand colds if it meant she'd never have one. We're doing our best to make sure she's getting lots of fluids and rest. We give her a little dose of Benadryl before bed each night, and just try to give her lots of love. She's been pretty miserable. Chris gave her a blessing. I'm so grateful he can do that. Hopefully she'll get better soon.

Oh! I wanted to write one cute thing she started doing recently. When she's sitting on the floor on her bottom she'll spin herself around by walking her feet around herself...tough to explain. It's very cute though, I'll try to get it on video.