-Letters to Liv- {19 Months}

Liv,

Once again I can't believe another month has come and gone. You are the most wild spirited child. Nothing scares you. Literally, nothing. You are such the little dare devil. You will jump, climb, run, and fall off of everything. You have recently started loving to take showers with me. You prefer that over a bath any night. Unless of course your bath is overflowing with giant bubbles. Well, we have a little seat in our shower and you are definitely at the age where you do not like to listen if it's not safe. You want to try it no matter what. So you were climbing up on that seat after I had told you not to about 50 times and fell. Sure enough you chipped on of your front teeth and now only have half a tooth. You cried for two seconds and was over it. You didn't care at all. You have gotten your first boo-boos lately too. Two skinned knees and a skinned elbow because you run so fast outside. You have hit another growth spurt and don't fit in any of your clothes. We had to make another shopping run just for you. You seriously grow so fast.

Your appetite is still fluctuating and you have your days where all you want to do is snack. You have become very fond of orange juice and the Halo oranges lately. You eat us out of the house of pancakes, pickles, and cheese. Your love for meat is increasing each month as well. We had fiestas a few nights ago and you opened yours up and ate all of the meat out and left the rest. Your feet are still huge and I can't believe you have almost outgrown all of the shoes we got you for Christmas.

Your language just keeps growing each month too. You've added so many new words this month and are becoming more independent with talking. Your new words include; "sun, side "outside", boots, cookie, pizza, lights, off, on, ears, kick, excuse me, see ya, papa, again, sorry, egg, read, pop, shower, teeth, phone, sissy, feet, bread, orange, couch, flower, waffle, fish." You just started calling my mom "Tay Tay" this past week. You're still understanding way more than you can say and you've started grunting when you don't know how to say what you want. You love to help me do chores around the house. You love to unload the washer and put the clothes in the dryer, put the soap in the dishwasher, and sweep. You are still afraid of the vacuum cleaner. You are starting to like to brush your teeth now even though the majority of the time you just suck the toothpaste off.

Your favorite things include your daddy, papa, facetiming family, babies, your stuffed dog, and riding on the lawnmower with daddy. Your Daddy and papa are your favorite people right now. Like you get sooooo sad if either one of them leave you. You will constantly request to call "papa". You love being outside all the time no matter what it feels like. You like to go around the house and name all the flowers. You have your own personality like I've said from the beginning and you are already getting your own sense of style. You love to pick out your clothes and have your preferred activities and toys that you want to play with. You love kissing right now, too. You will go around kissing and hugging all of us and you definitely will not go to bed unless you have kissed us and said your bedtime prayer. You love to have your twinkle lights on every night before you lay down and you have recently learned how to give fist bumps, thanks to your daddy.

You pat and kiss on your baby sissy all the time and love to say "sissy". I can't wait to watch you become a big sister. I know you will love her from the first time you see her. We're so thankful for you, Olivia Jade. Even on your toddler tantrum days. We love you so much and love that we get to watch you grow each month.

Love,
Mama

||It's A Girl||

Last week we went in for our 20 week anatomy scan. This time it was just Bradley, Liv, my parents and myself who went. You would think that it wouldn't be as nerve wrecking because we knew what to expect. My daily job really scares me. I've written about it before but just the different diagnoses and disorders is just really scary. Especially when you could have the most healthy pregnancy the entire time and something happen during the birthing process. Anyway, I won't talk about that other than the fears and thoughts that run through my mind every time I lay on that table. When I hear the ultrasound tech go through each little body part and structure and say that everything looks good, I'm always overwhelmed with emotion. I cried during Liv's and I cried this time just with overwhelming joy and thankfulness that everything looks good and is developing normally. I have been so worried this time because I have not been near as strict with my diet as I was with Liv.

She started with the little brain and face and her profile is just the sweetest. She had her mouth open and was rubbing her little eyes. Her features look smaller than Liv's did. They're very similar but different at the same time. She then moved to the heart, kidneys, spine, and ribs. All were perfect and the heart rate was 165 bpm. She had her legs stretched completely out and had her little ankles crossed. Bradley asked if she was a big baby too and the tech said that she was average. Her feet and legs looked long to us though especially after knowing what Liv's looked like. She had her little hand up and was pointing with her index finger and had her thumb out. She weighs 12 oz. and is measuring to be due on August 14th, my dad's birthday. She really didn't want to cooperate again but the tech worked until she finally got between her legs and sure enough it's another girl. It's so strange because this pregnancy has been so different from the beginning that I was sure it was a boy. Or maybe I was desperately wanting a boy in case this was our last pregnancy. Now that I know it's another baby girl I am so excited. I have been dreaming about them growing up together and having sweet sister conversations, wearing twirly little dresses and playing dolls, and standing by each others sides on their wedding days. I am just so thankful to God for blessing us with another healthy baby.