Look Who's Walking!!

BRRRR!!!

The picture below was taken outside on a very cold and windy day. Liv could care less if it's freezing wind... she is just ecstatic to be outside. Yesterday was nice and warm so Brett and I did a few hours of yard work. Liv happily played in her play pen outside while we worked and had a meltdown when it was time to go inside.

I just love this little face!!!

Liv will be 11 months old this week. Birthday preparations are underway!

Ready for Spring

I don't know about you but we are anxiously awaiting Spring's arrival. The weather in Utah is still a little chilly but the sun is out and it's starting to warm up. Liv loves to spend time outside and we thought we would go out today and get a little Vitamin D. Along with Spring, we hope this year will bring a long list of firsts for Liv... First Birthday, first trip to the zoo, first plane ride, first hike, first punch bag, first words, and...

First steps...Liv isn't walking on her own quite yet but she is just days away!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Arms Up!

Dance Machine

Liv gets really excited about Chica on Sprout. She loves puppets and Chica is her favorite. Here she is dancing to the birthday song they sing. I have to sneak up on her or all she wants to do is play with the camera.

9 Month Well Child Visit

No shots this visit.... HOORAY! At 9 1/2 months, Liv is 19.84 lbs (62%) and 27.76 inches long (48%). Her "Spencer" head  (as Brett refers to it) is 18.1 inches (92%). We have been anticipating her first birthday so that we can have her in her front-facing car seat. Our pediatrician informed us that they are now advising parents to keep kids in rear-facing car seats until they are two. Liv is not a fan of the rear-facing car seat so this was not good news for her. To counter the bad news, he said she can now eat peanut butter and eggs. So far, Liv is not a fan of eggs but loves peanut butter. I have a bunch of cute videos of Liv and I haven't been able to download any of them. I will figure it out eventually.

I caught our little dust bunny eater in action...chomping on a bit of fuzz. I guess we should dust the window sills more often.

Liv has the cutest cousins!!! She was thrilled to have her cousins over this afternoon. Below is a picture of her with Charlotte... she LOVES Charlotte. We are so excited for Liv to have three cousins so close in age.

Seek and Destroy

Liv spends most of her time moving from room to room making little messes everywhere she goes. Every morning she empties all of the cupboards and drawers in the bathroom while mom gets ready. Luckily, she can't unscrew lids... but she has learned how to open eye shadow. Here she is admiring her work on her basket of socks.

Liv is in that clumsy baby stage... always bumping her head, falling or smashing her hands. Sometimes she gets crawling so fast and she will completely face plant into the floor. It's so sad but sometimes we just have to laugh. Today she bit her own finger and it made me chuckle.... I think it made her mad. We have no idea how she hurts herself most of the time. Here she is with the cutest little cut on her lip...

We have a fabulous new library in Herriman. We try to visit every Saturday and Liv loves all the new books! We don't usually read in the buff.

Enjoying a little chocolate ice cream bar... wishing for warmer weather. You can kind of (not really) see the cute curls coming in behind Liv's ears in this picture.

Meet Liv's nemesis.... the dreaded door stop!  

Christmas 2010

Liv's first Christmas was a blast. Lori, Brett's sister, visited us from Palm Springs for a week. She is always an easy guest and so much fun to be around. Other than a few last-minute errands, we didn't have any other reason to leave the house so we just enjoyed our time together catching up and relaxing. Liv warmed up to Lori after her initial "stranger danger" period and had so much fun getting to know her aunt.

Liv is brushing her new teeth in this photo and didn't want to put down her toothbrush to pose for a picture with Aunt Lori (Santa put a new toothbrush and toothpaste in Liv's stocking this year). We discovered why she hasn't been sleeping well and irritable for the past week... two new top teeth popping through. FUN! We can't wait to see her with teeth.

Brett's mom and step-dad, Judie and Joel, visited a few times over the holidays. We had some great meals together. This picture is of Lori and Liv watching Judie making lefse.

Grandpa Joel and Grandma Judie

Lori making lefse (and a silly face)

Liv loves to play with her Aunts! Mallory and Sarah were nice enough to stay the night with Liv while Brett and I went to a friend's Christmas party. The next morning, we had fun opening a few early Christmas gifts.

This is a picture of Liv on Christmas morning. We all had fun opening gifts and checking out what Santa brought the Johnsons.

Brett emptying his stocking

Brett and his impression of the under armour man (minus the muscles... hahaha)

This is me opening some new canisters for the pantry. I love to get stuff for my kitchen or cooking because I am usually too cheap to buy it. 

Santa found Lori in Utah. I think he felt sorry that she had had to spend Christmas in bitter, cold Utah rather than Palm Springs.

Liv waited for Grandma Teri to open some of her gifts

Grandpa Joel hand made this fabulous wooden fire engine for Liv. She loves it!

We had a nice Christmas breakfast together

It was so nice to be able to spend time with family this Christmas. We really missed all of our family living out of state. Hope to see you all very soon!

Eight Months

So, I am a little behind on posting with the busy holiday season but I really don't want to get behind on Liv's developments and milestones. She is changing, growing and learning something new every day.

For Liv:

At about 7 1/2 months you started crawling all over the place. First, you started crawling backwards and would get really frustrated because you couldn't see where you were going and would get stuck. Now you are all over the house and so happy to be able to follow us.... EVERYWHERE! We love to hear your little hands slap the floor and we can tell that you are so excited about your newly discovered mobility. This is the first video I was able to catch of you crawling.

You definitely prefer to be on your feet like mom and dad. You have been pulling yourself up to stand for a few weeks now and have learned how to fall back on your bum. You love to go in my closet and pull yourself up on the clothes hamper and smile in the mirror. It is so cute! Just this morning you were standing up and hanging on to something with one hand and you attempted to let go... and we could see it in your eyes... you wanted to walk. You are still working on your balance and will balance on your feet with no hands momentarily. You love to stand at the window sill and watch what's going on outside. 

You are into everything that you can get your little hands on. You love to explore around the house so we can't leave you alone for a second. Any little piece of anything on the floor goes straight into your mouth so we have to be really careful. You are already getting into all the cabinets and will empty drawers. The Christmas tree has been especially tempting. I guess it's time to say goodbye to all the plants, end tables, candle holders, lamps, picture frames, etc.

You now have two bottom teeth. They didn’t bother you too much coming in but we did notice that you were a little grumpy some days. You can make funny sounds with your new teeth and love to hear yourself make sounds with your little voice. Your deep growl always makes people laugh. You are still a chatterbox and love to talk and have people mimic your noises.

We are starting to introduce you to more solid food. You have tried peas, spaghetti squash, butternut squash and acorn squash, apples with walnut, banana, tomato, lemon, carrot, sweet potato, and chicken. Your favorite is definitely banana. You don’t really like to eat from a spoon. You would much rather play with a pile of food and get it everywhere. You are already pretty good at feeding yourself but tend to shove too much in your mouth at once. We have had to do the finger sweep several times.

You really enjoy going out to restaurants and stores. You get a kick out of people watching. You are always so good and rarely cry when we are out and about....unless we are in the car seat... then you have to be entertained. On one trip, mom had to sing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Up on the Housetop for 30 minutes straight and you would cry if I tried to take a break.

You still LOVE other little kids. You get really excited about the books we read with pictures of babies and kids and you love to turn the pages.

You are starting to dance and point. It is so cute to watch you shake your little body when you hear a beat.

You love bath time and you are now out of the "baby" tub. You have so many fun tub toys to keep you occupied but you still prefer to play with the faucet. You have figured out how to stop the drain from letting the water out, too.

You have regressed a little with your sleeping habits and will wake up every four hours. We aren't sure if it's a growth spurt, new teeth coming in, the furnace waking you up or if you just want some cuddle/snack time with mom. I can't tell you how much I enjoy and cherish our quiet times together.

You are a major snuggler. When we put you to bed or down for a nap, you have to have your face nuzzled up into the blanket. You have the sweetest, most sensitive personality. You amaze us each day and we are so lucky to have you in our family!

Playing Catch-Up

It's almost the end of the year and I have been really bad about posting lately. We have had a wonderful holiday despite the cold and snowy weather. I have so many winter house projects planned: cleaning closets, pantry and office, as well as finishing projects started years ago. I have yet to start anything.... waiting for the busy holiday season to be over and what I call the BLAH!! months (January through March) to begin.

We have received a lot of snow lately. Brett LOVES it because it gives him the opportunity to snow blow the entire neighborhood. It's nice because the neighbors will bring over yummy treats!

Liv enjoyed watching Dad snow blow.

This is Ludo. He is an Italian Greyhound and belongs to my sister and brother-in-law, Melinda and Paul. We were so excited for them to visit all the way from Vancouver for Thanksgiving and can't wait until their little baby girl arrives in February. Yay for cousins!! We had a baby shower for them to celebrate.

Paul, Michelle (holding Liv), Melinda and Mallory

Liv LOVES this toy from Melinda and Paul. It is the Munchkin Mozart Magic Cube. She actually threw a little fit when her cousin wanted to play with it.

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend. Brett and I had a nice feast at our house this year. I was in charge of making dinner and Brett was in charge of taking pictures and watching Liv. The dinner was a success. Unfortunately, Brett forgot about his picture taking duties and we didn't get a shot of our guests. Oh well.

Brett took this picture right before I was pulling everything together for dinner. I think I said something like, "I don't have time to stop and smile.... AND STOP BUGGING ME!!!" Such a joyous time.

I usually have all of our holiday decorations up in mid-November.... Yes, I am one of "those people". But I think our new tradition will be to decorate the day after Thanksgiving.