Last week Livie turned 18 months old. When babies are born you count their months montly til they’re a year and then it seems that once they’re a year the only big month between that and 2 years old is 18 months. At least to me it is.  Not to mention that 18 months was when Hannah really started to talk and understand things and Livie is following suit.

So I decided that the 99 degree heat and crazy humidity made for a perfect photoshoot outside. I also decided I’m crazy but whatever. I wanted to get these pictures done and I’m glad I did.

For about a month or 2 now Liv’s been quite adament in her quest to get what she wants when she wants. And if you stand in her way she throws a fit and screams. If you want her to do something she doesn’t want to do she says “No” clearly and won’t do it. She’s strong like her sister.

She’s also been singing. A lot. She makes up little tunes and hums and sings and it’s so freakin cute. Also, the phone. She will find all her toy phones and have animated conversations complete with laughter and hand motions. It really makes me realize how much she watches us and knows to say “hello” and “bye” when she’s on the phone. I just know her vocabulary is going to explode so much in the next year and a half and I’m so excited to hear it all and put it all here. It makes me so happy to go back and read back from when I first started this blog and Hannah had just turned 3. The stuff she said back then cracks me up and really makes me realize how grown up she is now 4 1/2 years later. I’m glad I already had this blog going when Livie was born and really…for my whole pregnancy. I’ve documented everything with her from the very beginning and I know in a few years I’ll look back to these old posts and smile like I do when I look back at Hannah’s old ones.

So happy 18 months…happy half birthday baby girl. And kisses right back at you.

I realize that a lot of you aren’t photo freaks like me so you probably have a hard time understanding why taking 150 pictures and then spending time editing said photos is bliss for me.

Oh but it is. It truly is.

I had a session last night with 3 ADORABLE kids. I mean, make you swoon, melt your heart, adorable kids.

So much fun. Few things make me actually want to part with my kids, photography being one of them. Weekend trips with Hubs being another. (THIS  COMING WEEKEND! WOOT!) So each evening this week I’ll be working on editing these photos with Livie crawling at my feet and Hannah watching Nickelodeon on our bed. Best of both worlds.

But no photo sessions are complete without pictures of my OWN kids.

Livie turned 13 months on Friday. Like officially over the year old hump. *sigh*

“Yes mom I was just screaming my eyes out. But now I’m ok!”

And Hannah? Well she had fun of her own. One of her friends had a limo birthday party for her 7th birthday. I’ve already let Hannah know that her mother isn’t rich and she will not be having a limo birthday party complete with manicures and pedicures and pizza anytime soon.

See? Bliss.

Dear Nimmie,

As I go through my Flickr at all the pictures I have of you (973 total) during your first year of life, I’m amazed at how much you’ve changed. Not so much in your face….your sister takes the cake on that one…but moreso in your expressions, your smile, your eyes, your look. You were born a year ago today at 7:27 pm. You only weighed 5 pounds 13 oz and were only 17.5 inches in length. You were a teeny tiny little peanut, according to the nurse that weighed you right after you came out of me.

And was she ever right. You were the tiniest baby I’ve ever held. You were my baby…the baby that I carried in me for exactly 36 weeks. You were considered a preemie but you never acted like one. You were as healthy as any other full term newborn. My little fighter.

You didn’t let your small size hinder you at all and you started growing so fast.

Before we knew it, you were smiling:

and rolling over and trying to walk:

You were a fashionista at a very early age:

Everyone waited with anticipation for you to arrive, especially your big sister.

Right from the beginning she took on the role as your protector.

She worried about you rolling off the bed or crawling into something you shouldn’t be into. Oh, you’ve had your moments and sometimes she annoys you but in the end, I can already see how much y’all love eachother. You try to read like she does and she tries to dress like you do:

Everyone thought that it was me forcing y’all to dress alike but really, if I ever got an outfit for you specially made, Hannah made sure I got one for her too. I think she likes looking like you since she loves being your big sister. And as much as this might shock you, sometimes you get on her nerves too. Then she has to do things to make up for it.

Livie, we waited for you. We prayed for you to come to us….all 3 of us did. You took 9 months to make it from heaven into my belly and nothing made me happier than knowing I was pregnant with you. The day you were born changed our family forever. You completed us… the 3 of us. You made our little family whole.

The year brought many fun milestones and events. Not only did you learn to smile, sit up and crawl but you also pulled up on furniture and tried to take some steps. You grew FOUR teeth this year. 4 teeth that indeed brought us all a little hell but it was worth it to see that toothless grin change into a grin with pearly whites. You also had lots of first holidays including your first Halloween:

and Christmas:

and even your first beach trip:

I am so excited to watch you grow up. I can’t wait to see what kind of person you’ll be. Will you be sarcastic and witty like your sister and father? Will you be more reserved and inwardly funny like me? Will you be outgoing? Will you be shy? Will your hair stay curly? Will you dance like your sister? Will you be dramatic or will you be logical? Will you be spontaneous? All these things I wonder. And in time, I know they’ll be answered.

Your first birthday has brought so many emotions to the surface for me. The year went by so fast. In a way I want you to stay a baby forever…to stay innocent forever. In other ways, I can’t wait for you to get older…to hear you say words and watch you run and read and write.

Today, the day before your big party, before I have to share your  birthday with everyone else, I will cuddle you and kiss you and whisper in your ear that you’ll always be my baby no matter how old you are.

You are an amazing person already. Only a year old and already have taught me so much. I’ve changed because of you. I’m a better mother, a better person because of you. Thank you for letting me be your mother, Olivia Grace. We thank God for you everyday.

Happy first birthday, baby girl. We love you.

I’m a week late on this but Livie was sick last week so better late than never. My photography OCD tendencies did not agree with this but I can only do so much. I usually take pictures of Livie (as I did with Hannah) on the day she turns a new month. This is the 1st month since she was born that I wasn’t able to. I’ll be sure to document this in her baby book  as “you were sick so your mom was almost a week late getting your 11 month picture. Thanks for effing up her photography OCD bliss” or something to that nature.

So yeah, 11 months. Almost a year old. Less than a month to plan her 1st birthday party and 1st birthday party outfit and 1st birthday photos. Talk about overwhelming. Almost 1. 11 months old.

In this month Livie grew enough hair to finally clip a tiny  bow in her hair without using a headband. She really started to hate those headbands hence the lack of bows the past few months. Now that’s all about to change. Thank God. I had a hard time dealing with a bald baby after Hannah had TONS of hair. This post isn’t about Hannah but I just have to show the hair difference for reference sake:

Also, the older Livie gets, the more she looks like Hannah did. Go figure. They looked like total opposites as tiny babies.

So with age Livie has decided she better stock up on bullying her big sister because there will be a day when Hannah will bully her.

But then she decided to play nice.

The summary: my kids are getting older which means *I* am getting older. I feel like there’s still so much more to do and yet when I look at them…what more is there?

Today my oldest baby turns 7. I’ve been all sappy and sentimental for weeks about this so I won’t go there again. I’ve already cried enough at the Anissa video so many of us participated in. So no more tears today. Instead, just a simple happy birthday message to the little woman who went from this

To this

And now this

These pictures say more than a thousand words to me, to Hubs. To anyone that knows her. I’ve never known a kid with more personality and more charisma. Happy Birthday Nettie. We love you!