Slow Down, Olivia!

Everything is moving too fast these days! Olivia just turned 11 months, which means in less than one month we will be celebrating her 1st Birthday! I think all I did was blink and suddenly the first year of my child's life was behind her! How is that possible? She is changing so quickly too. Her face is starting to look more grown up as you can tell in the picture above.

Not only is time moving fast but Olivia, herself is moving fast! This girl is quick! We aren't walking yet but we sure can cross a room in a matter of seconds. She is still doing that strange one-legged crawl. I cannot figure out why she wants to drag one leg under her while stepping fully on the other leg. It is the oddest looking crawl, but it is her crawl and we love it! She is pulling up on everything and cruising around furniture at a pretty good pace. She will occasionally let go and try to get to another destination, but usually falls on her tushy before she has a chance to succeed. I am in no hurry for her to start walking. It is hard enough chasing a crawling baby. But with strong, sturdy legs like these I know she will master the task of walking very soon....

Her vocabulary is expanding very quickly. She seems to have many words...some of them not clear to us, but they obviously mean something to her. Since a very early age we have been doing baby sign language with her. Just in the last month or so she has started to do some of the signs back to us. She knows the sign for "Bath", "More" and "All Done". There are others that we are working on but she hasn't mastered those quite yet. She has also learned to blow kisses. For quite a few months she has been giving us kisses when we ask for them but just recently she has learned to blow them from a distance...too precious!

She is still a very happy, easy baby. There is hardly a moment during the day when she fusses or is unhappy (except when she is tired...of course). Everything she experiences seems to be the most exciting thing she has ever seen or done. It is amazing to watch her eyes light up when she is excited about a toy or just taking a bath. Speaking of baths...this is one of her favorite things to do each day. I recently snapped some cute pictures of her enjoying the water. At our house bath time is the best time!

Olivia is eating three regular meals a day. She still eats baby food, which her Nana is kind enough to make for her, but she also eats a great deal of table food as well. I am starting to wean her from nursing. It is a long process but I hope to be finished nursing by the time she turns one. I know how good it has been for her health, but I have my own selfish reasons to be done with all of that. She is also sleeping exceptionally well...knock on wood! She usually sleeps about 12 hours through the night. I have no complaints. Sometimes I have to wake her so we can start our day. I love peeking at her while she is still sleeping, which is when I snapped this adorable picture!

So things are good! We have a lot happening in the next few weeks. Soon we leave for Arizona for one week. I am attending a conference there for work and my company is paying for Todd to join me. We are taking Livie because we cannot stand to be away from her for a full week...at least not yet. Then soon after we return we will be celebrating the big birthday! So stay turned for updates on all of our exciting adventures!

That fast baby is crawling away from me as we speak so I must go....