Olive Loves Milo

 In her stocking at Christmas, Olive got a little boy doll from her Grandpa.  She immediately named him Milo, I'm assuming because it was a boy.  Now that Milo has things set up in their room I have noticed Olive taking care of her Milo.

 She teaches him how to play patty cake and gets out Milo's baby toys for him.

 She pushes him in the swing.

 She feeds him from her baby doll bottle.

 And she puts him to bed in Milo's crib.  (Nice throw huh?)

 Sometimes she even puts it under her shirt and is "like mommy".  She tells me "Your Milo (while pointing to my belly) and my Milo (while pointing to her belly)".

I am so impressed with how good she is a taking care of Milo. If she is this good with a doll there is no reason to think it won't translate to a baby right? Or is that just really wishful thinking?
I am not quite sure if she understands that this isn't the real Milo. I wonder if when we talk about Milo she just thinks about her little baby doll.  Wouldn't it be hilarious if in her mind we set up a crib and got toys and a swing all for her doll?  But, she is so sweet with this little doll that I think it is so adorable. I hope she is this sweet to the real Milo too. I have a feeling that she will be. She is going to be a really good big sister!

Knit Pillow Case

I'm going to give a little back story before I get to the "Thing I Have Made" part of the post.

The color scheme of our living room is neutral tan walls with apple green and gray accents. That may sound like an odd combination of colors but I have officially decided that gray goes with everything. Also, I found the above pillow and fell in love with it, so that kinda set the course for the rest of the decor.  I chose apple green because our dining room, which is adjoining, has blue/gray walls and I thought that it would compliment but still feel like different decor (Never mind the fact that Target had a decor line of apple green things that had tons of great accessories. I was able to find green baskets, picture frames, shelves, you name it.)
The only problem with our living room is that we have an odd little corner right by our front door. At first I didn't know what to do with this corner.  Then I decided that a chair would be nice there to make it a little reading nook. The only hard part about that was finding the right chair. 

As you can imagine, I was very, very excited when we found this chair last year on sale.  I am sure that not many people would have been giddy about an apple green leather chair but I was thrilled.  I knew it was perfect. I think this chair kinda makes the accents of green work in the rest of the room.
Well, I really felt that this chair needed something to complete it. I needed a way to pull the gray to this side of the room and so I decided to find a pillow for the chair. Then I saw a knit pillow at Pottery Barn and thought, "I could totally make that!" and not have to pay the *ridiculous* price they were asking.

So I did! I am in love with this pillow. Seriously. I just love how it turned out. I think it has such a "store bought" look but it makes me extra happy to know I made it.  And it is about time I knit something for myself right? So there you have it, my knit pillow case! What do you think?

My All Time Favorite Book

A few nights ago I finished reading my "February" book in my goal to read a book a month.  I decided to reread To Kill A Mockingbird. It is one of my favorite books but I had only read it once in high school. I remember absolutely loving it but after learning that it was my father-in-law's all time favorite book (and he is very well read) I thought it might be time to revisit it.

I like rereading books, well some books I should say. It was really interesting to me the things I remembered and what the things I had forgotten about. Reading it now at this stage of my life some things struck me:

-There is almost no discussion about Scout and Jem's mother. Like almost nothing. Why? I don't think it even talks about when or how she passed away. I don't know why but I thought it was very interesting. It kinda kept hounding me.
-I don't quite understand the point of Dill. 
-Some of my favorite moments were when the kids saw Atticus (although, why did they always call him Atticus?) as not just their dad. Specifically when he shoots the rabid dog and they are shocked at what a good shot he was. Those moments have struck me with my own parents and seeing them as the people they are and not always as just my mom and dad.
-It reminded me that as a parent (which I never ever considered when previously reading it) that your kids are always watching and some times trying to protect you. I remember feeling that way and sometimes trying to protect my parents. I also admired how Atticus handled almost every situation with his kids with patience and always took the time to explain to them in real terms what was happening and his opinion about it. I loved that.
-I loved the way the trial played out. I even knew what was going to happen (for the most part) and I was still so impressed with how it was all told.
-I still don't totally understand the Radley's and why they were as shut up and private as they were. I mean, why did Nathan fill in the tree hole with cement? But it was the sweetest thing that even for a short time they did have that interaction together and that set the stage for the rest of the story.
-Finally, why did Atticus want Jem to take the blame in the end? I mean I kinda get it but still, why?

Most, or some of these things might not make sense if you haven't recently read To Kill a Mockingbird. And I don't think anything is spoiled if you haven't read it. It might be a really lame post, but I wanted to share my thoughts about reading it. Maybe I should join a book club or something.

Olive Loves Princesses

I know I say that Olive loves lots of things but this time I mean it. She really loves princesses. Any kind of princess really, but especially the Disney princesses. She knows them all by name and what they wear and what their movies are, even if she hasn't seen all of them. I am talking about obsession here.

Well, a few weeks ago we got to go to Disneyland. Olive was so excited to go even though she didn't exactly know what that meant. She would come up to us and whisper "We go to DISNEYLAND!" as a secret and this would happen about 20 times a day. She was excited. I think Disneyland did live up to her expectations because she asks to go back multiple times a day now and talks about it constantly.

The reason Disneyland was so life changing for Olive is because she got to actually meet the princesses. I think it might have been the highlight of her young life.

 Here Olive is trying to sit fancifully and copy how Princess Tiana was sitting. I thought it was adorable. She did ask Tiana, "Where the froggies?"

 Olive was giddy to meet Belle. She kept wanting to touch her dress because it was very sparkly.

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 Olive was only slightly excited to see Jasmine but was still polite enough to pose with her.

 Olive was impressed that Ariel was wearing such a fancy dress and not her shells and fins. She talked about Ariel wearing a dress for days.

 I think her favorite princess was Ariel because she kept talking to her forever. Ariel was running out of things to ask Olive when suddenly Olive spotted Cinderella and made a mad dash to see her.

 Cinderella definitely looked like a princess. Doesn't Olive look almost too happy?

Every princess asked Olive how old she was and every time she told them "I three. No two" and would try to hold up only two fingers. Here she is stilling holding up her age.

The only sad part is that Olive really loves Aurora and she wasn't there when we went. Maybe next time I guess! But, we had a blast doing everything at Disneyland.  I think meeting the princesses is what Olive will remember the most. It was like a dream for her so we were happy (after we got to see her reactions) to wait in the 45 minute line (twice). It was worth it.

If you want to see Scott's photos of Disneyland click here.

Knit Baby Vest

 I have been dying to have a reason to knit this cute vest and when I found out some good friends of ours are having a girl (hopefully any day now) I thought it would be the perfect opportunity. In the pattern book it is such a delicate and classic piece that I just instantly loved it.

 Naturally, I had to add some of my own touches to it. I decided the purple trim would make it more feminine from the unisex pattern. Then I added to some simple flowers. Finally, what outfit would be complete without a matching headband?

I just love how it turned out! It also helped ease some of my longings for a girl by making this for her. I can't wait to meet the sweet baby girl it was made for. I am so happy for you Olsen's and we are seriously going to miss you guys!

Can you Feel the Love?

I sure hope that everyone had a wonderful Valentines Day. Scott and I spent our night at a birthing class, so it wasn't necessarily a night to document. V-day isn't on my list of favorite holidays but a few years ago I spiced it up a little and now we always look forward to it. As you might remember from last year, I throw a Valentines Party for all of my nieces. It really is so much fun and makes me like Valentines a lot more. Here are the details about this years party.
First, Decorations:

Fancy straws are a must to drink your fruit slushies!

 What party would be complete without heart flower lollipops and yummy goodie bags?

 The table looked great. I will say though that I was a little bit of a slacker getting decorated since we had been out of town the week before. Usually I go all out and this year was more scaled back but everything still seemed festive.

 

The biggest impact was the passage way into the party room. The girls loved it!

 The Food:
To eat we dined on fried scones with all the topping and I must say they were delicious. I tried to make them in the shape of hearts and it didn't quite turn out. We tried again the next morning and had more success.

 We also had gourmet cupcakes. We all felt very fancy eating them. There were just so many different choices it was hard to pick which flavor. I ultimately went with the red velvet and Olive of course chose chocolate chocolate.

 The guests:
This was the first year that Olive attended the Valentines Party. She was so excited that she was waiting at the window for the girls to come. She kept saying "My cousins! My cousins!" and naming off everyone who would be there. Then when the doorbell finally rang she started running around in near hysterics with excitement. Here she is modeling her Heart Shirt that she requested to wear.

 The activities:
Besides eating lots of food, we must have a craft. It looks rather complicated all stacked up like this but was actually very easy and I think the girls loved making it.

 Olive liked decorating her gift bag. The craft we made this year were friendship bracelets to give to someone we wanted to become better friends with. We also made them personalized cards and gift bags. Some of them decided they wanted to give them as secret Valentines which I thought was so cute.

 Then we played our games. These have been tradition from the beginning and I think part of what they look forward to the most. First was Valentine's Twister that I made from a sheet.

 Then heart bean bag toss followed by a thorough search of the house for lots of hidden hearts.

 It was the perfect way to celebrate Valentines Day. Now Scott and I just have to figure out a time to make up for our missed celebrations!

Taking Pictures of a Toddler

Although Olive loves having her picture taken, and as I mentioned before, has started making up some of her own posses in pictures. She also loves seeing herself on the camera and immediately runs to the camera after every shot. Then she always responds "SO cute!"
The difficult part is getting her to smile. Not really to smile, she is willing to do that, but to get a nice calm smile that is facing the camera.
This is the actual sequence of photos from a recent shoot with Olive.

Me: "Say Cheese!"


"Okay, relax. Just a nice smile"


"Look at mommy!"


Then I thought, maybe if I zoom in....

Me:" Say Cheese"


"Look at mommy!"


Me: "Open your eyes."
"Okay, that will have to do!" I don't know about anyone else but I think these photos are hilarious. What a character she is.

Knit Poncho and Headband

My yarn pile keeps growing and growing. As I was going through it I was reminded of this yarn that I wanted to find a project for. Then, I thought it would be fun to make Olive a poncho for the winter/ spring.

I am very proud of this poncho because I actually made up the pattern myself. It was very easy but still. The other thing I like about it is that it is very soft and cozy.

It really goes really well paired with pink cowboy boots doesn't it?

I, of course, had to make a head band to go with the poncho. It turned out a little big, kinda like an earwarmer, but I figure that's ok because it's winter.

Coming up next week....how it took a million shots to actually get this kinda crazed smile out of Olive.

Baby Update

Since I just posted about baby Olive I thought I would post "about" Milo. As of Sunday I am officially 7 months pregnant. I will say that it has gone by really fast. In so many ways this has been an easy pregnancy and I feel so blessed to have had it this easy. Don't get me wrong, I have had my issues. It just seems that the hardest things about my pregnancy with Olive haven't been an issue this time around (at least so far).
Some days I feel really good, and some days I feel really pregnant. I'm getting frustrated about not being able to bend over. It is getting really hard to put Olive in her car seat. I am already sick of my maternity clothes. I get extremely grumpy if I push myself too far or go too long without eating. My patience is short and I have been a little irrational about some things. Other than that I think I am doing pretty good.
I thought that I started looking much more pregnant so much earlier this time but now I think I look about the same at 7 months as I was with Olive. Judge for yourself.

When I got pregnant this time I knew that I wanted to do a natural delivery. When I told Scott he was, well, confused I think. I mean, it was a very smooth and good birth with Olive. I think he felt like "Why are we changing this now? We already know what to expect." Which I agree with. It was a good experience with Olive. I think both Scott and I look back on it with warm feelings and it brings back lots of happy memories. We were on cloud nine for 3 days. Thus, he was not really thrilled about changing everything. I think in some ways he feels like it is complicating everything. I understand. I do.
The thing is.... I started thinking. Not everything was great about my delivery with Olive. Nothing went wrong and there were no problems. But I felt like crap afterwards. I looked like a mess while everyone was visiting us. I felt kinda incompacitated because of the epidural after delivering rather than empowered and strong. I couldn't move for hours even though my baby was already here. I didn't like that.
I also started thinking, the first time I felt like I couldn't deliver without help. It got me wondering why did I think I couldn't. Was I told I couldn't? My doctor for sure encouraged not "putting myself through that" and natural delivery was only for bragging rights.

What I decided was that I can do this naturally. Why couldn't I? My body is strong and capable. My muscles and organs work well. I know that Heavenly Father created my body to bare children and so it will work as it was designed to. Women have been doing this for centuries. I know I have the same innate capacity to give birth as they did. I trust that my body has an innate understanding of birthing and that my body and baby will know what to do.

As I have looked into it, I think we are going to follow some of the Hypnobirthing techniques. I don't necessarliy agree or believe in everything this method promotes but there are a few vital things that I do support. 1) It is a family experience. In other methods the father is the coach and I know Scott isn't comfortable with that. But here he is just my partner, helping me and creating this experience together. 2) It is not an alternative but a collaboration of lots of other theories and methods, including medical practices. 3) I think this is most important because they really supports that birth is a natural, normal part of the human experience and there is no reason to let fear hold you back. That being said, I will say that I am maybe nervous about this but not afraid.
Now just three more months left! (which kinda feels like an eternity)

Baby Olive

Olive is going to be 2 1/2 years old this month. She is just such a big girl these days!
As she is getting older it has got me thinking a lot about Milo coming. What he is going to be like? Will he look like Olive? That got me thinking about what Olive actually looked like as a baby so I was browsing through some of her pictures. I was rather surprised. I kinda forgot how fat she really was. I mean, that girl had some major chubbers. It's almost like I didn't even realize at the time how roley poley she actually was.

No wonder people were stopping me in the stores and pointing to her as they walked past.

If you saw those legs wouldnt' you?

Olive always got a lot of attention but especially if she wore her hat and glasses. The most surprising part was that she would actually keep them on. This girl is melting my heart. I am kinda tripping out at looking at her. What a baby!

Olive hasn't quite lost her chubby checks yet which makes me so happy. She had the most amazing cheeks. Look at those things! I do still love to kiss them.

For a long awhile, Olive liked to suck in her bottom lip so she looked exactly like a Cabbage Patch doll. Seriously. That would get people stopping and pointing even more.
Oh I forgot what a cute, and fat, and sweet baby she was. I hope Milo is cute and fat and sweet just like her!