18 months old

Y'all, Olivia is now 18 months!  She is a year and a half old!  This feels surreal!  I feel like we are officially at the point where there is no trace of her early rough start anymore!  We run into other 18 month old babies and I think, wow, she can do what they can do and she is the same size as them!  We don't get as many comments about "how small she is for her age!" anymore and we are almost (*hopefully by mid-july*) at the point where we are done with any extra services or doctors!  It is so amazing what her little body has been able to accomplish in just a year and a half and I am a very proud momma!

Olivia is now walking (or running) wherever she needs to go, no more crawling for this kiddo!  She is climbing and exploring all the time.  Need your house baby proofed?  I can lend you Olivia for 45 seconds and you will quickly find all the "danger areas" she is that quick!  She has dropped her "cautious" walking from her 15 month update and is now in the "I want to give my mom a heart-attack" phase of everything!  I hear myself gasping multiple times a day; I am sure I will continue to loosen up in this parenting game!

I think I can sum up Olivia's favorite things in less than 20 letters: cats, bread and outside!  There I did it!  If Olivia does not grow up to be a cat-lady, I will be super shocked!  She wakes up at least 5 of out 7 days and the first word she says is kitty, then pats on the bed so the kitty will jump up!  Felix, poor thing, enjoyed life much more pre-Olivia!  Kitty is still probably her most used word, however, her inventory of words is expanding by the day.  She can now say a bunch of words (25ish), here is a list we have compiled: Dada Dada, Momma, Kitty, Puppy, Meow, Thank you, blueberry, Night, Yeah, Banana, Ball, More, Yes, No, Bye, Mwah (for kiss), Nannie, Oma, Hi, Meow, Boobie, Juice, Mmmmm, Cheese, and she can make sounds for a monkey!

She talks a lot, but not every word is always understandable to me yet!  Another fun thing since 15 months is that she can understand instructions much more now.  She will listen to commands and respond (most of the time favorably), so that has been fun!  She now knows that she needs to clean up her toys and can help.  We can say, "Oh you don't like that food?  You can just set it on the table, instead of her throwing it to the dogs (this one only works about half the time, cause apparently she thinks our dogs are underfed-HA!).  She comes running when you say its time to put on shoes and will sit right in your lap to "help." This has been fun seeing her understand and learn so much in such a short time!

She has recently moved up to the non-baby class at daycare and I think it has been really good for her!  She seems to look up to the other kiddos and learn from them!  And she seems to becoming more independent because of it.  She wants to always hold her fork, spoon, or drink.  How is my baby no longer a baby??  She is still a little bit timid around strangers, but that is to be expected.  She is very comfortable to regular visitors and will easily and willingly go to them (even her teachers at daycare--past and present!), but her grandparents all especially love this trait of hers.  

Marc and I both see a little bit of each other in her!  It is fun to see the parts of her personality that is shaped by both of us!  She likes to talk and she is super curious, that she gets from her mom!  She likes routine and likes to help out, that she gets from her dad...and those are just a few examples!

The last few months have brought along a few first for Olivia: 

* Her First trip to Disney:

Do not be fooled, she was not this happy the whole time!

* Her first Easter Egg Hunt:

* Her first haircut:

We also got to be featured in a marketing campaign for Bon Secour so we did a photo shoot at the NICU and got to see some of her old nurses so that was very fun!

In addition, we got in lots and lots of family time, a visit to meet Auntie Sara's new baby girl, trips to the park, maymont, lots of swinging, and strawberries (always strawberries).  

This doll was made by a friend and it is the exact height and head size that Olivia was at birth, it is absolutely crazy to see how much she has grown!

 Here are a few additional photos of the last few months....