Big Girl Car Seat

I had wanted to wait to turn Olivia around in her car seat as long as possible. While the law says you can turn them around once they are 1 and 20 pounds, the American Academy of Pediatrics disagrees. Well, Olivia has been HATING her car seat lately. Screaming almost the entire time. I gave in and graduated her to her big girl car seat, front facing. As this picture demonstrates, it has made little to no difference...great. Now do I switch her back to rear-facing????

Words Words Words

After working with children with language difficulties, it is truly amazing to see the language growth in Olivia. She is learning a new word almost daily. Sometimes I think she is just imitating the word without understanding the meaning and then a couple days later, she will spontaneously produce the word in the correct context without prompting. It gives me as a speech therapist a different perspective on language development.

Words to date:
Doggie
Dada
Cheese (when she sees the camera and the food)
bless you ( I sneezed the other day and I almost fell over when she said this)
turkey
lunch
ball
uh-oh
thank you
this
hi
shoe
diaper
bubbles
Tilly (even though she prefers Maya)
choo-choo (not for trains, but for her highchair)
choos- Cheerios

She is also saying "shhh" whenever the dogs start barking

STILL NO "MAMA"!!!!!!!!!! :)




"CHEESE"

Dancing!

Olivia has always loved music, but a few weeks ago she started dancing whenever she hears any - adult or children's music. Her dance moves look a bit like she is conducting the music. It is super cute!

1 Year Stats

I forgot to post Olivia's stats from her 1 year check-up. For some perspective, at three months Olivia was in the 98th percentile for weight. I really got used to having my big fat healthy baby. I loved how chunky she was and that I didn't need to worry at all that she was getting adequate nutrition and growing like she should...

My big fat baby has now turned into my totally normal sized baby. At her one year check up, Olivia's stats were:

weight: 20 pounds, 10 ounces 43rd percentile
height: 29.5 inches 63rd percentile
head circumference: 46 cen. 76th percentile

She only gained 5 ounces in between her 9 month and 1 year check-up!!! Her doctor says this is not reason to worry and that it is the result of being a busy busy girl and the transition to solid foods. I miss my big chunk chunk!

Mike's New Truck

After years of fighting him on this, Mike finally got a pick-up truck. He won me over with the argument that the two years we are here would be a good time to try it out and see if we like having one. Also, you need either an all wheel drive or a 4X4 vehicle for the snow. So far, he loves it - me, not so much. I drove a Tahoe for a year, but this thing is hard to park!

Lake Louise

It is hard to believe that we live only an hour away from this! We had a great long weekend in the Rockies.

Olivia making sure we brought enough money for the trip

Thankfully, Olivia really loves her new backpack and we were able to do several hikes and see all the beautiful scenery. The first day, we somehow got off the 1.5 hour hike and ended up on the longest uphill hike hike of my life. It took us about 5 hours total to go up and down.

Mike carried Olivia 90% of the time. I barely made it and I was without a 22 pound baby on my back.

Glacier water

Taking the gondola up in Banff...my choice of reaching the top!

Getting a closer view at the restaurant on top.

Saying goodbye to the grandparents who headed to Jasper.

Calgary Zoo

We ventured out to the Calgary Zoo while the in-laws were in town. I had heard it was good, but it blew us away! It is truly amazing and I am so glad I got an annual pass and Olivia is free! It is beautiful with all major zoo animals present and then some: lion, tigers, bears, gorillas, hippos, giraffes, zebras, monkeys, camels, kangaroos, kolas... It is so well done. What is really different about this zoo is how close you can get to the animals. Olivia loves animals and she had a fantastic time!

My little Joey

With Auntie Carrie by the hippo tank and giraffes

Grandpapa giving O a closer look at the Macaw

Reminiscing about our days in Qatar (although these have two humps - not Middle Eastern variety)

The Ray's Visit to Calgary

At the park that is just down the street.

Enjoying the cool weather with dinner outside on our patio

Finally a washer

Apparently things don't work as smoothly here as I had expected. I figured things would be more like the US and less like the Middle East. While it is a remarkable improvement, it is still not quite like the good ole USA. We were without a washer for almost a MONTH!!! Our brand new washer that came with the house broke after only 3 loads. As you can imagine, the laundry piled and piled up! I finally called our landlord and told him I couldn't wait on the repairman anymore. He came and brought us a new washer the next day. Thank goodness. Just in time for Mike's family's visit. I think Maya and Tilly miss the huge piles in the basement though.

For those who asked...the name of our blog "ray-babies" was meant to include our fury babies too :)

Birthday Loot

I put most of Olivia's new birthday toys down in the basement now that is is ready to be, at least partly, a playroom. She is loving exploring her new stuff! I LOVE having the basement as one more place to hang out and Olivia loves the carpet down there. Our house has no A/C and it can get a little warm with the west sun flooding in each afternoon and the basement is significantly cooler. I know this won't last...even the floors can be heated down in the basement!!

Figuring out how to use her cool xylophone

New chair from Mike's mom

Houston's Children's Museum

We had a play date with Sophie and Carrie Leedy at the Tot's Spot at the newly renovated Houston Children's Museum. It is fabulous now! The Tot's Spot is perfect for toddlers. I highly recommend it!O and Sophie both in navy and white

Sophie showing off her tummy time skills

True Love

Olivia and her boyfriend, Jake (Maggie and Scott Dunn's little guy) continue their love affair. It was so fun having them in Houston to celebrate Olivia's first birthday! These are from lunch the day after her party on Sunday at El Tiempo.

Switching sippy cups

Here, let me help you

Cute Maggie and Jake

Showing Olivia how to walk

With Uncle Joel

OLIVIA IS ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As I am sure everyone says, I can't believe she is one! Where did the year go?!
We had such a great time at Olivia's First Birthday! Olivia had lots of her friends and family come over and celebrate at Ducky and Pong Pong's house in Houston. Her invitation was pink and green, so we blew up over 200 pink and green balloons and filled the dining room for the party! All of the kids loved the balloons (although the speech therapist in me was a little nervous about the kids playing with the balloons). It was a really fun time! After everyone sang "Happy Birthday", Olivia started smiling, clapping, and saying "yay"!! It was too cute! Surprisingly, Olivia was not the biggest fan of birthday cake. I am sure she will come around though.

For the full set of pictures CLICK HERE

"Today I Eat Cake"

With Great Grandfather Big Jim

Being a little forward with her boyfriend Jake