Blonde Bomb Shell

I have been debating for over a month if I should cut Liv's hair. The two sides I kept thinking was I didn't want to cut it too early because she is still only 6 months.. But I also hate fixing it in pony tails everyday and if I don't fix it she looks like a little rag doll. So I asked Trevor on Saturday night last week if he even cared if I cut it and he said he likes it long but it would look better all the time if it was cut... SO........

WE also got a photo shoot of her last night too. SO here are her 6 month old pictures of how precious our little munchkin is. I still think she is the prettiest baby girl out there.

Picture Overload

So the month of July was filled with a lot of fun, laughter and craziness. We were busy every weekend and are happy that it is all over. Since I always say a picture is worth a thousand words.. here are many to show what the month consisted of.

Jay, Seth, McKay, Dallin, Preston, Olivia, Trevor, Morgan, Eden and Jaylee.. all crammed in the little kids pool

I dont know how I got this picture but I actually got Jaylee and Dallin talking to each other while looking at something

Liv loves to suck on her toes, and Morgan is awesome at blowing bubbles

The 3 Big Boys.. L to R.. Preston, McKay and Seth (can you see Liv's "Grandpa Russell face" as Trevor calls it)

Jaylee did not like having a pool soaked diaper.. we put a little swimmers on a little later

Pool soaked diapers really are hilarious

Jay, Trevor and Grandpa Mike all playing with Olivia

Dallin sliding under Morgan, Preston, McKay and Seth (Trevor spraying the slip n slide)

Seth was very fast on the slip n slide

Adult only pool.. And the kids had their own pool. Sometimes Eden, Ethan and Dallin would come jump in too

We went up to have a cook out (pizza and smore's) up on the hill that over looks town (dont know what the property is called)

Jay and Eden singing slippery Fish

There was a bird that kept dive bombing us and Liv could not get enough of watching it fly around

The Roger's family tent watching the 24th of July Parade

Ronnie holding Liv while Aunt Nan gave her a bite of a frozen water bottle

Thanks Ronnie and Aunt Nan for entertaining Liv

Ethan growling at Trevor taking his picture

Dallin with his always charming smile

Jake Hatch doing his world record stunt at the 24th of July Rodeo

Trevor and I at the Rodeo

Trevor and Olivia at the Rodeo

Liv has found a love for eating baby food when we eat

Crooked Smile

The last Sink Bath before we cut all that hair off

We had a blast in the month of July.. and are so glad it is over and we can spend some time at home instead of always out doing things. We are learning that the longer we are married we are starting to become home bodies.
Trevor signed up for the CNA class and a 1 day EMT course so that is what we will be doing from now till Christmas. He will need your thoughts and prayers that he can pass his CNA class and the test so he can hopefully get a job working as a CNA next year. I am just crossing my fingers and praying daily that this semester goes good. There will be more pictures soon of August happenings and Liv's new hair cut. Happy Tuesday Everyone!

6 Months

Olivia is 6 months. Where has time gone? Some days it seems like I just had her, and others I look at her an realize she has been a part of me my whole life. Yesterday we went to Liv's 6 months well check-up. She is growing like crazy.
Weight: 16 3/4 pounds (95 %)
Length: 27 1/4 inches (97 %)

I think that is right... Shows how much I was paying attention! She also got some shots. (We would have gone to the health clinic mom but they were expecting to give her shots when we got there so we couldn't turn them down.. next time though)

8 new things that she is doing:

1. She has been rolling over since she was 1 month old but now she is a pro
2. She likes to eat at the same time that we are eating.. she starts to cry if we don't feed her at the same time (like she is being left out of the goodness we are eating)
3. We got a walker from a super awesome lady so she is always walking around our house.. more like playing bumper cars with our walls
4. She loves to be tickled so that she can laugh at it
5. She will laugh at just about anything.. maybe someday we will get her to laugh so other people can hear it
6. She will reach for you to hold her if she wants you too. I can ask her "do you want me to hold you" and she will lift her arms in the air and smile at me.
7. She has said "ma ma" many times the past 2 weeks.. When she cries and wants me to come get her she says it.. but if she doesn't care who comes to get her she just screams
8. She started army crawling last week and now she is all over the place
9. She loves to babble at anything and everything
10. She loves her daddy. Anytime he steps in the room she has to watch everything that he does

She is growing so fast and we love every minute of it!

Happy Tuesday! I hope you enjoy the rest of the week!

Too Cute for her own good

So like the last post said I have been trying to get liv on a better sleeping schedule. Apparently we should just pitch a tent in out back yard for the rest of her life for her to sleep in. She took amazing naps during the day and did not fuss to go down at all. And at night she woke up only 2 times a night and I think it was the many cuz she was so cold every night (even though I bundled her up with 3 heavy blankets every night).

Here are just some cute pictures of our adorable little munchkin.

Giving a sweet little laugh for the camera

Being calm and sweet

Somehow I got her to smile for the camera... which she never does

Trying to crawl to the camera

I was wearing a hat all week and she discovered that the hat is a yummy thing to chew on

"The Twins".. well I think they look alike.. Rush and Liv (he is 3 weeks older)

Soapy hair

Liv and Daddy playing in a puddle on the slip-n-slide

Loving eating cherries

All smiles all week long

I walked in the tent to get Liv up from a 3 hour nap one day and this is how I found her

Ok so this isn't from camping but it is the morning after

She spit up on our bed and then layed her head in it.. only to discover that it is hilarious to have spit up all over her face and babble at mom and dad (who were busting up laughing... so she decided she needed to smile and laugh back)

She is starting to sit up by herself and yesterday she army crawled for the first time to grab something she wanted. She is finally starting to be a fun baby now that she doesn't always rely on her mom to entertain her every hour of the day she is awake. We LOVE having her in our family and can't wait for the adventures that are still to come with her growing and developing. Happy Tuesday... Hope you have a good One!

New things

I am not one for change. I don't like trying new things or starting new ways of doing things.

Lately I am so tiered emotionally and physically that I feel like I am a zombie. I feel like I dont have any energy left to give to Trevor and Olivia. I am so worn out all the time that I had to change my way of thinking and figure out a plan of what to change so I can actually keep up on house keeping, providing for a growing 5 1/2 month baby and always making sure to have time for my husband.

 I do not like the cry it out method... I am completely against using it because I feel your baby will only cry if they have a need. (note: not to sound rude but that is my opinion and I really don't want to hear anyone else opinion about making your kid cry it out because I have already heard those opinions before) I will only use cry it out methods if Liv wont stop crying and I feel I am getting so frustrated that I might throw her against the wall. (note: I would never really do that at all but first time mom's should totally understand that feeling)

After some deep pondering and talking about things with Trevor for the past couple weeks I have come to the conclusion that I need a break. Not a break from being a mom, but I need a break from always holding Liv and taking care of her. I know I am a stay-at-home mom and that is my job to take care of her... but I seriously am drained. So this week I have been hoping I can get into a better sleep and nap schedule with her. Which includes..... yes, cry it out. I am having such a hard time with it but I am already starting to laugh, and smile again and I only started Monday.

Monday I started not letting her nap past 4pm an keeping her awake till tubby time at 7:30. That is such a long time between nap's for such a little growing girl. By the time it hits 6:45 ish, she is starting to get fussy so we just have to distract her. She now by last night (Wednesday) knows it is bed time around then.

Tuesday I started taking a morning nap with Liv which doesn't really make me not tiered anymore but it is like a cap on the sleep I didn't get at night. I already have started feeling more like myself because of that extra 1 1/2 hour nap in the morning.

Wednesday I took the mattress out of Liv's room that I have been sleeping on for the past 4 months and made it so that I don't have a way to put her in bed with me when I am so tiered of getting up with her. I also made a sleep pattern that I have her sleep 3 hours stretches or longer alone and if she wakes up anytime between those 3 plus hours I let her cry herself back to sleep. It was super hard but both times that she woke up an started crying I checked to see if there was anything wrong an then stood in the doorway watching her put herself back to sleep. Both times only took 10 minutes max of her fussing to put herself back to sleep. And I am proud to say that I did not cave in at all.

Last night was the start of a new baby. Hopefully she will pick up on this new schedule and start sleeping longer stretches without waking up. The 7 wake up's at night was kinda ridiculous.  Last night she slept from 8pm to 12am. Ate at midnight then fell back asleep. Woke back up at 2:30 for another feeding and fell asleep quick. Then slept till 4am and ate again. And then Trevor got her when she woke up at 6:30. OK! So its not exactly 3 hours stretches but for being the first night of the new schedule I think going from 7 wake up's on Tuesday to 3 wake up's on Wednesday is pretty good.

Now for the rest of the week to the weekend is working on day naps. She has been asleep for half an hour and hopefully she will stay asleep for another hour. I am gonna try to not let her have so many nap's during the day. I think that is why she wasn't sleeping at night.. and why she wanted to play and not sleep. :)

Hope this plan continues to work. I am starting to get my life back and it is only 3 days into the change. Oh energy... how I have missed you.