Olivia turns ONE!

I got back into town from my Aunt's funeral the night before Olivia's birthday.  I had very little done for her special day, having been out of town, so I felt a bit frazzled the morning of her birthday.

I kept reminding myself that she was one and wouldn't care or know the difference and to not stress about it too much. 

September 17th- Happy First Birthday!

We all walked down to the bus stop to see the big kids off to school.  Olivia loves going for walks (as long as the stroller is moving).  I was so glad to see these sweet faces again.  It is very rare that I am away from them for any extended period of time, and I have never left a baby this young. 

After the bus stop, I raced to get the 3 little girls in the car and off we sped to the grocery store to get some supplies for Olivia's birthday cake.  We didn't do anything else fancy, but every one year old deserves a cake.  With Olivia taking two naps, our windows of shopping opportunity are limited.  We made a quick trip, then home for my baby to take a nap while I baked her cake and wrapped the very limited gifts we had for her.

I tried to get a picture of just the birthday girl in her party dress, but she refused to let Chloe put her down, so Chloe was part of our pictures as well.

The twins were the original owners of this dress (dresses).

They wore them on their first birthday as well, nearly 4 years ago.  One year olds are so fun!

Olivia thoroughly enjoyed her birthday dinner- chicken, potatoes and green beans.  I love, love that she can eat pretty much everything we can.  Life is so much easier when you can throw stuff on their tray and they feed themselves, and are happy about it.

Present time!  I love watching little babies open gifts.

She wanted to taste this toy, rather than play with it.  The simple joys of a one year old.

The big kids were dying to help her.  Our kids have a hard time with sibling birthdays- everyone always wants to be in on the action.  We let one person help her at a time, with everyone else backed way up (it's so tempting to slip in and help when it isn't your turn, which leads to way too much chaos).

Of course, the wrapping paper is as much fun as the gift.

After each gift, she just wanted to play with what was in front of her. 

Grandma Cynde gave her an adorable wooden pull along snail toy.  The big kids liked it even more than Livy did!

Cake time- we stripped her down to her birthday suit for the messy job ahead!

The cake.  I knew for months I wanted to do an owl cake, for my little "Owl"ivia.

The best "baby with cake" shot we could get.

With all the other kids, their first birthday was their first real introduction to sugar.  I guess being the 5th baby has its perks- I have not been very restrictive with foods and with her and letting her try new things- she's pretty much had it all.  She doesn't get sugar constantly, but she's had quite a few treats that the other kids never even dreamed of trying until they were at least one.

But having your very own cupcake is still a novelty!  She started off slow...

Then picked up speed like her life depended on it.

The rest of the kids were very anxious for their turn!

I'd say chocolate cake was a success!  Messy, but a success!

A birthday bath was a must before bed.  Notice the chocolate hand streaks on the outside of the tub.

What a fun day we had celebrating our baby! 

Our 12 month pictures the next day were not a great success.  The birthday girl was all partied out and was not having any of it.  This was the best shot I got. :(

Olivia at one year:

A fantastic eater!  There is very little she does not like.  She likes some stuff so much she will lick the plate clean!

Her favorite foods include: cheese, any kind of fruit, applesauce, mac and cheese, and anything she can get someone to feed her off their plate. 

2-3 times a week, it is just me and this girl all alone at home.  At the beginning of the year, she did not love it.  She loves having older siblings around to chase her and play with her- she is used to lots of action and noise.  I am very boring, apparently.  Lately, it has been better and she is content to hang out just with me.  Shopping and running errand on those days is quite nice- she's a fun shopping buddy, as long as we don't take too long.

A fantastic night time sleeper- 12 hours every night.  She will occasionally wake up during the night, let out a few random cries, and then back to sleep quickly.  She is a short napper- an hour to an hour and a half max, each nap.  The rare, rare occasion she has slept more than 1.5 hours, I get worried and run and check on her.  I am nervous that when we switch to one nap that she will only sleep an hour or so.  That won't be good...  But she falls right to sleep for her naps and sleeps hard.  I would rather have a great night sleeper anyhow.  She can barely make it until 9:00 each morning for her first nap and has no trouble falling asleep for her afternoon nap.  Switching to one nap is not in our near future, it appears.

She used to be a great church napper, until recently.  Ben is the baby napper for church- only he can make it happen and it is a fight most weeks for him now.

He took her out one week during Sacrament meeting to try and get her to sleep.  She pulled out her inner dragon and screamed and screamed.

Finally, out of pure exhaustion, she crashed right as church was ending.

She was so out that he could lay her down on the floor and she didn't even budge (not normal for an Andros baby).

She started walking the week before her birthday!  She is officially our earliest walker!  Chloe walked a few weeks after her first birthday, Mitch at 18 months (beat that!) and the twins around 14 months.  She needed to walk to keep up with everyone else in the house.  And she definitely tries to keep up.  She is just learning how to go down the stairs, but forgets how to do it unless we show her.  She watches the big kids run down to the basement and she will walk over to the basement stairs and cry and cry.  She wants to be in on all the action.  It's hard to be the youngest.  :)

Just recently she has become snuggly.  I was on a long distance phone call one day and she walked over to me and I picked her up and held her while I talked.  I looked down and found her asleep, which NEVER happens.  It was such a sweet moment.

Aside from this moment, she loves to be held and when she feels like it, will lay her head down on your chest, shoulder or lap and snuggle.  Those are the precious moments with one year olds, as she is usually running around trying to keep up with everyone else, or find her next thing to play with.

She HATES getting her diaper changed and getting dressed.  I'm hoping this is something she outgrows soon.  It sure is getting tough to keep a big, active baby still during an intense diaper change, and sometimes almost impossible to dress a baby on the move, while screaming and thrashing.  Clothes are overrated, really.  Too bad stinky diapers aren't negotiable.

Still obsessed with Chloe.  She prefers Chloe over me or Ben 98% of the time.  Chloe is so sweet and patient with her.  With her alone time with the twins on their days off from school, she has gotten closer with the two of them.  The twins really are so sweet with her and love to just get down and play with her- the best of all the kids. 

Livy loves to be chased.  Now that's she walking (and getting faster), we all love to get down on all fours and chase after her.  She tries to make her little legs move faster and she'll squeal with delight as she tries to get away.

Loves her binky, although I'm thinking about getting rid of it, or cutting down on it.  It still soothes her, but she's at the age where she'll still cry and scream with it in, when the mood hits her just right.  And when I check on her before I go to bed, 9 times out of 10, the binky isn't even in her mouth (often on the floor) and I don't think she wakes up to find it either.  She rarely has it in her mouth when I get her in the morning, either.  And she's at the age where she toddles all over the house and can hide or drop that binky in the hardest to find places.  The phrase "help find the binky!" is used in our house sometimes multiple times a day, and it's getting old. 

Is stingy with her kisses, but when she's in the right mood and you request a kiss, she gives the best ones.  She loves to give high fives and has the sweetest little smile.  She has 4 teeth (haven't gotten any new since August) and her open mouth, toothy grins are the best.

We love this sweet girl.  One year of Olivia has been a blessing for our family.  Here's to many more with our Livy Morgan!