Latest Measurements

So our health insurance finally kicked in on Friday (WOO!) and we took Livy to her new pediatrician who was awesome. We overestimated our little chunk. Matt and I thought she was like 26ish pounds but we were so wrong! Here are all of her measurements:

Weight: 20 lbs. 4.5 oz. (20%)
Height: 28.5 in. (15%)
Head Circ. 47.0 cm (88%)

So it was funny because the doctor was like - she can now sit in a forward facing carseat - which happened about 5 months ago... Seriously, I swear she was 20 lbs. at her 9 month check up! Anyway, the heights is absolutely no surprise. Our kids are destined for shortness. Also, head circumference, not a big surprise either. Matt and my little brother, Ky, have huge heads. Well Ky's is actually bigger than Matt's and he's only like 12 - so yeah.

Here are some of Livy's latest favorites: pulling her own hair, pulling other people's hair, giving high fives, saying "sup" and "yeah," sitting in our laps, being super romantic with us and cuddling (so cute!), watching movies (I can't wait to take her to a movie!!!), and being "soft" - which she's soft for like two seconds and then she starts pounding (usually the computer or poor little Max...)

Also, her cuteness scale has totally increased lately with the cuddling and everything. Generally, she's a very happy baby who we can't get enough of!!

Drama Queen!

Livy has become our little 13-month-old drama queen! She's crazy! When she's told no, she grabs whatever is closest to her and chucks it across the room as hard as she can. Then, the other day, I said no, and so she looked at me and started pulling my hair! I was amazed! What!?!? This attitude at 13-months-old, are you kidding me!? She's just lucky she's so freaking cute!

(Side Note: Also - I have a theory that you don't really have to be a good photographer to get good pictures. I mean, I'm sure it would help - greatly - but it also helps to be a good editor. So here I am trying it out... Check out the before and afters.)

I love her little tooth in this one. Thirteen months and still only one tooth! But the one next to it just started to cut through. Hooray!

Before
After

Livy's first licorice, thanks to Daddy.

BeforeAfter

Here she was at the hospital when we went to see Max. Livy freaking loved this curtain. She would go through it over and over and over again. So cute. Then her cousin, Gabrielle, got in on the action.

BeforeAfter

Also here's another picture I edited. This is of Matt's brother, Luke, and the cute little Max!

Before

After

Little Max!

Here are some pics of Livy's latest cousin, Max. He was born yesterday! So freakin' cute. So I've been playing with Gimp - which I'm finally starting to enjoy. Check out the before and after:

Before:

After: I changed the background color so that it was less distracting. Then I rotated it and got rid of Matt's fingers. And I lessened the redness on his face. Cute little bugger!

Before:

After: Gabrielle was so cute with Max! She was so excited to hold him, but then she'd get super nervous.

Before:

After: I'm not sure why I'm so portrait happy today... meh. This one is super cute. I cropped it and then in Gimp I got rid of that weird black thing that is in the corner that was driving me NUTS!

More to come! Some might even include my own child! Ha! But alas, I must now get to what I've been procrastinating all week...

The Secret's Out!!!!!!!!!

Okay, now people, people (said like a hilarious history professor I had with my hands out in front of me like I'm preaching to you), who of you were aware of Jamba's secret menu!?!? Matt found out about the secret from a friend at work and we got super excited to try it out. Then we asked my sister-in-law, Amy, if she's ever heard of it and she's like, yeah of course! What the, Amy! Why did you refuse to let us in on the DELICIOUSNESS! So anyway, we got to Jamba Juice and we got super nervous to ask for it. We felt like we had to whisper to the dude taking our order. So Matt ordered me a Pink Starburst and he got a Fruity Pebbles one. And this kid reaches under the counter and pulls out the really old, torn up piece of paper that he told us had all of their secret recipes on! It was hilarious! So anywho, he makes our smoothies and they taste JUST LIKE IT! It was crazy! Needless to say, I've had a pink starburst about 4 times in the past week... I love it! Here are some others that we know of:

Red Gummy Bear (delicious)

White Gummy Bear (We think it's better than red!)
Butterfinger (Seriously, it tastes just like it!)
Peanut Butter and Jelly
Green Gummy Bear
Strawberry Shortcake
Sourpatch kids
Skittles

And there are plenty more you can find if you google it. I also found THIS website with a ton of flavors and recipes in case you want to try it on your own. But yeah, I've learned you can order these at ANY Jamba. It's awesome!!!

Also, I promise there will be posts about my actual life and cute familia soon! And my newest little nephew, Max, who was born today! So cute and so tiny!

Another WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

(This time I'm posting this the day after since I screwed over poor Tasha's viewing of DWTS. Again, I am so sorry!)

My husband won!!! Seriously, this has never happened to me before. People who I really want to win, usually never do. And now I'm two for two in just two nights! Yay! Thank you, America! I totally wanted Kris to win all along but didn't think it was possible thanks to the SUPER biased judges. Adam was just too weird for me. I'd LOVE to see him on broadway but I would never buy his album. So anyway, congrats, Kris! You're welcome for voting for you. And now don't get all crazy with fame and cheat on your wife, that's all I ask.

And go right now and download Falling Slowly by Kris Allen - it's my latest obsession!!!

Also, in reference to "my husband won..." Look at this picture of Matt - seriously they do the exact same half smile thing. Matt claims that Kris is trying to be him since he's older... So this is Matt at the same age as Kris right now. Seriously - oddly similiar, right?

Also, funny side note. So I really hate surprises. Like, REALLY. So I of course wanted to know who won before I saw the end of Idol. So my mom called and told me that she "called it!" And so I assumed she meant Lambert. So of course I told Matt and my brother and sister-in-law that it was Lambert. And then my other sister-in-law texted me and told me I was wrong and that it was Kris. And then I got so excited after a whole minute that I couldn't keep it in any longer because I thought there was still like 30 minutes left in the show. So I blurted out that Kris won and then everyone yelled at me because apparently there was only five minutes left and they thought it would have been a pleasant surprise... IT'S NOT MY FAULT! I CAN'T KEEP SECRETS. Seriously, don't ever tell me one.

Wooooooooo!!!

I've posted about little ShawnJohn before and tonight she's earned a spot on my blog once again. So I've never watched Dancing With the Stars because, trust me, it is SUPER lame compared to SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE (DANCE, DANCE, DANCE...). Anywho, I started watching it because of ShawnJohn, obviously, and another one of my favorites from SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE (DANCE, DANCE, DANCE...). I'm so excited because the little bugger won the whole little dance off! I never vote for shows unless I think my vote will actually matter, or unless the dude I want to win reminds me of Matt... Kris Allen... Anyway, so I voted for ShawnJohn last night and I even got Matt in on the action! He was reluctant at first, but I reminded him of how we promised to stay loyal fans to her after she worked her butt off to grab the gold from the cheating Chinese... just kidding - I'm over it! (But not really) Anyway - our votes totally won it for her! She was less than 1% away from second place! So ShawnJohn, you're welcome! We've got your back! If you want to send us something to show your appreciation for giving you the votes you needed to put you on top... then all we ask is that you send us your gold medal so that we can take pictures with it and then we promise, we'll send it back to you.

Love, Matt and Alexis, your biggest fans.

I LOVE MY WIFE!!!!!

Dear Alexis,

One year ago on Mother's Day, Alivia was only one month old. Now she is a precocious little toddler. Pretty much everything has changed over the last year except for the fact that you are an amazing mother. Alivia and I are so lucky to have you. You are a great example and an amazing teacher for her. 

Here is a list of things that Livy and I appreciate/love:

1. You make amazing dinners for us

2. You read books with and play games with Livy

3. You teach Livy sign language

4. You take Livy to parks almost every day

5. You support me in all of my decisions 

6. You learned how to be a bargain shopper

7. You are super patient with Livy all day, even when she is being INSANE

There are A LOT more things that I could list, but the point is that we both love you very much and appreciate everything that you do for us. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Love,

Matt and Alivia

Blogligence

I have totally been blogligent lately. I'm not sure why. It's just been a sluggish couple of weeks I guess. I just don't feel like doing anything ever! But I'm getting past it. So, here's my first move as a non sluggish human being - I'm finally updating my blog.

Livy has turned CRAZAY! Seriously, ever since she turned one - she's been throwing tantrums and has become a little toddler drama queen. She throws herself over my lap when I tell her she can't have something and just wails! She's not really crying or anything she just wails at me! FOREVER. I'm not sure what I'm going to do if it continues much longer...

Here are some cute pics as of late:

Here are some pics my mom took while she was in town. Super cute.

Ace Ventura

This kid LOVES to dance. Whenever she hears music she starts moving (only her top half) side to side. It's so funny!
She also loves reading. When she's alone in her room, I'll go in and find her reading a book to herself. It's so cute! She talks like she's actually reading and she'll point to the words, too! Which is so funny because I always point to the words I'm reading to her - it's so funny to see her copying me like that.
She has so much FREAKING personality. It's so funny. Also these pics are of her sitting and watching Tigger and Pooh. It's her favorite show lately. Whenever it comes on, she stands up IMMEDIATELY and start dancing and saying yay! And she keeps a huge grin on her face throughout the entire episode. So funny. She was throwing a full on tantrum one day and so I turned it on and she immediately stopped and did her Tigger and Pooh dance. So funny. I need to catch it on camera.

The poop sound

Whenever Livy poops, she always makes this funny sound. And then, when we've asked her if she has pooped she'll make the sound again. So we're never sure. Anyway, one day, I asked her if she had pooped and she started to make the sound and she found out that she was HILARIOUS. So she kept making the sound and laughing at herself. So freaking funny!

Our little ANNOYING monkey

So Livers has learned how to climb up on our kitchen chairs. It is SO FREAKING ANNOYING because she doesn't know how to get down. So she either jumps to her death (always head first) or she sits there and cries until someone gets her down.

So I finally decided to get smart and tuck the chairs in tight under the table. Finally, I thought, no more of this nonsense! And then, all of a sudden, I hear screaming and I look for Livy and can't see her anywhere and then I realize that this is where she is:

And then, she'll use the chairs to get to her favorite thing in the world: our computer. We came in to find her like this one morning:

She recently learned what the mouse can do. She uses the little scroll thing to scroll up and down the page.

Seriously, I get SO frustrated with her sometimes. But then she pulls out a grin like this - Who can resist this face??

Livy's favorite hiding places

This is Livy's favorite place in our apartment. And lately, I've started to find her stuffed animals, credit cards, and cell phones all in her little hiding place. I've pretty much given up on trying to keep her out of here.

And then one day, Matt and I made the mistake of letting Livy's silence, carry on a little too long. Here's what we found:

Awesome. Thanks, Livy.

A TOOTH A TOOTH A TOOTH!

Hallelujah! Livy has her first tooth! It literally came the day after she turned one! So much excitement here. It was funny because for the past six months we were always like - ok yeah, her gums seem swollen and she's always chewing on stuff - so she must be teething! But then her bottom gums really did get swollen and we were like - oh - so that's what it's suppose to look like! Haha And even though it's been almost a month since the tooth broke through - it's still only half way up - so yeah - I'm sure she'll finally have all of her teeth by the time she's five... But at least we know she has teeth!

Here's the swelling

Here you can see it breaking through. Hooray!

The Zooooooooooo!!

Grandma B. is in town and so we decided to hit up the Sactown Zoo today. It was awesome! And ridiculously HOT, but Livy didn't mind it, of course. Neither did my mom who gets cold in 90 degree weather.

Here we have the FLAMINGOS! (You're supposed to say "flamingos" like that one Sonic commercial when the wife says, "To the movies!" If you don't get this reference - please, please, PLEASE watch more T.V.!!!) Anywho, these are my fave. It takes me back to my Tracy Aviary days. No, I didn't work there - I just wished I did...

These two crazies love to look at each other with huge smiles and super squinty eyes. Weird.

Livy adoring the koi fish.

Livy and my mom really started to bond. It's kind of funny because, to me, Livy looks so much like my mom. So when they're together it's kind of weird. It's like Livy's looking at herself from the future!!! Is that weird of me?? Am I too obsessed with Heroes and time travelling? I don't care! I love Hiro!!

Here is the only evidence that I tagged along for the fun. This is on the train ride that we had to wait FOREVER to ride. The five minute ride in a packed passenger seat was totally worth the wait...

It's done! It's done! It's done!

I have finally finished Livy's book and I'm so happy! So here it is! I can't wait to see it printed. Please, check it out and let me know what you think! And let me know if there are any weird things or mistakes... If I print it with any typos or mistakes... SO HELP ME.

Alivia's Funniest Home Videos

Birthday Awesomeness

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY, LIVY!!!!!!

Livy's official first birthday isn't until tomorrow, the 9th, but I wanted to post about her tonight so that I have zero distractions tomorrow. I can't believe my baby is one! It's so crazy that I gave birth to a tiny awkward newborn one whole year ago! Man, the last year has been so crazy and awesome. Livy has learned A LOT of things this year -- as have Matt and I. It's been an incredible journey thus far and we thank Heavenly Father every night that we have this little one in our lives.

I'm so excited for tomorrow. Matt and I are decorating the apartment tonight with streamers and balloons and whatnot. In the morning, we're going to let her open her presents. (This will be another celebration made possible by Grandma Baumgartner who sent Livers a billion presents that we just got today.) I wrapped all of her presents with tissue paper so that it will be easy to get to the goods! Hopefully it will go better than Christmas. Then we're going to do cake at lunch before Matt has to go to work. And then if the weather is good I'm either going to take her to the park or the zoo. Then until bedtime, we're going to watch her favorite shows and let her do whatever she pleases -- including play with chapstick and q-tips -- her all-time FAVE.

So anywho... here are some fun things about Littlest Liviest... (A nickname given by Matt's brother, Luke)

*She can sign several words which really help us out: milk, please, all done, and more (which also means "I want" to her)

*Her favorite breakfast is oatmeal and yogurt (Activia of course - no more constipation ever again!)
*She can throw tantrems now -- not fun!
*She loves going down the slide - despite the little mishap a month ago
*She is completely off of bottles and formula - now she just has a cup of milk with her sippy
*She only eats "human" food - she never did the baby food which was awesome and horrible at the same time.
*She has ZERO teeth - still! Ahhhh! When will those suckers come in!
*She prefers to walk everywhere now - it literally happened last week - no more crawling
*She thinks it's HILARIOUS to lick us - or anything for that matter.
*She loves to give things and people "loves" where she rests her head on them to show she cares
*She LOVES to dance - especially to the Madagascar 2 song - The Traveling Song by will.i.am
*She also loves to dance in her carseat while listening to Jack Johnson
*She loves watching Dancing With the Stars with me - seriously - she'll just sit there and watch them dance
*Her favorite place to sit in our apartment is under our desk next to the printer

*She loves to wave as we pass by people and say hi
*Her favorite show is still Little Einsteins
*She loves sweets and always knows when you have them
*She's a total begger whenever she sees anyone eating anything

This is how she signs "please" - I love it. Now we're working on thank you.

This is my favorite picture from today. I love it!

Throwing a tantrum...

Livy's First Easter Bunny Experience...

So we were at the mall today and we saw the Easter bunny and I was like - we have to get her picture taken!!!! I was so excited and for some reason I thought Livy would love the idea of sitting in the lap of a crazy, ginormous, fuzzy BEAST... When I was about to put her in the bunny's lap she was holding on to me tighter than she ever has in her entire life! She was clinging so hard! Then she sat down and they snapped this pic before the real screams began. So funny.