Olivia woke up smiling this morning.  She does this sometimes, but not enough, for it is my favorite. She squints, stretches, then lets loose that big smile that shows off miles of toothless gum, the one where the paci falls out and she doesn't even care, the one where you can't help but kiss her little perfectly round, perfectly pink, perfectly wet little mouth.

Oh is there anything better?

11 months already?!

11 months is a bit bittersweet.  Bitter because my baby is almost one.  Sweet because she is almost a toddler?!  That doesn't seem right.  Yet it is, as proven by the three jars of toddler formula in my pantry...

11months has been a bit rough on us.  For one, the constant worrying that she doesn't have any teeth yet.  Every cry, fever, midnight feeding (yes those started again), we think could it be she is teething?  I have pretty much given up, I figure there is no reason why she should have no teeth, may as well just go with the flow.  But every time I see her little gumline, not a hint of redness or swelling, I am a bit disappointed.  Not that i expect her to wolf down a steak with one (or two) teeth, but right now she chokes on orange pulp!  WTF.

At 11 months, my baby is crawling everywhere super fast.  She likes to prop herself up on her knees and play with her toys, and a few times already, she pulled herself to standing.  She still says the same few words (mama, dada, nai nai, and yei yei).  I try to get her to say xie xie or ai ma ma, but so far no luck.  She will shake her hand and wave on command, but really no one can make her do anything she doesn't feel like doing.  Such is the life of a baby.  I do think she understands me more.  She will hand objects to me, smile, then take them back.  She even clapped for me one morning.  I think she understands when I yell at her (no Olivia, stop scratching!), because she frowns and give me a toothless yell back.  It makes me laugh.  So many of her antics make me laugh.  Sometimes even in the middle of a screaming fit I laugh at her.

Just for our records - crib training has NOT started.  Sleep training has NOT started.  Paci training has NOT started.  Olivia 1, Parents 0.

We are in between illnesses right now.  After the second round of antibiotics for her ear infection, she has been in a good mood and back to my healthy playful giggling baby.  This is not to say that I don't live in a constant state of fear.  Every sniffle and I hold my breaths...  It's emotional exhausting.  Just last night some crusty eyelashes had me probing her eyes for evidence of red eye.  I'm not crazy but at 12:30AM, I swear her eye looked red.

 Just woke up from a nap here.  It was Monday night and everyone is super tired, but we don't want to skip this tradition at the tail end.  She looks a bit surprised here.  S and I captioned this photo - what? I'm 11 months old today???

Celebrating my birthday!  Olili was very well behaved at my birthday dinner.

 Holding a bottled one handed.  Showing off.

Note the red bow in hair.  Cuteness.

Just chilling and watching TV with some friends. 

New Year... New Resolutions.

2016 started with an ear infection.  Here is to hoping that this new year brings much needed health.  For Olivia and for me.

I'm never one for resolutions but since I'm now a mom, self improvement is mandatory.  So here goes:

1. Just Do It (in reference to going to the gym).

2. Just Say No (interference to compulsive shopping).

3. Just DON'T do It (in reference to driving and the phone).

Olivia is almost 11 months and I am in the middle of planning her birthday party.  I may be going a bit overboard but it has been a HARD year and we (she and I) deserve a bit of celebration.  Here and now, I'm making a vow to NOT be stressed.  It's a baby birthday, a day of celebration, and no matter how imperfectly things go or look, I will NOT be stressed.

10 months...

At 10 months, Olivia spiked her first fever.  I was driving home from work one Saturday, thinking all is well with the world, when S tell me Olivia feels "warm".  I hate that word.  I don't want to hear "warm"... I want to know the exact number the thermometer reads.  103.  I panic a bit, calls coworker, give tylenol, holds her warm little head while it droops on my shoulder.  This repeats for the next 36 hours until Monday when we go to the pediatrician.  Ear Infection.  Two weeks of Amoxicillin and Olivia is good as new.  We celebrate Xmas in a big big way.  Olivia is back to her happy (snotty) self, when 2 days later (again on a Saturday), fever of 101.  WTF.  Back to the Doctors - same ear infection!  Now we are on Omnicef, one more day to go.  Fingers crossed...

10 months if filled with big milestones - Olivia went from military style belly crawling to up on all fours zooming from place to place.  Sometimes her limbs get ahead of her body and she splatters on the ground.  She can also go from laying down to sitting no problem.  It's really cute when she sit mid-crawl to take a break.

She has been waving "bye" for awhile now, but recently she can hold up one finger when you demonstrate first.  I think it's in anticipation of her first birthday!

Some Christmas pictures of the cute little elf from her first Christmas.  She was very well behaved, esp for a baby with an ear infection (we didn't know at the time).