tomAYto, tomAHto

Dear Olivia,

Last night as I put you down, you repeated everything I said. 
Me:  "night night livey"
You: "night night livey"
Me:  "luv you"
You:  "loo oo"
Me:  "see ya later"
You:  "BOO."

Little did we know, as you'd been silently sucking your fingers, observing, and letting us do most of the talking for 2 years...now you're my chatty bug. 
Your vocabulary continues to surprise us all...
Now you love to talk about your toothbrush, and talk to your toothbrush.
You tell yourself, "no, no, no" when you are super-tempted to do something naughty.
"Ah go??" = where did everybody go?
"kooky"=cookie
Aunt Amber is "Ammoh," not to be confused with red, fuzzy "Emmo."
At halloween, you said thank you ("shay shoe") for the first time.

Love you Emmo,

mom

happy hawkeyes

Dear Olivia,
I love that you and your cousins are hawkeye fans and you have no idea who Ferentz is, or how overpaid he is.  I also love that you can giggle non-stop with your cousins, no matter who wins or loses. 
Love, mom

grama & grampa

Dear Olivia,
I found some pictures from the summer with grandpa and grandma holding you.  I know they wish they could see you more and some day we will introduce them to Skype. 
Love, mom

olivia's life in these united states

Tonight at dinner we discussed that even though your peas are little green balls, they are the kind of balls we don't throw.  I would say we made progress.

Lately you've been helping dad in the kitchen.  You are especially good at helping if it involves getting messy and/or taste-testing things.

me:  "what does a kitty cat say olivia?"
you:  "ROAR." (very confidently.)
at least you are confident.

love,
mom

Dear Olivia,

Last weekend Aunt Amber took you to nana and papa's for the weekend and we didn't know what to do with ourselves.  Actually we knew exactly what to do and did not waste a second of our free time.  First we went on a date for some friendly competition on the putt-putt golf course.  After a few do-overs and second chance hits, we tied, which made for a pretty good date. 

Then we went to Panera, mom's favorite place to eat, although it never really fills us up so we ate at home for meal #2.
The next day we went paddle boating on Gray's Lake.  We talked about you while paddle boating and what a bad idea it would be to try and take you paddle boating. 

And when you came back, you looked super duper cute and grown up.

Love,

mom

mullet, etc.

Dear Olivia,
Today you said "ball" and "moo". 
Here is what you've been up to lately:

trading spaces with Snoop

pants=overrated

most kids use pillow pets as pillows, some use them as duvets

wearing sunglasses for 20 seconds

bonding with buddy/roommie Aunt Amber

interesting outfit/shoe combo

peeking

mullet

We love you very much, mullet and all.

Love,

mom

rewinding a smidge...

Dear Olivia,

I forgot to write about the wedding in August you and dad went to while I stayed home to work.  Dad's cousin, Nick got married so you and dad went with Nana and Papa to Michigan for the wedding.  This was also the weekend dad said you started saying "mamma" over and over again, just like we practiced.

I missed missed missed you, and wanted to be with the family terribly...especially after seeing these photos...
Love, mom

me my mo mair...FAIR

Dear Olivia,

Last weekend you went to your first fair, specifically the Iowa state fair.  To make things better, your cousin Amelia went too. 

Mommy's favorite part of the fair was the red velvet funnel cake and the scary ride YOUR aunty and unkie talked us into riding;)  That ride went 170 feet in the air.  So someday if you think your parents are uncool, we can tell you about the time we went on the scary ride at the fair.

Love,

Your cool mom-da-bomb



Dear Olivia,
To name a few things you did with papa, nana, and your cousins while we were away...

 picked berries with papa,

 practiced driving,

 happily ate grapes,

 learned theatricals from your cousin Paige,

 got strangled by your cousin Alaina,

 just hung out,

and rode on nana...

Just looking at these photos makes me tired!  Looks like you had lots of fun, although Nana also had to take you to the doctor for another ear infection.  We live closer to nana and papa now, so you'll get to see them more.  Yay!
Love, mom