The Emotions of a Little Lady...

Things have been going well around here lately....Nice and quiet, just the way we like it!
Olivia and I have been spending a lot of time outside coloring and running around or inside painting beautiful art work to give to family and friends. On one of our most recent shopping trips we bought (or should I say Olivia convinced me to let her try) some finger paints. I'd been pretty reluctant about getting these, but I decided we've got a big girl on our hands now and she deserves to be treated like one! However, with our ever so growing little lady has come some changes in her attitude. I'm sure it is just part of growing up, but it's been a bit of a challenge. Her emotions have been running on high lately. When she's upset, she's very upset. She will become angry, lose her temper, and even hit herself when she's extremely frustrated. I've just learned I have to stay calm and tell her in a soothing voice that she's a good girl and she doesn't need to hit herself. Then we'll sit down and talk about what's bothering her. Olivia has also been extremely sensitive. I'm used to her big blue eyes swelling with tears if she's in any bit of trouble. However, it's been a bit on the extreme the last week or so. One day she was watching an Old MacDonald video and every single time it was over she would burst into tears. Then today we ran into the same issue over a new sign I just bought. The sign reads, “Always Kiss Me Goodnight.” She had heard Grandma and I talking about it the other day, so I think she had an idea of what it said. Today she kept asking me to tell her what was on the sign and each time I did her little lip would go out, the tears would stream down, and she'd say, “Always kiss me goodnight?” Then she'd ask me for kisses. I guess we can call this period in our life, “The Emotions of a Little Lady”....

Right now our Little Lady is really enjoying her alphabet and numbers. She's been able to say her ABC's and count to 14 for awhile now, but lately she's been interested in learning what these letters and numbers look like. So far she is able to recognize almost all of her numbers and quite a few letters, especially the one's she's used to seeing (M for Mama, D for Daddy, G for Grandma, etc). Olivia also enjoys singing her favorite songs. We usually hear “Ba Ba Black Sheep” whenever she's getting sleepy and “The Wheels on The Bus” when we're in the car. Some other tunes she likes to belt out are: “Row Row Row your Boat” “Itsy Bisty Spider” and “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” She does really well with singing all of the words, it's quite amazing! Miss Livi-Pie has also been able to make a few trips to the Library during the day while the rest of the town is in school. Her and Grandma will usually pick out a few books every other week, bring them home to sanitize, and read away! Her favorite story this week is “The Three Bears.”

We've also ventured over to the park a few times. Gram had brought Olivia there on my lunch break one day and she loved it! The next day she wanted to go back, so her and I got some ice cream and went for another stroll in the park...











For Easter Gram and Gramps got Olivia a new swing set to play with at their house. This kid loves the outdoors to begin with, but now you literally have to drag her back inside! Whenever we're driving to their house and pull around the corner, she”ll say, “Theres my playground!”
And when we leave she says, “Bye swing set!”



We've also been enjoying church on a regular basis now that the germs aren't quite as ramped. A few weeks ago our church hosted The Cono Choir. Livi really enjoyed hearing all of the music and seeing all of the people.



This past weekend my grandma, Aunt Tee, and Miss Emma came to visit. On Friday I took off work early and we went to the City Wide Garage Sales in a neighboring town. I was on the hunt for a dresser for the baby's room as well as some other odds and ends. My little shopper had a great time. We wore ourselves out! Every time we would leave one garage sale she would say, “We don't hafta go home yet!” Unfortunately, I didn't find the dresser I was looking for (However, Grandma Lynch came to the rescue!), but I did find some other great buys. Livi also found something she wanted to buy. It was a little Pooh Rattle. She picked it up and said, “I wanna get 'dis for the baby.” I told her we could, so she carefully carried it up to the lady and reluctantly gave it to her so she could take off the sticker. Once Livi got the rattle back she held it up to my tummy and said, “Here you go baby, 'dis is for you.” My heart just melted! I think I actually had tears swelling up in my eyes too. It was just the most precious thing! Miss Livi-Pie is going to make such a great big sister.

After the garage sale extravaganza we made our way back to town. The girls played for quite a bit while we all got caught up. I was proud at how well they got along and no major fighting over toys.






Her is Miss Olivia singing, “Ba Ba Black Sheep” to Baby Emma

We've also made quite a few trips to Iowa City for therapy and for my OB. We we're actually supposed to have both today, but Liv's therapist was ill. So, I just took her with me to my doc. It was actually a really short appointment, which I am so not used to. They listened to baby's heart, which was 148 bpm today. I'm supposed to come back in a month for a detailed ultrasound and we will have the fetal echo sometime around there as well. Now that I'm comfortably inside my second trimester things have been moving along much faster. The first two and a half months were pretty brutal! I tell ya, God makes you forget all of the bad stuff for a reason...I'm still a little tired, but I'm feeling pretty good. However, I've noticed I'm gaining weight and getting bigger a bit faster the second time around. I talked to another girl last week who was having the same issue. I've read this happens to a lot of women during their second pregnancy, so I'm trying not to worry about it too much. Having a little baby bump is fun! I might as well enjoy it while I can, right?!



Thanks for taking the time to check in on us. Please keep Livi in your prayers as always and also keep baby in your prayers for a clean bill of health after the ultrasound and echo. I will try and post one more time before then and I will definitely post after words. Also, please keep our heart buddy and former PICU neighbor, Bryce Draisey in your prayers (carepages name:brycedraisey). He's in the PICU again right now, currently fighting for his life.


Olivia making a very special card for her buddy Bryce

PS If you ever want to see the full pic, just click on it. I update carepages with the same update and for some reason the pic doesn't format right into here. I don't have the energy to go back and redo all of the pics for the blog. Sorry!