Olivia is 14 Months Old!

Olivia, Olivia, Olivia.  You are growing into such a fun little toddler.  Most days I'm completely smitten with you!  You have learned to go with the flow, and you let us know when you're not happy.  You may be small and fun to be with, but you don't let us overlook you.

You are learning to communicate and it's so impressive.  You know exactly how to get what you want.  If it's on the counter, you stand right beside the counter at the spot and reach up, opening and closing your hands.  You especially like to stand and reach to ask for your soother, which is always kept in the same spot on the counter.

You love it when your siblings play the "Put your hands up if..." game while eating their meal; as soon as you hear, "Put your hands up!" you put both of your hands up.

You run to the microwave as soon as you hear it on, always assuming that it means your bottle is being heated up.

You have become much better at eating your breakfast and lunch.  You are starting to understand logic, which has helped.  "Eat one bite of your bread and then you can have a bite of fruit."  You also understand when someone gives you a cookie or a candy and asks you to bring it to me to help you with it.  You don't even try to take a bite until you've reached me.

You love shoes.  When I tell you to get your shoes so we can go, you run (yes, run!) to your shoe bin and grab a matching pair...usually your pink crocs.

You also have an obsession with Matthew and Kayla's underwear.  Weird, I know.  Whenever they have a pair laying around (either clean or dirty), you manage to find it and walk around with it (sometimes on your head!).

You learned how to give high-fives.

You are not scared to go down any size slide.  If there's no one to help you, then you go down on your tummy, feet first.

You have discovered your love of books.  You like to sit and point to things and babble.  Yes, you are really starting to babble lots now!  It's really cute!  Your first word was "Mom"!  Whenever you need me and I'm not in the room, you yell "Mom! Ma!  Mom!".  Very cute.

You love any kind of bouncy ball, and will pass it when asked.

You love any doll that has a bald head.  If the doll has hair, you want nothing to do with it.

You are great at having your teeth brushed.  You sit on the counter and patiently wait while I brush the top and bottom teeth.

You get really excited when you see your cousin Emma's house, or when Emma comes to visit Grandma's house, too.  You get really shy when Grandpa tries to talk to you.

You have adjusted really easily to having only one nap a day.  You go down any time between 12 and 1, and typically sleep for two hours.

You get really excited when Jon comes home from work.  You run to him to give him a hug.  Likewise, you get really excited when your siblings get home if you haven't been with them.  Kayla is definitely your favourite, though, because she pays so much attention to you.  She is the first one to help you if you need help.  That being said, she's also the first one to remove you from a situation if you're being annoying to them :).

You weigh 23.6 lb and are 31.5" tall.  You are quickly outgrowing your 12-18 month clothes.  I nearly died the other night when I put a 2T fleece sleeper on you and it actually fit quite nicely... I was expecting you to drown in it!

Olivia, stop growing up!!  You're supposed to be my baby forever, remember? :)

Olivia is 13 Months Old!

**So I had started typing this around September 9...but for some reason I never finished and posted it!  Oops.  So here it is, in it's unfinished version because a new '14 month' entry will be coming soon.**

And...just like that, it's already been a month since your birthday.

This month you have started dropping your morning nap, and replacing it with only having one nap, beginning around noon.  This is probably a good thing because once Matthew and Kayla are in school for full days (in a couple weeks), then it would be best for you to only have one nap because a later one in the afternoon would be cut extremely short due to school pick-up time.

You have really started to sleep through the night, which is wonderful!

Your favourite foods are oranges, strawberries, and candy!  You LOVE suckers.  I asked you to share yours with me the other night and you kindly reached it out to me.

You don't fall asleep in your carseat very easily, even if you are due for a nap.

You don't like being put in the church nursery.  I get called back in every Sunday, usually after I've only sung a couple songs.  Once I'm in there, then you're fine.  You also have a strong preference for myself over Jon when you're upset.

You have three bottles a day: 6oz before your morning nap, 6oz before your afternoon nap, and then 8oz before bed.  If you need one during the night, you get between 3-4oz.

Part Two: Our Two Week Vacation - Gallagher Lake (Oliver)

After a week of camping at Wright's Beach Camp with my side of the family, everyone packed up to head out while we packed up to head out for a week of camping with Jon's side of the family.

What's a Struik family vacation without some updated family photos?!?!

{The family!}

{The grandkids!  There are 21 of them from 6 months to 15!}

{Jon and his four older sisters}

{Jen & Dave and kids}

{Pauline & Mike and kids}

{Leanne & Ryan and kids}

{Michelle & Kam and kids}

{Us!}

{Matthew}

{Kayla}

{Nathan}

And now, for the regular camping photos:

{Early morning shenanigans!  I was usually one of the first up, with Olivia.  I gave up on changing her before letting her out of the trailer.  Letting the others sleep is worth way more than clean pajamas.}

{Morgan was a frequent visitor at our site.  She always sat in the same spot at the table and liked to eat with us when we had hagelslaac (chocolate sprinkles) on bread in the morning}

{She was very fond of Olivia}

{By the end of our last week, Olivia was crazy in the water.  She would just walk straight in and wouldn't stop, even when the water was at her shoulders!!!}

{Buried in the sand and given mermaid tails}

{All the tricycle/bike riding kids...19 of them!}

{They went to bed amazingly every night; they were just so exhausted from all of the non-stop playing!}