Livia’s First Park Adventure!

One of Livia’s favorite things to do is look out our bedroom window. We live on one of the top floors, and Livia is fascinated by the “little” cars, houses and people outside. Last week I noticed a park on the other side of the street. Today we decided to check it out. It. Is. Awesome. There is a small jungle gym for kids Livia’s age with two slides (a small toddler slide and a “big kid” slide), a larger jungle gym for 4-5 year olds, a swing set, some little tunnels, and a big sand pit. There were a couple of kids Livia’s age and few “big” kids running around and jumping off the platform that separates the two jungle gyms.
The first thing we checked out was the slide.

There were several ways to climb up to the slide, and Livia tried them all!
At one point, there was a boy (about 3 years old) who was going on the big kid slide behind her.Livia decided to follow him. The thing is, once he was off the slide, he started putting  wooden blocks at the bottom of the slide. Being the preschool teacher I am, I asked what he was building.  Turns out it was a barricade. I let him know Livia might go down the slide. He said  “It’s ok, she can slide down and knock them off!” I was a little hesitant, since it was a pretty big slide AND there were wooden blocks at the end. I also noticed a couple of judging eyes from the benches. As I stood at the top of the slide with Livi, I knew I  had two choices. Accept this big kid’s challenge or move to the baby slide. Livia was tired of waiting, let go of my hand and slid through that barricade like a champ! She even helped rebuild it so he could go through it again, too! My baby is awesome.
From there, she crawled through the tunnel a few times.

We spent about a minute on the swingset, and then she noticed the ONE thing she can’t resist…

WATER.

Beside the sandpit, there is a water faucet for cleaning sand toys. She spent about 20 minutes “washing” sand toys and sneaking some sips of water.  There was another boy there, too. He was almost 3. They took turns at the water faucet and played together. Unfortunately, Livia made him cry a few times by wacking him with a shovel and snatching toys. I redirected her (as best anyone can redirect a 1 year old) and apologized. His mom said he’s just too sensitive. I thought this was pretty funny.

I knew she was all done when she signed “eat” and said “up”. We walked home, happy and drenched in water and sand.
I can’t wait to go back!

The Decision.

No, not Lebron’s.

As of January 2015, I’m going to be a Stay-At-Home Mom.  Between teaching, working towards my Bachelor’s degree AND balancing wife/mommy life, I am spread so thin, it is ridiculous. i don’t like feeling like I am putting a little bit of energy into a lot of things, but that’s what I’m doing. I decided that something has to give, and for now, it’s my job.

I cannot and will not put my degree on the back burner and longer. I am more than halfway done with my program!

I also want and need to be there more for Livia. I think about the future- on her first day of Kindergarten, I don’t want to look back in regret and wish that I had more time to enjoy the little things. The weekends aren’t enough. The two hours after work before bedtime aren’t enough. I don’t want to miss anything!

I am really looking forward to daily adventures, having unlimited time together, trying Mommy and me classes,  meeting other Moms and babies in our community and watching Livia grow!

Random Cuteness

 Livia is a Daddy’s Girl!

 

 Livia LOVES the water. ❤

 

 She loves taking ALL of my makeup brushes out!

 …and my accessories!

 

This next series of pictures is my absolute favorite. I loveee how creative she already is!

Livi’s Favorite Game (the next 5 pictures): 

    (What is this broccoli good for?)  I find ways to use EVERYTHING as a basketball! (Play food, blocks…you name it!)!

LiviaLately

 

I have been so busy that every time I decide to write a post it ends up having TONS of news crammed in it. This is what has been going on in La Casa de Medici-Bentley:

 

*Livia is walking practically running everywhere!

*The pediatrician says that Livia is very advanced language-wise, and thinks she may have up to 20 words by 15 months 😀 (Speaking of words, Livia says “NO” a lot! )

*Livia signed her first sentence…she now can sign “More, please!”

*The separation anxiety phase has begun! If she even passes my classroom and catches a glimpse of me, she cries and cries. Luckily, the tears subside after about 30 seconds.

*I turned 26 yesterday! I honestly almost forgot my own birthday.

*No more formula! Livia transitioned beautifully to cow’s milk. She has mastered the sippy cup and can even drink out of a real cup!

*Livia is 29 inches tall (she is literally half my height). Whenever I wear her, everyone tells me she’s ”almost too big for the carrier”. Ugh. Whatever, I love wearing her and will continue to do so!

*I’m back in school! I am pursuing my Bachelor’s degree online with University of Phoenix. I’m about halfway done!

 

 

 

 

I *DO* Have Time! :)

Vacuming. Swiffer-ing the Kitchen Floor. Dusting. LAUNDRY. My “To-Do” list was getting longer and longer, and I felt like each chore would be a day’s work. I started to feel like my whole weekend was going to be dedicated to chores, chores, chores, and that I would never be completely caught up. Then, this morning something came over me. I got up and decided to just ”get it over with”. I wore Livia in her carrier and started with a HUGE load of laundry. The folding was done in no time. Feeling accomplished, I moved on to using the Wet Jet on the hard floors, vacuuming the living room, dusting, and taking out the recycling. Before I knew it, I had finished ALL of the chores that have been haunting me all week within 90 minutes! To top it off, Livia fell asleep while I was wearing her! I came up with the idea to make a “Time Bank” and write every dreaded chore and the amount of time it actually takes to complete it. This way, next time I feel like folding the laundry will take me “2 HOURS“, I will look at my little reminder and remember that even the biggest load of laundry only takes about 20 minutes to fold. Maybe it’s a little cheesy, but it made me feel better! 🙂

Standing!

My little angel has reached a very important milestone- standing independently!!! This started a few weeks ago, but as of late, she just wants to stand all the time!
She is so proud of herself! There is nothing like watching her achieve something and seeing her react by clapping and smiling, as if she’s saying “Wow, look at me!”

 

First Bday Photoshoot!

As I may have mentioned before, the theme for Livia’s first birthday party is “Livia’s Onederland” (inspired by Alice in Wonderland, but no cookie-cutter stuff).
The party will be a “garden tea party” with a whimsical feel. 
Two of the songs from the Disney movie (and my main source of  that I love are “A World of My Own” and “A Golden Afternoon”.  Livia loves nature, so there will be lots of floral decor (real and fake). My favorite part of the song “World of my own” says “All the flowers would have very extra special powers, they would sit and talk to me for hours”.   😀
The part of the “Golden Afternoon” song that I love is “you can learn a lot of things from the flowers, especially in the month of June”… June is Livia’s birthday month..how perfect! 😀
I’m coming up with a bunch of fun kid avtivities for the party that go with the theme… definitely sensory,something cool and messy they can get their hands into! 

On Saturday, I picked up two tutus from “Giggles and Wiggles”,  (my go to place for tutus and bows)!  We did a Queen of Hearts photoshoot that we will use for the party invitations. She also took a few pics in her Alice inspired tutu, but we are redoing them this weekend.

(My parents have the perfect house for this theme!!!)

I still have lots of crafting to do (I’m DIY-ing most of it) , but I know that once it comes together it’ll be amazing.:D:D:D

St. Patty Snow Day! (Pics)

We are so over the cold weather and snow, but we can’t complain about a day off together! 🙂

Here is how we have been enjoying our snow day. (And yes, those are Santas. She is being ironic.)

 

Exploring in the kitchen! She figured out how to use the chair as a walker! (Oh boy).

 

Learning about manners at a tea party!

She held the cup to her mouth and everything! But as soon as Livia realized that there was nothing to drink and that the food wasn’t real, she left me! 😦

 

 “Maybe if I eat the nasal bulb, Mommy can’t use it!”

 Hiding from Mommy! (“I wonder why she was able to find me!”)

 

 Never still for a moment!

This  crazy girl really keeps me on my toes. She gets into EVERYTHING. She even tried to climb our elliptical!

After a busy, busy morning, she is taking a nap, and I am recharging my batteries for when she wakes up! 🙂

 

 

Happy Hump Day!

Today was our first day back to school after 2 fun snow days.  The first day back to school after the weekend (especially a long one) always requires us to leave early. We’re getting into the groove of things again. It’s always the day I have to replenish her diaper supply and her ‘extra clothes’ supply. Dropping her off seems to take a little longer on these days. Thank goodness I work across the hall, or I would ALWAYS be late!

Nothing makes me appreciate my UppaBaby Vista stroller (nicknamed The Hummer) more than leftover snow on sidewalks. I feel like it could conquer anything.

Some men get really macho over their SUVs. I kind of get the same feeling with my stroller. I look over at the stroller next to me like “look at those tiny wheels. How are you going to get over this pile of snow? Watch THIS!”

…and all of a sudden it’s like the “Like a Rock” song from the Toyota commercial comes on.

Anywho…Fast forward to after school…

I decided that it was time to establish a legit night time routine.  Of all people, I should know how important routine is to children, and yet we have just been winging it at night.

The biggest inconsistency was bath time. Livia outgrew her little infant tub, but our sliding shower doors made giving her a bath in the big tub IMPOSSIBLE. The rails made it painful for me to lean over the tub, and the doors blocked off half of the tub. I kept having to put the infant tub in the living room because it’s the only place she could really fit! Thankfully, my mom came over this weekend and had the shower doors gone in a few minutes.

We started our new night time routine tonight!

Here’s what we did:

*Dinner (pastina in chicken broth) while reading/”discussing” her daily report and what she did that day.

*Play time

*Bath time (her first big girl bath at home!)

*Lotion, diaper, and pj’s while listening to her Nighttime Classical Music mix (an awesome gift from a friend)

*”Goodnight Moon” and “Runaway Bunny” while listening to her Nighttime Music and drinking her bottle

*Cuddling until she drifted off 🙂 .

It was so easy.Why haven’t I been doing this all along? She didn’t fight sleep like she usually does. This was a great way to wind down and we will definitely do this every night. I feel like if we do this every night, she will feel even more secure because she will know what to expect (DUH!).  To be honest, it also made me feel better because this will ensure that I read to her every night. I feel so guilty when I don’t!

Hard to believe tomorrow is already Thursday. I’m not complaining! 🙂