My Baby Girl is TWO!!

Don't ask me where these last 2 years have gone because frankly I've got nothing.  As I sit here typing this I'm at a loss of where to start or what really to write because there is just so much!

You have become this whole little person and every day I watch you and I'm in awe of you.  You have such a wonderfully quirky big personality.  You are funny and sweet and filled with so much little drama that all your dad and I can do at times is laugh (because if I don't laugh I might cry).  You love your sister with your entire little being and if there was anything that I could have hoped for it was that you two would be exactly like how you are!

I hope you always know how much we love you and how very proud and honored we are that we get to be your mom and dad.  When your dad and I got married we knew we wanted a family.  We knew we wanted two little people to call ours.  What we didn't know was how wonderfully amazing you two would be.  We love you Livy Girl to the moon and back!  Happy Birthday Love!!



Liv 2 Year from Nikki Westbrock on Vimeo.

22 Months

You my dear are crazy!!  Crazy good and sometimes a little crazy bad!  The baby in you is disappearing so quickly.  It's disappearing from your face and most definitely from your attitude {your attitude is more like a teenager}.  I miss the baby in you but I will say that this is one of my most favorite ages.  It's tough, don't get me wrong, but you are becoming such a little person and learning so much and you get so excited about things and want to be so independent and it's such a pleasure {most of the time} to watch!

Your vocabulary keeps growing.  All of us could literally sit for hours and spew out words for you to say because honestly it might be the cutest thing of all time.  You are stringing more words together and we are able to understand you a little more each day.  A new thing you are doing is stretching some of your words out.  Like "mooooommmmaaaaa", it cracks me up every time.  Your voice is the sweetest and I want to record it all the time just so I don't forget.

You are determined to be more independent.  Like when we go outside to get in the car or out of the car somewhere you have to walk and right now you think you are pretty hot shit when you get to do so.  You want to do a lot of things by yourself and if we try to help you pretty much freak the hell out.  Like throw yourself on the floor or run in circles because that's apparently what you do when you are mad.

You copy everything your sister does.  From the way she acts, to what she says, to where she plays, to where she runs, to where she sits, to how she eats and what she eats.  There is definitely a pattern here! I love watching you two together.  I love how much you love each other.

The last few weeks you've turned into a whiny little drama queen.  I seriously have no idea where any of that comes from?!  It's a good thing you are as cute as you are because holy hell kid….you are driving me nuts!  The screaming still exists and it's loud….like really really fuckin loud!  You think you are hilarious.  My ears on the other hand don't feel that way.

You still suck at eating and won't get off your bottle.  Not really sure what we are going to do about that.  We've tried so many things but it's your thing and it's your comfort and I know we need to take it away but it's hard.  It's hard for many reasons.  

Some of your favorites right include:
* Mickey Mouse
* Frozen
* My Little Ponies
* Strawberries
* Scrambled eggs & sausage
* Looking at Pictures
* the iPad
* Goldfish
* Playing in our bathtub
* Painted Nails {they are pitttyy}
* Jewelry
* Your sister
* showers
* messing my shit up!

It's hard for me to believe that the next time I write you will be 2.  I have a lot of emotions about it.  I'm excited to see how you grow and how you learn.  I'm sad because you are getting further and further away from our baby girl.  I'm nervous because the attitude that you already have can only be a small inclination of what is to come.  But most of all I'm happy!  I'm happy that I get to be your mom and that I get to experience all of these things with you.  Til next time little lady!  I love you to the moon and back and back again!

20 Months

I'm really not ok with the fact that you are now closer to 2 than you are to 1.  It makes this mama a little sad and I'm trying to hold on to ALL of the moments…All of Them!  I feel like you have grown so much these past 2 months and there seems to be no slowing you down.  So since I can't stop time or even slow it down I'm going to take in all of these last "baby"moments with my whole being because the baby in you is quickly disappearing.  

We celebrated Christmas since the last time I wrote and it was a blast!  You are still a little too young to grasp the whole concept but it was so much fun watching you and your sister take in the magic of the holidays.  You both got a shit ton of stuff and I'm pretty sure that 90% of it doesn't get played with!  You would think we would learn but no….we don't!

Your sister is very much into arts and crafts which means you are very into arts and crafts.  And when I say you are into it I mean it in the literal sense!  You color on everything besides paper and that includes yourself.  You eat the crayons, you throw the markers, you rip all of the papers (especially the ones that your sister has spent so much time on), you take every craft item we own out of their respective bins and dump them all over the place, you pretty much just destroy stuff….Like All of The Stuff!
But when you do manage to get the crayons and markers on a piece of paper you are so proud of yourself and just like your sister you have to share it with us and get our approval that it's the best picture of green scribbles that the world has ever seen!

I know I've said it before but I love seeing you and Mimi together.  Your relationship as sisters and your bond continues to grow every day.  You look up to her in every way.  You want to do what she's doing, you want to say what she's saying, you want to sit where she is sitting, you laugh when she laughs, you cry when she cries.  If I ask her to sit so I can take a picture of her your little butt isn't far behind doing exactly what she's doing.
You two can make each other laugh on the drop of a dime and then the next second you are sitting on her face or climbing all over her or trying to steal the iPad from her or vice versa.  You just want so badly to be included in all the things that she does.  And for the most part she is very patient with you which can sometimes not be the easiest thing.  Besides mom and dad she is your everything.  And I can only pray that that will never change.

You are still just a tiny little peanut!  At your 18 month check up you weighed in at a whopping 20.5 pounds which puts you in the 25th percentile for your weight.  You are in the 50th for your height so all in all you are just teeny and just so damn cute!

You refuse to give up your bottle (or "your crack" as we like to call it)!  Mia took a bottle until she was about two and a half but she would only have it at nap time and bed time.  You absolutely despise sippy cups.  I've tried All of them and you want absolutely nothing to do with them.  We give them to you with the same thing we put in your bottles and you look at us like we are the biggest dumb asses to even think we should be offering you such a thing.  Or you just chuck it at us….it's whatever your feeling at the moment.  I know this is our fault because we haven't been more assertive about getting you off of it but since I'm the one home with you every day I don't know that I'm quite ready for the bloodshed of those days where I don't give you one.  I know I'm going to have to suck it up here soon but God help me when that day comes.

Your vocabulary has definitely grown in these last few months.  It's still a lot of babble, which I just love, but a lot more words have developed.  Mia, Mom, Dada, Nani, Ella, Joe, Papa, Lola, Hot, Help, Thank You, Please, Nigh Nigh, Bankie, Baby, Kitty, Puppy, Boots, Socks, Shoe, Baba, Book, Tag(because you need the tag on your blankies), Up, Nose (which is my favorite word you say because it sounds like "noosh") are just a few.  You are getting really good at repeating back to us when we tell you to say something too.  Mia and Ella love doing that with you where they tell you to say something and you repeat it.  So note to self, I need to really watch my potty mouth because I could probably add shit to the words you say!  It doesn't exactly sound like shit but I'm pretty sure that's what you are saying!  We will keep that between you and me though!!

So….you scream!  Like a lot!!!  And it's not crying screaming it just fuckin screaming to scream!!  Being so tiny one would think that such loud noises aren't possible out of your body but let me tell you…they are possible!!  You feel it necessary to scream all of the time!  If you need to get our attention you scream, if you are happy you scream, if you are sad you scream.  Do you see the pattern here?!  Example being:  You climb up on the bench at the island, you have no problem getting up but need help getting down, which is totally fine and understandable but instead of saying in a very calm matter, "mama, help pease" you scream, "MOOOOOOMMMMMM" "MMMAAAAAMMMMMAAAA" and it continues to get louder and more intense with each passing second that we do not respond or acknowledge you.
So yeah, the screaming…..stop that shit!!!

Recently you have become obsessed with step stools and haul that damn thing around everywhere so you can get your ass into stuff that you aren't supposed to.  It's fun!  

You also have turned into a dumpster diver!  That's real fun to when everyone's dinner scraps somehow turn into your snack.  It's Gross Liv!  Stop eating out of the garbage.  It's not like we don't feed you!

Speaking of eating…you suck at that lately A Lot!  You and Mia have always been really good eaters but lately both of you suck.  Yep…suck!!!  I literally hate dinner time.  We fight with Mia about 5 out of the 7 nights about eating whats put in front of her and you have become super picky about what you'll eat too.  So if you don't like it you scream (Weird that you would scream), you think it's funny to throw it on the floor, wipe it on dad (which totally is kinda funny but don't tell him I said that), spit it out or simply take your plate and shove it across the table or better yet just throw the whole damn plate on the floor…..why waste time taking each individual piece of food off your plate when you could just dump it all in one swift move?!  I really hope this is a faze that you are going through because I loved when dinner was easy.  

Some of the things you still do love are: strawberries, buttered noodles, noodles with our homemade awesome red sauce, cheese, yogurt, oranges, peanut butter and jelly, crackers, plus you love to dip anything into anything!  

You love to terrorize that cat!  Oh yeah, we got a cat for Christmas from Daddy!!  I will say though that I love that you and your sister now have a pet to grow up with.  I'm not ready for a dog so a cat it is!!!  And considering how much you chase, poke, grab and hit Lola she's a good cat and loves you girls!  But could you please stay out of the kitty liter, kitty food and kitty water and for gods sake stop picking her up by her neck.  Thanks!

You are loving swimming lessons.  Daddy is the one that usually goes in with you and he loves it just as much as you do.  I hope you are like your sister and learn to really love the water!

There is so much more that I probably should be writing but I'm going to end it here.  (Totally glad that I'm staying caught up on your Family Project Life album for this year because so much of what you guys do each day is documented there). 

Little Lady, you amaze me in so many ways and spark so many emotions out of me in the course of the day.  I won't ever pretend it's always easy but I do know that I'm so grateful that I'm able to be home with you two girls and would not change it for the world.

I love that you are still a mama's girl and I love that you give great hugs and kisses (when you want to) and I love that when you want to snuggle you have to be right under the crook of my arm, I love that when your dad or I walk thru the door you run to us yelling our name, I love that sometimes you pretend your shy even though we all know the truth, I love how much you love your sister, I love that you have so many stories to tell yet we have no clue what your saying, I love watching you sleep.  I love you little lady…..to the moon and back a thousand gagillion times!!

One Whole Big Year and a Half!

So my little lady…..I completely missed the month of 17 so I'm just going to do a little combining here! You are just growing so fast and doing so many new things that it's hard for me to keep up and keep track of when you said this or when you destroyed that or when you actually stopped yelling "mama, mom, mom, mom, mamma, maaammmaaa, MOOOOOOMMMMM"….I hear you kid, I really do!  It would be different if you actually needed something but when I answer you just keep yelling, MOOOOMMMM!!!  So turns out….mommy left!  No, I'm just kidding, but seriously figure out what the hell you need to ask me before you start yelling my name for 15 minutes straight with no end in sight!

You are beginning to say so many more things and I just love your little voice!  (Note to self:  record sweet little voice saying all these cute things before she starts screaming MOOOOMMMM again.) Words right now:  tank you, pease, Mimi(Mia), Ewa(Ella), dada, mama(she's clearly got this one nailed), papa, Nani(Natalie), Joe, baba, poop, shoe and so many other sounds that we totally get and know what you're talking about!  Also, You love to scream for no reason other than to hear your own voice and to make your sister and cousins laugh their asses off until everyone is screaming and dear god please stop all the screaming!

You've started throwing some tantrums and honestly it's funny shit!  You don't necessarily cry, you get pissed as all hell and run around in circles, throw yourself on the floor (all the while you are looking right at us) and then proceed to destroy/ruin/throw/rip/tear/hurl/punch whatever is around you….and let me tell you….F.U.N.N.Y Shit!!!  (Note to self:  this needs to be recorded too before she really starts screwing shit up). 

You truly love your sister.  You follow her and want to do everything just like her.  And it honestly melts my heart.  I can only pray that you two will continue to be the best of friends.  Because there really is no other relationship like you have with your sister.   She will always be there for you and you for her.  We took Mees to see Frozen the other day (and yes you were pissed we left you but you got over it) and it was a fricken great Disney movie, maybe one of my favorites.  Anyway, the two main characters in the movie were sisters, and without me ruining the movie with my eloquent speaking, the main thing that stuck out to me was at the end…..one sister needed true love to save her frozen heart, and instead of the predictable way of always having the prince ride in and save the day, it was her sister who saved her.  It was the true, pure love of her sister that brought her back.  I want that more than anything for the two of you, that pure love that will always bring you to each other.

You have become obsessed with being on the island in the kitchen.  We finally got a bench to go there so we could sit but it has become your climbing apparatus and it's honestly going to give me a stroke.  I don't know how many more times I can handle walking into the room and find you sipping my coffee while sitting in the middle of the counter?!  GET DOWN KID!!!

You absolutely love seeing yourself in photos or on video or on our phones.  You will FaceTime anyone just so you can watch yourself and make goofy faces at yourself!  Apparently your mother was like this when she was a kid but I just don't' buy it.

I'm sure there is so much more that I could write about but at this moment you are crawling up my leg screaming non other than "mama, mama, maaammmmaaaa, MOOOMMMM" so I'm gonna wrap it up and leave you with a few pics from the past 2 months.
Lovey, you drive me crazy on a daily basis but I really wouldn't have it any other way.  You keep me on my toes and have opened my heart to so many wonderful things.  I might be in a constant state of panic because of all the crazy shit you get into and onto but that's you.  You are a crazy little lady and I love you so very much!  You, your sister and your dad are my whole world and it's a pretty great world to live in!  Love you to the moon and back baby girl!