Opps - Bad Daddy

We've been bad about updating the blog but some milestones I've been keeping tabs on so I'll back date this to ensure we have some of Livy's more memorable moments.

The most recent - Livy is officially saying the F-bomb. Yup, I"m pretty sure its Dwayne who taught it to her (since he uses it the most) and today he's the one who heard her using it - over and over again. Tonight I heard it for myself. Uggh - and so it begins, the bad parenting traits start to rear its head.

Livy putting her crocs on (wrong feet) and chasing me around the kitchen saying 'up' with me trying to get a photo of her.

So far so good

Dec 3 Another 1st beta on December 3rd (starting to see all the deja vu's with our cycle with Olivia yet?) and we got the results that YES (so far) we are pregnant. It was a surprisingly (may not so surprisingly due to the number of embryos transfered) strong beta and it has us worrying a bit about the number of embryos that implanted. Rest assured we've had good betas that have turned into a 1st trimester loss so while we're esctatic that we're here, we're not getting ahead of ourselves and counting our chickens before they hatch (ok, bad joke). For the record, if all works out the due date for this baby is August 13, 1 day after Olivia's due date and one day before her actual birthdate.

Fingers crossed it works, just not too well

(Nov 23) We recieved the call from the clinic that they want to do a 3-day transfer. Once there we transfered 3 beautiful embryos. It was a scary moment as we of course simply want (in an ideal world) one beautiful baby. So, we have our fingers crossed that it works, just not too well.

Opps, we did it again

(November 20) While Dwayne and I would feel eternally greatful for simply having Olivia as our only child we decided that we wanted to try again for another baby. Its for purely selfish reasons, not for a sibling for Livy, but because we love being parents and want to fill our lives with more of the wonderful things that she's brought us. So, we initiated another cycle (with a number of ups and downs) and we're pleased to say that on November 20 (2 years and 1 day after we did it the last time) we once again went through egg retrieval (this time with a clinic on Vancovuer Island) in the hopes of having another successful pregnancy.

She's a big girl now

Today we moved Livy into her toddler bed (well not really moved her, simply removed the front panel off her crib so she has easy in and out access).

It took a few days for her to get that she could in and out herself but now she's a natural and will even crawl out in the dark.

Oh my, she's growing up before our eyes.

Leaps and Bounds..."Please" and "Up"

Livy's caregiver, Wilma, has been so wonderful to have around and great for Livy's development.

Today has marked an official (in my books) milestone for Livy. While Livy has a few words in her vocabulary (out, wow, owyie) she's picked these words up on her own at her own speed. Today, while working downstairs, I could hear Wilma working with Olivia to teach her to say "please" (no easy feat when you ask her to say it and she signs thinking she's doing what you want her to do).

We'll after a short while I could hear Livy say "please". She does it so well we even caught it on video...

Later in the day she also said "up" after being prompted so I think today marks a major milestone and while she may not be on the debate team by tomorrow, I think its certainly time to watch our P's and Q's.

Here's a few other videos we haven't had time till now to post.

Yakity Yak

Dwayne headed out of town a few days ago, a trip that will see him out of town for a number of weeks. Just a few days after he left Livy started talking.

Now, she's been saying a few non-word, words (the odd mom but not in reference with me, whassthat, wow) but this week her 1st word, bubble.

She's been almost a word a day for a number of days including shoe, bubble, purple, out, up...on and on. Its been amazing how quickly she repeats (and how often she remembers) words.

A few odds and sods

Here are a few shots of us and Livy.

Since Livy's Birthday we have been busy with a number of things including Dwayne's first Mtn Bike race as Race Director, Dwayne and I completing the GranFondo (a bike race of 4,000 plus riders traveling 120 km from Vancouver to Whistler) and the other more ho hum things of everyday life.

Shortly after Livy turned 1 we took her in for her 12 month immunization shots to learn that she was again off the chart for weight and height. Weighing in at a heavy 26+ lbs we knew she was big but not how big until an average 18 month old weighed in at 22 lbs.

A few weeks later Livy was at a doctors appointment and tipped the scales at 27 + lbs so the good thing is we know she's growing and she's growing fast.

M-I-C ... K-E-Y, M-O-U-S-E....

Yup, we finally met the big cheese. Mickey Mouse that is.


































Liv and I flew down to Florida over the long weekend and hit the beach and Disney World.




















Livy LOVED Disney World and I can't wait to take her back there when she's older. For now though we've crossed that item off my Bucket List and if nothing else, have fullfilled that parenting obligation for Livy (just in case).















Livy loved meeting all the characters and got to meet all the Winnie the Pooh characters.














She absolutely loved the dance party in the middle of the street. As the only infant out dancing she gained a load of attention.














Riding the carousel was a highlight for the little one. Seeing all the horses go up and down kept her quite entertained. Sitting on her own horse was ubber exciting until she got just a bit too excited checking out all parts of the horse (head, saddle, legs...) and I had to jump up and sit behind her.














Later that day we returned for the Electric Parade and Fireworks. While the little bug slepted through the Fireworks she was mesmerized by all the lights during the parade.



































After returning from Florida we finally got our concrete pad in the front lawn finished and we now have a happening hang out place for sunny summer days and rainy evenings with a toasty fire going (under the canopy of the cedar trees high above).

We finished it just in time for Olivía's birthday.

Here are some more shots of us enjoying Florida.

Arriving by Boat to the Magic Kingdom














First sight of the castle!!





















Hanging with the moving Dinosaurs at the T-Rex Restaurant in Downtown Disney





























Getting ready for Disney Word as Livy sleeps through receiving her first Mickey (or Minny) Mouse Ears.




















Text book Beach Bum



























































1st Beach Sunset
















Getting ready for another sun set.

Happy 1st Birthday Olivia

I can't believe how quickly the last few weeks have flown by. Already its Livy's birthday and I barely even got a chance to put my head up for air.

We had a blast planning and preparing for Olivia's Birthday only to find out Livy had been exposed to the Hand, Foot & Mouth virus a week previously. So we sent out the disclaimer to all guests and only a few of them opted out of the celebration. The best news is dispite her exposure, Olivia managed to weather the virus like a trooper or she somehow managed to escape it entirely.

The theme for the big day was Bugs & Flowers. We had tons of balloons, a 'cake' that was two catepillars surrounded by flower pots and little nicks and nacks celebrating summer and the beautiful weather. At a balmy 30 degrees C it was a scourcher.

Here are a few shots of the Bug's Birthday Party.

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY OLIVIA!!

Bad Bloggers!!

Ok, so its been a while since we've blogged. Usually that means that our days have been busy and time has gotten away from us and of course that's exactly the case.

Lots happened in the last month. The biggest of course is that Livy's transitioned from a creepy crawler to an all out walker.

We're not exactly sure when we can say that Livy was 'walking' since she's been taking multiple steps for almost 2 months now but when she finally decided that walking was faster than crawling 100% of the time was about 10 days ago.

On another note, we have a new addition to our family. Last week we welcomed Wilma, our live in care giver for Olivia. Wilma hails from the Philippines and though there's been a few juggling acts as far as scheduling is concerned, we all have taken to her quite quickly.

On a different note, we can comfortably say that Olivia is now talking. Of course it consists of one syllable, one word sentences but she's saying words with meaning. The two that she says are 'bubble' and 'out' (to the dogs...and sometimes Dwayne and I).

Her words have been part of her vocabulary for a few weeks now and we were even able to get video of them.

Livy's sign vocabulary has expanded as welll with her using the sign for milk (something she does far too often with mom that coupled with a very satisfying smile on her face) and the sign for 'please' (though this one takes a bit of coaxing to get out).

The wonderful thing is we know what she wants and many frustrations are avoided because of the 4 simple words she knows (more, finished, milk and finished).

I'll be adding a few videos and I hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoy watching the little bug each and every day. It keeps getting better but in a heartbeat I would start it all over again.

Little Miss Manners

Well, she didn't learn it from us but she learned something along the way.

We'll see though how long these good habits stick...

Walking on Sunshine

We're not exactly sure where to mark one of the biggest milestones Livy has reached so far. We're not sure if its the first step she took between Dwayne and I, whether its the first 'voluntary' step she took from the dinosaur to the shelf. Its a very hard milestone to measure when there are so many variables in between.

For us, after weeks of Livy doing a two step warble, mixed in with a few 4, 5, 6 steps between Dwayne and I, we determined the moment she 'walked' was when she took 2 steps, turned around 180 degrees and then took 4 more steps to grab on to her dinosaur.

This achievement took place on Sunday, June 13th when Livy was exactly 1 day shy of her 10 months.

Today, June 15th I finally got around to setting up the camera for a little video. She's still wabbly and will still crawl over walking but a few times a day she chooses to take a few steps before sitting down and crawling the rest of her journey.

Here's our video of the Bug and some of her first solo steps.

We had an epic day...

with taking videos. Livy was at her best for performing today and so out came the camera time and again to catch her in action.

Here she is dancing.



Playing with the Receiver - at least the knobs she can reach...



Here's a clip of Livy signing away (with a bit of encouragement from myself and Livy's cousin).

A few more pics of the Bug

Here's a few more pictures of Livy. She's growing and getting more adventurous - taking the odd unassisted step (though not even close to walking) but she is pushing her boundaries and as of a couple of days ago she's back to standing (voluntarily rather than mommy making her) on her own unassisted.

Here she is being daring. She climbed on her bike backwards the other day and though my first instinct was to get her off before the bike took off from underneath her, my second thought was to grab the camera to get a shot because its hard to believe she was able to climb on the bike (backwards nonetheless) without it rolling out from under her. By the time we got the camera ready she was already trying to dismount.























Here's a few more shots of the new set of teeth (making our lives more of a challenge as Livy decides to bite everything to test them out). She tries to bit our hands/arms while we're changing her, bites when she's feeding and bites our legs when she's roaming around. Her new name - Chomper.

























She's also doing this tongue thing (finally caught on camera) where she sticks her tongue off to the side in what we're only guessing is a spot where her new sharp little teeth aren't scratching it. Its somewhat disturbing to watch her crawling around with her tongue hanging off to the side for so long.
























Here's a pic of Livy and Daddy hanging out way past little Livy's bedtime.

























Here's Livy in her "little" outfit made by her auntie Heather...it finally fits and is one of the few pants she has that are big enough for her to crawl around it. Yes, our 23 lb'r stretches the limits of her 18 month clothes and she doesn't fit jeans/pants too well so usually she's limited to wearing dresses with leggings (and even the 18 m leggings look too small).

A few more videos & pics

Here are a couple more videos and photos of the Bug.

Here's the teeth shot (finally) and at least now, a few days after they broke through, you can actually see the teeth.














With mine and Dwayne's genes Livy is predispose to wearing glasses. Here she is trying on Grandma Val's glasses. She does look smarter.













This video of her standing was taken at the beginning of the month (~May 4th). Livy had been balancing on her own for a couple days when we finally got around to getting the camera out (and realizing it wasn't a fluke). She still doesn't like to be "forced" to stand but will do it voluntarily every once in a while. Still, I think its going to be another couple of months before we have to worry about her walking.



Here's a video of the Bug doing her farting noises (and a little bit of assisted walking) again, taken around May 5th or so. Sorry, its a long one.

These are a few of my favourite things...

A few more tidbits to share. Both pictures and stories.

- Livy is walking with a walker now. When she's not on her 'matt' area she has to wear a helmet. She's pretty good about it but only lasts about 10 minutes before she's done with it. We have video too that we'll put up.






















- Livy is sticking her tongue out and blowing making farting noises. Super cute on a 9 month old...hopefully she'll grow out of it before she's 10 (I think I can put up with it for that long...).

















- she's also biting. With her new 5 teeth its rather painful...cute (the little monster that she is) but painful - she thinks its funny (that and pulling my hair). She'll go for the collar bone, knee, arm but her favourite place is the chin.

- Livy's dancing has improved (or at least it now looks like she's dancing). I've been slow to get a video of it but we have a short clip or two before she begins 'touring'.




















- When I feed Livy soup, if a little bit dribbles on her chin she will take her hand and try to shove the rest of it in her mouth. While her efforts are commendable, it makes for rather messy dinner time. Still, the little bug is learning and growing and while this trivial piece of information may seem unimportant to you, its one of the many things that keeps me laughing so I'm writing it down so that I won't forget it years from now.

Oh the shark has pretty teeth dear...

A few more sleepy nights - a few more teeth. 3 of them to be exact.

Two days ago I noticed that Livy's top left tooth had broken through (we had been waiting and watching it for quite a while) and today I noticed that two more to the right of it had broken through as well.

So as of today, Livy has 5. Count em, 1-2-3-4-5 teeth!!

Some of the other fun things that Livy has done over the last 3 weeks include:
- playing peek-a-boo (she'll use blankets, curtains and cover her own head and poke her head out. She has the "duhhhhaaa" part down but not the "peek-a-boo" part quite yet.
- she can move on her Pukylind bike (not very far and not very well but she's got some forward motion figured out).
- she can stand on her own and sit down unassisted (she's doesn't like standing on her own too much as it requires her focus and balance).

Here's a few photos taken waaayyy back in April. Teeth pictures to come when we can get her to open her mouth long enough.

Too cute for words.














Livy hanging on her "second" bike. This one fit her first though (only now she's only allowed on when she's wearing her helmet).



















Goofy Girl








































Daddy's version of putting Livy to bed....nuff said.














Trying to figure out why babies smell so good (most of the time).