No More Walker!

The walker is cleaned up and ready to be taken back to the neighbors that let us borrow it. Olivia has reached another hurdle and does not need it anymore. She can walk all around the house by herself. I am always encouraging her to learn and grow and get stronger but it is also a little sad when I step back and think about how fast she is changing and growing up. I can't keep up with how much she learns each week and how strong she has gotten since we came home only three short months ago.

The good part is now she can play and wander around while I get things done. While I'm busy in the kitchen she is busy pulling out every piece of Tupperware from the cabinet I leave unlocked, just for that reason. It keeps her busy and gives her something to carry around as she makes the circle from the kitchen through the dining room, through the living room, sometimes down the hall and into her bedroom and then back to the kitchen. She will be wearing a path in the flooring the way she keeps circling. Misty also has to be on guard a little more now as Olivia loves to pet her and follow after her.

Her vocabulary has not changed much but she has surely mastered "hi". Every time she comes into a new room she says "hi", "hiiiiiiiieeeee". She can almost get herself standing up without pulling on something but is still developing those muscles and is a little weak and shaky but almost has it. One of these days it will just happen and she will be so proud of herself again. Today she walked outside in the grass with bare feet for the first time. She thought it was pretty neat but can also move pretty fast so I really have to watch her out there.

She still loves to eat and eat anything. I've been blending up our own food and she loves it all. Chicken and rice, lasagna, venison, potatoes, vegetables, she isn't very picky. She still gets her bottle with milk but can also drink from the sippy cup. I like to hold her and give her the bottle before she takes a nap or goes to bed but she is starting to bite on the nipple so when she chews through this one I guess I will have to give up the bottle too.

It's Official Once Again

Tuesday, August 21st we had Olivia's USA Adoption Hearing in Juneau. A bunch of family came along and Judge John Storck handled the case, thanks to Olivia's Aunt Lynn who works for the Judge and pulled some strings. That made it even more personalized and special for us. He did a really nice job and Olivia had fun and smiled and laughed the whole time. She is always happy to be around a lot of faces she recognizes and once again put on a show for everyone. Even Judge Storck asked if she is always so happy and smiling.

So it is now official in the US and the paperwork is winding down. There are still monthly things to do for the adoption agency but that is minor compared to the mounds of paperwork we have done over the last 2 1/2 years.

After the hearing we came back to our house for pizza and cake and ice cream to celebrate.

Olivia is now walking on her own. I still keep her confined to only carpeted areas since she sometimes falls pretty hard yet, especially when she gets tired. We are still working on standing up without pulling up on something but that will come soon. She is a very happy baby and make our lives very happy too!!

More Portraits

Here are a couple more poses from when we had Olivia's first year pictures taken. She is really making progress that can be seen almost daily. She now easily sits up, goes into a crawl, crawls across the room to something she can pull herself up to a stand on and takes off. We have to move furniture around to block doorways and corners so she has a cushioned fall. She falls pretty easily yet so we're trying to prevent any major "ouches" until she is a little more aware of how much falling can hurt. She is still pretty oblivious to the fact that she will probably fall when she is trying to run down the hall.

Our next goal is to be able to stand up on her own without having to use something to pull herself up on.

The days really go by even faster now since she gets more and more active with her new-found independence. And, I'm sure the days will not slow down for quite some time.

She has also been sitting up and standing up in her crib while waiting for me to come in to get her from her naps.

Pitz Party

Olivia had more socializing to do this past weekend. On Saturday we were at a turkey roast that a friend was having. On Sunday we went to Oshkosh for a Pitz family get-together. Steve's Aunt Sylvia and Uncle Tom had it at their house by Lake Winnebago. It was really nice day and many of the relatives there had not seen Olivia yet. She warmed up to Grandma Pitz and was pretty happy with everyone else. She is getting a little more "clingy" with me when we are with strangers but eventually warms up and plays. She is always so quiet around other people though. No one will believe how loud she can be. It wasn't until she was back in the truck and on the way home when she babbled the whole hour ride home. Her talk is really cute but I guess we are the only ones that are allowed to hear it for now.

A lot of the family members left by the time we remembered to take a group picture but we got a pretty nice one taken on the steps before everyone was gone.

Sisters.....

THIS SAYS IT ALL:

Time passes.
Life happens.
Distance separates.
Children grow up.
Jobs come and go.
Love waxes and wanes.
Men don't do what they're supposed to do.
Hearts break.
Parents die.
Colleagues forget favors.
Careers end.
BUT.........
Sisters are there,
no matter how much time and how
many miles are between you.
A girl friend is never farther away
than needing her can reach.
When you have to walk that lonesome valley and you
have to walk it by yourself, the women in your life
will be on the valley's rim, cheering you on,
praying for you, pulling for you, intervening on
your behalf, and waiting with open arms at the
valley's end.
Sometimes, they will even break the rules and walk
beside you...Or come in and carry you out.
Girlfriends, daughters, granddaughters,
daughters-in-law, sisters, sisters-in-law, Mothers,
Grandmothers, aunties, nieces, cousins, and extended
family, all bless our life!
The world wouldn't be the same without women, and
neither would I. When we began this adventure called
womanhood, we had no idea of the incredible joys or
sorrows that lay ahead. Nor did we know how much we
would need each other.
Every day, we need each other still.

More Party Time!

This past Saturday we had a party to celebrate Kyle's confirmation. He missed his actual confirmation service while we were in China but was confirmed on Father's Day. To spread out the work and expense we waited until August 4th to have a party for him. Both sides of our families came, along with friends and neighbors. It rained on and off from beginning to end but no one complained since we really need the rain. The tent we borrowed from Grandpa and Grandma Manning gave us plenty of protected space for everyone to sit, eat, drink and enjoy themselves. Olivia got a good nap in before everyone got here so she was happy and ready to go. She worked the crowd all afternoon and had a great time. She spent her time walking around in her walker socializing, dancing on Grandma's lap and eventually talking Aunt Lynn into helping her sneak some confirmation cake! I'd say she has everyone wrapped right around her finger.

Olivia is now going from laying down to sitting up with no problem. Before the confirmation party started, when I went in to get her from her nap she was sitting up in bed for the first time! It looked funny to me to see her in there like that. Pretty soon she will learn to pull herself up to stand and take off walking. More of her personality comes out everyday and she can be so funny and she loves to do whatever she can to make everyone laugh.

First Portraits

I picked up Olivia's portraits that we had taken to represent her Baptism and first birthday. They are all very cute and will eventually get a copy of each one out on the blog.

Here are a couple.....

Big Step

Tuesday evening while we were all relaxing before going to bed Olivia was rolling around in the living room on her blanket playing and sat herself up for the first time completely by herself!
I know this does not seem like a big deal for a 13 month old baby but for her it is a really big step. Two months ago she had a hard time sitting upright without tipping over. She has grown in strength and coordination in leaps and bounds. Dawn, the Physical Therapist we have coming over once a week to work with her says she is really getting strong each week.
From her sitting position she then tries to crawl up on furniture or whoever is sitting near her. We still need to work on that but it gets better everyday. I think very soon she will learn this and be able to walk around without assistance. She can already walk between people from one end of a room to another. This also is a little shakey sometimes but will just take practice. She still only says ma-ma, da-da and hi but she knows the meaning of many words, especially "bath" and is starting to make sounds to go with animal names.
No new pictures for this posting but this week I'll be picking up Olivia's first portraits and you can bet I will have them out on the blog. Stay tuned......