Sweet & Sassy Olivia

Olivia has changed SO much in the past month! On Dec 8th Johnnie and Chris went to the Tech/TCU basketball game and Lara and I went shopping with the girls. That was the first time Olivia said, "Hi" and how cute that she said it to her BF Hayden. It was really sweet and she's been saying it, usually while waving her little hand, ever since. Its pretty much her only word so she says it about a hundred times a day. Then I took her for her 9 month well check on Dec 14th and she weighed in at 17 lbs 4 oz (25th%) and I can't remember how long she was but she's in the 75th percentile. So she's tall and skinny. And perfect. That morning before her appt I checked her gums for any signs of teeth and there was nothin. That afternoon after her appt I had to reach in her mouth to pull out some carpet fuzz or something that she had put in there and I felt a little toofy coming through! I had just joked earlier with someone in the waiting area at the dr office that I didn't think she was ever gonna get any teeth. Then the next day, Dec 15th, was my brother's birthday. My dad took the day off work and Olivia and I met him and my mom and Lindsay for breakfast at Waffle House b/c Zach always loved eating breakfast at the WH. Linds even got down a cup of black coffee since that is how he always drank it and he always tried to get her to drink it that way too. Then we all came back over to my house so Olivia could take her morning nap and before I got her down she started crawling across the living room floor! Very exciting! It only took her a couple of days after that to figure out that she could pull up to her knees and reach things that were sitting on our fireplace hearth, it's pretty low. Then on January 5th I went in to get her out of her crib in the morning and she was standing up in her crib holding on to the top rail. Since then she has pulled up onto furniture in the living room, King, etc... She hasn't started "cruising" around on things yet but I'm thinking it won't be long. And she's gotten to be a pretty fast crawler too! And she can crawl up the step from one living room into the other. Along with all of these milestones she has developed some serious sassiness. She has started clawing faces, pinching noses (HARD!) and pulling hair. And I'm not talking about pulling hair like babies that just pull hair b/c its there and they like to grab it. She will look me in the eye after I've told her not to do something and YANK the crap out of my hair. For several days I dealt with it not knowing what else to do and just kept on telling her NO but since that wasn't working at all I decided I would give a little tug on her hair to see if maybe she would understand. So she pulled my hair, it HURT, I tugged a little on hers, she looked at me surprised like, "I can't believe you just did that!" Then her surprise face turned very quickly into her mean face and she grabbed and pulled my hair harder than ever! So I tugged a little harder on hers and she got the point that time - I felt awful. Her mean face turned to super hurt feelings face and then open mouth cry face and she just melted into my chest and cried. I felt really bad and was even embarrassed to even tell anyone what I had done. Until the next day, then I told my mom to see what she thought. She said I shouldn't feel bad and that I wasn't a mean mommy. So I told Johnnie, then Lindsey, then everyone else that would listen and I soon realized that I did the right thing because she's only pulled my hair a couple of times since then and when she does it she looks at me and waits for me to say NO and then she doesn't really pull very hard. So she's still testing her boundaries. Now the clawing the face thing I'm not sure what to do about. I promise I won't claw her back, LOL. But I have scabs on the side of my nose and she made my dad's face bleed the other day. What I've been doing is just telling her NO and putting her down by herself and walking away from her and telling her Don't scratch! or Don't pull hair! or Don't hit me! It's doesn't seem to be working that well because she's still doing it but I think she'll start figuring it out soon. I hope. I thought of putting her somewhere as punishment, like her crib or pack n play, but her crib is supposed to be for happy, relaxing, sleepy time, not meant as punishment. And same for the pack n play, so for now I guess I'll just keep setting her down in the floor by herself and walking away and sitting by myself. Since she has started crawling she has developed a whole new relationship with King. It is so cute, she will crawl all over him. She was doing it last night and I went to get my camera and the battery was dead :( He just lays there and lets her pet and crawl and hit on him. We're still trying to teach her not to pull on his ears or hit his face but he is being such a good boy and is so patient with her. He's the best dog ever. Last week we went down to the ranch to hang out with Chris, Lara, Hayden, Jim and Pam for New Years. We were there all week and had a great time. It was a lot more of a challenge for me with Olivia crawling but it was fun as always. I never got my camera out but I know Lara took some pictures so I'll post them soon. Also, just like every new year, I'm tryin to lose weight. I gained 50 lbs when I was pregnant with Olivia and I've only lost 30 of those lbs so I've GOT to get with it. Johnnie needs to lose some weight too and Jason and Lindsey have started a new diet/workout so we are challenging each other to a weight loss contest. Since we are all different weights and heights we are doing it by the percentage of weight loss like on Biggest Loser. We started on Monday and I've lost 1/2 a pound a day so I've lost 2 lbs so far which is a great start. Wish me luck!!! OH - I almost forgot - I mentioned all the sassy but not the sweet! So, after she pulls your hair, claws your face, or hits you she will immediately hug you and say, "awwwww". Its hard to get on to her after that and she seems to know that. Also she will say her sweet little, "hi" as she is hurting you in hopes that that will make it ok. It is also very sweet how she loves her special auntie pillow. Johnnie's great aunt Helen passed away a few years ago and for some reason I wanted to keep her pillow. She only slept on small, long, skinny pillows and I thought that was so funny. So when I was pregnant and "nesting" I came across that pillow and thought it would be perfect for Olivia. So my mom got some baby pink chenille and covered it and in the past couple of weeks Olivia has really made it her comfort item. When I go to get her out of her crib she always grabs for her pillow so it can come with her. And she hugs it and says, "awwww" which is so sweet.