Family Photos

The first weekend of November we took family photos with our friend Lauren.  She always does a great job even with an uncooperative toddler.  We all drove up together to McKinney Town Square.  I just think the square is so pretty and lively.  The square also had so many props out and we were able to utilize them.

Lauren has a way of capturing the pure innocence of our little girl.

October

I know it's a little late but here it goes. October was an eventful month. We went to the pumpkin patch with Sherrie, Melissa and my mom. I promise you Vivian had a good time even though we didn't capture many photos of her smiling.

The next week Spencer and I took off work to take Vivian to the zoo.  We happened to chose the only cold day in October to take her so we were trying to get everyone dressed warm for the trip.  I dressed Vivian and then went back to our bedroom to finish getting ready.  I see Vivian walk in our room all casual with her arm hanging out of her shirt.  She seemed so proud of herself for accomplishing this look. We couldn't stop laughing. I think she thought she was going to meet Tarzan at the zoo.

Halloween was the next week and we thought for sure Vivian would love dressing up as her favorite cartoon character Olivia the Pig. Sherrie spent so much time making the costume for Vivian and this was the reaction we got. 

She was by far the saddest pig on the block.

15 months

Vivian is still growing like a little weed.  She is 33" tall (97%) and weighs 23lb. 13oz (75%).  She is always talking and learning new words everyday.  Her new favorite is no.  She says no to everything but draws out the vowel, "Noooo" each time. She knows most of the farm animal sounds and loves to say them except for when you are trying to show her off then she becomes mute. She is also becoming a little helper.  In the afternoons I ask her to grab me a bowl for her snack and she runs to her drawer and opens it and grabs a bowl and brings it to me for her goldfish.  She also drags her laundry basket to the laundry room and helps me pull her clothes out and put them in the washer.

I think the thing she loves most of all right now is dancing.  It doesn't matter what she is doing when she hears music. She stops and raises her hands above her head and starts waving them in the air.

 4th of July

riding the carousel for the first time at Stonebriar Mall

She loves to take all her books off her shelf and throw them on the floor

She hates the life jacket but doesn't care as long as she is dancing

Slim Shady

We went shopping on Saturday and I sat in the backseat with Vivian so Spencer's brother could sit up front. Spencer was in charge of the radio and was not playing child appropriate music but before I could tell him to change the station I noticed Viv's excitement towards the song.  My little own Slim Shady was bobbing her head to Eminem. She was dancing more before I got my phone out but I did catch a little movement.

Please ignore my failed attempt to sing along.



Missing

*LOST*

Sweet and confident 1 year old who slept through the night.

REWARD

Everything I own

Not sure what happened but Friday night we said goodnight to our sweet baby girl and haven't seen her since. She threw up twice Friday night (largely due to the school overfeeding her) and was very irritable (who wouldn't be after just throwing up). She was a bit of a pill on Saturday and then I took her to a pool party where she was clingy, moody, emotional, etc.  I chalked it up to her not feeling well from the night before.  Sunday she was an emotional wreck.  Anytime I walked out of the room she screamed and threw herself to the floor.  She would be laughing one second and crying the next.  She is also waking up in the night.  Once you give her back her pacifier she goes back to sleep...well most of the time. Everyone talks about the terrible 2's and 3's but what about the ornery 1's?  This morning she even cried when I left her at school and that has never happened.  Not sure if it's tooth #12 causing this or just she is finally experiencing separation anxiety but I'm ready for the next phase...NOW!

Miss Thang

Monday I took Vivian to the doctor for her 1 year check up. We were called back by the nurse and I walked ahead and Vivian followed behind me like a little duck with her purse in her hand waving and smiling to everyone as we walked by. She measured in at 31 inches (95th percentile) and weighs 21 lb 9oz. (50th percentile). As the doctor walked in she walked right up to him and handed him her toy and turned around and started talking out loud.  She reached for him when I put her on the table and he just laughed at her confidence. He said most babies fear people they don't see regularly and reach for mommy when someone they don't know tries to touch them. Not my child. She now has 11 teeth. Apparently the average 1 year old has 4-6 teeth. She has quite a mouth full. Her exam went well and he declared her a healthy, happy 1 year old.

Also on Monday she started in her new big girl room at school.  She is no longer in the infant room and in the 12-18 month room. She loves it! She still runs to her old teachers when she sees them and gives them big hugs but loves her new ones too. She now gets to play on the playground twice a day (which before she was inside all day), eats in a chair instead of a highchair and gets one scheduled nap. I was worried about the nap because she has always been allowed to sleep whenever she wanted. She only slept for a total of 1 hour on Monday during the 2 1/2 hour nap time slot. Yesterday however she slept for 2 hours and 20 minutes. I think she figured out she wasn't going to get another cat nap in and needed to sleep as much as she could when she could. This one nap a day and playing outside has also led to her being exhausted by the end of the day.  She is lights out at 7pm until 6am.

She has also started saying a few words: dada, bubbles, bye, hi, ball and do-ge (doggy). For some reason when she talks she curls her lips over her teeth. It's funny but not sure how to fix this problem. Hopefully she just out grows it.

Very proud that she can go down the slide all by herself

Playing in the morning before school

She was not a fan of the parrot at the park

Just another ride around the block



1 Year!

Miss Vivian Grey is now a 1 year old.  I can't believe how fast time flies.  I was looking at pictures of her from the past year and am amazed how fast she has grown in such a short period of time.  She has changed my world in ways I never thought possible.  I love my little peanut. 

We threw her a party on her birthday this past Sunday and all our family came.  I was super excited my Aunt and Uncle drove in from Austin. We just had a low key party at our house with lots of food and presents.  Vivian loved being the center of attention, imagine that.  She received so many wonderful presents.  I'm so grateful for everyone's love and support. 

Vivian was ready for the party to begin

Our family picture from the day

Opening up cool presents while Everett roams the backyard

Her smash cake I made

 She really loves cake and went to town

After everyone left and she took a nap we went back outside and she played with her new sprinkler.  She had so much fun. I hope she had as much fun as we did.

Vivian 10 months

I'm a bit late posting Vivian's 10 month post but for the longest time I couldn't remember my log in for blogger.  Vivian is maturing very fast for her age.  She has eight teeth and her molars are now coming in which means sleepless nights for mommy and daddy.  I keep trying to take a picture of the new tooth but she won't let me.  She is slightly stubborn, not sure where she gets it.  She started walking last week and has been on the move ever since.

She is now eating everything we fix.  No more baby food!!!  She loves pasta, salmon, asparagus, broccoli, carrots, rice, sweet potatoes, meatloaf (I don't make it but they serve it at school), and of course her beloved peas.  She will pick out the peas and eat them first. 

I had a really busy weekend a few weeks ago filled with baby showers and bachelorette parties so Spencer took Vivian to the ranch by himself.  She got to ride on her first tractor.  I was sad I missed it.

Then I got this picture later that night.  Not so sad I missed this.

She is a very happy baby who loves to be tickled, chased and kissed.  I never want these days to go away.



Kitchen Remodel

We started to remodel our kitchen at the end of January.  It seemed like the longest month of our lives with cleaning bottles and dishes in the bathroom but it finally came to an end.  Our kitchen is done.  All we (actually Spencer) have left is to finish the plastering of the ceiling in the kitchen.  We have so much more counter space than before and all the drawers open and close...who would of thought?

Before

After

9 months

Two weeks ago I took Vivian in for her 9 month check up. She was 19lbs and 9 oz (50%) and 29" long (95%).  She is growing like a weed and feel she is going through another growth spurt now. All 4 teeth on top have broken through giving her 8 teeth total. She likes testing them out on my shoulder which is a nasty habit I'm trying to stop. I refuse to have my child be the biter in the classroom.

I haven't been taking pictures like I should lately.  With our house under construction it takes twice as long than usual to do just the simplest of tasks which leaves me with no extra time.  I have however captured a few photos of Viv with my phone.

She was eating blueberries and laughing the whole time.

Her new thing is wearing bibs on her head.  She looks like she is wearing a golf hat.

We now get home at night and walk around the house with her lion.  She loves being on the go and seeing everything around the house. I just love this little girl.

What a week

I'm a little behind in posting.  It has been a tough week at the Mitchell house.  We gutted our kitchen last Friday to prepare for the new install of cabinets.  Trying to function without a kitchen is not an easy task with a baby.

I worked from home Monday and Tuesday and cleaned all the floors and sealed them.  Wednesday we were set for the new cabinet install.  I had noticed a rash on Viv's legs Tuesday night and figured it was a reaction to one of her shots she had at her 9 month check up the day before.  Wednesday morning the rash was much worse and all over her body. I still took her to daycare thinking it was just a reaction because the cabinet people were on their way to our house.  About 30 minutes after they arrived I got a call from the daycare telling me they believed Vivian had the dreaded Hand, Food and Mouth Disease (HFMD) and that I had to pick her up immediately.  So I raced to the school and came back home with Viv where the noise was so intense from the drills and saws.  I get her into see the doc about an hour later and they confirmed it was indeed HFMD.  She also had a minor ear infection that they told me just to monitor. What a waste of a doctors visit since there is nothing you can do for HFMD.

Thursday her blisters were bad, especially on and in between her toes. We also discovered Thursday that our hot water heater wasn't working.  Not cool, I mean way cold.  Thursday afternoon I started to feel weird back cramping, within a few hours I had chills, aches, fever, nausea, etc.  Vivian was trying to crawl all over me and I didn't want to touch her because I feared I had the flu or something and didn't want to give it to her.  I just kept trying to get her to entertain herself which by the grace of God worked.  I think I also bored her to death and she was hoping someone would come by and play with her.  If only "Somewhere Out There" was playing in the background.

Spencer's mom rescued me Thursday night and took care of Vivian all day Friday.  It was so hard for me to rest knowing Sherrie and Vivian were in the house.  There were just so many things that I felt needed to be done but I didn't have the energy.  Saturday morning I woke up and I felt even worse.  I went to a CareNow clinic and they diagnosed me with tonsillitis.  Gave me a shot, antibiotics and magic mouth wash.  Within 2 hours I felt like a million bucks.  I then started cleaning the house and got a little shopping done.  By Sunday Vivian's feet looked ten times better, I felt great and the house was back to normal, well as normal as a house can get without counter tops or a kitchen sink. 

Now it's Monday and I think Spencer and I have a stomach bug and I'm 90% sure I have HFMD.  I just need a break!

8 months

Vivian had an exciting month.  She started eating food with her hands, opened Christmas presents and started crawling.  I still can't believe how big she is getting. 

One of her favorite things was watching us turn the Christmas tree lights on.

She got a new pacifier compliments of Uncle Grant

I knew she was going to crawl soon because she kept getting on all fours and rocking back and forth.  I knew it would just take a little motivation to move.  I'm so glad I was home when the big moment happened and that I caught it on video.

We were then able to bring in the new year with Vivian.  She woke up at 11:30pm and we just decided to keep her up and toast the new year with her.  Of course she didn't want to go back to sleep until 2am.  Yeah me!

We are excited for the new year and can't wait to see what is in store for us this year!