Our Precious Olivia

A few weeks ago, Olivia just blew me away with 2 adorable things she did. On a Monday while at our homeschool co-op, one of the moms wanted to hear her say Noah's name. So I asked Olivia to show her how she can say "Noah". She sweetly said his name and without missing a beat, right after saying it, she turned to me and grabbed his footprint necklace I wear and held it out and said "Noah" again!! She has NEVER intentionally put them together before!! I admit, later as I told Kevin this story, I ended up sobbing. There is just no way to describe how precious this was!

Noah's exact footprints shrunk down to fit my necklace

Ever since Olivia was only a few weeks old, she often would lock her eyes in on this necklace I wear, eventually smiling at it when she started smiling. Then as she got a little older, she would grasp it as she nursed. She's always seemed to have this connection to Noah, something that goes beyond my understanding. So when she nonchalantly grabbed Noah's necklace & said his name, I knew she for sure put it all together. She has also started recently pointing to his picture, while saying his name & motioning she wants to hold it. When we give her his picture, she leans in and kisses him. Oh be still my heart!!!! It's SO precious!!!

Olivia's hand by Noah's necklace at just a few months old.

The other sweet thing she did recently was during one evening as we were getting ready to eat supper. It was a laid back meal where we decided to all just crash in the living room and eat there together. I got her plate of food together and took her out to her little table. I went back to the kitchen & next thing I know she comes walking in, carrying her plate. She walked over to the table & tried to place her plate up at her seat. She then climbed onto her chair, held her hands out (we hold hands when we pray), then she took her one hand to cover her eyes as she hasn't mastered closing them on her own while we pray. She wanted to say prayers in her seat before we ate!!! You know you do things repeatedly in hopes of teaching your child but you aren't always sure when it clicks, well, she certainly understands that we hold hands to pray before eating!!

Some other cute things she's been doing lately:

-yells "moooooooom" when the older kids are trying to get her to stop something or they are annoying her. It's hilarious when she does it as it's something I expect my older kids to do, not her!! Thankfully she still calls me mama or mommy at times but still, hearing "mom" from my 1 year old makes her sound so much older.

-She loves playing Just Dance 3 on the Wii. She even can manage to score at times as well. She has always loved music and enjoys dancing to anything. Her favorite song on this game is "Wi Wi Wes" (aka Wild Wild West). So much so, she will bring the laptop to us & ask for us to play wi wi wes as she dances all around.

Olivia dancing to Wild Wild West

-She knows how to unlock our phones & the iPad, pulls up apps, the iPod or youtube so she can watch Elmo. And we didn't teach her this! Guess she learns just from watching everyone so often. (she's also accidently called or texted people as well, oops!) She also knows how to access Siri on our phones and talks to her. It's hilarious to hear the things Siri interprets from Olivia.

-She has also recently been insisting what the gender of baby #7 is, guess we'll see if she's right! She also likes to rub my belly & hug and kiss "baby" as she refers to my belly.

This sweet girl is certainly a blessing from above. I have no doubt there is a special connection between her & Noah. She does not in anyway replace him. In fact, she reminds us so much of Noah and all that we missed out on with him. Noah lives on in Olivia and we are reminded daily to treasure each & every moment with her, all because of his life.

Please keep her in prayer due to some health issues and things we are possibly facing.