Turning 12!

Twelve years ago today, Olivia came into this world. I remember the delivery like it was yesterday. I was in labor at home, Steve called the hospital to tell them and they told him to tell me to just take a bath and that the contractions should go away. This was my second full term pregnancy so I knew what full blown labor felt like. I was in labor and I could feel the baby dropping by the minute!

By the time Steve called the hospital the 3rd time, I told him to not ASK if we could come in but to TELL them we were on our way!

My contractions were very close together. I could barely make it to the car and was not going to buckle my seat belt. It was 10:18 p.m. and Steve sped the few blocks we were from the hospital. He pulled up to the ER door. The ER nurse took one look at me, put me in a wheel chair and sprinted to the other side of the hospital to the labor and delivery wing. It took 3 minutes to arrive to a room they had prepared for me and I remember having a contraction sometime during that fast wheelchair ride.

After losing her heart rate several times, adding much stress to a couple more hours of labor, I gave birth to our beautiful baby girl. Steve informed me days later that the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck and had to be unwrapped quickly before the final push, which would explain why we kept losing her heart beat.

Olivia had the most beautiful, porcelain colored skin as a baby. As she approached toddler age, her blond hair and jeweled dark brown eyes gave her a real striking look.

Her all time favorite pass time is playing with Barbies. In fact, Avery and her dug out the Barbies just yesterday and brought them outside to play with them on the trampoline.

Olivia has always been our joke teller. She also loves imitating movie or TV show characters, such as the kids on "The Little Rascals".

I will always remember her favorite color through her toddler and lower elementary years was red. She always wore red tennies, had a red sweat suit, red cowboy boots, a red cowboy hat and many red shirts. She still looks great in red! But I think purple is her favorite color now.

I found these pictures and I am missing those years of getting away with dressing the girls all alike.

Some more things about Olivia:

She is a gifted artist.

She is a dog lover.

She is conscientious.

She loves to take care of her younger brother and sister and is a very trusted babysitter.

She plays the guitar.

She is a wise decision maker and very pragmatic.

She has the most adorable dimples on each cheek.

She is a friend to everyone.

My girl all grown up!: