eleven months old.

Last Friday Olive turned eleven months old marking the last month anniversary of her birth worth "celebrating". Her next milestone will be turning one, of course. After that I think I may continue taking photos on the 20th of each month - since I can. Of course documenting every month isn't entirely necessary but with the weather improving in a couple of months it'd be a good opportunity for us both to leave the house and explore some new photo spots!

It's seriously rough taking photos of a babe this age. She's so mobile and so interested in going places. I couldn't get her to sit still. I realize that is why one doesn't typically do sit down and smile style photos with a kiddo this age but when it's only me at home with Olive and we're in our not very photo friendly house.. I have to try. I tried silly sounds. I tried the sticker trick (which only caused her to eat the sticker). So eventually I gave in to walking around our bedroom. Great scenery. Ideally a portrait session with a babe like Olive would involve the photographer and a parent or two to help direct and hold attention, to play along... whatever. Not a mama with a giant camera trying to get her babe to pay attention to something other than falling off the bed.

Anywho - Olive is 11 months old!

A few days after turning 11 months old she started taking a few steps at a time. Now she's done about 9 at most, I think.
She's still a wonderful eater. She eats nearly anything put in front of her but preferences are beginning to show - which is neat!
Olive signs "more" and "all done" very consistently. Every day she's using "eat" and "water" more often. We're sometimes see "potty" and "please" but not very consistently at all.
Since her last month update we went out of town for Christmas and she did very well with all of the driving and sleeping at different people's homes for six nights I believe. It didn't seem to throw off her "schedule" when we returned home.
Olive recently began putting shapes into her shape sorter.
She has, on occasion, imitated words and phrases such as "all done" and "I love you" but that is few and far between. And just because it happened once doesn't seem to mean it'll ever happy again!
Olive loves to explore. She won't sit still with a toy for too long. Currently she enjoys climbing the stairs, especially when I'm in the other room. Yikes!
Olive is getting better at not dropping all of her food on the ground when she is finished eating. She will sometimes put all of her unwanted leftovers in my hand, on the end of her tray, or in her cup.
Elimination Communication is pretty slow going these days, unfortunately. We still catch a lot but we've really dropped the ball on the communication part. I assume it's more of a shortcoming on our part than on Olive's part. But the past few days she's been pointing to her diaper when it's wet.. so that's cool!
I was very impressed over our Christmas trip to see Olive immediately exploring the different homes that we were in, even places she had never been before. She is incredibly independent and has a big desire to discover. She would quickly and easily venture away from me, around corners, and into rooms she had never been before.
Olive totally understands how to open a present. :)
Her nighttime routine has become much more adorable lately. I usually end up nursing her to sleep in our bed and then transfer her to hers after she falls asleep. She understands the routine and tries so hard to fall asleep sometimes even when she isn't sleepy enough. She'll have some milk, crawl around, come back for more milk, crawl around and rock a little, come back.. it's cute.
Olive has been known to be nursing and unlatch to give me a kiss if I say "I love you" while she's nursing. Cute.
Speaking of kissing.. she gives Tyler and I kisses a lot now. It's refreshing since she seemed to avoid kisses for so long. On occasion she'll go between us giving us kisses. :)
Olive really likes the kitchen cabinets, of course.
Just before Christmas she got a new carseat and it seems to make car travel much easier for her now. She's much more upright and must feel much more like a big kid than a tiny baby.
We listen to music a lot during dinner and she really loves that. To request music she'll point to the speakers and sway side to side (that's how she dances).
I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure she has a great sense of rhythym.
Gosh, I'm not sure what else to say. She's pretty awesome. :)

Here is Olive on her 11 month day (I included just a few of the blurry Olive-in-motion shots. I had to delete sooooooo many.)

i heart faces { by the book }

This is a photo of Olive that I took the day she turned 10 months old in December. This week's I Heart Faces theme is "by the book".. and must include.. a book! The book that she's "reading" is Lucy and Tom's Christmas, it was mine when I was a kid. She is also wearing an old dress that was mine and a pair of black shoes as well.



Just for kicks here is a side-by-side of Olive and I wearing the same dress:

i heart faces { family fun }

I can't help but giggle. :)



I got a new lens for Christmas and was trying it out.. playing around at my mom's house while Tyler showed my mom some things on the laptop that we had just given her. Olive was playing around and being cute (as always) at their feet. But (as always) once she realized I was taking photos she came over for a peek. I just love her curious face and hand in the corner. :)

express scripts is breaking up with walgreens.

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walgreens. All opinions are 100% mine.

The other day I drove past a CVS that had a big banner in front saying "Welcome Express Scripts Customers!" and I wondered what that meant.  I see banners and signs like that often when a small pharmacy is closing (sadly) and the costumers are migrating to the bigger chain pharmacies, but Express Scripts is not a pharmacy I had ever heard of... Actually I didn't think it sounded much like a pharmacy name to begin with.

And then I got an offer from Social Spark to write about some drama surrounding Express Scripts Inc and Walgreens and of course I was interested to learn more.  If you're like me and have no idea what Express Scripts is.. let me fill you in!

Express Scripts Inc is a prescription program offered by health insurance companies, including Tricare (the health and prescription program offered to America's service men and women).  Typically, at least in my experience, when going to the doctor and being given a prescription you're asked which pharmacy you would like it "called in to".  Your prescription will then be available for you to pick up at that pharmacy - typically quite close to your home or your work.. or wherever else you choose.  

Unfortunately due to a lack of contract renewal on the part of Express Scripts, Walgreens will no longer be a choice for Express Scripts clients.  I personally use a CVS if I have a prescription needing to be filled because it is one block from my home.  I would be rather upset if suddenly this was no longer than option as it is extremely convenient for me, I am comfortable there, and I am familiar with the pharmacists. 

Imagine you have been going to your local Walgreens for years and have built up a relationship with the pharmacists and you have to give that up.  Pharmacists are more than simply the people who fill the pill bottles - they're useful resources for us all and should be utilized for people who have any questions about their medications.  I think we all probably reference them too infrequently, actually, but imagine that you use that resource often but you suddenly have to pick up and move elsewhere?  The thought does not seem very attractive to me, especially due to the circumstances.  

In short Walgreens was willing to hold contract terms steady and Express Scripts wanted to make seemingly unnecessary changes that would also hurt Walgreens' profits.  They wanted the opportunity to be in complete control of contract terms.  It doesn't even sound like this will benefit Express Scripts!  In fact Express Scripts is one of those middle man types that I really dislike - they work behind the scenes so you don't really see what happens but it seems they're making quite a big profit by being the middleman between the provider and the pharmacy. 

This won't affect everyone.. so make sure you check with your prescription plan or with your Walgreens pharmacist to be sure.  

Obviously quite a few Walgreens customers are upset about this transition.  In response one of the steps Walgreens is taking is offering a special discount on their Prescription Savings Club at Walgreens annual memberships.  During the month of January you can join for only $5 (or $10 for a family) and receive savings on over 8,000 brand name and generic medications.  (Regular membership costs are $20/$35)

If you're upset about this issue don't keep quite - I'm the "I'm going to write a letter" type.  Tell someone how you feel - take the social media, contact your local news, write someone a letter, whatever you feel comfortable doing.  If you're dissatisfied with the service you are now receiving from Express Scripts you should certainly say something.

For more information check out this press release - Walgreens and Express Scripts.

To stay up to date on this issue and to stay connected to your local Walgreens follow Walgreens on Twitter and visit Walgreens on Facebook.

in print.

I have been exploring the world of print over the past two weeks. Below is a birth announcement for a baby that I photographed as well as Olive's birthday invitation. What do you think?

ten months old.

Olive turned ten months old last month. Well, last year I suppose! Christmas, editing for frost on flower, friends in town, and our holiday travel slowed me down a bit and I've only gotten to editing these photos and sorting out my thoughts now. Forgive me? :)

Here are Olive's ten month photos (as usual.. there are a lot!!)... She's wearing an old dress and pair of shoes of mine. :) She's also reading one of my books in a few of the photos. There are a few "classic" Olive shots that I had to include with her arm outstretched reaching for something or pointing at something.















































































At ten months Olive is very mobile. I'm surprised she's not walking yet but she's not yet comfortable with letting go of things which is just fine - she'll do it when she's ready.
At ten months she had six teeth, she now has seven.
Olive gives me kisses. :)
She won't stop pointing at things! She points where she wants us to take her, she points at things she wants, she points to ask what things are. Point point point!
Olive can point to or look at things when you ask such as a light, her nose, a window, Honey, the ceiling, a wall, a penguin, etc.
She is still incredibly interested in food. Baby Led Weaning was definitely the right choice for our family.
A few days ago Olive signed potty and went right away when I put her on. Elimination Communication is going alright but we still miss a lot. Olive seems to go potty frequently and will go nearly every time she's on the potty but doesn't seem to feel the need to hold it in between potty trips.
We got a new baby carrier in December and we've both enjoyed using it.
Olive's sock fell off (as they often do) and Tyler asked her to get it.. so she crawled to it and picked it up. He then asked her to bring it to him so he could put it on her.. and she did!
She had her first needle poke since her newborn screen done at birth. She needed a lead test as we've found that we have a large amount of lead dust in our home. We're still waiting for the results.
Olive said "all done" while signing it once.
It's possible that she tried to say "I love you" after giving me a kiss tonight.
Speaking of kisses.. Olive never used to enjoy getting kisses and certainly didn't enjoy giving them. More recently she has become quite kissy when sleepy in the morning, before naps, and before bed. Because I often give her a kiss after saying "I love you" she now crawls over to me to and kisses me when I say "I love you Olive". It's pretty adorable.
Her sign vocabulary continues to grow although it's rather slow going. Tyler and I aren't introducing her to new signs or using signs as consistently as I'd like to. She picked up on "please" very quickly last week though. I signed "please" with her hand over hand and she was able to do it independently on my next verbal prompt. That was pretty cool. However since then please seems to come and go. If she wants something too badly she can't seem to find the sign. Which is fine!
Olive is really great at matching pitch and I think she has a decent sense of rhythm so far.
She is becoming more purposeful in her play by the day.
She is very social - she waves and smiles and points at everyone.
Olive is very curious - she loves to crawl around the house and look at things that aren't toys and climb into small spaces in which I cannot fit. Which also means that she's quite independent. She will get upset occasionally when I leave her (especially if I leave her with a person). But if I leaver her to play or explore she's generally fine with that. She will also leave me to explore other rooms. I only wish our house was safer so she could do this more easily and more often. We have stairs that are difficult to block and radient baseboard heaters that are not safe. As well as other nooks and crannies that aren't safe.
She's also getting bigger and gaining weight though I still feel like she's so small - especially when she's nursing!

As always I probably missed a bunch of things but that's an overview of where Olive is at ten months old.

And here is a fun side by side of me and Olive. :)