Olivia Rae

This girl is so much fun! She is a firecracker and keeps life in the Justice house interesting! She has an incredible vocabulary for her age and she is constantly keeping us laughing with the things she says and does. She loves getting lots of attention and making us laugh so she eats it up!

Brad, Eden and Bentley were playing a board game and Olivia was "watching". At one point she had a big fist full of the game money and crawled over to Brad and said, "I have a secret" and then got right up next to his ear and with her breathy little squeaky voice said, "I'm going to put all this money in my piggy bank!"

Olive was helping me with laundry one morning and carried one side of the clothes hamper from her closet, down the stairs, and into the laundry room. The whole way she kept grunting and griping about it being so heavy. As soon as we made it to the laundry room, I said, "You did it, thanks Olive" to which she quickly responded, "Go team USA!"  

When she smiles, her whole face lights up. She has a twinkle in her eyes that is captivating. She likes to be super chatty with people in the grocery store as I'm trying to quickly grab the necessities. She garners lots of attention and she loves it.

She likes to take her sweet time while on the potty, so this is where we have some very long, and usually very hilarious conversations. She's never done until I finally get up to leave and say, "let me know when you're done and I'll come back and wipe you."

She has such thin and whispy hair and I just feel like it fits her so perfectly! She never fights me on getting it combed in the morning, which is so nice, but whatever cute hairstyle I try never lasts long and before long it's back to the crazy messy look. It's how I will always remember her.

She is my little helper in the kitchen. Of all the kids, she has the most interest to be involved when I'm making dinner. She loves to sit on the counter next to me, helping to stir and pour in the ingredients. She does pretty good about following the rules for being a helper, and has only burned herself a couple times (despite my frequent warnings). It has been a fun time though, and she has tried lots of new foods while helping me out. It's (usually) very fun.

She LOVES Karly intensely. If Karly is awake, Olive is most likely within a very close range. She loves to suck her fingers and hold onto Karly like she is her special blanket. I realize it could be very bad if her intensity was turned in a negative way instead of a positive one, so for that I'm grateful.  But it's definitely a struggle between us daily as I try to get her to give Karly a little space sometimes. Fortunately, Karly is fairly patient with it (for now!)

This girl has a very independent spirit. She wants to do things her way and at her time. She doesn't always take our word for it, but has to figure things out on her own, which is both good and incredibly frustrating at the same time. She has a strong spirit that I certainly don't want to crush, so learning to parent her has brought us down some roads we have not yet been down before. It's a struggle some days for sure, but she makes things interesting and helps us to learn and grow.  She will make waves in life, of that I'm certain, and I can't wait to see what she accomplishes!

I love you Olive girl! You bring so much light and joy into our family.