Tuesday, December 27, 2011

5 Months


Each month so far I have truly felt like it had been a month since the last milestone. However, this last month, from four to five, went by at lightening speed! It does not feel like our little girl is already five months old. She's getting so big! She wears six month clothes, and is now about 15 lbs. 2 oz. and 25.5 inches long. She's still a little peanut compared to her cousins, but she's cuter than ever.

This past month she has become so aware and seems so much older. She continues to be a little chatter box, and is extremely social. She loves other kids, and smiles at everyone who greets her. She also began noticing Buster this last month. She LOVES him, and follows him with her eyes wherever he goes. She even began crying last week when he left the room. I called him back in, and she immediately stopped. She just started holding her bottle on her own, and is very interested in food. She will sit in her highchair playing with toys when I am cooking in the kitchen. She watches me cook and then watches intently as we eat. She follows the food from our plate to our mouths. We'll start with rice cereal and easy foods next month.

She is still sleeping through the night (7-9 hours), but hates the car seat. It's a trade I'm willing to take. There's no where I have to go except her doctor's appointments. So although it's tough sometimes being stuck at home, I'm glad she's a good sleeper most of the time. Parenthood continues to amaze me on a daily basis. It's a lot of work and can be exhausting, but it's the most rewarding thing in the world!


Monday, December 26, 2011

Happy 1st Birthday Kellan!

The first Sunday in December we went to Gymboree Play and Music for Kellan's first birthday. Olivia was a little young to partake in the activities, but we found a few she could enjoy...



The pictures from the slide turned out all blurry...


Olivia loves puppets so we played for a while with this turtle puppet...



One of the employees put a parachute over an inner tube for the kids to ride in.  Zach pulled Olivia around on this for quite a while before she got tired.  It was so cute!





Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours... we hope you have a very Merry Christmas!
Love Zach, Jen, and Olivia

Friday, December 23, 2011

Thankful

Thanksgiving was bittersweet this year.  It started off great.  We found out a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving that both my brother and my Uncle Wally would be in town to visit. YEAH!  Neither one of them had met Olivia before.  So we adjusted our plans to go up to Mount Vernon instead of staying in town to celebrate with Zach's family like we usually do.  However, a few days before Thanksgiving, Zach got really sick with a bad virus.  He didn't want to get anyone sick including me and Olivia so in the end he stayed home while we headed up to Mount Vernon.  It was by far one of the most difficult things I've ever done.  I felt horrible leaving him at home, sick, and taking Olivia away during our first Thanksgiving together with her.  He unselfishly assured me it was the best thing to do.

We did have a great time visiting with family, but kept calling to check on Daddy.

Emily was SO happy her and Olivia had matching jammies!
Charlie loves Olivia and can never get enough of her when we visit...
We attempted to get some pics of all the cousins in their matching jammies with Uncle Mike...
Uncle Wally got us all hooked on Skype. We hadn't ever used it before and now we all use it. What a technological world our kids are growing up in. They can call their cousins and see them while they talk!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Baby it's cold outside!

Brrrr... although there hasn't been enough moisture in the air for snow, it sure feels like winter! It's been in the twenties lately, which makes for cold walks with Buster and Olivia. I bundle her up, and she loves it... most of the time. She's even stayed in her stroller a few times as long as I put the "hood" of the stroller down so she can see outside. She loves to look around at the wonders of the world and I love to watch her experience it all.



Friday, December 9, 2011

HO HO HO!

Olivia went to see Santa for the first time yesterday.  Although she wouldn't really smile, she didn't cry either...

Monday, November 28, 2011

Great Grandpa and Grandma Mandeville


Veteran's Day weekend we took a rode trip down to see my grandpa and grandma Mandeville.  We had a wonderful afternoon visiting and eating lunch.  They hadn't seen Olivia since she was two weeks old so they soaked up as much time with her as they could.  I love that she is so social and will go to just about anyone.












From my grandparents' front window you can see the Manette Bay Bridge.  The Thursday before our visit, my grandpa was in the newspaper.  He was one of the first people to cross the bridge back when it was built in 1930; he was nine years old.  The bridge was rebuilt this last year and he was again, one of the first people to get to cross the bridge at 90 years old. 

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Four Months

At four months old Olivia is as social as can be!  She LOVES to play This Little Piggy, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, and Buzzy Bee.  She laughs and laughs when playing.  She loves to play with her ocean wonders gym, tummy time on the floor with her taggy or Ellie her elephant, and she loves other kids and babies.  Some of her favorite peeps are her cousins, Emily, Jack and Charlie, and her best little buddy, Kellan.  She can reach and grasp for her toys, and often brings them to her mouth to chew on.  We haven't figured out if she is beginning to teeth yet, but we think so.  Against her momma's wishes, she likes to suck her thumb.  She's always sucked on her fingers and/or fist, but this last month she began just sucking on her thumb.  Although I wish she wouldn't, it really is pretty cute.  She is very aware of her surroundings, and often turns her neck as far as can be to try and watch TV since she knows she's not supposed to.  She rolled over this last month from her tummy to her back.  She also puts her knees up under her when she's on her tummy and tries to scoot across the floor.  She melts my heart every day with her warm smiles, adorable coos, and belly laughs.  Zach and I still look at each other at least once a day and say, "We did good, we did good." 

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Playtime

We have been SO fortunate to have my mom stay with us while I am back at work.  Olivia has had hours and hours of playtime with her Grandma Emily.  Grandma Emily got out Olivia's "Bumbo" seat and Olivia LOVES it.  She sits in it playing and playing and playing....



She loves her blue elephant...





She also continues to love playing under her ocean wonders gym.  She is talking so much these days...


This is just the cutest thing EVER!!!  We captured her last night laughing and it is the best entertainment.  I'll spend any Friday night like this... 





Friday, November 11, 2011

Fun with family

Last week Zach had to work all weekend so Olivia and I packed up and left for a trip to Mount Vernon with Grandma Emily.  We spent time visiting with our favorite cousins, Great Grandma and Grandpa Fox, and Grandpa Jim...

Grandpa Jim just had ankle surgery last week, so Emily and I decided to make him some of his favorite cookies, oatmeal raisin.  Emily needed to taste them first to make sure they were tasty enough...



Grandpa Jim has to stay off his ankle for three months, so we brought him lots of goodies and things to read...



Playing peek-a-boo...




The next day we went to visit Great Grandma and Grandpa Fox.  Olivia was her normal happy self, smiling, laughing, and talking to her great grandma. 



I forgot my camera when we went to Auntie Anne's.  Olivia was spent a lot of time laying on a blanket playing with Charlie.  He absolutely loves her and sqeals with joy everytime he sees her.  While Anne and I were busy getting toys out for them to play with I caught Olivia rolling over out of the corner of my eye!  We couldn't believe it!  She rolled from her tummy to her back.  This little girl isn't wasting any time... and I'm not sure that is a good thing.