6 Months

WOW!  I can't believe our little girl is already half way to being a year old!  It definitely feels like in the last few weeks she is getting older.  I looked at Zach the other day, holding her, and really noticed how big she is getting.  She is still our little peanut, but she isn't so small anymore.  Her six month appointment is next week and I'll be very interested to see where she falls for weight and height. 

She is still rolling over from her tummy to her back, but hasn't quite rolled from her back to her tummy.  She'll roll up on her side, but doesn't quite make it all the way over.  She has great eye-hand coordination.  She grabs everything in sight and brings it to her mouth to try out.  She has been teeting for a little over a month or so, and we noticed this evening she is cutting her first tooth.  We were looking in her mouth and saw where the the gum has split.  You can barely see the top part of a little white tooth. 

She loves to grab my face with both hands, like she's holding me.  It's absolutely adorable.  She also knows what she wants and has begun to move for it.  We lie her on her tummy for tummy time and put a toy at the other end of her blanket.  In a matter of seconds she will scoot across the blanket on her tummy, reach out and grab the toy, and put it in her mouth.  She's also showing signs of crawling.  She gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth.     

Olivia has to be the happiest baby I have ever met.  She smiles at everyone she meets, especially other kids.  She LOVES her cousins.  This last weekend we were up visiting and she was belly laughing at Emily as she made faces and danced in front of Olivia.  She also loves Buster.  She watches his every move, laughing and laughing at him when we play ball with him.  She is very predictable and not a fussy little girl unless she's tired or hungry.  She's a good little sleeper and eater.  We gave her rice ceral for the first time tonight and it was as if she'd been eating for months. (See the video and pictures below).

We are so blessed to have such a great, happy little girl.  She is the joy of our lives and makes us remember to enjoy life every day!




Olivia's first time eating rice cereal.  I read in Dr. Sear's book to try using your finger first, so I did, but she dug using the spoon...

January 2012

It's been such a busy month I feel like I haven't had a chance to upload our pictures from this month.  We started out the month with Olivia's first stroller ride in her big girl stroller.  My sister and Bryan graciously gave us this stroller.  It's SO nice! 

She did ok the first time, but got a little fussy toward the end.  I think it was a little too cold...

The second time around she did a lot better and even fell asleep...

 She also jumped in her jumper for the first time this month and loved it...

She definitely knows what her bottle is now.  She now reaches for it when she sees it and holds it on her own with both hands...

She started a new little "trick" (if that's what you want to call it) when she eats.  She tries to suck her thumb while she's eating.  It's pretty funny, but it breaks her latch and she gets frustrated...

Martin Luther King, Jr. week the snow started to fall.  I quickly got down Olivia's little sled a parent from work got her, bundled her up, and took her out to enjoy her first snow fall.  We only stayed outside for about 5 minutes because I worried about her getting too cold, but she LOVED it and laughed the whole time!

 She reminds me of a rodeo cowgirl in this picture...

Like so many others, we did not venture out during the week.  It was so cold.  Everything was frozen and it was too dangerous to drive.  School was cancelled all week and Zach's work was too. 

Thursday morning a little before 7 a.m. our power went out.  Zach and our neighbor hooked up the generator so the fridge would run and we had heat, but no stove and no hot water.  I cooked outside on our little Keg-A-Que...

I called PSE on Saturday afternoon and was told that we wouldn't have power until Wednesday.  I decided to pack up Olivia and head up to MV.  They had over 10 inches of snow, but still had power.  By Saturday all of their snow was melted, and I had been itching to go up and visit.

Sunday after church Grandpa Jim stopped by for a visit.  Olivia has been a stinker lately about letting men hold her.  I was so happy she let her grandpa hold her...

My cousins Rachel and Todd had a little girl who just turned a year.  Rachel was so nice and gave my mom Ava's "equipment" to use at her house.  Now I don't have to pack so much stuff when I go up to visit and Olivia LOVED jumping in Ava's jumper...

And her cousins loved helping her jump...

Later that evening we went to my sister's house for dinner.  After dinner Emily and Jack decided it was time for games.   First we played Twister and then Hangman.  My sister and I love family game nights...

My two favorite girls...

Emily can't get enough of her little cousin.  She dressed her in her special princess crown...

Emily kept her laughing and laughing by dancing around and acting silly for Olivia...

Monday morning Zach called with good news.  After 5 days, our power was back on!  My dad stopped by for one last visit.  Olivia let him give her a bottle...

 The Joneses also stopped by for one last cousin play date before we had to leave.  I was sad to go after such a great time; it was just too short.  Olivia and I will be heading back up next month for five days to stay with my sister while Bryan is in New York at a conference.  I can't wait!





A prayer for this little doggy...

Amidst all of the craziness with the power outage and winter storm we found out last week that Buster has Lymphoma.  Since it is a terminal cancer we have chosen not to do chemotherapy.  We discovered it in his throat.  It has not yet attacked his lungs or chest, but he has lost his bark, and sounds like Darth Vader most of the time when he breathes.  He can't  swallow his dog food, so I'm making him special food (a mixture of rice and salmon).  He loves it and is still eating well.  We have him on some drugs to help with the swelling in his throat, but he is on borrowed time.  We love this little doggy so much and he will be missed greatly when he goes.  We are told he is not in any pain, just uncomfortable.  He still loves to go on walks, and LOVES his ball.  Running is a limited activity, but I still throw his ball for him a few times when we go walking.  I just can't bring myself to stop.  I think if he could talk he would say, "Go ahead and throw the ball mom, I'd rather play ball than do anything else!"  So... when you say your prayers at night, please keep him in your thoughts.  The most important thing to us now is that he doesn't suffer when he goes.

Here are some of my favorite pics of him...

   

Next to playing ball, his favorite past time is lounging around, especially in the sun...

He has always been so good with Olivia.  She LOVES him and has been known to cry when he leaves the room, and scream with joy when he comes back.  He doesn't quite understand why she won't throw his toys for him, but he keeps on trying...