Christmas Pictures

We wanted to get some pictures of Olivia in her Christmas dress, and of Olivia and her cousin Luke together. Here are some of our favorites:

Olivia's First Christmas

We had a great Christmas in Wisconsin. We arrived Thursday night to about 15 inches of snow.

We visited a little while before turning in for the night. On Friday (Christmas Eve), Olivia spent some time with her Grandma and Grandpa and opened a couple of presents while we waited on Jon's sister, brother-in-law, and nephew to arrive.

Hanging out with Grandpa:

Opening an early gift:

Reading her new book:

Jenny, Jeff, and Luke had some issues with their connecting flight and ended up getting in several hours later than planned. We had to put Olivia to bed before they arrived, but we were able to catch up for a while when they got there and play with Luke. The poor little guy had such a long day, but was as cute as could be! I can't believe how much he's grown since this summer, and he is running all over the place! He opened most of his presents that night, as did the adults, before calling it a night.

Christmas Day was very relaxing, simply spending time with family (and eating!) Ha! Olivia sledded for the first time, something her mom has never even done! Jon's dad built a great hill for the kids to sled down... it was perfect! (There is a video at the bottom of this post.) We ended the day with a huge seafood feast, consisting of crab legs, fish, shrimp and scallops. It was delicious! Dinner was followed by a family viewing of Christmas Vacation.

Christmas morning (wearing Luke's Christmas hat):

Olivia and Luke with Grandma and Grandpa:

Ready to go sledding:

Luke and Jenny ready for sledding:

Olivia and Luke taking turns sledding:

On Sunday, we met Jon's college friend, Joe, his wife, Kaia, and their son, Luke, for lunch. This was our first time meeting Luke, as he is just a couple of months old. They were driving through on their way back to Wausau. It was so good to see them, but I forgot my camera so I didn't get any pictures. You'll have to take my word that Luke is adorable!!

On Monday, we all loaded up and headed north to Phillips, WI, where Jon's dad is from. We had a family get-together and it was so good to see everyone. It is always such a good time when we are able to spend time with everyone up there. A couple of Jon's cousins from Albuquerque were even able to join us this time. The time always passes too quickly, but we are looking forward to returning in the spring. (Again, I forgot my camera, so I don't have any pictures).

Jon, Olivia, and I headed back to Chicago on Tuesday, making a short stop in Madison to visit another of Jon's friends, Max, his wife Emily, and their little boy Max. As you may remember, we last saw them in July when Max was just a couple of weeks old. As expected, he has really grown and is a cutie and such a happy boy! We arrived back home late Tuesday night and went straight to bed. We had such a great time with family and friends over the Christmas holiday, leaving us more aware than ever just how much they all mean to us.

Olivia and Daddy sledding (with Phoebs and Dagny following right behind):

7 months old

Olivia turned 7 months old on Christmas Day. What is she up to now? (Be sure to watch the video at the bottom of her crawling.)

- She can still fit into most of her 9 month clothes, but the 12 month ones fit better.
- She still wears a size 3 diaper.
- She sleeps about 11 hours at night (7:30pm-6:30am).
- She only takes short 30-45 minute naps most of the time.
- She is SOOOOO happy! She smiles ALL of the time!
- She loves to play on the floor.
- She can get from a lying down position to a sitting position very easily.
- She can crawl forward, but usually only about two lengths (sometimes more). After that, she just sits up.
- She puts everything in her mouth!
- She "talks" almost nonstop and is extremely loud.
- When I go in to check on her after putting her down for a nap, she is almost always sitting up in the bed, looking up and smiling at me.
- She says "da-da", though she doesn't know what it means.
- She has had most all of the first fruits and vegetables.
- She eats 3 meals a day, the equivalent of 2 jars at each meal.

Olivia Crawling:

Merry Christmas!

We made it to Wisconsin last night and were welcomed by Jon's parents and a yard full of snow. We are returning home early next week and I'll update then with pictures of Olivia's first Christmas. In the meantime, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!!

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Gram is getting antsy to see a couple of new pictures, so I figured I had better update. :) We had a pretty relaxing weekend, with the highlight being a trip to Babies R Us to buy babyproofing items. Olivia still isn't crawling forward, but we figure it will be any day.

Our big news is that Olivia hasn't had a pacifier in over a week! She had been having it only at naptime and bedtime for a little while, but as of last Saturday, she hasn't even needed it for that. I am so thankful that she gave it up on her own, and it didn't become a habit that I had to break. As you can see from the photo below, she has replaced it with her fist! Ha!

We are busy preparing for our trip north for Christmas. I have presents to wrap and bags to pack before we leave for Wisconsin on Thursday, and it's looking like a Winter Wonderland outside our window right now!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

This week, we put up a little Christmas tree. We thought Olivia would like to look at the lights and we were right!

On Saturday, we took Olivia to sit in Santa's lap. I had to scan in the picture, so the quality isn't very good, but you get the idea. She was a little unsure of him at first, but she quickly warmed up.

Saturday night was Jon's office Christmas party.

Today has been a lazy day for us. It is really cold outside and the roads are pretty bad due to ice and snow, so we have just stayed indoors.

6 month check-up

Olivia had her 6 month check-up last week. The pediatrician said she looks great and healthy. She weighs 19lb 4oz and is 27 inches long. That puts her in the 97th percentile for weight and 90th for length. After telling me this, Dr. Egues looked at the chart and said, "Don't be surprised if people ask you if she's walking yet." Why, you might ask, would people ask that? Well, Dr. Egues' next statement explains it. She said, "Because Olivia is the size of the average 11 month old!" Ha! So, needless to say, she's still a big girl for her age. She's also a VERY happy baby. And , who doesn't love a chubby, happy baby?!? :)

6 months

Olivia turned 6 months old on Thanksgiving. Is she really halfway to a year?? She is becoming more fun every day. What's she up to at 6 months?

- She still wears size 6-9 month clothing.
- She is still in a size 3 diaper.
- She sleeps about 11 hours straight at night and then is up for the day.
- She tends to take a lot of short naps rather than a couple of long ones.
- She wants to be put down when being held.
- She LOVES being on the floor!
- She crawls backwards really well, but hasn't mastered the forward movement yet.
- She "talks" and laughs a lot.
- She loves to be tickled and for us to blow on her stomach.
- She sits up by herself.
- She is eating cereal, sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, green peas, green beans, and bananas. She has liked everything we've given her.
- She puts EVERYTHING in her mouth.
- She has two teeth.
- She smiles at everyone that will look at her.
- She has favorite toys now. Currently, she gets really excited when she sees her singing duck.

Hopefully we can figure out a way to slow down the next 6 months!

Thanksgiving Week

What a great week we had in Arkansas! I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking.

Starting with last Saturday, Olivia and I had a great flight to Little Rock. She did so well on the flight! We arrived in Little Rock to my mom, Abby, and Mason. To say that they were all excited to see us might be the understatement of the year! Ha!

We went to church on Sunday and spent the rest of the day and week visiting with family. Some were meeting Olivia for the first time, while others hadn't seen her in 4 1/2 months. It was such an enjoyable trip and Olivia was so happy. She smiled at everyone!

Enjoy the pictures!

Ready to eat Thanksgiving dinner:

Sitting with Mason:

Thanksgiving outfit:

Hanging out with Gram:

With Gram and Mason:

Such wonder in her eyes:

Playing with Abby:

Abby reading Olivia a bedtime story:

Cheering on the Hogs with Gram:

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We definitely took time to think about all that we have to be thankful for!

Week in Arkansas- coming soon!

We had a GREAT trip to Arkansas! I have lots of pictures to post, but I'm exhausted. We drove all through the night last night, thinking it would be easiest on Olivia. We arrived home at about 4:30 this morning. I'll try to update in the next couple of days with our trip, as well as Olivia's 6 month post.

I love these little fat rolls! :)

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for!!

Better to Eat With

I forgot to post one important piece of information in my last post... Olivia has a tooth!! Two of them actually! Last weekend, she woke up during the night a couple of times wanting to eat. As you know, that is unlike her, as she has been sleeping through the night for a LONG time. (That's probably why I didn't update last weekend... I was tired! Ha!) Anyway, by last Monday, you could feel a tooth. Now, you can see them (barely). It's the teeth on the bottom in the middle.

I also wanted to mention that she is doing GREAT with solids! She is now eating sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, squash, and rice cereal. We haven't come across anything that she doesn't like yet. She is an impatient eater, too... she hits her hands on the highchair if we aren't feeding her fast enough!

Have a great week!

Better Late than Never

I realize I'm a little overdue for an update. I'll start with last weekend. A friend of mine from my old job, Stephanie, was in town visiting another friend, and stopped by for a visit. It had been about 3 years since I had seen her, so it was nice to catch up. We visited for a little while on Saturday and then she came back over on Sunday before her flight back to Dallas. Unfortunately, I only took one picture, and it was with my phone, so the quality isn't very good. After Stephanie left, Jon, Olivia, and I went to the Baby Expo that was in town. We left with lots of samples, but that's about it.

On Monday, Jon was in a car accident on his way to work. He was on the interstate, and another car swerved to avoid traffic, and hit Jon in the process. It ended up involving several cars and he spent about 4 hours on the side of the interstate while the officers questioned everyone involved. His car had to be towed, and it is still in the shop. It should be fixed the week after Thanksgiving. Thankfully, Jon is okay. His back has been bothering him, so he went to the doctor. He will go back this week, since it doesn't seem to be getting any better. Needless to say, it was pretty scary.

On Thursday, Olivia's daycare was closed for Veteran's Day, so Jon took the day off and stayed home with her. It sounds like they had a great day together. When I talked to him at about 1:00pm, they had been outside for a couple of hours and were out to lunch together. I think it's safe to say that it was a successful Daddy-Daughter Day!

This weekend has been pretty relaxing. We haven't done much, except get caught up on some housework and laundry. Tonight, I started packing for our trip to Arkansas. Olivia and I fly out on Saturday! We will see some of you next week... Can't wait!!!

Angie's Visit

My best friend from high school, Angie, visited this past weekend. She flew in on Friday night and Olivia and I picked her up from the airport. We did a little catching up on the way home, and then picked up Jon. After a Mexican dinner, we headed home and went to bed.

Saturday morning, we took our time getting up and around. Angie fed Olivia carrots for the first time, which she didn't care too much for at first. She gradually came around to them, and ended up eating most of them. We then walked to our favorite breakfast place, where Angie enjoyed blueberry cobbler pancakes with cinnamon ice cream on top:

After breakfast, we all went out to our backyard for our neighborhood Howl-o-ween Parade (see below post). Angie, Olivia, and I then did a little shopping while Jon stayed home and relaxed. We worked up an appetite and picked Jon back up for a mediterranean dinner.

Saturday night, Jon came down with the stomach flu. On Sunday, Angie, Olivia, and I went downtown to have Chicago style pizza and do a little more shopping. We left Jon at home sleeping. I started feeling a little queasy when we were downtown, but not enough so to put a halt on our shopping trip. Eventually, it got the best of me and we came home. I was sick the rest of the night, and Angie started feeling sick later in the night. (Thankfully, Olivia didn't catch it).

I felt so bad that Angie got sick while she was here, and even worse that she had to get on the plane to go back home while feeling so bad. Luckily, we had some good quality time together before we both got sick.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of Angie and Olivia until Monday morning before we took Angie to the airport. This was after a long night of illness, but she still looks great!

Angie- thank you so much for coming to visit! It was great to see you and I hope to see you again soon. I'm sorry for getting you sick!

Happy Halloween!

Our neighborhood hosts a "Howl-o-ween" Parade every year. It's basically a dog costume contest and parade. There's also a category for kids and groups (that must include the dog). We were planning to attend last year, but I chickened out because I was too embarrassed to dress our dogs up. We decided to go this year, mainly because we needed to take Olivia somewhere in her costume. We didn't want to go trick-or-treating because we didn't want to ask for candy for ourselves. Ha! Since we've had Olivia's costume for a while, I had to find something for the dogs to complement her.

Here's our cute little flower:


And, with her bumblebees:


It was difficult to get her to smile because she was soooo tired. In fact, this was her just moments after the first pictures:

Overall, I think she enjoyed her first Halloween. I hope you enjoyed yours also!