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!

Ready for Halloween

The weekend before Halloween, Jon and I took Olivia out in the backyard to take some pictures of her in her cute Halloween dress. We attempted to get pictures of her and the dogs, but it was very difficult to get all of them to cooperate at the same time! Here are some of the best ones from that day:


Petting Dagny:

Trying to play with Phoebs:

The only picture we could get with Olivia and both dogs:

5 Months

Olivia turned 5 months old last week. Crazy how time flies when you're having fun! I took her to the doctor for her 5 month check-up and shots today. She weighs 18lbs 1oz (97th percentile) and is 26 1/2 inches long (90th percentile). Dr. Egues said she looks great and seems to be doing very well. I can't believe how much she's changing these days, both in her growth and her personality! So, what is Olivia up to at 5 months?

- She wears size 6-9 month clothing.
- She is still in a size 3 diaper.
- She sleeps about 10 hours at night, wakes up and eats, then sleeps another 2 hours or so.
- She loves looking at books and turning the pages.
- She smiles all the time, and for anybody that will look at her.
- She makes a lot of noise trying to talk.
- She still loves "giving kisses".
- She can sit up by herself for a little while, usually while leaning forward.
- She has recently started "crawling" backwards. I use the term crawling loosely... it's more like scooting.
- She is eating solids. We started with rice cereal, and have moved to sweet potatoes and carrots.
- She still loves standing in our laps.
- She enjoys playing in her exersaucer.
- She has really started noticing the dogs and wanting to pet them (and pull their hair!)

Not Really an Update

I'm a little behind in updating right now, but I have a good excuse. Our family was infected with the stomach flu this weekend and we're still recovering. I'll be back soon with Olivia's 5 month post, my friend Angie's visit, and Halloween.
Stay tuned...