11 Months Old

Olivia is 11 months old today! She is so much fun these days! I always thought that the newborn stage was and always would be my favorite. However, every month since has become my favorite! She is such a happy baby! I especially love our time together in the mornings. When she wakes up (in her crib), I make her a sippy cup of formula and bring her into bed with me. When she finishes the "milk", we lay in bed and play for 15-20 minutes. She has the best time- standing on the bed, jumping, falling down, etc. We just laugh and laugh. It is probably my favorite time of the day.


So, what is Olivia up to this month?

- She still wears size 12 month clothes.
- She is still in a size 4 diaper.
- She has 8 teeth, 4 on top and 4 on bottom. (I think she is getting more, though because she has been drooling like crazy lately!)
- She is still consistently sleeping from 7:30pm-6:30am.
- Her naps are starting to be on more of a schedule. She usually naps at 9:00am for an hour and at 1:00pm (or a little after) for an hour (or sometimes more).
- She has taken her first unassisted steps! She will only take 2-3 steps without holding on and she doesn't do it very often, but she gets really excited when she does.
- She loves to walk around the living room holding on to the couch, table, chair, etc.
- She LOVES books! She spends a good portion of every day looking at books and bringing them to me to read to her.
- She still loves giving herself kisses in the mirror and kissing all of her stuffed animals.
- She constantly does her monkey sound- "ooohhhh, ooooohhhh".
- She still calls most things "duh" (duck).
- She says "cup", "clap", "duck", "dog", "bye-bye", "dada", "mama", "cat".
- Her eating is still unpredictable. What she likes changes from day to day, but her favorites right now are toast, cheese, and hummus.
- She points at what she wants.
- As soon as she thinks I'm not looking, she crawls right towards the dog bowls and/or dog beds. She gets really excited when she gets close! Ha!


We are having such a great time together (or at least I am) and I have never loved a "job" like I do this one!!!

Olivia's First Easter

We had a nice, albeit short, weekend in Wausau for Olivia's first Easter. We arrived a little later than we planned on Friday night because one of our windshield wipers flew off (in the rain) while we were driving and we had to find an auto parts store to replace it! Luckily, we had a fish fry from the church waiting on us when we got there. After filling our bellies, we let Olivia play for a little while before we all headed to bed around midnight.

Up early Saturday morning, we spent most of the day shopping for computers and countertops. When we were home, Olivia's favorite thing to do was look out the window at the birds with her grandpa:

On Sunday, we got up early again and went to the 9:00 service at church.

Having fun with Daddy before church:

After church (and Olivia's nap), we took some family pictures.

The family:

Just the three of us:

With Grandma and Grandpa:

With Grandma:

With Grandpa:

With Mommy:

With Daddy:

After all of the picture taking, we had a delicious Easter lunch before we had to hit the road back to Chicago.

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter as well!

Happy Easter!

Easter Basket

Olivia received her first Easter basket yesterday! My best friend Amy sent it to her. She was so excited when she saw it and immediately started trying to grab it! It was filled with all kinds of goodies, including eggs, chocolate, Easter gummies, flower suckers, and homemade cookies- all in a cute little bunny basket!

She even "read" the card first:

The duck egg was her favorite:

After she looked through it for a few minutes, I took it away so that I could take out the small chocolates (that Amy included for me :)). Olivia did NOT like it when I took it from her. She threw a fit!

Thank you so much "Aunt" Amy! That was so sweet, and Olivia LOVES it!!!

One Small Step for Olivia, One Giant Leap for Mom and Dad

Below is a video of Olivia taking a couple of steps!

First Steps!!

We've had a busy weekend! On Saturday, Jon had an eye doctor appointment to start the day. Afterwards, he kept Olivia while I got my hair cut and met a friend for lunch. Saturday night, we went over to some friends' house. They cooked us a delicious Romanian dinner and then served me birthday cake- complete with a candle and all!

Today was my birthday, and Jon gave me the best gift by letting me sleep in! Later, I had an appointment for a massage, thanks to Jon. It was just what I needed! The three of us took an afternoon nap and went out to dinner tonight.

The big news of the day, though, had absolutely nothing to do with my birthday. Olivia took her first steps today!!! She did it for the first time while she was staying with Jon and I was getting the massage. I was so excited that he was home for it, and I love that she did it for him first! Although, I have to admit... I was anxious to see it for myself! Well, luckily, I was able to just before bed. She let go of her toy and stumbled towards me! I have to say... that was the best present ever!!


In other news, my Arkansas friends and family will be excited to know that we are having Olivia's birthday party in AR now. We were originally planning on doing it in Chicago over Memorial Day weekend and having my mom and Jon's parents both come into town. However, Jon's parents are going to California that weekend, so I decided to have it in AR instead! We will be there June 1-7. I can't wait to see all of you then!

I hope you all have a great week! We are heading to Wisconsin for Easter on Friday.

First Trip to the Zoo

First of all, Happy Birthday Grandma Gilge!!! We hope you've had a wonderful day and we are looking forward to seeing you next weekend!

This past weekend was an extra good one. Jon took off on Friday to spend an extra day with us, and it was so nice to have some extra time together. We had planned on going to the zoo that day, thinking it would be less crowded on a weekday. However, the rain kept us away. Instead, we stayed in most of the day, only venturing out to a newer restaurant in the neighborhood for lunch.

Saturday was still cloudy and cool, but the rain stayed away so we went out a few times. We walked to the park, so that Jon could see Olivia on the swings, etc. Since it was pretty cool, we didn't stay very long. Later that afternoon, I thought it would be fun to take Olivia outside and blow bubbles. I thought she would like seeing them, but I think I was wrong. This was the extent of her excitement (Ha!): The weather was perfect on Sunday, so we (finally) got to go to the zoo! Her favorite part, by far, was the monkeys. She did her monkey sound through most of the exhibit. Here she is in action (and I posted a video of her monkey sound at the end of the post- for you, Christy!) :) She was EXHAUSTED by the end of our trip, but Jon let her pick out a monkey of her own from the gift shop and she was so excited! Later that evening, we went over to some friends' house for dinner. They are a couple that we met at Max and Emily's when we were in Madison. They just moved to Chicago a couple of weeks ago, and it just so happens that they are in our neighborhood! We took the pack-n-play and put Olivia to bed shortly after we got there, while we stayed up and got to know them better. It was a fun night and a nice way to end a great weekend!

Growing Up

I wanted to post this mainly for my own memory. For the first time since she was born, tonight Olivia didn't have a bottle before bedtime. She has been taking milk in her sippy cup during the day for a week or so now, but usually I give her a bottle at night. Tonight, I switched to the sippy. It was bittersweet. It seems that once a child stops taking bottles, he/she is no longer a baby. I guess she's growing up...

Gram's Visit

My mom arrived in town on Friday night. I was having a Mom's Night Out cooking class with some of the moms from our playgroup and Olivia was already in bed, so mom and Jon had a little time to themselves. We all went to bed shortly after I got home.

Mom was anxious for Saturday morning because she couldn't wait to see Olivia! I was worried that Olivia would be hesitant to go to her because she's been pretty shy with people over the last few months, but she went right to her. (That made Mom VERY happy!!) After spending some time playing, the three of us went to pick up some shoes for Olivia while Jon got his haircut. We picked up sandwiches for lunch and headed home. Later that night, Mom kept Olivia so that Jon and I could have a date night. It was the first time in a very long time that we had been anywhere without her. We went to Hopleaf and had a great time, but I have a feeling that Mom enjoyed herself even more!

Sunday morning started with brunch (of course). This time, we went to Chief O'Neill's for the brunch buffet. We came home and rested for a little while before Jon and I headed out again. We went to a fundraiser for a local community center, while Olivia and Gram spent some more time together.

Ready for the Fundraiser:

On Monday, Jon headed back to work, and us girls went out for an Italian lunch. After a quick stop at the grocery store, we came home. Later that night, I roasted a chicken and some vegetables for dinner. (It's amazing what you can get done when you have a babysitter! Ha!) Unfortunately, that was our last night with Mom, as she had to head home on Tuesday morning.

In the short time she was here, Mom taught Olivia what a monkey says. She will say, "ooooh, oooooh" everytime you ask her. It is really cute! We had such a great time, and are looking forward to the next visit already!

No Pranks Here

Happy April Fools Day! I just wanted to do a quick post on our week. We've had a busy couple of days. On Wednesday morning, we went to our regular playdate. Olivia had a good time, like always. After a nap, we went to a new playgroup in the afternoon. We've never been to 2 in the same day, but this seemed like a good one to try out. It was a lot of fun, too. There were about 10-12 kids there, and they were all within a few months in age. It was pretty cute to watch them all play in an enclosed area.

Yesterday, we went back to Family Grounds Cafe so Olivia could play for an hour or so. Afterwards, we stopped by my old work. It was nice to see everyone and show Olivia off. :) After lunch and a nap, we had some errands to run. On the way home, we stopped by the playground. It was pretty chilly out, so we didn't stay long, but it was nice to get some fresh air.

My mom will be here tonight for a visit! I'll update after she leaves next week with a recap. Have a great weekend!