Mother's Day 2012

This year was my 1st official Mother's Day!

Last year my little Olive berry was in my belly and this year she was in my arms. I loved it!

We had a wonderful day.

We spent the day with my mama.

I'm looking forward to many more Mother's Days spent with my little girl. I'm especially looking forward to those little handmade gifts. :)

Happy 6 months, Olive!

Age: 6 months

Weight:  18 lbs. 10 oz. (91st percentile)

Height:  27 inches (89th percentile)
Clothing: sizes 6, 9, and 12 months.

Head circumference: 17 inches (71st percentile)

Sleeping: She is still sleeping through the night. She flips onto her tummy in the middle of the night. She started getting her arms stuck in the slats and was having a hard time flipping over so we now have a breathable bumper. Problem solved.

Eating habits: Nursing, Expressed milk & solids!

Favorite activity: Going on walks and looking at everything, especially the leaves.  Being held by mommy, turning the pages of a book or magazine, talking, listening to music.

Cutest Moment of the Month:  Mama and Olive laughing together, smiling as her siblings walk by, petting her siblings, letting my dad play with her and hold her without crying, giving kisses & smiling every time she sees an owl.  

Milestones:
Chewing and biting occur
When on stomach can lift chest and part of stomach off the surface bearing weight on hands
Lifts head when pulled to a sitting position
Rolls from back to stomach
Bears majority of weight when being held in a standing position
Grasps and controls small objects
Holds bottle
Grabs feet and pulls to mouth
Adjusts body to see an object
Turns head from side to side and then looks up or down
Prefers more complex visual stimuli
Says one syllable sounds like "ma", "mu", "da", and "di"
Recognizes parents

Firsts:

Bath with mama, road trip to the farm, first back to tummy and tummy to back, began sitting unassisted, first drink out of sippy cup & big glass and first solids!
Updates:
Olive continues to amaze us. She is so smart and keeps us smiling and laughing at the things she does.  She has discovered her hair and ours.  She likes to grab mine when I least expect it and has begun to tug on her own while she is nursing.  She is starting to suck on her thumb. Uh-oh.  There are still no teeth.  And I'm totally okay with that because I'm a little concerned with her biting while nursing.  :D  She started solids a few weeks ago and she seems to like everything she has tried.  We switched the type of rice we were using and now she likes brown jasmine rice for her cereal.  She likes playing with the buckles on her super seat, high chair and rock and play.  We always joke that she is trying to figure out a way to get out of the seats.  She likes rubbing or tossing around her burp cloth while she nurses.  She is sitting unassisted now.  She has been moving around in her crib at night and on her play mat during the day.  There have been many early mornings where I have to move the camera to see where she has moved.  It won't be long until she is moving all over the place.  Time to baby proof the house!


And it's time to start planning a birthday party!!!

Big kiss from Olive

There is nothing better than a kiss from my girl.
Olive's kisses

Liv eats

On Easter Sunday, at 5 months, 2 weeks & 2 days Olive started solids!
She was ready. She has been ready for a few weeks now, but we were planning to travel so I didn't want to start her while away from home.

And I also introduced her to the sippy cup with just an ounce of water. She has been leaning in with her mouth wide open when I drink out of a glass and she started reaching out for my glass. She really liked it.

Her first meal was pears and she LOVED them. I had read that starting babies with a sweet fruit may be a good start because breast milk is so sweet. I have to say it was a great choice. I baked the pear, pureed it in her baby bullet and mixed them with some breast milk.

"Mmmm!"

Here's a video of her eating pears:

Olive eats pears

The next food we introduced was brown rice cereal. Yeah she didn't care for that too much and I don't blame her.

Assuming pears were coming, "Pears!"

"Um, mama this is not pears."

"I guess it isn't so bad."

And here's a video of her eating cereal...

Olive eats cereal

Next up: sweet potatoes!

I just love introducing our girl to new foods! This is just the beginning of her foodie adventures.  :)

Liv laughs

This is just a short video of my baby girl's laugh.  It's my favorite sound and it never gets old.  

Olive's First Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter.  Easter is much more fun when you have a little bunny of your own. :) Liv got gifts from her grandparents, aunt, family friends and of course her mama and papa.  This year her Easter basket from us was filled with items to get her started on solids. Oh yeah, she started solids on Easter! A post about that coming soon.

Liv trying to get into her Poh Poh's peeps.  :)

I can't wait until next year when she gets to enjoy her 1st egg hunt!

Letter to Olive

Dear Olive,

You're now 5 months old. It's hard to believe there was a time that you weren't here. I knew I would love you, my sweet girl, but I never thought I would love you as much as I do. You are an amazing baby.  This time of your life has been so wonderful for your Papa and I. You continue to bring such laughter and joy to our lives. I so wish I could bottle up this precious time with you and keep it with me forever.

Your sweet open mouth kisses are the best.  Sometimes you grab my face and plant a big one on me. And I love it!  :)
One of my favorite things right now is the way you lie back on me and we gaze into each other's eyes as I stroke your hair.
One of your favorite things to do right now is put your hands in our mouths.  It makes you smile.  I think you want to know where all of that food we eat goes.  :)
 
Your laughter is simply amazing as is your voice and I can't get enough of either.  I could hear your voice and laughter and be happy for the rest of my life.

I just love your gummy smile.  I know it won't be long until I see your first tooth/teeth and it's just another reminder that my little girl is growing up.

I never thought I'd be one of those mamas who would miss breast feeding, but I think I just might miss this special time we have together.  I love the way you look up at me and smile while I'm nursing you.  I have to watch myself because if I smile too big you will start giggling. :) I love the way you clasp your hands together. I love the way you throw your foot up and rest it on my boob.  I love the way you stroke my skin.
It makes me giggle and I'll miss how you sometimes grab my bra strap and treat it like a  slingshot.  :D  I love the way your toes grip the glider.  I love the way you rub your foot against your leg to soothe yourself.

Although I know I will miss this time in your life I just have to remember that there will be more precious and fun times ahead.

When you're 8, 10, 13, 16 etc. you will probably see me looking at pictures and watching videos of you while tearing up and you will think I'm crazy.  I'm just a mommy who loves her daughter.  My wish for you is that you get to experience something as amazing and magical as I am right now.


I love you my sweet girl,
Mama

Happy 5 months, Olive!

Age: 5 months

Weight:  ~17 1/2 lbs. (87th percentile)

Height:  ~26 inches long (73rd percentile)

Head circumference: ~17 inches (79th percentile)
Size: 3, 6, 9 & 12 months

Sleeping: She is sleeping in her crib now.  Some nights she sleeps through the night, while others she wakes up once.  There have been some early mornings where she doesn't want to be put back in her crib so we find ourselves asleep in the glider the next morning.  

Eating habits: Nursing and Expressed milk.

Favorite activity: Going on walks and looking at everything, jumping in her jumperoo, sitting in her super seat and playing with toys, reading books, being held by mommy, turning the pages of a book or magazine and talking.

Cutest Moment of the Month: Talking, Laughing, Facial Expressions, Smiling and Talking and smiling at her siblings.  

Milestones:

Signs of teething begin

Holds head up when sitting

Rolls from stomach to back

When lying on back puts feet to mouth

Voluntarily grasps and holds objects

Plays with toes

Takes objects directly to mouth

Watches objects that are dropped

Says "ah-goo" or similar vowel-consonant combinations

Smiles at mirror image

Gets upset if you take a toy away

Can tell family and strangers apart

Begins to discover parts of his/her body

Firsts:

Saying "MmmmMa" "Dah" "Ha (like Hi, but with more of a Texas accent)", "Yah", "Nah".  And it always seems like she knows what she is saying. 

Updates: This girl of ours is simply amazing.  I love everything about her, even her attitude.  :)  She is definitely a mix of both her mama and papa.  She is still not the most comfortable with others holding her, but will smile at her grandparents and friends.  I've noticed that if they ignore her, she'll try to get their attention when she is ready.  It's on her terms.  She is getting so big and just about ready to break my back.  She is the smartest baby I know, but I'm sure I'm being biased as most parents probably are.  :)  I think she may be eating solids sooner than I had thought.  She is really interested in our food.  She has her clingy days, but I think she's getting better. I can at least get some chores done now. Her laughter is so wonderful. 

Olive loves her "Owl buds"

Liv loves her owls and must have a chat with them at least once a day, preferably before bedtime.

She is just shy of 4 months in this video.

She is 

Olive finds her toes...

and eats them!  :D

Video of her in action.