Merry Christmas!

Charming Holly Wreath Christmas

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Thanks to Billy and Rachel for the picture!

Olivia--Six Months Old

Happy Half Birthday, Olivia!

Olivia is getting so big!  Half a year old already, I can't believe it!

She is getting so strong.  She can sit up by herself now, and she can get from on her belly to sitting in a flash.  She can roll from her back to her belly, finally!  She is getting better at scooching and crawling, too.  She can really get where she wants to go.

She still loves her saucer!  She really gets into the bouncing up and down.  She is really interested in her toys, and things that are not her toys!  She figured out that technology is cool - the laptop, the cameras, my cell phone.  She gets really upset when you take them away - as she did while I was taking her picture:

Olivia has switched to two naps, 10 and 2, and she still sleeps about 12 hours in the night. She was sick this month, so I was nursing her in the middle of the night again.  But during the day she's still a solid every three hours. 

She has fully switched from the paci to her thumb for falling asleep.  It was a transition; we used both for awhile, but it seems like she has finally settled on just the thumb.  She also likes blankies!  Especially on her cheek or over her head, they help her calm down.  Just like sis!

I have been letting her taste banana pretty consistently for the last week or two, and we are ready to try it again!  I think she is really ready to eat.  She's been watching us closely when we eat, licking her lips, and she really enjoys her tastes of banana.

Animal Kingdom

Thanks to Julie's long-time friend, Jamie, who has been working for Disney, we had a free-admission day at Disney's Animal Kingdom!  Our neighbors gave us a pass for free parking, so we didn't have to spend a dime!  We were so happy that Andrew could take the day off to spend it with us.  It was a great family day!

 Waiting in line for the safari.

 On safari!  They drove so crazy, we were hanging on to our kids for dear life.  Elena kept calling all the cattle "horsie!"  "Big horsie!"

The giraffe was right on the road!  We were all very excited about it.

 Elephant, behind the lake

In the snake and rodent house.  This was the big frog habitat.  Dinner-plate-sized frogs.  Yuk.

This was a tamarin monkey.  This was where we made the "hang like a monkey" video.  :)

The petting zoo part was a bit lame - only goats and sheep.  But Elena liked it.

I loved the trails through Asia.  The tigers were so close!  It was so beautiful.

At the bird show

Elena on her first carnival-style ride.  Andrew said she had fun!

They had a playground area with lots of big slides.  She loved it!  

We left by 2:30, since the girls - and Andrew - were tired.  It was a good length of trip.  No one was too cranky.  :)  We got to see basically everything I wanted to see, and we all had a great time!

Thanksgiving!

We celebrated our first Thanksgiving in our new house with Andy, Kelly and Gavin, and the Graham family.  It was my first turkey (I was nervous all week!), but it turned out great!  We had plenty of food, so much that no one even needed seconds.  Amy made green bean casserole and rolls.  Kelly made cornbread dressing with gravy and broccoli casserole.  Aside from the turkey, I made stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes and apple salad.  For dessert, Amy whipped some cream and brought apple and pecan pie, and I made Mom's pumpkin pie.  We were well fed!

Olivia was a trooper and went down for her nap right at dinner time.  Gavin played in the saucer while we ate, and Elena sat for a couple of seconds at a time before running around after the dogs.  Nate and Amy's kids enjoyed the sparkling grape juice, and couldn't eat nearly all of the food they wanted to.  I so remember that from when I was a kid!

 

After dinner, we sat around and watched football and looked through Black Friday ads.  We had pie, and did more of the same.   The Grahams had to leave so that Amy could take a nap before heading out to Toys R Us at 8pm to wait in line.  We were not that dedicated!  Andy, Kelly and Gavin hung out for awhile more.  Kelly and I made a toy for Gavin, like the one I made for Elena when she was that age - it turned out so cute!  Elena was wired all day, running after the dogs, the kids, and around the office chair.  She crashed hard that night!

We had so much fun, were stuffed, had plenty of leftovers, and best of all got to spend Thanksgiving with people we love and are truly thankful for.

Olivia--Five Months Old

 

 Olivia is five months old!  It's hard to believe; this month has flown by!

She is getting stronger all the time, holding up her torso very well now.  She doesn't bob back and forth anymore, and I can do the one-handed hip hold now.  She has started to bounce in the exersaucer, and she is getting some hand and arm strength to pull the toys into her mouth.  She is close to sitting up by herself, though she flings herself around too much to stay up for long.  She is so strong on her tummy - she can get up on her elbows and knees for a second when she gets going.  She has started to scooch - she arches her back, stretches her legs and goes backwards.  She can roll tummy to back much more easily, but still can't go back to front.  She seems pretty close!  I will be happy when she can do it - she would rather be on her tummy, so it will be nice when she can get there herself! 

Olivia is really enjoying her toys now.  She can grab them and get them to her mouth very consistently, though she will often drop them and look confused about it.  She is a good floor baby now - I can put her down on the floor with a bunch of toys and she will play with them one by one, until she scooches away from them or tosses them out of reach by accident.  :)  She can get her feet now, which make a handy toy when she's rolled over to her back and can't reach anything else.



She is still eating about every 3 hours in the day, though with the time change her middle-of-the-night feeding is sometimes a little earlier, sad times for me.  She will still sleep about 9 hours before waking up to nurse, but going to sleep at 6 puts that feeding at 2:30 - 3:30.  She then wakes up in the 6s, but if it's still dark she will go back to sleep. 



Her naps are still pretty consistent at 9, 12 and 3.  She is getting better at falling asleep - she didn't have more than one or two crying sessions before a sleep, and they weren't nearly as long as they have been.  One thing that I think has helped, we got some aromatherapy oil from the pediatrician's, called Peace and Calming.  I mix it with a little Olive Oil and massage it on her, and it's very calming.  I call it baby weed, haha.  I can tell that she breathes more deeply, and maybe the scent is just distracting and the massage feels good, but whatever is helping, I am going to keep doing it!  It has really been great for when she starts to get worked up. 

We got her first vaccinations this month.  We will be going to get more each month until 9 months for her delayed schedule.  Poor kid is going to get a lot of sticks.  She took it like a champ, but was super upset afterwards.  I hope the next one goes better!



When I got our pediatrician's book for the vaccination schedule, I read that -unlike our old pediatrician - he doesn't recommend any food until 6 months for nursing babies, so I backed off on the banana.  I do let her taste it whenever she's around and I'm eating one, so that she'll be primed for when we try it again.  :)

Olivia is more and more Mommy's girl.  When others are around and interacting with her, she is all smiles, but she will look at me often, for reassurance and to make sure I'm still there.  She will let someone else hold her for a minute or two, but then the lip comes out and the tears start to roll.  Even Daddy is having a harder time now, especially because she has become harder to plug with the paci.

She loves her sis.  Elena has started to interact with her more, and she eats it up.  Elena is not so happy when Olivia pulls her hair or pinches her, but she usually comes back for more anyway.  :)  Elena loves it when Olivia reaches out and touches her.  She also loves to "tickle sis" on the belly, which doesn't get any laughs from Olivia, but gets bunches of giggles from Elena.  Elena is actually the one who can make Olivia laugh the hardest, though I don't know what it is she laughs at.  :)

We love our sweet Livi.  She is such a precious girl.  Her bright eyes, yummy rolls, big smiles and sometimes little giggles make every day more full.