12 Months- I'm one!

Olivia officially turns one today, December 10th at 4:57 p.m.! We celebrated her first birthday with friends and family on Saturday. We also had a little playgroup birthday party today. Olivia, mommy, and daddy thank everyone that was able to make it and celebrate with us. For those that missed, we hope to see you soon.We can't believe a year can go by so quickly! This has been the most amazing year. Olivia is such a blessing to us and we love her so much. Olivia's first birthday present to herself is her first tooth! She's all smiles about showing us that she has a little white stub on her bottom front gum.Olivia is still cruising, standing, crawling, and taking a few little steps on her own. Olivia signs and verbally says "mama, dada, daddy, baby, what's that? and uh-oh". She is definitely a little chatterbox, although mommy and daddy can't understand all that Olivia has to say just yet.

Eleven Months

Olivia is almost one! She is such a sweet sweet baby, always full of smiles and laughter. Norm and I are enjoying parenthood so much and are blessed to have such a wonderful daughter.Olivia is quite the little explorer. She still loves crawling around and gets into everything she can. She's continuing to work on her skills by pulling herself up, standing and cruising. Occasionally she will let go of furniture and stand on her own in the middle of the room. I suppose she is testing her balance. Olivia has taken two to three steps on her own but falls back on her bottom.Here she is almost one and still no teeth. I suspect that teeth will be breaking through soon enough. She has little bumps on the top and bottom of her gums. Olivia is learning to eat regular food although she still enjoys sampling all the different purees of vegetables and fruits.Mommy and Olivia continue to enjoy attending their weekly playgroup. They are also taking a few different classes together; swimming, music & Sign Language.Olivia's new accomplishments are waving hi and bye-bye and saying uh-oh when she drops her binky. She is learning to play patty cake.

Ten Months

Can you believe she's already 10 months old? This month we were fortunate enough to take a family trip to visit the grandparents. During this week long adventure, Olivia decided regular foods are much better! She sampled all sorts of different foods including Chinese dim sum-Yum! She also learned how to clap and wave bye bye.Olivia crawls so quickly now! She stands up a lot and holds herself up onto furniture. She can scoot side to side and cruise around furniture at her height level. It is so fun seeing her discover new things. Olivia doesn't have any teeth but when I peek in her mouth she has several little bumps. The doctor thinks she might be lucky and get a few in at a time.Olivia's first Halloween is coming soon! I'm excited to get her all gussied up. We have a few costumes that were given to us. Olivia will be either a piggy or a ladybug.

Nine Months

Olivia is officially on the move-look out! About a month ago, Olivia stood in her crib, from this day forward, she has been a ball full of curiousity- crawling, reaching and grabbing what seems like everything. This month Olivia has continued to enjoy her rice cereal and her baby puree veggies & fruits. She had her first teething cookie and loved it! Olivia is just beginning to teeth.Olivia continues to enjoy going to her playgroup and seems to be very social and happy. Mommy and Olivia are also taking a baby sign language class. It is fun to see Olivia use her first signs to communicate by saying "pick me up" and "milk".Mommy and Olivia are enrolled and soon to start swimming and music classes!

Eight Months

Olivia turned 8 months old! The other day, I sat at the computer looking through old pictures, it made me sad to think of how quickly Olivia is growing. It's so fun watching her discovering things and seeing her little personality develop. It's unbelievable how our lives have changed in the last eight months. I've discovered that having a baby is an exciting adventure and a roller coaster of emotions.This week has turned out to be a whirlwind of change. On Wednesday, Olivia lifted herself up in her bassinet. Although her bassinet is much larger than a normal bassinet, we were scared that she would lift herself far enough up that she would fall out. We were happy that she was able to get good use out of her bassinet but it was time for her to make the adjustment to her crib. I think the move was more difficult on mommy than Olivia. Mommy got so used to hearing Olivia breathing and sleeping right next to her. It's only been four days that Olivia has slept in her crib but she is loving every minute. She stretches and rolls and seems to sleep better at night. Once Olivia does wake up, she's able to entertain herself and play. This gives mommy a chance to get Olivia's breakfast ready. Olivia is eating rice cereal and baby food. She has been eating solely vegetables except for an occasional prune supplement . We introduced her first fruit to her yesterday, peaches. Olivia enjoys her food and has gained some weight.Initially in writing this post, I wrote that Olivia was not quite crawling but she sure tries. Here it is, one day later and she started to crawl! Olivia started scooting around like a little inch worm about two weeks ago. She got so quick. Then this morning, she woke up, ate breakfast, and when mommy and Olivia sat and played, Olivia got up on her knees and started to crawl! Since this morning, Olivia has crawled intermittently between inch worming around the room. She also surprised mommy and daddy a few days ago by standing up in her crib. She is attempting to move around her crib in what looks like the beginning stages of cruising/pre-walking.

Seven Months

Olivia is turning 7 months old on Tuesday, July 10. It's hard to believe how quickly the time has gone by. Our little princess is constantly changing. Her personality is coming out more and more. Olivia is always a very happy baby but of course, like all babies, she has her moments.Today was adventurous, Olivia learned how to undo her own diaper! After a major blowout and mess just a day ago, we will be on our toes to keep her little hands from pulling on her diaper straps. Olivia has been scooting backward. She is also beginning to rock back and forth on all fours. Looks like she might be crawling soon. Olivia has sat up by herself twice. The other times, she falls over slowly much like a tree having just been cut "timber". Olivia goes to a playgroup every Monday with a group of six to ten other babies that fall between two and three months of her age. She gets really excited and vocal at playgroup. It's very funny! She also gets practice time in for sitting and rolling over.

Six Months

Baby Olivia is changing so quickly! This 6th month, Olivia is growing by leaps and bounds. She weighed in at 13 lb. 3 oz. at her check-up. Olivia is at the 6th percentile, projected to be a petite little girl. The doctor wanted to be sure that Olivia is eating enough and had us begin supplementing after each nursing. We also began feeding her single grain rice cereal and boy is she enjoying that. After one week of supplementing her with formula and rice cereal, Olivia gained almost 2 pounds! Wow! The doctor has now had us slow down her feeds and reduce the supplementing.This month Olivia began to roll over from her back to her stomach and her stomach to her back. She discovered her little feet and is having the time of her life fiddling with her toes. She continues to reach, grab, and explore all the interesting objects around her including daddy's remote, cell phones, mommy's hair, and oh there's always her toys. Olivia has discovered her little voice. She coos, she jabbers, she sings, and she she squawks aloud. She also has learned to make the cutest little raspberry noises. She especially likes to do this back and forth with baba (grandpa). Olivia is a very happy baby and seems to smile a great deal of the time. Her smile lights up the room and sends our heart pattering. She began to laugh this month and it's adorable!

Five Months

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Four Months

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Three Months

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Two Months

Olivia is awake more often. She still naps but not nearly as much. Olivia loves to be rocked and cuddled. When mom tries to do laundry, Olivia sits in her aquarium swing and rocks back and forth watching her little fish circle above her head.

One Month

Olivia is the most amazing baby. She is so sweet and gentle. She's our little angel. When she's awake, she coos and curiously looks all around. She's a lot of fun. She does sleep much of the time. Thankfully, we've not had too many sleepless nights. It's been quite an adjustment having a newborn at home. I'm discovering there's never enough time in the day to take care of everything. Olivia is such a beautiful blessing in our lives. We are so happy. I'm excited to watch the many changes she will go through and all the excitement each milestone brings. We are so thankful for her!