Oh gosh golly! Thursday, August 28, 2008

She’s walking. Ok, not like full on, I-can-do-circles-around-mommy walking, but she took her first steps tonight. She held onto the ottoman and then stepped away toward me. It was amazing. Want to know what’s even more amazing? Ian had the camcorder ready and caught it. We should have the video up soon (read as within a few days, not a few hours… no one needs to wait with baited breath over the next few hours for that footage to show up here).

I’m super excited right now, but a tiny part of my soul is shrieking, “Nonononono” at high decibels. I’m smart enough to realize I’m going to look fondly back on these days of relatively easy seclusion. It’s a good thing I’ve started running again. Olive may be joining me shortly.

My little girl… Sunday, August 17, 2008

So Miss Olivia wasn’t exactly being a model of cuteness today when she pooped so much it came out of her onesie leg and onto the car seat. We changed her on the trunk lid of Susan’s car, expending all of our wipes and making her ride home in only a diaper.

She also didn’t win too many pageant points when, during nighttime prep, she puked on her shoulder, having it run down her back and up into her hair, forcing us to give her a second bath for the day. Of course since she was exhausted and in the midst of her bedtime routine, this bath wasn’t a barrel of laughs.

However, when all was said and done, with lying on my chest, we rocked in the recliner listening to what is apparently her favorite CD – a CD of Disney tunes. It comes from a set of 3 that Susan has had for quite some time, and the first one seems to be the one she likes the most. It has older tunes from Snow White, Song of the South, Johnny Appleseed, Fantasia, Three Little Pigs, and such. Even in the car, when its playing, she just listens with an occasional appreciative coo.

Anyway, she was lying with her back on my chest as we rocked and she was quite calm, occasionally sucking on her thumb or rubbing her eyes. Sometimes, though, I’d see that her eyes were still open as she struggled to stay awake to stare at the radio playing the music.

It was during a couple of those moments that won it all back – she’d twist her head a little more to catch me peeking and she’d give a closed mouth smile, looking straight into my eyes. It just seemed to me that she was saying she couldn’t think of a better thing she’d rather do than to rock to sleep with her daddy and her music.

All four teeth showing Sunday, August 17, 2008

She’s finally worked both of the top teeth out of the gum, albeit not by much on the right side. She still likes to practice chewing on our fingers, but that doesn’t last for very long, as brand new baby teeth are about the sharpest things imaginable.

On a slightly-related note, feel sorry for Alias Mother who is still nursing her little Buddha baby… who has EIGHT teeth.

We still aren’t posting much, are we? Thursday, August 14, 2008

I feel bad when I see that our blog stats are staying pretty much the same over time, with at least 20 – 30 visits a day, yet we haven’t posted anything for… a while.

Olivia’s left top tooth has cut the gum and is pushing its way into sharp existence.  The right one will be popping out before too terribly long.  She’s toying with standing without holding on to objects or people, but only for very brief, yet lengthening, periods of time.  She is, of course, quite the accomplished crawler / roller and wants to get into, well, everything.

We spent four days in Chattanooga – Friday through Monday – and she was charming, mostly.  By the last night she was so off schedule and confused about where she was she actually had to sleep in the bed between Susan and I.  Coming home was nice, but she still hasn’t shaken some of the confusion.  Tuesday she would cry if we even left the room, but by now she’s gotten through that.

Susan is preparing for a 5K that is hosted here in the neighborhood this October, so we’re working that into the daily schedule.  Olivia has made it up to eating Cheerios by herself, along with the occasional bits of peach or avocado.  We’re lucky enough that she’s still okay with being spoon fed for good portions of her solid meals unlike her buddy Shaw who’s such a big boy he doesn’t need a spoon.

That’s pretty much it for now.  Next weekend I should have an opportunity to drop in on Elynka and her family since I’ll be driving through to go rafting with Garrett and most of the rest of the crew.  Olivia and Susan are going to sit tight so as to keep crazy scheduling to a minimum.

Thank you everyone for continuing to watch for our updates, even when we don’t provide them very often…

Posting slackers… Friday, August 1, 2008

OK, ok – we’ve been bad bloggers, but honestly, we haven’t been too terribly exciting lately, even by the lowest of standards.

Olivia is back into active teething, and its quite obvious that they are the top two teeth, as we can actually see the white cap barely still under the gum.  She’s a speedy crawler and she’s getting better balance while standing.

Susan still takes Olivia swimming regularly, and as a bonus outing, they went to see the Frog Prince puppet show at the library last Friday.  She said Olivia was very pleased with the show, as well as being extremely social with the packed theater.  She was charming, per her usual self.

Yesterday was Susan’s birthday, so we went out for a sit-down meal and watched the new Batman flick at the IMAX.  It was the first time we’d been out alone since before the baby came, so it was a bit of change.  Olivia stayed home with Susan’s parents, who had driven up just for the occasion.

I’m still just plugging away at work and a weekly hockey match.  I’ve gotten into a pretty reasonable routine of waking the baby in the morning, changing and feeding her, then heading to work.  When I get in after work, I get to play with her while Susan takes care of dinner.  We try to time it such that we all eat dinner at the table together.

At work, I’ve been officially announced as being promoted to a Senior position, even though it’s been in place for a month or so.  This doesn’t really change my day-to-day activities, as I was pretty much operating in that capacity already.  Another change is work is the implementation of a work from home schedule – I’ll be working from the house on Mondays, so I’ll get to see a little more of Susan and Olivia now, as well as save a couple of dollars in gas money.

That’s about it for now…

Happy Birthday to me! Friday, August 1, 2008

I had a dinner/movie date with my husband… sans Olivia.  Much as I love my chubby, little cherub, I must admit it was sooo nice to not have her along.  (Teensiest bit of guilt saying that).  It was lovely to sit in a restaurant and talk to Ian without feeding/playing/consoling/cajoling the little girl.  We actually had time to discuss things that don’t revolve around teething or baby poo.  I felt positively cosmopolitan.  I even dressed up, did my hair (sorta), and wore makeup (again, sorta).  I wore heels.  It was divine.

Anyhoo, I’m 29.  Last year in my twenties.  Still feel about 17, only slightly more responsible (baby) but even less organized (again, baby).

Since I know most of the people who check this blog love me but retain Olivia and her doings as their priority, here is an update:

1)  She’s getting cuter by the minute.  Honestly, you’d think it would slow down.
2)  You can see her two front teeth on the top, but they haven’t yet broken the skin.  Poor thing.
3)  With the teething, she’s a bit more fussy and wakes up at least twice each night.
4)  She regularly pulls herself up to standing and is walking around the couch and ottoman.  That’s right, folks.  Walking.
5)  Whole lot of chatter going on.  Still mostly “Ba, ba” and “Da, da”.  Still no real connection to objects or people.  Yet.
6)  Her belly is starting to be ticklish.  Great fun for me, not sure she’s really enjoying it.  The laughter produced has a hysterical twinge, like her internal monologue is saying “It’s fun, but I’ll be darned if I know why.”