Baby's first Halloween

Yesterday was Olive's first Halloween. I went back and forth between feeling like we should make a big deal out of Halloween, and feeling like we should just be low key. On the one hand she is 7 months old, she doesn't have a clue, and we could have gotten away without celebrating at all. On the other hand, it's her first Halloween, and maybe we should have made a really big deal out of it, gone to the pumpkin patch, carved pumpkins with her, taken her to Halloween event(s) over the weekend. Instead, we found a happy medium; we got her a curious George monkey costume from Once Upon a Child for $5 (score!) and went to the Patrick/Emmert Halloween Party.

The Patrick/Emmert Halloween Party is thrown by the family I used to nanny for here in Atlanta. I began working with them when their oldest, Grace had just turned 3; now Grace is 12. It's amazing how time flies.

Anyway, every year they throw this great, very family friendly Halloween Party on Halloween. It's from 5-6:30; the last time I went it consisted of George, grilling hot dogs, and people bringing side dishes to share. Now it consists of George making pulled pork, sausage, brisket, and a bunch of other meats I don't remember (meat is still not my strong suit). Plus sides, and all kinds of cookies, and cupcakes. We brought Mark's famous mac & cheese to share. The food was delicious, and it was lots of fun seeing people and kids I hadn't seen in a couple of years.  And of course Olive got to take part in her first Halloween parade, when all the kids march around the cul de sac in their costumes.  Olive managed to enthrall the cutest little boy with down syndrome, and he held her hand as we marched.

We were actually running late yesterday. Mark got stuck at work later than usual, so I had to pick the baby, and my students were all kinds of nutty yesterday (probably due the excitement of Halloween), and of course we got stuck in traffic on the way there.  We finally arrived around 5:45, Olive was immediately confiscated from me by George, and she was completely happy to be passed around from person to person.  We received several compliments about what a happy baby she is.  Which is funny to me, not because she was such an unhappy baby before, but in last couple of months she has just become so congenial.  She smiles at people a lot and just in general seems to be happy a much larger percent of the time than she as before.

Overall, I would say Olive's first Halloween was a booming success.  Even though Mark and I had both had stressful days, it was the perfect laid back way to celebrate Halloween; without feeling overwhelmed.

Hanging out with Grace before she put her costume on.

Happy with Anna the Bee.

Enjoying her banana with Daddy.

Back home early enough to take a bath and still have some play time before bed.

 

Sometimes the little things, are the big things.

I kind of missed writing a 7 month post.  I had begun writing a post a couple of weeks before she turned seven months, but then I never finished it, and then she turned 7 months, and now here we are.  This is going to have parts of that unpublished post, along with some current updates.

At 6 and a half months Olive started crawling.  We were preparing our house to get a bunch of furniture from Mark's parents (they sold their Big Canoe house, and so now we get to have "grown-up" furniture) so the downstairs was pretty much empty.  We were using beach chairs to sit in the living room, and the dining room was completely empty when one night I was doing dishes in the kitchen and Mark called for me to come in the living room.  There she was slowly, and deliberately crawling.

It was of course very exciting.  She had been almost crawling for a couple of weeks.  She could get up on all fours, and sometimes she would even have one crawl which consisted of moving one hand and knee forward, but then she would get stuck and couldn't figure out that she needed to move the second half of her body.  Or sometimes she would do her inchworm crawl.  She was getting pretty good at manuevering herself around without actually crawling, and then one day she put it all together, and now she is a crawling machine.

It was interesting though, because the same weekend she began crawling she had two much smaller milestones, but in someways they were a lot more excited than her crawling.  The first one, was when I went to take her from Mark one night.  She was sitting in his lap, on the couch, and I reached down to get her, and she reached her arms up to me.  I know reaching her arms up doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but she had never done it before, never even come close to doing it before.  I think that is what made it so cool, it was completely spontaneous, and here she was performing this action that all little kids do, only she couldn't do it a week ago. 

The other milestone was when I went to get her out of her bed when she woke up from a nap and there she was sitting up.  She had been doing a pretty solid job of sitting up for awhile, but had never gone from laying down to sitting up on her own.  It came as such a shock to me, I couldn't believe it; there she was sitting up and she had gotten that way all on her own!

I know it seems silly that sitting up and lifting her arms up would feel like a bigger deal to me than crawling, but I think it is because I could see the crawling coming.  It evolved over time, and was pretty clear that it was coming; the other two things just happened all of a sudden.  The fact that they were surprises made them extra special.

Of course that was weeks ago, and now we have moved on to even more surprise milestones like when she started clapping the other day.  A big thank you to daycare for that one, because we definitely had not been doing any clapping with her at home.  She seems to almost wave sometimes too, and I'm pretty sure daycare is teaching her that as well.  Now that she is crawling she crawls to anything (coffee table, couch, ottoman, chair, dvd case) she can pull herself up on so she can stand.  She has always loved standing, and now she often times pulls up on the coffee table, and will drum her hands on it for several minutes.  At first she did not realize she could not stand on her own, and if there was something on the table she wanted she would try to hold it with both hands, and then fall over backwards.  But now she knows to hold on, or she "tripods" herself and leans her chest against the table so she can use both hands at the same time.

She has started saying "da da" a lot.  It does not seem to have one specific meaning for her, but instead it means everything.  Sometimes she will look straight at you, and very clearly say, "da da."  Like she is sure she must be communicating something with you. 

She is a very happy 7 month old, and has even started sleeping a little better, which makes for much happier parents as well.

Getting fed by Grandpa, this is when we didn't have any furniture in our living room.

Happy to be with her Papa.

Waiting for lunch.

Gammie and Papa came to visit.

Finally got to meet Uncle Kelly.

Drooly baby.

So proud of herself.

6 months: A trip, sort of solid foods, and a doctor's appointment

Over Labor Day weekend Olive made her first visit to St. Louis.  It was a short visit, and we stuck to hanging out at my parents house for most of it, but Olive managed to meet a few of my St. Louis friends.  I'm sure she will meet plenty more when we are home for a full week over Thanksgiving.

I was a little nervous flying with her by myself, but she did a great job both going and coming.  There were no explosive diapers this time, so that was definitely an improvement over the flight home from Albany.  She didn't sleep at all, but she also didn't cry.  Trying to keep an almost 6 month old entertained on an airplane is definitely a bit of a challenge, and breastfeeding with a strangers sitting right next to me was a little strange, but overall things went smoothly.

Olive had a great time in St. Louis, she as a little cranky, because she was dealing with a cold that left her with a runny nose, and a bit of a sore throat.  The first Gator Game of the season took place while we were in STL, and we got to break out her brand new jersey onesie.  It is actually made of jersey fabric, and she looks adorable in it.  She did a pretty good job during the game, but was ready for a nap around halftime.

It was nice getting to take her to St. Louis, and I have to say a big THANK YOU to my cousins Kathryn and Linda for letting us borrow the carseat and pack and play.  Not having to lug those from Atlanta to St. Louis made the trip a lot easier.

With cousins Camryn and Quinn 

Playing with Camryn

Hanging on the front porch with Gammie and Camryn.

Callie is the new baby whisperer, Olive was in her arms for all of five minutes when she passed out.

As for the sort of solid foods, it's kind of a funny story... Olive's second week of daycare I was changing her diaper, and not to get too graphic, but it was a little more solid than usual.  The thing is I had told her daycare teachers that we were waiting until she was 6 months old before we started her on solid foods.  So the solid poop in her diaper was a bit surprising and frustrating to me.  I asked at daycare if anyone had "accidentally" given her solids, and they said no.  To be honest I didn't really believe them, but I didn't know what to do, I really like her daycare center, and think they have done a great job with her.  I decided to wait it out and see if her next diaper had the same solid issues.  The next diaper was as runny as ever so I decided to let the incident go.

When it first happened I was really upset.  I felt frustrated that they were feeding her rice cereal after I had explicitly asked them not to, and I felt even more frustrated because I didn't know if her teacher was lying to me or not.  I figured there was a chance that when her teacher went to lunch or left in the afternoon when someone else came in the room they might have fed her the cereal and her regular teacher didn't know about it.  I also felt upset, because I figure there will be plenty of milestones she will reach at daycare that I will miss out on, Olive eating her first solid foods should not be a milestone I have to miss.  Things like crawling for the first time and walking I cannot control when and where those things will happen, but I can control the first time she has food.

Anyway I explained to her teacher that I was waiting until we got back from St. Louis over Labor Day.  Actually I said we were going to give her solids the weekend after that, because I didn't want to start her during the week.  Well the Tuesday after Labor Day they started her on rice cereal at school.  Her teacher misunderstood me and thought we were starting right after Labor Day.  It's funny because when I thought they gave her rice cereal in August I was really upset, but when it happened after Labor Day I was fine with it.  I think I just felt better if there was a misunderstanding about when to start it, versus feeling like I was being lied      
to, or it was happening behind my back.

On Saturday, September 10, Olive had rice cereal at home for the first time, and she did great with it.  Then today we gave her carrots for the first time.  Mark cooked the carrots and mashed them up himself.  She loved the carrots and ate a ton of them.  I'm hoping she saves that diaper for at daycare.

Getting ready for her first rice cereal at home.

Rice cereal is awesome!

Daddy feeding her carrots.

I LOVE CARROTS!!!

  Finally, Olive had her 6 month check up this week.  She is 27 inches long now, and 15lb 5oz.  She is still in the 90th percentile for height, but only the 50th for weight.  The doctor isn't worried about it, she said that lots of babies don't gain weight as quickly at this age, because they are moving around so much that they are burning a lot more calories.  And she is definitely moving around a ton.  She is sitting up better than ever, she occasionally still face plants, but she does pretty well.  She roles over all the time, and now gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth.  Earlier today I had her on the floor in our bedroom and she started moving like an inch worm.  She would get up on her hands and knees, then lay flat on the floor, and then get back up on her hands and knees.  She kept doing it until she got over to where I was a couple of feet away.  She also has a lot more personality now, and is making more noises.  She makes "da" noises from time  to time, but not with any consistency.  I am loving having a six month old, she is so much fun now, and is usually full of smiles, she also will play by herself for longer periods of time now so we can actually get a load of laundry done occasionally.

This is her activity center, the part she is in allows her to walk all the way around the table, sometimes she plays with the things on the table, but lots of times she just runs around and around in circles.  It's funny watching her when she picks up speed.

Hanging with Titi Taco.

Getting ready to watch the game with Daddy, wearing her jersey, and awesome leg warmers.

5 months old

Today Olive is five months old.  Early Thursday morning Olive's new cousin Quinn was born.  Of course hearing all about the labor, delivery, and new baby made me start to reminisce about when Olive was born, and what it was like to have a newborn.  I realize it was only 5 months ago, but it she has changed and developed so much in those 5 months.  It's interesting to me because this 5 month age gap will never be greater than it is this first year of their little lives.  By the time they are 3 or 4 this 5 month difference will barely register.  But right now, 5 months is huge. 

Olive started daycare August 2.  It's funny because I have always been a big fan of daycare for older children.  I've worked in daycare in the past, and it's amazing the developmental leaps and bounds a 2-4 year old child will make after a little bit of time in daycare.  Children learn so much from each other, and really seem to thrive when surrounded by other children their own age.  That said, when we were first starting Olive in daycare I really wished we had some other option for childcare.  I felt like she was too young, and I would really prefer she get one-on-one attention.  But financially that is not an option for us, so we enrolled her in Kindercare.  I can honestly say I was completely wrong.  She has matured and grown and changed leaps and bounds since she has been in daycare.  Those same jumps in development that I used to see in toddlers when I worked in daycare I now see in my infant daughter. 

There were a few milestones that it seems like she has been on the verge of for awhile, and once she started daycare it was like she hit those milestones all at once.  Let's start with rolling over.  She has been able to roll over for awhile now, heck the first time she rolled from her stomach to her back she was 8 weeks old.  But she has never really seemed 100% in control of her rolling, and she has never used her ability to roll over to get any where in particular.  Now if she is laying on a blanket and she sees something on the other side of the blanket she wants, she will roll to it.  She is also starting to push with her feet when she is on her stomach to propel her forward to get things she wants.  She used to hate tummy time, now if I lay her down on her back she immediately rolls to her stomach.  It makes diaper changing time a whole new experience.  Let's just say I've been "mooned" a time or two.  It's awesome seeing her so comfortable on her stomach now, and it's nice that she no longer gets frustrated with tummy time after 5 minutes.

Another change is her ability to sit up.  She still can't exactly sit up on her own, but she stays up a lot longer now than she used to.  She's also getting better about sitting in high chairs, and shopping carts which makes life a lot easier for us.

Probably the biggest and best change daycare has given us is the fact that she can now sleep on her own in her own bed.  I can't believe I am that parent that let daycare teach my child to do something, that was I being overly indulgent on, but that's the way it worked out.  She no longer sleeps swaddled, and she sleeps on her own in her bed.  She falls asleep much more easily now, and we don't have to have marathon walks around the house where we walk, rock, shush, and pat her all at the same time.  Our current nighttime routine consists of me breastfeeding her for an extra long feeding (usually around 30min) putting the pacifier in her mouth, laying her down in her bed, she moves around a little bit and then is fast asleep.  We're still working on getting her to sleep through the night, but that first stretch of sleep is usually at least 4 hours which is nice.  We've even gotten 5 hours a few times.

The first week of daycare was definitely difficult, and I hate the fact that someone else gets to spend more waking time with her each day than I do, but overall the experience has been very positive for Olive.  She seems fine when I drop her off in the morning (usually a little groggy) and happy when Mark picks her up in the afternoon. 

One other exciting milestone that Olive experienced since my last post is meeting the New York side of her family.  We went for a long weekend to NY the last weekend of July.  Olive got to take her first plane trip, and it actually went pretty well.  She wasn't interested in sleeping on the way there, but she was pretty happy, and she nursed for take off and landing.  On the way back to Atlanta she slept some (she was incredibly worn out from our super busy visit) nursed some, and managed to drop a major bomb in her diaper, that leaked out all over me.  It even got on my sock.

Olive was huge hit with her NY family.  She was pretty happy and easygoing, and did a great job being passed among her family members.  She went on her first boat ride, met her great grandfather Paboo, taught her Aunt Carlene a few cheerleading moves and managed to charm everyone, especially the men.  I have to say my daughter is pretty sweet and loving towards everyone, but she tends to save her biggest smiles for men.

Happy Girl on the airplane

Hanging with her cousin Camryn

Camryn, Olive, and Kristie

Meeting Paboo

Holding hands with cousin Allison

At the track

A car ride and a 4 month Doctor's appointment

Olive and I were lucky enough to spend last week at Fripp Island with my mom.  It was our second week at Fripp this summer, and we had a wonderful time.  Olive's first three car rides to and from Fripp were relatively uneventful.  In fact her first ride to Fripp this summer in the car with Mark and I went really well.  She slept for four hours, then we all stopped for lunch for an hour, and when we got back in the car she went right back to sleep.  She ended up waking up about 45 minutes from Fripp and was a little fussy for the rest of the trip, but all in all not too bad.  The next two trips were pretty similar; mostly sleeping with some fussing the last hour or so of the trip.  Then on Sunday when I was driving with her alone back to Atlanta, she became a car terror.

She fell asleep as we were leaving Fripp, and I figured the trip was going to be similar to the other trips.  I was settling in to drive for 3-4 hours without stopping, when she woke up after 45 minutes.  I was hoping she would just fall back asleep, but that did not happen.  Instead she started to fuss, and then cry, and then she got hysterical.  I pulled over into a gas station.  I figured I would take my time, feed her and give her some awake time so she would be ready to go back to sleep when we started up again.  I fed her in the car, changed her diaper, we walked around the gas station, I filled my gas tank, put some air in one of my tires.  After more than an hour at the gas station I thought she seemed pretty sleepy.  We got back in the car, and she proceeded to start crying again almost immediately.  Once again she was hysterical, I pulled off the highway, luckily at that exit there was a Walmart.  I hatched a new plan; I would keep her in her carseat and put her in the stroller, and we would walk around Walmart until she fell asleep, then I would put her carseat back in the car, that way she would already be asleep.  We walked around Walmart for 20 minutes until I was sure she was really sleeping.  We made it back out to the car, and even into the car.  Then the stupid stoplight leading out of Walmart's parking lot took forever, and she was once again awake before we even got on the highway.  We made it another 20-30 minutes when her cries made me pull over once again.  We were at a gas station, and I proceeded to change her, feed her, let her play for a bit.  After an hour we got back on the road, she fussed for the first 20 minutes and then miraculously she fell asleep.  We made it a good two hours, and then she woke up again right as we were approaching Macon.  I decided to stop in Macon for dinner, and was hoping if I took my time she would be ready to get back in the car and go the last hour and half to Atlanta.  Well we had a great time at dinner, and she was so happy that I just couldn't bring myself to make her get back in the car.  I called Mark and he agreed that the best decision was for Olive and I to spend the night in a hotel.  As soon as we made the decision I felt a huge weight lifted off me.  The day had been emotionally exhausting, and knowing that all I had to do was find a hotel room made me feel a million times better.  So Olive and I spent her first night in a hotel room in Macon, only an hour and half from home.  The next morning when we got back on the road she fussed a bit for the first 10 minutes and then passed out the rest of the way home.  Let's just say I am happy our next two trips involve flying and not driving.

Yesterday Olive had her 4 month well visit.  The nurse was surprised to see her two teeth, and was impressed at how much head/neck control she has.  Olive is now 26 and 1/8 in long (98%) she weighs 15lb 1.5oz (75%) and her head is 16 and 3/4 in (90%).  The doctor is happy with her progress, and said the hair loss Olive has been experiencing is normal.  I'm just hoping she doesn't lose anymore, currently we can do a pretty good job hiding the missing hair, but if she loses much more it's going to be pretty obvious.

With her Gammie.

Daddy watching her at Panera while Mommy uses the free internet to update the blog.  We still don't have internet at our new place.  And yes I recognize how ironic it is that she is sleeping in both these pictures.

    

4 months old!

 Today Olive is 4 months old!  Can I just express how much I love my 4 month old?  I love the way she smiles, she opens her mouth really wide, and her whole face lights up.  Sometimes when she smiles I catch a glimpse of the two pearly white teeth in the bottom of her mouth, they still excite me every time I see them.  I love the way she grabs for toys now, and immediately shoves them in her mouth; no more of the tentative reaching out and trying to barely grasp things, now if it is within her reach it is hers.  I love the way she will lay on her playmat and grab the toys that hang down from above her, and the stuffed animals lying around her, and that this can entertain her for up to 25 minutes.  Which means I get 25 minutes baby-free.  I love when she is in the car and she spots herself in her mirror, she gets a big smile on her face, and then sits and talks to the baby in the mirror.  I love the way she smiles at new people when she is in my arms; first she gives them a bit of a hesitant smile, and then once the person smiles back she squeals gives them a big smile and then scrunches herself up and puts her face in my chest, like she is shy.  I love when she smiles at people, even when they are not looking or paying attention to her.  I love that when she gets excited she bends her arms and legs and then straightens them back and forth rapidly, like she just can't contain her excitement within her little body.  I love how she opens her mouth to reach for things before she even puts them in her mouth so she looks like a little fish going after a worm on a hook.  I love the expressions on her face when she is talking.  I love how expressive her eyebrows are, all the more impressive since they are so light you can barely see them.  I love the way she laughs, not just little giggles on occasion, but belly laughs when she thinks something is funny.

Other exciting news and milestones:  she is rolling from her stomach to her back and her back to her stomach.  She doesn't do it all the time which I guess makes sense, because then she would just be rolling all over the place.  She can't sit up on her own yet, but is pretty good when propped up on the couch.  She really likes to stand up with assistance.  It seems like she has always liked standing, but now she can stand and "walk" if you let her grasp your thumbs with her hands she doesn't need much more support than that.

Then of course there are those two pearly whites I was talking about.  The week before our move into our new townhouse, one day she was a little fussy, and all she wanted to do was nurse.  I ended up letting her nurse/sleep on me for about 2 hours straight, when she was finally finished I looked in her mouth and there on the bottom left side was tooth.  Suddenly all the recent drooling and chewing made a lot more sense.  The second tooth soon followed a week or so later.  They are not all the way in yet, and some days they seem to bother her more than others.  Overall we have been pretty lucky with our teething experience, when they are breaking through she likes to nurse a little bit more often, and they wake her up during the night sometimes; but other than the extra drool, and chewing/sucking on everything she can get her hands on, they don't seem to bother her too much.    

We moved into our new home on June 27, we are still unpacking and get things set up including the nursery.  But she does have her own room, and once we get the walls painted, we will set up the crib, and perhaps she will start sleeping on her own.  We love the new place, and Olive has managed to charm all of our new neighbors.

Olive and I are back at Fripp this week with my mom.  We are lucky enough that my mom is letting us come and be part of her vacation.  One extra bonus besides just getting to spend a week at the beach is that Olive seems to sleep better here.  I'm sure it has to do with the extra time outside, and for some reason the windy weather seems to wear her out as well.  Olive also is meeting all of our "Fripp Friends" the people we meet down here year after year.  It is strange to think that last year when I was here Olive was the size of an almond, and I was sick as a dog.  On our way to the island we stopped at Publix, and I was changing her in the bathroom, I couldn't help but think that last year I was in the same Publix, throwing up!

And now for some new Olive pics:

Sleeping with Papa.

One of those big smiles I was talking about, if you look closely you can see those little teeth.

Good morning!

Third generation Fripp Friends.

Hanging with Mr. Doyle.

Bathtime in the sink!

EVERYTHING goes in her mouth.

Chewing on Oscar.

Worn out after moving day.

Perfect expression to go with her outfit.

Loving Zinny.

A little better teeth shot.

"I am 4 months old today!"