Baby Gator: 11 weeks and an Anniversary

Happy Memorial Day! Olive is 11 weeks old today. The last week included a lot of firsts for Olive. First runny nose (she inherited her Mom's allergies), first time in a swimming pool, first trip to the outlet mall, first time meeting Billy and Rachel, first Memorial Day weekend grill out, first time in her lifetime that a college football coach resigns under suspicious circumstances (haha Tressel), first time she has to wear a bib because she drools so much, and today is her Mommy and Daddy's first anniversary.

It was absolutely fantastic being back at home with Olive this week. She is at a wonderful phase in her development. She is much more aware of the world around her, and can keep herself entertained for longer periods of time. I was extremely impressed with her this weekend. Billy and Rachel were in town, and we spent 4 hours shopping at the outlets on Saturday, she was happily passed among us during the trip and did not get fussy until we were about 10 minutes from home. The outlets are about an hour away so that was 4 hours of shopping, 1 hour for lunch, and 2 hours of driving. She did an amazing job.

Then yesterday we grilled over at Jen's. We were there for almost 7 hours, and once again Olive managed to stay a happy easy going girl almost the whole day. These super busy days also led to some nice long sleep at night, she's still getting up to eat at least once in the middle of the night, but she eats and goes right back to sleep so it's not so bad. I am also very pleased with how easily and happily she goes to different people. Whether Billy, Rachel, or Jen were holding her she was just as happy as if Mark or I were holding her.

Finally, even though it's a cliche to say, a year ago today I married my best friend. It has been a busy year full of change, and let's face it, stress. But it has been a wonderful year and there is no one I would rather have shared all the ups and downs with than Mark.