Olivia has a new trick! She has mastered the art of clapping! Now every time we sing the song Pat-a-Cake, Pat-a-Cake, Bakers Man...she immediately claps those chubby little hands together in extreme excitement! It is amazing how quickly she has caught on to this. Now every time she catches people clapping on TV or anywhere else she mimics them immediately! We are proud of our little smarty-pants for learning to pat-a-cake like a pro! Here is a little video...http://s152.photobucket.com/albums/s179/zatchman2/?action=view¤t=36a76c77.flv
Well we have gotten back into our routine since returning from vacation last week. It was nice to be able to put Olivia to sleep in her bed once again. I think she agrees...as she has gone back to sleeping like a champ! Although it is fun to travel, it is exhausting...especially with an infant. We spent this past weekend just relaxing after all of the hustle and bustle of New York City.
We attended our play group this past week. We attend a playgroup every other week at the local hospital. It is a group of other breastfeeding Moms who get their babies together to socialize and talk about any issues of interest. This is also our opportunity to get Olivia weighed on a regular basis. Believe it or not Olivia has actually lost a little bit of weight since her last weigh in, two weeks ago. She has gone from 21 lbs. 4 oz. to 20 lbs. 13 oz. I was shocked...but not worried, as she has enough in reserve! I am assuming the weight lose is related to the fact that we have been traveling and there is not as much time to snack as normal. But again, no worries...as I am sure she will put the weight back on in a jiffy! As you can see from those arms she is one healthy baby...
Pat-a-Cake is not the only new trick Olivia has been showing off lately. In fact, she has added quite a few new tricks to her repertoire lately. She has mastered "bye-bye" as well. This involves waving towards herself. I believe she does this because this is the way it looks when we wave at her. She loves to wave bye-bye to everyone when we walk out of the room. She also throws her arms up high in the air when we say "SO BIG!". All I have to do is say each of these things and she does them...no need to show her. Here are a couple of videos of Livie showing off all of her new tricks...http://s152.photobucket.com/albums/s179/zatchman2/?action=view¤t=886a1af5.flv
http://s152.photobucket.com/albums/s179/zatchman2/?action=view¤t=66673da9.flv
Olivia has also started playing peek-a-boo by herself. Originally she got a huge kick out of one of us hiding and popping out to say "peek-a-boo". Now she just throws a blanket over her head and rips it off waiting for us to say "peek-a-boo". This could go on for hours and be just as funny as it was when we started. Finally, there is a funny face that Olivia has made for a couple of months now. She originally started making this face when she had a little cold but she has been doing it ever since. I have no idea why she makes this face, but it cracks us up. She looks angry when she makes it...like she has it out for you! We call it her smoosh face...can you see why?
She is growing up so fast! I wish she would slow down. She is going to be turning one year old in just over three months! I think I might cry! But right now she brings so mush joy to our lives that words cannot describe. She truly is a special baby. There is not a time when we are out and about that she does not make someone else smile. Of course, she is a huge show-off so that is to be expected. But this shows that she not only brings us joy but she brings joy to just about everyone else she encounters. Her personality is contagious and it instantly makes you happy!It seems like every day Olivia has a new trick. Who knows what next week has in store! I do know that this child is going to be crawling very soon, and once that happens it is a whole new ball game!
By Thursday night the rest of our family had arrived. We went out for a nice dinner and went to bed early, as we had a big day ahead of us on Friday. As part of the prize we were set up with an all-day private tour of New York City. Our own private tour guide picked us up early Friday morning and we headed on our way. We saw just about everything....from Central Park to Ground Zero to St. Patrick's Cathedral. We saw numerous famous buildings where many of the top celebrities live as well as some of the most upscale shopping in the country. We even saw the restaurant that was used in Seinfeld. It was an amazing tour that allowed us to see so much of the city in a short period of time. Here are a few highlights...
That evening we were treated to a Broadway musical...Wicked. Originally we were not sure how this was going to work with a baby. I was prepared to spend a great deal of the time in the lobby walking around with Olivia as I knew her attention span would not allow for her to sit through a 3 hour production. Well at the last minute my Mom agreed to stay at the hotel with Livie so the rest of us could go and enjoy the evening. It was so nice of her to sacrifice her evening so that Todd and I could enjoy this part of our trip. Wicked was amazing! The costumes, the set design and the singing... it was truly unforgettable!
On Saturday we started the day by walking around Rockefeller Plaza. Visiting the area where the famous Christmas tree is put up every year as well as the ice rink. We then took a tour of Radio City Music Hall. This amazing venue has so much history and is unbelievably gorgeous. We even got to meet an official Radio City Rockette! Olivia was fascinated with her!
Originally our trip was supposed to end at that point but we decided to extend it a few more days. A few of our family members headed home, the others were off to Boston and Maine, and Todd and I decided to stay one more night so that we could go to the Yankee game on Sunday. Todd is a huge Yankees fan and has waited 35 years to see a game at Yankee stadium. All he wanted was for the weather to be nice and to see a great game. Both of his wishes came true! It was a beautiful, sunny day and the Yankees beat Tampa Bay 21-4!
With this being Olivia's first Yankee game, she had to go in style! We found her an adorable little outfit in Yankee blue & gray. Olivia did great during the game and kept busy by entertaining everyone that was sitting around us. But after a few hours she was tuckered out and napped on Mommy's lap until the end. It was such a fun day for all of us...but I think Todd enjoyed himself the most!
During our last night in the big city we decided to squeeze in one more activity and go to the top of the Empire State Building. It was a longer wait than we anticipated and once we got to the top it was so crowded that it was hard to see, but it was worth it as the view was amazing!
The next morning we woke up to very heavy rain. It was a miserable day in New York and we were so grateful that our weather was so perfect up to that point. We headed to the Newark airport and after a short delay we were informed that our flight was cancelled. So we were stuck in New Jersey until the morning. Luckily they put us up in a nice hotel and provided dinner. We ended up having a nice relaxing evening before getting up at 4am to catch our plane home. It was rough getting up that early...especially for Livie. Before getting on our flight we were randomly pulled aside at security and searched. Olivia received her first official pat-down. I wish I had a picture to go along with that, but they shy upon picture taking in the security area!
It has been fun watching Olivia start to socialize more with other children. She shows a genuine interest when they are around. Although if she is anything like her mother she will be quite bossy as a child and will try to dominate play time at all times! Hopefully she will encounter a few kids that are willing to give her a run for her money. Oh and I guess one day Todd and I may try to give Olivia a play mate of her very own, in the form of a little brother or sister :) Note that the emphasis is on the words "one day" as we have about all we can handle right now!
Here is a video clip of Olivia waving bye-bye. It is quite dark but you can see her arms moving like crazy!
She is still a very smiley, happy baby! She is very animated and typically the center of attention everywhere we go. She likes to put on a show and knows that when she does all eyes are on her. She is very entertaining but also very exhausting so bed time is a nice time! Luckily, she is and always has been a very good sleeper. We rarely have any trouble sleeping at night or taking our naps. I am so grateful for that!
There are lots of grandchildren in the Watson family...nine to be exact. And since they are such close friends of ours Olivia is considered an honorary grandchild. This year she was included in the annual "cousin picture". Check out all of the kids in their patriotic duds...
As usual the food was delicious! After dinner it was time for some fireworks. The kids all had little poppers and snappers that they wanted to play with. These are my kind of fireworks. You know...the kind that really do not make much noise. I am quite sensitive to loud sounds and have never been much of a fan when it comes to fireworks. As a kid I would sit in the car with the windows rolled up and my fingers in my ears just waiting for them to finish. As an adult I have gotten a little better. I enjoy watching the fireworks but still have to plug my ears for the big ones. I know...sounds silly, but I just cannot help it. Well I thought Olivia would enjoy watching the streamers fly out of the poppers...but I was wrong. Once the kids started in with them it only took a few seconds and she burst into tears. Gripping onto me for dear life, my smiley, happy baby quickly became hysterical.
Olivia had an entire swim ensemble to show off at the pool party! She was matching from head to toe. She had her ladybug bikini and matching cover-up. She also had ladybug sandals and a red and white sun hat to top it off! She was just oozing cuteness! She came ready to swim and we did just that! 
Up until now Olivia has only been in her kiddy pool at home. I have noticed that if the water is too cold when I put her in it she expresses her displeasure by crying immediately. I was worried that she would react the same way once we got her in the big pool. We thought it would be easier to just toss her in and let her figure it out on her own. Hey...it's sink or swim...right?
Ok, you didn't think I was serious...did you? We want Olivia to love being in the water so we did it right and took our time. The water was a little chilly at first but she didn't even flinch. We eased her in and once she was used to it we put her in her special float. It was fun watching her experience this for the first time. She loved every second of it!
We floated around for awhile and then decided to take a break as Livie's little fingers and toes were starting to prune. That is when all of Olivia's crazy cousins jumped in and starting goofing off. She was quite entertained just watching them from the sidelines. Although I think she would have loved to be in the middle of it all. After lunch Olivia took another dip...this time swimming around with her Uncle VJ. He kept going under the water and popping up. She loved that game and would look over the side of the float every time he would disappear.
It was a day full of fun and sun! But all of the excitement caught up with Livie and she finally surrendered to her exhaustion. Being a sun-bathing beauty is hard work! 
We are so happy that she likes the pool and was not scared by the whole experience. Thanks to Uncle VJ and Aunt Chris for throwing such a wonderful family gathering. It is so great to be surrounded by such loving family. Olivia is one lucky baby! We are looking forward to many more fun times at the pool this summer.