You Gotta Have Friends

For those of you who know Olivia you know that at the young age of 8 months she is already a social butterfly! She is a baby who is always on the go...from the moment she wakes up in the morning to time she crashes each and every night. She is also a very inquisitive baby. You can tell just by the way she explores and studies everything that she comes across. She studies her toys very carefully and knows what happens when they are tossed about in a certain way. Because it is just the three of us Olivia is usually stuck playing by herself or with mommy and daddy. All of Olivia's cousins are much older than she is and although they love her very much they really don't have much interest in her when it comes to playing. So when the opportunity arises to get together with other babies we jump on it!

Over the past couple of weeks Olivia has had many play dates...mostly with boys! Only eight months old and already attracting the boys...what a flirt! She can hardly contain herself when she gets around other children. She shakes with excitement and usually starts squealing. It is quite a sight. In most cases she immediately wants to reach for the other child and grab onto something...whether it be clothes, hair or whatever toy that child has. Because Olivia gets so excited the other children tend to just stare at her for a moment...probably trying to figure out why this baby is losing her mind! But once the initial excitement wears down she really enjoys having a playmate. Here are a few pictures of Olivia on her recent play dates...

Olivia and Sam

Olivia & Joey

Olivia with Connor & Logan

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!

Well we are off for New York later this week. It is time for our all expenses paid family reunion trip to The Big Apple! Thanks to my Mom and her very persuasive letter to the Crest Whitestrips contest we are going to see the sights in the big city. It should be an amazing trip which will bring lots of great pictures. Check back soon!

On The Move

Every week on my blog I talk about the fun things we have been doing as a family. It has been a busy summer filled with many firsts for Baby O. But I realized that in the midst of all the excitement I have not filled you in on all of the new developments Olivia has accomplished recently.

She is a little over eight months old now and is weighing in at 21lbs 4 oz. She has slowed down gaining weight, and has only gained about one pound in the last month. She is still quite big for her age but I think she is starting to grow into her chub a little! I still can't get enough of those rolls! She still only has her two bottom teeth but I swear those two top teeth are going to make an appearance any day now. One of her favorite things to do right now is blow raspberries. We call her the motorboat because she does it non-stop and sounds just like one. She loves to spit all over you...especially if you are the first one to blow a raspberry at her. She will immediately mock you and give you one right back! Here is a picture of her acting like a motorboat and a video clip of her showing off her skills...

http://s152.photobucket.com/albums/s179/zatchman2/?action=view&current=Spitting-Video.flv

Another cool trick she has taken on recently is giving kisses. A few weeks ago we noticed that when we leaned in and asked for a kiss she would open her mouth very wide and lean forward... waiting for you to reciprocate. It is the cutest thing! But she does not give them up easily. You must catch her at the right time otherwise you will just get a smack in the face instead! But even though you just get a face full of slobber, it is worth it when you are lucky enough to get a sweet kiss!

She has also started waving bye-bye! Everytime we leave someplace we always say bye-bye. She has decided that waving her hands in the air is a lot of fun and typically keeps waving long after we have left. I think she also realizes that this gets quite a reaction out of people and she loves the attention! I think it is great that she is catching on to these skills so quickly.

Here is a video clip of Olivia waving bye-bye. It is quite dark but you can see her arms moving like crazy!

http://s152.photobucket.com/albums/s179/zatchman2/?action=view&current=bc7ce614.flv

Finally and most importantly Olivia has finally begun to crawl! Up until about three weeks ago she really did not show much interest in moving while on her tummy. In fact she has always preferred to sit up and play. But recently she has begun to move...but only backwards! It doesn't matter how many toys are in front of her, within a few minutes she will be at the other end of the room. She can manage to get to just about whatever she wants by moving backwards and in circles. And she can cruise a room in minutes! She mainly scoots but has been trying to push up onto all fours more and more. She has also been trying to pull herself up a little too so I think that skill is not far behind! I have a feeling that I will be chasing this child everywhere in the very near future!

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!

It is hard to believe that in less than four months our baby will be turning one! I knew it would go by fast...just not this fast! Olivia amazes me each day with her bright personality and all of the new things she has been doing. It seems like everyday she is doing something new. You just never know what the next day may bring!

Lady Liberty

How lucky we were this 4th of July...as we celebrated our country's independence with a day full of fun! We also celebrated Olivia turning 8 months old! We have no idea how we got here so quickly. It feels like just yesterday we were bringing her home for the first time. In the past 8 months Olivia has turned into such a delightful, happy baby and we just love spending time with her. We have our very own little firecracker who loves being out and about and keeping busy...so we started our day at the zoo. We are trying to get as much use out of our zoo pass as we can. Olivia is starting to notice the animals more and more so it is lots of fun to take her and watch the reaction on her face when she sees something she likes.

Later in the day we attended the annual Watson 4th of July cookout. We had great weather all day which was perfect considering there were many kids in attendance that all wanted to play outdoors. Our close friend Kim was back in town for the holiday with her twins, so Olivia had some playmates her age to pal around with. Logan and Conner are about 16 months old and Olivia was fascinated with them. She practically bursts with excitement when other children come around. I think she was extremely jealous of the fact that they are walking. She thought that looked pretty cool and was probably wondering why she wasn't able to get up and move around with them. We did manage to get them to all sit still for a few moments to snap a quick picture. Here is Olivia with her little two boyfriends...

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.

Being the mean Mom that I am, I started laughing as I was surprised that she would be scared by something as small as a popper. But I saw that she was not at all interested in fireworks at all so I took her inside to calm down. It was close to bedtime anyway so we decided to spare her the trauma of hearing more loud booms and head home. Her reaction may have just been a combination of being tired and hungry...or not. I cannot get frustrated with her as I can relate to how she feels...since I reacted the same way as a child. I hope that she does not have the same sensitivity to noise that I do. I would hate for her to miss out on some nice fireworks displays by sitting in the car with her ears plugged.

So other than the melt-down at the end of the evening I think Olivia enjoyed her first 4th of July. Maybe next year she will handle the festivities a little better. I mean what is a 4th of July without a few fireworks...even if your fingers are in your ears?

Pool Party!

Today Olivia took her first swim! And oh what fun it was! We have been waiting to get her in the water for some time now. I think we picked out her bathing suit in the winter...anticipating the fun we would be having at Aunt Chris and Uncle VJ's pool this summer.

As I have mentioned before, Todd's Dad is visiting from Hawaii. He has been here for about three weeks and will be leaving soon. As a celebration of his visit, Todd's brother, VJ, decided to throw a cookout and swim party today! Almost all of Todd's family attended, except for his Mom and one nephew who are back in Hawaii. My Mom came along as well...(did you think she would miss seeing Olivia in her bikini for the first time?)

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.

Back Home Again...

...in Indiana. So Indiana is no California, but it does feel good to be home. We got back from our vacation on Thursday morning, after taking the red-eye flight. That was rough! Not for baby, but for everyone else. Since we left California at 11 pm Olivia was already exhausted before we even boarded the plane. She fell asleep as soon as we took off and didn't even wake up when the plane landed! She did so well and I did all of that worrying for nothing! The rest of us did not do as well. It is difficult to sleep on a airplane and even harder when you have a baby on your lap. So the three of us got little or no sleep at all. But it was worth it because we had such a great time.

The second half of our trip was just as fun as the first half. On Monday will drove to Gilroy, which just happens to be the garlic capitol of the world! Yes, the town does smell of garlic too! It is crazy. We first stopped for lunch at the famous In-N-Out Burger. Then we shopped at a very large outlet mall. We could have spent many more hours shopping but baby was tired so we headed back for a rest.

That night the grown-ups went out for a nice dinner and we left the baby with my cousin Justin and his girlfriend. I put Livie to bed before we even left so I figured it was going to be a pretty easy babysitting job. Well about halfway through dinner Justin called to tell us that Olivia had woken up crying and wouldn't stop! What are the odds? I gave him some suggestions and said to call back if they had any more trouble. We didn't hear from them again so we assumed that she finally went back to sleep. It is rare for her to wake up crying so soon after going to bed. We concluded that Olivia knew that Justin was home alone with his girlfriend and no parental supervision. So to make sure there was no hanky-panky going on she threw a huge fit! Way to go, Olivia! Needless to say it made my Aunt and Uncle feel much better knowing the kids were too busy looking after the baby to have time to make-out!

Olivia with Cousin Justin & Delana

Tuesday we went to a small seaside town called Capitola. It is this very cute little village on the water with great restaurants and shops. We had a nice lunch and then walked around for awhile. They had these cute little cottages right on the beach that you could rent. It was a cute little town, but a very chilly day!

After that we headed to downtown Santa Cruz and did even more shopping. I think Olivia was bored out of her mind, but the rest of us had fun. All of the shopping made Todd hungry again so he stopped for a slice at Pizza My Heart. I just love the name of the place...too cute!

On our last day we sort of took it easy. We took a long walk on the beach in the town of Aptos, where my Aunt and Uncle live. It was a warmer day so we decided to let Olivia put her little toes in the sand for the very first time. She seemed to love how the sand felt between her toes. We had a nice lunch and then went back to the house to pack up and relax before heading home on the late night flight.

We had so much fun on our first official vacation with Olivia! Thank you to Aunt Sue Sue and Uncle Ron for showing us all a good time. It was so great seeing where they live and spending time with them. We did a lot of things that Olivia will never remember, but thanks to this blog she can look back one day and see for herself. Next up, our trip to New York in July! At the age of 8 months Olivia will have been coast to coast!

You Stole My Heart - A Father's Day Note From Daddy

Since I first learned that Jessica was pregnant I had mixed emotions. Of course I was excited, but was also scared at the same time. I heard all the traditional things about being a Dad...how it was going to change my life, how I would love this person more than anything in the world. But I had no idea how much it would change me!

I immediately wondered what the gender of this baby would be. Knowing the family history I thought I was destined to have a little boy, but deep down I knew I would be the one to have a little girl. The nine months of the pregnancy were torture. I wanted to know so badly, but had no choice in the matter. When Jessica woke me up that Saturday morning, to head to the hospital, the excitement became unbearable! Having just been in Michigan for Jessica's Grandfathers funeral, the week had been an emotional roller coaster. Those few short hours were worth it when my beautiful little girl came into this world and instantly stole my heart.

The very first moment I saw this little girl I was in love. I never in my wildest dreams could have imagined loving anyone as much as I love Olivia. Since her birth, I have become more and more in love with her and now she has me wrapped around her little finger. There is nothing I would not do for this little girl. She is the best thing that has ever happened to me...(besides meeting Jessica, of course!). And now I cannot imagine my life without Olivia in it. So in celebrating the first of many father's days I just want to say that I am blessed to have the best little girl a father could ask for. I am the luckiest man in the world to have two of the greatest women that God has created. Olivia...I promise to be the best Daddy I can and love you until the end of time.

I Love You,

Your Daddy!

Greetings from Cali

Greetings from sunny California! We survived our first plane ride with the baby and are enjoying ourselves in Northern California with Aunt Sue Sue, Uncle Ron and Cousin Justin. I can't say that the plane ride was smooth sailing. You can tell how thrilled Olivia was to be getting on a plane by the look on her face! It was a little challenging at first but once we were in the air Olivia fell asleep and stayed asleep for the majority of the trip. She really did quite well. I think traveling during her normal bed time was a good idea! But four hours on a plane with a baby on your lap was not what I would describe as comfortable. In other words, we will not be traveling cross country with Olivia for quite some time!

The time change has also been a bit challenging. We have been here for three days now and she is just starting to fall into a routine. It is amazing how a three hour time difference can throw you off so much! But we have been having a lot of fun, regardless of being a little tired. The first day we drove to Monterey and walked around The Fisherman's Wharf. We stopped and had lunch at a cute little restaurant over looking the water. The clam chowder was to die for! Here are a few pictures from our day...

Livie & Aunt Sue Sue

Yesterday we decided to check out some of the wineries in the area. Wow...was that fun! I could have toured and tasted all day if I wasn't toting around a small child who could have cared less about what we were doing. The scenery was amazing and the wine was even better!

In the evening we packed up a small picnic and drove to the beach to enjoy some appetizers and wine. It gets quite cool on the coast in the evenings so we bundled up. It ended up being quite chilly so we did not stay long. It was Olivia's first time at the beach. We were hoping to put her little toes in the sand but it was just to cold. She did enjoy watching the waves crash on the shore. Once again the scenery was beautiful!


Today we went to the Redwood Forrest. The trees were absolutely astounding! We walked a trail and saw some of the tallest, most amazing trees. It is hard to believe that a tree can grow to be so big and tall. Nature can be so fascinating! The picture opportunities were endless...

We still have three days left here. We have had such fun so far and I know we will be doing some more neat things before we have to leave. Why do vacations have to go by so quickly?

Nothing Cuter...

...than a baby's bare butt! How precious is this picture? We have had some pretty warm days these past few weeks, with the temps reaching into the mid 90's! Olivia is a sweaty baby and she prefers to be in the buff when it gets that warm. So I thought I would let her play in her Birthday Suit for a little while. That is when I captured this moment...sitting up so tall!

With the warm weather we have been spending a great deal of time outdoors. That is by far Olivia's favorite place to be. Recently Olivia's daddy attached a swing to the big tree in our backyard. Needless to say she loves to be pushed while the wind hits her in the face. It causes her to burst into big smiles and giggles every time! This is also a great activity for the times when Olivia is little fussy and hard to entertain!

With the rising temps we have also been able to start swimming. She hasn't been in the big pool yet, but she has been in her baby pool many times. She prefers to do this activity naked as well. We put her in her pool with some bath toys and the splashing begins. It is such a great way for her to cool off when it gets so hot. It is also a lot of fun for her and a great way for her to get used to being in the water. Click on the link below to see how much Livie loves her pool..

http://s152.photobucket.com/albums/s179/zatchman2/?action=view&current=Swimming-Video.flv

This past week Todd's father flew in from Hawaii. He is going to be here for a little over a month and he is looking forward to spending time with his only Granddaughter. Olivia was only a few weeks old when he was here last. Needless to say he was quite shocked by how much she has changed in just a little more than six months. We are leaving later this week for California. Olivia is going to visit her Auntie Sue Sue and Todd, my Mom and myself are all going as well. This will be Olivia's first plane ride...please keep your fingers crossed for me that it goes well! But once we return from our long overdue vacation Olivia will get to spend lots of time with her G.P. (That is the grandchildren's nickname for Grandpa).

So check back soon for some fun pictures from our trip! California here we come! I think she is excited...what do you think???

The Binky Bandit

Our baby girl is a thief! Baby O has been caught snatching the binky from another baby recently while at the babysitters!

It is a cute story really. Our babysitter watches three other children aside from Olivia. There are two three year olds...Justin and Madison. A few months ago Justin's mother had another baby and his name is Jordan. Jordan is close to three months old now. He is still quite tiny and not able to interact with Olivia yet, whereas Olivia is starting to get to the stage where she likes to play with other babies. One of the kids favorite things to do is to go for walks. Everyday the sitter loads the two babies into her side-by-side double stroller, the kids hop on their bikes...and off they go. On a recent walk the sitter noticed that Jordan started crying pretty hard, out of the blue. Not sure why, she stopped and walked around to the front of the stroller to find that Olivia had Jordan's binky in her mouth. It is a mystery how she managed to snatch the poor child's bink, but somehow she reached around and got it! And she has done it a few times since then. She has her own binky but I guess stealing one from another baby is much more exciting! I just love that story and had to share it with all of you. Here is a picture of Olivia with her friends...

The binky is a blessing and a curse at the same time. I tried to postpone giving one to Olivia as long as possible after she was born. But after a few long nights I gave it a try and she has been obsessed with it since then. She really only needs it when she is fussy. It helps to soothe her like nothing else. I try not to give it to her unless she absolutely needs it. Well now she has gotten to the stage where she is able to put it into her mouth on her own with no problem. And since we keep it attached to her bibs most of the time I find that she pops it in even when she really does not need to. But there are limits to the binky. I will give it to her at bedtime. But if she wakes up crying for no apparent reason she must learn to fall back asleep without it. In the beginning this was a challenge but after a few nights she learned to survive without it. I know we may face a huge obstacle when we decide to take it away from her for good, but until that day I am going to let her enjoy the comfort she gets from having it. Not to mention, it gives us a little bit of peace every now and then to know that it works like magic!

Well today is Olivia's 7 month Birthday! I cannot believe that we were just meeting this little person just 7 short months ago. And look how much she has changed since then! But we do not have much new to report right now. I think she is getting very close to attempting the crawling task. She pushes up very high on her hands when she is on her tummy but she hasn't gotten onto all fours yet. We are looking forward to watching her reach this milestone, but we need to prepare ourselves for what is to come when she becomes mobile. In the meantime I think we better watch those sticky fingers on Miss Olivia, as we now know how much she likes to snatch things from others! Is this the face of a thief?