March 18-25

I've been practicing a lot lately because I'm entering a concerto competition next month.  Olivia is tolerant of my playing, as long as I allow her to "sing" along and don't ignore her for TOO long.  :)

Bryan heard a rumor at work last week that our March thus far has been hotter than that of Texas.  Calling shenanigans, we looked it up on Thursday.  Turns out the rumor was true, at least on Thursday.  Our temperature was 9 degrees warmer than the one in Austin, TX.  We're hoping that summer is bearable.

Because of the warm weather, Olivia and I have been on long walks almost every day.  We went on walks in the colder weather, too, but not as often.  Our trees aren't ready for summer yet, though, so there's very little shade. I got Olivia a sun hat to keep her cheeks, neck, and bald spot from getting burned.

As you may know, our Johnny Jump Up hangs above the table because it's not long enough to reach the floor from the middle beam where it hangs.  Lately we've been wondering if perhaps Olivia is tall enough and heavy enough to reach the floor so that we don't have to constantly move the table in an out of the middle of the room.  The answer to that?  Not now, not ever.  Back on the table she goes.  :)

This picture doesn't really do them justice.

Olivia's eyes are her most complemented feature.  They're the third most commented on (after "Look at all that hair!" and "She likes her tongue, doesn't she?"), but when they do merit a comment, people notice that they're beautiful.  I think they look like Bryan's: a dark blue with brown near the iris.  Her left eye has more brown in it than her right one, leading us to wonder if she's trying to resemble both parents at once.  After all, her right ear is like Bryan's and her left ear is like mine.  The difference is less noticeable than it used to be, but I can still see it.  Interestingly enough, her browner eye is on the side with her "Mom ear."  We're wondering if her eyes have settled, or if they're still working their way through "baby-colored."

More pictures:

March 11-18

Things Olivia Loves:
Seeing Daddy walk through the door
Baths
Jumping (in and out of the Johnny Jump Up)
Playing with her tongue and/or licking things
Strings/tassels/hair (fun to play with AND tasty)
Playing WITH somebody
Being outside
Hanging out with the baby in the mirror

Things Olivia Dislikes:
Drying off after a bath
Getting her nails clipped
Getting her nose wiped
Being on her stomach for too long (but will she roll over to fix it?  Of course not)

We have a budding ventriloquist on our hands this week.  75% of Olivia's non-crying noises have been made with her lips closed.

Olivia would love to be able to stand and walk jump.  She doesn't pull herself up on things yet, but she likes being balanced next to the couch, a chair, or her mirror.  Unfortunately, she hasn't developed the talent of falling into a sitting position yet, so we have to stay close in order to catch her when she falls.  This picture show the problem rather nicely.  As soon as I finished taking the picture, I had to catch her as she fell to the floor like an overbalanced 2x4.




Tuesday all of Olivia's usual pants were in the wash, so I put a new pair on her.  She looked very grown up, but couldn't reach her toes when she was sitting down, so she ended up wearing some comfy sweats from Uncle James instead.

The weather has be absolutely gorgeous here lately.  We've been going on walks every day.  It seems especially summery when you have a baby dressed like she's going to the beach.  :)

My project this week was unpaper towels.  Also known as kitchen towels.  :)  These are more fun, though, because they go on the paper towel roll.  I used old t-shirt backs and flour sack towels to make paper-towel-sized squares and then put snaps on the corners to connect them together.

March 4-11

How did I get so far away?

Olivia started shaking her head "no" recently.  She doesn't know what it means, but it's funny to see the concentration it requires for her to shake her head without tipping over.  She also started scooting around a bit.  Thursday when I put her on her stomach she scooted all the way off her mat.  Backwards.  She still didn't know that she was moving, so she was less impressed with her accomplishment than I was.

Last Sunday I watched the end of Hairspray with Bryan's mom and sister.  As the credits were rolling, Olivia decided to "sing" (yell at the TV) and "dance" (wave her arms and wiggle her hips as I kept her from falling down) with the movie.

Whenever she gets picked up, Olivia kicks her feet in a superb imitation of a swimmer doing the breaststroke.  She must think she's providing the actual momentum for movement, rather than being the movee.  This behavior, as well as her tendency to cling like a leech when being held firmly but resort to being a limp noodle and/or flopping fish out of water when a little assistance on her part would be appreciated (when I'm carrying a laundry basket, for example), has earned her the nickname Miss Wigglebottoms.

This week, Olivia's best friend is a green cup.  She tosses it around, chews on it, pretends to drink from it, and occasionally (if Mom is on top of things) finds a ball hiding in it.  Her nemesis is the spray bottle I keep on the changing table for diaper changes.  On Tuesday she managed to get a hold of the spray bottle and threw it off the changing table.  The spray part broke off and I still haven't managed to find where it went.  Unfortunately, Mom knows where to get more spray bottles (Target), so there was a new one by the next morning.

We got a table for the front of our prayer room.  It's actually a desk, but it serves the same purpose.  Olivia's favorite part of our prayer room is the string you see hanging down from the light.  :)

February 26-March 4

Eating Daddy's carrot.  Watch out, the
blanket ties look a lot like carrots.  She
sampled those, too.  :)

We ditched the rice cereal this week and decided to jump straight into baby-led weaning.  Now when we sit down for lunch, Olivia gets a zucchini stick or a pepper.  She likes to gnaw on her new "toys" and is getting better at hitting her mouth on the first try.  Yesterday, Bryan was holding Olivia in one hand and a carrot stick in the other and she reached out and took his carrot and began to eat it.  He was surprised and I was pleased, because that's how baby-led weaning is supposed to work.

Here's a picture of the finished prayer room from the doorway.  Paneling (with OSB board behind it for easy icon hanging), drop ceiling, and carpet.  We still need to sand down the door a little so that it fits and add a door handle.  We'd also like to get some sort of table for the front so that we can put candles up.  It would take the place of the cardboard box.  :)  More pictures after the break.