June 10-17

Last Saturday the three of us went to check out the Farmers' Market here in town.  Not bad, but not spectacular either, although we were surprised at the number of baked goods booths (as opposed to vegetables).  While we were there, we went next door and visited the Friends of the Library Book Sale.  More about that later.

After the Farmers' Market, we headed to Sidney where Bryan and I played in some Lehman Alumni Association softball games.  Our team lost both games, but we had a good time anyway.  There's talk among the team of having more organization next year (which means we'll find out more than 2 days in advance and not have to borrow players in order to field a complete team).  Olivia handled her first non-relatives baby-sitting (baby-sat?) experience well.  A teammate's mother volunteered, and when we got to her house she pulled out all of the toys she keeps around for her grandkids and Olivia didn't give us a second glance.

The rest of the week has been pretty uneventful.  I got some baby-proofing supplies, padded the corner of one end table, covered all the open outlets, and put rubberbands around Olivia-level cabinet door handles.  Bryan stained one of our auction bookshelves, and Olivia and I spent time rearranging the middle room now that we have all that extra shelf space.  :)

Oh!  The Friends of the Library Sale!  Backing up to Sunday once more...  On the last day of the sale, it cost $1 to fill a bag with books.  OR you could buy their bag for $3 and get unlimited refills.  This part started at 1:00, and we decided we would go see if there was anything good.  Unfortunately, Olivia decided to take a nap on my lap at 12:45, so we (meaning I) resigned ourselves to not going.  Then Bryan volunteered to go check it out himself as a sort of challenge/adventure.  So off he went.  Apparently he got there at 1:05 and that was much too late.  The line was around the corner and inside was packed.  He lowered his shoulder, pushed his way through the crowds, and started scooping books into bags.  He came back with one complete set of Wildlife books, a bunch of random New True Books that look like they all go together but have wildly different subjects, an assortment of children's books, a couple of books for himself that he's already forgetting exist, five books for me (1 "I saw the word 'assassin' and picked it up", 1 "The cover looks like something you would read.  Also, it has 'shadow' in the title", and 3 "I wanted to get you a series, too, and these were all together" (numbers 3, 4, and 7)), and one Martin the Warrior by Brian Jacques.  I felt bad telling him I already own that one.  All in all, though, not bad.

Yesterday we had the parish picnic in Sidney, and today we're visiting my dad for Fathers' Day.  Since I'm actually writing this post Friday morning and just pretending that it's currently Sunday, any stories from those events will have to be in next week's post.  :)

Here are some pictures of Olivia.  She's looking out the screen door, being a nosy little busybody.  :)  I had grand plans for a photo-filled "day-in-the-life" section of this week's post, but kept forgetting to grab my camera early enough in the day.  Maybe next week.

June 3-10

I have a big scary sewing machine foot called a ruffler foot that I used for the first time ever this week.  It's supposed to make a nice even ruffle AND attach it to other material at the same time.  How exciting!  I decided to test it on the curtain I was making to cover the crawl space in the basement.  Since it was my first attempt (and only a basement curtain), I decided not to get too fancy: I would simply make ruffles in my existing material without bothering to attach the ruffle to other fabric as well.  After reading the back of the package three times and consulting a sewing machine accessory book, I finally figured out how to attach the foot to my machine, fed some fabric in, and... no ruffles.  Something is wrong.  Enter the internet.  Google is wonderful, and directed me to a site where I discovered that I had to hook part of the foot over the needle shank so that it can properly count stitches.  Of course.  That done, I tried again, but immediately stopped because I couldn't actually figure out where I was supposed to be feeding the fabric.  How hard can it be?  You try it.  There are at least three plausible choices.  Anyway, Google to the rescue again.  This time I found a youtube video where someone demonstrated how to shove the material in at the back and thread it through the prongs at the front and voila.  Ruffles.  Not so hard, I thought.  So I left the video up, just in case, shoved my material in at the back, threaded it through the prongs at the front, and tentatively pressed the foot pedal.  Lo and behold, there were loud noises, and I was getting ruffles!  I was so excited that I stopped immediately and went to get Bryan so that he could witness this marvel.  After ruffling the curtain, I put hooks up downstairs, attached grommets at appropriate intervals (good thing I bought two packs, because I ruined about every third grommet), cut out a hole for the large square metal thing on our basement ceiling, and hung the curtain.  And that is the story of how the basement curtain came to be.  :)  Pictures of the curtain and Bryan's bumper pool table after the break.

Okay, now that you've read my curtain story, here's the Olivia update:

Now proficient at standing, sitting, walking along furniture (parents, walls, baskets, etc.), crawling, and spinning in circles while seated, Olivia is a force to be reckoned with.  This precocious young lady is into anything and everything, especially the things she's supposed to stay away from, such as mom's library books or the box that hides all the computer cords.  Stubborn as her mother, she doesn't take "no" for an answer and is quick to tears at the thought that she might be denied access to something.  Ever mindful of her audience, she is also quick to stop the tears and smile endearingly up at her parents, especially if she thinks she might gain something by such actions.  She enjoys exploring the house during the day and playing with Daddy when he comes home from work in the evening.

Olivia has toys.  I promise.  You'd never know it if you watched her moving around the house, though.  Her "toys" of choice -- that is, the ones that she holds on to and doesn't immediately discard and is reluctant to relinquish -- have thus far in her life been an odd, but rather ordinary assortment.  A cup.  My old cell phone with the battery removed (to keep her from throwing my current cell phone and/or calling China -- although she DID try to text Danielle once while I was on the phone with Justine, and that could have been fun).  Her toy box.  No, not the toys, just the box.  And, most recently, one of her wipes.  For clarification purposes, it should be noted that we use cloth wipes, so she's not carrying around a WetOne, just a square of material that is essentially a baby washcloth.  She even took it to bed with her the other night.  The good thing about the wipe is that we have about three dozen and only three different colors, so when the green one she's using gets dirty I can just fish out another green one to give her and she's none the wiser.

Little girl dresses are short.  For some reason, manufacturers think that a dress should just barely clear the butt of a baby.  And when you have a tall baby, that's even shorter.  So Olivia's 12 month dresses fit perfectly except that she has an 18 month t-shirt that's longer.  Don't get me wrong, she IS pretty cute with her little cloth diapered butt sticking out the bottom of her dress, especially if I'm on top of things and manage to color coordinate somewhat.  But I thought perhaps she should have something longer for church. Enter the 10-minute Onesie Dress.  It took me half an hour, but that's because a certain little girl woke up from her nap when I was three minutes in.  I just used some leftover fabric that, coincidentally, matches my kitchen curtains.  Okay, not coincidentally.  It is my kitchen curtain material.  I had extra, and it's cute.  Of course, this led me to channel Captain Von Trapp and proclaim, "Do you mean to tell me that my children have been roaming about Salzburg dressed up in nothing but some old drapes?"  Why yes, yes they have.  And they look cute in those drapes.  :)

We have a sheer curtain that separates one side of our house from the other.  When I carry Olivia through the curtain, we go THROUGH the curtain.  I usually don't bother moving it to one side.  When she's on her own, though, the curtain must be moved before she can get through the doorway.  I find it amusing to sit on one side and watch her concerted efforts to move the curtain out of her way (after she finishes using it for peek-a-boo, of course).

Naptime has gotten more interesting, because sometimes Olivia is content to sit quietly in her crib and play after waking up.  And sometimes she is upset about being down for a nap, and plays for a bit out of protest before falling asleep.  Unfortunately, there is little to do in a crib.  Ever the improviser, Olivia has managed to find a few things to keep her busy.  For instance, here is what her room normally looks like:

And here is her room after a nap:

Note the completely unrepentant look on her face (also the burp cloths in the crib with her):

 And, lest you think that she only causes havoc when already behind bars:

We've used room darkening curtains in Olivia's room ever since we discovered that she slept better in the dark.  Now that she can move the curtain, however (see above picture), she's caught on to our plot.  Wednesday night I went in to check on her after putting her down for bed and saw her standing up.  That in and of itself is not unusual, as she is often standing up in bed.  Typically she's standing in the corner closest to the door, though, so as to better position herself for rescue.  On Wednesday, she was standing over by the window, holding the curtain open and crying at the daylight.  :(

Also this week: On Friday, Olivia cut BOTH top middle teeth!  No wonder she was cranky Thursday night.

Pictures and Video:

May 27-June 3

Olivia can now pick up food and put it in her mouth.  Even the small things, like Cheerios!  She does NOT like to pick up things that squish, however.  So even though she loves raspberries, she won't feed them to herself because they squish when she grabs them.  Other new tricks include the Indian war-whoop sound (only less shrill) and an excellent transistor radio impersonation.

Bryan got his Fathers' Day gift early, due to lack of space.  :)  Olivia and I were at the local thrift store on Tuesday and saw a bumper pool table.  Bryan has been wanting bumper pool since we got married.  We decided this would be a great gift, and bought it.  We carried home the balls and cue sticks and left the table to be picked up on Wednesday.  When we came back with the car...  The table didn't fit.  So we scheduled it for delivery on Friday.  The only problem: Where was I going to hide a bumper pool table for three weeks?  I wasn't.  So Bryan got to open the balls and cue sticks on Tuesday and got to look forward to the delivery of the table.

On Sunday, Olivia started sticking one hand up in the air.  We couldn't figure out what she was doing.  She'd be sitting calmly and then, suddenly, her little arm was straight out with her hand waving for attention.  Then it hit us: she wanted a high five.  Recently a lot of people have been asking her for a high five.  She's not cooperative enough to give one back most of the time, but she must have realized that this is what people do.  Stick their hands in the air and hope that someone returns the high five.

Also on Sunday, Olivia stood BY HERSELF for all of two seconds before she sat down on the floor.  At least, that's what Bryan tells me.  I wasn't in the room at the time, so I missed everything except his excited yell and her sitting on the floor.  I'm with her 98% of her waking time; how do I miss this?!  Now she will sometimes push off of furniture and be in some sort of half-standing, half-free fall limbo until she grabs the couch again.

Monday we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house to take advantage of their pool on Memorial Day.  Olivia was very cute, in a 2T (!) Hello Kitty tankini, her hat, and some zebra sunglasses.  We didn't get a picture, though, because I was holding her and no one had a camera.  Apparently in the moment we all forgot how to work the camera on a cell phone.  We slimed sunscreen all over Olivia, and she was good to go.  She wasn't particularly thrilled with getting into the water (who ever is?), but seemed to not hate it once she got used to it.  She also got to hang out with her friend, Eva (the 5 month old daughter of our friends), so that was fun.

After getting out of the pool and doing some laps around Grandma's coffee table (see pictures below), Olivia went back out to the deck to be admired by all of Grandma's friends.  Everyone cheered when she waved for the first time -- right at Grandpa!

By the end of this week, Olivia had mastered sitting down after being in a standing position, so naps and bed time improved dramatically.  She still gets mad and stands up, but she can get back down and put herself to sleep.  Usually.

Pictures:

May 20-27

Olivia now pulls herself up to stand and walks along the furniture in our house.  Nothing under three feet is safe, except things that are at least a foot back from the edge, because her short little arms can't reach that far.  Also, things she drops on the floor have a temporary reprieve, because she still hasn't mastered sitting back down.  While at church, I discovered that she can sit back down if her hands are at waist level (she was playing near a wide step), so it would appear that the problem is that she doesn't know how far away the ground is when her hands are at shoulder level.  Usually at our house she stands and whimpers at me until I rescue her from her tremendous height.

Near the end of the week, Olivia also got pretty good at standing while holding on with only one hand.  She's not brave enough to let go with both hands yet.  I wouldn't be, either, if I were as wobbly on my feet as she still is.  :)

In addition to the frequent head shaking and periodic head nodding, Olivia has added a more noncommittal shrug to her repertoire.  She also likes to tip her head to one side in a quizzical way that quickly turns playful when she realizes that her audience mimics her.

Still no concept of size from Olivia; she sees a space and obviously should be able to fit through it.  Luckily for her, we don't have a lot of small spaces for her to try to bull her way through.

I don't know when sneakiness is supposed to fully develop, but we're seeing the beginnings of it.  There are a few things Olivia knows she's not supposed to be playing with -- my basket full of project pieces ("I just want to empty them onto the floor!"), the Xbox ("But the light is so pretty!").  Sometimes instead of directly approaching the forbidden objects, she uses her toys as props.  She'll drop toys into the basket so that she has an excuse to go into it to get them out.  Is it her fault that she happens to find other, better things in there at the same time?  She'll also grab any random nearby toy to toss ahead of her if she sees me watching her progress towards the Xbox.  She'll throw the toy and chase it, a game that she plays often, but then suddenly lose interest once she gets close the the Xbox.  "But the light, mom!"

Tuesday was Olivia's checkup, and she is now 29.5 inches tall and 20 lbs, 4 oz.

On Friday, Olivia and I drove to Columbus to pick up Uncle Brad for the wedding that we went to on Saturday.  While in Columbus, we watched a family of geese stop traffic while they crossed the street.  I was ridiculously excited (and also reminded of the book Make Way for Ducklings), and Brad was reasonably excited.  Olivia couldn't see from her backseat, but one day she'll get to look at the picture I took and be excited, too.

Saturday was Bryan's best friend's wedding, so we were there all day.  Olivia took a nap in Grandpa's arms.  Sunday we went to a baptism at the same church (although completely unrelated to the previous day's participants).




More pictures:

May 13-20

Bryan, Olivia, and I attended our first auction this past week.  A nearby house/office was being sold at absolute auction and we decided to check it out.  It was really neat, although I had no idea what the auctioneer was saying half the time.  There were also some things being auctioned off, so we came away with 2 bookshelves for a grand total of $1.  My mother is so jealous.  :)  We almost didn't get them because we were scared to bid...  When the house auction started, we stood in the back and tried not to move.  Poor Bryan turned to me at one point and whispered, "My nose itches, but I'm afraid to scratch it!"  I think it would have been safe at that point, because the bidding was down to two main buyers, but still...  We didn't want to accidentally buy the building.  :)

We have a screen door!  Wednesday evening Bryan's dad came down and helped us add a screen door to our front door.  It's wonderful for creating a breeze and keeping the house cool.  :)

Olivia has perfected pulling herself into a standing position.  Unfortunately, once she gets there she's stuck: she doesn't know how to sit back down.  So this week we worked on sitting.  I'd help her stand up, then I'd poke her in the stomach and she'd sit down.  We probably worked on that for 15 minutes on Tuesday.  By Thursday, though, she was getting better and leaving the standing position without landing on her head.

Pictures:

May 6-13

We tried to build our prayer room in the driest section of our basement.  In fact, we thought we had picked pretty much the only section with absolutely no puddles.  As it turns out, however, monsoon season swept through our area last week, and we have puddles everywhere.  Judging from the carpet's tendency to get damper the longer one stands on it, I assume the puddles are also under the prayer room.  :(  We didn't attach the carpet or anything, so it's a simple matter of lifting it up and (hopefully) drying it out.  However, I think a better idea would be to move the prayer room, washer, and dryer to the attic and turn the basement into a swimming pool instead.  :)

My project Thursday and Friday was to make a purse like Justine's.  When Olivia and I visited, I took measurements of Justine's purse and wrote everything down.  I just got around to making it this week, and it turned out pretty well!  I still need to put a button on the front pocket so that I can use the buttonhole that I made (first one ever! Yay!)  I also added to the design a little: there are some pen loops and a pocket on the inside of the bag for easy storage.  I noticed how often Justine was losing her pens.  :)

Thursday marked one year since we signed papers on our house!

Sleeping through the night was successful.  ...For about a week and a half.  Then Olivia became proficient at rolling over and started flipping onto her stomach as soon as she woke up.  So instead of drifting back to sleep, she was just mad that she was on her stomach.  THEN she got better at sitting up on her own and pulling herself into a standing position.  It's hard to sleep when you're sitting or standing.

Little things:
-Jazz hands.  Instead of clapping, sometimes Olivia just does jazz hands.
-Crawling?  I catch her on her knees frequently now.  She still can't move on her knees, though.  I'm wondering if she's on her knees because she wants to crawl that way, or if she's just using her knees as a pushing off point for standing.
-Standing.  Occasionally, Olivia will pull herself up.  It's not frequent yet, but Friday morning she was suddenly standing behind my chair after scooting over and hauling herself into an upright position.  And Saturday Bryan found her standing twice -- once in her crib and once in the baby cage.
-Sitting.  I know, old news.  But NOW, she can get to a sitting position all by herself!
-Height.  Olivia is as tall as a card table.  I find that difficult to believe, and a I'm the one who measured her!

We got a "baby cage" last week.  It's a gate with a door that I can latch if I need to go switch laundry or something.  The rest of the time the door is open so that Olivia can get in and out as she pleases.  She took a few days to figure out that she could go through the opening, but now she's pretty good at it.


Pictures and Videos:

April 29-May 6

I added a few more pictures to last week's post.  Also, this week, we have videos!

Olivia's hit a climbing stage.  Thus far she mostly just climbs up ME as we stand in church (or wherever).  Oh, and her "crawl" looks a bit like a horizontal rock climb.  :)

You never realize how dirty your floor is until you have a 9-month-old who scoots along it on her belly.  It doesn't matter how often I sweep, she still picks up dirt and hair on her stomach as she chases after toys.  Also, as I spend more time on the floor, I tend to notice more things that need dusting.

The cute little sun hat that I got for Olivia seems to be on its way out.  She's to the point where she can get it off faster than I can get it on.  Sometimes when she's in the wrap she'll still wear it, mostly because her arms are pulled in and can't reach without some dedicated squirming on her part.  We were walking in the backyard and Olivia pulled her sun hat off, so I put it on top of my head for safekeeping.  She immediately started climbing, trying to save her poor mother from the pink hat attacking her head.

Olivia has taken to putting one hand behind her back.  It doesn't seem to serve any purpose back there, so I'm pretty sure she's just showing off her skills.  Speaking of skills, she can now play pass with a ball.  Well...  I think she can play pass.  Bryan says she "either plays fetch wonderfully or plays pass poorly."  But she throws a ball in a (usually) forward direction and when you return it, she throws it again.  If she's by herself, she'll throw the ball and then scoot after it in order to throw it again.

The weekend was busy as I had MVSO concerts and we were visiting Bryan's parents for their Cinco de Mayo party.  Grandma had some sunglasses for Olivia that she rocked just long enough for a picture before figuring out how to get them off.  :)




Pictures and Videos:

April 22-29

Last Saturday was my concerto competition.  It didn't go as well as I might have hoped, but it did serve its purpose, which was to give me a reason to practice for a few months.  After the competition, the three of us picked up Bryan's mom and sister and we all drove up to my parents' house so that we could see Jacque in Hairspray on Sunday.  Olivia stayed with Oma and Opa while Bryan, Murry, Keshia, and I went to the play with Josef.  Jacque was wonderful, and we learned that Josef and Bryan together are a dangerous, if hilarious, combination.  :)

Olivia rolls quite well now after having picked up the skill seemingly overnight.  One day she could roll from back to front only by making use of props (such as her mother), and the next she was rolling over in her crib (boy, does that make her mad!) as well as on the floor.  Wednesday she seemed to comprehend that by rolling over, she could then be in position to scoot her way over to whatever she wanted.  (What she wanted most this week was the Xbox.  It has a green light that makes a beeping sound when you're close enough.  How cool is that?  Also, sometimes it magically sends out a DVD tray to pull on.  Most awesome toy ever.)

In addition to constantly expanding the limits of her mobility, Olivia is also building her "vocabulary."  This week we heard some hard "g" sounds with her mouth open as well as her first "ya" sounds.  Too bad neither of the grandmas opted for the Greek version.  "Conversations" have also been more frequent, often consisting of Olivia saying (or yelling) something and Bryan or me repeating whatever it was.  This can go on for minutes at a time before she gets bored and/or distracted and moves on to something else.

Olivia's clapping is noticeably improved from her first attempts a few weeks ago.  She doesn't respond to "yay!" by clapping yet, but I think it's coming.  Mostly unrelated, I think she understands the word "jump."  And possibly "dance".  She definitely dances when there's music.

Oma Liebt Mich

When we visited my family briefly last weekend, my mom had some new onesies for Olivia.  She'd doctored one of them to say "Oma Liebt Mich" (Grandma Loves Me).  Unfortunately, Gerber apparently runs small, because the 12-month onesies aren't going to fit for very long...

We're working on sleeping through the night, and Tuesday night was successful.  At least, Bryan and I think it was successful: Olivia didn't wake up angrily enough to disturb either of us.  Since she was about 2 weeks old, Olivia has been sleeping well at night, waking up only to eat quickly and then going right back to sleep, but she'd only gone all night a few times.  When she got her first teeth, she regressed, waking up every 4 hours instead of her previous norm of 6.  In the last month or so, though, I've noticed that she wakes up more out of habit than need, so we've been working on breaking the habit.  Of course, this becomes more difficult when we're traveling and sleeping in the same room as her...  Regardless, we had success Tuesday night!  I hope it sticks.

Thursday we all went our separate ways: Bryan traveled down to Tennessee for his best friend's bachelor party and Olivia and I went to visit Aunt Justine, Uncle Joseph, and WD.  The most important thing I took away from the weekend: I don't like West Virginia.  Neither does my car.

Justine: Why are her hands on her head?
Me: She's scratching her ear.
Justine: What about her other hand?
Me: ...It's keeping her head from moving.  :)

Occasionally we also get a slight head nod.  Not as obvious as the head shaking, but maybe she's learning to nod "yes."

April 15-22

There's a little map in the "Stats" section of my moderator page that shows generally where viewers are located (very generally...  it highlights the appropriate country).  Until recently, the United States was green and everything else was white.  I looked on Tuesday, though, and Australia was showing up as a very pale green, which I assume means it simply has less viewers.  It's exciting to have viewers from Australia, though.  Hi, Marian and family!

After stopping at Bryan's parents' house Sunday night, we finally made it home Monday morning...  Olivia was very excited to see familiar toys in her usual box.  Not that she didn't appreciate the toys Oma and Opa provided, but these are hers.  :)  Instead of sticking to her usual "quality control" routine where she inspects each toy and then tosses it disdainfully over her shoulder, she actually seemed to play with each toy a bit.  And she occasionally went back and picked up one she had already rejected, just to make sure it was the same as she remembered.

This week we're seeing a lot of sudden growth:
-We had to move the crib mattress down from its highest setting so that our newly mobile little girl wouldn't accidentally pitch herself over the side.

-Purposeful dropping and/or throwing of toys has begun.  No more shaking her arm until the toy happens to fall.

-Suddenly we're hearing the "ba" sound.  When did that happen?  We worked on "na", "da", and "ma", but this one just showed up.  Also, a side note about Olivia's hard "g": she only does it with her mouth closed.  It's pretty funny, and neither Bryan nor I can reproduce it.

-Though Olivia is still only scooting on her stomach instead of actually crawling, she's getting pretty good at it.  On carpeting she propels herself forward using her toes, but on the hardwood floors she smacks the floor with her hands and then pulls herself forward.

-I figure someday the hair will be in the eyes as we attempt to grow it out.  That day might as well be now, when she's too little to be bothered by it.  This means no bangs for Olivia once what she has grows out.  It also means that I've discovered how cute she looks with a little barrette holding some of her hair off her face.  :)

-Bryan says that Olivia is gaining an awareness of what she is capable of doing.  Long gone are the days when she flailed her arms for no reason or threw herself backward with no apparent intent.  No, now the flailing and throwing are purposeful.  They don't make sense to us, but she means to be doing whatever it is she's doing.

Not bad, considering Bryan
is not a teenage girl.  He almost
got all three of us...  :)

-Up until recently I've been using the wrap whenever I go out with Olivia.  It's more convenient than lugging a stroller around, and she couldn't sit up in a stroller anyway.  Now, though, she sits up just fine, and sometimes we pull out the stroller for a walk -- usually one that will involve more groceries than I want to carry back on my shoulders.  :)  Bryan likes us to use the stroller when he's walking with us so that he can help, too.  Sometimes it goes very well, and sometimes Olivia has a meltdown because she's all alone and can't find her parents.  She's getting better, though.  Bryan says it looks like she's exploring the world on this great adventure, which she probably is.  Of course, this phrasing causes me to begin singing, "Olivia and mom and dad, adventurers slash explorers!"

April 8-15

Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!

It's been a busy week full of family...

(In case it didn't come up in an earlier post, Grandma and Grandpa are Bryan's parents.  Oma and Opa are my parents.)

The sun is in my eyes and my
mom is taking pictures instead
of holding me.  :(

Two Fridays ago (Good Friday for most people), we traveled to visit Bryan's family.  Olivia started clapping that evening, which made Grandma and Aunt Keshia happy.  Sunday, after attending Easter services and participating in Grandma's new Easter traditions (an egg hunt in the dark basement using flashlights and then several contests to see who got prizes), we got in the car and headed up to see my family for the week.

This week we've been attending Holy Week services (because Orthodox Easter is today) and letting Olivia get used to my family.  She's finally to the point where she might let Opa hold her and the sight of Uncle Jacob doesn't immediately cause her to burst into tears.  Who knew poor Jacob was so ugly?

Eating Cheerios in her high chair at
Grandma's house.

Olivia has also been practicing crawling on the carpeting... Our hardwood floors lend themselves more to sliding than crawling.  Thursday, after some dedicated work from her Dad and Uncle James, she finally learned she could move with a purpose.  It's not exactly crawling, but she will hunker down, dig in her toes, and muscle herself forward army-crawl style if she sees something she wants just beyond her reach.  We discovered that Cheerios are a good bribe.

Our new favorite picture.
Photo and editing by Josef.

There has been speculation that "Mamama" has become directed enough that it means Olivia actually wants ME, but I'm more inclined to believe that it just means "I want."  :)  Apparently there's a slightly different sound when she's hoping to get to me, but I think that just means "I want... a lot!"

Today we're doing Orthodox Easter with my family, and then we're back in the car to head home.

Many more pictures get taken when we visit my family...