Lately

I’ve been a terrible blogger lately because we have been busy, busy, busy!  But here’s what we’ve been up to lately (sorry for the long post!)

Uncle Drew came into town for a visit!  Olivia was a little shy at first, but quickly warmed up to him once he offered her some Cheerios.  Within a few hours, she was eating out of his hands – literally!  While she got warmed up to Drew, Pop-O was on deck for playing with her and making sure she did not destroy Tutu’s nice house!  

We also discovered the joy of the Children’s Museum recently.  We got invited to a birthday party there and she L-O-V-E-D it!!  The ball pit was a big hit.  

And while I loved seeing joy on my child’s face as she discovered new things and got rare childhood diseases from licking balls that other kids also licked (see below for more on this…), the best part of the experience for me was that it WORE HER OUT!  We got home and she went to bed for the night at 6:30 (one hour before her usual bedtime) and slept until 7:30 the next morning (a delightful departure from her usual 6:00 am wake time!).  

Matt was out of town for the birthday party, so we headed back to the Museum the following weekend for a family playdate with Olivia’s friend Liam.  They both had a great time and took wonderful naps that afternoon!

And…the following Wednesday, Olivia woke up with 2 little red spots on her face.  We couldn’t figure out what they were and didn’t see any other spots/bumps and no fever or loss of appetite, so we sent her to school but told her teachers to keep an eye on her.  By the time I picked her up that evening, the bumps had spread and the next morning the pediatrician confirmed our suspicions – Hand Foot and Mouth!  Luckily she never ran a fever and didn’t appear to be too phased by the bumps.  And, even more lucky, I didn’t have much going on at work, so I was able to stay home with her!  (One thing that no one prepared me for was how stressful/upsetting it is when your child is sick.  But, having to go to work and leave her makes it a hundred times worse for me.)  So I was thrilled to get to spend a sick day taking care of her.  

We ended up keeping her home on Friday too.  She still didn’t have a fever, but we didn’t want to infect any of the other kids in daycare.  Matt had to work too, so we used my Back Up Care from work and found a WONDERFUL nanny.  She was responsible, friendly, and sent me pictures/updates all day long.  It was great.  I love to see Olivia get used to her as the day goes on.  In the first shot we got Olivia has her paci and, as Matt says, looks "dead  behind the eyes."  But, as the day went along, you can see her get used to the nanny and have fun.  

And, she did an “art project” with Olivia --- I think it’s the cutest thing ever!  She’s obviously a gifted artist ;)

Finally, a few Sundays ago was Grandparents Day so we spent the day with Olivia’s favorite grandparents.  We spent the morning with Mimi & GrandDad and then went to see Pop-O & Tutu in the afternoon.  We didn’t get any pictures, but Olivia was very sweet and demonstrated her favorite tricks: (1) screaming when she wants your attention; (2) waving “bye bye” when she’s ready to leave; and (3) patting her (or my) head when you start singing “Head and Shoulders”.  It was a great afternoon.  And, one especially funny story – at my parents’ house she did not want to sit in her high chair.  So I took her out and we walked over to the island in the kitchen.  Her cheese was sitting on the counter and she saw it.  I told her “if you want your cheese, you have to sit down” and she immediately plopped down right on the kitchen floor!  We all died laughing.  So, when it comes to cheese, Olivia knows how to listen!

One last funny thing Olivia has been doing lately.  I've mentioned before how she waves her hand to "go bye-bye." Well, it has gotten out of control lately.  She does it ALL the time.  In the morning, we usually bring her into our bed for a few more minutes of rest since she wakes up at the crack of dawn.  She will be sweet and lay down and cuddle for a while, but once she's had enough she will abruptly sit up and start waving.  If we don't take her out of the room and to eat breakfast - she will cry her face off.  Same thing when we try to change her diaper -- she will  be good for a while, but if we aren't going quickly enough - the waving starts.  She does it people's houses (sorry Pop-O & Tutu!), at restaurants, at the store, and...most recently and upsetting, at school.  The transition to the new class has been a little tougher than we hoped and every morning as soon as we walk in the room, she starts pointing at the door (or walking out the door if I let her) and waving.  I'm sure it will just take some getting used to, but its pretty sad to watch.

Anyways...it’s been a fun and busy few weeks and now we are getting ready for a HUGE milestone…Olivia turns one!  Stay tuned…

My Two Little Patients

Casa Dean has been its own little hospital this month and I've been the main nurse on duty!

First Matt had foot surgery 2 weeks ago.  It all started on the night Olivia was born actually.  Matt kept sitting down in between contractions/pushing because his feet were hurting.  He went to the doctor and learned he had a neuroma in both feet.  He started getting cortisone shots in his feet every month or so.  But over the past year, he has had to get the shots more frequently to manage the pain.  When the doctor suggested surgery last month, we thought it was the best option for future relief.

The surgery went well and he is on the mend.  But his poor feet have been so bruised and swollen from the surgery that Olivia is faster than he is at times!

Waiting for surgery

Post-surgery cuddle with dad + a bottle

Then, Olivia had tubes put in her ears on Aug. 23.  She has been having marathon ear infections ever since she started day care.  They have not been too frequent, but we usually need 2 rounds of antibiotics to get rid of them.  We found a wonderful Pediatric ENT in Houston who recommended tubes. He said her poor little ears were full of fluid and she probably had a 40-50% hearing loss.  So, at 5:30 in the morning we all headed to the hospital.  The surgery only lasted 15 minutes as promised and we were able to be in the room when she woke up.  Coming out of the anesthesia was kind of tough - she was very groggy and confused.  She just kept crying and nothing I could do really seemed to soothe her.  Finally she drank some juice and took some Tylenol, so they let us leave. 

Waiting for surgery

Waiting for her to wake up

She took a marathon nap when we got home and by the time she woke up she was basically back to her old self! She woke up happy and HUNGRY!

My family came over that afternoon to get in some quality Olivia time and my wonderful mom brought dinner for us. 

Olivia's latest thing is to wave "bye bye" and then actually go stand by the door until we open it and take her outside.  If we don't - she cries.  So we spent a lot of time yesterday walking outside - but just for literally 1 minute.  She walks outside, looks around and then runs back in the house. Since she likes being outside so much, we decided to take her on a walk. Except that she got tired of sitting in the stroller and made poor GrandDad carry her the whole way home.  Luckily she has a granddad that's a sucker for a cute, little girl (I know a thing or two about that myself!)!

We are so grateful that both of the surgeries went well.  I've said a lot of prayers over the past few weeks and I'm so thankful both of them are safe and healthy!

11 Months

Olivia is 11 months old today!  I can't believe we are so close to one year!  This month has been an explosion of developments for our little one and we are loving all the things she is learning.  Here are a few of our favorites.

1.  Doing the sign for "more" and "all done"

2.  Brushing her own hair when I hand her the brush

3.  Patting my/her legs in music class to the rhythm of the song

4.  Figuring out how to suck through the straw on her sippy cup

She is also officially a "walker"!  She figured out how to stand up on her own last week (without using anything to pull up).  Its so cute - she sticks her little bottom in the air "downward dog" style and then stands up.  And ever since she mastered that, she is off and running - literally!

With the walking, one really cute thing she does is "go bye bye."  We aren't sure why/when/how she decides to do it, but every once in a while we will be in the middle of playing and she will just start waving and then walk/crawl over to the door.  This time we happened to get it on tape but she got side-tracked before she actually go to the door.  You will notice how she carries her bucket around like a purse - love it!

With all these developments, Matt and I have less anxiety over the news that Olivia is transitioning to the next class in day care next week.  We have absolutely LOVED the class she is in now - she adores her teachers and I can tell they really love her too.  But she's the oldest kid in the class and I think it will be good for her to be around some bigger kiddos.  We are very sad to leave the Nursery though and we are just praying that the transition won't be too tough - on any of us! :)

Before the pictures - we want to wish Mimi a very HAPPY birthday - as she says, she and Olivia are in the "20" club - (August 20 & September 20).  We had a great birthday lunch with Mimi last Friday and although I forgot to take any pictures - we love Mimi so much and hope she has a great birthday!

And now...the 11 month photo shoot:

Cuddling with daddy afterwards and then our nightly dance party.

Happy 11 months little girl - they've been amazing and we love you SO much!

10 Months!

Its a little late..but here is our 10 month post!  This month we have noticed Olivia really coming into her own little personality.  She's sweet, funny, adventurous, fearless, and definitely has a mind of her own.  When she wants something (her paci, food, the remote) she is single-minded and won't stop until she gets it or we distract her well enough.  And when she doesn't want something (having her nose wiped), she will be sure you understand!

The 10 month shoot was a little tough this month.  She wanted nothing to do with sitting in the chair - she only wanted dad to pick her up and dance with her.

And she finally gets what she's been waiting for!

The big news around here is that Olivia is walking!  She actually took her first steps on her 10 months birthday at a playdate at her friend Liam's house!  It was very exciting and I was so grateful I was there to witness it.  Since then, she has been getting more and more steady on those sweet little feet!

Olivia done several cute/funny things this month that I want to record for the memory book:

1.  Before bed when we say prayers she will go back and forth giving us both kisses.  We can always tell how tired she is by how "kissy" she is - the more kisses, the more exhausted she is.  It is the sweetest thing!

2.  She pats you on the back when you give her a hug.  I guess Matt and I both pat/rub her back when we hug her so she started doing it too.  Its so cute when we go get her out of her crib in the morning because she's still sleepy so she will immediately lay her head on your shoulder and then pat your back.  Love!

3.  We had a playdate recently at a friends house who has a big black dog.  It was Olivia's first time to see a dog up close and she seemed pretty timid.  She fussed for a minute when the dog came into the house and crawled into my lap.  The poor dog went to sit down on the other side of the room.  However, the dog happened to sit next to Olivia’s lunch box – which Olivia recognizes as her own and knows that her food is in it.  So, little Miss Olivia crawled over to where the dog was sitting and grabbed her food and then quickly scampered back to my lap.  It was really cute and both my friend and I had a good laugh about it. The dog really couldn’t have been more gentle with Olivia and was a great first introduction to a dog – as long as she didn’t try and eat Olivia’s food!

4.  She has a few toys that are relatively "heavy" - but for some reason, these are the toys she loves to try and pick up or flip over.  She usually ends up falling backwards because she isn't that strong and the toys weigh half as much as she does!  Yesterday she cried because she couldn't flip over the coffee table.

Now a few cute pics from the past month:

When she is not in the mood to eat, dinner is a VERY long process:

She's finally got enough hair for a bow.  Mimi found her these adorable bows that aren't too big.  Unfortunately, she absolutely hates having the bow in her hair and its a constant game for me to put it in and her to immediately pull it out.

Flipping over her activity table.

Practicing walking (walking around behind her is a workout for daddy and mommy too!)

Showing off one of her new pairs of shoes (the girl has only been walking 2 weeks and she already has 5 pairs of shoes....I don't think I'm going to be able to contain myself when its cold enough for some baby Uggs!)