More April Pictures

Our friends Dennis and Heather had a very handsome little boy on April 8th! We all enjoyed a wonderful dinner out when he was just a week old. Parker James:

 Olivia enjoyed Parker's toes.

We technically ended up doing her monthly photos twice. She was not in the mood the first time, and I didn't like her outfit on camera.

But the next day, I did get some sweetness from my Sweetness :-)

 "What ... is ... on ... my ... head?!"

 Bubbles!

 "Mom, enough with the pictures."

At her 4 month appointment, she was 25" long which puts her in the 77% for height. She was also 18 pounds, 12 ounces! Originally, the nurse wrote 100% on her chart, but the doctor explained that would mean she was bigger than every other baby and then she added, "And there's at least one!" She crossed out 100% and wrote >99%. And for the record, I do know of at least one baby chunkier than Olivia, haha! No one is worried about a thing though, because she's breastfed she's healthy. I love kissing on her chubby cheeks!



Upside Right

I have phantom baby kicks today (coughgascough), and it reminded me how much I loved being pregnant! Towards the end of my pregnancy, Chris and I were going to Costco when he noticed the other women staring at me.

Just for the record, he commented on how they must be jealous of how great I looked pregnant ;-) Good husband, good.

I told him, after realizing it myself, that for the rest of my life I'd be that woman ... looking adoringly but jealously at other pregnant women. However, I don't think the next time will be quite the same. I had no idea how much more I'd love having the cuddly baby here on the outside!

Yesterday, my super cute cuddly outside baby decided to successfully start sitting up on her own - at 17 weeks! She has really been tired of laying down and staring at the ceiling. I guess she decided that if she was too fat to roll over, she would just sit up, dang it!



Olivia's World

My sweet baby. I'm sitting up late, waiting to hear some official news that our world is now a better place, and you're who I'm thinking of tonight. I want your world to be a wonderful, safe, beautiful place. You deserve at least that much. I wish all your nights' sleep could be peaceful.

Easter

We had planned on taking Easter pictures in the morning when Olivia is all smiles. Easter had other plans, and we didn't get to take pictures until 10 minutes after her bedtime. So this is what you get. The real picture would have been from my parents' neighbors' point of view .... 6 people, a dog, and a whole lotta baby toys standing on a porch trying to make a baby smile.

In any event ... Happy Easter! Olivia's first was wonderful. You'll notice the cute little Easter "basket" aka purse that her Aunt Kari sent her, and the adorable bunny from her Auntie Em.

Baby Sounds

For the last week or so, Olivia has been pretty quiet. She went from making all kinds of Ooohs and Aaahs to not much noise at all. Saturday morning she woke up and changed her mind. I wish she would have done more for the camera, but usually when I point the camera at her, she gets very quiet and very still. Good for pictures, bad for video. I did catch some "screeching" before she went down for a nap:

What I heard this morning, though, I'll never forget. She let out the biggest, happiest chuckle I've ever heard. Then she did it again and again. Then she fell asleep ;-) I haven't caught it on video yet, but I wanted to remember this day forever. The day my happy baby let the world know! 

Here are some iPhone pictures :-)

 "How's my hair?"

 I think she was tired!

And this was a fun series of pictures from St. Patrick's Day, playing peek-a-boo with her Poppy:



Bluebonnet Pictures (FAIL)

For anyone who doesn't live in Texas, it's a tradition for families to take pictures of their children in the wildflowers - specifically the Bluebonnets, our state flower. Olivia and I attempted this morning. She was not happy about it, mostly because she couldn't stop sneezing. Here's our take ...

And naturally, we got BIG smiles as soon as we got home from the flowers -

3 Months, 1/4 a Year, 12 Weeks ...

No matter how you say it, 2011 has been pretty spectacular. I'm still enamored with my amazing little girl. Every second spent with her is priceless. She has so many new "words" and she's discovering new things everyday. She is still sleeping through the night, and to be honest, I miss the time I used to spend with her at 3am rocking in her room. She's learned to grab a hold of things, and just wants to touch and pick up everything she can get her hands on! She smiles constantly, and holds wonderful conversations with anything that will listen.

I had to go back to work last week. That part ... is not so happy. I cry the whole way to work, most of the day at work, my whole drive home from work, and to sleep every night. I haven't adjusted so far. It feels terribly unnatural to not be with her. Being so far away from her physically hurts, and it is just about the most awful thing I've ever been through.

But that is a topic better left alone for now! On to more fun things. Beautiful pictures of my beautiful girl from a beautiful March :-)

 Enjoying her buterfly mobile.

SXSW 2011 

Bath time! 

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

"I Love My Auntie" shirt with Auntie Em :-) 

And below ... Olivia turns 3 months old!