She started off not doing much more than flailing her arms. Then she sat up, and then she rolled over. Next she crawled, and before we knew it, she was walking! She walks all the time now, and she wants to explore everything in sight.
She is quite the talker, although we're not sure where she got that from ;-) She says Dog, Bird, Mom-mom, Dadda, Duck, No, Hello (well, kinda. She says hello, but it's hard to recognize), Muah (as in, to give a kiss), and just last night she started saying Bye-Bye. I know there are other words she's said a few times, but that is her main vocabulary.
She waves hello and goodbye, she gives the world's best kisses, and she plays peek a boo. She's started imitating our actions. She combs her hair with the brush (the same hair brush she also tries to brush her teeth with), in the bath she scrubs the wash cloth along her neck, and everything is a cell phone that gets held up to her ear and talked into. She just loves to talk on the phone!
Olivia, bless her heart, sleeps well. Although our nights of sleeping through are over, she usually just wakes once now to nurse. She is still nursing like a champ, which is good since she's such a picky eater. She likes beans of all kinds, spiral sliced ham, fresh turkey, tomatoes, pickles, and just recently started eating hamburgers, but only if they have mustard on them (ick!). She LOVES fruit - especially pineapple - and eat vegetable from time to time. Raw onions, oddly enough, are her favorite. We've also been able to slip in peas and carrots. She HATES potatoes in any form. She loves ice water.
At her grumpiest, Olivia is happier than most babies on a good day. Her smiles are generous, playful, and often mischievous. This morning, she was splashing in the dogs' water, and I told her no. She turned to me, grinned a huge grin, and got in one last splash before running away.
Her laugh is a sound that I will have memorized for the rest of my life. She has such a big personality, which I know she got from her dad. Everyone who crosses her path leaves a little bit happier. She's famous at the grocery store - everyone knows her well enough they recognize her whether she's there with my mother or me.
She has imposed a strict 7pm bedtime. In the beginning, I thought this would be a huge relief to have some alone time. However, most nights I find myself looking forward to our midnight nursing session, just so I can get some cuddles.
I don't remember what if feels like to not know her, or to not love her. She is the reason I get up every day. The expressions "my heart is full" and "the light of my life" now have meaning for me that I didn't understand before she came along. I've enjoyed every single moment with my sweet Olivia Louise. From pregnancy, to child birth, to living with this sweet doll - everything has been like a dream. She is the most amazing person I've ever met, and I can't measure how glad I am that she came into our lives.
Ahem, and most importantly, pictures of my baby.
Her first picture ... ever. Her first picture this morning.
Nursing now:
Me and my boobs are the same size ... she's just a little bit bigger ;-)
Then:
Now:
These first three are from this morning when she first woke up, for posterity. Gigi came over and brought her a new toy! And my excuse for looking worse than the day I gave birth, is that I've been in bed for 5 days with the flu (which is way worse than child birth, mine at least).
(And why do I always have the back-up ugly sheets on when we're taking pictures in bed?)
