Happy Baptismal Birthday! :-)

July 22, 2012.  It was a good day.  :-) 

Perhaps my dad will see this post *ahem* and want to send me some baptism pictures for me to share with you!  ;-)  For now, you'll have to suffer with these non-professional looking pictures taken by me and Danyelle.  Hehe.

1 of 2 cakes for Olivia's baptism... this one was made by Cousin Aunt Kimberly!

Nose crinkle!  :-)  Livvie with her godparents, Danyelle and Phillip.

Scrunhy-faced girl!  (Okay, so I may also have a scrunchy face now that I'm looking at the picture...)
Jimmy looks normal!  (...and quite handsome)

Olivia with her parents and grandparents :-)

Olivia with her parents and most of her great-grandparents... New York is just too far away!  :-/ 
We'll see you soon, Great-Grandma Eileen!

'Mommy kisses?!'

'Oh yeah, I like Mommy kisses!'

'Here's your kiss, Mama!'

Hehe, I love that big, wet, open-mouthed baby kissing.  It's like she's eating my face. 

We have some amazing family and friends who got Livvie such nice gifts for her baptism (your thank yous should be in the mail soon!).  This particular present was from Auntie Danyelle and Livvie definitely enjoyed chewing on the bag. 
 

...and petting the fuzzy, pink sheep on the card.  :-)

'It's about time someone's feeding me!  Thanks Grandpa Bear!'

Beautiful baby girl.  We love you!

Baby on the Move!

Where to begin... how about here?

That was one of our first attempts to barracade that little crawler into a safe area.  She likes to go under the jumperoo and around into the dining room and then the kitchen, playing with shoes and every speck of dirt along the way.  Check it out!

This is the first video I got of her actually crawling:

For the longest time, she would go backwards in a 3-point turn sort of way... well, either that or wiggle like she's ready for swimming.  :-)  We started putting things in front of her like my smoothie or Daddy's computer that we know she'd want to get to and VOILA! 

This next video just cracked us up!  Poor baby!  Hehehe.

For those of you who don't know, I'm very impressed with our public library.  We've been going to the "Diaper Gang", which is a group at the library for song-singing, book-reading, and general fun-having.  I discovered while there that you can sign babies up for the summer reading program and then get a free book when you read a certain number of books (already complete!).  They also have toys that you can borrow for a week... who knew? 

We borrowed some shakers after we used them one week during Diaper Gang and Livvie LOVED them.  She was crawling after them, chewing on them, and then actually shaking them.  She's a little music maker!  I may have hidden one in a pair of socks.  :-)

Well, if you thought that crawling was enough excitement for now... Livvie would not agree.  She's decided that crawling isn't enough.  Pretty much in the same time frame she's decided that she'd like to pull herself up to standing, climb stuff, and cruise around on whatever she can.  We actually don't have all that much stuff that's easy to pull up on, so it's been a little tricky for her to practice. 

...and this last video is me making Livvie laugh.  I love that baby laugh and will do just about anything to get it!  ;-)  Hehe.

I know... lots of videos.  I promised them last time!  I hope you weren't disappointed!  :-D

Sleeping, Crawling, and Teeth?

In light of my Olivia's recent behavior, I decided to change the name of the blog.  ;-)  She started out as a super-sleepysaurus, but it's not so much that way anymore.  I'm not sure what exactly is going on with her sleeping patterns lately... but they are crazy! 

Yesterday, she napped for a half hour in the morning, about an hour in the afternoon, and then slept for a full 12 hours last night.  That's pretty much been the pattern all week... short naps and then 12 hours at night.  The night before, I'm pretty sure it was closer to 13 hours.  Not that I'm complaining.  I am NOT a morning person. 

In other news, we are still waiting for teeth.  None yet!  ...maybe soon?

Something I do know is that she started crawling forward on Monday!!!  Go, Livvie, go!  :-)

Will post video later, after Livvie's nap.  She actually fell asleep as I was typing this!  I just don't want to wake that baby up... she's right next to me in the pack and play.  More soon. 

Pictures Pictures Pictures :-)

In my last post I promised some vacation pictures... let's go with that. 

Floating baby!

These first pictures were taken at the River, yes, the River.  Please note that this was officially the beginning of our vacation, but separate from the Lake.  :-)  Livvie was not particularly happy to be swimming in the river, but it was seriously hot from the crazy storms we had the Friday before and all kinds of power outages ensued.  Not a fun time to be at the River. 

Drying off with Daddy :-)

I can play with my feet while drinking!

She is talented, no?  ;-)

So, after lots of driving back and forth to the River that weekend... we travelled to the Lake.  It was hot there, too, but not nearly as hot as at the River.  Plus, this is what we woke up to each morning:

Peeking-saurus!  :-)

This is the first time we've ever put a bumper in her crib... but she's super mobile now with all of the crawling backwards.  I didn't want her legs to get stuck or her to be upset in the middle of the night due to the bars.  So, when she woke up, she'd look around and then have to do super push-ups to peek over the bumper.  Cutie!

We also took Livvie on her FIRST BOAT RIDE!  Finally.  :-) 

Daddy and Liv

Mommy and Liv

Uncle Neal and Casee... and Grandpa Bear taking pictures :-)



Can you see us in the mirror?

So, Olivia's first boat ride may have been to go get ice cream at Lakeside Creamery... seems fitting, doesn't it?  ;-)  Next year, she can even have some of her own!

So, I already posted a video of Livvie learning how to sit up from belly position.  She had fun crawling backward all over the place at the Lake. 

...and Grandpa took pictures!  Of course!

I even caught her pulling herself up to her knees in her crib (the first time I saw her do this).  Now, she seems to be an expert at it! 

I caught her pulling herself up to standing the other day...

Baby butt!

 ...but she still gets really frustrated because she can only crawl backward.  We've even tried moving her hands and feet in the right direction.  I think she'll get it eventually!

Peek!  :-)

 ...and today we put our BIG girl in her new carseat from Bill and Leigh-Cheri (THANK YOU!).  :-)  Her inaugural ride to Grandma's house was comfortable and she fell asleep and stayed asleep the entire way there and back.  Hehe.  Good luck getting out of that buckle, chickadee!

These last few pictures are ones I took with my new phone... it has a front-facing camera and it was hilarious to see Livvie get so excited to see herself on the phone!  :-)

Love!  <3

Happy 8 Month Birthday!

I'm a little late on this one... mainly because we got back from a week of vacation at Deep Creek Lake last night and I haven't had a chance to blog in a while!  Excuses, excuses.  I've got plenty.  Hehe.  ;-) 

We spent Olivia's 8 month birthday at the lake and since it was the 4th of July, I made a nice little sign that she could barely take her eyes off of once she spotted it!  She wanted it bad.  So, I sneaked a few cutie pictures with the sign in the background and then I let her have it. 

'I got the sign!'

'Who cares about the bunny?!  I got the sign!'

That poor bunny.  Hehe. 

So, my lovely little baby is now getting up from her belly to sitting position.  She figured out that trick this past weekend.  Uh oh for us, I think!  She's gotten super mobile during vacation... what's that all about?  I actually had to build a little barricade at home today and then she pulled herself up to standing position (only once, but still!).  She still can only crawl backward, but she's figured out how to turn herself around so that she can crawl backward and still kind of get where she wants to go. 

I'll post again soon with more vacation pictures... :-) 

In the meantime, Happy 8 Month Birthday, Livvie baby!  You are my sunshine!  <3