Hiking!

Since Albert quit Blockbuster we have Thursday and Friday mornings and afternoons to go Hiking. We have a book - 60 hikes within 60 miles (of Portland). We are trying to get through as many as possible before we leave. Here are some of the pics.

1st Birthday!

It's hard not to love the place we live in.

Olivia is all over the place. She crawls and pulls herself up and babbles all day long. She waves hello regularly and adios a little less frequently. She claps her hands and dances to music. It is so funny, we bought her some new toys and a few of them sing. Right away she the music comes on she does this little bop. Sometimes she does it for the television too. She says mamamamama to me regularly but we are not sure how much she means it with intention.

I started to tell her about her "hermano" (I think it's a boy) and soon I will buy her a little doll so we can start to play mama & baby. She finally started to sit and listen to her books. I can usually get through a whole story now before she wants to crawl off. Before she got impatient by the second page :) She loves to laugh at her doggies and had lots of fun last time we went to the yurt (even though it was wet and cold the whole time)

She hates the wind and makes a huffing noise if she is in it. Also, with all the new movement she has taken lots of spills and bonked her little cabeza. The other day I was in the shower and she tried to pull herself up on the tub to talk to me but it was wet so she fell face first into the side of the tub and got a little bump on her forehead.

We just sent out some pictures of her in her tutu. I took her to the tulip festival here and got some really cute pics of her so we will be sending those soon, along with the ones she will take for her 1st birthday. I can't believe it is coming up soo quick. I think we might try to go to the beach again.

Well, that is all for now, we love and miss you all.

Well, Olivia is becoming her own little person. She scoots all over, except when you want her to come to you she says, "I know you can come pick me up so get over here and do it!" She loves Gus and Gus loves her. Gus likes to walk up to Olivia and roll over onto her back like she does with everyone, except with Ollie she lays her big head on the baby and lets her pull whatever she wants.

She started to get up on her knees but she won't crawl on them yet. When I try to put her on all fours she gets mad at me, so I will let her scoot for now. She walks with assistance but does not pull herself up to standing or hold onto tables or anything else on her own. I am a little worried about her walking because she doesn't move her right leg forward, only the left. she just brings the right to meet the left.

Ollie is very vocal, she sings and babbles when she is happy and whines when she is not. She has a very aggressive grunt when she wants food. She has had a few new friends babysit her this month and they all thought she was fantastic of course. Her favorite toys right now are a wooden ball that Papa got her and her foam letters.

At her last doctors appointment she bumped up to the next percentile for her size and had excellent head measurements. She is finally growing to big for all her 3-6month clothes. We need pants in 12 month sizes now. She eats everything. She especially wants to eat what we are eating so I have been giving her little nibbles off my plate. She like bread and potatoes and anything sweet. She is also sipping water out of a cup now. For a little stretch she was being really picky with her baby food but that seems to be over now.

The potty training has had a few set backs lately, it's really hit or miss. I don't think we are paying enough attention, and we really cut back on having her diaper off since she is mobile now.

We had another playdate with the kids from our birthing class. It so much more fun now that they play together. Well that is about all. We miss you all and can't wait to see you again soon. Lots of love Ollie & Mama

Olivia Crawls

Olivia gave crawling a try today. She drags her self around. Really got to watch her now.

Olivia's January & February of 2010

This new year has been very busy. Olivia has been hanging out and going with the flow. Her and Gus have become fast friends. They hang out on the floor while Papa does the dishes and Mama folds the laundry.

WE MISS YOU!!!

Well, the wedding was uber successful! We are home and trying to get back into the swing of things. We all miss being surrounded by our families. Olivia wonders why there aren't constant waiting arms to hold her.

We had a stressful start to this week. On Sunday when I came home from work at 1am we went to move Olivia to her bed and she was super hot. We took her temperature and it was 102.2. Albert called her doctor and the nurse asked us to put the phone up to Olivia so she could listen to her breath. She didn't like the rattling and told us to go to the hospital. At the hospital she got 3 breathing treatments and a chest x-ray. The doctor there thought she had a small pneumonia. He gave us amoxacillin and said if we took her to her primary care physician she would not need to stay through the day.

Here is another reason why I am so pleased with our physician. The next day at the visit he listened to her lungs and said he wasn't sure he agreed with the hospital doc. He did a swab of her nose and discovered a virus. Apparently she caught a bug that has very similar symptoms to pneumonia. The treatment is the same we just need to watch her carefully because this virus can accelerate more quickly than pneumonia.

Albert was able to stay home with her on Monday and Tuesday and she is doing much much better. The boogers have decreased and her attitude seems back to normal. Right now she sits on the floor eating a cookie and smiling like a maniac.

Last Saturday we had a playdate with the other babies from our birthing class. They are all crawling and moving around. We started trying to get Olivia moving more. We spend as much time spread out on her rug with toys so she can start to get moving. She just seems so content sitting on her bum :)

Here are some old pics that were stuck on our camera. They are from a beautiful spring day last year and the playdate last Saturday. Love you, miss you. Besos.

December 2009

We hope everyone had a good holiday season, and received all of the things you wanted. Thank you parents for the gifts, they are very much appreciated. Olivia had a fun filled month. She started sitting up very strongly. she likes to sit and play with her Christmas presents.
She picked out some Christmas weebles and a rattle that lights up and makes sounds. Her babysitter gave her the pretty plaid dress that she is wearing in some of the pictures. The sitter is always telling us what a cute and good baby she is. She loves to dress her up. The other little girls there like to tell me how pretty she is too. Olivia loves watching dogs and other little children. When I take her to the gym the other kids in the daycare spend their time trying to make her smile.
Albert and Olivia have colds. Olivia doesn't seem to mind that much she is just a little needier and very buggery. Normally she doesn't mind when we take her boogers out but we are doing it so much right now that she gets very impatient. She potties in the toilet everyday and I have even gotten her to poop on que twice now. I am so excited for not having to change dirty diapers... ah one day.
We are making all the plans to be there in a few weeks. Olivia is a little globe trotter, this will be her 3rd flight and 3rd road trip! We missed you all for these holidays but didn't let it get to us since we will be seeing you so soon. We tried to keep some traditions even though we are low on funds and time. Albert got Mario pajamas on Christmas eve and we baked and decorated cookies, which is not as much fun without all the Clarks.

Lots of love and hugs.