Six Months Old

We can hardly believe that Olivia has been in our lives for half a year already!  The time has flown by and we continue to treasure each moment!  We had a doctors appointment on Tuesday and after a very LONG wait we discovered Olivia has grown an inch and a half to 26.5 inches long and has gained almost three pounds!  She now weighs 15 pounds and 9 ounces! Her height puts her in the 77th percentile and 43rd percentile for weight.  The doctor said she is growing well and should start trying real food.  Our plan is to make our own food and then freeze it for the week.  To be honest, I have bought some Gerber green beans so we will see how this goes!  Dr. Landcaster said that now her food is just to experiment with and learn to eat different textures.  Most of her nutrients will still come from milk.  We are excited to try out some new foods. 

On her six month birthday, May 1st, we had quite an eventful day.   At Noon, we scheduled a photo shoot at Target for her milestone pictures.  She was wonderful and charming, and the Target staff worked patiently and efficiently!  The pictures turned out beautifully and we will be able to pick them up next weekend!  Our next stop, to pick up Tyler and Aunt Laura and head to the Maryland Zoo! 
 
We arrived at the Zoo around 2:45 and the zoo closed at 4:00, so we knew we had to hurry through the park.  We started in the Children section, which was adorable and Tyler had a blast!  This trip was much more eventful than our first trip.  The crowd was minimal, and the animals were out and playing!  Of course I forgot to grab the camera so we missed out on great photo opportunities...oh well I am sure that will not be the first time.  The animals we saw included, the cutest otter doing back flips off a rock, snakes slithering, bats flying, penguins swimming, a camel giving rides, polar bears,  giant tortoises eating grass, lazy cheetahs, and ravens.  The most exciting part of the day was when a monkey went a little crazy!  We were standing by the outdoor monkey area and one of the monkeys came over to place we were standing, turned towards us and sat down.  It was cute, but suddenly he freaked out!  He picked up a huge water container, dumped it out, and threw it at the plastic viewing area.  Then he jumped up and kicked the plastic area.  The four of us jumped back, surprised and a little scared.  I have never seen a monkey act that way and it was pretty intense.  Tyler claimed that he had anger issues!  It was quite an eventful day at the zoo and we love that we only need to use the pass one more time and we have paid off the pass!  I am certain we will return soon.

On Sunday of her six month birthday weekend,  it was my mom's birthday.  The entire family drove out to Harper's Ferry in western Maryland to hike and walk around the historic town.  While we were getting ready, Tyler kept Olivia occupied by playing and reading to her.  We had some very cute pictures of the two of them!  The day was enjoyable and felt like the summer with the temperatures in the 90s!  Olivia was a great little girl, sleeping for about 45 minutes on the way to Harpers Ferry.  She ate when we arrived and then sat in her stroller for most of the time.  She was such a great baby.  By 12:30 she was growing tired and we were all hungry.  So we headed back to the car and across the street for a picnic lunch.  I put Livy in her car seat and she was asleep in a matter of five minutes!  While we ate lunch we kept her in the car with the windows rolled down and ate lunch about 100 yards away.    After the bugs ran us out of the area, we headed back to Mom and Dad's for presents and dinner.   The day was fabulous and I know my mom had a great birthday! 

She had quite a busy weekend, but she continued to sleep well at Ms. Sharon's house.  It was a very summer like week, so they headed to the park most mornings.  Olivia slept in the stroller while the other kids ran around.  She watches those kids so closely and cannot wait to run around with them.  Next fall I am sure she will be close to giving them a run for their money! 

Tomorrow is Mother's Day and I am excited to celebrate my first official day! 
Love to all~

Baptism

"A child is a precious gift from God

And baptism is God's gift wrapping"

Olivia's Baptism was a weekend event, starting on Friday night by prepping food at our house, and continued on Saturday with more food prep at my parents house! Since their house is bigger and closer to church we decided to have the brunch at my parent's house on Sunday.  I am not sure if Olivia was aware of what was happening, but she did wake up at 5:30 am on Sunday morning.  This was not in the plan.  Although, as we are finding out with kids it is important to roll with what happens...so we rolled!

In recent weeks Livy has become quite the little church girl, sitting quietly on our laps, playing with toys.  We were all excited thinking that she would be awake and alert for her baptism.  Well, since she woke up at 5:30, she was ready for her nap right as church started!  The service progressed and Olivia's eye lids become heavier and heavier.  Surrounded by family and close friends, she fell asleep in my arms!

As Pastor Andy called us forward for the baptism, she slept on.  As the two other little girls babbled on next to her, she slept on.  As the congregation announced their support for the three girls, she slept on.  And finally, it was her turn to be baptized.   Pastor Andy looked her, looked at me, and said, "She she really sleeping?"  I nodded.  He asked, "do you want to just hold her."  I replied, happily, "yes!"  With her in my arms, fast asleep, she was baptized with water poured on her head three times, in the name of the father, in the name of the son, and in the name of the holy spirit.  She slept on!  With tears in my eyes, we stepped back away to the rest of the group and the baptism ceremony came to a close.  It was a proud moment as a parent.  A journey that was so challenging for us was now gift wrapped as she become baptized! 

Then it was time to celebrate with our family and friends! Lynda and Jeremy Celmer, Lauren and Kevin Bauer, and Kelly Rogers were a huge help by leaving church early to start the coffee and put the egg dishes in the oven to warm up.  When we returned home the food was ready to eat!   The brunch menu included egg dishes, french toast casserole, bagels and muffins, egg salad and tuna sandwiches, fruit salad, and caesar salad.  Our theme was flowers and my sister Bethany did an outstanding job creating the centerpieces for the celebration!  The food was delicious and the company was even better!  Olivia was a little angel and even posed with each family to take pictures.  We then opened presents and then ate the fabulous cake.   

We wrapped up the party about 1:00pm and Olivia, exhausted, went down for a nap. She looked adorable in her little dress and had quite a model shoot before church.  The entire day was memorable and we felt so blessed to have an amazing family and close friends help us celebrate her baptism! For more pictures check out the online album!

We love you little Livy Loo!

Spring Break Ohio Trip

This year was a different kind of Spring Break!  Last year during Spring Break I was 8 weeks pregnant and we were down in Orlando, Florida.  The whole trip Olivia was the size of a kumquat, so we called her our little kumquat all week!    

Present day, we have the joy of that little kumquat and we had a blast with her!  On Wednesday early morning, 1:30 am, we left for Cincinnati, Ohio.  Olivia was the perfect little traveler and when I picked her up and put her in her car seat she smiled at me, took her pacifier, and fell back to sleep!  We did not hear from her in the back seat until 6:00 am.  We the stopped for breakfast at 7:30 and gave her a bottle!  She was happy and smiling at everyone during breakfast!  We had about 2.5 hours to go, so I sat in the backseat with her, reading books and playing her toys!  About 9:00 am she became fussy.  I moved back to the front and she feel asleep, taking her morning nap!  It was delightful trip and driving through the night was not that bad!  Dan slept while I drove and I passed out when he took over the driving at 4:00am! 

More importantly though, we arrived at Jill and Steve's house around 10:30 and were greeted by Jill,  Miss Emma and our new niece Ava!  Steve was away on business, so we were ready to give Jill a helping hand!  It was a very warm day, so we hung around the house and played with Emma and Ava!  Olivia loved watching Emma run around and play.  After a bit of a home improvement conflict, we cooked dinner for the Wittmans and enjoy some wine!  We had a relaxing evening and went to bed on the early side!

The next day, Thursday, Steve arrived home from his trip around noon.  So we hung out that morning and then Jill made a delicious pizza for lunch!  When Steve arrived home we sat around and chatted for a while and decided to walk around Hyde Park.   It was about this time that Jill and Steve revealed to us they are making a Surf and Turf dinner to celebrate my 30th birthday! After the kids were down in bed, the adults had time to play!  We had a fabulous dinner and a memorable evening!  Poor Jill was a trooper and stayed up with us.  I remember clearly the night feedings and not having a full nights sleep!  However, Jill was great and we were so happy to hang out with her! Later in the evening decided to watch Lost, but Jill fell asleep, holding hands with Ava.  It was adorable! 

Our final day in Cincy, was Ava's 1 month check up. So we hung around in the morning and in the afternoon had a picnic and hiking trip.  We picked up yummy Dewy's Pizza and the hiked about a mile in a local park.   We all enjoyed being outside and Emma was the best little walker on the hike!  Dan and I decided to leave Ohio around Olivia's bed time because it was be easy to get home and put her in her crib.  So we sadly said good bye after Olivia ate dinner and headed back to Maryland.  Again, Olivia was a great little traveler and when we got home around 2:30 am I took her out of the car seat, swaddled her up and put her in her crib.  She fell right back to sleep and we heard from her about 7 am. 

We had a great visit in Ohio and I look forward to Olivia being able to run around with Emma and Ava! She is so lucky to have cousins close to her age!


There are more pictures on online album of all three girls!
Thanks for having us, Jill, Steve, Emma, and Ava...we had so much fun!