10 Things That Make Us Smile in the 10th Month

Olivia has developed quite a personality over the past few months!  She brings a smile to our faces daily, and too many times we laugh out loud!  One of the comments we tell her daily is, "I don't think you can be any cuter!"  We thought we would share some of the ten things she does that makes us smile! We hope this will share some joy to you too!

The list is in no particular order:

1. Group Hug

Recently when holding Olivia, we will encourage her to have a group hug.  She caught on to it and now will lean in towards Dan or myself and we have to say, "yeah, group hug!"  She smiles and seems so happy with herself! 

She was in the process of yelling, "OOH"

2. OOH
This is Olivia's favorite word!  Whenever something is interesting to her she yells out "OOH."  When Hurley walks into the room, she yells, "OOH."  If she discovers something new, she yells, "OOH!" You get the idea.

3. Outside Voice being used inside

We are not sure where she gets her loudness from, certainly not me! (haha).  At times Olivia is so loud.  She will be in her car seat and let out a loud yell.  She will be playing with her toys and suddenly be babbling, followed by a loud yell.  Often when we put her in the high chair and walk to the kitchen to get her toy she will scream to us!  We laugh, but tell her that is an outside voice Olivia.  We are hoping that she will soon understand to use that yell outside.  We will have to see about that! haha

Wait for me!

4. Following us from room to room
Now that she has mastered crawling, she is all over the place!  We will put her down in the living room and walk into the kitchen.  Following behind, you guessed it Olivia.  It is so cute because when you look down it is this little person making her way across the room.  My favorite is when she crawls up to us and reaches up for us to pick her up!  It melts my heart!
5. Cuddling with her blanket 
Now that we are back at school, we have to go in and get her earlier than we were this summer.  This summer it would be after 7:00 before we went in to get her.  Now it is before 7:00.  She is very much like Dan and needs some time to wake up.  The past week or so,  in the morning, I will pick her up and she immediately grabs her blanket and has to cuddle with it and suck her thumb while I change her diaper and dress her.  Often she will take the blanket with her while she nurses too!  She just loves that blanket!  At night I cuddle with her after book and prayers with the blanket and she lays there, sucking her thumb. 

6. Greeting us after naps, sitting up in her crib, playing
We do not rush in to the room when she wakes up from naps, giving her a few minutes to wake up.  When we do go in the room, she is often found sitting up, "playing jail", shaking herself back and forth on the crib railings.  As soon as she sees us she lets out a huge yell that often sounds like "Hi!"

7. The grumpy, angry, hungry cry, that resembles her mother's hunger cry!

If you do not know I like to eat, and so does Olivia.  I also get kinda grumpy when I am hungry.  Dan discovered this trait during our 2008 trip out west, and has become a running joke with Dan and I. We think Livy has the same irritation when she is hungry because around 5:30pm, her dinner time, she gets very grumpy and often will just start to cry.  There have been several nights Dan will be feeding her while she is crying and opening her mouth for more food!  She will finally quite down after some food.  The scene is pretty hilarious.  Dan is so patient with her when she is that upset too!

Kicking the waves in Ocean City

8. Her love of water

It does not matter what it is, the ocean, pool, bathtub, kiddie pool, or Hurley's water, she will play in it and love every minute.  She loves to kick in the water, drink the water, and splash and splash.  

9. Her reaction to other kids, especially Tyler 

Olivia is thrilled to be back at daycare because of all the other kids.  The moment we drop her off in the morning she is looking around Ms. Sharon's for which kids are there already.  She follows the bigger kids around too.  The family member who earns the biggest smiles is Tyler!  Her entire face lights up. She also loves Brayden.  Last weekend at his house he started laughing at a toy and she immediately started to giggle too.  He would laugh again and so would she.  It was adorable. 
10. The way any kind of music makes her bob her head and clap her hands
Finally, a lesson we can take away and apply to our own lives is a ten month olds love of music, especially Olivia.  She has a music table she is borrowing from Gram, and she is obsessed with it.  We put her down and she heads straight for the table.  She will bounce her head and clap her hands! Often a song will come on the radio and she will bounce her entire body to the beat.  My favorite happens when the TV is on...I will be nursing her in the morning and the Today Show theme will start.  Shes will stop nursing and look towards the TV, smile, and clap her hands.  I laugh every morning because of her!  So the next time you hear music think of our baby bouncing to the beat!

We hope you enjoyed the list of ten things that make us smile!  Life with Olivia has flown and we look forward to what else will be added to this list!

Summer of 2010 Wrap Up

Our little family during the trip to Myrtle Beach

As our tan lines fad and the school year begins, we remember what an amazing summer it was!  Since our last blog, Olivia has been non-stop!  She started army crawling in late July and has since mastered the fine art of crawling by the middle of August.  Now as she nears ten and a half months she is pulling up on everything!  Before we get ahead of ourselves here is the recap of our Myrtle Beach trip, her nine month doctors appointment, and all of our August travels!

Olivia had her nine month check up before we left for our beach vacation.  She continues to grow and be healthy!  She weighed 17 pounds and 12 ounces, putting her into the 34th percentile for weight.  Her height was 28.5 inches, falling into the 83rd percentile!  She is a long and skinny baby! The doctor said everything looked good and her ear infection from last month was all cleared up.  She cried a little for the shot, but otherwise was a perfect baby. 

Three Generations!

The last week in July brought us a beach trip with my mom, Tyler,  and Greatest to Myrtle Beach, SC.  The trip down was uneventful and long.  Olivia did well in the car, but became a little fussy towards the end...we all were though!  The week long vacation was restful and I know that Greatest loved spending the time with two of her great-grand kids! Each day we had to make the tough choice of going to the beach or the pool.  A few days we did one in the morning and the other in the afternoon (tough life I know)!  The last morning we went for a walk on the beach before the crowds hit and it was beautiful.  Of course Livy loved the beach and this time was more interested in the waves crashing on her!  At one point a wave crashed right up to her face and after the initial shock wore off she started laughing and clapping! Dan and I were able to head out for a dinner one night and Greatest treated us to dinner another.  We missed my dad and sisters, but it was a fun family vacation. 

Tyler and Olivia on our final day in Myrtle Beach

We had two weddings the first two weeks of August, so we left MB on Thursday.  The drive home was quite eventful though, and it was a good thing my mom decided to leave with us!  We left around four and stopped for dinner around five, and continued driving.   I was growing tired and we decided to switch drivers.  Dan was on the road for about twenty minutes and he ran over a huge pipe in the road, slicing our tire (yes our brand new tire).  We quickly pulled off the road to investigate the damage.   I previously failed to mention it was about nine thirty at night and pouring down rain!  So on the side of I95 in the middle of a thunderstorm we, and by we I mean Dan, changed the flat tire and drove the rest of the trip on our spare tire.  That added an extra hour to the trip! To top it all off...we were caught speeding by a speed camera at  2:30 am and got a ticket in the mail a few weeks ago!  $150 dollars, plus $200 for the new tire...it was an expensive ride home! I feel very blessed we got home safe and Olivia did not cry at all during the whole tire incident.

The Wambolt Cousins with Olivia

As I previously mentioned, we had two weddings on back to back weekends in August.  Both weddings were in New York and it was easier to leave Olivia in Maryland while we made the trips up on Saturday morning and home on Sunday.   First wedding was Beth and Oliver's in Binghamton.  For this wedding Olivia stayed at Grandma, Grandpa, and Tyler's house.  The second wedding was Shannon and Scott's in Jamestown.  We dropped Livy off at Aunt Carol and Uncle Scott's house to be watched by Gram, Grandpa, and Brayden, because Blake Lee Wambolt was born on August 13th! While Carol rested and recovered in the hospital, Olivia played with Brayden at his house.  Everyone had a blast and I know Gram loved playing with the grand kids. We feel very lucky to have such a supportive family to leave our daughter with! 

We were very busy in August and even made a final trip to Ocean City before school started.  Olivia spent three days on the beach and even had her Scopes taken on the beach!  She took short naps on the beach, so when we dropped her off for day care on Tuesday she was a little over tired.  Oh well she had a blast with Ms. Sharon and the other kids!

As the summer fades to fall and Olivia re-adjusts to day care and us to school.  Her first summer was a memorable one and I look forward to what is ahead!

My first summer