Pensive

Sitting here in Kapa'a, Kaua'i, on the beach at the Courtyard Marriott with my beautiful little girl asleep in the stroller next to me after her first (very successful) dip in the ocean, drinking a Mai tai, waiting for my fabulous hubby to come down and join us and thinking about the waves and family stuff... and of course the meaning of life.   :) 

Nice moment to capture after our best day yet on the island.  I'll write a more thorough posting later.  The only folks reading this are mom and me anyway, so it's all good.  Hi mom!  Love you!

Off to Paradise!

We are in the car, headed to Kauai!  Can't wait!  Hoping Olivia enjoys her 5th flight.

Changing so Fast!

A few days ago, I noticed that Olivia doesn't have 4 teeth, she has at least 6-8!  There are little ones off to the sides that I didn't see until recently!

When I walked in from work the other day,  Olivia saw me, smiled, squawked loudly and crawled toward me as fast as she could.  Adorable.

These mornings, after I semi nurse her in bed for a bit, Olivia is handed over to dad to go back to sleep.  Those two cuddle so cutely, my heart melts when I awake and see them.

Kevin is enjoying his child bonding leave so far, and is a great Mr. Mom.  He prepares Olivia's food, drops her off at daycare,  and picked her up yesterday.  Olivia is *so* happy to see daddy when he walks in the room... another heart melting moment.

Olivia has a good friend at daycare, Baby James.  We are attempting to get together with Baby J and his mom, and Baby Trevor and his mom on Sat for a playdate.   Unfortunately,  Baby J's birthday and party is the same day as Olivia's party.  Oh well.  Hopefully Trevor can join us.

Last Sat we did recon to choose a location for Olivia's bday bash.  We settled on Ardenwood Farm.  Perfect!  Entertainment of seeing the farm animals is built in!  I ordered the invitations the other day and hope they arrive before we leave for Hawaii.  I put a rush on the order but there was a problem with the website.  Hmmmmm fingers crossed.

We hired a cleaner company to come by every other week.  When I was down on the floor with Olivia the other day I couldn't deny that we have a filthy house.  Tomorrow is the first appointment,  so Kevin is picking up around the house today to prepare.

We have been working in the yard out back to have the irrigation system setup for when we go to Hawaii for two weeks.  We planted the second Japanese Maple and it looks great!   All the manifolds are fixed, now I just need to spend time routing the soaker hoses.  Having that set up will really help with time savings so we can focus on other projects as well.

I cannot wait for Hawaii!  Just a few more days.  A nice break from work, from house stress,  and just everything at home will be wonderful.  I can't wait to have devoted time

Milestones on top of Milestones!

Tuesday after Olivia started crawling, she came down with her first ear infection and dual-eye infection!  Tuesday morning her right eye was crusted shut and the left eye was half-crusted.  The little girl was such a trooper - still happy and playing when we went to the doctor.  Olivia is taking eye drops (not easy to administer) and antibiotics (for the ear infection, very tasty), and her skin color is MUCH improved.  Her eyes were never red, but the skin below them was reddish and puffy.

Aunt Patti helped out Tuesday afternoon so I could work from home.  She must have had fun, because Patti volunteered to return Wednesday morning so we both could go to work.  They had a ball together - but Olivia took a break from crawling.  Patti is coming back again on Sunday to watch Olivia so Kevin and I can make some progress on the house (I'm hoping to plan the second Japanese maple in the back and get more of the drip system working.

Not feeling good, but still playing Tuesday morning.

Today Olivia went to daycare and her teacher said she was crawling all over the place.  Olivia and another little girl were sitting facing one another and laughing hysterically for 20 minutes.  So cute and good to know our little girl is a socialite.

Little Girl is getting SO Big!

Poor bum-eye

Proud of using the sippy cup though!

It is very clear now when Olivia wants something - she has her way of communicating in *loud* grunts.  I've determined that when she bites my shoulder it's also because she needs something (bottle, food, sleep).  When she looks at you and flaps her arms with either a smile or fuss, she wants to be picked up.  She'll grunt when she sees the bottle, or when there's a toy that's just out of reach.

Today after school, Olivia continued to crawl around everywhere - it's a whole new world!  She somewhat drags her legs behind her in a frog-like stance, but moves her knees a little.  It's mostly arm-strength that's propelling her at the moment.  Olivia like to go towards bags (i.e. diaper bag, backpack, lunch sack) and pull everything out of them.  I plan to stage some bags around the rooms with soft things (socks, clothes) in them for Olivia to explore).  Kevin and I have some serious BabyProofing to do this weekend, no question.  I'm so glad we dropped the crib already.




Love our little girl!!!  She's just so darn cute!  Lately, she's been falling asleep in my arms before I put her down in the crib at night - she's just tired from all the crawling and learning things.  It's super cute to see her "peer" at things far away, or hidden behind something.  The other night at dinner, Olivia would pull at Kevin's hand to get at the chicken that was hidden in it.

I think Olivia is going through a growth spurt - she's eating like a race horse! They even comment about it at daycare.  My little girl is growing so fast!  We are starting to plan her first birthday - I have to buy invitations and get them out this weekend.  We're planning on July 26th at a nearby park.  It sounds like a big party with most of Kevin's family again, similar to the shower.  I'm hoping to invite some "friends" of Olivia, but I'm not sure how it will all go with that mixture of folks.  I'm trying to make new friends with folks from daycare and the two women from my lactation circle.

Kevin starts his baby bonding leave tomorrow.  He's at work right now specifically so he can take tomorrow off and be done done for the next 6 weeks!   I'm so jealous!  I sure hope he's able to make a lot of progress around the house.

Can't wait for our family trip to Hawaii!!!!  It's right around the corner and my work is looking to line up perfectly where I'm delivering hardware right ahead of the trip, so I can relax while we're away.  Awesome!

It's bed time.  I work tomorrow :(.  A full day since I had to take time of on Tuesday for Olivia's trip to the doctor.

G'night!

CRAWLING! (for realz)

Today was such a fun day!

It started on a down note:
In the morning I was super sad to be leaving Olivia at daycare and missing out on all this fun time with her.  Saturday we scrambled to prep the house for Natalie, Steve, and their two little girls (Gabby and Maddy) to drop by for dinner on their way up to Santa Rosa from SLO.  We had a fabulous visit, and Olivia really loved watching the other girls (ages 20 months and 3 years) play.  We had "tickle monster" time and lots of laughs.  Pizza was the entree and beer and wine were delish.  A lovely day, but no one-on-one time with Olivia.  It's important for us to build friendships with other families with kiddos and we've hit it off with N&S.

Yesterday, I spent most of the day cooking - I made stew for Megan and Chet as they welcome their new little girl (Persephone) into the world, and tried making some bean soup concoction for us.  I went to the store for Megan and Chet gifts, and did various other chores.  We all (including the dogs even) went to Karen's to fix a sprinkler as a thanks for all the help she's given us with last-minute Olivia and dog care, and then dropped everything off at the Lim's.  By that time, Olivia was basically asleep for the night so I hardly got to see my little girl all weekend. :(

Olivia is just about weaned now and I'm sad about it in the mornings when she awakes and wants to cuddle and nurse in bed and I don't have enough.  Today we supplemented with a half-bottle because she was clearly still hungry.  So that is bittersweet.  I was weepy last night and this morning with the transitions and not getting to see Olivia as she sits there so cute.  I honestly would like to go back to part time after our trip to Hawaii.  I don't want to miss out on everything... and I feel guilty dropping Olivia off at daycare when she clearly doesn't feel well.  Today one eye was gunking up in the morning.  By the time we picked her up, both were gunking badly and when she cried and clenched her eyes during dinner, she was squeezing gunk out of her tear ducts.  I feel so sad about it.

..and then this evening helped a lot!  After Olivia's bath, little girl played peek-a-boo with her towel.  She would put it over her face, and then pull it back all on her own!  Kevin and I were laughing so hard.  I managed to snap a quick video of the shenanigans. :)  After Olivia was all dressed in her bunny PJs, we had her in the family room and out of nowhere she had her knees under her and was moving along forward on the floor!  She's had trouble with the ab muscles bringing her knees in - but today she figured it out!  How awesome!  We managed a video of that tonight as well.  So cute and exciting!

Yesterday we also dropped her mattress in the crib down to the lowest spot.  Olivia is pulling up, or trying to, so we don't need that danger in our home.  Tomorrow's task, rearrange the linen close to put all the medications up high!!!!!

Tomorrow I work from home and will take Olivia to the doctor for her eyes.  I'm sure she's fine, but I wonder if there's some eye drop we could get for her to help clear it up.

OK.  Speaking of work and chores.... I should be doing both.  I'll have to add photos later.  They're all on the big camera and I have to download them for today's crawling adventure!!!

Oh, and the email from BabyCenter.com today about "your 10 month old, week 2" is spot on!  They talk about biting and laughable moments - of which Olivia exhibits all  behaviors, especially the back arching and dancing!:
"Milestones, the second six months: 

• Playing music causes your baby to clap, bob her head, and utter the syllables "Dugga dugga!" 
• When you point to show your baby a distant object, she stares at your finger. 
• Your baby progresses through all four of the "saucer stages" at each sitting: (1) Bouncing happily up and down. (2) Swatting happily at saucer accessories. (3) Bouncing and swatting with increasing speed, vigor, and intensity. 4) Frantic bouncing and shrieking, also known as a "meltdown."
• Your baby arches her back during one or more of the following: buckling her into her car seat, changing her diaper, inserting her into her highchair, catching sight of her crib. 
• During games of peekaboo, your baby laughs at the question "Where's the baby?" but doesn't yet appear to grasp its existential significance."

xoxo
Momma-J!