Tummy time exercises

Tummy time! Olivia actually doesn't complain to much when we put her down on her tummy. I think she likes to see the world from a new perspective.

Hello everyone!

We think it is funny that she lifts her feet when she is trying to lift her head. Very cute! She reminds me of a little airplane!

Blue and Gold Cakes

Last week Robby, Li'l Robby, and Jenna attended the Blue and Gold Banquet. As part of the festivities the boys were asked to decorate a cake with their dads. Sounds like a fun project... Now how many of these do you think were really "Dad Decorated Cakes?"

Impressive! I think there must be some pretty experienced cake decorating dads (or should I say, moms?) in our ward!

I am sure you are wondering which one was Robby and Li'l Robby's cake...

(I will admit that I helped with the lettering on this cake, not that you would be able to tell. I am not a fantastic cake decorator.)

That evening the theme was Chinese New Year, so they had fortune cookies for everyone. Jenna thought this was great! Robby laughed when he saw Jenna's fortune!

Braids!

I hadn't thought about trying to braid Jenna's hair in a while, and Robby suggested that she would look cute that way, and boy did she ever!

(Of course, don't pay any attention to the crooked part down the back of her head... If you have ever tried to do a 2 year-old boucing girl's hair you would know that it is next to impossible to accomplish. I almost gave up because just as I would be about to put the hairband on she would wiggle this way or that way and I would have to start over again. Don't expect to see her in this hair style too often.)

Grandma and Grandpa Come!

My mom and dad were very excited to come and visit us this last weekend and meet little Olivia for the first time. Here are some sweet moments from their visit.

Grandma gets to hold Olivia for the first time.

Can you tell that Olivia is loved by many?

Grandpa gets his turn to love on Olivia.

Olivia and Grandpa quickly found out that they are great napping buddies.

In fact, the second day Grandma and Grandpa were here I was surprised to see this...

All four of them were napping together (Jenna's the dark lump on the couch).

It's great being a grandpa.

Cuddle time with Grandma.

Everyone had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa.

We are excited to spend time with Robby's mom and dad and almost everyone in his family in a couple of months when his brother Tommy gets married. Olivia is excited to meet everyone, too!

Little Mommy

Evidence that I found that there is a "Little Mommy" running around...

A teddy bear in the car seat

A doll in the bouncer

Valentine's Day Surprises

The day before Valentine's we had a surprise delivery thanks to my dad. He sent a bouquet of roses to his Valentines in Arizona. (Actually the roses were mostly for my mom because my mom and dad were arriving for a visit on Valentine's Day, and he added the rest of the girls to the list.) We did enjoy the surprise!

Note to Jenna's future suitors: She LOVES roses!

The roses came with a box of chocolates and Li'l Robby added the "I Love You" made with candy hearts. We hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day like we did!

Olivia is one month old!

And what a fun month it has been. Last night we had some fun setting up our own photo studio right in our living room. One sheet, one lamp, and one camera (plus some photo editing on the computer afterwards.) So here are our one month old celebration pictures!

I think all children are angels dropped straight from heaven.

My first month

This is Olivia... I wanted to fill you in on my life thus far. Things have been quite nice over the last month. I have had plenty to eat and I get to sleep where ever and when ever I feel like sleeping. I am growing just like the doctor wants me to grow. In fact, Daddy says that I increased in weight by one third in the last month since I have gained over 2 lbs! Can you believe that?!

I must admit though, that this body does take some getting used to. Take using eyes for instance, my eyes seem to have minds of their own, and it takes all my concentration to get them to work together. It's getting easier, but occasionally one will still move where I don't want it to go and everything gets all blurry. Something I didn't expect about having a body was being jolted awake by cold wet things being wiped in very sensitive spots! Is it really necessary?! I don't like it at all. Sometimes I retaliate by emptying my bladder and making a mess. Mommy is getting fast enough that I don't usually catch her, but I still get Daddy often.

I am learning to like other things. Mommy and Daddy give me something called a tub bath. At first I really didn't like it at all. Getting wet made me cold, and I really hate having that wet cloth wiped across my face. Cold and wet are not my friends. Mommy has been perfecting her baby bathing techniques, and now tub baths aren't quite so bad. They are still not my favorite, though.

One thing is for sure, everyone here really likes holding me, especially my brother and sister. My big brother is very gentle and kind, and he likes to stroke my head (I really like that!). My sister likes to hold me, too, but I am glad that Mommy helps out because sister can be a little energetic at times. I wish I could move around like them. They can run and jump and dance. I can only erratically wave my arms and kick my legs. I haven't figured out how to coordinate my limbs yet. I've got a lot of growing to do, haven't I?!

Before I go I want to show you a few pictures. Mommy says that we are going to take pictures with my teddy bear every month. I am not sure that she got what she wanted, but I tried really hard. (Of course, the pictures would have been a lot cuter if Mom hadn't put a wrinkly sheet up behind me!)

She said that I would look really cute propped up on my teddy bear like this.

Do you know how hard it is to lift your head up when you are my size?!

Not only that, but Mom wanted me to lift my head, focus my eyes, and be cute all at the same time! That takes a lot of work!

Since I was struggling to do all three things at once, Mommy tried a different pose. I didn't think it was very flattering, and I told her so.

Is this cute?!

Hey! You can't say I didn't try!

Well, my eyelids are getting heavy, so I think that I will go have a snooze now. Hope to talk to you again soon.

Weekly Weigh In

Well, just had to do a new weigh in pic this week (We won't be able to do this much longer because she is going to outgrow our homemade baby scale). Olivia is growing fast! She is now about 8lbs. 2oz. (Give or take a baby kick, wiggle, or fidgit). This is probably the only time in her life that she won't care if we discuss her weight!

Actually what astounds me is that she is just now one ounce shy of Little Robby's birth weight. It's been a while since I held a baby this size. I was holding her today and thinking... is it really possible that a baby this size could have been in my tummy?! Amazing!

Sisters

Can you tell that Jenna likes being a big sister? Actually I think that she wants to be the second mommy right now!

Cuddly Baby

Okay, so I have have to admit that Robby and I do disagree on one thing... who gets to hold the baby! When she is this sweet we can't help but both want to hold her at the same time. Maybe we need to pray for twins next time then we can each have one to cuddle! (J/K)

My coolest baby gift!

I think this is the coolest baby gift I have ever gotten... a three tier diaper cake! Love it!

Most amusing ad that I have seen in a while...

Product: Yes To Carrots

Slogan: Nourishing organic fruits and vegetables blended with purifying Dead Sea Mud give your hair and skin a deeply delicious glow.

Available at Walgreens

(Actually when I read it the first time I thought it said "purifying Deep Sea Mud," even better, right? Purifying Dead Sea Mud?!! Are they really serious?!)

Weighing in

So we were curious to see how much weight Olivia has gained in the last week, and we rigged up our own baby scale. One digital kitchen scale, one cookie sheet, and one towel and ... Voila! A baby scale! We even zeroed the weight out so that the cookie sheet, towel and diaper were not included in Olivia's official weight seen on the read-out. So she's now...

About 7lbs. 10oz., give or take a kick, wiggle or other baby movement that made the reading change some.

This is one of my favorite pictures so far of her with her eyes open.

Bath Time!

So Olivia had her first bath tub experience recently. We have done sponge baths up to this point, but I had to wait till Robby got over being sick so that he could participate in the first tub bath proceedings. Let's see what Olivia thinks...

Pre-bath baby...



Now for bath time! (The video is kind of dark because our camera does not do very well picking up interior lighting... no, we don't live in a cave. :))

Do we have to do this?!

Boy, I barely survived that ordeal!

Fresh, clean, and kissable!

Now, that wasn't so bad, was it?!

I will tell you that she liked her second bath much better. Unfortunately, we didn't take pictures of that one. Maybe it was because Little Robby and Jenna cheered her on the second time.