first word?

Yesterday Olivia and I went on a little excursion to the mall. I had a shirt to return at Macy's and a few things to take back from my overzealous spree at Baby Gap a few weeks ago, but I mainly wanted an excuse to get out of the house.

Instead of taking the BOB stroller, I got the Peg Perego Venezia out of the basement and we used it. With Olivia in the actual seat instead of in the infant carrier, I didn't hate the stroller quite as much as I did last time. The stroller basket is a lot more accessible than it is when the seat is flat, but the wheels were still sort of wobbly and I kept kicking them as I walked. Oh, and one wheel squeaked. Annoying! But I digress ...

Olivia had the best time while we were at the mall. She kept raising her hand to wave to people passing by, and occasionally she'd do her little wave and shout, "Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Which I'm pretty sure is Olivia-speak for "hi." A few people stopped and said hello to her, and she just grinned and giggled and drooled, happy as a clam to get so much attention.

Today my parents came over in the afternoon, and when I told her to say hi to Grandma and Grandpa, Olivia raised her hand to wave and said hi. Another new thing that started today is her saying, "Haaaaa, cuh!" when she sees the cats. Cuh = the hard k sound, for kitty. She's not even 9 months yet, so I doubt she's trying to say cat just yet, but it seems like she's trying.

I was on the phone a while ago talking to a friend, and as part of the conversation I said, "You know, blah blah blah." Olivia looked at me and said bah-bah-bah. She also does a little "mmmmmm!" and num-num-num sound when she eats. This kid makes me laugh every day.

One new thing that I'm not super thrilled about, though, is her new favorite pasttime of taking a spoonful of food and then blowing raspberries. She coats her high chair tray, me, and the cabinets when she does it. Ugh! Hopefully this, too, will pass ... soon. :)

Halloween festivities, part 1

We went on a very brief trip to the pumpkin patch today. The weather forecast said it was supposed to be 60 but cooler and even colder tomorrow through the rest of the week, so we bundled up and headed out. When we got there, the sun was covered by clouds and there was a pretty strong breeze. After about 5 minutes there, we realized we were probably not going to be able to stay very long. The line for the hayride wasn't bad, but when we contemplated the logistics of hayride + baby + hauling pumpkins and baby back on hayride, then walking to the car, we opted out. She won't remember this year anyway. ;) She did at least enjoy looking at some chickens and goats and touching a pumpkin, though.

From earlier in the week. Let me out, she says!

From today at the pumpkin patch ...

Her favorite part of the pumpkin is apparently the stem.

Status quo

I haven't had a whole lot to write about lately. Olivia's sleeping is still ok -- she wakes up once or twice during the night -- so I can't complain there. She's of course exceptionally cute ;) and never fails to make us laugh every day. Some of her new skills:

speed crawling -- she crawls with one hand flat and the other balled in a fist; she puts her right leg out in front of her and then sort of drags the back leg. But she's speedy!

semi-standing -- without holding on to anything, she tries to stand up. It terrifies me to watch, but she looks very proud of herself.

playing telephone -- I have video of her talking through a wrapping paper tube to daddy. She's a riot.

I should also add gagging and vomiting to the list! She's not loving the finger foods thing (other than puffs -- she shrieks when she sees the container). I tried giving her a few pieces of very small green beans and potatoes the other night, and *urp* they came back up. We had our photos taken outside this weekend, and she stuck a leaf in her mouth before we could stop her. See where this is going? Yep, barf city. Thankfully I was able to clean her up with wipes so we could go on with the shoot. I have vomit issues, so I'm not really fond of this phase.

I'll get some video uploaded this week and post pictures from our shoot this weekend when we get the proofs back. In the meantime ...

Boxes are fun!

Gnawing on a hunk of bread at the Cheesecake Factory:

8 months old

I realized I forgot to post her 8-month photos the other day. We took pictures in the yard, which was kind of a disaster. Olivia had the blanket bunched up and had pulled up handfuls of grass before I could even blink. She's quick, that one. :)



Paper is delicious!

Or maybe not ...

It probably doesn't count ...

... but the last two nights, Olivia has looked at me and distinctly said "ma-ma." Last night, Dan carried her into the kitchen where I was washing dishes. I had my back to them while I stood at the sink, and she said it. I turned around and gaped at her, and Dan said, "Did you hear that?"

Then tonight, we had her in the pack n' play while we were having dinner. She pressed her face against the PNP, looked over at me, and said it again.

I'm pretty certain that she doesn't know what it means at this age and that it doesn't really count, but it was still cute to hear her say. She only babbles ba-ba-ba and ga-ga-ga, so to hear her say the m sound was new (and so cute).

I think this calls for a parade.

She slept through the night. Wait, this is cause for shouting: SHE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!

She's just a week shy of 8 months (note to all you moms of babies who started sleeping through the night at 2 months: shhhhhhhh. You can just keep that bit of trivia to yourselves.). She stayed in her crib from when I went to bed around until 8 a.m. We put her down for the night around 8:30, but she woke up at 9:30 crying. Daddy went up with a bottle, rocked her, and she was back out within minutes. Then around midnight, she was awake and sort of talking/doing her little singing thing: Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. UHHHHHHHHHHH. Uhhhhhhhh. Uh! I decided (more out of sheer exhaustion than sleep training) to not get up and get her unless her singing escalated to crying, and drifted off to sleep. She miraculously got herself back to sleep on her own, which very very rarely happens.

Of course, I didn't get to enjoy a night of solid sleep. I woke up practically every hour, thinking I'd heard her. At 4 a.m., I even got up, made a bottle, tiptoed into her room, realized she was still out cold (ok, I admit that I made a little noise to make sure she moved) and went back to bed. I didn't put the bottle in the fridge, thinking that surely she'd be up before the 2-hour bottle freshness window ended. Nope. So a bottle goes to waste, but I don't really care. She slept!

our musical genius

She performed a piano solo -- complete with "singing" -- this afternoon. She seemed so serious while banging away at the keys that I couldn't help but laugh a little.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddr4yAA4LeM