Olivia Dell: 10 Months

Height/Weight: I am so bad and didn't measure either of these at 10 months! based on my powers of deduction, she weighed about 19 pounds, and is probably about 30 inches (as she's still a decent bit of ways from the top of her car seat). bad mommy!

Feeding: I haven't bought pureed food in forever! Unless you count the food pouches, which I only buy for when we are out and about because they are easy- not because she needs pureed food ;) Olivia is pretty much entirely a "table eater" now and eats what we eat. It has forced me to actually cook dinner, and at a decent hour.  She still loves her puffs, can suck all the food out of a food pouches, and is getting so good at eating with her pincher fingers!

Clothing:  still haven't worn shoes! i went on a one day shopping scour of shoes and she hasn't even worn them after i read a whole bunch of stuff that discouraged shoes on babies until they've been walking for 6 months. oh well! as for clothes, we are into 12 month sizes! waaaahhhhh. 6 months sizes are pretty much out the window and 12 month pants are almost a must with her long legs.

Sleep:  Olivia continues to be a good night sleeper, and only gives us a serious hard time when she's teething. Her nap times have been throwing me for a loop, as she has at least 3 days a week where she only takes 1 nap! I'm not ready to have a 1-napper!

Milestones: Olivia is an efficient crawler, stair climber, and puller-upper. She is a chatterbox, telling people "hi" on the phone and when she seems someone new. she also knows how to pull open drawers and get into kitchen cabinets!

Firsts: Olivia celebrated her first Thanksgiving and Christmas! She also ate her first Christmas cookie, met Santa, and opened her first present!!

Olivia Dell: 9 Months

Height/Weight: I waited so long for this post because Olivia's 9 month appointment was almost 2 weeks after she turned 9 months, and here we are 4 days before she turns 10 months! Let's just say I'm going to be limping to the finish line to complete this year's updates! Olivia now weights 18 pounds, 6 ounces (was probably a little off in last month's numbers!) and is 29 inches tall! She is in the 90th percentile for height and 50th percentile for weight, a huge gain. The doctor is satisfied with her head size and we are all relieved.

Feeding: Olivia is now eating 3 8-9 ounce bottles a day: 1 around 7am (depending on the kind of night we've had, sleepwise), 1 at 1pm, and 1 around 6:30pm. She has rice cereal, cheerios, and sometimes scrambled eggs for breakfast, a fruit puree, some puffs, and half a piece of whole wheat bread for lunch, and usually a veggie puree and a little meat puree. However, all this is slowly evolving into "big girl" food because I'm over the purees and she doesn't seem to mind. No matter how much I feed her, she ALWAYS want to have what I'm eating. It's actually more fun to give her mini size portions of what we are having, and she likes it.

Clothing:  We are now into all 9 month clothes and a lot of 6-12's in both pants and tops. I packed away a lot of old clothes and filled an entire rubbermaid tub :( It made me so sad to look through her old clothes that fit her just a few months ago. She's even outgrown three pairs of shoes before she even wore them! I got her sized and she's a 3.5 in shoes, but still fits in 0-6 month in Robeez slip on styles. I got her a pair, but she's yet to wear them.

Sleep: Ollie is officially sleeping through the night! For the first five days it happened, Dave and I kept waiting for her to change her mind. But here we are, over a month in and it's the real deal and it's awesome. The only time she's given us trouble is if she's not feeling well. This last month she got a nasty cold and cut 2 top teeth so the nights were a little bit of a doozy. But once she's feeling better, she's sleeping better!

Milestones: We have a crawler! Olivia is quite the mover and I love hearing her little hands slap the floor when she's coming my way. She pulls herself up on everything and can scoot around the coffee table, couch, and her activity table. She's also started to crawl up the stairs (already got a baby gate!) and over me to get to a toy. Olivia also waves good bye, claps, and says "uh oh." She is growing by leaps and bounds now!

Firsts: Olivia celebrated her first Halloween (as an Owl!) and picked out her first Christmas tree at Peltzer Pines. She also cut her first (2!) top teeth, started crawling, and had her first cold and trip to the doctor's for a sick visit.

Crawling!

I see top teeth!

 

First cold :(

Olivia Dell: 8 Months

Height/Weight: Holy weight gain Ollie! I did the whole, weigh myself then weigh myself with the baby trick and she came in at 19 pounds! I'm very impressed and I can definitely feel the difference when I carry her. My rudimentary measuring puts her around 28 3/4 inches. I'm excited to get real numbers at next month's 9 month appointment!

Feeding: Ollie has been leaving a fair amount in her bottles these days and I think it's because she's eating more solids. So we reduced her 4 bottles to 7 ounces each and she seems to be doing quite well. She's not really drinking water from her sippy cup, but enjoys chewing on the straw. So, I may just start giving it to her in a small bottle so she's getting some. As for food, she's eating her cereal in the morning and then I usually give her some of what I'm eating, like eggs or fruit. For lunch, she's eating 1 fruit and some vanilla cereal puffs. For dinner she has an entire container of veggie and  more often than not these days, a container of meat (eww, but she likes it and needs the protein). Then she usually gets some veggie puffs if she's still hungry.

Clothing:  This month I went shopping and bought all 9 month clothes for Olivia for the winter. I've had to pack away a ton of 3-6 month clothing, especially pants, aka capris. I've even had to start packing straight 6 month sizes and it's making me said. She easily fits into 9 month sizes, even at Target which has HUGE sizes. 

Sleep: Ever since we've been giving her bigger dinners, Olivia has been sleeping AMAZING at night. I've only considered her sleeping through the night maybe twice before this month because she fusses upwards of 3 times a night, requiring us to go in a find a pacifier or change a diaper. But lately there's not even a peep until 4-6am for her bottle. As each month passes, she continually reminds me that she is on her own schedule and will meet her milestones when she feels like it! This is one I'm glad she's finally arrived at.

Milestones: This month, Ollie started army crawling! She has mastered it on both the laminate floor and carpet and now I have to watch her all the time because she loves to get her hands on cords and magazines. Also, just the other day, Dave also found her SITTING UP in her crib. WHAT!? she's never been able to go from laying down to sitting up before and I still don't know how she did it but I'm very impressed. Olivia is also getting great with feeding herself, and has especially realized how to open her fist to get food in her mouth instead of cramming the entire thing in! She can sit up in the bathtub, has started pulling herself to her knees and sometimes feet, and loves standing on her own at the side of the crib.

Firsts: Olivia's first tooth came though! Not only that, she's a big girl and already has another one. Olivia also had her first visit to a pumpkin patch and her first Dodger playoff game (something probably many adults haven't done). She also had her first taste of meat (see hilarious picture below) and stood by herself for the first time (waah).

First Tooth!

Pumpkin patch visit

First Dodger playoff game!

First taste of meat!

First time standing by herself

Olivia Dell: 7 Months

Height/Weight: Since going back to cereal and eating 3 "solids" a day, Olivia gained over 1 1/2 pounds in a month and now weighs 17 pounds! Good Ollie! In addition, I think she's going through a growth spurt which has been giving her a good appetite. With my rudimentary measuring, I'd also venture to say she's at 28 1/4 inches tall!

Feeding: LW was eating a little 2 ounce bottle at the end of the day, but we cut it out and dispersed that formula to her 4 big ones. So, now she's eating 4, 8 oz. bottles a day in addition to cereal in the morning, a fruit for lunch, and a veggie for dinner. She also started drinking water from a sippy cup, but only intermittently. I'm hoping to always keep her water in a cup and not in a bottle so the transition to sippy cup makes sense. We shall see.

Clothing:  Since it's been cooler at night, Olivia has proven that 6 month footy PJ's don't fit so well anymore! She's still wearing 6 month onesies but PJ's are getting too snug. Just yesterday, we bought 3 new fleece pajamas in 9 months! I also tried to put on several pairs of pants and leggings in 3-6 months and they are all too short! They fit in the waist, but are way too small for her long legs. Next pay period, I'm going to have to go winter and pants shopping for my Ollie.

Sleep: my child has decided her own schedule for bedtime and now insists on going to bed between 7 and 7:15. She fusses a few times and just lately has a hard time waiting past 3am to eat her morning bottle. This is why I think she's going through a growth spurt, because she shouldn't be that hungry (and I know she is because I can hear her stomach growl!). Once she eats it, she goes back to sleep and doesn't eat another one until 8:30am, no matter what time she wakes up. Huh. The last few nights she's also given us some grief by waking up and sobbing her heart out, but I think I have an impending tooth to blame for that one!

Milestones: Olivia's biggest milestone this month has been her first baby tooth trying to make it's way through! As of now, you can feel it but can't see too much. She's actually been a VERY good baby by teething standards and basically just gets overly fussy if it's bothering her. She has mastered sitting by herself, and can now go from sitting, leaning forward, to laying on her belly. She can scoot backwards on the floor, and can pull herself up to her knees and sometimes her feet if she's got a good angle on something, usually in her crib. She has figured out that hitting or kicking something makes a noise, and loves to kick the mirrored closet doors. She also can now hold her own bottle when lying down, which has been amazing!

Firsts: Olivia was busy this month and had a lot of first: first vacation to Palm Springs, first time to Morton's (my favorite steak house!), first time drinking out of a sippy cup, first tooth on the horizon, met her Great Aunt for the first time, went to the RSM Lake, and wore her first pair of jeans!

First vacation!

First sippy cup

Meeting Great Auntie!

Walked around RSM Lake

First time wearing jeans

First time at Morton's- horrible picture!

Tooth is almost through!

babies are gross

mom rant: babies can be so dirty! no, I'm not a horrible mom for admitting it because everyone who's had a baby knows how gross they can be. aside from the dirty diapers, my eyes have been opened to all the fluids that babies seem to expel. to borrow a quote from one of my all time favorite movies, Fools Rush In, "How can so much come out of something so small?" million dollar question.

here is a glance back at my adventures:

Double whammy, probably in the first 2 weeks we were home. My poor couch.

My poor shorts.

My poor couch again. (P.s., no one is ever going to want to sit on my couch now)

no caption needed.

my poor hair

 Ever since we've started "solid" foods, the adventure has only continued. Now I have to combat my child's constant desire to wipe her green bean-strued face on the high chair, or stick her feet in her mouth when eating applesauce.

I'm starting to see the value of an all plastic high chair.

Applesauce!

Precious.

even though my child can be quite gross at times, she's still my wee baby and I love her! I wish I could cuddle her non stop, but she's already becoming quite independent as she nears 6 months. here are some of my new favorite pictures to end this post on a nice note:)

Olivia Dell: 3 Months

Height/Weight: If my measurements prove correct, Olivia is nearly 24.5 inches! i could tell she was getting bigger when i see other people hold her and she looks so tall. i don't have a scale at home so i don't know how much LW weighs at the moment, but i'm guessing at least 11-12 pounds based on how heavy she's getting! she is definitely filling out, and i especially love her chunkier thighs. she's not my little string bean anymore.

Feeding: I thought Olivia was gradually weaning to more ounces last month but it really didn't happen until this month. She went from 4.5 to 5 to 6 ounces all in 1 month! she also only takes 5 bottles a day and can go 4-6 hours during the day between bottles. she's getting to be a big girl, and tries to hold her own bottle when she can.

Clothing: so sad, we are officially out of all newborn clothes, even pants. for awhile i could still get her into the NB ones, but now they are just capris. pretty much all 0-3 month clothes fit her well, except Circo which is still baggy, Gerber which is getting tight, and Carters which are sometimes too long. i can't figure out how clothing manufacturers label. Oh, and she can fit in Old Navy 3-6 month short sleeve onesies, but not the long sleeved ones- they are too big. random!

Sleep: Olivia is getting into a sleeping routine and it's glorious! On Sunday, May 19th 2013 she slept through the night! yes, i will remember that day forever. of course, I didn't sleep through the night because now i've been conditioned to wake up all the time. but still. it happened. She's only done it once since the first time, but now i know it's a real possibility for the future! she is consistent with her morning nap and has now added a decent afternoon nap that can be up to 2.5 hours! then she takes a quick 30-45 minute evening snooze and is pretty good about going to bed at 8:30. The other day we kept her up til 9:30 and she was beside herself with exhaustion. now we know!

Milestones: i consider sleeping through the night a huge milestone. she also held her head up for an extended period of time during tummy time, even though she still hates it and screams her head off the entire time. she is getting really good at holding her head up while on my shoulder, and will only go in my baby carrier facing out because she wants to see what's going on, despite the fact that she's not in complete control of her neck yet. big girl. she's also become quite the drooler, loves to talk/scream playfully, and likes to blow bubbles. i'm hoping teething is still some time away!

Firsts: Olivia still has so much to experience! This last month, she had a ton of new firsts. She had her first trip to South Coast Plaza, first trip to the movies (to see Iron Man 3, which she slept through the entire time) and her first real road trip to Solvang for a wedding. Oh, and she went to her first wedding. Of course, as mentioned before she slept through the night, went to the church nursery for the first time, and the coup de grace: her first Dodger game! (sorry for all the car seat pictures! we were on the move a lot this last month!)

First trip to the movies

First road trip

First wedding

First time in the church nursery

Baby's First Wedding!

last weekend we attended a wedding of one of Dave's college roommate, Travers. we have known about this wedding for over a year, and it was a little exciting to think about going back when I was pregnant. i couldn't imagine what it would be like with a near 3 month old! i bought Olivia's dress back in December and it was a bit surreal to actually dress her in it when the day came.

not only was this LW's first wedding, but her first real road trip as well. The wedding was just outside of the quaint Danish town of Solvang here in California. It was a little over a 3 hour drive and she did amazing!

as with most events, she slept through the majority. when we got to Solvang, Dave had to drive (aka off road) the 30 minutes to the wedding rehearsal up some pretty major mountains so us girls stayed back and took a walk around town. i got myself some ridiculous Danish chocolate smorgasbord and immediately felt guilty after eating it. oh well!

then we headed to the Rehearsal Dinner, where Olivia was the talk of the town. (don't mind the creepy look in the bride and groom's eyes). i also proceeded to drop marinara sauce on my child, which i would later find out stained her outfit for good. right of passage maybe?

the next morning we ate at Paula's Pancake House, a local restaurant where i had my first Danish pancakes. delicious!

 not long after, we walked around Solvang some more and got our hands on our favorite Danish beer, Carlsberg! we somehow ended up enjoying it at a restaurant with ONLY Chinese tourists.

i asked Dave to take a picture of Olivia and i in front of the huge Solvang windmill. this is what i got:

me and Olivia, no windmill. can you guess who the photographer is in our family?

anyways, then we headed up to the farmhouse where the wedding was to be held for Dave to help set up and for some delicious Korean BBQ! the farmhouse and surrounding area was beautiful, though VERY off the beaten path.

after hanging out for a few hours, we headed back down the mountain to rest and gear up for an evening at the Solvang Brewing Company. It was probably 100 yards from our hotel so we walked over and enjoyed a decent amount of beer guilt free! i had the most AMAZING Danish sausage sampler with dipping sauces. i'm thinking about them right now and tempted to drive and get one. it's only 3 hours away!

the next day was the wedding and Olivia was a champ! She held up much better than I did, as I'm the one who fell in a hole when I got out of the car (i told you it was rustic), hurt my back, and bruised and scraped myself. but the wedding was beautiful and very "Travers and Jean."

 

 

i left my good camera in the hotel that day and was bummed because i could have taken even better pictures. however, i'm impressed with my iPhone as it is! here are just a few more shots of the farm that day:

 

we left just before the sun was going down because the wind was really starting to pick up and i didn't want a baby with a cold on my hands. and i was the sober one who had to drive my beemer down mountain terrain with no street lights. i'm so glad we left when we did because we made it back to civilization just as the sun disappeared! and that pretty much sums up our trip! Olivia surprises me every day with how easy-going she is and willing to go anywhere with us (not that she has a choice). she is an awesome traveler and i'm even more excited to take her with us on upcoming trips and show her the world!