Holidays gone by...

I've been super disappointed in myself these past few months about not keeping this blog updated. I've gone back and forth between being too busy, too tired, not interested, etc. Good thing for me, I haven't stopped taking millions of pictures, so I can return to blogging and hopefully catch up!

First things first: Olivia's first smattering of holidays! I've managed to completely miss Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas blogging. For Halloween, miss Ollie was an owl, of course! I was actually trying to avoid it because everyone knows how much I love owls and I really don't want anyone to think I'm projecting on to her, but I found the cutest outfit so oh well. To celebrate, we went to my dad and step moms neighborhood party and walked around a little. nothing too fancy!

I didn't plan on hosting Thanksgiving this year, but we had somewhat of a family ER illness come up so I ended up cooking for Dave and myself. Then, my dad, step mom and step sister ended up coming over so we had a family dinner after all! Ollie got to have her first Thanksgiving dinner and she loved it!

Christmas was amazing! I tried to celebrate all month long with cookie making with my mom, Christmas tree decorating, parties with friends, a visit with Santa, Christmas light watching, Christmas Eve church services, and gifts at my parents!

This first holiday season for Olivia was wonderful! I think back to the holidays last year when I imagined what it would be like with her here with us, and it went way beyond my expectations. I can't wait for many more to come :)

Chef Mom

a few weeks ago Dave drove off for the day with our one and only car seat and I was stuck at home. I decided to keep myself busy by trying something I've always wanted to do: make my own baby food.

I've gone back and forth throughout Olivia's solid food days on whether I should make or buy her food. I have no problem buying it because it's really not that expensive ($1.09 feeds her for an entire day, minus snacks) and I trust that the food manufacturers know what they're doing. I.e. I'm not making claims that they have poison in their food, blah, blah, blah. I personally buy Gerber because I'm confident that when the label says the ingredients are "green beans and water" that it's the truth. I don't feel pressured to buy organic because I don't eat all organic myself, and honestly, I can't afford it. It's over $1.60 for 1 serving, which is more than double what I pay now.

I found butternut squash for a little over $1 at Trader Joe's and found an easy recipe online. I was actually surprised at how easy it was! and it made 8 servings, which was indeed cheaper than buying premade. that night I gave Olivia some and she loved it! So I froze the rest and set about to make even more food! I bought carrots, green beans, sweet potatoes and apples. I tried carrots and green beans and noticed they didn't give me as much as the squash. It was actually more expensive to make the green beans then buying them! Regardless, we tried some with her that night.

it did NOT go well. I gave her some of my green beans and she literally GAGGED. I tried again, she almost threw up. I had Dave open a Gerber pack of green beans and no problem: she finished the whole thing. before the night was over I decided to have her try the carrot and same thing: gagged to the point of almost barfing.

I really wasn't offended at all. I have a girlfriend who's daughter reacted the same way, and it was probably partially my fault for starting her on Gerber in the first place. Additionally, the recipes had warned me how hard it is to get certain foods really smooth and I know the green beans were way more grainy than she's used to.

I thought the squash would continue to work out and I defrosted one of my cubes a week later. I noticed how watery it was but stirred it up anyways. there wasn't any gagging this time, only crying. after the first bite she cried like I was torturing her. and so my days of making baby food were over.

don't get me wrong, I liked the feeling of making something for my child from my own heart and hands. And to be honest, this won't be the first meal I make that she won't eat in her lifetime! But there are many other ways I can love her and create things for her instead of slaving over the Magic Bullet (which she despises anyways). Every morning we share scrambled eggs and if I ever eat near her, you can bet she's crawling onto my lap to see what I have. there aren't many days left when I will even have the opportunity to buy her baby food. she's getting so big and will soon just be eating off our plates. I actually love going down the baby food aisle and planning her meals. We chit chat back and forth about what she wants and she gets excited to hold her puffs container.

They say "food before 1 is just for fun" and while I'm not sure that's entirely true, I'm having a great time! I'm looking forward to seeing her personality even more through our experiences with food :)

Vacationing with bebe

If you've kept up with my blog, you know our lives have changed quite a lot over the past six months. New baby, new jobs, new home, you get the drift. I have been dreaming of a family vacation ever since Olivia was born. I have the BEST memories of vacationing with my family growing up. We were so blessed to be able to vacation to all sorts of places in all sorts of ways: camping in San Diego, Yosemite, Oregon, San Luis Obispo, skiing in Whister, BC, cruises to the Bahamas and Mexico, and close trips to places like Palm Springs. Trust me, I know it was a blessing.

Now that I'm my very own adult with my very own baby, I realize the financial hardships vacationing can present. Not only can it be expensive, but it's time consuming to plan, pack, and execute, especially with a baby on your hip. Dave and I spent the last 12 years (I can't BELIEVE we've been together that long) going wherever we wanted: Europe, Bahamas for our honeymoon, San Francisco, Arizona, Mexico, and Costa Rica. Again, a huge blessing. We love being jet setters and will bring Olivia up traveling as much as we can. We already have a list going of our first big trips.

Because we are in the midst of just a few transitions, we decided to utilize the time off between Dave's two jobs to take a close vacation. I have to admit, I really wanted to go to Hawaii (one of the places we've actually never been together), but after our moving costs, etc., we didn't want to spend the extra dough. Plus, Dave was terrified to take a 6 month old on a plane. So, we used my father-in-laws time share connection and headed to Palm Springs this past week.

First off, I just want to give mad props to Marriott's Desert Spring Villa's. They MADE this vacation. We've stayed here before when we were young and careless, but having a baby and staying here was so much better. If you've ever stayed in a timeshare, you know it's set up more like a condo than a hotel room. Before kids, I thought that was cheesy: I am on vacation, I don't want/need a full kitchen, I'm going to eat out in the lap of luxury! Now, the thought of eating out all the time makes my stomach hurt and sets my nerves on edge. Taking a baby out to a restaurant all the time is a pain in the rear. Not to mention, I need a fridge for leftover baby food, a plug for a bottle warmer, sink for washing, etc.

This Marriott property is newly renovated, so not only is it beautiful, it has everything you need. The "basics" include full kitchen accessories like plates, cups, wineglasses, silverware, bake ware, pots & pans, full knife set, DISHWASHER, tea kettle, tupperware, toaster, oven/range, microwave, full size fridge, even dish soap and trash bags. The family room has a flat screen TV and Blu Ray player. And the best part of all is a washer and dryer! Even I don't have one of those yet since we moved! You pretty much only need to bring yourself, clothes and go grocery shopping once you're here. Although, if you were us, you'd also bring the Wii and a bunch of dorky, sci-fi Blu Rays ;)

Because our Villa had all the amenities of home, it really made our vacation relaxing. If we needed to do a load of laundry because Olivia spit up over everything, we could just do it. If we wanted to BBQ out by the pool instead of dragging a baby to Flemings, we did it. If we just wanted to sit out on the back patio with a beer and watch the golf course, done. I don't think I ever want to vacation another way again. At least not till LW's older.

This property also had some amazing pools. Since we vacationed after Labor Day, we nearly had the resort to ourselves. We went to the pool 6 days in a row, and also had access to the main JW Marriott amenities which we hit up on the last day. We took Ollie swimming, which she LOVED, and enjoyed Miller Lite's in the heat of the day.

Main Pool at the JW

We BBQ'd our fair share:

We gave Ollie quite a good first vacation, in my opinion ;)

 I really took the time to enjoy this time away with our little family. I didn't feel rushed and was truly sad when it came to a close. Most of the time I'm ready to go home, but I could easily have stayed another week. My Ollie has been a dream baby this entire time (even in the heat!) and I couldn't have asked for a better first vacation.

Olivia Dell: 6 months

 

Height/Weight: Olivia weighed 15 pounds, 6 ounces at her 6 month appointment. I thought she may be a wee bit heavier than that, because I weighed her about 2 weeks before the appointment and she was already 15 pounds. But our Doctor told us that since she's becoming more active now, she is burning more calories. So, back to rice cereal we go, since it boasts more calories and girlfriend needs them. I didn't pay enough attention to her height, but I think the nurse said she was 27 3/4 inches (I had food poisoning that day and it was a miracle I even made it to the appointment).

Feeding: LW is now eating regular helpings of solid foods daily. I tried to mimic what I would want to eat and give her fruits in the morning and vegetables at night. She LOVES vegetables and it's usually more of a battle to get her to eat the fruits. maybe they are too sweet? I've heard this is a good problem to have. She is still eating 4 bottles, at 7.5 ounces each, and I've started giving her sips of water which she seems to like.

Clothing:  Olivia has nearly outgrown all 0-3 month clothing fits quite well into 6 month, and is even growing out of some 3-6 month Gerber onesies and PJ's. I'm excited for this hot weather to be over so she can wear some cute winter clothes, especially because she doesn't fancy hot weather at all.

Sleep: the past few weeks Olivia has started waiting til 4-6am to eat, and her fussing has subsided to about 2x per night. She has even weaned herself from swaddling, although we still put her in the sleep sack. She's starting to outgrow it in length, however, so we'll either have to get the next size up or start wearing proper pajamas. Her napping is a little inconsistent, but if we don't have a crazy schedule, she takes at least 1 GOOD nap a day. Since she's been more active, she is getting tired earlier in the evening and it going down between 7:30-8:15. Sounds good, until she wakes up at 6:30 with 11 hours of sleep!

Milestones: Olivia is now a solid sitter and only wobbles or falls backward when she gets too distracted. If we hold her hands when she is standing, she knows how to take steps like she's walking, but I'm not ready for that just yet! She is starting to put consonants and vowels together (dadadada) but not all the time. she also knows how to fake cry to get our attention, and likes to grab EVERYTHING off the table if it's within arms reach.

Firsts: Sitting on her own, Dad feeding her for the first time, celebrating both mom and dad's birthday, and sitting in a shopping cart like a big girl are all some firsts. She also fell off the couch, which I don't have a picture of, nor am I proud of. She went to beach for the first time and also got sunburned too :( (Rough month for mom!)

Getting her first feeding from Dad

Sitting by herself

Celebrating Mom's birthday for the first time!

First time in a shopping cart

first "real" time at the beach

First sunburn :(