Olivia meets Santa

I have never been fond of taking my kids to see some smelly old man dressed in a Santa costume who has nothing better to do the other 11 months of the year where he has time to sit all day at the mall for the month of December.

This year the Town of Yountville where Aunt Stacy works had one of the firemen (who happens to be a friend of Aunt Stacy) dress up and arrive at the tree lighting on a fire truck. While he may not be the most "authentic" looking Santa, the girls are young enough still not to notice and knowing the person dressing up made me a little more comfortable with letting my kids sit on Santa's lap.

Unfortunately Avery was not a fan. She wanted nothing to do with Santa other than to wave at him from a distance similar to those enforced by a restraining order. Olivia on the other hand was a ham. She loved his beard and looking at him. She was even accommodating in sitting on his lap for a photo op.

My loves

It is in these, the quiet moments, I am supremely grateful. When I sit in the quiet listening to the sweet lyrics of lullabies with one sleeping baby in my arms as I look at another sleeping baby, who is a "baby" no more, I am profoundly aware how incredibly blessed I truly am.

So I'll sit here a little longer. I'll soak up the little things: the sound of a little person snoring so softly it sounds like a kitten purring and the feeling of a tiny hand resting on neck as her chest lifts and falls -- every so often breaking rhythm for the softest little sigh. My loves.

Thanksgiving 2012

 Thanksgiving is one of my absolute favorite holidays. I am so lucky to have been able to spend it with some of my most favorite people.

 

Olivia: 7 Months!

Weight: 20lbs 1.5oz

THIS MONTH YOUR BABY MAY:

• stretch her body or try standing on tiptoes to reach a toy Olivia sure is determined when she sees something she wants. She will contort herself in all kinds of ways to get whatever it is.
• get upset if you take a toy away, as her memory continues to develop and she begins to understand that "no toy equals no play" It's something we have to stress with Avery that she cannot take a toy from Olivia without offering something else in return because Olivia gets upset when she doesn't have what she wants.
• identify what you're feeling by the tone of your voice Olivia loves the soft, sweet voice of lullabies and doesn't particularly care for Avery's loud, rambunctious voice.
• eat a cracker or piece of finger food by herself Olivia has always eaten 'whole' foods but she recently started wanting to share my English muffins.

7 Months!

Wow. I find myself saying that every day because I cannot believe how big my baby is getting. We are now over the "hump" and the latter side of her first year is just flying by. She is growing and learning so much every day it's just incredible. We are so blessed to be able to watch her blossom into a happy, healthy, intelligent, beautiful little girl.

THIS MONTH YOUR BABY MAY:

• stretch her body or try standing on tiptoes to reach a toy She is determined. If something is out of her reach she will employ all means she has to reach it. She will stretch her legs out and try to stand if she has something to hold onto, she will army crawl, scoot, or roll. It's almost scary because she is also fearless and so when she tries to reach for something she doesn't yet know she can fall and will just keep reaching if you don't watch her.  
• get upset if you take a toy away, as her memory continues to develop and she begins to understand that "no toy equals no play" She definitely knows that she likes to play with toys and will protest if you take one away. We try not to do this though. Instead we give her a selection of toys and let her choose. She can pick whatever toy she wants and play with it however she wants. We want her to use her imagination on what things can be used for rather than showing her how "play properly".
• identify what you're feeling by the tone of your voice I'm not sure about this. It's not like we're yelling at her or anything, so we pretty much talk in the same tone around her.
• eat a cracker or piece of finger food by herself She has been doing this for a while now since we are doing Baby-led Weaning. She is really developing fine motor skills though.

A FUNNY STORY:
We bedshare with Avery. This means that at least half the night she sleeps in the bed with us. I really love it for a ton of reasons including the fact that we all sleep better but most of all because I love waking up and seeing her smiling face the first thing.

Avery always likes to let us know she is awake by reaching over and pinching my face (not really one of my favorite things, but cute nonetheless). This morning I woke up to her poking my nose with her single index finger. It's something I do to her all the time and I say "boop!". I thought it was really cute that she would put her hand up to my face and move all the other fingers so just the index finger was there and then press my nose like a button. It makes me think she really understands what I am doing when I do it and is trying to mimic me.

And you know what they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.