Hello Sara and Josh!
I hope all is well with both of you. We are doing great right now out here in Indiana. We've been here 3 months and we are already getting a taste of cold weather. With my southern blood, I don't know how I am going to handle the extreme cold that is in store for us this winter. In the meantime, I will admit that I have thoroughly enjoyed the colors of fall. The leaves have mostly fallen now, so we are faced with the bare tree branches, but it was fun to experience a "real" fall for once in my life!
Enough about me, let me tell you about Miss Olivia! Olivia is one very happy baby! Some of my favorite moments with her are going into her room early in the morning after she is awake, and seeing her great big smiling face standing there looking at me. She will usually start wiggling with excitement (her way of saying, "Pick me up! Pick me up!"), and then once she is in my arms she will immediately lie her head on my shoulder with her arms wrapped around me (a baby hug... oh, so sweet!) She has become very cuddly and will often crawl over to either Robby, Li'l Robby, or myself to insist she is picked up and then she will promptly give a "hug" in return. She melts our hearts!
Olivia is one brave little baby. She has been standing fairly well for the last month or so, and in the last several weeks we have seen her attempt repeatly each day to take steps. She usually does this between two things that are not to far apart, like the couch and a nearby chair. We will often stand her beside the couch, step a few feet away, and encourage her to take some steps towards us. She is usually very brave, or very trusting, and will take steps toward us while falling forward. I think she knows we will catch her. But, I have even seen her try to walk away from the couch on her own, and she does not seem bothered at all by the fact that she usually falls on her nose after a few steps. Each day we are seeing more control in her ability to stand and balance, and take steps. I won't be surprised if she is walking in a couple weeks. She's probably motivated by trying to keep up with her big sister, Jenna.
Speaking of Jenna, those two have great fun together! Olivia tends to follow Jenna around the house like a little puppy on all fours. Sometimes Jenna will try to horseplay with Olivia. Most of the time Olivia loves it, but occasionally Jenna will get a little rough. At that point I will send Jenna off to another room to play for a while, but inevitably Olivia will always crawl back to Jenna. It's cute when they play together. Jenna likes to clown around, making Olivia crack up. One day Jenna was putting toys on her head which Olivia thought was hilarious! I couldn't help but laugh at both of them as they laughed at each other.
Something else that Olivia thinks is great fun is exploring the cabinets in the house. I finally had to tie the cabinets under the kitchen sink together because she kept wanting to explore the trash can in there. Otherwise she can get into all the other base cabinets in the kitchen. So she tries out her organizing abilities daily by rearranging all the items onto the floor of the kitchen. Everything from plastic dishes, rubbermaid containers, pots, pans, pot lids (these are some of her favorites because they are so noisy), and boxed food. I love the innocent look she gives me when I find her red-handed with all the contents of the cabinet on the floor surrounding her. What a silly little girl. I do try to keep her out of the cabinets, but they don't have cabinet locks right now (we're renting this year, so I don't know if our landlords would want us installing cabinet locks - I need to ask them).
Another favorite place for exploration is the bathroom, much to my discontent. We do our very best to keep the bathroom doors closed always because if she finds an open bathroom she always makes a beeline for it! She likes to explore the cabinets in those rooms, too, especially to sample everyone's toothbrushes. She knows they go in the mouth, so she has to try it out, too! The other attractor in the bathroom is the toilet! What is about splashing in the toilet water that is so attracting to babies? YUCK! This is the major reason that we keep the doors closed, because she really likes to investigate the toilet water, which immediately results in Mom running, and lots more water and a slathering of soap to kill the germs. The whole process must be very entertaining for her because she takes every opportunity she gets to explore the bathroom.
Thinking about it, she does really like baths! Any time Jenna gets a bath, Olivia will whine until she is included. She loves to splash in the water and crawl around examining the faucet, drain, and bath toys. This whole world is full of curiosities for her! Other places and things she loves exploring are the backyard (she loves crawling in the grass, and even tasting it, too), the book shelf (another baby delicacy), other babies at church (except when the little boys try to tackle her), under tables and chairs, and in the corners of closets.
Although she doesn't love everything. She is very sensitive to loud noises, and they will disturb her, especially things like the vacuum cleaner, the blender, and even certain men's voices (when they are particularly deep and booming). Usually these things will make her burst into tears. It is kind of funny when she will burst into tears because of a strange man. This never happens with women. She is always very friendly with women and will often crawl up to them and silently ask to be picked up (especially when we are at playgroup). But there are certainly some men who startle her. Not all though. She made good friends with our pediatrician. He is soft spoken and very gentle. Before the end of our visit she was crawling over and asking for a spot on his lap.
Oh, but one thing she does love is most food! Since she has been about 5 months old she has had a very special way of communicating hunger. She will stick two fingers in her mouth and cry. It's almost like she is saying, "Put the food here, Mommy!" Sometimes if you are holding her she will try and put her two fingers in your mouth like she is saying, "Did you understand? I want my food in the mouth!" We started trying to use baby sign with her, but this is already a very definite sign, unique to Olivia.
Lately, she has been exploring some finger foods. We have introduced soft peas and carrots, and bread and cheerios. The first time we gave her cheerios she laughed through almost the whole serving. It was like she was so proud that she could feed herself, especially since she has two teeth now to bite with. She still eats lots of baby food like oatmeal, pureed vegetables and fruits. As an experiment the other day, I tried to puree some potatoes, but she was not interested at all! She does have a messy habit of spitting out what she doesn't like, or spitting out a whole mouthful when she is finished eating. It would be a lot cleaner if she would just turn her head away when she is done eating instead of spitting!
Before I wrap this very long post up, I want to tell you what she discovered today. At playgroup, the mothers brought their kids' bikes and let them ride around. I brought a bike for Jenna and Robby, but nothing for Olivia. A friend of mine had brought a little foot push car that changes into a push walker for babies. My friend offered to let Olivia try it out as a push walker like this:
Well, Olivia thought it was the GREATEST! She had the biggest smile and was making all sorts of happy sounds as she grasped the handle and took off walking all over! She was so excited using it that my friend offered to let us borrow it for a while. I took her up on the offer, so we are going to borrow it until Christmas when I imagine we will buy one of our own as a gift for Olivia.Well, I will close this message with our love for both of you and your families. We think of you often. There are definitely moments when Olivia reminds us of each of you and we will wonder what you are doing and how you are. The months have sped by for us, and it is hard to imagine that we are approaching her first birthday. We hope that you always know that you are in our hearts, Sara and Josh. We love you and are forever grateful for the opportunity to love Olivia through each moment of her life. This would not have been possible with out your selfless choice. Thank you.
With love,
Sharon and Robby (and Olivia sends very slobbery kisses - of the open baby mouth variety... that's all she knows how to give right now.)
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