I can't believe Olivia is already 3 months old! One of my friends just had her little boy and I realized I'm already missing that newborn stage! She is so much fun now too and I'm just trying to soak up each stage because they go so quickly.
We are seeing more of her personality each day - she is determined, talkative, so "grown up" (she'd rather sit and talk with the adults than play with her toys), likes lots of attention, doesn't relax very often while awake -yes, a little high maintenance :), knows what she wants and lets us know, and is very observant!
She loves being in the wrap or sling with mommy and loves going on walks outside. Some of her other favorite things right now are talking, looking in the mirror, baths, getting tours around the house (you know, walking and saying what different things are), watching her mobile, playing with her hands, and playing on her playmat. She bats at the toys on her playmat and will grab onto them occasionally. She also kicks one of the toys that hangs down until it makes noise and then grabs it between her feet and pulls her legs up to her chest and holds them there until she can't anymore - we call it her ab workout and it's so funny to watch. We have full conversations with Olivia - she mimics what we say and is making all kinds of new sounds. She says "boo", "goo", "ahh", and even copied my dad, Grandpa, saying "I love you", yes we have a genius on our hands :). Grandpa has also taught her how to spit and blow bubbles. We also do "this little piggy", "patty cake" and airplane and get lots of smiles! She's giggled a couple of times and I wish I could catch it on camera. She can roll onto her side very well and with a little help will roll from back to front. She does pretty well with tummy time and does a mini pushup. She also enjoys "standing up" and has figured out that if she bends her legs and straightens them she can jump! If I hold onto her hands while she is sitting she will pull herself up to standing, such a strong little girl.
Even though she's a little high maintenance she really is a happy, good little girl! She does so well at church and sunday school or if we're out running errands. She doesn't really like her carseat but the paci and making the "Shhh" sound pretty loudly works most times haha. It will be interesting to see how she does on a 10 hr car ride at Thanksgiving.
She's really a good sleeper, especially at night! She goes 7 hrs now and even longer a couple times. Although, we hit that 3 month growth spurt a couple days ago and the past two nights she woke up after 5 hours and then again after 3 hours but it should only last a few days. She's just starting to take better naps during the day. I'm thankful that she's such a good sleeper and that we never let her "cry it out". It is so much easier and natural for me as a mommy to comfort her and calm her to sleep. It never takes more than 10 minutes and is usually much less than that! I like to attribute her good sleeping at night to a consistent bedtime routine, no paci at night, swaddling, and of course mommy singing to her and patting her on her back :)
Here's a few pictures I took of her yesterday. She officially grew out of her newborn clothes a couple weeks ago and is now in 0-3 months- she's still a tiny little girl and mommy's in denial that she'll ever not be tiny! It was sad having to put clothes away but fun playing dress up with the new ones :)
This last one I would like because my mom bought me a steamer/food processor in one specifically made for making your own baby food. I'm so excited to start using this to make Olivia healthy and cheap baby food! I'm going to start her on solids at 6 months.
On January 7, 2010 my parents celebrated their 26th wedding anniversary! They were able to go out for a nice dinner and Dad got Mom some beautiful roses! I'm so thankful for such godly parents who have modeled to me how to walk with the Lord, love your spouse, and raise your children to love the Lord!
My brother Caleb came home for a day so that we could go get a real Christmas tree! Olivia looked pretty small in comparison to the large tree!
We were able to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with Wesley's family in South Georgia! Here are a few pictures from that trip including a couple from the family photo shoot.
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We spent Christmas afternoon and evening with my family. It's so nice that our families are only 4 hours apart so that we've been able to have Christmas with both the last few years! Here's a few pictures with my family:
A few more Christmas pictures:
