Little Girl at Little Farm

Last week Olive took a little trip to Little Farm in Tilden Park. We had a little picnic, saw some farm animals, and played. She really liked the ducks and chickens! We saw a couple of ducks mating in the pond, but we thought we were witnessing a duck murdering another duck. We totally panicked! Rachel grabbed a rock and started yelling, and I ran to a nearby lady yelling "is this normal?!" We looked like total idiots, but I still laugh to this day. Olive loves reading books and learning the noises that animals make. It's so amazing watching her learn! Enjoy the pictures!

9 Months Already?

Whew! She's growing so fast these days, I can barely catch my breath! The other day we were out shopping with Auntie Erin, and I went to show her Olive's top two teeth, and saw TWO MORE TEETH! (Well, one that was in completely, and one half way in) When did this happen? Why didn't I see this? My immediate surprise was quickly followed by "ahhh, thats why she woke up screaming twice this week", then, followed by guilt for not being more observant. (It's always guilt in mama land)
This lovely story just supports my earlier comment about how fast she's growing. One day she can't do something, then, the next she's doing it, and then masters it. She's driven. She's more driven than I ever imagined. Somedays she's so excited for me to put her on the ground to play. It's almost like she knows she has things to work on, and needs to get to it.

This month She hasn't changed too much physically (besides a little more weight, a few more teeth, and  a little more hair), but socially and skill wise, she has exploded. Here is a brief list of things she is doing now.

She waves. She claps. She says "dada" TO dada. She understands some words: "doggie", "more", "water", "bath", "dada", and "no". She stands. She walks holding on to stuff. She stands without help for as long as 5 seconds. She looks for dropped objects. She will bend down and pick up objects while standing. She kisses. She gets really mad when you take something away. She pushes stuff away when she doesn't want it. She reaches for stuff and goes "uh uh uh" when she wants it. She tries using simple signs "more" and "all done".

She weighs over 19 pounds, and is 27 inches tall.

She LOVES to play with (near) other kids. The other day at Studio Grow (a super fun place) she climbed into a tunnel and out the other side. Amazing!

She hates the vacuum, the blender, and falling down on her face.

She loves chicken, black beans, and peaches.

She's so fun, and so exhausting at the same time!

Little Miss GO GO GO

I have a lot to say here....

What can I say but Olive is bursting with energy! Every single day she grows and learns, and it's about the coolest thing I've ever  witnessed. She LOVES people, so we do lots of social activities! Everyday it seems were meeting one friend or another in the park, downtown, or at their house. She loves being out and is like a sponge. She notices every sound, every cool light fixture, and every passerby who comments on how cute she is. Its such an amazing thing to get to experience the world again, through her eyes. I find myself looking around more, pointing out cool little things like elevator buttons or grass.   There is very little I love more than seeing her learn something for the first time. Learn how to do simple things like turn a book page, take off a sock, or climb OVER something. Shes learning fun concepts like... "when I move in the bath, this water moves too", or "when I drop something, mom can pick it up for me", or "when I shake this, it makes a cool sound". 

 Here are some pictures of Olive discovering the world. 

Here are some pictures of a picnic we had at Lake Merritt with our friends, Lilianna and Maria. She LOVED all the birds! She would squeal and kick and wave!

She picked this flower and tried to eat it.

 Here is her friend, Lilianna! Shes so cute! They are 2 days apart! We get asked all the time if they are twins! haha Also notice this vintage blanket.....

Play hard, sleep hard. Just... not during the day so much.

During all this fun, she caught a stomach bug. She spent a lot of time in THIS position.........

Olive's FIRST swing ride. She was kicking and thought it was great. 

Around the house "helping" mama fold laundry....

Around the house, learning a lesson about personal property....

 We went to Alcatraz with our super good friend, DJ. His other half, Carolee, was sick and couldn't join. We call them "Aunt Caroleejay", and Olive LOVES them. We had SUCH a great time! The weather was good, and Olive really paid attention and later, wrote an essay on the history of the island.

I told her, this is where babies go when they don't nap..

This is the face I gave her when she didn't believe me.

Love this picture. She really watches everything.

It was a great day!

Today we met our friends, Dalia, Rachel, Shana, and Jamilla, at a place called "Studio Grow" in Berkeley. At first I thought maybe Olive was too young, but she had a BLAST! She was everywhere! She love climbing on these padded shapes. She climbed up and down. She also played in the ball pit, which was so funny. She laid flat on her belly, and kicked and pumped her arms, while squealing! We went to music time, and she loved listening and watching the bigger kids! We will be going back, very soon.

Olive and Dalia as they both slapped their hands down on this mat. 

Could she be any cuter?

Playing "Peek-a-Boo"

Cruising from one to another.

Pure joy!

Here is Shana! Shes so sweet!  They had so much fun!

Here there are two ramps back to back, and she crawled up one side, and down the other! She was so proud!

What can I say. She's my littlest buddy. I am so obsessed and in love with her, and thankful for her everyday.  I really do realize how special this time is with her, and I am trying to cherish every second of it. 

Today, I got my first kiss. I sat and cried. Way better than my first boy kiss. 

A Day in the Life.....

Tonight, As I get into bed before 8:00, I can barely keep my eyes open. I look back on my day and think how can I do all of that? Really, how can I? I thought it would be fun to "document" the day in the life of a mama (me), for one day.

6:00AM- wake up hearing Olive playing in crib
Get up, pee, put on bra, make bottle.

Olive first thing in the morning

6:30 Change Massive diaper.... poopy
6:45- Bring O to bed to feed bottle
7:15- Take a quick shower while O has daddy time
8:00- More bottle
8:15- Make breakfast, cry about not having any coffee.... prepare O's breakfast
8:30- Eat while feeding O.
9:00 Sit on floor and have O climb on me. Try to check email, fail.

9:30- More bottle (Shes eating small amouts and fussing about it today)
9:45 Step in dog poop, have to clean carpet with Olive screaming in the crib. Then, shes blown out her diaper and I run out of wipes mid-change......Take her to sick to rinse her off....
10:00- O falls asleep but wakes up 5 minutes after I leave the room. I let her play for 30 min in here crib.
10- 10:30- Clean kitchen
10:30- 11- Play and Read to o
11- 12 Olive actually naps (this was a huge nap...)
12:00 Pack her up, get in the car and drive to Solano Ave.
12:00- 1:00- with O in the carrier- pick up lunch for me, get COFFEE, Get wipes, Get Diet Pepsi, Drop off mail, pick up some stuff at pharmacy. Sit down to try to eat (because Im starving), but cant because they didnt have high chairs and O tried to choke on a garbonzo bean I had.
1:00 Come home, Eat while feeding O
1:30- 2:30 Sit on floor while Olive plays. Mostly climbing on me.
2:30 Bottle-
2:30- Play Play Play-  fuss
3:00- Diaper change
3:00- 4:00 Walk to library. Read O a few books, let her crawl around playing. Walk home- uphill.

4:00- Bottle and Nap
4:45- Read stories. Try to walk around and do things, but shes clingy...
5:00- bring her in kitchen, sing and dance while i try to make dinner
5:30-6 O takes bath with Dad and gets into Pjs
6:00 Feed O solids, let her play
6:30- Bottle, and Bedtime
7:00 put O in crib, Eat dinner, do dishes
8:00 Get in bed. Sore, tired, and wondering how I do this everyday.

Oh, PS- This was our "chill" day.

Im not doing this to complain.

At all. In fact,  tonight as I laid O in her crib I whispered in her ear "Everyday with you is a blessing", which is the honest truth. I do it all, and I love it. Its not easy work at ALL. In fact, sometimes I feel like I'm going nutso, but its amazing work. It's the best job I can think of. Tomorrow I will hear that little voice playing and do it all again, gladly.

I would love to hear all the crazy days YOU all have. I know you all have crazy busy ones too!

8 months!

I remember before I was a mama, I would visualize myself with a chubby, laughing, smiling, silly baby.  Olive turned into this baby around 6 months, but here we are at 8 months now, and it's only getting better and better. First, she really is packing on the chubs. She weighs 19 pounds now fully clothed! She is fitting in 9-12 month clothes too. She also is eating like a little piggy. She LOVES finger foods, and will eat almost anything I put in front of her. She loves peas, tater tots, lentils, chicken, and eggs. She also loves drinking water from her sippy cup. She loves going to restaurants and eating my food too. It's so much fun watching her grow and experience new things.

She's now crawling, standing (while holding on to things), and pulling up on everything. She is constantly on the move and loves getting into things. I'm exhausted just trying to keep her busy! We go to story times, playgroups, and do a lot of walking and shopping.

Favorite word: "HI- DA", which can also be "Uh- Da", or "Eye- Da"
Favorite food: tater tots and mango
Favorite book: Doggies
Favorite toy: gorilla puppet or any metal kitchen tool
Favorite past times- finding daddy's shoes, chasing down the pugs, crawling around looking for trouble.
Sleeping- 10-12 hours a night- 1-2 hours in naps (mostly under 1 hour)
Hates: When mommy walks away, vacuuming, diaper changes.... NAPPING

She really is such a joy! I look forward to watching her grow even more. Here's to all the future milestones to come! Bets on when she will walk? I'm in no hurry!!

Stand Up!

Today, February 9th, Olive stood while holding on to me.
Yesterday, she said "Hi dada"

I just wanted to document this so I dont forget. Bigger blog to come.