No wonder no one likes going to the doctor.

Olivia had her 4 month check up yesterday. She is growing perfectly proportionately. She weighed in at exactly 14 lbs (50th – 75th percentile) and she’s 25 ½ inches (90th percentile) long - she’s been in these same percentiles since she was born. Unfortunately for all of us, she had to get her second set of immunizations, including 4 shots! It was really tragic – she was all happy and smiley and was such a good girl for the doctor. But…then the nurse came in and jabbed her turkey legs with four, long needles. I know it was for her own good, but still…it’s hard to see your baby screaming like that! I was very smart about the whole thing…I made Stephane hold her while she was getting the shots, so she associated them with him. She stayed mad at him for the better part of the night! Every time she looked in his direction, her little face would crumple up as though she was going to start crying.

Happy birthday to Ah-Ma!

Yesterday was also my mom’s birthday. After the doctor’s office, we went home and Olivia put on her pink party dress. She was very excited to be able to wear it again – and, it fit better this time! We all piled into the car (at which point we decided we needed a bigger car because Uncle Jason (visiting from San Fran) had to ride in the trunk) and had a delicious dinner at Roy’s. The OG had a lot of fun being doted on and passed around the table…and, eventually she forgot that she was mad at her dad.

It was a good night for everyone and Olivia is really looking forward to spending the long weekend with her Uncle!

fun for everyone

Ever since learning how to roll over, the OG’s been on tummy time, all of the time. We played in her activity gym – looking in the mirror, rattling the stuffed animals. It was not too long ago when she hated the gym…now, she loves it!

Keegan and the OG…

Sunday evening, we packed our bags and traveled to Naperville to visit Bob, Heather and their adorable, new baby boy, Keegan. We had a great time – eating, drinking and talking babies. Keegan was very thoughtful and shared his swing with Olivia, so everyone could have both hands to eat. Speaking of eating…Bob took some pictures of the babies and in almost all of them, Keegan is peacefully sleeping while the OG looks like she is sizing him up and about to eat him! It is hard to believe that only a few short months ago, the OG was a hungry, sleepy newborn. Now, she is so active, that it takes both Stephane and I to keep up with her.

To visit Keegan’s blog and to see pictures from the evening, go to All Keegan All the Time.

One of my favorite things…

I love when Olivia has just given up on fighting sleep and I am holding her. She will lay her head on my shoulder, put one hand around my neck and the other hand on my shoulder and we snuggle together. My face fits just between the space under her ear and above her shoulder and I breathe in her sweet baby smell. For a second, I feel like she is still a part of me and we are as close as we were during pregnancy…

…but then, Stephane yells because Jacque Jones struck out, Olivia wakes up startled and the moment is lost.

I cherish these few seconds because they happen less and less often. I can see that the OG is going to be an independent little lady – she’s already trying to hold her own bottle and put the pacifier into her mouth. It is certainly true that “they grow up so fast,” but I’m told that each stage of parenthood gets better and better (at least, until junior high). I look forward to all the special times that are to come…

(Many thanks to Stevo for this great picture!)

Week in Review

I will start posting Olivia's weekly "report card" to her blog (below). I have to edit it (by which I mean that I cut out all the parts that don't center around the OG) because googledocs can't support the whole document. If anyone is interested in seeing the whole thing, just send me an email/leave a comment and I will forward it to you.

Infant One Week in Review

Aug 20^th - 24^th, 2007

Miss Helen & Miss Jackie

The Color GREEN

We used green items this week to promote color recognition. Our green frog vibrates when you push down on it. This is a good way to promote cause & effect as well as sensory exploration.

Bubbles

These are always a popular activity – bubbles promote visual stimulation, hand eye coordination and sensory enhancement.

Making Friends!

Brock and Olivia held hands while lying on the mat. They are responding to each other and observing one another.

Dramatic Play

Puppets, soft dolls, cars, etc are all examples of dramatic play items. The children are always fascinated when he play with the puppets! The octopus and caterpillar are two popular items!

Gentle Touches

Just like learning to walk, children have to learn to be gentle with friends. We encourage soft, gentle touches and practice them often with the children. Praise the positive interactions and redirect the rough touches. Do this by showing them a gentle touch on you afterwards. This takes time to learn – be patient!

Caution : Babies @ Play

Rollin' with the Homies

the OG has figured out how to roll to the left, to the left...and to the right. Having newly mastered this skill, she now practices rolling, all day and all night (literally). Stephane and I can barely keep her on our king size bed - we've built a fortress of pillows all around her, in an attempt to contain her within a 5'x5' area. (Don't worry - we watch her while she's in this fortress.) It has been very interesting watching her learning process. For the last month or so, she's liked to do "abs" - whenever she was lying on her back, she would bring her knees up to her chest and lift her bottom off of the floor. Occasionally, these ab exercises were accompanied by a loud "Brrrrrrt", so we figured the motion helped her to pass gas. But then, maybe a week or so ago, she would not only do the "ab," but also try to shift her weight onto one side so that she was laying only with her head and the left half of her back on the floor. Finally, in the last few days, she's been able to get all the way over - first, her legs, then her diaper and finally her chest. She's still working on moving the arm that she rolls over, out from under her, but she's making great progress.








Sometimes, when she gets all the way over, I think she is surprised at her success!

Ketchup

Olivia Grace was born at 11:51 PM on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - weighing in at 8 lbs and 7 oz and measuring 20 inches in length. A special shout-out to Auntie Tamra, who shared her magazines with my mom (and dad), while waiting for the OG to be born. When she (FINALLY) arrived, Olivia was immediately spoiled with visitors and presents. It often seemed like a game of how-many-people-

can-we-jam-into-an-8-by-10-room. At one point, I’m pretty sure there were at least 12, 13 if you counted Keegan, but then Olivia started crying and everyone quickly cleared out.
http://picasaweb.google.com/mrs.auriol/Hospital

MAY
Coming home from the hospital was fun and interesting for everyone. Whenever she wasn’t sleeping, Olivia was very curious about her surroundings. She stared all around as we took her on walks within our complex, and then down the street to Starbucks, and even to Michigan Avenue. We had her shopping at Old Orchard when she was only 2 weeks old. She loved all of it – sometimes we carried her upright, in our arms or in a sling. Other times, we laid her down in her stroller and she stared up at the trees and sky. Again, many visitors came in and out (usually bringing all sorts of delicious food with them). Grandma and Papi (Stephane’s parents) came to visit from Las Vegas. We celebrated Mother’s Day with a trip to the Botanic Gardens. Then, Uncle Jason came for a week from San Francisco. At first, he claimed that Olivia was “just another cute baby”…but by the end of the visit, she had him hooked.

http://picasaweb.google.com/mrs.auriol/HomeFromTheHospital

The OG is definitely going to be a Cubs' fan (sorry, Uncle Huey). Her favorite thing to do each morning (after feeding and getting changed) is to sing and dance to "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" which plays from the Cubbies mobile that hangs over her crib.

http://picasaweb.google.com/mrs.auriol/DancingToTheCubbies

JUNE

After 5 weeks at home with the baby, I had to go back to work. The timing of my pregnancy was poor, in that I had only been at work for 9 months when Olivia was born, and thus did not qualify for any maternity leave. I wouldn’t have changed anything – I couldn’t have waited another second to meet this little girl. Olivia is at home with Ah-Ma (my mom) 3 days a week and at Little Hands (the on-site daycare at work) on Tuesdays and Fridays (the picture to the left is from her first day at "school"). Each week, Little Hands sends out a “report card” discussing the week’s activities. Ah-Ma doesn’t send out a weekly report card, but then again, we don’t have to pay her an arm and a leg for her services.


We tried to take some pictures of Olivia for Father's Day...and this was the best one that we could come up with...

JULY
Olivia was baptized by Reverend Mayall (who also married us) on July 15th, 2007 at Holy Name Cathedral. Fittingly, she was a perfect little angel for the ceremony. The OG was especially honored that Uncle Travis and Auntie Cori (who were just married this weekend – August 18th- congrats!) agreed to be her godparents. She was also glad to have the chance to finally wear her pretty pink party dress.


http://picasaweb.google.com/mrs.auriol/Baptism

AUGUST:
So far this month, Olivia has been gracing us with lots of smiles. She seems to be able to recognize our faces - which is quite the accomplishment because we've been out of town so much these past few months. We haven't mastered how to capture one of her smiles on the camera, though. Each time we try, the flash startles her and we get the wide eyed, surprised look that she has in so many of these pictures. We're hoping that eventually she will get used to the flash...or, the sun will come out in Chicago and we won't have to use it.

She has also become a very inquisitive little baby. She turns her head to investigate every little noise that we make. Everything is fascinating to her - from the squeaky elephant toy Uncle Jason gave her to her own little hands.
Her very favorite thing to do is to play with Daddy. Whenever he comes into the living room to play with her, the OG's face lights up and a big smile appears. As soon as he picks her up, she opens her mouth wide, in an attempt to eat his nose. Whenever she's with Daddy, she coos and kicks her legs with excitement... the OG loves to be tickled by Dad's stubble - it's the only thing that can regularly make her laugh outloud!
What a daddy's girl!

Welcome to the OG’s blog!

Thanks to Keegan for giving us the idea to start a baby blog. We promise to be better at posting messages and pictures here than we are at sending out links to the OG’s newest pictures.