The Stair Master

When Olivia started crawling, we quickly realized you can't completely baby-proof a house. It's just impossible. The stairs have been a major source of concern. We have a gate, but it's not a permanent gate. Just one we can move between the stairs and the entrance to the living room (which is now the play room). Mainly, because we go up and down the stairs so many times. On any given day, we have this conversation:

Becky: "Can you see her?"
Michael: "No, can you?"
Becky: "No, is the gate up?"
Michael: "I don't know..." pause... "Olivia! What are you doing on the stairs?!"

And so it went for many weeks. We were terrified of all the horror stories we've heard about babies falling down the stairs.
Today, we were playing upstairs and she was DETERMINED to go down the stairs. Every time I redirected her, she screamed. And went right back to the top of the stairs. Finally, I stood a few stairs down and watched to see what she would do. To my utter amazement, this is what happened: (OK, this is the second time. I was trying to pick my jaw up off the floor the first time).



See Mom? I know what I'm doing...



This little landing won't stop me! (Note the tongue)



I just swing one leg around...



Get my booty over the edge...



Now both feet on the step...



I bet these bars will help...



See??? Piece of cake!



What a stinker. I have no idea how she figured that out, aside from the fact that she's brilliant.

Her new favorite toy:



She loves walking behind this thing! The only problem is she doesn't know what to do when she runs into something, which happens every 5 feet or so. We're constantly moving it away from the wall, the stairs, the dogs, etc. She's doing pretty well with it, though!



She is growing so fast! She's saying "Uh-oh" now, usually appropriately. Or whenever she hears anyone else say it. She's also turning the pages in books when we read at night and will actually sit down and look at a book by herself. It's bittersweet! Our little 4 pound baby is long gone!

Playing Peek- A- Boo with Daddy and Pooh:



That chair is another Craigslist find! It's a Pottery Barn anywhere chair and I got it for $15. That's about 10% of what one costs new. I washed the cover and it's good as new! I love a bargain.

Busy, busy

We went to The Wildlife Experience this week with Yarelys and Caden. The last time we were there was in October when Mom, Brett, Rachel, Maggie, and Aubrey visited. Olivia was only 2 months old, so I was excited to see her reaction. The Wildlife Experience is a museum that has different wildlife exhibits and animals (fake), along with a new rainforest and aquarium section. Our first stop was a puppet show in the area for young children. Olivia was particularly interested:



Had to get a little closer:



"I know those puppets aren't talking by themselves..."



We went through part of the museum and had lunch before heading home. Avry was with us- this was the 2 of them right when we arrived:



And this was after the 15 minute ride home:



Enough excitement to wear them out!
We went to the park with Sarah, Liza, and Landon this week, too. I love having a park within walking distance!





Michael had a (remote control) car race this weekend, so Olivia and I stopped by to cheer him on. I spent most of my time keeping her out of the dirt.



And walking around under the tent:



Olivia was ready to go before the last race, so we headed home. She had BBQ chicken and a nutri grain bar for dinner and this was the aftermath:



Between the dirt at the race track and dinner, she had an early bath!





Our routine after her bath- she likes to be tickled!



I'm almost afraid to write this, but we've been working on transitioning to the crib... It's been going OK so far. I'll write more when it's been more than a few days!



She's been helping me with the dishes:



And helping Daddy around the house:



Olivia is especially excited to meet her new cousin, Aiden, who arrived Thursday! We're so glad he's here and healthy and we can't wait to meet him in August!

Early birthday gifts, eating with utensils, and a weight check, Oh my!

We've had a busy week! We gave Olivia 2 early birthday gifts, a bike trailer (OK, that one is for mom and dad, too!) and a slide. We've been looking at bike trailers for a little while- it seems like everyone out here has one! We ended up getting a Schwinn Joyrider. It's a new design and we really liked the deep seats and 5 point harness to keep her secure. It also came with a front wheel, so it can convert to a jogging stroller. We got a double, so I can take both babies for rides during the week. Here she is checking it out before her first ride:





She loves it, luckily! This was after our ride tonight:





We also got her this slide/climber today. I found it on Craigslist for $20. Gotta love Craigslist! She loves climbing the stairs, which is why we wanted this one. Of course, this is what she does instead of going up the stairs:





Fun stuff!

Eating with utensils is something I've been working up to with Olivia. I don't mind that she gets dirty when she's playing, but I can't stand for her to have food all over her. And she always gets it all over her. Especially now that she's eating mostly table food and feeding herself (with her fingers). I knew adding utensils would be a bigger mess (I was right), but we tried it anyway. I was actually pretty surprised at how well she did for her first time.



Of course, it got messier:



And here's how we ended up:



Meal time is fun (apparently)! We'll keep plugging away...
She had a weight check yesterday and weighed in at 14 pounds, 4 ounces. (This was her weight immediately following half a banana, 3 ounces of milk, and some carrots). Her iron was in the normal range, luckily. I was relieved about that, because I've had a really hard time getting the supplement in her lately. We're going to forgo the supplement and continue with iron rich foods and hope for the best. Her doctor's goal for her one year appointment next month is 15 pounds. He said if she was below that, we'd talk about doing some blood tests to make sure she's absorbing nutrients from food correctly. So, here's hoping for 15 pounds!!

She has started making some really comical faces lately. She's coming into her personality!








I've also noticed that she looks more like a toddler and less like a baby. When did that happen?!





All part of growing up, I guess...

The 4th and Buena Vista

Happy 4th of July!





We left early Friday morning and spent the night in Buena Vista (about an hour and 45 minutes from our house) with our friends Steve and Yarelys and their little boy, Caden. Caden is a year older than Olivia and she loves following him around!



Friday morning the boys took the Rhino (like an ATV, but bigger) and dirt bikes to some trails and Yarelys and I took the babies to a local park. Olivia was in a fantastic mood and loved riding in the wagon.



Blowing raspberries on the slide:



Posing in front of a tree:



She wants to walk so bad! She's not quite steady enough, so we have to "help" her. My back is so sore!





Olivia had a little snack before we left (she loves her veggies!):



How do you know your child had a good time at the park? Their feet look like this:



Saturday morning Olivia spent some time climbing on the car:





And then we left for 4 Mile National Park. Buena Vista (like most of Colorado) is beautiful. Michael watched Olivia while I took some pictures of the mountains:





She had fun playing in the dirt (and eating it!).





I love these next 3 pictures. We wanted to get a few of the 2 babies together, which is nearly impossible if you want both of them looking at the camera. The first picture turned out pretty well- notice Olivia has a rock clutched in her hand:



The next picture is of said rock going straight in her mouth:



And finally, Michael's arm reaching to get the rock out:



We headed home after that and made it back in time to take Olivia to the 4th festivities close to our house. She's a little small for the bouncy houses and face painting, so we spent an extraordinary amount of time waiting in line for this balloon animal. She likes it, though, and held onto it the rest of the time we were there.



This picture reminds me- she was never crazy about a pacifier. She had a really hard time keeping them in her mouth. Around 6-7 months, she stopped taking one altogether. She would spit it out every time. I was happy and sad about that. Happy, because we wouldn't have to go through breaking her of the habit, sad because she didn't have something to comfort her (and help her fall asleep). When we were on our trip to Glenwood Springs in June, she had a little meltdown in the car. I tried everything to calm her down and found a paci in the bottom of the diaper bag. Out of desperation, I stuck it in her (wide open, screaming) mouth. To my surprise, she took to it immediately and it's been downhill ever since. She LOVES her paci now and even though it may be hard to break her of it in a few months, it's so nice to have something to help calm her down, especially in the car.



With the Airforce Academy in Colorado Springs and Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, we see lots of aircraft flying over our house. However, today we heard planes circling over and over. Michael caught it on video:



Our neighbor was outside and told him they will often circle around the city, while waiting to do a flyover for an event (in this case, a 4th celebration). Pretty cool! Hope everyone had a great 4th!