Saturday Afternoon Photo Shoot

We were suppose to go to the zoo today with Clancy and Nicole, but since I've had a stomach bug, we didn't want to risk me giving it to the other babies/mommies.......so here Olivia and I sit at the house while Jason is at Colonial enjoying the golf tournament. We watched a couple of episodes of Ellen (which Olivia seems to find interesting) and also a Barney DVD. She likes it when I sing and dance along. After all of that wonderous excitement, I decided it was time to play photo shoot, as we haven't done that in a while! I had a bit of trouble getting her to look at me today. While I absolutely LOVE her profile, I didn't feel we needed it in every shot! I'm not sure what was so interesting, but she constantly looked to her right. I don't know if she was looking out the window or what. Anyway, here are a few of the pics we took today.

Love her little hands in this one.

Gracie couldn't stand it any longer, so I let her join in on a couple of pics! Hard to believe, but she actually listens and minds me around the baby. Olivia has been very interested in Gracie the last few days and has been reaching out to her a lot. I guess they'll end up being best friends!

Show Us Where You Live - The Nursery

It's time again for Show Us Where You Live Friday at Kelley's Korner. This week, the focus is on baby nurseries/children's rooms. It took me a long time to figure out what I wanted to do in Olivia's room. Once I got going, I just kept looking for coordinated pieces. I thought I would use more of the aqua in her room, but I used a lot more of the lime green instead. I had her bedding made by Javis Davis.

This is a close up of the fabrics used in her room.



The monogram is probably my favorite part of her room.

It took me forever to find a mobile I liked. And this ended up being the winner...


A lot of people advised against a changing table, but it was fairly inexpensive and one of the most used pieces of furniture for sure!




I love her rocking chair. It's quite comfortable, although we don't ever use it much. The "body parts" picture was an idea given to me by my friend Clancy.


I think the clock is my 2nd favorite thing in her room. It is wooden and says "Once Upon A Time" around the outside.



There are several special things on her chest of drawers.

• The pregnant Willow Tree was given to me by MIL right after I found out I was pregnant.
• The Jim Shore Stork was given to me by my mom. I had seen it previously and loved it.
• Around the stork's neck is a small pearl bracelet mom got her, which I love. I last tried it on her for Easter and it was still just a tad too big. Maybe she can wear it soon!
• Mom gave her the pewter cup with her monogram/birth date after she was born.
• Mom gave Olivia her first bible for Valentine's Day, which I also keep here.
• The little pink bunny was in her 1st Easter basket from Jason's mom.
  
  
  This was Olivia's bassinet and is now in the corner of her room. Both myself and my older sister slept in this bassinet. Mom had it re-done for Olivia. Hopefully her babies will sleep in it too!

Hope you enjoyed the tour of Olivia's nursery. Sometimes I wish it was more feminine and pink, but I do love it. It's by far the most peaceful room in our house!

To Jump or Not To Jump?

A couple of weeks ago I decided to buy yet one more contraption for our house...like we don't have enough baby items! I really don't feel like Olivia is big enough for the exersaucer yet and a friend suggested the jumparoo. I have 2 or 3 friends who's babies are about the same age as Olivia, and their babies love this gadget. Not our Olivia. She'll sit in it, but she doesn't jump. She did love playing with the toy though, so I've since taken it off and she just plays with it on the floor. Oh well! Maybe she'll like it next week...or next month...or maybe it will just end up being a waste of money! I guess her friend Hudson can play in it when he comes for visits!

Gracie checking it out
Now it's Bentley's turn

Memorial Day Weekend

We didn't do anything of great excitement this weekend, but we stayed fairly busy. We had a friend's 30th birthday party Saturday night, cleaned house all day Sunday and had friends over for dinner Sunday night. Jason worked out in the yard today, and I went and got a much needed pedicure. Now it's coming up on nap time...the best part of the weekend..ha!!

Don't forget to remember those who have died serving our Country. Olivia wishes you all a Happy Memorial Day.

Show Us Where You Live - Dining Room

Kelly over at Kelly's Korner hosts "Show Us Where You Live" Fridays. So far, she's done kitchens, living rooms, and guest rooms. I decided to participate this week. I enjoy going on her blog and looking at everyone's rooms, so why not add my own?! This week is Dining Rooms. Next week is Baby Nurseries, so I might join in on that one too! :)

I wish we were doing this during Christmas, as I could never love my house more than I do at Christmas! I think I like it so much because my house is very neutral and Christmas adds so much more color. Maybe I need to remember that if I ever get to totally re-do a room!

My table is very blah right now...I really like my rose bowls and want more, but the overall decor is very blah at the moment. That's why I love holidays....makes me spruce stuff up!! The table/chairs are on loan from Jason's stepdad. I didn't take a close-up, but I really love the floating shelves you see in the corner. It's a wine rack/wine glass holder we received as a wedding gift from Pottery Barn. Love it! The light fixture was here when we bought the house. We just changed out the shades. It was the most cost-effective thing we could do at the time.

I love the large iron piece on the wall. I purchased that at a small home/garden shop in my hometown. My grandparents brought the plant to the hospital when Olivia was born. I just realized after taking this picture that I definitely need to get a more decorative pot for it!

Just a view from the entry way. I would say my dining room is one of my favorite rooms, even though I'm not loving it at the moment due to the lack of decor! To be honest, we have never eaten in here in the 3 years we have lived in this house, but we have used it several times for parties.

And here is the GRAND FINALE.....my window that was "redone" by my dog. We have 2 standard poodles, Gracie and Bentley. Bentley just turned a year old in March. Right before I had Olivia in January, he decided to have a day of insanity and tried to literally eat the house!! My husband came home for lunch one day to find sheetrock all over the house and Bentley's nose solid white. Lovely, isn't it??!! We really need to get this fixed soon!

And here is the precious Bentley! We just could have killed him that day!

I hope you enjoyed the tour of our dining room! Tune in next week for Olivia's nursery. That's one room I won't even have to clean before taking pictures!

Cereal - What a mess!

I really wanted to wait until 5-6 months, but we decided to let Olivia try rice cereal last night. She's been waking up around 2-2:30 every night for the last couple of weeks, and that just really isn't working well with our schedule! There are so many reasons she could be waking up, but since she eats and goes RIGHT back to sleep, I'm assuming that she is just hungry and maybe going thru a growth spurt or something. Anyway, we decided to go ahead and try the cereal.

Olivia had other plans. She was just not going to participate. While I was trying to feed her, she just kept yawning like she was so bored and turning to watch the TV in the living room. When I managed to get some in her mouth, she pushed it all out with her tongue. We finally just gave up and I don't think she swallowed ANY of it. I decided she was too little and figured we would just try again in a couple of weeks. Then she woke up at 11pm and 3am.....that's when I decided that we really shouldn't have given up so quickly and we gave it another shot tonight!

The 2nd attempt was SOOOO much more successful. I realized today that mixing the cereal with formula last night probably wasn't the brightest idea. #1) the cereal was a new taste/texture and #2) she has never had formula, so that was a new taste as well. Tonight I mixed the cereal with breast milk and she took to it much better. She "ate" nearly all of it. I use the word ate loosely as it was basically the consistency of water, but at least she got the taste of some cereal and figured out the spoon a bit.

OH, and how come nobody told me to wait and give her a bath until AFTER she eats??!! Man, what a mess! It sure will be nice when she learns to eat like the little lady she is destined to become!

Getting ready!

Loving that expression. She definitely lets you know how she feels about things.

4 months old

So I can't believe it. My baby girl officially turned 4 months old yesterday. We went to the doctor for her 4 month check-up and shots. She did great...about 20 seconds of crying and then she was over it. She weighed in at 13 lbs. 13 oz and was 26 inches long. She has grown 6 inches since she was born a short 4 months ago! That's just amazing to me. She was in the 50th percentile for weight, 90-95th percentile for length and 50th percentile on her head size (has remained at 50 since birth). I don't think the percentiles are worth a whole lot, but they provide me the info so I am passing it along!

HERE ARE SOME THINGS SHE IS NOW DOING AT 4 MONTHS OLD:

• Rolls from tummy to back


• Rolls from back to tummy pretty much the second you lay her down on her back.


• She is now sleeping on her tummy *see above*


• She lights up at the sight of her Daddy every evening. She gives him BIG smiles.


• She decided about 1-2 weeks ago to wake up around 2:30am every single night to eat! I keep telling her that she isn't allowed to sleep thru the night for weeks and weeks and weeks and all of a sudden decide that she wants midnight feedings! Our alarm goes off at 4:30, so this 2:30 feeding is really beginning to wear on me!


• She LOVES her little baby doll that her cousins Ally and MacKenzie sent to her for Easter.


• She loves anything she can put in her mouth...which appears to be everything!


• She is still sleeping in our room, although she is not in our bed. We plan on moving her to her own room soon.....really....we are.....


• She seems to be a "thinker". Those of you who have been around her know that she appears to always be contemplating something. The doctor noticed yesterday that she really studies everything and is very aware of her surrounding. She has basically been this way since birth.


• She occasionally plays with her feet, but this is not a high priority on her daily list of to-do's.


• She is wearing a lot of 0-3 month clothes, but is gradually moving into 3-6 month (mainly due to her length).


• Her diet consists of breast milk only; however, we are adding rice cereal any day now...possibly tonight! I'm hoping it will help her sleep thru the night again.


• She is sooooooooooo happy in the mornings. I'm jealous that her Daddy gets to spend every morning with her while I'm at work.

The only picture I took on her 4 month birthday. This is her favorite past time...taking a daily nap in her swing!

On the road...

Olivia and I went on our first mother-daughter trip this past weekend. Jason stayed home with the dogs, and Olivia and I loaded up and went to my mom's in East Texas. She did so good in the car. She basically slept the entire time (4 1/2 - 5 hours). I'm SOOOOO very lucky to have such a wonderfully content little girl! She sure doesn't give us much trouble.....YET!!!

Olivia with her great-grandfather, Granddaddy Jim

Tuckered out at mom's...love how she holds on to her baby doll.

Good thing she's holding on to that braid...the baby doll is barely hanging on.

Reese is obsessed with Olivia...we can't figure out if it is because he really likes her or if he just wants to steal her pacifier. We think it's the second. He was caught several times!
Sleeping Beauty

Olivia & Emory's 1st Encounter

Olivia and I stopped by for a little bit this weekend to visit with Hannah and Emory. I am so glad we were able to get together while the babies are still pretty small. Emory and Olivia's birthdays are only 5 days apart. It was fun watching them interact with each other. Olivia seems to be a much more serious baby than Emory. She always appears to be thinking about something. I just wish I knew what that was!! Pay attention to Olivia's facial expressions in the pictures. She was cracking me up!


As most babies at this age, Emory puts everything in her mouth...including Olivia's arm! I don't think Olivia was thrilled about it!

Can I please have back my hand?

Love this one! Too cute.

Let's chew on our hands together!

Emory got a hold of Olivia's dress this time! Again, I don't think Olivia was too happy with Emory chewing on her dress!

Hey - give it back!

Sweet little girls at 4 months old