Quick Catch-Up...

It has obviously been quite a while since I posted, but now that I'm back at work I find that when I come home I'd much rather be playing with my precious girl than on the computer. :)

We are all doing well. Olivia is 10 1/2 months old and continues to grow and change all the time. She is standing and cruising, but hasn't tried to take any steps on her own yet. She has stood by herself several times, but seems to realize she's not holding onto anything and grabs something before taking any steps.

We took a trip a few weeks ago to St. Augustine, Fernandina, and St. Mary's (I'll post pictures later with Robin's computer). It was just a weekend trip, but we had a great time. Olivia was a great traveler in the car and at the hotel and we did a lot of sight-seeing which she loved because it was all outdoors.

As far as her school goes, she has adjusted very well - she does have a new teacher and that seems to have made a huge difference. When I am getting her out of the car and she sees the playground, she starts smiling and clapping. :) Of course, she does cry for a few minutes when I hand her to her teacher, but she stops before I even get out the door. It's still hard leaving her, but so much easier since I know that she is happy and having fun.

Well, that's all for now. I'll try to better about my posting in the future. :) Check back soon for recent pictures.

Atlanta!!

We picked Olivia up early from her first day of school to head to Atlanta for the weekend. We drove to Gainesville and walked around the mall for a while to give Livi a break from the carseat. Then we loaded back up and arrived in Valdosta around 7:00. We had dinner at El Torreo which was one of my favorites when I lived there. By the time dinner was over, we were all exhausted and decided to go ahead and call it a night there and head to Atlanta Friday morning.

We were meeting a couple that we have been friends with since Auburn. They have 2 children (22 months and 2 months) and we hadn't seen them since last fall when I was still pregnant and her youngest wasn't even conceived. :) Amazing the change that can take place in just a year!

We had a great time seeing our friends and the highlight for me was taking Olivia to her first

official Braves' game. I say "official" because she actually went last July - she just didn't see much of the game from my belly. :)

Here are pictures from the trip:

Enjoying the chips at El Torreo

Ready to cheer on the Braves!

First Marta train

First Marta bus (with my new friend EK in the background)

First time at Turner Field!!

Laid back with some puffs and watching the game!

First family picture at Turner Field

(my family has countless pics at Fulton County Stadium as well as Turner Field so this is a very special picture for me)

Eating lunch at Zoo Atlanta

Pretending to be a meerkat with EK

Looking at the parakeets with Dad and EK

Refusing to make eye contact with the HUGE owl next to her. :)

Family picture at the zoo - not sure who the fourth member is...

Saying good-bye to her friend...hopefully we'll see them again soon!

First Day of School (8/13/09)

Today was Olivia's first day of school. I am not working yet, but wanted to go ahead and take her so that she could start adjusting to the new routine and her teacher and classmates. :)

She was fine when we went in, let the teacher hold her, and then got down on the mat to play. I gave her a kiss and let her keep playing and I snuck out.

Around 11:30 I called to check on her and at the moment she was okay, but she had had a rough morning after realizing that I was gone. I picked her up around 2:00 - she was sleeping when I got there which I thought was a good sign. Maybe she was getting used to it....

Meet the Teacher (8/11/09)

On Tuesday, August 11th, we went to the church for Olivia's Meet the Teacher. Her teacher is Mrs. Bea and she is very nice and loving and we were really excited to meet her. She held Livi several times and it went great. Olivia played on the mat with the toys and was very happy there.

I was still very worried about leaving her on Thursday, but felt better after seeing her classroom and meeting all of the staff.

Picture Catch-Up...

These are pics of Olivia at Hutchinson Island as well as an old one that I found. It is Olivia with her great-grandparents (my mom's parents) and in that picture there are 4 generations represented with my grandmother, mom, me, and Olivia.

Better late than never...

Olivia has teeth! It has taken a lot of time and drooling, but she has two little bottom teeth. The first one popped out a couple of weeks ago. She had a couple of days of relief and the one next to it started to come through. That one finally came out over night last night, but now another bottom one is trying to come through so I don't think she'll get any relief this time. So far though, she is being a trooper. There were a couple of rough nights, but for the most part other than a ridiculous amount of drooling :) we wouldn't even know it was happening.

No pictures yet, but I'm trying.

Hutchinson Island and Lake Placid

After a week of relaxing (and relaxing is used very loosely here because it is actually not very relaxing to chase a crawling, climbing 8 month old around the house all day), Olivia and I packed up and headed to Hutchinson Island to visit her Nana and Papa for 5 nights and then we would drive from there to Lake Placid and meet Robin and some friends for the weekend.

I am waiting on Olivia's Nana for pictures from Hutchinson Island. She had a great time there though. We played in the condo and on the beach and in the pool and she got a lot of quality time with Nana and Papa while I got a lot of reading time in at the beach and pool. It was a GREAT week!

At Lake Placid, Olivia went on her first boat ride and cheered on her dad in a triathlon.

First boat ride - notice the stylish life vest/bathing suit combo. :)

Go Daddy!!

Congrats Robin and Aaron! This was Aaron's first tri!

We had a great time, but are definitely glad to be back home and in our own beds and rooms. I am now trying to spend as much time with Olivia as I can before school starts back in a couple of weeks.

Crawling and climbing everywhere...

After the beach trip, we had a quiet week at home where I chased Olivia all over the house. :) She is crawling very quickly now and climbing on anything and everything...tables, couches, walls, her bouncer, people - if it's taller than her, she's going to try to pull up on it. Here is a picture of her and her friend playing with some boxes.

4th of July and Hilton Head Island

We had a quiet couple of weeks and then on July 4th we left for a week to Hilton Head Island, SC. I spent 3 days making lists, doing laundry, and packing everything we could possibly need. I'm not sure what I was thinking...it wasn't like we were going camping in the middle of nowhere...we were staying in a condo with a Publix 5 minutes away, but I was determined to have everything prepared and taken with us. So we got up extra early on the 4th, loaded the car

(and I mean LOADED) and left Orlando around

7 AM. Olivia did great in the car - we made one short stop in the morning for a diaper change and then about an hour away from HHI we stopped for lunch at Cracker Barrel to kill time (we couldn't check in until 4) and because I love Cracker Barrel. This picture is Olivia playing the game that's on all the tables:

We arrived too early anyway and waited by the pool and Olivia enjoyed watching everyone swim. When we were able to get into the room we tried to do a late afternoon nap in hopes of keeping her up for the fireworks, but she was NOT interested. So we took a family photo in our red, white, and blue and Olivia went to bed at her usual time and skipped the fireworks this year.

It was a great week of relaxing at the beach, pool, and doing a little sight-seeing. Olivia sat in restaurant high-chairs for the first

time and really enjoyed having access to everything on the table and is LOVING bread and crackers. I wonder who she gets that from? :) Here are a few more highlights from the trip:

Earring shopping...

I am WAY behind on blogging so there will be a whirlwind of catch up posts.

On June 24th, Aunt Dolly and Uncle Homer were up this way and wanted to take Olivia shopping for her first official pair of earrings. We went to Bay Hill Jewelers because it's close to the house and I've been there before and knew that they had children's jewelry.

Olivia behaved very well and we had so much fun picking out her new earrings. We got a pair of gold butterflies that she's wearing now and also a pair of tiny gold hoops with a red heart for when she gets a little older.

Happy Father's Day!

Today was Robin's first Father's Day. Olivia made sure to wake up early to get his gifts and breakfast ready. :)

Here are a few pictures of her presenting his gifts and breakfast as well as her "personalizing" his card. Olivia's gift to her dad was a tie that she helped pick out and a class to become SCUBA certified. The tie will be a tradition - this year she wasn't a lot of help in choosing, but as she gets older, she will choose his Father's Day tie each year...should be interesting. :)

Pool time!!

Today we took Olivia to the pool for the first time. She LOVED it! I was so worried that she wasn't going to like the water since it took so long to adjust to bath-time, but there was nothing to worry about. She enjoyed being in the water and liked listening to and watching me blow bubbles.

I am so excited to take her to Hilton Head in a few weeks now that I know she enjoys the water. Hopefully the pool will be shaded at some point in the day so we can spend some time there.

Fountains...

Last night we ate at The Cheesecake Factory at Millenia Mall. We met Blake, Dani, Steve, and Roger there to have a farewell dinner for Blake and Dani. Considering that her routine was changed and her bedtime came and went during dinner, Olivia did very well. She played with EVERYTHING on the table (the hostess brought her bread and bananas while we waited - she of course isn't eating bread yet, but loved grabbing it) and enjoyed standing with me for most of the end of dinner. :) It was nice to get out and see everyone and the food of course was delicious. I'm still eating on my dulce de leche cheesecake today. Yummy!

The pictures are of Robin and Olivia watching the fountains in the mall while we waited on our table. She was enthralled by the water (and also with holding the pager).

Crawling...

No video yet....but Olivia is crawling!!

She went several "steps" a couple of different times today. It was so much fun to watch her. Robin was working from home and was actually in the kitchen so we were both able to see her the first time which was very special.

It may be weeks before she does it again, but she did officially crawl today! :)

7 months...

Olivia is 7 months old (yesterday). She is still working very hard on crawling, but hasn't quite got it. However, she is fully able to go anywhere she wants to by scooting on her stomach.

We took a trip to Belle Glade and Clewiston for a few days to visit both grandparents. We were able to get a picture with Olivia, me, my mom, and my grandmother - 4 generations. It's on another camera so I will add it as soon as it's sent to me (pressure's on mom). :) Olivia and I had a great time visiting with everyone and I loved having a mini-break with everyone wanting to hold and play with her.

Father's Day is this Sunday and Olivia and I are working hard to make it a great first Father's Day for Robin.

6 years!!

Yesterday was our anniversary. Our neighbor baby-sat so that we could eat dinner at The Melting Pot which is my absolute favorite place.

We have been married now for 6 years. The 6 years have seen a lot of changes in adding Leila to the family, job changes, house changes, amazing vacations, and now, of course, the addition of Olivia. It has been an incredible 6 years and we are looking forward to many more. Here are a few pictures from the proposal, big day, and previous anniversaries:

September 14, 2002 (before the proposal- yes, we're at Melting Pot)

After!!

June 14, 2003 (Clewiston, FL)

June 14, 2003 (Clewiston, FL)

A few days before June 14, 2004 in France

(spent actual day in Paris, but can't seem to find a pic of the two of us)

Melting Pot, June 14, 2005

June 14, 2006, painting from Guayaquil, Ecuador (gift from Aunt Dolly and Uncle Homer)

(no Melting Pot that year - went to Bone Fish with family)

Melting Pot, June 14, 2007

Melting Pot, June 14, 2008 (Olivia was with us :))

Unfortunately, there is not a picture from June 14, 2009. Maybe we'll take one the next time we go out and pretend. :)