A wonderful week!

I'm catching up a little. Monday I took Olivia to her first puppet show. The library had a Thanksgiving puppet show, complete with a story, singing, and dancing beforehand. Olivia loved looking at all the other kids--at least 50--and the puppets. She liked the music, too, and bounced in my lap. Unfortunately, this week was a week full of me forgetting my camera. So, no pics.

Thursday, Nicholas, Olivia, and I went to Thanksgiving dinner at his colleagues and friends' house. It was great to not have to cook the whole meal myself, and Susan did a fantastic job on Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and sweet potatoes. I made the green bean casserole and cranberry sauce. Olivia did really well around all the new people. She got tired by the end, though, and got grumpy on our walk around the lake in their neighborhood. I can't blame her; we got stuck in the rain. (The weather went from 75 degrees on Thursday to a chilly high of 45 on Friday. Brrr! I love Alabama! The kids in my neighborhood were playing roller hockey in the street in shorts and T-shirts on Thanksgiving.) Again, no pictures.

Friday, Olivia and I went to tailgate at the Alabama vs. Auburn game. She loved being strolled through the crowd and seeing everyone and everything. However, after the twenty minute walk from where we parked to where we were going to tailgate with friends (who, I must say, do it right--big screen TV, trailer, fire barrel for warmth, grill, yummy food, good drinks), she was done. We stayed about five minutes when it was clear that the music, the smoke from the fire, the cold weather, and all the people who wanted to hold her were just too much for her. From that five minutes of crying she went right to sleep in her stroller on the walk back to the car, even though she had just woken up from a nap an hour earlier. Poor little baby. No pictures there, either, even though I did remember my camera that time. I didn't want to record Olivia unhappy.

In other news, we have moved Olivia to the next bathtub. We got this one at our shower, and it is awesome! Olivia loves it being deeper because she can splash more and there is more room for her toys to float. I love it because of the soft sides. I don't worry about her slipping because if she does, she isn't going to hurt herself.





And, my confession is that I am not going to decorate for Christmas this year in the house because Olivia and I are making our way to Kentuckiana on December 16, with Nicholas joining us before Christmas. The only decorating I am doing is done, all $4.50 worth of bows that I bought on sale at Publix... Actually, I am considering putting white lights on the little topiary evergreens right outside the front door. That is, if the lights box is handy in the garage closet.



And, I've been meaning to write down a few Olivia anecdotes:

• Olivia can take her own diaper off now. When I have her on the changing table, I tape the diaper shut, and she immediately reaches down and starts ripping the tape off the velcro part. Oh, my! I have to be fast to get her onesie buttoned.
  
• Olivia is loving this new formula...and taking a lot of it. She just drank almost 9 ounces before bed tonight, and that is usual for her last meal of the day. She usually takes four ounces during the day and night, but at least once a day will take six.
  
• Olivia is doing really well with her solid food now, too. I discovered this week that by heating up her oatmeal, she will take 1/8 cup or more of it. Before she would barely take two teaspoons. So, she is eating at least three times a day--once cereal, once fruit, and once vegetables. When we do another feeding, I usually give her more veggies. She takes about 3.5 ounces of fruit or veggies per feeding.
  
• Olivia almost has the pincer grip going. I give her Cheerios on her tray while she is eating to give her hands something to do instead of trying to take the spoon away from me. She gets 2-3 into her mouth during the meal, and this week has started picking them up with her thumb and forefinger instead on only raking them in.
  
• Olivia is almost crawling. I kind of want to say that she is, but it is still in early stages. She still mostly moves with her belly on the floor, and forward is the most difficult direction. She can go backwards and rotate pretty well. She often lifts up her bottom to get momentum. She often goes from a sitting up position into the real crawling position, but she usually makes it just one move before being on her belly again.
  
• The sleep saga continues. Olivia is going to bed about seven and usually wakes up between twelve thirty and two thirty to eat. Then once more. If she wakes up at two thirty, she usually makes it to her morning wake up of five thirty to six before eating again. Otherwise, she will wake and go back to sleep between three thirty and four thirty. We are still working on the going to bed sleepy but not asleep. Last night I let her cry for one minute. Then I went in and comforted her and she went to sleep. One minute is about all I can take at this point.