Odds and Sods

Time sure has gotten away from us what with volunteering for the Olympics and Paralympics and our trip out to Toronto at the beginning of the month.

Still, we managed to get the camera out and take a few shots of The Bug.

Here's some of our favourites (and a few that look like duplicates but we just couldn't help it, we simply can't narrow it down to one or two).

As for a Livy update. Dwayne took her in on March 22nd for her H1N1 shot and she weighed in over 21 lbs. We're on the verge of her maxing out her infant car seat. We need to arrange a trip to the city soon to upgrade.

On another note, today we got a new camera lens and some of the shots with Livy in green are with the new lens (WE LOVE IT!!!).

Here's Livy on Daddy's lap as we try to get a shot of her first tooth (some oldies but goodies).


























On Friday, March 26th, Livy completed her 1st transition from her back (lying down) to her tummy, to her knees (sort of) into a sitting position all on her own. Now, 3 days later she's a natural and her body's already strengthening from the repetitive movement. Technically now, she has the ability to crawl (as she spends a lot of time on her hands and knees reaching for toys...and boy does she reach) but she hasn't figured out the fact that if she moves her knees she can move forward.

Here's a picture of Livy the first night she learned to sit up on her own...you can see that she was put to bed fairly tired. Tired enough that after she got into her 'now favourite' sitting position she passed right out.













Another 'feat' Livy's working on is pulling herself up. About 2 weeks ago she started trying and though she's yet to have success we have been practicing 'standing' so that when she manages to get up on her own her risk of toppling over right away is lowered (though we have no doubt there will be a tumble or two in her near future). The last week or so she's gotten to standing so much when you put her down she refuses to sit. Instead she arches her back to a point where she's almost touching her head to the floor in the opposite direction to sitting (will have to get a photo op of that one). In the meantime, here's Livy happily standing at her karaoke machine.




















Livy's opposable thumbs have gotten a lot of practice since we introduced Rice Crispies a few weeks ago. Though she still prefers the "wet-hand-grab, covered-hands-to-mouth" method, every once in a while she does pick them up one at a time. She's not weighing in a 21+lbs for nothing.













And this is what Dwayne and I wake up to each morning...this morning in particular we felt especially lucky to have her.


























Grandma Helen arrived in Squamish during the last few days of the Paralympics and upon a visit up to the Athletes Village she stumbled across a "small" friend for Livy. Here's Livy hanging out with her new best friend Miga. When Livy grows up she wants to be as big as Miga!!













Once upon a time there was this princess named Princess Olivia. She didn't know that she was a princess because she lived and worked in normal clothes with just a hint that indeed she was a princess (can you guess the 'hint').






































Then a Fairy came along and turned Princess Olivia into a REAL PRINCESS.









































































































The End

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Here's a few shots of Olivia with our new favourite lens. There's a lot of them but rest assured we did scale down from the many, many shots I took (the little bug moves around a lot and ironically the most popular shot was the top of her head).




























































































Thanks again for letting us share some of our favourite moments with The Bug.

Yikes!!

Ok, so last doctors appointment on Feb 24 Olivia continued to be top of the charts for weight, height and head circumference. So, logically we have deduced that since she's simply a big baby (4 lbs heavier than avg. so 20% heavier) she'll probably crawl, stand, walk much later. After all, 20% weight difference is a lot of baby to move around when your little muscles are only 6-7 months old (as of Feb 24th she weighed in at 19.8 lbs).

Last night changed all that. While Livy isn't yet crawling (she's spinning on her Daddy-like protruding belly and pushes herself backwards) and she isn't getting into a sitting position on her own (though she does sit steady and plays well in the sitting position) she has determined that she LOVES to stand and in the last few days has deduced that she wants to stand alone (keeping in mind her standing entails a very wobbly back and forth motion much like Dwayne looks when he's had a few drinks). She still hasn't realized that she can't stand on her own but she continues to let go of what she's holding on to (our hands, the foot stool etc) or even tries to push our hands away if we're holding her middle.

As of last night she's also decided to try getting into the standing position from a sitting position. Using her little karaoke machine (thanks again Auntie Deanna) I caught her mid-attempt pulling herself up into a standing position. She managed to get up on one knee with the other leg, foot on the floor, bent at 90 degrees. She didn't even flinch when I yelled her name (another thing we learned - she doesn't spook easily).

We tried to sit with her and practice getting up with mom/dad's help/assistance but nope, she doesn't want it. On two separate occasions she tried again on her own. I have a feeling we're going to have a few bumps and bruises in the near future as she realizes that she's not invincible.

Dwayne then had her holding on to the bars of the baby gate...sure enough, after warning Dwayne to simply "be careful because she's getting cocky" I hear a wail. Yup, Olivia was standing at the gate, holding on (Daddy sitting back a bit to give her her independence) and decided she's able to let go both hands at once. We may be investing in a baby helmet if this keeps up!!

As of the beginning of March she's also been aware that things simply don't disappear and if she's actually interested in an object/person, when they disappear/leave she'll do what she can to crane her head/body to try to follow or find them. Its quite amazing to see how her little mind develops and works at this stage of her figuring things out.

We'll work at getting some photos up but certainly at a minimum I wanted to post an update since its been so long and sparse.

Update

I'm sure after tooth number 10 we'll start to get bored with Livy's teeth situation but in the meantime Livy's second tooth has officially broken through. This time though it was coupled with a bit more knawing, bitting, fussing and tears then the first tooth (so much for "The Book" saying the first one is the most bothersome).

The tooth came through while Dwayne and I (and Grandma Val as a babysitter) were in Toronto at our yearly PDAC convention so in addition to Livy dealing with a new tooth, she also was faced with her first flight coupled with hotel living for 5 nights. This time her ordeal was less than perfect. Livy managed to squirm her way into our bed the first night and has been there ever since at some point in the evening...mostly because since hitting Toronto we've been sleep deprived with work scheduled each day so we needed sleep more than we needed her in her own space.

With me now Volunteering for the Paralympics and putting in needed work time our sleeping hours are crucial and a happy Livy makes for maximum sleep time.

That said I'm secretly enjoying the cuddling. I miss it!

On another note, as of yesterday Olivia is pushing herself up on her knees and rocking back and forth between her knees and hands. She doesn't do it often but it definitely is one more step closer to another milestone and as a first time mom to a baby of her age its another reminder of how fast she's growing and how much independence she's gaining.

As for how Livy flies? Not bad but not great either. Since we took away her soother we didn't have anything other than the breast for her to suck on during take off and landing (to help equalize her ears)...and boy did she take advantage of that. I've never let Livy suck for comfort but during the flight we broke that habit. Now, she's realized what she's been missing...sigh. It may be we have to reintroduce the pacifier. ;)