This picture was an action shot in the jumperoo so it turned out a little blurry.
Her face is just too funny not to share though!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
Art Projects
Little Man and I don't do many crafts anymore. We just don't have the time. He's at school for six hours a day. He naps for an hour. (Yes, he STILL naps!). Depending on the day, we do an hour of our own "workbook" time--which is more like learning time, but we call it "workbooks". He also has Tae Kwon Do twice a week, gymnastics once a week, and soccer practice once a week. Any time we have left is his "free time" to play what he wants or watch TV. These days it's mostly play.
So when he brought some art projects home from school that I thought were sort of cute, I thought I'd share. (Please ignore my fingers. I was covering his name.)
So when he brought some art projects home from school that I thought were sort of cute, I thought I'd share. (Please ignore my fingers. I was covering his name.)
As much as I don't like cats, I think this project with the yarn is pretty cute.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Ft. Worth
Amanda and Hieu wanted to make sure to make it to a rodeo while they were here. We hit up Fort Worth on Friday. They were able to see the cattle drive and then we did some site seeing and some shopping.
Being such a good girl in her stroller
We ate dinner at the highly recommended Cattleman's and then headed to the rodeo.
Yep. I was "that" mom that I myself would have judged about 6 months ago. I took my baby to the rodeo. Under normal circumstances I never would have done this. We just didn't have anyone to watch her. Even if we did--we were gone from 2:30 in the afternoon until about 11:00 that night. That's just to long to leave her for the first time.
So.... I put little cotton balls in her ears. Then I covered the ears with more cotton balls and put a headband on to hold the exterior cotton balls in place. The rodeo is loud and I wanted to protect her hearing as much as possible. Plus, I was hoping she would sleep. Yeah. I should have known better. She doesn't sleep well in the first place and especially not when there are things to see! :)
She was dead tired by the end of the night, but she stayed awake the whole time and seemed to enjoy it. She only cried a little bit at the very beginning and that was because I was trying to make her go to sleep. I thought for sure that she'd pass out when we got in the car. Nope. She was awake most of the hour drive home. Crazy girl.
(with her slobber all over my shirt!)
So sleepy
All in all, Amanda and Hieu go to see a little bit of stereotypical Texas. We all enjoyed a fun rodeo. Olivia was awesome. It was a good time and I'd do it the same again. Yee haw!
Thursday, November 3, 2011
This and That Thursday
4 month check up
We were suppose to have Olivia's four month check up on Tuesday. Unfortunately, the nurse practitioner (who we were to see) got in a bad car accident and is out for a bit. Another provider is out for some reason, so our appointment got pushed all the way to the 15th. She'll be almost 5 months at that point! Oh well.
Unofficial Stats
There was a baby scale in Little Man's closet so I asked if we could use it. G said we could just have it. We weighed Olivia earlier this week and she is 17 pounds 4 ounces. I guess our scale was right. We measured her length at 26 inches. We laid her on a disposable changing pad and drew the lines just like at the doctor. I also measured her head. The girl has a BIG head! We only have two hats (both bought during pregnancy on clearance). One is 0 to 6 months and just went in the bin with clothes she's outgrown. I couldn't even attempt to get it on her head. The other is 6 to 12 months and barely fits. Normally I wouldn't have cared about the measurement, but I need to get her a hat before we head north for Thanksgiving. Lots of the etsy sellers give measurements, so I needed to know what size to order. Are you ready for this? 17 and a half inches! She's a half inch away from needing 12 month to 24 month old hats! We happened to have a Christmas santa type hat (also purchased on clearance during pregnancy). It said size 24 months and fit perfect. Oh boy! Anyway, I found some kind of calculator online to figure out the percentiles. According to that she is 96% for weight, 91% for height and 97% for head circumference. At least she's still proportionate. Plus, she's technically 4 1/3 months so the percentiles could be off just a little. :)
Car seats
Our original plan was to wait until Christmas and ask for/buy her convertible car seats. Even though she isn't at the 22 pound weight limit yet, she looks big for the carrier. Not only that, but it's a beast to carry around. Plus, the car seat check ladies said that when she was an inch from the top that it was time to move her. She's getting very close to that inch. We used our online consumer reports subscription and checked out what was best. For years it's been Britax so that is what I was going to get. It's what Little Man uses. Britax car seats are a fortune so I wasn't upset when there was a Graco one with higher rankings. :) I found a good deal online at Walmart and they will ship it to your local store for free. We got two--one for my car and one for my work car. It would be nice to have one for Michael's car, but it's not a necessity at this point. They will be in on November 10th. It's suppose to last until she is 65 pounds, so hopefully that is a looooong time from now! :)
Crib
We moved Olivia to her room/crib last week and she has done fine. For logistical reasons, when Amanda and Hieu came to stay we gave them our room. We stayed in the guest room/nursery. So technically we were still sleeping in the same room for her first five nights in the crib. She did fine when we went back to our room though. In fact, the first night she slept for ten hours! She's back to getting up twice a night, but she sleeps 12 hours so I can't complain too much.
Swaddle
We are in the process of trying to break the swaddle. I've tried off and on for the last few weeks, but I always end up giving in. Why is it so much work? :) She busts out of it every night though, and that makes me nervous. Most people said they stopped when the baby could roll from back to belly. I don't imagine that is going to happen any time soon, but she was so fed up with the swaddle. She definitely sleeps better with it, but she fights it so much that I figured it was just time. Right now we are doing a few days of one arm out. I tried cold turkey twice and it didn't go so well. I'll let you know how the gradual wean works.
Solids
Everyone keeps asking me if we've started solids yet. I had decided when I was pregnant that I was going to wait until 6 months to start solids. I was pretty set on it too. Then Olivia came and she is a big girl. I started second guessing myself...wondering if maybe she needed more to satisfy her. Of course, that was silly because she is not showing ANY of the signs that would indicate it was time to start solids with her. I called and asked my pediatrician what she thought (since my appointment got pushed back) and she agreed that it would be best to wait until 6 months. I knew that is what the AAP recommends, but I wanted to know what my pediatricians view point was. That's why you choose your pediatrician. She said that if I absolutely thought it was necessary, I could start rice cereal when she was 5 months. After some research, I had pretty much already decided that I wanted to skip cereals. Baby rice cereal and baby oatmeal cereal have little to NO nutritional value. (Of course grinding your own is a different story). I told the nurse that I would rather her just have more milk than eat cereal as a filler. She laughed and said that was what I should do anyway, so it's settled. When to start solids seems to be a hot topic. There is a debate whether starting early vs late helps with future allergies. That was another reason I was questioning my 6 month decision. Obviously Olivia already has allergy/tummy issues, so I wanted to make sure I was making the right choice for her. I feel that I am. I could list all the many reasons I feel the way I do, but if you are really interested you can just go here.
We were suppose to have Olivia's four month check up on Tuesday. Unfortunately, the nurse practitioner (who we were to see) got in a bad car accident and is out for a bit. Another provider is out for some reason, so our appointment got pushed all the way to the 15th. She'll be almost 5 months at that point! Oh well.
Unofficial Stats
There was a baby scale in Little Man's closet so I asked if we could use it. G said we could just have it. We weighed Olivia earlier this week and she is 17 pounds 4 ounces. I guess our scale was right. We measured her length at 26 inches. We laid her on a disposable changing pad and drew the lines just like at the doctor. I also measured her head. The girl has a BIG head! We only have two hats (both bought during pregnancy on clearance). One is 0 to 6 months and just went in the bin with clothes she's outgrown. I couldn't even attempt to get it on her head. The other is 6 to 12 months and barely fits. Normally I wouldn't have cared about the measurement, but I need to get her a hat before we head north for Thanksgiving. Lots of the etsy sellers give measurements, so I needed to know what size to order. Are you ready for this? 17 and a half inches! She's a half inch away from needing 12 month to 24 month old hats! We happened to have a Christmas santa type hat (also purchased on clearance during pregnancy). It said size 24 months and fit perfect. Oh boy! Anyway, I found some kind of calculator online to figure out the percentiles. According to that she is 96% for weight, 91% for height and 97% for head circumference. At least she's still proportionate. Plus, she's technically 4 1/3 months so the percentiles could be off just a little. :)
Car seats
Our original plan was to wait until Christmas and ask for/buy her convertible car seats. Even though she isn't at the 22 pound weight limit yet, she looks big for the carrier. Not only that, but it's a beast to carry around. Plus, the car seat check ladies said that when she was an inch from the top that it was time to move her. She's getting very close to that inch. We used our online consumer reports subscription and checked out what was best. For years it's been Britax so that is what I was going to get. It's what Little Man uses. Britax car seats are a fortune so I wasn't upset when there was a Graco one with higher rankings. :) I found a good deal online at Walmart and they will ship it to your local store for free. We got two--one for my car and one for my work car. It would be nice to have one for Michael's car, but it's not a necessity at this point. They will be in on November 10th. It's suppose to last until she is 65 pounds, so hopefully that is a looooong time from now! :)
Crib
We moved Olivia to her room/crib last week and she has done fine. For logistical reasons, when Amanda and Hieu came to stay we gave them our room. We stayed in the guest room/nursery. So technically we were still sleeping in the same room for her first five nights in the crib. She did fine when we went back to our room though. In fact, the first night she slept for ten hours! She's back to getting up twice a night, but she sleeps 12 hours so I can't complain too much.
Swaddle
We are in the process of trying to break the swaddle. I've tried off and on for the last few weeks, but I always end up giving in. Why is it so much work? :) She busts out of it every night though, and that makes me nervous. Most people said they stopped when the baby could roll from back to belly. I don't imagine that is going to happen any time soon, but she was so fed up with the swaddle. She definitely sleeps better with it, but she fights it so much that I figured it was just time. Right now we are doing a few days of one arm out. I tried cold turkey twice and it didn't go so well. I'll let you know how the gradual wean works.
Solids
Everyone keeps asking me if we've started solids yet. I had decided when I was pregnant that I was going to wait until 6 months to start solids. I was pretty set on it too. Then Olivia came and she is a big girl. I started second guessing myself...wondering if maybe she needed more to satisfy her. Of course, that was silly because she is not showing ANY of the signs that would indicate it was time to start solids with her. I called and asked my pediatrician what she thought (since my appointment got pushed back) and she agreed that it would be best to wait until 6 months. I knew that is what the AAP recommends, but I wanted to know what my pediatricians view point was. That's why you choose your pediatrician. She said that if I absolutely thought it was necessary, I could start rice cereal when she was 5 months. After some research, I had pretty much already decided that I wanted to skip cereals. Baby rice cereal and baby oatmeal cereal have little to NO nutritional value. (Of course grinding your own is a different story). I told the nurse that I would rather her just have more milk than eat cereal as a filler. She laughed and said that was what I should do anyway, so it's settled. When to start solids seems to be a hot topic. There is a debate whether starting early vs late helps with future allergies. That was another reason I was questioning my 6 month decision. Obviously Olivia already has allergy/tummy issues, so I wanted to make sure I was making the right choice for her. I feel that I am. I could list all the many reasons I feel the way I do, but if you are really interested you can just go here.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Cowboys and Longhorns
On Thursday, Hieu and Amanda treated us to a tour of Cowboy Stadium. The Cowboys are Hieu's favorite team, so it was a must-see for them.
The ginormous screen
and field
Jerry Jones on the field giving some sort of interview
The tour guide was giving all sorts of fun facts and statistics.
None of which I could recall enough to share with you.
Olivia thought the screen was pretty cool.
Jerry Jones has three places he can go during a game. This one is the only one we got to see. It's called his "perch". This is just moments before Olivia puked all over the floor. :)
Cool lighting
Us
The field again-It says Horned Frogs because TCU was going to be playing there Friday night.
Inside the locker room on the offense side
Still in the locker room... Amanda taking a picture of Hieu
Where the players run out onto the field
Olivia was falling asleep sitting up while daddy was carrying her.
We moved her over to me and she was out in seconds.
Amanda's reaction to the sign that said "Cowboys Cheesesteak" LOL!
The night before we headed out to a park to take pictures with the longhorns.
These statues are everywhere!
Being the responsible one ;)
Until I got suckered into it!
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Happy Halloween!
Trick or treating is one of Michael's favorite childhood memories. I, on the other hand, wasn't allowed to trick or treat. At first I wasn't sure if I wanted my kids to go trick or treating, but it was so important to Michael that I gave in. So Olivia and I went trick or treating for the first time together! I ended up having a great time!
Since we live in apartments and Little Man lives in a gated community with mammoth houses, we decided to go trick or treating with him. Of course, he was thrilled.
Since we live in apartments and Little Man lives in a gated community with mammoth houses, we decided to go trick or treating with him. Of course, he was thrilled.
Waiting to head out...
I was a little worried how she was going to handle the hood. She hasn't liked hoods on from hoodies in the past, but she didn't seem to mind one bit.
We put her in the stroller without the carseat for the first time.
She's not necessarily strapped in right, but we wanted her costume to be able to be seen.
She did really well.
Little Man wore the same dinosaur costume for the THIRD year in a row.
Last year he chose a storm trooper costume. It was purchased, yet he went with the dinosaur.
This year a ghost AND Optimus Prime costume were purchased. He went with the dinosaur.
It's already getting too small, so I'm pretty sure it won't even be an option next year. :)
Taking it all in...
This house is across the street from Little Man's house.
You can see just how big it is by the teenagers there to trick or treat.
Guess what they gave out? A dum dum. Umm... really?
One single dum dum?! The cheapest bag of candy you could find!?
She really started to get into it. She was talking and all.
She was a big hit with the all the ladies we came in contact with.
With all "her" candy
Our first Halloween
Since the pumpkin patch was a bust, we tried to get some pictures with the decorations at Little Man's house. It's really hard to do with a baby that can't sit up on her own yet! :)
K got her to smile!
Home with the candy!
Still trying to figure out what happened
This picture is blurry but I wanted you to see how she's sitting. Such a big girl!
She was watching daddy sort her candy. Then she laughed her first laugh.
This was me reacting to her laughing:
Michael had to sort out all the candy. He and his sister Jenny did this as a kid and he was dead set on doing it this year as well. I was about to eat a piece of candy in the car and he told me not to eat any until it had been sorted! :) I asked him what he was going to do if Olivia didn't want to sort her candy and he said, "She will". ha! :)
I think she was done with pictures!
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