1/2 Birthday

On April 28th, Olivia turned sic months old! She learned many new skills during her sixth month, and grew quite a lot!

Stats: Height - 26.25" (70th percentile)
Weight - 14 lb 15 oz (30th percentile)
Head Circumfrence - 42.5 cm (53rd percentile)

While at the doctor, she also got her six month shots, and I was very glad to have Alex there. Olivia does really well, but the speed of the shots varies a lot depending on the nurse, so it was hard for me to see her suffer for longer than other times. Our pediatrician (whom we LOVE, ask me about him if you want the best ped. in Corvallis) also said to let loose with the solids, and said she should be eating two servings of vegetables, one of fruit, and one of meat every day, along with the rice cereal we were already giving her. This has been kind of exciting, and despite the solid food poop (sorry if that's TMI), we enjoy giving Olivia three meals a day that consist of more than milk and cereal.

The only two foods that Olivia's not thrilled about are green beans and green peas. Quite frankly, I don't blame her because the baby food version of these foods are overcooked and smell nasty (I haven't ventured into tasting most of the foods...) so we steer clear of them. Don't get me wrong, she'll be eating them when it's real vegetables, but I'm giving her a pass on the baby food version.

We have a few pictures to show the milestones that Olivia reached during april:

first is the ability to pull things where she wants them. This seems simple, but Olivia's really doing a lot better with her hand control, and this skill was demonstrated one afternoon during nap-time. I put her down awake, as I've been trying to do more and more, so I just laid her down and put the pink blanket over her. I could see as I left that she had kicked the pink blanket almost off, but I always let her whine and squirm for a few minutes before I go back in to soothe and recover. She only whined for a minute or so, then she was silent, and when I went back in to put the blanket back on, this is what I saw:


The brown blanket had been above her head, waiting to get washed. Yes, I know you're not supposed to have too many things in the bed, but I let that one slip :). I thought it was so cute that she solved her own blanket problem so she could go to sleep!

Next skill: SITTING on her own!! This was such a surprise, because Olivia just started rolling over a few days before she turned 5 months. However, rolling was WAY too easy when she started doing it, and she's strong enough to do whatever she wants. Anyway, in the middle of April, she started sitting up by herself, and within a week was leaning to pick up things without falling over! She rarely falls, but when she does I always jump up to help before realizing that she fell on purpose and is laying on the ground laughing :). She's a daredevil, that's for sure. She has a few bumps and bruises from her different adventures, but she's loving the freedom that sitting by herself has provided.


Oh and the cans are from a recent workout...I was doing an aerobics workout with weights, and the TV instructor said to find a can that was quite a bit lighter than your weight so that the different arms had different weights (long story...). Olivia was jealous of the toys that I got to use, so I got her a couple of her own! She was a little possessive of those refried beans and corn, I think she'll be a Mexican food junkie like her dad when she gets bigger.

And an update on the diva-ness from last month...still exists! Olivia loves to play with mommy's shoes, clothes, and mostly sunglasses. I think she looks quite dashing! And not cross-eyed, that's just the look because the glasses are a touch too big :)

Olivia loves her cousins. The Easter post showed her with Tyler and Aiden, Nick, Danielle, Ruby, and Hallie, but she loves them all. I feel so lucky to have so many cousins, both kids and adults, that look after and play with Olivia. I hope that she knows all of her cousins on both sides and continues to play with them forever! (Oh and I'm SO excited for the baby group on my side,

Olivia will have such fun playing with Matthew, Teagen, Amelia, Baby Meacham, and Baby Johnson...WHEW that's quite a group!)

This picture is of a cousin bonding moment with Max (the FIRST cousin to hold her) and Olivia. I missed the moment, but thanks to Danielle for capturing it for me!

Olivia also got to meet her friend Gracie Dibble this month! They don't know it yet, but they will grow up to be best friends, as Grace's mom Ashley and I are quite sure :). Olivia was just enamored with this new baby, and I'm so excited to let them play more this summer!

Official six month photos still to come!