Merry Christmas Olivia!

Olivia has celebrated her first Christmas!  She went to lots of Christmas parties, scored scads of gifts, and we made her totally forsake her schedule.  When we finally got home last night, she couldn't have been happier about seeing her swing, being in familiar surroundings, or sleeping in her own crib.  She usually loves going to different places, but we think that the holidays totally overwhelmed her this year!  Needless to say, we all slept really well last night.

Olivia is pleased to be home and blogging with Mom in her Bumbo chair.

She wasn't content to let the dog lay next to her this morning; she wanted to eat his head.

When she wasn't fussing and needing our attention, we managed to snap a lot of pictures, so get ready for a picture overload!

We had a family party with some of Cassandra's extended family earlier in the week.  They wanted Olivia to play the part of the baby Jesus in the live nativity, but she would have none of it!  However, she was fine with wearing these reindeer antlers during carol singing.

Great-Grandpa Owen, Olivia, and her dollie snuggling.

We stopped by Bob's aunts' house to check out their Christmas train.  Olivia loved it, and quickly figured it out.  She would watch the caboose disappear on one side of the tree and then turn her head to wait for the engine to appear on the other side.  She sat there forever until finally, we got tired of watching her watch it and picked her up.  We definitely want a Christmas train for our tree now!

Olivia patiently waits for the train to appear on the other side of the tree.

Most of our Christmas festivities ended like this, with Olivia passed out in someone's arms.  Here she is with Aunt Anna.

Because we were going to be gone over Christmas, Santa was kind enough to come visit us early this year!  Unfortunately, Olivia wasn't too happy during this, or really any present opening.  Perhaps the ripping paper is upsetting to her.

Getting ready for present opening!

A personalized ornament for the tree?  Olivia isn't impressed.

New binkies!

She soon grew tired of her Bumbo.

Bob loves the first Knuffle Bunny book and was excited about this one.  Olivia wasn't.

Maggie helped Olivia open gifts toward the end.  She's actually really good at it!  (Check out our other dog in the background ripping a box to shreds.  The dogs love the destruction of Christmas!)

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is going skiing on Christmas Eve with Cass' family.  Unfortunately, Cass and Olivia were both unable to hit the slopes with everyone, but they came up to the lodge to visit and eat a bowl of hot chili!

Liv with her Aunt Didi who has some time off from school and left sunny California for a Utah Christmas.

After skiing on Christmas Eve, everyone headed to another family party, but this one had a special visitor -- Santa!  Every year, Santa takes time off his busy Christmas Eve schedule to listen to what the children want and sing carols.  Everyone under 40 is required to sit on his lap and listen to his corny jokes about reindeer horns and North Pole life.  We thought Olivia might object to sitting on the strange man's lap, but she didn't seem to mind.

Her Christmas tutu is delicious!

Olivia told Santa that she would like a giant bottle for Christmas that never emptied!

Santa handed her this toy, a squeaking puppy.  She is quite familiar with noisy doggies.

Finally, we ended up at Nana and Papa's house in Logan.  It had been a long day, and Olivia was very tired.  She watched her parents open her presents and was quite overstimulated.

Nana and Papa found her this cute rocking lamb!  We made her try it out before finally putting her to bed.  She couldn't have been happier to be swaddled and sung to sleep.

"Do I really have to try this out now, guys?  It's way past my bedtime."

After sleeping with visions of sugarplums dancing in her head, we woke up and headed over to Grandma Christa and Grandpa Chris' house for Christmas morning.

Sitting on Grandma Christa's lap.  She would rather eat her hands than open presents!

Check out her blue eyes!

After days of unwrapping presents, she finally got the hang of it!

Removing the bow.  Maggie's standing by to help her if needed.

She's ripping the paper off herself!

After presents, breakfast, and a much needed nap; we headed out on a little hike.  It was colder than expected, and Bob had to put on a lot of jackets to zip over Olivia and keep her warm.  She loved getting  out and seemed not to mind the cold!

Aunt Heather and Uncle Carter came with Bob, Olivia, Cassandra, and the dogs.

Finally, we had a family dinner on Christmas evening with relatives from all over.  Olivia got to meet Cooper, Bob's cousin who is 5 months older.  They were very interested in eating and scratching each other and required serious supervision.

All in all, it was a great Christmas!  Olivia had some great times, and she got overwhelmed more times than we could count.  We loved showing her off to friends and family, but we're glad too that things are going to calm down a bit around here.  Knowing us though, things aren't going to stay quiet for long!

We hope you all had a great Christmas as well.

Olivia the Baconater

Olivia is getting such a fun personality.  It's been awesome to watch her develop from a little sleepy ball of cuddles into a girl who looks around, 'talks' to us, and already has her own opinions on things.  

Watching her daddy put together a new toy, she seems suspicious.

She has started to really enjoy stuffed animals, especially small ones that she can wrap her arms around.  We will hand her this monkey and she will push it up to her face and yell in excitement as she tries to put the whole thing in her mouth.  Then she grabs on to a leg or arm or tail and waves it about until it slips from her grasp.  Then she starts to 'cough' which is her way of telling us that she wants it back!  The cough turns into a whine in a few minutes if no one pays attention to her.

Bob pulled out this toy for her this week.  She is finally getting to use this shower present, though it's still a little advanced for her.

Olivia and her little giraffe, the perfect travelling companion for all of her many car rides.

Olivia mid-sneeze.  Classic!

She looks like she could eat her puppy!

At a Christmas party this week, Bob was holding Olivia while eating hors d'oeuvres.  He had a scallop wrapped in bacon and dripped some juice onto Olivia's head.  The rest of the night, she smelled like bacon and we started referring to her as the Baconater.

Olivia's been busy this week finishing up her Christmas shopping and helping Cassandra wrap all the presents.  She found a roll of shiny red paper particularly interesting.  She has attended several holiday parties and has many more to go!  She is on her best behavior, hoping that Santa will come visit her and make all her dreams come true!

It's been another big week for Olivia - she likes to keep us busy.  It feels like it can't be too much longer before she decides to get mobile.  She is constantly moving and talking to herself now.  We weighed her this morning at 14.8 pounds!

The dog just keeps getting smaller

Olivia likes to sleep for 10 - 12 hours a night and has been doing that for over a month, so you can imagine our surprise when she decided that she no longer enjoyed sleeping through the night this week.  On Friday, Olivia woke up at 11 and stayed up until 4; not grumpy, she just needed someone to play with.  We couldn't ferberize her because of some house guests who would not appreciate her shrieks of boredom so Bob and her drove much of the valley (with an armful of Diet Pepsi grabbed on the way out the door) while Olivia regaled him with stories.  It turned out to be a fun night in the end.

Why are you guys tired?  I'm ready to play!

After a long night of playing, Olivia finally settles down for a peaceful two hours of sleep...

Olivia was also able to see 'tummy mommy' and 'tummy daddy' this week (sorry Adam, you don't get a very manly moniker...).  Olivia marveled at the lights on Temple Square while we all talked about her.  Following the lights, we had dinner together.  Olivia snuggled with Shelli and Adam and we all had a really nice evening.

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Cassandra also had a Christmas photo shoot with Olivia this week.  She has decided that the camera is really interesting and refuses to smile when she sees it, instead preferring a very puzzled look.  Bob is a sucker for showering Olivia with gifts and is very proud of the Christmas dress he found.

I think I'm done

We hope you have a wonderful week getting ready for Christmas.

Just looking at the Christmas Tree lights