California Visit

We went to Long Beach after Christmas. Olivia was able to see the rest of her cousins and extended family for the first time. Nana told Olivia that she was very beautiful and Papa wasn't able to hold Olivia for more than a minute because he said she weighed so much.

There were a lot of activities while we were in Long Beach. One afternoon we went to the park. I'm not sure if it was the park Olivia liked so much or finally being in nice warm weather.

At some of the other outings Olivia was asleep in her carrier most of the time.

She was able to enjoy the crowds and watching the rides while we were at Santa Monica Pier.

Grandmother gave Olivia a ride of her own, since she couldn't go on any at the pier.

Walking to the pier me, Matthew and Olivia got pulled over by the police as pedestrians. We had entered the crosswalk too late. The cop said they usually ticket for that and asked where we were from. He said he knows New Yorkers do things differently, but we better not do it again. It was so crazy because in New York we are sooooooo overly cautious when crossing the street. Other pedestrians get bothered that they have to walk around us while we wait at the corner. Needless to say we were a lot more cautious on the rest of our outings.

Olivia's first Christmas!

Although we weren't going to be at home for Christmas I wanted to make sure Olivia had a Christmas tree and holiday decorations and her fill of Christmas music, which she enjoyed dancing to with mom. We bought a Christmas tree and Olivia helped decorate it-at least watched me decorate it. She really likes grabbing the needles on the tree, something she wanted to do everyday.

Olivia was the star of our Christmas card. She likes the camera so it wasn't very hard to get a picture of her. We had dad squeak her peacock toy above her head, which always captivates her, and took this shot.

We were going to spend Christmas in Utah. I was very worried about the flight, we were suppose to get in at 11pm and I was worried Olivia's sleep would be all messed up (not that her sleep was good in the first place.) To add more concern to our trip, the day we were leaving a big snow storm was to hit NYC, that morning they had already cancelled 300 flights. Ours wasn't cancelled so we headed out to the airport on very slushy roads (unfortunately the invention of the snow plow has not made it to New York yet.) The storm was causing major delays getting out of New York and then on top of that the Salt Lake airport shut down because of snow, our flight ended up being delayed 4 hours and by the time we got all situated at the Lambert's it was 4am. Olivia did wonderfully! She fell asleep at JFK while we were waiting for our flight, slept almost they entire flight. She woke up and caught sight of every one's video monitors and stayed up for an hour, but other than that she remained asleep in baggage claim, transitioning her to the car seat, the car ride home. It was such a blessing that she did so well.

Olivia had a fun time in Utah spending time with family. Everyone was so sweet to her, she had such a great time playing with grandma and grandpa, all her aunts and uncles and her cousin Ella.

Christmas Sunday, Olivia looked so cute.

Christmas Day, Olivia was definitley the first one up. Me, Matthew and Olivia were up at 6:00, everyone else was asleep so we quietly played with the gifts wrapped under the tree.

Grandma Mary said Olivia looked so nice Christmas Day, she should be at the White house.

6 months...some things she has learned

It is so much fun to watch Olivia grow. She is really starting to learn that she can do things herself. When she realizes this she gets so excited!! I am really beginning to see her mind working while she does things. Here are recent things she has learned.

-Stroller. Olivia was in the stroller and I was showing her how we prepare her food. As she was watching me she started rocking back and forth. She soon realized that if she rocked back and forth she could move the stroller. She thought this was so fun and continued to rock back and forth with a huge smile on her face.

- Scoot. Olivia loves to stand and that's the position she prefers to be in. Recently if she is seated on the couch she will grab your hands so she can scoot off the couch and land in her favorite position. When she does this Matthew always comments that this girl has no fear.


-Balls. Olivia got some hard plastic balls for Christmas, she really likes them and always tries to pick them up. They are too big for her hand and when she tries to pick them up like one of those claw toys, they always end up falling out of her hand. Yesterday she tried a new technique, she went down to get the ball and then immediately rotated her hand up and was able to hang onto the ball by cupping it. It was so fun watching her figure that out.

6 months...things she's trying to warm up to

-Eating real food. Olivia has tried butternut squash, carrots, sweet potatoes and peas. Sweet potatoes are definitely her favorite, but that’s not saying much. Once I get the food in her mouth she immediately sticks her tongue out and tries to gag it out. She has found that is not very successful and now sticks her hand in her mouth and is able to get most of the food out of her mouth and onto her hand.

-Snow. Olivia likes to watch the snow fall sitting by the window, but she still doesn't doesn't like to be in the snow. Matthew and I went out with her this weekend because we thought she may enjoy seeing the snow fall...we were wrong. She wasn't sad, but I tried to get her to smile (which is usually the easiest thing) and no matter what I did she wouldn't crack a smile. That is when we knew we should go back inside.

6 months...some of her favorite things

At 6 months these are some things Olivia loves!

-Standing. Olivia will grab at Matthew's hands so he will stick his fingers out for her to hold onto. She pulls herself up and immediately looks at mom so I will clap my hands and tell her she did a great job. She loves to repeat this over and over...she is so proud of herself, it is so cute.


-It doesn't matter what other activity is going on Olivia loves to find things to suck on. Anything she can get her hands on will end up in her mouth.





-Olivia gets excited when dad comes through the door after work. She always gets a huge smile on her face when he greets her.

-Olivia will always get a huge smile when we play "peek-a-boo" and "patty cake". She has loved these games for along time, but they are still some of her favorite things to do. We have started to play "peek-a-boo" with a blanket over mom's head that Olivia pulls off, she has become alot more involved in this game, it is so fun.

-Olivia enjoys playing in her Jumperoo, especially if you stand and jump with her and tell her what a great job she is doing.





-Olivia still loves the bath. She was willing to go into the real tub while we were in Utah and California although she prefers her little blue newborn tub, which is WAY too small for her