We love spring

Saturday was such a beautiful day, we wanted to take full advantage of the nice weather.

We started the day at Bryant Park and took Olivia on the carasol ride. She is still not sold on that ride and was much more intrigued by the statue of a poet she passed each time the ride went around.

While at Bryant Park Olivia did enjoy playing at the fountain, walking around with dad and chasing birds.

Afer we came home Olivia enjoyed taking a stroll on the piers.

Olivia loved playing on the grass-unfortunatly she kept pulling the grass out to eat, so we took her to see some other plants and she just wanted to eat those as well.

We finished the day watching the sunset. Today was so much fun!

Easter Sunday

Easter Egg Hunt

On Saturday we had an Easter egg hunt with Olivia down in the lounge. I thought we were going to have to help Olivia a lot on this egg hunt, but it turns out she is quite a natural when it comes to finding eggs. Matthew held her hands and she walked over to the eggs and as soon as she was next to the egg she would plop down onto her bottom and crawl over to grab the egg and dad helped her put it in her basket. After four or five eggs she was ready to move on to another activity, but she did seem to enjoy holding her basket.

Walkin' Around

Livy loves to walk. We walk in the apartment, in the hall, downstairs in the lounge...Livy could do this all day long.

Walking with Dad.

Walking with Mom.


Matthew said this is his artistic photo.

We wanted to see if Olivia was ready to take a quick break from walking. As soon as we stopped walking Olivia became sad... so we started walking again and she was happy as can be. I guess when it comes to walking Olivia does not believe in taking breaks.

Livy can crawl!

Monday was a very exciting day...Livy officially crawled. She has been so close for a while now, but she finally figured it out. Olivia and I were playing a game with some baby puffs finger food. This was the first time Olivia had seen these and I could tell she was very intrigued by the little circles, so I took off her pants and socks to help her with traction on the wood floor and put the little puff out of her reach. Olivia immediately got onto her hands and knees and crawled over and picked it up I couldn't believe it. Olivia doesn't seem to be very excited about crawling, holding her hands so she walk around is still her preferred mode of transportation.

Things she loves at 8 months

At 8 months Olivia has been changing sooo much. Olivia no longer puts on her serious face when we go out and about. She is all smiles and people keep commenting that she is the happiest baby they've ever seen. Olivia has also been getting so much stronger and more coordinated. She is a lot more mobile these days and she becoming good at communicating certain needs and wants. Each day I feel like she's growing and developing so much!


Standing:
Olivia loves to stand by herself. She is so proud of herself when she stands alone, she always has a huge smile on her face and usually likes to dance while she stands. She is now able to stand for a while by herself before she does this cute swan dive maneuver into dad's arms.

Dogs:
Olivia is absolutely crazy about dogs. It's pretty amazing she can spot a dog a mile away, and as soon as she sees one she rocks back and forth in her stroller and flaps her arms. I took a video of Olivia when she saw a dog and her limbs are moving so fast is looks like you are watching the video in fast forward mode. The dog's owners see how excited Olivia is so they always bring the dogs over. Olivia has no fear, it doesn't matter what size the dog is (she played with an 80 lb. dog yesterday) she immediately starts petting the dog, pulling its hair and having a grand time.

Reading:

Olivia loves to read. She loves to turn the pages and she is really good at flap books. Sometimes she likes to read the same book over and over again before moving on to the next book-she usually lets me know by knocking on the cover of the book after we finish. Her favorite book is always changing, but right now she loves The Hungry Caterpillar, her favorite part is the butterfly at the end, when she gets to that page she squeals and moves her arms and legs real fast.

She's Movin' Around

For someone who doesn't crawl or walk Livy has become really good at getting around. She likes to slide around on her belly and turn around in circles. When she sees something she wants (usually something she wants to immediately suck on) she has gotten really good at going from sitting...then to her belly... and then back to sitting with her prize in her mouth.

Despite the fun time on her belly Olivia would much rather be running. Olivia would hold onto our hands to walk and run all day long if she could. If she is excited (especially if she sees any small child or dog) she is not happy to just walk she must run and she is pretty fast for a little girl. Recently Livy has decided she can walk and run by herself and pushes our hands off when we try to help her walk.

Olivia's new favorite place

Today we went to Central Park and Olivia absolutely loved it. We strolled through the park and she enjoyed looking at all the people and everything around her.

Our first stop was the ice skating rink where Olivia watched all of the kids skate around. She wanted to join in real bad.

The best park of the trip was the playground. Olivia was so excited, as soon as she gets excited she starts flapping her arms and kicking her legs. Pretty much the entire time we were at the playground her arms and legs were moving real fast. Olivia held onto dad's hands to walk around, she even tried to run and chase of the kids. She loves being around all of the kids and had such a fun time!

Happy Baby

Olivia is a very happy baby, but you will have to take my word for it. When Olivia is with her mom or dad she is smiling, laughing and squealing; however she doesn’t like to show that side to anyone else. People at church, people from our building and people we see on the street always come up to Olivia and try so hard to get her to smile, some people really put on a one-man circus…but Olivia won’t crack a smile, she just intensely stares at them. I think I have figured out why this stark contrast. When Olivia is out and about she is sooo interested in everything around her she is always looking up and down and all around. When people come up to her I think she is much more interested in studying their eyes, clothes, listening to their voice,….than smiling. Unfortunately for everyone else they don’t see her beautiful smile and cute laugh, but luckily I get to see it everyday!