Olivia is three months old!

Olivia turned three months old on Sunday October 6, 2013.  She has changed the most in the last month going from a baby living in the world to a baby interacting with the world.  It is amazing at the developmental milestones she has hit and continues to hit right before my eyes.  This past month has been the funniest month so far with Olivia because we can really start to see her personality shine through.  She is such an alert wide awake girl taking in the world around her.  She loves to kick and move constantly and does it more when she is tired.  She loves her Rainforest play mat laying there and kicking around at her toys.  She is fascinated with her hands now and will look and play with them for up to 20-30 minutes.  She has begun to bat at her toys and is getting really good at grabbing her toys.  She is interested in toys as well and enjoys her Sophie giraffe and has learned how to bring her to her mouth and chew on her.  She also really likes her caterpiller toy that crinkles and a ball that she can easily grab.

Sitting up tall in her bumbo

Rocking her leg warmers and loving to kick her legs

Grabbing her toys!

Go Seahawks!

Mommy and Olivia in our Seahawk gear

Loving her Sophie giraffe at Target

 Olivia has been a really easy going baby.  She tolerates her brother Brandon so well.  He is constantly running around her and yelling and sometimes yells in her face and is rowdy but she just watches him with a bemused look on her face and tolerates it.  I think Brandon provides her a lot of entertainment she would not otherwise have!  She also tolerates having to go and do Brandon's activities even if that means her naps get cut short or she has to nap on the road.  Olivia has a lot of personality though, she loves to sit up and will often try to curl up from a laying down position so she can sit up and look around her.  She likes to know exactly what is going on around her.  She also rarely cries unless she is hungry or really tired but for the most part she is a very happy go lucky baby. 

Brandon and Olivia at 2 1/2 months

Sleep wise, Olivia right around 2 months began sleeping through the night for several days in a row from 9:00 to 6:00 or 7:00 some times but then stopped doing that and has been waking up once a night often going to bed at 8:30 and waking up between 2:00 and 4:00 and then usually around 6:30-7:00 and sometimes going back to sleep then.  Size wise, Olivia has slowed a lot in her growth and has gained about a pound in a month weighing in today 10/9/13 at 13.5 weeks at 13 lbs 4.5 ounces.  She is gaining roughly 4 ounces a week.  She was also 24.5 inches when I measured her at home around the 3 month mark.  This puts her in the 88 percentile in height and 60 percentile in weight.  She has just begun wearing 3-6 month and 6 month clothes but can still fit well in some of her 3 month clothes (although they are starting to get too short on her).  She has just begun wearing a a 1-2 Kirkland brand diaper up to 15 lbs and we just finished our last package of size 1 diapers.  She is nursing about 8 times a day usually between 2-3 hours.  We are having problems getting her to take a bottle and are working really hard on that now.  I have two more months of maternity leave left so I am hoping I can work on her then.

Olivia loves her ducks

All dressed up for Auntie Dawn's wedding

Happy one morning in September

Olivia tolerates tummy time pretty good but prefers to be sitting up or on her back so she can see more about what is going on. She loves looking at lights and blinds and batting at her toys on her bouncy chair.  We also enjoy our snuggle times in the mornings still in my bed and for nap times some times.  We don't really have a schedule yet for naps although Olivia tends to take one long afternoon nap a week and is usually awake from 4:30 until when she goes to bed (which usually we start getting in jammies at 7:30 PM) and she is asleep by 8:30.  This works well because I can go and tuck Brandon in and say goodnight.  Sean does Brandon's stories and bath and teeth brushing.  I am sad that Olivia is already three months old and I only have two more months of maternity leave but am excited for the new phase she is entering as she interacts more and more with the world around her.

Halloween dress up

Lee Farms harvest festival

Olivia and Addie at Lee Farms

Amongst the pumpkins

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So much fun to dress up

Old family photos

I redid the album that contained all of my old photos from my childhood and scanned all the photos into the computer to digitalize them.  It was very fun going over all of the old photos to try to see which of my physical traits my kiddos have inherited from me.  I was shocked to see that Brandon has the same haircut I had when I was around 3 or 4 (it was a 80s look apparently).  The resemblance between Brandon and I from these photos were scary (we looked so much alike as young kids but not as babies).  Here are some of my favorites:

My Nana

Rachel and I playing

Similar haircut to Brando

Me and newborn Tory

At Peavy Aborbedum

Rach and I around when I was 4 and Rachel was 2

Tory and I

Football season!

Fall is one of my favorite seasons.  I love the cool crisp mornings filled with sunshine that warm up in the afternoon.  I also love football season-both college and the NFL.  My favorite teams are the Oregon Ducks (where I went to college) and the Seattle Seahawks.  Sean and I look forward to watching football each weekend.  We are also a part of a 12 team NFL fantasy football league (Shiva league) that we are now on our fourth season doing.  It is a lot of fun and I won last year by beating Sean in the championship.  I am hoping to repeat this year and am off to a 5-0 start.  The Oregon Ducks are also off to a 6-0 start and the Seahawks are 4-1 and in many eyes a super bowl contender this year.  Exciting times for both of my teams and my fantasy football team this year!

Go Ducks!

Mommy and Olivia in our Seahawk gear!

Fun activites in September!

In September we enjoyed good weather for most of the first half of the month.  I made a brave outing on my own and took Brandon and Olivia to the Children's Museum by myself one Tuesday in early September.  Brandon did great and listened to me and the trip went well except Olivia got cranky because she was tired and was having a problem napping.  I just put her in my Ergo carrier and eventually got her to go to sleep (she almost always falls asleep in it with no issues). 

At the Children's Museum in the theater room

Brandon in the ambulance at the children's museum

We also frequented Costco (one of Brandon's favorite places) a few times.  Brandon loves getting smoothies there and I love the fact that I can have Olivia's car seat and Brandon in Costco's huge double seater cart. 

We made the long track to Seattle to watch Sean's sister Dawn get married.  I was so nervous for the car ride because Olivia really usually does not do well in the car and it was a 3 1/2 hour drive but she did really well.  She only had one major melt down and it was luckily right when we were close to getting home.  She napped well in her cars seat for once.  Dawn and Jose got married at the Court House in Bellevue and then we went back to their place for some yummy food and drinks.  Brandon had a lot of fun at the party despite Kevin (Jose's son) not being there and Olivia was held almost the entire time by Jose's mother who loved her.  I topped the trip off by visiting my grandpa (Olivia and Brandon's great grandpa) Baba and my Uncle Carl and Uncle Bill.  The kids survived staying in a hotel room together and I was happy to get home. 

At the Olive Garden in Kirkland WA

Watching Saturday morning cartoons

Such a cutie

Big hugs from big brother Brandon on the hotel bed

I am going to end this blog post with some pictures of Brandon and Olivia.  Brandon has been holding Olivia more now that she can sit up supported and is bigger.  She still looks at him and smiles a ton.  She loves watching what he is doing and coos at him.  He still comes and looks for her every morning and asks for "baby sister."  It is so cute watching the bond that is continuing to grow between them.

Brandon holding Olivia one morning in their jammies

All dressed up in their Halloween gear

Watching Care Bears together

Giving Olivia a big hug