The Olson Family Gazette

More Pix

OK, so I've got some more photos up, but they're on my Flickr account, instead of Marc's. So Click Here to view them. Let me know if you can't see them.

In other news, we just got back from Florida - Abbie actually behaved really well for the drive down and back up, in spite of a few (almost literal) road blocks on the way. The weather was just gorgeous, and we had a really good time doing just about nothing all week.

Abbie has also sprouted a midget tooth. I say midget because I kept looking at it thinking that it's only partially in and therefore haven't officially "called it" yet. However, it seems to have stopped, and tooth number 2 is bulging it's way in next to it, so I'm gonna say that the first tooth was officially in on December 28th.

She's also decided to start clacking her tongue, due to the constant encouragement from Kim, my coworker (thanks, Kim :-P). She's still rather impressed with herself for being able to do it. I keep trying to get a video, but every time I pull out the camera, she's too interested in the camera to clack for me.

Well, that's about all. She's still crawling like crazy, pulling herself up on everything, and sticking everything known to man in her mouth. Fun days!

Competition

I think Abbie and Kahlua are having a competition to see who can leave the most drool on my clothes. So far, Abbie is winning. Her first tooth is just starting to poke out a little bit - I'll let you know when it's official!

Beth

P.S. As I'm writing this, I look over and see Abbie playing with the world's largest ball of dog hair. Yuck! I just can't seem to keep these floors clean enough.....

7 Month Update

Abbie turned 7 months old on Friday - man has this been a whirlwind month. I was looking back at my 6 month update and couldn't believe that 30 days ago she was having trouble laying back down after sitting up. She is now crawling like crazy, sitting up, pulling herself up on everything, and even getting pretty good at getting herself back down after standing up (although she does still have her "stuck" moments). She's just started to use the furniture to hold herself up while attempting to take a couple of steps. If someone holds her hands, she'll walk clear across the room with support.

Feedings are also going well, the latest being that she insists on trying to feed herself with the spoon. We just got her a shorter spoon with a nice big handle, so hopefully more will end up in her mouth and less on the wall. She can also hold her sippy cup fairly well. She figured out last week that she needs to tip it up to get the water out, so now she points it straight up in the sky and ends up slobbering it all over the place.

She's also progressing with her verbal skills. There's more babbling going on, and she's experimenting with the different sounds she can make. She's started making an "H" sound repeatedly, which sounds like a dog panting. I've been trying to help her turn it into the word "Hi"; although she's vocalizing after the H sound occasionally now, it's really not quite a "Hi" yet (and I'm sure she has no idea what the word means).

I don't have measurements this month - we won't be going to see the Dr. again until she is 9 months - but I can definitely tell you she's getting taller and skinnier. Her 6-12 month clothes were somewhat snug around her midsection, but needed to be rolled up around the ankles when she first started wearing them. Now she seems almost too tall for the clothes (at 7 months!), but has plenty of extra fabric around the waist!

So this month has been one of significant change and of making Mommy very tired. I'm so excited that she's so interested in the world and learning in leaps and bounds, but it's definitely a 24/7 job keeping up with her progress.

Abbie's New Trick

Abbie has learned a new trick, and I think this may explain all the waking up and crying the past few nights--she was practicing. I'll let the video show you what she was practicing...

Our Fun Morning

So Abbie's teething. I know I've said this many times before (well, I've at least though it), but this is it. She cried every half hour last night, chews the snot out of her fist and mine, and there's a waterfall coming out of her mouth. Needless to say, we haven't gotten alot of sleep the last couple nights. And Abbie is exhausted. She nearly passed out while I was holding her in my arms this morning, but when I put her down in her crib, she spent an hour and a half not falling asleep.

This is, of course, after a 2 week long cold, followed by a double ear infection (for which we are still taking antibiotics). I think we got 2 nights of good sleep before she started back up with the teething this time. And to add insult to injury this morning, she decided that for the first time in 4 months, she was going to wait until her diaper was off before peeing all over her last pair of clean pants. So after she didn't nap for one and a half hours, I just brought her downstairs in her sleepsack, so that her legs wouldn't get cold while her laundry is drying. So when I went to feed her some rice cereal, we got to fasten Abbie into her 3-point harnessed high chair somehow with a sleepsack on. Given the morning thusfar, I was not surprised to find out that mushy just wasn't her thing at the present time, and she didn't want to eat her cereal nicely. And she's always trying to grab for the bowl and the spoon, of course. So I decided, "to heck with it, let her have it."

The photos are on Flickr. Enjoy.

Oh, and We're Awesome

http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/nov2008/pi2008117_238652.htm

6 Month Update

Abbie is officially half a year old! So here's a little bit of an update on her latest antics:

She is trying REALLY hard to crawl. She's getting up on all fours and pushes off of her knees (sometimes her feet), and has just recently figured out that she needs to pick up her hands to get everything moving, too. But she just can't seem to get everything to work together yet. Not that she isn't getting around a bit, though. She rolls, scooches, and wobbles her way around the living room rug. I even found her underneath the piano bench the other day!

She's pretty much mastered sitting up now - the problem, however, is getting back down. 3 times last night, I woke up to a crying baby and found out she was sitting up in her crib and was stuck that way!

We also seem to have a budding musician, but I'm afraid she's leaning towards percussion instruments. She has a blast banging away on her little toy piano now (thanks Nanci!) and also likes to listen and watch someone drum on the floor with their hands.

Unfortunately, the last 2 weeks or so have been spent dealing with a bad cold, so her solid feedings were at a stand still for a while, but we did manage to try some sweet potato today. She didn't seem adverse to it, but there was definitely more on her hands and face than in her stomach. Hopefully, she'll get used to it and swallow more tomorrow. On the plus side, I found out how much I like pureed sweet potato (very tasty!). So leftovers won't be a problem.

Oh, and she also definitely found her voice and has discovered that she can get a response by using it. However, she's got the same sound for "I'm happy", "I'm frustrated", "I'm tired", and "I have a full diaper" so she doesn't always get the response she wants.

Due to her cold (and resulting double ear infection), she won't have her 6 month checkup until the day before Thanksgiving, so I don't have measurement updates for you. Oh, except that she's 17.5 lbs now (yikes!) and is firmly transitioned to the 6-12 month sized clothing. I've gotten quite a few questions on that, by the way: 6-12 month for winter, 12-18 month for spring/summer is probably what she's going to need.

And I promise to use brute force shortly if Marc doesn't get more photos up on Flickr soon.