The Olson Family Gazette

R.I.P. Magnolia

So we've been having problems with our beautiful Magnolia tree out front - over the past several summers, it seems to bloom less and less. After having an arborist out here yesterday, our worst fears were confirmed - the Magnolia is dead and has to come down. <>

I've gotten a few suggestions to replace it with an ornamental pear tree, which I like, because it'll flower in the Spring like the Magnolia did. Any other suggestions?

Phrases I never thought I'd Utter

"Would you get your feet out of my pants?!"

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling

Abbie is rolling over! I didn't want to say anything the first time it happened, because you think, "well, that could have been a fluke." But she's rolling over from her back to her front daily now. For those of you into childhood development, you know that usually babies learn to rollover from front to back first, but this little weirdo seems to like to do things out of order, because I don't think she has a prayer of rolling from front to back yet.

In other news, Abbie got some sort of stomach bug late last week that somehow (after it cleared up) morphed into an ear infection. On the positive side, she seems to really like bubble gum flavored amoxicillin.

Oh, and she's now 13lb, 4oz, as of her Dr's visit yesterday (that's 12oz in 8 days, for those of you counting.......)

Neices are Nice

We have a neice! Adara Rachel Kaul was born yesterday morning, at a (**cough** sarcasm) whopping 7lbs. Abbie can't go with us to meet Adara in the hospital, but hopefully the two of them will meet up sometime soon!

Long Overdue Update on Abbie

Hi all - I just realized it's been a long time since I've given you an update on Abbie's progress, so here are a few of the highlights:

Abbie is now interacting with things around her much more. She particularly loves to watch things spin above her head (In addition to baby toys, such as the mobile above her crib, she can watch a ceiling fan for half an hour!). She also loves to bat at toys that are in arms reach, especially if they rattle or jingle.

We (finally!) have started to establish some sort of semblance of a regular schedule, with a regular bedtime and feeding times. She does very well on the schedule and gets darn ticked when we vary from it. She's only waking for 1 feeding in the middle of the night (and she sleeps for 4-5 hours before and after that feeding), so I'm getting better sleep nowadays.

On Saturday, the three of us went to the zoo (Marc will post pictures soon!). She was so exhausted from being out all day that she slept for 7 and a half hours straight that night! However, we had to deal with a really crabby Abbie for a few hours before she went to sleep, while trying to get her to bed.

Today - Abbie had her 2 month Dr's appointment. She is now 24 inches and 12.5 lbs (so she's growing really well). She had her first vaccination today, too. She handled the initial shot very well (she screamed for about 5 seconds, and that was it). When her Tylenol started to wear off 4 hours later, she sobbed for about a half hour until the next dose kicked in, but other than that, she's doing fine (she's sleeping alot, but eating very well).

Also, her noise blocking headset arrived in the mail today, so expect to hear about her first experience up in an airplane soon!

Photos of Abbie

Over the past few weeks, I've received some confused questions about our little Abbie's photos, and how to access them on Flickr. Here's a little more information about Flickr, and why we've chosen to use it:

Unfortunately, in this day and age, the internet is frequently used by various types of predators to target children. At Abbie's age, this usually means kidnapping, but as she gets older, it will mean not only kidnappers, but all sorts of other personalities with bad intentions. So, we're erring on the side of caution and getting into the habit early on of not posting many pictures of her that any "Joe Schmoe" can access. So if you just go to the Flickr website without logging in, you'll see a couple photos of Abbie, but not nearly as you could.

Having said that, we would like all of you, family and friends, to be able to view all of the pictures, so that you can share in her growth and occasional antics (which are getting more numerous by the day!). To gain access to these photos takes 3 steps:

1 - Sign up for a Yahoo account at www.yahoo.com. It's free, and it's quick. You don't need to give them contact information, etc. Just your name, gender, birth date, and zip code (and if you're concerned about giving them your real info, just make something up). Of course, if you already have a Yahoo ID (i.e. a Yahoo email account), then you can skip this step.

2 - Let Marc or me know what your Yahoo ID is - we'll make sure that your ID is granted permission to view all of the photos of Abbie.

3 - Go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/molson/ and login with your Yahoo ID and password

Once you have done this once, you will be able to view all existing photos and all future photos of Abbie. Thanks for helping us keep our little girl safe and happy!

Beth

A Few More Updates

Abbie
Abbie had her 1 month Dr. Appointment yesterday. She's 1 inch taller and over a pound heavier (10lb 13oz). She's been having gas issues, so the Dr. recommended that I lay off of dairy products for a while. I encourage everyone to go to their refrigerator & pantry and see how many products contain milk, cream, or whey........

Go ahead, I'll wait.......

Thank you for your sympathy.

Landscaping
Well, we found a landscape design lady (from a local nursery) and made an appointment. Unfortunately, by the time we got in touch with her, she was already booked clear to the end of July. It's probably better that way, so that I'm not tempting to over-extend myself doing landscaping over the next month.

Triathlon
Marc's starting to get back on the horse with his tri training. Unfortunately, one of the few times he's found to ride his bicycle, one of the spokes snapped on a wheel, which was immediately followed by a flat tire. It's a bit trickier going to pick up Marc and his bicycle when there's a car seat and a stroller already in there. But, Marc proved to be quite resourceful. It just goes to show that round pegs can sometimes fit into square holes - you just have to be able to pull apart the round peg.

P.S. Marc swears he'll get some more Abbie pictures up on Flickr soon, including Abbies first bath!