The Most Overused (Yet Truthful) Sentence In The World

"Time flies!"

Isn't that true?

Olivia turned 10 months yesterday and I am still speechless... I mean, I already miss her newborn body, skinny legs, lots of black hair, the pants that would be too be and would come up to her armpits. It was so cute! Of course she gets cuter by the hour, she IS my daughter after all! ;)

I know I haven't updated much about Olivia, her likes and dislikes and development. I am trying to keep a record of that someplace else more private but I would like to share with you what she's up to now.

She recently had a cold and her first ear infection. She kept her tongue out when she had her cold, for DAYS, maybe to breath better? It was surely funny!

At her 9 months check up she weighed a little over 23lbs and was a little taller than 28inches. My 10 months old baby wears 12-18 months clothes, especially pants since she inherited her daddy's butt! Has two teeth, first one came out about 2.5 months ago and the second is cutting as we speak. And they are BOTH crooked, making a V. I kid you not!

Loves all foods, but adores bananas, carrots, green beans, apples, fresh squeezed juices from our juicer and chicken and cheese. We do not feed her sweet stuff, sodas, candy, fried foods, etc. Of course here and there a 'friend' will just put icecream in her mouth because "it's funny", but they don't think it's funny anymore when mama bear is about to attack them. Call me crazy, but I want my daughter to eat sugar from natural sources such as fruits, so keep the whipped topping and the french fries to yourself, please.

We recently went to Jamba Juice and she loved the all fruit smoothies. She doesn't know how to suck on straws yet, I have tried three different types of sippy cups but she is not interested. One day she will get it, right?

She waves bye bye, stands and holds, climbs mountains (aka stairs), signs milk, says dada and mama (it might be a coincidence but she says dada to Trevor and mama to me so...), loves baths, loves her bath toys, loves to be out and about, turning the tv on and off with her TONGUE, music and DANCING. You can go to our youtube account to see videos of her. Hilarious child. The light of my life!

Now, of course she is CLOSE to perfection, but has her stinky moments. The one thing that we are struggling with right now is BEDTIME. Yes, quite frustrating, and exausting. Olivia was so easy to go down since she was a baby, sleeping at least 8hours/night by the time she was 6 weeks old. I never really had to attempt to "train" her until recently. I am SURE someone out there jinxed my baby!!!

She always slept on her crib but the crib was in our bedroom close to our bed. In November we moved to a new place and she now has her own room. Since then it's hard to keep her asleep. I have tried EVERYTHING I have been told, read, instructed to by her Dr and my therapist.

First we stablished wake up time (8:30am) and nap times (she has two now: 11am-noonish and 3:30-5pmish).

Then we decided that we were going to start her bedtime ritual around 8pm, which has always included bath, cuddling and bottle.

Waking up and naps work great, we put her down for naps when she is still awake but she has learned to stay there playing until she falls asleep. She rarelly cries when we put her down to nap.

Bedtime though... she WILL go down like an angel but ALWAYS, 30 to 45 minutes after she's down, the crying begins. That child does.NOT.want to stay in that crib. I have tried Ferber, the CIO, soothing her, more cuddling, no cuddling, singing, silence, taking her to my bed, walking around, leaving her there, music, white noise, more food, less food, later bedtime, earlier naps and waking up time... ARGH! Nothing works.

Right now it is past midnight... She took her bath at 9:30ish today (again, trying to do this later in the hopes that she will be more tired and STAY asleep!), ate, slept and woke up around 10:30pm and just won't stay down. So I gave up listening to the crying (I HATE IT! kill me!) and brought her to the living room to get the energy out.

I asked my Dr if it's possible that her clock is just messed up, he of course told me WE train their sleep. But I am serious when I say I have tried every method I have heard of, and not for a day or two... for WEEKS at a time. I don't know what to think and/or do because I need to wake up at 5:30am to go to work and even when Trevor stays up with her, it makes it hard for him to wake her up at 8:30am because she will NOT want to stay awake. If you let her, she will sleep until noon or so. MESSED UP! So needless to say... advice is welcome. Sometimes I wonder if she wakes up and doesn't see us there anymore and freaks out? Is she having nightmares? It's a different cry, hiccups and all sounding like she is really freaked out about something... *sigh*

(and Yes, I have read Baby Wise, Healthy Sleep Habits Healthy Child, and about three other books. This Olivia stinker is defiant... give me something that will WORK!)

In the meantime, I'll try some more cuddling tonight. Hey, it soothes ME at least ;)

I Need to Repent!

I've been the worst blogger in blog history, haven't I? The thing is, I am lazy and think I have a great excuse ( I rather spend time with the cutest baby in the universe! ) but I was just realizing that if I don't blog about Olivia and life with her, then I am failing to register her growth and development... So I need to repent and be better about blogging!

Time is going by way too fast!!! Olivia is not that skinny fragile baby that we brought home from the hospital anymore. She is gaining weight, she is getting smarter and cuter and... OLDER! I took a "one month picture" and I will take one like that every month in order to track her growth. We go to the Dr on the 20th to get her first shots and that shall be interesting. I hear most moms cry when their babies take the shots but so far I think Olivia's cry is the cutest thing in the world. Even her cry is developing, getting louder and cuter, but she really only cries when she is hungry or too tired (which I don't understand, if you're tired, SLEEP! But she fights it and fights me and I have the scratches to prove it!)

She has also started playing with toys, especially the toys on her "floor gym" thing, it's the cutest thing in the world to see her punching them and watching them as they move and then smiling. Everyone tells me how smart she is and that they've never met a baby her age that does the things she does. She's really observant and, as my mother in law says, she is "constant movement." I have some videos on my youtube if you girls want to see them, just click here. I've been making videos of her for my family in Brazil and Portugal to see, they love it and it's fun to go back and look at them. Hopefully when she grows up and watches them she won't be too embarrassed :) I can always show them to her boyfriends, you know, the ones she'll have when she's thirty, hee hee hee

Okay, I will share some pictures of the last couple of weeks. I don't have a lot of pictures with her cuz I am always the one taking the pictures. I will blog more about other stuff that's going on especially Olivia stuff. We simply love her, so so so much! I am sure all of you understand!

One month old! April 21, 2009.

Recognizing grandma's voice on the speaker phone. So cute!

Holding the bottle at 5 weeks. Silly girl!

Business on the front, party on the back!

Sleeping with daddy.

Mini-skirt on Cinco de Mayo :)

And I am looking to get a baby sling, which one do YOU recommend and WHY?

I wish I could fly...

... and maybe I would catch up with "the time", cuz time surely flies! At least that is what it feels like for me.

There have been a lot of "revolutions" at work and the changes are still not over, hence I shouldn't share, but lets blame work for my being tired and not willing to post. I will try to update you on what Trevor and I have been doing.

A week after our last camping trip, we went camping again with two other couples. It was awesome! This time we borrowed Rachel and Benton's air mattress and couple's sleeping bag so it was a LOT more comfortable. On the next morning we hiked Stewart Falls, here are some pictures:

On Saturday Trevor had a jiu-jitsu tournament and he placed 3rd. Here he is with the only person he lost to, and mind you that this gorilla is 45lbs heavier than my superman. Dang!
ps - how hot does Trevor look with that beard? I'll help you... VERY HOT!! :)


That evening we hiked up Provo Canyon (near the Squaw Peak road) with Jordan and Lindsey and took some cool pictures. Both Trevor and I LOVE the Fall colors! Aren't they beautiful??
Then on Sunday I had dinner with my friend Emma and her twins, along with another good friend Anne and her husband Dallas, and it was simply delicious! Emma made chicken stroganoff (spelling??) and Anne made Brazilian Tapioca for dessert. Tapioca in Brazil is completely different than that puddin thing you see here, and I would say it's a thousand times more delicious... but I am biased :)
Monday was my boss Jason's birthday and here is a pic of our department together after singing Happy Bday and eating the best cupcake I have EVER had, brought by his wife Danielle.

And there you are!

Pregnancy-wise, all is well. I will be four months on Friday and have been feeling great! Lazy, of course, but no health concerns. I have been doing my prenatal yoga dvd and that helps me feel very relaxed - and sore! :)

Hope you're all having a great week!

Namaste :)

Hibernation... over!

Sorry I have been absent for so long. Been checking blogs regularly but too lazy to post. Here is what Trevor and I have been up to since the last post:

On the weekend after Father's Day we drove up to Idaho Falls to be present at Trevor's mission companion's wedding reception. It was a fun drive, and not as long as I expected. I slept over at my friend Helga's apartment and Trevor slept over at her friend Anselmo's apartment - they both live in Rexburg and go to BYUI, hence the housing rules of no opposite sex sleeping over. Blah. On Sunday morning we were driving back and "Bear World" was on the road so... yah, Trevor couldn't resist. It was really cool after I got used to it and realized I was in no danger of being eaten by one of them. We got to drive right next to the bears and watch cute little cubs being bottle fed. Makes you want to have one of those as a pet!

On August 18th we went to the Jack Johnson concert. I simply love his songs, and, lets face it... he's a hottie! The show could have only been better had it been on the beach. We carpooled with Rachel and Benton, and there met up with Helga, Mariana and her boyfriend, Emma and Stace. It was a blast! Minus the second-hand pot smoking. he he he Another thing that is going on... there have been some changes at work and my department decided to get together at Tucanos on Monday to celebrate being together. Needless to say, Tucanos was fun! It was the first time I let myself go and tried different kinds of red meat - I am not a red meat lover and it usually makes me sick but that day for some reason, it was yummie to my tummie. :) Here is my department with our boss, "dad", at the head of the table:

This last weekend Trevor went to Colorado for a capoeira event/training (I don't have any pics of that yet) and I represented him at a bbq with some of his mission friends. Yes... more food. Food, friends, a game of croquet... pretty good Saturday after all :)
So that is it!
Susie I will do the tag thing tomorrow ok?
And I will be more creative with the postings from now on. ha! believe THAT! :)

tchau!