laundry day...

Apparently, Olivia hates communal laundry rooms just as much as her mother.

protective eyewear...

A trip to the zoo!

We spent the morning at the Montgomery Zoo and had a great time despite the heat. We love any chance to get out of our tiny room and explore. Olivia learned about animals from all of the continents and even got to ride the train. There were several toddlers in our group and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the animals (or amnimals, as Mia would say!) through their eyes....the excitement was contagious =)

Olivia was such a good girl this morning and hung out in her pack and play singing with Mr. Worm so that mommy could get a shower!

Olivia learned that flamingos get their color based on what kind of shrimp they eat....she is such a smarty already!

We rode the train all through the zoo with our friends Mia, Caleb, and Candace. Caleb is a month older than Olivia, but they are just about the same size! hmmm.
Our friends Laura, Levi, Amanda, Allen, and the other Caleb rode the train too!
The train ride was SO exciting that Olivia decided she should nap through it!
This one is from the other day, but I had to share it because I just know that her Nana will love it ;)

A day in the life...

....of Olivia Grace!! We have been asked many time about what Olivia has been up to lately, so here is a smattering of photos that explain the sorts of things she does each day!

She hangs out with Mommy in her pj's and catches up on the news with Matt Lauer...while simultaneously practicing to say "mmm, he is sexy"=)

She holds her head high during tummy time on her boppy!

She zones out for a bit in her travel swing while Mommy gets things done around the room.

She wears her sun hat to keep her head safe during the HOT and sunny walks with mommy.

She shows off her beautiful blue eyes!

She hangs out with daddy when he comes to the room for lunch!

She talks to her worm and thanks him for playing such sweet music for her!

She sits up in the pillows on the bed like a big girl (who doesn't have any bloomers on! OH MY!!).

She snoozes in her stroller while daddy grills burgers for dinner.

She flexes her big muscles for mommy while waiting on daddy to get the bath water ready!

reporting to you live from Alabama...

Olivia is once again a 'traveling girl', but this time was by car rather than by plane! We are in the south - even more so than when we are in Charleston. We are in Montgomery, Alabama where the temperatures are hot and the humidity is even greater! However, I am handling it much easier than the wives that I have spoken with that have traveled here from the north or the west. We are here for a month while Andy attends Squadron Officer School. I have never attended a TDY with Andy before; I believe I am one of the few wives who has never experienced Altus, OK (thankfully!). However, with me still being on maternity leave, Olivia and I decided to come along and take in the experience. Lucky for us, this program loves it when wives and families come along so there are lots of activities for us to participate in and we have already begun to make friends with other families from across the world.

Andy & Olivia get some quality rocking time in thanks to Cracker Barrel somewhere in Georgia. Can you see where Olivia gets her brow line?! She gives me this same wrinkled eyebrow look many many times each day! haha.

Olivia has taken to our new accommodations, which (in its entirety ) is roughly the size of our master bedroom at home. We have a kitchenette, a room with a bed, a sofa, and a desk, and a walk through closet that leads to the bathroom. Luckily, her pack and play fits perfectly on one side of the closet (by about an inch) so she has her own "bedroom". We bought a tension rod and a curtain and hung it in the door so that it stays dark in "her room" when needed. This saves me from having to have the lights off and curtains drawn all day long for her frequent naps.



We traveled through North Carolina on our way here to drop off Vegas at Andy's parents. It was a great detour because we got to spend time with them as well as introduce Olivia to some special people from Andy's past.

Andy shows Olivia off to Mrs. Ingle - she wanted to keep her for the entire evening!!

Dennis & Susan spent some special time with Olivia, and Olivia even left a special surprise on Susan's pants! oops.....good thing she has lots of grand kids and wasn't startled by the incident!

Andy's godparents, Bob & Joyce, were thrilled by our surprise visit on our way out of town!

With nothing pressing on my agenda, Olivia and I have been able to start each day with a long walk to help me lose my baby weight. And, from the look on her face in this picture, I think she likes to exercise too!! It is never too young to start a healthy habit ;)

I followed the trail down this road hoping there would be a special reward waiting at the end, but I wasn't so lucky! darn.

Olivia continues to GROW and change quickly. She is smiling more and more and has begun to make some babbling noises as her vocal development kicks in. She still likes to suck her fingers, loves bath time, likes to be snuggled and swaddled in tight, and eats like a champ! Her head control is quite impressive as she can support it herself for longer amounts of time. She continues on her 2 1/2 to 3 hour routine through the day of eating, playtime, and then nap time and is a much happier baby when she gets enough sleep. However, nap time has been a bit of a challenge lately, but we are working through it. We do continue to have success with her nighttime ritual and sleeping - she goes to bed around 7:30 or 8:00 (after her bath and a feed) and then I give her a "dream feed" around 10:30 before I go to bed (she is still sleeping, but I wake her just enough to initiate the suck reflex and she eats), she sleeps about 5 1/2 hours from that feed before awaking to eat, and then sleeps until we wake at 7:00am to start our routine all over again. And, for anyone interested, we are still in full bottle crisis mode around here. Any suggestions are welcomed....I go back to work in early September and really do not want to leave every 3 hours to go nurse her!!

a smiling girl...

Olivia Grace has started smiling in response to my voice! This is a small one, but the best one I could capture on photo. Her biggest smiles come during bath time, which she LOVES!!

I will try and catch one of those tonight!

is this really our yard?!?

Our landscaping project is complete and we are so excited! We have waited a long time for this project and finally decided to take the plunge so that we could enjoy it some before moving! We added a stone patio (think relaxing on a summer evening with a beer and food smelling yummy on the grill!! yay!), a fence, a magnolia tree, a weeping willow tree, 3 crate myrtles, and flowering plant beds everywhere!! We should have color all year round and the landscaper promised me that everything was low maintenance! If you have been to our yard before, you will be shocked at the transformation. Trust me!