Halloween

So, Olive's first Halloween! So, my big idea is that she was going to be, what else, an olive. Lesson learned: Don't make the halloween costume too early. I made the green suit part about a month ago, thinking it would come to about her knees, and then I'd stuff it with rags or something. However, when I go ther into it tonight, it barely goes over her fat little belly; She still looked like an Olive, but the Olive to Pimiento ratio was a bit off. Marc thought the original hat I made was too high, but I eventually conceded and made it shorter, and it was much better. (Yes, he was right, I admit it) It was still adorable. She made it for almost an hour before konking out. Grandpa George and Grandma Sue came down to help with Trick-or-Treaters and watch Bean while we went out to dinner for my birthday. I think next year we are going to have to move my birthday festivities to another night so we can take Bean trick or treating. There are so many kids in the neighborhood and they are so cute. There were some great costumes this year.

Olive has learned to grab her feet, which is very helpful when changing diapers. She's definitely grabbing at things more, and her grip is super strong now. She's eating like crazy, so she must be having a growth spurt or something. There are more funny cereal pictures. I love this picture of Marc kissing Olive.

We saw Marc's whole family this weekend and she was a huge hit... Aunt Sue and Uncle Leonard hadn't seen her, and neither had marc's cousins Elyse and Allison. She did great, but she was really wiped out after that for a few days. So many new faces and voices. I am trying to post all the pictures on the photobucket site... I will put up the link to them once I get them up, hopefully in the next day or so. As for me, I am pretty tired tonight. I've had several late nights in a row; I've been up a lot with her because her sleep cycle is still a bit off after traveling this weekend.

Squealing

Today, it seems that Olive has discovered that her voice can make more sounds besides grunting. We have been serenaded by a cacophony of ear-splitting squeals and squeaks. I think she picked this up hanging out with Emika...She is clearly very proud of herself.

Yesterday we went to the Zoo; which was fun, but a little disappointing. It seems like they are trying to make money by making it more theme-parkish... They have had to get rid of many animal exhibits in order to put in a ridiculous tram, for example, so fat people don't actually have to walk to see the animals. How convenient. They have kept all the big ticket items, and the giraffes were very cool and entertaining, but I missed all of the other animals like many of the birds and reptiles. They got rid of the otters, too, which sucks. They were awesome.

On another side note, I was thrilled to find that there was a horse chestnut tree growing in Druid Hill Park near the zoo parking lot. It was a little different from the ones I remember as a kid, the husks were smooth and didn't have any spines like horse chestnuts do... it must have been a slightly different species. I had a moment of nostalgia as I filled my pockets with the shiny mahogany brown chestnuts. I love them. Maybe I'll plant some in the backyard... I can't wait until I can show Olive stuff like that. I wonder if she'll be a collector like me... I think she probably will.

The weather has been beautiful all weekend, one of those lovely fall days with blue skies and it's just warm enough to be pleasant with that great crisp fallen leaf smell in the air. The cats love it too. I have to get her Halloween costume finished... It' s mostly done, I just have to cut the armholes and make the hat. She's going as, big surprise, an Olive! I'll put up pictures when I have them. Grandpa and Grandma are coming down to help with the Trick or Treaters and watch Olive so Marc and I can go out to dinner somewhere. It should be fun.

Piglet!

Busy weekat work, but Tom was in New Orleans for most of it, so it wasn't so bad. I'm adjusting, but I miss my lunches with the Mom's group. I keep getting the e-mails about walks & stuff and I'm sad I can't go too. Daycare is going well, Olive seems to be adjusting and I'm feeling good about it.

Let's see... she has now learned to make razzberries, so it's her new favorite sound. She also finds pig noises hilarious. She has been rather charming all week, really. I am so thankful that we haven't had some of the sleep problems that the other moms are struggling with... I hear horror stories of hours of screaming every night and moms wrenching their hearts out with the cry-it-out method. I don't want to jinx it, but we have been extremely lucky that she's a great sleeper. In the evenings, I just feed feed feed until she zonks out. Some nights I play music for her on the Ipod, but most of the time its 5 or 10 minutes of rocking and singing and she's out. I can't tell any of the other moms this for fear that they will chase me down the street trying to run me down with their strollers. Ha! But seriously, I am so so thankful and not a day goes by that I'm not amazed at how lucky Marc and I are.

That being said, all this week Olive was up twice a night to feed again...(which, in the grand scheme of things, still isn't that bad compared to hours of screaming) she hadn't done that in weeks. Maybe it's another growth spurt. I've started giving her a 50/50 mix of breastmilk and formula in the evenings so she doesn't suck down everything I've pumped all day and leave me with nothing for daycare the next day. She's been going through four 4oz bottles a day at daycare, plus rice cereal. Piglet! She's just getting fatter and fatter. I wonder what she weighs now, I don't know. I'd guess 15 pounds.

Daycare is nice in some ways because it makes the time I do have with her more fun; I'm able to play with her rather than just dragging her around while I try to get stuff done around the house. And I miss her all day, so it's nice to see her, she's always so excited to see me, which makes me feel great.

I think we are going to Jim and Ayu's for a party tomorrow night and Olive can hang out with Emika and they can be charming together. I am still waiting to get beach pictures back... Walgreens is taking FORVER to develop my film. When I get it back, I will put up some beach pictures.

Roll Over!

10/7/07 Today she rolled over on her own! I had been kind of coaching her on this, and then she went ahead and did it on her own. Of course, when she realized that it just put her face down, she was none too happy about it, but that's not the point. She'll appreciate the accomplishment later. She also had some delicious rice cereal this evening, which she wasn't so sure about but ate anyway. This weekend was absolutely gorgeous and we went to Loch Raven reservoir and took a long walk on Saturday. This morning we got up and went to the Farmer's Market downtown. All in all it was a very relaxing and uneventful weekend. I start back to work tomorrow morning... I have mixed feelings about it, but at this point, I will be very happy to have a paycheck again. Marc has off tomorrow for Columbus day, so we are trying another half-day trial at daycare. She seems to be adjusting pretty well; It is hard for her to take naps there because there's so much new and unfamiliar stuff and she tends to get herself overtired. But she'll get used to it I'm sure.

I'm also putting up a picture we took two weeks ago in Ithaca with my grandmother Rosa, my Mom Sue, Olive and me. Rosa was thrilled to see her again since it's been awhile since we were in Ithaca last.

So my child is like the Bennetton Baby...when she was first born, she looked decidedly Korean. I had a hard time believing she was mine. (Some people had a hard time believing she was Marc's!) After a few months, she has taken on a more "latina" appearance. I could easily tell people I'd adopted her from Columbia and no one would be the wiser. But then I dug up this picture my Mom had of me in 1975, and I compared it to one of Olive at the same angle. I couldn't believe how much we looked alike. Very strange how she can look so different yet so alike. Now, I think she does look like me, but there are definitely some distinct Raley characteristics too. It's cool to see how she changes over time... its amazing how much she can change in just one week. She's now just over 14 lbs... between her 2nd and 4th month appointments, she had grown three inches. She has already outgrown some clothes that she hadn't even gotten around to wearing yet.

The nicest thing about daycare that I've found is the look on her face when I show up to pick her up... It's so rewarding when she seems so happy to see me. It's like, "hey, you DO love me!" It is a nice perk.

Olive is 5 Months old

Olive will be 5 months old on Monday... I can't believe it. She just took her first trip to the Beach last weekend and got her feet in the ocean for the first time. She also started daycare this week, so it's been a very busy week for her so far. I start back to work on Monday. I am definitely having a harder time with daycare than she is.

I am trying to start this blog so that family can peiodically check in and see what she's up to; things change so fast around here it's amazing. So check back often...