April 29 - May 1, 2012

Hello everyone, it's Jessica again. After giving Adam the reins to the blog for the month of April, I'm snatching them back. Well, not snatching... Although I've missed sharing some of the fun things that have happened in April I know that you've been well-informed and gotten to see things from a Daddy perspective. Hopefully Adam will continue to chime in here. But now he doesn't have to fret about 'getting behind' in the blog when he would rather be spending time with Olivia. And who could blame him for wanting to do that?!

Sunday, April 29th

This morning Olivia found out that Aunt Jenn & Uncle Sean and Owen will be welcoming a new baby girl into their family in September. She is very excited that she will have a friend to play with and I know that Owen is going to be a great big brother. He already looks after 'Baby Olivia' when we see him on Skype. He is growing up so quickly. It's hard to believe that he is going to be THREE this week. It seems like only five minutes ago I was falling in love with this little baby boy. I only blinked and now he's THREE. It just drives home how quickly Olivia is growing up, too. It will be fun to share baby girl things with Jenny. She is starting to 'think pink' and admired Olivia's pink jammies with little bear feet. We certainly have lots of clothes we can send her way.

We also got to Skype with Nana this morning. Olivia showed her how good she is at standing. Once again it was clear that Olivia is getting bigger by the minute. I know that when you're with someone every day it is harder to notice, but I definitely realize it when people who haven't seen her for a few days or so remark on it.

After we got off the computer, Olivia put on a pretty Navy blue cotton dress that Daddy picked out for her. He said it reminded him of Little House on the Prairie. I know we have a bonnet somewhere....Mimi? Seen a bonnet lying around? While Olivia was getting dressed she practiced sitting up. She's a-l-m-o-s-t there. She can prop herself up with her arms. Although sometime the weight of her noggin tips her forward and she rests on her head with her fanny in the air. It is pretty funny. (And it doesn't seem to bother her.)

Today Mommy & Daddy began a more vigilant healthy eating plan. As Adam's mentioned previously, we want to get into good habits (of mind & body) so as to set a good example for Olivia. Healthy eating is one of those things we want to make sure is an established family practice. We used a site that I had joined a few years ago (and enjoyed) called SparkPeople which allows you to plan meals, print shopping lists and see how your diet breaks down. It is very eye-opening. So we planned out the week's menus and went to the grocery store.

One piece of sage advice that I remember hearing on television at some point in the past was that your grocery cart should be mostly full of produce and raw ingredients. Well we certainly met that objective today. We got so much delicious produce that we're going to have to find new places to store it all! Olivia, as usual, enjoyed the shopping trip because of the beautiful lights. After about 45 minutes to an hour of shopping, though, we were all ready to get out of the store. It was too crowded and we were all over-stimulated. We made one quick stop at Toy Quest and then hurried home.

We Skyped with Mimi & Big Boppy in the evening and part-way through Aunty Kari joined in. It was nice to see so much family on this Sunday. I hope it can be a regular thing.

Tonight Dad collected more of his birch syrup in preparation for the boiling, which will begin tomorrow. While he was gone, Olivia sat in her high chair and played with her new set of 'happy foods'. I don't know who likes them more, me or Olivia, but it was lots of fun. When Daddy got back we tried a little bit more solid food, this time we mixed the rice cereal with breast milk and a little bit of pureed apples (baby food). I'm not sure if it was received much better than the first attempt at cereal. Oh well, we'll keep at it! 

Monday, April 30th

This morning Olivia & I met with Katie DiCristina at the Georgeson Botanical Gardens. Olivia is going to be spending a lot of time at the gardens because Mommy is going to be focusing her volunteer efforts there for the rest of the year. They are such a valuable institution - a center of beauty and knowledge - and are in real danger of being closed because of lack of funds. I am determined to help. It is important to me that places like this are around for Olivia (and other children of course!) to enjoy and to learn from. I can remember, with great fondness, the times I spent at the Chicago Botanic Gardens with my mother, and all the wonderful times I've spent at the New York Botanic Gardens. Gardens are so close to my heart. Gardens were also my Grandfather's passion. He and my mother introduced me to gardening and I can't think of a better way to honor him than to pass that love of growing things on to Olivia. Anyway, she will be at the gardens A LOT as a volunteer, as part of the Master Gardening hours I have to give, and to work in the vegetable plot that Katie is helping us plan.

It was a cold & windy day, so after our meeting Olivia & I went right home. When Daddy came home he played with Olivia while minding his boiling birch sap. I am so proud of his endeavors.

This afternoon Olivia tried eating apples (baby food) with no rice cereal, to see if that was preferred. Once again...unsure. But we are still trying. She is clearly at the appropriate stage for introducing solid foods. She's staring at our foods, and the time between nursing has gotten shorter. She's a hungry, growing girl! Now if we could only convince her....

In the evening the sun came out, and even though it was windy we took Olivia & the dogs for a walk around the neighborhood. We're getting more than 17 hours of daylight at this point, so it's not too hard to squeeze in a walk 'before dark'!

Tuesday, May 1st 

This morning Olivia & I got going right away. Although Daddy had already gone to work by the time we were up, we still got to see him when he came back for breakfast. Today we were off to the Museum of the North to observe their docents in action. We'll be training to volunteer as docents for their next season of educational programs, which begin in the fall.

The team we saw today was great! What a beautiful museum and well-designed program! Olivia was in the Snugli today and enjoyed watching the docents & children and looking at all the artwork. She liked the cool antler artwork that stretched high onto the ceiling and she liked 'the place where you go to listen'...a fascinating room that incorporates seismic censor readings, celestial movement and Aurora activity to create a symphony of sounds & light...all with real-time scientific information! Her new favorite thing, though, was 'blowing bubbles' and she spent most of the day burbling & bubbling. I hope the docents didn't take it as a commentary on their performance! Towards the end of the program Olivia nodded off, but 'museum fatigue' can hit the most dedicated of visitors, don't worry Olivia!

Once she woke up, she was ready to go home. Thankfully, it was just that time. We hurried home and tried to settle in for a nap, but Olivia was fighting sleep tooth (or gums?) and nail. I tried to tell her that she was tired, but she didn't believe me. Only after we watched Kermit the Frog singing "It's Not That Easy Bein' Green" many times did she suddenly conk out on the couch. Phew! Daddy rescued us by coming home with a tasty treat, pizza!, and a hug.

Tonight Olivia got a bath. Since we've been using the three ointments prescribed for her, the irritated skin on her neck is so much improved. We're almost to the 'end' of the course of treatment and I think it has really done the trick! Ms. Cox (our LPRN) really got it right!