Last weekend, we went up to Woodsbury, Minnesota, (near Minneapolis) to visit our friends Abby and Tony.  We had a blast!  It was great to get away and see two of our beloved, well-missed friends!  And Olivia loved running around their house, climbing all of the stairs, eating a ton of fruit, visiting the Mall of America, and seeing all of the beautiful lakes and rivers.  Here are some pictures from the trip as well as some other random ones.  Notice the one of Olivia sitting in her princess chair; she absolutely loves this chair; sometimes she treats it as a throne, sometimes as a reading lounge, sometimes as a bed for her babies, and sometimes as a jungle gym/stepping stool…but she carries it everywhere.  Yes, there’s a picture of Olivia at the American Girl store.  (We’re in trouble; she’s already fascinated by all of the dolls)  And, the picture of Tony and Brian in the Lego store says it all; still kids at heart.

We have had a BUSY month with lots of out-of-town trips, meetings, weddings, and a new (and my last) graduate class.  So, here’s a brief summary:  the first weekend of May we took Olivia to her first Cubs game.  She had more fun walking up and down the ramps and eating than watching the game, but we had a blast and we got to witness our first grand slam!  The next weekend we went to T-Town for Anita’s wedding, and then we were in Champaign for Uncle Kevin’s college graduation ceremony.  Last weekend, we were home for a change, but we still managed to stay busy by going to the Arlington Heights race track with friends and Brian went to the hockey play-off game.  This weekend Allison and Greg got married, we put our house on the market, and we’ve been playing in the park most of the day.  Needless to say, it’s been a great month!  We love spending time together…and with our family and friends.

Olivia is still on the go.  She’s literally running now; she’s showing us a little attitude when we say “no” by sticking her chin up; she’s awesome at climbing stairs but not great about going down (she thinks she can walk down; not a pretty sight); she’s saying “mama,” “dada,” “ball,” hi,” “bye,” “dog” or “raaf raaf” all of the time!  And sometimes she’ll just babble for minutes at a time.  Olivia’s also really getting into kissing Brian and I good night before bed; so cute! Oh–and she loves the library!  I have to check out books every other day, so it’s like a new second home to her.  It’s precious to see her interact with the patrons and approach  the automatic doors.  She acts a little cautious at first, but then starts smiling, squealing, and running full force through the doors saying hi to everyone she sees.

Sorry the pictures are not in order.  The  one of Olivia looking like a ravenous lion is her eating spaghetti, and there’s another one of her new past-times, climbing behind the furniture and playing peek-a-boo.

Yesterday (Saturday), we celebrated Olivia’s birthday with a family party.  We were hoping for and expecting good weather, but lo and behold, the skies poured rain down on us, which meant cramming about 35 people into our townhome.  Nothing says “family” quite like this.  Anyway, Brian, Olivia, and I felt so blessed and loved because so many of our family (and friends) were able to come…including my grandma!    Thank you, again, everyone!  We love you so much!

Olivia started the party by taking a nap (atypical).  When I woke her up an hour later, she was not so happy, which made several people start singing “it’s my party, and I’ll cry if I want to.”  Yet, after some food and milk, Olivia was back to herself–her high spirits and friendly personality.  She loved her second experience with cake, but we think she was confused with everyone singing to her beforehand.    And true to form, our one-year old did not have the attention span for the opening of gifts, but she has been enjoying many of them today (although she’s also been napping like a champ).

If anyone has some good pictures, be sure to email or send them our way; we didn’t get to take as many as we would have liked, but here are some from the party.

On Tuesday, I sped home after graduate class in order to see my one-year old daughter, who slept in that morning, and to celebrate her birthday.  I’m so glad I made it home before bedtime because Olivia ran to see me, loved and devoured her first experience with cake (chocolate with raspberry filling), and opened a few gifts.

It’s hard to believe that only twelve months ago I gave birth to her, but this year has been filled with so much wonder and delight.   Brian and I cannot spend enough time with Olivia, Keira, or each other.  We’re looking forward to the many years ahead, the many new experiences Olivia will have, and the more she’ll continue to change and grow.

Let’s see…Olivia is starting to “run” a little; no longer drinks bottles, only whole milk; is babbling frequently–starting to say “mama” and “mil” or “ahhh” for milk; still loves reading and will plop into our lap with a book now; loves playing with shapes, puzzles, blocks; is very interested in the outdoors and Keira; and loves to help put things away.  Check out the picture of her helping us put the groceries away.

See pictures below!  What a doll!

Time seems to be flying by…  Olivia loved Easter; we were a little surprised by her coordination and understanding; she did an excellent job of picking up Easter eggs and putting them into her basket.   (Our surprise was a little silly given Olivia’s merriment of throwing toys into her playpen–our little cleaner.)  Even though she was, by far, the youngest at Easter this year, she had a little competition in hunting the eggs…from the dogs Keira and Murphy.  The dogs were very intent on snatching up those bright little packages–sometimes almost knocking Olivia down.  Olivia was also spoiled rotten at Easter by all of her relatives; I think she has enough Puffs to last her ’til Christmas.  Ok, maybe with her appetite, just the  summer!    Thank you , everyone!

Speaking of Olivia’s appetite, though, she is starting to get a little frustrated with us if we pull out a jar of baby food.  Since we started giving her  “big girl” food, that’s what she wants.   She’s doing pretty well with the cutting out of 2 bottles/day for real milk, too.  Despite the large amounts of food she seems to eat in one sitting, Olivia looks and feels like she’s slimming down a little.  It must  all the walking she does!  She’s quite a pro now.  Many of the pictures below feature her toddling around outside. The  other pictures show her carrying around some of her newest favorite items:  baby dolls, teddy bears (especially the one at Grandma and Grandpa Carro’s house), and paper.

Less than a week until her birthday!  I can’t believe it!  My little baby is turning into a big girl….oh, and for those of you who don’t know, Olivia’s also going to be a big sister.   Yep!  Baby #2 is due late September.  Wowsers!

Well, spring break doesn’t quite mean the same thing with a baby, but it’s still a week of fun and mild relaxing.

Brian and I started spring break a little early with a fabulous Nashville wedding.  Congratulations Eric and Cat!  The whole weekend was absolutely perfect, and it definitely gave Brian and me a little R-and-R since his mom and dad so kindly agreed to babysit Olivia and Keira.   During the rest of the week, we’ve been trying to catch up on school work, grad. school, cleaning our house, visiting friends, running errands, and catching up on doctors’ appointments.  (And Brian’s been fighting a sore throat.)  We even tried to squeeze in a trip to T-Town, but it proved too stressful and costly.

While neither Brian or I have had a chance to work out over break, we have been chasing after our precious 11 month old daughter who now loves to WALK!  She started standing for several minutes by herself Friday, March 3 and the next day, she took her first five steps towards me!  So fun!  She’s been practicing as much as possible in addition to cruising the furniture and crawling into tight corners and impossible places.  This week, though, she walked from the middle of our living room into the kitchen all by herself, even stopping to bend over and pick up a toy.   We’re so proud…and a little tired.   Olivia’s also knows what “no, no” means now, so when we tell her “no,” she’ll make a pouty face, smile devilishly, or start crying.  And she’s starting to imitate our actions and sounds…sometimes to our dismay.  What a little monster she can be!  Let’s see…in the past week or so, Olivia has graduated to giving real kisses (not ones with lots of tongue anymore) and lots and lots of hugs…and not just to us, but also to her stuffed animals and Keira.   Oh–and I cannot forgot this:  Olivia is eating real food and drinking real milk now along with some baby food and formula.  And, of course, she LOVES it!  She would sit and eat for hours if we let her.  We took her to a nice restaurant for lunch yesterday, and she ate everything (and then we got worried because her chin started to turn red;  don’t worry–just a mild reaction to the juice of mandarin oranges).  Yet while Olivia’s appetite has not diminished, her growth has evened out.  She’s still in 12 months clothes and seems to be thinning out a little.

Some of the pictures include shots of Eric and Cat’s wedding, one of Olivia meeting baby Easton Abbey (she also met a week old Aubrey Deluga this week), one of us “working out,”  one of her in her hamper–didn’t think it was as cute as we thought it was, one of her and Brian trying to clean the kitchen, and a couple of Allison, Greg, and us.

Despite the onset of more frigid days and a nasty spell of the flu, we have been keeping busy…especially Olivia.  This little girl is moving!  She’s crawling everywhere now; sometimes I’ll turn around to hang up a shirt in her closet, and she’ll already be in the living room, heading for her zebra.  She’s quick!  Lately,  she’s been trying to stand up by herself in the middle of the room; it’s pretty funny to watch because she doesn’t have much balance,  but that doesn’t stop her.  She’s walking all around the furniture, taking some good risks and steps by herself.  And once she’s crawled up onto something, she is not afraid of falling.  Often, she tries to take a nose dive off the couch when Brian or I are standing right there–fearless and naive.   In addition to crawling, Olivia LOVES to dance or “bop” to music, especially rock or anything with a heavy beat or drum.  She often crawls up to her rocking zebra and bounces with it (see picture below).  She also thinks it’s hilarious to knock anything over, especially stacks of blocks, books…whatever will make noise or get a reaction out of us.

Olivia’s also babbling frequently.  Her favorite word is still “da-da”, but her vocabulary has also expanded to “no,” “boo” or “moo”, “uh oh”–definitely a new favorite–and “ba.”   She still loves to play peek-a-boo, ball, and clapping games, but now she’s very interested in turning the pages of books.  Sometimes, she’ll sit for a half hour  just flipping through books. (Love it!)  Just in this past week, Olivia’s been trying to “kiss” people, and she can play “so big.”  adorable!

When we took her to the doctor for her check-up, she weighed in at 23 pounds and is 29 1/2 inches long–still in the 90th%.  Olivia was recovering from the flu that day, so she was pretty sad to watch because all she wanted to do was curl up on my shoulder, droopy eyes, lethargic body and all.  Fortunately, that malaise only lasted a day.

Other than that, I’ve been keeping busy with school (I have great students and classes this term!), graduate school, and seeing friends.  Yesterday I took my two certification tests, so say a pray that I passed.  Brian’s busy month of fun friend time is about to start, beginning next week with an all-day bachelor party!

So here are some picture of our little darling.  The one of Olivia with the balloon reminds me of all the stories I’ve heard about Brian as a baby because he hated balloons.  Olivia loves them, but she didn’t want her picture taken.  The one of her on the couch is when she was sick with the flu;  poor baby!

It’s official.  Brian’s an old man; he turned 30 last Monday, but we celebrated in style with friends last night in Palatine.  (Thanks for coming, everyone!) He’s was truly surprised and so happy to see you all again!

But, he’s not the only one who’s getting older or bigger.  Olivia continues to grow like a weed…She’s already nine months old; it’s so hard to believe!  Olivia’s been doing so much lately.  All she wants to do is walk; she is very adamant about this, too, demanding our fingers and crying if she doesn’t get her way.  (And she doesn’t always.)  She’s been saying “da-da, something like “hot” or “hockey” (as Grandpa Carro thinks), and lots of other gibberish.  Once she gets going, she rambles.  Yesterday was a big day for Olivia–developmentally.  She learned how to stand in her crib, pull herself up onto tables, and actually crawl on all fours.  She’s also been getting into a sitting position from lying down for weeks.  She and Keira are truly becoming friends now, too; they try to play with each other’s toys and interact.  Olivia loves Keira’s toys, and Keira loves Olivia’s snacks and smelly diapers.

Mentally, Olivia truly understands cause and effect, displacement, sounds/her name/music, and is really taking an interest in books.  Yea!  Of course, I’m so excited.  However, sometimes she’ll start eating the books that I’m reading, so she’s keeping me on my storytelling toes.  Here are some of the pictures from the past couple of weeks; I have some awesome bath time pictures that I opted not to put on the Internet, but she is the happiest, cutest baby in them.

During our nine(?)-inch snow fall today, we thought it would be fun to try out Olivia’s new sled.  She was pretty apathetic towards the whole experience–both snow and the sled.  I think her face in the pictures below kind of says it all.  However, she didn’t cry or even pout, but of course, that may be because we only took her out for about 8 minutes.