7 months

We finally got to bless Olive. I had a lady in town make her a sweet little dress out of my wedding dress. She was lovely. There were actually 3 babies who got blessed, and Olive was first. They announced her name as Oliver at first, so that was funny. Chris had Dad and Mike Pionke and the bishopric and stake president in the circle with him. It was wonderful and sweet. Chris gave a sweet blessing, and then Olive grabbed the microphone and said a few words herself. I guess that's the risk you run blessing a 7 month-old. After it was over, Chris lifted her for the congregation to see and she let out this laugh-yell thing that she loves to do. The bishopric member who was conducting made a comment about how vocal she is. Funny girl. It was sweet and special, and it meant so much to us having so many family and friends there for it. 

As usual, Craig came through with some great pictures. We are lucky ducks to have him around.

Olive's blessing --

• I present this child to Thee
• give you a blessing to go with you through life
• bless you with understanding of love that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have for you, and that your parents have for you
• your mother loves you
• your father looks to you as a source of peace in the household and as a source of strength to uphold his Priesthood
• [at this point Olive grabbed the microphone and yelled into it] bless you with a continued enthusiasm for life
• bless you to know the doctrines of the gospel and feel the spirit
• bless you to receive the full blessings of the temple

Olive seems to be exploding with progress lately. She had been scooting around a bunch, and then actually started crawling yesterday. She pulled herself up to stand for the first time about a month ago, and now she wants to stand all the time. She eats most anything I give her. I'm so ready for her to get teeth so we can give her more stuff. She's funny and feisty and very vocal. Mom always laughs when we're on the phone - she says Olive always has something to say. I feel like Mom really gets her personality, and that is wonderful to me especially since she's so far away. Laurie observed that Olive knows when there's a party going on and she does not want to miss anything. Yes, I think she's very social. She started shaking her head no. Not really to communicate but I think she just realized she could do that and thinks it's funny or something. She has a very expressive face. I think it's like Chris. She slaps whatever her hand is on or near. Chris has been telling her no a lot lately and we think she's starting to get it and not like it. She's a very pretty baby, and such a delight to me. I love her!

Olive's doing great. I took her to her 6-month checkup today, and the NP said she's perfect.

 
We started her on vegetables a few days ago, and it's fun to watch her experience new tastes and textures.
The NP said her bottom teeth are about to poke through. I'm excited and a little scared for that. She's getting up on her hands and knees and rocking back and forth, so we think she'll start crawling any second. Our camera got ruined in the Arizona heat a couple of weeks ago, but Craig is letting us use one of his cameras. It's waaaaay nicer than the one we were using before! So it's been fun taking pictures of Olive with a nice camera. Her personality cracks us up. We think she's pretty witty, but then again how couldn't she be with us as her parents?

6 months

I can't imagine what it's going to be like having 2 babies. Olive is the best thing in the world to me, and I can't imagine loving anyone as much as I love her! I'm sure there are a million tiny details I haven't written about because of my lapses in writing, but some of the bigger things lately are:

• She's sitting up really well. She loves to sit up and play with toys in front of her.
• She's starting to get up on her knees when she's on her belly. So I think crawling isn't too far away.
• She's eating more cereal and even these little dissolvable snack things. I'm going to start vegetables this week too. I have to start feeding more solids and less breast milk so as to get ready for the next baby.
• She's way more coordinated these days and can grab and hold things. She twirls her hands around and continues to be very dexterous with her hands. I love that about her.
• She chomps her mouth open and shut. And she purses her lips together and spits lots of tiny bubbles out.
• She's way vocal and laughs a ton. I think she's going to be a funny girl.
• She has started sitting in a high chair too. She's still a little small, but it's working alright. Rosemary gave us Anna's high chair so we didn't have to buy one. That was nice.
• I'm having a hard time figuring out the best way to put her to bed every night. I really feel at a loss on that one. But all in all she continues to be such a delight. She's the greatest thing ever. We seriously almost salivate over how great she is.

5 months