We {heart} Kzoo & talking

Sitting up SO big!

Spent the whole day working the kitchen making a meal for another family with a new baby.  Dinner, fresh french bread, dessert, breakfast.....whew!  I'm exhausted!  Good news is that I have 3 dinners for ourselves out of it as well.  (and muffins to last us for a few breakfasts & dessert too)

Yesterday Olivia woke up talking.  It's as if overnight she learned a new skill. haha.  She gets a slightly worried and puzzled look on her face while saying, "Mamablablamablama".  Sooooo adorable & cute.  She just mouths it for a bit too while she gets it all figure out.  I love it!

Big Big Smile for Mommy! <3

I'd rather have the camera

Cheers!
-L-

Father's Day weekend

We didn't seem to get much done this weekend but it was still a good one.  Friday Liv & I ran errands while Dave was on watch all day.  Joan & Charlotte came over for the afternoon to hang out too! 

This is soooooo much fun!  I love standing up in my crib & eating the railings now.  Who needs naps?

Saturday morning we went out for apple fritters, garage sales, & then out in town to Target & Lowe's.
Dave & Joan & Charlotte came over for cocktails & bratwursts & later the guys enjoyed a cigar out on the front porch. 

Look who decided to pull herself up to stand today?!  Already had a few falls on the head but we're ok!

Bacon Pancakes - crazy!

This morning Liv got me up at 6:20 & then I stayed up (while she napped again) & put out two chairs for our back porch as a present for Daddy for Father's Day & made fruit salad, coffee & Bacon Pancakes for breakfast!  We went to church on the Island, ran to HEB, & then to our neighbor's house for a fish fry (with other people that go to the same church.)  Dave had some homework/tests to do & we had a great steak & fried asparagus dinner tonight.  yum!

Oh! Livy had mangos today that I made awhile back & she really liked them!! She kept opening her mouth to eat more with no faces or fussing- this is basically the first thing she's really seemed to like (other than bananas a little bit).  yum! :)

Dr. update

Peeka-cry-boo!  I can pull myself up and peek over my crib!

This afternoon we took Olivia to the Children's Hospital to see a pediatric GI specialist.  She did well seeing lots of strangers & despite some, ahem, uncomfortable checkups.



Though there were some language barriers, I think we all ended up on the same page.

To sum it up for y'all - 2+ months ago we had the same issue when she was exclusively nursing.  Since I had some milk/cereal before it happened, the pediatrician figured it was probably a milk protein allergy & told me to stop & check it again too.  A couple weeks later I did the 'test' & ate milk/cereal a couple times with no problems!

2+ weeks ago we started having the same problems (no extra milk in my diet, but she is eating some solids)  Blood tests at our pediatrician came back negative (but are known to not necessarily be accurate.)

We have to take a few stool sample tests to bring to the specialist & check for white blood cell counts.  If those are high, then there is a problem, which is probably milk proteins. 

Their solution was to give me a special prescription formula.

My question: Isn't there another option?  So I asked if I could go dairy free instead. 

Basically that's it for now.... until we get those tests in (probably Mon/Tues) & get results back from that and being dairy free for a couple weeks, we're still not sure.   And even though I never drink milk & rarely eat cereal/milk this is going to be a very big challenge for me.  One, because I normally eat whatever I want.  Two, I love cheese & eat a bunch of it all the time.  Three, cream in coffee is a must! 

Lucky for me, Dave randomly asked me to grab soymilk creamer the other day so I at least have that down for the morning. ;)

Not sure if it's going to prove fruitful since it's not a daily problem.  I'm not sure how we'll tell it actually helps.

And for now, some more pictures of us just hanging out at the beach tonight.  The impromptu trip just made the night - we all had a really enjoyable time!  The fresh air & sand under my feet helped my soul & mood.

Look at my two bottom teeth!

Howdy! Having fun with Mom at the beach.

Dave taking Cabrinha for a swim.  (Literally - he had to carry her out there)

Cabrinha is even having fun - playing with Livy.

Ooooh - This sand stuff is very interesting.  This is right before I tasted some. ha.

Then it was time to go home & everyone had a bath! Even Cabrinha! Livy & I went inside & Cabrinha had one out in the driveway. :) 
-L-

Austin

Spent the weekend in Austin which was lots of fun & totally exhausting!

Hot & Tired on our hike

Friday we drove up and met Brooke for lunch at Panera along the way.  We're sitting there & Brooke looks at Olivia then me and says 'Uhhhh!' ... & here she was trying to climb out of her carseat! Silly silly girl :)

We still had over an hour drive to pick up Daddy from the airport so off we went, picked him up, and headed to our hotel.  We went out to dinner at Chuy's & to Buy Buy Baby.  Mommy wanted everything there!

Family Picture - June 2011

Saturday morning we drove to Panera for breakfast & then set out for a hiking trail.  We weren't sure at the time, but we ended up at the same hiking trail that we went to 6 years ago (when we were dating.)  Back then, we took a lil 'family' pic with Cabrinha and this time we took a family picture with Olivia!   She chilled on Daddy's back the whole time & even fell asleep!  It was almost 100 outside, so we were all very very hot!

Rock Climbing with Daddy! :)

 We drove around the downtown area, had Pita's for lunch, watched protest walks, & then set off for Mellow Johnny's - Lance Armstrong's bike shop. From there we checked out the Whole Foods & REI downtown too!

I love playing with Daddy

KISSES!

Went to a candy store we saw on a travel/food show, WahooTaco's for dinner, & a stop at Hello Cupcakes for a snack later on! :)  yummy.                                                                              BedBath&Beyond& another visit to BBBaby before we came back exhausted to our hotel room around 10 that night! whew.

Mommy & Me

Sunday we drove to another Panera in North Austin for breakfast, stopped at another REI, went to a consignment shop, & then dropped Daddy off at the airport again! 

I met Brooke & the fam for a little bit of outlet shopping before the looong drive home late last night!

Olivia has been napping a LOT today to make up for all those missed naps throughout the weekend. We sure wore her out. :)

We're tired too!

-L-

quick update

For the past week and a half Liv has had some diaper problems (blood/mucousy issues) which we had before when she was EBF, but started to have again.  We cut out the couple of things we were feeding her around that time, but they continued to happen.  I finally called the Dr. Wednesday & got in the same afternoon.
They took some blood to test & gave us a referral to a GI doc at the Children's Hospital in town.  The iron test came back the next morning & she said her levels were good/better than she's ever seen in a small baby.  & that we'd get other results (allergies) next week.
Poor baby girl has a giant bruise on her inner arm b/c they were having trouble getting it to work on her little veins!  She cried, obviously, but was pretty brave & didn't cry during the whole ordeal just some of it!  I was surprised by that.
Dr. was surprised at the mention of her army crawling around so much & said it was pretty young.  I challenge her to come to my living room & keep O. out of stuff! :)
More to come after the weekend!

In 7 month's I've learned. . .

...that sleep habits & napping will always change.
...that one day you have a non crawler & the next you do. 
...that small army crawls go from a foot to all around the house in only a matter of days.
...that teeth really do pop up over night!
...that, much like wedding registries.... several months after the big day (wedding or baby) you realize all the stuff you really should have registered for instead.  No matter what you say/think/do, many of those opinions & thoughts will change when you come face to face with the new reality of your new life.
....that other people will question different points of your parenting even if it just feels normal to you.
...that sometimes the things you feel/felt so strongly about - you're not sure why!
...that cloth diapering will always have a unique set of challenges to overcome.
...that even when you feel you've got it down, you don't.
...that a wiggly baby just get even more so when she wants to MOVE!
...that she always wants to move.   Not a cuddler over here. :(
...that all the things you wanted, planned, or hoped to do don't always happen because:
...the weeks & months still move past super fast!

(had part of this in draft all week! oops! :) See, that last one will always be true!)

Happy Weekend!
-L-

Super Long 4 day weekend!

Wow - 4 day weekends sure are long - very fun to have one once in awhile! :)

Thursday D had meetings  & was home early afternoon.  We headed down to the beach & Liv went in the water with Daddy.  So adorable to see them together.  Did a little more 'wimming' in the hot tub again too.  I ran to HEB before her bedtime so Daddy got her bathed & ready for bed ...and into bed before I came home!  Then we had dinner & I rented a movie to watch at night too.

Friday we drove to PortA to have breakfast which turned out to be a major grease bomb dud.  :( Oh well!  We drove around a bit & enjoyed looking at the differences of their beach.   Winds were great late morning & Dave went kiteboarding for a few hours.  The winds usually aren't perfect for kiting until late afternoon, so it was a nice treat for D on his day off!  Liv & I were going to meet up with him, but she ended up taking a nice hour & half nap!!  Super great since they're usually only about 30 minutes.  I made some baby peas & frappuccino's while she napped.

Ahhhhh!! PEAS!!

Saturday we went to a friend's bithday bbq.  He's in a different squadron, so we ended up meeting all new people which was really nice (& refreshing!)  Rounded out the night with a trip to Lowe's.  Good fun!  Finally watched Little Focker's movie too - cute. 

Sunday I ran to the grocery store in the a.m.  We went 2 tracking down the road to scope out a potential kiteboarding spot.  We'd been back there a couple times before, but D wanted to see it again from the ground b/c he flies over it all the time & is always mentioning what a neat spot it would be.  David & Joan had us over for ribs bbq while his parents are here so we visited with them, watched Liv crawl around & Charlotte sleeping. :)  (Put Livy in her car seat to try to fall asleep in another room late at night.... a few minutes later I thought I heard a bag crinkling.... So I go into the room to check on her & the little stinker had scooted OUT of her carseat, and crawled near the door & was kicking a bag sitting there.  oh!my!gosh!)

Today I ran down the road to get some apple fritters - yum.   Ended up grabbing giant frozen coffee while running around to JoAnn's &.... Lowe's!  Seriously surprised they don't greet us by name there some days.  Corned beef & cabbage for dinner tonight - one of D's fave's!

*Olivia is crawling ALL over the place & I can't keep up with her.  Her favorite things to work hard crawling after are sandals, dog toys, & the computer cord.  oy vey!
*Sunday afternoon while we were talking to Grandma & Grandpa Pacini on Skype Olivia sat all by herself for long periods of time!   SO exciting!
*Another tooth is popping up next to the one from last weekend.  Dave saw it Sunday morning & I started to feel it & see it by the afternoon!

Cheers!
-L-