Olivia & her Paris T-Shirt

Just before Christmas we made a 1 week trip to Paris. Now Olivia has a new cute T-Shirt.

Urlaub in Paris und Ende der Elternzeit

Zum Ende der Elternzeit haben wir einen kleinen Urlaub in Paris/Disneyland verbracht. Ich muss sagen, es lief viel besser als gedacht. Unsere Kleine ist wunderbar!
Manchmal dauert es ein bisschen mit dem Einschlafen und so, aber sie ist sooo süß:

Ja, kaum zu glauben, dass die 3 Monate schon wieder rum sind. Ich würde es auf jeden Fall wieder machen, denn man lernt nur so seine Kinder kennen. Nur mal für 2 Stunden am Abend und am Wochenende ist schwierig, zumindest in diesem Alter.

Das Füttern ist auch kein Problem mehr:

Jetzt kennen wir ihre Vorlieben schon sehr genau. Schade, dass es für mich ab Januar schon wieder vorbei ist, aber auch positiv, denn es zeigt, dass unsere Kleine wächst und gedeiht. Mit der Kinderkrippe gibt es dann eine neue Herausforderung.

Als kleiner Eindruck hier das Kaufhaus 'Galeries Lafayette' in Paris. Es war wunderschön dort, wenn auch etwas zu kalt für meine Nase. Im Sommer machen wir das nochmal...

Ach ja: dann noch ein Video von unserer Kleinen anbei. Ich hoffe, dass wir auch noch eines bekommen, wo sie ihre Krabbelversuche perfektioniert.

SO CUTE!!!

Olivia can finally move herself forwards! She still is not crawling, but that does not seem to stop her. She just kind of uses her arms to jump on her belly forwards dragging her legs behind her. We put down a carpet in the living room to see if this will help her crawl since on the smooth floor she normally just slips. Let's see....

Some pictures and some catch up

This is when I say "Babee..." (If you can imagine how that may sound...)








It got cold out... she got packed up... It is like one of those Mummy sleeping sacks for winter camping (we added it to the car seat).










Now Olivia eats her Lunch and Diner with no problems. For Lunch she can have a variety of vegetables now too. I like to mix them together and to add some dried rice flakes (more filling then). Pumpkin with potatoes seems to be her favorite. In the evening she gets spelt wheat flakes mixed with fresh goat milk. I add apple sauce to help absorb the protein and iron. She also snacks on non-salted rice cakes in between. She loves to do the chewing thing (it is like playing)!!!


She practices to crawl everyday. She is nearly there; but she just does not understand that she also must coordinate her arms in order to crawl. So... instead she just slides backwards all over the apartment. In the meantime she also likes to tip her head back and use it as weight to roll back on to her back from her tummy. It is really funny to watch because she also has facial expressions to go along with her trials.


I am not convinced any more that she will crawl... at all... she seems to move to every where she wants to and grab what she wants. She even turns around or looks back with her head to check on her goal. It seems that backwards works for her (like daughter like mother)!




Baby swim is great! She loves it and can already do the swim movements. She splashes and laughs while just having a great time. She just hates the shower... we think it is just too loud for her when the water hits the floor.









Ok, one more... Olivia has already moved to the next size, 9 mo. 's (new outfit day)... she is such a cutie!!!

Long time no Blog

Oh well... sigh... since Michael has been here at home on parent leave, I just have not been keeping up with blogging! First, he does not remind me like he did before... :-). But, also we are doing something most always even it if just means watching a DVD together. I guess, I could do the blogging anyway, but it seems that not too often read and no one has been complaining...

Well, and my parents and Gordeane (a friend of my mom's) were here in October which was another good excuse not to blog. Here is a picture:










It also took time to settle again after they left towards the end of the month and to find some kind of daily pattern/structure. In addition, Olivia went through a difficult time regarding learning a bit more like how to go to sleep by herself when she is tired. I am not 100% sure that this is going to stick... but, I am getting optimistic again (likely a bad idea since this led to disappointment a couple of weeks ago) about it since she has now achieved sleeping well for 2 days in a row (sleeping well means going to sleep without help and not screaming). She even has achieved sleeping for a whole 4 hours at night!!! This is an absolute record for Olivia since she hates sleep. I am hoping that it will just click once and she will try for sleeping 6 hours at a time... I could really use the sleep myself!

Well, speaking of sleep.... hmm... blog... or sleep... hmm.... well, I will maybe do one more with a few best of pictures from lately...

Olivia's friend Daniel

A friend of mine, Ming, has also a little baby. He is 2 months older then Olivia and we have been going to Heidelberg to visit them when we have doctors appointments there. He is a really cute baby and it is always so much fun to go there and visit.

Daniel looking charming:



Daniel and Olivia:









Arn't they soooo cutttteeeee!!!! I can't wait until they can run around the house together and terrorize everything!

Get the toy

Today, Olivia turns over to get an out of reach toy. She is almost on her belly, grabs the toy, and rolls back on to her back. Once she rolled unexpectedly over on to her belly. This was a surprise even to her and of course the toy was then lost... pushed accidentally out of reach. Poor girl....

She is also now sticking toys or whatever in her mouth and screaming. It is as if she wants to see how loud she can get while having something in her mouth. Funny thing is, after a while it seems that she gets mad and it turns into real crying or screaming… In any case, the volume has gone up in our day…

Oh one more thing… she is a devil… I put a blanket on our couch to protect it from her scratching it up… well, now she removes the blanket and then starts to scratch it with her finger nails… GREAT.

Elternzeit kommt bald auch für mich

Die Elternzeit rückt nun auch für mich näher.
Heute hatte ich eine kleine Diskussion mit einem Kollegen, der mich fragte, ob wir denn für längere Zeit wegfahren während der Elternzeit.
Eigentlich ist das etwas, was ich mir tatsächlich nie überlegt hatte. Elternzeit quasi als kurzes Sabbatical.
Ich habe das jetzt schon öfter gehört, und ich frage mich, ob das vielleicht doch eine gute Idee sein könnte.
Man bekommt ja Zeit (und etwas Geld) geschenkt.
Ich glaube, es gibt ein paar Gründe, warum wir nicht an diese Möglichkeit gedacht haben:
- Olivia ist unser erstes Kind. Wir müssen viele Dinge einfach lernen. Möglicherweise macht man sich beim zweiten gar keine großen Gedanken mehr
- Wir sind zur Zeit mehr an Olivias Entwicklung interessiert. Das bedeutet, dass wir uns den landschaftlichen Schönheiten eines fremden Landes gar nicht so richtig widmen könnten.
Ich glaube, das ist einer der Hauptgründe, denn wir beide reisen gern, und Olivia wahscheinlich auch.
- Da ich einen neuen Job beginne, habe ich mir eher Gedanken gemacht, wie ich mich darauf vorbereite.
- Praktische Gründe wie unsere neue Wohnung oder familiäre Bande spielen sicher auch eine Rolle

OK, ich erkenne, dass ich die Elternzeit schon primär nutzen sollte, um wirklich mal etwas Neues und anderes zu machen.
Ein längerer Aufenthalt im Ausland (nur herumreisen) wäre toll und eigentlich auch ein Traum von mir.
Ich werde das mal im Auge behalten, aber jetzt habe ich erst mal vor, mich mit Olivia zu beschäftigen, Organisatorisches zu erledigen, etwas zur Jobvorbereitung zu tun, Marie unterstützen und ansonsten das tun, was mir Spaß macht.

Nap/Sleep

WOW!!! She just fell asleep on her own! I could hardly believe it! I just went to the kitchen to make my lunch and poof I looked, she looked, and then she closed her eyes! Something changed again... is this the beginning of less stressful day and nights? Will she be able to do this again? I won't hope too much... after all, she still hates going to bed at night because it means the end of the day; but hmmm.... last night was also a bit better regarding the "going to bed" part... hmmm... However, last night, she kept me up most of the night... hmmm... SLEEP!!!!! So essential; but some times out of reach.

Well, I will take my luck now and eat my lunch!

Long time no Blog

I have been preoccupied for a couple of weeks. Olivia went into a "difficult" phase again and the weather was horrible here. I guess, I just was not motivated to do much besides try to find time when I could catch extra sleep even if I was not too tired. I guess, the rain had something to do with that... well, and Olivia's night charades lately. She had her "bad" night and day on the last weekend, so things are slowly getting better and turning back to "normal". Tcha... what is "normal" anymore?

Right now the theme of the week is sleep for Olivia. She is trying hard to learn how to fall asleep on her own. It is not as easy as it would seem and of course I have no recollection of this phase in my life. It is interesting to see how hard it really is. Olivia just cannot find peace in order to let herself just fall asleep. She cannot relax. When she is tired she starts to kick her legs and throw her arms while making lots of groaning noises. This is of course a good sign for me because it means that she is trying on her own (which I found out today... what a relief! I thought something was wrong with her.). When she does not do this... she screams and crys. Then, the only thing that can help is a bit of carrying around until she finally achieves the misery (sarcasm) of sleep...

Well, she does have it hard. The time that she is most active in the day is after 6pm which is the time we start to wind down from the day. For her, this is horrible, she is ready finally to play and have fun. And of course, when it is dark she is tired because the hormones in her body start to react to the darkness...; BUT she would rather play. So, she fights against the sleep. I talked to some others about this. Have no fear, they said, this will change when the day becomes more interesting to her. Well, I guess it is good that we have plans now for most of the days of the week. She gets her naps in the car…

The diner bell (Olivia) is ringing!

Wann spricht sie?

Ja, natürlich ist es noch zu früh. Sie ist erst 3 Monate und 2 Wochen alt. Aber sie plappert schon so viel und manchnal bilden wir uns ein, das ein oder andere Wort zu hören.
Trotzdem denken wir, dass sie wohl früh sprechen wird.
Deutsch oder Englisch? Mami ist international. Wahrscheinlich wählt sie diesen diplomatischen Weg.
Darauf kann ich ja mal wetten...

New Pictures

All Tuckered out:
On the way to Frankfurt to become an American:


Playing at the hotel:


Hello:
Freddy...:

Sleepy Girl

I think I know why Olivia is so awake in the late afternoon into the late evenings... because she sleeps the whole day away! Actually, she has been known to be really active during the day too; but, for about a week everyday and then it switches back. I guess she will always be later more of a night or evening kid (like me). I am just guessing based on her tendency now.

It is really astounding how much she can sleep sometimes. I think she sleeps more then our cats, if you can imagine! I only wish sometimes that she would sleep undisturbed so that I can get a nap too. Normally, she sleeps short times and wakes up with a full diaper or just wants to know where I am (even if I am there next to her). Sometimes the littlest of things can wake her up (like if I stand up near her). I guess, in this way, she will be like her dad; a light sleeper.

Time (hopefully!) for a nap!

I sneezed, she screamed....

Babies are truly amazing in all that they do, achieve, and in all that they are... and change into overnight! Today, I sneezed... she looked at me... made a face that was really sad looking, and started to scream. Hmmm... was I so bad? was I too loud? did she just not like it? Well, I will never know; but the screaming only lasted until I picked her up and said it was ok (about 3 seconds). Then she proceeded to start to play and laugh again.

I must confess, sometimes I just don't know what to do with her; especially when she screams and I can't find the reason (ok, the sneeze was at least clear enough, I guess it scared her). I accept that sometimes she just needs to scream whatever in her head out; but it is difficult to listen to and I just want her to be happy again. I guess that is normal too. Thankfully, she is a really "good" baby and does not put me to the screaming test too often. And, of course, when others are around she is an "angel"!!! I guess, this is always the way that part will be; always good for strangers.

I wonder also if all babies want soooo much attention like Olivia prefers. Or, if I just always gave so much that now she always wants more. When she is awake then attention must be part of the plan. She will not, does not want to do something on her own (like explore her hands). Ok, that is not completely true... at least 20 minutes a day split over the time, she entertains herself. Maybe this is normal? Maybe it is also normal that I give her so much attention? But, what if I already had an older toddler, then this would not be possible. What then? Would she not get enough of what she needs or would it be more interesting because she would have another interesting person running around her? For sure, she likes other kids around and finds them fascinating. When something is going on, she seems the happiest or at least all her attention is focused on the something going on.

I also learned that I can entertain her with things like doing the laundry and making little noises at her once in awhile. Brushing my teeth or eating my lunch is also super interesting to her. And since Monday... making faces at her is super super interesting. I hope she does not learn an ugly face from me... We do some baby things too like gripping a toy or turning to a side. I think this is the reason she is so good already with her hands. I always give her something in the hand and when she looses it... she gets it at least a couple more times.

Anyway, it is written every where that I can not spoiler her enough until she is 6 months old. Then I have to start training her a bit. Hmmm.... she is definitely spoiled! I do everything she wants... that is... if I can figure it out!

Daddy - Papa

Da fällt mir gerade ein, dass ich schon lange nichts mehr geschrieben habe.
Aber auch kein Wunder: ich bin derjenige, der zur Zeit nur ca. 10% mit Olivia verbringt. Da sind schon die Aktivitäten wie wickeln, baden, herumtragen und spazierenfahren miteingeschlossen.
Ich bin tagsüber richtig gespannt zu erfahren, was heute wieder passiert ist. Insofern ist dieser Blog auch gut für mich.
Ab 20.9. bin ich dann zuhause. Mal sehen. Wird bestimmt eine neue Erfahrung, und ich hoffe, die schönste Zeit mit Olivia aktiv erleben zu dürfen.
Möglicherweise müssen wir uns auch daran gewöhnen, enger zusammen zu sein und sehr viel mehr Stunden am Tag als jetzt.
Ich freue mich darauf, und wir müssen noch herausfinden, wie wir es schaffen, etwa aufkommendem Stress ('Lagerkoller') sinnvoll entgegenzuwirken.

All Played OUT!

She played and played and played... at some point that was it... Now she is sleeping like an angel again. This is our day. It starts after waking up in the morning and putting on fresh cloths. We eat, we play, we sleep, and then we do it all again. Ok, in between I skip some of the sleep time and do things... and there is the exceptional walk outside at least once a day if not twice. Well, and playing is for her more or less learning... which makes her tired. Yes, it sounds like a simple day. But, anyone who has been a stay at home mom for any amount of time knows... that it is actually not so simple. My muscles actually hurt at the end of the day from all the activity! It is my workout now instead of going running or something and it is more effective. I am more in shape now then before she was in my belly.

Opppsss, gotta go… the cycle starts again!!!

Who's who

Deb asked what looks like who... well, it is still hard to say; but here are the definates and the maybe's...

Olivia's feet are definately her fathers! Take a look at the right foot, see the second and third toe.



It has already been said by two friends that Olivia has my hands. In anycase, they are for sure beautiful little hands.



Olivia has my eye color for sure; but she has her dads eye shape. She likely has his facial features. But, she has my hair line... it is still too soon to tell what her hair color is; but I suspect that it is more like Michael's with a ting of mine.



We can't figure out the ears... neither one of us has her type of ear. Unfortunately, I could not get a picture... she woke up when the flash went off and managed to wake up fast enough to blur the photo.

Hands

I don't know if she really knows what she is doing; but it sure seems that in a kind of uncontrolled way that she manages to pass things from one hand to another. She also can now identify the differences between toys and knows when she is getting something new. Like every good baby... first it goes in the mouth then it gets a good inspection. She also seems to start to play with me... she knows that I want her to take her pacifier instead of her thumb. So, when I stick the pacifier in her mouth... after pulling out the thumb... she spits the pacifier right away out and then smiles at me. After some playing... she keeps it. Smart! I have a strong suspicion that the thumb is about boredom.

She also likes to grab the pacifier's blue band and pull the pacifier out of her mouth. Then she tries to get it back in; but I guess she will need some more training for that! After several attempts normally she is really happy that I put the pacifier in her mouth. It is amazing that just by switching from a Silicon to Latex pacifier how much I have learned about what she can do already! Who would have thought!!!!

Here is the cute picture of the day…

Silicon or Latex? LATEX!!!!

I finally got it right! She did not like the pacifier I already had for her because it was made of Silicon... Why are there even two types on the market??? Anyway, we got a present from Olivia's future God Mother, Isabell, which is a NUK brand baby bottle with a latex nipple. I gave it a try instead of the Silicon bottles that I have from Avent. Immediately this was more like what Olivia was used to! She had not a single problem and liked it even. So I decided that maybe it is the same regarding the pacifier since she has no problem sucking on my little finger to be happy again. WELL, BINGO!!! THANK YOU ISABELL!!! Things will be a lot quieter around here because some one with her strong desire to suck is finally got what she needed....

Now... we just still need to get over the air in the belly problems... but, the nights are already better!!!

Olivia is entertained/entertaining

Olivia in a very entertaining mood:

Those are my hands! Baby Blues....

She found her hands sometime last week. Now she is going through a deep exploration phase with them. In the meantime, Olivia has found out that she can move them in a controled way and even sometimes grip something she wants. However, this is still rarely the case, so Mamma sometimes puts something in her hand that has a texture that is different then the stuff she normally manages to get in her hands. She can also bring her two hands together. It is really funny when she sticks one thumb in her mouth and the other hand comes and pulls it away... then she gets mad and the whole thing and screams at them a bit (couple of seconds, then all is forgotten again).

Unfortunately, today her belly is getting in the way of her play time. It is driving her nuts and won't let her sleep (me neither). So, of course, she is sleepy all day, irritated, and has no time for her hands. Sad... I am doing my best to help her; but there seems to be not too much that I can do to make her tummy behave and stop hurting. She seems to know this and is just letting me hold her sometimes or talk to her a bit. She even managed to squeeze out a few smiles for me even though it is such a bad day for her. Tomorrow we will go to the Osteopath again, maybe this will help.

She is also now in another growth phase and probably does not feel great about that either... It is really hard to have to grow at the momment. It means that everything is new again... and she has to figure the world out again. The last growth phase lasted about 4 days; I hope that this time it is shorter and she can get a break from all this stress of growing. At the end of next week on Sunday she will be 12 weeks old and this should be the end of the Collic months and she will be much more fit to do things with her head and hands. The next major growth phase will be then in 6 weeks instead of approx. every 2 weeks or less. I am looking forward to her getting some balance in life for some time, poor baby... I really hope that the Collic disappears over night like all the doctors, books, blogs, and forums say....

Sonntagsschläfchen...

Jetzt schon 5,5 kg

Ab heute ist es amtlich: Ginger und Olivia wiegen gleichviel. Als nächstes langfristiges Ziel ist Freddy dran.
Olivias Gewicht war heute 5,5 kg.
Freddy ist mit 10,5 noch ein Stück entfernt. Ich würde mal vermuten, dass sein Gewicht um Weihnachten erreicht sein wird.
Man darf gespannt sein


Hier zwei aktuelle Videos:

A Corner for Olivia

Today I finished the corner in the living room for Olivia. Since I put the blankets in, the cats are really interested. Ginger and Fred both train to "break-in" as soon as I was finished. After they figured out that they could not get in between the wooden rods, they gave up to do other things like sleeping.

However, later... when the door was open... Ginger came in to do her full inspection. Fred, the lazy cat that he is, just watched from the top of the cat tower which sits right next to the play pen (a perfect view!). After some time, Ginger retreated to just outside the door... became a "kitty package" and continued to be intrigued by the whole thing. Freddy decided after it got louder... to of course leave... his sleep was now too disturbed. Funny, Ginger found, as the louder it got (I put bells on Olivia to see what she would do when playing), everything was even more curious.... until.... SCREAM!!!!!

The Laugh Cry...

It is really astounding what changes she goes through on a daily basis. Or, maybe I only notice new things everyday and in reality she could already do it/them yesterday or the day before too. Anyway, yesterday and today she came up with the "Laugh Cry". It means, 'I know what I am going to get soon and I am happy about it; but I want to make sure I get it (so I just continue to cry... but lightly...)'. In some way this is good for me too. At least I know what I am offering her is what she really wants regardless if it is just picking her up and holding her or something to eat.

It seems that we are communicating... we some how are learning a new language together... unfortunately, I think she is at an advantage compared to me and my 'adult' way of thinking. Of course she is at an advantage! She is creating the new language!

Carry Cloth

Finally as of Sunday, Olivia is able to do well and I can tie the Carry Cloth correctly. Now I just just have to train with her every day and eventually I can carry her around in it while I do something like shop or cook my lunch. It can be also a kind of exercise training for me... as she grows and becomes heavier (now 5kg). My own personal trainer!!!

Look at me!!!

Mom gave me finally the spoon that I get my anti-belly-air medicine from. See! I can do it tooooooooooo!!!!

Olivia is now in her 10th week and can do many new things. Sometimes it is hard for me to notice... between the crying, screaming, or I don't want to sleep tantrums. I also noticed today after getting up this morning that all of a sudden she looked like a baby now and not an infant any more. Apparently, this phase with I am only quiet when I am cared for by Mom or Dad is completely "normal" for her age. Not to mention the physical growth that she just went through... the world is now so different for her. Just a couple of days can make such a difference in her life that it is amazing. Well, I guess the answer is to just "carry" her through this time... literally and figuratively.

Einschlafen, Hitze, Bauch...

Jetzt ist sie fast zwei Monate alt, eigentlich morgen.
Immer noch sind es die essentiellen Grundbedürfnisse, die es zu befriedigen gilt.
Es ist interessant, wie gut es klappt, wenn Olivia abends von Papa auf dem Arm oder auf der Schulter getragen wird, bis sie einschläft.
Dann schläft sie auch 3 Stunden bis zur nächsten Fütterung.


Mit Mama klappt das wohl nur am Tag, aber abends will sie sich nicht beruhigen, wenn es Mama mit dem Zu-Bett-Bringen versucht.
Ich würde die Kleine ja gerne fragen, was sie denkt, aber eine Antwort werde ich nicht so bald erhalten...

Neue Erfahrungen

Nicht nur Olivia, sondern auch wir lernen jeden Tag dazu.
Am Samstag war unser Einkaufstag, und Olivia war richtig brav. Den ganzen Weg nach Karlsruhe schlief sie.
Dann im Parkhaus im Ettlinger Tor gab es den ersten 'Pit Stop', wo sie eine neue Windel und etwas zu trinken bekam.
Wir haben die Gelegenheit auch genutzt, um die Mittagspause etwas vorzuziehen.
Dann war sie während des Einkaufs bei H&M wieder mucksmäuschenstill. Und natürlich wieder auf dem Rückweg.
Tja, weil sie so cool reagiert hat, wollten wir noch einen draufsetzen: ein Spaziergang zu meiner Mutter. Der Hinweg war noch ok.
Aber auf dem Rückweg hat sie dann die ganze Zeit geschrieen. Bzw. sie hätte es getan, wenn ich sie nicht getragen hätte.
Man lernt auch: der Muskelzuwachs durch Baby-Bodybuilding ist auch nicht zu verachten.
Offenbar hatten wir das Fass zum Überlaufen gebracht.
Na ja, das Füttern danach hat dann wieder geholfen, so dass wir Olivia zutrauten, sie noch einmal auf die Probe stellen zu können:
wir haben unsere 'Friends'-DVD im Bett angeschaut und dabei Popcorn und diverses anderes Zeugs geknabbert.
Sie hat zugeschaut und war sehr interessiert...wirklich süß.
Nur war es danach vorbei mit Schlafen. Ich glaube, um 2.30 Uhr ist sie dann ruhiger geworden!

Also: Lesson learnt!

Allerdings: wir müssen ihre Grenzen ja auch erforschen. Das Experiment hat also wichtige Erkenntnisse geliefert, unter anderem auch folgende:
Solche Experimente besser am Wochenende durchführen.

5kg

Gestern hab' ich unsere Kleine gewogen, und tatsächlich: sie wiegt mehr als 5 kg. Das sind ca. 1,5 kg mehr als bei Geburt.
Bei der Frequenz, mit der sie trinkt aber auch ken Wunder.
Wenn sei so weiter macht, holt sie unsere kleine Ginger (zurzeit 5,5kg) bis Ende Juli sicher ein.
Für Freddy (10,5kg) wird es noch eine Weile gehen.

Baby's Sleep

Good Morning! Olivia has a sleep schedule that is almost the exact opposite of ours... I can read every where that soon she will be able to tell day from night. I guess, once she figures that out, it will be something like that she has jetlag until she can manage to actually sleep through the night. It is amazing that as parents we can survive these long months until she manages to have a similar rhythm as us.

By the time she changes maybe I will have forgotten myself what it is like to sleep through the night and become an insomniac... Hmm... but, I know that she can already sleep 3 hours at a time...

A friend of mine has a baby that is 2 months older... he sleeps 6 hours in the night... This would be great!!! But, it means that I have still 2 months to wait.

She did it!

Today, Olivia finally got her thumb in her mouth without problems. Not only that, she could repeat the effort! I wonder if she will be able to do it again once she wakes up...

Olivia Today

Oliva is growing, learning, growing, and learning... Today she got her thumb in her mouth finally again... it took some time and led to disappointment; but finally it kind of works. She still thinks that she has to turn her head to find her hand; but I guess that is because this is normally the way she gets something in her mouth to suck on. :-) So, the coordination is improving... just not 100% yet there.

Nap time

What is wrong with this picture? Mom added herself after the picture; but there is still something wrong in the picture....

Alles normal...

...sagt man uns, wenn wir uns fragen, ob man ein Baby wirklich alle 2-3 Stunden (manchmal jede Stunde) stillen muss.
...sagt man uns, wenn sie schreit, dass man denkt, sie hat ein Glas Säure getrunken
...sagt man uns, wenn man fragt, ob das in 8 Monaten immer noch so ist

Okay, ich übertreibe etwas.
Aber man fragt sich schon, ob das wirklich normal ist...

Eltern sein erfordert erstmal Geduld und Nerven. Jetzt weiß ich auch, was das wirklich bedeutet.

Denn Babies sind grundsätzlich ehrlich. Sind schreien nicht nur, um Aufmerksamkeit zu bekommen oder um einen zu ärgern, sondern weil es existentiell wichtig ist, etwas zu essen zu bekommen und umsorgt zu werden.
Also muss man als Eltern auch sofort reagieren, zumindest in den ersten (8???) Monaten.
Olivia kennt uns jetzt schon ganz gut. Deshalb ist es für mich jedenfalls schwer zu verkraften, wenn sie die ganze Gegend zusammenbrüllt, wenn sie ein Grundbedürfnis hat.
Ich frage mich dann: haben wir ihr denn in den letzten 7 Wochen nicht immer sofort das gegeben, was sie wollte? Und trotzdem glaubt sie uns immer noch nicht?

Ich bemerke dann aber: das ist wohl eine falsche erlernte Denkweise. Vielleicht eine männliche Denkweise?
Olivia bringt mich jedenfalls zum Nachdenken über Existentielles. Sie wirft erstmal alles über den Haufen. Sind die Dinge wirklich so, wie wir sie sehen oder sehen wollen? Was ist wichtig, was nicht?

Eigentlich fast schon zu Philosophisch für den frühen Morgen. Liegt vielleicht daran, dass ich erstaunlich gut geschlafen habe.

So long...

Me, Papa

Ja, das bin ich...vor Olivias Geburt

----

That's me...before Olivia's birth

The Thumb

For the last couple of days, Olivia has been trying to get her thumb in her mouth. Most of the time, she sucks on the back of her hand. Today; however, ... it seems that everything should go in her mouth... she even tried to get the red flower from the changing table into her mouth... hmmm...

SCREAM!!!! She did not get anything in her mouth.... :-(

Bilder/Pictures

Mehr Bilder?
Bitteschön
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More pictures?
Here you are

fotos.web.de/mkretz/Olivias_family

Arbeit und zuhause

Leider oder auch zum Glück bekomme ich nicht die volle Bandbreite meiner kleinen Olivia mit.
Wenn ich nach Hause komme, ist sie meistens glücklich.
Gut, manchmal quengelt und schreit sie, aber beim Windeln wechseln ist sie normalerweise glücklich.
Sie mag die kleine Stoffblume mit den Raschel- und Knistergeräuschen. Die sieht sie immer an, wenn sie gewickelt wird.
Mittlerweile hat sie angefangen, mit ihr zu reden (in ihrer Sprache) und manchmal auch zu lachen (oder kiddern).
Das ist wirklich süß.
Nur wenn man versucht, ihr den Body anzuziehen, ist sie kurzfristig verärgert. Sie mag es einfach nicht, wenn man ihr irgendwelche Kleider über den Kopf zieht.

na ja, jedenfalls bekomme ich bei der Arbeit nur indirekt mit (dank ICQ), was daheim läuft.
Das wird aber alles besser, jedenfalls anders, sobald ich in Elternzeit gehe (ab 20.9.)

5 Weeks

Olivia is becoming more active every day. Now she has during the day some play time where she chats with the multi-colored flower, a pink rabbit, or the smiley stress ball. She has developed different kinds of sounds for what she wants. Her protest sound is hilarious and makes us both laugh. Poor thing... already not being taken always seriously.

She also already discovered her hands. Her new goal is to get her thumb in her mouth. She has managed this a few times now; but mostly succeeds at getting her whole fist in her mouth. This is a great disappointment which leads inevitably to her protest sound.

Unfortunately, she is now making the "I am HUNGRY" sound.... See you later....

3 Wochen

3 Wochen mit Olivia sind schon vorbei. Ginger wird jetzt richtig eifersüchtig und legt sich abwechselnd in die Babywanne, Babywaage, Wickeltisch, Babybett oder Schmusetuch.
Freddy ist da schon cooler.
Allerdings hat er aus lauter Vernachlässigung auch schon einen Ausflug zum Nachbarn unternommen.

Von wem ich hier rede?

Von unserer süßen kleinen Olivia, die am 20.5. auf dieser Erde angekommen ist.