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....