Friday, October 30, 2009

Our little skeleton

... ready for her "Orange and Black" party at 'school' (the bones glow in the dark!) ...



- H

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Catching up ...

This morning Olive waited patiently (and wiggled mightily) while I brushed my teeth and prepared for the day. Compare this photo to our bath tub photo posted a while back to see how she has grown.



To be frank, this will probably be composed in several sittings, but NOW I am sitting at our table enjoying my morning coffee while Olive is telling Misters Snail and Turtle about her week. What a busy few weeks it has been!

I'll rewind.

After Jen, Ben, Sophia, and my Dad left, we had a weekend here in St. Louis by ourselves. We enjoyed temperate fall weather and caught up on errands and housework. Mundane chores to be sure, but necessary and oddly comforting.

Then we boarded another rollercoaster!

We left St. Louis on Wednesday, October 14 and made our way to Kansas City. This was our first road trip with Miss Olive, and she behaved wonderfully! (OK, by Saturday evening she was over-stimulated and ready to go home, but it was a very busy weekend, especially for a 12-week old.) Kyle and I packed our car to the gills. I naturally over pack (I come by it honestly), but Kyle was pretty easy to convince that just one more thing might become necessary on our journey.

We arrived in Kansas City mid-afternoon and spent the day with Liz, her mom, Charlie and Will. That evening, Liz and Char took care of Olive so that Kyle and I could enjoy our first meal out without baby. The food was great (fancy burgers, beer and fries!), and we had a lovely time. It was not nearly as traumatic as I'd anticipated.

Thursday morning we enjoyed a yummy pancake breakfast (thank you, Liz!) before heading out for central Kansas. We visited Kyle's Uncle Mart and Grandma Thiel. Olive's Great-Grandma Thiel will be 103 this January!!



We left Gypsum and headed south for Wichita, where we spent the night at Kyle's parents house. Friday morning we pointed the car back to Kansas City. There, we enjoyed a chilly pumpkin patch and a great visit with Olive's Great-Grandparents Swenson.





Later Friday, we had some fan.tab.u.lous barbeque. I love that good BBQ reminds both Kyle and I of home, despite our different hometowns!

Saturday we hung out with the fam. We accidentally missed Will's soccer game (uh, we did get out of the car once to investigate a similarly attired yellow team only to watch the game break up and find none of our family or friends). Also, we celebrated my birthday, introduced our friends Andy and Krista to Olive, and enjoyed a great spaghetti dinner.

Sunday we celebrated Charlie's baptism and headed back to St. Louis to prepare for my first week back at work! Yup, this past Monday was my first day back in the office. Preparing to go back was stressful and emotional, but my tears diminished over the week. Olive seems happy at day care. Her caregivers are wonderful, which makes us very comfortable. Also, my desk is full enough to keep me mentally engaged, which feels good and makes the days fly by. (Um, I didn't call to check on Olive at all, not one single time ... right)

We are getting the hang of daycare and work. The first five days weren't too painful, and I hear that it gets better with time. I sure hope so!

Today Olive and I are doing chores and running errands, while Kyle is swinging a hammer at Habitat for Humanity. Its a chilly but sunny day, and I know he was looking forward to lending a hand.

That is about it!

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Will we be bored when we have a free weekend?

This weekend brought us more visitors! My sister, Jen, her husband, Ben, and their daughter, Sophia were in town for several days. They stayed with some of their friends who recently moved to St. Louis, and we were lucky enough to get some of their time too!

Saturday we enjoyed a picnic in Forest Park. It was very cloudy, but we were spared the rain. We all enjoyed yummy picnic fare, even Sophia who tried to smuggle whole grapes and cherry tomatoes into her cheeks! Our little spread was cast on a slight incline which was most noticeable to Sophia who, as a relatively new walker, struggled with gravity.



We caught up with Aunt Jen, Uncle Ben, and Cousin Sophia again on Monday. We intended to take the train downtown to visit Kyle at work and see the new sculpture park. However, our babies had other plans. Olive decided to have a marathon eating session, and Sophia was able to catch a few much needed ZZZ's on the soft rug in Olive's room. The adults chatted and relaxed and enjoyed a tasty roast chicken dinner, which in the end was a perfect way to spend the afternoon and evening!



Also this weekend, my Dad came through St. Louis after a business trip in Chicago. We picked him up at the airport on Saturday evening, spent a lazy Sunday morning at the house, and enjoyed an afternoon at the St. Louis Wine Festival before Dad returned to Houston that evening. Sunday was beautiful - temperate and sunny - and the festival was held at the base of Art Hill in Forest Park. It was a real treat. We even attended a food pairing demonstration/tasting put on by the new owners of AB. They poured generous tastes of Hoegarden, Stella Artois, and Leffe. Yum. Yum. Very Yum.

Why was there beer at the wine festival? We still aren't sure, but the beer was our favorite part!

- H

The two month appointment.

We went to see the doctor this morning. Technically, this visit was Olive's two month appointment, even though she is over two months old. Today was a rescheduled appointment, but the original one was also past the two month mark.

Olive weighed in at 10 lbs 6 ozs, and measured 21.75 inches long. The doctor was very pleased with her progress. Her weight is in the 50th percentile, her height is in the 30th percentile, and her head circumference is in the 75th percentile.

She also had several immunizations today - two shots and one oral medication. The oral dose was OK, although Olive clearly did not enjoy the flavor and was becoming wary of the whole thing by the end of her dose. The shots were another story entirely. They are very hard to take (for me and Olive). She screams and her face gets really red, really fast. (I generally get weepy for a bit.) Per her doctor's advice, I gave her some Tylenol, and she has been snoozing the afternoon away. (Olive apparently does enjoy the 'grape' flavor of Tylenol. She smacked her lips and licked and licked and licked the dropper.)

Kyle is headed to Tennessee again this week. So, Olive and I will be single ladies for a couple of days. Olive is far too young for chips and margaritas, but it sure sounds good to me!

- H

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Oh, Zoe!



This week Zoe drank one of Olive's bottles of breastmilk! She left an empty bottle in the middle of the kitchen floor. I was not amused. I will be much more careful this week about what I leave on the counter while Zoe is not CLOSELY supervised!

- H

Friday, October 2, 2009

A few Texans came up to St. Louis ...

Last weekend, we introduced Olive to her Aunt Emily, Uncle Chad and Cousin Kate. Olive isn't great at playing right now, but we know that she and Kate will enjoy playing in the future!





It was a weekend full of animals. Saturday we enjoyed the zoo even though we got caught in a rainstorm and were soaked through and through! Sunday we went out to Grant's Farm to feed the goats and take in more animals. Kate enjoyed her first snowcone, and Olive spent most of the time snuggled in her carrier.



- H

A little photo update ...

I've been a little short of words lately - so here are a few photos to fill in some of the gaps. There are more to come, but time at the computer is a bit hard to come by these days. Our little Olive continues to grow and flourish. She has had many adventures and even more visitors.

Our little one reminded me of Forest Gump the other day ... He and Jenny were "like peas and carrots"



There was a great double rainbow in St. Louis last weekend (OK, so in the photo you have to look CAREFULLY for the second rainbow. In person it was spectacular. People were coming out of their homes to get a better view.)




Olive is getting better at holding her head up and sitting up (a little bit - with the help of this 'fancy' green chair).



Olive loves her Daddy. She loves her Mommy too, but as gifts and in stores the Daddy outfits prevail!



We'll post more as we have free moments at the computer!

- H