8 Months, Week 3

What's up party people? You would never know from looking at this picture that she still has a yucky cold! At least, it's not slowing down her appetite. This week she weighed 17 pounds, 2.1 pounds!


















Last weekend we headed to the region to celebrate two very exciting events, a visit from the Foster girls and Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Szafarczyk's 70th wedding anniversary. Unfortunately, we drove through a pretty nasty snow storm to get there. Thankfully due in no small part to some pretty fierce driving skills from Josh we arrived safely. We were also fortunate that Livi slept through the 5 hour drive that usually only takes 3 hours.



































Never a dull moment when we travel! Livi was very excited to not only see her Godmother, but also to meet another future playmate, Miss Gabby Foster! Olivia is starting to become very excited when she "meets" other babies. We are still working on not smacking our new friends though! All in all, a very good first meeting!












Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Szafarczyk's 70th (yes, that says SEVENTIETH) Wedding Anniversary Party was a huge success! It's such an amazing feat to see what two people can overcome and accomplish with love and faith on their side!













People often ask us how Tinker and Olivia get along. Those who remember when Tinker first arrived at our house may remember that he wasn't exactly "friendly" (although, he has gotten MUCH better over the years!). Tinker generally tolerates Olivia fairly well and is happy to be on clean-up duty when she's eating solids! So, while her shirt may be pushing it a bit (it says "best friends")...they are darn cute together!


















Oh to know what this little girl is thinking about sometimes!

8 Months, Week 2

Our little fishy started "Aqua Babes" swim classes this week at Riverview. Since Daddy was a swimmer as a kid and teenager, we are hoping Livi will love the water too. The first class went extremely okay. She didn't necessarily like going under water, but many of the other parents said it took a bit for their kiddos to warm up to the pool too.



Unfortunately, Little Miss has been battling a pretty yucky cold lately. This was the only way I could get her to nap over the weekend...she still looks so sweet!














This was of course after a bath was needed because someone decided she could feed herself lunch.


















And just to keep us on our toes...check out her adventure below. We always carry a "backup outfit" in case Liv has a diaper blowout or spits up. But what happens when you've already tapped into your backup outfit for the day? Well, you hope you are out shopping somewhere and can buy a new one of course! Notice she still has her hat on. Ah, my child the fashionista.


















Despite the cold and blowouts, Livi thankfully continues to put on weight and checked in at 16 pounds, 11 ounces this week!

8 Months, Week 1

Woo-hoo, somebody is officially 8 months old today! Happy as always and weighing in at 16 pounds, 4.9 ounces. She has finally doubled her birth weight!














Ever the tech savvy baby, Olivia is getting quite good a surfing the net. Of course, sometimes she does need just a little bit of help...


















Nap time is also starting to go much smoother. Olivia used to fight them with a vengeance. Even when she would give in to the nap, they wouldn't last long! But thankfully, she is slowly but surely starting to get into a regular routine.


















It's hard to believe how quickly 8 months can go by! I just love this little girl and her baby blues!

7 Months, Week 4

This week it was back to reality and trying to get back into a somewhat regular routine. Lucky for Olivia she is one of the few people who have a New Year's resolution to gain weight. Over the last two weeks she put on 7 ounces and now weighs 15 pounds, 11.3 ounces.

















Before we left Valpo, Olivia got a chance to see her Uncle Drew one more time. They look pretty happy showing their love for Da Bears.


















Once we got home and unloaded the car, this is the holiday aftermath we were left with...I kinda wish Santa would have left a maid with all of the presents!











It was so much fun seeing family and friends over the holidays that we decided to buy a new bed for our guest room. We took our own princess with us to find a suitable mattress. She didn't detect any peas, but thought this one was extra comfy!

7 Months, Week 3

MERRY CHRISTMAS! After weeks of anticipation, Christmas finally arrived! There truly is something magical about watching someone experience it for the first time. And being the big softie that I am, I teared up when I was putting up the Christmas decorations. I looked up at our mantle and saw what I had dreamed of for years...three stockings on that mantle.














It wouldn't be a Christmas fit for a princess, if she didn't have multiple celebrations! First up was the one at our house. We really tried to hold back but...it was her first Christmas!














































After we had our little mini Christmas with the three of us, we hit the road for Columbia City. As we drove, Olivia found a new way to entertain herself...



There was no way we were going to attempt Midnight Mass this year, but thankfully there was a much more family friendly Mass time of 5:00. Here we are all spiffed up!

















Olivia was checking out all the presents under Grammy and Grampy Banks tree. I love the look on her face!












As always, she had so much fun spending time with Grammy and Grampy Banks!













































She also had a blast opening presents on Christmas morning...


































After celebrating Grammy and Grampy and Uncle Jordan, it was time to head to Grandma and Grandpa Szafarczyk's. Yay for more family, more food, and of course more presents!




































































Olivia also got to experience some of our other Christmas traditions. We went to Grandma and Grandpa Szafarczyk's house to celebrate the season with my aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. Olivia had so much fun seeing so many relatives (although I think she slept through Bingo ;-).



















































A few years ago, after Szafarczyk Family Christmas, we started going to Chicago to spend the night in the city and do a little shopping. Unfortunately, we had a tag along on this trip...another ear infection! UGH! You would never know it from these pictures but that nasty ear infection from a few weeks ago resurfaced and reared its ugly head while we were in Chicago. But, Olivia is such a trooper! She'd never let it stop her from enjoying the sights, sounds, and shopping of the big city!































All in all (and despite another ear infection) I think it's safe to say Olivia had a wonderful first Christmas!