Miscellaneous Month 5 Update

Well, this month has proven to be quite eventful for little Miss Olivia. It started with her first taste of rice cereal - which she has grown to enjoy, and actually ingests, most of the time. Her ability to keep her tongue out of the way improves with each passing day. Next month: food with color - and taste! So stay tuned. She has also gotten much better at sitting upright in her highchair and her newly borrowed Exer-saucer. But nothing compares to her biggest accomplishment yet.... rolling! The little miss rolled from her back to her belly this week. Needless to say, it was very exciting for all three of us : ) And I have to give all the credit to her doting kitties whom she has become totally fascinated with. Trying to get a better look at them, or better, TOUCH them, has been the main motivation for her increased desire to M-O-V-E! Lula, isn't quite ready to get up close and personal with Livvy, but Mocha has proven to be quite amenable to her petting (assisted my mommy's more gentle hand, of course) and very tolerant - so far. We will see how this sisterhood blossoms : ) Her are some photos of the past few weeks.

I wish I looked this beautiful when I woke up from a nap!

Here comes Mochie! Her arm is covering
an open mouth smile and hysterical giggle!

"That kitty nose sure is cold and wet!"

Nudie glamour shot.

Bring it!

Ready, sit, eat!

Over the last few weeks our little Olivia has gotten quite good at holding up that little head of hers. So, with her 5 month birthday drawing near (its today!), we decided it was time to give "solids" a try. I say solids, but let's be honest - it is not much more then feeding her breast milk on a spoon! The rice cereal - which should really be called rice powder - doesn't add much thickness to the milk. But I suppose learning to eat from the spoon is the main thing. I guess that's why you wait on the real solids until they can actually get the food in their mouths! For now I'm just happy when I can actually get the spoon past her very agile tongue : )  Here are some shots of the play-by-play.

"Me in my new little seat."

"OK, I'm ready Mom. Bring on the food!"

"On second thought.... I'm not so sure..."

"Hmm... maybe not so bad."

"More please! This is fun!"

"Now Dad is getting in on the fun - I'm ready!"

"Hmm.. I could get use to this!"

Broadway hits PPAC again!

Last year we had the great privilege of seeing the New York traveling company of Wicked when they came to Providence. Mary and John came down from Vermont and the four of us had a wonderful time. This year we were able to experience Broadway in our backyard once again when The Lion King arrived this February. This time not only did John and Mary come down, but Rebecca, Scott, Megan and Miles came as well. We split up into 2 viewing groups to enable for babysitting. The Vermont crew went to a Saturday matinee while Tony and I stayed behind with Olivia and Miles. Then, after a quick pizza dinner together, we switched up and Tony and I went to the Saturday evening show while John and Mary watched little O. I think it's safe to say that a good time was had by all. The show was really quite visually stunning.  I had never seen that much puppetry - and incredible puppetry at that! The sets were true works of art and the animals were just breathtakingly beautiful. Of course we all knew the story - which is sweet - but the real show was in the artistry of the visual aspects of the performance. Bravo!

Once again, Megan was a great, snuggly big cousin!

Too cute!

Peas in a pod.

Olivia Goes Skiing! (Well, not exactly...)

With my parents heading up to Montpelier to visit Jonathan - Tony and I thought it would be fun to head to Lincoln for a combo family ski weekend. Fortunately Jonathan was able to get the afternoon off from teaching his ski class at Sugarbush to join Tony, Mom, Dad and I for some skiing. Sounds great - but what to do with the little girl? Nonni and Poppi to the rescue! Mary and John were gracious enough to volunteer their babysitting services for the day. So, with Jonathan's assistance, we found a quiet, fairly unused room in the lodge and set up camp. It was a great set up - I could just stop in and nurse her and we all got to visit with each other on ski breaks. Thanks to everyone for a great weekend!

Visiting during one of our breaks from the trails.

Dad took this pic of Tony in front of a make shift tee-pee in the woods.

Stratton Weekends

Another winter means another great ski season with our buddies Jeremy and Tanveer at their family ski house near Stratton Mountain. This year we have the added excitement of two new additions, Olivia and Peter. So needless to say, being able to actually ski has been a little more of a challenge : )  But have no fear - Grandparents to the rescue!! On our first weekend up, Nonni and Poppi were gracious enough to come down from Lincoln to watch the little ones so all the mommies and daddies could have a little time away on the slopes. And then the following weekend Anees and Batul (Tanveer's parents) took over the babysitting duties - thank you to all the grandparents!!

Nonni and Poppi to the rescue!

Olivia loved playing with Petu's gym.

Look how happy she was!

These two are peas in a pod already! (note: Livvy is not
sitting up unassisted quite yet - though it makes for a great photo!)

Petu is quite the musician!

Happy as a clam with her Nonni

Peter is on the move! Tanveer takes a turn
walking her little man around the house -
crawling, what's that?? I wanna walk!

Jeremy and Peter are ready for a winter walk.

So are Olivia and I : )

Everyone is all smiles
(except O, who was working on a big burp!)

The boys and their babes!

My sweet rosy love.

2011, Here we come!

We rang in the New Year with some fellow new-parent friends. It was a night of yummy pot-luck food before putting kids to sleep in pack-n-plays to allow for some major Dance Central battles! Who new I could love an XBox game so much? But let's face it, anything with "dance" in the title was bound to float my boat : ) Then, on New Year's Day, Grandma and Grandpa Deerfield stopped by for a quick overnight visit on their way up to ski in Maine for the week. We stuffed ourselves with Tony's experimental super-thin crispy pizzas - Yum!! So here are a smattering of pics from New Year's as well as other recent shots:

The ladies are ready for New Year's Eve!

Aren't we cute? : )

Chillin' in her baby-gym
(man she likes this thing!)

Lula (thought the kitties could use a little blog time)

Olivia is already learning to jam with her Daddy.

Tummy-time, complete with drool.

"I love to laugh!"

Tummy-time, sans drool ( much better).

Mocha - who has recently decided to sleep
under the covers between Tony and I ever night
Could someone be feeling a little neglected?

Olivia's First Christmas: Part Two

After celebrating a wonderful Christmas in Vermont, it was now time to visit with her loved ones in New York. So in the early morning on Christmas Eve we headed to Long Island. We had a great time with everyone and even got a little more time at Grandma and Grandpa's courtesy of the winter blizzard that shut down the ferry and had Jon going 10 miles an hour on I-95  - ugh! Thankfully the kitties weren't too hungry when we got home on Monday - but they were definitely happy to see us!

Christmas morning in PJs from Great-Grandma Deerfield
and a new handmade blanket from Grandma.
Thank you to everyone for all the wonderful gifts -
Olivia was very spoiled!

With Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Santa : )

I love my Great-Grandma!

Olivia gets attention from Great-Auntie Barbara and Grandma!

"It's been a long day of present opening - I'm exhausted!"

Trying out her new baby-gym... Mack couldn't resist trying it out as well!

Christmas Baby 2010!