Half-way Through!

Olivia and I are learning to do things on our own, as Bob is currently in Norway for a 10-day field season. Olivia and I saw him off on the bus the morning of Sunday, April 23, and he is due back the morning of Wednesday, May 3. We're actually hanging in there pretty well. 'Mama' is not going crazy from lack of sleep, food or coffee and Olivia is doing her best to make it a pleasant week too. She has been sleeping in a bit most mornings, and is tolerating spending more time than usual in her bouncy seat, which gives me time to prepare food, do laundry, and for the occasional shower. I'm even managing to keep up on the dishes, although finding brain and body time to blog is more difficult. It is certainly more noticeable, though, how demanding Olivia is of time and attention when Bob isn't here to take over some of Olivia's care at mealtimes and in the evening - and over the weekend, which we are just entering! Bob misses his family, but also is having a busy and interesting experience in a new field location.

I haven't been able to take any pictures of Olivia this week because Bob had to take 'our' digital camera to the field, so I have reached into the flickr archives for some pictures of Olivia being held by her daddy.







This cutie is one of a series of photos on our flickr site. Olivia is surprising herself with a blowout. Daddy is gingerly observing the result.

26 weeks, 6 months- looking up!

Olivia turned exactly 6 months old and exactly 26 weeks on March 22, Saturday. She's getting so much stronger now! Here, she's having 'tummy time'. Since babies sleep on their backs these days, it's a good idea to have them lie on their tummies during the day to build the upper body strength for crawling. Until recently, we more correctly called it 'face time' because she wasn't able to lift her head up like this, and so was kind of lying face down, not liking it that much! It's nice to be done with that.


Here's Olivia's 6 onth/26 week picture with the Duck. Her feet are a bit cut off here, but this was a better shot than the one we had with her feet in it!

Another thing (not actually related to 6 months/26 weeks, just co-incident) is that I (dad, Bob) am away right now for the longest stretch so far. I'm in Svalbard doing glaciological field work (or trying to, anyway- take a look at my fieldwork blog at http://coldclimes.blogspot.com to see how much luck we're having!). So this is a difficult time, for me to be away from them for so long, and for Suzanne to have to do everything by herself for the 10 days I'm gone. I'm sure we'll both be ready for me to take over as much as I can for a while when I get back!

Olivia does some Heavy Reading

Coming up to her 26 week birthday, Olivia was weighed in today at 17 pounds 5 ounces. She is beginning to get longer rather than rounder, which is a good development!

Mom and Olivia unwind by enjoying one of their favorite books - The Emperor's New Clothes. Notice how Olivia is helpfully holding her side of the book :) She likes looking at the text as much as the pictures.
This book, 'The Dream Tree' and 'Olivia' are her favorite books right now. :-)

Olivia Goes To The City

Wednesday, we had to go to London - Olivia's first time! - to tell the U.S. that she exists. We went to the american embassy (would have taken a picture, but it was a surprisingly non-pretty building) to get her a Social Security Number and apply for her passport.
All in all, the day went well, though it was long, and Olivia was a champ considering her altered schedule. She is used to getting to lie on the bed with mama during the day to eat and rest. She had to make due with a lap and park benches this day - fortunately, the weather was decent. Here we are by the river with Big Ben and Parliament in the distance, Westminster Abbey too.

On our way to the Embassy, the metro was blessedly empty. On the way back we were less lucky and it was standing room only - made us glad we had her in the sling instead of a bulky chair! Still, it was hot and uncomfortable, and people in London don't seem to mind bumping into people with a baby. Bob and I generally hung on to each other and tried to look BIG.

Happy Easter!

Grandma and Grandpa Steffens sent a beautiful Easter dress for Olivia to celebrate the day in!
We just _had_ to go out someplace to show off our pretty little girl, so we decided to walk to Grantchester to go to The Orchard for a Little Something. there were many cyclists out, braving the threatening skies. It sprinkled on us a little bit as we set out, but we intrepidly continued on, and were rewarded with, if not beautiful clear weather, at least not much rain for the walk there. Once we'd selected a nice outside table to have our snack at, however, the skies decided to open.

Here we are having 'a Little Something' outside at The Orchard, after the rain drove us under cover. It's warm, though, so Olivia was able to stay out in her pretty holiday clothes.

We lingered over our coffee for a bit longer while it rained, and then came home in mostly clear weather, with some sprinkles. Here, we're stopping by the Cam on the way home. Just as we were approaching home, it cleared up almost entirely, warmed up, and got bright and sunny- a nice finish to our Easter Outing!

Week 25- Good friday walk!

Here are Olivia and Suzanne out on a Good Friday walk. Here in England this is a big 'bank holiday' weekend, with everything closed both Friday and Monday, so I'm getting lots of good Olivia time in. For good friday, we went for a walk in Milton Country Park with our friends Sophie and Chi, and their son Sebastien (in the pram to the Left of the picture...). It was a very nice afternoon for a walk, the weather having started out a bit on the glum side, but it got bright and sunny in the afternoon.

Saturday was a Lazy Day. We mostly relaxed around the house, finally getting out to do some grocery shopping in the afternoon. We almost forgot to take.....


The week 25 picture with the Duck- and after 25 photoshoots with her stuffed partner, she finally notices she has company!

Drop and Give me Ten!

Well, dropping is no problem. We're still working on the ten. Olivia is definitely, though, getting the hang of pushing her upper body up and looking around. This photo, taken April 7, shows the first time she really got herself good and clear of the ground repeatedly. Since then, she has been doing it reliably, and seems to be getting better at it too!

Olivia's current ambition is to grow up to be a Superhero. (She's certainly super, and our hero any day of the week!)

Fun and Games

Here is Olivia exhibiting one of her newly- mastered skills and favorite new games - Where is Olivia's tongue? There it is!



















Olivia is beginning to takemore active enjoyment in her baths too. She likes to splash with her legs and hold the side of the tub with her hands sometimes, and even gives a big smile from time to time :)

Week 24- and she's gorgeous!

Well, if you've read any of my posts before that won't come as news to you, but she really is! And she continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Thursday I made my first 'real' outing alone with Olivia. I've gone on many walks alone, and once to the hospital early on to get her NGT replaced (check the November 13 post if you've forgotten what an NGT is for- good for a little nostalgia too :) ). But this time I took Olivia to the 'well baby clinic' by myself... Ok, not _that_ scary, but it still made me a little nervous. Anyway Suzanne got to have a nap. Olivia weighed in this week at 16 pounds 6 ounces- still up on that 91st percentile curve!

Here's the week 24 Duck shot. She is definitely growing longer; we're starting to notice that she has a waist someplace between her belly and her nappy!

This picture was actually taken last sunday, but we haven't managed to get it uploaded until now. This is where I discovered that not only does having Olivia not prevent me from playing music, I have a captive audience- at least until she can crawl or walk!

And now, a final little advertisement; some of you know this, some don't, but there are many more pictures of Olivia over at our photo hosting site, www.flickr.com/photos/hawley. Click on over and check them out!

Omigosh

Is it just us, or does everyone have this issue? Olivia is leaps and bounds ahead of the sizes clothes are described as being appropriate for.
I brought out Olivia's 6-9 month clothes the other day and decided to wash them in case there was anything that might fit her before I put away the rest for later (remember that, although Olivia is over 5 months old, she is only 3-1/2 months past her due date). Amazingly, there were very few that I get to put away for later! She is still fitting some of her 3-6 clothes, but also fits most of her 6-9 comfortably too. Geesh!
The first two of these photos is Olivia in 6-9 month clothes, and in the third, she is stretching in a 6-12 month sleeper - it's crazy!
Thanks to everyone for all the great clothes - we are certainly using them!

23 weeks and a picnic for the whole family!

Well, spring seems to be pushing its way through here in Cambridge, even if it is a little blustery. Yesterday we even managed to get out for a picnic outside! We had a nice long walk in a "new" (to us) nature preserve near Fulborn, just outside of Cambridge. As you can probably see, it was a bit breezy so we had to keep an eye out to keep things from blowing away, but we had a very enjoyable picnic nonetheless. You'll note that I'm not wearing a hat- that's a big step in temperature, especially with these winds!


Here's the week 23 picture with the Duck. She's looking off to the side- at daddy!