Olivia is nine months old, and as of this morning's visit to the pediatrician she logs in at 19 pounds, 12 ounces and 27.5 inches in length. Obviously she has been eating well! The most exciting developments though are that Olivia is crawling and pulling herself up to stand. She's surprised herself a few times by letting go of whoever/whatever she is leaning on and been able to hold her own for a second or two before she realizes it and lunges for the closest stable thing to hold onto. She has also asserted her independence and insists upon feeding herself her own bottle :) Thank goodness that she is saying mama and dada or we'd begin to think she doesn't need us anymore. It's amazing to watch her go.
Olivia continues to have a best friend in Mattingly who has been through some rough times in the past few months. In October we learned Matti had a cancerous tumor in his front left leg and he has since had it amputated. He is almost half way through his chemotherapy and he's doing fantastic. Humans can learn quite a bit from animals - this major surgery proved nothing for our strong, active guy. Olivia has been a doting little sister, and we need to watch them both constantly because they love to kiss one another and Olivia has taken a strong interest in Mattingly's toys.
Lots more positive, exciting things to report as well from the past few months. We've continued to travel - visiting Karen's family in NJ in September and November. Karen's sister is expecting and Olivia had a grand time "bonding" with her new cousin on our latest visit, he is due to arrive at the end of January and we are so excited! We also finalized Olivia's adoption in early October with a quick trip down to Texas, and vacationed in the Outer Banks with the Helmreich and Waller families. The weather was perfect and we spent lots of time outside - great for the dogs, kids and adults! October was also Olivia's first Halloween and she had not one, but two costumes thanks to her Aunt Liesl. Lots of fun with her little friends dressing up and taking pictures - the parents definitely had a blast.
We are gearing up for Christmas and are so blessed to be celebrating this year with our new family. Even though I have not been great with updating the blog we did continue to take lots of pictures. To spare everyone hours of flipping through we've included our favorites from the past three months - enjoy and happy holidays!
Click on the picture to view all the pictures.
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| Olivia Favorites Sept - Nov 08 |
