And we finally make it to the beach!

Apparently the third time is the charm. Olivia has been introduced, officially, to the sand, surf, and seagulls. We think her favorite part of it all is the seagulls given the belly laughs that resulted in chasing them down the beach. Who better to do the grand introduction than Grandma - the grand master of beach lovers. The photo shoot of Olivia and Grandma is not to be missed !

Olivia and Karen did record their first official road trip - to LBI to visit the Bush/Chairnoff/Sherman clan, and then on to Grandma and Grandpa's for the rest of the week. Karen is happy to report that the trip was uneventful, in a good way. Joel and Mattingly arrived for the weekend, and we also got to spend some QT with the Farley's - and celebrate Kev's HUGE accomplishment of qualifying for the world championship Ironman competition in Kona, Hawaii this coming October (GO KEV!)

In the last month Olivia has continued to develop her chatting skills - we've moved from very cute jabbering, to raspberry blowing, and have just recently been introduced to noises that we've labeled whining. We're hoping the evolution continues. Check out the video (posted just the other day) of Olivia sitting (almost on her own!) She continues to be so alert and inquisitive - she's reaching with both hands, pulling Karen's hair and anything else she can get her hands on, holding her bottle, and enjoying her playtime for longer periods of time. We're working on the rolling over back to front and other new tricks! She's also found the first love of her life - Mattingly. We are convinced that Olivia could spend hours just petting Mattingly and he has taken to rewarding her with grand licks - on her feet, hands, and face if we don't watch closely! The belly laughs that result are priceless.

At the end of this week we are off to our first grand airplane trip since Olivia arrived home - we'll be visiting lots of friends in Colorado and then Karen and Olivia will travel on to spend some time with the Reale family in San Diego. The next blog posting is sure to be amusing! Until then - the latest pics...

Time with family....

Olivia 19 - 20 weeks

At the beach...

Olivia at LBI and Spring Lake

Livy Sits up!

Well, almost... After a lot of practice in the Bumbo and the Boppy pillow, she gave us a little glimpse of sitting up on her own. Check it out. London 2012 here we come!




Check out Kar's expert camera work!

4 months old, this is all happening so fast!

How in the world have so many weeks passed already? Our little girl is four months old and seeing as we just returned from the pediatrician I now have to accept it as official. Olivia is growing - in mind, body and spirit :) She is now 14 lbs, 2 oz and measures 24.5 inches. Apparently we're doing okay in the food department.

In the last few weeks we've introduced two major new toys that she can not live without - her exersaucer (at home) and her jumperoo (at the beach house). She LOVES to be in the standing position and she is as curious as ever - reaching and grabbing at whatever she can get her hands on. Olivia has mastered rolling over and is now attempting to stand solo and take some steps (I'm not kidding). In the last few days she has also begun to take a real interest in whatever we are eating and drinking, and actually reached for mommy's water glass (wrapping both hands around the glass) and brought it to her lips. It seems water is tasty to our little one - a healthy girl from the start! As you will see in the pictures, daddy and Uncle Peter had a little fun with Olivia and beverages while mommy was out. Need to keep an eye on that. She has also begun to show a real interest in Mattingly - he doesn't seem to mind and I think it's the beginning of a beautiful friendship!

We've had two trips to the beach house in the last few weeks. The first trip was in celebration of daddy's birthday and the whole gang joined us one day - the best part was that we got to introduce Olivia to her great grandparents! Lots of time with family, unfortunately no time on the beach. Mommy wimped out on our first trip (fear of sand in the eyes) and the weather didn't cooperate on our second trip. Good thing we'll be there again in a week or so - we'll do it yet. We've also attended our first music class (lots of interest in the other kids, not so much interest in anything else going on), visited the zoo with Kim and Sophia Beahn and Katie and Jack Higgins (mommy got to see the pandas, Livvy slept), gone out to our first restaurant dinner (with Lola, Papa and Uncle Gaby - she was a star), attended Claire Helmriech's 2nd birthday party (My Gym is so fun!), and had a trip to Tysons for lunch and shopping with Jenny and Katie Johnson (pictures of Livvy and Katie in the stroller have more drama to them then you would imagine - apparently Starbucks doesn't allow cameras - Jenny and I are still trying to figure that one out). Lots of people to see and things to do!

We are having a blast and Olivia is just the happiest little one - we are so blessed! Latest pictures are below...

Olivia 15-18 weeks

3 Months is Key for Milestones!

It's been a while since we updated I know, mom just can't keep up these days :) It may be because Olivia is EXPLODING with development! On Thursday, June 5th Olivia officially turned three months old and celebrated across the next two days by rolling over (tummy to back), laughing for the first time (REALLY laughing), beginning to suck her thumb, AND starting to babble (incessantly at times, and particularly with Joel). It has been a wonder to watch. Since that two day run she's calmed down a bit, I think she just figured she'd get it all out at once and then enjoy it for awhile! That said, she is a kicking machine lately and she loves to try to hold her bottle while feeding.

In terms of events, in the course of the three weeks since we've last updated the blog Olivia has made her first road trip - a visit to the Carither's house in Richmond where we were lucky enough to have a mini reunion with most (not all!) of the Grattan Street girls. She has also helped mommy clean out her office (Karen is officially a full time stay at home mom now) and visited daddy's new office, attended her first mommy and me event (more for mom than baby), and had her first trip to the nail salon (with mommy and Suzy) for manis and pedis. We also had visits from Ashley & Grey Chamberlain, the McArdle's, and Brenda, and we did some visiting - to the Taylors and mommy's monthly girl's dinner. Olivia also had a big outing to the pottery studio to make her daddy his first father's day present - what is better than little feet!

We are looking forward to introducing Olivia to the beach this coming weekend - perhaps the salt air will trigger more developmental surprises!

See Olivia's latest pics...

Olivia (11 - 14 weeks old)

Week Five through Seven - Visitors & Parties!

We have been a bit behind in our blogging, largely to do with the massive amount of activity going on at our household! We knew that Olivia's arrival was going to generate some attention but nevertheless, we have been enormously overwhelmed by what has actually occurred. We are so blessed to have such an incredible group of family and friends - it should be no surprise to us but we continue to be in awe of the sheer delight and generosity that has been demonstrated in the cross country flights, multi-hour drives, daily phone calls and visits, ridiculously generous gifts, and parties that have been thrown to welcome Olivia. The past three weeks have been especially eventful.

The second weekend of the month brought a visit from Uncle Nick, all the way from San Francisco! Olivia had a Saturday with the boys (daddy, Nick and Paul) while her mom enjoyed some time to herself in honor of Mother's Day (thank you so everyone who so generously recognized Karen's first mother's day!) On the heels of Nick's departure we welcomed a houseful for celebration of Olivia's baptism. Karen's parents, Melissa and Peter arrived, as did all of our extended family - the Reale's (all the way from San Diego!), Alicia and her mom (PA), Beth (Richmond), the Farley family (NYC). Of course (almost) all of our local family was here for the festivities as well - Joel's parents, the Hepps, Uncle Gaby, Paul, the Moseley's and the Takata/Wallers (we missed the Helmreichs who were on a trip to FL!) As Liesl stated, Olivia already has her church manners and she was very alert and participative in the ceremony. Aunt Melissa and Uncle Gaby are Olivia's godparents (lucky little girl!) and our mom's created a family feast complete with lumpia, flan, baked ziti and sausage and peppers to enjoy following the ceremony! Olivia demonstrated that she is indeed going to be a party girl, refusing to go up for a nap so that she could enjoy the full festivities.

We were lucky enough the hold on to the Reales for a few extra days of visiting which then led into party Saturday! Olivia's first Memorial Day weekend was kicked off with two celebrations. Our friends at Cross Fit Old Town threw us a joint shower (with Melanie and Jason, expecting at the end of the month) in the morning, and Erin, Beth, and Lori hosted a Sip & See for Olivia in the afternoon. The Sip & See even had Texas BBQ in honor of Olivia's birth state! Our friends think of everything...It was a fabulous set of events and the whole Angeles family had a blast.

Other remarkable things across the last three weeks - Olivia had her first play date (with Vera Hinshaw, born 1/20/08), she weathered her two month shots (she may have handled it better than Karen), began a fabulous trend of sleeping through the night (YES!), has found her hands and is grasping and batting at toys. She has also began to try to hold her bottle and she LOVES to stand up (see pictures). She is a very assertive little one - and SO happy!

Lots of pictures to enjoy below.

Weeks Nine and Ten:

Olivia Week 5 & 6 (9 & 10 Weeks)

Olivia's Baptism:

Olivia's Christening May 18, 2008

May 24th Parties:

Olivia's May 24th Parties!

Week 4 - Olivia's officially two months old!

We think we are starting to get the hang of things. Olivia has settled into a bit of a routine (much to Karen's delight - another scheduled female in the house) and we've assumed a new way of life. We've welcomed back some old habits (a return to making dinners nightly and working out!) and introduced some new ones (evening family walks during fussy time, some lasting upwards of two hours). Olivia is developing by leaps and bounds. She REALLY holds her head up now - see for yourself in the pictures, and she turns it from side to side! She is also reaching and grabbing for things, and she is one smiley little girl. That smile and the associated giggle is the best thing we've EVER experienced!

Olivia officially turned two months old on May 5th and in this past week attended two parties (one thrown in honor of her by Karen's office, the other to celebrate her Uncle Joe turning 40!) She also attended her first Nats game and really enjoyed the new stadium! We continue to have lots of visitors from near and far that we are so thankful for! Ari and Sheri visited from Colorado, and lots of locals - Jen and Gee, the DePippo family, Scott and Kira, Emily... Tomorrow we hit the pediatrician for our two month shots and then we get ready to welcome Uncle Nick from San Fran!

Check out this weeks pics! (Just click on the picture below)

Olivia Week 4 (8 Weeks)

Week 2 & 3 - Lots of Firsts!

Things are moving right along with settling into a new world with Olivia. We've had lots of visitors and "firsts" since Olivia has arrived home with us. Many of those firsts are a little more clean and enjoyable than the poop up the back encountered in week one. Across the last two and a half weeks we've welcomed Karen's mom and sister Melissa (at separate times), we've visited with Joel's family (the whole gang!), we've welcomed friends from close (Paul, Erin, the Helmreich's, the Takata-Wallers, Bambi, KP, Libbie, Kara and Ben, Devin and Addison, Jen and Gee) and from far (Beth and Madeleine, Kristin Steele). We've also made our first trip to the park with the Matthews and Feldner families, our first trip to the mall with Alysa and Vera, and lots of lunches and local errands. We've only logged one public meltdown - in the post office attempting to mail Olivia's announcements. This past Friday we even managed to get out, thanks to Grandma and Papa Angeles, to celebrate our five year wedding anniversary!

Olivia is growing so much - she's a champ at holding up her head, she can basically stand on her own (well, with a little help), she is a smiling machine, and she is really loving time on her activity mat. We are really having a blast!

Here's our latest pictures (all you have to do is click on the picture below to see all of them!)

Olivia Week 2 & 3 (6 & 7 weeks old)