More comparisons

I found some more pictures of the kids that remind me of other pictures of the kids...

(And I apologize if the formatting is off; I can't figure out how to get them to display side-by-side.)

 Drinking with Papa 

Stroller baby

Love my feet

Skinny kid holding chubby baby

I've been going through my pictures from last year, choosing the highlights, cropping, etc. for the annual photobook.  Normally I have this finished by February, but it got away from me this year.  Anyway, I found this picture...

August, 2012 - Bowen: 10 mos, Olivia 3 1/2

...which reminded me of this old gem of my brother and me...

July? 1978 - Anne ~6 mos, Tom 2 1/2

Our old house had a pool and is now about 8 miles from a Wegmans.  If only!  ;)

He looks like

People frequently tell me that they think Bowen looks like Steve or me, or even Winston Churchill.  But if you ask me he looks like his sister when she was this age.  Can you tell which is which?

Hint: those are firetrucks on this outfit.

Olivia, Age 2

First snow of the season


Our Cindy Lou Who

Her favorite ornament is Minnie Mouse.  "Meenie!"

How her stuffed animals are arranged after naptime

Often heard:
-No.  (The answer to every question, and half the time it means "yes".  She's not saying "no" in Terrible Two fashion yet; she's still pretty agreeable.)
-I did it! (Even if she had nothing to do with it, like when we put her shoes on her feet)
-I got it.  (She says this when we ask her to say something and she doesn't know how. "I got it.")
-Ready, set, GO!  (Or "2, set, 9, go!"  Followed by running.)
Daddy-daddy or Mommy-mommy (as "thank you" when we do something for her)
-Tie? bow? (Even when I'm tying the tails of the trash bag.  She notices bows everywhere.)
-Trash (and likes to throw things away, even non-trash things)
-Fire truck, trash truck
-A bubble bath?  A bubble bath?  (Here's hoping!)
-Papa and Poppy (Her grandpas; she just started saying Grandma, too.)
-Matt (Any other guy who comes to the house)
-Choo choo (Her toy train, Papa's train, train tracks, Thomas the train, etc.)
-Apple juice (Her name for applesauce, and if you insist that it is applesauce she will correct you until you give up.)
-Who dat? (In reference to everyone she sees or hears, including the GPS)
-What dat?  (Everything else that is unfamiliar)

She is learning how to count and I don't even know how she did it.  School?  Awesome.  Except she skips 4 and will say, "No, Mommy" if I try to help.  In the car there's a constant narrative (CVS, tree, two tree, car, two car, red car, trash truck...) and declares where we're going when we get close to Papa's house, school, Ellie's house, church, and our house.  When I make oatmeal we have a routine... "Mommy bowl, my bowl, sugar" ... and she'll get the spoon from the drawer and canister of brown sugar from the cabinet.  She loves to Swiffer, and if I vacuum or Swiffer she insists on helping. 

Christmas and her birthday brought lots of new toys, so I think we'll start a rotation.  She liked ripping the wrapping paper.  Lots of fun, our little girl!

Ohio

My husband, Steve, travels for work. Sometimes it’s visiting clients, sometimes it’s conferences, sometimes it’s just spending time at HQ near Baltimore. (He’s currently filling the roles of National Sales Manager and also Territory Manager from Montreal to South Carolina, west to Ohio.) Sometimes I feel like if I want to spend time with him I need to go along on his trips. He prefers to drive rather than fly, so that makes it easier for Olivia and me to come along. So when he had upcoming conferences in Dayton and Akron I decided to join him. When I mentioned we’d be gone, several people responded by wishing me a fun time on vacation.

Ohio: Your dream vacation and mine.

Our first leg was about 7 hours of driving, to Dayton. Olivia does pretty well in the car for several hours, and we try to let her run around when we stop so she can get her wiggles out. She’ll usually sleep for about an hour or two the entire trip, but at some point in the afternoon she usually gets to the point where she is verbally cranky and gets offended if you hand her a toy or snack. Nothing short of me climbing in the back seat and playing with her will help. Now I understand why so many families have DVD players in the car.  Fortunately we got to Dayton before too much of the crankiness. After checking in we walked down the street for dinner at Spaghetti Factory and then, for Olivia’s sake, we put her to bed and she fell right to sleep while Steve and I worked on our laptops.  On Wednesday morning Steve started his conference and Olivia and I drove south.

My brother and his family live near Cincinnati, about an hour from Dayton. It was the other big reason OJ and I joined Steve on his trip. Tom’s schedule is pretty crazy and doesn’t get to be home a whole lot, let alone come to visit us with two small children to complicate things. Travis is 4 and Lyla is 13 months old and Olivia (17 months) was thrilled to play with them both.

We're noticing some similarities between the girls, not just the dresses Grandma made (thanks!) but their bright blue eyes and maybe their noses.  The eyes come from the non-Richardson side, though, so it's just coincidental unless you want me to drag out my ol' Genetics textbook.

On Thursday the kids got to play in a pool with a bunch of other kids at Melissa’s house. (I had previously only “known” Melissa & Co. through her blog, so it was neat to meet her even if I had to supervise O in the pool the whole time.) Olivia has recently learned about slides at the playground, and one with water at the bottom means she was hooked. (Except when she found the broom, wanted to sweep, and didn’t care where the handle went. She also likes to “clean” with a cloth, wiping surfaces and her mouth. I don’t know where she gets it, but hopefully we’ll be able to tap into that later!)

Friday we went to the Gap Clearance Outlet which, if you’re used to like Prime Outlets or whatever, this is like the outlet for that outlet, so it’s huge and most stuff is under $10. There’s also one in Lancaster.

On Saturday Steve was back with us and we went to the Cincinnati Zoo. My favorite was the lemurs who sat, arms out, soaking up the sunshine. Here are Steve and Travis watching monkeys.

Each afternoon was quiet/nap time and each evening Jen cooked a wonderful dinner and we took a walk before putting the kids down. Then we had time to talk without interruption. It was a fun visit!

Let the record show that Travis gave Olivia her first car, a 1970 Chevelle.  She loves playing with the Spence boys' Matchbox cars, so Jen decided Livi finally needed one of her own.  Thanks, guys!               

<= Father's Day

On Sunday after church we said goodbye and headed to Akron, about 5 hours away. Olivia had the morning to play in the church nursery, so she did sleep for an hour or two but did get to the cranky phase. We went to Pizza Hut (a rarity for us, but one of Steve’s favorites and, after all, it was Father’s Day) and then checked in at the hotel. Quaker Square used to be a series of grain silos for the Qaker Oats, so the rooms are round and the lobby is a maze of different rooms, very different. Even the condiments at breakfast were displayed in vintage Quaker Oat tins.

Steve started his conference on Monday morning, and Olivia and I headed to the Akron Zoo. It was smaller than Cinci but still really nice, and this time my favorite was the leopard. It was hot out and almost time for lunch, so I figured a mall would be good. I don’t know Akron at all, but the GPS tells me there’s a JCPenney and when we got there it was an outlet (!).  But it wasn't part of a mall and was in a seedy part of town and Olivia was ready for lunch, so we shopped quickly, hit the McDonald’s drive-thru, and headed back to the hotel for a nap.

On Tuesday we were supposed to have thunderstorms in the region, but I didn’t let that hamper my plans to look for sea glass along Lake Erie. I had read online that one can find it in the parks west of Cleveland, so we headed to Rocky River. At the end of a street of gorgeous homes there is indeed a public park, but only if you climb down the 100 or so stairs. With a toddler. When we got to the bottom I was wishing I’d brought the leash because Olivia was very interested in getting in the water. But I held her hand and she found things to put in the bag, too. Sea Twizzlers, for one.  Also flat pebbles which I think would look really neat bezel-set, or may just look boring.

Today Steve and his colleagues wrapped up at the conference and we headed home.  Olivia slept for a couple hours and played nicely the rest of the time.  Such a blessing! 

(Note: Is there a vehicle that gets great mileage - high 20s, can accommodate a toddler, dog, and all of our stuff, and has AWD/4WD? I want one. Please don’t say a minivan, I'm not there yet.)

Easter

Steve had Friday off so we drove to upstate New York for a sweet visit with his parents and brother for Easter.  On the way there the external thermometer read 86 degrees and we wondered if it was broken.  Turns out it was indeed that warm, and because it wasn't humid it would cool down nicely at night - my kind of weather. 

Steve and I always go to Wegmans when we're there because there is one in every town.  Heaven!  We just walk around and sip coffee, finding things we can't get at home like Finishing Sauce and Italian coffee. 

We watched the Final Four and rooted for Butler out of respect because they'd beaten Syracuse (and because their coach looks like he could be one of the players, so that makes them underdogs in my book). 

Cherie (Grandma Hussey) "hid" some eggs for Olivia to find, and she started by picking up one in each hand and walking around, unsure what to do next.  Eventually she got the concept of putting them in the empty basket, but then when it got several eggs in it she'd dump it out.  She tends toward entropy in general these days (take apart, scatter, dump, knock down, etc.). 

First words...  Olivia has been saying "da'y" for about a month to represent her daddy (in person or on the phone), and also her grandparents, my friend Reid, etc.  Steve said she has words for book and Riley and will repeat "yum," too.  I haven't heard those yet.  Olivia will grunt a couple times when she sees a dog because somebody (Grandma?) has been teaching her "ruff ruff" for dog.  When she sees something she likes she says, "Oooooh."  But this weekend Olivia started saying "uh-oh" and will repeat it indefinitly if you echo.  It's about the cutest thing I've ever heard.  Right now she's waking up from her nap and I can hear her saying, "Uh-oh... uh-oh," to herself.

Here is a picture of Tom and me on my first Easter.  I think Olivia is looking more like a blend of Steve and me. 

Here's another old picture of me from around the same time.  Steve's dad says he's surprised kids didn't end up bow-legged from cloth diapers.

Side by side

That was me on my first birthday, eating green frosting out of a little cup.  This is Olivia.

One

Our baby girl is a year old!  Somebody once told me the days drag on and the years fly by, and I'm starting to understand that.

Olivia had a great time opening presents this past week.  We were with Steve's family for Christmas, then my parents, Misty, Mandy, Jenni, and Lauren came over to celebrate Olivia's birthday.

Mandy made a teddy bear cake for Olivia to have all to herself.  At first she didn't like the feel of the frosting.

But then she'd lick her fingers clean and go for another round. 

Steve threw her in the tub shortly after this.

For the sake of comparison, here's a picture of me eating green frosting from my first birthday cake.

Resemblance

When someone meets Olivia, he/she tends to notice her big, blue eyes, and then look at me with a puzzled look because mine are brown. This happens a lot, so now I offer, "She's got Daddy's eyes." And I'm so glad because they're beautiful on both of them.

And then he/she'll say something like, "Well otherwise she looks just like you."

Really?

I couldn't see it for the longest time, and then Mom brought out the ol' photo album.

Wow. I could see Olivia in the shape of my head, my chubby thighs, and my cute little nose (which I got teased about in elementary school. Thank you very much, Matt Stanfield, I am finally over the comparison of my nose to a ski jump).

And then Dad *scanned and emailed* pictures to me -- another wow. He's 74, folks!

This is Tom and me back when he was roughly Travis' age and I was roughly Olivia's age (and diameter).


And here we are a few months later.


And this is Travis and his sister Lyla this summer.
Travis and Tom have the same build, same hands, same blonde hair, and Lyla even looks like Travis did at that age. Jen jokingly says they're Little Tom and Tom in a Dress.

And I finally dragged out my baby book and realized that Olivia and I have other similarities.

• We were born a week and a half apart (Dec 29/Jan 8), 81 minutes apart (6:03/7:25pm), an ounce different (9 lbs 3 ounces/9 lbs 2 ounces), and the same length (21 inches). The first thing I said to my mother when she visited me after Olivia was born was to apologize for being so big. She went natural, folks. What a woman.
• Mom got me to sleep through the night at 5 weeks, Olivia did it at 6 weeks. And for you non-parental types, that is pretty early to be sleeping 8 straight hours... 70% of babies sleep through the night (defined as 5 hours) at 9 months old.
• We both started rolling over at 3 months and sitting at 6 months, and got our first teeth the first week of August.

I started crawling when I was 6 1/2 months old and walking by my first birthday. Olivia is 7 1/2 months old and starting to balance on her hands and knees, but if you put a toy in front of her she'll go down on her tummy and reeeeeeach for it. Or she'll roll and pivot, roll and pivot to get somewhere. When she starts crawling I'm going to keep her in dresses because I am in no hurry for this kid to be mobile!

Scratchy scratch

Baby fingernails are so tiny and cute. Except when they are scratching everything Olivia can get her hands on. Her face, my face, her legs, my neck... I'm thinking it's part of a tactile exploration phase (What does this surface feel like when I scratch it?), so I'm hoping it won't last forever because trimming baby fingernails is an art I have yet to master. I have to put socks on her hands while I put lotion & cortisone cream on her, otherwise she'll leave scratches all over herself. Yesterday I put her in the Bjorn Mini-Me-style to hold her still (facing forward - sorry, Mom, I couldn't find a picture online) and sat in front of the TV to distract her. That worked for about 45 seconds until I caught her finger in there by mistake. Will file instead of clipping next time. For the record, Riley also hates getting her nails trimmed, so the girls are neck-and-neck in that department. Olivia slept through the night earlier, Riley recognizes more words, they both drool about the same.

In other developmental news, Olivia is more interested in things in front of her face. She's able to entertain herself in the Gymini for a little while, and has started reaching out to grab things that she sees. Before it was just incidental grasping, her arms flailing about until she felt something to grab. Now if you hold a toy out in front of her she'll slooooowly reach and grab it, usually with her right hand. And she's starting to put everything she grabs into her mouth. Other new stuff: Starting to drool, rolling onto her side (but not rolling over), selective stranger anxiety, first goopy nose (allergies?), eyelashes already longer than Mama's (daddy's eyes).

The other day I was having lunch with my friend Debora, who pointed out that Olivia was very content in her bucket seat and not needing to be held all the time. She's right! (I complain a lot on here and don't always give updates - sorry!) I hadn't really noticed the transition, but now Olivia is usually happy to be in her Johnny Jumper, Excersaucer, Bjorn, crib with mobile, swing, bouncy seat, Gymini, and sometimes (as in this case) her carseat.

Steve's sister Lydia and her husband just paid us a quick visit on their way through town and Olivia got to meet Linus, their Great Dane who was a lot more interested in giving Olivia kisses than Riley is.

Cuteness: Olivia's yawns often end in the letter "k". Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhh....kkkk. I have no explanation for this, but it makes me laugh. She also clasps her hands while taking a bottle, glee club-style, or like she's going to make an announcement.

Normal infant ailments that I fully appreciate Olivia not having/doing: Diaper rash, spit-up (okay, only like once a week), reflux, sensitivities to what I eat, fussiness/colic, waking up during the night, cradle crap cap, nipple confusion, needing a warm bottle. My friend Tiffany (mother of 5) calls these "sucker babies" because they suck you right into having another.

I can't wait for a little bit of warmer weather to see how Olivia likes the yard and going to the pool. I have been looking online for a portable mesh sunshade/tent, and we have swim diapers, a couple bathing suits, and a float to put her in. It's a little early yet -- yesterday we had snow flurries and she is pretty little for the float --but I'm also looking at a neoprene front carrier because it helps keep her warm in the water.

While we're talking about gear, my friend Melissa uses a bath seat for her 1-year-old. Anyone have any experience with this for smaller babies? Or a PeaPod travel bed vs. Pack 'n' Play? We have a PNP but it seems pretty cumbersome for short trips or when we have to pack the car full. And anyone have any advice on jogging strollers? We have narrow sidewalks and if I hit the grass in the regular stroller it acts like I'm stuck in the mud.

*TMI alert*

I don't like to talk about poop much, but for the sake of documentation I'm going to note that we're now at peanut butter consistency instead of applesauce, which means it's less likely to go everywhere.