California

Last Wednesday we went on our first family vacation and mine and Jon's first vacation in over a year! Yes we were waaaayyy over do for a little get a way. So we decided that San Diego would be a great place to get away from the heat. It was so nice there.. seriously between 65 and 75 the entire time! We were only going to be there for 3 nights.. Cali is a little expensive :) so we did as much as possible while we were there. I was a little worried about how Olivia would do on the car ride there since she is quite a busy little girl who loves to crawl and move around. But I guess I should have known that my easy going baby would be easy going in this situation too. We didn't hear a peep out of her until we were about 15min away from the hotel. Nice! We stayed at Paradise Point Resort...I highly recommend staying there. It was way nice and it actually reminded me of Hawaii because of all of the trees and flowers that covered the property. Plus it had 5 pools and was right on mission bay. Cant' beat that! We went everywhere while we were there and really enjoyed spending time as a family. It's always nice to come home, but with this heat I'm thinking we will have to get away again soon :)



Olivia playing on the bed. I think she loved how big it was.




Ready for our day at the zoo. Seriously the best zoo! All of the animals were so close that it made it easy for Olivia to see them and enjoy being there.

Olivia staring at the white wolf. This was her reaction to all of the animals..probably trying to figure out what they all were. So cute!

Ready for the pool

She liked splashing dad

Olivia slept with us while we were there..still not sure if that was a good idea or not. But I had to get a picture of how she would sleep. She gave me tons of room but was always snuggled up to Jon. He would move her over in the night but she always found her way back. I thought it was so sweet.

The humidity made her hair curl. My little curly sue.

Mission Beach

She loved crawling and playing in the sand and only tried eating it twice

The water was waayyyy to cold for me and Olivia so we only stuck our feet in. Jon was brave and swam for a little bit

April

April was a pretty eventful month for Olivia. She has grown so much! Not just in size but also what she as accomplished.
1) Two teeth came in (one on top and one on the bottom)
2) She said ma ma and da da for the first time
3) She started crawling
4) She got her first haircut
5) She has her first favorite song. The theme from the Office. Funny huh? But evertime it comes on she gets really excited.

I love all of these new things..so much fun, but I also feel like my baby is growing up to fast. She has started the "i'm going to get into everthing I'm not suppose to" phase. Which keeps us on our toes. She is such a sweet baby and really funny. She makes me laugh everday.

I realize that I only really talk about her when I post, but that's because she is the best and most exciting thing going on in our lives right now. An other exciting though is that Jon recently got approved for more hours at his job without having to work on Sundays. Yay! Every little bit helps around here and hopefully he will get a new position soon which will help financially and hopefully let him work closer to home. But until then we are just grateful to have jobs. Thanks babe for being such a hard worker! Olivia and I are so lucky to have you!

At the train park for a birthday party





First hair cut BEFORE


AFTER Thanks Kassi for doing both of our hair!




Oh ya an other big thing that happened at the end of the month was Olivia got a DOC band or helmet. Yep she is a helmet baby. At her four month check up the Dr noticed a flat spot on the right side of her head. She said it wasn't too bad but to keep our eye on it and to try and get her to turn her head more to the left when lying down. At her six month check up she still had the flat spot and the Dr suggested we get it checked out at a place called Cranial Technologies. After meeting with them and going over the pros and cons of getting her this band we decided to do it. It's only for 14weeks or less. Right now that seems like forever but in the long run it isn't. Plus there is a chance that is could get worse, cause jaw problems and or vision problems later on. So why risk that if we could fix the problem now with something as simple as a band for a few weeks. The doctors think this happened for two reasons: 1) she was a really good sleeper early on. She would sleep for 7-8 hours by 2 1/2 -3 months old. So laying on her back for so long when her head was so soft caused it. 2) she might have had a tight muscle which caused her to favor the right side.
I was really worried how she would handle having something on her head. I bought her TONS of cute headbands and flower clips before she was born but never got to use them because she doesn't like anything on her head. The night before her appointment I hardly slept at all worrying about how this would affect her. But I should have known that she would be just fine. She is so easy going why would this change that. So I am happy to say that she is still my happy baby and so far so good.




Right after the dr put the helmet on

We went to Sedona this past weekend. So nice to get a way for the day and the weather was great!

She loved riding on dad's shoulders and watching Titan run and chase bugs.

Ideas

Ok so recently I was called to be the 2nd counselor in the relief society. This means that I am in charge of our "extra meetings" (enrichment, homemaking, whatever you want to call it). I am in need of some fun ideas for classes and activities so if you have any fun ideas or if you've done anything fun in your ward PLEASE let me know. You can leave a comment or email me at
dmarierees@yahoo.com Thanks!!!

March

I've been meaning to update for a few weeks now but it seems like I can never find the time. This month has gone by so fast. I'm not even sure what has made it so busy, but it feels like there is always something to do or somewhere to be. My days "off" don't exsist. But I guess that's what happens when you grow up, get married and have a baby. I love it though. On the 16th it was Jon's 34th birthday. That's right 34! Man he's getting old..ha ha j/k babe :) We celebrated the weekend before with our friends at PF Changs yum! And then on his real birthday the three of us spent some family time together and had another delicious dinner at Bravi. I had my camera for both nights but of course I forgot that I had it so these are the only three pictures that I got.

Heather and I made this cake with her new donut shaped cake pan. I did the decorating but it looks kinda like something Olivia might do :P

Olivia turned 6 months on the 18th. I can't belive she is already half a year old!! She is getting so big and it seems like she does something new everyday. I love that she is starting to really show her personality. . . which by the way includes a little sweet and a little sassy. Some days alot of sass. She is now 16.4 lbs (5o%) and 27 1/2 in tall (94%). Where this tall baby came from I don't know!??!

This is her taking a bath in the big tub

Green beans which she liked even though it doesn't look like it

I love Kid to Kid. It is a great place to find gently used toys for about half the price. Sometimes they even have brand new ones that are still way cheaper than at target or babies r us. This is Olivia enjoying my newest find.

Just because

These are some pics that I thought were cute



Joy and Olivia

too much fun in the snow

Valentines day dress from Heather

About 2 1/2 months ago our dishwasher broke. So I put in the work order to the management company right away..no one wants to be without a dishwasher. I thought it would take a few days, maybe 2 weeks tops to get a new one. It is now the middle of Feb. and I finally got our new one today! Yay! At first I thought that being without one wouldn't be so bad. Really a dishwasher is a luxury not a nessecity. But not having one got really old really fast.I was tired of my kitchen ALWAYS looking like this


So I was so excited about getting the new one today. It is now here and I have two problems with it. It is loud. Like way loud. And it is white! White! Really!? Everything else is black! It's used..which I'm totally fine with but they couldn't have given us a black one so it would match? Really?! We can't be too picky though since we didn't have to pay for it but the whole situation is annoying. I figure we only run it at night and we will be upstairs so the noise won't be too bad, and I'm just gonna have to be creative about covering it up or something so it isn't such and eye sore.

Olivia Update
Olivia is such a good sleeper. Example: Last night she went to bed at 9 and didn't wake up till 8 this morning. Sometimes she gets up a little earlier than that but 6 is the earliest. She's been doing this since she was about 2 1/2 months! Yay! This past week we tried something new. After her last bottle we put her in her crib..still awake. I give her her binky, her teddy bear, turn on her music and then I leave. I can hear her talking and kicking around for about 10min and then she is out. It has been really nice that she can put herself to sleep. Honestly I don't mind holding her until she falls asleep,duh, but I also don't want it to be a must. The only complaint I have about her sleeping habits is that she does this

All of the time! She was just laying on this blanket and she reached up and pulled it over her head! She likes to have her face covered. If there is no blanket like when she is in her crib, she will use her bear or her arm. Funny girl. But it worries me that she can't breath. So after I know she is really asleep I have to go and move the blanket or her bear off of her face. When she gets older I bet she will want one of those eye covers..princess :) So she is doing great! She is such a happy baby and we love her oh so much!