The Texas State Fair

With John, Yvonne and Beatrix visiting us, we figured we'd take them to the Texas State Fair to get a feel of "real America" and some fried food. We had fun walking around and checking out all the sights and booths of the fair. It was a pretty warm day and little Olivia slept in the stroller or in the sling, but was a trooper throughout the day. Sofia loved the petting zoo and we spent a lot of time feeding and petting the animals before moving on to try the fried s'more (my personal favorite). We also split a funnel cake later in the day. Since they are from England, John and Yvonne had never even heard of a funnel cake before. We stopped by Big Tex and then ended up at the ferris wheel, which CK and Sofia rode while we sat in the shade. We were all pretty beat from the heat, so we headed home after that. It was a fun day!

Sweet baby

Feeding the goats

Meeting the camel

Little Olivia is snug as a bug

Eating our fried s'mores

Big Tex

Their very first funnel cake

The ferris wheel

Sofia on the ferris wheel

Our little sleepy head

Sofia's Namesake Visits

One of CK's closest friend's came to visit us with her family. Sofia is actually named after Yvonne (it's her middle name) and CK and Yvonne have been close since they went to graduate school together at LSE. Yvonne is now married (we went to their wedding in London in December 2009) and they have an adorable little girl named Beatrix who is just about one. Yvonne, John and Beatrix are visiting the States for several weeks and we feel lucky that they had time to stay with us for a few days. We had so much fun showing them around Texas, taking them to "real" BBQ and just catching up. They brought the girls beautiful dresses that look great one them. Sofia's is very long and she put it on and declared that it is her very favorite!

Sofia wearing her new dress with Yvonne

Yvonne, John and Beatrix in Ft. Worth

All of us

Sofia shows Beatrix how to ride!

Olivia at 4 Weeks

Our little girl is growing and gaining weight! I decided to weigh Olivia on her one month birthday to see how she's progressing and was shocked to find that she's now 10 pounds 4 ounces!! That was fast! She also moved out of Newborn size diapers and into Size 1. Looking back even to the previous week's photos is shocking at the difference of how much she seems to have grown. She's doing really well and we're enjoying having an infant in the house much more than we did with Sofia, simply because we know what to expect and are much more relaxed about the whole process. Plus, there's always Sofia to entertain us (and baby sister).

Last week, on the advice of our pediatrician, we had an ultrasound of Olivia's hips done at the hospital because there is some chance that girls who are born in the breach position can develop hip dysplasia which causes more problems down the road. After, I took her to a pediatric orthopedic who looked over the ultrasound and recommended that we put little Olivia into a Pavlik Harness (google it - it looks like an early torture device) for up to 8 weeks! Needles to say, it was a very upsetting diagnosis and difficult to believe that she would wear the harness without notice, as the doctors kept saying. We decided on a second opinion and thanks to CK's boss, we were able to go to Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas which is on the cutting edge of childhood bone and muscular issues. Thankfully, the pediatric orthopedic there, Dr. Rathjen, looked over the ultrasound images and suggested that we reevaluate the decision in a month. He felt that the mild problem he saw on the ultrasound would correct itself naturally in a matter of weeks, however, if it doesn't or gets worse, she'll have to wear the harness. He didn't feel that she'll need to wear it though, thankfully! So, at only a few weeks old, we've already been through our first stressful parenting event with Olivia. Otherwise, Olivia is doing great and we're enjoying our infant before she's a big girl like her sister!

She doesn't suck her thumb, but when she's hungry (like in the photo), she tries to chew on her hand....


"Mom, I'm hungry!"


Such a little girl in a big chair!


Look at those big eyes - they are blue, although they don't look it in this photo.

Happy Birthday, Mommy!

For my birthday, we asked our wonderful babysitter Megan to come watch the girls while we went out to dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant with our friends Harvey and Thelma. Megan brought her Mom with her to help out (and to meet Olivia). We ended up being out for just over 2 hours and it was a nice, but somewhat strange, break. It was a fantastic meal with great friends, but also felt strange to be away from the gals. Olivia did great and slept the entire time we were gone, while Sofia was busy playing with trains (we told Megan she didn't have to worry about putting Sofia to bed). It was a very nice birthday celebration!

Happy Birthday with gifts....holding the two best gifts in the world!


My sweet girls!


CK and me just before we head out...

Olivia at 3 Weeks

Here is Olivia at three weeks, although she doesn't quite look so "round" but I couldn't get her positioned any better, so she's a bit squished up. She's a good eater and tends to go three hours between feedings and has gone up to four hours at night, which is great! We did move her and the bassinet out into the living room because her cute little baby groans and squeaks keep both of us up all night. So far, it's going well.

Our little big girl


All squished up


Growing up!

Olivia at 2 Weeks

We couldn't believe the difference in Olivia between one and two weeks! She seems to have grown up so much and her face looks completely different! Olivia went in for her two week pediatrician appointment and she already weighs 8 lbs 10 ozs (55 percentile) and measures 201/2 inches (53 percentile). She seems to change on a daily basis and we are always commenting on how much more relaxed we are with Olivia than we were with Sofia, which we think she can pick up on, since she's a much more relaxed baby (so far).

Olivia at 2 weeks


with big sister Sofia.


She just couldn't keep her eyes open!


Sofia in the photo once again


Snoozing on the couch - her favorite thing to do!


Such a cutie!

Olivia and Family

We planned on having Olivia's Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Cynthia, Uncle Jay, Chandler and Jillian meet her in the hospital over the first weekend (Labor Day Weekend) she arrived, however, since she had other plans and came early, they all met her after we were out of the hospital and relaxing at home. It was tight quarters with everyone under one roof, but we had a pleasant weekend together. I ended up spending a lot of my time in bed, so I didn't get very many photos unfortunately. Neither CK nor I got any photos of Cynthia and Jay with Olivia, which I just can't believe! We talked of getting a photo with all of us, but that never happened either. Anyway, here are the few photos I have of that weekend.

Happy Grandparents


Sofia and Chandler playing together - they had a great time together.


A load of grandkids!


Little Olivia and her Grandpa and Grandma...

Big Sister Love

Now that Olivia is here, Sofia is even more enamored by her sister than we expected. She MUST give her a hug and kiss every night and every morning (something she has to be reminded to do with either of us) and she loves to help "shush" her when she starts to fuss (sometimes being a little loud and close in her "shushing"). She also loves to cuddle with her and take naps right next to her little sister. So far, Sofia has been really great with Olivia and has been a help with entertaining her, whether Olivia needs it or not. Here are a few pictures of the sisters:

Nap time on the couch


Olivia holding Sofia's hand


Entertaining baby sister


Sofia loves to be on Olivia's vibrating chair (thankfully it's made for 45 lbs).


Cuddling together.....


Another favorite....carrying Olivia, and she doesn't want ANY help!

The Many Faces of Olivia....

On Saturday, when Olivia turned one week old, our neighbor Jackie came by to visit and ended up taking some great photos of Olivia! I just look all the facial expressions she captured. She came over for a visit and to take a photo of Olivia and I for the Colleyville Garden Club's monthly newsletter. She wanted to add the "newest member". She ended up taking some great candid photos of Olivia after she took the picture of the two of us. Here they are....

Colleyville Garden Club's newest member