She's Up and Moving Again

Okay, so clearly neither Yale or I is going to write about our trip to Germany. Let me just point out a couple of highlights. Olivia got to meet her Uncle Jason for the first time. This was also the first time I had met Jason, my fairly new brother-in-law. Both Oli and I like him a lot. We met Jason and Ashley in Nurnburg. We were a couple of hours late because, for whatever reason, the handy navigating system couldn't get us to our designated meeting place. We finally met up and enjoyed a locally-brewed beer at a pub with outdoor seating. Next, we feasted on a traditional German lunch, and then took the tram to a festival nearby. Olivia seemed to really enjoy getting to see her aunt and uncle, and it seemed like they kind of like seeing her too. We realized that Little O (actually her web site) has a pretty impressive following in Germany. This was news to us! I think Olivia's second favorite outing was going to the Frankfurt zoo. Now, it is hard to get more excited than Yale about seeing anteaters and lion, but Oli came in a close second. She got to play in her first sandbox. It didn't take long for her to get used to the texture and try to take over the entire sandbox. I don't think we will have to worry about this girl being timid. Enough about Germany. Olivia continues to amaze us with how quickly she is changing. Just when we started to get the hang of the crawling stage, she has started to take little steps with assistance. She has even started pushing around the walking wagon that the Kaul grandparents got her for Christmas. I can honestly say, I would be happy if we could extend the crawling stage for a couple more months, but I don't really think she is going to consider my vote on this issue. We are coming to the end of weaning Olivia from breastfeeding. Thankfully, feeding her formula seems to be helping her sleep through the night. Until last week, she was still acting as if she had jet lag from going to Germany. She would get up around 1:00 a.m. and wouldn't go back to sleep until she had eaten a four-course meal, getting me to bed by about 3:00. I am sure glad to be through that stage. Now Yale is giving her a bottle before he leaves for work, so I actually get to stay in bed for a full 8 hours. It has been a very long time since I have been able to enjoy a full-night's sleep. Anyone that has gone long stretches with limited sleep realizes what an unbelievable treat this is!