Happy 8 Months Olivia!

Again, it is hard to believe she is already 8 months old! Time flies when you are having fun! Olivia is growing and changing so much. She continues to be such a smiley and happy baby...most of the time. This month brought two more teeth and her first illness. She had a cold with a fever; poor thing just wanted to be held.

She is all over the place now! Not crawling yet, but rolling and creeping to get to where she wants to go. In the past few days, she has been getting up on her knees and rocking back and forth. Sadly for me at home during the day, we won't be able to contain her for long!!

She LOVES books with photographs and smiles at her favorite ones. She has also grown lots more hair!! She is continuing to eat solid food, but HATES fruit! She loves her veggies, which is good.

The pictures from the past month are here: Olivia's 8th Month Pictures

Germany

We had the best long weekend in Germany! We saw lots of snow and froze coming from the desert! In our usual fashion since being here, we decided about 4 days before we were scheduled to leave that we would go to Munich. We knew we wanted to get out of town, but we couldn't decide where to go. We settled on Munich because it had the best flights. Olivia was a fantastic traveler, yet again. She had an absolute BLAST! It is getting trickier to travel with her though. She wants to get into everything and needs to get on the floor to roll around. When she was younger on our other trips, she primarily slept the whole trip. Luckily, she LOVES the Baby Bjorn and poor Mike carried her 20 pound self all around Germany. She just squealed with excitement and flirted with everyone who came near her the entire time. We spent two days in Munich and took day trips to both Salzburg, Austria and also to Fussen, Germany to see King Ludwig's Neuschwanstein Castle.


In Munich In Munich Asleep at the Hoffbrau House

In Salzburg in front of Mozart's birthplace

In Salzburg

LOVING the escalator in Munich

Admiring Mike's wurst and pretzel breakfast

Ludwig's Castle

New Trick

Olivia's favorite new silly noises!

Swimming

We have a pool in the compound, but never go for some reason. I must be that I am paranoid about Olivia getting sun burned. She also puts every part of her body in her mouth, so sunscreen seems like it should be limited. Last weekend though, we lathered her up and went swimming. The pool chillers are already on (without them, the pool gets nasty hot), so the water ended up being a little cold for her. She wasn't the biggest fan. She sure looked cute in her bathing suit though!

Chillin' on a floatie

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A favorite activity--playing with Mike's chest hair

Al Malki Baby Art

Since our time is coming to an end here in Doha, I wanted to do something to commemorate the birth of all of the 9 babies in our compound. I came up with getting a canvas to stamp all of their hands or footprints on. Knowing that I am the least creative person alive, Mike asked me where I came up with this idea. I told him, "My brain". To which he replied, "Really?".

The Jacksons are leaving this week to go back to the UK and we and the Neils are leaving within the month. So, we rounded up all of the babies and decided one foot would be much easier than hands! They actually turned out pretty cute. We are still waiting on one baby to be born (Sheri is still in labor as I type this post!) and the other baby is home in Australia for a visit.

The finished product (Olivia in yellow).

Will testing it out on paper first.

Action shot

Jamie painting 5 week old Jaydon's foot

Photo Ops With The Locals

Mike and I have started going to the mall on Thursday night as that is the happening spot on the weekends for the locals (I guess when the men and women can't socialize together and can't drink, that is what you do). We think it is entertaining (this also demonstrates how little there is to do in Qatar) to see them all dressed up and cruising the parking lot and the mall.

They seem to love babies and give Olivia lots of attention, which she loves. They often ask to hold her and they want to take pictures of her. You are not supposed to take pictures of them without asking, especially the women. I have recently gotten brave and asked them if it would be okay and I have gotten some pics while they are holding her.

Babies, Babies, Babies

In our small compound in Doha (~30 occupied villas), there have been EIGHT babies born in the past year and one more being born as I type this! We have lots of play dates and other activities with all of the babies. Here are some pics from a brunch from last week at my friend Cheryl's villa.

Olivia trying to take 6 week old Ella's socks off!

Lilly, Ella and Olivia

Happy 7 Months Old

Olivia has been sitting up by herself for about a month now and it is so much fun to watch her play. She is completely happy to sit and explore a pile of toys. I am loving the fact that I can go do something quickly, like check on laundry, and know that she will still be there when I get back. I know this is short lived and I am enjoying it for the time being!

She recently began rolling from her back to her tummy. If you lie her down on her play mat, she just rolls in all directions. She has also started spinning in circles on her tummy to get to various toys. There are some signs of creeping, but definitely no crawling yet!

Biggest development...HAIR! She is finally really sprouting some hair!

She is truly such a happy and smiley girl. She is such a joy.

Click for the pictures from the past month here: Olivia's 7th Month