Smiles and giggles

It is always so much more fun when babies start to smile. Olivia was about 7 weeks when she started to show us her smile.

The boys thought this was so much fun to sit and smile at her and watch her smile back at them. So here she is all smiles :)

The boys are also pretty good at getting her to giggle ;) It's pretty cute!

Being a big brother

Sup LOVES his little sister. He will tell you several times that she is the cutest baby ever, there is no changing his mind. Most of the time he loves to "watch" her and entertain her, and being a big brother.

While I was cleaning up in the kitchen, I had put Olivia in her swing. Although it is battery operated we hadn't put them in yet. So when I peaked in the room Sup had come out to be with her. 

It was so sweet to see hime gently pushing her and taking to her, tell her how cute she was. He did this without me asking, nor did he see me take these pictures. It was a sweet moment between the two :)

Bath time!

This is not Olivia's first time in the bath tub, just the first time I had a chance to get her picture in the tub. I think this is about her third bath. 

She is a little wiggler so trying to get a picture while bathing her was just not an option. About a month after she was born my sister and brother-in-law came down to visit and see Olivia. 

So this was my chance to let Aunt Sara bathe her and I could get some bath pictures :) 

She was not all that excited about her sponge baths, but when her cord finally fell off and we could use the tub she was much happier girl. She loves her baths and seems to have a lot of fun with it. Unlike the boys who didn't like their baths until they were about 2 or 3 it was a nice change :) 

Starting our practice hikes

At the beginning of March, Eric and I decided that we would take a nice family trip after the boys got out of school. I have wanted to go and see the Smoky mountains for quite a few years, so we decided this was a good year to go :)

The Smokies are known for some really nice hiking trails, but after being indoors for a LONG and COLD winter we all needed to get some "practice hikes" in. We were able to walk/hike about once a week to help us get ready. 

Because we wanted to do some real hikes we invested in some hiking gear. Most important hiking boots and some kind of water carrier. Since we all packs we got this water pack for Sup, it worked out great. We really don't have any real trails around here but we started out our first "hike" on the USI trail to help break in our new hiking boots. 

The boys did pretty well, I think we ended up walking about 3 miles that day. The boys were able to hear and see some frogs as well on our walk. We learned some things that would be helpful on our hiking trip and had a fun time outside.

Going outside

Since Olivia was born in January and the winter seeming to last forever it was a while before she really had even a chance to take her outside. 

We did finally get a nice day with some sunshine. (These pics were taken in March). The boys were pretty excited to see how she liked being outside. She enjoyed herself and seemed to like watching the boys run round and play. 

After a long cold and bitter winter, the boys were so happy to finally make it outside to play. The sandbox has always been one of Sup's favorite, so it was the place he went. 

We had signed Thomas back up for spring soccer so he brought his soccer ball out to play with. 

Settling in

After all the anticipation of having a baby, then the birth of our Olivia, and coming home, everyone had to readjust.  

The boys were really great! I thought they might have a little bit of a hard time, especially Sup but I was pleasantly surprised. They probably had the easiest adjustment out of the five of us. Sup wanted her to stay in with him and made her a little "bed" out of all his favorite things. Amazingly his preschool teachers said that after Olivia was born he was a better listener and did better in school. She how much of a positive influence she was on him.

Thomas already being a big brother has become rather protective of her. He loves to play with her and make her smile. 

Eric is beyond excited to have his little girl. This little one will be pretty spoiled by him, an it hasn't take her long to figure that out ;) It will be so fun to watch them together :)