The Engbers Blog

I thought this picture was appropriate for 2 reasons: 1) Olivia is the best Christmas present Jon and I could have ever asked for this year! 2) Olivia did in fact receive about as many presents as you see surrounding her and is now officially placed in the category of "SPOILED" We had a great time spending the week of Christmas with our families! Check out some more pictures in Livi's photo album link on the side of our blog.

We were all excited to meet our new cousin Willa! Olivia and Willa had their first of I am sure MANY photo shoots together. I thought the following pictures were quite funny...especially since the two seemed to plan alternating crying fits! They are already teaming up against us :) Livi screaming Now Willa is not so happy AND finally...both show off their little "pouty lips"

Olivia loves spending time with her grandpas and grandmas...and I am quite sure the feelings are mutual!

Livi helping mom with the laundry!

Last night we had a Christmas party with our friends from church who are part of our faith family. We each had to bring a food/drink item that had a special Christmas tradition associated with it. This year we brought sherbert punch (an item that always shows up at our Eekhoff "thanksmas"). Mommy and Liv before the party. She got to try out her new Christmas outfit from aunt Leah! Greta got into the "happy birthday Jesus" cake while no one was looking!!! (A week earlier she mananged to pull down their huge Christmas tree!) Olivia relaxin by daddy. Lucy playing with the fun wrapping paper. Everytime time Lucy sees Olivia she says "baby". Lucy is going to be a big sister this summer! Me, Kelly, Will, and Livi. Will is about 3 weeks older than Livi.

It has been awhile since our last update, so I thought it was time again to let you know what has been going on in the Engbers household. On Monday, Jon started his 3 week Christmas break. So far, he has had to take care of Olivia yesterday while I was at jury duty, accompany us to Livi's dr. appointment today, and then take care of Livi again while I went to the dentist this afternoon - so I am not sure he has had much time to relax yet! As mentioned above, yesterday I had the experience of being called for jury duty. It was quite the process and I did enjoy learning how it worked, but I am somewhat thankful that I was not chosen to be an actual part of the jury! Olivia had another big day at the doctor today. She got her 4 month immunizations, and was not quite as thrilled this time around. She cried and cried and the tears have continued through the afternoon. Livi is now 12 pounds 3 ounces and 24 1/2 inches long. Daddy showing Livi how to play the piano!

Usually we can't wait to get out our Christmas decorations and go get a Christmas tree, but this year it seems that Christmas quietly crept up on us. This weekend, we decided it was time to search for the "perfect tree." We had to do things a little differently this year since we weren't sure Olivia would enjoy trudging through the snow to cut down our tree. However, we weren't willing to give up having a real Christmas tree. So, we went to a pre-cut tree lot run by the local Optimist Club to find our tree. I got out of the car first to scope out our options while Jon stayed in the car with Livi. I came back and told Jon I saw a few possibilities in row 50 of the Frasier Fir section. We swapped positions so Jon could take a look, and then left Livi in the car for a minute (within our view of course) so we could pick one out together. Jon pointed to one at the end of the row that just happened to be the one I had picked out earlier - the "perfect tree." J...

I had my annual trip to the eye doctor yesterday. I ended up taking Olivia along in the stroller hoping she would just sleep during the appointment. Well, things didn't happen the way I planned and she actually cried for a majority of my appointment. I felt more sorry for the poor eye doctor trying to check my eyes than for myself. They had to dilate my eyes again this time to check things over - which makes things a little hard to see for the first few hours after they do this. SO I was very glad when Jon called that he was done with work a little early and could drive me home from my appointment...I had not quite developed a plan as to how I would get Olivia and myself home otherwise! They gave me these "cool" shades to wear home in the bright sunlight since my eyes were dilated. I think I'll remember to take my own sunglasses next time!

Leah mentioned to me the other day that I should try getting a video of Livi's smile since the flash on the camera tends to startle her...duh-why didn't I think of that before!!! So here is my first attempt...the video isn't the greatest quality since I used the video on our camera, but it works for now! P.S. The video is cut slightly short to keep me from being TOTALLY embarassed by myself. In the future I will have to remember that while recording Livi, my voice, too, can be heard :)

It's cold and snowy here today, so me and Livi are content just hangin' around inside in our jammies!

We are back from our thanksgiving trip to Michigan and we had a great time! We were able to spend a few days at G'pa and G'ma Peters house with Jon's parents and brothers. It was nice that Jon and I both actually had some time off to make the trip work. Olivia did great in the car...she slept almost the whole time! She does so well with car rides that I said to Jon maybe we need to take more long vacations :) G'ma Peters made a great feast for our Thanksgiving meal. Unfortunately, since Olivia always seems to want to eat right when the hot food comes out, I was away feeding her and didn't get a picture of the delicious food. Olivia was also able to meet her aunt, uncles, and cousins who live in Michigan. Jenny was our little helper...changing diapers, singing Olivia to sleep...we wanted to take her home as our full-time babysitter!!! We even braved the crowds on "Black Friday" and headed out to the mall for awhile. I very quickly found out how hard it is t...

Jon's weekend with Olivia started off with a scream fest!!! Friday night I had to work again and Olivia decided to scream from about 7:30 to 11:00 while daddy was taking care of her. He bounced, patted, burped, fed, sang...but nothing seemed to work. Finally, Livi wore herself out and fell asleep from 11pm to 5am. I am pretty sure Jon was a little worn out too! Last night I went into work again and we were all a little nervous about how it would go. Thankfully it went much better and Olivia was a little angel for her daddy!

Olivia has discovered her hands! Her hand will wave in front of her face and then she will stare at it and then right to the mouth it goes! She mostly sticks her WHOLE fist in her mouth at this point, but is getting better at finding her fingers to suck on. Livi happy about bathtime! This is about the best "smile" I have gotten on camera so far. She really does have great big smiles, she just doesn't care to have one photographed I guess :)

Erin is rocking Livi to sleep after her first day back to work. While she was at work today, Livi and I spent some quality time together at home. Livi wasn't too excited about eating from a bottle at first, but did better as the day went on. She was even happy enough to let her dad give her a bath this afternoon! But by about 7 o'clock, we had exhausted every toy and game that I could think of and we had already used all of the milk Erin left in the fridge. Needless to say, we were both very excited when mommy got home. Erin's first day back at work went well too. She stayed so busy that she only had time to call home twice to see how things were going!

This picture was just too cute, I couldn't resist sharing!

Me, Jon, and Olivia are already on our last week in N'west Iowa. Jon finishes his rotation with Dr. J on Thursday and then we head back to Iowa City. We have been enjoying our time here very much and can't believe how fast it has gone! I go back to work a week from today. Thankfully I can leave Olivia with Jon for the day and then I have the whole week with her again, so I can't complain too much :) I am still a little nervous about getting into the routine at work again, but I am sure it will all come back to me quickly! Olivia is growing, growing, growing. It is amazing how much she has changed and developed in the past month. She is starting to explore her hands and suck on her fist. She is smiling a lot!...and she is really starting to coo and babble. She is still the gassiest baby we know :) Here are some more of my favorite pictures: Sound asleep, all snuggled in. All ready to go for a ride in the car...look at those cheeks. Love my Paci! Susie the dog not quite sure ...

I love this picture of Olivia relaxing on the couch and thought her star pajamas were somewhat patriotic for election day!!! Only 18 more years until she can vote :)

I decided to get in the Halloween spirit today and carve a pumpkin. I made mom carve out the inside "junk" :) My finished product!

Even before Olivia was born and was in my tummy, I could tell she was going to be a kicker. She LOVES to lay on the floor and kick her little legs! So, when we were looking for a new toy for her, I knew I wanted something that would make use of her kicking ability. I found Mr. Bear and thought it would be perfect. Mr. Bear has a ball that hangs at the end of the toy. When Olivia kicks the ball, Mr. Bear's head moves up and down, his nose lights up, and he sings. After a few practice attempts Olivia got the hang of it and now she kicks that ball like crazy. She also focuses on the Mr. Bear and really likes it when his nose lights up! She will lay under Mr. Bear and play for 15-30 minutes straight! This is my favorite picture because you can see how Livi swings her arms and legs in excitement at Mr. Bear!

Wow! We have had a busy week and weekend and I am way behind on blog posts! So...here is a little update on what we have been up to. Jon has been enjoying working at the Sioux Center Hospital/clinic with Dr. J. and getting a good feel for what family practice is all about. We did get to go to Nick's play on Wednesday and we left Olivia home with grandpa and grandma Eekhoff. I only called once to check in :) On Thursday Olivia and I went to Sioux Falls. We met my friend Kristin and her boy Austin for lunch and then I got a much needed haircut from Julie!!! On Friday we had wedding rehearsal and then Saturday was Scott and Erica's big day! We all had a great time at the wedding. Olivia wore her "party dress" and even tried to dirty her pants while she was sitting on the bride's lap! Thankfully we snatched her away and contained the mess without either of the pretty dresses getting dirty. phew! And then on Sunday we all traveled to Sioux Falls with uncle Nick to wish...