olivia's 3rd month!

man, i have really got to get better about writing these in a timely fashion! i have no excuse, but i have had a lot on my mind lately so i'll blame it on that. and, as every stay-at-home mom knows, babies are just exhausting! anyway... 

i'm 3 months old! 

 this month brought lots of exciting things, including your first birthday party for your buddy emmett and memorial day. emmett's party was originally going to be a pool party and mom was SO EXCITED to see you in your adorable yellow bathing suit. sadly it ended up being quite cool so you rocked a denim mini skirt and leggings instead. 

chillin' at emmett's

happy memorial day! 

this month also brought lots of fun visitors! "aunt" mindy, "uncle" jason, and "cousin" connor came first. you just loved them all and mindy and jason couldn't get enough of you! jason called you "princess" the entire time they were here! 

lovin' on aunt mindy

after the layman's left nana came for a whole week! you, mom, and nana had lots of fun cooking, sewing, and shopping. nothing too exciting, but it was wonderful to have nana here for so long! nana definitely spoiled mom by being so helpful, and of course she loved holding you and dressing you in frilly outfits! 

nana loves you so much!

after nana left "aunt" jackie, "uncle" matt, and "cousin" lukas came for a long weekend! we had lots of fun going to the nearby park, hanging out, and watching lukas run around! he's so fun! he loved you so much and was slightly disappointed that you weren't more exciting, but he loved to hold you and love on you nonetheless. :) 

so cute! 

happy with uncle matt

the following weekend was daddy's first father's day! we spoiled him with a new blue ray dvd player (!), a couple movies, and some other goodies. and of course mommy cooked lots of yummy food for him! 

we love you, daddy! 

mom insisted on getting a descent family photo since we pretty much don't have any! here we are after church on father's day! 

so cute! 

on your 3rd month birthday we went to the park with briana and fiona! you were very chill but you seem to just love being outside! mom even put you in the swing that you are way too tiny for and pushed you the tiniest bit! you're so cute! 

enjoying the breeze

hanging out with mom

olivia, you are getting more and more fun every month! you smile all the time (except when mom goes to take your picture!) and are starting to giggle. you're also getting better about entertaining yourself now that you are grabbing onto your toys more. in the mornings you love to kick and play with the toys in your pack and play! 

partied too hard this morning :)

you also love to look at yourself in the mirror. it's so cute to watch you smile, looking back and forth between yourself and mom or dad. you still love being held, of course, and being up close to mom in your carrier. you also enjoy looking at the fan, being outside, having your belly kissed, and anything that involves lots of attention. oh! and your favorite song is "head, shoulders, knees, and toes." you crack up every time i wiggle your toes!  

you are also becoming quite the good sleeper! you usually go to bed around 9, wake up around 4 or 5 to eat, and then go back to sleep until around 9! just one nighttime feeding - woohoo! we don't have a great daytime napping schedule figured out, but i can always count on you at least taking a morning nap after you play for about an hour. how you can get tired so close to 12 hours of sleep i have no idea, but whatever makes you happy! you do nap during the afternoon but the length and time varies greatly.

you are still 100% breastfed, and despite my attempts, you are just not into the bottle. mom tried pretty consistently for a couple weeks and then gave up and decided to wait until you got a little older, so we'll see... i really shouldn't complain though because you are a great (and fast!) eater, as evidenced by your plump cheeks and adorable rolls! :) 

seriously how cute are you? 

in addition to "talking" more, batting at your toys, and slobbering, you are rolling onto your belly! it's been obvious for a while now that you prefer to sleep on your belly, so mom started putting you down on your belly for naps and checking on you lots. you were trying to get there yourself at night and for several nights we witnessed you turning in a circle in your crib as you tried to roll over. it was so cute! we thought you might do it while nana was here and one night the three of us (mom, dad, and nana) gathered around your crib waiting for the big moment. it didn't happen, and you ended up getting really frustrated so daddy got you back to sleep. sure enough, within a couple nights of nana leaving (june 10th) you rolled onto your belly yourself, and you haven't looked back since! mom always puts you down on your back but within in seconds you are on your belly! you're getting so big!  

olivia, it's unbelievable how fast you're growing! mom and dad just love everything about you. you are so sweet and fun, and i honestly couldn't imagine my life without you. it's so neat to watch you grow and figure things out - like this month you've really been working on your hand-eye coordination and you can now successfully chew on your hands. before that you would just stare at your hands and sometimes when you would try to get your fist to your mouth it would end up by your ear or eyebrow! how cute! anyway, we love you so much and everyday we thank God for such an amazingly perfect daughter! we're excited to see what fun your fourth month brings!

olivia's second month!

i'm 2 months old! 

things have changed so much since the last month! i'm happy to report that olivia is sleeping better, smiling lots, and generally seems much happier and more relaxed. of course we still have our rough times and fussy evenings sometimes, but overall, things are going pretty good! olivia's second month saw lots of days home with momma, some serious baby acne (pretty much all cleared up now!), dad's birthday and momma's first mother's day, and a great visit from aunt shell, uncle tim, and my grandparents (olivia's great grands!) last week!

smiling at papa

uncle tim & aunt shell just couldn't get enough of you! 

grandma didn't want to leave you!

olivia, you are sleeping so much better now! mother's day weekend we had a couple 6.5 hour stretches of sleep, and even one 7 hour stretch last week. that's not really typical yet, but you are starting to sleep in your crib longer (like 12 hours!) and just waking up to eat a couple times in the middle of the night. momma likes this! you also nap in the morning and several times in the afternoon!

happy mother's day! 

smiling at daddy :) 

you still love to eat and typically eat every two to three hours during the day. mom thought this was a little excessive, but the doctor said that was still very much normal! you're just a great eater!

dad and i just love that you are smiling more, "talking" quite a bit, and following us with your eyes. you are so fun! you've also discovered your tongue, are making little spit bubbles, and are trying really hard to suck your thumb. sometimes you get it, sometimes you chew on your fingers, and sometimes you just give up and suck on your entire fist.

success! 

you love to look around whatever room you're in and you seem very attentive. your favorite things to look at are the pictures on the wall and the bookcase. you seem to like the cookbooks best, i think you like the bright colors. you also love to look at the birds i painted on your wall and the paper mobile i made you when we are hanging out in your room. this makes mom happy! and i like to think that you might be an artist since you seem to like the art and bright colors best, but even if you're not that's okay!

tummy time champ at just 5 weeks 

you still love baths and going for walks! you also like your swing much more now, and you like to lay in your pack and play and look at the toys hanging above you and kick like crazy. and of course you LOVE to be held by pretty much anyone. mom and dad both love to hold you of course. i like to play with your legs and arms and sing silly songs i learned in church growing up, or if you're sleepy just rock you and stare at you. you're so beautiful and momma just loves you so much it hurts! and daddy loves to bounce you on his belly. you just love this and it works like a charm when you are fussy and fighting sleep. you'll start to close your eyes and lean forward until you end up falling asleep on his chest. it's so cute!

sleeping angel

sadly you got your first shots on your two month birthday, which certainly bothered momma more than you. you screamed and cried but only for a minute, whereas mom stayed upset for a while. you're so tough! you were fussier than usual that day but you also slept more. besides the shots, everything went great at the doctor. you now weigh 12 pounds and 13 ounces (!!!) and are 23 inches long! you are growing so fast!

olivia, mom and dad love you so much! you are such a sweet baby and we feel so blessed to have you as our own! even though our days tend to feel exhausting, part of me wants to slow time down so i can enjoy you even more. time is just going by so fast! but it is also so exciting to see you changing each day. you are so fun!

sleepy day

you ever just want to sleep all day? O definitely did this day (may 1st)!

trying to wake her up to eat... 

reclining back on my legs...

in the bouncer she usually doesn't care for too much...

during tummy time...

and on dad once he got home!

olivia's first month!

it took me weeks to write this blog post. sad. ah motherhood.    

(the one month photo shoot, which did take place on april 20th, was a bit rough. :))

  

my sweet baby girl is already one month old! (she was on april 20th!) i can't believe it! this month has been a bit of a total blur. i'm doing my best to treasure every moment, but man, i'm exhausted! time is definitely flying by. my friend ellen said (or maybe lots of people say it?), "the days are long but the years are short." so true. our days at home together tend to feel long and exhausting, but the last month has just sped by completely! anyway, i'll do my best to recap olivia's first month.

we came home from the hospital on march 23rd. nana (my mom) was here with us, and nonna (josh's mom) came the next day to help. nana left that day but ended up coming back because of snowy weather in the mountains. so the grandmas overlapped one night before nana headed home. the first week home we ventured out once for a check up at the pediatrician when you were five days old. you were already past your birth weight at 7 pounds, 8 ounces! the following week nana and grandpa were back here for their spring break. that week nana, mom, and you headed to a breastfeeding support group and went for your two week check-up, where the doctor said you were quite precocious, noting how strong you were! he also said you got an A+ for weight gain because you were up to 8 pounds, 4 ounces! we also ran a few errands and took some short walks around our apartment complex that week. not too exciting, but mom was still quite sore from the csection and we were just adjusting to normal life. our third week home "aunt" amanda came from texas for a whole week! this week things really got exciting, with some adventures out to target, penn station, biscuitville, kohl's, old navy, and longer walks in the stroller around the neighborhood. aunt amanda also took some amazing pictures of you while she was here! you basically had a personal photographer for the week! 

by the end of the week mom was feeling pretty decent, and we were starting to settle into our new lives more and more. mom was SO fortunate to have such amazing help in the early weeks of your life! the last week of your first month it was just you and mom, and boy was mom nervous! but, we managed! we didn't do anything too exciting, just ran some errands and such. 

here's some things mom has learned about you in your first month...

you are super snuggly and you love to be held. you had lots of people here to help hold you those first few weeks, and afterwards you still want to be held by momma a lot, making it hard for me to get anything done! you love to snuggle with daddy in the mornings after your first breakfast, and in the evenings after he gets home. 

you like your baby k'tan carrier and you usually just fall asleep all snuggled up next to momma. your car seat, on the other hand, is another story. i think since you don't really go out too much at the beginning you're just still getting used to being all strapped in. you generally don't mind it as long as it is moving in the car or stroller. but you might start screaming if we sit at a red light too long!

  

you really like bath time! you tolerated your sponge baths but you really like reclining in your little tub in the sink! your favorite part is getting your hair rinsed. you just love to be warm! 

you also like your passy, but you're not addicted to it. it's really something we resort to when your fussy. speaking of fussy, you can be fussy. sometimes dad and i just can't figure out what you want! mom has definitely shed some tears trying to figure out just what it is you want, and i think sometimes you get pretty gassy or something. in the end you always calm down and go to sleep! 

speaking of sleep, you've been mostly sleeping at night since day 1, meaning you've never seemed to have your days and nights mixed up. you do like to go to bed later and sleep later into the morning, in addition to your sporadic naps in the day. usually (not always) at night we get one four-ish hour stretch and then a couple more two to three hour stretches. of course sometimes you just want to eat all night it seems, because you definitely love your momma's liquid gold! you love it so much that you weighed a whopping 10 pounds and 10 ounces at your 1 month checkup! 

olivia, mom and dad love you so much and we feel so blessed to be your parents! we're so glad God picked us to raise you because you are truly amazing! we can't wait to see what the future holds and what kind of child and woman you'll become (but don't grow up too fast!). 

some more of olivia's firsts!

let's start with olivia's first holiday! of course we didn't venture out with such a young babe, but it was fun none the less! 

the morning started with olivia meeting her cousin lily for the first time! (via skype)

olivia wasn't too enthralled but she did smile a little.

hi lily!

you can meet lily over here at my sister's blog.

later in the day olivia got her first easter basket, complete with a book, stuffed duck, sunglasses, and candy! what more could an eleven day old baby want!?

on olivia's first holiday mom and nana also dressed her up in some easterish garb (we didn't buy a dress when we weren't leaving the house!) and posed her a little for pictures. because that's just good fun! 

here's the first time we caught olivia airing out her chins. how adorable is she!? she slept like this for quite a while! 

 and here's olivia's first time wearing shoes!!!

 i can hardly stand the cuteness!

here's mom and O out for our first walk - and our first time sporting the baby k'tan! it was a success! 

how precious is she!?

i'm just loving life with a new baby! (even though i'm completely exhausted, i feel like a dairy cow, and i'm pretty sure my brain cells all flow out of me in my milk!) 

olivia's birth story

warning: longest blog post ever. i don't know why i didn't divide it up into parts. sorry. if you're one of the two people that reads this blog and you're really curious, go fix a cup of coffee and enjoy! 

it's amazing that 2 weeks ago (i worked on this post for days) i was heading to panera with my mom and josh to enjoy my allotted "small meal" before going into the hospital to be induced! time is truly flying by and my sweet, tiny baby is growing like a weed! i want to back up and record just how olivia's birth story happened because i'm sentimental and i want to remember these things! it was quite an event!

after eating panera we arrived at the hospital at 7:15pm on march 19th. we did a little bit of paperwork and i got my first hospital bracelet. josh and mom stopped to register as visitors and get their visitor badges at the desk and i got walked to our first room (172) around 7:30, where i got to scrub my belly and put on my oh-so-attractive hospital gown. josh and mom joined shortly and we joked about their "official" visitor badges, which were hand written on plain badges ("visitor room 172") because the machine was down. sadly this was a bit of a theme for the evening. i got my belly all hooked up to the contraction monitor and the baby's heart rate monitor, which were working but the computer screen that was supposed to show the readings were not working. ugh. the nurse noted that i was already having a few irregular small contractions but i didn't notice them. i also got my IV started with fluids. the room was noticeably warm and after the nurse turned down the air several times and nothing happened she eventually decided to move us down the hall to room 173 around 8:30. the evening was off to a great start! at this point i was just hot and annoyed, in addition to super nervous, which was nothing new.

after we got settled in the new room it was finally time to get the show on the road around 9:30, which is about the time i got the cervidil inserted to "ripen my cervix." boy was that fun super uncomfortable. the cervidil was basically just supposed to help things ripen away for 12 hours while i tried to sleep. i also got my first round of IV meds for group B strep which i had tested positive for a few weeks earlier. lucky me! around 10 my mom headed home and josh set up wreck it ralph which we had gotten from the redbox on our laptop. the nurse also came in to take me off the fluids and heplock my IV, saying that it was unnecessary at this point and i'd be able to sleep better if i wasn't so hooked up. within a few minutes (it was seriously about 10:15!) i was having pretty bad cramps to the point that i couldn't even watch or think about wreck it ralph. after a few minutes i called the nurse who agreed that i was already having contractions. wow! that was fast! i continued to fight the contractions for a little while before the nurse started my fluids back up, saying that might help. around 11:30 i was really in a lot of pain so i called the nurse again, who gave me my first dose of the IV pain medicine stadol. she said that it would make me feel like i had too many margaritas but it should help a lot. sold. it did immediately make me feel super dizzy, but unfortunately that was about it. i guess it did give me some relief because i could catch my breath and relax a little in between the contractions. the nurse watched me gripping onto the bed rails in pain and commented that she was surprised i wasn't passed out asleep yet. yeah right. around that time i was checked and told i was about 1cm dilated. the nurse seemed surprised at the intensity of my contractions and pain and decided that i had probably arrived at the hospital to be induced already in labor. either that or my cervix just needed a little jump start and a little bit of time with the cervidil was all it took. either way, i was in pain!

well the contractions continued every few minutes and i continued to grip the bed rails in pain and attempt to do some deep breathing with each one. i can't really remember if josh went on watching wreck it ralph or if he fell asleep. either way, i was kinda on my own. finally around 1:10am the nurse decided to take the cervidil out, saying that it clearly wasn't needed. that was one of the worst parts of the whole experience, but i'll spare you the details. she also upped my fluids and said that should help. not long after i got a second dose of stadol. nothing was really helping and i continued to labor through painful contraction after painful contraction the entire night, each time gripping the bed rails and trying my best to breathe deeply. josh was out and i tried to relax/drift off between contractions, but the night overall was definitely exhausting, painful, and lonely. i could have woken josh up, of course, but i figured he needed to sleep for whatever was ahead. i waited until around 5am to call my mom, knowing that was close to her normal wake-up time. i told her how i had been in labor all night and she said she'd be at the hospital shortly.

around 6 my mom arrived (yay!) and the nurse returned to check my progress. i was 3cm. progress! i was still in terrible pain and the nurse said that another dose of stadol would likely be ineffective and my best option for pain management would be an epidural. i really didn't want an epidural but i also felt kinda helpless to fight the pain on my own. she left me alone to think about it and try to manage the pain through other techniques. with her recommendation i gave the birthing ball a chance, but i felt so exhausted and so much in pain that after i sat on it for about a minute i decided the epidural was my best option. i had anticipated sleeping the night away while my cervix ripened and nothing was further from the truth. i was pooped and in severe pain. around 6:45 i told the nurse i wanted the epidural and within minutes the nicest anesthesiologist ever was in our room getting me all prepped and ready. i was super nervous but she just walked me through the process and in no time i tasted sweet relief!

around 7:45 my doctor came in and decided to go ahead and break my water. this was a complete walk in the part compared to the whole cervidil thing, other than it just feeling totally weird. a few minutes later i got a catheter set up, which was no fun and certainly awkward. fortunately i was in quite a sleepy state at this point. after the catheter i drifted off to sleep and was finally able to get some rest until about 10 when i woke up suddenly with a contraction. mom had been sitting next to me the entire time and was watching me have contractions every few minutes while i slept, blissfully unaware thanks to the epidural. after a couple more sharp contractions (which were uncomfortable but a walk in the park compared to the night i had had) she called the nurse in to report the news. the nurse checked me and reported that i was 7 to 8cm! woohoo! unfortunately i was also feeling terribly nauseous for some reason so i was given something for nausea. a little after 11 i was checked again and i was 10cm! go time!

around 11:30 i began pushing, which was a pretty interesting experience with an epidural. i could feel my contractions but they felt more like dull cramps than sharp pains, so i really had to pay attention to my body in order to capitalize on them. i tried to listen to everything the nurse said and channel my energy into pushing instead of screaming or tensing my legs or whatever, which some friends had suggested. everyone said i was doing well and time passed rather quickly actually, considering it didn't seem like long before my doctor came in at 1:15 to see how things were progressing. she said i was pushing well but my progress wasn't great, so she would let me go another 30 minutes and then see how things were going. at 1:45ish she returned and not much had changed. i was doing good but the baby just wasn't moving down like it should. at this point she suggested a csection, and explained that i could try for another 30 minutes but she didn't really want me to push more than 3 hours because it stresses the baby too much. i remember crying and feeling so disappointed because i thought i was doing good but it just wasn't enough. i didn't really agonize over the decision though because i really like my doctor and trusted her judgment, and i didn't want to risk harming the baby. so csection it was!

this part was especially scary because everything happened so fast. they brought in the hospital garb for josh and a special shirt to wear under it incase he wanted to do skin-to-skin with olivia. my mom snapped a few pics and comforted me as i cried over having to have a csection. a little after 2 i was wheeled out of the room and down to the OR. they kept josh out of the room while they moved me onto the table and got me all prepped. the room was cold, bright, and full of people who were all nice but so covered behind surgical masks that i didn't feel any less terrified. finally they let josh join me and we tried to chat while everyone did their thing on the other side of the curtain. after quite a lot of tugging and pressure and moving around my insides we heard the most wonderful sound ever at 2:33pm - our precious baby screaming her little heart out! it was wonderful! josh got to join the nurses while they cleaned her up a bit and then they brought her over and put her on my chest for some skin-to-skin with momma! i cried over how beautiful she was and how much i loved her. the only upsetting thing was that i could barely hold on to her because one arm was strapped down and the other had a blood pressure cuff that tightened every couple minutes. after several minutes i started to feel bad and i was worried my baby was going to slide off my chest so i told josh to do skin-to-skin with her. i started to feel worse so i told josh to tell a nurse, which he did but i didn't think he told the right one so then i tried to yell "i don't feel good." two seconds later i had a little vomit bucket next to my face and i was throwing up - laying down, with vomit running down the side of my face. awesome. i started to feel very dizzy and nauseous, and josh was whisked away with olivia to the nursery.

the OR recovery room sucked. i continued to feel dizzy and nauseous and more drugs were administered for the nausea. i was in a crazy room with nurses and post csection moms everywhere, we were all just divided by curtains. i was told in my half-aware state that i could get to a regular room once i could lift my knees up a certain amount so i immediately starting working on wiggling my toes and moving my legs. i was frustrated because every other mom i saw had her husband and her baby with her and i had no one. the mom right next to me had her husband, baby, and a lactation consultant helping her nurse! not fair! apparently i was surrounded by a heartier group of women that didn't get as sick as me. boo. i asked about my mom coming to be with me but they said only the support person with the matching hospital bracelet could be back there, and since josh was with olivia in the nursery i was screwed. i so badly wanted to know how my baby was. my doctor stopped by and offered some comfort, saying that everything had gone well and that olivia was turned sideways so the csection was definitely the right move. yay for that! i was told around 4 that they would be working on getting me out of there soon, but then i continued to lay there with little to no attention for quite a while. finally they cleaned me up and got me all suited up in some fancy mesh panties. sometime around 5 i finally got wheeled down to my recovery room where i saw my mom in the hall with a bunch of our stuff. yay! once we got in the room she mentioned that olivia weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces like it was information i knew, and i cried telling her that i had been all alone and i didn't know a thing about my baby! she then told me that she was 19 and 3/4 inches long. finally josh came in with olivia around 5:30 and our little family was together!

olivia, you made quite the entrance! we are so thankful for you and thankful that, even though things were crazy, we had a great doctor that we could trust to get you out of me in the way that needed to happen. your dad and i love you SO MUCH and we are so excited to be your parents!

dad ready to go! 

first picture of our baby girl! 

me finally getting to see olivia! 

trying to do skin-to-skin before getting sick

what a proud dad! 

nana meeting her grandbaby :)