Crossroads

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Olivia - 4 weeks

Olivia Layne is now 4 weeks old! She had her well baby appointment today and seemed to do great. She is still 21.5" tall, now in the 70th percentile. She weighs 8 lb 13 oz. I love her chubby cheeks and chubby thighs! She is fitting into her cloth diapers a bit better now :)

We've had a rough go of it the past couple of weeks. She has been crying a lot during the day and evenings. We tried some meds for acid reflux, but it didn't seem to help, not to mention it's peppermint flavored and babies don't like that! It might be a combo of reflux and colic (and the doctors don't even really know what colic is, nice) so we're considering another type of medicine, me cutting out dairy and perhaps a special formula. She also hates being put down now, so setting her in her crib or swing results in crying and a tired mama. I wish I could say she likes her sling or the Moby Wrap, but at this point that's a no.

However today has been the BEST day she's had in a long time. Daddy stayed home today and I think they just love being together so much that it made her much happier. I wish all FOUR of us could be together all the time. Who knows how this evening will be, but I hope it will be better than usual, too. Livi is making all kinds of grunts and squeaks. She wiggles around and kicks a lot. She has accidental smiles and we're looking forward to real social smiles soon so we can see those dimples!

Jeff loves to play with Livi and Clarence and Clare Bear is a pretty good sport :)

Here is Livi in her princess kitty shirt from Aunt Sara. So cute!

And here are some gorgeous roses Jeff brought home for me last week to tell me I'm being a good mama.

This is a TOUGH job for me and I'm still having trouble coping at times. Some days are good, some are really good, and some are pretty hard. To keep things honest on this old blog, I'm going to see a counselor next week to try to help me out with some of the hard emotions I'm going through. I'd appreciate your positive thoughts and prayers so that I can really cherish this precious girl and all our special time together. Thanks!

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Another post about Olivia

like a little doll

snuggled up with Grandma

content in her crib for about 5 minutes-a good start!

her first real bath! I cried a little because I was worried about how high the water was. Jeff just shook his head and told me she'd be fine-she's going to be a swimmer. She LOVED the bath!

Watching Daddy

Daddy with a silly face

Taking our first walk as the 3 of us

Olivia is still a Tebow fan, despite the loss against the Patriots

Visitors! Aunt Sarah came to meet Olivia. Such fun!

Clarence either protecting or choking his new baby

Grandpa set Olivia right on the table so he could eat!

More visitors! Aunt Tiff with baby John (maybe they'll get married!) and Aunt Steph

A little angel

Snuggle time!

Olivia - 3 Weeks

Our computer has been broken :( Luckily Grandma Smalberger is here today and she brought her laptop so I can catch up at least a little. Can you believe Olivia is 3 weeks old already? I can't tell you how many people have said "enjoy every moment, it goes by so fast!" I've also had a few friends remind me that not every moment is enjoyable and that's OK, too. I can see little Olivia changing bit by bit-she is really getting bigger! Her little legs are still a bit too skinny for our cloth diapers, but I still like to use them. Hey, if I have to wash the diaper, what is the big deal about washing her outfit, too? I think we'll continue to use the disposables at night for a while. I'm just not quite in the place where I can be awake enough to rinse the cloth diapers out at 3am. It's a compromise and I'm totally fine with that. She layed in her crib contently for about 5 minutes a couple of days ago. YAY! She also looks around quite a bit now when she's awake-she likes looking at the lights on the ceiling. We've had a couple of hard nights with her crying a lot, but we've also had a couple of good nights with long stretches of sleep. Last night was awesome because she slept in her little chair most of the night rather than on her mama. A good friend, Kimberly, told me she thinks babies go in cycles and as soon as you get something "figured out" it will change and you'll have to figure something else out. We're certainly getting more used to things, but we have a long way to go. Thanks for keeping up with our journey :)

This was our attempt on her actual 3 week birthday-not so into it. So the above photos are the following day.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Olivia - 2 Weeks

On Wednesday at 11:00 PM Olivia turned 2 weeks old! We had her well baby visit and the doctor (who I love, by the way) said she is looking good. She went from 7 lb 9 oz at birth down to 6 lb 13 oz but is now back up to 7 lb 14 oz. Good girl! She also grew 1.5" and is now 21.5" long. She is in the 90th precentile for height! She continues to be a good little baby. She is already starting to sleep a little longer at nights. Well, last night was amazing, the night before that was one of the hardest. Let's hope tonight is more like last night with 2 almost 4 hour stretches! She still hates getting her diaper changed and hates getting her clothes changed, which makes for a frazzled mama, but I'm trying to learn that it's OK that she screams for a few minutes, because when the changing is all over she'll be happy again. She loves to cuddle with her daddy when he gets home from work. She is staying wake a bit longer during the days and watches the mobile on her swing or the toy on her seat. Her eyes go back and forth, sometimes looking at things, sometimes looking at nothing. She loved being swaddled and held to sleep for the past 2 weeks, but it seems like now she prefers to lay on her back with her arms out, thank goodness! We'll see if that lasts-I sure hope so. She is SO.CUTE. I think we'll keep her ;)