A+ Baby

Olivia had her 2 month check-up this past week. She came in at 23.5 inches tall and 14 lb 5.5 oz! I say A+ baby as the title because her weight puts her in the 95+ percentile for her age. So instead of saying she's chunky (which of course she is) we are saying that she has an A+. Her height is in the 85 percentile. She also had her first immunizations at this appointment and she was not happy about it to say the least. She screamed for a couple of minutes after the shots (3 of them, plus an oral thing) but we were able to settle her down. She was fine for several hours and then all of sudden decided that she was going to scream inconsolably again. I did everything I could to get her to calm down and after 15 minutes or so (and some infants Tylenol) she fell asleep in my arms, only to wake up an hour later and scream again for several minutes. I even tried swaddling her for the first time in a long time but it really didn't seem to work. I can only assume that she was not feeling well from the shots. She had never done anything like that before. She was more sleepy than usual which the doctor said would be the case and she slept for most of the rest of the afternoon. I felt so bad for her, but she was fine when she woke up and we haven't had any other problems since then. She did get some cute little pink camo band-aids out of it.

I can't believe that she is already 9 1/2 weeks old. And I can't believe that I only have 3 more weeks of maternity leave yet. Let's not talk about that. Olivia gets more and more talkative every day and enjoys carrying on conversations with John and I. She is really good at the "ooh" sounds and has recently started a kind of high-pitched scream thing. It's actually really cute despite how I described it.

We think that she is going to be a thumb sucker. She loves to gnaw and suck on her fists and especially her thumb. Her hands have become her focus rather than the pacifier. She drools all over the place too. I didn't realize this, but apparently all the signs of teething like that can happen several months before the first teeth come in. So she is pretty typical in that respect.

We are all continuing to do well. I am starting physical therapy for my left wrist on Monday. The orthopedic guy I saw said that's what my problem was. I don't think that I've blogged about it before. It started in probably the last 6 weeks of my pregnancy and I thought it was just related to the swelling in my fingers that I would get overnight, but the pain never went away after delivery like it did in my fingers. So John finally got me to go to the doctor and luckily it wasn't anything worse than tendonitis. It can be extremely painful when I pick Olivia up and even when I turn a doorknob. So hopefully whatever therapy they have me doing will help.

Daddy is still working through his first time parent learning curve. Please take a look at the picture below to see what I'm talking about. I cracked up when I walked in and saw how she was dressed and John said that he wasn't sure he had done it correctly. And, yes, he was completely serious when he put the pajamas on. It wasn't a joke. I thought it was cute.

Getting big!

Olivia continues to grow and grow. I love her little rolls and creases. She has them all over! My mom, sister and brother all came into town this weekend. Erin was here from Thursday to Saturday. Danny was here Saturday and Sunday. My mom got here Friday and will be leaving tomorrow. It's been crazy but it's also been great to have the help. Erin babysat for me and my mom has been getting up at night. Although of course Olivia has decided she's going to sleep pretty well for Grandma. She slept 8 hours straight last night! It was the first time she had done that, and I hope it continues once Grandma leaves. She did poop on Grandma so that was nice. Plus, I was pooped on recently as well. The shirt I was wearing was stained and dubbed "The Shit Shirt". I cracked up laughing when it happened. Of course John was at work so I had to handle it all myself. Oh well. Of course I got a picture.




Olivia loves her baths so we try to give her one fairly often. She will sit there quietly and just enjoy it. She doesn't even seem to mind when water gets in her eyes.

We have scheduled her baptism. It will be on August 24 in Austin. That way our families can be there. It's much easier for us to travel than to try to get everyone to Phoenix. Erin is going to be her Godmother, and we haven't yet picked a Godfateher. We will do that soon. We are really excited about it. I can't wait for her to meet everyone and for everyone to see her.

She also finally went to her first Diamondbacks game. She really seemed to enjoy it. She was fascinated by all the lights around her. We stayed for 3 innings and had no problems with her at all. All the noise and cheering didn't bother her at all. I think that's a good sign! Now we just have to teach her to hate the Yankees and Braves (and Cowboys!). Check out her awesome shoes!

Here are some more random picks. I did not teach her to flip the bird. I'll blame that on my husband. And I guess the cat was trying to be modest while he was laying on the ground spreadeagle.

First visitors

I realized that I forgot to mention that my Aunt Manny came to visit Olivia a couple of weeks ago. She was so excited to come and we are so glad that she was able to make it. Olivia had a great time with her, and even welcomed her by pooping on her. =)

6 weeks

Olivia will be 6 weeks old tomorrow. Time has flown by. She gets bigger every day and is smiling more and more. She tends to be really happy when she is laying on the changing table. Why? I don't really know. But she seems to think that the ribbon and monkey picture on the wall are pretty funny. And mommy is pretty funny while she's changing her too. Works for me. I love it when she smiles!

We are currently looking in to getting her baptized. We are hoping to go to Austin at the end of August and may have her baptized there at a church that some of my family go to. Plus, we would have a better chance of getting more people there to meet Olivia for the first time. Most of my family lives not too far from Austin and may have the chance to travel there. And we'd get to see Busha which is the big deal.

I had my 6-week postpartum appointment yesterday. Everything is healing very well and he said that I have no restrictions so I can resume all normal activities. I plan on going back to the gym starting next week. I am not eager to see how out of shape I am. I'll be on the treadmill dying I'm sure. Next week I am going to see an Orthopedic guy because I've been having issues with my left wrist. During the last trimester of my pregnancy I was swollen and had pain in my knuckles when I woke up in the morning. About 6 weeks before I delivered I started getting pain in my wrist and thought it was the same thing. But it has not gone away and has actually gotten progressively worse. It is most painful on the thumb side of my wrist right on the bone. It feels like a little bump has grown on the bone and at times it feels like something is sliding over the top of it when I move it. So I am being forced by my husband to have it looked at. The fact that I sometimes have a hard time picking Olivia up is enough of a problem.

I got some more great pictures of Olivia this week. They are below. I also took a video of her on my digital camera. It was my first time working with it so it's not great but at least she was awake for it.

Chunkster!

We have a chunkster on our hands. I took Olivia to her one month check-up and she was 21 inches (20.5" at birth) and 11 pounds 11 ounces (8 lb 1.4 oz at birth - 7 lb 12.5 oz 4 days later)! That's almost 4 pounds in 4 weeks! I knew she had gained some weight, but I didn't think it'd be that much. She has all the cute little creases and rolls. The socks she wears even leave marks on her ankles because they are so chubby. So, yes, she eats like her mom. Her next appointment is August 6 and she will start getting all her immunizations that day. Mom and Dad are not looking forward to it. I am making John go with me to that appointment because I don't want to go alone. He didn't go to the one month one because there weren't going to be any shots. Plus, he probably didn't want to sit through all the questions that I had for the doctor. I had a bunch and he was very patient with me and answered all of them. I even asked about piercing her ears which I want to do while she is still little. John is going to need some convincing when it comes to that.

She is really smiling a lot more now. She thinks I'm pretty funny I guess. She also really likes the mobile in her crib. She loves baths as well. She will sit quietly and just enjoy as we wash her, and then I massage her with baby lotion after. She loves that too. Most of the time we just undress her in her room and take her to the kitchen and bathe her in the sink. Well I guess she decided she doesn't want to do that because on the way to the bath the other night she peed all over me. John was cracking up as I'm standing there with a wet shirt and pee all over the floor and dripping down my legs. I am really glad we decided to put laminate floors in!

Olivia is getting much better at sleeping longer at night. She usually averages between 4 and 5 hour stretches when we first put her down and then 1 1/2-2 1/2 hour stretches after her middle of the night feeding. In fact, the other night she slept 6 1/2 hours at one time. It was awesome! It made me nervous when I woke up and she hadn't gotten up yet, so of course I have to go make sure she's breathing. Ahhh, being a new mother. I just wish those second stretches were longer.

She has a move that we call the "O.G. Roll". Sometimes she doesn't like being up on our shoulders, so she rolls herself over into the crook of our arms so she's facing upwards. Here she is after she has performed the roll and some extra scooting.

One Month!

Time has flown by and Olivia is now one month old. She is able to hold her head up for an extended period of time, has rolled over on her own once, and is becoming more and more chatty every day. We went and had her picture taken yesterday at JC Penney for her one month birthday. We are planning on doing a 6 month shot, a one year shot, and so on. The pictures turned out awesome and we should have our order by the 17th. We also opted for the online gallery so once we have the link to that I'll put it in here so everyone can check out the pictures. Some of our own are below. She goes in for her 4 week check-up on Tuesday. I can't wait to see how much she weighs. She is a big girl!

Practicing her beautiful smile!

Tummy time with Elvis. Yes, our cat is huge.

This picture was taken this morning, so I apologize for the way I look. Olivia managed to roll herself into this position and was asleep. I guess she was comfortable. It also gives you an idea of how big she has gotten.

I have my 6 week post-partum appointment on the 15th. I should be cleared to go back to all my normal activities. I am looking forward to getting back to the gym. I feel like a blob right now. I have been trying to get out and walk but it is so freakin' hot here that I have to go really early in the morning so it doesn't happen that often. I am pretty much back to normal as far as how I feel compared to how I was before I got pregnant. I'd say that it took about 3 1/2 weeks or so for me to feel back to "normal". There was a lot more to the recovery process than I thought or realized there would be.

The sleep deprivation has not been terrible. Olivia really does pretty well at night and I am very thankful for that. I am able to get a nap during the day which really helps, but I am definitely eagerly awaiting the day that she decides she is ready to sleep through the night. The weekends are great because then John can help me with the late nights. I think he is realizing, finally, what I do all day and all night. With her up more and more during the day, it's exhausting!

Finally, I'd like to congratulate Jenn and Rian on the birth of their son Cameron Rian on June 28th. At 9 lb 5 oz he was a big boy. Both he and Jenn are doing really well. He is adorable and we can't wait to meet him!

Almost 3 weeks

Olivia is coming up on her 3 week birthday. It's so weird to me that it has seemed to go so fast and so slowly at the same time. Maybe it's the nights that make it seem long, but then I look back and I can't believe how quickly it has passed and how big she is getting. Today her umbilical cord stump fell off and she is definitely gaining weight. She is a very good eater. We are feeding her with a bottle and I am pumping. We have had a lot of trouble in the breastfeeding department but I am mainly concerned with the fact that she get the breastmilk. Whether it is directly from the breast or from a bottle it doesn't matter. It is important to me that she just get it.


She makes all sorts of noises both when she sleeps and when she's awake. She is a grunter when she sleeps and a snorter if she gets really upset and is crying. She also has this interesting sigh that she makes that almost makes her sound like an elephant. I really need to find a way to tape her doing this. John and I laugh everyday at the things she does.


Her eyes are open more now, although the last couple of days she has been sleeping a lot so she may be going through a growth spurt. She has been grinning at us occasionally. It's not quite a smile - we see those when she is sleeping - but it is getting close to a smile. I can't wait for the day when she busts one out for us.



She has had several baths already but this is the first one with the bunny towel. She was screaming in this picture but we thought the towel was cute on her so we had to get a shot of it.

My mom had Elvis groomed when she was in town. He is so hairy that there would be clumps of hair floating around on the floor. It didn't matter how much you brushed him he still shed all over the place. In an effort to cut down on all this hair he was cut so that he now resembles a lion. Yes, I cried when I saw him for the first time because I was torn as to whether to do it or not and extremely hormonal at the same time. But I'm used to it now and I think he looks kind of cute.

Happy Father's Day!

This is a very special father's day since it is John's first. Olivia got him a card and a framed picture of herself that he can take to work and put on his desk.

Olivia continues to grow and become a little bit more alert and awake every day. She holds her head up on her own and already looks like she wants to roll herself over but can't do it yet. She is still eating a whole lot and is very impatient when she isn't able to get it right away. We are still trying to get her back on the breast and slowly but surely I think it is working. I am attempting to exclusively breastfeed during the day. We are still giving her a bottle at night but will eventually do the breast then as well. She had me up several times last night and she doesn't seem to want to sleep after eating so I have to stay up and rock her until she's back to sleep. I never realized how light it was outside at 4 in the morning. =)

Here are some more pictures of her. The one with her sleeping shows her in her favorite position to rest. Pay no attention to me please!:

Olivia Grace is here!

Wow! It has been quite a week. I have been meaning to update this thing for days now but am just now getting to it. Granny (John's mom) is taking care of Olivia at the moment so it has freed up some time for me to get down to business and let everyone know what happened.

We went in Wednesday night (6/4) at 10:00 p.m. as scheduled and unfortunately were unable to get into our Labor & Delivery room until almost 2:30 a.m. But in that time it was determined that I was actually already in early labor. I had actually made a comment to John and my mom that evening that something felt "different". I didn't know what it was but I wasn't feeling the same. Turns out I was already having contractions and progressing on my own. My doctor was at the hospital at the time delivering some babies and said to put me straight on the Pitocin. So we didn't even worry about the Cervadil. This is a picture of me in the OB Triage area waiting for my L&D room (which turned out to be room #5 so John was very happy):

Once the Pitocin was started the contractions kicked way up and eventually I was really having to concentrate and breath through them until they gave me a dose of Stadol which knocked me out in less than 2 minutes. It was awesome to be able to sleep through those contractions. I eventually got a second dose of Stadol as I waited for the anesthesiologist to come with my epidural. I got that at 3 cm. I lost all concept of time early on so I couldn't tell you what time it was. After 6 a.m. I know because my nurse change was at 6. I had the best nurse in Andrea. She was great. Here is a picture of me getting the epidural:

The epi was a snap. It didn't hurt at all. In fact, I thought the IV was worse than the epi. Of course I was on Stadol at the time too so who knows. After the epidural I slept some more until I started having some pain in my butt cheeks and tailbone. They had me in different positions with a birthing ball between my legs which helped. But I was still able to tell when contractions were coming. It didn't hurt nearly as bad though. The epidural is awesome!

Eventually I hit 9 cm and then I was complete a short time after that. I was feeling a lot of pressure and when I told the nurse she checked me and I was ready to push. I really don't know how long I pushed before they had me stop because Olivia's head was right there but the doctor wasn't. It was at least 20 minutes. I waited through a few contractions and then the doctor came in. The room transformed in about 2 minutes. The light was brought down from the ceiling, my legs were put in stir-ups (thank goodness because I was tired of holding them and I couldn't move them on my own), and the nursery crew came in to get ready for her delivery. I have pictures of all of this but I am not going to post them. =)

I pushed a few more times and Olivia's head came out. Her nose and mouth were suctioned and with another small push the rest of her was out and on my chest. It did burn quite a bit when she crowned but once her head was out I felt great. She screamed and it was awesome. John cut the cord and couldn't take his eyes off her. So at 2:22 p.m. on June 5th (her due date) Olivia entered the world at 20.5 inches long and 8 lb. 1.4 oz. She was a big girl! I think she is all Dickey and daddy is so proud!

It took some time to get some feeling back in my legs enough to get me into a wheelchair and up to my postpartum room. The breastfeeding is a struggle. I didn't realize it would be so hard! But I am trying to get her back on to the nipple while supplementing with a bottle of breastmilk that I have pumped. Supply is not a problem! Getting little girl to latch on and be patient enough to work for it is.

We think she is just adorable. She only cries when she is hungry. She is definitely a healthy eater! At her first doctor's appointment on Monday she weighed 7 lb. 12.5 oz. It is normal for a newborn to lose up to 10% or their birth weight so she is above the curve in that respect. The pediatrician said she looks great and that everything was normal. She had no problems with jaundice whatsoever. Aunt Erin can't get enough of her.

She had her first sponge bath last night and didn't enjoy all of it. But she did seem to like when we were rinsing the soap from her hair. The rest of it she screamed through, but that's okay.

My mom has been a life saver over the past week. She has cooked, cleaned the house, fed, and taken care of me and John. It's been great. I couldn't have done it without her, especially the recovery that I've had to do. It hasn't been terrible but it hasn't been easy either. Every day I feel more and more like myself.

The cat is still not quite sure what to think but he's definitely curious. For the most part he just stays clear.

And a couple more I think are cute: