Lessons Learned

Outfit #3 for today!

Lesson One: Do not wake a baby up from sleeping... it is just. This is where my day started and it was not good. Olivia and I went to bed late last night because we decided to stay up late and watch the Blacklist :) Then I had to wake her up early to take dad to work because I needed the car.

When we returned home, Olivia and I took a nap in our bed. My phone has been wigging out and I ended up sleeping longer than I had intended to. I got myself and Olivia ready in 20 minutes and out the door.... However, I did not have time to feed her before I left. Somehow I had remembered to grab a bottle on my way out of the door.

We ran around to a few places before ending up at Lewis & Clark HS for a presentation.

Lesson Two: Babies do not belong at presentations for work. After drinking her whole bottle and spitting most of it back up on her cute outfit, she did manage to stay quiet for my four minute presentation to the senior class. The college and career counselor who got to hold her, said that I am welcome to bring Olivia back anytime. When we got home I had to give her a bath because she stank so bad from the puke and a dirty diaper!

Lesson Three: Take a nap when you can get it. I am not even sure why I am up right now. Probably because I did not want to go another four days without blogging and the fact that I am NOT GOING ANYWHERE tomorrow. That means all I have to do is wake up to pack Mike's lunch, make him breakfast, and pick up my pumpkin and bring her back to my bed.

Lesson Four: Make sure to better prep Mike the next time I leave him with Olivia for over three hours. I had to go to a college fair for work this evening and left Mike home alone with the baby. I did ask him if he wanted to go or drop me off so that he would have the car to bring Olivia to me if he needed to when she got fussy. I got quite a few interesting texts from him while I was gobne including:

                 "I feel compelled to tell you that the bags are NOT!!!! easy to open"

This leads to...

Lesson Five: Make sure that Mike knows how to open the bags of breast milk before I leave. In the defense of the bag, it had fused together at the top somehow. He was smart and just cut the bag open.

Lesson Six: Always have friends willing to drive over and help your husband out with a screaming baby when you are busy. Thank you Taylor Powell for helping! When she showed up, Olivia was stripped down to her diaper, swinging in her chair, and had cold fingers and toes because the AC was on. Oh, and fussy too. Taylor was not over long before I got home but helped out nonetheless. This is the picture she sent me before I got home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here are some photos from yesterday while we were at urgent care. They said that my UTI is gone but there may be another coming on. I was also given a prescription for thrush that Olivia gave to me. Hopefully with both of us on meds we can nip this in the bud!

Daddy's first time feeding Olivia <3

What do I do with this hair!?!?!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TITLE UPGRADE:

I was driving home and realized that peoples titles are changing. My grandma's will now be referred to as great grandma, my mom will be referred to as grandma, and even my great-grandma (who is no longer with us) will be referred to as great-great grandma.... I do not know if I can handle this title change! It started to hit me when my mom texted me  and we had the following conversation:

Mona: "How about sending grandma a picture :)"

Me: "Which one?"

Mona: "A new one"

Me: "Which grandma?"

Mona: "Me of course"

Me: *FACE PALM*

I totally should have known that. It will just be really weird.... Even my aunt Mandy is now great-aunt Mandy! Maybe it is just that I am tired but I feel like this switch will be difficult; especially when talking to my siblings. Until they are around Olivia all the time or start having kids of their own, they will not have to really make the switch. Oh man, I can feel my head already starting to hurt from the future conversations. HA! :)

That means that it is time for bed now. Snuggle up everyone! Winter is coming :)

Pumpkin decided to wake up as I finished this blog so I thought I would share a video.

We have Found a Good Nipple :D

The weekend is winding down :( But I guess I have a "weekend" for another month :)

Instead of writing in depth about everything we have done the last few days, I'll just share some highlights and observations about our time with our sweet little pumpkin. It may still be long :)

• On Thursday, Olivia had her second Dr.'s appointment. Here is what the doctor said:
• Weight: 9.88 lbs (88 percentile)
• Height: 22.5 inches (100 percentile)
• Head circumference: 14.5 inches (87 percentile)
• She has mild thrush (a yeast infection in the mouth; probably from the antibiotics I was on for my UTI :( and I am pretty sure that she passed along the thrush to me)
• We were able to get her medicine for it. Now I just need to go in to Urgent Care because I still do not have a primary care Dr. (Another thing to add to my To Do List!)
• On Thursday, we also took a trip up to Whitworth to check on uncle Ryan and with some of my students. It was great to see everyone!
• On Friday she traveled with me to Medical Lake High School to do a presentation for my job. She slept through it like a champ and let me get some work done :)
• We went to visit my students at Gonzaga and to check in on them.
• She has been sleeping really well at night; six hour stretches if not longer! Sometimes she is in her bed and sometime she is with us. We are definitely enjoying the long stretches.
• On Saturday, we got up early and went to Frank's Diner (if you have never, been there, you should go) for breakfast with our friends Anna an Erik and then back out to Greenbluff to pick more blackberries! Olivia did not like the carrier so much this time but she will get used to it. I have a feeling that she will grow out of the infant carrier much sooner than she should. 
• We thought that we would forever be the late ones because of the baby. But we were happy to realize we were 15 min early to breakfast!

Just over 7 lbs! SO YUMMY!

• Saturday was also the first day that I left Mike with Olivia, and that I left Olivia for more than a few minutes. I nursed her and took off to hang out with Anna for a little while. My hope is to not be an extreme overprotective and antsy mom. I did miss my little pumpkin but it was nice to get out without all of the extra baggage. 
• We had dinner over at the uncles house. It was a delicious dinner! Thank you Katie, Jon, and Ben! 
• Today we went back to the uncle's house to watch some football! We were all shocked how long Olivia slept and that she was so difficult to wake up. Yesterday we had gone to buy a new bottle because she does not like the nipples that came with the breast pump. So today we had to try the new bottle (mom wanted a Hard Apple Cider) and  TA DA!! SUCCESS! This is huge because we will not be taking her to the Seahawk's game and needed to make sure that she would be able to eat and not just scream.

Lookin cute in her 3 month clothes :)

WOOHOO!

• She just really love the water and I am so thankful! I do not like water so Mike will have to teach her how to swim. But I accidentally poured water down her face and she just sat there like it was nothing.... and then fell asleep. I would love to do that!

Other random things and some more photos:

• I was able to experience the nastiness that comes out of Olivia for the first time while her diaper was off -_- It was not pleasant. But I know that it will be way worse later.
• While I was pregnant, I had several women tell me that after delivery and while I am breast feeding that I will feel contractions as my uterus continues to return to its normal size. I did not have those contractions and fee blessed! They were definitely bad enough during labor. 
• We cannot believe how quickly she is growing! Yes, having an infant is hard work but it is an amazing experience.
• It is funny to watch Mike and my brothers with Olivia. When she starts to cry, they have no idea what to do. They almost instantly try to hand her to me and hint at, "you have the boobs to quirt her down. It's your turn!". Olivia is the youngest baby that most of us have been around in years. I was thinking about it and I am pretty sure that the last time I was around a baby this young and this much was Lulu; sixteen years ago!
• So, our cats have been keeping their distance from Olivia. Over the last week, the cats have gotten rowdy and fussy themselves. The other day I was feeding Olivia on the couch. I guess that Troy had had enough and jumped up on my lap to claim his spot back. HAHA! I see a few more battles in the future.

"He jacked my spot!" 

HAHA! So True... Thank you John Pryor for the card!

No sure if this was a yawn or the start of crying... It could be a mix...

She has this SUPER CUTE little sigh that she does. I was finally able to capture it on video :)

Farewell Family Visitors, We Will Miss You

Thank you Kim and Chris for coming to visit us! We had such a great time. I know we did not do all that much and Mike was working but it was so wonderful to have you visit. Olivia really enjoyed snuggling with both of you!

The last couple of days have been relaxing and filled with little sleep. On the one hand, it is nice to have Olivia more wake and alert and at the same time, I am pretty sleep deprived. Yesterday we took Olivia with the four of us antique shopping. Her first experience! :-) Of course, she got hungry right in the middle of our trip so I fed her while the others went inside to shop. I decided to just carry her instead of getting the carrier set up; I knew we wouldn't be in there long. Olivia so nicely decided to leave me a present in her diaper. And this one wreaked! You could smell her from halfway across the shop.

Kim and Chris came back over this morning before they took off. It was a nice visit and I was so thankful for the Dutch Bros coffee they brought me! I decided today that I need to get her used to bottles if we are going to leave her with someone when we go to the Seahawks game. She isn't liking it so much :/ I think I need to get some different nipple types for the bottle. The ones that we have seems a little big for her. But we have about 2 1/2 weeks to keep trying! We are learning that it is all a work in progress.

Mike decided he was really tired so the three of us are currently cuddling in bed together. Olivia is enjoying her binky, Mike is snoring away, and I am blogging and wondering where our kitties are. I am not expecting much sleep tonight as Olivia slept a lot during the day. But tomorrow is a big day as I have to do some work in the office, Olivia has her second doctors appointment (we are still waiting for her SSN so they we can get her insurance :/ hopefully it will get here soon), and then off to Whitworth to introduce Olivia to half of her Act Six family. Here is to hopefully getting so good sleep tonight *crossing fingers*!

"All kisses go right here please!"

Cuddle time <3 

Auntie Kim and Uncle Chris get into Spokane!

Kim and Chris made it to Spokane today! They got in earlier than expected and I was still at work. I am doing some hours this week as my boss is out of town. So I decided to go into the office this morning before our company got in. The people I work with were so excited that I brought Olivia in and she met some people for the first time. Just as I was getting ready to leave the office, Olivia decided to wake up. I knew that I could not just leave without feeding her so I went upstairs to a back room to feed her before hitting the road. As I was sitting there, I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. I quickly covered up as one of the guys in the office slowly came through the door. I think that I startled him more than he startled me. Oh the joys! :)

Olivia spent the afternoon looking around and snuggling in uncle Chris's arms. We took her to a restaurant for the first time today, Puerto Vallarta, and thankfully she slept the whole time! It was a rough day for feeding though; she may be going through a growth spurt. She was also more awake today and just hanging out more than she has been. It always seems to happen when we have company. We wish that she would just lay there content when she is just with mom and dad!

Well, she didn't watch but the Hawks did end up winning!

Look at that little bottom!! <3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You never really understand the struggles of splitting holidays between families unless your parents are divorced, you are married/in a committed relationship, and especially not until you have kids....  

We were brainstorming ideas the other day as we looked at our up coming schedule and came up with an AMAZING idea. Let's see what you all think :) I do not think it is fair to drag an infant around to at least three different houses every time we travel to the west side; nor do I want to do that (BACK TRACK: Mike and I used to head home the night before Thanksgiving, do dinner at three houses in one day, and then drive back to Spokane on Thanksgiving night in order to be at work bright and early on Black Friday..... YUCK!). So here is what we came up with:

We know that all three sets of grandparents want to spend time with Olivia; who could blame them!? She is pretty adorable ;) We also know that college is expensive. So we figured that when we travel to the west side, we could sell raffle tickets to the grandparents and have a drawing to see who we spend that trip with. And the money that we make on the raffle tickets will go directly to her college fund!! Isn't that an awesome idea!?! LOL. Then for the next trip, the person who won the first time would not be able to buy tickets... Not sure if this will fly with the grandparents, but it was fun to think about. We do not want anyone's feelings to be hurt but we are bad at coming up with plans and sticking to them. We are open to ideas! And at the same time, we are not sure how many trips we will be making as we want to start some of our own family traditions. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So many thoughts! I find myself starring at my beautiful little girl while she nurses. I love the way that she moves her tiny jaw up and down. Over and over, I think about who she is going to be when she grows up. Who's laugh will she have? How stubborn will she be? Will she play and instrument? Will we get along as mother and daughter? I say that because I have never really been an emotional person and do not feel that I get along with girls very well. Will she have her daddy wrapped around her finger? How soon will Mile buy a gun to protect his baby? Haha! Hopefully sooner rather than later.

Olivia is growing up so fast already! Auntie Kim pointed out today that Olivia has very fuzzy arms :) I did notice that she has fuzzy ears but I had not looked at her arms. Her eyes are still a deep blue and her hair is so long in the back! It almost looks like she is starting a mullet. 

It has taken me a while to get her to finally fall asleep this evening. She really enjoys the rocker that grandma Sheila got her. That is where she is now. I have tried to put her in her own bed after she has fallen asleep three times already and she wakes right up. At this point, I may just leave her and sleep on the couch next to her. Whatever needs to happen so that I can get some sleep! People keep telling me to enjoy how she is now, which I am, but I cannot wait until her daddy can make her laugh and smile. That is when they will really start to bond since making people laugh is what Mike loves to do. I cannot wait until she starts to crawl and can sit up on her own. I am looking forward to when she smiles at me while she is awake. Oh the many memories that we will have to catch and document! 

Sprung a Leak and a Baby on the Move!

What a busy last couple of days! We had three visitors yesterday: Ellie, Taylor, and Anna. Thank you ladies for coming by!

Yesterday was also a struggle with feeding. Olivia would spit up pretty much everything she ate. Before Mike came home she was feeling cold and really clammy. I called Mike and said that we needed to take her in when he got home. We decided to give her a bath first since she has spit up in her hair. I guess that baths work wonders! She got some color back in her face. Muahaha! I had Mike take her temp.... rectally. It was really funny to watch. Poor baby girl! It came out normal though so we decided to not take in. We did notice some curls in her hair when she came out of the bath (Yay! Mom is slightly jealous). After her bath I decided to try and feed her again. I got a ready, turned to grab a burp cloth, and when I turned back, I noticed that I sprung a leak! There was a nice arch of breast milk streaming onto the couch. -_- Mike was laughing so hard that he was crying! It was quite ridiculous. Oh the joys of motherhood :)

What is incredible is the things this little lady is already doing at two weeks! I put her on her tummy and she was lifting her head like a champ! Olivia is already doing push-ups better than her mom.... sad day! I sent a picture to grandpa Cole and he said, "Are you sure she wasn't two months late!?" Ha! I wouldn't be surprised. She was perfectly content with continuing to bake.

Instead of taking her in we decided to take a family trip to the mall to get out of the house. We introduced a sleeping Olivia to Pam and did some shopping. The rest of the evening was low key.

Olivia slept for four hours in her own bed last night, woke up to eat, and then slept for five hours in our bed. Snuggle time with baby girl is so wonderful! Daddy made us a big, delicious plate of scramble eggs with assorted veggies and sausage. YUM! While he was cooking it, we had a nice, long Skype chat with great-grandma Nunes. We loved chatting with you! <3 If anyone else would like to Skype, my name is arcole12. 

We decided to meet up with our good friends Anna and Erik and took a trip up to Greenbluff. If you do not know what that is, it a group of farms where you can go to buy picked fruit and/or pick your own fruit. They put on some fabulous festival events in the fall. We bought SCRUMPTIOUS pumpkin donuts, apples, and went to pick blackberries and raspberries. It was a beautiful day and there were not that many people there yet.... that starts in October. As soon as Mike was pulling out of the driveway to head home, we heard a massive explosion coming from Olivia.... Anna and I looked down and saw a nasty, yellow liquid flowing out of Olivia's diaper and onto her car seat... -_- .... oh joy.... so back to the bathtub we went as soon as we got home! Thankfully it was not as bad as we thought.

Now we are just relaxing before we head to bed. Hope fully baby girl will let me dress her up in her cute Seahawks gear for the game tomorrow! 

Frustration

WARNING: I will be doing some ranting that really has nothing to do with Olivia. Sorry...

I had a postpartum doctor appointment today and things went well. The ladies in the office were so excited to see me with an actual baby! They are such a sweet group of women.

It's good to hear that fluctuations with Olivia's eating is normal. But I feel like I have fed her about every hour today, which is draining when a I want to do is have her sleep for a few hours so I can clean. On the bright side, my feet are looking more and more normal every day! I never realized how skinny my ankles are. :-) But I'm still waiting for my hands to shrink so I can wear my wedding ring again :/

After we picked up Mike we took a family walk to Fred Meyers. You gotta love it when your baby gas a blowout in the store and then starts screaming.... yay! -_- We got it taken care of wuickly as we rushed home to watch Thursday Night Football.

RANT: This whole idea of credit scores is ridiculous. First of all, why do they range from 334-808??? Who makes those numbers? Also, how is anyone supposed to get ahead and/or work on building their credit if no one trusts them? We need a second car and I wanted to take out a loan to get a car what we don't have to do a ton of work to but I wasn't looking for anything fancy. Well needless to say, we were declined and told we would need a co-signer who has more of a credit history. I'm 26 and don't want to rely on other people or ask someone to do that.... I'm frustrated. I just feel like I am never making progress. How are we going to get a second car? How are we supposed to buy a house some day? How are we going to afford college (among other things) for Olivia and any other children we might have? How do you build credit if no one will give you credit??? Just feeling defeated his evening. Oh well. I guess there isn't much else I can do tonight. Tomorrow is a new day. I just have to keep remembering a post I saw on Pinterest:

God has three answers to our prayers:
Yes
Not yet
and, I have something better in store

I just have to trust that it is in His hands and that we will be okay.

Low Key

The post will be short today. After a busy couple of days, Olivia and I decided to stay inside today and not do much of anything. She was not eating very well yesterday and it took a while to get her to sleep. However once she was asleep, she slept for about six hours straight. I don't know how we got a baby that can sleep like that but I LOVE. it! Now to get her to sleep that long in her own bed.

I know that once she is in her bed, I will not sleep as well because I will be constantly checking on her to make sure she is still breathing. It is something I have done for years; making sure people are breathing in the middle of the night that is. I was telling family when they were in town that when I was young and woke up (thanks mom) in the middle of the night, I would walk around to each room and stick my finger under each person's nose to make sure they were all still breathing. They laughed and asked why I didn't just touch peoples' arms. My response was that I didn't want to wake them, I just wanted to make sure they were still alive! :-) Then I would go back to bed.

I finally found a binky that she will let me give her! I'm so excited :-) Maybe now she will be awake without me having to feed her..... maybe.

We had a couple of visitors today. Thank you Taylor and Stephanie for visiting! I was able to get some cleaning done today which felt great! We took a short walk around the neighborhood with dad before he went to bed.

I have a doctors appointment tomorrow morning and we are praying that everything looks good and that my UTI is gone. That would make my week.