One Month of Liv

When we last spoke, Olivia had just arrived into this sunshiny world. A healthy 8 lbs, 9 oz, 10 fingers, 10 sweet little toes, a good eater and a happy baby.

Since then, an entire month has passed.

Can you believe it has been a month? (Technically 5 and a half weeks, even crazier!)

Olivia continues to do great - growing like a weed, sleeping in 3 hour stretches at night already, and fits perfectly into our family. It hasn't always been roses, however. Our first couple of weeks after the grandmas went home and went back to work were pretty rough. Isabel was craving the attention she had spent the past 17 months getting used to and mommy had her hands full feeding an infant every 2 hours or less on practically zero sleep. I'm amazed that we got through it with only a couple of hits and bites (Isabel pretended to kiss Olivia once and actually bit her!).

But now we have fallen into a routine. I can not imagine my life without this precious baby girl and enjoy every single snuggle I can get. She loves to be close. When she is upset, the closer you snuggle her, the tighter of a ball she can get into, the faster she settles down. She is incredibly strong already - I know it will be just a short time before she is crawling around playing with her big sister. She also loves to make eye contact and loves to be talked to. She rarely cries unless she needs something and is such a go with the flow little one.

We joke that Olivia is koala baby because all she does right now is sleep, eat and snuggle. This is one of her favorite koala baby poses.

I still can't get over how tiny she was. I barely remember Isabel being so small!

This is one of her newborn photos taken by Christy from our church. Such a sweet little bird.

Four weeks old and getting bigger every day. Already wearing her 0-3 month clothes and filling them up nicely. And don't they look cute on her?

This was the first time that we let Isabel hold Olivia. It was hilarious. We put Isabel on the corner of the couch so there was less danger of Olivia rolling off and put little sister in big sister's arms. She was so stunned that she didn't know how to react at first, but the she really got into it and started kissing her over and over. Then in an instant, she decided she was finished and was ready for Nana to pick her up again. I had to be fast with the camera, but it was a heart melting moment.

And now here we are... Five and a half weeks of being a family of four and loving almost every second of it. Looking forward to many more months, tons more photos and watching my girls grow to love each other.

I am one lucky mama.

The Weekend

As a general rule, I cherish my weekends. I relish every second, bask in each moment.

This weekend, however, has not been one of my finest.

I've been trying to write this blog post for hours, but everything that comes to mind is negative - Isabel was difficult this weekend, my house is a complete disaster, I'm entering my third trimester and therefore am tired of being pregnant already, I watched a sad movie, and the dinner I made kinda sucked.

I need a vacation, or at least 8 hours of sleep.

Here's hoping Isabel sleeps all night and I wake up with a more sunny disposition.



*ps. I drew this this week. I know it's lovely, but please don't use it for anything without permission. I'm nice and I'll probably say yes, but it's my art, so be courteous. Kthxbai.

Sparkly Shoes

 

I obviously do not put much importance in my shoes - as I type this, I am sitting at my desk wearing black sandals that I have had for at least 3 years now.  I bought the same pair in brown, because I knew they fit, they went with a lot of things, and so that I wouldn't have to think about finding a brown pair.  I wore them today even though it rained last night and I walked through wet grass this morning.  When I got married, I bought a pair of sandals at Walmart (no, I'm not joking), and my friend Lindsy was so embarrassed by that she took me shoe shopping and bought me the most amazingly adorable blue heels so that I wouldn't have to wear walmart shoes on my wedding day.

My daughter is now to the point where she's about ready to be wearing shoes - at least when we go out.  I bought her a pair of Robeez before she was born, but they never seemed to fit right, so I just didn't bother buying another pair.  My sweet Meme fretted over Isabel's lack of shoes.  She even traced her foot on a piece of paper and carried that paper in her purse so that she could find Isabel some shoes that would fit.  Neither of us had any idea how they size baby shoes, so this was a necessary task, and also really cute and sweet of my Meme.  

At Katie's wedding shower, my Meme brought Isabel a pink box with glittery shoes inside.  They fit perfectly and they are crazy cute.  Isabel loves them, too.  One of the first times I put them on her, we went over to Meme's house for Papa's birthday party.  In the car, the light would hit the glitter and Isabel would look at them, touch them - she was fascinated by the reflection of the silver glitter on her shoes.

Cinderella puts it best - funny how one shoe can change your life :)  I have gone from saying when I found out I was having a girl that "girls don't always have to wear pink and ruffles" to planning outfits around sparkly shoes.  I love it and wouldn't change it for the world.

First I'll Be a Mother

Some houses try to hide the fact
That children shelter there,
Ours boasts it quiet openly,
The signs are Everywhere.

For smears on the windows,
Little smudges on the doors,
I should apologize I guess,
For toys strewn on the floor.

But I sat down with the children,
And we played and laughed and read,
And if the doorbell doesn’t shine,
Their eyes will shine instead.

For when at times I am forced to choose,
The one job or the other,
I’d like to cook, and clean, and scrub,
But first I’ll be a MOTHER.