dear oliver - the beginning

my sweet, sweet boy - you are growing so stinking fast. i can't believe how much we've done in 16 weeks. i've been meaning to start this series of posts for a while but i haven't been able to find the time. you are changing and learning by the day i'm finding it hard to keep up!

when you're older and you look back on this blog someday, i want you to know what an amazing joy and blessing you are. i have been amazed at your personality and demeanor since day one. you're so calm for a baby and you go with the flow so easily; everyone points it out. you've got your dad's performer blood; you'll do anything for a smile and love to be the center of attention. you're so aware of your surroundings and i love sitting and watching you take in the world around you. you have yet to be put off by loud music, live shows or your dad's drumming and you love to stare at the animals...the dog will bark in your face and you'll giggle about it. 

this wednesday your found your tongue and for the past 3 days you've been constantly sticking it out and making sounds with it. you spit all over the place and form your mouth like you're trying to say words when you talk. i think you might turn out to be a thumb sucker - you've been chewing and sucking on your thumb and index finger a lot lately, and i also think you're going to be a righty - you favor that side so much with everything. you started the banging phase this week; we got a bumbo and you love to drum on the middle part and watch our reactions. 

you're beautiful - i know i can only call a boy beautiful for a little bit, but you are. i know every mom says that about their baby but you are stunning. and you've got your daddy's amazing blue eyes; i know that doesn't hurt! 

not a day goes by where your dad and i don't look at each other and say how lucky we are. we are both guilty of staring at you in your sleep and just smiling - we can't help it. you have changed our lives so much for the better; I am so in love with our little family and this stage of life. 

life lately, according to my (and daniel's) iphone

Oliver - 2 (and almost 3) months

 i'm a few weeks late with this - oops

the biggest news between months 1 & 2 was that we all survived burt's 3 week tour! in the time he was in canada, oliver started smiling, and even bigger - sleeping mostly through the night! everything i've read says that we're part of the lucky few and we're not taking it for granted! 

burt's first smile

he's really found his voice in the last month too. any time he's on the changing table he lets loose and lets us know how he's feeling. i can't get over how happy and joyful he is. 

the things we do for grandparents...

we had the dreaded 2 month dr's visit last week and found out what kind of growing he's been up to. he now weighs 11 lbs and is 22 inches long - which makes sense; he's almost outgrown all of his newborn clothes :( I can't believe i need to start packing those away already. 

poor guy got 6, yes 6 vaccines (5 shots and one oral) and it was a rough week on all of us because of it. that is so much for a tiny little body to handle at once, but we're slowly getting back on schedule and he's finally back to his silly talking, singing self. 

This past week, he's made the awesome new discovery of his hands. its so awesome to watch him process and learn how to use them - he's a pro drooler and is great at getting anything close to those hands in his mouth - we just started grasping some toys this week too so he's starting to make the connection. play time on his activity mat is starting to be a lot more fun!

this is fun: the stats again. as of today (4/25) - we've gone through 550 diapers and 11.9 gallons of milk!

everyone else is happy and (mostly) healthy; i'm fighting a bit of a sinus infection that showed its ugly face during the day yesterday but other than that, life is awesome! we're lucky enough that burt has a great job so i made it official this month that i am not returning to work for the time being...i couldn't imagine missing out on the daily discoveries he's making.

 i'm slowly settling into my new role as a (gulp) stay at home mom, but i'm making it mine. i was able to do a ton of yard work last week (which i think is where this sinus infection came from) and the backyard isn't as much as a nightmare as it has been in the past. we planted some stuff over the weekend and it looks like our back patio may actually be how we've always wanted it now.

the babbling boy next to me is telling me he's getting hungry - until next time. 

(did i really sign off like that? ugh).

Birth announcements!

so i may not have gotten any thank you cards out yet (i promise, it'll happen), but i did tackle birth announcements today!

Photo Card

View the entire collection of cards.

i'm proud! 

Oliver - one month

yes. time is FLYING. i'm not ok with it at all (well, i can be for 2 weeks, but that's another story).

oliver is already a month old. we've been at it for over 4 weeks now and every day still has moments that feel so new. we're still learning each other but it feels like we're such old friends. i'm totally loving this new life (and loving it even more on the rare nights that we get 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep). :)

i can see oliver changing a little every day. he's crazy strong and has been since day one - holding his head up for long stretches and pushing himself off things with his legs; that and he's got a pretty strong left hook. his newborn clothes are fitting a little tighter...his cheeks are filling out...there may or may not be a roll forming on his thighs.

he's working hard on smiling on demand. he cracks a few mega ones while he's falling asleep, but this last week or so he's flashed a few in response to us. burt got his first one last night via facetime; this kid is gonna have technology down in no time. 

he's also working on finding his voice. we've had a rather extensive story time the last few days; he's going to be quite the chatterbox here soon. 

we have an app that we use to keep track of his schedule and i found the "overall data" section the other day. HOLY COW. it's crazy to see the last month in numbers. we've gone through 221 diapers, 216 bottles (for a whopping 3.8 gallons of milk - that i've spent 28 hours pumping for), and he's slept for 406 hours.

i don't have any current height/weight stats just yet; his next checkup isn't until 2 months. he was 6lb, 11oz at this 2 week checkup, so i'm sure he's somewhere close to 8lb now.  he's currently still in newborn diapers and clothes, but i'm pretty sure we're looking at making the diaper size jump here when we run out this next time. 

he's an easy baby, as long as he has enough food fast enough. just about all of the meltdowns we've had have been around me not getting it to him fast enough. everyone has joked about it, but i really do think he's got his daddy's temperament - he's going to have no patience for people who don't have common sense (well, i guess that's mine too; poor guy is doomed). 

i can't give an update without again thanking our amazing support network of friends. we have been so blessed to have such awesome people around us; its been a good lesson for me on giving up control and letting other people help. we've been truly humbled. 

we are so so so blessed by this little man...i have to fight every urge to wake him up just to cuddle with him. 

Two weeks

It's amazing how much your life can change in two weeks. If you haven't heard, Oliver decided to join us early (thank goodness). After a crazy labor process that I'll share later, he was born on February 3rd via c-section; 6lbs, 6oz and 19 3/4 inches long. This little guy put up with a lot to get here and he's absolutely perfect in every way.

In the past two weeks, the longest I've slept has been 4 hours (and it's scary how great Burt and I felt afterwords). In two weeks, I've lost 30lbs and counting. We've gone through almost 100 diapers, yesterday was the only day that I've actually had 3 meals, I'm lucky if I make it to the lower level of our house more than once a day, and I've all but kissed driving goodbye. I took some big steps today and took Ollie to my office downtown and made a diaper stop at Target, all by myself. Granted, I feel like I REALLY overdid it in the process, but at least I got it done.

I know I'm in the worst of it now; trying to recover from surgery and trying to establish a schedule with a newborn, so I'd like to think we're handling it alright. With this kind of face, how could everything not be ok?

to think; 3 weeks ago today I had an impromptu midwife appt to check my blood pressure that had slowly been creeping up. 3 weeks ago afterwords, I went to burt's office and cried in the car for almost an hour because I was so scared of what would happen if my blood pressure didn't go down. 3 weeks ago, we we're praying that God would use his timing when bringing Ollie to us, but we were hoping it was ASAP. little did we know the journey that we were about to go on. 

a new year, bringing all kinds of new experiences

happy 2012! i can't believe how fast the last few months have gone...the holidays have really made it fly by. we've been pretty non-stop since thanksgiving; and christmas break was hardly a break. in the week and a half that burt had off of work, we were home for 2 days of it. 2 days. long enough to put away the decorations...and we did that on a day that i worked and came home early.

thankfully, these last few days we've made up for the lack of time around and have finally got the house back in order from putting the hardwood floors in the livingroom in the fall. we've got some of the nursery put together (the corners could use a second coat of paint, but i honestly don't think we're going to get to that before he gets here)....and we have most of the essentials. the crib should go together tomorrow; mattress, bedding and all. all of his clothes are washed and put away and the list of things we need is somehow still growing. why does something so small need so much?

this tuesday marks 36 weeks - 9 months - medically full term. this week is our midwife home visit....where they bring the birth tub and leave it with us...as a constant reminder of what we're about to go through.

i'm ready - we both are...i'm too selfish for this pregnant thing and i want my body back. these last few weeks have brought me all of the typical very pregnant lady "complaints." my back ALWAYS hurts, i can't seem to sleep for more that 4 hours at a time (be it because i have to pee, something falls asleep from the position i'm in, or i'm just wide awake and can't turn my brain off), my knees and ankles sound like rice crispies almost constantly and my brain is all but shutting down. its crazy to think that my due date is less than a month away - that pretty soon we'll be able to actually hold little O. that the car seat in the back of my car will have a little man in it; that we'll be using the diapers that are in the top drawer of his dresser; that life as we know it will never be the same but in the most amazing way possible.

my focus for the next 4 weeks is to stay as healthy as possible in mind, body and spirit, and to spend as much one on one time as possible with burt; i know we're both about to be tested in a way neither of us has ever imagined.

i planned on putting a slew of pictures with this post, but i honestly don't feel like it right now. everything is still on my phone and it's not worth it to track down the cord to plug it in to get them off right now. on that note, you can expect to see newborn pictures of ollie by the time he's about 2 months old :)