The Many Faces of Olivia

Olivia is becoming very expressive.  We love staring at her while she's awake and watching her make a variety of adorable faces and interesting sounds.  It's easy to take a hundred pictures of her in just a few minutes!

Olivia has a new best friend, our ceiling fan!  She loves to look at it and coo at it, and even smiled at it once.  Needless to say, we are both quite jealous of her affection for Fan.

Here she is, staring at her BFF the fan.

Trying to focus is hard work!

She continues to sleep really well at nights, and she loves to be swaddled tight like a burrito.  We love how cute she looks when only her little head pokes out of the blankets.

Sometimes though, everyone falls asleep early...

Look how big she's getting!  She's fallen in love with her binkie, but will only take a particular brand "Soothie."  Occasionally, when her binkie isn't available, she'll attempt to suck on her thumb, but she generally has a difficult time getting her thumb to connect with her mouth!

She took her first roadtrip this weekend up to Logan for a baby shower in her honor!  It's hard work to go on vacation!  We'll post pictures next week.

Olivia Loves to Eat!

Olivia had a lovely time with her second week at home.  She and Cassandra sent Bob back to work, and partied it up all week!  She is still in love with eating and has an awesome appetite, but is sleeping super well at nights.  Olivia is developing more every day.  She's started making eye contact with us and responding to our voices, especially when we sing to her.  She loves looking at lights and grabbing at our hands.

Olivia went into the pediatrician for her two week appointment, and she is getting bigger every day!  In less than a week, she gained seven ounces.  She is now up to 8 lb 6 oz and 21 3/4 inches.  The doctor said she was in great health and developing nicely.

Two Weeks Old - Look How She's Grown!

Olivia's umbilical cord fell off this week and we were able to give her a real bath.  She hated it and screamed the whole time, but she was very pleased when it was all over!

Before the Bath

After the Bath, All Clean!

Olivia is an absolute doll.  She has such a fun personality and we love getting to know her more everyday.  What a beautiful baby she is!

Olivia's first week

Olivia has had a busy first week!  Our favorite part of the week has been realizing just how many people care about her - we think that no baby has ever been so loved.  We were amazed by the number of people we met at the hospital who love Olivia and by the number of our family, neighbors, and friends who have spent time with her this first week.  She has seen

Grandma Lisa, Grandpa Dean, and uncle Chet

Grandma Christa and Grandpa Chris

Aunt Anna and Aunt Arla

Aunt Michelle, Uncle Scott, and Logan

Aunt Heather

Great Grandma Tanny and Great Grandpa Don

and that’s just the family!

We know that Olivia will feel this love throughout her life and that she will always have a good support network to help her through any challenges.

And now the fun part - she’s changing!  Olivia was at the pediatrician’s office this week and has only lost one ounce.  But her motor skills, facial features, and - most markedly - her lungs, are all developing quickly.  The doctor pronounced her healthy.  You can see how long she is getting here:

Bob's had more alert mornings...

She had her first bath (not her favorite part of the first week, even with a warm wash cloth), lost her umbilical cord, decided that she loves her swing, car rides, and walks in the stroller, and has gone through over 100 diapers already.  And her biggest accomplishment - she is only waking up twice during the night. She likes a bottle at 1:00 and at 4:00.  This made us very happy after the first night home when she was not able to string together more than 30 minutes of uninterrupted sleep.

Olivia is a miracle.  Every time we met with you we knew more and more that she would fit perfectly into our family and that Heavenly Father had sent you into our life.  As soon as we picked up Olivia, though, we just knew that she was a part of our family.  We could have never have imagined loving someone so much as we do Olivia - we spend hours just holding her and talking to her (Cass sings, Olivia would not like it if Bob did...) and waiting for her beautiful eyes to open.  It's been incredible to both be home from work for the week.  The real adventure will start next week when Bob goes back to work and life resumes.

We are still trying to figure out what this blog should be like, so you should let us know if there is something you would like to hear that we left out.  

Baby Olivia Comes Home!

We spent some precious time with Olivia in the hospital where we loved cuddling with her until discharge the next morning.  Olivia was excited to leave the hospital, the only place she had ever been, and loved her car seat so much she immediately fell asleep.

We think she's developing a serious case of "car-colepsy." (Vehicular-induced narcolepsy.)

We love Olivia more than words can say.  She is the sweetest baby we have ever met.  Last night when she would wake us up, she would open her eyes and melt our hearts.  We found ourselves playing with her when we really should have put her back to sleep.  She is already gearing up for ski season in the lodge alternating with Mom and Dad.

Our lab was sad to hear she is no longer Bob's favorite in the family - sorry Maggie, you're not number 1.  She has already realized, though, that when one of us gets up to take care of Olivia in the night then she can jump on the bed and steal their spot!  The dogs are curious and it's been fun to see them lay next to Olivia's swing, bassinet, and car seat and watch her sleep.