You're good to grow, so count the candles and blow...

Dear Olivia,

What a crazily wonderful year it has been. We have learned a lot about ourselves and each other in the last 365 days. There have been challenges, surprises, laughter and tears, and I would not trade any one of them. I can't believe how quickly the time has passed. You have gone from completely dependent on Daddy and me for everything to survive; you're now crawling, cruising, taking your first steps, and speaking your first words.

The first year was full of so many firsts. I cannot wait to see what the second year holds.

Happy Happy Birthday to you my sweet Livvie Bear!

Love, Mommy

Another Big Week

The countdown to birthday #1 is officially on: T minus 19 days and counting. It's hard to believe that this time last year, I was counting down the days to my due date. I think this time every year will be in count-down mode for the Spaulding family.

Livvie had a big week this week. I was on vacation this week, and it was my major project to get her to sleep in her own bed at every nap time. Since the day we brought her home, Olivia has only slept in her bed 3 or 4 times for naps. Sometimes she slept in her bouncer chair; when she was too big for that, she slept on the couch next to whomever was home watching her that day; 99% of the time she slept on someone's chest. I didn't quite mind her sleeping on my chest at first; I got snuggle time and I got an excuse to take a nap myself. In the past few months, however, we have become painfully aware that we needed a change. She's become so long and so heavy that it has become uncomfortable for her to sleep on us. We have also become concerned that she's almost a year old and not taking naps in her own space. We have not been able to take advantage of baby-free time during the day to get chores done or just have a little adult time. So we decided that since I was going to be home every day with her, this week would be the best week to break the current nap time cycle. We started last Saturday and tried naps in the crib, but Liv was having none of it. Once we passed hour 1 of screaming and crying and throwing loveys and passies out of the crib, we thought we were done for, that we waited too long. Sunday was more of the same. Sunday night, we decided to get the pack 'n play out of the closet and set it up in our room. On Monday, Liv went down in the pack 'n play for both naps successfully. It went on like this for the rest of the week, and as of today, she averages 1 to 2 hours for both morning and afternoon naps up in her pack 'n play. I am so excited! For the first time in 11 months, I have been able to take advantage of nap time to get some much needed work done. I finally installed cabinet locks today; I didn't have to get up at 6 a.m. every morning so that I could get my shower before she woke up for the day, I could take a shower during her morning nap! I am so proud of my little monkey, now we just have to get Grandpa and Nana to follow the plan and it will be a complete success.

Livvie got her first pair of big girl shoes this week. I went to the mall on Wednesday, as well as Kohl's, looking for shoes on my own. No one had the size I thought she needed, so I came home and looked up Stride Rite's website. The more I read, the more I felt that I needed to take her to Stride Rite. My mom had told me I should take her there because they would measure her feet and fit her for the correct pair of shoes for her walking level. Turns out, it was a good thing we took her because she was not in the size I thought she was, and I would have had her in the wrong shoes. I read that back and foot problems later in life can often be attributed to wearing the incorrect shoes as a child. Olivia has a large chance of back problems already due to her family history (my Dad and David's Mom both have degenerative disk disease), so I felt like I needed to do whatever I could to minimize any outside factors.

Lastly, Livvie got her first big-girl haircut today. My Mom had done a couple of trims for her in the past, but she got to go my cousin's salon today and get her hair cut like a big girl. We had quite a bit to put in a baggie when all was said and done. I cannot believe my baby girl is growing up so fast.

2011-07-27

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Ain't no stoppin' us now, we're on the move

Look out...we have a crawling baby on our hands! We're so excited! Livvie's been crawling for a little more than a week now, and you'd think she's been doing it for months at the speed she's going. She started crawling the night before her 9-month check up with the pediatrician. When the NP asked if Livvie was pulling to stand, I said not yet but she literally JUST started crawling. She said not to worry, that Liv would be standing and cruising around the furniture in no time (in fact, she's just started to pull to stand in the last few days).

Olivia's official nine month stats are 30 inches tall and 22 pounds. I was a little concerned because she's bigger than other babies her age and even some that are older. I addressed my concerns with the NP, and she didn't think this was anything to worry about. She's really tall (99th %), and even though she's already over 20 pounds, once she starts to really crawl and walk and move around, she'll use a lot more of that energy and she'll either lose a little weight, or at least she'll not gain as much. We'll wait and see how she is at her one-year check up. She's on track to triple her birth weight (which I read somewhere is the average thing to do).

Growing up too fast

Next Tuesday, Olivia will be 9 months old. I know I say this all the time, but I cannot believe how quickly time has passed. It seems like just yesterday, we were trying everything science could offer to have a child, and now she's on the precipice of toddler-hood. She's my beautiful, good-natured, increasingly independent, infuriatingly stubborn, incredibly funny little drama queen and I wouldn't change one thing about her.

Two weeks ago, we bought the next stage car seat and I have been dragging my feet on installing it. We worked so hard to have our baby, and I'm not ready to admit she's not so much a baby anymore. Yesterday morning, we put her in her infant seat to go to church, and Olivia had to scrunch her shoulders forward so her back would rest against the back of the seat. That was the final straw; it was time to install that new seat. Turns out, size is relative. She looked huge in her infant seat; she now looks tiny in this massive Cadillac of a car seat.

I continue to worry about her crawling progress. She IS progressing; last week she screamed bloody murder when it was tummy time and refused to make any crawling motions or notions. This week, she's up on all fours and propelling herself backwards. She covers a lot of ground this way, as well as scooting around on her hiney. In fact, scooting is her preferred mode of transportation and her Grandpa calls her Scooter. I'm hoping at this rate that next week will find her if not crawling, then nearly doing so. Looking back at her progress in print, I'm not really sure why I am worried; I know I'm not supposed to compare her to other babies or to what the books say. I have to keep reminding myself that the books put out a disclaimer that babies can be 6 to 10 weeks on either side of the week they list as "normal" for a certain milestone and still be considered normal. I also have to keep reminding myself that my stubborn little drama queen will crawl when she's good and ready to crawl. Until then, I am going to enjoy my (relatively) clean and orderly house for a little while longer.

Seven months come and gone

The fastest 7 months in history have passed in record time. Olivia is sitting well on her own, waving, clapping her hands, exerting her independence, and showing her (at times quite dramatic) personality. Her hair is getting lighter, and definitely taking on a reddish hue. She loves to kick and splash in the bathtub -- she protests at getting out of the tub before all the water is gone. She loves all kinds of fruit, squash, and sweet potatoes. Mangoes are her favorite. She gags and makes drama-queen yuck faces at peas, green beans, and carrots. She says "da-da", "ba-ba", "gu-gu", but no "ma-ma" yet. We're working on it though. I say "Ma-ma" and she looks at me and laughs. At least she knows that Mama is me!

I love her more than I ever thought it would be possible to love someone I've only known for a little over a year (I'm counting knowing her during pregnancy -- she definitely had her personality at that time as well). We are going on vacation in a little over a week and I cannot wait to see how Olivia responds to her first visit to the beach. I cannot wait to see what she does with sand on her feet and in her hands. She's so funny when she's learning about new things. You can see the gears turning in her head.

Leaps and Bounds

Olivia had another big week of firsts last week. She finally rolled over from her back to her belly. We found this out every morning when we went in to get her and found her on her belly. Along with this came diaper leakage. For several mornings in a row, we discovered that her diaper had leaked in the front because she was sleeping on her belly. David put some feelers out on Facebook to see what others suggested we try to fix this problem. The consensus was to go up a size on diapers for overnight; we did this (size 3 is HUGE on her tiny little hiney) and it seems to have worked.

Last week was also the introduction of rice cereal. She gets 2 to 3 teaspoons at her second and second-last feedings of the day. Livvie LOVES cereal! She gets so excited when she sees us mixing her bowl and is very vocal. She's doing quite a bit of tongue-thrusting at the moment, but everything is eventually making it to her belly, and I expect this to diminish as she gets used to eating her food rather than just drinking it.

I work four 10-hour days for my job, so my normal weekday off is Tuesday. David took a personal day off work today, so we took Olivia to the Aquarium for the first time. She was absolutely mesmerized by the fish and sharks. She loved going through the tunnels and watching the fish swim over her head. David and I decided to get a Zoo membership for this year. We cannot wait for the weather to get warmer so that we can see how Olivia likes it.

Rounding out nicely

Olivia went back to the pediatrician today for a check on her head. The nurse practitioner said her head is rounding out nicely and while it's still a little flat at the back, it's greatly improved from the last visit. I asked again about introducing cereal and was told to wait a couple of weeks, then we could start rice cereal. I think Livvie's going to like eating from a spoon like a big girl. She sits in her BebePod on our dinner table while we are eating, and we have noticed that she's paying a lot more attention to us while we are eating. She will mimic us by opening her mouth as we open our mouths, and she's very interested in what is on our plates. I'm toying with the idea of making my own baby food. I'm not sure if I will end up doing it or not, but I like the idea.

Big Week

This week was a big one for Olivia. On Tuesday, she went to the doctor for her 4-month check up. There we found out that she came in at 15 pounds 10 ounces (84th %) and 26.75 inches (98th %). We also found out that the nurse practitioner was a little concerned with the shape of her head. The back of her head is pretty flat (no surprise since she spent most of her days laying on her back). The NP told us to get her an infant chair that helps her sit up so she's not spending so much time lying on her back. She said that most cases resolve on their own, but the 5-month mark is the time where the decision needs to be made whether or not to treat with a helmet if the shape does not work itself out. So we went out to Babies R Us after the appointment and bought a BebePod; and Olivia LOVES it! She loves sitting up like a big girl and being in the middle of the action. She sits in her chair up to an hour at a time, and loves to play with her toys; mostly she likes throwing the toys off to the side so that Mommy and Daddy have to fetch them for her. She is also spending a lot more time on her tummy.

At her appointment, the NP asked how her sleeping habits were. We told her that up until Christmas, Olivia had been sleeping 8 to 10 hours straight through every night, but since the craziness of the holidays, she had been waking up at least once during the night pretty much every single night. The NP told us it was time to start teaching her to put herself to sleep; that way if she wakes up during the night, she can put herself back to sleep instead of us having to get up and do it. So that night, we decided now was as good a time as any. We went through her usual bedtime routine: jammies, diaper change, one last bottle, bedtime songs; after the songs, she usually gets rocked to sleep, but this time, we put her in her crib while she was still awake, swaddled and kissed her, told her good night, and left the room. It took a few minutes before she realized that we weren't coming back, and the screaming ensued. I was down in the basement doing my run on the treadmill, and David came down and said the screaming was like nothing he'd ever heard before. We went up every 5 minutes to put her pacifier back in and tell her that she was okay. This went on for about an hour and a half before she gave in and went to sleep, and slept the whole night.

The second night, we did the same exact routine, but went up every 10 minutes, and she screamed for about 35 minutes before going to sleep. The third night I had to close the pharmacy, so David was on his own. He said that he increased the time to 15 minutes and only had to go up once before she was asleep. She did wake up during the night, but we did not go into her room and she put herself back to sleep. As I finish this post, I can tell you that we put her in her bed tonight, she whimpered once and went right to sleep. Ferberizing seems to have worked. My project for next week while on vacation is to get her to sleep in her crib during nap-time. She currently will sleep in her bouncer, maybe in her pack 'n play, or on someone's chest, but never in her crib. I want her to associate being in her crib with going to sleep.

Another big milestone this week is that Livvie is really starting to roll from tummy to back with assistance. She needs a little help with positioning her arm and leg, but once that's done she's rolling all by herself. Hopefully by this time next week she'll be doing it all on her own. At that point, we will probably be taking the bumper pads out of her crib.

One Year Ago Tomorrow

One year ago tomorrow, we found out that wishes really do come true. One year ago tomorrow, our prayers were finally answered. One year ago tomorrow, Hope had been restored in our hearts. One year ago tomorrow, we found out Olivia Hope was on her way.

The past year has simultaneously gone so slowly and flown by so fast. The weeks of pregnancy seemed to drag on with the anticipation of meeting our miracle baby. Once she was here, it was like we blinked and four months had flown by. On Friday, Olivia will be four months old. She holds her head up very well and sits up well with support. She is starting to work on rolling, having almost rolled completely over from back to belly (which is backwards, most babies roll from belly to back first -- she may still do this). I have contradicting wishes every day: on the one hand, I cannot wait for her to be able to sit up by herself so she can sit in her high chair while we eat/do chores. On the other hand, I want her to remain a baby for a long time. I'm not ready for her to gain her independence. I'm not ready for her to want to get down and not want me to hold her all the time. I honestly have to make myself stop thinking about it so much because when I stop to think about how it was only a few short months ago that we brought her home from the hospital, or when I have to pack away her baby clothes that she has outgrown, it makes me want to cry. However, when I start to have these thoughts, I try to think about the upcoming summer and her first trip to the beach with her friend Gabe, and her first time in the swimming pool, and I cannot wait to experience these firsts with her.