Happy Mommy's Day

Yesterday was a wonderful Mother's Day.  Livvie gave me a card that she picked out herself.  David said she wanted to get Mommy the "doggie card".  The grandmothers and aunts came to our house for dinner, and it was great having everyone together.

In other news, I'm starting to suffer from baby fever again.  I don't want to experience the envy again.  I didn't like myself the last time as I envied friends and family members their seemingly easy attempts to get pregnant.  We're not even really "trying" at this point, so I don't know why I'm feeling this way all over again.  My baby girl is so much fun, she's not yet 2, and I don't know why I feel as though my clock is ticking again.  I do know that I want her to be a big sister, but I'm also enjoying this "only child" one-on-one time with her.

Happy New Year

Every once in a while, I will go back to the very first post and reread our journey. I haven't forgotten a single step in the process, but sometimes it's nice to go back and remember just how we felt each step of the way. I went back this morning and realized that it has been 3 years since we actively started pursuing our family dream. Today, we have a healthy, happy, beautiful 15 month old girl that has completely captured our love and attention.

I have been thinking a lot recently about our frozen embryos in storage. They will have been frozen for 3 years this coming August. The last I heard from our fertility specialists, frozen embryos are viable for 5 years. I realize that they are not even halfway to that point yet, but sometimes I find myself worrying that time will get away from us and we'll not get to those embryos before they have to be destroyed. David and I decided from the outset of our IVF journey that no one would be left behind. We chose to freeze the two remaining embryos and have every intention of going back for a frozen transfer cycle before they expire.

We have been discussing recently about when would be a good time to start working on baby #2. I keep going back and thinking about those embryos. I feel as though we need to give them a chance first, then explore other options if we need to. Maybe we'll go back for the transfer some time this summer. If the transfer is successful, our children will be almost 3 years apart (a nice space, I think). If it's not successful, then maybe we'll get a repeat of our first miracle. Only time will tell.

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.