Look alike?

I've been meaning to post this picture of me from when I was little. Many people have commented how much Livy looks like me. I don't really see it. Almost as many have commented how much she looks like Tony. That would seem to indicate she looks like both of us. Go figure. Anyhoo, I was flipping through the scrapbook that Nona gave us and saw a picture of me and for the first time felt like Livy and I looked similar.

First pout

Well, Olivia went to bed around 1am last night. Actually, she went to bed before then...she fell ASLEEP around 1am, and didn't get out of bed until around 7:30am. After such a long stretch, I was concerned she'd be Miss Grumpy Gills about her breakfast. Tony changed her diaper while I prepared to nurse her. So Tony places Livy in position and we go about trying to coax her to open her mouth wide enough so as not to hurt mommy. Sometimes she gets frustrated and lets out a yell which, conveniently enough, opens her mouth wide enough to get the job done. Not this morning. This morning, we got the bottom lip curl of a genuine pout. And not just for a flash of a second. We even got a "wah" with the bottom lip curl. She was not vewy happy. Then she had breakfast and was just fine.

More smiles

More video of a smiling baby, plus pictures.


Here's a picture of Livy with her daddy just before going to our Tuesday night [church] meeting. She's wearing one of mommy's pink dresses and a white sweater (with pink bunnies) that a friend from church gave her.



I've now got video of Livy talking to her mommy, but I need to cut it down. May be up tomorrow. Here's a clip of smiles and funny faces.

Talking to daddy

I've read several times that when a baby makes cooing sounds, he/she is attempting to talk, and talking back to them, especially in melodic, higher pitched tones, makes their little brains go wild and improves communication.

I type all this in an attempt to defend my darling husband who, in the included video, could be construed as sounding silly. Livy loved it, so that's all that matters.

GeePa, the other white meat

Olivia's other grandpa.

And a picture I think is funny. Tony put Livy on the couch, surrounded her with her boppy pillow and a green bankie to keep warm, then walked away. She was stealth baby.

Eight week checkup and more

Olivia saw the doctor today for her eight week checkup and more immunizations. She weighed 12 pounds and measured 24 inches tall. That puts her in the 90th percentile for weight and 95th for height. In other words, she's heavier than 90% of babies her age and taller than 95%. The doctor thinks she'll be towering over the kids for some time. She also had two shots in each leg. She was calm, the needle went in, then, after a two second curious expression, a glimmer of panic and "waaaaaaaaahhhh", beet city baby. Nona and I couldn't believe that color. Ten minutes later she was asleep.

Speaking of Nona...or, more appropriately, speaking of the name Nona... With so many grandmas, we decided to give each a unique name for Livy to call them by. So Grandma is my mom, Nona is Tony's mom (italian for grandma) and, as was decided this past weekend, Diane is Grandma D. My dad and Diane flew out last week for a long weekend visit. Daddy kept teasing about taking Livy home with them and Diane was barely able to leave her. Grandma D looooves her Livy. Grandpa doesn't think she's so shabby, either. Here are some pics from their visit.

And, yes, Livy has two grandpas, too, but I haven't had any special requests on that end re: names, so I figure Grandpa Wurth and Grandpa Smith will do.

A new smile

Olivia had a bath yesterday in preparation for meeting her grandma and grandpa Wurth. When I gently poured the warm water over her head to rinse out the shampoo, she lit up with the biggest grin and giggle. She did it the second time I rinsed, too. Then she pooped in the tub. The smile was replaced with the toxic scream, and bathtime was over. :(

Lap time

So often when Tony and I are holding Livy she straightens out her neck, opens her eyes super wide and narrows her lips like she's about to blow a kiss. I set up the video camera in the hopes of capturing this routine. So far, no good, but, of course, I caught plenty of other cuteness instead, including our aussie, Peanut Butter, giving lots of sloppy kisses to her new favorite person, Olivia. I was also pleased to have captured Olivia's first real smile for mommy.

Grist for the mill...

I've already begun committing the series of wrongdoings that will surely lead Olivia to the shrink's couch. The first(?) was taking her temperature today, rectally. She's been struggling with another low-grade fever off and on for the last 24 hours (no higher than 99.7). Since temperatures taken rectally are supposed to be more accurate, I pulled out the vaseline and did what I had to do. Tony couldn't watch. Fortunately, her temp was normal. She was maaaad at mommy, though.

More pics that make me laugh.

She's just too cool...

Bunny slippers (and onesie?) from Nona, sunglasses from sister Martin (at church). Put them together and you've got one cool baby.

Finally, a moment to type...

Olivia has been somewhat needy today...a phenomena that's been occurring more and more lately. She just wants to be held....alot. But she's asleep in her bassinet right now, so I'm uploading some long overdue pics.

I just thought this was pretty darn funny.

and this one....if only I could add sound. She was not vewy happy with me right then. Actually, if memory serves, I had pulled out the camera because she looked so cute in her blue outfit on her blue boppy...then she pooped and followed it up with the toxic diaper scream.

Here's some silly video...just of her drinking. I added it because of the cute little sound she makes when she's hittin' the sauce.

Pics of grandmothers

Now that I have a picture of both grandmas with Olivia, I thought I'd share.

Also, here's what happens when one abuses breastmilk. Just say no.

News from the babypoop front

Don't ask me why I call it the babypoop front...maybe because we've got alota poop happenin' here.

Olivia has had a slight temperature lately. 99 degrees. She's been a little fussy and had runny poop for a day. Her temp is back down now, but mommy was checking her every three hours. She's also got a bout of baby acne. My hormones are still surging through her and will for another couple of weeks. In the meantime, my hormones are causing icky red bumps and the occasional whitehead on her lil' chubby cheeks. She's still beautiful, of course.

Talking in her swing

Tony and I were folding clothes and watching TV while Miss Olivia was in her swing. All of the sudden she starts "talking" to us, so we grabbed the camcorder to capture what we could.

My apologies if the video is dark.

Another trip to the hall

Olivia went to church again today. We only had to leave our seat once, though Tony said he could hear her screaming all the way from the ladies room in the back of the hall. She occasionally gives that "help, I've got toxic poo on my butt" wail. This morning it was like a swamp in her diaper. I managed to keep her dress clean, but her socks were a casualty.

I meant to get some pics of her with some of my friends from church, but all we managed were a few photos of me feeding her, so enjoy.

The dress she's wearing is a pale yellow/off-white dress with pinking ribbing on the chest. It's one of the "vintage" dresses her grandma brought her. I don't know who made it, but I think it's one that my grandma made for me. She also wore a petticoat (apparently grandma Berry felt you're never too young for a petticoat).

She ain't heavy...

Saw the lactation consultant today to try to sort out some breastfeeding issues. Olivia weighs 10 pounds, 3 1/2 ounces. That's a good little gain since last Monday! More later, when I don't have milk drunk baby on my shoulder.

The Blob comes to life

Enjoy (I hope) footage of Olivia cooing and kicking on her play mat. Oh, and you get to see my haircut.

I've been singing to Olivia since she was just a blob in my belly. Sometimes Tony would chime in. The song we've sung is called "My Little Buttercup". Randy Newman wrote it for that piece of celluloid gold, "The Three Amigos". I've attached video of me singing to her. It usually mellows her out.




If you want to hear what it's supposed to sound like...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=3Mw9F5zawRQ

And, yes, we also sing "Build Me Up Buttercup" to our Buttercup. I just don't know all the words.

Gassy, smassy

I say she's smiling in her sleep.

Diaper rash and quick reloading

I received a complaint today that I wasn't updating the blog enough. So here's a juicy tidbit about my girl. She's got her first diaper rash and it does not make her vewy happy. And today I'm sure she set the record for quickest diaper reload. I had just fastened the pins on her cloth diaper and was about to put the diaper cover on her when I felt the front of her diaper was soaked. She thought that was pretty darn amusing.

I'm pretty sure she's going through a growth spurt right now. She's rooting for food more often. Mommy's doing her best to keep up.

I'll try to upload some more video this weekend.

So, I had heard and read that hormones released during pregnancy could cause a preggo to be a bit of a space-case. And moms I know teased me that sleep deprivation kept the ding-dongedness going after birth. That being said...

today I could not think of how to spell "sow", as in, "you reap what you sow". I knew it wasn't spelled "sew", but I had to ask Tony for help. So sad.

And it just now occured to me that I could split up the baby bath video into two clips to facilitate uploading. Derrrrr.

Olivia made mommy laugh

Tony and I had planned on giving snort (one of many nicknames) a bath today. She set the time for it when Tony was changing her diaper. He removed the poopy diaper and was in the process of wiping her bottom clean when she decided to assist him by providing her own wetworks. She pee'd and pee'd and pee'd. So much that even with a clean cloth diaper to soak it up, she was still lying in a pool o' pee. So mommy decided now was the time to bathe baby. I grabbed her bathtub and took it to the kitchen and started running the water. Of course, standing in front of the running water made mommy have to pee, too, so once the tub was prepared, I went to the bathroom to take care of my business and grab Olivia's bath gear. Tony opted to hold our nude little girl rather than place her in the tub. Well, he paid for that choice. As I reentered the kitchen with her bath gear, we both heard a squirty fart. Tony's face was priceless. I grabbed something to wipe her bottom, then grabbed her and put her in the tub. Tony was then able to clean up the silver dollar sized poop squirt she'd left in his hand. Mommy just laughed and laughed and laughed. Olivia seemed amused as well. Until mommy poured water on her head to wash her hair. THAT wasn't funny to the poop queen.

Quiet day at home

Today is Thursday, and Tony is off....thank goodness! For the last several days, Olivia and I have been having feeding issues. Since her fractured clavicle made it difficult to nurse, I put her on the bottle (with breastmilk, not formula) in her first week. Once her arm seemed to be better, I started trying to nurse her again. In the meantime, I had been expressing milk for her bottles but, apparently, I hadn't been expressing enough. Now my milk supply has dropped and I'm having to pump every 2-3 hours to try to get it to come back up. Try to explain to a hungry baby that her bottle isn't ready because mommy's milk is low. It's been hard for both of us, but I'm hopeful the problem will resolve itself in the next day or so. In the meantime, I've been anchored down even more and struggling to keep a good attitude. I can certainly relate when the books/experts refer to a mom feeling guilty about her nursing/breastfeeding/milk.

Here are a couple more pics of my girl. I really like the one of the two of us together, which is really saying something considering I hate all pictures of myself. I think the girl on the left is kinda cute.

Olivia goes to the doctor again

Had a three week checkup today. Olivia hasn't gained any weight, which is noteworthy but not yet concerning. She eats well and has plenty o' wet diapers, so I think we're taking the wait and see approach. Dr. Lee (GP) had a pediatrician come in and do a quick examination of the clavicle and it appears to be healing well. The ped wasn't too concerned about her weight since she's maintaining and not losing. She goes back in five weeks.

She received her hepatitis shot today. She should have received the first one at the hospital, but for whatever reason, the nursing staff took our signed consent form for the shot and promptly filed it under F for "forget". So, she had to have her first hep shot in the thigh today. Mommy couldn't watch. Olivia was maaaaad and turned a lovely shade of scarlet while screaming. Fortunately, she only stayed mad for about 30 seconds, then she passed out. I suspect she'll exact her revenge on me later today, when I'm nursing.

Some firsts today

Olivia had her first trip to the Kingdom Hall today. Of course, she had plenty of oohs and ahhs and was the belle of the ball.

She also had her first projectile vomiting today. Fortunately, it was not while at the Kingdom Hall. She may not have been thought nearly so cute had she regurgitated breastmilk in public.

I've been trying to upload video of Olivia's first bath, but the file may be too large. I'll keep trying (or cut the video down further). In the meantime, here's some random video I took of Olivia yesterday, just cuz she's so darn cute.

Welcome to Olivia's world

Rather than email so many video clips and pictures, I thought I'd try a blog so those who love Olivia can read about her and few her darling face at their leisure. This is a private blog, so it *should* be inaccessible to the public and only available to invited guests.

I'll do my best to update the blog daily, though I will have to do so between diaper changes, feedings, and projectile vomiting (yes, we've hit that stage).