Sunday, May 30, 2010

Real or not....it's a smile!

I know babies make all sorts of faces when they are just starting out in the world. Olivia has her share of them! For a while, the one face she made all the time made her look like a grumpy old man! Her eyebrows would angle in and make her look so upset all the time. She still makes this face but it doesn't seem to be a permanent look as it was before. She smiles a lot but I'm pretty sure these are just "gas" smiles or just her face not knowing what to do. Nevertheless, I was able to snap a picture of one the other day! I can't wait for her real smiles because, if I do say so myself, she is so pretty when she smiles!!!

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

1 Month Appointment

Olivia had her 1 month doctor visit this morning.  She was so good even though her eating time was approaching.  She fussed a little bit while we were waiting for the nurse, but we walked around the room and looked at all the cool dinosaurs that were hanging around.  They are very happy with her weight gain and eating habits and gave her a clean bill of health!

Her stats at 1 month old:

9 pounds 6 oz - 56th percentile
22.5 inches - 92nd percentile
37.5 cm head circumference - 62nd percentile

She's growing perfectly!  She did have to receive a vaccine today which I know hurt me more than it hurt her.  She did great and only cried for a second before completely relaxing for the drive back home.

We are so happy that our baby girl is so happy and healthy!  Her next appointment is in a month where she will receive a bunch of vaccines...Yikes!!!

Monday, May 24, 2010

1 Month!!

I can't believe how fast time has gone by.  Olivia is 1 month old today.  It's so hard to believe.  We are so excited about all the changes we see in her every day.  We are definitely looking forward to getting some real smiles from her because the little "gas" smiles she gives us are totally adorable!  Yesterday Lee set up a mini studio in the house and got a lot of great pictures of our little girl.




Today we wanted to get some pictures of her on her actual "birthday".  So, here they are!  I know Lee enjoys taking pictures of our little girl and for the most part, she cooperated!

We love you Baby Girl!!!!! 

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Friends

Sarah and I have known each other since 6th grade and have been great friends since junior year of high school.  Our last names were such that our lockers were next to each other every year (well, until Heidi Greene moved in and split us up).  So, it made sense that we would get married in the same year (only 3 months apart) and have our first child in the same year (only 2 1/2 WEEKS apart).  Yep!  Olivia was born  April 24th and Vivien was born on May 13th! 

When Sarah found out she was having a girl, the way she told me was "Well, I see a lot of tea parties and pony rides in our future".  Ha! 

Yesterday, Olivia and Vivien got to meet each other for the first time.  Here they are posing for their first (of MANY) photos together!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Impromptu visit with Grandpa

Olivia and I needed a few things at the grocery store and I was in need of a Grande Skim Caramel Macchiato, so we headed to Safeway and walked around the store for a bit picking up a few items before hitting the Starbucks counter.  This is where I met Giselle.  Giselle is the Barista at Safeway and boy was she a chatty one!  I really just wanted to get my beverage and buy my groceries and get out!  She wanted to talk all about some documentary on the Discovery Channel about babies being bought and sold in Nicaragua for $100 or so.  She went on and on and on about how it broke her heart and made it hard to sleep at night, etc.  So, now my coffee beverage is a little on the warm side instead of nice and hot.  Oh well!  She was friendly!

On our way to the store, I called Grandpa to see if Olivia and I could stop by for a bit.  I got no answer, so I left a message.  On our way home from the store, Grandpa called back and hoped it wasn't too late for a visit!  We made the turn and headed over!  There is a slight possibility we made Grandpa's day!  We'll definitely have to do that more often!!!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

New things.....

Olivia is changing every day.  Some of the new things we are noticing:

1)  She's definitely gaining weight - chubby cheeks and legs are definitely there!
2)  She is following things with her eyes - when she is in her swing, she stares at the little fish above her head and follows them around when they turn.
3)  She is holding her pacifier - well, she at least holds her arm up to keep it in her mouth.  Sometimes we think she's actually holding it.

It is so much fun to watch all the little changes.  We can't wait to see what's next!

Day Out!

Sunday was a great day for Olivia and me.  We got up and got ready to go pick up Grandma and head to Hidden Creek for breakfast with Auntie 'Reen and Adam.  The pancakes were great and the company was even better!  Grandpa got to see both the grandkids, though briefly as he had to hit the links.  It was great to see Adam sit in a high chair for the first time at a restaurant.  He certainly loved throwing all his toys and books on the ground and watching Auntie Kathleen and Mommy pick them up each time! 

After breakfast, we headed out to Target to do some shopping.  I am in desperate need of some clothes since I'm very "in between" right now and Maureen is heading to the beach in two weeks and needed some items for the trip.  Was a fun time!  We were thinking of heading over to Reston Town Center to walk around and do a little more shopping perhaps, but Adam was getting a little fussy due to some teeth coming in and it was time for Olivia to do some more eating, so we just called it a day.

What a great day! 

Farmer's Market and a Visit with Nana and Papa

Saturday was a great day! It started out with a trip to the Farmer's Market. Olivia did great in the Baby Bjorn. I wish we had taken a picture! We walked around and took in the beautiful weather and bought some herbs, bread and fresh veggies. We also picked up some fresh pastries to enjoy for breakfast. After our purchases we walked over to Starbucks for a nice cup 'o joe to go with our pastries and headed home. The rest of the day was relaxing as we got ready for a visit with Lee's parents, Nana and Papa.

They hadn't seen the little princess since her birthday, so they were definitely excited to see her. We had a great visit and a great dinner (thanks to Lee!!) Now that they are moving closer, Olivia will get to see them more often and that makes her happy!!

Monday, May 17, 2010

A "Thank You" to a co-worker!

Olivia would like to say "Thank You" to Nikki for her cute outfit!  Oh, and I'm trying to learn how to use the video camera all at the same time!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Lunch with Grandpa

Today Olivia and I made our first solo trip and met Grandpa at Panera for lunch!  I was a little nervous driving with her in the car, but it soon became natural.  I haven't carried her car seat very far but had to carry it from the parking lot to the restaurant.  Ugh!  That bugger is HEAVY!  I guess I need to get used to it!  We had a nice lunch and Olivia was asleep for the most part.  Then it was time to leave so she could have her lunch.  We made a quick stop at the gas station and then headed home.  The hard part was that she started getting really fussy about 3 minutes from the house and there wasn't anything I could do about it.  All in all it was a great outing!  Next time we'll go to Grandpa's house so he can have more quality time with her!  Thanks for lunch Grandpa!

Mother's Day....Part Deux

This year was my first "official" Mother's Day.  I have been a step mother unofficially for 10 years and officially 2 1/2 years, but this was my first Mother's Day as a real mother.  Lee shot a running race early Sunday morning but he and Andrew left some cards for me.  Once Lee got home he took over Olivia duties (other than feeding of course) and then made a fantastic surf 'n turf dinner for me!  Crab claws, shrimp, scallops and steak were on the menu!  Was a great meal and a great day!

Monday, May 10, 2010

Mother's Day Weekend

Mother's Day weekend was packed with fun! Saturday morning was the 2nd Annual Tommy's Run for a Reason. This is a great event that raises money for SUDC (Sudden Unexplained Death in Children). A friend of mine from high school lost his son to SUDC when he was only 2 years old. So, we do what we can to raise money and awareness so that other families don't have to go through what Andy and Beth went through when they lost Tommy. This was Olivia's first time out that didn't involve going to the doctor, so it was a big day for her!

Taking her out for an event that started at 9 meant that she would have to eat somewhere other than the glider. I was brave and was able to feed her in the car. She did great! We put her in the stroller and away we went. We got to see a lot of friends from high school and everyone fell in love with little Olivia. One of my friends from high school has twins (I seriously don't know how she does it!) One of the twins, Ramey, was very interested in Olivia and didn't want to leave her.


Lee was on hand to take pictures of the event and together with another photographer, a DVD of the events will be created and given to Andy and Beth. 

After a while, it became pretty clear the little miss needed a diaper change.  I have not changed her anywhere but in her changer or on our bed, so changing her in an outdoor venue was going to be a challenge.  But, I was up for it!  So, I pushed her stroller over to a nice empty grassy area and got all the stuff ready and went to work.  Just when I was finishing up, I looked to my right and there were 2 ponies standing there and a woman telling all the kids to form a line for the pony rides.  Well, I was in the middle of this chaos to the point where people were actually leaning against Olivia's stroller and people had to almost step over us on the ground in order to get in line.  It was amazing to me.  I felt so invisible!  I looked up to see Lee walking our way but he couldn't see us because of all the people, so I called his name a few times and he found us.  Good timing because I wasn't sure how I was going to get up!  I forgot that my body had not fully recovered from the pregnancy and delivery and I was stuck!  So, Lee got there to save the day and help me up!  Good times!

Carolina Bros. BBQ was there catering the event and we couldn't leave without getting a sandwich.  After we ate, we decided to head home so Olivia could enjoy her next feeding in the comfort of her own home.  We got home and got some rest before heading out for part II of the day.  Dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house!

We headed over a little early so Olivia and Adam could meet and we could spend some time with Auntie 'Reen before she had to head home.  Maureen and I also put together some collage frames for Mom for Mother's Day.  Lee was there with his camera to document the first meeting of the cousins!

Olivia loves her swing....and hiccups!

Saturday, May 08, 2010

Life at home with Olivia

Life at home has been wonderful. Not without its frustrating times, but still wonderful. Being a mom is a really hard job, but someone's got to do it! Olivia has been absolutely wonderful and I really can't complain at all. She has her fussy moments, but for the most part, she sleeps, eats, and poops! Lee has been taking pictures here and there but the big photo shoots are still to come! We really don't want to have flash or lights on her right now, so we'll wait a bit for that. Here are a few since we've been home.

Olivia had her first Dr. appointment on the 27th.  She had lost 10.7 ounces after she was born, but gained a half ounce when she went to the doctor.  They want her to gain .5 to 1 ounce per day to make sure she gets back up to her birth weight when she is 2 weeks old. 

Her stats at 3 days old:
7 pounds 1 oz - 35th percentile
20.5 inches - 85th percentile
34.5 cm head circumference - 45th percentile

Well, we just had her 2 week appointment and, well, she's now 8 pounds!!  She gained 10 ounces in a week.  What a champ!  This means she is getting plenty to eat!

Her stats at 13 days old:
8 pounds - 68th percentile
21 inches (not sure of the percentile - when they originally measured her, she was 22 inches, we thought that was a little off, so they re-measured her but didn't give us the new percentile)
36 cm head circumference - 77th percentile

We have a growing girl on our hands!!  

Friday, May 07, 2010

Olivia Louise Diehr

It's been almost 2 weeks since our beautiful Princess Olivia Louise came into our lives and I'm finally ready to blog about it!! As I type this blog, I am staring at our baby girl enjoying her bouncy seat....she looks as if she is smiling, but I'm sure it's just a little something she's working on that I will have to change in a bit!

Friday, April 23rd was a pretty eventful day! After being up all night having contractions, I couldn't sleep and decided to make my way downstairs around 5am on Friday to try and get comfortable. This is when I started timing my contractions (by the way, there's an App for that!). They were pretty consistent and around 6-7 minutes apart. As the day went on, they got farther apart and then closer together and then farther apart and so on. So, I didn't know what to make of it. Lee and Andrew went on to Andrew's baseball game that evening and my contractions started getting more and more intense. Even though they weren't 2-3 minutes apart, they were super intense and I decided to call the doctor. I was scheduled to go into the hospital on Saturday evening at 7:30 for them to start my induction, so when I called the doctor, she just told me to go ahead in and they would just admit me and get things going! Wow, this was scary.....this was really happening! My next step was to call Lee to let him know it was time. I got myself together and Lee called Pops to go pick up Andrew at his game so Lee could come home and get me.

We got to the hospital around 8:45 Friday night and got checked right in to the labor and delivery room. By 9:00 I had my IV and antibiotics and petocin were flowing! I was still only 1 cm dilated, so we thought we were in for a long night. The petocin was definitely kicking in and my contractions were getting closer together and way more intense. By 10:30, I was already 5 cm! So, 11:00 rolled around and I just couldn't take the contractions anymore, so the Doc was called in to give me the epidural. This had been something I had been dreading since I learned what it was (probably in middle school or something). See, I am a HUGE baby when it comes to needles, so this HUGE one that was about to be plunged into my back wasn't something I was super excited about. Even though I knew it would take the pain away, I was still completely freaked out about it. And, rightfully so! This Doc picked the wrong patient to mess with. My back was swollen and it made it very difficult for her to find the right spot. So, she had to do it 3 times. Yes, 3 TIMES! I was a complete disaster. Lee was so awesome through the whole thing and my nurse who was supposed to have been off at 11, stayed through the whole process to make sure I was ok. Thanks Buffy!

The nurse that took over for Buffy was absolutely fabulous too. I don't know how I would've made it through this process if it weren't for Lee and my nurses. They really knew how to make me feel better and focus on the task at hand. After the epidural FINALLY took, we were both able to relax for about, oh, 20 minutes before my water broke! After that, all bets were off. Contractions were coming fast and furious and I was beginning to think the epidural didn't take because I was feeling so much pressure and it was taking my breath away. At about 1:45, I was at 8 cm, so they called my doctor. Once she got there, right at 2 AM, I was 10cm and ready to go! Everything happened so quickly that I didn't have time to process the fact that our daughter would be here soon!

14 minutes later, Olivia Louise joined our family! She came out screaming and was absolutely perfect. She weighed in at 7 pounds, 11.2 ounces and 20 inches long. Just perfect!





I felt so great after she came out that I was able to hop on the phone to call mom and dad to tell them the news. As much as I felt bad about calling in the middle of the night, I knew they would be happy to hear about the birth of their granddaughter. Earlier that week, my dad told me that a good friend of theirs had a birthday on the 24th. The funny thing about this is that his daughter's name is Olivia. I've known her since we were in middle school and played golf together on the Junior League at Hidden Creek. So, apparently I had the presence of mind to mention to dad that Olivia was born on Bryan's birthday and shared the name of his daughter. This went over very well when dad told Bryan about this. Neat story I think!

We got all settled in our room and Olivia went to the nursery for her first bath. She came back to us all squeaky clean and we kept her with us in the room while we tried to get some sleep. Sleep was hard to come by as she was hungry and ready to start feasting about every 30 minutes!

Later on Saturday we got our first visitors. Grandma, Grandpa and big brother Andrew came in first and had their visit with Olivia. Not sure how we didn't get any pictures of Grandma and Grandpa with Olivia, but we did get some of Andrew and Nana and Papa when they arrived a bit later.
Auntie 'Reen and Uncle Mark also stopped by on Saturday during the 11-1 visiting time.  Of course, no pictures of them either!  Olivia remembers they were there!!  Grandma, Grandpa and Andrew came back to visit again during the 6-8 visiting time.  She definitely enjoyed spending time with everyone!

Saturday night was the first full night she spent with us.  She stayed in the room with us and managed to do really well.  She let me know when she was hungry and let Lee know when she needed a diaper change!  I'm not sure either one of us got much sleep that night, but it was great to have her with us the whole time. 

Sunday was a new day and was spent the same way we spent Saturday.  Eating, pooping and sleeping were on the agenda for Olivia again!  More visitors too!  Grandma and Auntie 'Reen got more visiting time in.


Sunday night, Grandma and Grandpa brought Panera for Lee and I to eat (so wonderful because the cafe food was NOT so good!)  After their visit, Lee got ready to leave so he could take care of Andrew since he had to go to school on Monday.  That left me alone with Olivia for the first time.  It's a stretch to say alone since I was surrounded by nurses who were there to take care of Olivia and me.  I decided I would send her to the nursery for the night so that I could get some sleep.  Little did I know, sleep would not happen for me that night!  Right around 11, I wheeled her into the nursery and let them know to bring her to me when she was ready to eat again.  Right around 11:10, there was a knock at my door and it was a nurse coming in to take my blood pressure and temperature.....at 11:18, there was another knock and this time it was Olivia being wheeled in because she was super fussy and wanted to eat.  What a greedy little thing huh?  So, I fed her and called he nursery to come get her again and sure enough, about 30 minutes later, she was fussy again!  This time, I decided to just feed her and keep her with me for the night.  There was no sleep had that night!! 

Excitement occurred early Monday morning when Olivia was kicking her legs so hard that it woke her up.  I went to pick her up out of her crib and the next thing I knew, 3 nurses busted into the room to make sure Olivia was with me.  Um, what?  She had kicked her legs so hard that her little ankle security bracelet came unclipped and set off the "somebody stole a baby" alarm throughout the hospital!  Good to know that system works well!!!  After they got her clipped back in, the morning continued as planned.  Lee came back after getting Andrew off to school and we waited for all the discharge things to happen.  I met with my doctor who said I was ready to go and Olivia met with hers.  We were all clear to leave.  We got her all ready and walked on out to the car for our journey home.

Lee had brought all his camera gear home the night before so we didn't get any pictures of her in her going home outfit until we got home. 
Cute right???  We also got to introduce Olivia to Farley when we got to the house.  He was SO confused!!

Our family was all together at home on Monday.  Here we go!