A few warm days left

We had a gorgeous day this weekend. It would have been a shame not to get outside and enjoy it. Olivia enjoyed "hanging" out while we raked the yard.

Meal time! Finger foods are a hit. She definitely enjoys feeding herself....and playing with her food and dropping her food and.... all the normal stuff with feeding babies!

I could NOT believe what i found when i got my head out of the fridge. Look below. WOW. Scary stuff. She was sitting forward in her seat one minute...i turn around to get her breakfast mixed up and ready and suddenly she's standing up and turned around

Since I don't have nearly enough pictures of S and I together I thought I would post this bottom one from my birthday dinner the other night. She's such an awesome girl.

Olivia gets what she wants...no really, she goes and gets it!

I've been meaning to post .... i promise i have.... i've just been, TIRED. Keeping up with Olivia is getting tough. She is on the go! Check her out in these videos. Sorry it's in two parts. I try to keep them short, otherwise this website won't let me upload them.

part two is below....

Savanah is so grateful for all of Olivia's help with homework. You can see that O is very serious while explaining the worksheet.

This bottom picture is old. I can't believe I never posted it. The face O is making just cracks me up.

Prematurity Awareness Month

Hi everyone. This month is prematurity awareness month. A subject that really hits home with all of us that write and read this blog. How appropriate that Olivia and I were invited to come back to visit the NICU during such a month. It was our pleasure to spend an hour with a former "roomie" speaking to other mothers who are going through now what we went through the beginning of this year. On the way home it dawned on me that I don't talk too much about Olivia's first 4 months anymore. Why? ........ That's a good question. The best answer I can give is ... because I still get emotional thinking/talking about it. It was such and intensely scary time for me (us). Part of me wants to put it all in the past and pretend it never happened. Unfortunately these Moms I met today (as well as thousands across the US every day) can't put it behind them because it is their NOW. They are there, at the hospital, bed (isolette) side, right now. Most probably haven't eaten dinner and all of them are worried sick. Those are dark times. I was hoping that I could appeal to everyone reading to take a minute and say a quick prayer or think a positive thought for all of the families going through what we did. We are so fortunate and I attribute so many of our blessings to the many, many thoughts and prayers that you sent on Olivia's behalf. I know they work! In particular I would like to mention Chance and his Mother. He is a tough 23 weeker with a strong Mom and supportive Grandmother. I mentioned a former "roomie". It is hard to explain the atmosphere of a NICU. People are very absorbed in their own situations and in the begining you hardly even notice other people coming and going, even in close quarters. As time goes by and if you are fortunate enough to stay in the same room (they move the babies all over the place with out notice) you may come to know another family. That is how I met Dekova and her sweet baby Desi. If I had to leave I always knew she would keep and ear and an eye out for O and vice versa. This was the first time I had seen either of them since getting out of the hospital. It was a great visit. The girls are both so big now. Here are some pictures of my Mom trying to hold both big girls. They are a hand (lap) full.

A pretty fall day.

Someone has outgrown her tub ... and since we don't have one .... it's shower time! Olivia loves showers (thank goodness) and always thinks she is going to "catch" the water.

Oh where oh where do you think she gets these blue, blue eyes? Could it be Grandpa Melville? Oh yeah!

What in the world is going on in this picture? Between the shirt looking like a half shirt and the lack of parental involvement during meal time one might think things were getting a little crazy at our house! I promise you the shirt fits...we aren't forcing her to wear her preemie clothes. Olivia decided to grab her bottle and get comfy. Thank goodness this bottle was the fresh one we were getting ready to give her...but it just reinforces how serious we need to be with making sure that everything is up off the floors and out of her reach. Mike put up the first gate today and is mulling over some ideas on how to keep the TV safe. Help us all.

Poor O. This time she handled her shots like a champ .... it was the blood draw that made her sad. Two different nurses, each with an assistant, tried to draw blood .... but with no luck. We were sent over to the hospital to see if one of the techs there would have better luck. Thank goodness they did. (but in the words of the nurse... they "blew out" her vein. blahk... too much information! so she is bruised up)

The results are great .... no more osteopenia (brittle bones)!!!!

Oh yeah... in regards to the dr. visit.... O now weighs 14lbs 13ozs and received her second flu and RSV shots. ( you can read about RSV at http://www.cdc.gov/rsv/index.html ) She will get the RSV shot every 30 days until April, otherwise she is current on vaccinations until she turns one year old.

Olivia has loved this little wooden horse ever since Lynna brought it home weeks ago... but is just now stable enough and tall enough to really play with it. she'll be scooting around before we know it.

Didn't anyone tell these two that only ONE person counts...and the other is supposed to HIDE...

Impromptu nap.

Before i could take off her hat and sweater she had crawled over and got on the sit and spin with Luca. I don't think anyone understands just how quick she can be (especially when she wants something)

Check out this T-shirt that Savanah painted. It's Uncle Max! She painted this for art class. she'd have to tell you the details ~ method, etc. I think it's awesome. she's pretty talented.

Olivia jumping out to scare me.

I'm going to attempt to upload a video of her growling....

NC to CO to WY to UT to AZ

Hi! Since I just uploaded pictures of Olivia as recently as Friday, I thought I'd do something different and post a couple of pictures of her dad on the road this week. Some of you may not know...but Mike and Max (Lynna's husband) are on the road this week. They are having to travel for work but very few people get a view like these from their office windows! Before they get back they will have traveled from NC to CO to WY to UT to AZ to NM to TX to OK to AR to TN and then back home to NC. These pictures are taken with a cell phone so they aren't the clearest...but then again, I'm sure NO camera could take a picture that would do these views any justice.

Mmmm...Pizza! It's getting harder and harder to eat anything in front of Olivia with out her wanting some of it. With her being so mobile and so quick you really have to watch your plate... she loved chewing on the crust. Auntie Lynna, Luca and Grandma lovin' the pizza too. O may be smaller and younger but she wants to hang w/ the big kids. Here she is (actually in October) with Autumn and Luca.

With all of the legs on this table it stands too high for her to play with...but i found that if i take two of them off then she will climb up on it like this to play. She has really started pulling herself up both to her knees (like the picture above) and to her feet (if she gets a good hold on something like the video below). This week I went around and put in outlet covers and when daddy gets back he will have to help with getting the gates out of storage. Yes folks...it's that time!!!!

November 1, 2008

These two are so cute. Here is Olivia with Victoria. Victoria is 3 1/2 years old. I wish I had taken a picture of these two with Luca. The three of them had a good time together. I can't help it...I love seeing these two hanging out.

Why does she smile when posing with Mike and then try to eat my face when i'm trying to take a picture of the two of us?O has a new friend. hee hee. It's actually her humidifier. Now that we are having to use the heat she wakes up so unhappy. Her poor mouth is so dry she can't even enjoy her pacifier. The worst part is that (i think i have written about it before... ) she doesn't close her eyes all the way when she sleeps. Ouch!

Oh my gosh.... do you see how close the little baby on the ticker above is to the big number 1??? My baby is getting to be such a big girl!

Happy Halloween

Mike was sad that the two of us did not get dressed up this year but i think the rest of the gang more then made up for it.