Saturday, June 7, 2008

Arte Y Pico Award

I honestly didn't know what to write about today. It was a fairly uneventful day, but this evening was fun. I went out to dinner with Ryan, Joel and Laura. They are currently watching Indiana Jones, but I decided to come home to Olivia. Although she was in GREAT hands, I just hated to be apart from her that long. When I checked all of my usual blogs, I found that Heather had presented me with an award. Thanks, Heather.

I remember years ago, I asked my husband what a blog was. At that time, I truly didn't know as they were not well known. He explained that it was a kind of on-line diary about your life that people can read. I thought, "Why would anyone want to read about my life?" I wish my life was as uneventful as it was back then, but I am grateful for the 50,000+ visits that I've received.

Arte Y Pico Award


So in receiving this award there are some rules.You must.....

1. Chose 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award for their
creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribute to the blogging
community, no matter what language.

2. Each award has to have the name of the author and a link to his/her blog
to be visited by everyone.

3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name of and link to
the blog that presented her/him with the award.

4. The award winner and one who has given the prize has to show the link of Arte Y Pico blog so everyone will know the origin of this award.

5. To show these rules.

So, without further ado I would like to present this award to these 5 people. I have chosen 5 people who have also given birth prematurely. I thank them for spreading awareness and allowing us to get to know their precious children. I wish I could pick more than 5 because there are so many wonderful preemie blogs.

Julie at Life is Good.

Casey at Quilao Triplets.

Eric and Tobie at Chasing Babies.

Chris and AnnMarie at Pray For Coy.

Bree at The Story of a Little Man Named Lincoln.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Where is that Energizer Bunny?

I can't ever remember to charge my iPod so I haven't been able to use it. I keep leaving my laptop unplugged and the battery runs out. Olivia's rainforest soother in her crib plays the song in slow motion because it needs new batteries. I haven't posted any new pictures of Olivia because. . .you guessed it. . .my camera needs new batteries. Today, Olivia and I took two naps together totaling over 4 hours! Well, at least it's not only me that needs recharged.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Ryan and Jodi's Guide to Staying Healthy and Surviving RSV Season

Well, it's been almost 6 months since we took Olivia home from the hospital. During that time, we had one of the worse cold/flu/RSV seasons in a long time. All three of us have remained healthy. Now, we had a lot of things working in our favor: 1) I am a stay at home mom. 2) Ryan's employer allowed him to work from home when needed. 3) Olivia doesn't have any older siblings. I do feel, however, that we were very vigilant and cautious with everything and that has kept us all healthy and somewhat sane. I was told numerous times to not be surprised if Olivia was hospitalized again after coming home. I waited so long for my baby to be home. . .I was NOT going to have her in the hospital again. I attribute our healthiness (and sanity) to these 10 things.


1) Start a blog. I will be forever grateful to Stacie for the idea of this blog. After Logan and Olivia were born, starting a blog was the last thing on my mind. It has been so therapeutic to me, however, and has let me feel connected to the outside world. Without it, I think many people would assume that I dropped off the face of the earth.

2) Become a homebody. Ryan and I are naturally homebodies so that has helped us. Without a love of being at home, I think I would have gone crazy.

3) Become a soap connoisseur. Because I literally wash my hands hundreds of times a week, it's nice to have a variety. Wash or Purell your hands before touching your baby. . .even if you have just washed them. Also, make sure you have a lot of lotion on hand for the cracks and bleeds that will occur with constant hand washing.

4) Stockpile Lysol wipes and Purell. We used (and continue to use) both of them all of the time. When given a free moment, just go around the house and lysol doorknobs, light switches and other germ magnets. You will never catch us without Purell on hand.

5) Never touch your face. Since high school, I have had a bad habit of biting and picking my lip. Every New Years, that is always at the top of my resolutions and every year, I break it. I'm proud to say that I've kicked the habit as I wouldn't dream of constantly doing it anymore.

6) Become Zest-fully clean. Or, Tone-fully clean as I like to call it. Every time Ryan and I went somewhere or cleaned the guinea pigs and rat cages, we would take a shower.

7) Keep tabs on who is sick and who is healthy. Never expose yourself to sick people or to others who have recently been around them.

8) Go on-line shopping. It's not worth the risk to get out and expose yourself to things unneccesarily. Plus, there's nothing more exciting than getting a package delivered to your house. Believe me, you need the excitement some days.

9) Post a sign on your door and one on your carseat. Sometimes people don't always remember to wash their hands upon arriving at your house. People also like to reach in and touch your baby without thinking. There are cute little signs from My Tiny Hands that you can put on your baby's car seat. It's hard to always remind people, so make sure something is posted.

10) Be constantly aware of everything around you. Let me tell you, this gets old over time. It's important, however, to never think "that will probably be okay." Know who is around you, who is sick, etc. Never let your guard down.

We are now beginning to let our guard down quite a bit. I don't take a shower after every grocery store visit. I even went to Target yesterday with Olivia. I still ask, however, that everyone remain cautious around Olivia. I know that some of these seem a little extreme, but Olivia made it through RSV season happy and healthy and that's all that matters.

Thursday, June 5, 2008 - Update

Well, they're coming to take it all away. . .the oxygen and the monitor. Is it silly to still have her wear the monitor at night? Probably. Is it a pain? Yes. But, we do it. Why? Well, for three reasons really. She sleeps on her tummy. Sometimes I wonder why I let her sleep on her tummy. However, when you think about all of the kangaroo care that we did with her in the NICU and how I hold her in the recliner. . .it makes sense. Her tummy is snuggled up against me and that's what she likes. Plus, I think some babies are tummy sleepers and some are back sleepers. The second reason we have her wear the monitor is because she has been known to throw up in her crib. The last time, we found dried vomit all around her and she never even woke us up. And, well. . .it's reassuring to know that if there was a problem, it would beep and wake us up. I worry a lot. . I was an anxious person before all of this. Now, I'm even worse. I guess my reasons weren't valid enough, however, to keep the monitor. It's probably a blessing because all of us are sick of the thing. We were going to discontinue it as soon as she started rolling over. Then, I could put her on her back and it would be her choice as to how she wanted to sleep. She's almost there and I would think that by almost 6 months adjusted, the fear of SIDS is almost passed. Any words of advice from others who have survived the first few nights without a monitor?

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Wednesday, June 4, 2008 - Update

Ready. . .
Set. . .

Almost!
We've been working with Olivia to get her to roll over. She's almost there, but not quite. It's probably partially my fault because I hold her. . . a lot. I keep thinking, however, that she'll do it any day. At least she's having fun trying. Normally, I wouldn't pay much attention to her developmental milestones, but it's hard due to the fact that she was born so early. I think a preemie mom always worries about things like that. I don't want her to fall too behind. We were practicing to roll over for Aunt Kim's birthday, but no luck yet. Happy Birthday, Kim!

As I've mentioned before, she has been sleeping for almost 12 hours a night since mid-March. After those few thunderstorms, she has been waking up multiple times at night. Last night, after the third time, we gave her some Tylenol as we keep thinking that she's trying to get a tooth. She'll sleep the rest of the night after that. But, like rolling over, I think a tooth is coming any day and it doesn't. It kind of feels like we're at a bit of a standstill.



Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Tuesday, June 3, 2008 - Update


I love being a mom. I love everything about it. . .even the sleepless nights and the poopie diapers. I often wonder why I had to work so hard to become a mother. I think I'm pretty good at it. . .it comes natural and Olivia is a very happy little girl. I don't know. . .you'd think that God would want his children raised by parents who absolutely love them. That's not always the case. And why wouldn't He allow me to raise Logan? I loved him with my whole heart. I guess some things we aren't meant to understand.


I love watching Olivia grow and learning more about her everyday. She is not only afraid of hailstorms, but of anything that sounds like hail (such as the ice maker or certain rattles.) When we're in the car, I can only see her feet, but I can tell whether she's awake or not. When she's awake, her feet are crossed. . .when she's asleep, they aren't. I love the grin that she gives me when I put her in her high chair. I love it when she makes her Oooooooh sound. . .it reminds me of a little dove. I don't think I could have been blessed with a more wonderful daughter.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Horton Hears a Whoaughh

Poor Horton. He always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I think this is the 2nd (maybe 3rd) time that he's been vomited on. Last night, poor Olivia had one of the biggest vomits that she's ever had. . .all over daddy, herself, her chair, the floor and Horton. (Boy, I decided to take my shower at just the right time.) We had been doing so well for so long that I can't help but to question why it happened. I have it narrowed down to two things. 1) I always give her Prevacid before her second bottle of the day, which is about 11 am. Since we were at church, I forgot and didn't give it to her until almost 2 pm. 2) Weeks ago we implemented a "no more than 3 oz each bottle after 5 pm" and she had been doing so good that we gradually increased that to 4 oz or even 5 oz in the evening. I think that is just too much for her in the evening. I am just grateful that this no longer happens daily.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Sunday, June 1, 2008 - Update

Here we are getting ready to leave for church.
My mom and dad took me to church for the first time today.

We surprised everyone at church today with our presence and that of a special little girl. Olivia created quite the buzz. She did very well. I wasn't sure how she'd react to being around so many new things, but she handled it like a pro. She even sang along during some of the songs. We were also very impressed with everyone there who understood our situation and realized that we still need to keep Olivia protected. Thank you for making it an enjoyable experience for all of us.