Saturday, December 6, 2008 - Update

Me and my kitchen. . .this was my birthday present from the person who sent the anonymous Target gift card. I've always wanted to crawl through it.
My dad is so proud of me. Right back at ya, dad!

Now, let's see. . .how do I do this?

I've gotta pull really hard. . .

I made it!

To say that Olivia is blossoming would be an understatement. It's more like an explosion! She hasn't quite got up on her hands and knees to crawl, but she scoots herself all over the place. I left her in her room for a second and she was in her closet. She rides her pony everywhere! Sometimes she gets a little overly-ambitious and falls over when she turns. When she falls, however, she doesn't let go of the handlebars. . .so, the pony and her both go down. The other day, I left the lazy susan open in the kitchen and she found a bag of brown sugar that she thought she needed. The last week or so has just been amazing. She is in to everything and is becoming quite the handful. . .and I am loving every minute of it!

Twilight

Oh, that Edward Cullen. . .

My fellow Twilighters, Heather and Kerry

Yep, this afternoon I went and saw Twilight. It had been a long time since I went to a movie and it was great. Many thanks to Grandma Mary for watching Olivia so that I could have my little escape. I know. . .it's a teenage chick flick, but don't knock it until you've read the books. They are fantastic and kept me up many nights a few months ago. I had a great time, girls. Thanks again!

Never Say Never Again

I appreciate all of your emails and suggestions. Of course, I want Olivia to be a completely normal little girl. . .just like I wanted a completely normal pregnancy. But, I had issues that needed to be addressed and I felt like my concerns were shrugged off. I don't want Olivia to be shrugged off as well if she has issues that need to be evaluated further. We have not seen a GI specialist, but that is one piece of great advice that I've received. Ryan and I are looking into that. I just feel like everything the poor girl needs is deemed unnecessary and everything she enjoys is deemed harmful. For example:

Olivia loves her jumperoo. . . .but, jumperoos are bad.
As a baby, she loved to be cuddled and carried around. . . . .but, she needed more floor time.
She loves walking around the house holding onto your fingers. . . .but, that's bad for her shoulders.
She needs to be supplemented with Pediasure. . .but, only in a sippy cup that she can't drink from.
She loves her Mac-n-cheese. . . .so, take it away.
Olivia enjoys Gerber Puffs. . . but, don't feed them to her yourself or she'll become helpless.
She is a 23 weeker going into RSV season. . . so, don't give her a Synagis shot.
She has awful reflux. . .but, don't increase her Prevacid.

If anyone tells me that she can't ride her pony, I'm going to say, "You're fired." :-) However, that's why God made mothers. . .to take in all the advice and custom fit it to best meet the needs of their children.

Also, she does only eat her mac-n-cheese for lunch everyday. She has other foods for breakfast, snacks and dinner. Today, she fell in love with Multi-Grain Club crackers (one of my favorites that I'm not supposed to eat anymore. . .hohum.)

Thursday, December 4, 2008 - Update

Mother, can't you see that I'm busy? (This is her irritated look.)
I can't say what I'm working on. . .

but, it's very important.

Now, back to work I go.

I'm a bit frustrated today. I had called Olivia's doctor's office earlier in the week about her eating habits. The nurse talked to the doctor today and called me back. We moved Olivia on to the Next Step Lipil (that I add rice cereal to.) They also agreed that she should have additional Pediasure as well. However, they only want me to offer it in her sippy cup. Hello? She has not yet mastered the sippy cup. We try every single day with a cup and a straw. They also don't want her to have macaroni and cheese anymore. I do offer her other food as well. . .I would just rather her have macaroni and cheese than nothing. I don't feel that any of these suggestions address the reasons why she cries at every bottle. Sometimes I think they totally forget the fact that she was a 23 weeker. I feel like everyone (sometimes including myself) expects her to be farther along developmentally than she is. For instance, her physical therapist wanted her banging on things long before she did. I was told that feeding her Puffs (instead of her self-feeding) would contribute to "learned helplessness." Then, one day she started doing it herself and now she keeps one in each hand. They wanted her to start crawling long before she was interested in things around her. Now that she sees things that peak her interest, her natural desire is to get to them. She can get to my laptop in a flash from across the room. The thing about Olivia is that if she can do it herself, she doesn't want anyone's help. Sometimes she just isn't ready for certain things yet. I'm just frustrated, I guess. I'm having a big problem with insomnia again and haven't been getting to bed until 2 am or later. I just want people to be proud of what Olivia is doing and not try to advance her to levels that she has not yet reached.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008 - Update

I don't know why I haven't had much to talk about the last few days. I've taken some new pictures and video, but we don't have enough room on our computer to get them off the camera. It seems all Ryan does is back up pictures to make room for more and yet we still run out of space. Move over Suri and Shiloh!! I think Olivia is the most photographed baby.

She is still riding her pony all over the house. Sometimes, however, she doesn't really "ride" it. It's more like she straddles it, lifts up on the handlebars and carries it around the house. I've tried to explain to her that she's making it a bit more difficult than it has to be. I'm learning, however, that Olivia likes to do things HER way with a stubborness that is second only to her daddy. I've gotta get some baby-proofing done. I'm having the hardest time finding a gate for our stairs, so I'm just using a barstool for now. Olivia has also discovered our little Christmas tree upstairs. She rides over to it on her pony and plays with the branches and ornaments. She is also perfecting the army crawl and can scoot around the house fairly well. Since Olivia has started becoming more mobile, I have felt a reassurance that she is going to be just fine. Every day it seems she is progressing more and more and is such a delight to be around.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008 - Update

Happy Birthday, Aunt Laura!
I hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Monday, December 1, 2008 - Update

Why crawl when you can travel by pony?

Olivia has now learned (and is tall enough) to ride her pony all by herself. She rides all over the house on that silly pony. Today, I chased her on it and she squealed and laughed like it was the best game ever! She kept looking behind her and would get so excited the closer I got. Then, she would take off as fast as she could go. Milestones like these are some of the most rewarding.

Quick question for those of you who have children dealing with reflux. We have tried to move Olivia completely over to Next Step Lipil. She likes it a lot better than her Enfamil AR (that is thickened with rice cereal.) However, because the new formula is not as thick, it comes out too fast and she chokes. She has a really hard time drinking anything that's pure liquid and I can hear her refluxing. Can I continue thickening her new formula? Will I have to do this for a long time? Can I use rice or oatmeal (she loves her oatmeal)? Any ideas would be so appreciated.

More Thanksgiving Day Pics

For those keeping track, our counter is currently around 93,500. . .getting close to 100,000. These people are still in the running. . .one of them will win the Starbucks gift card.

Kim, Kerry, Erin, Kelley, Marty, Amanda, Becky, Heather, Cristi, Shanan, Angela