Saturday, February 28, 2009 - Update

If you give a mama a cookie, she'll eat another one and another one. . .

My sister-in-law, Kim, brought over these two bags of my favorite cookies in the whole wide world. She whips up some of the greatest cookies and I don't know how she has time with four kids. I don't have much of a sweet tooth and I'm one of those people who scrapes off the excess frosting on cake, but there are certain sweets that I just crave. These are one of those things. Thanks, Kim!!

Last night, we tried our sleep training again and Olivia did very well. She woke up around 3 am and cried for about thirty minutes, but went back to sleep on her own. We're finding that she is a much happier girl in the morning and is sleeping in past 8:30 am. I don't think Ryan trusts me not to intervene, so he's listening for her out on the couch and I have the bedroom all to myself. I could be enjoying these uninterrupted nights of sleep, but I'm waking up around 4-5 am with horrible sinus pain. It's driving me insane! I've taken so much cold and allergy medication that I'm a little loopy. I'm hoping that it's not anything contagious and that allergies are the main culprit. Pray that I don't get Olivia sick.

Friday, February 27, 2009 - Update

Feb 2008

Feb 2009
(Olivia with her beloved horse puzzle piece)

I have just been amazed by all of the things that Olivia is learning. She shakes her head no to anything that you ask her and waves bye-bye all of the time. There is a page in her Llama llama red pajama book where mama llama goes downstairs and I would always wave bye-bye to mama. Now, every time that we are on that page, she waves bye-bye. It's too cute. Progress is going slow with the sippy cup, but I'm grateful that we're seeing progress at all. She LOVES to walk and has made it down the hall multiple times. She will also let go of the coffee table or couch to walk to us. We think she has said boat, shoes, yes, pig, duck and geese. . .but, no mama. The only word that she says on a regular basis that can be completely understood is dada. . .that's her favorite. I'll ask her to say mama and she'll say dada, fafa, gaga and then just laugh. Yes, I think she's taunting me. And, today she discovered the toilet paper roll. She is just becoming so much fun!

Success!

Well, last night we (and by we, I mean Ryan) had to take the hard line with Olivia. I have not been feeling well (my head feels like it's going to explode) and when she woke up at 11 pm, I just didn't have it in me to be up all night. I hate it because if someone felt the way I do, I wouldn't let them anywhere near Olivia, but here I am. Anyway, Ryan took the monitor, went out on the couch and I stayed in the bedroom with the fan on and the door shut. When Olivia would stand up and cry, Ryan would go in there, lay her back down, cover her up and pat her back. It only took her 30 minutes to catch on. The bad news is. . .whenever she cries for any length of time, she throws up so he had that to contend with and clean up. That makes our situation a little more challenging. However, she slept from 11:30 pm to 8:30 am!!! We're going to continue this the next few nights and hopefully by next week, we'll all be sleeping again. Thanks for all of your suggestions.

Taking Back Our Nights. . .

Okay, we've decided. . .this weekend is the time for Olivia to start sleeping through the night again. I just can't sleep in the recliner for one more night. Our nights go something like this:



Olivia goes to sleep initially very well, but has started waking up earlier and earlier. What used to be 1 am for her first waking has started to become 11 pm. She stands up and screams until mommy comes in to get her. (Daddy has attempted to get her, but she will continue to cry until she has mommy.) In order to avoid additional wakings, I've just been sleeping with her in the recliner. However, around 2 am or so, I put her back in her crib so that I can get a little sleep in bed. An hour or so later, she wakes back up. I feed her a bottle because she can use the extra calories. We've noticed, however, that it doesn't really make a difference because she just takes less during her daytime bottles. It all averages out to about 20 oz per day regardless. After she eats, I either go back to sleep with her in the recliner or attempt to put her back in her crib. If I put her back in her crib, she wakes back up an hour or so later and I just grab her and put her in bed with us so that I can sleep the rest of the night. The whole thing is getting very old. She was such a good sleeper for the first year. I'm sure the change is partly my fault because I've been so tired and desperate that I've just taken the easiest route. It's not so easy anymore and our bed just isn't big enough for the two of us plus a squirmy little girl. So, please give us all the advice that you can. . .

Wednesday, February 25, 2009 - Update

The big news of the day. . .Olivia actually picked up and took a sip out of her sippy cup today. She is just having a big week! Hopefully, she'll continue this trend. Of course, there is milk everywhere!! It was a gorgeous 70+ degrees here today, so guess where we went? I know Amanda is catching on. . .we went to the zoo. We found a nice shady bench by the lake and watched the geese for most of the afternoon. Surrounded by all of these amazing, exotic animals and we watch the geese the whole time. Olivia was quickly recognized as someone who can be a little clumsy with her crackers, so she became quite the popular one. It was adorable. Olivia was laughing and squealing at them. Oh, you should have seen her and her geese friends. . .but you can't because I somehow forgot my camera. Sometimes geese can be a little mean, but these guys were quite the gentlemen or ladies. . .I don't know. It was an amazing and relaxing afternoon. Now, if only I could get rid of my scratchy throat. . .

Tuesday, February 24, 2009 - Update

Are you going to walk with me for the March for Babies?

This evening, Kerry and I went to the March of Dimes Family Team Kick-Off. I'm so thankful to have friends like Kerry who are incredibly supportive in ways like these. We picked up a banner to carry on the walk along with stickers, buttons and fundraising ideas. If anyone would like brochures or a March of Dimes change collection bank to put out at work. . .let me know. I will have more information and additional details on incentives shortly. I invite any and all of you to join our team. Even if we've never met in person, this would be a great opportunity to get to know each other face to face. Just click on the March of Dimes banner to your right for more information.

In Olivia news. . .she is doing good, although she threw up last night. I'm not sure if it was due to her vaccinations or the Pediasure bottle that she had. I seem to remember that we stopped the Pediasure a few weeks back because we suspicioned that it hurt her tummy. Now that I think about it, she threw up one time after we added karo syrup to one of her bottles as a young baby. I don't think that she can handle sugar very well. So, I've decided against starting up the Pediasure bottles again even though she could use the extra calories. I haven't been feeling very well and I'm hoping that my sore throat is just the result of allergies. It doesn't seem to be improving, however. I haven't been sick since I was about 12 weeks pregnant, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Monday, February 23, 2009 - Update

Please continue to pray for Lauren, her husband, Josh, and family. My heart has just been breaking for them today. Everybody who desires children should be blessed with at least one child to call their own. Anything less than that, just doesn't seem fair. I know it's easy to trust in God's plan when His will coincides with our own. When His will results in unimaginable pain. . .it's tough. I still believe that God's plan is better than my own, but it doesn't take away the pain that we experience in life. But, God will get you through the pain. I am proof of that. So is my little miracle, Olivia.

She is still practicing her walking and is doing phenomenal. Olivia had her 18 month checkup today with two vaccinations. Poor girl. I guess the appointment went okay. Her doctor is officially concerned about her weight gain (I've been concerned for a few months now.) She was only 17.6 lbs and is falling off of her growth chart. So, she has to go back in every 2 months for weight checks. At least I wasn't lectured about sippy cups. . .I think however I get calories in her at this point is fine. It was also the first conversation that I've ever had with a doctor who brought up autism when talking about Olivia's development. Of course she's not meeting 18 month milestones. . .she's only 14 months adjusted. Since when do they start pretending that she is a regular 18 month old? Olivia has made huge gains in the past few months! However, I'd rather her doctor take everything too seriously than not seriously enough. Something about being told that my pregnancy was going well when it wasn't just doesn't sit quite right with me. We did also find out today that Olivia has two cysts on her foot due to her numerous heel pricks in the NICU. She also has a sebaceous cyst on her neck which probably formed from having her central line. This may have to someday be removed. All in all, Olivia did not care for her check up today. She is getting to the age where she knows it's not somewhere that she wants to be and who can blame her? Please continue to keep her in your prayers as she grows and develops.

Pray for Lauren

Please visit Lauren's blog and offer her any support and prayers that you have. They were unable to stop labor and she delivered her remaining three babies at only 22 weeks. This was only one week before I gave birth to Olivia and Logan. They were unable to resuscitate any of them. Sweet Lily Nicole, Paige Elise and Rylan Otto are safe in the arms of Jesus, but their parents' arms are empty and that seems so unfair. I had to bury one baby in what was the most painful experience in the world. I can't imagine losing four. Please offer her any love and prayers that you have.

Olivia Surprises Us!