4/4/10 - HAPPY EASTER

It's Easter...Happy Easter! We were so excited for today. Olivia was so little last year, and pretty much just slept all day, so this year felt like our REAL first Easter with her. We were up bright and early, got dressed, and it was time to rummage through the Easter basket. We don't do the candy thing, so she got lots of great "dollar spot" stuff...a slinky, a light up toy, some felt flowers, some bunny ears, some sidewalk chalk and a little wind up chicken toy. I will confess...we did put two little tins of candy in there...one for Christian and one for me :) She loved everything, it was fun to watch her go through it. Then, we had a quick breakfast (and, during this breakfast, she made her first real attempt at using the fork herself! Very exciting), while I went outside to hide her eggs. We dyed eggs a couple weeks back, so I hid those around the backyard. After breakfast, we stepped out and started on our hunt...and it was SO beautiful outside, perfect day for an egg hunt! She had so much fun looking around and collecting all of her eggs, she did such a great job! After she found all of them, she proceeded to dump them out and "collect" them again...over and over again. In the process, she managed to break every single egg, which grossed her out completely. Finally, we headed inside and relaxed for the rest of the morning. She went down for a nap a bit later, and Christian and I got ready for the day.

After nap time, we got her dressed in her Easter best, and were off to dinner with my family. It was nice to see everybody, but my grandparents decided to take us all out to eat this year rather than cook, and being out to eat didn't give us much of a change to really catch up with anyone. After dinner, we had to skip out right away to stop over to his parents house. They wanted to do an egg hunt with all of the kids, and, with his sister moving, it may be our last holiday together with them for quite a while. Olivia had a blast, as usual, running around the playing with the girls.

She passed out on the way home, and that was that! The nights have still been rough, including tonight. She kept waking up, crying (with that painful tone to it), so we broke down and gave her some Tylenol. I hate seeing her in so much pain, it just breaks my heart!

4/3/10 - Jam Packed Saturday

Well, a day that was just supposed to be hanging around the house, doing laundry, relaxing, became nothing of the sort. We were up bright and early, and decided to head over to Perkins for breakfast. YUM! After breakfast, I was home to start laundry, and Christian ended up going to help his sister move some stuff. They are moving soon, and needed to put some stuff in storage, so he was off to help them. And, he ended up taking Olivia off to his mom's house for a few hours so I could get some stuff done. So, the day was spent doing laundry and cleaning/picking up around the house. On his way home, Christian called to inform me that his friend from work was coming over to do some grilling. So, now some heavy duty "picking up" needed to be done! What happened to laying around, watching some TV, playing with some toys and just relaxing?? Yeah, that rarely lasts!

Grilling was good though...lots of yummy food, and a little time outside. And, I still managed to get the laundry done, so it wasn't too horrible!

For today's pics...one is the ducks that hang out in our yard. They came around last year, and to our surprise, there they were in our backyard again this morning. So pretty. And, Olivia, brushing her teeth, getting ready for Perkins :)

4/2/10 - 15 Months Old!

My what a difference a year makes! This is our little lady, this morning, and 1 year ago today, 3 months old. It's hard to believe our baby girl is 15 months old today! It's really true, you don't realize how fast it all goes until you have kids. It seems like just yesterday we were living our carefree lives, just going out whenever we wanted, spending money on whatever we wanted, sleeping in, just...being us. Now, our lives are all about this little lady...and I can't imagine going back.

A blogger I follow has a great post the other day. She started off saying as time goes on, you forget all of the little details of that day...the birth day. The little things get lost, and she wanted to get it down in writing. I thought this would be a good day to do that (even though I may have already forgotten so much!).

Olivia was due on January 10, 2009. Around 28 weeks, my midwife, Ann, realized that Olivia was still head up. Not a huge deal at that point, but something to watch for, and time to familiarize ourselves with the c-section route. My heart sank a little. I'd spent my whole life saying that IF I ever had kids, I totally wanted a c-section...the "easy way out"...that I couldn't imagine doing...THAT. Even when I first got pregnant, I still felt this way. As time went on, I read books, talked to people, took childbirth preparation classes, and really came around to the whole thing...realized that I can do this. In that moment...being told we should start preparing for the c-section possibility, it's like all was lost. But, we stayed optimistic...12 weeks was a lot of time for baby to turn! Well, around 36 weeks, baby was STILL facing the wrong way. I was sent for an ultrasound to confirm, and told, it was highly unlikely she would turn at this point. So, we were off to meet with an OB to discuss everything. Our first decision was to go in for a version, where they try to manually turn the baby. Got that scheduled, and we were out the door. Later that night, I got to doing some research, and realized the version was definitely not for me. It is highly risky, has a very low success rate, is painful and is done in the hospital in case is sends you into labor, or sends baby into distress. Nope, not for me. So, that appointment was canceled, and the c-section was scheduled...January 5, 2010 at 9:00AM. Whoa, how weird to actually KNOW when your baby was going to be here...that was a strange feeling.

Right after Christmas, I started getting very random contractions. I'd been having braxton hicks contractions since about 16/17 weeks, so I knew these were different. But, life went on as normal, and nothing really came of them. New Years Eve, a Wednesday, was my last day of work. Thursday was a Holiday, and Monday was D-Day, so there was no point in going to work on Friday, for one day. Well, Wednesday I spent the day,a t work, having some pretty hard core contractions, but they were still very random, inconsistent and quick. We went about our day, I left work at 3:30 (YAY, 2+ months off!!), and Christian and I went over to a friends house to celebrate New Years Eve. As the night went on, the contracts tapered off a little, but were still very painful when they did happen. We got home around 1:00AM, and went to bed, like normal.

Thursday, New Years Day, Christian pretty much slept all day. I hung out downstairs, watching some of my DVR'd shows...doing some serious catch-up. It didn't take long for me to start feeling those contractions again...but today, they were different. The pain was everywhere, and most centered in my back. Oh lord, back labor. WOW, that was painful! I couldn't bring myself to eat much throughout the day, and just rotated between walking, and various sitting positions...laying down really was not an option with the back labor going on. The day went on, the pain got worse, and they were lasting longer and coming closer together. Christian had to work Friday, so he went off to bed at his normal time. I stayed downstairs, trying to relax...nothing was helping. I finally decided to try to just go to bed and "sleep it off", there was no way that was going to happen. I got up and took a shower, hoping for some relief, at about 12:00AM, that didn't help. I tried cleaning and did the dishes around 1:30AM, that didn't help. So, I woke Christian up and we decided it was time to call the hospital. At this point, the contractions were about 3-5 minutes apart, but still weren't lasting all that long. And nothing they tell you will happen, happened (no water breaking, no other "gross" stuff), so I didn't really know what we were in for. The nurse told us to head on in and get checked out.

Of course we weren't ready...we weren't supposed to be going until Monday, so we were going to pack my bag and baby's bag over the weekend and get ready to go. So, frantically, at 2:00AM we were packing bags and heading out the door. Christian called my mom on the way there to fill her him, and we were checked into labor and delivery at 3:00AM.

The nurse took all of my information, and hooked me up to a monitor. Baby had a strong heartbeat, and they could tell right away the contractions were coming pretty strong. The OB came in and checked me...after ALL of this, I was only 1cm dilated, but I was full effaced. The OB then ordered an ultrasound to check baby's position...then they could decide what they wanted to do. Sure enough, baby was still head up, stubborn little thing she was! So, with that, and the severity of my contractions, they decided to move ahead with the c-section right then and there. Oh my, here we go! During this time, my mom had come in, so she was there with us.

They started hooking up my IV's, getting me all prepped for surgery. The surgeon came in to brief us on everything and have me sign some papers. At this point, I really didn't even know what they were saying...I was just ready to go and get this over with. Next thing you know, they whisked Christian away to get prepped for the surgery, they had me up and walking down the hall to the OR. They got the spinal done right away...and honestly, I didn't feel a thing (maybe the one good thing about back labor)! Christian came in a few minutes later, the blue sheet went up, and we were off!

At 6:00AM on the dot, Olivia Rose entered the world. Christian left my side to check her out, take some pictures and make sure every thing was going well. A few minutes later, he appears, with this amazing perfect little angel in hand. I couldn't believe that she was here, she was REALLY here. I touched her perfect little face, gave her a few little kisses, and we took our first family photos. It was so amazing, I totally forgot the rest of the surgery was happening! After a few minutes, she was off to the nursery to be checked out and cleaned up, and I sent Christian off to be with her. By 6:30AM, I was rolled into recovery. Recovery was only supposed to last an hour, but they had forgotten to add the long-term pain medicine to my spinal, so I had to stay in recovery while they got the additional IV set and ready to go to get me through the night.

At 8:30AM, I was wheeled into my room, placed in bed, and anxiously awaited my little girl. About a minute later a little bassinet came rolling in, and in that moment, I felt like my life had officially changed forever. They handed me this wonderful little being, she looked at me, and was just quiet and content. Some nurses, Christian and my mom were there in the room, but I felt like Olivia and I were the only people on Earth. I finally agreed to hand her over, and my mom got her first snuggle. Throughout the day, we had so many visitors, we're so lucky to have so many amazing friends and family.

The rest of the weekend was such a blur. Just learning all the new stuff that comes with being a parent...baths, diaper changes, breastfeeding, living on no sleep! We had lots of visitors all weekend, which was great. Surgery recovery was rough, nothing I'd wish on anyone! They had me up and out of bed that same night. Saturday night, I was walking around the room, slow, but walking. Sunday night, I was walking around the floor, still slow, but getting better. Monday, check out day, I was doing well, but everything was pretty painful. Monday morning is just a complete blur..we had to get everything packed up, I had my final OB evaluation to make sure everything was healing up well (which it was) and Olivia had her final evaluation. She had lost just under the max (10%) they will allow, and was pretty jaundice still, but they let us take her home and set up some follow-up appointments for her.

We got home on Monday (the original D-Day) around 12:30PM, and we barely left our room for the rest of the week. Just spent that first week being a new little family and spending some quite (recovery) time together. It was amazing living this whole new life and staring at this beautiful new creature. That first week as a whole is just full of moments I'll never forget, and I'll cherish for the rest of my life.

4/1/10 - Happy April!

Wow, it's April already! Where is this year going? It's hard to believe, and the weather we've been having is AMAZING. It seems like just yesterday we were in the midst of our month long snow storm, and now, just green grass, blue skies and fresh air!

It's Thursday, so as usual, nothing super exciting is going on. Today is Christian's sister's birthday, so he and Olivia went over to his parents house for dinner after work, and I headed home for a night of peaceful TV watching...and it was wonderful!

Christian got home a little bit before bedtime, so I got some playtime in with the energizer bunny, then it was bathtime and off to bed. The right side of Olivia's gums are pretty swollen these days (and she's back to not sleeping so great), so those darn molars are up to no good again. She has one basically all the way out, one peeking through, and the right side trying to do something. Poor thing. Even through that, we get these amazing smiles from her...

3/31/10 - 23 Weeks...WOW!

That's right, I'm 23 weeks today! How does this happy...only 17 to go? I'm now up 10 lbs...ugh, double digits! That sucks, but I think that's pretty good for 5+ months. I'm feeling really well, sleeping great, seem to have a "normal" appetite going on, and we're just getting more and more excited every day, and just can't wait. Although, now that we officially won't know what we're having, I think it's going to make these last 4 months go soooooo slow. Hopefully we'll be super busy and and the time will just fly by...although, we're still a little anxious about having 2 little people in the house, so maybe we don't wish that...hmmm.

The big development is that other people can feel baby now!! YAY, that's always the best. Christian and I were sitting on the couch watching some TV last Friday. Baby started doing some acrobats, and I could see my tummy moving, so Christian came over to feel, and he got lots of good kicks. He was so proud :) Then Saturday, after dinner, I was sitting next to the BFF, and she got to feel baby too! It's such an amazing feeling, and actually seeing your belly move about it so wonderful. I just love it!!

For some reason, people have been telling me lately that I don't see "that" far along. I don't know if they are lying, just trying to be nice, or if they are for real. I have a little less than 4 months to go, and I'm definitely not as big as I was last time, but I don't think I look small by any means. I'll take it though...it's better than everyone asking me if there's "two in there" all the time like last pregnancy!!

On another note, I have date night plans with the BFF tonight...going to dinner, YAY. Can't wait :)

3/30/10 - Tuesday!! That's it...

The weather keeps getting better and better, and it's so exciting!! We were in the 70's today...in MARCH! It's crazy. We're coming to a close on our first snowless March here in Minnesota, pretty much ever. I'm worried that means we're in for a brutal summer, and I'm NOT looking forward to being 9 months pregnant, in July, the hottest month around here, especially if it's going to be that bad. Tonight we took a little walk when Christian got home, and stopped at the store to pick up some milk for Olivia (she loves her milk!). Then it was home for dinner and some American Idol (which I've just about given up on completely at this point). Olivia was in a much better mood tonight...full of laughs, smiles and energy. YAY, I love when my sweet girl is back! And, she is still in the putting herself to bed mode, which is wonderful!

3/29/10 - Happy Birthday Grandma Renny!

Today is my stepmom's birthday....HAPPY BIRTHDAY :) It's hard to coordinate time with her being right around Christian's birthday (especially with his actually being on the weekend), so we didn't get a chance to do anything this year. I decided today was a good day to leave work a little early...I wasn't feeling too hot, and was just a little overwhelmed, so I stopped over to my dad's to drop off a little gift and visit for a little bit. Then I was homeward bound.

The evening was very uneventful. Olivia had another tough evening, so she wasn't too happy. Poor thing. We just ate dinner, played (tried to anyway), and it was bedtime. A good, new development is that Olivia has decided she is a big girl, and does not need help going to sleep anymore. YAY! So, we get her ready, we each say our goodnights (I cuddle for a couple minutes...) and down she goes. It's a huge relief, and I'm surprised even with the teething madness she's up for it, but I'll take it!

I thought tonight would be a good night to showcase our other babies! Our cats, the poor cats, who no longer get much of our attention. It's funny...they were TOTALLY our babies, for years...I remember when we went on a week long trip to Utah a few years back, I was seriously emotional about being away from the cats for so long! Now, I don't even know where they are half the time. They will always be our "other babies", but the poor things have definitely taken a back seat.

This is Chloe....she's a minx (she doesn't have a tail). She's short and fat, and I love it! She will be 8 years old in September. She is very much a loner, and just likes to be left alone...yet, she feels the need to sleep with us still (which I love). She won't even be in the same room as Olivia, and she sleeps ALL day long. I think she's beautiful :)

This is Rico...he's a farm cat we got from my supervisor. He's the BIGGEST baby you've ever met. He follows us around, he sleeps between my legs all night, he comes to greet us when we get home...he just loves us to death. He is also the only cat that will let Olivia get near him...but I don't think he's particularly happy about it. He's actually the perfect cat...the kind just about anybody would want, and he's our little sweetheart. He will be 7 years old on the 4th of July!

Finally, this is Frank...old Blue Eyes :) He's our baby of the bunch...and we think he's a little mental. He's scared of everything....EVERYTHING. He'll cuddle with us here and there, but for the most part, hangs out on his own or tortures the other cats. Poor Frank has heart problems...they knew immediately that he has a pretty serious murmur, but we haven't been able to afford an echo on him to find out exactly what's wrong. He's very active, and seems happy, so hopefully he's not in any pain or anything. They don't expect him to live quite as full of a life as most cats, but we'll just have to see what happens. Frank just turned 2 in February, and he is CRAZY!

3/28/10 - Easter & Birthday Celebration

We headed to the Mall of America to visit the Easter Bunny. We went there last year, and it's a little spendy to buy their photos (which you don't have to actually buy), and after seeing bunny pictures from other places...there's no way we'd go anywhere else. They have the best bunny for sure! The line wasn't too long at all, which was great. As soon as Olivia spotted the bunny, she got so excited and wanted to get over to him right away....waiting in line became very hard.

Then, as soon as we got over to the bunny, she was so amazed by him, she wouldn't cooperate for pictures :) She kept staring at him like he was just so mesmerizing. We finally got her to look at the camera, but she really just wanted to look at him, so she wasn't having much to do with pictures. We snapped a couple, but didn't get a chance to get a picture. Hey, I'll take interested over freaking out any day though!

Since we got done so quickly, we headed to an Easter party at the "American Legion"...my in-law's go there once in a while, and told us about the party. Since it was free, and we had some time to kill, we met my sister in laws and her girls there. We did some face painting...the painter was amazed by Olivia's cooperation! One of the great things about Olivia is that even though she's a total energizer bunny, when something new is going on (like the bunny, and now face painting), she becomes so interested in it, she just kind of turns into a statue to see what's going to happen. Luckily she lasted long enough to get her little flower done! After that, we finished up lunch then headed outside for some pony rides! Then grabbed our treat bag and were off to the in-laws for Christian's BBQ dinner.

Dinner was YUMMY...chicken mole, rice, beans and BBQ ribs (kind of an odd combo...). The girls ran around and played the whole time...Olivia cannot get enough of her cousins! Then we finally headed back home. Olivia was exhausted, napped for a bit, ate a little dinner, then was PASSED out. Luckily the molar teething hasn't been keeping her up at night, so we've actually been getting some sleep, which is so GREAT!

Now, I just can't believe the weekend is OVER, and Monday is so close! Back to work we go!

3/27/10 - Party Day

Today was GREAT!! We spent the morning/afternoon just relaxing and hanging out at home. Then, it was time to go out!! Going out, two weekend in a row, WOW, that's weird! My mom was on babysitting duty, so we dropped Olivia off over there. With her newest teeth, we were a little nervous for my mom all night, but it sounds like everything went OK!

We met up with our friends at Buca's for dinner. YUM YUM!!! We got a bunch of different stuff and just had a big ol' buffet of food, and everything was so good! It was so much fun to be out and just have fun with our friends. It's so rare to get together, and we always have so much fun, so it was long overdue! After dinner, we went over to a friends house for the evening...chatted, had a bonfire, and just hung out. It was nice :)

Unfortunately, on the way home, I got pulled over! Cops, in any circumstance, scare the crap out of me....really bad. I'm kind of a speeder, it's a bad habit of mine...."luckily" I wasn't going as fast as I usually do, since it was night and you never know what kind of crazies are on the road at that time anyway! But, a trooper got me! Came up to the window, and asked "what's your hurry". I didn't really respond to that. As I was getting my license out, he proceeded to ask me how much I'd had to drink :) I assured him I was 5+ months pregnant, and had NOT had anything to drink. He went to do his thing, came back and THANK GOD just gave me a warning. Maybe because I have a clean record...maybe because I was honest about my speeding and didn't try to lie my way out of it...maybe because I'm so darn cute...I have no idea. But, I'm SO grateful! I thought I was going to have a heart attack the whole time, and baby was not enjoying my stress level at all. Poor thing. I was happy to get on my way again, and happier when I was safe and sound at home!

Here are some pics from dinner...our wonderful friends!! First: the birthday boy; Next: me and my BFF, Kari: Next, Dan and Skaar; Next: The Madrids; Next: Nate and Gini; Next: John and Michelle; Finally, a Group Shot! YAY.

3/26/10 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY Christian (and Ultrasound Day)

Well, today is Christian's birthday...the big 2-6...his GOLDEN birthday :) I already gave him his present last week (the George Lopez tickets), but of course Olivia had to give him something! He had the day off work, so we left him his cards and a couple new shirts to open when he got up. Friday's are tough trying to get everybody together, so tonight was pretty low key as far as birthday celebrating goes. We had the ultrasound at 4:00, stopped for dinner on the way home, then just hung out together at home for the night. Pretty boring for him I'm sure!

As far as the ultrasound....it was not 100% successful. Right away when the exam started, the tech says "uh oh, baby is sideways right under your belly button". There was a shadow from my belly button going right down to baby, right at baby's heart. She went on with the exam, hoping baby would move at some point. She measured the head, the organs, the bones and spine...everything was perfect and right on track for 22-23 weeks. YAY! Then it came time to check the heart. Baby still hadn't moved, so they were only able to get 2 of the 4 heart views needed. The doctor came in and said we would have to come back in a few weeks to finish the exam. The tech did a quick check for a gender view, but we weren't able to get one. On top of being sideways, baby had it's legs tightly together, and feet up over it's head, and there was NO budging. So, it was impossible. Therefore, we'll be remaining on Team Green, at least for a few more weeks. I'm not happy about it! The heart thing of course makes me nervous on top of everything. I have a heart murmur and heart disease, and Olivia's murmur STILL hasn't gone away, so not having the all clear on baby's heart leaves me feeling pretty anxious. I'll be happy when I can get the next ultrasound scheduled, and get in there again!

Here are a couple good pics from the ultrasound. First, baby's position. Baby's head is on the bottom right, and legs are up over the head. It is a pretty talented baby, that's for sure!! Second is a face shot. In this one, the head is on the left side, and you can see the nose and two eyes (black spots) looking right at the "camera". So cute :)