4 Weeks Old....

Time is flying...and we are loving every minute of it!

Girl Clothes
If you are the mom of a little girl - I am sure you understand the possible danger of clothes shopping for your daughter. I am a HUGE shopper anyway - but now that I have a little girl - shopping is like a drug addiction or something. I literally can't walk by the Baby Gap without stopping in and buying something. Olivia has some pretty cute outfits from Baby Gap. In fact I have bought her a couple pairs of jeans - which I will not tell you how much I spent - due to the fact that my hubby may read this and I enjoy being married to him very much. I use to hide my shopping purchases in the trunk of the car and bring them in when Jose had gone to work and now I am going to have to do the same thing with Olivia's clothes. Shhhh....don't tell!

Bath Time!
Olivia does not like to be undressed AT ALL...but she does LOVE getting a bath in the warm water...she also LOVES getting her hair washed!
Today was Olivia's first outing to have brunch... we headed to the omelet shop for some breakfast today and then off to Jose's favorite place - COSTCO! A very full day for our household!

Friday Lunches....

Friday lunches are spent at Mary Ann's house - I love being on maternity leave so I can enjoy Friday lunches! Usually on Friday's you can find all the females of our family at Mary Ann's - Sara, Marion, Nora, Isabelle, sometimes Sue, Sue Z, Michelle, Laurie...just depends on what's going on with everyone's work schedules. Olivia and I will be joining the girls for lunch every Friday until I have to go back to work...however Mary Ann will be watching Olivia on Friday's - so I will still be spending some Friday Lunches over there!

Olivia is three weeks old today - yesterday we went to the Doctor for her three week check up and she is doing GREAT! She weighs 7 lbs 7 ounces and is 20 inches long. She got her social security card in the mail today - so now she is a real official girl!

My Daughter....

I recently got an e-mail from a woman named Lesley who lives in Louisville and is a good friend to Eric...her e-mail talked about her relationship with her daughter...and the one thing that stuck out was when she said that when her daughter was born - it was "electric." And, that is the perfect word to describe how I feel about Olivia...electric. When I look into her eyes - I am so overcome with joy and happiness. I once heard someone say that babies are angels that choose their parents and if that's the case I am thrilled that this darling baby chose us.

Two Weeks Old!

I can't believe how fast the past few weeks have gone by! Jose and I were telling Olivia this morning that she was scheduled to be born on Sept 8...I was going to be induced! Well, things happened much differently than we had thought! Two weeks ago on Aug 25th I was feeling just horrible. I was so tired and I was so uncomfortable - so I was ready. I also had a Dr.'s appointment that day - and I asked if she thought I would go early and my Doctor said ..probably not..the baby had not dropped I was still dilated to 2 and 70% effaced. So, I figured that was that and I would meet the baby in two weeks. Later that night Jose and I decided to head to our neighbor's home for dinner (The Teeters) for some burgers. I was miserable and decided that I needed to go home at 9pm. So, Jose and I headed to bed and at 12:30am I got up to go to the bathroom and I felt this popping sensation and I rush of fluid....it never occurred to me that my water broke - I thought that I had gotten SO big that I had totally lost bladder control. So, I changed clothes and back to bed I went....however I was starting to get cramps. After an hour I got back up to use the bathroom again and there was another rush of fluid....so I changed clothes again and got back into bed. But, after about a 1/2 hour I decided to get up because the cramps were starting to get stronger. Now, I still had no idea what was going on. So, I got up and decided to look up "water breaking" on the computer....after doing some research I thought that perhaps my water really did break! I woke Jose up and told him that I thought my water broke but I was going to time contractions for about an hour and call the Doctor and let her tell me what to do! So, after an hour I called the Dr. and she said COME ON IN! Holy Cow - I had to quickly pack bags and off we went! Once we were in the hospital the checked me out and I was dilated to a 3 and they got my room ready and I was in for the long hall. At 8:30 I was starting to get really bad contractions and I was very ready for the epidural...which is the BEST thing ever!!! After that I was dilated to a 6 and my Dr. said that she was going to run home and let her dogs out and eat a quick lunch but she would be back soon - but I probably had a good 4 hours left before I would need to start pushing. (Mind you I am still in SHOCK that I am in the hospital.) Anyway about 45 minutes later I felt a overwhelming urge to push...my Dr. was gone so my nurse, Breck, checked me and said - well you are dilated to 10 you're ready to meet your baby. Great news - but no Dr. so they had to call her and have her get back to the hospital quickly. So, as soon as Dr. Hubbard walked in I began pushing and about 20 minutes later - Olivia was born at 12:04pm. Jose actually was able to say that "Zippy" was a girl. (Talk about another SHOCK!) It was the most amazing wonderful experience of my life...I wish I could relive that day over and over again! It was AWESOME!

Olivia!!

Here are some new pics of our little beauty - Olivia! She is now 9 days old! Jose and I think that she is very "advanced" for her age. For one - she is already back up to her birth weight - 6lbs 13ounces, she has lost her umbilical cord thing (which is good because it was kind of gross,) she eats like a HOSS, and she has pretty good head control for a newborn. I see college scholarship in her future! She is just awesome. She sleeps pretty well - she is fussy between 11pm and 1am - which we are working on changing that. Other than that - she has been really dare I say easy? She loves music - it calms her right down. Yesterday I bought her a CD player for her room - so now she can listen to her Baby Einstein CD's while in bed.

Uncle Eric was in town over the weekend and had a chance to meet Livi - and he seems to be rather taken by her - I really think it was surreal for him to see me in my new "mommy" role - although I think that it fits me rather well.

Oh... after having the baby - I feel SO skinny (I'm sure I don't look like it!) But, it's so nice to bend over, see my feet, have the swelling go down - I feel like a new person. I do have to admit that I look pretty damn good for just having a baby 9 days ago. I do have the mom pouch-stomach. In about 4 weeks I can start working out again - so I am getting my exercise ball ready to go. But if it never goes away - Olivia is well worth it!

Off to nap - when baby naps so do mom and dad!

Much Love -

Cara, Jose and Olivia