I Wish She Looked at Me That Way

Olivia is completely enamored with her father (just one more thing we have in common). If she even hears his voice, her head is instantly turned towards him. She is perfectly happy just sitting and staring at him. Here's a sweet moment that I caught on camera.

And, yes, I will do my best to give more than a 3 lined blog very soon.

Happy One Month Birthday, Olivia

It is so incredibly hard to believe that an entire month has gone by since Olivia was born. She has changed so much each day, and we continue to learn so much about her and about parenting with each passing moment.

Olivia already has her specific likes and dislikes. For example, Olivia LOVES to be moving. She wants to be held and walked or carried in the Moby or her Ergo Carrier. When we go for a ride in the car, she is immediately calmed down when the car gets going. She also loves looking at the big decorative pieces that we have hanging on the walls. And, she really likes taking a bath...especially when it's with her daddy. (She doesn't really like getting out of the tub though!) She also loves her swing. It's such a lifesaver because it can keep her occupied some days long enough for me to take a shower or make myself some lunch!

Olivia staring at the wall-hanging in our living room.

Yes, that's a wine glass floating in our tub!

It's pretty clear that she is Daddy's girl. He seriously has the touch with her. He can get her calm when she is worked up and when he is holding her, she is perfectly content laying with him.

Looking up at her Papa in the tub - now that's happiness.


Again, so happy to be hanging out with her dad.

As far as Olivia's dislikes go, she's not a huge fan of being woken up from a nap to have her diaper changed and to be fed. (I normally wouldn't wake a sleeping baby, but because she hadn't gained very much weight in the first couple of weeks, I have been waking her to feed her.) She also doesn't like to go to sleep. She would much rather stay awake and look around...the only problem is that her little body is tired, and so she has to fuss a little bit before she'll fall asleep.

She's pretty indecisive on swaddling. She's not a huge fan of the act of swaddling, but once she's swaddled, she generally sleeps much better. She also doesn't know what to think of her pacifier. At first, she liked it. Now, there are days where she almost gets mad if I try and put it in her mouth and then there are other days where I will offer it to her and she'll look at me as if to say, "Um, HELLO, I have been asking for that for the last ten minutes!"

She IS, however, the NOISIEST baby we've ever encountered. When she cries, it can be pretty loud. And, don't even get me started on how loud she is when she passes gas. And, she grunts and groans all the time, especially when she is trying to break out of her swaddle. That may be one of the reasons that David suggested that she move from her Pack N Play in our room to the crib in her own room. My original plan was for her to stay in our room for two weeks, and I am having a hard time with moving her at one month. I just put her down in her crib and I may be the one who has the hardest time with the move!

I know as quickly as these days have gone that the future ones will fly by. As much as I look forward to all the fun days ahead of us, I already miss the early days of her life.

Road Trippin' With My Two Favorite Allies

Because David had only borrowed Soudy's bike from him, it was necessary for us to make another trip up to Palo Alto to return the bike. We decided that, at four weeks of age, it was important for Olivia to meet the P.A. crew and do a little road-trip Michelson style.

So, Friday afternoon, we loaded up the van with a motorcycle, a mattress, snacks, luggage, Magnum, and as much baby gear as the van could hold. Olivia did a great job on the way up, sleeping most of the way. We made a pit-stop in Chualar to get her a couple of milk shakes (tee hee hee) and went on our merry way.

We arrived at Soudy's house around 8:30 and what followed was something similar to a circus. Let's just say Soudy's house held 8 people, one baby and two humping dogs! It was great being able to introduce Olivia to everyone and it was nice for David to have the opportunity to have some guy-time. And, I got a little GNI (Girls Night In) hanging out with Olivia, Steph and Alyssa.

The trip was fast and furious, but we couldn't leave Palo Alto without introducing Olivia to La Costena!

She slept the entire way home (as did her father!). And, overall, we felt like it was a successful first road trip and are looking forward to the next two weekends of travel!

Soudy and Olivia hanging out.

Olivia and her first taste (sort of) of a La Costena burrito!

Because Everyone Needs a Little Olivia in Their Day

She makes our day pretty special....I figure she can have the same effect on yours!

Mommy Dearest

Me and Olivia on Mother's Day

I just wanted to wish all the moms out there a very Happy Mother's Day! And, a big shout-out to all my "mom friends" who are celebrating their first Mother's Day this year!

This is my friend Cole's little baby, Olin. How cute is he??? Happy Mother's Day, Cole!


My friend Tara's little baby, Quinn. (Yes, I made him that onesie!!) Happy Mother's Day, Tara!

Sorry Grandpa Peter, Olivia is Not a Fan of Fox News!

David has promised me that he is going to watch Olivia this afternoon so that I can take a nap for a couple of hours, and my mind is absolutely racing with what I can do with TWO WHOLE HOURS of free time! A nap would be nice, but I could get so many other things done in that time. I do this in the mornings when Olivia is in her bouncy seat or laying in her crib while I shower. I start thinking, "Okay, I can sacrifice drying my hair and get a load of laundry in the washer AND check my email. Ooooh, and if I hurry, I can make David a snack and maybe make myself a sandwich and have it ready for lunchtime!" And then Olivia will either get sick of her seat or just look so cute in her crib that I will want to sit and watch her until she wakes up. In which case, the only thing that gets done is that I get a little Aveda Be Curly in my hair and add a couple more pieces to the pile of dirty clothes.

Today, however, I would like to try and go to the grocery store, finish up my thank-you cards and make some brownies to take up to French tomorrow for the wonderful nurses who took such great care of us during our stay THREE WEEKS AGO!

Which brings me to another point, Olivia is three weeks old! I can't believe it. The time has absolutely flown. She went back to the pediatrician on Wednesday and is up to 7lbs and 14oz. I was so worried because the week before she was only at 7lbs and 6oz when she should have been back to her birth weight, at least. I almost cried when the nurse told me her weight! I'm not starving my baby!!!

We had Olivia's newborn pictures taken yesterday and she was so wonderful through all of the pictures! I was so worried that she would be really fussy, but she was great! Daniel and Laura took pictures for almost 2 hours...yes, Olivia got a little cranky during parts of the session, but overall was so good! (I can't wait to see the pictures!!!) And, she slept for a 5 hour stretch last night and then went right back down after a feeding and slept for almost 4 more hours! See, who needs a nap!?

Anyway, so that the title of this blog has some bearing on the blog itself, here are a couple of pictures of Olivia in a CNN onesie that her Uncle Ryan got for her!

Come One, Come All to the Greatest Spectacle On Earth

It's so funny when you are pregnant, you get all of the attention. People were always stopping me and commenting on my belly, asking me how I was feeling, and inquiring about the gender of the baby. But, let me tell you, once she was born, it was all, "MOVE OVER MAMA, LET ME AT THAT BABY!"

I realized yesterday that there hasn't been one day where it has just been me, David and Olivia. Each day since she has been born, we have had people coming over to see her and coo over her. I'll admit it, I like hearing people say how pretty she is and how alert she is, and yes, how she sort of looks like me.

On Saturday, some friends of ours from Palo Alto, Dave and Alyssa, came down and spent the day at our house. I'm pretty sure their whole motivation for making the trip down was to see Olivia. Alyssa is a nanny, so she was all over Olivia and that was pretty nice giving my arms a little break. Even Dave joined in on the holding party with Olivia. They brought her the cutest little outfits too...Olivia has her very first Hurley jacket to sport!

Sunday morning, David carried Olivia around in the Ergo Baby Carrier and did laundry and dishes while I took a loooonnnggg (and much needed) nap. Sunday afternoon, Dave's sister Kristen and her fiance came over to meet Olivia for the first time.

Here are a few pictures from the visits.

Dave and Alyssa with Olivia. I think Alyssa let Dave hold her for maybe 10 minutes total!

Aunt Kristen and Uncle Brian

And, come on, who doesn't want to see some more pictures of Olivia in her swing?!?!?!

Guess who is shootin' a bunny?!?!?!

Family Ties

My parents left yesterday morning, after 18 days of being here and giving more help than ever imaginable, and I made it through the whole day without breaking down and crying. (NO ONE told me how much I would cry after having Olivia....a Hallmark commercial can send me over the edge!) I wondered how that day would go...would I be able to shower? Would I eat? Who would calm Olivia when she cried now that Nana was gone? Well, let me tell you folks, I managed to shower, take Olivia for a walk (in her new Ergo Baby Carrier that she LOVES), do TWO loads of laundry and fold them, change the sheets on our bed, take a nap, brush Magnum's teeth, eat breakast, lunch and prepare dinner, AND I calmed her when she cried! Oh yeah, and I fed her 9 times too!

I cannot begin to thank my parents enough for all of the help, guidance and support that they gave me, David and Olivia while they were here. I know that part of their helping was selfish on their part...they love Olivia SO much and wanted to spend as much time with her as possible. But, they were helpful in other ways. I don't know how easily we would have gotten through the first couple of weeks without them. My mom was such a trooper, waking up in the middle of the night to take over when Olivia was crying to let me get some sleep, fixing meals for us, changing dirty diapers, running errands, basically just doing anything and everything that was needed. My dad was awesome too. He suffered through several days of pain with a kidney stone and ended up having outpatient surgery at French Hospital one week after I delivered Olivia there. The next day, he was back to his normal self and was out fixing our sprinkler system and was hanging shelves and picture frames in the nursery for me. And, his arms were always available to hold Olivia. (Funny that he never changed a diaper though!)

I think the only thing that got me through them going back home was knowing that we will be meeting up with them in San Diego for Memorial Day weekend.

Thanks again, Mom and Dad (aka Nana and Poppy) for all of your help. We LOVE you!