Really... 5 Months??

   Yup, really... it has been five months since my sweet girl arrived. We are trucking along nicely I must say. She is such a happy girl and is such a joy to be with. I am proud to say I am her mommy and while I cant wait to see what she looks like and how she acts when she's walking and talking I want time to SLOW down!! I see newborns at work daily and I look at them and think "wow, Olivia was that small." Funny how quickly you forget. We started feeding her baby food this last month. So far I have been making her food which I don't mind at all... ironic since I don't like cooking huh. She has had rice cereal, oatmeal, carrots, winter squash, bananas and mashed potatoes. Everything has been a hit except the bananas... she's not too sure about those. Next to try is avocado, apple, green beans, peas, zucchini and summer squash.

First Bite of Food



Four Months and Growing!!

  Well at four months old Olivia is weighing in at 14lbs 3oz and is 25 inches long.... 75th percentile!! We just got back from seeing the pediatrician and she got her shots.... she is not a fan of those... but who can blame her. In the last month she has become so much more interactive and playful and such a joy to be around... she's such a happy girl. I could just eat her up!!!

  Miss Olivia has reached several new milestones in the last month!

• rolling over (loves her tummy now)
• laughing and cooing
• grabs at her toys (and sticks them in her mouth)
• she loves her new excersaucer
• not sure of the official word for this but she makes "raspberry noises".. at least that's what the internet calls it:)
• found her feet and loves to grab them
• sucks her thumb when she is really tired
• went swimming for the first time.... and several more since it's soooo hot here!
• went to her first birthday party
• got to meet Aunt Beth!!!

  On June 5th we had Olivia Baptized at Hope Presbyterian... such an awesome event and I was so glad my family was there to see it! The only thing I was upset about was that I had Olivia facing away from the camera so no one could see her face but I guess what is truly important is that Ben and I saw her sweet expression!

 Ben enjoyed his first Father's Day too! I made him breakfast, we went to church and then he had to go to work.. boo. But, I did get him tickets to see Stomp which we went and saw a few days ago. The show was awesome!! My dad, Deb, Chris and Eric also went with us so we had a great night out, eating on Beale Street, watching the show and enjoying some "adult" time after.

  Next up... Olivia gets started on food! Going to start the cereal this week... let's see how messy our life gets now!!



Life as We Know It

   Can you believe my baby is 3 months old! I treasure each and every moment with her... even when she is crying and fussy... I thank God for her! Olivia is the best blessing I have ever been given... I love being her mommy. I rarely get things done around the house because I would much rather watch her play and giggle... which is THE most adorable thing she does:) That's ok... my house can stay dirty... it's still going to be there when I get around to it. I had a wonderful first Mother's Day... I got a gift certificate for a massage (which I still need to get) and spent the day relaxing with my girl. I am upset that my brain quit on me that day and I did not get a picture of the two of us that day... oh well.

   Over the last month she has started laughing and is much more interactive now... she loves to be outside (just like me) and she loves to be sitting upright. If you lay her flat she does crunches... she just doesn't understand that she cant sit all the way up yet... and it frustrates her! I'm pretty sure she is going to have a six pack of abs soon...nosey little girl wants to see the world... not the ceiling or her play gym! She is meeting lots of new friends between the gym, church and the babysitter... always in a good mood and happy to see other people.

Getting some exercise and working those abs!

She loves bath time too! Love those prayer hands:)

Maybe she's praying for a good night sleep?

   Speaking of the babysitter... I love the sweet couple who watch her. They love on her all the time and it makes me feel better to know that while I'm working she is getting all the love she would at home. Work has been good... it is very hard to be away from her though. Since I work 12 hour shifts I really don't get to see her on the days I work... I usually get home in time to feed her a bedtime bottle and I love on her then. On the days Ben has her I make him send me pictures of her by text message... it gets me through the day.

   Ben is doing well too. His sling is off... but he still has limited use of his arm... he cant lift anything heavier than a pen!! He goes to physical therapy 3 times a week and his range of motion is improving every day.  Sooo... that means he really cant keep Olivia all day by himself.... but thankfully we have wonderful family who help out. Ben's mom and my sister are lifesavers!! He goes back to the doctor on June 9th and hopefully he will be able to lift more than a pen.... at least I'm praying he can. It has been hard on him to have such limitations and he is very frustrated! He has mastered using one arm though! He does his best to help as much as he can with Olivia... he's a great daddy!!!

                Next month my goal is to get more pictures of all of us!!

Loving Life

      My sweet Olivia is now two months old... time is flying by! Our little family of three is doing great and we are settling into a routine. I've even been back at the gym which I never thought I would be excited about but I am. Over the last 9 weeks I have become VERY used to being off and I am not excited about going back to work May 2nd...but bills have to be paid so Hi Ho Hi Ho off to work I go. Ben has been doing good too... he's excited about getting his sling off this week so he can hold and take care of the baby... good thing because he is going to be watching her the days I work!

    Olivia had her two month check up last week; she got her shots and I cried right along with her... she weighed 10lbs 15oz... growing perfect:) She loves to be held and she is smiling and cooing all the time now and it just melts my heart... such a sweetheart! I am very thankful and very lucky she sleeps great at night now, she usually goes to bed about 8-8:30 and will sleep to anywhere between 4-7am! I took her to see the Easter bunny on Good Friday and we had a nice Easter dinner at my dad's house.


                                                      
                                                                      Good Friday
          



     Other than that things are pretty quiet here... just becoming good friends with Dave Brown, the local weather man, as he tells us where the daily tornado warning is. I think we need to decorate our hall closet so we have something interesting to look at... but thankfully we have stayed safe! I'm looking forward to all the May flowers these April showers should bring:)

Month One... and oohhh what a month it's been

  My sweet angel is 1 month old today!! Wow, the first month has flown by. Granted we have had a few bumps along the way to make it a bit of a blur. Olivia is doing great, she is a very sweet baby and is growing like a weed. At her 2 week check up she weighed 7lbs 14oz!!! Usually babies are just back up to their birth weight at 2 weeks so I guess my baby is an overachiever:) hehe. I haven't weighed her recently but she is definitely growing. I'm guessing she is a typical baby... she sleeps (usually) eats, poops and cries. She loves to take her time with her bottles though.... this child savors her food. It can take up to 45 minutes to feed her and every once in a while she wants more an hour later.. little piggy. I was stressing out about the time it took her to eat because I was just sure something was wrong.... we've tried different bottles and different nipples.... but nothing makes a difference. I decided to get over it and let her enjoy eating... she doesn't spit up at all so maybe it's good she takes her time huh. While I call her a sweet angel... she does have her times when I wonder where she went.... this girl also has a set of lungs which she usually likes to show us in the evenings. My friend Emily saved my life though and let me borrow her Moby Wrap. This piece of cloth is from heaven.... it is just a long cloth that wraps around me and holds her right up against me.... AND my arms are free. As soon as I put her in it she is asleep and I can eat.. do dishes... sleep... whatever I need to do:) Thanks Emily!!!!!! People keep asking me if we have settled into a routine yet? Ummm.... nope... apparently I am not capable of that.... sometimes I can manage to have her in bed by 8pm.... sometimes 11pm... I'm working on it... but as we already know.... Olivia can be a bit stubborn. (not sure where that came from... haha). Here are a few pics of the baby girl!!

she's thinking "would they just figure out what i want!"

Spring dress... she loves the nice weather!!



   Now... for the bumps in the road. The second day Ben went back to work (Olivia was almost 2 weeks old) he was washing a plane after work, fell and dislocated his shoulder!! I was sitting at home waiting patiently for him to come home.... I had been alone all day with the baby... was tired, hurting and ready for some company. Ben calls and says "I need to go to the ER" ummm, what?? Yup... so I was stuck at home and still not allowed to drive. My sister had to come stay with Olivia and Eric had to drive me to the ER to get Ben.  Make a long story short... Ben went to the ortho... had an MRI.... and had to have surgery on his shoulder on St Patrick's Day!!! He is now in this huge sling... and learning to do things one handed. Poor guy needs alot of help!! He should be in the sling for six weeks and then has to go to physical therapy. It is killing him that he cant help me with the baby the way he wants to. But he's trying... here are a few pics of him:)

just got home from surgery

he figured out how to feed the baby... someone else just has to burp her:)



  Needless to say... it's been a little stressful but we have a wonderful family who has been very helpful... thank God!!! Our goal for the second month is for both Ben and I to stay out of the OR:)

Olivia is Finally Here

     Ten days ago my world completely changed....for the better. All I can say is WOW!! What a whirlwind it has been....I am completely blessed by God!! Miss Olivia was stubborn until the bitter end of my pregnancy... she was due on February 17th... and there were no signs of her making an appearance on her own, so we had to evict her:) This landlord was finished and ready to meet her! In a nutshell here is how she made her entrance..... Ben and I went into the hospital at 6pm Sunday February 20th for a cervidil induction. That means I had to get some medicine to get my body ready for labor. Around midnight I started having contractions that were pretty uncomfortable... but for some reason I would not take any pain medicine.... (soooo should have taken some) Therefore, I did not sleep at all Sunday night. At 6am Monday morning they started my pitocin which is a drug to make me contract more.... once the doctor broke my water I felt what REAL pain was (I don't do pain well) so I got my epidural pretty quickly after that!! Here is a picture of Ben and I after my epidural.... I have never seen a smile so big on Ben!!



 Olivia had a room full of anxious family waiting on her.... and she must have known it because she STILL had stage fright. After 12 hours of pitocin and still no sleep I had stopped dilating and I needed to have a c-section. At first I was upset but then got over it quickly because I was so exhausted and ready to meet her. Apparently there were lots of stubborn babies that night because I was third in line for my c-section.... I told Ben it was like waiting on the runway:) Finally at 9:16pm February 21, 2011..... Olivia Grace Hetzler made her appearance!!!!!!

    She weighed in at 7lbs 1oz and was 19 3/4inches long!! My precious angel we have waited so long for was finally here.... I cried when I saw her and Ben was in awe. I was pretty impressed with how well he did in the OR... I thought he would've passed out... but he did great!! The surgery itself was not bad.... I was a little anxious but things went well... cant ask for more than that!! Here is our first family portrait:)

  I need to say a special thank you to everyone who took great care of Olivia and me: Jill, Sarah, Dr Mayo, Jeff and finally Amy who took all the delivery pictures.... thank you guys so much for ALL you did!!! We were in excellent hands the whole time!!!

 We came home on Thursday the 24th and began our adventure as parents without the help of hospital staff.... it has been a learning experience. My patients always say to me "you will have it easy with your kids because you know what to do." UUMMMM... nope.... I'm pretty clueless with what to do with a baby after they go home. Ben and I are learning new stuff everyday... I just want the best for my sweet girl so I have been worrying over everything!! Is she getting enough? Is she sleeping enough? What does that sound mean? It has been an adventure and Olivia has been patient with us:) She seems pretty happy... she is doing wonderful with the exception of some gas pains... but that is NOTHING compared to what it could be. We started giving her some gas drops yesterday and she seems more comfortable.



   Ben has been off with us and has to go back to work tomorrow... he has taken such good care of us!!! He is a wonderful husband and daddy, I could not ask for more!!!!! I am a little nervous about him going back because I am still slow moving and hormonal but my friends assure me this is normal. I think daddy is trying to rest up on his last day off.... he is pretty worn out from taking care of us. (He may kill me for this picture.... but that's what is nice about me doing the blog.... I get to post the pics... hehehehe)



   I thank God each day for my little family.... I am so in love!!! 



 

Counting the Days:)

   So I was rereading my last post and at one point I said I was fine going to my due date but let's see how I feel in a few weeks. Well.... I'm 38 weeks and I'm ready:) Olivia, however, is nice and cozy and I don't think she has any intention of coming out to all the wintry weather we have been getting!! As Aunt Chris put it yesterday... why should she... she's warm, well fed and gets to play all day.... and it's too cold out here. I am still feeling fine... just ready to meet her. Although I have been feeling fine... I have been VERY emotional this week.... pretty sure I have cried every day so far this week... but that's hormones for ya I guess. I went today and got a pedicure so my feet will be nice and pretty when I do deliver... because that is really important huh. It was so nice to sit there and get a short leg massage... I fell asleep for a few minutes. I now have some pretty pink tootsies.

  I'm also soooo ready for spring!! I am sooo very thankful we don't live in a city that gets tons of snow most of the year. I think the snow is pretty, however, I don't like driving in it and I prefer the warmer weather.... this past Saturday it actually got up to 72 degrees!! I took advantage of the warm weather and read a book on the patio (got some tan lines too) and took Jax and Lilly to the dog park. They got some MUCH needed exercise and fresh air. However, my friend Emily's mom thought Lilly looked a little tired so she insisted we put Lilly in Graham's (my friend's child) stroller. I think we may have to exchange our stroller for a double stroller now because Lilly actually stayed in it and let us push her!! Rotten dog.

Lilly Living in Style



Jax lives to get dirty:) He enjoyed the fresh air!





 So that's pretty much it for this week.... hopefully the next post will be pictures of Olivia!! All in due time though... God is trying to teach me patience:)