A car ride and a 4 month Doctor's appointment

Olive and I were lucky enough to spend last week at Fripp Island with my mom.  It was our second week at Fripp this summer, and we had a wonderful time.  Olive's first three car rides to and from Fripp were relatively uneventful.  In fact her first ride to Fripp this summer in the car with Mark and I went really well.  She slept for four hours, then we all stopped for lunch for an hour, and when we got back in the car she went right back to sleep.  She ended up waking up about 45 minutes from Fripp and was a little fussy for the rest of the trip, but all in all not too bad.  The next two trips were pretty similar; mostly sleeping with some fussing the last hour or so of the trip.  Then on Sunday when I was driving with her alone back to Atlanta, she became a car terror.

She fell asleep as we were leaving Fripp, and I figured the trip was going to be similar to the other trips.  I was settling in to drive for 3-4 hours without stopping, when she woke up after 45 minutes.  I was hoping she would just fall back asleep, but that did not happen.  Instead she started to fuss, and then cry, and then she got hysterical.  I pulled over into a gas station.  I figured I would take my time, feed her and give her some awake time so she would be ready to go back to sleep when we started up again.  I fed her in the car, changed her diaper, we walked around the gas station, I filled my gas tank, put some air in one of my tires.  After more than an hour at the gas station I thought she seemed pretty sleepy.  We got back in the car, and she proceeded to start crying again almost immediately.  Once again she was hysterical, I pulled off the highway, luckily at that exit there was a Walmart.  I hatched a new plan; I would keep her in her carseat and put her in the stroller, and we would walk around Walmart until she fell asleep, then I would put her carseat back in the car, that way she would already be asleep.  We walked around Walmart for 20 minutes until I was sure she was really sleeping.  We made it back out to the car, and even into the car.  Then the stupid stoplight leading out of Walmart's parking lot took forever, and she was once again awake before we even got on the highway.  We made it another 20-30 minutes when her cries made me pull over once again.  We were at a gas station, and I proceeded to change her, feed her, let her play for a bit.  After an hour we got back on the road, she fussed for the first 20 minutes and then miraculously she fell asleep.  We made it a good two hours, and then she woke up again right as we were approaching Macon.  I decided to stop in Macon for dinner, and was hoping if I took my time she would be ready to get back in the car and go the last hour and half to Atlanta.  Well we had a great time at dinner, and she was so happy that I just couldn't bring myself to make her get back in the car.  I called Mark and he agreed that the best decision was for Olive and I to spend the night in a hotel.  As soon as we made the decision I felt a huge weight lifted off me.  The day had been emotionally exhausting, and knowing that all I had to do was find a hotel room made me feel a million times better.  So Olive and I spent her first night in a hotel room in Macon, only an hour and half from home.  The next morning when we got back on the road she fussed a bit for the first 10 minutes and then passed out the rest of the way home.  Let's just say I am happy our next two trips involve flying and not driving.

Yesterday Olive had her 4 month well visit.  The nurse was surprised to see her two teeth, and was impressed at how much head/neck control she has.  Olive is now 26 and 1/8 in long (98%) she weighs 15lb 1.5oz (75%) and her head is 16 and 3/4 in (90%).  The doctor is happy with her progress, and said the hair loss Olive has been experiencing is normal.  I'm just hoping she doesn't lose anymore, currently we can do a pretty good job hiding the missing hair, but if she loses much more it's going to be pretty obvious.

With her Gammie.

Daddy watching her at Panera while Mommy uses the free internet to update the blog.  We still don't have internet at our new place.  And yes I recognize how ironic it is that she is sleeping in both these pictures.

    

4 months old!

 Today Olive is 4 months old!  Can I just express how much I love my 4 month old?  I love the way she smiles, she opens her mouth really wide, and her whole face lights up.  Sometimes when she smiles I catch a glimpse of the two pearly white teeth in the bottom of her mouth, they still excite me every time I see them.  I love the way she grabs for toys now, and immediately shoves them in her mouth; no more of the tentative reaching out and trying to barely grasp things, now if it is within her reach it is hers.  I love the way she will lay on her playmat and grab the toys that hang down from above her, and the stuffed animals lying around her, and that this can entertain her for up to 25 minutes.  Which means I get 25 minutes baby-free.  I love when she is in the car and she spots herself in her mirror, she gets a big smile on her face, and then sits and talks to the baby in the mirror.  I love the way she smiles at new people when she is in my arms; first she gives them a bit of a hesitant smile, and then once the person smiles back she squeals gives them a big smile and then scrunches herself up and puts her face in my chest, like she is shy.  I love when she smiles at people, even when they are not looking or paying attention to her.  I love that when she gets excited she bends her arms and legs and then straightens them back and forth rapidly, like she just can't contain her excitement within her little body.  I love how she opens her mouth to reach for things before she even puts them in her mouth so she looks like a little fish going after a worm on a hook.  I love the expressions on her face when she is talking.  I love how expressive her eyebrows are, all the more impressive since they are so light you can barely see them.  I love the way she laughs, not just little giggles on occasion, but belly laughs when she thinks something is funny.

Other exciting news and milestones:  she is rolling from her stomach to her back and her back to her stomach.  She doesn't do it all the time which I guess makes sense, because then she would just be rolling all over the place.  She can't sit up on her own yet, but is pretty good when propped up on the couch.  She really likes to stand up with assistance.  It seems like she has always liked standing, but now she can stand and "walk" if you let her grasp your thumbs with her hands she doesn't need much more support than that.

Then of course there are those two pearly whites I was talking about.  The week before our move into our new townhouse, one day she was a little fussy, and all she wanted to do was nurse.  I ended up letting her nurse/sleep on me for about 2 hours straight, when she was finally finished I looked in her mouth and there on the bottom left side was tooth.  Suddenly all the recent drooling and chewing made a lot more sense.  The second tooth soon followed a week or so later.  They are not all the way in yet, and some days they seem to bother her more than others.  Overall we have been pretty lucky with our teething experience, when they are breaking through she likes to nurse a little bit more often, and they wake her up during the night sometimes; but other than the extra drool, and chewing/sucking on everything she can get her hands on, they don't seem to bother her too much.    

We moved into our new home on June 27, we are still unpacking and get things set up including the nursery.  But she does have her own room, and once we get the walls painted, we will set up the crib, and perhaps she will start sleeping on her own.  We love the new place, and Olive has managed to charm all of our new neighbors.

Olive and I are back at Fripp this week with my mom.  We are lucky enough that my mom is letting us come and be part of her vacation.  One extra bonus besides just getting to spend a week at the beach is that Olive seems to sleep better here.  I'm sure it has to do with the extra time outside, and for some reason the windy weather seems to wear her out as well.  Olive also is meeting all of our "Fripp Friends" the people we meet down here year after year.  It is strange to think that last year when I was here Olive was the size of an almond, and I was sick as a dog.  On our way to the island we stopped at Publix, and I was changing her in the bathroom, I couldn't help but think that last year I was in the same Publix, throwing up!

And now for some new Olive pics:

Sleeping with Papa.

One of those big smiles I was talking about, if you look closely you can see those little teeth.

Good morning!

Third generation Fripp Friends.

Hanging with Mr. Doyle.

Bathtime in the sink!

EVERYTHING goes in her mouth.

Chewing on Oscar.

Worn out after moving day.

Perfect expression to go with her outfit.

Loving Zinny.

A little better teeth shot.

"I am 4 months old today!"

3 months old, a vacation, a haircut, and a doctor's appointment

Yesterday was Olive's 3 month birthday.  It's amazing how quickly time goes.  She continues to develop her hand coordination.  She is grabbing things all the time now, and most of it immediately goes into her mouth.  She likes to chew and suck on everything she can get her hands on.  She is also becoming even more verbal.  She is constantly making all kinds of noises.  She laughs now too, which is a wonderful sound to hear.  She also smiles a lot more.  She likes to smile at people's faces, and she finds hands to be very fascinating.  She likes her own hands, but she likes other people's hands too.  She is also getting better about entertaining herself.  She spends a lot more time on her playmat, and can reach up and grab the toys that hang abover her.  Overall she is a pretty happy baby, but she doesn't hesitate to let you know when she is displeased with something.  She has two main cries, the first one is more of an annoyed sound she makes when she is just irritated.  This could mean she wants to change position, or be picked up, or I am not doing something as quickly as she would like.  The other cry is her "real" cry, and it is more of a wail.  This one usually occurs when she is very hungry.  The first one I can almost tune out, the second one breaks my heart every time. 

Last week Olive took her first trip to Fripp Island, SC.  My family has been going to Fripp for vacations since before I was born.  This year my grandmother, Mimi, decided it was time to return to Fripp for our family reunion.  She rented a gorgeous house on the beach for 20 of our family members.  The only person who couldn't make it was Keegan, because she had just started her new job with Groupon.  I definitely missed her like crazy, but I am also very proud of her.   Mark only got to come for part of the time, but I think even just a few days of relaxation did him a world of good.  Of course playing golf did not agree with his bad back, but I think he would still say it was worth it. 

All of my family was very excited to meet Olive.  She did very well being passes around from family member to family member.  She was a very busy girl, we walked on the beach, went to the pool, sat on the porch, and went on lots of golf cart rides.  We discovered early on in the week that the golf cart was great for putting her to sleep, I definitely utilized that trick a few times.

Olive also got her first haircut on vacation.  The back of her hair was definitely reaching mullet territory.  I love her hair, and I love how long it is on the top, but the back was starting to get ridiculous.  Luckily my Aunt Christy is pretty good with a pair of scissors so one afternoon she trimmed the back of Olive's hair.  It looks so much better now, I'm really glad I had her do it. You can check out the haircut in all it's glory in the pictures below.

Finally, I took Olive for her first "sick" visit to the doctor on Monday.  While we were on vacation she started rubbing her right ear like crazy.  She rubbed it so hard at one point that she actually made it start to bleed.  Since her temperament didn't change I wasn't too worried.  But then Sunday night when we got back home she actually managed to wiggle out of her swaddle, and wake herself up by rubbing her ear.  I decided to take her to the doctor to make sure everything was okay.  The doctor said her ears looked great.  So now I have had my first overly paranoid doctor's visit.  The doctor also weighed her, and she is now 14lbs 8oz.

Playing on her playmat.

Zinny and his new BFF Camryn.

With cousin Jordan.

Sleeping on Papa.  This was a pretty common position for her.

With Callie.

With Taylor.

Baby mullet, or the before picture.

Auntie Q is ready.

The hairs are starting to fall.

Trimming away.

The supervisors are here, no pressure Q! 

Someone likes getting their haircut.

Looking good.

No more baby mullet.

Getting ready to go out to dinner.

Playing so Mommy can pack.

Loving her great-grandmother, Mimi.

Four generations.

11 weeks and an Anniversary

Happy Memorial Day!  Olive is 11 weeks old today.  The last week included a lot of firsts for Olive.  First runny nose (she inherited her Mom's allergies), first time in a swimming pool, first trip to the outlet mall, first time meeting Billy and Rachel, first Memorial Day weekend grill out, first time in her lifetime that a college football coach resigns under suspicious circumstances (haha Tressel), first time she has to wear a bib because she drools so much, and today is her Mommy and Daddy's first anniversary.

It was absolutely fantastic being back at home with Olive this week.  She is at a wonderful phase in her development.  She is much more aware of the world around her, and can keep herself entertained for longer periods of time.  I was extremely impressed with her this weekend.  Billy and Rachel were in town, and we spent 4 hours shopping at the outlets on Saturday, she was happily passed among us during the trip and did not get fussy until we were about 10 minutes from home.  The outlets are about an hour away so that was 4 hours of shopping, 1 hour for lunch, and 2 hours of driving.  She did an amazing job.

Then yesterday we grilled over at Jen's.  We were there for almost 7 hours, and once again Olive managed to stay a happy easy going girl almost the whole day.  These super busy days also led to some nice long sleep at night, she's still getting up to eat at least once in the middle of the night, but she eats and goes right back to sleep so it's not so bad. I am also very pleased with how easily and happily she goes to different people.  Whether Billy, Rachel, or Jen were holding her she was just as happy as if Mark or I were holding her. 

Finally, even though it's a cliche to say, a year ago today I married my best friend.  It has been a busy year full of change, and let's face it, stress.   But it has been a wonderful year and there is no one I would rather have shared all the ups and downs with than Mark.

Aunt Rachel was teaching her how to box.

That is one happy Olive, thanks Aunt Jen for the awesome bib!

Hanging with Auntie Taco.

She has started chewing on her hands a lot.

Crabby Butt!

Happy Anniversary Mark, I love you!

Water Bug

As of Tuesday I am back at home full time until August first. I love getting to be with Olive all day long. Plus now that she is older it is a lot easier to take her places and do things with her. Her patience threshold isn't infinite, but it's a lot longer than it used to be.

We've been doing some shopping this week. Olive has outgrown most of her 0-3 month clothes, and while I have tried to be in denial about it, I realized it was time to give in and buy her some 3-6 month clothing. I know it seems strange that I wouldn't want to buy her new clothes, but she has so many great 0-3 clothes I don't want to give them up. As an adult when I have a favorite shirt, or favorite jeans I can get use out of them for years. Some of my favorites of Olive's clothes she's only gotten to wear a handful of times, and I want to see her in them over and over again.  I think I have a strange attachment to clothing, I tend to wear my clothes until they are worn out.  I'm just glad her separates still fit her, and will last longer.

Actually the reason I finally bought her some new clothes is because I wanted to get her a swimming suit. There were two motives for this, first, we are going to be spending the second week of June at Fripp Island with my family. Second, she loves the bath. Olive loves the bath so much that I feel guilty every time I take her out. I wish I could leave her in longer, but I imagine eventually she will end up pooping in the tub, and that will be a big mess, that will mean getting get out of the tub, cleaning the tub, and then refilling the tub to re-clean her. Of course I picture it as total chaos, with a screaming baby. In order to avoid all that I don't let her stay in the tub more than 20-25 minutes. So the other night I had this brilliant idea to actually use our apartment's pool, and take her swimming. 
 
Now it might not seem like that big of deal to take her to the pool, but come June Mark and I will have lived here 2 years, and we have never been in the pool. Our apartment overlooks the pool. People going to the pool have to walk past our door to get there. We can hear people in the pool from our living room, and yet we have never gotten in it.  Never lay out next to it (probably because we are both as white as ghosts), never even sat next to it on a nice night and had a couple of beers.  So the idea of going swimming with less than a month until we move out (wow I guess I should start packing) just seems kind of funny to me.  There is no real reason for me as to why I have never been in the pool other than the whole fair skin thing.  Going to the pool, even a pool right outside my door is just a hassle for me.  It means lots of sunscreen, and if I'm alone how do I get it on my back?  Mark on the other hand refuses to go to public pools.  Too many dirty people.  Plus he had a pool in his backyard growing up, so he likes having the pool all to himself, he's not into sharing with people he doesn't know.

Of course all of this goes out the window when we realize that our Olive is meant for the water.  Thus, step one; buying her a swimming suit.  Except there is a lack of 3-6 month swimming suits in Atlanta.  I went to Babies R Us, Target, and Carters and only found two.  If she were 12 months I could have bought her 50 swimming suits.  But in her size there were only 2.  I bought one from babies r us, but when I got home and put it on her the way it was cut it was too tight around her chest.  I thought about going back to Carters, but that one was $20, and I feel like I can find one for less.  So as of right now she just has a swimming diaper that she swims in.  Mark teases me that she is being immodest, but I think she looks cute. 

Step two sunscreen.  I had a long internal debate about this.  Part of me thinks I should just keep her out of the sun completely this summer.  She is so young, and I don't really want to put sunscreen on her skin yet.  But another part of me knows this is unrealistic, and especially with how much she likes the water there is no way I am keeping her indoors from 8-6 all summer long.   I looked up a bunch of different sunscreens and checked their toxicity ratings here http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/.  I ended up getting Johnson & Johnson's new sunscreen for babies it had a rating of 2, which it seems like most of the sunscreens at least rated 2.  They had it at Target. 

Step three get Mommy a swimming suit.  This was the worst step.  But Olive's new patience came in handy as I was able to put a blanket down on the floor in the dressing room and she lay their happily watching me try to shove my post pregnancy body into swimming suits. 

Finally after all my preparations the moment of truth came Wednesday afternoon.  I slathered her in sunscreen, put her swim diaper on her, and stuck her in her gator hat.  I walked down the steps into the water with her, and at first she seemed a little confused, and then she was just content.  Not overjoyed, but happy to be walked around in the water.  It actually ended up being a fun little family activity. 

She LOVES bathtime.

A picture of the swimming pool from our front door.

Ready to do some shopping with Mommy.

Our little water bug, swimming with Daddy.

10 weeks and a 2 month check up

Last week Olive got to hang out with her Grandma Teddie.  It was my last week of school, which made it our last week of revolving grandparents.  Having the grandparents here was better than I could have ever imagined.  Olive loves her grandparents, and now has a very special connection with each one of them. 

This week her ability to entertain herself improved.  As I type she is laying on her back having a full conversation with the fan.  She has been that way for the last 10 minutes, and it doesn't appear that she is going to stop anytime soon.  She is also interacting more with her toys.  I finally figured out what stuffed animals are for; she loves them.  All I have to do is hold them up and wiggle them in front of her and she smiles.

She continues to track people as they walk around the room, she lifts her head a lot.  Even when she is laying on her back she will lift her head up off the ground.  She likes to sit up, or stand.  But she's also happy to lay on her back as long as there are things around to entertain her.  She's more content to sit still now, which is nice.  She will sit in someone's lap for longer periods, and doesn't need to be constantly bounced.  She especially likes sitting in her Grandpa's lap.  She also discovered her hands this week.  She likes to put them together, and kind of dry-wash them.  She looks like she is plotting something big, but hasn't shared what it is with the rest of us yet.  By the way she is still talking to the fan.


Overall she seems calmer and happier this week.  She is getting easier and easier to keep happy.  Her sleeping has even gotten better.  She usually sleeps for one 4-5 hour stretch at night, wakes up to feed for 30 min and then goes back to sleep for 4 or so hours.  Now that I am off of school and won't wake her up to feed her before I leave for work it will be interesting to see how much she will sleep.

Today was her 2 month doctor's appointment.  She now weighs 13lb 10.5oz (90-95 percentile), 24 3/4 in (>95 percentile), and her head is 16in around (95-98 percentile).  They don't measure her hair growth, but I can tell you it grows like a weed.  It's getting so long in the back that I think we might be entering mullet territory pretty soon.  The doctor is very pleased with her progress.  Olive, loves the doctor's office.  She loves laying on the exam table, last time we were there and this time, she just lays there in her diaper babbling to herself and kicking her feet.  The only part she didn't love was the shots, but I breastfed her right afterward and she calmed down pretty quickly. She just stopped talking to the fan so I better post some pictures, and get off of here.   

Hanging with Grandma.

I've got Grandpa wrapped around my little finger.

Sleeping girl.

Happy with Daddy.

Chewing on Albert with Daddy.

Bathtime mowhawk

On the exam table at the doctor's, she really loves it.

"Oh no you di-n't!"