Never A Dull Moment

On our way home from Olivia's six month check up I looked in the rearview mirror to find this... She's been sucking on her hands a lot lately but was never successful at purposefully sucking on her fingers. I guess a round of shots and no one being there to hold her paci gave her a bit of incentive to make it work. Sweet girl! As soon as I saw her doing this my mind raced back to her first few weeks of life and the first time she "found" her fingers. I just love that its the same hand.

My heart could burst...

Olivia is 37 weeks gestation today! She is so close to coming home that everyday is beginning to feel like Christmas Eve! Oh, the anticipation! Our Livi girl is an absolute dream baby. I can't get over how sweet she is! She is content and happy almost all of the time. Hardly cries unless given a reason - don't make her mad. :) She still hates diaper and clothes changes and her breathing treatments. She eats every three hours and has been awake and looking at her new mobile a lot more. She is a breastfeeding champ, and we are still working on bottle feeding. She does fine as long as she's awake enough to eat. Who knew that learning to suck, swallow and breathe would be so tiring?! She's on a micro-flow of .06 on the nasal cannula and doing so great with it! I think they'll wean her a little more today or tomorrow. No definite homecoming date has been set but I know we are so close. I'm sitting here at the hospital snuggling her right now and I have to pinch...

Our little girl is three months old. Three months old! It's gone by so fast and so slow all at the same time. The last three months have been the hardest of my life. But, at the same time, they've been the sweetest. My love for this child knows no bounds. Olivia, Three months ago, nearly to the hour, I saw you for the first time. You and your sisters were the smallest babies I had ever seen. When I look back at pictures it terrifies me to think of how fragile you were. You had lots of dark hair and beautiful, tiny hands. Your eyes, still fused shut, held long eyelashes and your little lips were just beginning to form. Looking at you that night, I remember thinking you were absolutely perfect. You are still so perfect in every way. I couldn't be more proud that God chose me for you. Your daddy and I love you fiercely, sweet girl. Love, Mommy

Olivia is 36 weeks adjusted gestation today! It's crazy we are already to July and that her original due date is just around the corner! Reid went back to work last week and I've been spending the majority of my days at the hospital. I get here in time to feed her at 11, hold for a little while after, eat lunch in the cafeteria, pump, go back to hold and feed again (Reid tries to meet us for this feeding), head home for a few hours, eat dinner, and come back to the hospital with Reid for her 8pm feeding. I'm thinking about adding her 8am feed to the mix to try and get her to be able to breastfeed as much as possible. Olivia is doing great breastfeeding. If she eats longer than 15 minutes they consider it a full feeding and don't supplement through her feeding tube. She has been eating for 17-19 minutes on average and is leaving her nurses very impressed. She took a bottle for the first time last night. I thought we would use Dr. Browns bottles but she wasn't a f...

It has been a big day for our little miss! Baby dedication this morning (thank you to our amazing neighbors, Christen and Don, for being there with us at church today!), drinking her first bottle (thank you mommy intuition and the Tommee Tippee), getting a new big girl crib, and hitting the FIVE POUND mark!!!! She wore her little self out! Mommy and Daddy are SO proud of you, Olivia!

Today, Olivia's picture was put up on the big screen at church along with 23 other babies born this year. It was so special for us to get to share her picture with the hundreds of people who have prayed for us over the last few months. We took some pictures of her last Sunday at the hospital to submit for the dedication. Her nurse insisted that we take all the sticky stuff, nasal cannula, and feeding tube off when she found out what the pictures were for. We were finally able to capture ALL of her sweet face! Today, I'm reminded, yet again, of God's faithfulness and sovereignty over Olivia's life. How far we all have come in the 12 weeks that she's been here. All the memories we've made as we have gotten to know our precious little girl. We are so very blessed to have such a tangible reminder of just how BIG and gracious our God is! "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for HE who promised is faithful." Hebrews 10:23

My dad came to visit us last weekend and see Olivia again! He hadn't seen her since she was two weeks old (still hovering right around her birth weight of 1lb 5oz). My, how she's changed! I was so beyond excited to reintroduce him to his first grandchild! He was absolutely smitten with her. When he was holding her he said to me, "Wouldn't mom just have a fit over her?" I thought, yes, yes she would. I often get sad that Olivia will never get the chance to know my mom, and that my mom won't ever know my babies. But, as a friend recently pointed out, my mom does know my babies. She knows Madelyn, Catherine and Mary Grace. It's such a comforting thought. Olivia, You have such a special Pawpaw! He thinks you are pretty special, too! Seeing him hold you and talk to you was so fun for me. You were so content and happy to be with him. At one point you smiled one of the sweetest smiles I've ever seen. Daddy said you could even see the smile in your eyes! I ...

Olivia is doing so well! She weighs 4 pounds 10 ounces. I can't believe how much she's gained just this past week. She is doing great with breast feeding - she ate two entire feeds on her own yesterday and didn't need to be given any extra through her tube. It seems like yesterday a light went off and she got into a good groove. We will introduce a bottle this coming Friday and I'm interested to see how she likes it. She is down to 1L on the nasal cannula and hasn't had any issues with that change. She truly is our little miracle! I don't claim to have the smallest hands in the world, but this picture will give you an idea how small four pounds is! Mommy and Daddy love you so much, Olivia!

Olivia is 34 weeks gestation! She weighs 4 pounds and is literally growing by the hour. Each day brings new changes. Her little features are becoming so much more defined with every ounce of weight gain. She looks just like me in most of my baby pictures, especially the picture below without the nasal cannula. There's definitely a strong Dickey/Bain (my mom and dad's families) resemblance. She has a little dimple in her chin just like my mom had when she was little. I think its the sweetest thing and it makes me smile. I love that there is a little bit of my mom in my daughter. :)

Happy first Father's Day to Olivia's daddy and my incredible husband! Olivia, Daddy has been so amazed that today is a day he gets to celebrate... because he's a daddy now - your daddy. I can't even begin to describe the love that he has for you. He tells me over and over through out the day how wonderful he thinks you are. You are wonderful, Olivia, and so very blessed to have such a special daddy. Love, Mommy

Olivia was 10 weeks old yesterday. To celebrate she got to breast feed for a little while (sorry if that's tmi, but this is her baby book and I'd like to remember). She did great and now we are on a two week exclusive to get her used to breast feeding before we introduce a bottle. She was moved down to 2L on the nasal cannula and has been doing great! Last night she weighed 3 pounds 13.4 ounces - almost three times her birthweight! A few of her preemie outfits are still too big, but the micro preemie ones are way too small. I think by the end of next week the preemie outfits will probably fit perfectly. She's eating one ounce of milk every 3 hours through her feeding tube. Whatever she gets from me is just a bonus right now while we work on developing the "suck, swallow, breath" reflexes. We are so thankful she is doing so well! Last week her doctor, with a smile on his face said, "Now we just wait for her to keep growing." It will be the end of July bef...

I still have to pinch myself when I look at her... She's really my baby! Being her Mom is one of the most amazing gifts I've ever been given. I fall more in love with her everyday. It gets harder and harder to leave the hospital without her. I want the coming weeks to fly by, but I also don't want to miss anything. She is such a sweet baby and I'm so proud that she's mine!  We decided to take monthly pictures with Sophie so we can really see in pictures  how much Olivia grows! Smiling when she found out she's already two months old! Snoozing away... So alert and watching Daddy. No more pictures, please! Snuggling with Daddy. All cozy in bed wearing her pretty hat.  Daddy holding her like a "real baby" for the first time.  It's hard work to be a baby... and get so much attention! She loved her new outfit! What girl wouldn't? Sweet baby Livi! Snuggli...