Never A Dull Moment

Yesterday our girls turned six months old (with the exception of Catherine on September 28). Sometimes I feel like each month is a vicious cycle of dates. Beginning with the day my water broke until Mary Grace died. It is a 16 day span of memories, and each date is permanently burned in my mind. I will say that yesterday was a good day. I focused on Olivia and what a sweet gift her life is. Just when I think there's no way to love her more, I do. The past few weeks I've found myself wondering what life with four babies would be like. At six months old, what would her sisters look like? Would Catherine's hair have grown to cover the birthmark on top of her head or would she still be bald? Would Madelyn still be the smallest of her sisters and would she still look like her daddy? Would Mary Grace still look the most like Olivia? Would her hair have stayed blonde like it was when she was born? Would she be the biggest sister? There are so many questions I'll never...

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.

Well, I say it all the time... Life is flying by, and I can't believe Olivia is two months adjusted and almost six months old! As fast as it seems to be going, I truly feel like I soak up each and every moment of every day. She is an amazing little girl and I'm so thankful to get to stay home with her. I feel like all that we've lost made me that much more aware of how special our time with Olivia is. I tell Reid all the time, she's only, for example, "48 weeks old once..." ;) So, we take advantage of rocking her a little longer than we need to and snuggling her while she sleeps even though the books say its a no-no. I don't want to have any regrets. We have been having so much fun with our sweet girl. She is starting to interact with us more and more. Recently, she started responding to being tickled. Melt. My. Heart. She's making a few vowel sounds and I think full-on cooing is just around the corner. She will crane her neck to find me or Reid in t...

We have had a great weekend as a little family of three! We've been trying to take advantage of fun outings while the weather is nice and before the onset of RSV season. On Saturday we ventured out to the Dallas Arboretum. We picked up lunch on the way and had a picnic in the shade before walking around to look at some of the Chihuly exhibit. It was such a fun afternoon! One of my friends, Emily , opened an Etsy shop and sells these cute little onesies and lots of other fun things. I thought my little piggie looked awfully cute supporting the Hogs.    This morning we went to church and then stopped by the cemetery to visit the girls. Olivia wore her little three flower headband for the first time today (I had ordered it hoping to use it for newborn pictures, but it didn't arrive in time). I love finding little ways we can remember her sisters. Afterwards, we headed to brunch and ran into some friends. We got the chance to eat with t...

I had been on the hunt for a newborn photographer for a while. I had an idea of the kind of pictures I wanted but, I wasn't having any luck. We were in a bit of a scheduling predicament because Olivia was coming home on oxygen and we weren't sure how long she would need to stay on it. One day, the week Olivia came off the oxygen, I was browsing Facebook and saw the most perfect pictures of a friend's little girl. I knew that the photographer, Kendall Stoy , was the one who would capture Olivia as a newborn. I just have to say, Kendall made the morning we spent together so comfortable and relaxed. I will forever treasure the pictures, but its the memory of those captured moments that are the most special to me. She really went above and beyond to help us honor Catherine, Madelyn and Mary Grace in the photos, as well. In the slideshow there are two different pictures of Olivia wearing little flower headbands. Each one holds three flowers to symbolize her three older sister...

I forgot to upload these pictures with her actual four month post. They are too funny to leave off entirely, so today we are rewinding a bit. As if you can't tell, this wasn't her best time of day. ;) (I really think her middle finger makes this picture)

In the morning, after I dress Olivia, we have a little photo shoot. Most days she tolerates me pretty well. Today was not one of those days. :) That pitiful "Can't you see I'm over this" cry just makes me laugh. A few minutes later she was snuggled in her blanket and sound asleep on my chest. Oh, what a rough life she leads.