Snuggle Time

Grandma and Grandpa Obreiter are here, but before they got here this morning Abby and Olivia enjoyed some quality snuggle time while watching Abby's favorite princess sing along movie. They needed to snuggle... Abby was in super crabby mode from waking up in the middle of the night and getting into our bed. No one in our room is sleeping well since Olivia likes to grunt and moan and groan if she isn't being snuggled. It's not that she needs anything... she is just noisy.

House Arrest - Day 10

I had the best of intentions to get some pictures of Abby and Olivia today in the nice natural sunlight, but then the morning got away from us. It is much harder trying to get pictures of one child and supervising the other when you are the only adult in the house. Especially when Abby decides she is moving on to a new activity in a new location (often half a house away). So... instead we got some flashy pictures this evening. I am not a fan of the flash. I would much prefer to get some natural light pictures.














That is just one of the many things I am finding trickier to do with two children. Showering is another. I am going to need a baby gate so I can trap Abby upstairs and put Olivia in her crib so that I can shower without having to wait for Steve to come home for lunch, since some days we need to be somewhere in the morning. Another thing that gets tricky is breakfast for Abby, since Olivia is normally wanting her breakfast right about the same time. Either way someone is going to end up crying. But I'm sure in the next few weeks we will get all these little things figured out and get back into a routine and rhythm that works for us.

Broken Blogger

We can't actually open our blog, so I have to resort to sending my posts in via email.  No fun!  We've been enjoying a lazy day around here (if you count cleaning as part of lazy) and are looking forward to having a little company stop by this evening for dinner and some adult conversation.  Abby and I went on a little trip to WalMart this afternoon while Steve and Olivia hung out at the house.  It was nice to get out again and Abby enjoyed her special Mommy time.  We are counting down the days until we can get back out and spend time with friends.  Abby asks almost every day if her friends are coming over today.  I'd love to tell her yes, but unfortunately it is going to be a while longer.

Happy Birthday Aunt Hannah and Happy Anniversary Great Grandma & Grandpa Hodges!  We hope you are all having wonderful Saturdays :-)

Great Grandma's Afghan

We have been having fun with the camera and Great Grandma Jennie's afghan. 

2 Weeks Old

Or negative 3 weeks... depending how you look at it.

Olivia went in for a check up today to make sure she was gaining weight. She's gained 11 ounces since Friday - I'd say that's pretty good progress for a little lady. So she was up to 7 pounds 11 ounces again and was 19 1/2 inches long (although the length measurements always seem a bit shady to me).

Abby's been having a great time with Grandma Mary - they spent a lot of time outside blowing bubbles and exploring the backyard. She is sure enjoying her grandma time! I am trying to enjoy it too, but today a nap was definitely not in the cards for me. First the mailman rang the doorbell. Then once I got back into bed the phone rang. After that Olivia wanted fed. Then she was gassy and squeaking, so I needed to hold her upright against my shoulder. By the time I got her comfortable and ready to nap Abby was up from her 2 hour nap. So... I think early to bed is in my plans. Especially after Abby woke us up at 4 a.m. and Olivia joined her awake party at 5:30 a.m. It has been a very long day...

The Boats are Back

Another day almost in the books and I am still pretty much sane. I even slipped out for about 30 minutes to pick up some groceries all by myself. It was nice to be out of the house for a few minutes and really nice to grocery shop without having a little person throwing things into (and out of) the cart. And I was even able to sleep until 9 this morning and take a nap with Abby. I am going to be sad to see the era of grandparent help end and lose out on the ability to focus on one child at a time when necessary. But, it will also be nice to get into a routine and figure out how we are going to survive being a family of 4.

I weighed Olivia with the Nintendo again today and it said she weighed 8.2 pounds. I will be pretty surprised if she really does weigh more than 8 pounds when we take her in to be weighed tomorrow morning - that would be gaining over a pound since last Friday. But if we base weight gain on dirty diaper creation, then she may have actually gained more than a pound. We've been going through diapers at an amazing rate.

Abby has been enjoying some grandma time to the maximum. Today Abby and Grandma Mary took a walk down to the Soo Locks since we could hear freighters going through starting yesterday. They didn't get to see any boats, but I think they still had fun being outside. Abby loves being outdoors now that the weather is getting nicer (it was 53 degrees today). I have a feeling this summer will be a lot of time in the back yard for us - not that I have any complaints about that.

Candy Eggs

Here's a sneak peak of our birth announcement - we had a lot of fun with candy eggs and had more fun eating them when we were finished. Abby and Olivia tried to sneak a bite too.

We've had another good day today and have been enjoying and appreciating some Grammy time with Grandma Mary visiting. Abby loves having Grammy around and I appreciate having some extra help with two little girls now that Steve is back to work. We even got our playroom floor mopped and swept. It is so nice having extra hands around, especially hands that Abby loves to be with.

Olivia is picking up weight (according to the Nintendo Wii) and she is starting to sleep a little better. I still end up having to let her hold onto my finger a few times during the night, but considering the fact that she sleeps for about 3 hours at a stretch right now I don't mind a few extra minutes of hand holding to get her to sleep soundly.

"Give Abby Baby Sister"

I think we have a pretty good thing going with these two so far... that is until they team up on us.

At Home - Day Two

We have survived 48 hours alone (just Steve and I) at home with our two girls and so far I am shocked by how well it has gone. We really haven't had any huge fits or meltdowns from Abby and Olivia hasn't really been inconsolable either. I'm just waiting for the shoe to drop - I hope it is days or weeks down the road, but I'm sure we can't be that lucky with a preemie and an almost 2 year old.

We had a much better night's sleep last night with only about 30 minutes of awake but not feeding time. I have the bassinet arranged so that I can stick my hand into it from bed comfortably, so when Olivia just needs to feel and smell mommy I can let her hold onto a finger or rub her head. I had to lay her next to me for a little while too, but she only needed about 5 minutes of that before she was relaxed enough to get back into her own bed. We are definitely not a co-sleeping family - Steve sleeps too soundly and I sleep to lightly, so between the two of us one is worried about rolling onto a baby and the other doesn't get any sleep with a small person next to them. And the doctor's all said Miss Olivia needs to sleep in her own bed and on her back (just like any other baby) to help prevent apnea and SIDS. We are more than happy to comply.

Abby is still doing great in her role as big sister. She has been very good at following the rules for touching her little sister (no touching her face, no picking her up, etc.) and was very careful to keep Maize away from Olivia while she was in her bouncy seat. Abby also enjoyed a solid hour of time outside with her daddy today. The weather was cold (only 36 degrees) but beautifully sunny, so they went on an adventure around the block and played with Maize in the back yard. And she's been reading books to her daddy and baby sister this afternoon too. She is getting pretty good at having a lot of them memorized. She has also managed to absolutely destroy the playroom since we arrived home. You would never know that someone had it all picked up for us. We may have to have a little cleaning party tonight before bed and make her pick up some of her things. I think she pulled them all out just to make sure they were still here.

Since we've been home things have been pretty quiet, but Steve's office did put together a beautiful diaper cake full of cute things for Olivia (some of which Abby decided she would borrow in the meantime - like some beaded necklaces and bunny rings). As we started to pull it apart (after we took pictures of course), we found surprises hidden inside too. It's nice that Steve has such thoughtful and sweet co-workers. We also had a surprise special delivery for Abby and Olivia last night from Steve's office mate Dave and his family. The girls got two matching outfits, a Beauty and the Beast Barbie doll for Abby (she apparently made them play pretend Beauty and the Beast when they watched her while we were in the hospital the first night) and an Ohio State hat for Olivia. I'm not sure we will let a hat like that onto our beautiful daughter's head, but it was a wonderful surprise and the little outfits are adorable (many pictures to come!).

Our Own Beds :-)

We just got back from Olivia's first appointment with our family physician. She is a little skinnier than when she left the hospital, but otherwise is doing great. I'm not even sure how much skinnier she is, since she apparently also shrunk an entire inch (and for a c-section baby that seems odd to me). So, we go back next Wednesday for another weight check and from there we will have a more consistent idea of how she is growing. She is eating every couple hours round the clock, so I'm sure she is getting some nutrition.

We arrived home yesterday around dinner time after our whirlwind adventure around the state. It was so nice to sleep in our own beds last night. Amazingly enough, we only had two kids crying in the car at the same time for the last 3 blocks of our trip. Better yet, they both slept the first 45 minutes and most of the last 45 minutes too (besides that little sob fest at the end). And Maize was really excited to see us - so excited, in fact, that Abby has a little cut under her eye from getting a dog "hug". As happy as Abby was to have her dog back, she was more happy to have her own toys again. She especially enjoyed introducing her new Cinderella doll to the princess castle. And we had a Sleeping Beauty doll waiting to give her when we got home too, so she has been playing non-stop with her princesses and the castle.
















Olivia is on night two of wanting to be held from 3:30 am to about 6:00 am. It makes sleeping a whole lot more difficult when you only get to sleep until 3:30. Poor Steve didn't know what he was in for when we got into bed last night. He'd been staying in a separate room at mom and dad's house with Abby, so last night was his first experience of sleeping and waking on Olivia's schedule. Luckily Abby didn't seemed phased by the crying and other baby related noises.
















I am finally staple free and feeling much better now that I don't have little metal spikes in my belly. Now just a couple more weeks of taking it easy and I should be back to normal. Luckily I have a super helpful husband, a wonderful family, and great friends. We were pleasantly surprised to come home yesterday to a re-stocked refrigerator and a counter top with food and snacks. We have some pretty wonderful friends up here in Sault Ste. Marie and we are so thankful for that. They make being farther away from family a whole lot easier.
















Olivia and I are going to be on a little house arrest until she reaches her original due date to try and give her a chance to build up her immune system (April 14th), so we are going to have to find some ways to keep the cabin fever at bay. I'm open to all suggestions...