4 months

Olivia is four months old today! She is a true joy and I'm so thankful that God picked me to be her mommy. I know I wrote about it my last post, but she is happier these days. Every day I wake up looking forward to taking care of her. I love seeing her smile when I go to get her from her nap, watching her blow bubbles, listening to her talk, seeing her smile when we walk into the room, and even feeding her in the middle of the night. Obviously, I would love to sleep through the night but I am growing to treasure this nightly feeding. I know it won't be long before she sleeps through the night (hopefully!) and I think I may miss these times with her.
I know people say that babies at this age can't have separation anxiety issues, but I think she has a small case already. The three times I've left her with people (this doesn't include Jeremiah..she's totally fine with him) in the past 2 weeks, she has cried. Luckily, I've been in the next room or only been gone for a short period. All three times she has done the exact same cry. It's like she's afraid. I haven't heard this cry any other time. It breaks my heart but also makes me feel kind of good that she wants her mommy.:) She stops pretty soon after I pick her up. I just hope it doesn't happen when I go back to work. That will make going back even more difficult for me.
Below are some random pictures from the past month. We love our darling girl so much and fall more and more in love with her every day!
Playing with Daddy
Tired after doing tummy time
Look at that pose!:)
What a big girl sitting on the couch.
At Daddy's softball game
Grandma and Olivia at Daddy's game
Tired from watching the softball game

4th of July..well actually the 5th of July because it rained.
We went to Chicago on the 2nd of July and came back on the 3rd. It was a fun trip. This picture isn't great of Olivia. She was smiling. But..the guy who took our picture seriously took 3 minutes to take it. We thought he had taken it and he said he was just trying to get it positioned correctly. So by the time he took it, this is what she was doing. Our blue eyed girl

*We took Olivia to her 4 month doctor's appointment. She weighs 12 pounds 15 ounces and is over 23 inches long. Olivia is in the 37 percentile for height and weight.

What a fantastic day!

I would have to say that I think today has been one of the top five days I've had with Olivia. It was so much fun being with her! This morning she fell asleep on me (which she never does) and I just held her for a while. She started making a few new noises, doing crazy things with her tongue/mouth, and laughed quite a few times today. I feel like she has grown up alot in the past week. She is happier now, which is wonderful.
For the past 3 months every time I put Olivia on her tummy she screams. Since she screams when she is on her tummy, I usually do it right before she takes a nap. It makes her tired and then she falls asleep quickly after she is done on her tummy. However, yesterday I decided to start putting her on her tummy before she became tired. She surprised me with how much she could push up and she didn't cry! Today I tried it again. She pushed up, smiled, and then rolled over! I was so excited I didn't know what to do with myself!:) Over the last couple of weeks she has been trying to roll over from her back to her tummy. She almost has it, but she was always too worn out to try to roll from her tummy from her back. I should have been putting her on her tummy when she was alert and awake this entire time.
Before she rolled over today I was taking pictures of her pushing up. The second time she rolled over I was able to tape it. Anne and Grace came over right afterwards and I was telling them about her new trick. Then I put Livi down and she rolled over again. After that Anne put Grace down on the playmat and Grace looked like she was going to roll. We were so excited. All of the sudden Grace rolled over too! I captured Grace's second time rolling over also. I think it's pretty neat that they both rolled over on the same day. It's something I know Anne and I will never forget! It was fun to share in the excitement together. I'm sure it's only the first of many exciting things we will share over the years!:)



I was able to take these pictures of her as she rolled over for the first time. I didn't realize she was rolling over or I would have grabbed the video camera! The fourth picture was taken right before she rolled for the first time!

Video of her 2nd time rolling over...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poKRkduJUnM

Cute video of her right before she rolled over for the 2nd time...
(warning..I'm pretty annoying in this one!:) I was just so excited that she rolled over!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-20nKmX8Gs

Please slow down summer! Thank you.

This summer is going by way too fast. I feel like it was just yesterday that I was packing up my classroom and telling my class goodbye. In a month I will have to start unpacking and leave Olivia. Before I had her, I knew it would be hard to go back to work. However, I had no idea it would be this heartbreaking. I was holding her today and my tears just started flowing. How in the world am I going to leave this precious girl with someone else? I seriously have no idea how I am going to do it. Jeremiah tells me not to dwell on it and just enjoy my time with Olivia. Honestly, I am enjoying every single second of being her mom. Even when she wakes up in the middle of the night I find myself just smiling. I just feel so blessed. But..that doesn't make it any easier. The school year is still going to come and I'm still going to leave her every day. Ugh.
So that's why I would like the summer to slow down. I know I have had alot of time off with her, but I would like more.:)

First time swimming

On Sunday, we went to my parents' house to celebrate Father's Day (a belated Father's Day celebration). My parents, Kacy, Jeremiah, and I swam for a bit while Olivia took a nap. I was debating all afternoon whether or not to put Olivia in the pull. She doesn't like taking a bath, so I assumed she would hate being in the pool. We decided to just try it out and put her in the cute swimming suit my mom and Kacy bought for her. Jeremiah brought her out in her adorable swimsuit and hat. I took her into the pool and she loved it! She didn't cry at all. At first she just looked around and was kind of annoyed that we were making her wear a hat. Once we took the hat off of her she was in heaven. She just put her head back on my shoulder and closed her eyes. It was like she was laying out! She was so calm and peaceful. It was precious! Olivia enjoyed moving around in the pool and loved laying back on me. I'm so glad my family was there to see her experience her first time in a pool. It couldn't have gone better. Hopefully she'll always love being in the pool like I do!

The two pictures above show her just chillin' out on my shoulder. I loved every minute of it!



Daddy, Mommy, and Olivia-June 28, 2009

3 months already!?

Before Olivia was born, I thought I would constantly be updating this blog with new pictures and information about her. Now, I just don't think about updating this blog. Here are a few pictures and updates on Livi girl. I still can't believe she will be 3 months on the 29th. The time is going so quickly.
1 month old
2 months old



Almost 3 months old at Dave and Lauren's wedding


Here are some other random pictures...

This is how Livi usually looks when I go into her room after naptime. Her smile melts my heart everytime!:)


Here she is playing with her favorite toy. I think she looks like she thinks the elephant's foot is a microphone. Is she going to take after her Daddy?



She looks like such a big girl in this picture! Olivia loves her Daddy so much. Anytime he walks into the room she smiles.

Love it when she is cuddly!

*The past three months have been very challenging but extremely rewarding. Olivia is such a joy and we are incredibly blessed. We can't thank God enough for blessing us with a healthy, energetic, and loving baby girl. Here are some highlights of the past three months...
-Livi started smiling around 4 weeks old.
-She slept through the night 3 times at the end of May and 3 times in the middle of June. Most of the time she still wakes us at least 1 time to eat and then goes back to sleep.
-Olivia can sit in her bumbo seat holding her head up for a short period of time.
-Livi likes to pull up and look around the room.
-She enjoys being outside. If she is fussy and we take her outside, she immediately stops crying and holds her head up to look around.
-Around 1 1/2 months Livi started to play the "tongue game" with us. We will stick our tongues out and then she will stick her tongue out at us. She has initiated this game a few times.
-Livi loves to talk to us. She likes to make us laugh!
-Olivia loves her Daddy. Jeremiah can calm her down like no other person can. She starts smiling the moment she hears his voice.
-For a few weeks Olivia has been on a four hour schedule. She wakes up at 7:30a.m., eats, plays, and then goes down for a nap around 9:30a.m. She usually sleeps for 2 hours but sometimes she sleeps for 3 hours! Then she will eat around 11:30a.m., play until 1:30p.m. and then take another nap. She will usually sleep from 1:30p.m.-3:30p.m. Then she will eat, play, take a short 30 min. nap around 5:30p.m., play, and then eat her final feeding around 8:00p.m. I am very thankful that she likes to take long naps during the day!:)
-Daddy always feeds her at 8:00p.m. He likes spending this time with her.
-Olivia has acid reflux. She takes medicine every night before bedtime. When she was very little she woke up every 20-30 min. screaming in pain. We felt so bad for our tiny baby girl. After they put her on medicine (around 6 weeks) she started sleeping better! Thank goodness she feels better most of the time. Sometimes we can tell she is bothered by the acid. She tends to gulp, gag, choke, spit up a ton, and cry in pain. But..we are lucky that most of the time the medicine takes away the pain.
-Ceiling fans have become her new best friends. She can stare at them for hours!
-Livi weighed 10 pounds 10 ounces at her 2 month check up.
-Olivia gets very excited when I make the fish face.
-She now notices her hands and feet.
-Loves to suck on her fingers-most of the time she would rather suck on her fingers then take a pacifier.
-She can't sleep without being swaddled. The miracle blanket has helped her sleep better. She can't break out of it!:)
-Livi hates taking a bath and screams for a while after getting one!
-Olivia likes to watch me work out.
*There are so many more wonderful things about our Livi girl. These have hands down been the best 3 months of my life. It's hard to describe the happiness I feel when I am around my girlie.:) Hopefully I will be better about updating this blog in the future or at least before she is 6 months old!:)

March 29, 2009

I know that Olivia is almost 7 weeks old! I can't believe I haven't posted about her birth or the past 6 weeks on here. Here we go...
On Friday, March 27 my water broke. I didn't know it broke because it wasn't a big gush or even a continuous trickle. It entered my mind that my water broke, but because it wasn't constant (just a little trickle one time) I didn't think it did. Actually, I didn't even tell Jeremiah about it because I didn't think it was something to worry about. On Saturday, March 28 we got up and went to Cardinal Fitness to work out. I walked for awhile and then Jeremiah and I walked around the mall for about an hour. While we were walking, I felt a few more little trickles. Again, they weren't constant. I told Jeremiah and he was upset with me because he said it sounded like my water broke. I told him that it wasn't my water, but I called the hospital when I got home. They told me to walk around my house for another hour, so I did. When I called them back they said it didn't really sound like my water had broken but that I should probably come in just in case. I was so mad because I just knew they were going to send me back home when we got there. Right before we left for the hospital we heard our doorbell ring. We opened it and saw Dave and Lauren standing there! Some of you know that Dave is Jeremiah's best friend and lives in Wisconsin. It was unreal that they were standing at our door at this time. We told them that we were leaving for the hospital and they were so thrilled. It was pretty neat that we got to chat with them for a bit before going to the hospital.
So, Jeremiah and I got to the hospital around noon. They hooked me up to the machines to monitor the baby's heartbeat. Then they tested me to see if my water had broken. Right away the nurse said it had and we were so excited. Since my water had probably broken on Friday night, the nurse told me they wanted to start everything right away. They didn't want me to get an infection. They took Jeremiah and me into our delivery room and hooked me up to pitocin around 1:00. The nurse told me I was having contractions, but I wasn't feeling them. I felt really good and was checking my email and laughing with Jeremiah. Around 3:00 my contractions started to become intense. My parents and Kacy came to the hospital around 4:00 and my contractions started to feel even worse. At this time I was still dialated to 2 cm. Around 6:00 I told the nurse I wanted an epidural. I received the epidural at 7:00p.m. and was dialated to 3 cm. The nurse told us that it was going to be a long night and that we should get some rest. After receiving the epidural, I felt absolutely wonderful! I was laughing and talking with everyone again. Jeremiah's parents came to the hospital around 7:00 as did Kelsy and her boyfriend Casey. It was nice to see everyone and it made the time go by quickly. Around 9:00 Jeremiah and I decided that we wanted to try to get some sleep. So, we sent everyone out to the waiting area. We tried to get some sleep, but we couldn't. We were just too excited. At this time I was a little teary eyed. I was thrilled that we were about to have our baby, but also scared. We also realized that it was the last time it was just going to be us. We knew that our lives were about to change forever.
At 11:00p.m. the nurse came in to check me. She said, "Let's hope for a 5. I hope you are dialated to 5 cm." When she was checking me she realized that I was fully dialated. She said, "Um..we are going to start pushing now." During this time Jeremiah was absolutely amazing. He was so positive and encouraging the entire time. Our nurse was also wonderful. She was very positive and a really great support for both of us. About 15 minutes into labor Jeremiah could see Olivia's head. I thought that we were going to deliver soon, but she jut didn't want to come out. At 1:00a.m. the nurse went to get the doctor. At 1:20a.m. the doctor told me that I had been pushing for 2 1/2 hours and it was still going to be a lot longer before she was born. The doctor told me that I could have her vacuumed out or...and I just stopped her right there. I told her to vacuum her out. I was not about to have a c-section after pushing for that long. So they used the vacuum two times and Olivia was born at 1:40a.m. They laid her right on me and Jeremiah cut the cord. It was so surreal. I couldn't believe that this little baby was our baby! They let Olivia lay on me for about 10 minutes. Then I said, "Don't you need to take her and get her cleaned up?" I don't know why I was so worried about it! They knew what they were doing. While they were cleaning her up, I was taking picture of Jeremiah looking at her. I felt wonderful because the epidural hadn't worn off. I still couldn't feel anything at all. I didn't feel anything during the labor or delivery. I felt a little bit of pain in my back, but that's about it.
After they cleaned her up, Jeremiah went and got my family and his mom. It was so neat to watch them meet Olivia and hold her for the first time. Jeremiah got to go up and watch Olivia get her first bath. At about 3:30a.m. our family left and at 6:00a.m. Jeremiah and I finally went to sleep. We went to sleep for an hour and then started our first day as a family.
While we were in the hospital we had so many visitors. We were happy that so many friends and family were able to meet her.

Last picture of just the two of us. This was taken after I received the epidural!
This was taken right after she was born. Jeremiah holding Olivia for the first time.


Olivia Ann Cox-7 pounds 2 ounces. 18 1/4 inches long.



This was taken right before we left the hospital.


Our first night home.

Mother's Day

I can't believe it has been 6 weeks since our little Livi girl was born! I know I haven't posted anything since she was born. In the next few days, I will try to post about the first 6 weeks. It has been crazy, but so rewarding and fun. Olivia is so adorable and we just can't get enough of her.:) For the past week or so Olivia has started to smile at us. It's really cute!
Today is my first Mother's Day and I am just so thankful that God has allowed me to become a mother to this wonderful baby. I don't take it for granted that God has truly blessed Jeremiah and me with Olivia. Even though the past 6 weeks have been rough, I wouldn't trade a single moment for anything. Being a mommy is absolutely fantastic. It's moments like this (the video below) that makes the sleepless days/nights worth it. It's moments like this that make me wonder how people don't believe in God. How else do you describe the love I have for this little girl or the joy that fills my heart when I am with her. Here is a video of her laughing at me when I am singing to her (who wouldn't laugh at me..I'm a horrible singer!:)). I just wanted to share this because I think it's precious!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33432161@N02/3516102387/