OLIVIA

 Well, this little girl is doing wonderful. She is getting so big and trying to be big too. It makes me cry a little, but I am just too grateful to care. She is starting to have some tummy troubles, which we knew where going to happen. Preemie babies just don't have very good digestive systems so she struggles a little. She HATES her oxygen, she doesn't go more then an hour it seems without pulling it off now. She is totally almost ready to get rid of it. She was off of it the other day for more then 30 minutes before Tay and I got nervous and put it back on. She is in such a hard spot though, she doesn't like the oxygen so she rips her tubes out which makes her scream which makes her puke which makes her upset again and makes her hungry which makes her scream so we feed her, but her oxygen gets put back on and that is her never ending circle. Poor thing.

 On Christmas we got to go see our good friend Christy and her family and this is a picture of Olivia by her little boys 1 year old hands. So cute.

 Had a little photo shoot with her SO cute dress that her Grandpa got her. No offense to guys, but I was surprised at how well he did. Thank you dad.

 See no oxygen, she thought she needed a little break. :)

 There she is posing for you.

 Because she didn't have her oxygen on I took her in her room and let her check out her pink rug and her orange wall.

 Look how strong! She just lifts her head and looks around and does a little superman too with her legs.

 Well she got a little mad, but I wanted to show you how big she's gotten. She used to be the size of a smart water bottle.

This little miss is laying on a Pooh Bear blanket that my mom and dad got me in the 5th grade. I took that blanket to all my sleepovers and my bestest friends knew that. When I moved from McMinnville, Oregon to Kanab, Utah my best friend Shelby needed something of mine to remember me by and that smelled like me. I gave her this blanket (well she might have took it). She had had it since 2001 and for Christmas we got a box in the mail from this sweet friend and inside was the blanket fixed up and made baby sized for Olivia. What a great present with so much meaning. Thank you Shelby, I sure do love you and miss you so much. Can't wait until you get to meet Miss Olivia.
Hope you all have a fun and safe New Year party! Love ya!

Bad Dream

It's 3 in the morning and I can't sleep. I'm tired, but I don't want to go back to the dream I was having.
I love Olivia with all my heart, but to tell you the truth it's still hard to believe she's really here. I don't know how to get rid of the fear that when I have babies they die. I know for some of you it might be hard to understand, but in my mind babies die. And really it's scary. When I fall asleep I wake up in a panic that I slept too long or too well. I dream of 3 babies in a casket and I won't let go of them and Tay tries to take them and I just yell and cry. It's a horrible dream and I wake up in a panic. Thankfully two big bright eyes are looking at me as I type this. Thankfully the spirit comforts me that it is good and I Feel peace, but truthfully it is a constant battle.
Thanks for listening to my fear and letting me express my feelings, it helps me deal with my 'issues' :)
Maybe I can sleep now.
Good night or good morning, however you think it.

4 MONTHS!

 November 18th

 November 28th

 December 8th

 December 18th

 

December 28th

Oh how she grows!

This little one has grown so fast that it makes me cry on a daily basis. I think it is so funny that I prayed for her to grow and had parties for her when she got to weights like 2 pounds! And now at 8 pounds! I am in tears. I wish that my eyes were cameras and could capture every moment of her life and remember it clearly. Pictures just don't capture her as well as my eyes do. :) 

Olivia is doing well, super well. Her doctors are proud of her and so is her mommy and daddy. She is doing so much now, compared to a few weeks ago. 

• Yells even louder then she did in her NICU room.
• Sleeps through the night off and on. 
• Stays awake more, her record is 5 1/2 hours! 
• Loves her swing.
• Loves bright lights and fast movements (especially on TV, usually Food Network. She's gonna say Food Network before she says mom probably.)
• Does not like the violin, cries when dad plays. 
• She enjoys noise, but not loud noise, it scares her. 
• Smiles at her daddy when he talks to her, but not mom.
• Nurses and eats her bottles really well, but a recent development is puking! She's became good at that too. 
• Tries to roll over, but doesn't quite have it down yet. 
• Holds her head up for quite awhile now and loves to look around. 
• Loves her car seat as long as she doesn't have to get in and out of it. 
• Baths are still the best and now she loves showers too. 
• Only likes to be naked if water is involved. 
• Wiggles a lot! 
• Has went to church! (We have a special bubble in the front of the chapel for us.)
• Has a boyfriend named Weston, they're gonna be good friends their moms can feel it. 

She's just getting cuter and cuter by the minute. We love her more and more each day and are so happy that she is blessing our lives. Thank you for all your continued prayers and support, it has done this family well. Love you all. More pictures to come soon, I promise Aunt Joan. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Well, we are finally on the 12th day of Christmas! Time sure did go by fast. Today I feel like I have so many gifts. On the twelfth day of Christmas I was given some worldly gifts and some not so worldly gifts.

 We got this beautiful picture of the St. George temple from Den and Claire and their family and we love it! Thank you so much!

This beauty is from my sweet husband! He got me this bag so I would have a purse/diaper bag. It's perfect and I love it. He also got me some other gifts, but the best of all was a note he wrote and I just loved it!
I got an amazing gift today from my bestest friend from college. Tiffany and I had some amazing times here at SUU and I love her so much. I opened the gift she gave me this morning and tears streamed down my face. She put Olivia's life into books. She took my blogs from being pregnant until she got home and put them into books for us. It was such a meaningful gift and I am so grateful she did such an amazing thing for me and my family. Thank you Tiffany, you are an amazing friend and I love you so much. Thank you for being an example to me and for helping me be who I am today. "I KNEW IT, I KNEW I MADE A GOOD CHOICE..." :) 

 Here is Olivia sitting in her Christmas present, she got a swing and of course other stuff. She got cute clothes, church books and more clothes.

Here is Olivia this morning with her gifts! Thanks dad for some more hand sanitizer!

 What a great gift to be able to spend time with family. I was so upset when my  mom and Riley couldn't come and we didn't know if we could go to Jess and Lindy's, but all the kids got better and we got to go spend time at Jess and Lindy's. We loved that Olivia got to meet some of her cousins. This was certainly a wonderful Christmas gift.

Being a family is the greatest gift I could have ever asked for. This made this the best Christmas ever.
We got to go to church today and that was so wonderful. I loved taking Olivia to church and I am thankful for the ward members who love us so much. It is a blessing to be a part of this amazing ward. We got to sing so many songs which made me so happy and Olivia got used to it after awhile. 

So Olivia has herself a boyfriend. Weston and Olivia spent time in the NICU at the same time. Weston was not supposed to be home for Christmas so we planned to go to the NICU to bring him a gift and the other babies in the unit, but we got the best news ever on the 23rd. Weston got to go home, so we got to go to his house and see him. Weston's mom and dad are wonderful! We feel so blessed that our paths have crossed and are so excited to make good memories together! 

So we figured out that Miss Olivia not only likes Weston, but she really likes his crib. We laid her down and she passed out, I looked at Tayce and told him we should probably get her a crib. 

 Here we are Jessica and Weston and Olivia and I.

 That is 1 of her 4 Christmas outfits we had her wear!

Here she is amazed by the Christmas tree. She is totally is loving bright things and following sounds. She is growing up so fast! 

 My greatest blessings, I love them so much!

 There's that tongue, today Aden laughed every time Olivia stuck her tongue out and would come and tell me if she did. It was so cute.

 Those bright eyes just melt my heart, I sure do love this cute girl!
Overall this Christmas was wonderful! And you know what it was topped off by a chat with my BROTHER. I got to talk to Tyler today and tears come to my eyes when I think of how much he has grown. What an amazing blessing to have someone in my family that I can relate too, I feel like i have someone that I can lean on and it is a blessing that he has chose to live this way. Thank you Tyler I sure do love you! Can't wait to see you in April!
Merry Christmas friends. I love you and I am indeed grateful for you in our lives.

Christmas Eve

The 11th Day of Christmas

On the eleventh day of Christmas I would like to choose the gift of my Savior. On the eve of his birthday celebration I reflected on what an amazing blessing it is to know that I have a savior and because he came into this world we can live with our families for eternity, because he came we have an example. An example of how to live and love and serve. What a great reason to celebrate this joyous holiday, what a great reminder as we start a new year to be kind and to love and to serve, not only in December, but all year around. I love my Savior Jesus Christ and I am glad that I have a testimony that he LIVES and because he lives I can live and love and serve. Thank you for this gift! 

I hope we each have the spirit of Christmas with us this up coming year and that it won't just be there for the short season, but the whole year.