3 months old

Our little girl is 3 months old!!   We started daycare last week *tears*. Her first day of daycare was Frankie's first day gone on a month long deployment.....it was a rough day for sure!! We are slowly adjusting.....I guess I should say I'm adjusting because other than being tired at the end of the day I think Olivia is doing just fine......it's mommy that is having a hard time. I miss spending everyday with her, and we both miss daddy.

 



I'm 3 months old!



The time goes so fast and it's amazing how fast they grow and learn!! Here's just some of the new things going on with her lately........

~Weighs 13.6 lbs and is 22 1/4 inches long!!

~ Bats at her toys and grabs for them...... She can reach for and hold her orange ball and her "Ellie" and  her binky (although the binky doesn't quite make it into her mouth, we're getting closer though!)

~Sitting up better and better. She can sit up with her back against something and hold herself upright for  a long period of time. She actually prefers to be sitting up now and when we’re are in the car she is constantly lifting her head off the back of car seat and grunting trying to sit up.......pretty hilarious to watch.

~Tummy time is getting a little easier and she enjoys it for short periods of time as long as something is propped under her chest.....and if she's in a good mood.

~Tries to mimic sounds and faces we make.

~Has started "yelling" if she notices I'm not paying attention to her.

~Has started giving kisses back (or her version at least) by open her mouth when I go to give kisses on the lips.

~Laughed out loud for the first time on 4-24-12 when I was tickling her, so cute!










 









There's a new baby in town.......

Before Olivia (4 years and 14 days before Olivia) we had another baby. She wasn't our biological baby, which explains the blond hair......but it didn't matter, we loved her so so much. The day she came home with us I put her to bed with a pink polka dot baby blanket, and she still sleeps with it every night to this day. She got tucked in every night with her polka dot blanket favorite stuffed animal. Her favorite time of the day was cuddling with daddy on the couch at night before bed. Unlike Olivia, who broke her mommy's heart and already graduated to her own bedroom, she still sleeps in our room every night. We'd brag to anyone who'd listen about how adorable she was. We jumped at the oppurtunity to get out our phone and show someone a picture of her.  Almost every picture on my phone was of some "adorable" thing she had done or cute way she had slept.

When I got pregnant she was the very first one I hugged and squealed in joy to that there was "going to be a baby!!"

I promised her when Olivia arrived that we would still love her just as much and she would still get her nightly cuddles on the couch with daddy and Sunday mornings with us in bed.........



BUT......






.......Now when Wrigley jumps on the bed, sadly I confess, I'm usually screaming "Wrigley get off the bed you STINK and you’re getting hair on the baby!!"

Oh Wrigley, I promise we still love you.  

And it's clear you and Olivia are great friends in the making. I'm glad you love "your baby" as much as we do.

Working momma

Yesterday I went back to work.

It was something I was dreading and very anxious about. After literally being attached physically to Olivia for the better part of a year, it was a horribly uncomfortable feeling that I was going to have to leave her. .

.....truth be told I think I took it much harder than her, which is a sort of heartbreaking reality that most mommy's probably have to face.....whether it be now, the first day of school or the day they leave the nest.

She's spending this first week that I'm back at work with daddy and I'm both happy and sad that I don't think she even noticed I was gone.  I know next week will be much harder since she will be in daycare during the day instead of with Frankie......and the same day she starts childcare Frankie will be having to go out to sea for 3 weeks. That will be a rough day for sure. Having her spend all day with daddy, and sending her to daycare all day are very different. Daycare makes me feel like I'm abandoning her. I know that she'll probably end up loving it. It's a very nice place, and not just a "daycare" it's an actual development center that has excellent reviews and a curriculum schedule starting as newborns. The caregivers there are very friendly, warm, and more than competent from what I've seen.....but it's not mommy.  I'm going to be working 3 days a week......3 long 10 hour days a week.....but that leaves 4 wonderful days with my baby girl. It was very important to me to be WITH Olivia more than I was away from her and I feel pretty good about me work schedule....other than the longer than desirable days.

I'd be lying if I said part of going back to work wasn't for some Holly time......with Frankie having to leave so much and not having that end of day adult conversation, I think it will be important for me to have a identity other than "mommy" and conversation with someone that talks back. I think that's hard for most moms to admit, I know it's hard for me to admit. However it's not out of selfishness.....it's from knowing that with that time and self-worth I get from doing something for me, I know it will make me a better mommy. I also think it will be good for Olivia, it will be good social interaction with babies her age and make school much easier down the road, and she will also probably learn things she won't otherwise there.

My daily desk reminders of what a very lucky mom, wife, and women I am.