A FAMILY THAT PLAYS TOGETHER.....STAYS TOGETHER!!!!!

I'VE heard this saying but never thought it would become the family THEME...... The "PLAY" part definitely takes precedence. We love ALLEN!!!!!

Monday, April 30, 2012

Olivia at 1 Month

I'm actually posting this at the same time as 2 months and I really don't remember all that much.  This is why I have to post in the moment or this happens.  Let this be a lesson to me!!!!  I have some pictures to post though so maybe I will remember some things while their loading.






















Livi sure loves to sit in her car seat.  She seems most content there.





















 She is starting to hold her head up really good



Her first bath was a shower at 3 weeks and loved it.  She almost goes to sleep when the warm water runs over her.  Oh course she got sponge baths the first two weeks until her cord fell off











 






















First day going back to church.  I take as long as I can with my newborns.  When people seem them they really aren't newborns anymore but that's kinda how I like it.  (to each his own)

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Olivia at Two Weeks!!!



















Addison wanted to sit by livie and be covered up by her blanket too!!!




































When we went to the doctor 4 days after Olivia was born she dropped to 7 pounds 3 ounces which is very normal.  Well when we went Yesterday, Monday April 16th she was

Weight:  8 pounds 6 ounces
Height:  still 21 inches
Head:  13 inches

All I can say is we have a good eater on our hands; Seems like she's always hungry.  Don't get me wrong, mommy is so glad she's nursing.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Our life at 1 week
















Wow, I have two girls.  I love it so much.  Even though mommy might be sleep deprived and only has two hands, I think the adjustment period isn't going to bad.  Olivia is a sweet little spirit.  She makes these little sounds that just melts mommy's heart.  Addison seems to need me the most when I'm feeding her.  So, you should see it...both of them sitting on the rocking chair with me GETTiNG THEiR MOMMY TiME iN.  We have got to get a picture of this...so daddy needs to be home to take the picture and mommy needs to be decent to take a picture.(no white or bobbies showing...ha ha) She's a good baby, just trying to reverse night and day for her, cause she is really mixed up.  Wants to sleep all day and stay awake all night.  I don't remember Addie being this off.      


We finally got this little munchkin dressed today.  She's been in sleepers all of last week.

















Sun bathing!!  We have a bit of Jaundice and it's setting in on her eyes.  WE want it to go away










 



She's starting to like her binky a little.  She gags on it a bit because of her small mouth.













 



 She has bright eyes, Some days I think they might turn blue, but then other days I think brown.















Addie trying to dress herself.  Well she got the shorts on.  She's getting so big.

















We are twirling and dancing and I snapped this on her twirl around

















This face is, "where is my blanket mom?"

















She was watching Secretariat and needed her people around her.  AND MY  sonic drink.













How I love my sweet little girls.  Life wouldn't be the same without them.  I was talking to Allen the other night about it being a week with two girls and he said it felt like longer, kinda like forever, and I had to agree!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Olivia Lee Strickland













April 1, 2012 (I guess we got an April Fools baby after all)

 Weight:  7 pounds
  Length: 21 inches long
  Head:  12 inches around

Wow, I'm finally writing about this sweet little girls Arrival.  Tomorrow it will have been two weeks since Olivia was born.  I have to say this round was so much better compared to the last time.  Okay as good as birthing a baby can be!!!!


On Wednesday I started having some good contractions.  They got to the point (about 10 minutes apart) where I almost called Allen and told him to meet me at the hospital.  Well they stopped as I was trying to find someone to watch Addison.  My mom got here Wednesday night so I was really hoping this girl would come before the weekend was over.  I went to the Doctor on Thursday and I was dilated to almost a 5.  He told me that this baby was going to come any time.  I asked him what if she didn't, would he induce me?  He said he didn't think that would be a problem cause he was on call at the hospital Saturday and Sunday.  Friday I had contractions all day and as they started to get close about 10 min again they stopped.  Okay, this was getting annoying, were my thoughts. Saturday nothing and then later that evening Contractions started up again and were staying about 20 minutes apart.  I called Dr. West and he said to come in around 6am if nothing progressed and he would finish me.  I think our little Olivia needed a push to leave her nice warm home.

Well nothing was progressing fast to say the least, so we headed to the hospital a little after 6am.  I was dilated to a 5 already so they wanted to get me in a steady rhythm before giving me an epidural.  They started me on pitocin around 10am.  Around 1pm I told them I was ready for the epidural.  By 4pm I was at a 10.  My epidural was working really good.  That was one thing I told them coming into this labor...that it better not wear off like THEY LET IT the last time.  I sat there and watched while my doctor suited up, the nurses got everything ready for babies arrival, then we were ready to push.  Pushed for about 15 minutes and she was here at 4:47pm!!!!  She had some battle wounds when she came out but by the time we took her home they were almost gone.  I didn't tear or have to have any stitches but I threw up twice before the day was over.  I guess it was just the after effects. I didn't feel like I was in shock after having her because the epidural worked great.  I needed a birth like this so I would consider having another one.  Allen and I enjoyed her for an hour before both Grandma Strickland, Addison, Gammy and Pops came to visit.  I'm so grateful for a healthy perfect baby girl.































































































Friday, April 13, 2012

This is what I'm talking about

I can't remember where I came upon this article, but I really liked it.  I really hit home right now.  I have a newborn again and I needed someone else to say it like it really is besides me.   I thought it was a great post to share.  

Motherhood 101: The First Year

The summer of babies is upon us.
I thought I’d start compiling a list – for me to revisit and read when I’m in sleep-deprived psychosis, flying off the handle at every little thing, weeping over the dirt on my floor, and telling the cat that I’m going to sell him because he’s such an obnoxious freak of nature.
And for the other new moms out there who are at this very moment yelling at their pets and spouses, wondering if they will ever feel normal again.
I’ll start with the very practical.
1. Don’t be quiet when the baby is sleeping. Do not tiptoe or whisper or do anything equally stupid.  Train that little bug to sleep through ANYTHING.  Live your life at normal volume – vacuum, watch TV, talk on the phone, open and close doors.  Just keep living.
2. Don’t “save” the cute clothes.  They grow so fast.  Put them in your favorite outfit as often as you can – because before you know it you’ll be an weepy mess, sniffling as you put it in the attic, regretting every time you “saved it” and went with something that was “okay to get dirty.”
3.  When your brand new little one starts crying in the grocery store (or in church, or at a funeral), don’t worry.  It’s not nearly as loud as you think.  You will be so worried about being “that mom” with the screaming kid that you’ll get stressed and sweaty over what sounds like, to everyone else, an innocent, raspy little newborn cry.  Wait ’til they’re 2.  Then they are as loud as you think.
4. It is much easier to take the whole mattress out of the crib to put new sheets on it – then just plop it back in.  You’ll break a sweat, pull six muscles, and curse trying to cram your hands between the mattress and the crib slats.
5. Your body has done a nearly impossible thing – give it some grace.  It might not ever look like it did when you were 19 (a moment of silence, please), but it grew, accomodated, nurtured, and birthed another human being.  Anatomically, it’s staggering and nothing short of miraculous.  So rest assured, soft is beautiful.  Motherhood is beautiful.  Your body stepped up to the plate and did the most important thing when it mattered.  Give your body some grace. (And with some hard work and a year or so’s time, you can get back to a slightly softer version of normal – new normal.)
6.  A long time ago, I was visiting with my Grandma Harness and we were watching my cousin Daniel.  He was just a tiny infant at the time and throwing quite a fit.  After patiently changing him, feeding him, swaddling him, burping him, and singing to him, he was still in a tizzy.  Grandma laid him lovingly in his bouncer, looked at me and said, “Isn’t he so adorable?”  I looked at screamy, red-faced Daniel and just laughed nervously, to which Grandma replied,
“You know, Kate, sometimes babies just cry.” 
This from a nurse, and a woman who raised five healthy, happy, successful children (incidentally baby Daniel was my aunt’s fifth child, too).  My gentle Grandma’s words helped me so many times to look at Madeline affectionately instead of desperately, lovingly instead of angrily.
7.  I overheard my mother encouraging a tired new mom, and I never forgot, “Don’t waste a minute worrying about whether or not you’re ‘doing it wrong.’  You can’t.  However you hold him is “how mom holds him.” Your baby knows your method of doing things.  You cannot change him wrong or soothe him wrong.  The ultimate comfort is mommy – and you’re it.”
8.  Don’t let anyone lead you to believe that motherhood is easy, that infants are easy.  That is BULL. HOCKEY.  There will be moms of elementary school kids, perpetually irritated moms of apathetic teenagers, and sweet elderly ladies that will coo over your baby and say things like, “I remember when mine were that little.”  “Enjoy it while it lasts.”  “I wish I could go back.” 
It is all very sweet – but they only say it because they’ve forgotten what it feels like to sleep in 40-minute-intervals for 6 months.  Women who look at two-year-olds and sigh dreamily have TOTALLY forgotten what it’s like to live with a two-year-old 24 hours a day.
There are mommy bloggers out there who write enthusiastic, chipper posts about cloth diapering and the magic of breastfeeding, and they are all liars – at least liars by omission.  Breastfeeding is magical, but it ain’t for sissies.  It hurts like the dickens for a while, it’s exhausting, it’s enormously inconvenient.  You will hear people say that babies are blessings, a heritage from the Lord.  While this is absolutely true, don’t for ONE SECOND think that you’re a terrible person for wanting to set your “blessing” out on the front porch for the night because he just. won’t. stop. crying.   Don’t let the glowing mothers psych you out.  Know that they, too, are just trying to put their best foot forward.  They’re trying to encourage you – give you some perspective and some hope.  But let’s be straight for two seconds: Motherhood is the most precious, wonderful thing I’ve done with my life to date.  It’s also the hardest.
9.  Advocate for your baby.   Just like before you were a mom, you will be obligated to attend work, school, church, and social functions.  You will have people counting on you to be somewhere, like a wedding or a funeral or some other once-in-a-lifetime thing.  And there WILL BE times when these expectations clash with the needs of your baby.  Trying to find an achievable balance feels treacherous, and like a lose-lose situation.  You either disappoint people you care about, miss out on special occasions, risk being misunderstood and possibly whispered about – or you suffer the agony of knowing you didn’t do what was best for your baby.
I remember the tightrope feeling well, as Madeline was born just before Christmas.  Relatives whom we wouldn’t see again for a full year “needed” to hold her.  I “needed” to be at a variety of church, community, and family functions.  I remember Madeline being passed around the room from one adoring person to the next – and when she started to cry, each person would take a turn trying to comfort her.  I only got a turn when Madeline was SO worked up and miserable that she’d become totally inconsoleable – then it was time to pass her to mom.  I remember sitting in a back bedroom with my hot, over-stimulated newborn, nursing her and whispering to her that I was so, so sorry.  That it wasn’t fair – that it was simply too much and I didn’t speak up for her.  I’ve been bummed about missing the occasional wedding or party, but that’s the kind of thing you bounce back from pretty quickly – c’est la vie.  I’ve deeply regretted it, on the other hand, every time I didn’t advocate for my baby.
I’m not saying be a shrew and hole yourself up in your house until your kid is 6 – but you’ll know when it’s too much.  You’ll know because you’ll feel like you’re about to die.  You will know when being home in your baby’s safe, familiar place is more important than anything else going on that day.  Your baby cannot speak up for herself – so you must advocate for her.  It’s okay to look all the expectations and obligations, disappointment and disapproval in the face and say, “No.  We need to go home now.”
10.  And finally, rest assured that every other mother’s house has been as dirty as yours is, probably worse.  I’ve recited the last stanza of a poem called “Song for a Fifth Child” by Ruth Hulbert Hamilton to myself a thousand times.  It calms down my racing mind long enough to make me sit still – and be fully present for my daughter.
…The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
For children grow up, I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

And that’s all I got.  Except for pray a lot and take all the help you can get.