Six Hours

Today is a beautiful day. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and all is right with the world. Wanna know why we feel this way? BECAUSE OLIVIA SLEPT FOR SIX STRAIGHT HOURS LAST NIGHT!!! It was the most beautiful six hours in the world!

So far, her longest stretch at night was about 3 1/2 hours. She almost doubled that last night! I kept waking up, waiting for her to cry, and she kept on sleeping. I was shocked! And sooooo thankful. I've been showering her with kisses and snuggles all morning long.

Six Hours. The best night sleep in the world!

Daddy Time

Olivia loves her dad! Lately, when he's gotten home from work, he's sat next to us on the couch and started talking about his day. I watch Olivia's eyes get wide as she hears and recognizes his voice. I know she can't talk yet, but I have a feeling she's going "Dad's home! Dad's home!"

Olivia is growing by leaps and bounds. Sometimes she looks so big to me already, and she's only three-and-a-half weeks old! I'm already missing her skinny little newborn legs - now she's got adorable little fat folds developing. It's getting easier to give her a bath now that I'm used to it, but I have to search under her neck folds to make sure I get the washcloth waaayyy deep in there. And I love her chubby little cheeks! At least I know she's eating well, because she's getting heavier to hold.

Nighttime and sleep is still a challenge; last night I got a few two-hour-spurts of rest. I just don't sleep very deeply because my ears don't turn off. Does that make sense? I'm always waiting for some little sound from her cradle. She makes so many noises - and usually as I'm drifting off to sleep, she'll snort or sneeze or something and I'll be awake again. She's a noisy little sleeper!

She's actually taking a nap right now and she looks so cute! Sometimes she smiles in her sleep and I just melt. I can't wait for the day where I get a real smile from her. I'm not sure when that happens (two months? three months?) but I think it will be the best day ever. It makes me smile from ear to ear just thinking about it.

I hope to visit Spirit soon, maybe drop by and see Tom. I'll probably take Olivia in the studio and try and get her to make her cute little noises on-air. :-)

Sarah

Day by Day

So I think we're starting to get the hang of things around here. It's round-the-clock feedings and changings and burpings and then usually another changing. It's Olivia's favorite game to play: change her diaper, get a clean one on, wait 30 seconds... and yep, time for a new diaper again. I've gone through twice as many diapers as we actually need because she always does this! And although she hasn't smiled on purpose yet, I know she thinks she's funny.

We gave her another bath today. Man, it's hard to give a newborn a bath! Check the water temperature, hold her little head, watch out for her little bellybutton piece, don't get soap in her eyes, keep her warm, watch out cause she's slippery and squirmy. It definitely takes two people, and thankfully my mom had another snow day today. Grandma to the rescue for bath time! And of course, in true Olivia fashion, we got her out and onto the towel, and she dirtied the towel before we got her diaper on. She goes to the bathroom ALL THE TIME! I suppose I should be thankful, because I know she's eating well. My husband and I just laugh and laugh at how fast everything goes through her little system. I think I'm going to buy stock in Pampers. I never knew how many we'd go through.

We went to the pediatrician yesterday. Olivia is over 8 pounds now, my growing little girl! She got a shot and cried and it broke my heart! Poor girl. I would rather have 50 shots myself than see her get just one. Its amazing how much I want to comfort her when she cries. I've said it once, and I'll say it again, I've never known a love like this. In fact, I think I'm starting to understand God a little more now that I'm a mother. I definitely pray more than usual - mostly for health and safety for her, but also just for wisdom from God that He will help me take care of her. Everything is so foreign to me right now, and I'm relying a lot on instinct, and that means I'm relying a lot on God. I'm so thankful for my faith right now - it's really helping me through. And I listen to Spirit a lot, too! It's so funny to me that I rely on the music so much - I mean, I work there! And I'm not sick of any of the songs! I just sing along when I'm around Olivia, introducing her to Jeremy Camp and Chris Tomlin and Nichole Nordeman. I think Nichole Nordeman is her favorite, and for that I say "Good Girl!" Like mother, like daughter.

Love!

Sarah

More Pictures

Two Weeks

Happy two week birthday to Olivia! We celebrated by taking some newborn pictures. Our friends, Angie and Ashley, came over and snapped up a few rolls. We used a whole lot of film! Olivia was very good through the whole photoshoot - I was impressed. She put up with us going "oooh, so cute!" and "look at that little foot!" and "ooooo, cute sneeze!" and so on. A bunch of giggling girls in the living room.

Right now Olivia is asleep on dad's shoulder watching the Seahawks game. He's explaining football to her, and I think that's why she fell asleep. She loves to sleep during the day (go figure) and is enjoying staying awake at night. I'd like to switch that up - and soon. I'm still amazed at the lack of sleep I'm functioning on. It makes my brain all fuzzy and I can hardly remember simple details during the day. I'll walk into a room and have no clue what I went in there for. I seriously feel like my IQ has gone down 20 or 30 notches! I need to start doing some crossword puzzles or Soduku or something to get my brain waves back up!

I'll post some more of the photoshoot pictures as soon as I figure out how to put more than one at a time on here. :-)

Sarah

P.S. To see more of Angie and Ashley's work, you can visit their website at www.onethousandwordsphotography.com

Eleven Days Old

Hello! I'm so excited to update my blog - this is the first moment I've had my hands free in a week and a half! My mom had a snow day today, so she's come over to fix Olivia and I some lunch. Olivia is asleep in her bouncy seat as I type this.

Where do I begin? I'm overwhelmed.

I am so in love with this baby, it's unbelievable. She's only been here for eleven days, and yet I can't imagine my life before her. I love to just stare at her! In fact, that got me in trouble for the first few nights because I'd lay awake and watch her breathing - and I didn't get any sleep at all. It took it's toll on me - and I'm starting to sleep now at night when she's sleeping. It sounds simple - the books all say to "sleep when your baby sleeps." But for me, it's been a challenge to learn. I've never known a love like this, and I felt like I had to stay awake in case anything happened to her, and I couldn't let myself fall asleep. I'm really learning to trust God right now - to trust Him to watch over her and protect her and calm my anxiety. I think it's something I'm going to be learning for the rest of my life! So this is what motherhood is!

Joel is an amazing father. I knew he would be good - but I didn't know he would be this GREAT. He's so calm with her - and talks so sweetly to her. I love to watch them together.

I promise to write more and post pictures, but for now, this is all I can do! I'm going to sneak in some lunch before Olivia wakes up and we start our whole feeding/changing/burping routine again!

Thank you for your prayers (I feel them!) and thank you for your sweet emails and comments. You bless me!

Sarah

Welcome Baby Olivia!

All of us at SPIRIT 105.3 are excited to welcome the newest member to our family! Sarah gave birth to a healthy, beautiful baby girl on New Years Eve, December 31st, at 9:49pm. Olivia is 7lbs, 6ounces and 19inches.

Mom and Daughter are doing great!

Congratulations to Sarah and Joel, the proud new parents.

Tom, for Sarah!