Tuesday, December 21, 2010

IT'S A GIRL!!! OLIVIA LYNN SWANSON HAS ARRIVED!!!

Ahhh, back at home with our new little bundle.  What a blessing you are Olivia Lynn.  We have been home for about 5 days and Olivia could not be a better baby.  She is fulfilling all of her baby job duties like a pro, the eating, sleeping, and pooping!  She really is a complete joy.  Being born at 8lb 15oz, when we left the hospital she was down to 8lb 2oz.  We had a doctors appointment on Monday to check her jaundice and weight.  She was cleared of the jaundice and had gained twice as much weight as they required her to.  Yea Olivia!  She is also an excellent sleeper - which of course we love!  She has been sleeping up to five hours a night, and would probably go longer, but we are sure to wake her to eat sooner.  She is as precious as can be and still has  all of the dark hair she was born with.  One minute we think she looks like Ella, the next Bob, then me.  We have decided that she looks like Olivia - which is gorgeous!

Daddy and Olivia getting ready to leave the hospital.  Daddy picked out another adorable outfit for his new little princess!  Great job daddy!

Olivia is ready to leave the hospital with a big yawn - she is all tuckered out from getting dolled up for the ride home!


Another family picture, minus poor Ella!  We still haven't had a family picture taken of the 4 of us!  Whoops! 

Daddy and his girls!  There is nothing sweeter!

Bob, Ella, cousins Ethan & Emma & Grammie looking in on Olivia in the bassinet.

Mommy and Olivia.

Mommy and her girls!  Life doesn't get any better than this! 
(Ella put that binky down - it's for the baby!)

Olivia and daddy's first nap together.

The three of us!

Grammie and Olivia! 
We have to give an extra special thank you to Grammie.  Grammie came to stay with us the Friday before Olivia was born and has been working her butt off since!  She has been playing chauffeur to Ella, getting groceries, shopping for baby supplies, cooking meals (besides all of the meals she made ahead of time, froze and brought for us), cleaning the house, wrapping all our Christmas gifts, visiting us in the hospital, doing countless loads of laundry, taking care of Ella, then Olivia and Bob and I, and on and on.  That just scratches the surface!  She has been as sleep deprived as Bob and I, but she has been doing 3 times as much work!  We would not have been able to survive this first week with out her being here.  She has kept things going for us and kept Ella on her schedule which has been wonderful.  WE LOVE YOU GRAMMIE AND CAN'T THANK YOU ENOUGH FOR ALL THAT YOU DO!  YOU ARE THE BEST!  XO XO XO!    

Daddy and Olivia! 
 I want the whole world to know that I am married to the best husband and father there could ever be.  Bob impresses me every day with his character.  I knew from our first date that I wanted to marry him and I can't believe how lucky and blessed I am, because I fall more in love with him each day.  Seeing him with now our second daughter reaffirms even more what a spectacular person he is.  There is no measure of the amount of love that he gives to me and to his daughters.  I keep telling him that is takes a special man to be father to all girls and he is just the guy to do it.  His patience is amazing (even when I smack him awake and start yelling in the middle of the night so he can "watch" me have a contraction - I'm so sorry babe)!  I have loved watching his relationship with Ella, and how one minute they are wresting and playing ball and the next she is putting makeup on him!  I am so looking forward to watching his relationship with Olivia. 

I try to tell you daily Bob, but that still isn't enough, I love you, I love our family, I love our life!  You are my dream come true and you have only made it better by creating two beautiful princesses with me.  I love you!   

Uncle Matt with Olivia.  Uncle Matt is such a softy when it comes to his nieces!

This was the first time Ella saw Olivia.  She ran in to the hospital room and yelled out "Ma ma"!  Then she heard Olivia in the bassinet and yelled out "baby"!  She has been hooked ever since!

Ella "shushing" Olivia as she starts to cry. 

Ethan and Ella checking in on Olivia.

Ella giving one of a zillion kisses to Olivia!  She loves to kiss her baby sister and of course give her, her binky.  Ella is the binky police!  She refuses to kiss Olivia if Olivia has a binky in her mouth.  Ella always takes the binky out, kisses Olivia and then puts the binky back.

Nana and Papa Swanson with Olivia.  They were able to come and spoil their new granddaughter for a couple of days.  Both Nana and Grammie had made the prediction that we would be having a boy.  However while not so patiently waiting in the waiting room, they both started thinking girl!  Good thing they changed their minds!  Papa actually overheard one of the nurses say "Baby Girl Swanson" while they were waiting, but kept the secret to himself!



OLIVIA LYNN SWANSON

Born at 7:42am on December 13th, 2010. 
 8lbs. 15oz. 20 1/4 inches long.

Lynn was selected as Olivia's middle name after her Aunt Megan Lynn.  We love you Megan and are so glad our girls have such an awesome Aunt to look up to!

Olivia entered this world via c-section and while Dr. Bellaire was taking her out of my stomach she said "whoa this looks like a big baby"!  Then when she was out she said "whoa, this is a big baby"!  A few minutes later she said "how did you have that big of a baby in you", followed by "aren't you glad you opted to go with a c-section"!  Yes I am Dr. Bellaire, yes I am!  While I was getting my spinal before surgery, Dr. Bellaire held my hand and put her forehead to mine and said "I have to tell you something, I secretly want you to have a girl", I responded with "me too"!  So when she delivered Olivia, she said, "it is what what I wanted you to have"!  I was so excited to have another girl and poor Bob stood there not knowing what we were talking about until Brenda finally yelled out "it's a girl"!  

We are so thankful for the blessing of another healthy happy baby girl.  We are so excited to watch our family grow!   
Our first picture with our new princess Olivia Lynn!

The scale doesn't lie!  8lbs 15 oz!

Bob cutting the cord!

Baby Is Almost Here...!

LET'S HAVE A BABY!  Ready for surgery!  Only a few more minutes to find out if we have been blessed with a baby boy or a baby girl!  Just like Ella, this baby didn't want to make it's entrance into the world peacefully.  Even though we had the c-section planned for 7:15am on the December 13th, the baby decided it was ready to start it's journey about 11:00 the night before.  I guess the stinker couldn't give mommy one last night of sleep!  I was up with contractions every 5-10 minutes, which means poor Bob was up every 5-10 minutes!  Poor guy!  Thankfully, we were able to hold off until the next morning. 

Good thing baby decided it could wait until it's scheduled time to be born or else we would have missed out on Dr. Bellaire being able to do the delivery and one of our best friends Brenda Jauer being our labor and delivery nurse.  Dr. Bellaire and Brenda were both awesome!  Thank you both!  It was so nice to have Brenda there while I was having contractions while she prepped me for the c-section.  She was with us the entire way through the surgery, recovery and back to our room.  She was a great comfort.  We love you Brenda!

Bob in his scrubs getting ready to become a daddy AGAIN!

Mommy looking slim and trim in her stylish hospital gown before surgery.  So anxious to meet our NEW BABY!

We had to take a comparison picture from Ella's pregnancy.  The above picture is when I was pregnant with Ella, the lower one is the new baby.

Ella with Santa!


Ella got to sit on Santa's lap at Valley West Mall.  She didn't cry, but didn't seem to impressed with Santa either.  Apparently she doesn't realize that he is the guy that brings the presents!  After Santa, she went on a train ride and loved it!  She was clapping her hands and laughing the whole way.  Bob had a lot of convincing to do, to get her off the train!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

A Few Last Pictures Before Baby Arrives!




Our happy little family of three could only be made more happy with the addition of the our new little one arriving in just a few days!  I think this pregnancy has gone by even faster than Ella's.  It is such a special time for us.  We are so grateful for all the blessings that we have received and look forward to sharing our upcoming wonderful news with all of our cherished family and friends.  Thank you all for your support and love, and get ready for it to grow by one more in a few short days! 

To Our Soon To Be Born Baby: Words can't describe how much you are loved already! Your daddy, mommy and sister have been so anxious for your arrival. It has been a fun test of our patience to wait to find out if you are a boy or a girl! I mean really, four ultrasounds and we still were able to keep it a secret!
You will be happy to know that we have finally decided on your name (we think!), as of yesterday we narrowed it down to one boy name and one girl name, so we will see if they stick!
As excited as we are to meet you, I can't help but feel a little sad that the pregnancy part of our journey is ending. Everyday you make your mommy feel beautiful and invincible. I will always cherish every moment of this pregnancy with you, just like I did with your sister. It is a special and magical time that only mothers and babies are fortunate to share. I love having my little pea in my pod everywhere I go. You have been my little tag along inside my belly for 9 months and now it is time for you to come out and explore this wild world.
We can't wait to see how beautiful you are and be able to hold, hug and kiss you!
We love you, we love you, we love you!




Thursday, December 2, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!



We spent Thanksgiving this year in town since it is so close to the baby's due date.  We were lucky enough to have Aunt Nancy, cousins Chris, Mark, Summer, Allyson and Maddie join us all at the Ramada so the kids (and adults) could enjoy the indoor water park for few days.  We had so much fun with our family and we could not keep the kids out of the water - they loved it!  We will defiantly be back! 

Carson is 3!!!



Cousin Carson turned 3 on November 16!  We went to his house to for his party!  It's so much fun to get the cousins together!  Ella and Brady act like they are brother and sister and Carson acts like the big brother to both!  Happy Birthday Carson!!!

Halloween 2010









Ella enjoying all of her treats!  She had a great time trick or treating!  Cousins Ethan and Emma were a big help as we joined them in Waukee.  Ethan as always was the responsiblec care giver and would hold Ella's hand between every house, although he had quite the workout since Ella would sprint from house to house.  She would say "trick or treat" at the houses and thankfully "thank you" when we left since she was averaging about 7-10 pieces of candy per house!  Good thing she is still young enough that everyone thought it was cute for her to be taking so much candy!  She would put 2 fist fulls of candy in her pumpkin, then hold some in her mouth while she reloaded her hands full!  She was out of control!  Aunt Jenny and I had stomach aches from laughing so hard at her.