March 2014

Our little bathing beauty!  (The doctor said this is called a fencing reflex, but I think she's really posing for the picture!)  This was taken on March 11, 2014 when Olivia was two months and 1 day old.

Sweet babies.  Taken on March 11th as well.  Olivia had just turned two months the day before and Malachi turned 21 months the day after, on the 12th.

Cute!

I love her little smile.

March 12, 2014- Mali's 21 month birthday.

I adore this photo.

I think he's bending down to scratch his leg.  Sweetness. 

Being silly.

Olivia's little "hat".  We put that over her to shade her eyes from the light, but she started smiling so I took a photo.  (Two months and two days old).  Olivia started smiling around 7 weeks old.  She also started following us with her eyes that week as well.

For the first two months of her life Olivia was super fussy since she had thrush and a really bad diaper rash as a result.  Plus she had the blocked tear ducts.  She was miserable and cried a lot.  Life has gotten a lot better now.  We switched diaper brands and finally got rid of the thrush and the antibiotics (which were making her stomach upset) moved out of her system.  Her tear ducts are getting better (as I said in an earlier post).  She smiles so often now! 

Mali after eating a s'more.  He loved it.

Silly boy.  He loves posing and smiling for photos.

I love my sweet babies!

Olivia's blessing

Olivia was blessed on March 9, 2013. It was a wonderful day.

My mother made Olivia's dress and it was/is beautiful!

My parents came down for her blessing and it was great to have them there.

Of course I cried during the blessing which Jesse gave her.

So beautiful!

Olivia in the middle of sneezing... (I tried to turn the photos around but wasn't able to so just turn your head to the side to  look at them.)

We are so blessed to have Olivia in our family.  We love her to bits.

Mali and Olivia

This was taken in March 2014 when my parent's came to Kentucky for Olivia's blessing.  I adore this! He looks so grown up here.

Mali often walks with his hands behind his back and my mom just happened to capture this.  His expression is so cute.

Our little O!  I just kiss those round cheeks all day!

A hint of a smile...  Olivia had blocked tear ducts when she was born and as a result her eyes were constantly watering and goopy.  I tried as best I could to keep her eyes clean, but she developed a rash to the side of her right eye from the tears always sitting there.  The duct in that eye has since opened (thankfully!) and the rash is gone.  I can tell she feels a lot better.  Her left eye is still blocked, but I'm massaging it so hopefully it will open soon.

Back when Mali was 6 months old I started teaching him some sign language.  One of the signs I taught him was the sign for "more"- it has now become his favorite sign.  Here he is giving the more sign.  When he does the sign he makes a sound "nah nah nah", which is his "word" for more.  In this photo he is saying "more" and also signing it.  So cute!

I can't believe how blessed I am to be the mother of these two sweet children and to call them my own.  They are growing up so quickly- Mali is 22 months old today and Olivia turned three months old two days ago (on the 10th).  I love how Mali places both of his hands on each of my cheeks and turns my face to his so he can give me a kiss.  I love the smiles I get from Olivia when she wakes up from her naps.  I love them to the moon and back...times eternity.

Photo update!

I'm at my parent's house for a few days now and thought I'd take advantage of the internet and try to get some photos updated.  I'll be going back several months starting around September, October...(My gosh, Mali was 15 months old then...where does the time go?)   

(September 2013- Mali was 15 months old).  We were home visiting my parents and my dad was holding Mali.  I love how relaxed he looks in this photo.

Our sweet Pooks!

Mali with my parent's dog, Hannah, standing at their front door.  They were both interested in something outside.  I love their profiles and especially Mali in his little overalls.

So serious...

Oh, my heart!  Our little baby- he does look little in this photo and so very tired.

November 2013- Mali loved playing with these little toys that my mom had: little dice and game markers- little wooden cars and people.  He mostly liked putting them into and taking them out of different sized prescription bottles.  He spent a good 30 to 45 minutes playing with them while we were visiting.   

I love his concentration mouth and his hands with his little pinkie finger sticking out.  So cute.

November 2013- When we were visiting my parents over Thanksgiving we went to IKEA and for those who have been to IKEA you know it's a big store!  About halfway through, Mali got very tired and since I hadn't brought the stroller we had to lay him in the cart to nap.  Thankfully I had the blanket for him to soften the seat. 

I love his bottom lip sticking out.

My mom and sister put the stuffed bear behind him as a "pillow".

My sweet sleeping baby. :)  We just let him sleep because, in our house, the phrase is:  "Never wake a sleeping baby!"

November 2013- Oh,  my large-ness!  I was pregnant with Olivia....

and I was rounder than round with another five, actually six, weeks to go (since she was a week late)!!

Jesse attempting to have a belly!  It wasn't quite working!

More updates/photos to come...!

Our new arrival!

Introducing....

Olivia Rose 

 born on Friday, January 10th, 2014 at 10:52 pm

9 lbs 2 oz!

21 1/4 inches

Malachi and my parents came to visit us at the hospital the day after she was born.  Malachi was so sweet with her!  He will be such a great big brother!

A kiss!

I love this photo!

She was almost a week past her due date so I was induced.  I was in labor for almost 24 hours and ended up pushing for about three and a half hours.  They had to use forceps to get her out so she has some bruising on her cheeks/head and I ended up tearing pretty badly.  But other than that, it was a successful VBAC! She is a very vocal little girl and definitely not afraid to have her voice be heard!

We are so excited to have little Olivia in our family!!

(I'll try to post more photos soon...)