1 Month

Dearest Olivia,
from the moment you arrived in this world you have been a precious, joyful addition to our little family. The experience we had and are still having with you is much different than the one we had with your brother and sister and for that we are so thankful! There was no drama surrounding your birth and from the moment you were placed in my arms, we’ve hardly been apart. Such a blessing!

You are only 4 weeks old and have more nicknames than most acquire in their whole lives! We call you Tookie, Took, Livi, Peanut, O.R. and Sugar Ray. You sleep well at night for the most part. We are figuring out your sleep patterns more and more and that makes for a better night’s rest for me. Your schedule of late is this: You go to bed between 7 and 8:30 at night, depending on what time you woke up from your late afternoon nap. If it’s 7, you will sleep till 11 or 12, wake up for a bottle and then sleep till 5. If it’s 8:30, you will sleep till 3, wake up for a bottle and then sleep till 7. During the day, you can sleep 2-4 hours at a time with wakeful periods around 2 to 2 1/2 hours. You usually eat 4 oz at a time but sometimes you want a little snack in between feedings!

You love taking a bath, you love to sleep on your stomach curled up in a little ball. You love to stay up on my shoulder when being held and you are the best burper ever, which is something we were not used to! You never spit up and you are not as big of a fan of your pappy as your siblings were. You usually only like it when you are really sleepy and spit it out as a signal that you are asleep. When you are drinking your bottle, you draw your arms up with your hands under your chin, like a little squirrel. Which is exactly what Audrey did when she was a baby!

You look a lot like your sister when she was a baby and even more like me as a baby. At times, it’s like looking at Audrey all over again. You don’t have her dimples but you have more hair now than she did at 6 months!! You don’t have an hemangioma on your head but you do have one on your back but it’s not raised yet. You also have 2 stork bites: one in between your eye brows and then one on the back of your neck, just like me!! You weighed 9 lbs, 3 oz and were 21 in long at your one month check up yesterday. You are also very, very strong and have been from the day you were born.

Your brother and sister absolutely ADORE you. Every time you are brought into a room, their attention turns to you. No matter what they are doing! They are quiet when I tell them to be if you are the concern. They are gentle with you and extremely conscious of not touching you if they haven’t washed their hands. If you cry they run go get one of your musical animals, wind it up and put it as close to your head as they can. They are just convinced it makes you feel better! They remind each other to be quiet and to be careful around you. Audrey is already a little mama hen and James the protecting papa bear. I’m afraid you’re going to have to fight awfully hard to have “your own life” when you get older! And so far, I can get them to behave much better when you are around. I sure hope they keep that up!!!

Olivia Ray, you most assuredly are a blessing from the Lord and it’s already hard to remember what life was like with out you. Love you forever,

Mama