Olivia is 3 Months (& 1 Week...oops) Old!

I intended to write a new post on Olivia's actual 3-month birthday, but I didn't quite get around to it until today, one week later. I absolutely cannot believe that she is already 3 months old...it makes me both really happy (to see how far our little girl has come and how much she is growing and developing) and a little bit sad too (to know that my time being at home with her on a full-time basis grows a bit shorter every day and that this is just the beginning of that whole "they grow up so fast" thing that other parents always tell you). But by and large we are thrilled to see her growing every day and making so much progress. She weighs 9 pounds now, and soon enough she'll be in the double-digits...that seemed so unimaginable 3 months ago when she weighed less than 4 pounds! It's great seeing our little girl with some cute fat rolls and dimples where they didn't previously exist!

Life continues to be busy in the Stevens household--we've had lots of follow-up doctors visits these last couple weeks with the various specialists from Texas Children's Hospital, and overall Olivia is doing really well in most areas. Her opthamologist wrote us a prescription last week for Olivia to get glasses to help with her farsightedness, so those should be coming in this week. They are going to be tiny and pink and I cannot wait to see her in them! More importantly, I can't wait to see how she reacts to her new glasses and how it changes how she looks at the world around her. We are very optimistic that the glasses will really help her vision and help her to see her toys, our faces, etc. (basically anything that is at a short range) so much more clearly. You can be sure we'll post some pictures of Olivia in her cute little glasses once she gets them! (that is, if we can get her to keep them on for any length of time...she is, after all, famous for ripping things off her face, like her nasal cannula and her feeding tube when she was in the NICU).

We've been doing lots of developmental exercises with Olivia, and today when I was doing her oral motor exercises (stimulating her mouth/lips/tongue to help with her sucking/swallowing functions and help prepare her for making sounds and speaking later on), I learned that she really likes chocolate flavored lollipops! It was the funniest thing, seeing her licking so eagerly at that lollipop--Chad and I were cracking up watching her. I promise, I'm not giving my infant excessive amounts of candy at this young age--just a few licks to get her mouth stimulated. And I didn't come up with this crazy idea on my own...her speech therapist recommended it and even gave me the lollipop, so if this makes me a bad mom then I blame it all on the therapist!

Here are some of the latest and greatest pictures of Olivia...it's a rare day that goes by that we don't take at least one picture of her!

Olivia opening her left eye nice and wide, while wearing her cute A&M onesie that our good friend Katie Geurin gave her recently


And this is one of the great pictures Katie took while she was visiting, with her awesome professional camera--thanks Katie!


Olivia, a vision in pink. This was from the day I took her to CVS and an old man asked me if she was a girl...uh, no, she's my son that I like to dress in pink onesies and pink headbands...of course she's a girl!


Olivia sitting up like a big girl! (with a little support from Mom) This is one of our strength exercises we do every day, and fortunately she hates it slightly less than she hates tummy time, so there's not as much crying involved with this one!

Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting...with 2 eyes open!

those kicks were fast as lightning. In fact, it was a little bit frightening.



Olivia has been opening her right eye, the smaller of the two, a lot more. She's also been making even more little noises, which are so fun to watch and listen to.

We caught her in an especially alert mood this morning and took this video. If you listen carefully you can hear a couple of toots too!

Continued Progress

Having a cute little baby is time consuming! It feels like we just put a new post on here and it's been almost two weeks.

Olivia is doing great, she continues to amaze us every day with things that may seem little, but to us are simply amazing. She's started making little noises when she's awake, it's so fascinating to see her discover that she has a voice. She's also started to get much stronger and can control her head pretty well. Her beautiful little eyes are opening more and more, wider and wider, and for longer and longer. I'm sure every parents thinks this, but it's really awesome to watch her soak in the world around her. We always wish we could understand what she was thinking when she experiences or learns something new. I don't know how anyone could not believe in God after having a child and watching them grow; in my mind there's no way a person could grow and develop into the people we all become without Him watching over us.

Every day for us is interesting. I feel like we're always devising some sort of strategy for something new that hits us. Leslie has said that flexibility is the key and I couldn't agree with her more. It's so much fun taking care of Olivia, my favorite is diaper changing! I guess that may change when she starts eating solid food, but for now it's great!

Life at Home

It's been two weeks now since Olivia came home, and it has absolutely flown by. We have been keeping so busy and having so much fun with Olivia that we have neglected the blog, so it's time to provide an update! As you can imagine, Olivia has had a lot of "firsts" over the last couple weeks. To name a few: watching her first Penn State football game on TV with Daddy, taking her first (of many, I'm sure) trips to Target, going on her first stroll around the neighborhood, etc. And we've documented it all with pictures along the way of course!

We've settled into a pretty good routine with Olivia--she and I stay home during the day and our main activities are eating, cuddling, hanging out (with Olivia in her little Boppy bed on top of our bed), playing with her various toys, looking at her red/black/white flashcards that Daddy made for her, changing lots of diapers (and outfits...somehow she often manages to soil a couple outfits per day!), and then getting lots of special time in with Daddy when he gets home. Fortunately Chad's managers at work have been so wonderful and understanding, so he has had a lot of flexibility in his schedule and gets to join almost all of Olivia's doctors appointments and just generally spend lots of time with us.

Here are some pics from the last couple weeks:

Daddy & Olivia walking around our 'hood on a nice cool evening


Miss Olivia in her bouncy chair getting inspected (a.k.a. sniffed) by Chip--he is very interested in and very protective of his little "sissy"

Olivia & Daddy on college game day--Penn State beat Temple 31-7!


Olivia's first time wearing a dress (thanks Gramma Mary!)



One of Olivia's new favorite pastimes--napping with Daddy! This was nap #1 captured on film...

Nap #2...

and nap #3!


Of course sometimes Mommy and Olivia like to nap together too...

Who knows how long it will be until we post again, but we'll try our best to keep up with it, in between all our activities with Miss Olivia! Thanks to all for your continued interest, thoughts and prayers--we appreciate it now as much as ever!

Olivia's Homecoming!!

We almost can't believe it finally happened, but it did...Olivia came home today! After 8 long weeks of being in the NICU at Texas Children's, our sweetpea finally got discharged. It was such an amazing feeling to have our nurse disconnect her from the monitor that's been tracking all her vital signs for the last two months, and to finally get to put her in her car seat and stroller. I can't even explain how happy we were just pushing her down the hallway toward the parking garage, as we finally felt "free" of the confines of the hospital (great as they've been) and were able to expose her to an environment other than the NICU, which is all she's ever known. I think tomorrow we'll attempt our first outdoor excursion--maybe a little stroll around the block, nothing too crazy, but just to let Olivia feel fresh air and sunlight on her skin will be so wonderful!

So after we drove home very carefully and got Miss Olivia home safe and sound, we basically just reveled in having her at home finally. We hung out with her for about 10 hours straight, just trading her back and forth between the two of us. We held her on our bed, rocked her in the gliding rocking chair, propped her up in her Boppy on the bed, etc. We did some tummy time on the bed, played with her with some of her toys, and Chad even gave her a little massage. Today was all about enjoying Olivia and making her homecoming as fun and comfortable for her as possible! And she really seemed to enjoy it all--she was more alert today than we've ever seen her before. She was awake almost all day, just looking around our room, taking in all the new sights and sounds, etc. Every time she seemed to be about to doze off, she would get a new burst of energy! It was awesome just seeing her soak it all in for the first time. I can only imagine what she'll think of the great outdoors tomorrow!

Here are some pictures of our big day...

Olivia in her car seat, getting ready to leave the NICU


Daddy, Mommy & Olivia right before leaving the hospital


Mommy & Olivia hanging out on the bed


Daddy & Olivia doing the same


And finally...bedtime! All swaddled up and comfy in her Pack 'n Play bassinet next to our bed.

And this little video below isn't from today, but it is just so cute and I have been meaning to post it, so I figured I'd slide it in too...

Thanks again to everyone for all your prayers for Olivia's health and well being and for this much anticipated day to come...it all paid off and the big day finally came! We'll keep you posted on life at home with Olivia, but so far it's all we've been dreaming of and more!

Almost Home

Little Olivia is no longer so little, as of last night she's up to 2700 grams or 5 lbs. 15 ozs.!!!!! She's almost to the 6 pound mark and we're finding out that all of those clothes that used to be so huge on her barely fit. The past few days we've discovered that Olivia has grown out of a few onesies, I guess that's something that was inevitable but I can remember a time when I thought that it would never happen.

Even better news...with any luck we'll be taking Olivia home next Tuesday. Of course, that could change but we're cautiously optimistic that she'll be home soon. For all of you in Houston, please drive extra safe on Tuesday and if you see a silver 4Runner going VERY VERY slow don't get mad, it might be us with our little girl! We're so excited to bring her home after 8 weeks in the hospital. We know that we'll have to take her to the hospital quite a bit for a little while, but it's better than paying rent at the place like we are now. To start, Olivia will be on oxygen and still tube feeding but we know that won't last for ever!

Mommy and daddy continue to plug through the day to day slog, so please keep sending your wishes and prayers. We can't tell you how much that has meant to us! Thank you!

OK - now for obligatory fashion show of cute little Olivia and her burgeoning wardrobe. I swear, she has more clothes than me!


Miss Olivia with Mommy in her Boppy bed!



Front view of "My Daddy Loves Me" outfit (It's true!)



Rear (end) view of "My Daddy Loves Me" outfit



Olivia's Strawberry Shortcake ouftit (Thanks Gramma)

"I'm a little lady"

Olivia had a great surprise this week, Gramma and Papa Stevens came to visit from Pennsylvania. It was the first time Olivia had met them and we were so happy to have them here to spend time with us and Olivia. Although Gramma loved holding Olivia and Papa was afraid to touch her because "she was too small", we all had a great time. Thanks for coming mom and dad!

I'll just get right to the other point on this posting, Olivia already has quite a wardrobe. Some of her favorites are her "I'm a Little Lady" onesie, her yellow onesie with yellow ruffles on the toosh, and her doggie onesie with dog feet. All of the nurses crack up at all of her clothes. In fact, she has so many outfits at the hospital that they brought us a three-drawer rubbermaid container to hold all of them (and her assorted hospital supplies.)

Here's a sampling of her favorite outfits. Of course, you've already seen her favorite outfit...her Penn State onesie!


Doggie outfit w/ Aunt Lisa!



With Gramma and Papa Stevens!



Sleeping in her Boppy bed!


Another cute one!



One of her few non-pink outfits.