Definitely OUR child!

I think I've mentioned a few times that our little Olivia loves television. If there is one in the room, here eyes are on it. She will lean over and look around your shoulder or whatever else may be in her view. My mom says she picked the right family! She's been like that for several weeks now, and it just cracks me up. She'll watch ANYTHING. I've started playing a couple of DVD's for her so that she'll at least be watching something educational, but we definitely need to buy some more. We have a Baby Einstein video and yes, a Barney video! I actually like the Barney one. It reminds me of when my niece Ally was little. I already know all of the songs, and Olivia seems to find it amusing when I sing along with the video!

Suppose to be playing with toys, but you see what she is doing.

Please ignore her clothing (I'm not a huge fan of onesies, but they're practical sometimes).
Has toys to play with, but rolled over to watch Brandon & Dylan on 90210 reruns!
Not much else to do in that hospital room.

In the ER last week....the TV was really high and directly over the bed, but she kept trying to break her neck to see it anyway!

I'll admit...this one was intentional! Mommy needed a break!


Just love those feet!

Our Little Artist

I received my first Mother's Day gift from Olivia yesterday...and it just might be the BEST gift! I was so excited when I saw it, even though I know all she did was lay her hand for it to be traced! Little did I know how much joy a card made at school could bring!

The "Episode"

Monday evening began like any other. I picked up Olivia at daycare and was home at 5:00. Little did I know that around 6:15 I would be calling 911 and by 6:30, we would be in an ambulance on our way to the children's hospital.

I was giving Olivia her bath as usual. She was absolutely normal and smiling at me being silly and singing to her, when all of a sudden her head dropped, eyes closed and she went limp. It had to be the scariest moment of my life. I could not get her to respond to me or open her eyes. I pulled her out and immediately called 911. While I was on the phone, Olivia opened her eyes and started looking around, although she appeared confused or disoriented.

It felt like an eternity before the emergency team showed up, but I know that it was probably less than 2 minutes before the police officer arrived and just a minute or so longer for the firemen. Shortly thereafter, the ambulance showed showed up to take her. Needless to say, our neighbors were definitely out and about in their yards trying to figure out what was going on at our house! (We did have a very nice note on the door from one neighbor hoping our baby was ok and saying they would help with our dogs if needed).

Jason drove up just as the ambulance was leaving with the two of us, so he followed closely behind to the hospital. She slept on the way to the hospital, but know that I didn't take my eyes off of her chest the whole time to make sure she was breathing! I was so paranoid at that point, but of course, she didn't let me down!

During our stay at the hospital, numerous tests were done trying to figure out what could have caused her "episode" (which is what the doctors kept calling it). She had a urinalysis (involved a catheter and lots of crying), bloodwork, an IV, a spinal tap, a CT scan, an EEG and an EKG. POOR, POOR BABY!!! This was not only the scariest night ever, but the most heart-wrenching night as well. She would cry (ok, scream) and look at me with a face full of terror. I could only imagine what was going on in her head (Mommy, why are you letting them do this to me??) Just heartbreaking. Luckily, she recovered from each procedure quickly and was back to her happy self in no time once the procedures were over. Babies must be extremely resilient. I'm not sure I would have held up so well if I had to go thru all of that in one night!

After numerous procedures, 3 doctors, a 2-day hospital stay, and a MILLION tears shed, we don't have any answers. I guess we'll never know what was the cause of this "episode". And that's ok. We're going to leave it in God's hands and know that everything will be just as He intended it to be. A couple of weeks ago, the pastor spoke about anxiety and how if we would all truly believe in the plan God has for us, that no one would have any anxiety. There wouldn't be any need for it. That message really stuck with me and has been playing over and over in my head this week, and I think I'm just going to trust in Him and continue living life and loving on our little Livi Lu (thanks Mom for that nickname...it's apparently sticking even though I don't really care for it and she'll hate me for it)!

Here are a few pictures I took at the hospital (most with my cell). I figure if I am going to document her life, I have to include the bad along with the good.

Watching Deal or No Deal in the ER while waiting on test results. If there is a TV in the room, Olivia WILL find it!

Still watching TV...she fits in well in our household!

There's that TV again!

Visit from Shelbs

Olivia's 2nd cousin Shelby came to see her this past weekend. It was Shelby's last weekend at Baylor before she returns home for the summer, so I was glad she shared part of her last weekend visiting us, even if she did make fun of Olivia's hairstyle! Check out the hair color and skin tone...we might have another little Shelby on our hands!

Uneventful Week

This past week has been rather uneventful, well you know, other than trying to avoid the swine flu! So confused as to what to do with that...1) We could lock ourselves in our homes and avoid all public places/events/interrupt our daily lives, or 2) Realize that tons of people die each year from the flu and as long as we take safe precautions, wash our hands and don't be stupid, we'll probably be ok. Ohhhhh, what to do, what to do! I think we're going to go with the 2nd and just be cautious.

One thing did happen this week...Olivia rolled from back to tummy. She has been trying this for 2-3 weeks and could never get over her arm, but she has finally succeeded. Maria (at daycare) said she did it on Monday. The first time at home was in her bed on Friday, again in her bed Saturday morning, and we finally saw her do it on the floor Saturday morning. Good job Olivia! Mommy and Daddy are very proud of you!

Here are a few random pictures I took during the week.

I propped the book open for her to see and she just looked and looked at it. So sweet!

Big Girl Bow

Olivia's hair is starting to get too long on top for her "usual" hairstyle, so I decided to play around with it this morning and put a bow in her hair. Awe, she looks so old with a bow in her hair! Besides that, I was unsure about proper placement! I think we'll have to stick with the old hairstyle for a while longer!

Big Daddy's 92nd Birthday

Olivia met her paternal great-grandparents this weekend. I think both Me Mommy and Big Daddy really enjoyed getting to see her. Big Daddy kept threatening to take her back home with them. I assured him there's no way that would be happening! Her daddy and I sure would miss her!

Our State Flower

We went today and took pictures in the bluebonnets. I've been trying to keep my eye open for a safe place to take them. I always see them on the side of the Interstate, but figured that is just way too dangerous! I noticed some last week on the church grounds, so that's where we went. I saw on the news where it's a Texas tradition to take your child's picture in bluebonnets each year, and I knew that at least two of my friends had already taken pics of their children in these "weeds", as Jason calls them! Soooo...of course I had to go do it. Would I have been a good mom if I had failed to follow this Texas tradition??!!

Life Long Friends

Scott, Nicole and Hudson came over one evening this past week. It's going to be so much fun watching our kids grow up together (Hudson is only 6 days older). Nicole and I have been friends over 20 years and it still amazes me that we had babies at the same time! I believe this was their 3rd meeting and by far, the most eventful meeting!

Olivia was very interested in Hudson (love her hand placed on Scott).

And Hudson just talked and talked to her! Thanks for sharing your toys with Hud!
Hey Hudson, sit up and play with me! It's not nap time!
Good job kiddos!
Very blury, but they were both smiling
Hud very much dislikes the flash!

And it starts...

We decided to put together Olivia's exersaucer. This was kind of a long process. We thought it would be really fast, but probably 30-40 screws later and 8 AAA batteries, Daddy did it!

Hey mom, I think Daddy forgot to put the toys on here!

"Wow, these are neat"