Sleep!

This post is purely to brag about Olivia and her AMAZING birthday present to me --starting to sleep through the night!

Her sleep patterns over the past few months had really gone from bad to worse.  At three months, she was sleeping pretty well except she would lose her pacifier all the time, so it was a constant dance all night to go in and replace it.  At about four months, she started having random crying fits where she would need to be held and rocked back to sleep & she also started wanting to eat again every 3 hours in the middle of the night.  By the last few weeks, she could barely even sleep without being rocked.  I'm pretty sure Matt and I slept more in the glider in her room than in our bed over the last 2 weeks.

Our pediatrician said it was because we were still swaddling her (despite her telling us to stop at Olivia's 4 month check up).  (Don't think we're terrible parents - we had tried not swaddling her last month, but she worked herself into such mess that she couldn't calm back down to go to sleep.  And we really couldn't bear to hear her cry that much!).

Matt and I had been wanting to "Ferberize" her soon anyways, so we decided now was as good a time as any.  So on Wednesday (Leap Day) we put her to bed - sans swaddle and sans paci.  She looked at us like we were crazy as she opened her mouth for us to put the paci in.  But, undeterred by her protests and crying, we kissed her, rubbed her head and left the room.

I poured myself a glass of wine, got Matt a beer and we ordered a pizza.  We thought we were in for a long night of crying. 3 minutes of crying....I went in to check on her....5 more minutes....Matt went in....10 more minutes....I went in again.....and then....nothing.....she put herself to sleep!!!  I hadn't even finished my glass of wine and the pizza hadn't arrived yet.  25 minutes!

That night was a little rough because she woke up about every 1-2 hours and would cry for 3-10 minutes.  Then on Thursday she took only 1 nap for 10 minutes.  But, by Thursday night I guess she got the hang of it because she slept from 7:00 pm until 7:00 am!  She woke up one time at 3:45 to eat and, honestly, both Matt and I were glad to hear her awake and crying.  It freaked us out that she slept so well that night!  To the point that we actually went in and put our hand on her chest about 2 am to make sure she was still breathing!

Her naps on Friday were much better and at night she followed the same routine - slept until about 3:45 and then woke up to eat.

I hope I'm not jinxing anything and I'm sure there will be a few setbacks, but these past two nights have been amazing and we are SO happy and proud of our little bundle and her new nighttime routine!

Five Months

Our little button is getting to be such a big girl - she is FIVE MONTHS OLD today!  This photo shoot was the cutest - but most challenging yet.  (And I am guessing it will only get tougher!).  Her hands were constantly in her mouth....until she tried to eat the bear.

You will also notice Olivia's latest expression - WIDE OPEN MOUTH!  So so cute!  Excuse the million pictures, I just couldn't decide which one was best.

We have seen a lot of changes in her lately.  She  is very curious about everything.  Anytime we go to a store or restaurant, she wants out of her carrier and into our arms so she can look around at everyone.  (Of course it doesn't hurt that as soon as we take her out, every person nearby smiles and plays with her!)

She is getting better at grasping and holding onto things.  Of course, everything goes into her mouth.


I love this picture of her and Aunt Nazreen.  The whole thing is "classic Olivia" - drool on Aunt Naz's shirt + wide open mouth!

She still loves music & dancing.  This was last Friday at our very own Dean Family dance party.  (Friday nights at the Deans is a little different now that Miss O is with us!)

 She is getting pretty good at sitting up and can go for about a minute without any help!

And she still LOVES her Jumperoo!  She can almost touch without the pillow!

Here she is enjoying some quality time with dad...

Here she is practicing some tummy time.  Although she won't really roll over, she is getting better at staying on her tummy for longer.  And its her life mission to get this ladybug in her mouth.  She will stare at that thing forever!

She is also getting a lot more verbal & she is constantly babbling or talking.  She's also started "yelling" at us when she gets bored or angry.  Pretty cute...

This also marks one month since I've gone back to work and Olivia has been staying with Mimi.  The transition has been pretty smooth.  It was interesting to see that the first 3 Mondays were rough days for Olivia - my mom reported that she was cranky and Matt & I noticed she cried a lot at night.  We think it took her a few weeks to get comfortable and adjust, but both Matt & I commented last week that she now she seems very at ease with Mimi, which is nice. And of course, Mimi loves her so much and takes such good care of her.  I know they will both miss this time together, so I'm glad they have a few weeks left.

She is also eating her rice cereal like a champ!  As soon as we put her bib on & put her in the Bumbo, she immediately opens her mouth.  It's so cute!  And, if you don't feed her fast enough, you will get yelled at.

The only difficulty we are still having is sleeping through the night.  But, we're working on it.  And, truth be told, I kind of like cuddling with her at night since I miss her so much during the day!

Five wonderful months down with Miss O & we couldn't be happier or more excited to see what the next month brings!

L-O-V-E!

These days the Dean house is one giant love-fest with Olivia, so we were very happy to have an entire day dedicated to love! 

Now, Matt and I have never been great at waiting to open presents.  We usually give each other birthday presents at midnight, let each other open a Christmas present or two early, and its a rare occasion when any sort of gift bag sits around here for more than a few hours.  So....it was only fitting that we let Olivia open her Valentine presents a day early.  Our logic was that on actual V-Day, my entire family would basically be over and Matt & I were going out to dinner, so we wanted something special with just the 3 of us.  So Monday morning before we left for work, we did presents!

She seemed to be more interested in eating the gift bag at first, but eventually got excited about her new book and PJs! 

On actual Valentine's Day, my amazing parents babysat so Matt and I could go out.  We went to our favorite neighborhood restaurant, Two Saints, and had a delicious dinner & sweet date night. 

So glad I was able to spend this holiday with my two favorite little lovies!

Mehta Merry Go Round

In case there was any doubt, the Mehtas L-O-V-E Olivia!  It’s nearly impossible to have a conversation with my mom if Olivia is in the room because she is too busy looking at, talking to, playing with, or smiling at Olivia to pay attention to anything my sisters or I have to say.  My dad is equally in love with her and, from the time she was in the hospital, has taken off more days from work than I can count to see her.  My sweet sisters have made countless trips to my house to visit Miss O and their phones, screensavers, Facebook profiles and houses are filled with pictures of the little baby.  

Well, they all proved their love this week!  Aunt Yasmin got engaged over Christmas & she and my mom needed to use this week to head to Fort Worth to finalize some details.  So, it was Mehta musical chairs when it came to watching Olivia.   My mom and Yasmin handled Monday and Tuesday morning, Nazreen took over Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday, and GrandDad finished the week out on Thursday.  I know little Olivia LOVED all the attention and special bonding time with each family member. And I was certainly happy to know that my little one was in such good hands while I was at work.  (It also didn't hurt that my wonderful family pitches in around the house too, so I came home each day to a clean house with the dishes washed and laundry done.....it doesn't get much better than that!)

We are so lucky to have such a great family!  Here are a few pics from the week (in case you couldn't tell, pulling hair and sucking on everything -especially fingers- are a few of Olivia's new favorite pastimes!)

We Made It!

Well, we all made it through my first week at work okay!  Olivia woke up early to see me off on Monday morning (if she looks exhausted, it’s because she is!  The child basically refused to sleep at all on Sunday night….not a great way to start your first day back at work.)

The first day honestly wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  My colleagues at work were all very happy to see me and asked all about Olivia.  My secretary printed out all the pictures I’d sent them of Olivia and put them by my door.  (I love coming in every morning and seeing them!)   And sweet Matt sent me tulips (my favorite) to wish me good luck.  

Best of all, my wonderful boss told me that it will likely take a few weeks to get my portfolio back up, so I should feel free to leave early and go home when I don’t have work to do.  I took full advantage of this generous offer and was home by 4:00 almost every day this week.  I’m going back on a reduced schedule through the end of the summer.  So I will work Monday-Thursday from 9-4:30.  I think it will be the perfect balance of work and home to help us ease into this new role of “working mom.”

I guess Miss O was a little upset that mommy left her on Monday because she apparently screamed her face off for 20 minutes.  Mimi said it was induction by fire!  But, once she settled down, I hear that she and Mimi had a great time together.  They read stories, played, took naps and got in some good grandma-granddaughter bonding time!  Mimi dressed Olivia up every day in headbands so she was all cute when I got home from work!

For me, I think things got harder as the week went on.  I found myself getting more upset on the drive into work on Wednesday and Thursday than earlier in the week.  It’s certainly hard to call home and hear that someone else is reading or playing with O when I wish I was.  But, I know she is in very good hands and I think things will get better each week.   

I did get a nice surprise on Wednesday night when my dear friend Bethany unexpectedly came into town.  I was so happy to see her and let her bond with Olivia.  Her sweet son, Palmer, is a couple months older than Liv so its a real blessing to be able to talk to her about all issues related to being a new mom, and now a new working mom!

Then on Thursday, my mom brought Olivia to have lunch with me and Aunt Nazreen joined us.  Such a fun lunch date!

So, Week One ended on a good note and I am thoroughly enjoying my 3 day weekend.  I'm sure we will both have good days and bad days, so I am going to try very hard to take things in stride.  Even before we had Olivia, Matt and I would always comment that the best part of our day was coming home and hanging out together.  That is certainly even more true now that Olivia is there.  It’s such  a nice reward to the day to come home to a sweet, smiley daughter who (much to my delight and joy) remembers me and is oh-so-excited to see me!