Bless-ed Baby

On Sunday the 1st of March Olive was blessed in our ward in Woodbridge. It was a beautiful blessing and a wonderful time with family. After the blessing everyone came to our house for brunch and later we met at the farm to enjoy the snow storm. It was a wonderful day. I am so grateful for the rituals and ceremonies we have to remind us of our promises to God. My whole life I have watched families bless their babies and baptize their children. It is surreal to see it in my own young family.

Olive wore her cousin Miliania's blessing dress. It was so pretty, but the bonnet (which she only wore for pictures) didn't stay on her head very well. I wish she could have worn it all day. It was funny for me to see her in this gown when I have never seen her in anything except pj's.

We miss Grandma Annie!

My mom has been here for the past five weeks. She arrived one week before Olive came and just left on Thursday. Some people might hate having their mothers stay for this long but I am not that way. My mom is the most wonderful woman. She is so helpful and fun and I have loved having her here. She helped me through the delivery and pretty much waited on me hand and foot for two or more weeks after. She made sure I ate well and she took such good care of the baby so I could sleep and not worry. Having her visit was a huge blessing and now our house seems pretty empty.

Every time Olive cries I say, "I know baby I miss Grandma too". I feel sad when I go into the guest room. It feels like her room because she was the first one to stay in it as our guest. It is a bummer at night when Chas is at school and I have no one over the age of 1 month to hang out with; at least we have iChat. Thank you mama for taking such good care of me and my family and for sacrificing so much of your time to come and be with us. It was the greatest comfort and I am so grateful.

Here are a few pictures of her with Olive, who happens to be number 12 of her 13 grandchildren.

Happy Four Week Birthday Olive!

This time exactly 4 weeks ago Olive was beginning to make it known that she was ready to bravely enter into this big new world. In a few fast and insane hours she was here and it has been an amazing month since. Getting to know her and watching her personality come out has been a joy and we are loving, loving her. By her two week check up she had gained a pound and half and grown a half an inch, making her 8.5 lbs and 20.5 inch long. She is getting chubby and we all seem to think that she has flashed us a "real" smile. Not gas, not stretching but a real one. (The smiles that morph into crying are questionable.)

Olive pretty much sticks to the basics...eat, sleep, poop. However this is just fine with us. The eating is obviously a necessity, the sleeping means that we can sleep too, the pooping we could do without but it is a sign that she is healthy so we find ourselves talking about its frequency color and consistency. We enjoy the time she is awake and Chas is always wanting her utilize our baby gadgets and sit in the rain forest swing or her vibrating chair. The sleeping part has not always been ideal, mostly at night. She sleeps so great in the day but wants to party at night. I don't know if she gets that from the Clawson side or the Nobmann side. She is learning though and we have to say that she is the sweetest and easiest baby we have ever had.

Baby feet are cute!