4 Weeks!

Time is just flying!  Our little one is already 4 weeks old.  I haven't done real well on the picture side of things this week, but, did manage to get this video of Olivia right after I put her in the tub last night.  She makes this funny little noise that reminds me of a puppy every time you set her down in the water.  Dave was at a shoot last night, so, I had to put her in the tub and video alone.  Therefore, you miss the first half of her little production.  But, this at least gives you an idea.  She is SO vocal, she just cracks me up!

Since I had the camera with me, I took a few bathtub shots.  I was in the spare bathroom and the lighting in there is really yellow.  Since I didn't take the time to edit the video, you'll see a big difference in skin tone between the two!!

She's always got a hand in her mouth, I'm worried she's going to be a thumb sucker!! ;O)

Photo Shoot...

Today was a productive one!!  The kids and I managed to run a bunch of errands and we were still able to fit in a good long photo shoot!  The kiddos were extra thrilled about both, hehe! ;O)

Olivia had trouble waking up from her nap.  So, I took advantage of it and took pictures.  Doesn't she look innocent when she's sleeping!!  Don't let her fool you, this girl knows what she wants and has no problem telling you about it!!!

This is my FAVORITE shot!  She's still a little small for these wings, but, I'm so excited about these pictures! ;O)  She's SO going to hate me when she's a teenager! 

We re-did some of the Easter pictures too and got this shot.  I think it's extra cute.  Owen is this weird mix right now of totally uncooperative, but yet, doesn't want left out.  I am not sure how to handle that! My theory is just to get him involved in some extracurricular activities so he has some time on his own. Keep your fingers crossed for me that it works!

I had bunny ears I really wanted on this kid, but, she wasn't having it.  So, we didn't do it...we only do what she tells us we can!

We did work in this bunny from her Grandma Diana though (how perfect is it that it matches her dress so well).  I had trouble keeping her from chewing on him though!! ;O)  They aren't supposed to be able to control their hands/arms at this age, right?  I swear she does, she holds onto her own bottle/pacifier and it didn't seem to matter where this bunny was placed, it ended up in her mouth!!  I swear this kid is actually 6 months old!!!

And now we are done with the photo shoot...this is the SAME expression her brother used from the time he was this size.  The difference being, his only comes about if something super painful has happened.  Olivia uses it for EVERYTHING!  You'd think the world was coming to an end CONSTANTLY! ;O)  She's a little dramatic....note this is only slightly different from her normal scowling expression...hehe, can't wait until this kid smiles regularly!!

3 Weeks Already!!!

How does time get away from me like this!  I can't believe our little trouble maker is already three weeks old!  Of course, I don't even know what day of the week it is without someone telling me...so, I may not be the best judge right now! ;O)

I am terrible at sending thank yous, so, I thought I'd try and take pictures of Olivia in the clothes people have given her and send a little email thank you instead.  Unfortunately, someone is not as thrilled about that idea as I am.  But, I thought I'd share the pictures I snapped anyway!!

This little outfit is from my sister's-boyfriend's-parents...which I have never met...how nice was that to think of us!  Thought the least I could do is send them a picture.  The headband is from Dave's friends Amanda and Curtis.  Owen thinks the headbands are the greatest thing ever and loves to put them on her.  He cracks me up!

Dave's coworker's wife made this little sweater for Olivia.  How sweet is that!  She already has three kids of her own, I have no idea how she finds the time...I'm just glad I haven't lost one of mine by the end of the day, I certainly don't have time or the peace of mind to knit!! ;O)  As you can see with both of these pictures, someone was not especially amused by me.  I may try again at another time.  I still want to redo the Easter photos though, so, we'll see.

This is another moment that caught me off guard...of course, all the good ones do, right!  Just this Wednesday, it seemed that our little girl was finally starting to smile intentionally.  Prior to that, it was only by accident when she was falling asleep.  Anyway, we still don't necessarily get a smile when we want it and thats why this picture is so blurry...Owen was helping me get her attention and while he was trying to tickle her, we got this big smile!  I had to document it, you never know how long it will be before you get another!!

First Attempt..

Just a quick picture of Owen and his new telescope.  This kid has been checking out the mountain all day!  I hope it stays clear tonight so he can see some stars!!

I saw this pose online somewhere and thought it was too cute.  I took the picture too close-up however and can't get anything but a square photo now!  In the rest of the shots I took from further away, Owen had one eye almost shut, I can't win!  I also didn't manage to get Owen completely in focus, so frustrating...live and learn I guess.

 Ok, so, I used my "green screen" for the first time today and have come to the conclusion that I need to do some more homework.  The worst part of it is that it gives the kids a weird green glow!!  Plus, I definitely need to have a digital background in mind before I do this again!!  I saw somewhere that you can create your own backgrounds in Photoshop.  I'm going to try that out and see if I can come up with a color scheme that makes more sense, but, even with that, I still don't know what to do with the green glow!  Maybe they were too close to the screen...hmmm...I see a reshoot in their near future! ;O)

Happy Easter!

Hope everyone is enjoying their Easter Sunday!  We had a good morning with a little Easter Egg Hunt.  Owen is so fun to do for and appreciates all the small stuff, it's really cute.  His real gift was a telescope and he's spent all morning looking for moose, snow leopards, and snow lobsters on the mountain...don't ask, I tried to correct him, but, it wasn't worth it....

Also, just a bit of weather news, we broke the snow record here in Anchorage yesterday...yaaay (that's total sarcasm).  With the 4.3 inches we got yesterday, we are now at 134.5 inches (11.2 feet) for the season, beating the record set in 1954-1955 of 132.6 inches and with more snow predicted through the rest of the month.  What the hay!!  According to the article on the Weather Channel Website (http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/anchorage-record-snow-season_2012-04-08), thats about twice our average snowfall.  I'll try and remember to take some outdoor photos so you can see what that looks like in April!  We still have a good three feet in the yard.  I am SO over it!!!  I have to tell you, I have no sympathy for those of you in the Lower 48 that the national news says is "suffering" with early seasonal allergies...I'd give anything for seasonal allergies due to warm temps about now!  At least there's drugs for that! ;O)

I haven't taken any Easter pictures yet, but, hope to today while Dave is home to help me with the poses.  I did take these shots of Olivia yesterday though with Owen's help.  She's two weeks old already!  I'd like to say time flies, but, I honestly can't remember much of those weeks...there were feedings, diapers, and naps, how does that add up to two weeks!! ;O)

My sister wanted pictures of Olivia in the ladybug outfits she bought her.  I meant to do it the other day in the first outfit, but, Olivia peed all over it before I could!  I swear, at least you get a split second warning with boys...girls you get nothing!  Dave and I have been through so many clothes due to this stealth system!  Anyway, this outfit has a cute little lady bug on the front of the shirt and I thought it would be cute with the quilt from her Grandma Diana in the background.  But, the little turdlette wouldn't put her hands down and totally covered the ladybug in every shot!  It's like she knew what I wanted!

You can see a little flash of jealousy from Owen anytime I try to do a little photo shoot with the baby.  Suddenly, he WANTS his picture taken.  Hello, he had five years with me following him around trying to take his photo...where was the cooperation when I wanted it! ;O)  Anyway, since he's never dressed how I'd want him to be, we do lots of kissing photos...hides his clothes that way and Olivia likes the attention from her brother!!

More Pics of Our Little Girl...

We are slowly getting into a routine and Olivia is slowly becoming more cooperative, so, I hope to have better pictures to post soon.  But, in the meantime, here are some snapshots of her with family and our attempted photo shoot from earlier this week.  My kids do not sleep hard like those newborns they were posing in all the YouTube videos I watched!!  So, she's wide awake through the whole thing and not happy with me at all!!  

I saw this amazing picture of a baby on a stack of towels dangling a teddy bear from his hand that I wanted to try and recreate.  Unfortunately, my kid refused to allow me to pull her arm out from under her, so, this is really just a weird picture of a baby on a stack of towels next to a stuffed monkey! ;O)

Just a close-up, still can't believe she's got blue eyes!  Can't wait to see what they turn out to be.

This was towards the end of the photo shoot and she was less than amused with me.  But, I wanted a shot with the quilt her Grandma Diana made her.  Don't you love the colors!!

This wasn't a planned shot and is really blurry, but, I wanted you to see what we are dealing with here!!  While I was trying to reposition things she decided to look around and see what was going on.  She is SO strong.  I don't know another baby that lifted their head this high at this age!  (I went back and looked, this was taken when she was 12 days old, I keep telling people 5...)

She's Here!!!

Olivia Laray FINALLY arrived two days past her due date and on my sister's birthday!  I blame Shawn for this, she told me to wait until she got back from her conference in Reno...so, we did...Shawn's plane landed around 11pm and we called her at 3am the next morning to let her know we were on our way to drop Owen off and head to the hospital! ;O)

Just 17 short hours later (thats sarcasm!), we had a healthy 8lb 10oz baby girl who was 20" tall.  She beat out her brother by 4oz and both the midwife and nurses assisting actually laughed about what a chunkeroo she was WHILE I was trying to deliver!  I didn't get very big, so, they all assumed she'd be much smaller...I knew better!

This experience was SO much better than what I had with Owen.  I keep teasing Dave that he's lucky it wasn't like this the first time around, we may have had 4 or 5 by now!  He doesn't think I'm funny...

Owen is totally in love and so far, has been an amazing big brother with minimal jealousness.  He constantly wants to hold her or kiss her and even wants me to wake her up so he can see her eyes.  He's so funny, after he arrived at the hospital with Shawn, the first thing he asked was to "see her footies".  He's still coming to terms with her name though.  As far as he's concerned, she's still "Engine" and argues with anyone who says differently.  Even was upset that the staff at the pediatrician's office were calling her Olivia yesterday!

 O.k., so, I've been perusing the internet for poses the past month or so and had all these great/cute ideas for photographs.  However, the point in newborn pics is to see their roly poly bodies.  Olivia isn't having it, she HATES to be naked and throws the biggest fits you've ever seen...  I got this one shot with a crabby baby and the flowers Owen/Shawn brought to us at the hospital.  She's lost a pound already, but, you can still see how filled out she is!!

Olivia looks so much like her brother, its crazy.  But, she has the bluest eyes ever where her brothers were literally as black as his pupil!!!  Can't wait to see what they turn out to be, I have my fingers crossed they stay blue like Dave's mom and sister's!!

For comparison sake....here's Owen....

and this is Olivia...I'll work on better comparison photos later...right now, this is the best I can do!!

Better run for now, I have Olivia across my lap while I try to write and her patience is wearing thin.  Just wanted to get some pictures out there while I had a coherent moment! ;O)