The many moods of Olivia Rees Nutley

There's not much new with the Nutley's in that last little while. Olivia is doing great and so are Sam and I. Trying to get in as much times as a family as we can. Of course stuff like work and sleep get in the way. Hoping this weekend is a nice relaxing time with my girls.

Olivia is getting more of her own personality as the days go by. Some observations so far:

• When she cries it's usually either due to her being hungry or gassy. Hungry = Mom, Gassy = Dad. And I'm getting good. Doesn't take long for her to let it go when I've got her.

• If she's tired, she just falls asleep. She can sleep anywhere. Sitting straight up, over your shoulder, in her car seat. Out like a light.

• She is also very easy going. Completely content with just laying there and staring at a plain white wall. There's only really been once occasion of "ohmygodshescryingwhywontshestop!?!". After a little while she let out 4 massive burps and it stopped.

• She's definitely very happy too. Smiling away while I make noises at her or when she can hear Sam's voice. A very happy baby.

• She also has a fake cry which is just a girlish little squeal. No real confidence or authority behind it. Like a baby's version of "Hey!". I think it's related to paying attention to her. Though she is fine to sit on my legs while I play video games and just stare at me. I guess she just gets bored after a bit.

• She likes to move too. A lot of kicking in a circular motion which looks like she's riding an invisible bicycle. Her arms flail as well. If she's fussy and you're holding her, she'll punch you right in the chin. You cant take it seriously as it's like being punched by a small toy. It is funny though.

A lot of little moods and reactions are making up the personality of my daughter. She is a good combination of both Sam and I. Thankfully the good parts.

Vote for Me

Auntie Daryl entered Olivia into a cutest baby contest in Bellingham so click on the above link and vote for her.

Do it.

Now.

And do it tomorrow too.

And the day after.

First Month

Olivia Rees Nutley is now 1 month old. Oh how the times flies. Actually it feels like ages ago that we were in the hospital.

Over the last month our lives have definitely changed. We feel like the most popular people in the world. Like a movie star couple. "Seamantha" or "Sham".

Then you realize it has nothing to do with us and everyone wants to see the baby. Fine.

It has been a great month having a baby at Christmas dinner with all of our family and friends. New Years and kissing my girls at midnight. A baby shower and get together afterwards that reminds me of when I was a kid and my parents would have people over after any event.

Sam and I were able to get out for dinner last night for a few hours alone. Auntie Rachel babysat and things went great. We sent her a text while at the restaurant to see how Livi was doing. She responded with "she pooped on me and then fell asleep."

Doctors appointment lined up for today and a photo shoot tomorrow. A good friend of Sam's (Jeanie of Studio Jeanie) is coming over to take pictures of Olivia. Then we've got the weekend together as a little family.

As you can see it's been a great month and I'm looking forward to the rest of them.

Our little Canuck

We received Livi's birth certificate last week which means she is now officially a Canadian citizen. Our little Canuck.

This also meant she was able to travel across the border to visit family. We traveled down on Friday and spent the night at Auntie Daryl's and Uncle Alex's house. We followed up the trip on Saturday by doing what Canadians do in Bellingham, shop at Target. We were home Saturday night and just relaxed after a long day.

Sunday was more even more relaxing finished up with a trip to Nana & Grandad Nutley's for dinner.

Thankfully she's getting into a more regular pattern of sleeping which in turn is letting Sam sleep more and more at night and getting a better rest.

3 weeks

Little Livi is 3 weeks old today. She's gaining weight, eating very well and getting into a regular sleep too.

This is a pic of her first bath at home. She cried a lot but due mostly to her being naked and cold. Once she got in the warm water and later wrapped in a warm towel, she calmed down. No matter how annoyed she looks it this picture.

Her baby shower took place this past weekend where we received a number of wonderful presents. I was celebrating across the street at the pub with the other men but I did see all the pics and it looked like a great time. We'll put the pictures up soon since our computer is now back and up and running.

Home Sweet Home

It's been a busy couple of weeks as you can tell by the lack of updates. Our little girl is now 2 weeks old and is doing very well.

Bringing her home has been a lot of fun and very interesting. She arrived at the Nutley house only a couple of days before Christmas. I had a few weeks off so I was able to be home to help as much as I could.

The last few weeks have included a lot of sleeping, feeding and diaper changes. Sleeping is easy. Just lay her down somewhere or on someone. She passes out like me coming home from the pub. Feeding is something obviously I can't do. I would if I could but I can't. So that leaves me as the diaper changer. At first it was a bit tricky. I've changed plenty of diapers before but never a newborn. At first I thought she was so fragile that it took me a long time. After I realized that she wasn't made of eggshells and balsa wood I sped up the process.

We've had plenty of visitors through our house in the last while. She sleeps for most people but some are able to catch her when she's up and alert. She doesn't cry a lot which is good. When she's awake it's mostly staring at the Christmas tree or my beard. Nights haven't been too bad either. Well not too bad for me. Sam wakes up a lot to check on her and feed her.

Now that the holidays are over, things are going back to normal. Not the normal we had before but a new normal with the three of us.