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.

Olivia Rees Nutley

She's here!! She arrived December 20 at 5:53am weighing in at 7lbs 1oz.

Sunday morning we went to the hospital at 10am to get a second dose of induction. Sam was monitored for 2 hours and then they let us go home. She started having contractions and they asked us to come back that night to check up the progress.So we headed home and walked down the hospital hallway towards the elevator. We pressed the down button when Sam said "Oh! Either I just peed my pants or my water broke." We headed back to the maternity ward and told the nurses. We were put back into the room and hooked up to some machines.

Our family arrived in the delivery room and waited throughout the whole process. Even the nurses said that no one stays as long as they all did. After being in labour for 13 hours the doctors said she was ready to push. Then after pushing for an additional 2 hours it was 5am. The movement of the baby wasn't progressing so it was decided that she needed to head to the OR for a C-Section.

We both went down there and the procedure was done. At 5:53am she came out to the doctors singing Happy Birthday. 10 fingers, 10 toes and no weird moles. She's very healthy and so is Mommy.

Recovering in the hospital ward for the next few days was a little frustrating but on Wednesday night we finally arrived home with out little bundle.

The pics are trapped on the camera until we get our main computer back but I'll add them once we can.

Due Date + 4

We've officially been "induced"!

Yesterday, we headed back to the hospital for the second Non-Stress Test as scheduled, to make sure that everything was still fine. Baby was looking great, but my BP was still a little bit on the high side. They took some more blood but then said we could go home and that they would call us if anything looked out of the ordinary so we could come back.

So, a little frustrated and disappointed, we headed home to make lunch. About 20 minutes after we walked in the door my phone started ringing like crazy. 3 of those calls were from Auntie Daryl checking to see what had happened at the hospital but the 4th call was from the hospital telling me that I should definitely come back so that they could "get me delivered"! YAY!

Long story short, we got back to the hospital at 3:30pm and I was examined, given a drug to start the process and then monitored for 2 hours. After the 2 hours, because baby and I were doing fine, we were allowed to go home and get some sleep with instructions to return to the hospital this morning at 10am for another round of the induction drug and to see how things are progressing.

They had warned us that this could be a long process (sometimes 2 days or more) especially since its our first baby and we were essentially starting from scratch. However, we're just happy to have SOMETHING happening so we're taking it all in stride and loving the process.

Right now, we're about to leave for the hospital again and we're feeling pretty good. I've been having some minor pain in my lower abdomen which I'm taking as a good sign! We're not sure if today will be like yesterday again (where we would be sent home after 2 hours) or if depending on the progress we've made, we might end up staying...so as soon as we have a better idea, we'll let everyone know!

Fingers crossed though...Little Miss Nutley could be here sometime today or tomorrow!!

Due Date + 2

Well...here we are! Due Date plus TWO and still no Little Miss Nutley!

I, Mommy, (accompanied by Nana Nutley, because Daddy was at work) went to the Dr. yesterday for my weekly appointment hoping to hear that I had made some more progress towards labour...but unfortunately, it looks like we're still in the same boat as last week. :-(

I won't go into all of the graphic details for everyone but basically the Dr. couldn't quite tell if I had made any more progress. Further to that, my blood pressure was a little high so I got to go upstairs to the Maternity Ward for a Non-Stress Test to make sure that baby and I were doing okay.

After monitoring the baby for 20 minutes (she was excellent!) and taking my BP a few times (first it was high, then higher, then a bit lower, etc.) and reporting back to the Dr. the nurse came back in with a hospital bracelet and I nearly fell off the bed! Were they admitting me? Was I going to be induced today? No...unfortunately they had just decided to take some blood to further ensure that I was okay since they had already determined that Baby Girl was doing just fine.

Long story short (and when I say long, I mean that we were at the hospital for almost 4 hours - most of which was waiting for results!): All of the tests came back fine and I was able to go home around 4:30 yesterday afternoon. However, I was given strict instructions to "take it easy" for 48 hours and come back on Saturday for another Non-Stress Test to make sure that nothing has changed in a bad way.

So...I'm now trying to figure out how to further "take it easy" as my entire week has already consisted of hanging out at home, reading, tidying the house (lightly of course) and watching TV. LOL! Guess I'll just do the same but perhaps I'll lay in bed instead of on the couch? Oh well...better get started! ;-)

We'll see how things go at the hospital tomorrow...and of course update everyone here ASAP.

Due Date +1

Well as I'm sure the more intelligent readers can guess, nothing happened yesterday. No baby yet and we're still waiting. I look at it in the way that my wife is such a good Mommy that she is providing such a wonderful little hotel room that she doesn't want to end her vacation in Uterus City. We can get her a I <3 UC shirt as a memento of her trip.

Due Date

Well today is the day. That being the day that she is medically predicted to be here. I sit here at work trying not to do too much. Trying not to get involved in projects that I will need to drop in an instant. I stare at my phone waiting for my Indiana Jones ringtone to tell me that my wife is calling and it's time.

It's just the waiting game now. We gave the baby a long talk last night after dinner and told her all about the world outside and all of the people that care about her. The word "crazy" was uttered a lot. I'm a very patient person but I can't help being anxious. I feel like a huge weight is going to be let off my shoulders as soon as she gets her safely. I also know that an even bigger one is going to be thrown on my back as soon as that happens though.

Hopefully the next blog will be the announcement. Maybe I'm jinxing myself by saying that. KOW

39 Weeks + 5 Days

Getting closer...here's a belly shot at 39 weeks + 5 days. That would be yesterday (the 12th) just in case anyone is wondering. :-)

Social Networking...what a headache!

Well, we're officially under the one week mark! There are only 5 days left until Little Miss Nutley is due to be here (meaning she could be her ANY day before then as well)! Can you believe it?! We are getting so excited and are just loving the excitement that our friends and family are showing on a daily basis. That being said, its becoming quite difficult to keep the name we have selected for our little one under wraps with the conveniences of Social Networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter! Don't get us wrong...we LOVE the comments and support/concern/excitement that are being sent our way! We would just REALLY like to be the ones to "officially announce" who our little girl is going to be once she's born. Anyway, in order to express our feelings on this subject a little bit better, we have written a letter to those of you who are fortunate enough to be privy to the names we have selected for our daughter. :-)

Dear Friends and Family,

We hope you’re all doing well and getting excited for the holidays! As you’re all probably aware, baby girl is due in less than a week and we know you’re all just as excited as we are! We appreciate all of the love, support and well wishes that you’ve all offered so far and today we just have one small request for the remainder of time until our daughter makes her appearance.

We would really, greatly appreciate it if everyone could please refrain from mentioning the names that we have shared with you on facebook or in any other public setting. We have shared these names with you because we trust you and want you to be a part of our excitement, however we would VERY much like to be the ones to “officially” announce our baby girl to the world and these posts are taking away the impact of that announcement that we are so looking forward to making.

We are sure that these innocent slips are increasing in frequency because a) you’re excited and b) probably seeing everything posted by others; but please understand that as they go up we are frantically rushing to delete them in order to save the little bit of surprise for the family and friends that have yet to find out.

Again, we are so SO thankful that each of you cares about us and our baby girl as much as you do! We cannot thank you enough for all of the gifts and offers of support that you have already given as well. We are SO looking forward to introducing our daughter to you in the near future...we just ask that you kindly remember that the amount of excitement you are feeling is multiplied by about a million for us and we can’t WAIT to share that excitement with everyone once she's officially here.

Thanks so much for your understanding.

Love you all!

Sam & Seán

All of that being said, if you have a question or just can't WAIT to express your excitement about her or her name, please please don't hesitate to send us an email or private message on the above websites. As we mentioned, we LOVE hearing from all of you and by no means want you to stop...we would just like it to remain as private as possible until the glorious day that she makes her debut. In return, we PROMISE to let you all know as soon as we possibly can once she has arrived!

Here's hoping she doesn't make us all wait TOO much longer! ;-)

Car Seat

As part of our reorganizing and cleaning day yesterday, we decided to clean out my car and put in the car seat. One more notch down on the cool young guy scale but one notch up on the good Dad scale. Can't fit a guitar amp in the back seat any more.

Seemed to go in relatively easily. We followed all of the instructions to make sure the base was completely secure and didn't move.

There's a toy attached that has a ringing bell. My whole drive to work this morning it sounded like I had kidnapped an elf and had him tied up in the back seat. Guess it goes well with Christmas.

38 Weeks and Counting...

Nothing much new to report today except that we're under 2 weeks until the little lady's due date and getting more anxious and excited every minute! We had another doctor's appointment yesterday and everything is still going very well, Dr. told us not to get our hopes up about an early arrival though so that was a bit of a bummer. :-)

I also wanted to post a photo of our Christmas Tree since Seán mentioned it in his last post. Can you spot the Christmas pickle?! We're going to be doing a bit more Christmas shopping this weekend, but mostly just hoping to stay around the house and get a few projects finished up before the big day so we're all ready to go once our little princess makes her debut.

We will of course update everyone on any progress that may occur over the next few days and will try to post another Belly pic when Seán gets home tonight (Update: See Below) I swear the belly is smaller today which makes me wonder if she's dropped down into my pelvis? ...Maybe?! Fingers crossed!

Mommy @ 38 Weeks + 2 days

Christmas Pickle

Any day now. We're ready. I know the due date isn't for 2 weeks but we're ready. I mean we want her fully developed and healthy but it's hard to stay patient when we're this close.

We started and almost finished our Christmas shopping on Saturday. Sam and I took the train downtown and spent a few hours walking around the busy streets of Vancouver picking off gifts one by one. We figured it's better to get it done now while we've got the free time.

On Sunday we headed back downtown with some friends to see the Vancouver Christmas Market. It's a German style village set up near Queen Elizabeth Theater with all types of food and beer and Christmas themed entertainment. Sam bought a Christmas Pickle......I have no idea.

NOTE FROM SAM: The German Christmas Pickle is a tradition often practiced on the Western Christmas holiday. In this tradition, a glass pickle ornament is hidden on the Christmas Tree and the first child to find it will receive a gift that will supposedly bring a year of good luck.

Other than our busy weekend, things are going good. We can feel the baby moving almost constantly and all of her checkups are great. Our bags are packed and everything is ready to go. All family members are on full alert and we'll let them know when we hit Code Red.

37 Weeks!

Well we're officially 3 WEEKS from Little Miss Nutley's due date and we couldn't be more excited!

After this week (next Wednesday) she'll be considered "Full Term" and could come any time. We're heading down to the states for American Thanksgiving on Thursday and are looking forward to spending some time with family while we're there, so lets hope that if she decides to come early, she at least waits until we're back in Canada. :-)

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our friends and Family in the states! Hope to see you all soon.

Baby Shower Photos

Thanks again to Auntie Daryl and everyone who took time out of their busy schedules to attend the baby shower earlier this month! We can't say thank you enough for the way you've already spoiled our little girl and we just know she's going to love all of her gifts as much as we do. As promised, here are some of the long awaited photos from the wonderful party!

Just a quick update for those who are curious...we're now just about 36.5 weeks and baby is doing well! This means that in just over ONE week Little Miss Nutley will be considered "Full Term" and can come any time after that! If she's anything like her mommy she's excited for the Holidays so, here's hoping she chooses to make her entrance sooner rather than later!

One Month To Go

Today is November 15, 1 month until the due date. Whether she arrives directly on time, earlier than expected or fashionably late is yet to be determined.

Sam being pregnant seems like such a normal thing now. Knowing she cant drink wine, eat seafood or anything with a possibility of raw eggs seems like it's just part of our life. I think it's going to be weird getting back to normal afterwards. It will be a lot of fun seeing her having her first glass of wine or pint of Strongbow again. JP already told her he's bringing wine to the hospital.

The baby shower was last weekend and we received a tremendous amount of gifts from our Southern family (and a few Northerners). I'll let my wife post the pictures.

We want to thank everyone that came and a big thank you to Auntie Daryl for putting everything together.

The Canadian shower is going to be in January held by Auntie Rachel.

Halloween!!

The "Mummy-to-Be"

"Opie" from Sons of Anarchy

Before we left for the Party

At the Delta Lion Pub

We hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Halloween! Can't believe its already November!! The baby shower that Auntie Daryl is throwing is this weekend and Little Miss Nutley should be here in just over a month!