Oh, and she says "no." It's still pretty cute when she says it, although I'm sure we'll get sick of hearing it soon enough...
Singing in the car is required (won't that make our trips up to see my parents even better...). It starts with a request for "wah wah wah" from the back seat, which means Wheels on the Bus. Actually, "wah wah wah" is what the babies say in Wheels on the Bus, but she wants the whole song. From there I usually get to choose whatever song I want, as long as I accept the veto when it comes. It comes often, but I refuse to sing the Wheels on the Bus more than once an hour. I hit on a pretty good alternate the other day: If You're Happy and You Know It. With a little creativity, one can make up endless verses to that song and the toddler gets practice following directions. It's brilliant.
Tuesday our basement drain started backing up. I called my mother (of course), and she said to get a plumber out to our house to snake the drain as soon as possible. When Bryan came home from work, we talked about it and decided to see if one could come out that night. You never know when you might not be able to let someone in because you're busy having a baby. Someone showed up at our house to fix the problem around 9 and he was gone by 11:30 (although apparently if he'd run into serious problems he could have been there up to seven hours...).
Good thing we got the plumbing taken care of when we did, because Tuesday night we made a trip to the hospital so that Gretchen could be born in the wee hours of Wednesday morning. Watch for a back-dated bonus post about that exciting adventure. :)
On Wednesday, Olivia came to see us in the hospital. She liked petting Gretchen and even held her for a minute or so before hopping off the bed, saying, "bye bye baby," and proceeding to check out the room. She thought the buttons that raised and lowered the bed were pretty cool. We did get a couple of cute pictures, and then Olivia went to Grandma's house to stay until we got home.
Thursday we were allowed to leave the hospital, so we were home around dinnertime. Grandma and Grandpa brought Olivia to us and we all hung out for a while before bed. Olivia was at least accepting of the fact that the baby apparently lives at our house now. She tried to share her chicken nuggets with Gretchen, and when we said prayers that night, Gretchen had to kiss every icon (a couple of Olivia's stuffed animals have also kissed every icon).
Friday was Gretchen's first doctor appointment. She's doing well and they want to see her again next week to make sure she gains back the weight that she lost. Olivia panicked a little when the doctor came in the room, but we assured her that this visit was not for her and she calmed down. We spent the rest of Friday letting Olivia smother Gretchen with love while trying to make sure she didn't actually smother her. Truth be told, Gretchen was in more danger of getting her head accidentally bashed in by Olivia's typically toddler complete lack of body/limb awareness. Smothering was less of a problem.
Thursday night Gretchen was up about every hour and a half to eat, but on Friday night she slept much better. After being fussy from 11 to 1, she slept from 1-5 and then ate and slept until 7:30. !!! Probably a fluke, but I'll take it. Of course, Saturday morning, she required constant holding until about noon. As I told Bryan, I'll hold her all day if it means I get to sleep at night. :)
On Saturday, Olivia and I did dishes and made bread. Bryan had to finish the bread while I fed Gretchen, so Olivia showed him what to do. Once the broom came out to sweep up the flour that had fallen on the floor, Olivia confiscated it and proceeded to sweep the great room. It looks like we brought Gretchen home and put Olivia to work. :)
Olivia is adjusting well. She loves to give kisses to Gretchen and to help me pat Gretchen's back to burp her. She gets sad when Gretchen is sad (which is better than making Gretchen sad) and is irritated when we won't let her hold Gretchen (although that's diminishing already as she learns that there are some things she can't do). She shares her things well, so Gretchen was gifted a book to read while I changed her diaper the other morning, and she's had several toys thrust at her when she's fussing.
Pictures:
Olivia and Daddy reading on the couch:
At the hospital:
Pictures from the time at Grandma's house:
Gretchen:
Gretchen caught her thumb!
A family photo:
My breadwinner learning from my breadmaker:
Olivia cleans up:
I love the picture of Olivia reading with her baby stuffed in the chair next to her! :-) Also, the whole "Olivia cleans up" thing is pretty hilarious...I don't think William will get that by nature or nurture unfortunately, it will just have to be a fluke if he learns how to clean up after himself.
ReplyDeleteAh, yes. She has that same chair at our house and always has a baby or animal stuffed in next to her. She reads to them and they have to be able to see!
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