A New Week

I'm so happy that it's the start of a brand new week. Last week was crazy but we got through it. I ended up putting in a lot of extra hours at work but Homecoming was a success. By far the best part of the week was that Mike arrived home early from the field so instead of spending Friday and Saturday with her babysitter, Olivia got to spend quality time with Mike. Here's a recap of what we've been up to since the last post....

• Olivia is officially finished with the pacifier! The first 3 nights were the worst but we've made it through them! I still occasionally catch Olivia looking for a pacifier in some of her secret hiding places but she's easily distracted and doesn't seem to miss it! She's such a big girl!
• I had another ultrasound last week. The doctors had been concerned since my pregnant belly was measuring a bit larger than it should be. Baby Leiva is a little weighs a little over 4 lbs which is exactly how much it should weigh but it seems that there is a little bit of extra room in my uterus--the result of this being a second pregnancy, the uterus stretching more/faster, etc. Nothing to be concerned about and we can't wait to meet the newest member of our family! While we still don't know if it's a boy or a girl we do know that this baby also has some hair!
• Homecoming is OVER! I worked late several nights last week but it was so much easier to do so knowing that Mike was home with Olivia. They spent most of Friday together and then on Saturday they took a special daddy-daughter trip to the big park (our neighborhood is full of tons of little parks but they went to the fancy park with the nice swings)
• Saturday evening we spent a couple of hours with some friends. To be honest I thought it was the absolute last place I wanted to be. After spending 10 hours at work all I wanted to do was curl up in bed but Mike had spent 2 weeks in the field and then returned to be on full time daddy duty so he needed to relax with friends. It turned out to be a great evening, Olivia was very well behaved, and we all got to enjoy socializing with friends. I'm so glad that I went!
• Monday evening Mike and I were both finished up with work early enough to go together to pick up Olivia. It's always fun when you get to see how happy she is to see not just one but two parents pick her up!
• This morning Mike and I had made plans to speak with the priest to schedule Baby Leiva's baptism. It turns out the priest had an unexpected conflict so we got to spend some extra time together this morning. My charming husband remembered me saying several weeks ago that my military id was due to expire in a few months so he suggested we go and get a new one. We spent the time in the waiting area remembering the day when I'd first gotten my military id. The picture was taken the day we'd gotten married (not the day of our wedding) but the day we got married before Mike deployed in 2003. I love the picture on that ID card and we realized it's the only picture we have from that day. They wouldn't let me keep the same picture but they did let me keep the ID card.

Night 3: No More Pacifier

So I think the worst part is over. Last night Olivia fell asleep after only 15 minutes of crying. I did have to run out of her room right after I tucked her in. She got out of bed and ran after me and I had to shut the door so she didn't run out of her room. This is a first for us! Olivia normally stays in her bed and waves goodbye as I tell her goodnight and turn out the light. I was expecting her to stand there howling at me from the other side of the door but she just turned around and ran back to her bed.

Today is her first day at school without the pacifier. She is usually only allowed to have her pacifier at nap time so today I sent her to school with one of her dolls instead of the pacifier to use during nap time. We'll see how that goes.....

Here are a few pictures. The fist picture is of the first night, she ended up waking up in our bed. It turns out that I took Olivia's pacifier away the day before she was diagnosed with an ear infection (I feel like the meanest mom ever)! She woke up at 6:30 on Saturday morning and I caved and let her in our bed. On the second night you can see the extra items that Olivia has started taking to bed. A book, her bla bla sock doll and her owl. You can certainly see Olivia's "mop" of hair in all it's glory. If anyone has any suggestions on how to tame her unruly mane I'm all ears :)

Night 2: No more pacifier

Last night went better than expected. It took Olivia about an hour to fall asleep. She woke up a couple of times throughout the night but put herself back to sleep. This morning Olivia woke up with a bit of a fever and kept tugging on her ear so off to the doctor we went. Olivia has an ear infection. I feel like the meanest mom ever, I decide to take away her pacifier during an ear infection! But there's no turning back now! We had to wait for almost 2 and a half hours today in the pharmacy waiting for her prescription and if I made it through that ordeal without a pacifier then there's nothing we can't do!

This afternoon at nap time she cried for about an hour before she finally fell asleep but then she slept her usual 2 hours. I put her down for bed tonight about 15 minutes ago and she's still fussing. Now that she's had 2 doses of her antibiotic I'm hoping that tonight is easier! Why didn't I take her pacifier away when we stopped using the bottle?

Night 1: No more pacifier

So just to keep myself extra busy while Mike is in the field I decided that this would be a great time to take Olivia's pacifier away. Olivia gave up the bottle promptly the week of her first birthday but the pacifier wasn't so easy. After her first birthday she was down to only using the pacifier for naps, bedtime, and trips in the car. There was one excuse after another to let her hang onto her pacifier a little longer--the 4 day drive/move here to Washington, my return to work and Olivia starting daycare, etc. Then I convenced myself it would happen right after her 2nd birthday but then we were flying to Hawaii. No more excuses! Sieze the moment! I ordered Olivia a replacement comfort item, a Nocturnimals Owl that lights up when you press it's foot. It arrived earlier in the week but I wanted the first pacifier-free night to be a weekend night so that Olivia wouldn't be too tired at school the following day. Tonight after her bath I let her open her package (Olivia loves getting packages and mail) then I explained that she could only have the new owl if she was a big girl and got rid of the pacifier. She wasn't happy about it but she really liked the new owl. At first she put up a little fight but then she continued to settle down into her bedtime routine. We snuggled on the bed with the owl and I read her a book. Then I went to tuck her into bed without the pacifier. She was still happy with her new owl and she gave me a goodnight kiss and said goodbye. That was exactly 40 minutes ago and she's still not asleep. She's not really crying but she's just sort of moaning. So far, so good. We'll see what time we all go to bed tonight....