The Ericksons: Olivia Rose and Parenthood

Olivia Rose was born 22 October 2010 at 8:29pm. She weighed 8 lbs 7 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. I had a C-Section, best for both Mommy and Baby. She is such a beautiful baby and truly the joy of our lives. We never knew how much we would love her - there just aren't words to describe it! We call her Livi for short...among many other nicknames (Livi-Bug, Livi-Girl, Liv, Monkey, Bug...the list goes on and on). She is now 6 and a half weeks old! Time is flying. I am blessed to be able to stay home with her, and I love it! Being a mom is awesome. I love lazy mornings and playtime, quiet evenings and storytime. She and I watch shows together, clean the house together (well, Livi watches from her bouncer), and eat together. Her favorite places are her changing pad in the bathroom, her carseat and in someone's arms. She is already smiling, laughing, and cooing. Olivia is a very alert little girl - mature for her age - and she's incredibly strong! She holds her head up, can break your finger with her grip, and prefers to stand on her own two feet. :) She has quite the head full of hair - beautiful dark locks. Basically, we are in love.

Parenthood is quite the adventure. There's no real training or manual on how to do it. I always heard that mothering is innate; I partially agree. There is nothing innate about how to bathe her or how to deal with a diaper blow out that ends up on baby, mother, and the walls! I had no idea how much laundry one little person could produce, or the amount of spit up, poop, and pee that would result in the frequency of laundry. Oh, and contrary to popular belief, breastfeeding is not innate. Every day is crash course in parenting.That being said, loving her unconditionally is innate. With time, even discerning her cries and her unspoken needs becomes innate.

The latest challenge: routines and schedules. I am a firm believer in routines, but I also recognize that if I feed and put her down between 7:30-8:00pm, she sleeps better through the night. So there is something to be said for schedules. I would love to say that my amazing consistency with routines is to thank, but for whatever reason, Olivia has had 5 nights in a row of sleeping 6-8 hours a night; last night she slept for 9 hours. Talk about incredible. We love our eat, play, sleep daytime routines...and storytime, massage, jammies, eat, and sleep routine at night.

Although parenthood has its challenges, its ups and downs, one look into the trusting eyes of our baby girl and we know that it's worth it. Every sleepless night, every poopy diaper, every spitup, and every time we finally have to admit we don't know what to do. It is all worth it. We love being parents and can't imagine our lives without our beautiful Olivia Rose.