Baby's First Wedding!

last weekend we attended a wedding of one of Dave's college roommate, Travers. we have known about this wedding for over a year, and it was a little exciting to think about going back when I was pregnant. i couldn't imagine what it would be like with a near 3 month old! i bought Olivia's dress back in December and it was a bit surreal to actually dress her in it when the day came.

not only was this LW's first wedding, but her first real road trip as well. The wedding was just outside of the quaint Danish town of Solvang here in California. It was a little over a 3 hour drive and she did amazing!

as with most events, she slept through the majority. when we got to Solvang, Dave had to drive (aka off road) the 30 minutes to the wedding rehearsal up some pretty major mountains so us girls stayed back and took a walk around town. i got myself some ridiculous Danish chocolate smorgasbord and immediately felt guilty after eating it. oh well!

then we headed to the Rehearsal Dinner, where Olivia was the talk of the town. (don't mind the creepy look in the bride and groom's eyes). i also proceeded to drop marinara sauce on my child, which i would later find out stained her outfit for good. right of passage maybe?

the next morning we ate at Paula's Pancake House, a local restaurant where i had my first Danish pancakes. delicious!

 not long after, we walked around Solvang some more and got our hands on our favorite Danish beer, Carlsberg! we somehow ended up enjoying it at a restaurant with ONLY Chinese tourists.

i asked Dave to take a picture of Olivia and i in front of the huge Solvang windmill. this is what i got:

me and Olivia, no windmill. can you guess who the photographer is in our family?

anyways, then we headed up to the farmhouse where the wedding was to be held for Dave to help set up and for some delicious Korean BBQ! the farmhouse and surrounding area was beautiful, though VERY off the beaten path.

after hanging out for a few hours, we headed back down the mountain to rest and gear up for an evening at the Solvang Brewing Company. It was probably 100 yards from our hotel so we walked over and enjoyed a decent amount of beer guilt free! i had the most AMAZING Danish sausage sampler with dipping sauces. i'm thinking about them right now and tempted to drive and get one. it's only 3 hours away!

the next day was the wedding and Olivia was a champ! She held up much better than I did, as I'm the one who fell in a hole when I got out of the car (i told you it was rustic), hurt my back, and bruised and scraped myself. but the wedding was beautiful and very "Travers and Jean."

 

 

i left my good camera in the hotel that day and was bummed because i could have taken even better pictures. however, i'm impressed with my iPhone as it is! here are just a few more shots of the farm that day:

 

we left just before the sun was going down because the wind was really starting to pick up and i didn't want a baby with a cold on my hands. and i was the sober one who had to drive my beemer down mountain terrain with no street lights. i'm so glad we left when we did because we made it back to civilization just as the sun disappeared! and that pretty much sums up our trip! Olivia surprises me every day with how easy-going she is and willing to go anywhere with us (not that she has a choice). she is an awesome traveler and i'm even more excited to take her with us on upcoming trips and show her the world!

big shots, little baby

Olivia had her 2 month checkup about a week ago and had a great appointment. she is growing exponentially and is hitting all of her developmental milestones. i KNOW i was dreading it more than her, because i knew she would be getting a slew of immunizations.

i know baby's first shots can be a hot topic among moms these days: delayed versus no immunizations, etc. but i'm not a doctor and can't pretend to know what's best for my wee babe, so i take the Dr's advice and get her her shots on time. it's not that i believe everything the medical community says, but there just aren't enough studies out there to disprove the relevance and importance of immunizations to convince me otherwise. plus, i would never forgive myself if my LW contracted something she could have avoided, or her lack of being immunized caused an illness for another child. but that's just my opinion.

it may also be because there was recently a story of a girl in Orange who contracted Meningitis because she wasn't immunized. she had to have ALL FOUR OF HER LIMBS AMPUTATED. not only that, the infection got to her face and she had to be treated in the burn unit. i don't think there's any further need for convincing, at least not for me.

anyways, here she is, unaware of what's to come:

they eased her into her shots with an oral vaccine. notice the lack of interest she is displaying:

awww, so many shots for such a little baby:

her war wounds.

obviously, she had a good cry when all was said and done. the nurse was awesome and administered them SUPER fast so by the time she started crying for the first one, the other 2 were done. amazingly enough, i didn't cry! but i still felt horrible for my baby. i was expecting the ride home and the afternoon to be filled with a lethargic, cranky baby, but LW was a dream! however, later that night was another story. we went over to a friend's house for dinner and ended up having to leave early because she was so worked up. once we got home and stripped her down to her Huggies, we realized she was overheated. it had been a really hot day and of course, she already wasn't feeling herself. so i gave her a cool bath, she slept well, and was back to my wee babe the next morning! i guess those shots weren't so horrible after all ;)

momma's first mother's day

yesterday i celebrated my first Mother's Day! last year i wasn't even pregnant at the time, but probably wouldn't have considered it my first mother's day even if i was. Dave, Olivia, and I celebrated on our own, as is typical family tradition in our house. growing up, our family always put an emphasis on celebrating with our immediate family before anyone else, and it's something i've inadvertently carried into my own family. don't get me wrong, i love celebrating with my family at large (thought it's not very big), but i also love having my own family traditions that are no one else's. we've been pretty busy and tired these past few weeks (i wonder why, oh my dear 10 week old) so we kept the holiday low key, as is also our tradition. we went to church and snagged a picture the service. i love how Olivia is looking at us like we are crazy!

p.s., doesn't she look like she has red hair?

then we headed to a special (aka expensive and PACKED) brunch at my favorite restaurant in Orange, Citrus City Grill. Olivia slept through most of it, but we still had a lovely afternoon. brunch is my absolute favorite meal because it combines my two favorite types of food: breakfast and dessert. anytime i consume both unashamedly is fine by me. throw in a little mimosas and i'm a happy girl.

after brunch we headed home to watch the Dodger game and take a family nap. not only did the Dodgers win, but we had a great snooze too:

yes, we napped on the family room floor, and yes it was quite nice. and that's that! though it wasn't glamorous, i thoroughly enjoyed my first Mother's Day. i can't wait to share many more with my Little Wood:)

blogging for books

if you know me in real life (as opposed to internet stalking me via blog) then you know i am a major book lover. when i was a kid, i think i read every single Baby Sitter's Club book and carried a book with me wherever i went. last year, i completed a 50 book challenge and wrote about each book on my old blog, karlywood. when i started Little Wood, i thought i would still maintain my old blog as well, seeing as how it's several years old and i have a ton of posts. but over the last few years, the diversity was pretty lacking and i resorted to basically documenting my nail polish, books, and shopping expeditions. i realize now there is no way i can keep up both with a beautiful child to raise, a job, church, and of course, a husband! it's a miracle i can even keep up with this blog.

regardless, blogging helps me keep my sanity and it's something of my own- apart from motherhood, wifedom, etc. these first few months have been all about my child and i've loved every minute of it (except the sleep deprived ones). but i also want to be careful to still maintain my identity and passions. i know God has gifted me with many talents, only one of which is motherhood, and i want to be sure i keep them up and running.

the other day i was perusing Amazon (shocker, i know) for a marriage devotional (recommendations anyone? i didn't find one yet) and read a review from someone who read the book as part of a "blogging for books" program. what!?!?! this seemed too good to be true. so i googled it and low and behold, there's a Christian publisher, WaterBrook Multnomah, that offers readers books for free in exchange for honest reviews of their books. hallelujah! i have been blogging about books for years and this is a match made in heaven! it's also great because it will help me keep up with my passion for books and writing in the whirlwind of motherhood.

so, you can expect some book reviews coming your way! i've decided i want this blog to not just be about my new Little Wood, but about our lives together as we grow into our family. i'm hoping i will come across some amazing books along the way that all of you can enjoy as well!

Olivia Dell: 2 Months

Height/Weight: I've been waiting on this post specifically to get Olivia's height and weight from her 2 month appointment. and my oh my, she is growing! Olivia now weights 10 pounds, 8 ounces! She gained over 4 pounds in 6 weeks! She also is now 23 inches long. that's 2 more inches! Olivia went from the 5th percentile in weight, to the 50th! Even her doctor was impressed. He also said she's in the 75th percentile for height, and has a good sized head (i think that's good?) :)

Feeding: Olivia has started to consistently take 4-5 oz per bottle at a time. For awhile there, she was still eating as frequently as when she was taking only 3, which was every three hours. but at about 7 weeks she is stretching out to eating every 3.5- 4 hours. yay! less bottles, and less watching of the clock. she doesn't freak out quite so fast either when she suddenly hits feeding time. she no longer shoves her fist in her mouth when she's hungry, so it's a bit of a guessing game as well. she is now into the "big girl" bottles that take up to 10 ounces, instead of the smaller 4 ounce size.

Clothing: Olivia has officially grown out of a few newborn sized clothes. waaah. i packed away a few of them with my maternity clothes and was a teensy bit sad. she still fits into a few brands of newborn clothes, because she is a skinny little thing with skinny little legs. i'm still trying her out on a few 0-3 month clothes every morning, but it's a no go on most of them! I've noticed that Carter's 3 month clothes are not really 0-3, they're just 3+. they are super long too! oh well, i'm sure at the rate she's growing, we will be hitting up the 0-3 size in no time!

Sleep: at 5 blessed weeks, Olivia slept a 6 hour stretch, from 9pm-3am and we haven't looked back. oh Hallelujah! who knew that a 5-6 hour span of sleep at once could do so much? not me. i used to think i needed 9-10 hours to feel my best. now, i could care less- gimme the 5 hours. she still wakes up about 3 hours later, but having the 1 stretch gives us all a break- from exhaustion and an extra bottle. she takes a nap about 2 hours after waking up in the morning, and then cat naps off and on until about 4 or 5. i'm working on getting her to take a good long afternoon nap, but she has a lot of willpower and will only nap for about 30 minutes at a time for now. just enough time for me to take a shower or wash dishes. you know, fun stuff.

Milestones: Olivia is starting to lift her head, especially when resting up on my shoulder. we're working on it during tummy time, but babies heads are big and heavy! i think being on my shoulder has some extra gravity to help her. its really cute how she bobs her head to get her momentum going. Olivia has also "found" her hands and likes to start batting at objects. she'll hold on to a rattle if i put it in her hands, but she's not quite able to grab it for herself yet.  she also started smiling deliberately (not from gas!) and cooing. i absolutely love watching and hearing her. This is one of my favorite videos:

Firsts: Olivia had her first visit from Auntie Cerissa and cousin Bethy, who is 5 months older than her.  she also celebrated her first holiday, Easter, and took a mini road trip to cousin Kristen's about 40 minutes away. Olivia also had her first baby sitting experience, with Grandma, Grandpa, and close friend Gwin, and was left three times in one week! (this is probably more of a "mom" first, right?) She watched her first Dodger Opening Day, got her first piece of mail, and had her first visit to the beach at 6 weeks old!

First piece of mail!

First Dodger Opening Day!!

First trip to the beach!

First Easter Holiday!

Olivia & Cousin Bethy

2 Month Favorites

my wee babe is 2 months old! she has grown so much in the last 4 weeks and has become quite the fun baby. below are some of our survival tools for this past month:

Playtex Nurser Drop-in Bottles: my professional mother/cousin (she has 5 girls and we are only 2 days apart!) recommended these bottles and they are amazing! they keep air out, mimic the breast (apparently, although it seems that every bottle slogan says that now), and are BEYOND easy to clean. they are a hollow tube that you drop a liner in, which collapses as the wee babe drinks. then when she's done, you just throw the liner away and wash the nipple. no bottle cleaning! the liners are very affordable, and both Target and Wal-Mart make their own brand. although since Amazon has the Playtex ones cheap, i've only tried those.

Baby Bath Sponge: i didn't register for a ginormous baby bath tub because i didn't want to store one, so i ordered this baby bath sponge from Amazon for $7 and LOVE IT! Olivia seems to dig it to, as our bath times are always tear free now.  it's nice because it's easy to submerge with water to keep baby warm, and it's super easy to clean because all you have to do is wring it out to dry. and since it's so cheap, i won't care when it's time to toss out.

Baby Log iPhone app: there are a bazillion apps out there to help you track all things baby, but i use this one. it's not special, and i'm sure any app will do, but you've got to have something.  our 2 week pediatrician appointment was very detailed and they wanted to know everything! how often and how much was LW eating, how many wet and dirty diapers, etc. there is absolutely no way to keep track of this info without a place to keep it. since i pretty much have my phone on me at all times, it wasn't a question as to whether i should keep it all on my phone. i still use it even though i'm not breastfeeding anymore (now THAT was ridiculous to track) to track when LW last ate and her dirty diapers.

Dr. Brown's Formula Mixing Pitcher: when we transitioned to exclusively formula feeding i quickly realized i didn't want to spend a lot of time making bottles. i read about this product on Amazon (are we seeing a trend here?) and it got great reviews. basically, you can make up to 32 ounces of formula at once and keep it in the fridge for up to 24 hours. its awesome to just go to the fridge and have a bottle ready when you need it. the one thing i recommend is to mix half the amount of formula (with the full amount of water, of course), then add the 2nd half after you've mixed it enough so the clumps are gone. clumpy formula is gross.

Infantino Go Gaga Activity Mat: this is a new purchase, and another thing i didn't register for because i thought it was lame. but then i realized that Olivia likes to do her "calisthenics" and i figured she would like a little stimulation so i ordered it myself. we love it! it collapses so it's not yet another baby item cluttering the living room and the gym part comes off so the mat can be used later when i have a toddler.  

Graco Forecaster Swing: this has become a must have for cranky LW and for when mama Wood just needs a few minutes to use both hands for household chores, etc. there are 6 speeds, classical music, and nature sounds (which just sounds like a rushing river and loud, chirpy birds), and it's SUPER quiet. it's battery powered, but we've been using it for 2 straight months daily and i still haven't had to change the batteries. i definitely recommend a swing for all FTM's. it's worth the space it takes up in the living room.

and that's our second month!