Little Sister

I was going through my closet and found a Kohls bag that I had forgotten about and this outfit was in there. I had bought a few outfits about a week before Olivia was born after realizing I didn't have as many baby clothes as I had thought. I bought some boy and girl outfits (mostly girl...something in me kept going to the girl clothes!) but kept them in the bag with the reciept, not knowing what I would be returning. I thought this outfit was so cute...and last night realized it was newborn size (5 to 8 pounds!). Maybe she'll wear it everyday for the next week before she gets too big! :)  She was wide awake so I figured I should get some pictures of her since most of the pictures I have of her are when she's sleeping...there's just something so peaceful about sleeping newborns :)

 

How do you choose just one to post when she is so stinkin' cute!

 

Trevor apparently doesn't know what personal space is.  I guess I should just be thankful he is so sweet to her...

Already learning how to defend herself...

Olivia: Two Weeks Old

Olivia is two weeks old!  Amazing how fast it has flown by and yet I feel like she has been a part of our family forever!  We are all lovin' this sweet baby girl.  She's gotten into a pretty good routine of sleeping, eating and a little awake time.

At two weeks old, Olivia weighs 8 lbs. 3 oz. and is 20 3/4 inches long so she is growing.  She was 7 lbs. 9 oz. when we brought her home so the doctor said it's good that she has gained back to her birth weight (plus a couple ounces).

A few pictures since the last post.  Tummy time at 4 days old...

Kisses from Trevor at  12 days old...

We're still trying to figure out what color her hair is.  When she was born, it was really dark, but depending on the lighting, it had a red tint to it.  More and more lately it has seemed more red.  Her eyes are getting to be more blue, instead of the blue gray they were when she was born.

Grandma spent ALOT of time listening to Trevor tell her every detail about every animal in his favorite book.  I will be forever grateful to my mom for coming for ten days and helping out tremendously!

I could snuggle her all day long!

And so could daddy!

Two weeks old, doing what she does best...

We got wonderful news that the newest Kovacs cousin, Emmett Dustin Miner, was born just two weeks after her.  That makes three Kovacs cousins born in 4 1/2 weeks! (and one more was born a month before)  Grandma Kovacs was hoping for a little break between babies after making it back to AZ on Saturday, but Emmett was ready to come!  They barely made it back from Phoenix Monday night after staying there for the weekend for Austin's blessing.  Thanks to Grandma's mad driving skills, they made it home before his mama was a superwoman and delivered him at home (don't worry that was the plan...well, the home birth, not him arriving two weeks early!)

Olivia Ellen Barton

Our baby girl made her grand "surprise" entrance into the world on Monday, October 3rd at 2:51 pm after 9 LONG hours of labor.  Since Trevor and Landon's labor times were only 4 and 5 hours, I was in the mindset that this one would go fast.  This is the first time I have had Group B Strep so I decided it would be best to be induced so that I could get on the antibiotics long enough based on previous labor times.  Well, looks like I could have waited a little bit longer and maybe dilated a bit more on my own...and maybe she would have come on her own on October 6th since it snowed that day :)  I was only dilated to a 2* when we got there and with previous ones, I was much further along once I got to the hospital.  (*Not-so-funny side note:  The nurse said I was a 3 when we first got there.  The doctor broke my water 2 1/2 hours later and said I was a 2...yeah, not cool!)  Seven+ hours after starting the pitocin, I was still only a 4+ (I guess not quite enough to call it a 5).  The contractions were already intense but nothing was showing for it.  I got an epidural around noon, knowing this process was going to be longer than I wanted to work through.  I was pretty discouraged already since the couple that came in to be induced at the same time as us had their baby in 3 hours.  Nothing like hearing a baby cry in the next room, knowing you are only at a 2. 

My blood pressure dropped really low and the nurse came in to check on me.  She said "Woah, you are ready to have this baby!"  I had gone from a 5 to a 10 in a little over an hour.  The doctor was called and shortly after I had a sweet baby girl in my arms.  At first I was pretty disappointed that this wasn't my plan of the "perfect labor."  I didn't really want to be induced and I didn't want an epidural, but at the end of the day when you have that perfect baby in your arms, I decided it doesn't really matter.

The doctor asked how we wanted it announced what gender the baby was right after birth.  She wanted to make sure that since we had waited to find out girl/boy that it didn't end up being anticlimactic.  She held her up as soon as she came out and I was SO excited to see that she was a GIRL!!  I wish we would have gotten a picture of the doctor holding her up but the camera hadn't made it's way out of the bag yet :)

They did the bath in my recovery room at the foot of my bed, which was fun to see since they usually do all that stuff (bath, footprints, etc.) in the nursery with the dad.



When I was contemplating having another baby (trust me, it took awhile for me to decide I was ready, but once I knew, I knew), I had this feeling that we would have a girl and I wanted to name her Olivia. I can't remember if it was really a dream or just a thought, but I remember thinking I would have a girl. All throughout the pregnancy people would ask if I knew if it was a boy or a girl since we didn't find out at the ultrasound. I guess I was afraid to say "it's a girl" because I really had this feeling I might be wrong! I needed to prepare myself that there was a possibility it might be a boy. I was SO relieved when she was born!

About her name...
When discussing name possibilities, Ashlee and Brynlee definitely had their opinions about names. They really wanted to name her Ellie. I really wanted to name her Olivia. What about Rob's opinion, you ask? He didn't really have any strong opinions either way for a girl. When the girls mentioned the name Ellie, I thought about Rob's Grandma Jones, whose first name is Ellen. I went back and forth between Olivia Ellen and Ellen Olivia, but decided if we went with the latter, I wouldn't ever be able to call her Olivia. But...if we went with Olivia Ellen, she could have the nickname "Ellie"...because after all, nicknames can be whatever you want, right?? Whatever.  Just agree with me.

Sunday night we were talking with the kids about the baby and how she would be born the next day. Of course, the conversation went to names. Brynlee said "If you name her Olivia, I will never forgive you." Wow. That's a pretty powerful statement. I was really worried she never would. When they came to see her in the hospital, they asked "so what is her name?" I asked Brynlee if it would be alright if we named her Olivia and assured her that she could call her Ellie. She agreed and so Olivia it is. And guess who is the one who calls her Olivia (or Livi)....yep, Brynlee. That stinker.

Olivia was in the nursery when the kids got there. We asked them if they wanted to see the baby now (still not saying he or she since they didn't know yet) or wait until the baby came back into the room. They asked if they would be able to tell just by looking at the baby. I was about to say "well, she has a bow in her hair" but I caught myself. Luckily Rob saved me and said that there was a card in the baby bed that you would be able to tell from.  Brynlee was the only one who wanted to go to the nursery.


You can see from the picture that Brynlee was still acting a little "weird?"  She didn't want to be in any pictures.  This was before I had asked her about the name so you can see why I was a little hesitant to bring it up again.

They were all so happy to see she was a girl! They all wanted a baby sister so there were smiles all around. Don't worry, had she been a boy, they all assured me they would be okay with that as well :)


All Trevor could say was "she's so cute!"

Happy, proud biggest sister...

I love this picture.  I think Brynlee was just taking her all in...

Big brother of a little sister.  Landon asked if she came out with a bow on her head.


Trevor seems SO big to me now.  He kept asking if we could take her home.

Coming home at last.  We had to stay a little longer because of the Group B strep.  I was glad to finally get out of that hospital room!

We're home!!

Three days old...

Celebrating the 80s

Our kids' elementary school is celebrating 50 years this week. Among other things, they are dressing up each day according to a decade of the school's history. Monday was peace signs and tie dye. School picture day happened to coincide with 70s day. Today is 80s day.

The high pony tails are a little hard to see, and you can tell the kids were trying their best to follow my direction of turning to the side yet still look at the camera. The nice camera is coming home from the hospital in a few minutes with mom and baby (post coming soon), so the pic isn't great. I didn't notice until later that you can't see Lando's Transformer's shirt. Mom being gone was enough for me to push his hairstyle a little further than I might have otherwise (zoom in to see the steps).


More pictures that were taken after school...

Labor Day 2011

When Rob and I were talking about what we could do on Labor Day, we thought about making the Wind Cave hike a Labor Day tradition.  But then reality of me being very pregnant set in.  We decided on the Logan River trail, going from Second Dam to Spring Hollow.  From the hiking trail maps we could find, it looked to be about a mile or two one way.  It is a mostly flat trail so we figured the Labor Day leisurely walk wouldn't actually put me into labor.

We invited Ashlee's friend, Rachel, and her mom, Teresa, to join us.  It was a beautiful day, slightly overcast but not chilly.  We packed a lunch and headed to the trail.  At one point in the trail, there was fork with a sign that said "Bridger Overlook:  Spring Hollow Jct .8 miles (yes, that is a "point" 8)"  We figured that meant if we followed that trail, we would eventually hook back up to the trail at Spring Hollow in just under a mile.  Well, that wasn't what it meant because after going mostly up a slight but constant incline, we met up with some people heading down and they said it doesn't ever go back down to Spring Hollow.  Well, we decided to hike up just a little further to see if we could find a good spot to stop and eat lunch.

This is me asking Rob, "Am I in that picture?"  Yes, yes you are...

After lunch we went just a little further to an opening (and found another hill that everyone but me went up...not sure I would have made it up or down!) 

In this picture of Landon,  you can see the road going through the canyon in the right-hand corner.  The trail we originally were going to take followed pretty closely to the road (at least elevation-wise) so you can see we had quite the uphill journey.

You can see why I didn't make the trip up this hill.  I am down in the right hand corner of the picture and it was pretty much straight up from there...

I think Ashlee and Brynlee are trying to make it look like they are holding up the mountain in these next two pics??

After exploring a little bit more, we headed back down the mountain. When we got to Second Dam, our expected 1 hour walk had turned into a 3 hour hike. It was great but I was definitely feeling it! The kids wanted to come back to Second Dam for dinner, so we went home (so nice living 5 minutes away!) and got some things ready to roast hot dogs and marshmallows. It was a fun Labor Day enjoying the beautiful surroundings in Cache Valley.

Hi-Lo Dance Camp

Brynlee and two of her friends participated in the Hi-Lo Dance Camp. Ashlee didn't participate this year because ballet was on the same nights. After two evenings of dance clinics, they performed at halftime at a Logan High football game on Friday, September 2nd.

If you can't find her in the video, don't worry.  Rob couldn't find her when recording it so she's not in alot of it  :)  At the very end, she is the one on the left that runs to the middle doing a "Charlie's Angels" pose.