Olivia - 6 weeks

The past 2 nights Olivia has slept from 12am - 6 or 6:30am. Love it! The only bad thing is that she is usually really tired around 10pm but fights sleep. Then she becomes over-tired and has to cry for a little bit before settling down for the night. Last night was rough in that area but Brent seems to have the magic touch to get her to settle. He just has to go in there a few times before it works. Since she is doing 6 hours at night at 6 weeks old, maybe she will do 7 hours at 7 weeks, 8hours at 8 weeks, etc. I can dream, right?
She has started to smile at us a little bit - at least we think so. Sometimes it is hard to tell if it is a smile or a gas pain making her grimace. Either way it is cute. She is such a big girl, she looks older than 6 weeks.
Ava is doing great, being a big help. I could be in the bathroom putting on my make up and Ava will entertain Olivia. If Olivia is crying and my hands are full Ava will put her binky in or give her a stuffed animal. I can take a shower and Ava will tell me if Olivia wakes up. I am glad that there is an age difference between them where Ava is old enough to do stuff like that.
On a side note, Thursday 2/11/10 was Brent's graduation from the fire academy. We went with his parents, and we are all so proud of him. It was a challenge for him and for me, as it took up so much of his time. He'd be gone 4 nights a week until 11pm and ALL day Saturday. The day we brought Olivia home from the hospital, he literally had to drop me off, change his clothes, and go to school. Luckily my sister came down to give me a hand that night. It isn't over yet; in March he starts EMT class, which will be 2 or 3 nights a week until June. Hopefully no Saturdays. I had to learn to juggle handling Ava and the baby, doing bathtime and bedtime. It was almost like being a single parent. I give them TONS of credit, because it is not easy.

Olivia Part 2

So I kind of ended that last post abruptly, but I knew I wouldn't get it finished all in one sitting. So here are my other ramblings.
Olivia loves bath time. We gave her her first one after almost 3 weeks, because it took that long for her belly button to fall off. She never cries. She loves the water being poured on her and she sits there very content.
Last night was our best night sleeping. I think I mentioned that I started off by having her sleep in bed with us. I knew that couldn't go on for long, because I am not a fan of the "family bed" and I don't think it provides good sleep for anyone, baby included. I wanted her sleeping in her crib. We've been working on it for over a week and she is doing very well. Last night she went to bed around 10pm and fussed for a while. Brent went in and rocked her a couple of times. She fell asleep around 11pm, and didn't wake up for food until 4am. I fed her, rocked her for a couple of minutes and then put her back in the crib. I only had to go in once to put her binky back in, and she went back to sleep. I actually had to go in and wake her up at 7:30am. Not too bad for 5 weeks old. The other night I out her to bed around 9:30pm, she woke up at 1:30am and was wide awake. It took me almost 2 hrs to get her back to sleep, and then she went until 7am. I keep the lights off, and don't talk to her. After eating I put her back in the crib and put her mobile on. I go back to my room, and if she fusses I let her go for a few minutes before going back in. When I do go back in, I just put her binky back and rub her head or pat her belly. Then I walk back out. If it goes on too long I might pick her up and rock her a bit again. During the day, Olivia spends most of the morning napping, and spends a lot of awake time in the afternoon. That just seems to be her normal pattern. Car rides make her fall asleep.
Ava is an amazing big sister. She adores Olivia, and kisses her almost too much. She is very helpful, I call her my "Diaper fairy" because whenever I need to change Olivia Ava runs in and puts a diaper on the changing table. I pretend I don't see her do it, and it's like the Diaper fairy put it there for me. She has not shown any signs of jealousy. She understands that babies cry a lot of have a lot of needs, and it doesn't phase her. I knew she would be great.