We're Back!

So the time has come to update the blog once again!
For those of you who have been checking in often,
I truly do apologize for keeping you waiting...
Things have been hectic around here lately,
But there's no excuse for slacking - it's just slacking!

The good news is we finally found an apartment for which we were approved,
And what's even better is that it's in the area we wanted to be.
I'll be much closer to work, yet away from the chaotic 28th street setting.
We plan to move in January,
But we might do it sooner.
We're just kind of waiting for things to fall in their places before we rush out.

I believe things are simply meant to be,
And rather than deciding on one thing and making everything else revolve around that,
I prefer deciding on the one thing based on how everything else goes,
If that makes sense at all.
At any rate, we are excited.
It's finally happening!



I have more good news.
Yesterday was my last day working day shift,
Which means no more getting up early!
I now get to spend my mornings with the family like how it was for Erin and me before.
I'm really looking forward to that.
I'm not switching to night shift entirely though.
Two days out of the week I'll be working a swing shift,
Where I'll get in at noon and leave around 8pm.
That still beats getting up early,
And considering I won't get out until around 1am on the days I work night shift,
I'm sure it'll be nice to be home earlier on those two days out of the week.



There's one bad news,
And that is, if you haven't noticed, Google took down the ads.
I received a vague email stating they've investigated the activities and decided to discontinue.
It really didn't say much more than that,
And maybe I'll post the email on this blog,
So someone can tell me what happened,
But it seems like some people were going crazy clicking the ads.
The blog grossed around 90 dollars before they took the ads down,
Which I don't think is excessive at all,
But they said they were returning all the funds to the advertisers,
So there goes Olivia's college fund. Just kidding!

Other than that, really, everything's been going great.
Olivia is starting to coo,
She smiles and even chuckles now!
She absolutely loves her mommy,
And I already know she's going to be a mommy's girl.
Her face is starting to get more distinguished,
And at this point, I honestly have to say if she had darker hair,
She'd look exactly like my baby pictures.
But her light hair adds a really nice touch of her mommy, I have to admit.
All I can say is she's gorgeous!

One Month Pictures (Part Two)

I finally got new tires!
I could tell the different the moment I left the shop.
Thanks to Erin's brother David, who gave me a deal.
Now I can feel safe driving Olivia around.

We got the pictures from Amanda (see previous post) a few days ago.
Amanda too is extremely talented at what she does,
And we love the way her pictures turned out too.
Amanda and Kaleena each have their own style,
Which really enhanced the experience of having two sets of photography.
Olivia should feel really special.
We're going to fill today's post with Amanda's pictures.

Our last post with Olivia's one month photos became the biggest hit on the blog ever,

So we were excited to post these ones too.

You simply cannot go wrong with baby pictures!

We are now approaching 1,000 visitors on the blog,
And we are becoming quite a hit in Russia!
I know I've been slacking recently,
But we do get excited when see more and more visitors come to the blog.

It's an amazing feeling as a parent to witness your child's growth,
And we also enjoy sharing the experience with people around the world.
Olivia continues to surprise us every day.
She eats a lot more now to the point where we wonder if she's eating too much,
But so far, she seems to be doing okay.
She's become much more playful,
And being able to do more with her has definitely been a plus.

She used to refuse her pacifier,

But now she'll use it, and you can see she finds it comforting.

She still wakes up throughout the night,

But Erin and I have long given up on trying to get anymore sleep than we absolutely need.

Things will get better though.

One day, Olivia will tell us how well we did as parents,

And all that matters to me now is that she's happy then.

Happy Thanksgiving! (One Day Later)

Wow, it's already Friday!
That really flew by.
I was writing a post the other day,
But I never got to finish it,
And now it's been days since my last post.
I sincerely apologize to those who frequent the blog.
I'll make this one really count.

We hope everyone had a safe and happy Thanksgiving.
We sure had a great time and of course, a lot of great food.
We started at my mom's, went to Erin's grandparents',
And we finished the night off at Erin's aunt's,
Where Olivia got to meet her great grandpa on Erin's mom's side of the family.

We hung out at my mom's for a couple hours.

That's my sister Natari in the picture holding Olivia,

And in the background is Mairi, Natari's daughter, who just turned one.

Being Olivia's first Thanksgiving,

Everyone was excited wherever we went.

That's my mom.

She lives in the country not too far from the city.

We don't see her much,

So she was really excited to see Olivia.

We had fun at my mom's.

The drive wasn't bad,

And Olivia seemed content the whole time,

So I thought it went well.

Dinner was at Erin's grandparents'.
It was a very traditional Thanksgiving dinner,
And we were absolutely stuffed by the time we were done eating.
It certainly felt like Thanksgiving.
Olivia slept through most of it,
So we got to spend time with everyone there,
But we had to leave soon after we got done eating,
Because we had to go see Erin's grandpa on her mom's side.

This was Erin's grandpa's first time seeing Olivia,

Which really made it a special moment for everyone.

We were very excited to take pictures.

It was a long day,
But all in all, we really had a great time.
I was so tired driving home last night,
I honestly don't remember much other than going to bed,
And I could have slept all day today,
But that's just wishful thinking.

One Month Pictures

Today, we went over to our friend Kaleena's to get some pictures taken.
They turned out awesome!
She's very talented at what she does,
And we're lucky to have someone like her as a friend.
We can't thank her enough for these pictures.

We've been wanting to take newborn pictures,
But we never got around to them,
So this weekend, we actually got pictures taken by Kaleena and Erin's uncle's friend Amanda.
We haven't gotten the ones Amanda took yet,
But we'll post those too as soon as we get them.

Olivia is absolutely going to love these.

They really capture her beauty.

Her hands and feet are so tiny!

As much as she slept yesterday,
She didn't sleep at all today,
So she wasn't in the greatest mood during the shoot,
But Kaleena did an excellent job nevertheless.
We can't wait to print these out and share them with everyone!

Saturday Morning

Saturdays are when Erin gets to sleep in.
Since Olivia was born,
It's been my responsibility to wake up with Olivia and care for her on Saturday mornings.
Erin usually has milk pumped and ready for when Olivia gets hungry,
And I basically take it from there.

It was really hard to get up this morning.
Every time Olivia woke up,
I held her and put her back to sleep in attempt to get more sleep myself,
But after trying that a few times,
I gave up and brought her into the living room with me.

After a cup of coffee,
I wasn't tired anymore,
But Olivia fell back asleep,
And to my surprise,
She slept for over four hours.
That was a first,
For me at least.



I like my Saturday mornings with my daughter.
She slept through most of it this time,
But I feel like this is when I get to make up for the time I lose during the week working;
This is when I regain my sense of real importance in life:

I have a child.

In wrapping up today,
I thought I'd share some of the sounds and music we play for Olivia to stop her from crying.
They're very effective.
If you have an infant,
I encourage you to try these.
You'll see what I mean when I say they work.

12 Hours of White Noise
"Rain Videos" "Natrual Sounds" and "Sleep Videos" Relax
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart- Requiem in D minor, K626 (FULL PERFORMANCE)
Symphony No. 9 ~ Beethoven
Bach - Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248
Four Seasons ~ Vivaldi

Snow Again

It snowed all day today,
And I still haven't gotten new tires.
That's a must-do for this weekend.
The snow didn't stay today,
But it's only going to get worse from here on out.

We decided to drive around town this weekend to look for an apartment.
Someone at work suggested driving around town rather than looking online,
Since not all landlords post their apartments online.
We're going to bring Olivia and make it a family event.
Looking online hasn't exactly been a success story,
So we're going to give this a shot.
I'm sick of looking online,
And this will give us an opportunity to get out of the house.

Olivia turned four weeks yesterday.
She's only been sleeping for about two hours at a time at the most,
So it's really been a challenge lately.
Erin hasn't been able to sleep much,
So she's been taking naps when I get home from work.
That leaves me with very little time to update this blog,
And it'll probably be that way until Olivia gets into a routine,
But I'll do my best to keep up on it.
Life's been hectic,
But that just means we're still alive.

Being Thankful

I found out today that my work wants me to stay on first shift for at least a week longer than they initially wanted me.
The deal was that I would flex my schedule to whatever they needed,
So I can't really complain,
But I'd have to say I was looking forward to returning to second shift.
The schedule works out better for me.
I like having my days to run errands,
I prefer being able to wake up with the family,
And I'd like to have breakfast and lunch with the family before going into work.
I hate rush hour traffic too.

I could go on about what I don't like about first shift,
But I think what's important now is to stay positive.
First shift is smaller, making it easier to manage,
And the employees are more mature,
So there's hardly any altercations.

Whenever I feel like I have it bad,
I always tell myself it could be worse.
As much as my current schedule seems indefinitely "temporary,"
I'm fortunate to have a job that provides for our needs in such times,
And maybe I could be more thankful than resentful.

Off Day

Olivia has her off days.
Today was one of them.

Erin calls me at work every day,
And most of the time Olivia's sleeping,
But today, I could hear her crying in the background.
Of course Erin got off the phone right away,
So I didn't get to talk to her much today.

People say, "Things change when you have kids,"
And now I think I know what they meant.
This is what they must have been talking about.

She's sleeping quietly in mommy's arms now.

She must have worn herself out with all the crying.

We all have to sleep some time.

Three Quarters of a Century

We had dinner at the grandparents again.
It was Erin's grandpa's belated birthday dinner.
He turned 75 a few weeks ago,
But he was in Florida,
So we waited until now to celebrate it.

We love dinners at the grandparents,
Because the meals are always fancy.
Tonight we had lamb shanks.
When Olivia is old enough to have dinner with us,
I'm sure her great grandparents' will become a place where she looks forward to going.
Olivia is their first great grandchild,
Which has to be a cool feeling.

We forgot the camera again,
So we don't have any pictures from tonight we can post now,
But we took some pictures on Erin's grandpa's camera,
Which is a thousand times better than ours,
So we'll post them as soon as we get them.

I was able to get our things out of the apartment today with Erin's dad's help.
Our stuff is now taking up much of the basement here,
But hopefully not for long!
I have an appointment to look at a duplex tomorrow after work.
Erin likes the area at least,
So that's a start,
But I really won't know anything until I see it.
I really don't want to have to move again for awhile once we get settled in,
So it's important to us that we find a place where we can feel at home.

First Time Out

Today we brought Olivia to one of our friends' house.
He's got a nice place out in the country,
And Erin and I wanted to get out for a little bit,
So we hung out with him for a couple hours.
Olivia slept through most of it.

One of the things you get to enjoy as a parent is showing off your child.
We weren't sure about bring her out yet at first,
But we're glad we did.
Olivia woke up for a little bit,
But she slept for the most part,
So we didn't have to worry about her getting fussy,
And it all felt like it went well.

We were going to take pictures,
But we forgot to bring the camera,
So we'll have to do that next time.
There will probably be snow on the ground by then.

Tomorrow we have to get everything out of our apartment.
I got most of the stuff out,
But we still have a few big things,
So Erin's dad's going to help me move them.
We haven't found a new apartment yet,
So we're going to have to store everything at Erin's parents' for the time being.

We have to find an apartment soon.
Although her parents aren't rushing us,
There's more pressure now that all of our stuff is here.

There's no point in getting worked up about it though
When you only have so much control over it.
I think what's most important now is to continue looking.
Our goal is to have a place within the next two weeks.
At this point, I'm not going to be picky.

First Snow

It snowed today.
Olivia's first snow.
She's just a little baby now,
But one day,
We'll be able to build a snowman together.

I was going to get new tires last weekend,
But I didn't get around to it,
And I told myself we probably still had another week before it snowed,
So it's kind of ironic that it snowed today.

I have to get new tires this weekend.
My tires are bald,
And I can't be driving Erin and Olivia around like that.
I shouldn't have put it off for so long...

The apartment complex across the street called us.
They said they'll have a couple openings in two weeks,
But they only have a third floor or a ground floor with no balcony or patio.
Erin and I are pretty adamant about being on the second floor.
The third floor would be a pain to carry things up and down,
And I need a balcony or patio, because I smoke.
I know, it's a terrible habit.

At any rate,
We decided to wait for a second floor to open.
We're going to keeping looking until then,
But we're not rushing it,
Because people move out every month,
And we still think living across the street would be nice.

In case you haven't noticed yet,

We opened a Twitter account (at the bottom on the left side of the blog).

Erin's going to be in charge of that.

It made more sense that way since she's up with Olivia at all hours of the day,

And we figured she'll have more to share.

I never thought I'd ever say this,

But follow us on Twitter!

Week Three

Our last post broke our previous record by 10 views!

We're now approaching 500 views since we started,

And we've had visitors from Russia, Germany, Sweden, Canada, India, the Philippines, and all across the US.

We've been getting traffic from stumbleupon,

We've been getting subscribers,

And the blog has now generated $25.37 through clicks on ads.

We appreciate everyone's patronage!

Today marks three weeks since Olivia was born,

And all I can say is time flies.

Olivia is much more alert now.

She smiles and looks at things.

She eats more and stays up longer.

She still wakes up throughout the night,

But I like the constant reminder of her existence.

The apartment tour went well.

There weren't any openings,

So we were placed on a waiting list.

We hope we hear from them soon,

But in the mean time,

We're going to keeping looking.

If we find a place we like,

And they let us move in this weekend,

We're going to do that.

Since we plan to be there for at least a couple years,

We want to make sure we get a comfortable place.

I still want to look at places closer to my work.

Apartment

Tomorrow, Erin and Bev (her mom) are going to look at a two-bedroom apartment at the apartment community across the street.
Since Erin stays home and watches Olivia all day,
We figured, and her parents agreed,
Living across the street from he
r parents could be a major advantage for us.

We considered the community across the street before,
But it's on the other side of town from my work,
And the whole point of moving was to be closer to my work,
So we never actually looked at an apartment there.

Also, as much as we wanted to be closer to my work,
The area I work in doesn't have decent apartment complexes that I'd want Erin walking Olivia.
In contrast, the area Erin's parents live in is outside of the city, and it's quiet and much nicer.
It'll be a longer drive to work,
But at the same time,
I'll enjoy being away from work on my days off,
So we're pretty set on this.

We still have to clean out our apartment in the city,
And I don't look forward to moving everything,
But I'm excited.
We've been wanting to do this for a while now,
And I think it's actually going to happen this time.

Her Business

Erin was practically up all night last night.
Olivia kept getting up and she needed to be fed and such.
At 7:30 am, it was my turn,
And I was on a mission to let Erin sleep.
Erin ended up sleeping until 11:30 am,
Which I believe is the most sleep she's had since Olivia was born.

Olivia was crying, and Erin just fed her,
So naturally, I figured she needed her diaper changed.
She had a little spot of poo in her diaper,
So I changed it,
But as I was reaching for the butt cream,
She started letting some more out on the new diaper I just grabbed.
I wiped her down again and was rolling up her dirty diaper when she started letting even more out.
This time, I didn't have a diaper down,
So it was getting on her onesie.
I don't know why, but my instinct said put the new diaper down before it gets on the changing pad,
Which didn't have one of those waterproof sheets on yet.
It was just too early for all of this,
And of course, the third diaper was ruined too.
It was a disaster!

Later in the morning,
And this was still while Erin was sleeping,
Olivia did the same thing.
Luckily, this time it was just #1,
And I only went through two diapers before I was able to successfully get her changed,
But I'm beginning to think Olivia doesn't believe in diapers.
She knows when the diaper comes off,
And she times her business perfectly around our changing routine.

I read online that it's typical for babies to do this due to the temperature change when removing the diaper,
But Olivia does this often,
And I'm convinced she's ready for the toilet.
She just has to work on keeping her head up without support.
Then I'm sure she'll be ready. I think we hit the jackpot with this one.

I'm being sarcastic!