First Day Home!

Olivia, Alex, and I stayed in Good Samaritan Hospital in Corvallis until about 6 on October 30th, because the doctors wanted to keep her close to 48 hours. We were very happy to go home and really appreciated Alex's family's help...They came to the hospital to help get things packed up, and then went to our apartment while we stopped at the pharmacy and cleaned up and did all the dishes! It was so nice to come home to a clean house when I left it so dirty!

Again, my lack of camera skills is evident in the lack of "coming home pictures, but here is Olivia the next morning, getting her first bit of sunlight...as you can tell she's not a huge fan :)

The beautiful blanket Olivia is laying on was made for her by her Great Grandma Wellman...we love it! She will treasure it forever.

The day after we got home also happened to be Halloween. Olivia had a super cute strawberry costume, and even though it drowned her, she was dressed up for all her visitors that afternoon.

You can't see it very well in this picture, but this was Olivia's first time in her favorite toy...her bouncer! This and her swing are immediate calmers when she is a little sad, and she loves being able to sit up enough to look around. I promise that she likes looking around, even if visitors for the first 3 weeks or so rarely saw eyes...she just settled down and fell asleep pretty much anytime someone was holding her.

Alex is modeling the hat for Olivia's costume while he takes a little power nap. He didn't have a very restful night the night before, as Olivia was getting used to her new home and didn't sleep very well.

Uncle Andy is looking on while Olivia naps...Andy visits quite often because he's going to OSU and lives pretty close. We always enjoy chatting and Olivia loves her uncle.

The afternoon of Halloween we had quite a few visitors, including Jim, Kathy, and Danielle Casqueiro (sorry no picture Danielle!), Andy Casqueiro, and Jenaye, Terece, and Grahyl Johnson

I can't say thank you enough to all the friends and family that have visited since Olivia has been born. From the many meals (thank you Johnsons, Casqueiros, Rocks, and Dibbles!) to the hours of chatting and catching up, it has just been awesome to see everyone and we love you all!

Trip Down Memory Lane

I've been sorting and organizing my photos and videos ... what can I say, I have a lot of free time now!

I've decided just to post some of the highlights of Olivia's life so far. Eventually I'll put them where they go as far as date, but please enjoy :) I've been brought to happy proud tears quite a few times.

Birthday Party!

On October 28, my 22nd birthday, I woke up feeling extremely uncomfortable, and knew that I was going to meet my daughter that day. My pain was too much to remember to document the labor part of the day, but to make a long story short, we went to the doctor, and were sent home because I wasn't making fast enough progress (was completely effaced, but only dilated to 2 cm).

Alex had scheduled a phone interview for that morning, so after we got back home, he sat with me for a while, then went into the living room to do his interview. I was in extreme pain, and couldn't really concentrate on anything except not screaming and interrupting his phone call. After the interview was complete, I told Alex we were going back to the doctor, even though the doc had said to wait 4 hours or so. However, when we went back in (about 11:30 AM), I had dilated to 5 cm, so the doctor realized how fast labor was going and sent us to the hospital.

Once at the hospital, I got an epidural, which immediately made labor quite enjoyable, and I was able to be excited for the arrival of my sweet little girl. After another 8 hours of labor and 2.5 hours of pushing, Alex and I were able to greet Olivia Rylen Casqueiro. She was born at 10:05 PM, weighed 8 lb, and was 20.5" long.

She was quiet and sweet from the moment she was born (I was actually worried because I couldn't hear her cry, but the nurses ensured me she looked great and was a healthy baby). She also enjoyed the increased space that her new space allowed, as shown by the picture below. She still refuses to be swaddled, and is most comfortable sprawled out, taking up as much room as her little arms and legs can.

I am so happy to share my birthday with Olivia, and was completely enamored with this beautiful girl from the very beginning

Olivia's footprints, take 2, The first attempt showed only 2 toes on the right foot, so they threw that one out and tried again.

After a couple hours of cuddling and meeting our new little girl, Alex and I gave her up to the nurse for her first bath while we got ready to move into our postpartum room.

The next morning, after a few hours of sleep, Alex held Olivia for a bit while we got ready to meet grandparents and other relatives! Unfortunately, I was still getting used to using my camera, and didn't take any pictures of her meeting family for the first time. Visitors included Grandma Terece and Grandpa Gary, Aunt Jenaye, Grandma Mary and Grandpa Gary (yes she has 2 grandpa Garys :) ), Aunt Ashley and Uncle Andy, Great Grandma and Grandpa Romrell, Great Aunt Kathy, Great Uncle Evan and Aunt Charitie, Cousins Max, Danielle and Tiffani, and family friends Hanna, Ashley, and Paul.

Whew! That was a fingerful - kinda like a mouthful except typed - of visitors! I apologize if I forgot anyone, Olivia is a very loved little girl, and she had a lot of loved ones come to meet her during her first few days of life.

Daddy and daughter recovering from a very exciting day meeting family:

I love this last picture of Alex and Olivia. It's not-quite-candid...neither Alex nor I would have been comfortable falling asleep holding her at that point, but Olivia really did fall asleep on her daddy's chest, and it was totally adorable.

Finished Nursery

2 days before Olivia was born we finished the walls of her nursery (I guess you could call this "nesting"... or just procrastinating - your choice!). I had very elaborate plans for her walls, and wanted to stick with my pink/brown theme while still making it personal, so here's what we ended up with:

Many kudos to Alex, who thought I was going a little overboard for our non-crafty selves, but helped me tone it down enough that we could finish it, and stayed up late 2 nights in a row to finish it with me.

Beaver Clothes!

I'm currently trying to figure out how pictures work on this blog. Right now i'll just say that I feel completely inept at all this blogging stuff, but I'm working on it.

Olivia has so many wonderful people who love her and bought her many, many gifts even before she was born. Everything from a Moses basket for her to sleep in to all of her clothes, diapers, wipes, toys... the list just goes on and on. I can't say thank you enough to all the friends and family that have given us so many wonderful things, but THANK YOU! Also, I couldn't take pictures to fully describe the multitude of her belongings (definitely more things than I even own :) , but there is a special group of gifts that I did take pictures of...

These special gifts range in size from birth 2T, and she will get plenty of use out of them. However, there was no good way to store them, so Olivia ended up having an entire OSU drawer in her dresser, and that doesn't even fit everything. Also, all of the outfits in these pictures are laying on an absolutely beautiful blanket that is super soft and orange on one side, black on the other. Perfect for accompanying us to all the Beaver events!