2 Weeks

Baby Olivia is 2 weeks old already!

She's quickly becoming a really great sleeper. (She must take after her mother that way.) I was glad to find out this week that she is indeed gaining weight (she was up to 8 lbs 12 oz by Wednesday), which I should have guessed by the way she's outgrowing her newborn clothes! The fact that she sleeps well at night makes it easier for me to fathom my return to "normal life" next week. I'm tired, but not as tired as I could be. It has been so wonderful having my mom here for the first week, and Doug home all this past week, doing everything so I don't have to do much of anything. But Monday Doug will go back to work, and I'll go back to my work...at least, most of it.



We've discovered that our neighborhood has its own "Compassionate Service Leader", so to speak, and we have very kind and generous neighbors. We received three dinners from neighbors this week, and there are three more scheduled this coming week! (Just goes to show what a big deal it is to have 5 kids around here!) Plus there are a couple of meals coming from ward members. I'm getting quite spoiled, and I just hope I remember my way around my own kitchen by the time I need to start cooking again!



Doug provided some fun activities for the older girls this week. He spent lots of time with Hannah, of course, since she's home all day. One afternoon as he took Lauren and Hannah for a walk, Hannah piped up to every passerby, "This is my dad. He's my best buddy." He also took them to the zoo, and he treated them and me to lunch at Red Robin yesterday, and helped me stop at Target to find a few shirts that might fit me. (Having a baby means you need lots of different sizes of clothes! And when it's been 3+ years between babies, I don't like to keep clothes around that don't fit me anymore!)


Every time I leave the house, Doug asks me, "Did it feel good to go out?" And my answer is, "Yes and No." It does feel good to feel well enough to do a couple of things outside the house (like take Olivia to her pediatrician for her first check-up the other day), but it also makes me anxious to get back home. Little outings still wear me out, plus I'm still paranoid about taking Olivia out in public.



We've had fabulous weather the past couple of days, and even though I love the sunshine, I'm appreciating it mostly from inside my house. I hope it will return again soon, and I'll be ready to get out and enjoy it more directly.



The great weather was a good excuse for Doug and the girls to go camping, but thankfully, they didn't go far. Only to our own back yard.
They set up the tent yesterday afternoon, and after dinner, Doug made a mock-campfire for us to toast marshmellows and make S'mores.
The coals took a while to get hot, so the girls toasted their mellows on the BBQ.



Then they all climbed into their sleeping bags, and Olivia and I slept comfortably in our own beds. With my window open, though, I know that Doug and the big girls didn't miss out on too many camping highlights, including the wildlife: I heard the raccoons fighting all through the night!