Dear Olive

Dear Olive,
As I’m typing this, you are sleeping so soundly on my chest, and I keep bending down to smell your warm baby scent and kiss your sweet forehead. You’ve been fussy this morning, and I’m happy for the excuse to drop everything else to snuggle my beautiful baby girl. Last night, I was struck by how much you have already changed since your birth. You’re just over five weeks old, and you’ve already gained over two pounds. Your little cheeks are full and round. Your lips form a perfect pink Cupid’s bow. Your eyes are the same sparkly blue as your dad’s, And Auntie Brie says you have “baby bird hair.” (Which, incidentally, is her favorite kind of baby hair.) You’re stunning, and I made your dad take pictures last night as you slept because I never want to forget how you looked at that very moment in your yellow giraffe pajamas. The love I feel for you is overwhelming at times.

I read an article yesterday that said people shouldn’t compliment little girls on physical attributes or tell them often that they are “beautiful” or “cute.” The reasoning is that they will be hard-wired to focus on looks from early on. The trouble is, Olive, you are already so gorgeous, people can’t help but notice and say so. I hope you aren’t plagued by the insecurities many girls seem to battle through adolescence and beyond… God knows I did. I think it took meeting your dad for me to finally feel comfortable in my own skin, because his love for me just as I was made it possible to stop nit-picking every little thing I didn’t like about myself, and change hopefully for the better. That’s not to say that I never self-criticize, but I hope someday you find someone who loves you for exactly who you are (other than your dad and me, of course).

But for now, you’re still my little baby. When I think of your future, I feel hopeful and excited for all that’s ahead of you. There is also a slight sadness that pulls deep in my stomach, because you won’t always be my tiny baby who wants nothing more than to be cuddled on my chest sleeping as you are right now. You’re already growing so fast. Today, when I went to change you, my favorite newborn outfit was too small, and I had to choose something else. It almost made me cry. Almost…

It’s hard for me to imagine that by the time you can read this, I’ll love you even more than I do right now. You are stretching, blinking, and trying to battle your way out of your nap, so I’d better wrap this up. I love you forever and always, my Olive.
-Mom

Introducing Olive Evelyn Porter

I apologize for the lag between blog posts, but we've had our hands full the last three weeks with our sweet baby girl. Olive Evelyn Porter was born on October 22, 2011 at 2:23 P.M. She weighed in at 6 pounds, 4 ounces, and she was 18.5 inches long.

This will be my last official blog post. Now don't get upset; I'm turning it over to the very capable hands of my brilliant daughter, Olive. If you ever see writing in a black font, that's me, Alise. The Green font will be Olive. This video is my final contribution to the blog. I wanted to hang on to the feeling of meeting our beautiful little girl for the first time, and this was the best way I knew how. Please enjoy.

Thanks, Mom... Kudos on the movie. I won't let you down on the blog. And thanks for the new board book you got me. I'm certain I will find it very useful as I navigate my way through html.

If you are reading this blog, then odds are you probably heard I got born. I was two weeks early, and mom says that's sort of like graduating high school in your sophomore year. I'm advanced.

There were a few cool things about my birth. For one, my Aunt Muihri decided at the last minute to come for a visit. Within five minutes of her arrival, Mom's water broke. Everyone tells you it isn't like the movies, but it totally was. When mom called to Dad to get something to help clean up, he grabbed the piddle pad Mom had under her sheets for the last couple weeks in case her water broke in bed... Silly Dad. Mom sent him for towels in the linen closet, but then scolded him for using her "good" towels. She's silly, too. Off to the hospital we rushed while Aunt Muihri swung by Auntie Brie's and scooped her up, too. We're so glad they were there to help. Mom and Dad were clueless when it came to dealing with contractions, so Auntie Brie coached them through it. Aunt Muihri kept Dad fueled on coffee and told lots of jokes to lighten the mood. It was quite an entourage as they all paced the halls through the night. I won't go into the rest of the gory details, but I finally made it here by 2:23 P.M. on Saturday, October 22nd. My Granna and Grandad made it just in time with Unckie Cam. I'm sure you could see in the video how excited everyone was to meet me.The next day, I even met my great grandparents on Dad's side. I have have eight great grandparents! Can you believe it?! Thank goodness my Granna stayed with us for the week after I was born. She cooked and cleaned up a storm so my mom and dad could just focus on me. Dad wasn't used to all those delicious home-cooked meals!

Let me real quick introduce you to my folks. This is my mom. We love each other A WHOLE LOT! Sometimes she gets nervous about being a first-time parent, but then she always reminds herself that if Gary and Amber from "Teen Mom" can do it, she sure as heck can! Mom has lots of silly names for me. When I start eating, she calls me her "little asthmatic warthog." If I'm crying, she calls me "baby terodactyl." Sometimes she even calls me her "tiny trombone"... I'll let you figure that one out.


Here's my Dad. He's the greatest! Everyone says I look just like him. We do both have some beautiful blue eyes and our second toes are longer than our hammer toes (another sign of intelligence, btw). Before me, he didn't even hold babies. But now, he jumps right in and does a great job taking care of me. We have a great cuddle-sesh every morning, and he calls me his human alarm clock. This morning I slept in and poor Daddy was late for work. Whoops! This is mom's favorite picture of us.



Mom agonized before I was born on whether or not she should spring for a photographer to do a newborn photo shoot. It can be pretty pricey... But mom and dad were so pooped the day after I was born, they were easily suckered into the way-overpriced pictures they take right there at the hospital. They will probably only ever be seen on this blog, so I sure hope it was worth the $171.00, Mom and Dad.









Mom still wanted some cheesy pictures with props, so she staged her own shoot a few days after getting home. When she emailed the pictures to my dad at work, he said, "What have you done to my baby?" Here are some of the pictures mom took:



What can I say? I do a lot of reading. I'm advanced.

Mom's friend, Emily, also came over to take some pictures of me, but those are going to be a surprise! Emily spoils me rotten and brings me lots of great presents. Here she is holding me for the very first time:


About five days after I was born, Mom took me out for the first time. Do you think she packed enough stuff?

I wasn't supposed to be born by Halloween, so Mom was ill-prepared in the costume department. She gave me a bath that day and wrapped me in my ducky towel and tried to call it a costume. Doesn't she know I'm half-Leggat and I take Halloween extremely seriously?! I've decided next year, we should be a tiger mom and baby. That means I have exactly one year to master the piano and the violin, and to learn Calculus. (You are a total dork if you get this joke.)

This is what my hair looks like after a bath. It's a little fluffy:

Mom was afraid trick-or-treaters might disturb my sleep, so she hung this sign on the door:

I was in bed before Goldilocks and the Three Bears showed up. Auntie Brie made Caroline's costume all by herself! Auntie Brie loves me almost as much as my mom and dad do.


You may be wondering what I do with my spare time when I'm not blogging. Excellent query! I have been practicing my tummy time, and I'm quite good at lifting my head up.

Pretty soon, I'll be even bigger than my caterpillar!

I go for walks.

Practice my "smug" face:

And as always, I enjoy a good cuddle.

Some exciting news on the home front is that my new baby cousin was born the other day on 11/11/11. What a cool birthday, Cousin Curren! Congratulations, Graham and Susy. I can't wait to meet you all. Here are a few shots of my new cousin:


This is Olive, signing off from my first ever blog post. See you next time!

Nursery in the Nick of Time

As promised, here are some updated pictures of Olive's new nursery... A special thanks goes to her dad, Uncle Daniel, and Auntie Brie for their help putting it together!

Also, Brie and I took a sewing class together once a week for the last two months. I never made it past bibs, but here is a picture of my first project. Cousin bibs for Olive and Curren. Completely impractical, but cute nonetheless.

Our House is a Very, Very, Very Fine House

I have been spending the last few weeks trying to prepare our new home for Olive's arrival. I am happy to say, it's almost ready (and none too soon). I will be 37 weeks pregnant on Friday, which is officially full-term. Olive could be here tomorrow, or even another month if she decides to be a little late. I have started sleeping with a waterproof piddle pad under the sheets just in case my water breaks in bed, and I'm fearful of sitting on other people's couches. The hospital bag is packed and ready by the door. For now, it's just a waiting game that is terrifying and exciting all at the same time.

As promised, here are some pictures of Olive's first home. We still have some work to do, but we feel very fortunate to have found this place on such short notice.

Here's a view from the outside. Needless to say, at 8 months pregnant when we moved in, Jason did not feel compelled to carry me over the threshold.

These beautiful pink roses just started blooming by the entrance this week. I'm hoping they will be in full bloom to welcome our little girl soon.

A couple of shots of the living room

This is where the magic happens... Yeah, right.

Dining area with a beautiful view

This is Jason's and my own favorite feature of the house- it has a great back porch. I got these picnic tables in the summer clearance section of Lowes, so come on over and we'll grill out!

Here's a view of our backyard. I like to call these our "Mormon praying trees." Those blog readers who are Mormon/Mormon background know what I'm talking about. Doesn't this look just like the Joseph Smith first vision painting? Nobody be surprised if Olive digs up some golden plates back here. (A little LDS humor.)

On to the upstairs... Here is the master bedroom. I couldn't really get a good angle to show our new furniture. It's a little cramped in this room, but perfectly comfortable.

Space is also a little tight in the guest room. It should be fun turning this into a guest room/office.

...and the moment you've all been waiting for: The nursery! Unfortunately, this is the room that is still a bit of a work-in-progress. We did, however, get the crib put together this week. Thank you so much to Granna and Grandad Leggat for the beautiful crib. It is fit for a princess!

(This is not the princess.)

So here is a preview, but I will add an updated picture as soon as we get the rest of the room together.

As you may know, my sister Brie, and her husband, Daniel, were kind enough to let us stay with them for three weeks before we were able to move into our own home. They have been an endless source of kindness and help throughout our transition to North Carolina. I am also so grateful for the chance to see my beautiful niece and nephew on a daily basis. Jason and I wanted to do something fun to thank them all for their hospitality, so we rented an electric boat and took it out on Lake Norman for a few hours. We were a little nervous when the weather turned cold and windy, but the boat was enclosed, and the kids loved the rocking.

Also, since we were nearly the only ones crazy enough to be on the lake, it was deserted enough to let Caroline do most of the driving, with a little help from Uncle Porter.

I won't say Jamie loved the life jacket, but it did make falling down a lot more fun for him. Such a good boy.

I've also been offering up my babysitting services to try and get a little practice in before Olive gets here. Here are Jamie and Caroline riding in on their ferocious steed.

Little Prince Charming

Last time, Caroline insisted that we all dress as Doctor-Bat-Queens. James is always such a good sport. I'm pretty sure I'm in a viking hat for this picture. None of the tutus would fit, so Caroline agreed it would have to suffice. Fortunately, Doctor-Bat-Queens can be quite an eclectic bunch.

Finally, on to an Olive update. We have been busy trying to prepare for her upcoming arrival. I'm on a pretty friendly first-name-basis with our local UPS man. One night when Porter came home from work, this sight greeted him at the door:

This was one day's worth of deliveries, but as I explained to Jason, it was all "needs" and not "wants." It really was.

We also took an infant CPR class last week where we learned a valuable lesson that was drilled into the students over and over again:

The instructor added the following: "Not even a little."

Jason was able to get the most repetitions-per-minute of anyone in the class. He's a pro already.

Getting so close to the end makes me realize there are certain things I will really miss about pregnancy (and others I definitely won't). The main thing is being able to justify eating something completely inappropriate for a particular meal, and blaming it on "cravings." Here's what Jason and I had for dinner last Sunday night:

What? It was skim milk.

But most of my meals look more like this:

or this:
Jason insists that I eat a ton of salmon to ensure that Olive is smart, and to be honest, I'm pretty sick of it. I keep reminding him that we're her parents, so of course she'll be smart. ;) Besides, whenever people asked my mom what she ate while she was pregnant to have such great kids, she always said, "Lots of Hostess cupcakes." That sounds a lot better to me, and I really did mean to eat some while I was pregnant, but I'm pretty sure I haven't had a Hostess cupcake in about ten years. I might have to amend that today.

I haven't been very good at updating the belly shots, so these 36 week pictures may come as a bit of a shock to some of you. Here goes...

36 weeks front
36 weeks side

They did a final ultrasound this week, and the tech clicked over to the 3D for the end. To be honest, I had hoped she wouldn't because I have been picturing Olive for so long, I kind of wanted to be surprised. However, it really was pretty amazing, and she literally took my breath away she looked so beautiful already.

With her shoulder up to her chin an that sweet little smile, I like to think of this as Olive's future pageant pose. I'm just kidding... As if I would EVER put my daughter in a contest judging the beauty of children! That would be such a blow to the other girls' self-esteem, and I want Olive to be humble. :)

I think that's probably enough for one post. In all reality, Olive will probably be here for the next one. Lots of love to all!