Welcome to the world, Louise Olivia (Lou)

Brand new baby girl.

I will never forget this moment, when I got to hold Lou for the first time. (My head looks huge, I know..ha!) 

Dad and Lou.

Just a few hours old.

Just a few hours old and haven't had a bath yet.

So fresh and so clean.

Ready to go home.

It was snowing out...better wear a hat.

Going home after one day in the hospital.

Here we go.

Gray and Lou. Gray loves his sister so much!

Sorta looks like he has her in a headlock. He may have meant to do that, who knows?

Sweet girl.

The SWEETEST.

Love my girl...

and my boy, of course.

Grandpa Mike and Nanny Toni

Grandpa Jim and Nanny Neetie

World's #1 Uncle and Aunt!

LOUISE OLIVIA 

 April 8th, 1:15pm, 7 lbs 13 oz, 21 5/8"

 IT'S A GIRL! That is what Drew screamed when Louise arrived after the most intense 15 minutes of my life. For some reason, both of my labors have had some complications and been pretty stressful. Luckily, the outcome both times has been a healthy, happy, perfect baby. 

Drew and I were both certain we were having a boy, so when Drew announced it was a girl, I was a speechless, emotional mess. I must have said a million times I really didn't care what I was having because I had enjoyed having a boy SO much. But the truth is, I really wanted to experience the joys of having one of each.  Lucky us.

On to the name.

 Louise was my mom's mom. She was an amazing woman. Someone I admired so much.  With 11 kids, 32 grandchildren and 54 great-grandchildren, she was committed to her family and god. She was a simple, loving, patient, wonderful woman who loved to quilt, garden, bake and pray. People like my Grandma are hard to find these days and I wanted to name my daughter Louise in memory of my lovely Grandma and all that she represents to me.

Once we finally agreed upon Louise (if it was a girl) the middle name was difficult. Louise as a middle name goes with almost anything. Louise as a first name is another story. My first thought was Olivia because then her initials would be LOU and I thought it would be cute since we were planning on calling her Lou (if it was a girl.) Drew wasn't totally sold until months later when we were getting serious about names and couldn't come up with anything. Then all of a sudden, Olivia started looking good! So, that's what we've got. Little LOU. 

On to Gray.

So far, Gray LOVES his sister so much. He constantly says "Is this Gray's baby sister? She's so tiny. She is such a cutie. She has tiny hands and a tiny mouth and tiny eyes and tiny ears and a tiny nose. Gray loves her." I'm not kidding. It goes exactly like that, usually while right in her face, which is why we ended up in the ER on Lou's 2 week birthday. 

Gray had a pretty bad cold that he passed on to Lou. We noticed she was having a hard time breathing and I went in for her 2 week check up and the doctor said "I'm sorry to tell you this, but you will need to head to the ER. I think she has RSV." Her oxygen levels were pretty low. It scared the crap out of me. THANK GOD my brother and sister-in-law were here. My brother stayed home with the boys and Kristen came with me to Children's ER until Drew could get there. What a nightmare! After a 3 hour wait in the ER waiting room with dozens of sicks kids, we got a room. They immediately stuck tubes up Lou's nose to suck out her mucus. I was shocked. I had no idea a little one could have so much snot. It was about 10 minutes of screaming at the top of her lungs and me trying to hold back tears. HORRIBLE. After they sucked her mucus out, she was able to breathe again. Her oxygen levels went back to normal. At that point they wanted us to stay so they could monitor her for a few hours while she ate, slept, etc. So around 11pm, we finally got to go home with a Bronchiolitis diagnosis. Poor girl is still having trouble breathing, but things are much better. 

Sorry, back to Gray. 

 Even though Gray LOVES his sister, he really hasn't been loving Drew or I. It has been a challenging month to say the least. Gray has gone from my sweet, calm boy to my temper tantrum throwing (about 2-3 a day), non-listening, difficult child. I'm sure something has to do with his age. Don't get me wrong he still has plenty of fun and lots of sweet moments, just not as often. I'm really glad that he isn't taking it out on Louise, but it is very hard for Drew and I. We are both really looking forward to Gray adjusting!!! Hoping it's soon! :) 

I'll leave it at that for now. Lou is 1 month old today, so I have to get her one month post up!