Friday, December 28, 2012

Thank You Cards - Red Stamp App

A few months ago I found an amazing app for my iPhone called Red Stamp. This easy to use app allows you to create all kinds of cards, insert your own photos and text, and then either text, email, or mail the card to the recipient. The app is free and emailing the cards to family and friends doesn't cost a thing. 
I have used this app a lot over the past few days to send out thank you cards for all of the Christmas gifts that Michael and I received as well as Olivia's gifts. It has been fun including pictures of Olivia on the thank you cards and being able to quickly type the text and email them off to family and friends. I love anything easy right now and this was the perfect way to send thank you cards timely and save the money on postage. I will for sure being using this app in the future for birthday cards and other occasions and hope you check it out too!

Here is an example of one of the thank you cards I sent this week to my mom...

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! Our little Olivia had her first Christmas in her adorable outfit and Christmas tutu. So darn sweet! Hope everyone enjoys their special time with family and friends!

Sunday, December 23, 2012

6 Weeks Old

Where has the time gone?! Our sweet daughter is six weeks old today and has already changed so much since the day she was born. She is developing quite the personality and completely melts my heart when she smiles. She is also finding her voice and becoming much more vocal with her coos and baby sounds and also her loud crying. I love it when she follows my face with her eyes and smiles when I tickle her belly. The past week was busy yet again with my mom and grandma visiting, having four generation pictures taken (I will post these pictures to the blog soon), and Olivia had her first trip to Santa's lap. I love how special Christmas feels this year with our little girl to celebrate with! I look forward to so many more Christmas memories to come with Olivia. 

Here are a few pictures from the past week.... the first few pictures are of her sweet face, the third one is in her first Christmas outfit, and the last one is her official photo with Santa. So dang cute!

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Christmas Card Birth Announcement

Christmas will be extra special this year since we have our sweet Olivia to celebrate with. Christmas cards are usually something I make by hand, but this year my time has been limited and I wanted to incorporate a picture of Olivia and her birth announcement into our Christmas card. One of my favorite websites, Tiny Prints, had a great selection of birth announcements that also worked as a beautiful Christmas card. I loved being able to multitask and send one card for two very special occasions. I am thrilled with how they turned out and the picture of Olivia is just precious!


I mailed our cards last week and hopefully they have arrived to our family and friends. I can't wait to celebrate Christmas with our little girl!

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

One Month Old

Our sweet baby girl is one month old today and I can't believe how fast she is growing and the past month has felt like a blur. I love reminiscing over the day we brought Olivia home from the hospital and the last few weeks of time at home. Even though the last month has brought some tough moments (lots of crying, endless feedings, and little to no sleep)... I am still so incredibly happy and blessed to be this little girl's momma. 

Olivia loves her tummy time, her pacifier, eating lots, cuddling with mommy and daddy, holding her head up a bit, smiling, and she has even started making some adorable baby noises. Her oohs, aahs, and cooing is so adorable!

Awhile back I ordered some adorable monthly onesies for our sweet girl to have her picture taken in. The pictures below show the first of many cute monthly onesies that Olivia will be wearing for her pictures. She is so beautiful and we are so blessed!

Sunday, December 9, 2012

4 Weeks Old

It is amazing to me how fast and slow the past 4 weeks have gone by. I have so many moments of thinking that I just had Olivia yesterday and other moments of feeling like it was forever ago that we brought her home. The past week has been a bit challenging (and sleep depriving) with Olivia being fussy and crying lots. She is still eating about every 3-4 hours and even had a stretch of sleeping for 5 hours the other night. We are trying to not spoil this little one but she loves being held and sleeping in our arms.

This week's milestones include Olivia almost holding her head up and moving her head around to look at things, spending a little bit more time in her swing, enjoying bath time until we take her out, and smiling lots. She has even started to make some adorable cooing sounds and her smile is just precious.

This weekend my Dad visited us and cooked up a storm. It is such a relief to have lots of great meals in the house for the coming week and I love seeing my Dad with his little granddaughter... so sweet!

Here are a few more pictures of Olivia, the first one is her funny face when she is pooping and the second one is a close up of her sweet lips while sleeping on mommy's chest. She really is the sweetest!

Sunday, December 2, 2012

3 Weeks Old

This past week was filled with lots of ups and downs. My mom was visiting for the week and was a huge help in getting Olivia on a better schedule, sleeping in her crib, and being there for me. There is nothing better than having your own mommy there for support and encouragement when you become a new mom. Olivia is still eating great and sleeping about 3 hours at a time but has also had several moments of pure fussiness. She gets so darn tired and won't let herself fall asleep and just becomes hysterical. It has definitely been challenging on the new mommy to hear her little one cry so much, but it does get easier each day. 

This week's milestones have included Olivia sleeping in her crib (instead of the car seat), enjoying her swing for about 10 minutes at a time, holding her head up at times (she is so strong), and having some tummy time. I can't believe how big she is getting and she has already grown out of a few outfits. The days seems to blur together and 3 weeks has gone by in a flash. I am reminded each day of a quote from one of my favorite bloggers Gretchen Rubin, who says 'the days are long but the years are short'. I have to keep telling myself that even though the days and sleepless nights feel long, our sweet Olivia will be growing up before we know it. 

Here are a few more pictures of Olivia... the first one with her chubby cheeks and the second one with her sleeping soundly in her beautiful crib.