Spending time with Daddy

These are some of those special moments you want to freeze in time, so I did the best thing possible and snapped a few pictures. Tessa just adores her Daddy, she thinks he is so funny and will always give him a giggle. I love to see both of their faces light up when they spot each other...adorable.

We play with her on the floor and read books laying down like this. She loves it so much.

She will listen and then look over at you and just study your face and hit you a few times too :)

She gets so excited and kicks and moves her arms bach and forth.

She is watching basketball with Daddy, she is really focused on it.

She snuggled her way into the perfect little spot!

Pigtails

Tessa's hair is long enough for pigtails, she is only 5 1/2 months old!! She looked so cute and grown up in them we had to take some pics. She is so smiley all the time, here are some of the best ones!

Mommy's Big Girl

All smiles for the camera

Reminders....

I don't usually use this blog as a source to talk about my feelings but this seemed like too big of a reminder about the important things in life, which probably all of us could use. It sure brought me back to reality.
Well, as I approached this weekend I was, for the first time, starting to feel like I was ready for a break. As fun as this age is with Tessa it is much more time consuming and is difficult in new ways. She is teething, trying to sit and crawl, not sleeping well, and has some major mommy attachment going on. She would be perfectly content to just sit with me and chew on my fingers all day :) Prior to this weekend at work I thought that was a difficult thing.
So, Saturday I cared for an infant who is only 3 days older than Tessa and is on a ventilator and is fed through a tube. This was reminder #1 of how great my life is with a healthy, vibrant, and growing baby. I went home exhausted and praying the next day would be better because I thought I couldn't handle another day like that.
The next day I had a very busy assignment with a baby who was very sick and needing lots of tests to find the source of the infection. I then had a brand new 28 week baby who I admitted to the unit who was put on a special ventilator and had to have CPR at birth to bring her around. She stabilized as the day went on, only to need to have CPR again right at the change of shift. While we did chest compressions her mother just sat there and cried and cried. So, even though my back was killing me, my brain was exhausted, and I didn't get to see Tessa all day. I hugged this mother and all I thought was "wow my life is good, and I am so thankful that god has blessed me with everything I have because no matter how bad my day seemed before now it doesn't begin to compare to what this mother is experiencing."
I spent my day off today not worrying about packing boxes or doing dishes, but letting Tessa sit on my lap and chew my fingers.....life is good!

Cutie Patootie

I am barely holding her arm here, otherwise she is sitting on her own.

We are learning to sit up and getting better every day!

Her favorite Easter toy from Mamaw and Papaw!

Her favorite Easter toy from Grammy and Papa!

I took some pics today of Tessa just because she is so darn cute. Everything she does I wish I could capture a picture of. She is so fun and always doing something new to catch my attention. She just learned how to do raspberries with her lips, she will watch us do it, then study really hard, then you see her squish her lips together, and ta da she will blow rasperries at us. This is the first thing she has immitated, so fun! She is a BUNDLE OF JOY!

Tessa's First Easter

We started the day by going to church. I left her in the baby room for the first time which does not seem like a big deal, but for me it was. Dan said he was suprised I didn't cry (I think that is a bit extreme). But anyways, we were in a hurry so we just took her in and told them to get me if she was upset because she might get hungry. Well, as soon as church was over (o.k. a few minutes early) I left and went to get her. Of course down the hall from the room I could hear her crying hard!! Break my heart...we'll see when we try that again....never :)

Then we went to my parents and had lunch. We had chicken piccata which is not traditional for my Mom, but was sooo good. It was a nice change and good because we were going to have ham and traditional food later. She also made chocolate brownies from scratch and they were probably the best thing I've had a in a long time!!

We finished the day by going to Dan's parents where we ate and did easter eggs. This was Tessa's first time to see an easter egg and of course her first thought was....straight in the mouth! It was a little chilly but we went outside to let her pick up a few eggs, it didn't last more than 10 minutes as you'll see in the last pic. David and his friends had an egg hunt and were so excited to get money on their eggs. Tessa got some new toys from Grammy and Papa and Aunt Courtney and Vic....she loves them all, Thanks!

Hickory Furniture Designs

Thank you to everyone who is thinking and praying for my family after the fire this week. If you didn't hear my Dad's furniture company burnt down on Wednesday. It was scary and sad but everyone is o.k. and they are already in the process of rebuilding. Love you all.

What a Doll

Tessa Rose Oliver: 5 Months Old

Tessa is officially 5 months old today! It is hard to believe that time is going so fast. I was talking about how she is growing up so fast and Dan reminded me she is only 5 months old. Her new "skills" are cooing and gooing constantly, she likes to ride in the car now, she will now stand and hold onto your hands like before but she bounces and sticks out her booty (we say she is dancing), and she giggles when you play with her. She has begun sleeping pretty much through the night. Some nights she goes from 8 to 5:50 or 6 and others she will get up once in the night still. I'm not complaining at all this is heavenly. :) As you know we started cereal a few weeks back and today we added in our first other food. We started with sweet potatoes and she loved it. I didn't get any pics but took some videos. Also, today I saw her roll over from her belly to her back 2 times. I grabbed the camera but she of course wouldn't do it again, so we will wait and try to catch it! Like I've said before every day she is doing something new and amazing.

She was standing against the fence on her own!!

Moving Up

I have to apologize for the delay in posts, but it has been crazy around here! We are all doing great and Tessa is just growing and changing daily! Our big news is that our house sold in 13 DAYS, so we were on the hunt. But after a few offers and negotiations we've found a great house with a lot of space and we officially got it this past Monday. We don't close and move until May 20th, but there has been a lot going on needless to say. We will try to do better, but I have a feeling with packing and moving it may get even more difficult.