2 months

Oliver officially celebrated his 2 month birthday while we were on vacation in California. So, technically the pictures are about a week late.

At two months Oliver:

-Is seriously the cutest thing. Of course I'm biased, but he is just adorable. I am so in love with him.

-Is a smiling machine. I love to look at him and have him give me the biggest grin. I didn't capture too many of them in these pictures, but he really is a grinner. He does an open mouth huge smile that I love. I love that his personality is coming out.

-Has recently begun to kick and wave his arms around. It is so funny. He looks like he's riding a bicycle. You know, just getting some exercise.

-Still eats like a champ. He loves it.

-Is sleeping longer increments during the night. Which means I'm getting some more rest! Sleep is a beautiful thing and makes for a happier mama.

-Is getting chubbier. He's got a double chin. It is kind of hard to keep clean and sometimes collects things. Has got more rolls on his legs, which are just delicious. Yummy legs. Has dimples on his little elbows. All and all, just a bit chubby. We're happy he's growing!

-Wears mostly 3-6 month clothes, which is craziness! He's getting so big.

-Is "talking" more, which I just love. His little noises are so sweet. I love our conversations and am excited for when I can actually understand him.

-Is called Oliver, handsome, sunshine, or baby boy by his mama.

-Loves bath time! Evening is a harder time of day for him. He's more fussy usually, but put him in the water and he's happy as a clam. He's starting to kick in the water too. We love baths!

And we love our boy.

Oliver at One Month

Our sweetest Oliver is already one month old! We are just loving each day with this little man. 

At one month Oliver:

-Loves to eat! It's definitely his favorite activity, and he is so good at it! This is clearly seen from his chubby cheeks, belly, and even rolls on his legs. He truly has grown so much from when he was just born! And we love it. He eats probably every two hours. Sometimes a little further apart if we're lucky. He's just a growing boy. 

-Kind of looks like a balding man right now. He has lots of hair in the back, but he's lost his hair in the front. We're sure it will come back. Grandpa Thomas said that he looks like him (referring to his receding hairline).

-Is one strong boy. His legs have been strong from before he was born, as evidenced from his kicking inside of me. We feel like he holds up his head pretty well. He sometimes pushes away or has even been known to punch. We're hoping this aggression will go away :)

-Gets the hiccups quite frequently. Like mother like son. They are loud but he normally doesn't seem to mind them too much.

-Makes the sweetest noise when he tries to sneeze but doesn't. It's like a little sigh. We just love it.

-Is a cuddler. He loves to be held and sleeps best that way, which we know could be problematic. But he's just so sweet so it's hard to put him down. 

-Kind of moans and groans a lot. Usually he's working on some business you know where or needing to burp. 

-Is growing out of some of his clothes, which is crazy to me. Some outfits I thought for sure would be huge on him barely fit! I better get with it or else he won't be able to wear some of his adorable clothes. 

-Has the sweetest dark eyes. He loves to just look around. This morning we were just staring into each others' souls. He wins every staring contest. 

-Loves to suck and lick his lips when he's hungry. He will suck on just about anything, from Chris' arm to his clothes etc. until he gets the real deal. We tease him into giving us kisses when he's hungry. They are delicious and wet as he sucks on our nose, lips, or cheeks. So funny.

-Is a sweet soul. I can tell he is a strong spirit, and I know he will do much good in this world.

-Seems to love Spanish more than English. Most of the time he listens up when his dad talks to him in Spanish. I guess I better keep working on my skills. 

-Is called Oliver mostly. Sometime Ollie. Chris calls him cookies and cream occasionally or baby-to. I call him sunshine. 

-Is just about the yummiest thing. Chris and I are just continually in awe at how sweet and yummy this little man is. We love him to pieces. My heart is truly full. 

Introducing our Oliver

Our son Oliver has arrived! He was one week old yesterday! He truly is the sweetest, most beautiful baby boy. We are so grateful to have him in our family.

Here's the story: Last Tuesday, my water broke at 9 p.m. It had been quite a lively day for us, including a long walk in the morning, doctor's appointment (he didn't expect the baby to come too soon), mini golf in Lehi, and Dominos for dinner. I was exhausted and we had decided to get ready for bed when my water broke... and kept coming. So, we grabbed our packed bag and headed to the hospital. Chris still wasn't convinced we would be staying so he didn't even grab our stuff as we walked in. But they did admit us and we were going to be having our baby. I was dilated to about a 2 1/2 so we had a ways to go.

We decided to try to get some rest after the long day. Chris slept and I tried to sleep. The contractions were making it a little difficult to do so. My pain during contractions, throughout labor, was mostly all in my back. We had decided we wanted to do this without an epidural. Sometime in the morning, the pain was pretty severe. The nurse suggested some pain medication through my IV to help me be able to relax a bit. We decided to do so because I would need some strength and energy to get through labor. So, she gave me half a dose. Honestly, I still felt the contractions the same. The pain was still there. The medicine did, however, help me be able to relax in between which helped me conserve some of my energy. I had been progressing in dilation, but after staying at a 6 for quite a while we decided to try a little pitocin to get things rolling a bit faster.

By this time, things were getting tough. To help with the pain in my back, our fabulous nurse suggested a variety of positions. I sat on a birthing ball, was on my hands and knees, etc. They moved around the fancy bed to try these different things. That was one reason why I didn't want an epidural. I wanted to be able to move around. I truly could not have made it through this without Chris. He was a champ and used lots of counter pressure to help ease some of the back pain. He got quite the workout as he would push on my knees while I sat. He talked me through each contraction. I just focused on his eyes and words of encouragement. Chris is the best! I'm so grateful to have had such a supportive and helpful coach throughout labor and delivery.

Finally, we had arrived at the time to push. It was hard work, but nice to have a change and be getting closer to our goal. I just have to give a shout out to our amazing nurse. She was seriously the best. Throughout, especially while I was pushing, she told me I was doing great, what was going on, and what I needed to do. Thank you Kellie!! After about an hour of pushing, Oliver had arrived! He was born at 1:59 p.m. on Wednesday, September 4th. It was all together a 17 hour labor. So, it was long but we had done it. We were so grateful things had gone smoothly and that Oliver was a trooper throughout. It was so fun to have my parents and Chris' mom here to see our little miracle. I was exhausted, but he was so beautiful. There truly is nothing like it.We are tremendously grateful for the bundle of joy in our home. We stayed two days in the hospital and then got to bring this little man home. Our hospital experience was great. We delivered at Alta View and everyone was so fabulous. We were so impressed with our nurses and everyone.

Oliver Jose Lopez was 7 lbs 2 oz, 19 inches. He is doing so great. He has been healthy and doing everything he needs to. He eats like a champ, and is even already  back to his birth weight. I'm adjusting to breastfeeding and he just loves to eat. He has beautiful brown hair and perfect little features. His eyes are pretty dark right now, but we're hoping they'll turn out olive green for our Oliver. He is just delicious, and we love him so much. We're loving the life of parents, maybe a little sleep deprived but very happy. Today is my due date, and we're so happy we have already had him here with us for one week. We are fully entertained by this teeny little man. We just watch him in adoration as he sneezes, hiccups, pulls funny faces, loves his hands, wiggles, sleeps, sucks, and squeals. Oh baby Oliver how we love you.

They gave us a fancy dinner the night
before we left in celebration. 

all ready to go home!

Grandma and Grandpa Boyce came down to see our Oliver. Grandma's reaction to him has been our favorite. She just stood there speechless for a minute. She thinks he's so beautiful, and of course we agree.

we sure love grandma Jan. Oliver is looking a
little cross-eyed. He's still figuring out
how to work his little eyes :)

after bath time

In honor of his one week birthday and to meet Aunt Teresa, we went on an outing to Cafe Rio for some lunch yesterday.

So that is our baby Oliver, our little bundle of joy.