The many faces of Olivia.

"Now where the heck is that bottle?"


"Is 'American Idol' on again? Ugh I hate that show!"


"Time to hit the bottle again."


"Yes, I am that cute."

Things I have learned:

- Never feed a baby with a bottle that is full of bubbles, otherwise you will get spit up on.
- Swaddle blankets with velcro kick ass.
- Changing a diaper isn't as hard or as gross as one might think.
- Trying to stay up all night with an awake baby is hard work.
- Babies are expensive: a formula powder can with over a pound of powder will run you about $21.
- Babies somehow know to wait to pee some more right after you change them. If you're lucky, they will pee on your hand.
- When a newborn looks like they are smiling, they probably have gas.

I'm sure there's more, but that's all for now. My dad is visiting from Brooklyn, and is enjoying being with the baby. Here he is feeding Olivia:


So cute:


And here she is, rocking out to some Pearl Jam, naturally.

The most perfect little girl.

Olivia is 5 days old, and she is the best baby.

Let's try to recap-

Melissa and I were supposed to go to the hospital last Wednesday to start the induction process. When we called, we learned that there was no room for us at the hospital, so we got bumped to Thursday. You can imagine how crappy Melissa felt after that.

We called the hospital on Thursday morning, and we were able to come in. They started Melissa off on pitocin, and we were at the hospital until abour 4 PM. The pitocin worked a little, but not enough - the doctor told us that they were going to send us home, and we would try again the next morning.

Friday morning we were back in the hospital. The doctor started by breaking Melissa's water, and back on pitocin. This seemed to work much better. Contractions came in nicely, Melissa got an epidural, and her cervix was widening. Melissa's labor went fine, especially with the epidural. I sat next to her the whole time, relaxing, playing tunes on the iPod, and playing baseball on my PSP.

Then in the evening, things picked up. She went from 5 centimeters dilated to 8 centimeters, and at around 8:30 PM, she was fully dilated and ready to start the pushing.

I got to help out. One nurse held up one of Melissa's legs and i got to hold up the other. Melissa pushed for almost 2 hours, and really struggled at times. Understandable... she was exhausted and we didn't know how long thing was going to take!

Towards the end, the doctor went to check, and I did see a little of the top of the baby's head. That's when I told Melissa that I can see her, so keep going! That motivated her, and before you know it, the baby was crowning.

The doctor was taking his time at this point... told Melissa to stop pushing while he looked for the right sized gloves (someone got him small ones) and set up the area for the baby to come out. Melissa said at this point, "what are we waiting for?" And the doctor was "me!" So Melissa was like, "well, come on already!"

The next push, and the baby's whole head came out. I couldn't believe it! Another push and the rest of her came out. I couldn't help myself... I started crying! But I was ok enough to cut the cord and watch them put the little girl on Melissa.

That whole process... I will never forget.

Melissa did need to get some stiches, so they took her to the operating room. I got to go to the nursery where they cleaned off little Olivia and gave her a little bath. She was so unbelievable cute... when they cleaned her all off, I saw how perfect she was. No conehead, cute cheeks, perfect little body. And nice dark hair!

We spent all day Saturday and Sunday at the hospital, and went home Monday morning. We had a bunch of guests, and we got to take care of Olivia. For the most part, she seemed very calm. She was fussy at times, but nothing too crazy.

We finally got home on Monday, and Melissa's parents were there to help us get settled. Olivia looked adorable when she finally got to wear her own clothes instead of hospital ones. She was awesome in her car seat in the car. She was great laying down in the bassinet. She fed well, she pooped enough. Did all the things little babies are supposed to do.

The first night with her was rough. Melissa and I were so exhausted that it was tough staying up. I think Olivia knew that - so she got more fussy.

On Tuesday, Olivia had her first pediatrician appointment. And she was so good for the doctor! She was great all day, and even great at night. Melissa's mom (Grammy) spent the night with us to help out. I stayed up with them until 2:30AM, but she didn't get fussy at all even after that. She ate on schedule, and slept the rest of the time.

And today, she's been so chill. She's been napping in her bouncy chair and taking her feedings very well.

Tomorrow, my dad is coming to visit for the weekend. And of course, he is bringing little Yankee outfits for her. :) Melissa's family is not going to like that!

I still can't believe that there is a little baby right next to me sleeping in her bouncy chair as I type this. I've gotten used to changing her diaper and making the formula bottles. I know I will be a great dad. I will do what I need to do for Olivia, and I will do anything that Melissa would need me to do for her. I'll do more chores, cook dinner, clean around the house, go food shopping, whatever I need to do to make her a life a little easier.

It is going to be so hard going back to work on Monday. I am going to miss my little daughter!

Here are a couple of pics of little Olivia:

Only minutes after she was born, after her first bath.


In her boppy.


She is already a little diva.


Olivia with her daddy.

Little Olivia

Born: Friday, July 21, 2006 at 10:20PM
7lbs, 9oz, 19 inches long

I will go into more detail later on, but she is wonderful. And perfect.

Voicemail from the beyond, or perhaps NY.*

*I stole this title from Red, but she said it was ok.

Anyways, we got the WEIRDEST WEIRDEST voicemails the past couple of days. The first one goes something like this:

"Hi Joe, it's your pesky great-grandmother. I tried calling your mom to see how she made out with Ilana, but since i got you on the line, give us a call, we are on pins and needles. We want to know how the (my last name)s are doing."

And another today:

"Hi Joe, it's me again. I couldn't wait for Louis to get home, so call me and let me know how Ilana is doing. Tell Melissa to eat something, and you too. Bye."

First off, if I had a great-grandmother, she would be like 130. Second, my mom passed away many years ago. Third, I have a cousin Ilana and my real grandfather's name is Louis. But where does the connection come from? And who is this woman?

I do think it's just some poor old woman who dialed the wrong number and got confused. But there is too much coincidence in these messages. I hope she calls again so I can pick up and speak to this woman.

Anyways, still no baby. That kid loves Melissa's womb. But, little girl, the outside world is better! We have central air! And ice cream! And bouncy chairs and swings! And car seats! And cute little clothes! And Curious George dolls and Olivia the Pig finger puppets! And a lawn that has just been mowed! Don't be scared!

Might as well do something while you're doing nothing.

Thanks, Uncle Rico. Words to live by.

I actually have some downtime at work now... I am not slacking - I did ask if there was any work to do. But now I am just waiting on people to get back to me on a few things.

So I survived June. I didn't think it was going to be possible, but I survived with my sanity. Melissa and I are settling into our new house well, and our condo is now just a memory. We still can't set up the baby's room because the damn manufacturer of the baby furniture we bought has to order some foreign parts and it won't be ready until the end of this month. But we did finally register the second car, and I got to drive it to the train this morning.

And school ended well... my grades were great considering the circumstances. I received my graduation information, and I'll be going to that on August 31.

And after all of this, it seems as if things with Melissa are as great as ever. Now we usually bond over everything, but we really pulled together with all this stuff going on and we managed to tackle one thing at a time (or ten things at a time!) And with everything going on in my life, I know things are crazier for Melissa since she is carrying a little baby throughout all of this!

And after hearing about some people having problems with their relationships lately, I feel very lucky. Lucky that Melissa and I still feel the same way about each other as always, lucky that we are both each other's best friend, lucky that we can quote the same movies together (even if I quote some to death!), lucky that we are always on the same page about everything. And if this is any indication, then our baby is gonna be awesome - happy, healthy, chill, and fun.

And we could finally meet her sometime next week... definitely before the end of the following week!

Checklist updated...

New job? Check. Still going great.

New house? Check. Love the house. And we're getting central air next week.

Finished school? Check. Got my grades back and they weren't too bad.

Close on the condo? Check. Finally.

Car? Check. Now we just need to register it tomorrow.

And that leaves only one thing left...

Baby? Due next week. Can you believe it??