Olive Kristine Rutledge

Did you wonder what that yelling was on Saturday?

Don't worry, It was just Kristi giving birth to

OLIVE KRISTINE RUTLEDGE!

After an easy, yet painful labor, Olive arrived at 4:15 pm on Saturday May 7, 2011.  She weighed 7lbs 6oz and was 19 inches long.

Olive's birth was quite dramatic.  She was so active while in utero that she tied a true knot in the umbilical cord.

She aspirated meconium and ended up with pneumonia.  We had to stay in the hospital for 7 days so she could be treated with antibiotics.

 

 

While at the hospital we stayed in the "Turtle" Room.  If you ever have to stay in the hospital, I highly recommend the Special Care Nursery at St. Peter Hospital.  The nurses there are AMAZING.  They were so kind and compassionate and knowledgeable.  Seriously, the nurses there are just about the best people on the planet. The level of care we received was absolutely astonishing.

Olive's arrival home was eagerly awaited by Johnny and Maisy.  They were both very worried and confused about why she didn't get to come home right away, but they adjusted nicely.  Thankfully we have an amazing support system who stepped in to help and we are very grateful.

Olive is doing great and adjusting to life in the Rutledge house.  Maisy has decided that SHE is Olive's mother and I am still Maisy's mother.  (I guess this makes me Olive's grandmother) Johnny thinks it's funny that she laughs in her sleep.

As you can see, the majority of her weight is in her cheeks!

(The pajamas Olive is wearing were worn home from the hospital by all of the Rutledge babies!)



Johnny Is 7!

We've been building up to it for 11 months!

Johnny is officially 7 years old!

He's been planning his party, making invitations, planning decorations, fine tuning the guest list...SINCE LAST JUNE!

He woke up today at 7:27 am today and yelled "Is it morning? Am I 7?". He got out of bed, and instantly began dressing, by himself, for school. (Johnny still needs help dressing and it is actually quite hard and frustrating for him to dress, so he avoids it whenever possible!) He was so excited to begin his 7th birthday! Once at school he told everyone he saw that it was his birthday. He was also "Person of the Day" today, a complete coincidence. He got to wear a birthday crown, have the birthday bear sit at his table and Mrs. M. gave him a birthday pencil, he chose green - of course! The kids sang happy birthday to him and they wished him a happy birthday over the loud speaker during morning announcements. He requested Daddy come and have lunch with him and bring McDonald's for lunch. We were also in charge of snack today so we brought cupcakes. He then got to be a car kid and the whole family came to pick him up. We returned home where he opened presents. He then watched some TV and then we went to Red Robin for dinner and singing!Johnny has listed this schedule over and over during the last few weeks. By 9:00 am I was pretty certain that he might explode and birthday candles and confetti might shoot out of him! Johnny LOVED having them sing to him at Red Robin. He stood up on his chair and held his ice cream and spoon high up in the air. He looked SO PROUD. It actually brought tears to my eyes. Johnny has been quite shy in the past and never wanted them to sing to him. It was another marker of how much he's grown this year. All in all it's been an amazing year. In all honestly, I think this has been the year I've enjoyed Johnny the most. He's grown so much this year it's unbelievable. He LOVES school. He LOVES his friends, especially Teddy and Grant. He LOVES his sister and is the best big brother ever. He honestly wants to spend time with her and misses her when they are apart. He has a very sweet nature about him and it's so fun to watch.

Johnny will be having a party with his friends on Saturday. In years past we have requested our guests not to bring presents in hopes of teaching Johnny that everyone is here to celebrate him. This year he's on to us and realized that most kids get presents at their parties. He spent a good portion of the year wanting us to write "PLEASE BRING PRESENTS" on his invitations, but we decided to leave that off.

Gabe and I both feel like today was a little kick off party for the rest of the week! It could be an exhausting few days!

Happy Birthday Johnny!

Happy Birthday Gwyneth Rose

Maisy and Johnny just wanted to send birthday wishes to Gwyneth Rose on her first birthday.

Gwyneth is a very special little girl who was born 15+ weeks early and is now celebrating her first birthday.

In honor of her birthday, Maisy is wearing pink and brown today. Johnny didn't feel like getting into the pink spirit - but he's very excited that it's her birthday and wonders if she will eat cake tonight.

You may remember Gwyneth modeling the hat I made for her

And here she is now
Here is a picture of Maisy modeling the hat I made for Gwyneth for her first birthday. (it's probably rude of me to show a picture of someone wearing a present I made someone else, but I wanted to get a picture before I mailed it since it was my most challenging hat yet!)
Happy Birthday Gwyneth Rose!

Happy 1st Birthday Maisy!

Maisy is One!

Tomorrow I will take my final picture of Maisy in her stocking. I took the first picture of December 22nd and felt it only fitting that I take the last on that date as well.

10 Months!

Maisy is 10 months old!

She's walking all the time, it's her only mode of getting around. She looks like Frankenstein when she walks, very WIDE, stiff legs waddling side to side. It's very cute!

Sometimes Maisy gets very excited and likes to walk around flapping her arms and bouncing up and down.

I believe she's inherited a bit of Bailey's climbing gene. While at the grocery store, even though she was tightly buckled in, she managed to get her legs up and under her and stand on the seat of the cart, while twisted up in the belt. Her legs are so short that they don't really "hang" down, making it easier for her to maneuver herself into these precarious positions!

To get an idea of how short she is...today I realized she was standing underneath the toilet paper roll (and holder) and her head was just barely touching. No one should be able to stand up under the toilet paper roll! That seems wrong!

Johnny and I picked out this Halloween costume for Don. As you can see, he LOVES it!

We raked leaves last weekend and Johnny had a great time INSIDE the lawn clippings bin. He spent about ½ hour in there with the lid closed talking and playing. Don't worry - he had a bath after.

When I finally got a pile of leaves rakes I made Gabe bring Maisy out for a photo. She did not care for the feeling of the wet leaves on her feet.

It has been an exciting month of firsts for Maisy. Probably the most important is her first pigtails! Notice her long luxurious pigtails! She's very close to having all her hair up!

(I know it's exciting! Take a deep breath before looking at the pictures!)

Maisy has also begun playing in the Tupperware cupboard. A timeless tradition for all children. It has led me to ponder why I have so many containers. You'd think I cooked a lot and had tons of leftovers! In any case, Maisy is thoroughly enjoying how many containers her mother has.

She still falls asleep wherever she feels like it!

There was a time when I thought I'd continue taking her monthly picture in her stocking past her first year. As you'll see below, this is getting harder and harder to accomplish.

Here she is laying in the stocking...

She stands up...

She begins moving away...

She's now walking away from me trying to catch her...

She falls down...

She's up again ready to go...

Maybe they really are friends, here are Maisy and Don looking outside. (I didn't include the pictures of her grabbing his fur!)

You may notice that Maisy is already "donning her gay apparel"! She has quite a selection of holiday clothes and I want to make sure she gets a chance to wear it all, so we've begun early. I bought this outfit on eBay very cheaply and have been dying to put it on her. As she turned and walked away I realized it looked like I'd stolen the skirt from a Christmas tree and wrapped it around her waist. Still, totally worth it and she will "don" this gay apparel again!

Johnny's class was collecting beans and rice for a sensory table at school. While purchasing our beans Johnny asked why we were buying them. I told him that Mrs. M. asked us to bring a bag of beans for the bean table in class. He looked at me and said "Well, actually, I think I'll tell Mrs. M. 'no thank you because I don't really like to eat beans".

Johnny had a little cold. He came running in from playing outside and told me he'd dropped his cookie on the ground, but it was ok because he was already sick so he ate it anyway.

Johnny and Maisy are starting to play together. It's really fun to watch. They laugh at each other and he enjoys giving her toys to play with. He's really excited to buy her a Christmas present; and also excited to see what she's going to buy him for Christmas!

This past week I've gotten a few coupons and fliers in the mail for baby's 1st birthday cakes or other stuff around baby being 1. I must admit, I'm not ready. I knew she'd turn 1 eventually, I just didn't know it would only take 12 months! (and Gabe thinks he's the comedian in the family!!!)