The Ohrvalls | The Life and Times of

**Disclaimer:  This post may be a little too detailed for those of you that read this and don't want to know THAT much about my breast feeding misadventures.  This is just a fair warning, read at your own risk!** Before I begin I want everyone to know that I am writing this as a kind of release for myself to try and come to terms with my decisions and to accept that I am doing what is best for myself and my relationship with Isabella. I will start from the beginning.  After my c-section I was able to have some time to hold Isabella chest to chest and start nursing.  Isabella was a champ from the start!  She latched on and started nursing almost immediately.  The first day was easy-peasy.  Day two was a little more difficult.  It was like Isabella completely forgot how to latch and stay latched for food.  I had to consult the lactation consultant at the hospital and get some tips. By the end of the first week of Isabella's life, I was in pain from nursing.  I went to a loc

As most of you know, Isabella and I flew to North Carolina in late October.  Taking a 2 month old on a 22 hour flight across the world was no picnic by myself but we made it and Isabella did well, sleeping most of the way.  After spending time with family and enjoying our time back in our home town (Matthew came a little later) we finally had to say our goodbyes and come back to Guam.  This time around I was so thankful that I had Matthew there to help me with Isabella on the flights because over the course of the 2 months that we were home she had become a more active baby and didn't sleep as long as when we took the first flights.  Needless to say, I was nervous about how she would do on the journey back. The day started out fine.  We woke early and gathered everything into the car and drove to the airport with my mom and Nina.  After checking in our luggage and getting our tickets we went up to the USO to relax and have some breakfast before going through security.  When the t

Since I haven't done a blog post in a long time I decided to write one about my experience flying with Isabella.  As most of you know, Isabella and I flew to North Carolina from Guam just a few days ago.  Isabella was exactly 10 weeks old on the day that we took this flight.  There were three flights total.  The first flight was from Guam to Hawaii and was 7.5 hours long, the second flight was from Hawaii to Chicago and was another 7 hours long, finally there was the flight from Chicago to Raleigh that was 2 hours long.  To simplify the transitions between planes I wore Isabella in a carrier on my chest and carried a backpack and my diaper bag onto the plane.  I also did cloth diaper during the flights as well!  (Yes I know it was a little adventurous but I wanted to go all out with these diapers.  As long as I am doing it I might as well do it continuously, go all out!) We all woke up at 4am on the morning of my flight.  We were out of the house by 4:35 since we had everyth

That's right, Isabella is smiling away now!  She loves to smile at mom and dad when we are talking to her.  She is especially happy in the mornings after a diaper change.  It is the most precious thing when she smiles at us.  My heart just melts whenever I am talking to her and she breaks into that beautiful smile.  She can go from being upset and wining to smiling away when we get up close and show her some love. Another lucky piece of information about our little angel is that she is not a major crier!  Thank goodness for that! Don't get me wrong, she cries for all the normal baby reasons (like when momma can't get her to food fast enough) but her cries are more like loud wines.  She isn't too loud and hopefully it will stay that way for a while.  She has found her voice and cues at us so hopefully this is the volume her 'talking' will stay. More 1-2 month developments include: Lifting her head off the floor during tummy time for a few seconds at a time

So as promised in my last post:  I have some exciting news!  But you must read on and get some baby goodness first! Today is 9/11/14 in Guam and while for some this day is still a tragic memory of the lives lost just a few years ago, today it is a celebratory day for the Ohrvalls because we are proud to have a (no longer newborn) 1 month old in our household!  We are totally smitten with this little one and love her to death even when she wakes us 3-4 times a night and drains us of any real sound sleeping.  But we will forgive her of that and hold it over her head when she is a teenager  (Just kidding...kinda!) Isabella has reached a few milestones already in her short time with us.  Here are some of the things she is doing now: Holding her head up for short amounts of time while having tummy time or being supported as she sits up Following Mommy and Daddy's voices/faces by turning her head towards us Sufficiently putting her hands in her mouth and suckling her fingers Sl

It has been a while since my last post but that is with good reason!  A newborn baby will take up a lot of your time.  Now that Isabella is nearing her 1 month old mark, we wanted to share some of the beauty that we see everyday with you all.  We had a photo session about 2 weeks ago where some awesome pictures were taken.  Now you get to see some of them too! We are very happy with the way that these photos turned out.  Hope you guys like them too! Isabella is almost one month old!  Can't believe it has already been one month since she joined us out in the real world.  She is growing beautifully and is slowly getting baby chub.  She has small rolls around her thighs and arms as well as a growing double chin.  It is too cute!   She loves to be swaddled and usually will calm right down after we put her in her swaddle blanket.  Daddy is the pro at swaddling, she always seems to get her hands out when Mommy swaddles her.   She is not a

I know that I have been a little lazy with keeping up with my blog posts recently, but I really do have good reasons! Introducing the newest member to the Ohrvall family: Isabella Marie Ohrvall Born:  August 11, 2014 at 5:30 pm Weight:  7lbs 10 oz.  Height:  20 inches I wanted to take this post to tell you guys about how Isabella entered this world. So as most of you already know, Isabella was in the breech position throughout the entire length of my pregnancy.  We tried many different methods to try and get her to turn around (some traditional and some not so traditional methods) but with no luck.  On the morning of Aug. 11 I started having contractions around 9am.  These contractions started off being about 20-30 seconds long and coming every 20 minutes or so.  As the morning went on Matthew and I counted contractions and waited for them to get closer together before making any calls.  Around noon time I went for about an hour without a single contraction!  This made us t

So with the due date nearing and the anticipation of finally being able to hold our precious baby girl, I thought that I would share a little bit of my everyday normal for now!  I am one day away from being 38 weeks along and let me tell you:  I have one active baby inside me!  Yes, she loves to move around and kick/punch mommy in the gut, ribs, and pelvis!  Some of these kicks are so strong that I actually jump!  For those of you that don't believe it could get that bad...oh have I got a treat for you!  I recorded a mere 1.5 min video of my belly!  Now this video is only a small taste of what she does ALL DAY LONG!  And yes at night too!  It's no wonder I have such a hard time sleeping.  So without further ado, here is Ms. Isabella Marie Ohrvall staring in her first movie entitled:  Making Waves in Mommy's Tummy.  :) Update on presentation:  Isabella is still breech and we are diligently trying all that we can to get her to turn.  Thank you to all who have prayed a

So I know it has been a while since my last post.  I figured it was about time for me do another update blog on the pregnancy.  It will be pretty short cause there is not much new to report. I had an ultrasound at 36 weeks last week to get  an update on how Isabella is progressing and what position she was in after a few weeks without knowing.  If you have been keeping up with me on facebook then you know how that turned out!  We didn't get any news from the ultrasound other than the fact that Isabella was still sitting comfortably in her breech position. The following Monday we had an appointment with my OB to get the rest of the information that we were wanting to hear.  She told us that Isabella was growing appropriately and was looking healthy!  So good news is awesome to hear!  Of course she then proceeded with the news that we already heard, Isabella is still breech.  We reviewed our options for turning and delivery and decided to try a procedure called an external cephal

I know it has been a while since I have written an update but there really is a good reason for that:  there isn't much new to update you on!  I have gotten bigger, I am still having the most common pregnancy symptoms and I am bored as heck sitting at home with not much to do.  Any who, I'll give you the run down of what's going on. Symptoms: Soreness:  I am almost to the point of doing the waddle walk where-ever I go now-a-days. Fatigue:  I tire out really easily.  I can take about a 30 minute walk before I start to feel the need to sit down due to shortness of breath or cramping.  I get short of breath easily if I am standing and talking for an extended amount of time.  I found this out at church when standing and singing during worship would leave me out of breath in just a few verses! Bladder Control:  I have to pee ALL THE TIME!!  Seriously!  It is worse now than it was during the first trimester.  If I go from sitting to standing, then I have to pee, even if I

That's right!  The time as finally come that we feel ready to make the name of our little girl public knowledge!  Lots of people have been asking and we didn't want to give it away too soon.  There are lots of reasons for wanting to keep the name a secret but now we feel confident in our choice. Some of the reasons for keeping this to ourselves up until now include: 1) It was fun to have a secret from everyone! 2) We wanted to avoid any swaying or pressure to change the name 3)  We wanted to make sure that we were comfortable with the name that we had chosen. So, before we do the big reveal, here are some of the maternity photos that we had done last week just in time for the 4th of July and Matthew's Birthday!  Happy early Birthday to my wonderful hubby!! The last one is my favorite!  We purposely chose an evening sunset time to try and get a good sunset photo and I am very pleased with the way that this one turned out. And now...for the bi

I had the wonderful honor of being thrown a beautiful baby shower by my church family recently.  It was such a great way to share in the love and excitement of this little girl and I am eternally grateful to all of the girls that helped put it all together.  There were some great decorations, food and lots of fun games!  I had a wonderful time fellow shipping and got lots of cute gifts for baby Ohrvall.  Here are a few pictures from the shower. Some of the girls having fun playing a game where you had to draw a baby on a paper plate while it was on your head!  It was a little difficult and we had quite a few funny pictures! My homemade guestbook with advice from each guest on little onesies.  I absolutely loved this idea and the frame and advice is now hanging in baby girl's nursery.   Cutting the cake.   Another game where you had to try and get as many cotton balls into the small bowl as possible in just 3 scoops while blind folded. Funny stuff!