Christmas

Evelynn and I have been home from the hospital since December 15th. Time has gone too fast and she is already growing like a weed. I wanted her to stay little for well at least a little longer. She already has such a cute little personality. She has actually been sleeping very well for us, and is actually a pretty easy baby(so far).

Christmas was great! Darren got so many cool toys, and our families spoiled our kids not that we didn't. Darren's two favorite toys, Whack-A-Mole and Uno Moo. At least those are ones that he plays with the most. He also got a new favorite sweat shirt, its a black Star Wars one, and it is funny watching my husband turn back into a little boy again now that Darren loves Star Wars too.

Hope that you all had a great Christmas and New Year and may the New Year be a great one for you!

Evelynn Leigh

Evelynn Leigh was born Dec 12 at 10:21am. We left the house early Sunday morning on the tail end of our first major snow storm. We got about 16" best I can figure. She was 7lbs and 18.5" long. Everything during delivery went perfectly and both mommy and baby have been doing great ever since. Evy (pronounced ee-vee) has been both a natural feeder and pooper and mommy is ahead of her healing schedule. Everyone will be heading home on Wednesday and we look forward to sleeping in our own beds. Hopefully Evy will allow us to do that. She has already gone 5+ hours during the night without waking up so hopefully that develops into a trend!

Darren was excited to see her when he came to visit and we think he will be a great helper around the house once we return home.

Stay tuned for further updates as I'm sure Darc will be updating again in the near future.

5 Days (not that I'm counting)

So here we are 5 days away from my scheduled c-section date. Getting nervous and excited all at the same time. I guess I was expecting to have her arrive early, just as her big brother did. I have actually been sleeping OK. Although my need to pee ALL the time is starting to get really annoying. The closer the scheduled day gets the more nervous I get. All the planning and everything is coming together. Which is something that I didn't have last time. So again a mix of so many emotions and questions all at the same time. Will I be in as much pain as I was last time? How will Darren react to her coming home? We have talked about it so much but does he really get it? Christmas, what on earth are we going to do for that this year? So much to think about but yet I don't really want to think about it, when it comes up I'll deal with it then.

However as the time grows closer to our family of three growing to a family of 4 I am starting to feel the need to spend more time with Darren, as soon my focus will be moved to her. I was actually lucky enough to spend the day with him and my niece Ella yesterday. We had a lot of fun! The kids were both very well behaved and took really good naps for me in the afternoon. Funny thing is I realized what it was like to have a little one around again and how much time mommy doesn't have for herself. It was good to get back to that mind set again, because I am pretty sure that I was in my Utopia that the transition would go perfect and smooth. HA reality check! But I have also come to the conclusion that it is what I make of it. If I think that things will go smooth don't stress about that small stuff than I think I will be able to hang on to my sanity. I also know that my house will not be perfectly clean, and its fine if it is a mess, because I know that it is only temporary(a year or so).
Anyway, yesterday when Ella left us for the day at about 3:30 Darren was playing some wii we decided to get bundled up and go play outside for a while. By that time we got outside it was about 4 and we decided to play outside until our Christmas lights came on. We were outside for almost an hour. But all the fresh air did all of us some good. I am sure you are all shocked to see that we played baseball outside in December, that is how much this kid loves that game. We also took his scooter around the neighborhood and looked at the Christmas lights. And there are not many up so we didn't see a lot. I took some pictures with my Christmas present, my awesome new camera. So Enjoy!

We are looking forward to sharing pictures of the new little one in the next week!

Official Word from the Doc

Well it is official, I am now on house rest for the remainder of my pregnancy. The doc said that it isn't "bed rest" but they just want me to take it easy and the big one no work.

We are excited that we had been fortunate enough to make it this far so we are celebrating. I am looking forward to enjoying the last 4 weeks of my pregnancy with as little stress as possible.

So I have a plan to just do a few things around the house. Getting the final preps done in baby's room, packing bags for the hospital, and doing lots of yummy cooking for the holidays!

The last part is the part that I think I am most looking forward to. I have always enjoyed cooking, and actually find it very relaxing. So I have plans to make cookie dough, and decorate slowly of course. I am not sure if this rest thing is what is making me so excited for the holidays, or if it is just the fact that Thanks Giving is already next week, and just a little over two weeks after that we are going to add a new addition to our family!

However I have not done any Christmas shopping yet. So family reading this I need lists, as soon as possible please. I have a feeling that I might be running short on time here. And well lest face it, I am not sure I am willing to send my husband out to do all the Christmas shopping, unless you all want Best Buy gift cards.

Looking forward to the holidays and so excited for the arrival of our little girl :)

Bed Rest for Mommy

Well I went into the hospital Monday evening for dehydration, vomiting, and contractions that were 2-3 minutes apart. When Dan brought me to the hospital I hadn't kept any food down all day and was throwing up/dry heaving... YUCK!!!

So they gave me a shot to stop the contraction, thank goodness I wasn't starting to dilate. I spiked a fever in the middle of the night so in addition to the I.V. fluids they started me on antibiotics. When they ran some blood tests they were showing signs of infections.

It took the nurses three tries to hit a vein when they were trying to start the I.V. and finally got it on the third try. I was so dehydrated that the first two veins "blew".

By Tuesday I wasn't showing anymore signs of dehydration or signs of infection. But I was still on fluids, and the I.V. antibiotics. They were not letting my go home because of a elevated heart rate. So Tuesday evening they did a EKG and hooked me up to a heart monitor, which made for great sleeping. They did non-stress tests on the baby through out the day/night. Wednesday morning they did a echo-cardiogram on my heart, looking for a explanation as to why my heart rate was elevated.

Dan, my mom and I sat in the hospital all day on Wednesday waiting for the doctor to come in, and give us the results of the echo. The doc finally came to see my around 430pm on Wednesday evening and said I am going to send you home but you are going to be on bed rest.

So here I am at home just trying to take it easy. I have a follow-up appointment on Tuesday afternoon at 2pm. But until then I have orders for no work, no stress, not doing much of anything...

Happy Halloween

This year was the first year that we actually got to take Darren trick-or-treating. He didn't really want to go at first. He didn't want to put on his costume or go to get candy, as we called it. We finally talked him into putting his costume on, and at least going to see Grandma and Grandpa in Plover. In the end he trick-or-treated for about 2 hours. I was dead tired, and had to pee so bad I ended up cutting it short. Dan continued to go from house to house with Darren. He did get a lot of compliments on how cute his costume was.I also wanted to throw in a picture of my belly. This little girl is growing very well, and I am feeling great! We are excited for her arrival on December 15th, which is when my c-section is scheduled for. We are all set up with her room, and will be posting pictures of her when she gets here. Until then have a great Thanks Giving!

Darren Turns 3!

Darren turned 3 September 17th. I can't believe that it has been three years already. He is smart, fun and funny. Of course there are times that I don't feel like a good parent but then don't we all have those moments.

For his birthday we took him to Quarry Quest over in Neenha. He had a blast and he tired him self right out. He got to ride in a crane, and "drive" a excavator. We through rocks in the big lake, and learned a lot about the Quarry. We had just a small birthday party for him at my parents house over in Appleton but all in all it was a great weekend.Thanks everyone for all the wonderful birthday gifts that Darren got! He loves them all!

good weekend

We had a great weekend. It stared on Friday night with a grill out at our friends grandparents house in Plover. They are moving back to the Midwest from New York and it was great to see them. Darren had a great time playing with a new friend that he met, they played with the water hose and as always played A LOT of baseball. A couple of people that were at the grill out had gone fishing earlier that day, and so they cleaned them while we were there. Darren was very interested in this process.
Then on Saturday I had to work in the morning, then we took Darren to see all the fire trucks down at river front. He really liked looking at all the firetrucks. One crew had a game with the water hose, which Dan and Darren(mostly Dan) tried. Then we headed over to the Grabski's house to swim and grill out. The pool was at a warm 86 degrees so it was great to swim in.
Sunday I got to go see a movie while Dan took Darren to the parade. Eclipse was awesome! Then we had a few friends over to eat dinner before walking down to the river to watch the fireworks. Well it pretty much rained from about 6pm for the rest of the night. So fireworks got postponed until tonight, but it has been raining all day so not sure if they will happen tonight or not.

On a side note had a doctors appointment today for my 16 week check-up. Mom and baby are both healthy, I actually lost weight from my previous check-up, and Baby's heart rate was about 165bpm. I started getting my weekly shot which I get once a week from now until 36 weeks. I also had a ton of blood drawn for various tests. That made me pretty tired this afternoon, so I took a nap. Ultrasound is scheduled and I have my twenty week check up August 2nd. Things are moving along very well, and I have no complaints.

Hope everyone had a safe and wonderful 4th weekend too!

our "water rat"

Darren has been loving swimming this summer. Which really isn't much of a surprise because he has always been a water baby. This summer he has discovered his love of the floaties. He was in the pool once with them. Dan and him were swimming, got out to jump back in. Dan jumped and before any of us could react he was in the pool right after Dan. He went under, Dan was able to grab him right away, Darren said "Don't help me Daddy" so Dan stopped. Darren then doggy paddled over to the ladder climbed out and did it all over again. It was like a switch went on in him and he just figured out how to swim on his own. For a moment I was sad because it made me realize just how fast he is growing up. But then again it is a lot of fun to swim with him! Here are a few pictures from our recent trip to the pool.
After all that swimming the boys were tired! It was such a great day! We have renamed Darren our little "water rat". Dan asked him if he was a water rat. Darren said "Nope, my name Darren." Kids can say the funniest things.

its all about Me

Well this week I remembered what it is like to just be myself again. Yes I am still a mom and a wife, but this week I had time for me. To do what I wanted to eat what I wanted and to be lazy when I wanted.

As most of you know Dan is working out of town. Yes we are doing that again. This job will not take nearly as long, but still being pregnant and taking care of a 2 1/2 year old all by myself is madness. But we get through knowing the light is at the end of the tunnel. This week was different. Uncle Randy and Aunt Amanda took Darren and their niece Kaitlynn for the whole week. And Dan is working out of town. That means I got to just be me this week.

Monday was a little weird not having anyone but me to get ready for the day. I ordered pizza and bread sticks from Pizza Hut, which I only ate one piece of pizza and two bread sticks but I was able to order the toppings I wanted. Then Tuesday I had a half day, and cleaned like a mad lady. Then I warmed up some left over pizza and fell asleep on the couch watching Twilight, a movie I wanted to watch. Then Wednesday night I didn't feel guilty about hanging out with the volleyball team for a little too long after the game was over. Tonight a friend and I went for the longest walk in history, and it felt great! It took us over an hour. But it was great to catch up and vent and laugh. I didn't have to worry about Darren being antsy in his stroller or it being past his bed time.

So here's to a week of being me!

New Addition

Dan, Darren and I are excited to announce that we are adding another little bundle of joy into the family! My due date is December 22nd. However my C-Section will be scheduled for the second week in December.

I am very excited to be pregnant again. After all the crazyness that happened when I was pregnant with Darren, I am just hoping for a happy and healthy 9 months. And So far so good, not a signal complaint. Other than the fact that nothing ever sounds good to eat. I have so many aversions this time around, and even one day I couldn't keep anything down. That really sucked.

Just recently had my 12 week check up, Dan was able to make it to hear the heart beat for the first time and his mom joined us too. She was super excited to come with me since I didn't think Dan would make it home on time. The doc started to listen to the heartbeat he goes, so you hear two heartbeats and we all just about passed out. The doc then went on to explain that the slow beat is mommy and the fast one is baby. Dan said, " Ok doc there is just one baby right?" He laughed and said yes just one baby. We all let out a slow sigh of re-leaf. Baby was at a healthy rate of 165 beats per minute.

Darren was really excited at first, he would come up and rub my belly and say,"Baby in mommy's tummy." He is really excited to be a big brother, we would ask if he wanted a brother or sister, and without hesitation he would say sister. Then last Friday when I picked him up from daycare, Sue was asking how I was feeling and we had a small chat about the new little one and how Darren was feeling about it. So I asked him if he wanted a brother of sister he said, "Ummm, no thanks." So that has been his answer lately. I think he is starting to realize he won't have mom and dad all to himself anymore. So I am glad we started the preparations early.

Any advice on preparing Darren for his new sibling is welcome!

Most Likely Moving

Well the referendum didn't pass. Where are we going to move? Most likely over to Appleton. Yes I know that they have made cuts too but at least there is more than just ONE high school.
Easter was good, but the weekend was busy and it went really fast. Darren loved hunting for Easter eggs. He also loves the new basketball hoop that was given to him. Loves it!Here are some pictures from Easter.

coming home

I know this is said, but every time I come home for a visit it just isn't enought time. I have so many people I want to see and places that I want to go because Point have nothing. I am completely exhausted, and still didn't do much of what I wanted to do.

Most of you know that I was born and raised in booming metropolis of Appleton WI. There is just so much more to do in this town, well at least in comparison to Stevens Point. First and most important in my book the mall! Shopping, especially for someone who dresses in the same dress cloths week in and week out. Stevens Point in the past couple of years just got a Kohl's, which don't get me wrong is pretty awesome. But I wouldn't plan on finding much there since it is one of the only places to shop in town it is usually VERY picked over. Then there two other stores in which I like to shop at, which again are always so picked over! I can never find my size or anything professional enough for my profession. Grrr

Second, things to do with Darren. In Appleton there is a building downtown dedicated to kids and learning. Also this place called Monkey Joe's, which is all giant blow-up mazes and jumps and slides. This is where we took Darren today and he is completely worn out tonight. Stevens Point has a over priced and crappy Children's Museum. In the winter there are not many places to take kids to let them burn off constructive energy. And thanks to the full moon this week(at least that is what I am blaming it on) Darren has more then enough!

Third, my family. I don't feel like I need to elaborate on that.

some cute-ness

Darren is much like his father in that he is just plan funny. He makes me laugh everyday. Dan and Darren have come to enjoy a piece of pecan pie together almost ever night. Dan has become the expert on Pecan pie, he pretty much has to have one on hand at all times. Darren gets so over the top excited, I tried to catch him on camera doing his pecan song.
He also has other quirks like when he gets up on the changing table he just kicks back to relax. Like this...
Every time he puts these glasses on he makes us take a picture of him.


And his smile is so bright, just seeing that when I get home from work everyday makes even the worst of days that much better! He isn't the greatest at the fake smiling yet but I think you get the picture.

From here...

Sometimes I feel like I have no idea where to go from here.  I have a good job, a nice house(small but nice) and a wonderful family.  I am truly happy in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.  I just sometimes wonder what else is out there for me and my family.  Maybe it is just a little cabin fever, being stuck in the house since the end of October.  I try to get out and go work out at the YMCA, Darren always loves going to play with his friends there.  But it just isn't the same as getting out and going for a run in the summer.

Now that I think about this a little more I start to feel like this ever winter about this time.  I think about the awesome farmers market downtown on Saturday mornings.  Feeding the ducks down by the river, listening to the city band play as we do it.  Chasing Darren around the most fun park I have seen.  Swimming at the pool at Jan and Dave's house. 

OK well for now I will chalk it up as cabin fever. But I will say summer could come early, and it wouldn't hurt mother nature too terribly.

Where is the time going!

We are well past Christmas at this point, and I have not updated this thing since Darren turned two.  Talk about where is the time going.  So many things have been going on in our lives that I don't even know where to start.  I will start with the holidays.

Christmas was wonderful this year. Dan and I got a new garage door, not super exciting but none the less pretty awesome.  It has been something we needed to do since we got the house, and when it came down to our old one just didn't work anymore, we decided to get a new one.  Santa brought Darren a train set, he loves it!  It was a very nice Christmas and quiet at the same time.  Here is Darren seeing his train set Christmas morning.

We also took Darren sledding for the first time this winter.  He has a blast and didn't want to stop.  Although after walking up the hill himself a couple of times he realized that wasn't really fun and made us carry him.  Wow what a workout!

Darren is just about talking in sentences.  Or at least enough that I can get his story and what he is trying to tell me.  He is just growing up so fast, and we are having so much fun with him.