Saturday, February 28, 2009

Sleepy Saturday... for some.

So, Abby turned one week old yesterday... amazing how that happens 7 days after babies are born! Abby is doing well, sleeping a lot today... pretty much sleeping or eating... I mention it only because yesterday was different, the first day that we got a lot of awake time (relatively speaking). She seems to be doing well. Her first doctor's visit was fine, not up to birth weight, but she did drop 9.5% in the hospital, so she had a little ways to go. She is doing fine except for a fussy time in the late evening to early morning hours; not unexpected though. She is continuing her trend of outings everyday... and sleeping through most of them.

Yesterday was a big day because Sara and Abby's other Grandma arrived, so there are now two grandmother's in the house. Lots of excitement around the house for that you can be sure. Grandma H. is going home Sunday morning... we're not sure what we would have done without her taking care of the three and then four of us the last 10 days. We will certainly miss her.

Sara is doing well, active and excited, spending lots of time with her Grandmas. Just this afternoon they had a group cookie making activity and played several games of Uno while the cookies were baking. That clearly was a fun time for everyone. Sara also had another swimming lesson this morning which went well except for us again having to get her out about 10 minutes early due to excessively blue lips. She really doesn't like cold water, but she loves to go swimming. Today we focused a lot on jumping into the pool which she did fabulously at, much more independently deciding when to jump, and with gusto.

Well, there are some pics below....



Makin' cookies with both Grandmas



Kicking back



The pose du jour for Abby

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Thursday, February 26, 2009

Abby is 6 (days old)

Yup, she's been home for a few days now and is doing well. She is eating a ton and sleeping pretty well too (as evidenced by the photos below). Abby often falls off to sleep pretty easily, though not always when Mom and Dad would like her too (read: night). Still, she's being pretty adorable. We still don't see a lot of her eyes, but a bit more here and there.

Sara has been very good with her little sister. She wants to give Abby hugs and kisses, hold her hand (though she doesn't always understand why Abby doesn't always help out on that one), and hold her. Sara has also been helping with getting the diapers. She is being quite the big sister.

Abby has had several outing so far. She went to a grocery store on Tuesday, Target yesterday, and her first walk around the block today because it is in the 40's and supposed to reach 50 this afternoon. Little Miss Abigail also has her first visit to the doctor's office this afternoon, so that will be another outing as well. All these outing have been good walking for Danette and she is feeling better and stronger all the time.

Let's see, other first for Abby have been her first (sponge) bath at home and her first Skype video calls. She got to see how big Riley has gotten and she did some on-screen wiggling for Grandpa H.

Well, that's about it, there are a bunch of pics below.



A favorite pose...



... in a favorite place.



Mom and Abby



oh yeah...



Warming up after my first bath



Out for my first walk around the block

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Tuesday, February 24, 2009

We're all home...

Everyone got checked out yesterday and we even had lunch at home. Abby and Danette are doing well, to say the least. Abby is quite the sleeper. In fact she slept through the whole checkout, discharge, ride home, and lunch.



Ready to go home!



Sleeping after a little lunch

Abby is quite a strong girl already. She is constantly pulling up and often holding her head up for a bit. Her legs are pretty darn strong too, something we have learned during copious diaper changes.



Head up, but no burp - as usual.



Just because...



"No, those are her hands!" - Sara

Abby has quite the toes, so much so that her big sister pronounced them hands the first time that she saw them. Sara has been a good big sister so far, helping a bit, and wanting to hold her sister and asking Abby to hold her hand. Can tell that she's also trying to understand what this whole new baby thing means, and she's doing pretty well so far. With Grandma here she's getting good time from everyone. Other than that she is just being herself.

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Saturday, February 21, 2009

One day old now..

Okay, what you are really here for first:



Sleeping, one of many activities she excels at...



Yawning in Grandma's arms



Sisters


So, Abby and Danette are well. The little one slept really well the first night - on a full stomach no less. She is excelling in many departments, as is her mother. She's quite the sleepy one, but very sweet. She is eating like a champ and so far fusses very little (heck, she didn't even cry during the PKU test from what the nurse said). We still aren't sure what the eye color is, as little miss Abigail doesn't grace us with a view that often. They are definitely dark, and presumably will turn brown like her big sister's. The dark hair is pretty killer, very soft and does its own thing - just amazing how dark it is. Danette is doing well and moving around a lot and generally feeling pretty well. She also got lucky and was moved to a (huge) private room this afternoon. That has been so much more quiet (more because of the location) and easier to move around and have Sara visit in. Hopefully there will be a lot more rest in this room too!

Today was a whirlwind with a lot of tag-team action going on. I was with them early in the morning, came home to take Sara to her first swimming lesson of the year and Grandma headed into the hospital. After lunch, Grandma came home and I went back, then after naptime, Sara and Grandma came for a visit and dinner with the whole family.

Sara has been looking forward to swimming lessons for a while, so we made sure to make it to this one and she did great. She was kicking and moving and playing up a storm in the water. She didn't want to get out, but she was so cold and shivering that I had to cut her off a little early. Didn't like that, but she did enjoy the warm shower.

We have had lots of well wishes - thank you so much! We are certainly enjoying our time and looking forward to all being home (Monday sometime). We have also been very luck to have Grandma H. here to help out, and Sara has been so excited to have a Grandma to play with, especially Uno.

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Friday, February 20, 2009

Abigail is here!

Abby is a champ. She is doing well, eating well, etc. Born at 7:53 am today she weighed in at 7 lbs 4 oz and was 20.25 inches long. She has very dark brown hair, darker than the rest of us; she also has long fingers and toes. Abby is doing really quite well. Mom is also doing well, especially now that the anesthesia has worn off.

Sara came to visit her new baby sister today and was really quite excited and did very well. She even held here sister for a little bit (probably measured in seconds, but a picture captures it forever). And after taking a break to play with grandma in the waiting room for a few minutes she came in gave Mom a hug, and then said I want to go see "my baby" who was back in the nursery for the usual look-see by the nurses.

Anyway, all is well and I am sure there will be more news and pics in the days, weeks, months, years to come.

Thanks to all for the well wishes!




Abby



Abby, Sara, and Mom

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Abigail (Abby) 7 lbs 4 oz 20.25 in. 7:53 am . All are doing well. Pics tonight or tomorow.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

one more day....

Well, tomorrow is the day it seems. The baby-to-be-named-later is not showing any signs of wanting to arrive earlier than planned so far. That's okay, we're tying things up at work, at home, etc. It is a little odd knowing, and having known, that tomorrow is likely to be the baby's birthday. On the other hand, we're probably about as ready as we are going to be.

Grandma H. arrived last night with no problems at all. Sara and I met Danette and Grandma at Maggiano's for a nice dinner out, and Sara could get her favorite - pasta. Heck, she even got the waiter to bring her two desserts not just one :)

A bit snowy this morning, supposed to be more today and tonight, but the forecast amount of snow for tonight has been reduced, so hopefully I will not be pulling out the snowblower at 3:30 am. Danette is, we believe, first on the schedule for tomorrow so by early/mid morning we should have a new little one.

So, how will you know? Well, eventually I will try to post a quick cell phone picture or at least a quick blurb before the end of the day. Eventually some nice pics will hopefully show up once I get home and can upload them, just like last time.

The blog doesn't seem to take pics from the cell phone directly. So, you may be able to find them at the following link, once there are some:

http://picasaweb.google.com/sahiispot/baby

Anyways, that's all I know. Have a good day!

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Wednesday, February 18, 2009

2 days...

No new pics and no more news on the baby-watch front. Danette and the baby are doing well it seems. Since Sara didn't want to venture into the outside world without some help, maybe it isn't a surprise that this one isn't itching to go early either.

We have been having a pretty good week here. We had a great day with Sara on Monday, in fact it was probably one of the most fun days we can remember. Sara even said, to no one in particular, while she was playing before dinner on Monday "I had an awesome day." Which was a fair statement I would say. Then yesterday, it seems she had a repeat performance at day care, because one of her teachers said it was her "best day ever." Pretty good for a two-and-a-half year old. We were happy with one day, but two days in a row was outstanding.

Otherwise, all is quiet here. I finished teaching for a little while, since I have my class covered for the next two weeks while we are first settling in at home. And... Grandma H. will be here this afternoon, so that will be exciting too.

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Monday, February 16, 2009

What does a lion look like? "Roar!"

A semi-day-off on Monday isn't such a bad thing I must say. Danette stayed home this morning while I had to teach. She and Sara went to a local PB Kids store where there was a Cat in the Hat event at story time that was quite enjoyable, if busy. This afternoon I stayed home, did a little grading while the little girl was napping, and then we went off to the local library to read some books and do some puzzles.

Otherwise, everything is going fine here. We certainly appreciate all the well wishes and thoughts and are definitely looking forward to meeting our new little one.

Anyway, here are some pictures from the last couple of days.



Playing with playdoh, and looking over at the plant Dad rustled while trying to take yet another picture



What does a lion look like? "Roar!" (of course)

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Sunday, February 15, 2009

A three-day weekend for three

We hope that everyone had a great Valentine's day yesterday... we had some good family fun here. We woke up and opened some nice cards yesterday and then went to the (indoor version) of our favorite farmer's market for the first time in 2009. Definitely not the same as when it is in full swing, but there is definitely something nice about seeing many of the faces and foodstuffs we are used to on Saturday mornings.

Yesterday afternoon we went out for a little shopping and walking after Sara's nap. We stopped at the bookstore where Sara likes to play with the train sets, and we even found a gift for her to give her little sister. Though, in a sign that we still have to readjust to thinking about infants again, the stuffed animal in question has plastic eyes and will have to sit on a shelf in the baby's room to look at instead of for playing with for a while... ah well, it isn't like the kid will be lacking for toys in our house. And then last night we played several hands of Uno with Sara. There is a nice simplified card set for little kids, and she knows her numbers and colors well enough that she can mostly go through the game with just a bit of help... something she really likes.

Otherwise, we are just sort of tying up loose ends around the house, enjoying the relative quiet, etc this weekend. Sara has President's day off, but Danette and I do not. I have a morning class, so we will be trading off around noon tomorrow. Grandma H. will be here Wednesday afternoon and then if we haven't gone in already, we will head to the hospital on Friday morning.

Well, here are some pictures from the last week of Sara, Danette, and the hiding baby-to-be-named later.



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Friday, February 13, 2009

One week..... eek.

Well, one week from now we should have a new bundle of joy in our arms. Talk about seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Danette is doing well, getting a bit more tired and uncomfortable but otherwise on track. Nothing really new to report on the baby front at this point.

We went out with our friends Leah and Paul last night and they brought a Valentine's gift for Sara, including a new hat that Leah had made. Sara is showing it off in the restaurant in great style. She was very excited to take it to school and show her teachers this morning.

Anyway, that is all...



Say Cheese!

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Wednesday, February 11, 2009

9 days (or less)

For those keeping score at home, only 9 days (or less) until the baby-to-be-named later is born. Danette is doing well and still on track - no signs yet of anything imminent. We did ask the doc yesterday if he had a guess of how big the little one will be and he thought something in the 7 lb range. That would be about right if this kid is following the same trajectory as Sara, just a couple of weeks earlier.

Otherwise, things are okay. Sara had a rough day at school yesterday, rather defiant about wanting to quietly take her nap... apparently reinforcements were required. Of course, she woke up way too early upon hearing rain in the middle of the night, so that probably had something to do with it.

Anyway, we are just going about our business as usual.....

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Saturday, February 07, 2009

T-13 days

Yup, we are under the 2 week mark until the baby is here. Danette is doing well and apparently so is the little one. We are calmly and slowly getting a few last things together, but the calmness may be disbelief that we will have another baby around two weeks from now...

We had another week of crazy snow, and now it is melting away and near 50F outside. I have spend more time using my roof rake than I would like too, but it does seem to help keep the amount of ice buildup around the gutters down a bit.

Sara is doing well, of course. This week has been interesting because the young lady who usually falls off to sleep very quickly has been doing quite the opposite the last week to ten days. She has been routinely yapping to herself for at least 45 minutes to as long as 1 1/2 hours after we put her to bed; it doesn't matter if it is a nap (just shy of an hour of talking/singing today) or bedtime. Needless to say, something is going on. I suspect it is related to a noticeable jump in her imagination lately. Even her teachers have commented on it, in fact we got a note home from day care/school saying how busy she was that day with her buddies including getting in the car and driving to Minnesota for ice cream. The girl has never had ice cream in Minnesota, she was far too young the last time she was there, so she came up with it all on her own. Anyway, it is an interesting and often fun development.

Below are just some pics of Sara that I snapped while trying to get used to my new camera lens. These are nice because it his her face rather than her hair or neck that is in focus... I am getting better at it though.



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Tuesday, February 03, 2009

phoning it in

Things are well here. 17 days to go; nothing imminent. Just thought I would stretch my skills to see if I could post from my