Kickin' Coaster

Or not..

Little Ari doesn't like to nap anymore. Her naps are short and infrequent. Fortunately, this isn't really affecting her too much. She isn't any fussier than she used to be and she still sleeps for about 11-12 hours at night. This does mean that I don't get as much done during the day..or night..until after about 8:00 PM. Oh well, I guess it could be worse.
We had a great Thanksgiving, my Mom and Stepdad came up from Chicago and spent the weekend with us. It was very low-key and enjoyable. Thanks for everything guys :) I have a really busy week at work, I will try to update with more pictures when I get time. Here are a few from our visit with Santa, and also a few that our friend Katelyn took for us at the studio she works at (Richer Image).










I also included a few pictures from Jeremy's sister, Jennifer. When Ari was in Menominee for Halloween weekend, Jennifer had her boyfriend's Mom take some adorable photos for us (it was a surprise). Thanks Jenn :) :)

New daycare..and 4 months tomorrow!!

I am happy with the daycare that Arianna is at now, however, the YMCA has opened a new child development center and I happen to know the woman who is running it. Her name is Lori and I watched her son at the Crayon Club for a few years, she also worked for Head Start. I think she will do a great job at being a director. If you are a YMCA member, this daycare is a lot cheaper, and they let you pay hourly. The daycare we are using now, charges you either a full day or half day. So, we are spending a lot more than we need to, seeing at Arianna is only there for a few hours a day (two days a week). The YMCA daycare is trying to become accredited, so although liscensing standards require the the infant-caregiver ratio to be 4:1, Ari's new daycare will have a 3:1 ratio. The daycare is in an old elementary school in Mqt. that shut down...so the older kids get to use the school library (all books were left) and they get to use the gym and the cafeteria and everything. It is nice and spacious and I like that. Lori is requiring the lead teachers of each classroom to have a 4 year degree, which is great. The place is already up and running, and it has been for most of fall. I have only heard great things about it, so we were really excited to hear that they were opening infant and toddler rooms. Arianna starts next week, wish us luck! P.S. Little muffin will be 4 months old tomorrow!!!! You can see how big she is getting from these pictures! Oh, and she is doing really great with sleeping through the night...still going down by 8-9 PM and sleeping in until about 7:30-8 AM. We are really looking forward to Grandpa Paul and Grandma Patty coming up for Thanksgiving on Thuruckysday! That's all for now :)

Squirmy Worm

This is how I found Arianna sleeping in her crib the other morning. She was completely sideways!! We all know that her Dad is QUITE the active sleeper, so I guess she takes after him!

For You Grandma

Found This

I had this cute video my phone from about a month ago..

I don't have much time to write..but I thought I would share a little story. My good friend (and bridesmaid) Megan Grieb, sent us a soft little green frog when we found out we were pregnant. I gave it to Arianna yesterday morning and the rest is history. She is in love. She cuddles with it all day long. She chews and sucks on it and she talks to it and smiles at it. I've been wanting to take her in and get some new pictures taken of her but I have been tryng to wait until I know for sure that she will smile for the camera. She smiles a LOT, but sometimes she just won't (for the camera). Well that has all changes. All I have to do is hold Froggie up so she can see him and the smiles come right away. Froggie also helps put Arianna to sleep :) Speaking of sleepig, she loves her crib now. She stares at her mobile and smiles at the animals and talks to them. I always try to sneak in and take pictures but she usually sees me and then starts staring at the camera.. Here are a few pictures and a video!

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For Your Viewing Pleasure

To have a baby that sleeps thrugh the night is amazing!! I still can't believe she is doing so well with it! We all have been waking up happy lately! Here is a video and a few pictures..enjoy!

Too busy to blog!

It has been a long time since I have updated!! Sorry! Work is getting better...I guess. I still would rather be home with my baby than at work, but Jeremy said that won't be happening until the cost of daycare outweighs my paychecks. So, probably not until Arianna has a few more siblings! Speaking of Jeremy, he got promoted and is now the kitchen manager at Upfront. He is in charge of everything and anything that goes on with the kitchen. So proud of you babe :) It's what he has wanted to do all along, and he is glad to get out of the bar and start working normal hours. Well, more normal that 8 PM to 4 AM. Ufortunately, he has to go into work around 2 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I don't get home from work until 4:00...so Arianna will be starting daycare next week. We are sending her to Mister McGregor's Garden. It is owned by the same people who own the daycare I worked at all through college. We went on a tour and I know she will be in good hands. Plus, one of the girls who works in the infant room is a friend of mine, so I am thinking Arianna might get some extra love from her :) I am NOT happy that she has to be in daycare, but I am grateful that it is only 2 days a week for 2 hours a day.

Here are a few updates about our big 3 month old:

-She loves to suck on her hands, it's so cute. Sometimes she makes a fist, brings it up to her mouth, sticks our her tongue and licks her fist like an ice cream cone! She also misses her mouth completely sometimes and her fist will be up by her eye, but she will be sticking her tongue out like she is licking an imaginary hand. Haha she is a dork :)

-She is still drinking 4-5 ounces every 4-6 hours, at night sometimes up to 11 hours in between bottles! Lucky us :)

-She is great at holding her head up, still hates tummy time and is still too tiny to be in her jumper-thingy.

-She has her last bottle between 8-9 and is usually in bed around 10. She usually will sleep until 6-8 AM, but sometimes she still wakes up for a night bottle. When she does this, she goes right back to sleep.

-She is FULL of smiles!!! She never wants to smile for pictures though!! Little stinker. She makes lots of noises and coos while she smiles, it sounds like she is going to laugh quite often!!

-She has always liked books, but last night Jeremy was reading this ballerina book to her and she smiled so much, like every time he turned to a new page her face would light up! It was super cute :) I brought him out another book and she did the same thing with that book!

Jeremy's Mom and Erik took Arianna for us all weekend, so that Jeremy and I could relax and catch up on some sleep, as well as celebrate Halloween. It was very nice of them, thank you!! We had a great time! More Halloween pictures coming soon..

Back to Work..

My first day back at work was overwhelming. It was weird not working for 3 months and then jumping right back into everything on the first day. A lot changed while I was gone, including our entire curriculum and a few other things that probably wouldn't make sense to you if I tried to explain them. I also have a new family that enrolled while I was gone, so I met with them today too. Jeremy had meetings tody at work so our friend Rachel babsat Ari from 12-4. Everything went fine for her and the baby, which was good to hear. I am exhausted and tomorrow is going to be even longer because I work all day and then have to go to a training at night. One nice part of my day was being surprised with a beautiful fall bouquet of flowers that my Mom had sent to me at work. Thank you :) We are heading to Chicago on Saturday, it will be great to see friends and we also have a family reunion on Sunday. It's a short trip but we are looking forward to it :) That's all for now..I am exhausted.

So cute!

We had a gift card to Babies R Us and I just got the clothes that we oredered. They are so cute I had to share them with you all!

New Vids

These videos aren't too exciting. Whenever I try to take videos or pictures of Ari smiling, she stops looking at me and smiling and instead she just stares at the camera very seriously. I have tried to hide the camera as much as I can so that she is looking at my face instead but it doesn't work too well haha, she's a smart girl :)

Update

Hello! It has been a while since I have updated! Posting pictures is so much easier! My best friend ToniAnn came up last Thursday and stayed with us until Monday. We had so much fun!! It was nice to have her back in Marquette! Having her stay here was really nice because she is so helpful! She took Arianna for her morning feedings two mornings in a row and then kept her occupied, which allowed Jeremy and I to sleep in!! Arianna gave ToniAnn lots of smiles, which I am sure made her very happy! I have to go back to work on Monday and I am not very happy about it at all. Maternity leave was amazing, I mean who wouldn't want to sit around with a cute little baby all day every day?? Our work schedules allow us not to have to put Arianna in daycare, our friend Rachel is going to watch her on Monday's from 12-4 while Jeremy has work meetings and our friend Ashley is going to watch her on Wednesday's for a few hours. Ashley has a little baby boy named Easton who is 4 weeks younger than Arianna. She was in my program at NMU (Early Childhood) and we also worked at the Crayon Club together for a few years. Arianna is so much fun lately. She smiles all the time and she coos a lot..sometimes while she is smiling, it sounds like she might laugh but it hasn't happened yet. She is holding her head up on her own now (for the most part) and she is still a very happy and content baby. She is sleeping in her crib now, in her own room, which is very nice and allows us to get much more sleep at night. We have a video monitor which has been very useful for us. When she slept in our room, I would wake up to every little sound she made and now I turn the monitor on just high enough so that I can hear her cry, but not necessarily be woken up by all her other noises. We don't have much of a schedule, she eats abotu every 4-6 hours and sometimes longer at night. When we give her her last bottle of the night (usually between 8-10), we read her a book afterwards if she is still awake and then she goes into her crib for the night. She will wake up anywhere between 3-5 for her next bottle and then she goes back to sleep until about 9. So, she sleeps sometimes up to 7-8 hours at night, which is great for us! I have no complaints about that! This past week I have been busy doing stuff around the house. I want to get as much done as I can before I have to be a working Mom :( I have been trying to do some wedding planning but I haven't gotten too far. So far we have the reception venue all set, and the bridesmaids dresses picked out. We are about to book a DJ and a photographer. We know what we want to groomsmen to wear and I started making a list of all of the people we need to invite. I thought planning my wedding would be so much fun and it really is kind of a pain haha. I wish I had endless money and someone to do all the planning for me!! Oh well, maybe in my next life..

Lots of Pics!

Here are some new pictures of Arianna..ToniAnn is up for a few days, so we had a little photo shoot. :) She is getting so big!

Sick Baby...

It wasn't a very fun weekend for our little family. I was getting over being sick, while Jeremy and Arianna were in the midst of it. Luckily, she has been sleeping pretty well at night. Her throat is scratchy, and her voice sounds different when she cries. She is congested and it is tough for her to drink her bottle or take her pacifier. Hopefully she will start to get better in the next few days here. I have been wanting to buy her a bouncy seat for a while now, because bouncing is the only thing that seems to soothe her when she is fussy. I finally gave in and got her one at Target tonight (see pictures). I also got her a "swaddle" blanket, because I am so paranoid about her having blankets in her crib. I know how to swaddle her with a regular blanket but I have woken up two times to see her blanket pulled over her face. No matter how tight I get it, she always manages to wiggle out of it. The swaddle blankets have velcro on them to secure the sides of the blanket so the babies can't squrm out of them. Tonight is her first night in it (see pictures), so I will let you know how it works out for us! There are some other random pictures, including some of her in her new fleece PJ's that Grandma Patty got her. Goodnight!

Sunday...

Ari caught what Jeremy and I had. She was pretty miserable last night, but seems to be doing better today. She managed to smile for the camera, depite feeling crappy :)

More Smiles :)

I know that this is a little repetetive, but seeing Arianna smiling is one of the cutest things ever. So...I have another video and a few pictures. It's hard to get good smiling pictures of her, A. Because my camera has a slow shutter speed (in my opinion) and B. she is fascinated by the camera and now she stares at the camera instead of my face (which is what makes her smile!) So I have to be very discreet and try to hide the camera so she only looks at my face haha. Also, I have been super sick since about Monday and I am finally feeling better. Unfortunately, Jeremy caught it and now he is sick. I have him quarantined in our bedroom and I lysol'd the whole house and I am washing everything. The last thing I want is for baby Ari to catch it. P.S. I know her bib looks gross...it's because she just had a bottle and her bottles are mixed with prune juice now which makes for a messy time!

Smilin' Girl

Ari had the biggest smile for me today when she woke up from her morning nap. Here is the video and a picture too =)

Shots, Studs and Suppositories

Well, I kind of have a lot to update you all on. First of all, Arianna had her two month check-up yesterday..which also means she got some shots. She did pretty well with them, the first two weren't bad, she kind of just let out a little yell. The nurse told us that the third shot would hurt pretty bad, and it obviously did because she wailed. I felt so bad it made me cry. After about a minute of cuddle and bouncing, she was fine though =)

Here are her stats:

Height: 22 1/2 inches----50th percentile
Weight: 11 pounds 5 oz.----50th percentile
Head:15 1/4"----50th percentile

And....after she had her shots, since she already had some Tylenol in her, we decided to get her ears pierced. We have been wanting to for a while now and we decided that we would just get all the painful stuff done at once haha. We picked out some white gold little fake diamond studs. She only cried for like 30 seconds after she got her ears pierced and she was asleep by the time we left the store. It made me happy that it didn't seem too painful for her. She wasn't fussy at all that night and slept like she normally does. So if you are wondering, the vaccinations and ear piercing experience weren't horrible. Oh yes, I forgot one part of our Dr. visit. Since we have switched Ari's formula, she has hard a hard time pooping. Poor girl screams bloody murder and works her little buns off just to push a little bit out. Sorry, TMI haha. Anyway, Dr.Franz made up get suppositories and prune juice. Which we also started yesterday...The prune juice makes her spit-up purple-ish brown, but it seems to working a little bit. As you can imagine the suppository experience wasn't fun for any of us either. Hopefully little Ari is on the track to getting regular. I am posting pictures from last Sunday (GO BEARS), and from after Arianna got her ears pierced, plus a few more random ones.

Some Non-Baby Related Humor

I found this another blog...I thought it was really funny..enjoy!

1. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

2. More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.

3. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

4. I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they've invented the lighter?

5. Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

6. That's enough, Nickelback.


7. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

8. The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again.

9. Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

10. There is a great need for sarcasm font.

11. Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the fuck was going on when I first saw it.

12. I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.

13. The other night I hit a new low at an open bar. I had already hopped on highway blackout when, inevitably I had to find a bathroom. Eventually I decided it was probably on the other side of the bar so I tried to walk over there, but ran into a guy coming the other way. We played that, Both go left, Both go right game to no avail, so I finally put out my hand to guide myself past and that's is when I realized, yup, that's a mirror I just tried to walk through. And the guy on the other side is me. Even cats can re cognize their own image.

14. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

15. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

16. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

17. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

18. A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.

19. Was learning cursive really necessary?

20. Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".

21. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

22. Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

23. My brother's Municipal League baseball team is named the Stepdads. Seeing as none of the guys on the team are actual stepdads, I inquired about the name. He explained, "Cuz we beat you, and you hate us." Classy, bro.

24. Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

25. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

26. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a dick from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

27. Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as in...(10 second lapse)..ummm...Goonies"

28. What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?

29. While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.

30. MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

31. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

32. I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

33. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

34. I would like to officially coin the phrase 'catching the swine flu' to be used as a way to make fun of a friend for hooking up with an overweight woman. Example: "Dave caught the swine flu last night."

35. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

36. Bad decisions make good stories

37. Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!

38. Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?

39. If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

40. Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....

41. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

42. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.

43. There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to fall and hit your head after leaning your chair back a little too far.

44. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

45. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.

46. I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'

47. While watching the Olympics, I find myself cheering equally for China and USA. No, I am not of Chinese descent, but I am fairly certain that when Chinese athletes don't win, they are executed.

48. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damnit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

49. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

50. When I meet a new girl, I'm terrified of mentioning something she hasn't already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.

51. I really like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

52. Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles...

53. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

54. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

55. It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.

56. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

57. I think that if, years down the road when I'm trying to have a kid, I find out that I'm sterile, most of my disappointment will stem from the fact that I was not aware of my condition in college.

58. Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.

59. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, hitting the G-spot, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet my ass everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time...

60. My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the hell do I respond to that?

61. It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.

62. I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

63. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

64. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.

65. The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words, someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimate d that there must be at least four people eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself. There's nothing like being made to feel like a fat bastard before dinner.

Smiles!

Here is a little video that Jeremy showed me when I got home last night. Arianna woke up and smiled for Daddy. She has done it a few more times since then..So cute!

Busy Weekend!

Arianna, Jeremy and I have been pretty busy lately! I went to a training for work on Wednesday, even though I don't go back officially until Oct.19. Boo. The training was on an infant mental health assessment called the DECA. It is a social-emtional assmessment. I am not looking forward to going back to work. At all. On a happier note, my friend Desi, who was pregnant at the same time as me (see pics below) came to town this weekend with her Mom and her baby, Olivia. Oliva is about a week younger than Arianna. It was really good to see Desi and Liv..and it was also fun to hang out with Desi and Dani after seeing Bumpus at Upfront on Sat. night =) Our friend and co-worker Rachel, was nice enough to come over and babysit for Arianna that night. Arianna has been kind of fussy lately, so we have tried a new formula. It's Similac Isomil Advance Soy Formula. It is "easy to digest, for fussiness, gas ad spit-up". So far she is doing well with it. She has been less fussy and is spitting up a lot less than before, if at all. We have been working on getting her to sleep in her crib, in her bedroom, instead of her bassinet which is in our bedroom. She will so tired, fast asleep and as soon as we lay her down in her crib. Her eyes pop open and she is awake and crying. I will say that tonight she has been in there for the last hour, sleeping soundly...which makes me feel a lot better and more hopeful about the whole situation. I have been looking for a crib soother or something with lights, to help soothe her while she is in there because I don't think she cares that much for her mobile! Here are an array of pictures and videos from the last few days. Enjoy!

My favorite picture of Liv and Ari =)

Ok..here's another one!

Alright..

Most of you will probably find this boring, however, I thought it was really cute!

2 MONTHS!

I can't believe that Arianna is 2 months old already. That means I have to go back to work in 4 short weeks. Ari is getting soooo big, she almost needs to move up from newborn to size 1 diapers! She stays awake most of the day now and has still been sleeping well at night. We took her on her first hike today, to Dead River Falls, one of our favorite places in Marquette (pics below). We have been going there with the dogs for quite a few years now! Ari slept the whole time, in her sling which she loves. I put a little video on here for you guys too! That's all I have for now, enjoy =)

Cutie

Nothing new here!

Not much news to share but here are some pictures from Labor Day Weekend. We hung out at Blues Fest and Upfront all weekend with our loved ones. Thank you guys for everything!!

Ok One More..

Here is one more video for you guys =) By the way, Arianna is sleeping 7-8 hours at night. It's amazing!!

Wide Awake

Here's a little video I took of peanut today

Photo Shoot

These pictures are Arianna's newborn shots..They were done when she was about a week old!

My Hungry Baby

I guess the 6 week growth spurt that the Dr. told us about isn't a myth. Arianna has been eating like a cow all day today..She had a 6 OZ. bottle and then drank another 5 OZ. only 3 hours later!!! I am still in shock. This is my little baby that used to only eat 2 oz. every 4 hours. WOW! That's all for now =)

Peanut's Gettin' Chubby!

Arianna is getting a belly and it's so cute!! Our little family is doing well and I really have nothing new to report! We are excited to have Grace, ToniAnn, my parent's and Jeremy's Mom and Erik all coming up to visit us this weekend, should be fun =) Here are some new pictures!

1 Month!

Ari had her 1 month check up today. The Doctor said she is doing great..Here are her stats:

Height 20 1/2 inches-25th percentile
Weight 8 lbs. 14 oz.-50th percentile
Head 14 1/2 inches-50th percentile

We couldn't beleive she weighs almost 9 lbs!! Good to see she is growing!

Back to Marquette

Well, Arianna and I had a busy weekend! We drove down to Chicago on Friday and surprised my parents. They were very unsuspecting and were shocked when we walked into the restaurant that they were eating at! We spent the weekend shopping and hanging out with friends and family. It was really good to be home for a few days. We drove back today and stopped and saw Grandma Lynn and Auntie Jenn. Grandma Hoefgen also stopped by to say hi and drop off a Packers bib! Auntie Jenn also bought Ari some presents while she was shopping at Gurnee Mills (some super cute bibs). Thank you guys!! Jenn is headed off to college at UW-Green Bay on the 31st and it was good to see her before she left =) Ari is wonderful in the car, not that we expected anything else...She slept the whole time, both ways. I woke her up to eat 1 time each way, and the rest of the drive was uneventful. She is getting bigger and bigger each day and we are excited to go to our Dr. appointment tomorrow to see how much she weighs! Last time we were there, she was only 2 weeks old and weighed 6 lbs. Here are some pictures from our weekend.

Big Girl!

Arianna is finally starting to fit into her newborn sized clothes and it's exciting! She has been doing very well, she is such a laid back baby, we are lucky!! Here are some recent pictures of her.

First Bath

Here are some pictures from Ari's first bath..and some other random pictures that I had forgot to put up. She loves bathtime and is very content during it :) It has been pretty hot lately so that's why she doesn't have clothes on in all the pictures. I also included one from Jeremy and my night out! We left Arianna with a good friend, Megan, for a few hours while we had dinner and drinks. It was fun :)

2 weeks 2 days Old :)

New Car!

The Escape is long gone...and here is my new car! (Mine is blue not silver) It will be nice and safe for Baby Arianna and I. It's nice and spacious, with plenty of room to take her car seat in and out. I love it!!

2 weeks tomorrow!

It's hard to believe Arianna will be 2 weeks old tomorrow! She is doing very well, we had a Dr. appointment on Wednesday and she is now up to 6 pounds 7 oz. Still a little peanut :) Her jaundice is gone and bilirubin levels are fine. Dr. Franz took off the remainder of her umbilical cord and we were excited to see that she has an innie!

Jeremy and I have been blessed with such an easygoing baby. She sleeps all the time and when she is awake, she is content. We hardly ever hear her cry and we have to set the alarm clock to wake us up in the middle of the night to feed her, or else she would just sleep through the night. I can't wait until the Dr. says we don't have to feed her every four hours anymore! I have no complaints though, both Jeremy and I have been getting plenty of sleep. Jeremy watched Ari last night while I went out with some friends. I pumped a few bottles and left her and Daddy for aboout 6 hours. Jeremy called me and let me know that she did great with taking a bottle, which made me so happy :) He also gave Arianna her middle of the night bottle, which allowed me to sleep through the night. When I do get up and feed her in the middle of the night, he always wakes up and sits with me, he tells me that he doesn't want me to feel like I am in this alone. He is so sweet.

Thank you to everyone for the cards, flowers and gifts. We appreciate our friends and family so much. My Mom left on Tuesday, after being up here for about 2 weeks. It was sad to see her go, but it's nice to know that her and Grandpa Paul will be back in just 4 weeks. My Mom was able to go with us to get Arianna's first professional pictures taken, so that was fun. They are going to be so cute, just wait!! We should have them in about a week or so.

Arianna has been such a blessing in our lives, it has been amazing to see all of the support and love from out friends and family. I had no idea that this many people cared so much about us. Jeremy and I wake up everyday and stare at our little baby girl and talk about how lucky we are, and how perfect she is. We fall in love with her more and more every day. She is starting to open her eyes a lot more now and she spends a lot of time gazing at us, into our eyes. So precious :) My favorite time of day is when we get up in the morning (after I have to wake up her to feed her) and it's Arianna and Mommy time. We go into her bedroom and snuggle, get changed and pick out an outfit for the day. She is always alert around 9 AM and it's so cute. After she is all ready for the day, we usually go back into our room and wake Daddy up :) I have to say one more time that we are SO lucky to have such a laid back baby. Life is good :)

A little video =)

Grandma Patty and I took a quick video of Arianna yesterday..here it is!

Welcome Baby Arianna!!

Sorry it has taken me so long to get on here! I plan on posting my birth story in the next few days, but for now I wanted to get some pictures up so you guys could see our little Angel! We have been at home since yesterday aftersoon and we have been so busy, so thank you for all of the phone calls and e-mails, we are trying to get back to people as fast as we can :)

She was came into the world as a C-Section baby..
6 lbs. 8.8 oz.
18 inches long
5:40 PM
July 24, 2009

Too tired to do captions for all of these pictures..they aren't in the right order either, but enjoy :)

WE'RE HAVING A BABY!!!

Well...we just found out that we are going to be induced and Baby Arianna will be here "within the next day or two". There was protein found in my urine and the Dr. feels that it is safer to deliver the baby now before the pre eclampsia gets worse. Wish us luck :)

Blogging from the Hospital!

First of all, thank you to all the friends and family who have called, e-emailed, stopped in and sent flowers to us. We love you and are so thankful for your support!

I am going to try to keep this baby update as simple as possible. My fingers are swollen and numb so it hurts to type! Jeremy and I have been at MGH since about 2:30 yesterday afternoon. My blood pressure is high and my hands and feet swollen to the point that our OBGYN was concerned. The initial cervical exam showed that I am not dialated yet and the baby hasn't completed dropped yet. She is in a head down position though :) They decided to run a 24 hour urine screen on me, so everytime I go into the bathroom, it goes into a little cup that they come and dump into a big red jug that sits in my bathroom. According the Dr. Pond, I have all signs of pre-eclampsia and they are just waiting on the urine screen results (it isn't done until 9 tonight) to see if there is protein my urine, which is the determining factor of whether I have pre-E or not. If they don't find any protein, I will be diagnosed with pregnancy related hypertension and will most likely put on bed rest. Dr. Pond also informed us that they don't let people with this condition go past their due date, so that was nice to know..that we will have a baby in our arms for sure, before Aug.21. If there is protein in my urine, it means I have either mild or severe pre-eclampsia. If this is the case, I will be induced very very soon.

Dr. Pond scheduled an ultrasound for us this morning to measure Arianna's growth, as well as the levels of amniotic fluid surrounding little Princess. The radiologist did a number of different measurements; head circumference, length of femur bone, belly size, etc. All of those measurements are taken into account as they tell you the weight of the baby. Arianna happens to weigh 7 POUNDS!! I was shocked, considering I only weight 6 at birth, but Jeremy and his sister were 9 and 10 pound babies so I knew there was a chance of a big baby. The ultrasound measurements also indiciate that we are measuring to be about 37 weeks 5 days pregnant right now, with a due date of Aug.11. Our original due date of Aug.21 puts us at 35 weeks 5 days right now.

The labs and the urine screen results will be sent to my Doctor at some point during the night tonight (late night). She told us we will know a lot more after all these results come in and she has a chance to analyze them. So, we are spending another night in the hospital and we are anxiously awaiting the results of our labs.


P.S. I thought I saw a stretch mark on my outer thigh and I very urgently asked Jeremy to come look at it and tell me if it was one or not, and his response was, "No babe, it's just a dimple". OH SWEET. Not a stretch mark, just new cellulite!! Thank you Arianna, you can stop now :)


P.S.

Arianna: We love you sooooo much little baby girl and we are glad you are healthy!! You have no idea how excited your Mommy, Daddy, Grandparents and lots of friends and family are to finally meet you! Your bedroom is all set up for you and we have so many hugs, kisses and cuddles that we can't wait to give you! We love love love you, get here safe <3

35 week Dr. Visit

We had our appointment on Thursday this week..It was scheduled for 4:00 and we didn't get in to the exam room until 5 mins to 5:00. This didn't make me a very happy camper. The Doc didn't like the fact that I was still really itchy all over and she mentioned that sometimes pregnant women get a liver disease that can cause itching..then said she was going to go check if they did a liver function test last time they did bloodwork on me. A few minutes later a nurse came in and gave us some paperwork to go to the lab and get blood drawn ASAP so they could test it. The lab was already closed by the time we left our appointment, so I went the next day after work. After I sat and waited for about 20 mins, a nurse came and asked me if I had fasted for 8 hours before I came in. I said no, and she told me that this type of blood test requires fasting before it. I told her that no one told me that and I left. So...I finally went in to the lab at the hospital yesterday morning after not eating for 8 hours and the person I gave the paperwork to looked at me and said she had no idea what kind of test that my OB was asking for. Then she asked if I knew, and I told her it was something to do with the liver. She gave me a blank look and continued to stare at the paperwork from my Dr., like it was written in a foreign language. I finally had some blood drawn and we are now waiting on the results. Other than that, we are excited to be counting down the final days and the Dr. said that everything looks good :)

Just Kidding!

To those of you who don't know me very well, this is probably going to make me sound like a mean person. Really though, it was funny and I'm not :) Jeremy has an issue with answering his cell phone sometimes (frequently). He doesn't do it on purpose but he will leave it home, in the car, at friend's houses, or forget that it's on silent, etc. There have been many times where his mother or other various members of his family have had to call me just to get a hold of him. I have been telling him that during the pregnancy it's going to be very important that he know where his phone is and check it often. He is much better than he used to be, but once in a while it still happens where I can't get a hold of him for some stupid reason. So, this past Tuesday I called him a few times from work, no answer. I called him on my way home from work, no answer. It was a long day and I was getting annoyed because I just had a simple question to ask him. I knew he wasn't at work and that he had probably just forgotten to turn his ringer back on after he woke up, but I was still irritated! What if it had been an emergency!? So I called again and left a voicemail saying that my water had broke. HAH. About 20 minutes later I was on the phone with my Dad and Jeremy called me back. My Dad suggested that I ignore the call and let him worry for a second, and then call him right back..so I did! HAHA. Well, what do you know, when I called back there was no answer. Now, if he had heard my voicemail he would have called me 4898598353 times so I figured he didn't check his messages (not unusual). So I sent him a text message that said, "My water broke". About 5 minutes later I got a frantic call from him saying, "WHERE ARE YOU??!!" I couldn't help but laugh and he realized it was a joke all along. He started to get mad and then I told him that this could have really happened and that's why it's important for him to check his phone once in a while. After he calmed down he told me that when he read my text, he ran to the babies room and was trying to get the carseat detached from the stroller and trying to find the base for the car seat and get everything ready to go to the hospital. I can visualize this scene and it makes me laugh :) Although I felt kind of bad, I think he learned his lesson haha. He's the best =)

33 weeks..

We got back from Appleton tonight..We drove down to Menominee yesterday and had dinner with Jeremy's Mom and slept at their house. I was very excited to wake up to fresh cinnamon rolls and orange juice, thanks Lynn =) After that, we drove to Appleton and went to Babies R Us (it's the closest one to us up in Da UP). We got a crib mattress, a second car seat base so we each have one in our car, and some other essentials. We also bought a little onsie that says "Princess" and it has a cute little built in tutu (pink) that goes all the way around. We couldn't resist. Jeremy also got Ari some pink and white Milwaukee Brewers clothes.. I told him nicely if she is going to wear pro-sports apparel, it will be Chicago teams only. The only exception is University of Wisconsin stuff, because I can tolerate it =) We stopped at our good friend Brett's (Jeremy's best man) apartment on the way back home, it was great to see him and we miss him so much..When I got out of the car and he hugged me so tight and said, "How ya been Mama?!", I almost cried. He is a really really good friend of ours and we really do miss him being in Marquette. Our crib that I have been wanting for sooooo long was here when we got home tonight. Jeremy had about a half hour from the moment we walked in the door until the time he had to be at work. He said he wouldn't have time to put the crib together, and although I was dissapointed I told him it could wait one more day. When I came out of the bathroom he was putting it together :) He is so sweet. He worked and worked on it and was only able to get about 1/3 of the way done before he had to go to work. So now I have a partially put together crib and lots of bedding that I really want to put on it tonight. I contemplated hiring a little handyman or maybe knocking on the neighbors door and giving them my sweetest smile while asking them to please finish putting my crib together(If Brett still lived here I know he would come over and do it for me!) but I didn't..Sooo I will probably wake up in the morning and patiently wait for Jeremy to get out of bed and then have him do it right away :) I can't wait to finally have the nursery almost complete! On another note, my feet are about 4 times the size that they normally are...and it's hard for me to do most of my normal,everyday activities. I wonder if this is what it feels like to be obese. Yikes. My rash is worse and the OBGYN had my get it checked out on Friday at the ER to make sure it wasn't an allergic reaction..which is wasn't. They also ran some bloodwork because of how swollen my feet have become. Everything is fine and they gave me some steriod cream to rub on the rash...which was almost non-existant when the Dr. looked at it...and then flared back up about an hour after I left. I am looking forward to meeting Arianna and not being pregnant anymore...

Goodnight!

32 weeks 3 days

Desi and I had many good times =)

So I decided to include some pre-baby pictures!
Some of these are really old..


Read the post below and you will understand why I posted these!

We had another Dr. appointment today. Dr. Hedmark told us that Arianna is in a head-down position and will most likely stay that way until birth. That makes me happy because I didn't really want to deal with trying to deliver a breech baby. We have two more appointments and then we start going every week. I told the Dr. that my rash is getting worse and that Tylenol PM, Benadryl and the hydrocortisone cream aren't providing much relief for it. I told her I don't sleep at all anymore because I scratch and itch all night long. She basically said that those are my only options. Good times. I don't feel like taking pictures anymore, so if I happen to be in other people's pictures, I will put them up on here. These pictures below are from my good friend Desi's baby shower on Saturday. We worked together at Upfront pretty much all throughout college (see above pictures). She doesn't live in Marquette anymore but I wish she did. She is due about 3 weeks before me and she is having a little girl too =) We spend a lot of time complaining to eachother =) =) As well as comparing stories, advice and many other things.

8 months pregnant!

We finally ordered our crib!!!

It's from the DaVinci "Emily" line and it's a 4-in-one convertible crib, so it will convert to a toddler bed, daybead and eventually full sized bed. Yay! Now we just need to order a mattress...

I don't have a baby picture of Jeremy on my computer but here is one of my Mom and I...We'll see if Arianna has curls too =)

31 weeks

How far along?: 31 weeks.
Total weight gain: plenty
How big is baby?: Approx4 pounds and 17 inches long
Maternity clothes?: Yep.
Stretch marks?: yes. ughh
Sleep?: not getting much at all
Best moment this week?: getting all of Arianna's clothes and blankets washed, folded and put away
Movement?: tons
Food cravings?: Gatorade and PowerAde, can't get enough..also Raisan Bran
Labor signs?: nah
Belly button in or out?: not out yet
What I miss: sleeping on my stomach and back, mini-skirts and Summer Shandy
What I'm looking forward to: not being pregnant anymore
Milestone: going to our first set of classes at MGH