Cousin Jill Time

Cousin Jackie Time

I have to apologize to Jackie, I didn't get to take a lot of pictures when she came to visit. She came when Allie was a week old and I was still trying to adjust from surgery and night time feedings ... I was so tired.  We are excited that my niece Jackie and her husband Jonathan will become Allie's Godparents in the near future.

Looking at these pictures Allie is SO small!



Bath Time

 First Bath



Allie loves her bath night, she is so calm and likes the water poured on her body. She usually sticks out her tongue trying to catch the water.

Intervention

Makayla needs an intervention because of her obsessive use of our tablet. It isn't as bad as when we first got it. Aunt Dee had a great idea to make some tablet tokens if she wants to use the table, each token is worth 30 minutes. We are thinking about implementing this very soon!

One Month Old

We Are Still Here

It seems like the rest of the family has made blog updates but me and it's sad that it took me a while to log on because I couldn't remember my email address and password ... never a good sign!

We have had many visitors since Allie was born. As you know my mom was here during her birth and then my niece Jackie came a week after Allie was born. It was perfect timing as Dwight had went back to work and I wasn't sure how I was going to juggle getting Makayla ready in the morning, tending to Allie's needs and then getting Makayla off to the bus stop. I still haven't managed me getting ready in the morning and it's something that I'm going to have to perfect as I go back to work in 1 1/2 weeks .... where did the time go??  Jackie was a big help cooking, cleaning and cuddled with Allie during her week stay!

Second on the list was my niece Jill. She was here during Makayla's spring break and I was so glad she did! There would have been no way I would have kept Makayla entertained during that time. They went and got a pedicure, rode rides and played mini golf at Mall of America and worked on making a blanket just to name a few. She too helped cook and clean ... and oh cuddled with Allie during her few days with us.

Then my sister arrived ... FINALLY! She stayed with us for 1 1/2 weeks and we have missed her since she left. There is always something about sister bonding time and I'm happy that Makayla and Allie will some day get to experience that! Dee goes above and beyond ... she has taught her daughters well! A good majority of her time was spent with Makayla, working on their secret project of paper dolls that someday she will get to enjoy with Allie. They also made a newspaper and read stories. While Makayla was at school we watched movies and she too had her good share of cuddle time with Allie.

We are so blessed to have such wonderful family members in our lives and are willing to take time away from their jobs, family, school, etc. to take care of us!

I've also had many co-workers, friends and neighbors stop by. We have been really overwhelmed with the cards and gifts that have been sent!  Especially those who thought of Makayla. I have some amazing friends that have given her presents and had created Easter baskets for her.

Dwight's mom was able to meet Allie for the first time a few weeks ago. Thankfully, we had really nice weather the day we met her half-way. She too cuddled with Allie but there is only so much of that you can do in a restaurant setting. Still it was nice to see her and catch up!

Allie is now almost two months old. She doesn't sleep that much during the day and it takes her a long time to fall asleep at night. Over the last week, she has been going to bed between 11-11:30pm ... that's too late for me! She is still getting up 2-3 times per night. We were very spoiled with Makayla as she was she laid her on her stomach during her naps and she would sleep longer because of that. So, I'm going to try that tonight to see if that would work.

She camps out at the breast so it's been a real struggle for her to take the bottle. Again, we were spoiled with Makayla as she took the first bottle we gave her and formula wasn't a problem. Allie finally started to take Dr. Brown bottles but yet the nipple holes are too big, she gasps for air because she is getting too much. I did find preemie nipples so that has been working like a charm. I haven't been able to find time to pump that much since she nurses all the time, and now I'm finding out she will want to do it just to comfort herself (she doesn't like the pacifier). I know once I go back to work my milk supply will go down dramatically so we have been introducing formula a few times a day. It's pure torture for her, she hates it. I finally called the lactation specialist with our pediatric clinic and she has given us a few tips, which has seemed to worked. She had a lot of baby acne that we were concerned about but the doctor suggested that I stop consuming so much milk and cheese ... guilty!

She now smiles and coos ... I've missed that gummy smile! She found her hands and loves to shake rattles and keys. She is in love with the ceiling fan, if we need to calm her down from crying ... stand under the ceiling fan ... works like a charm! She loves to watch you talk to her, she looks you in the eyes and then watches your mouth and tries so hard to talk back.

I'm doing well but am truly missing my sleep, anyone can see that from the huge bags under my eyes! I had my six-week check-up with fasting labs for glucose on Tuesday. I'm still bleeding but very little now, my doctor thinks that my period is starting ... oh lovely. That's something that I did not miss at all while being pregnant. I failed my glucose test so they are sending me to the hospital on Friday for a two-hour test. Doesn't surprise me if I'm diagnosed as we are cursed in the family AND I had gestational diabetes twice so now I'm more susceptible in getting it. I've lost all my baby weight, plus some ... I can thank breastfeeding for that!

Makayla has been a great big sister and since the newness has worn off she has a love/hate relationship with Allie. I've been trying my best to praise Makayla and incorporating Allie into that. Occasionally Makayla will not want us to pick Allie up when she's crying or tend to her needs first. But Makayla still wants to hold her, read to her and play with her. It's been so nice to see!

I head back to work at the end of the month and I'm not really looking forward to it. Dwight will be with Allie during the day until I get home from work. I will be a single parent four nights out of the week (Sunday through Wednesday). If we can get our mornings down while Makayla is still in school I will be happy. Trying to get Makayla ready (picking out clothes, fixing breakfast, packing lunches), feeding and getting Allie ready for the day, feedings and getting myself ready for the day and putting two kids in the car and taking Makayla to school. Yikes! At least Makayla has been good at making her breakfast in the morning and we solved the clothing issue. My family witnessed this while they were here. Every morning Makayla wants me to pick out her clothes, I tell her all the time that she is old enough to pick out her own clothes but there is a certain boy in her class that she wants to impress. So I bought a holder for her closet so now on Sunday night we can pick her clothes out together for the whole week. Problem solved and we are not rushing around in the morning.

Stay tuned for pictures ....

Pictures Of Allie

 

Please click on this link to see other pictures of baby Allie: http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=b536dc7a0a181331&sid=0BaNGzFq5atnFA



Baby Allie Has Arrived!

My phone rang at work on Tuesday mid-afternoon, it was my sister. We have been planning her visit for the last several months and we knew she was excited to be here for Allie's birth. Well, the phone call wasn't good as she spent the early morning hours in the hospital. She was diagnosed with Viral Meningitis ... what horrible timing. Makayla took it the hardest but understood that Aunt Dee needed to get better. We are looking forward to her rescheduled visit in April! My parents were on their way back from North Carolina so they were able to be here. Makayla really wanted to be at the hospital the day of Allie's birth but we needed someone to watch her while we were in surgery. We were very thankful my mom could be here!

We entered the hospital at 8am, I wasn't able to eat or drink anything for 8 hours before my surgery and could only take my morning pills with just a little water. My mom waited in the waiting room while Dwight and Makayla were with me. It took the them 4 times and 2 nurses to put in my IV. I moved my hand just a little bit and felt this gush of liquid run from my arm. When I looked over, blood was pouring from my hand and all over the bedding and floor. Makayla took one look and said "I'm outta here" and made a mad dash to the waiting room while Dwight called the nurse. Apparently the cap wasn't on tight so they adjusted it and all was well.

Surgery was scheduled at 10am but there were two other c-sections ahead of me and they were running a little behind. It was weird walking into the operating room instead of being wheeled in a bed like I was with Makayla. While in the operating room they gave me my epidural and then catheter. Dwight then came in by my side. It took them a while to cut through all my scar tissue and at 10:52am on March 1, Allie Lynn Swanson was born healthy and a full head of hair. She was 8 lbs, 6 oz and 20.5 inches long. After Allie was out, the tied my tubes and was wheeled into recovery for about an hour. While in recovery they immediately brought me Allie, I wasn't able to have any visitors other than Dwight and Makayla. Makayla was super excited to meet her new baby sister.

After an hour in recovery, they wheeled me to my room and played twinkle, twinkle little star (something the hospital does when a new baby is born and the mom is being wheeled to her room). I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful staff to take care of Allie and I. My friend Paulette stopped by after work with a Casey's taco pizza in hand, unfortunately I was on a clear liquid diet for the evening so I wasn't able to enjoy it. Thankfully I love it cold, Dwight brought me a few pieces every day for lunch. A delivery of flowers from my sister arrived in the afternoon. Around 9pm my nurses came in to get me to stand up. After my nurses put me back in bed, they left and I felt this gush. Thinking my catheter fell out, I called for the nurses to come back. It was actually blood, once they stood me up to clean up my bedding it ended up being all over the floor, my tubes, my legs, socks, etc. I don't remember bleeding after I had Makayla. I'm still bleeding but not as heavy or bad. They told me to watch for any blood clots bigger than the size of a quarter and it shouldn't last longer than 6 weeks. My sugars were great but my blood pressure was high and continues to be high. They upped my dosage of medication and actually made a follow up appointment with my family doctor, which was last Friday. She upped my medication again and I am supposed to continue to monitor it at home with a follow up appointment in two weeks.

The next morning they took out my IV and my catheter, I was able to take a shower and start to feel like a normal person. Makayla had me up and walking around the hallways. Over the weekend I had many visitors and Dwight would bring Makayla and my mom over for frequent visits. Makayla would fight nana for holding rights through my hospital stay, she was and still is a very proud big sister.

On a snowy Monday morning we were able to start the paperwork to head home. My nurse was able to take out my staples and filled my prescriptions (for blood pressure and Ibuprofen for pain, thankfully that is all I needed). Allie did lose weight and by the time we left the hospital Monday morning she was down to 7 lbs, 7 oz. Once a baby loses over 10% of their birth weight the hospital gets a little concerned. This is what happened to Makayla as well. A home health care nurse was scheduled to come to our home that Tuesday and then we needed to follow up in our pediatrician office that Wednesday.

On Allie's follow up appointment she had gained some weight and weighed in at 7 lbs, 10 oz. They wanted to see us back again, our appointment is Monday. On her Monday appointment we will also stop by the maternity floor to deliver all the wonderful nursing staff chocolate chip cookies and a thank you note.

Stay tuned for pictures, just need to upload them from three different cameras, two phones and one tablet. :)

Baby Allie Update

Five more days!  I'm looking forward to sleeping on my back, not waking up ten times a night to go to the bathroom and not having to roll off the couch or need help every time I need to get up.

Tuesday is my last biophysical appointment. Preregistration at the hospital is complete, I need to go in Thursday afternoon to have some blood work done. Wednesday will be my last day of work before heading out on maternity leave. Thursday my sister is flying in for two weeks, we have been very excited for her visit. The house is cleaned, our bags are packed and now we are just patiently waiting for Friday to arrive!

I can't eat or drink anything eight hours before my surgery that is scheduled at 10a at Fairview Ridges in Burnsville. We need to be at the hospital at 8a. Gina, a friend of mine, is working on her portfolio for photography, so she will be there to get some photos of Makayla meeting Allie for the first time and all the excitement around Allie's birth.

Thankfully, I've had a really healthy pregnancy! I haven't complained until my last month of being very uncomfortable but other than that it has been a pretty smooth ride. My schedule is pretty packed at work this week with lots of meetings before heading out, I'm sure this week will go extremely slow!

The next Baby Allie Update will be her arrival!

Bunco Baby Shower

Once a month I play Bunco with some women, a few of them I work with and the others are friends of theirs. We always have a great time when we get together. On Friday, they surprised me with a baby shower. I wasn't expecting anything because most of them attended my baby shower through work. I have an amazing group of friends! They even bought a few "big sister" gifts for Makayla.

 

I received another diaper cake, this one I have never seen before. It's a motorcycle, how cute is that? A receiving blanket holds the wheels and the handle bar together. A bottle is the headlight and socks are on the ends of the handle bar. Two bibs cover the front and back wheels.

 

We were given a baby swing and another play gym for the floor. Makayla's "adopted aunts" gave her a $25 gift card to Barnes and Nobles so over the weekend she was able to buy 5 books and even had a little bit of money left over. These two women spoil Makayla and usually like to share their winnings with her. A co-worker of mine gave Makayla an American Girl horse outfit with matching boots, Katie is styling now!

 

Thank you ladies for a very fun evening ... all of you are very thoughtful!



Family Fun Night

Every year Makayla's school has Family Fun Night in February. Lots of games, face painting and photo booth are set up in many of the classrooms. A huge obstacle course is set up in the gym. You can pre-order dinner, which was pizza, garlic bread, drink and a cupcake. This year they had smoothies available, Makayla enjoyed that! We had fun playing bingo and participating in the sucker walk. Can't wait to see how our picture turned out, it should be emailed to us very soon.


Baby Allie Update

I can't believe, only two more doctor's appointments left before Allie comes into our lives. My ultrasound this week confirmed that Allie is 7 pounds 9 ounces, I'm hoping they are off since I have two more weeks to go!  I doubled in weight from the previous weeks before, so far I've gained 19 pounds. Everything else is still going really well, her movements, heartbeat, the fluids, my blood pressure and sugars. My doctor checked my cervix and it's still way up there so she isn't concerned that I will be going early. I had a test for Group B Strep so I'm just waiting on the results from that. I tested positive with Makayla so they had to give me an antibiotic when I arrived in delivery. If I tested positive this time around it really doesn't matter since I will be having a scheduled c-section.

I think we are ready to go, as far as the arrival of Allie at the house. Clothes, bottles, pacifiers and toys have been washed and put away. Breast pump supplies have been purchased and washed. The only thing that I need to do is pack my suitcase for the hospital. We picked up some last minute things last weekend like breast pads and nursing tanks and bras.

Wow, this time has gone by so fast, I can't believe only a few more weeks to go. Makayla is definitely excited to meet her baby sister but I'm not sure if she is ready for all the changes. I guess only time will tell. I know she will be a great help and an awesome big sister!

Makayla Update

 

On Thursday we had parent/teacher conferences. She, of course, is doing really well in school. Math she still struggles a little bit and we've bought her flash cards to help at home. Her teachers are impressed that when Makayla doesn't understand something, she is not afraid to say she doesn't get it. Others won't say anything and then will struggle through their assignments.

Before every conference they will ask each student to write what their favorite class is, favorite teacher, favorite subject, friend in the classroom, etc. Apparently, most of the class considers Makayla a friend in the classroom. Her teachers said next time they are going to tally it.

Makayla has been pretty healthy this winter, despite all the kids in her class recently with the flu and strep throat. She came down with a really bad cold this week. I took her to the doctor and they confirmed it was just a bad cold. They recommended her staying home from school to get some rest so that's what she did today. She looks and feels 110% better. It must have been all that sleep she got, she slept for almost 12 hours ... something that she hasn't done since she was a baby. She's happy she is feeling better as they are having a Valentine's Day party at school tomorrow. Though she is even more excited for Family Fun Night at school next Thursday.

Ice Castle - Mall of America

Since I was feeling good, last Saturday we headed to Ice Castles at Mall of America. The Ice Castles are made entirely out of ice with no supporting substructure. Their beauty lies in their organic, ever-evolving nature. These changing ice formations are dynamic, larger than life and something entirely new and unique.

 

 

Happy Birthday To Me

 

Last Monday I celebrated my 36th birthday! We celebrated over the weekend, Dwight and Makayla took me to my favorite restaurant Don Pablo's. Our server gave me the wrong drink, I asked for a Nada Margarita but gave me a Nada Daiquiri ... it still wasn't the same. When we got home Makayla as very eager to give me my present, she was proud because she remember what I wanted. I've been wanting a food dehydrator for quite some time. Of course we had to try it out, we did a couple trays of bananas and apples. Mmmm, so good!

 



Baby Shower

Last Tuesday my wonderful HR department threw me a baby shower and between 25-30 co-workers came. The whole HR department supplied a huge potluck lunch for everyone in attendance.  I was so overwhelmed with all the gifts.  Some of the items that we received were: 2 carriers with bases (we were able to take one back and pick up some of the little items that we still needed), board books, diapers, homemade Dora quilt, blankets and burp cloths, bathtub with shampoo, body wash and powder, table booster seat, toys, frame, activity gym, gift cards and lots, and lots of cute clothes!  Let me say that this will be the first time that Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren will have entered our home.

 

 



Makayla and the Orthodontist

Makayla went to see the orthodontist a few weeks ago and come to find out she doesn't need anything done with her jaw like her dentist recommended. I'm not sure if her dentist was trying to give his friend some business but I didn't go with the initial referral because it was out of network. I decided to go with someone else, closer to our home and who had better reviews.  They told me that Makayla will definitely need braces when she is like 10, 11 or 12 but her jaw is fine. The top part will definitely be over crowded so we talked about the next steps with that, she will either have spacers or can have two teeth removed to make room for everything else. She has 12 baby teeth left, 6 on the top and 6 on the bottom. 

 

I have been contemplating changing from her current pediatric dentist to the dentist that Dwight and I see.  After this incident it's a little more clear.

 



Baby Allie Update

What's with the screen door you ask? Well, I got the idea from Makayla's best friend who has a screen door on her bedroom doorway. She has two cats and one dog, so to keep them out they put on a screen door. Now that she is older, she still has it but has it decorated cute with a curtain, doorbell, flowers, etc.

 

In our situation, Mister loves spending time in this room. He will hang out in the window and wait for me to come home from work. He will sleep in my rocking chair and we have found him a few times in Allie's crib. Now that our bedroom is in the basement, I didn't want to  have to worry about him jumping in the crib after she is born.  And too, I didn't want to shut the normal door because I wanted Allie to be able to sleep through anything. When Makayla was born, her room was in the loft that overlooked the living room and kitchen, that girl could sleep through anything! We could even run the vacuum cleaner by her crib and she wouldn't wake up. Now with the screen door installed, Mister is locked out and sounds will be able to go through.  Mister does not like this one bit! He sits outside the door and meows ... apparently he doesn't like change because he has issues with our ceiling fan too!

 

Since my last post I will have gone through 3 (including tomorrow) more bio physicals. Everything is right on track with Allie's growth, movement, fluids, etc. She was a rock star at her last ultrasound, completed her checklist in under 5 minutes ... normally it's 20 minutes. Blood pressure and sugars are still super. Last appointment I received my whooping cough vaccine, my doctor warned me that my arm would hurt for 4 days. She was right, I was in a lot of pain! Why do people want to touch your arm after you receive a shot? It never fails! Allie's head is down and at tomorrow's appointment they will check my cervix. 

 

Work paperwork has been completed for benefits and my leave. Tomorrow is also my work shower. Now, we are just counting down the days ....



Ceiling Fan Installed

Dwight's friend from work came over on Saturday morning to install our ceiling fan. Thankfully, the previous owner had all the wiring done. It has actually been nice having it, you can definitely tell the change in air flow. 

 

Mister, on the other hand, is a little upset. He is very scared of the ceiling fan and will keep looking up at it (if it's going or not). Last night he finally slept on the couch, otherwise he had been camping in Makayla's room all weekend.



Mister

Makayla has been saving up her money to buy Mister a tall cat post but they are so expensive that we convinced her to buy this $7 toy at Fleet Farm a few weeks ago. Mister loves this thing and will spend hours running around inside of it. Also, the creative part of Makayla made him a toy. She took a box and put holes in it, from there she stuffed his toys inside and he will sit there and bat them around while running through his tube.

Baby Allie Update

Last Friday I had my second bio physical appointment, everything is still looking great and at that time she was stretched across my belly. Though last night she decided to go head down and I've been in pain ever since. It doesn't help things since I have already had trouble sleeping over the past two weeks. This going to the bathroom every hour in the middle of the night is out of control, I can handle it when I'm up during the day but at night ... ugh!

This coming Friday is my last appointment with my Nazi doctor, which is a good thing because I was getting tired of her showing up late to appointments and not even apologizing. The doctor that will be performing my surgery will be finishing up the rest of bio physicals on Tuesday mornings.

Now it's just filling out benefit paperwork adding Allie to our medical-dental-vision plan and writing a letter to the hospital for my tubal ligation. Registration is already completed for the hospital.

We are going to be extremely busy the first month of Allie's birth. My sister, Dee, is flying in the day before my surgery and staying with us for a couple weeks. She has some top secret craft projects going on with Makayla, this should be interesting! Before my sister leaves, my niece, Jackie, will be visiting for a week. I'm assuming my parents will be up sometime during this time frame as well and then my other niece, Jill, will be spending the last week of March with us while Makayla is home from spring break.  Dwight talked about taking time off in April after everyone leaves but now it sounds like it will be when I head back to work. When Makayla was born this time went by so slow and now I have a feeling this time with Allie is going to fly by! I'm really looking forward to the time off though.

Sounds like my department will be throwing a shower for me soon, I think they are afraid I'm going to go early ... I guess only time will tell!

Baby Allie Update

I had my first weekly biophysical appointment on Friday. I was surprised how things have changed from 8 years ago. When I was pregnant with Makayla, they hooked me up to these monitors that watched for her movement and contractions. With this appointment they did everything through the ultrasound.

Allie is now 4 pounds, with this pregnancy I have only gained 7.4 pounds. She is measuring right where she should be and everything else is looking great. The technician said she has long hair, it's amazing what they can tell from the ultrasound. My blood pressure is still great and so are my sugars. Hopefully things continue to go well and I'll be able to work right up to my scheduled c-section.

Dwight put the stroller together and Allie's bag is packed for the hospital. We picked up the crib mattress today and finally got her room in order. Finishing up washing the clothes that Jackie and Jonathan sent, along with Granny Kay's homemade sheets for the changing table mattress.  Now I'm slowing getting my stuff together for the hospital. I was able to purchase some nursing bras and tank tops and the next thing on the list is a breast pump. With changes to the health care reform, our insurance plan now covers breast pumps at 100%. My doctor wrote me a prescription so all I need to do is pick it up from the hospital pharmacy.

7 more weeks to go!!

Making Gum

For Makayla's birthday she received a Gum Factory kit from Nana and Papa. She has been learning to make gum and experimenting with different flavors.  She loves her gum!

Thank You Jackie and Jonathan

 

We received a couple packages in the mail a few days ago. Jackie had made us a diaper cake, unfortunately when I lifted out the second layer, part of it fell apart but I was able to get it back together with no problems.

 

We were also overwhelmed by all the 6 month clothes! This girl will surely be styling!

 

I knew Jackie was just starting to sow and I had no clue that she was making Allie a blanket. She did such a great job and the colors matched perfectly!  Thank you so much Jackie and Jonathan!

Happy 8th Birthday Makayla

 

Last Thursday Makayla turned 8 years old and the celebration continued into the weekend. 

On Thursday Dwight and I brought McDonald's (her lunch of choice) to Makayla at school for lunch. For dinner she chose to go to Applebees where she ordered appetizers for our meal. When we got home we enjoyed cupcakes from "Cupcake" ... a store at Mall of America which was opened by one of the winner's of Cupcake Wars.

 

 

On Saturday we headed to the Mall to Build A Bear. Makayla made two bears, one for her birthday present and then she made Allie one to give to her on the day she is born. Allie has a special present for Makayla too ... but it's a surprise.

After Build A Bear, we went to the movies to see Parental Guidance. Many of my friends who have seen the movie, has taken their kids to see it. It was a great family flick and we all really enjoyed it as a family.

I can't believe it's been 8 years since Makayla entered our life! She has brought much happiness, laughter, creativity and Bigfoot in our lives! We love her so much and can't wait to watch her grown up to be a big sister!