More baby pictures

Here are some more pictures of my cute baby girl. Sorry but if you don't like all the pictures don't look.... We are enjoying our little girl. This morning I ended up nursing, making breakfast, and making lunches at the same time. I guess having three kids is very demanding but fun too.

One Week Old Already!

A week old and still a little Angel



Annika is already a week old! I wish she would stop growing now! She has been a good baby all week and seems very scheduled on her own. She wakes up in the late morning and has a good awake period and again in the evening before bed. She likes to look at everyone calmly and thoughtfully while she is awake. She makes tons of cute baby noises while she is sleeping. She has been smiling for us already although they are not supposed to be able to do that until they are a month old.

Everybody fights over who gets to hold her when she is awake. I am glad I am the mommy because I just claim she is hungry and then hold her for as long as I want. Ali especially loves to hold her and watch movies. She never seems to tire of holding her. Ashling has been a big helper for mommy and will get diapers (she won't throw them away though,) check on Annika to see if her eyes are open or closed and also will watch her for me. While Ashling was watching Annika she spit up and Ashling quickly ran around trying to find me because Annika had throw up. It was so cute. Big Sister Ali and Annika watching a movie
Little sister just sleeps away while being held

Tummy Time

I put Annika down on her tummy yesterday for about 20 minutes. She loved the time on her tummy. She is such a great baby. Last night she was copying me and sticking out her tongue after I stuck mine out. Today I swear she started smiling. Whether they are actual smiles or just gas I am totally in love with those cute baby smiles. She has such an easy going personality and only cries when her diaper is changed. She is a keeper and I think all that long pregnancy was now well worth it.

Annika Michelle is here!

I

Annika was born at 11:10 am on Saturday January 17,2009. She was 8 pounds 4 ounces and 20 inches long. She is a very good baby who does not cry very much so far and let me sleep a lot last night. I loved the hospital which seemed more like a very nice hotel with 100% room service than a hospital. We are both doing good and home from the hospital. But I will miss the excellent nursing services and the incredible room view! We could see the entire San Bernardino Valley and then all the San Bernardino Mountains from our huge 10 by 6 or so picture window.

As far as labor goes being induced is the way to go. I went to the hospital at 4:00 am. It was early. They had to poke me 4 times to get an iv in. The pitocin is given slowly and before I had an epideral the contractions were hardly painful. The only problem was the epideral didn't work everywhere and when I was fully dialated I could feel everything. The doctor barely made it in time to catch the baby! I didn't even push at all!

I went to the doctor again today. I am dialated to a 2 plus and the baby's head is down low. I also lost almost two pounds. I wish I could pull that kind of weight loss when I am not pregnant! The doctor claims I won't wait to be induced on Saturday but we will see. So far Ina and Stacey guessed too soon so we will see what happens now. I haven't had that many more contractions so maybe when I have them again it will be the real thing.

In other news Ali got invited to a birthday on a Sunday in February at Chuck E Cheeses. She really wants to go and she says the party will rock. All her friends in her class were invited and of course she would really like to go too. But she also already knew we would not allow her to go. The poor child. I would really like to let her go but it is during church and she needs to learn that we are commanded to keep the sabbath day holy. What a not fun lesson for a six year old. It happens again and again. Why does everyone in this town have to have their parties on Sunday? Any creative suggestions here? I would like her to know to keep the commandment and not make a big fight out of this.

I am waiting for this little one to appear and my body seems to be making that very hard for me. I have been having so many contractions it is really really annoying. I wish we could just have contractions when the baby was actually coming. Sometimes they have been regular and about 5 minutes apart and they do not seem painless as they are supposed to be. They are making me tired and sick to my stomach so that is not too much fun. And I am only dialated to a 1 so they aren't even doing much! But at least I am not gaining weight but just seem to lose it each week when I go in. So I guess there is a good side to it. Once again last night I thought would be the real thing and stayed up because these contractions seemed to be painful enough to be it. But after rocky sleep for about two hours where I was awoken every ten minutes they stopped.

I have everything pretty much ready and the car seat is buckled into the car. Yesterday I went to get a pedicure and a manicure so that I will even look good when I have the baby. (Thanks to a wonderful mother-in-law who suggested the idea and provided funding for the very relaxing wonderful activity.) I sacrificed the family budget for food and bought diapers and wipes. (These little things have gotten much more pricey lately!) I washed the clothes and bedding and packed a bag for me and for the girls. Come out, Come out, Come out Please!

Every body in this house is now ready for our baby to appear. Ali asked me this morning, "How much longer?" I feel the same way and want to know how much longer. I guess that is just the game you play at the end of pregnancy. How much longer?

I am due on the 21st of January when do you think this baby will appear? Leave your comments so I have something to look forward to. And just so you know on the 17th I will be induced if she doesn't come before then!

Winter Break

Winter break was fun. Cameron had from Christmas Eve through today off. It was great to have him home so much to help with everything. His being off work seemed to at least cut my work in half and I loved it! We also had lots of family in town and it was fun. Stacey, Tony, mom and David came to our house. I have to say that even though I wasn't very grateful for siblings in my younger years they are the best and I love having them around to visit with. We had a great Christmas where I was spoiled rotten. I got a very nice Mountain Hardware down jacket which I am in love with. It is very warm and puffy and zips over my very big belly. I (Cameron and I actually) also got the Settlers of Cataan which made for hours of playing pleasure! I got new soft warm uggish type boots and pjs for the hospital and pjs for now and later. Nobody bought me anything maternity which I was very thankful for since I will not be in maternity sizes for very long (I hope.)

On Christmas day it switched between rain, ice, hail and snow all day. Finally around 2:30 Cameron decided we needed to travel out into the mess. I went with him because it sounded a little fun and I am always one for adventure. Two minutes down the road we realized that we had left the house with no money and very little gas. So instead of the drive down the hill we drove around Arrowbear. It was amazing to see what melting snow, tons and tons of rain, and then sleet and snow on top can do to roads. Cameron was a little too confident about the abilities of his little subaru and tried to drive up a very steep dirt road covered in ice and snow and water. So we got stuck. It was okay though because he placed a call to my very talented and able brother who came to rescue us only about three to five minutes after we called. A jeep ended up doing the pulling and we were saved. His car was not the same for several days though as he had to wait for all the ice to melt from underneath it before it stopped making awful noises and stinking. Cameron even used a hair dryer to melt the mess.

We had a power outage one night and played more Settlers with candles, had lots of raging fires in the wood stove, watched the Dark Night and did many other fun things. My talented brother also made dinner one night and it was very good. I didn't know he could cook? Doesn't anybody want to find him a girl friend?

After our company went home we decided to build bunk beds which are a little more than half way complete now. We saw movies and played games together and the girls played out in the snow a couple times every day. I enjoyed the winter break a lot and am not ready to go back to normal life at all. But normal life is coming whether we like it or not.