Category: Dannie

Our sweet, happy baby girl is two months old! What a sweetheart she is! Those kissable cheeks and that smile…oh man…melts my heart! She likes smiling at Chuck and me, but she lights up when Maddie talks to her! It is so sweet. I can’t wait for them to play together.

Dannie had her 8 week checkup last week and the doc was impressed with her growth. 11 pounds, 4 ounces…up 3 pounds in 6 weeks. And 23″ long. She’s average on the growth charts, but a big (and very healthy) gain for her.

She is a great eater and is going longer before feedings. She has more awake time during the day which is fun! And (knock on wood) I’ve been getting up only once at night to feed her for almost a week. I feed her around 10ish and then about 3 or 4, then 7ish. It’s been quite nice!

She plays on her playmat and does tummy time, but doesn’t always like it. She’s a mover kicking her legs and flailing her arms. The doctor commented on how strong she is! She’s starting to get a bit more control of her ams and will sometimes hold her pacifier in or suck on her hands.

We still aren’t sure what color her eyes are going to be, but if you ask Maddie what color they are, she will tell you “blue” 90% of the time. The other 10% they are brown…we are trying to teach her that mommy has brown eyes, but Maddie and daddy have blue eyes. Maddie is a good big sister and loves bringing Dannie toys. Dannie is only slightly concerned by this.

Time is flying by! Maddie is almost 2 and Dannie is 2 months old. It’s amazing how much your life can change in two years with two kids at home. I wouldn’t change it for the world!

Here is Dannie’s 1 month post.

I’m not sure where the time went, but our little peanut, Dannie, is a month old! She has been such a wonderful addition to the family! Maddie just loves her little sister and is so sweet and nurturing with her.

Dannie is a great eater…which is evident by her pudgy rolls and chubby cheeks! She is finally starting to go a little longer between some feeds. Unfortunately, most of these long bursts are during the day instead of during the night. I was putting her in a sleep sack or woombie at night and I noticed it was making her very angry not having her hands free. She sleeps so well during the day with them free. So I let her sleep with them out at night and she does great. She doesn’t seem to startle herself too badly and I think she likes to suck on her hands when she can.

Dannie is a strong little thing, too. She does great during tummy time lifting her head and turning from side to side. She has a really strong grip and a strong kick (which I know first hand from all the internal kicking she did to me!). She also really likes sleeping on her side. She will roll around from side to side at night. She is never in the same place I put her down to sleep. I have a feeling she is going to be non-stop just like Maddie. I’m really going to have my hands full!

Dannie is a sweet little baby and I can’t believe how effortlessly she has fit into the family. She doesn’t cry much (knock on wood) and seems to be pretty easy going so far. I have a nick-name for her. I call her “Squishy”. Mostly because she is all cute and squishy, but also because I think I have been watching Finding Nemo too much with Maddie in the car! Here’s a clip from the movie…I say this to Dannie all the time.

Wow…Dannie is already 3 weeks old! Time sure flies. I’m healing well and feeling way better than I thought I would at this point. Chuck went back to work and I’m surviving at home with the girls. Dannie is a sweet baby and Maddie is getting used to saving her around.

If you visit my site, you might have noticed that I changed a couple things: the tickers at the top of the site, some rearranged categories, and added Dannie’s twitter feed. Oh, and our photo gallery link has been updated because we moved it.

I’m hoping to get a little more motivation to blog and add pictures. For now, this will have to do. Now it’s time to attempt getting some sleep!

On Tuesday, November 13th at 9:29AM, we welcomed our second baby girl into the world! She was 7 pounds, 11 ounces and 20.5 inches long, with dark hair.

Danielle (or Dannie) is so very sweet. She’s cuddly and goes with the flow so far. She doesn’t seem to be too bothered by the ruckus her big sister makes! And Maddie doesn’t appear to be bothered yet by the screaming her little sister does in the middle of the night!

My delivery went as well as we could have hoped. Surgery went great, recovery at the hospital went great, we were out of the hospital in the normal amount of time for a c-section, no high blood pressure….and I wasn’t a priority patient. It was wonderful.

We had a bunch of visitors come to see us in the hospital. I am so thankful for all our family and friends for coming to meet our newest addition to our family and see how I was doing. I know I scared the heck out of them when I had Maddie.

I’m still very slow moving, but I’m not taking any more pain killers. Overall, I’m feeling great considering I just had surgery! (Minus a lack of sleep, of course!)

Dannie is almost two weeks old. We are starting to get in a groove. Chuck is home with me for one more week and then I am on my own. I think that is going to be the scariest part of all of this after having Chuck and his mom here to help.

Here are a few pictures.

We are completely in love with our two little girls!

I had Chuck’s sister come over yesterday to help me put the finishing touches on the nursery. We decided to use the same room that we used for Maddie’s nursery. So a while back we moved Maddie into a new room. And here’s a little recap of what the nursery looked like when it was Maddie’s room.

So here is what Baby Girl #2’s room looks like now. I took pictures from each corner of the room.

The only things I have left to do in there is put a no-slip thing under the changing pad, bring the diaper genie from the laundry room into her room, hang the baby monitor on the wall and put a light bulb in the lamp by the chair. Not too bad.

So some details about the room. First, the furniture. Months ago, we were buying some furniture from Babies R Us and they ultimately ended up losing our business because they were dumb. So we went to USA Baby and bought the same furniture we had for Maddie. It was expensive, but we were done shopping around and bring disappointed. 10 weeks goes by and the furniture comes damaged. So we spent almost 2 weeks getting that resolved. Then we said forget it and went to Ikea and bought the crib and dresser for less than the cost of Maddie’s crib. (Yeah…you realize you don’t need to spend as much money on things for a second child.)

Then the decals. Chuck’s sister did a similar theme for her daughter’s room. I have loved it ever since I saw it, so I was SO excited to be having another girl and go with something girly with owls! You might have noticed the owls on the bookshelf in her room. Paige came to help me put up the decals. They are so cute. After getting it all done, we both decided they could have been lower, but after all the work we put into it, we decided it was perfect!  

Sorry Maddie…your sister’s room might be cuter than yours was.

And finally, CHuck’s mom makes all sorts of adorable things for Maddie and her cousin. This bedding set had an owl pillow you could buy, but Linda made one instead!

She also has a really cute quilt in the works with an owl on it. Every one of the kids in the family get one. Maddie’s was a duck! (And I can’t seem to find a good picture of it, but it is in the pictures of Maddie’s new room.)

So there you have it. That’s the baby’s room. Now all we need is a baby to fill it up! Just a couple weeks!

I’m 34 weeks today. (Even though it is late, it is still technically 34 weeks.) I can’t believe how quickly this pregnancy is going. Of course, at the same time, I feel like I have been pregnant forever! I realized last night that we are going to have a baby in no more than 5 weeks. And not just A baby…..we’re going to have ANOTHER baby.  This, somehow, makes it more terrifying. My “ticker” at the top of my website says 42 days. But subtract 7 and I am left with 35 days. Oh dear goodness….that is not very many!!!

I feel like there are a bunch of things I really want/need to get done before the baby gets here. But part of me realizes this is the second child, so most of the things I think are important now, really aren’t. For example: dusting, cleaning the house thoroughly, sorting some things, some various projects I’ve been putting off, a few places I want to go with Maddie before her sister is here, washing baby clothes, making sure the nursery is set up, getting furniture for the baby’s room (which we have been working on for months…long story), picking out a name (we don’t just need to pick a name, we need to start thinking of names)….hmmm, I guess we should get on a couple of those things.  

I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow. Then only 3 more appointments (at 36, 37 and 38 weeks…my appointments have been on Wednesdays and I have the c-section scheduled for Tuesday, exactly 39 weeks, so no appointment that week). Wow….that’s a little scary to think about! And the only reason I would get another appointment thrown in there is if my blood pressure is high tomorrow when I go in. Then she would want to see me at 35 weeks, too. But so far my BP has been nice and low! I’m really hoping for no repeats of my last delivery!

So I’ll stop babbling and leave you with a picture I took of my belly this week.

I feel a lot bigger than I look! But I still have a few weeks left. (Man, I’m kind of stretching the limits of this shirt, aren’t I? ) Oh, and here are all the pictures I have taken of my belly this time around in case you are interested.

Ok, time for bed. I must get to sleep before my body wakes me up in a couple hours to pee….again!

I’m 29 weeks now. Well, yesterday. According to the ticker on my site, BG#2 (Baby Girl #2) is the size of a squash. She is definitely much stronger than a squash, though! Oofda, this girl has some muscles!

I’m only excited about 29 weeks because I have 10 weeks left until my scheduled c-section! The weather is getting cooler and reality of how little time is left before BG#2 gets here is sinking in!  

Here’s a little picture of me this week.

And here I was at 29 weeks with Maddie.

Hard to tell, but I might be a little bigger this week this time around. My doc says I am right on track. (And I need to wear that dress in the above pic! It’s pretty cute!

Miss Maddie and I are off to the zoo for a while! Enjoy your Wednesday!

Depending on how you count, I am either almost to my 3rd trimester or just starting it this week. Everyone seems to count differently. Either way, I have 12 weeks until Baby Girl #2’s birthday on November 13th! (Yes, I know her birthday…I have a c-section already scheduled.)

Things are going well. I have spurts on energy and go into crazy pregnant lady nesting phases and I have other times that I can hardly bring myself to get off the couch. But overall, I am feeling good.

BG#2 is a kicking machine. She is very active…and strong! But she keeps most of her movement to during the day and rests at night. Let’s hope it stays that way!

I have my 28 week check up next week and then I change to going every 2 weeks (instead of every 4 weeks).

We are still waiting for the call for BG#2’s furniture to arrive, but once that goes in, there isn’t a whole lot to do to get ready for her arrival.

Chuck’s mom is planning to stay with us for a little while after BG#2 is born to help out with Maddie. It will be so nice to have some consistency in Maddie’s life while I am at the hospital for a couple days. Plus, she is staying through Thanksgiving, so I am hoping that means I’ll get a tasty meal without leaving my house! I am very excited about that!

I ask Maddie where her sister is and she points to my stomach and says “baby”. She likes to pull up my shirt and look for the baby. And if I ask her to give her sister a kiss, she will kiss my belly. It’s the cutest thing ever! I am so excited to have my two little girls!

I have been taking pictures of my belly since about week 13. But they aren’t very good. I mostly wanted to take something so I can compare to how big I was with Maddie at the same time. You can see them HERE if you are interested. But here is the picture I took at 26 weeks.

And here is my 26 week picture when I was pregnant with Maddie.

About the same!

I feel huge, but clearly I’m not that big…yet. And my doctor says I am right on track. The only big thing this time is that I got some varicose and spider veins in my right leg. So the doc has me wearing compression tights. They make a huge difference, therefore I know I have to wear them. If I don’t have them on, my leg just hurts all day. They are a bit of a pain, but I am happy I’m not in pain all the time when they are on. And since I am wearing them, I shouldn’t get swollen this time around like I did with Maddie. So yay!

So there you have it. A little baby update since I haven’t mentioned it in a while. I should probably venture out and do some posts on things other than pictures of Maddie.