Professional Pics and Valentine's Day!

Sunday was a big day for our family.  We took Chelsea to Glenwood (2 hour drive) to get her newborn pictures taken.  We drove up and back in the same day and it was the furthest that we have ever driven with her.  Poor Ben was a taxi driver since I decided to sit in the backseat with Chelsea.  I was nervous on how she would do in the car and wanted to be next to her.  There was no need for me to ride next to her since she slept the entire way there AND back.  She loves car rides!  Knock on wood this continues! 

She did OK during her photoshoot.  She was pretty fussy for two hours.  Somehow Janae (http://janaehertelphotography.com/) took some fabulous shots in between her fuss sessions.  She finally fell asleep and then Janae could get the rest of the shots that she had been waiting for.  We received the online proofs today and the pictures are BEAUTIFUL!  We are submitting our order tomorrow and will receive the pictures and picture CD within a week or two.  Once we receive the picture CD I will post her pictures.  You will be blown away.  Here are some "teaser" photo's for you to look at :-)

Chelsea celebrated her first Valentine's Day with Ben and I yesterday.  Ben had volleyball playoff's for his men's volleyball team so we went to watch him and celebrated VDAY at the Crystal Commuity Center.  Not the most romantic of celebrations, but we had fun.  It was an added bonus that Ben showed up at home with roses and two boxes of Mike and Ikes for me :-)  Mike and Ikes are my ultimate favorite candy and I can (unfortunately) eat a family size box in one sitting!

More pictures :-)

Pictures!

Since we did not post any pictures on the last blog, this blog will be ONLY pictures and descriptions!  You won't have to listen to me ramble on and on :-)

Mina is slowly warming up to Chelsea.  It's amazing that she chose to jump up and lay by her...

Putting Mitts on Chelsea's hands to prevent her from scratching her face.  We have filed her nails down, but have been advised to not to clip them for 3 more weeks. 

Mina and Molly got some extra TLC today since they have haven't been as spoiled as they once were.  Fresh grooms and Ben walked them today as well!

Napping in her crib!!!!  Small milestone!

Sleeveless Onesies!  The best invention ever!

Freshly bathed for her newborn pictures tomorrow!

Ben Back to Work

It is 4:15AM on Friday morning.  I am sitting out in my living room with my precious little daughter laying next to me on the couch.  Those beautiful blue eyes are fluttering as if she is fighting sleep.  I am quietly rooting for those eyes to stay shut :-)  Ben woke up with her at 3 to feed and change her.  When she wouldn't fall back asleep for him he woke me up since he has to get up at 6:30 for work.  She is what I have coined as "happy awake" at the moment.  She has been fed, changed, has been cuddled, has her binkie, is not crying and is just laying there - with her eyes wide open.  "Happy Awake" is great during the day and especially nice when she is like this for Ben when he gets home from work.  But the middle of the night it gets frustrating since it can last until her next feeding...which could be another 2 hours.  No amount of rocking and cuddling will get those eyes to shut if she is content. 

Ben has been back to work full time since Monday.  It has been a big adjustment for all three of us.  Monday was tough for me.  Chelsea only napped for two hours total and those were the hours that my parents were here visiting.  So no nap for me.  The rest of the days have been better.  I've upped her feedings to 3 ounces at a time (which she chooses to drink all of at almost every feeding) which seems to be helping her sleep for longer spans of time. 

We visited with a new pediatrician on Tuesday.  Chelsea is back to her birth weight and has the clean bill of health.  This pediatrician seemed to be "nicer" and "better" than the previous dummy.  We aren't 100% sold on her yet, but will give it a few visits.  Chelsea's next scheduled well visit check isn't until she turns 2 months of age.  So that means....  in 5 weeks time she will be getting some vaccinations :(  I am not looking forward to watching her go through needle pokes for the first time. 

As of right now Chelsea is sleeping in a pack and play in the living room.  Ben and I have been taking turns sleeping in the living room on the couch so we can hear when she wakes up for a feeding.  We do have a baby monitor, but it has been set up in her nursery on her crib.  I've been trying to transition her to her crib for naps the past few days with not a whole lot of success.  She will be sleeping out in the living room then will be quietly transferred to the crib.  Generally within 5 minutes she will wake up and start crying for us.  We will go get her and bring her back to the living room if she won't calm down in the crib.  She will then immediately fall asleep again...in the living room of course.  I'm thinking her nursery may be a different temp and less noisy than the living room and she feels the difference.  I'm going to keep trying tomorrow (or should I say later today?!) to get her used to her crib.  The sooner we can get her to sleep in there the sooner we can get our living room back!

It is now 12:30PM.... Chelsea did go back to sleep for me early this morning for a few hours!  I now have her in the crib for a nap and am crossing my fingers that she takes to it today.  Our washer and drier are near her room.  She seems to prefer noise so I am making an effort to do laundry while I have her in her room today.  Hopefully the machines help lull her to sleep.   

No updated pictures to post for this blog unfortunately :(   Hopefully we will have some for the next one!

Chelsea's (and Ben and Trisha's) Big Weekend!

We had a big weekend with lots of visitors and taking Chelsea to her first Superbowl Party!  I think we bit off a bit more than we could chew.  We are still learning how much Chelsea can handle at this time and I am still thinking I can handle more than I can at this stage in recovery.  Now I understand why so many people advised me against a C-Section if possible.  It's pretty frustrating when it hurts too much to pick up my own baby in her car seat.  It's nice that I have the go ahead to drive now, but it doesn't help me too much when I can't bring Chelsea with me anywhere.  Any way, enough of my complaining... time for the update :-)

Friday was an exciting day for us.  Uncle Steve came over for dinner, drinks and ping pong.  Well, drinks to me nowadays is one or two beers.  I have no desire at this time for more nor want to risk getting tipsy with middle of the night feedings!  He also got to meet Chelsea for the first time!  Ben, Steve and I spend a lot of time together at Lake Mina in the summer.  He is a very important part of our lives.  He was so good and patient with Chelsea.  We are so excited to bring her to the cabin a bunch this summer!  Is 6 months too early for her to learn how to troll for Northern???

Saturday Chelsea had lots of visitors.  In the morning our friend Jaimala came over to meet her.  Jaimala's husband Shane unfortunately had to stay home since he was sick and didn't want to expose Chelsea nor us to catching his cold.  Jaimala showed up bearing lots of frozen foods for us.  It is so nice to receive gifts of food.  I never realized how difficult it would be to make a decent meal at this time.  We've played volleyball with Jaimala and Shane for years and they used to be a client of mine when I ran Happy Paws.  Steve and Lauren Kavan came over to visit Chelsea Saturday afternoon.  Chelsea slept the entire visit - even when we flipped her over for tummy time!  Maybe meeting Chelsea gave them the baby itch???  we shall see!  They also showed up bearing food.  Lauren made me one of my favorite dinners... Moroccan Vegetables and Couscous!  My eyes just lit up seeing what was put in the fridge :)

Jon (Ben's brother) and Shanna (Jon's girlfriend) came over around 4 on Saturday.  They took Jane out for dinner in Maple Grove.  Once they came home from dinner Jon and Shanna stayed for a bit to hang out with Chelsea a little more.  Needless to say, Saturday was one exhausting (but good) day!  Saturday evening was also Jane's last night in town.  She unfortunately had to fly back home to CA Sunday AM.  We appreciated all her help and are so happy she had a chance to meet and hang out with her granddaughter so soon after her birth. 

Sunday AM Ryan and Stephanie Fabick came over to meet Chelsea.  They ALSO came bearing the gift of food!  Once again my eyes lit up when I saw what was put in my fridge...  Fresh cut fruit, cut veggies with hummus and a frozen homecooked meal to reheat at a later time!  I'm beginning to think that I may not ever have to cook again :)  Mina and Molly were also very excited to see Ryan and Steph...  they have stayed at their house several times when Ben and I have been out of town.  Mina and Molly were very appreciative of the attention since Ben and I haven't been able to give them as much as we used to. 

Sunday afternoon / evening we went to a SuperBowl party at Jim and LeAnn Dake's house in Chanhassen.  Some of our other friends (our Jamaica crew!) were also there.  It was so nice to get out of the house and have some sort of "normalcy" in our lives.  Chelsea was pretty mellow for the first hour or so but then became really fussy.   We realized that she was way over stimulated. After trying to calm Chelsea for awhile and with the rest of the weekend catching up to us we were both mentally and physically exhausted. We had a wonderful time but ended up leaving right after the halftime show. I was in bed by 9 before the SuperBowl was even over...  that is definitely a first! 

Today (Monday) Ben went back to work :(  I am going to wait for my next blog to write about Chelsea and my first week together without Ben around during the day.  I will say this...  I really missed Ben today.  Not only because it's easier to take care of a newborn with an extra set of hands around, but because it was so nice to be able to spend time with him while he wasn't working.  I really became "attached" to him being around the house.  I'm busy with Chelsea, but miss seeing my best friend as much as I had the past two weeks....

Thru Thursday 2/3/11

Chelsea is now 13 days old and has been at home with us for 10 days!  We've both been loving everything about being parents....  including...  Shorter spans of sleep and going to bed early on weekend nights to wake up for middle of the night feedings.  Any and all "sacrifices" that we've had to make because of having a newborn to care for are completely worth it in our eyes. 

Chelsea had a very big day on Wed.  Ben, Grandma Jane and I brought her to Babies R Us and Ridgedale mall during the day.  At night we brought her to watch Ben's 7:45 Volleyball game at Forest Elementary School in Crystal.  Chelsea slept for the first half of the match and then became a little fussy.  I took her out of her car seat and fed her and held her a bit while we were watching.  Then I learned a valuable lesson...  She decided that Ben's Volleyball match was a perfect place to poop.  Normally this would not be a big deal.  But - since I'm still learning and a new mom being at an elementary school with no bathrooms with a changing table proved interesting.  I had to lay a blanket on the floor in the bathroom to change her.  I had two diapers and 5 wipes with.  While I was changing her she decided to poop AGAIN in one of the new diapers.  So - I have one diaper and two wipes left.  I quick got her cleaned up and the diaper put on.  I suspected that she had gone AGAIN in her last diaper.  There was nothing I could do about it but wait till we got home to change her again.  From now on I will be bringing ten fresh diapers and an entire package of wipes no matter how short our outing.  Hmmm... you can tell I'm now a mom since I am now telling poop stories!

We also decided that we'd attempt to give Chelsea her first bath this week.  We can't fully immerse her in water yet because her umbilical cord stump hasn't fallen out yet, but wanted to give her a sponge bath and lotion her to make her look and feel a little better.  She was a trooper through the entire bath!  Ben and I are complete novices and bathed her with no guidance what so ever.  She never cried nor got fussy.  We are so blessed with a "well behaved" baby who seems to be patient with first time parents. 

Ben and I went out to a dinner sans baby (Grandma Jane was nice enough to watch Chelsea at home for us) Thursday night.  We went to Pittsburgh Blue in Maple Grove.  It was really nice to get a couple hours to ourselves and have a relaxing dinner.  We don't have any baby sitters nor family right around he area, so I'm not sure when the next time we will be able to go anywhere without Chelsea will be. 

I am starting to feel better and better every day.  I am not as sore as I was last week and not taking as many "drugs" as I was.  Towards the evening hours I generally have to lay down and relax, but during the day I have been more and more active around the house.  It's nice to be able to hold Chelsea for longer increments before having to set her down or pass her off to someone.  It's also nice to be able to do some housework... something a person wouldn't think she would miss!  I've also lost 27 pounds without really trying.  I'm eating healthy, but haven't been active at all.  13 more pounds to go! 

Jane went to the Lifetime Fitness in Maple Grove and found out that I do NOT have to wait 3 months to bring Chelsea to the health club with me (At 3 months I can put her in the health club daycare while I work out) but can bring her in a baby carrier and walk around the indoor track!  That is GREAT news.  I'm chomping at the bit to act on this new found knowledge but I'm going to give her another week or so to strengthen her neck and me a week or so to heal a bit more.

Picture time!

One Week Old!

Lots of odds and ends....

Little Chelsea is now one week and two days old!  We've been home for almost a week now.   Chelsea is doing very well and hasn't been too fussy for us... Knocking on wood that this trend continues!  Grandma Fisher flew in from CA last night and is staying with us until Sunday.  She has already been a great help.  Since she was still on CA time she insisted on taking the first "night shift" with Chelsea last night.  Ben and I actually slept in the same bed for a few hours last night AND with Ben taking the second "night shift" I got 6 straight hours of sleep!  Feels great!

Ben and I have asked his brother Jon and my brother Joel and my sister in law Jillian to be Chelsea's Godparents.  They have all accepted!  We are planning on baptizing her sometime this Spring.

On Monday we were so excited because Chelsea had her first pediatrician appointment.  At her appointment she weighed 9 pounds 5 ounces and is 21 inches long.  That puts her in the 95th percentile for weight and 90th percentile for height!   Her health is good, but the actual pediatrician was an epic FAIL!  I could complain forever about him, but but will spare you the long rant and rave.  He was basically very impersonal, gave Chelsea the quick once over, rushed the appointment and left us with more questions than answers.  SO - we have another appointment next week with a different person.  Hopefully this pediatrician works out better.  We will bring her to person after person until we find the right fit if we have to. Our little Chelsea deserves only the best!

Monday night our neighbor brought us a huge pan of lasagna, warm bread sticks, salad and chocolate chip cookies.  It was so incredibly nice of her!  The last thing I feel like doing is cooking right now and having a home cooked meal available to us is such a blessing.  I never thought I would appreciate gifts of food so much.

Mina and molly are still pretty much ignoring Chelsea.  Both of them will randomly walk up to her and sniff her but that is about all the interaction up to this point.  Hopefully they warm up to her a little more eventually.  Right now Mina and Molly probably feel a tad bit neglected and I'm sure they "blame" Chelsea.  We are trying our hardest to pay as much attention to them as we can. 

I got on the scale and have realized that I have already dropped 20 of the 40 pounds that I gained during the pregnancy!  I guess that is one benefit of having a large baby.  I'm sure the next 20 pounds will be much  more difficult to lose.  I am on day two of the herbalife "diet" and will be able to start working out in about 5 more weeks (hopefully).  My goal is to be back to pre baby weight by May.  Once Chelsea turns 3 months I can add her to our health club membership. We will be able to drop her off at the child care center at the health club for up to 2 hours a day.  The best part is that her membership only costs an extra $5 a month.  That is the cheapest day care you'll find anywhere!

New pictures...