Baby Shower in Bismarck

Lacee, her mom Carol, and my cousin Jill hosted a baby shower for me in Bismarck this past weekend. It was so awesome! It still seems so surreal that it was a shower for our baby...our baby! Everyday I feel so blessed that God is giving us this amazing gift. Mostly friends and a few family members were there. Quinn and Sophia were there and had a fun time playing with Laila. They helped open gifts as well, which turned into an intense sprint to get to the end. Little girls LOVE to open presents! Mom and I went through everything again when we got home so we could see it again at a slower pace. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day. Thank you Lacee, Carol, and Jill! I'm so lucky to have friends/cousins like you:)

31 Weeks!

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 31 Weeks!

Total Weight Gain: 24 lbs.

Maternity Clothes: yep, I'm only wearing one or two of my original pairs of pants with the belly band. All the others are just too tight and cause way too much discomfort. I have about two or three pairs of maternity pants that actually look decent.

Best Moment this week: I felt her foot! I'm starting to really be able to tell which body parts are sticking out. I didn't realize that your belly isn't naturally nice and round all of the time. For certain periods of time (usually just moments) my belly will protrude more on one side and it's from a knee, foot, or hear head. I am love, love, loving this! I still haven't been able to catch Dan quick enough to have him feel too, but I'm working on it!

Gender: Think Pink:)

Movement: I ended up going in two weeks ago because her soft movements continued for 2 1/2 days. She must have turned to a weird position because everything was fine. I was contracting though, but couldn't feel it. They ran a simple test and my body wasn't getting ready for labor anytime soon so they just told me to drink more water. Of course she started moving again like crazy the next day, and the next, and the next!

Food Craving: Oh boy....these past two weeks I've been craving candy and chocolate like crazy. It's taking everything in me to limit myself and behave!

What I Miss: Nothing!

Sleep: Two pillows now instead of one....up 2-3 times a night, but like always I continue to sleep right through it. I'm going to enjoy my 40 second midnight strolls to the bathroom as I know soon I'll be up probably more than 2-3 times a night and they won't last for 40 seconds:)

What We Are Looking Forward To: We are not looking forward to being apart for so long this week coming up, but I'm really looking forward to attending two baby showers for us and getting to see friends and family in Bismarck this weekend and more friends the next weekend in the cities!

Symptoms: Our little girl moving and rolling around. I can tell that she does flip and turn quite a bit as I feel her hiccups up high and then down low a few days later. I wish I could just see inside and see what she's up to!

30 Weeks!

We're hanging in there! I now need two pillow at night to support my hips or else I wake up every half our to them aching. I hope two is all it'll take until the end. 10 weeks feels like it is seconds away! I've started retaining a little water here and there on some days. I can feel it in my calves and feet and then all of the sudden one day I'll be rushing to the bathroom every half hour as my body gets rid of the extra fluid. It's not too bad though. My wedding ring still spins around my finger. Baby is obviously growing since not even wearing black can hide the fact that my belly is more round and "out" compared to two weeks ago. She is still kicking and moving and every time is a reminder to me and us at the miracle that she is. I'm really looking forward to next weekend for my baby shower in Bismarck with mostly friends and a few family members. Lacee and my cousin Jill are putting it on, with Lacee's mom opening up her home to host it. I can't wait to see everyone!!! Dan has a super busy week with a lock-in and theological conference while I'm away. We will literally tag team on taking care of the animals since as soon as I get back he is off again. Hopefully though we can still get in some good quality time for our little girl make her debut. Until next week:)

A Few Things

I participated in some thing this week that I think were really important, had a good time, and felt I grew even closer to a very close friend, however, I hope I never have to do it again. My co-worker Deb has ovarian cancer and we shaved her head on Tuesday night. I went to see her on Monday night and asked how her hair was holding up since she has had two chemo treatments so far and was due for her 3rd the next day. She had said it was really hanging in there yet by the next day I received an email that it had started falling out dramatically and she wanted it off that afternoon. I hope I have that much courage if I ever get cancer. She let us shave her a mohawk and style it for pictures with her kids before all of it came off. If you are reading this say a quick prayer for all people with cancer...I'm sure you have some in your own life right now. It really bothers me that right now I have four different caring bridge websites sending me updates through my email on any given day.

Last night Dan and I went to the DMB concert. I was worried about being over tired today and being uncomfortable once there. Both happened, but it was very much worth it. To clarify, it was Dan's 7th DMB concert, but he's been going to them since 95'. My best friend Pam and our other friend Andrea were there as well so we met up and were able to hang out for about an hour before the concert started. I know I'm supposed to have this keen sense of smell, but I couldn't even smell the sweet aroma of weed that was obviously being smoked throughout the night as I watched little lighters going off down on the floor every couple of seconds. Poor Dan, I only smell his own dirty clothes laying on the floor a room away....I think he's getting sick of that!

My Friend Kristin On The Oprah Show

My girlfriend from high school, Kristin, signed up to be on the Oprah show for her final season. She made it on the episode of "Oprah's Ultimate Viewers". I knew she liked Oprah, but I'm dying to know what she wrote in order to get on the show. I'll be seeing her in less than a month for one of my baby showers so I'll have to ask her what she wrote on her application. Anyway you know how Oprah likes to give things away. To view what they won you can watch this clip. You'll see her at 1:16 and both she and her husband, Leo, at 3:35 right after John Travolta comes out of the plane. CRAZY and fun!!! She just had two children 11 months apart. I think she may just be needing to experience this prize!

Oprah's Ultimate Giveaway Seasons Premiere Show

Random Thoughts From the Dornfelds

-Don't wash your sheets and then leave them in the washer for three days...they might grow a little mold problem.
-We thought they were toast, but after three...count them THREE washes with tons of soap and hot water they are as good as new.
-Dan won some and lost some in tug of war against big and small students at our Rally Day picnic. He even bled a little bit for the cause....just a little bit.
-Uff--da and Oof is heard a lot at our house these days when a certain someone has to bend over or get down and up from the couch.
-Birthing class went well...there was a small part on breast feeding and we both agree we've had our fair share of nipple views to last us for awhile.
-Having all of the windows open with a nice cool breeze coming in feels heavenly. Wish we had longer than a couple months a year to be able to enjoy it.
-We're trying to train Meeko not to scream at me before I feed him his food. He doesn't say a peep for Dan, but for me he's SO demanding. So far, it's not working!
-On Wednesday we will be 30 weeks pregnant! Can't believe we are already 3/4 of the way through this pregnancy. Very exciting, scary, and so many more emotions all at once.
-Until our next random moment:)

29 Weeks!

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 29 Weeks!

Total Weight Gain: 21 lbs.

Maternity Clothes: Still sporting my belly band with my own pants. My zippers won't go up AT ALL though and sometimes the band creeps up so I'm thinking my days are numbered and very, very soon I'll be in all maternity clothes 100% of the time.

Best Moment this week: Going to our 3D ultrasound with our family. Getting to see her move and sleep was so amazing. It was so great to get a sneak peak at what she looks like and catch a glimsp of her personality. It ranks on top of feeling her move everyday as most enjoyable pregnancy moments!

Gender: For sure a girl....two ultrasounds to prove it!

Movement: Have had some very strong movements and then in the last two days they are softer. She's either turned towards the inside, or she's just running out of room. I so hope she just turned positions because I'm just not ready to feel softer movements. I love the ones that make me jump! We'll see! I can tell where her head is now based on where I feel her hiccups. I love her hiccups! Some women never feel their babies hiccups at all so I feel fortunate.

Food Craving: In the last two weeks the craving has been orange juice! I thought my cravings would stay the same, but they really haven't. I have to be careful because I want to guzzle it like water, but with so much sugar I try to limit or just not buy it and have it in the house.

What I miss: I have people asked me all the time if pregnancy is treating me well and so far I have to say I have felt fantastic overall. I am still trying to savor everyday and movement and right now I don't miss anything.

Sleep: Still sleeping well and starting to crave sleep much more. I've had my fair share of nights in the last two weeks that I'm ready for bed by 9:30, when normally I'm a night owl.

What we are looking forward to: We don't have any appointments in the next two weeks and nothing much else going on. I'm looking forward to a certain concert (DMB) we are attending next week..my first one, probably the eleventh for Dan. We also have our birthing class this weekend, but I'm not so sure I can say I'm "looking forward to it", but more feeling a little apprehensive and anxious about what I'm going to learn....how's that?

Symptoms: Getting tired more easily, hard to breathe when we go on walks, lots of hiccups, feeling baby move, growing belly, etc:) I also have had a few foot cramps that show up in the middle of the night that wake me up and some nights I'm getting up twice to go to the bathroom instead of once. I'm thinking the baby is putting some more pressure on my bladder!

Video of Baby D

A little over two minutes of our sweetheart...makes me tear up everytime:)

This video is a tiny bit blurry if you view it whole screen. Dan is going to try and crisp it up, but for now at least we have this one!

Labor Day Weekend

Dan decided to tackle this one last big project in our kitchen this weekend. Here he is slaving away on our backsplash. I've got a close-up picture of what is to come below. When I asked him how much longer until it was all up he pointed to the wall and said bum, bum, and boop. What that means, I'm not sure, but I think it means we are getting close to the end! I keep telling him he needs to give me more details when he talks to me about his "things". His bum, bum, and boops are only one example of our communication breakdowns as I tend to do the same thing, but only with names and talking about people he's never met expecting him to just know who Rachel or Joel are. In fact, I made those names up this time. I don't know who Rachel and Joel are either:)

So, this has been our weekend, which I am fine with because it means I've been laying around re-charging for a very busy first two weeks of school. I'm hiding out in the bedroom with the animals as they both just want to check things out and get in the way. Hopefully very soon we will have our kitchen back once again to enjoy and cook in....well, to pour cereal in really:)

28 Weeks/7 Months!

Welcome to the third trimester! Last week I worked a full week and felt great. This week I worked three days and am exhausted....uh oh folks...we may be losing our energy already:( I'm bummed since I've had so much this summer and I know now if it is really leaving it means I'm not going to have energy for a really long time....becoming new parents just might take that away for awhile:) It will all be worth it though. Here I am at 28 weeks! Our little girl weighs approxmiately 2 1/2 pounds and measures around 15 inches long. I'm still feeling great except for feeling a little more tired. I promise a video clip is coming son. Dan is going to work on it, but at the moment he is busy finishing up our kitchen backsplash.

North Dakota Bois

Here's a homemade video by a couple of Bismarck High School students. It's a parody of the "California Girls" song sung by Katie Perry. I've got to give these guys credit for their creativity and humor. If you're not from North Dakota it might not be as funny, but I laughed out loud quite a few times!