Knock on Wood!

Guess who slept for 3 hours straight in her pack n play last night? This girl did!!!
Her parents are SO happy! I just about fell out of bed as I blindly felt around for my glasses in the middle of the night and finally saw the clock that read 3:00 am.....what time did we put her to bed???? It was 12:00! One, two, three, OMG that's three hours! Can I get a PTL, an Halleluiah, or an Amen! She hasn't slept this long in her pack n play for three weeks. I hope this means the zantac, gripe water, and mom cutting out dairy is helping her finally. As you see from the title this has only happened one night so we will be "knocking on wood"!

Grandma Beth Week

Here are a few pictures from Grandma Beth week! We had a few rough nights and some of the days blended together, but we had a great time trying to get Svea to smile at us, holding her, and playing with her on her exercise mat. We even got out of the house one day and went shopping to one store and took turns staying in the car with Svea as she's still not supposed to be "out" if we can help it. Thank you Mom and Dan for a great birthday and for helping me with Svea, getting a little break here and there to sleep! It has been wonderful to have Dan and Grandmas here for the past month to help through the most busiest "baby time"!

Happy Birthday to The Dornfeld Girls/1 Month

Today is my 30th birthday and Svea is 1 month old! We had a wonderful day just hanging out at home. My super great husband made us french toast this morning and then we all declared the rest of the day "birthday cake" day as we basically ate Dairy Queen ice cream cake for all other meals! Svea did a super job today for her photo shoot. After awhile though you can see that she got a little upset with her bear and decided to take it out on his ear.

I thought I'd list some of the new things that are going on with Svea since there are so many!

Svea.....
-your eyebrows and eyelashes have now grown in as you didn't have any when you were born
-you are still in newborn diapers although we are getting very close to moving you on to size 1
-you are just starting to smile in response to us. You've done it just a few times and mostly for your Dad
-you are starting to space out your feedings here and there sometimes not interested in eating for 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Mostly though you want to eat every 2-3 hours
-your are really starting to focus ore on our faces and the toys we share with you. You'll track the toys if we move them around your face

-you are starting to develop the classic baby acne on your little cheeks
-your neck is even stronger, but of course you are not holding it up all on your own all the time
-you are still making the cutest little noises. Sometimes you even sound like a little goat. At other times it sounds like you are singing...your little noises never get old to us

Happy Thanksgiving

On this Thanksgiving we have so much to be thankful for. We are especially thankful for this little girl! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

4 Weeks Old

Svea-today you are 4 weeks old and it's Mommy's due date. Today marks when I would have been 40 weeks with you and I remember hoping that you would come a "little" early, or right around my due date....surprise! You've had a tough week with what we think is some acid reflux. We brought you in yesterday to the dr. and the good news is you are now up to 8lbs. 5 oz! You are growing like a weed! We now have some medicine to help with your discomfort you experience at night making it impossible to get no more than a half an hour of sleep at a time. It generally takes awhile to start working so mom and dad are praying this works so all of us can get some sleep. Your Grandma Beth is here this week and she has been helping us out as well. You are still in newborn diapers and mostly newborn clothes. There are still a few preemie outfits you fit in, but they are numbered. One funny thing you do on your play mat is grab at the rings and pull and pull and pull....it seems like you are trying to pull them down you pull so hard. I wasn't going to do a 4 week post since you'll be 1 month in a few days, but I had to share how well you are growing! I wonder if you would have weighed what you weigh now had you been born right now?

New Swing

Thank you Anties for my new swing. Right now as I type this she is sleeping in it. Since lately she's been refusing to sleep in her pack n play this might be a bed for awhile for her....we'll see.

Grandma Kathy Week!

Here are a few more pictures that were taken during the week Grandma Kathy was here. Hopefully Kathy got in as much time holding Svea that she could. We had an awesome week just being with Svea and spending time together. Thank you to Dan and Kathy for running SO many errands for me while I stayed home with the little girl...especially the stamps! We even decorated for Christmas already! Next time I'll post a short video of Svea in her new swing from her Great-Aunts from Wisconsin...or should I say Great-Ants, which is how they pronounce it:)

3 Weeks Old

Svea-today you are three weeks old! The last week felt like it went a little slower thank goodness. You are still wearing newborn diapers and have grown out of some of your preemie clothes, but not all. You've started to fit in a few newborn things. This past week you decided you are not a huge fan of sleeping on your back. Since this is the safest position for you to sleep in it's made for quite a few sleepless nights for Mom and Dad. We wouldn't trade it for anything, however as we are still loving our time with you. We get to have Dad home with us for a few more days. We started putting you on your play mat when you are awake. You are so strong picking up your little head...we can already tell a difference in your neck strength. You have started to follow objects with your eyes too. If you notice in your picture last week you were about as long as your pink bear.....you are now bigger than the bear. It makes me so happy and sad all at the same time. We love you Svea...you are the best thing that has ever happened to us. We are also thankful that your Grandma Kathy is here this week to spend time with us and you!

2 Weeks Old

Svea-today you are two weeks old! We had your dr. appt. today and you now weigh 6lbs. 10 oz and are 19 inches long. You are growing stronger everyday! You are still wearing preemie clothes, but you're getting close to being able to fit into some newborn things. You are still eating every 2-3 hours and in the past week you decided you do not like your arms to be swaddled at night. To keep your fingers from getting so cold we put socks over your arms at night. You are still in newborn diapers and your umbilical cord is just about ready to fall off. Dad and I had another amazing week at home with you. We just stare at you and all of your funny facial expressions you make. Our hearts are exploding with love for you!

Svea's Room

Except for some nice big newborn photos of Svea here is her room completed. I was going to show off her room sooner, but of course she had other plans:)

Daddy and Svea

You see a lot of snuggling at our house these days. We are so grateful for these three weeks that we get to have together while Dan has paternity leave. I don't know what I'd do without him home right now as I feel like all of our needs for both Svea and myself are being met and I'm getting rest. We will always look back on this time and savor the memories because we are just having the best time bonding and getting to know her. For those of you who won't know her name is pronounced Sah-Vay-Ah. I don't think I have explained that yet. Other fun news.....our webcam arrived and we've already skyped with my mom and dad. Dan immediately got on the phone with his parents and brother talking them to all get one too! We are looking forward to that!

37 Weeks....With Baby On The Outside:)

I just had to do one more picture standing in front of the bathroom door....I didn't think I'd be done with my pregnancy pictures..I thought I had at least 3 left to do. Here we would have been at 37 and a half weeks pregnant, but instead Svea is 9 days old! More daddy and his little girl pictures coming soon!

1 Week Old

Svea-today you are one week old! You are nursing like a champ every two to three hours, love to snuggle when you sleep, and overall have a very calm demeanor. You are just a sweet sweet baby. You finally found your thumb, which you've been trying to do since you were born. If I don't get there fast enough to feed you you'll go for it until I can get there. You are so tiny that newborn clothing doesn't fit you and we had to run out and get you some preemie outfits. At the doctor this week you were in the 3rd percentile for height and weight and only went down to 5lbs 8 oz. before you started gaining again. Mom and Dad are enjoying our time at home with you. We trade you back and forth in between finishing getting ready for you washing your clothes, putting together your furniture, mama taking naps, etc.) You gave us a huge shock when you decided to come 4 weeks early! We already love you so much. It's incredible what we feel for you. I know you are only a week old, but please slow down. Every second we have with you is so precious to us. We love you:)

She's Here Part Two

Last Sunday was our baby shower at church. This pregnancy I always took a picture of my belly on even numbered weeks. Because we were dressed nice for our shower I'm so glad I asked Dan to take my photo here at 35 weeks....it ended up being the last picture of me pregnant as we went into labor three days later!
Last Wednesay I went to work and for the past couple of days I'd noticed that something was "different". I was worried that I might be leaking amniotic fluid so I had it checked out after the baby shower over the weekend....nothing? By Wednesday it was still bothering me so I cancelled my students at school and ran up to the clinic. I FULLY expected them to check me and think I was nuts for being so paranoid, but instead I got, "YOU are having a BABY TODAY"! I just about fell off the exam table. I called Dan and he frantically tied up loose ends at church and ran home to pack our bags since we were NOT prepared. I called my mom as I was literally parking my car at he hospital. I was going to be induced! Everything went REALLY fast. My mom and my grandma had extremely fast labors so you can imagine my anxiety about what to expect. The dr. broke my water at 3:40 pm and I did start contracting on my own, but they weren't too bad. By the time Dan got there I was contracting hard enough that I couldn't talk to him through the contractions. It seemed like minutes and my pain level was a 9 and the contractions were 30 seconds apart. They had to slow down my pitocin just so I could sit still for the epidural. The dr. came in (he was SO awesome) and said she'd most likely be there by the wee hours of the morning. He checked me then and his eyes got huge......I had dialated from a 3 to a 9 in an hour. We were up next. Can I just say that epidurals are amazing! Women who go through labor without them deserve to have countries named after them because there is just no way! Anyway, since I wasn't in pain we didn't push right away when I got to a 10 so she would have been born even sooner, but at 9:48 pm on Oct. 27th little Svea Grace was welcomed into the world. It was the most amazing experience I have ever been through. I would do it again in a heartbeat (even the 2 hours of REALLY bad pain before my epi) to experience our little girl being born! Dan was amazingly supportive, calm, and motivating and in a total of 6 hours I went from driving myself to the hospital to snuggling our little girl on my chest. God has blessed us with Svea......we are enjoying every second. Above is a photo from Monday night. Who says babies don't smile!

Halloween Baby

Instead of a Thanksgiving baby we have our little Halloween baby, our little pumpkin as I like to call her! Dan and I had fun today with our own little photo session.

Good news today, Svea is now gaining weight again after her initial loss that all babies go through. We've been to the doctor everyday since she was born watching her weight and any signs of jaundice closely. We can't believe how well she is doing! After dropping to 5lbs. 8oz she is now 5lbs. 10oz! She is also done with all of her heel pokes (ouch!) to check her billirubin levels...thank goodness I don't think I could stomach another one! I promised the Grandparents that I would try my best to post pictures as often as possible of her. We also plan on getting some video of her very soon!