Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2014

We had a quiet but lovely Christmas Eve in Apple Valley. This is the first time we have spent the holidays in Minnesota and as another first, we didn't have any snow on the ground! After Duane dropped off my mom at the airport, we watched "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" with Olivia. She and Duane played a little bit and then it was time for her to nap. While she napped, we prepped the house to have Jaron & Crystal over for dinner. We had a really great dinner and then we exchanged gifts and had fruit salad and Christmas cookies. Olivia was ready to go to bed and didn't look at any books before falling asleep - she wanted to make sure Santa knew she was asleep so he'd come to our house! The adults watched "Christmas Vacation" and then we all called it a night.

not sure where the baseball cap came from but she sure was snuggled close to Jaron!

Annie napping on Crystal's lap

Ornament and slippers from Jaron & Crystal

I wish I could say that Olivia had a classic reaction to Santa coming but once again, Duane and I were a little disappointed by her reaction. She liked her gifts but sadly, after she opened her presents, she said, "where are the rest of my gifts?" (Ugh, I hated to hear that!) She received lots of Frozen items, a Rapunzel doll and a jewelry box. Annie received a stuffed animal, blanket and teether toy. (see what I mean - short end of the stick!)

Elsa shoes - her favorite gift! She clacks around the house in these all day!

We watched Frozen and then Olivia took a nap. Duane and I watched our favorite holiday movie, "Love Actually." The rest of our day was very, very lazy but it was a nice, quiet Christmas!

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas!

The first week as a family of 4

The next day Liv went to school so it was Duane, me and Annie. We took Annie to the doctor for her first check-up and she checked out perfectly. We had just enough time to rush home and greet my parents, Libby and Alex. Then, my mom, Alex and Duane went to Liv's school for her Christmas program. My dad, Libby, Annie and I stayed at the house - I was not willing to expose little Annie to the school of germs.

decorating cookies

Liv's class - they're ready to start singing!

she took in her wish list to show Santa

Olivia and the gang came back to the house and we all had dinner together. Then, the gifts started and they didn't seem to ever stop! Liv is beyond spoiled now because she's a big sister. Annie seems to get the short end of the stick but then again, she was held almost every minute my family was here so I think she came out ahead in the end!

The next day everyone stayed at home, except for Duane, who went into work for a portion of the day. Olivia began bossing around Alex early that morning and didn't seem to stop until the minute he left. (Best.Uncle.Ever!) Giesla sent up her sugar cookie dough, along with cookie cutters, sprinkles, etc! It was so great! Olivia helped cut out some cookies but then she was off with Alex, making him play princesses. They were able to get her to decorate 1 cookie and then she was done and ready to play again.

"Alex, can you play with me?!"

On Saturday, December 20, Jaron & Crystal came over to visit and meet Annie. Duane, Alex and my dad made chicken and steak fajitas and we all had lunch together. While Olivia napped, the guys put together her Christmas gift from my parents together in the basement. That evening, we celebrated Christmas as best we could without GG. Once again, Olivia was spoiled all over.

the first gift she opened was 3 books - she could have been done with those because she sat there with them and wouldn't open any others until she had looked through them!

Elsa earrings!

the big one - a trampoline!!!

The rest of our visit with my family was so nice - they helped us out so much and we couldn't be more thankful! To make it even better, the day before they were going to leave, my mom decided to stay an extra 2 days and bought a one-way flight back to IN for Christmas Eve day. While she was here, we cleaned our house (mom doing the icky tasks of dusting baseboards and scrubbing the basement floor) and baked more cookies for Christmas Eve. Annie also finally had a bath and she loved it! When we gave Liv a bath her first time at home, she screamed the whole time; Annie was totally quiet, until we took her out of the water; then she was not happy and let us know it.

she's a little cross-eyed in this picture but that's okay!

On Christmas Eve morning, my mom sadly left and headed to the airport. Thankfully her flights were on time and she made it back to Ferdinand safe and sound.

Introducing Annaliese Margaret Meyer

Welcome to the world, Annaliese Margaret Meyer! Our little Annie waited and waited and waited to be born but when she was ready, she came pretty fast! My due date was December 12 and when that day came and went, I was ready to lose my mind. I had a feeling I'd be pregnant through that weekend and I was right. On the morning of Monday, December 15, I had a doctor's appointment so Duane met me there so we could talk about me being induced. (I was frightened of having a "big" baby) My doctor tried a little procedure (again) to possibly start labor and also called the hospital to see if we could get in that day to be induced. We didn't want to wait too long into the week because Olivia had a Christmas program at school and I would have felt awful if nobody was there for her. So, anyway, the hospital said to call at 11am and double check they had an opening. Okay, great - I went home to finish packing and Duane went back to work to close out some things and tell them he was going to be unavailable for the next day or two.

Well, as soon as I sat in my car and started driving home, I started having some pretty painful contractions and they were about 5 minutes apart. I was trying not to get too excited about that because I had been having fake contractions for weeks. I fired off some emails, finished packing my bag and was on the phone with our friend Crystal (Liv's babysitter while we were in the hospital) and the contractions were getting way more intense. I texted Duane and said, "it's really happening, hurry home!" He came flying through the door shortly after that, finished packing and we raced to the hospital; we arrived at 11:45am.

They were expecting us and had a room ready as soon as we arrived. I changed into a lovely hospital gown (why do they have to be so ugly?!?!) and was having consistent, intense contractions every 3-4 minutes! The nurse with us was great and was very encouraging that this would happen fast - I didn't believe her. Thankfully, I did not need any drugs for inducement but I was ready for that epidural! I received the epidural around 2pm and was feeling great - no pain but could feel some pressure when big contractions came. The nurse continued to say it was going to happen fast and still, I was not believing her. They broke my water around 3pm and at 3:40pm, my doctor showed up and told me it was time to push. I was in shock, I think!

I pushed once and everyone was telling me I did a great job but again, I didn't believe them. (I pushed for 3 hours with Liv.) With the next contraction, I pushed and then suddenly heard, "Open your eyes, Abby!" And there she was - our little Annaliese! I literally could not believe it! Duane was also in shock, he stood there staring at her while the nurse kept asking him for a blanket for the baby! :)

Annie screamed and screamed and we continued to just stare at her and wonder how it all happened so quickly. She was born at 3:59pm and was a perfect  7.5lbs, 19.5" long. Once I had eaten some lunch and could stand up, we were moved from the labor room to our recovery room. Olivia had a fun night with Crystal while we both stayed at the hospital. Poor little Annie spent some time in the nursery that night so Duane and I could try to sleep.

Day 2 in the hospital was pretty good. Duane ran some errands in the morning so it was me and Annie doing some napping, cuddling and lots of nursing. Later that afternoon, Duane picked up Liv from school, ran her home to "delouse" her (have her shower and hopefully wash off some school germs) and then they came to the hospital. Olivia was pretty excited but it took a while before she would hold Annie. The girls exchanged presents and then she and Duane went to the cafeteria to get dinner. We had dinner together and then she was ready to hold her sister. The maternity ward nurses give every baby a "birthday cake" so we celebrated Annie's birth day with some cake and sang to her.

Olivia gave Annie an adorable hat and Annie gave Olivia an Elsa doll

On Wednesday, December 17, Annie and I were given the okay to head home! I was definitely ready to get out of our room and be more comfortable at home. We left the hospital right before noon so we were able to have some time at home to "relax" before Liv came home from school. Our first night was rough - not much sleep for anyone, except Liv who has (thankfully) stayed blissfully unaware of the crying!

Dentist Visit

Duane and Olivia had dentist appointments on Thursday, December 11, so I tagged along with them so I could get out of the house. I had been working from home since Thanksgiving because I was expecting the baby to come early - obviously she had other plans! Olivia did great and seemed to really like the dentist!

Thanksgiving 2014

Since we were not able to travel anywhere, we spent Thanksgiving with my cousin, Cara, and her family. Olivia and Cara's daughter, Samantha, LOVE playing together and were both so excited we were spending the afternoon with each other! We had a wonderful meal and were able to spend some time together before it was time to head home.

Olivia went to school on Black Friday so Duane and i could get some shopping done. We hit up Target first and it wasn't too bad. We went to 2 different malls, had a nice lunch and then I was maxed out by 3pm. We were kind of expecting the baby to come any day but she had plans to stay put for another 2 weeks!

Random update and pictures

Hello blog readers! Here are a couple random photos from the past few weeks. My department threw a baby shower for me a few weeks ago and it was so nice! The cake was super cute and super good - I brought the leftovers home and we treated ourselves to slices of cake for the next week!

 

belly shot around 36 weeks

I have been cracking the whip on Duane and he's been more than willing to help! :) We have the baby's room completely ready (except for a lamp and a few decorations still needed) and all of the little jumpers, swings, bouncers, etc. put together and set aside, just waiting for our little lady to arrive! As of today, I'm 38 weeks pregnant and this is actually the time I had Olivia. So, it could literally be any day now! Ahhh!!

Last night we took Olivia to MOA for some rides and dinner. The night before Thanksgiving at MOA is pretty nice and quiet so I was able to tolerate it. We had dinner at Tucci Bennuch and then walked around for a bit. We checked out the Disney Store and Liv found all kinds of things she wanted - imagine that!

Happy Halloween!

Happy (belated) Halloween! Did everyone get their fill of Halloween candy? Olivia had a great day by starting off with a "party" at school. She took in her costume and all the kids changed after afternoon nap and had a party. She and her friend, Siya, were the sisters from FROZEN. Even though Siya is Indian and looks nothing like Elsa, they took their roles seriously - or so I heard. I arrived at school just in time to watch Liv wolf down a cookie with bright orange frosting and sprinkles and then she and Siya played until I basically forced her to come home.

Duane is trying very hard to start a tradition in our neighborhood by having a bonfire, complete with hot dogs and beer for the adults. Try as he might, I think he had about 3 people that took a hot dog.... I walked to about 10 houses with Liv and then she was thankfully getting tired (I was, too!). I was worried she would get cold but when we came in and took off her gloves, her hands were sweating! It was about 30* when we finally came in - I was freezing but somehow, she wasn't?! You never know what Halloween in MN will be and just in time for Friday evening, the temps dropped. Oh well, we can't have Indian Summer forever.

you may not be able to tell but underneath that dress, she's in snowpants, a fleece and snowboots! I'm surprised the dress closed in the back after all those layers!

A visit from Grandma

This past weekend we were lucky to have my mom come up for the weekend. Olivia was SO excited to have grandma come up - she counted down the days from the beginning of October! My mom arrived early afternoon on Friday so we hit up MOA while Olivia was napping at school. We picked up Olivia at school and took off for Punch pizza.

Saturday morning Olivia and my mom played and played and played while Duane and I took a tour of the hospital where we'll be having the baby. In the afternoon while Liv napped, my mom and I did some more shopping and then we came back home and decided to have a night in. Duane was busy putting up a tent in the backyard while my mom and I made dinner. Liv cleaned her plate in no time and was ready to get back outside and roast marshmallows! We enjoyed s'mores and then suddenly Liv started saying, "I'm really tired. I think it's time to go to sleep in the tent." By 8:45pm, Duane and Liv were tucked into the tent and my mom and I headed inside. They spent the night in the tent until about 5am when Liv woke up saying she was cold. Duane made her sooo happy by camping!

Sunday morning we ran to Target and then spent the rest of the day at home. My mom helped me clean all the windows and go through some baby toys. Olivia spent the rest of the day playing with my mom and being outside with her. She begged Duane to carve pumpkins but then quickly found other ways to keep herself occupied while he did all the work.

she was involved enough to tell Duane exactly how to carve the pumpkins

"Ewww!!"

meanwhile Liv is playing in the yard while Duane carves the 2nd pumpkin

We had a great weekend and really appreciate my mom flying up here! Olivia really had a great time and I know she's missing her playmate!