Saturday, February 27, 2010

Danika is two weeks old!

The last two weeks have been wonderful with our new bundle of joy, but also quite an adjustment for all 3 of us. Between the lack of sleep and feeling like a non stop milk machine, it's been interesting! The hardest thing has been being bound to the house pretty much all the time...the few times that we have ventured out, it's been a good thing that we both went so there was back up when Danika started screaming! I'm not brave enough to take her out on my own yet, so we're just enjoying some quality time at home. She has been such a blessing to us and definitely worth the sleep deprevation:) She is truly a miracle and a gift from above! It sounds crazy, but we are already noticing her growing and changing! At her 1st dr. appt. she had gained 6 oz. from her birth weight already! She's a good eater and is getting chipmunk cheeks:)
She loves to make this face! We call it her zoolander face! She puckers her lips & looks all around!






We've had lots of special visitors come to meet Danika! Grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and friends.... We have appreciated all the gifts for Danika and most especially the meals that have been given to us! It's been a wonderful treat not to have to worry about making meals on top of all the other daily tasks! Here are some questions we've gotten:

What made you decide on the name Danika Jolee? (Dan-i-ka) When we looked through the baby name book and thought about names we had heard before, Danika was one that we both agreed on instantly, and we both liked the idea of having a D or J name. Jolee is my middle name (lee) combined with my sisters middle name (Jo).

When will you return to work? Daren has spend these first two weeks home with us, which has been heaven sent! Friday was my first day home alone with Danika, and starting Monday, he will go back to work full time. I will be taking 12 weeks off of work, which sends me back around May 17th to finish out the last 3 weeks of school...then we'll have all summer together. Our plan is to start daycare mid-August to get Danika (and probably more so me!) used to being apart after our near 6 months together!

Where will Danika go for daycare? We found a great in home daycare provider whose children attend the school I teach at and they live close to my school, so it will also be very convenient. She was recommended to us by a co-worker.


If you're in the area and want to come meet, or say hi again to our little peanut, she'd love to see you and I'd love the company too:) That's all for now, but more to come next week!

Love,

Daren, Jamie and Danika

Saturday, February 20, 2010

It's a girl! And she's a cutie!!




On Valentine's Day we were blessed with the early arrival of our new daughter, Danika Jolee. It was quite a whirl wind. Jamie started having a few contractions on Saturday night which we didn't think much of, even though they were much more intense than previous episodes and were enough to wake her up frequently during the night. It was my weekend to help with chores and she had her graduate class at UWEC so we both went our separate ways on Sunday morning never thinking that we were going to be parents by the end of the day. Around noon I got a call from her telling me that her contractions had not gone away and she had been timing them while sitting in class all morning. They were occurring about every 12 minutes and not going away. Being the stubborn person that she is, she told be she was going to try and tuff it out and just rest on a couch outside her classroom and see if they would go away. They didn't. They just got more frequent and more intense. About an hour later I called to check on her again and she finally decided it would be best to go home. I met her at home around 2:30 or so and we started timing the contractions while she tried to rest. To my surprise they were every 5 minutes apart! We called the hospital and they told us that as long as her water had not broken we could stay at home if we wanted to for a while longer. I thought to myself, "Are they serious?" They obviously didn't think she was as far along as she really was. So I went and walked Sophie and when I got back Jamie told me the contractions were about every 2 or 3 minutes apart. That was enough for me. We called the hospital and told them we were on our way. When we walked into our room at the hospital I looked at the clock and it was 4:03pm. They checked Jamie once she managed to get her gown on and she was already dilated to 9cm! At 5:08, Danika Jolee was born. She weighed 6 lbs. 13 oz. and was 19.25 in. long. She was our special Valentine!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

I have the BEST husband in the world!!!!

It's been another anxious, busy week at the Dummer household. Baby Dummer feels like he or she has dropped and is getting ready and just as anxious as we are! Our midwife told us this week that baby's head is pretty far down and she thinks it is around 7lbs. I've had a quite a few contractions and they seem to get more intense every day...I don't know if I can hack this having a natural birth business, but I've got a good partner in Daren to coach me through it and if it's truly more than I can handle, I've realized that drugs may not be all that bad!
At school, it was a crazy week as we celebrated our 100th Day of kindergarten on Thursday and then had our Valentine's party on Friday. I celebrated right with the kiddos on Friday, since I had (and have tomorrow) class this weekend. My wonderful husband surprised me at school with a box of Dessert First cupcakes! He knows the way to this pregnant girls heart!

My favorites! 2 red velvet, one chocolate and one strawberry cheesecake! YUM!
When I got home from class tonight, I had an even bigger surprise. A Valentines/Mama- to-be present...a new iPhone! I've been nagging him for a while that I wanted a new phone, but never expected him to give in to the iPhone urge!


Daren had a bag on the kitchen counter from at&t that said "It's what all new moms need" and then I followed the arrows down the hallway into our bedroom and on the dresser was the iPhone and a special note...the most important part saying "Anyone who carries a miniature version of me for 9 months and puts up with me at the same time deserves something special!" What a keeper:) During this whole journey of pregnancy he has been so supportive and such a wonderful caretaker. I know that he is going to be the worlds greatest dad and I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful person to spend my life with and to call my husband! I can't wait to see him holding our little bundle of joy for the first time...who knows, that could be any day now! We'll keep you posted!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Counting Down!


37 Weeks(the not so gorgeous belly shot!)
With only 3 weeks to go we've spent the last week making sure that everything is as ready as it can be! We had our 5th of our 6 week prepared birthing class on Monday night and this week we got to take a tour of the labor and delivery area at Luther hospital...that made it much more real! I've been feeling pretty good considering I'm on week 38, but I'm starting to get tired much easier! I feel like my belly has ballooned out in just the last week! I thought it only appropriate to treat myself to a massage (and give Daren a break), which was heavenly! Other than that, not much else exciting happening around here-We're just waiting:)