Let the Birthday Celebrations Begin!!!

Hi Again!

This weekend we celebrated my upcoming 2nd birthday! I had a wonderful party with lots of family...I feel so blessed to have so many cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandma's and grandpa's that care so much about me and celebrated with me! We didn't get too many good pictures- that seems to happen when you are the hostest, too many other things going on, but here is a little look at the day...

Opening presents

Chips from Auntie Lori! 

Watching my birthday video w/cousin Madeline in my new chair... (while enjoying chips of course!) 

My great grandparents 

"My balloon!"

Attempting to catch a 'cheese' but it turned out more of a grumpy face than a smile 

I have my 2 yr. checkup coming up on my birthday Tuesday, so I'll give you a full growth report and update next week!

Baby Update....36 weeks and counting!

Here it is...the dreadful belly shot. I feel like I've grown so much faster this time, which is the norm after your 1st, but looking back at pictures I'm about the same, so that makes me feel a little better about the rapid weight gain! I've actually measured the same (33 inches) at the last few checkups, so if at next week's checkup I haven't grown, they want to do an ultrasound just to make sure baby is still growing and that things are going as plannned- otherwise I'm doing pretty good! Just the usual, but not fun, contractions here and there and tiredness!

Have a great LOVE week everyone...I know we will here at the Dummer household with lots of birthday celebrating to be had! Hard to believe it was 2 years ago already that we were blessed when Ms. Danika Jolee came into this world!

More to come next week about the adventures in the life of Danika!

Love,

Danika and Family

Splish Splash:)

Happy Sunday!

Short and sweet tonight, but here are a few highlights from the last few weeks... Last weekend I spent some time with daddy at the farm. I got help feed the calves with papa and visit the big mama cows.

Guess what I started this week?!?! Swim lessons again! We go every Wednesday to the YMCA after daycare. Mom's been busy at work teaching after school classes, and with her dr. and chiropractor appointments, so dad was a trooper and he took me to my 1st set of lessons. Mom eventually came to snap a few pictures. I was a little hesitant at 1st, but of course by the time lessons were over I refused to get out! I splished and splashed like crazy! 

Thanks to my recent obsession with Dora the Explorer, I like to cart around my backpack on my back just like Dora does:)  

Hi mom and dad:) (Don't I look so grown up in this picture?!?! Just wait until my baby sister comes- then I'll really look big!)

As we speak, this is what I'm doing right now...scarfing down some snacks watching the Super Bowl with Auntie Lori, Uncle Mike, mom and dad. I've had a great weekend- I got to play with Granny yesterday morning while mommy and daddy went to a child birthing class, and then Lori and MIke came to play and spent the night and are here now for the football festivities.  SO, I better get back to my company... 

Baby Update: 35 weeks- 5 to go!

Baby continues to kick and wiggle in there as it grows! It's a good sign to feel the movement, but it's also causing lots of braxton hicks, insomnia, tiredness, exhaustion, and overall grumpiness for mom:) Poor dad has to put up with her a little bit longer:) Our midwives say things are going great though and baby is measuring about 33 inches, so it's on track to be about 6-7 pounds just like me!

So hard to believe we will have another little one in the house in such a sort amount of time! Hopefully she stays in there to cook at least a few more weeks because mom has LOTS of preparing to do at school before she's gone for the rest of the school year...BUT like everyone keeps saying, baby will come when she's ready and we will be ready too! Who knows, this time it could be late instead of early...only time will tell:)

Have a happy Superbowl Sunday and a great week!!

Love, Danika and family

What a Week!

Well, here we are again...another Sunday! We had quite a hectic week around here, so not a lot of pictures to show for it! Dad went to Iowa for work and was gone from Tuesday-Friday and Amy was also on vacation which meant no daycare. So I spent my days at the farm with Grandma and Papa and my nights alone with mom and Sophie...it was really a different routine than usual! BUT...I LOVED getting to play at the farm and even though I missed my daddy lots, I was a pretty good girl for my mom. Since dad was in Iowa already, we decided to make what very well could be our last trek to Ames, Iowa to visit My cousins Connor and Madeline and Auntie Lisa and Uncle Ben. We never really left the house and I was OK with that because we had lots of fun with all kinds of toys and our imaginations:)

Here are just a few (because they are the only!) pictures of our adventures with the Percy's!

Just playin' with the legos..."cheese"!

Mommy and Connor snugglin' on the couch, still trying to wake up for the day!

Danika and Madeline just hangin' out, having a snack together:)

Can't forget about 'fairy Danika'! Madeline had 2 sets of tutus and wands, so we had some fun wearing them around the house and dancing!

A big THANK YOU to the Percy's for having us and feeding us all weekend:) And also to Auntie Lori who also came with us and entertained me for the 4+ hour drives each way! Miss you all already!

In case you didn't know, I have a birthday coming up soon! Hard to believe I'm going to be 2 in just 3 short weeks... mom tried to get some pictures of me to create a bday party invite, but I wasn't so cooperative. I'm really good at saying 'cheese', but not so into looking at the camera and actually smiling with my cheese:) These were the best we got...

Playing with some of my decorations from my 1st bday party 

Mommy: "Danika, how old are you going to be?"

Me: "Two!" (Holding up two fingers...of course not long enough to quite get the shot:) 

Well between vacationing to Iowa, daddy being gone most of the week, mommy teaching an after school class and her being sick all week, that's all the pictures you get from this hectic week... hope you enjoy:)

Have a great week ahead!
Love,

Danika

Happy New Year!

Yes, believe it or not, we are all alive and well:) Hard to believe it's been nearly a month since we've shared an update with you! We had a wonderful fun and family filled Christmas. I have SO many new things to play with it's overwhelming some days! But I'm not complaining:)

Here I am painting with dad using my new Color Wonder paint set....

Playing with my new kitchen that Santa brought me...

(I love to make soup and hot chocolate and wash my baby clothes in the laundry area...and of course talk on the phone!)

Here I am with my cousins on mom's side of the family...

And with my Dummer cousins... 

Having fun with my silly dad! 

I've been getting lots of good practice being a 'mommy' with my new baby! I love to change her diaper, get her dressed, feed her, push her in the stroller and put her sleep...I'm going to be a great helper with my new baby sister! 

Me and my cousins Chloe and Madeline with our new dolls from Grandma and Grandpa Dummer 

Aside from all the holiday festivites, I've been busy growing up the last month! I've started to go on the big girl potty! Not consistently, but generally at least once a day, so it's a good start...maybe when I see my new baby sister using diapers, I'll realize that they're just for babies and I'm a big girl!

Here I am going on the potty at home for the first time...I was SO proud of myself!

High-Five Dad!

Hangin' out with dad reading books at bedtime (Can you tell we're related?!?!) This was hysterical when mom snapped the picture, we both happened to do the same thing with our hands:) Adorable...I'm definitely a daddys girl.

I've also had another big change since Christmas, and that is moving into my new bedroom and my big girl bed! I LOVE my bed and it's been a pretty good and easy transition (fingers crossed it stays that way!) Once in a while I babble to myself or get up and out of bed to look at books, but I've never tried to come out of my room at bedtime. I also love to jump on mom and dad's bed so they were a little worried that's all I'd do on my new bed, but I haven't!

 

Baby Update: 32 Weeks...only 8 to go!

Baby is now nearly 4 pounds and about 16.5 inches long already! Hard to believe, but then again, when I look at my belly and remember how I feel every day, it's about right:) From here to the end I'll gain about pound a week (yippee!), so baby's only really half it's birth weight at this point. I haven't had any major issues, just feeling exhausted and fat! Our midwives say I'm measuring right on and everything looks and sounds good, so that's reassuring. Danika was definitely an active kid in the womb, but I can already tell we're in for it with this baby, for as wild as she is in there! Daren has a hard time even feeling the movements because he usually gets jabbed by a foot or elbow and he can't quite get use to that feeling! As Danika told you, she has moved bedrooms so we are getting the nursery ready for the new baby. Not a lot to do or change, just get all the baby clothes and blankets washed and ready! And we keep dodging the name questions from everyone...no, we are not sharing baby's name until her arrival-sorry! But if it gives you any comfort, we still don't know ourselves what it will be- We have it narrowed down to about 5 names, so we've got some deciding to do!

Well, hopefully you feel in the loop now with the long lost Dummer family:) We'll try not to make it another month before the next post:)

Oh, and just for fun, I added a poll question on the right hand side of the blog for you to answer just to see what people think...when do you think baby will make her arrival? Danika was 9 days early...not sure if that's any predictor, but maybe:)

ps- here's a little extra to the blog...some of you have been asking about our trip to NYC, so here are a few pics to share...

A view of the Empire State Building from the 'Top of the Rock' at Rockafeller Center 

I had to get a picture of this...I dragged Daren into the huge 3 story American Girl doll store to get Danika some clothing accessories for her new baby- he was in utter shock at the madness of moms and their girls and dolls...This place even had a doll hair salon! It was crazy, even for me! 

Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge 

A view of the new building that is going up at the World Trade Center 

Have a great week!

Love,

Danika, Daren and Jamie

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Happy Sunday Again:)

These last few weekends have been jam-packed with family and fun! I've been a busy girl. We celebreated Great Grandma Dummer's upcoming 90th birthday by having a party for her!!! LOTS of people came and I got to play with all kinds of cousin I didn't even know I had!

Happy Bday Grandma...we love ya!

Here's our whole Dummer crew for our side of the family...

Madeline and I loved to play with our balloons and we avoided the crowd and ran into the church library most for much of the party! We are trouble when we get together...just think, a lot more years of growing up together to cause even more:)

On Sunday we had our church sunday school program...Dad was away in Green Bay having fun watching the Packers, so I hung out with Granny and Great Grams while mom had to help with the other kids. Mom says she's never seen me sit so still in church- I was mezmorized by Grams and all her pictures she was drawing for me:) 

After church we tried to sneak a quick picture of the Dummer cousins... I haven't been the most cooperative when it comes to taking pictures lately, but luckily Auntie Lisa let me sit on her lap and then I sort of joined the picture.

Chloe, Connor, Madeline, and me!

Just bein' my silly self at home:) I've always loved to take out every single shoe mom owns, and carry them around the house, but now I've figured out how to put them on my feet, so I think I'm pretty stylin'! 

We kept up the holiday festivities this weekend by having our Spielman family Christmas (which is Grandma Lynn's family)  It's always so nice to see and visit with everyone. I had another fun adventure of playing with my cousins

Although, when I wasn't playing with them, I found a pretty good seat...right by the cookie tray:) 

I colored with Auntie Stacy...

and helped Daddy look for the pickle on the tree...

After the Spielman party, mom and I ventured up to the cities to spend the night at Granny's house and has my first 'Holidazzle' parade experience! It was cold and chaotic with LOTS of people, with I really enjoyed seeing all the characters and lights, so it was worth it:)

Me and mommy, all bundled up! 

Waiting patiently in the crowd for the parade to begin! 

Mom was on crowd control keeping me safe standing between on the people, so Granny was in charge of the camera and got a few good pictures of some of the floats...I thought I'd include just 1...the final float and the (2nd) most important guy of the season...Santa!!!!

In the hussle and bussle of getting all the last minute 'to-do' list items checked off, I hope everyone has an enjoyable week and takes some time to relax...I know I will:) I won't be posting again beforehand, so I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas next weekend!!!!!

Love,

Danika

Deck the Halls! (and house:) Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!

Happy Sunday! 

It's been a busy week around here getting into the Holiday spirit! Unfortunately, not a ton of pictures to show for it, but the tree is up and decorated, the house is decorated, the gifts are bought (but not wrapped) and the cookies are made! WHEW!

Here's a few quick pics from the week...

Our 1st annual cookie day! Mom and dad usually attempt to make a few different kinds of cookies each year, but doing it in the evenings after work has not been ideal because we are all tired, and finding a weekend time when we are all home is next to impossible as well! So, mom recruited Granny and Auntie Heidi and they decided to make a day of it at our house...here's a glimpse

'Helping' Granny mix

This is a about half, or slightly more, of the completed cookies. Aunt Heidi had already taken her share before we took the picture, plus mom and Granny made two more kinds after this! 

Of course I was a SUPER great helper at tasting them:) 

All in all it was a fun productive day...but cookie day is NOT for the weary and weak! Mom was SO exhausted by the end of the day, she went to bed pretty much the same time as me:) Granny too!

I love to color, paint, draw , etc... but today we attempted a 1st (in the house anyway!)- Fingerpainting with no boundaries! We are working on a top secret project for a certain someone's special birthday party. Mom definitely has 'pregnancy brain' because for some crazy reason she thought that this project was going to go somewhat smooth and that I would cooperate with what and how she wanted me to paint:) Yah......Right!

I did have a total blast, which was the most important thing:) I even discovered that paint isn't just fun on paper, but also on my body! Good thing it was washable! It came right off in the bathtub, much to moms enjoyment.

Just getting started...a little green on my hands and the paper 

"This is fun mom! I have a green belly":) 

And this is when it started to get a little out of control:) The red was probably my favorite color, so of course that had to go on my body!

Working and concentrating very intensely on my project.

The least I could do after the mess I made, was help mom get the paint off my body-and I decided I really didn't like it between my toes!  

Baby Update: 26 weeks

We had a check up on Friday and everything looks and sounds good. Mom had a few questions about painful vein trouble she's been having, but of course the answer was that it's just 'part of the process' to deal with...so 3 more months of it:) The pregnancy is going overall pretty well- starting to gain more weight much faster. Baby is very active, escpecially right away in the morning and at bedtime.

Danika has been in LOVE with her baby doll, and any other real babies we see...it will be really fun to see how she interacts with the newest arrival in March- maybe the novelty will wear off once she realizes she can't give this baby away when she's bored with it:)

Have a great week and stay warm!

Love,

Danika & Family