Danelle practicing for church...

This is Danelle asking questions in Sunday School, singing , praying and pondering. We'll work on reading the scriptures next week... (and I swear, I didn't even move her hands into position- it's just nice to have a fast camera!!!)

TOUCHDOWN!!!!

Oh and more importantly, she's ready for Super Bowl Sunday!!! Lane taught her this one :)

What a Great Man!

On guard!

Thank you soooo much for all the advice and ideas! So we found out a few things that work so far to get her to fall asleep...vacuum + swaddling + lots of movement! Even then she'll wiggle her arms out and she likes to stick them straight up in the air or protect her face! We like to call her our little boxing champ because of all the pictures we have of her "protecting her face" w/ her hands. I think she's still adjusting to life "on the outside"!!!! Such a little cutie! It's not so bad always cuddling with her either!

We've made progress!!!

This girl loves to check out whats going on around her! She's probably wondering what the heck that noise is. This is a rare moment of her awake & happy in the swing- normally we can only put her in it when she's already sleeping! Either way we love the swing!

A newborn insomniac?...any suggestions?

So let me just say that I LOVE being a mom! Now with that aside does anyone have any suggestions or ideas that helped them with their newborn sleeping? I'm not sure how common it is but this little girl doesn't want to sleep! Most of the problem is she doesn't like to be put down. She doesn't like the bouncer, swing, crib, swaddling, pacifiers, etc. Oh she'll sleep if we hold her, bounce her, (such as in her snugli) but that's about it. We went to the pediatrician last week and she was all good for her 1 month check up, gaining plenty of weight etc. but when I mentioned her lack of sleeping to the Dr. she just said "Ah, don't worry about it."
It just started about a week or two ago, which is when all the grandparents left. Up until then she had been held all the time and therefore had been sleeping a lot more...
I have tried letting her "cry it out alone" for several mins. , checking on her, and knowing she's been fed, burped, changed, etc. But as soon as I calm her down and put her back down it's the same thing all the way until her next feeding (which is about every 2 1/2 to 3 hours right now). Or she'll sleep for 20 mins. then start grunting and eventually wake up. Let me tell you this little girl is grunting all the time! Not sure if it's gas, burps, acid reflux or what! So... I guess i'm looking for suggestions on how to get her to not be held all the time/ sleeping. Did anyone else have this same issue with one of thier newborns?

1 month old!!!

Wow what an amazing month this has been! So great being a mom, and yet has it really been a month since i've slept? I have a confession... I honestly had NO CLUE how often i'd be up feeding a newborn until I was in the hospital with her! I kept meaning to take a class or read up about nursing, but didn't get around to it and so the whole concept of feeding every 2-3 hours day & night didn't even occur to me until then... talk about a reality check!

The Nursery is done!!!

One of the upsides to having to wait so long to be able to have your first kid, is you can save up and spoil them when they get here! I had so much fun setting up her little room, and hopefully she'll like it enough to wanna sleep in it too, we're still working on that part!

Meeting the Grandparents!

Like all grandparents they just couldn't get enough of her!!!! Now, who wants to break it to her that she won't be held all the time with them all gone....

Christmas... a little late

I'm finally getting around to putting up some Christmas pictures!!

Baby Blessing

We decided to bless her a little early, being only 2 weeks old, but with my mom and Lane's parents in town we decided to just do it while they were all here. She did great all thru church, she didn't cry once! But of course when we went to take all our pictures she was not very happy since she had not eaten or been changed in awhile! We tried to just hurry up and take them, but i'll have to dress her up again to take some better ones of her with Lane and I and her by herself in her beautiful dress!

Danelle Pics for those who have been asking!!!

She always looks different when we try and take photos, but we will be doing her baby blessing on Sunday so i'm sure we'll take a ton of her all dressed up! So for now it's just pictures of her in her P.J.'s and her one little winter outfit!!!

Hiccups

She has arrived!

Danelle was born on Wednesday Dec. 19th at 5:39 pm!! She weighed 7 lbs. 5 oz. and was 20 in. We are at home now and everyone is doing very well!! As requested here are pictures or our darling little girl!

Change of plans...

Well she went from having "dropped" to breech, so we're on our way to the hospital right now for a c-section! She'll be here in about.... oh an hour!

D.C. Temple Lights

The temple lights were beautiful this year and the visitor center had so many gorgeous nativities from around the world! Such a neat temple!

He's Here!

No, not our baby, but my sister did have her's on Tuesday morning! Chase Russell, 8 lbs. 21 in. Yeah! That means i'm next! *and I might add my baby has "dropped" but no dilating or anything else... I just hope my labor and delivery goes as smoothly as hers!! Congrats Jensa!!! And Ava LOVES her new baby brother!

Our Christmas tree is up!

And just in case the baby comes early I have a stocking all ready for her... the pink one on the right hand side!

Black Friday Shopping

So i'm slowly becoming converted to the whole online shopping world. I used to never buy anything online for the fear of not "seeing before buying" and having to pay shipping cost. *Note that i've married a man who bought a truck off of ebay several years ago (and actually made money selling it a year later)...But with recent gas prices i've pretty much ruled out the shipping cost becuase it's almost a wash, and having gone out early this morning for my 3rd time "Black Friday Shopping" (9 months pregnant may I add) i'm not really convinced it's worth the hassle or lack of sleep. If you've never checked out: woot.com it's a must!! I'm so sad I missed out on the really good purchase of the day, an iRobt scooba that was $99, but they were all sold out when I tried to get one this afternoon! And to think Lane would have had his christmas shopping all done with!!!

My favorite quote of the morning had to be from a lady in line at Kohl's: "Geez, if i'm going to stand in this long line i'll have to get some more stuff to make it worth it!" Ahhh, our consumer economy at it's best! Happy Holidays!!

Ready to Shop!!!

So this is it- Lane and I are ready to go on our "Baby Shopping Spree". We've made it to within 6 weeks till she'll be here and I think that's about time to start getting some stuff. We need everything from the crib and carseat to all the little things too (like has anyone purchased/used a nursing cover?) So if you have any recommendations on what you loved with your first, or babies in general, PLEASE tell me! I've done some research, but I feel like I still don't know what the good products out there are!!!

NFL Monday Night Football!

Go Steelers! We went to the Pittsburg Steelers/Baltimore Ravens football game on Monday in Pittsburg. Lane's Dad, Sister and Brother-in-law also came with us, coming down from Boston. We had nice tickets that Lane got from work that came with parking passes so we got to tailgate with all the diehard Steeler fans. They ended up winning 38-7!!!
The city is actually quite gorgous! It's sits right where 3 rivers combine, and they have tons of cool bridges!
Trying to blend in as Steeler fans...
Pre-game warm ups.
Emmitt Smith, Steve Young, and that other ESPN guy doing the broadcast for Monday Night football on ESPN. We got to watch them do the sportscast.