video car keys

video- sj is all about car keys. she cracks me up.

well, we spent the morning walking at the lake and playing at park- it is beautiful weather these days.

i went thru sally's clothes to update... it has been a few months since she was wearing long pants and this week, they are all capri length. =)

please be praying for my mom these days, she is having more trouble with her cough. ended up today at the ER for a CT scan, EKG and xrays....

ha- look at sally's bib! this was a gift from Linda and Ron Eddy ( our adopted TN fam). we stopped fighting sally on wearing bibs at meals about a month ago. this one came in the mail today for daise and sal wore it from about 4pm- bedtime. ha.

k. i am beat, had zero rest today with daise being up and fussy during sj's entire 2 hour nap.... niiiiiiice.

nighty night

daisy and mom

ah- fun pix. we sure do love our girls. daisy is such a gift. sigh.

we have had a great weekend so far.

daisy had a doc appt on Friday. she has gained 11 ounces in the past 11 days. totally healthy, doing wonderfully and a true beauty. last night, she slept for 7 hours!! woot woot!

Daisy is not yet on a sched. but it is looking like we can swaddle her around 9pm and it is looking like i am only getting up with her once a night.... we will see what happens this week. she is a sleeper- sleeps TONS and still rarely cries.

marquitos and korita rolled into town around noon and stayed thru today at 2pm. we had a great great time hanging out, playing with the girlies, walking around town, picnicing, playing at the park, watching an 80's chick flick and eating some ceviche! good stuff.

then this afternoon we headed with my bro and fam to a 25th anni party for a couple from our church. good times.

some of ya'll have asked for our new mailing addy...

1251 Wisconsin Street

Lake Geneva, Wi

53147

it's a crazy 49 degrees here right now! yikes! what in the world is it going to be like in Jan in this town!?!?

k- love to ya'll!

video daisy 3 days old and sj eating with a spoon and bowl

these pix and 2 videos are from about 11 days ago. =)

and sally is big stuff now, eating with a spoon and all.
today at lunch, i gave her a bowl of cottage cheese and a spoon. the spoon lasted about 5 bites and then she dove in with both hands. =) i guess if i just didn't care what was "proper" or not, i might do the same thing. ha. i don't know.

gow is home today. wahoo. he's working. but he is home- which i like. it is great to have meals WITH him and to just know he is in the house.
he made a comment to me today... he is really enjoying his job.
I am so thankful for that- and am praising God for that. i know that it isn't the "norm" for peeps to actually enjoy their job- and after the past months of HUNTING- God is soo good to have us in the right place, doing the right thing.

A gal from church came over today to bring us a meal - she lives just up the street from us. She, her hubby and her two kids (6 mo and 2 1/2 years) are here for work from Japan. It was really quite cool to chat, have our kiddos playing on the floor and to get a small peek into how things are done in Japan. ie- she said that most Japanese women do not get an epidural because the "pain of child labor is part of becoming a real mom". interesting!

oh- a highlight today.... i only got up ONCE with Daise last night! woot woot. we will see if that was a fluke or perhaps the beginning of a routine?! (yes, something happening once COULD be the beginning of a routine.... i am definately an optimist. ) =)

and the highlight of the weekend...
Marquitos and Korita are coming up tomorrow to meet Daisy, share in some barnaby's ceviche and hang out!

video sj rockin dk

this video was taken last week- sorry, my pix/videos are going to be posted a week or so late these days as i am happy if i get to shower each day let alone take and post pix. =)

you saw sal patting her tummy in this video- that is her "sign language" for baby. she cracks us up as she makes up her own signs often.

sal's latest words are caca (which sounds like the word for poop in spanish- ha) caca= cracker

and cookle cookle cookle = cookie

at dinner tonight sal gave herself a spa treatment..... she rubbed avocado up and down her arms. yummers. she seems very interested in smooshing all food items in her hands right now. i read somewhere that that is how toddlers learn.... by feeling, smooshing, experiencing. interesting.

daisy kate is doing well. she has blond blond eyelashes, sleeps tons and rarely cries.

she eats quickly and i sometimes have a hard time getting her to burp.

daisy's belly button is almost completely healed and therefor she has enjoyed two bathes in the big tub (on the baby chair thingy) with big sis sal looking on.

sally has been banned from touching her head as sj has poked daisy's eyes about 6- 8 times.

We've had 3 pretty good days at home while Gow's been in Milwaukee. Both girls are doing really well with it. We don't exactly have a rhythm yet, but we'll get it eventually.

We've had fantastic meals delivered most days during the last couple weeks.....that's been absolutely awesome.

Daisy is two weeks old today. Only 50 more to go, and she'll be one. Time flies.

We're goin' to bed.......good night all.

holtes and nords

Jeanine and her 3 month old Rachel with me and 8 day old Daisy.
Anna Holte with Daisy
LOVE this pix o sal!
this little table and and chairs were my grandpa's when he was a little boy! my dad refinished them and Sally plays with them about 5-6 times a day.
howdy.

these are some buddies of ours that came to meet daisy and visit our new home!

the Nordquist are from the Lake Geneva area, but actually now live near Nashville - Jeanine has been a friend of mine since 98 when my folks moved to WI.

the holtes are friends of our from Alpine, Lake Arrowhead, but now live here too! =)

fun to have long time friends come to meet lil daisy kate!

day two with daddy at work went smoothly.

i took a walk along the lake with the girlies and then to the park to let sj run around abit. she is recently really into running. she giggles and watches her feet- like she is amazed they can go so fast. =)

daisy had two big time spit ups today. it happens when i can't get a burb out of her- poor baby girl.

a couple of highlights of the day

- gow got home around 5:30 and didn't have to do ANY work

- we got paid!!!! long story- but after about 7 weeks of waiting to be paid... today was the first check! PRAISE THE LORD!

- my hubby brought me home incredible sunflowers. beautiful and so super sweet.

- we had a great evening of family time tonight.

lastly, a few of ya'll have asked about our new mailing addy...

1251 Wisconsin St Lake Geneva, Wi 53147

nighty night!

1st day without daddy home

(video)

the above pix and video are from right after we got home from the hospital... with Auntie Karen, Grandma D and Auntie Jane.

so today is our first day without daddy home.

i am pooped.

it is 1:26 pm and i think i changed about 30 diapers already today. ok, so that is a bit of a stretch- but it has been a stinkin LOT! =)

sally jane has been absolutely amazing. she has played by herself sooooo well. as i was putting her down for her nap- i was telling her how proud i was of her. she is such a great big sis.

daisy kate was a bit more fussy- not sure why. she is such a quiet babe- RARELY cries unless she is hungry. but today she was insisting on extra mom time.... and is now blissfully sleeping. woot woot! both babes are nappin!

grandpa d came over to take sj on a walk so i could jump in the shower at around 10. thanks grandpa d! a shower makes a world of a diff!

gow called from the studio- sounds like all is well.

he is tired to and has a crappy chair- (maybe he will bring in his from home?)

k- gotta go feed daise. she's up.

love to ya'll

owl video b4 daise

oh so sweet. i love this lil video, i love sal's sweet lil response.

today i am so very thankful

- for our beautiful and amazing girlies. sometimes i just want to cry when i look at them... they are incredible.

- to be a part of a small church that is working really hard to grow and honor God (we had an all church meeting today- and gow and i were encouraged by the passion of the peeps)

- for my momma who offered to come over for an hour tonight so gow and i could go to the fireworks on the lake. who gets to go on a date 10 days after having a baby?!?!

- for our new home, that is perfect and sooo close to the lake, downtown, my folks' and bro's and sisi's

- for the job that gow is going to tomorrow in milwaukee... he is starting his three days in the office/two days at home this week.

- for the help of my fam in this transition, the many meals and sally play dates, and also the support and meals provided by our small church.

- and lastly, i am so very thankful for my incredible and incredibly hot hubby. =) he is truly my bff and has been so steady in these crazy months-- i would journey anywhere anytime thru anything with him as my partner.

God is so good. I praise Him and thank Him for this list.... and more.

double jogger stroller & teeth brushin video

this is a super fun gift we got from our baby shower!!! sally is loving it- and so are we as it is UBER easy to push, jog, handle, off road, you name it! we love it!





fun tooth brushin video of sj and daddy.

today gow is working from home and i am doing my best to handle the two girlies on my own.
it has been interesting. =)

i have many small and comical things i could share of today's happenings.. but i think my highlight was finding myself at 10:30am down by the lake in the middle of an art festival... in my pajamas. =)
yup, hadn't even brushed my teeth and good thing that my jammies right now are very modest! =) but sally needed to get out and it was a beautiful day... so off we went. sj in the double jogger, daisy kate in the sling and me in my super cool looking jammies. greasy hair, furry teeth and all. pretty pix, eh? but the best thing is.... the walk was JUST what this momma needed. both girlies behaved, the sun was shining, the water was twinklin', the weather was PERFECT. and nobody even gawked at my jammies. =)

last weekend my siso and i tried to put both girlies in the double stroller. it didn't work so well as sj has full access to dk... and sal has not even begun to comprehend what GENTLE means. =) after about 10 minutes, daisy had been showered with cheese crackers.... niiiice. i think i will wait a month or two before laying her down next to sal. =)

if gow can get his work done, we are gonna head to the carnival that is happening down town. it is soo nice to be within walking distance to downtown, the lake is only 3 blocks away and an elementary playground is about 2 blocks away. and i love lake geneva cuz it is a tourist getaway for Chicago-ians. it reminds me so much of Lake Arrowhead, the town I grew up in in Cali (also a tourist getaway for Los Angelonians). yeah, there is lots of weekend traffic but every one is in a good mood cuz they are here on vacation.

k- need to go and feed our lil daisy kate before sal wakes up from her nap.

happy sat. to ya'll!

video of daisy kate

here's a lil video of daisy in the hospital. enjoy!

seems like every day daise is looking a little bit more like sj did when she was newborn. but daisy has a bit lighter hair color- maybe with a reddish tint to it. she's such a lil beauty.

i feel torn thru out the day. and tonight i told gow i feel a bit in adequate. how can i give both girls all of my love? i feel like i need to have two bodies with two arms each... one to play with sj and the other to snuggle daisy kate. sigh. i cherish my time to put each of the girls to bed or nap... i get to hold them tightly, sing to them and pray. ah- i feel like my heart might burst.

sal has been so stinkin cute with doing things... ie... at nap or bedtime, i will tell her it's time for nap/bed and to go and kiss daddy. she will look at me and then run straight to daisy to kiss her first, then will run to find daddy and kiss him and then will meet me in her room. adorable.

she is the same way with bath time. gow will tell her, sj, it's bathtime. and she makes a beeline for the tub, often jibber jabbering as she goes. too cute.

as for adjusting - the first day we were home- sally would cry every time that daisy cried. i think it sort of freaked her out. she got over that quickly. sally's way of caring for daisy is to ask for and then put daisy's hat on her. the little hat that we brought daisy home in.... it is like sally thinks it will help to comfort or protect daisy. too cute. i think sally is adjusting well... we will see what happens when it is just me at home with the two of them for all day... cuz right now, gow is being awesome at being there for all three of us.

gow is working from home some this weekend and then will start to go to milwaukee (three days a week) on monday. i am a teeny bit anxious about this.... but am praying, surrendering and trusting. and also am thankful that my folks are only about 8 blocks away. bless them!

k. gonna hit the hay. am zonked. nighty night and thanks for sharing in this amazing journey with us!

fam of four

incredible isnt it?

we are a family of four! felt funny last sunday as we drove to church. our crv suddenly felt full.

k- i am gonna quickly bring ya'll up to date...

we came home from the hospital on Thursday (week ago today), my mom has been bringing over a meal a day for us- bless her!, we had two set of buddies from TN come to visit, had friends and fam from here come to visit, have almost finished settling in by unpacking the rest of our boxes and now are almost done with wall hangings, still need to do curtains. we went to church on Sunday, had my siso visit from Iowa on Monday and Tuesday and today was the first day of just the four of us at home. it's been fun, amazing, crazy and very cool.

as for me and how i am feeling-

i am feeling super good. even from day one of coming home from the hospital i have felt about 100 times better than i did after delivering sal. it's strange, but i am thankful. i physically feel really good.

nursing has been a ZILLION times better with daisy too. PRAISE THE LORD. (if you didn't know, i had massive probs nursing sj for the first 3-5 weeks)

our first day home from the hospital i was able to get on the floor to play with sal without my big ol belly getting in the way. i could also hold her close (before she would sit on my lap and be about a foot from me. ) =) also, i can touch my feet! =) i guess i was just big and not liking to move much at the end of my pregnancy- so i am feeling free and me again!

a strange thing that has happened.... all the joints in my hands are stiff. when i wake up in the morning, they are painful. one morning my left hand was clenched in a fist and i had to pry it open with the other hand. i asked my doc- she said it will probably go away in a week or two. does anybody else know anything about that?

alrighty, i am off to bed. good night ya'll.

fam meeting daisy kate

our welcome home sign from emma and timmy

getting ready to ride on home!
ah shucks- i just love this lil hat and daisy's lil giraffe outfit from grandma. (there was a point in time where i wasn't sure i would have anything to bring baby gowanita home in cuz everything was packed! so grandma went out and bought us these giraffes and a package of huggies- to soathe my need to nest and prepare for daisy. bless you momma!

roses from my sisi and fam!
this is classic! kristi and i are both the youngest - can you tell?



cousins' first peek at daisy

when sally came to the hospitial, i did not hold daisy, to try and ease her into big sistership. however, when grandma held daisy- sally cried. bless her heart. we were worried about how sally would adjust- and were pleasantly surprised our first night home. she is definately taking some time and has had a few melt downs- but she has done so much better than we thought. thank ya'll for your prayers on that one- please keep em up.

i don't have any pix of Cyndie, Neal, Ems and Timmy at the hospital... need to get those from Cyndie some time.

So a week ago today was the day that God brought our amazing Daisy into this world. crazy. She will be a week old in about 2 hours. sigh. He is so good.

We spent a night in the hospital, leaving the next day around 3pm.
Daisy has gained her birth weight back and then 4 extra ounces. According to our doc, she also grew an inch and a half- ha- yeah right- apparently someone miss measured, but at her follow up appt she was 21 an 1/2 inches. (not the 20 that they said the day she was born).

Daisy is sleeping about 20 hours a day and doing all the right things by pooping and peeing. =) she is eating WAY less time than Sally did, but i think she is just getting more milk in shorter time. which is super nice as I am only spending about 15-20 minutes at a time to feed Daise as apposed to the 40-an hour I started off with Sal.

Gow and I have been making extra effort and really committing to recreating some structure for sally. a day or two after coming home we saw the affects of all the changes (new home, new baby and being cared for by different members of my fam in the midst of it - and in the past weeks due to my not feeling up to moving much as i was a huge prego ball).
so we are really working on some "steadies" for her and trying to be pro-active on being steady in her little world.

we are completely awed by our two small wonders. they are perfect and just absolutely gifts from God.

k- good morning to ya'll and thanks for sharing in our joy this week!
i have not been on email at all, nor really made any phone calls, so thanks for hanging in there and being patient on all that ya'll.

gow will ease back into work today or tomorrow- meaning he will start to work a few hours a day from home as it works out. very cool that he can do that instead of having to go 10+ hours to Milwaukee to start. God is good.

happy daisy's one week birthday to ya'll! =)

more pix on our sweet daisy kate

hello all.
wow- what a week this has been! =)

we are blessed beyond words with our new home and our amazing, perfect, incredible gift of daisy kate. I am completely overwhelmed by God's blessings.

i have wanted to blog- but each time that i have found a moment of quiet rest, instead of picking up the comp i have wanted to snuggle and just look at our dear daisy. she is captivating and intoxicating all at the same time. sigh. we are soo sooo blessed.

so there is lots to say- i will try and start at the beginning....

Tuesday night 2am- woke up with the beginning contractions- wondering if THIS WAS IT?
shortly after 2am, i had some more bleeding. the doc had said if i bled again to go to the hospital and be checked out. but i was thinking that THIS WAS IT... the beginning of labor. so- after talking with gow about it, we went back to bed.

6am- had been having steady contractions since 2 am and knew- THIS is it. =) and had another bit of bleeding. so we decided to call grandma and grandpa to come and stay with sal...

6.45am - had showered, packed our bag and found my folks in our kitchen... dad working on one of the many fix-it projects as we settle into our new home and mom having a snack. this is noteworthy and quite comical as we have spent much time with my folks lately and my dad is a serious fixit man and my mom is always sitting sally jane on her lap for a wee snack. =)

k so...
we headed to the hospital.

7:30 am- we are checked in, i am adorned in my beautiful hospital gown...

8ish- i am checked, am dialated 6 and i ask for an epidural. =)

8:20am- my kind nurse hears my pain (yes folks, i actually forgot how much i COMPLETELY loathe contractions. =)) and asks if i would like a shot of morphin until i can get an epi.
i accept. =) and am immediately SUPER DUPER grateful i did. =)

8;30am - epi is put in- but this time i didn't even feel the pain of the epi nor my contractions thanks to the morphin. now gow and i both relax and wait. i feel asleep and i think he blogged.

9am- i am checked again and am dialated 9-10. gow makes a joke about having a baby within the hour and the doc says- YUP, you are absolutely right, let me know when you feel ready to push.

note: from about 8-10am we had my doc and one nurse basically on our call. it was a FANTASTIC experience as they both we sooo attententive and had incredible bedside manner and professionalism. we were very pleased.

9:30am- doc comes in as she had been watching our monitor from the hall.... as i was having harder contractions, daisy's heartrate was seriously slowing down, and said it's time to bring that little girl out.

we got ready, probably pushed about 3-4 times and then the doc saw daisy's wee head and she began to work very quickly. daisy's cord was wrapped twice around her small neck. as she was coming further out, the cord was tightening more around her neck. the doc was very quick, i could tell something wasn't quite right and was asking "what's going on" . gow said everything is fine..... next thing i know, daisy is on my tummy. she hasn't yet made a sound, is moving, but is a dark blue all over. the doc and nurse begin rubbing her quickly and they had oxygen for me that they shared with daisy. within a minute or two she is turning white and followed by a healthy pink. our sweet baby girl is healthy and wonderful and a miracle in more than one way!

so that was 9:52am on Wed August 12th, 2009. amazing.

we didn't make any phone calls or announcements for a few hours as we were trying to decide on Daisy's name. =)

as we were sitting there talking about it.... my sweet sister Cyndie, Emma and Timmy knock on the door. they were dropping off a big bag of snacks for us as they knew we were in the hospital. you should have seen the look on their faces when they saw Daisy! they had no clue that she had already come! they got to meet her before she had even been bathed or named! =) too fun.

my fam came to visit (pix of that tomorrow for ya) and by that evening we were zonked and ready for some rest. the food there reminded me of the hot lunches we used to eat in elementary school in Pomeroy, IA. yeah, not so great. =) so Cyndie's snacks were MUCH appreciated! and Neal brought some pizza and the craziest of all was my sis and bro in law (live about 40 min from us) zipped up to deep clean our carpets for us as soon as they knew we were in the hospital! so we came home to our new home, with our new babe to CLEAN floors and a home! =)

k- back to daisy. we spent the night in the hospital- she stayed in our room and we got plenty of sleep. the next day we decided to head home- got their about 3pm.

both gow and i were anxious and a bit nervous to see how sally would do as she had previously not been happy when she saw me holding another baby. (she even got upset if she sees gow and i holding hands!) =)

we were pleasantly surprised at how well she did... more on that to come.

k- this is a book. i will stop now. and try to let ya'll peek into our crazy lives a bit each day.
oh, and i solved my problem of not wanting to put daisy down so i can blog.... i have her in the sling right now while i blog and while sally's sleeping. =)

last note- daisy's doc appt today went great. she has gained back her birth weight and then some ounces on top of that. she is 90% in length, 60something % in weight and 50% in head measurement. =)

k. thanks for all your love and support!