Things I Know for Sure...

As long as I get a shower it's a good day

Dressing my daughter is more fun than dressing myself

Family really is the most important thing

A girl can never have too much pink

Television is overrated

If Addy isn't happy nobody is

A supportive spouse is more valuable than gold

Thank you goes a long, long way

My parents really did have my best interests in mind back then

I will never get tired of rocking my girl

Just some thoughts I had today...

Way, way behind...

Well, I don't even know where to start! During the last few weeks of my pregnancy my doctor discovered that my platelet count was low (which can cause excessive bleeding.) I had to stay at the hospital overnight and take a round of steroids in hopes of bumping them up. It worked, for a few days and they started dropping again so they decided to induce me! I knew that could be a possibility but when they said that neither of us were prepared to have a baby the next day. I checked into the hospital on October 10th and they started me on meds to get labor going. They also checked my platelets again only to discover they were lower and that put my chances of getting an epidural in jeopardy. When I was 4cm dilated I decided I'd had enough of the pain so I asked them to check my platelets again (to determine if they could in fact place the epidural.) They were a little lower than the anesthesiologist would have liked but my doctor convinced her to place it, mostly because it wasn't a chronic condition but one induced by the pregnancy. After the epidural things were dreamy! At about 11:25pm I was told it was time to have a baby.

I pushed for an hour and Addyson Genevieve Dahlbeck was born on 10/11/09 @ 12:25am. She was 7lbs 5oz. and 19 1/4 inches. Oh man she is soooo perfect! What can I say, we love her!!! JC was the only one in the room with me but we had both sets of grandparents and JC's sister and her fiancé there at the hospital waiting to welcome her.

We have been adjusting to life with baby pretty well. The first 3 weeks were the hardest only because Addy wouldn't sleep by herself for more than 10 minutes. But now she is sleeping in her crib in her room at night for 3 hours at a time, only waking up to

eat. Not too bad! It couldn't have started at a better time because JC goes back to work this week. It has been such a blessing having him home for the first month. I only worry that I won't get to eat as good when he's back to work. Oh well, I'll figure something out.

She has already survived her first holiday, Halloween. We got her the cutest costume ever, a Pea in the Pod! I bought it when the halloween stores first opened (way before she was here) so I was worried it would be way too big but she fit perfectly. As you can see, she wasn't too impressed by halloween.

Chester has been doing ok with having a baby around. He has mellowed out a little but you can tell he feels a little neglected when the baby is in his Momma's lap. We didn't change any of his routine in the hope he wouldn't associate baby with change and it worked I think. When I was pregnant I would have Chester bark at my belly so the baby would know that sound and it has totally helped because when he barks when the doorbell rings Addy doesn't even flinch, she just keeps on sleeping.

Well that's about it I think. I'll post a few more pics if it will let me!

Piggies!

Proud Dad!

Mom and Addy

10 weeks to go!

I can't believe I only have 10 weeks left of being pregnant! Time has really flown by. It's totally because I work full-time and don't have a lot of time to sit around. We have really been working on the baby's room lately. I will try and post pics but I don't know if it will work because our camera takes giant pictures that blogger.com doesn't like to load. We have painted, assembled the crib and the dresser is almost there (a piece got damaged in shipping and we have to wait for the new one.) We also got the stroller/car seat combo last week and I love it! JC's parents got us the crib and my parents got us the dresser and stroller...this baby is so loved already, we are all so excited! I found the cutest fabric a few weeks ago and a friend is gonna help me make a quilt out of it. It's kinda different for a baby, black w/ skulls and crossbones with a pink bow on her head and heart eyes. It will fit right in with the black/white/hot pink nursery!

In other news the Mustang is finished...let me rephrase that...the engine is done. That in no way means the car is done! It's always something. It is so much fun to go riding around in. I am, however, scared to drive it (not that it's been offered though.) It's pretty fast now...yeah I should probably get him racing seats for Christmas with the 5-point harness.

Well that's about it. Now let me work on those pictures...

Her chandelier...

The pink wall...

Her crib and bedding and you can kinda see the stripes on the wall behind it!

So maybe I'm quite as ready as I thought I was to enter the world of blogging! Anyway, we had an ultrasound on May 19th (yes really that long ago!) and they were able to determine that we are having a girl!!! Oh man how crazy is that! We are mulling over a few dozen names but have yet to make a decision. We are not going to be sharing her name until she is here. We just want this one thing to stay between us.

I have a few outfits in her closet already, some of them I just couldn't live without and some from great friends! Other than that we have nothing yet. I just can't decide on anything. Every time I find something I really like I find something a little better. I never thought it would be so hard to pick out a crib or a dresser! I'm just gonna have to bite the bullet and pick something. I really thought the nursery would be further along by now...oh well.

In other news, JC's "baby" is almost ready. He is putting a new engine in his '67 Mustang. A 347 Stroker for those that need to know. It should be done next Monday!!! I can't wait to take it out for a spin though I'll probably just be a passenger but I'm okay with that (for now anyway.)

We took a little road trip this last week. We drove to Crescent City, California and then worked our way back up the Oregon coast on Hwy 101. It was nice and relaxing. We visited the Redwoods, many beaches and lighthouses, saw the largest Sea Lion cave (smelly) and ended the trip by driving on Long Beach, WA and flying a kite! I'll post some pics in a bit.

More pictures...

So these are a little late making it here. I did the ultrasound on 4/22 and man is that baby growing!

Only 16 days until we (hopefully) find out what we are having!  I can't wait to start decorating.  I almost have the room cleared out.  We have been spending a lot of time in the garage getting it organized so we can move all of the stuff that was in the baby's room out there.  So right now we practically live at Lowes (my mother is probably so proud!) getting all kinds of shelves and storage cabinets. Other than that there is really nothing going on.  Oh except that I can feel the baby moving now, sometimes(I think.)  It's pretty crazy!  I think Chester might know what's going on cause he sniffs my belly a lot, either that or I drop a lot of food...

I love baseball!

We went to the M's game today and I had forgotten how much I love watching baseball! It was kinda warm, for Seattle anyway, and a little bit sunny so it was perfect. We had really good seats and almost got ourselves a foul ball. I had a Major League hot dog and I dipped it in nacho cheese. These days I will eat anything if it has molten cheese sauce on it! The odd part was not having a beer while watching the game...just seemed wrong. JC took one for the team and had one for me too.

Today was kids day at the stadium and all the little kids got replica Ichiro jerseys. I had it in

my head to sweet-talk my way to getting one and I really didn't think it was to my advantage but I had to try. I went up to one of the people handing out the shirts and told him that I had a baby in my belly and it would mean a lot to me if he would be able to give me my baby's FIRST article of clothing. He looked at me kinda funny and then at my belly, which isn't really showing yet, and the he s-l-o-w-l-y handed me the shirt. I was so shocked and I said thank you so many times. So the first thing we brought home for our baby is a Mariner's jersey, seems fitting. It's practically big enough to fit me though!

I had a check up on Thursday to see how I am progressing. Doc said everything looked great and I'm right where I should be, heartbeat was 152. We also scheduled the anatomy ultrasound for May 19th, which is hopefully when we get to find out whether we use pink or blue to decorate.

So I'm a bit behind...

Last Friday, 4/10, I decided to ultrasound myself again!  I just love being able to see what I want to see.  These pics aren't as clear as the last ones but you can certainly tell that baby is growing...fast! I have a doctors appointment tomorrow and maybe I'll get another glimpse of the little peanut.

We have about 5 weeks left before we can find out the gender and I can't wait.  We have already decided on the crib but I have seen so many adorable nursery decors that I can hardly wait to start decorating!  I think JC is pretty surprised that I haven't made one baby related purchase yet...but I do talk about it a lot.

Nothing else is really going on with us and now that snowboarding season is over we really have nothing else going on!  (Don't worry I stopped a few weeks ago when it was too uncomfortable to bend over and strap-in my binding.)  We have made some plans to go camping this summer earlier than we usually do because come Labor day I might not want to.  One of those trips is going to be a road trip down the Oregon coast, which I am super excited for!  

Ok, I have a room to clear out!

my turn to run the ultrasound...

So today at work the phones were pretty slow so I did some busy work until there was just nothing left to do.  Charity, an MA at work, said she wanted to do an ultrasound on me but I am kinda modest (I know that'll change!) so I just asked her to show me how it worked and I would give it a whirl.  I had the most amazing time!  Since I could control it I just watched for a while and watched baby make spontaneous movements.  I saw the flicker of a heartbeat...always nice!  I could see arms and legs and I think even fingers.  You can see what I was able to see below.  I love the 3rd and 4th ones, legs all up in the air.  You probably can't see it but in the last one you can actually see fingers!!!  Most days I despise my job but this kinda makes up for it!

i saw two arms and two legs...

So I had my first official doctor's visit today! While they flat out refused to even try and find the babies heartbeat via the doppler they did do an ultrasound and guess what we saw...? Baby was kicking his/her little legs and waving his/her arms!!! How amazing is that?! We were both in awe of our little peanut and the doctor seemed to be too.

Ahhh, another milestone to document...I love it!!!

So here goes...

Ok so this is my first blog post! I am going to try and keep this up as a way for far away relatives to keep track of what's going on with us.

So here goes...guess what?! We are having a baby!!! I have waited sooo long to say that (although I'm glad we did wait this long, we both feel ready now.) I am currently 9wks and due mid-October. Here is baby's first picture...

I have got to thank my Mom for the good genes because I have not had any morning sickness! The only two things I've noticed are that I'm totally exhausted every day and food, most days, doesn't sound very good. JC has been such a trooper (not that I ever doubted he would be) but he will make me my own dinner when I don't/can't eat what he made the first time around. I am so lucky to have him!

In other news, our dog Chester had a house guest all week. Shelton is a yellow lab puppy who belongs to some friends of ours. They are vacationing and I knew Chester would love to have a playmate. It was a great plan until Chester cut his foot Monday night right as we were getting ready for bed. So off to the pet ER we go! Hours go by and a small fortune later we are on our way home. We were told he needed to stay off of his foot as much as possible, but with a puppy in the house that's not so easy. Shelton goes home tomorrow and Chester can get some rest but I so wanted him to have a great time but instead he's on pain meds and antibiotics wearing a boot on one foot...poor poochy!

Ok, enough for now. I really should get back to work!