Obama Mama and Baby...Grandpa too...

This is the cute onesie Linnea sported for the monumental day we had on Tuesday! I actually just noticed that it says "time for a change" which as you probably all will catch on that it can be taken two ways...her diaper and Obama's slogan! Funny and cute huh?? She will be able to wear this for a while...we got a size 6 month!

We had a great time watching the Inuaguration that will go down in history. We tried to go to the Riverview Movie Theater in Mpls with grandpa Keith but didnt get there in time. They had to turn over 100 people away! Oh well...Chris has set our living room up with a nice tv and surround sound so we still enjoyed the touching speeches.

Here is a picture of the crowd at the Riverview. It was a good attempt and it was a milestone for Linnea and I...we hadnt left the house without Chris yet. I dont know why but I was just very nervous for it...it was a mix of not forgetting anything while packing the diaper bag, getting her in and out of the car correctly and just being alone with her in public I guess.

But we made it and had so much fun that on Wednesday we went out again! We ventured to the drive thru at the bank, Caribou Coffee so she got to meet some of my friends and we also went to the library to get some books on healthy baby sleep habits and I needed to get a library card. It was a fun day! The day ended with the Henjum grandparents bringing over Chinese food and hanging out!

And here she is...a very lucky lady to have Obama as her President for the first 4 and maybe 8 years of her life! We are very excited for coming years. Go Obama!

The Many Faces of Linnea...

The many faces of our adorable daughter... Many of you who have met her have not seen this crying face...but she does it and it is LOUD!!! She definitely has quite the set of lungs on her! She knows what she wants!

Ahhh...so peaceful and sleeping!BIG YAWN!!

Sometimes we are cross eyed and hard at thought!

And this is pooping face after she has fussed and fussed to get it out!


I hope you enjoyed these cute faces!

4 Weeks and a Growth Spurt...

Linnea got to meet great grandma and grandpa Bremer this weekend when we headed down to Red Wing to celebrate the Meyers ladies birthdays! There are 3 bdays in a row so we always just combine them and do one big celebration at Grandma and Grandpas. Linnea did great on the road trip to Red Wing. It was the longest trip yet...1 hour! Way to go baby!

Happy 4 weeks Linnea! As you can see she wears mittens...quite a bit...and not just outside. The girl has scratched her little face too many times so Chris and I throw the mittens on in hopes of preventing this. She just gets so frantic when it is time to eat that she has her hands right up by the bottle "helping" us feed her but she ends up with marks on her face! What a twerp!

We are having fun with her, her cold and all. I maybe panicked a little on Wednesday when she was coughing and crying so much and then lost her breath more than once so I called Chris who had just left for work and he came home and we took her to urgent care. Turns out thankfully that it is just a cold. Her lungs sound fine and she now weighs 7 lbs 14 oz!!! So she is gaining weight and is overrall healthy. I think she is growing more because the squirt wants to eat every 2 hours!

She is having way more alert time which is so fun to watch! Her lil eyes go all around the room and stare back at us! We love it!

The nights are still a guessing game...sometimes we feed her 2 or 3 times a night and she will go right back to sleep...other times she eats and wants to stay up until its time to eat again. Oh well!

3 Weeks Old!

Well we have survived the first 3 weeks without too many sleepless nights or problems. Time has been going by quite quickly as all parents warned us it would. Chris is back at work so Linnea and I get to spend lots of days together. We dont do much yet since it has been so cold and she is so small and seems to have had the sniffles and a slight cough. The Dr's just said it was a cold but we may take her back in. I try the saline drops in the nose and she is quite the sneezer so that gets some stuff out too. Anyways...Linnea and I just hang out reading books, eating, changing diapers and clothes and watching movies.

My parents came over this past weekend with some Rigatoni for lunch and open arms to hold the baby so that Chris and I could get some stuff done around the house. It was nice to have them over!

Since I finally found the plug in thing we use to get the pics on the computer here are some fun pictures of our little addition: Daddy and daughter taking a snooze! (or maybe just resting!)

Hanging out on the changing table...one of her fav places (until I get the buger sucker out!)

Here is the 3 week old picture ... Our lil gopher fan!

And our Vikings fan on her 2 week old birthday!

And what baby doesnt love bathtime! We try to give her 2 a week...if we did more I think her skin would get too dry.

2 Weeks Old!

Well I havent had time to put her 2 week picture on the computer but I will soon! For now you will get just a written update!

Linnea turned 2 weeks old on Sunday. I think for a long time whenever a Sunday comes Chris and I will think about that Sunday December 21st when we headed to St. Joes to have a baby! She has overrall been a great baby the last week. We were very busy which sometimes wore her out enough to sleep through the night (well sort of, we wake her every 4 hours to feed her). But sometimes she would eat at night and then want to stay up and play, cry or watch tv, swing or be rocked until the next feeding time. It is always a guessing game when we go to bed. We just dont know what kind of nights sleep we will get. Chris had to start work again Monday but has been able to leave a few hours early both yesterday and today so that has been wonderful for us! I am kind of a lost in this new mom role...caring for a newborn is so different than the age group I am used to working with!

I am still having to pump my breastmilk and then we feed it to her in bottle form. Linnea and I try to get the latch to work about 2 or 3 times a day, but not at night, she is just too tired and crabby to deal with it and so is mom. We are thinking about having a lactation consultant come to help and I may attend some La Leche League meetings. We will see.

All of the events I talked about in the last blog went very well...we enjoyed New Years in Mpls for a little while, had great Christmas celebrations with both sides of the family and had a fun pizza night last night my parents and Mack, Timo and Lynn before Mack and Timo headed back to Germany.

As much as we LOVED the celebrating and showing off our little angel we are looking forward to the next few weeks when all we have planned is getting to know Linnea and figuring out somewhat of a schedule.

Oh she is crying...I think it may be a hunger cry...I am trying to figure out her cries and what they mean.

Oh one funny thing before I end...we gave her bath one of these days (all the days run together) and the little lady decided to pee on mommys pants!!! We also have some entertaining diaper changes...going through three at a time definitely happens at least once a day!

The First Week

Merry Christmas to the new family of three...well four if you include our little Lancey!

Here is our little peanut all dressed up in her Christmas outfit ready to celebrate the holiday with the Henjums!

Well a week ago today Chris and I packed up the car with our hospital suitcases and left the house around 7 to have a baby! By 11am my contractions started and by 3pm I had made it to 7cm and the pain was absolutely unbearable so I decided to get the epidural which helped soooo much! I was able to relax for 5 hours on the bed and Chris was able to watch the Vikings game! they didn't win but I think Chris still had a pretty good day because by 8pm I was pushing and at 11:08 we had Linnea April Meyers! What an experience! We had wonderful help and support from all of the doctors and nurses. They had to keep a close watch on this lil one since she was laying on her umbilical cord so her heart rate kept going down when I would lay on my back. So we just moved me from side to side every few minutes! So enough about the labor...

We cannot believe Linnea is already a week old...and what an eventful week it has been. We are loving it but definitely had a scare the first day home...Linnea and I have been struggling with breastfeeding and it turns out the little peanut wasn't getting enough and had not peed three days after birth which just happened to be Christmas Eve so no clinic were open and we had to head to the ER. It was a very hard thing to do but definitely the right thing to do because they figured out she was indeed dehydrated. They put an IV in her and took some blood to see if anything else was going on. The blood tests came out a little off so the doctors wanted to keep her in NICU overnight. So this new family spent their first Christmas Eve in the NICU. Not ideal, but we were so happy to know she was getting cared for and would be okay. Everyone in the NICU was so nice and we made out pretty well on gifts too. They have a way of making a not so good situation much better. We came home with three stockings for her...two full of toys and receiving blankets. We also got a gingerbread house and a build a bear. Thank you Children's Hospital in St. Paul!

Whew...now onto happier things...Linnea has regular poops and pees now in her diaper so we are ecstatic about that! We keep a feeding and diaper diary so we know we are on track. I have been breast pumping to make sure she gets enough. We still practice on the breast before every bottle in hopes that she latches one of these days. We are still waiting for my milk and I am confident that when that comes she will get it. But if not...I will gladly keep pumping because we really want her to drink/eat my milk.

She is a very sweet good baby so far. She has met so many people already too! We had many great aunts and uncles and aunts and uncles visit in the hospital which was so nice. We have had a few friends over to meet her briefly as well. The Henjums came over for Christmas on Christmas Day and we had our Christmas chicken meal, opened gifts and even played some rock band. I think Linnea really enjoyed my singing! HAHA! Yesterday she went to her first bridal shower where she also got gifts! Today we have been taking it easy...we are only 1 week old after all! She put on her little Viking cheerleader outfit and watched the game with daddy. Mommy slept through an hour of it but then enjoyed the last part of the game with her family.

Linnea already makes so many cute facial expressions and is really exploring the house slowly with her eyes. She also moves those long fingers all around...Chris says she is casting spells. Overall she sleeps through the night...we usually have to wake her for her feedings. Once she is up at 11 though she likes to stay awake until around 1. Then when her 5am feeding comes around she likes to stay up until 7. We are definitely okay with this schedule. We know it may not last forever but we will take it for now! She usually starts out in her crib, but ends up in a bassinet in our room. We just feel more comfortable with her in our room and she is just so small in the hue crib!

As for Lancey adapting the new addition...we don't think she hasn't quite figured who or what Linnea is yet. She just kind of sniffs and sniffs around her when and if she comes into the room. Lancey usually steers clear of us these days and hangs out in "her" poppason chair in the office.

I am so happy Chris is able to be home for 2 weeks. He is such a good daddy and I don't know what I would do without him! He says I was amazing during labor but I have to say he was too! He was very active and in the room the whole time! We are very lucky ladies to have him!

Well I think that about sums up the week! We are looking forward to some more stay at home days this coming week but a few outings in there as well. We will be celebrating New Years Eve at an old friends house in Minneapolis. She is visiting from Germany and I am so happy she is home to meet baby! New Years Day will be at the Henjums to celebrate Christmas with Erik, Lisa and Dylan. It will be fun to have the cousins together! Chris' family will come and visit after New Year's Day. Lots of fun days ahead!

Thank you to everyone for all your good wishes and thoughts throughout the pregnancy! Now you can send good parenting wishes our way!

Chris has posted all of our pictures on picasa and facebook. So if you are on facebook check out either of our pages.

Here is the link for picasa. We hope it works...if not, try to cut and paste. If that still doesnt work let us know and we will gladly email you an invite!

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=c.w.meyers&target=ALBUM&id=5282715358853656865&authkey=TN87kIWh7Zg&feat=email

Linnea April Meyers

Well she has arrived. I am writing a quick update and note with the great news that Amy and I have had a beautiful little girl.

Linnea April Meyers, born 12/21/2008 at St. Joes Hospital.

6lbs and 10 oz, length 19 and 3/4 inches.

We will have many more stories, and pictures to share in the near future. Thanks to everyone for your wishes, and thoughts, and we can't wait to introduce you to our new little Angel :))

sorry this pic wouldn't flip for me,

they don't put babies on scales like this :)-

We'll post more, we promise.

Happy Holidays Everyone. I can't wait to meet you all!- Linnea