1 Week Old

Teague likes to lay next to Lola and then demands "GET ME ME AND GUK GUK"!

Teague feeding Lola a bottle, he was so excited!

Reading to my two favorite kiddos!

Teague feeding the reindeer at the Wildlife Zoo.


Teague and mommy by the ostrich.

Little Girl Lola snug as a bug in her carseat.

Teague holding Lola.

Wow, one week has already passed since our precious Lola made her big debut! It's went so fast and we are loving life as a Table of 4! Life is so good. I forgot to mention the significance of Lola's birthday - 1) she shares her birthday with my sister! and 2) she was born in the 9th month of the 9th year, 9 + 9 = 18 (9/18/09). This is the same type of equation as Teague's birthday: 7th month of the 7th year, 7 + 7 = 14 (7/14/07)!!! So cool. AND she, along with Teague, were both born on new moons. So the stars have all aligned just right! ha ha!

Teague is doing amazingly well with having a new sister. He loves her up and kisses her constantly saying "Love you Lola"! He now actually will say "Hold Lola" (or "Yoya" as she is affectionately called!) which has evolved from the first few days of him saying "HOLD IT!" while attempting to pull her out of our arms! It's the most precious thing ever. He likes his guk guk a bit too much, but that's something we can break in a few weeks again as I think he needs his comfort right now. Sleeping is going well, I haven't had the extreme exhaustion that I had with Teague and we have had many outtings too. We have had our newborn/family pics taken (hmmm, which was interesting with our non-cooperative 2 year old), been to Paynesville, been to Walmart, went to Hemker's Wildlife Zoo in Freeport, and on our way to St. Cloud today. We are just having so much fun. Ryan was off this week and will be next week as well, so that has helped having him around too.

All in all, we are doing well and adjusting so nicely. We hope you can visit and meet Lola soon, we think she's pretty amazing and we think you will think so too!!

Introducing...Lola Sigri Dusha!

Our baby girl is here and is so perfect. She has the longest fingers, beautiful dark hair, cutest button nose and a brother that adores her. Life is good!

Just born!

Eyes are open, right after delivery.

Teague with his "Big Brother" shirt...so proud!

Going home with a 2 year old who is more interested in his sister than cooperating with the camera!

Lola Sigri Dusha arrived at 8:24 a.m. weighing in at 7 lbs, 14.5 oz. and 22 inches long. She was a much easier delivery than Teague, that's putting it lightly! Short story: I was into see my OB and left there at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday with no changes from the past 3 weeks. She had grown a bit, so we were going to hold off on an induction until the next week. At 1:30 a.m. I woke with bearable contractions 3 minutes apart. They stayed consistently 3 minutes apart but became unbelievably unbearable around 5am. My parents arrived at 6:20 a.m. (with Ryan and I waiting in the car in the driveway for them), checked into the hospital by 6:30 a.m., was dilated to an 8, pushing at 8:15 a.m. and baby Lola arrived at 8:24 a.m.! 29 hours later we are home as a table of 4 now! She is named after my Grandma Sigri who immigrated to the US from Norway when she was just 21 years old. Grandma Sigri was a strong, adventurous, independent, intelligent, loving, and beautiful woman - everything we hope our daughter will become.

More to come, but bonding as a family for now! Thanks for the well wishes thus far!

Isn't it ironic?

Ah, the irony of it all. So I went in for my 39 week appt yesterday all prepared for my OB to discuss the need for induction the following week because we "don't want another 10 pound baby" (which I have been hearing this entire pregnancy) only to find out that I am measuring 3 weeks BEHIND and that I am apparently carrying a peanut instead of a heffer like Teague. So I am a bit discouraged, but not to the point of wishing I weren't pregnant anymore or something like that, so it might just mean she needs to bake a bit longer, which is fine as long as she comes into this world healthy!

Being back at work with kids has been chaotic to say the least. Unfortunately a staff member of ours from the elementary died last weekend from an aortic aneurysm. She was only 51. It was very sad. I usually don't work in the elementary, but was busy all week trying to do stuff with my high schoolers and then spending a lot of my day running around in the elementary. I am not on my feet a ton with my job, but was this week so I was pretty exhausted at the end of the day. I guess I miss my summer afternoon naps too!

It looks like I will make the ACT test tomorrow after all. Other than that I just plan to pamper myself tomorrow with a good foot rubbing pedicure and time with my boys.

Have a good weekend and happy Grandparent's day to Teague's Grandparents on Sunday!

Septemeber means....baby time!

Well we have hunkered down now for the fall and are patiently waiting for baby girl to arrive! It's crazy that I go to bed every night and think "this could be it"! Planning anything for days ahead is even difficult since we have no idea if we will still be a table of 3 or 4! I am actually feeling quite patient about it all knowing she will come when she is ready and my OB is very carefully monitoring me hoping to avoid another 10 pound baby. I was back at school last Monday and all went fine. It's the first day back for students on Tuesday and I am ready. My next goal is to make it past next Saturday as I am supposed to give the ACT test at school and the preparation work is more work than the actual test day, so I would really like to be able to be there and get paid for it! Silly I know, but it all makes sense to me. I feel fantastic and thus far I have had NO swelling like I did with Teague, so it doesn't even feel like I am full term. I am showing signs of labor, but nothing major.

Teague has adjusted very well to being back at daycare full time, but even that is temporary since I will be home 1 year from the date of delivery. He will still go to Tina's some days, but he seems to really enjoy being home too - which will probably change somewhat after his sister arrives and he realizes that we can't do whatever he wants when he wants. My good friend Amy stays home with her kids and so we are planning a playdate every week to keep the kids entertained, so I am sure we will stay busy. My friend Michele also has a little guy Teague's age and is expecting the same day as I am, so another friend to visit.

Hopefully you have gotten to see some of the pictures of Teague's 2 year pictures and my belly pictures off to the right. It is so fun to have pictures taken by our favorite photographer and I am looking forward to the newborn/family pictures we will take during little girl's 1st week in this world..... stay tuned!

We don't have a ton planned for the weekend, I am on call part of this weekend and having a BBQ with family on Monday. Hope you are having a great Labor Day weekend.