the cats

So many have wondered how the cats are doing now that the baby is here. They really have no interest in her, but every once in awhile they miss us enough to sit on the end of our legs when we are holding her. It is quite cute. The nicest part is that we don't have to worry about them or deal with any negative behaviors because they pretty much have nothing to do with her.

A smile!

I caught Hadley in the act of smiling today with the camera. It is the cutest thing to see her smile! Her little personality is just starting to emerge and it is really fun to see her developing into a person instead of just a little newborn that doesn't really react to much. We actually can play with her a little now, she tracts things and she loves to look at faces when you talk to her. It is amazing how much they change in just five weeks.

Holding daddy's hand

Hadley loves to sleep on her daddy's chest. Last night I walked into the living room to find her holding his thumb, it was too cute to pass up a picture of it!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

One month old!

We can't even believe it, Hadley is one month old already! The last month has literally flown by. The days seem to pass by so quickly because we spend most of our time feeding her, changing her and holding her. Looking back at her pictures from the hospital, it is amazing how much she has changed. She is already over 10 lbs and has graduated from her newborn diapers and clothes. We are starting to get to know what makes her happy and calm and she doesn't seem like such a foreign person to us anymore. Although we don't have a "schedule" yet, she is becoming a bit more predictable with eating and sleeping. She is sleeping really well at night, not through the night yet, but darn close at times. We already cannot imagine our life as it used to be and are so thankful to have her. We are incredibly blessed.

Love the bath

Hadley LOVES the bath. We are grateful for that. We have heard that some kids hate it when they are this little, but she loves it. In fact if she is rather crabby, you put her in the bath and she is happy as can be!

First walk with mom and dad

We decided to take advantage of the 45 degree weather today and take Hadley on her first walk with mom and dad. She loved it. She slept most of the time, right until we got home and the stroller stopped. It was really fun though and we had a good time introducing her to the outdoors. We can't wait for the days when we get to take her to the park, etc.

Pretty in Pink

Hadley looks so darn cute when we dress her up like a little girly girl! Here's a cute picture of her when she is pretty in pink!

Love sleeping...

Hadley loves sleeping during the day and we love taking pictures of her doing it!

Toys? no thanks mom!

Hadley hasn't come to accept the thrill of having things to play with yet, she would pretty much just prefer to be in her mommy and daddy's arms right now, but we still try!

How cute am I????

Mike and I just love this picture of Hadley in her carrier before we went to meet great grandma!

Namesake...

Hadley met the reason for her middle name the other day. Grams was thrilled to meet her!!!

Our blog is broke, we'll post when we figure out what's wrong!!!

Mommy time

Here are some new pics of the girl. We are doing well, mom had her first solo outing yesterday to Target while dad watched Hadley. It was nice to get out of the house for the first time in over a week. Other than that, we are pretty much the same ole same ole for these days, sleeping, eating and going to the bathroom! Hadley is starting to have some awake time which is nice, but mostly spends a lot of the day sleeping and eating!

So peaceful...

Some of our favorite times are staring at Hadley while she is sleeping wondering what she is dreaming about. It is amazing how peaceful they look when they are sound asleep. We continue to do well, just are in shock how fast the days pass just looking after her needs.

Hanging out at home

Here are some more pictures for everyone to see. We are all continuing to do well. We are getting used to life as a three-some and are loving it. We have had a couple rough nights and a couple good nights. We'll see how things continue to go as Hadley starts to learn what is day and what is night. Overall though, we are very lucky, she is a great baby. She doesn't cry much at this point unless she needs something.

I'm new here...

First book with daddy...

Here's a picture of Hadley reading her first book with Daddy. She loved it. (:

Our daughter...

Hi all, this is going to be a quick post with promises of more to come soon, when we rest up a little. We wanted to get pictures on here though so you could all see our exciting new addition to the family. Hadley Margaret Schwenzen was born on Thursday, February 15th at 6:20pm. We are home now and all doing really well. We are both madly in love with this little girl and cannot believe how blessed we are to have her. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers, we will post more soon...

39 1/2 weeks

Time for another update.... We had a doctor appointment this morning. She said that I am one centimeter dialated this week and that my cervix is definately different than last week. She did a really rough exam trying to "stir things up" which was quite painful, but in my opinion, totally worth it if it gets this show on the road! She said that she doesn't think that I will make it till next week, but if I do we set an induction date for next thursday, the 22nd if I don't go on my own. Originally she was going to make me wait until the 27th, but I think my look of dread of being pregnant for another two weeks made her willing to compromise with next thursday. I have an appointment for next wednesday to have a non stress test and an exam with her in which she said that she would try to stir things up some more, but either way the light at the end of the tunnel is next thursday. That's all for now!

Still pregnant....

So, we made it through another weekend with no baby! (: This morning we had a bit of a scare, but all is okay. I got to work and suddenly had a terrible headache and was seeing stars. I called the doctor and they told me to come in immediately. These are two signs of pre-eclampsia so they were very concerned. However, my blood pressure was fine and they monitored the baby's heartbeat for an hour and it was just fine, so no worries. The doctor did tell me that at my appointment this wednesday we would set an induction date in case I don't go into labor on my own by 41 weeks. So, if nothing else, we will have a date that will make the end in sight!

38 and a half weeks

Update for all of you keeping track at home. Unfortunately it isn't too much of an exciting update! We went for our weekly doctor appointment today. There was no change since last week. I am still a fingertip dialated. So, we will continue to wait. She did do an ultrasound to confirm that the baby is still head down and it was so that was good. Other than that, not too much to report. She told us that she would let us go one week overdue before inducing, so we'll see how this all works out!

Superbowl Sunday and Comment Moderation

Here are some pics from our Superbowl Sunday. It was spent with the babies. The little one with the dark hair is Monroe, our godson. The other little guy is JJ hanging with his parents, Joe and Melissa. We had a great time getting some baby time in, now we look forward to having our little one meet all his or her little playmates!

Also, on a different note. I have had to enable the comment moderation button. All that means is that before your comment is seen on the blog I have to approve it. I have to do this since I allowed anonymous comments to be able to be posted I have been getting "spam" comments. Just wanted you all to know. We love to read your comments though so keep leaving them!!!!

The nursery

A lot of our "far away" friends were wondering what our nursery looks like, here are a couple pics for you so you can get the general idea. Enjoy!

37 and a half weeks

So, we just got done at the doctor. The baby is still head down so we were thrilled. I am a "fingertip" dialated. That really isn't anything, but it is super exciting to us because at least it means that it is starting. The doctor thinks it is still going to be a couple of weeks though. Other than that, all was well, the baby is doing good. So, we wait...

impatience...

So, I never realized how impatient one could get at the end of pregnancy. I find myself praying to God on a regular basis to make "today the day". Now that we have passed 37 weeks and the baby is technically full term and esentially just getting bigger, I want to be done! I know that 2 1/2 more weeks to reach 40 weeks is not that much longer, but it feels like an ETERNITY at the moment! So, this is my plea, pray that we have this baby soon, I am so ready for the next stage!!! (:

Doing flips...

So, we had a doctor appointment this morning and Bean did a flip! That's right, he/she is head down. So, we are excited, but do know that there is a chance that he/she could flip back. So, keep saying those prayers, but now say them that bean stays where it's at! We'll see where we are at at our appointment next week and keep everyone updated! Outside of that, all is good. I am not dialated at all or anything so it looks like it will still be a little while!

36 Weeks

Okay, so even I am shocked when I see the size of my tummy. You think that I would be used to it since I carry it around all day every day, but then I see this picture and I am like, "really, I am that big?!?!" It is crazy. I am hoping this is my last "month" picture. I am assuming that we will either have the C-section or go into labor, if the baby turns, by the time I reach 40 weeks, but we shall see. It is funny, I know that this is all going to come so soon, I mean 4 more weeks is nothing really, but at the same time, it feels like FOREVER! I am truly uncomfortable now, I thought I was a couple weeks ago, HA! that was nothing. Thanks to a combo of the rib, the fact that I have to pee every 45 minutes and the large size of my stomach, sleeping is something of the past. My ankles and feet don't even look like they belong to me anymore, it is the weirdest thing, sometimes I look down and can't get over how much they resemble sausages! But, that aside, the excitement is almost killing Mike and I. We think about the fact that technically the baby could come any day now and it would be fine. We are dying to know if bean is a he or she and what he/she will look like. I secretly pray each day that bean inherits Mike's curls. I watch some of these birth stories and am crying with emotion over the fact that it is going to be us, and soon. It is so weird, the whole past 9 months I have been excited and looking forward to the date that the baby would come, but it always felt so far away, now it feels so close and it is amazing! So, that is all for now. We will of course keep you all updated on bean's position and whether or not he/she decided to do a flip!

Baby, turn over PLEASE!!!!

Okay, so I am getting another lesson in the world of "things don't always go how you think they will". I had my 36 week doctor appointment yesterday and received some disappointing news, the baby is breech. Now, this is not world ending, it's not like there is something wrong with the baby. But, the deal is, if this little one doesn't turn over by 37 weeks, we are going to have to schedule a cesarean section, and that is exactly what I didn't want to have to have. Again, this is not the end of the world, in fact, there are even some perks to the idea. We would be able to schedule it and know for sure the day that the baby would be born, there would be no waking in the middle of the night to my water breaking, I wouldn't have to go into labor, etc. However, there is also, at the same time, some disappointment in the thought of never getting to experience the way it is "supposed to happen". There is almost some feelings of failing as a woman, like this is what we are supposed to do and I may not get that chance. Also, the vision of my delivering included Mike and I in the nice little birthing rooms they have with Mike coaching me and me pushing through the pain to end up with a little baby that would be immediately put in my arms after it was born. It did not include an operating room with my stomach cut open and Mike sitting behind a sheet with me while my arms are taped down and someone having to hold the baby at my head after it is born for our first meeting. Again, I don't mean to be so negative about this, in the end we will still get a little baby out of the deal, it just wasn't what I was envisioning and that is, at least initially, a little disappointing. So, Mike and I will spend the next week coaxing the baby to do a flip so we can give this a shot the "natural" way. However, if it doesn't move, I think I'll adopt my doctor's philosophy. She said at my appointment that she likes to view it as though there is a reason the baby is breech. I think I'll choose to look at it that way, maybe the baby being born by c-section saved us from something unpleasant that would have happened if it was born otherwise. In the end, we will still have our little one arrive and really that is all that matters....

Babies, babies, babies....

Don't worry, we didn't have our baby. (: This is a picture of our friends, Eric and Anna's, new little one. Rowan is his name and he was born on 1/11/2007. For those of you who might have met them, Eric and Anna, are friends of Jill's from college. This is a picture that they emailed us. Since they live in Appleton we weren't able to meet him yet, but hope to sometime in the near future!

This weekend was filled with births! We learned of Rowan's arrival on Friday and Saturday morning our friends, Marc and Christina, had their baby. They also had a boy and named him Monroe. Mike and I could have kicked ourselves, when we went to visit Monroe we forgot our camera so I'll have to get his picture up sometime in the future. We were honored when we went to visit little Monroe and his parents asked if Mike and I would be his godparents. We gladly accepted and instantly felt the need to protect the little one. He is quite cute with a full head of dark hair.

So, we congratulate our friends on their new little miracles and are now even more excited for the arrival of our little one. It was quite surreal to us when we went to visit Marc and Christina, they delivered at the same hospital that we will. We were both amazed to think that anytime in the next month we will be in the exact same place, but this time, it will be our baby that will have arrived!!!

34 weeks and a broken rib

So, I hate to complain, because honestly, both Mike and I couldn't be more excited about the baby that is about to come into our world. But, at the same time, the baby couldn't arrive soon enough. The last few weeks have been rough. It started with bronchitis which was not fun to deal with, but that was nothing compared to the most recent issue. I have a broken rib. Yep, you read it right, a broken rib. The doctor's theory is that I injured it while coughing like crazy when I was sick and then the baby went ahead and finished it off last week. I can not even describe the pain. It was literally unbearable at times. I was off of work for 4 days and was barely able to breathe or move. It has much improved now allowing me to return to work, but I am having a really hard time sleeping at night becuase it hurts the most when I lay down so I have to try to sleep propped up and that usually doesn't work so hot. That on top of the fact that I have a difficult enough time right now getting around with the baby getting so big and it is not the most fun time for me. I will definately be ready to have this baby when the time comes. That and the fact that Mike and I are just dying to meet this little one, see what it looks like and begin the next stage, parenting.

Happy New Year!!!

Well our new year was probably not exciting by most people's standards. It involved eating pizza, watching the Packers, playing yahtzee and Jill in bed before midnight even struck. For us, it was just fine. In fact, we loved it. We are cherishing our time together before the 3rd Schwenzen in our house arrives and right now just being together, the 2 of us, suits us perfectly. We talked a lot about what an amazing year 2007 will be for us, with obviously the most exciting part being the birth of bean, but what is more, is that this year marks a change for us. We will become different people. We will no longer just have to be concerned with the two of us, we will have someone completely dependent upon us. It is a welcome change for us and one we are ready to tackle. We said goodbye to 2006 and welcomed 2007 with much anticipation. We remembered many fun times of 2006, our first anniversary as a married couple, vacations to see our friends Mike and Jen and Josh and Anna, more work done to the house, lots of time spent with family and friends, and much much more. We again feel blessed with our lives, are incredibly happy to have each other and the people that surround us, and wish for everyone to have what we have, contentment. So, with that said, Happy New Year all, and bring on 2007!!!

32 Weeks and Happy Holidays!

As you can all see, the baby had a huge growth spurt in the last month. I went from kind of showing to there is no question that there is a baby in there! I am often met in public with questions, "when is the baby due", "is it a boy or girl", and the random strangers touching my stomach. My 8 month appointment went well. The baby measured just right, the doctor tried to feel if the head was down, but wasn't quite able to tell yet. Now we start going every two weeks to see the doctor. The baby continues to practice gymnastics in my stomach every day, or as Mike says, gets his or her cycling legs ready. (: Mike continues to talk to the baby everyday and is ready to get to have some of caretaking on his shoulders. He just said to the baby last night, "I am tired of you being in mommy's stomach, I want to hold you!" He often puts his head on my stomach in hopes of being kicked in the head. It is amazing to have a partner that is so excited to be a dad, it has been the most amazing experience for us as a couple.

We continue to get things ready to bring the baby home. The room is finally starting to look like a baby's room with a crib, dresser, etc. Perhaps one of the coolest and most sentimental items in the baby's room is the rocking chair that my parents used to rock my sister and I. My dad recently gave it to me and I have already sat in it thinking how amazing it is that I will be rocking my own baby in it soon. The emotions Mike and I are both going through in anticipating the birth of our first child are amazing. We can't believe the amount of love we already have for this little one, and we think daily of how amazing it is going to be when the baby is born. We feel so incredibly blessed and can't believe our little one will be here in just two months.

On a different note, we want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and the happiest of New Years. We approach 2007 knowing for a fact that it will change our lives forever with the birth of our child and look forward to all that will accompany that. We look back at 2006 with wonderful memories, we celebrated our first anniversary as husband and wife, we celebrated our second year in our home with lots of improvements continuing to be made, we both were healthy and employed and we are surrounded by the most amazing friends and family. We pray that each and every one of our family and friends is blessed in the coming year and we continue to be incredibly grateful for all of you.

All our love,
Mike and Jill

Comments...

So, for the longest time our blog only allowed those with a blogger account to leave a comment. I didn't realize that we could change this. However, now I have realized and was able to change it so anyone can leave a comment. Several of our friends had emailed us saying how much they wished they could leave a comment, but didn't want to have to sign up for a blogger account to do so, now you can!!!! Just thought I would let everyone know!

Oh Christmas Tree....

So, we have managed to get our christmas tree up and decorated, it is really pretty and we are really enjoying looking at it each night. We don't have too much to report right now. I am really sick and have been for about a week now, it is getting really old. I finally went to the walk in clinic on saturday and have bronchitis so hopefully the antibiotics will kick in soon that they gave me, until then I am definately tired of coughing! Feeling this bad has definately affected my ability to get anything done, we have had plans to go shopping for a dresser for the baby, but haven't been able to do that and Christmas shopping was supposed to be finished this past weekend, but that didn't happen either. So, for now, I am resting lots and hoping each night that when I wake up the next day I will finally feel better. I can't believe that there is only two weeks until christmas!!!

Nesting already?!?!

So, everyone talks about the nesting that you do when it is close to the time of delivery, but I think since I am a beyond anal person to begin with, my nesting/anxiety is starting early! At work, I have been doing paperwork that needs to be turned into court when I am gone already so that the workers that are watching my cases while I am gone don't have to worry about it. Then at home, I made Mike go through stuff with me last night in the spare bedroom that needs to go to goodwill. Mike keeps asking if we are having the baby soon since I am trying so hard to get things in order. I think that since I can't control anything about when this baby will come (and that is hard for me!) that I have to control the things that I can in my life right now, like getting things in order for when the baby does come. So, I guess for now, the endless lists of things to do will continue...

28 Weeks

I can't believe another month has passed and it was time to take the 7 month picture! How time flies. It is crazy to us that we only have two and a half months before this baby will be here! So much to do, so little time!!! Anyway, things are well, I am starting to get uncomfortable at times and my feet seem to hurt all the time, but I am not complaining. It will all be worth it in the end! We celebrated thanksgiving this past thursday and both feel exceptionally thankful for all the of the blessings we have. We are thankful for each other, our home, our friends and family and our little baby. We thank each and every one of you for being a part of our lives. We love you all.

Owwww....

We had our second birthing class last night. We practiced lots of different breathing techniques and learned about back labor. I am counting on Mike to remember this stuff because I have this feeling that in the pain of labor, which breathing I am supposed to do when may fall to the wayside in my head. We watched a video of an actual birth which was quite emotional to watch. Of course, sappy me, ends up crying when the baby is born because I have these intense emotions over the fact that we are going to go through this and have a little one of our own in such a short time. The very thought of the life growing inside me blows my mind and I can barely wrap my hands around it at times. Then we took a tour of the birthing center and saw the rooms that we will use. While we were standing in the hall they were rolling a just born infant into the nursery and again I got all emotional at just the thought that we are going to have one of those in less than three months. It is so darn exciting!!!

I had my 7 month doctor appointment this morning which was quite eventful. In addition to the normal things that happen at every appointment such as hearing the heartbeat, which never gets old, I had to do the gestational diabetes test and get the Rhogam shot. So, in case you didn't already know, I HATE shots and have been dreading this shot since the beginning of my pregnancy when I found out I had to have it at 28 weeks. Well, it didn't disappoint me too much, it did hurt, but maybe not as bad as I thought it would. I didn't realize that I was going to have to get the shot in my hip, that was not exciting. Anyway, it is over and I am sure after going through childbirth I will think that getting that shot is something quite pleasant. After that I had to go get three vials of blood taken for the diabetes test and some other tests that they do. When I left I was done with being poked and proded for today!

Calm...

So, I have no exciting pictures from the weekend to post, in fact, I haven't for a few weeks now. The best part about that is because the past few weeks we have fallen into a rather relaxing life filled with next to no plans and frankly enjoying that. Summer and fall are always so busy for us, the months seem to fly in the flash of a moment and suddenly winter is here. We suspect that perhaps the coming years will start to calm a little because we will not have only ourselves to think of. We are enjoying this next phase of our life, the phase where we can't remember the last time we were out till bar time and an exciting friday night is watching a movie and being in bed for the 10 o'clock news. I guarantee you, not that many years back we would have looked at our current life and thought "those people are boring". Oh, how life changes, it is amazing. Sometimes it feels like college was a minute ago, it is almost impossible to believe that it has been 8 years. Sometimes I'll be up reading a book at 7:30 on a saturday morning thinking, "there was a day where I would have been sleeping for at least 3-4 more hours". Now sleeping till 9am is sleeping in. Even that will soon change with a little one that will allow us much less sleep, we assume, than we are currently enjoying. So, this is my current reflection for the moment, life is good, very very good.

He He He He who... or birthing class #1

So, last night we had our first birthing class. We showed up with our pillow and blanket in hand ready to learn all the tricks of having this baby. It was only week #1 of 6, but it was quite interesting. We learned all about the different stages of labor, some relaxation techniques, and how much this is going to hurt. Mike and I agreed that it was very informative. We were only slightly embarrassed when we had to try out some of the techniques to "calm" me in the beginning stages of labor when the pain is just beginning. We had to try the slow dancing technique for a whole song that the "teacher" played. It was going well until half way through she said "Okay ladies, now lean into your husband" and Mike and I quickly realized that that works best when the husband is taller than the wife. It was quite humorous. All in all it was painless and it was actually pretty fun for the two of us to be doing together. We were even a little emotional driving there thinking that sometime in about three months we'll be driving there about to meet our little son or daughter. We simply cannot wait, we just love this little one so much already and we haven't even met him or her.

Baby or Cat?

Apparently Powder is a little confused about who or what goes in the baby carrier. We have it sitting in the den at the moment and Powder has decided it is a quite comfortable sleeping spot. Boy is she in for a rude awakening when the baby comes and the world doesn't revolve around her!

24 weeks

Wow, 6 months already! That feels like a long time that bean has been growing! Only 3 and a half months to go, we can't believe it! The carpeting is being installed today in the baby's room so it will be great to see what it looks like when it is all done! Mike's mom bought us our stroller and car seat last week and Mike put it together. It is starting to feel so real with all this baby stuff around! It will be so cool to actually have the baby to put in all the stuff soon!!!