Another Adventure!

Dakota has enjoyed her second backpacking adventure. She is quite the trooper as we have decided to call her. I'm sure she is wondering how she got stuck with such crazy parents. At least right now she doesn't know any better. When she gets older she will probably say, "You mean everybody's parents don't do what mine do??" Last Saturday we flew to Philly and then drove to the highest point in Delaware (it was a doozie). We then drove to visit our friends Tonya and Jason who used to live in Memphis with us. Dakota did awesome on the flight. What an answer to prayers. She didn't seem to have any ear trouble. Sunday morning we woke up and drove to the highest point in New Jersey with Jason. He then continued with us on our adventures to the Adirondacks to get the highest point in New York. It was a 15.5 mile hike through autumn and winter weather. We had Dakota all bundled up in like 5 layers of clothes. She did great. Jacob sure was proud to have her with us and to do so great. After our New York adventures Jacob, Dakota and I headed to Boston where he had a conference for work. We have just been hanging out while he has meetings and seminars. We are still there now. Enjoy our photos and continue to pray for our safety as we return home on Sunday.

Best Buddies.
Best Buddies.

#32 Delaware
#33 New Jersey
#34 New York (only 16 more to go) Just hanging out.
Mt. Marcy

2 Months Old!

Dakota turned 2 months old on Friday. We can't believe how fast the time is going and how big she is getting. She had her two month appointment on Friday and had to get her first shots (which I cried over because I hated seeing my little gal hurt). She now weighs 11lbs 10.5 oz (75% percentile) and is 23.5" long (90%). Looks like daddy may have a basketball player on his hands after all. Enjoy her 2 month pictures...

Some Funny 8 Week Shots

Dakota's First Adventure

This Friday evening we left for Mt. Rogers, Virginia (the highest point in VA) for Dakota's first road trip and hiking trip and tent camping and high pointing experience. She did amazing. She hardly fussed at all and we all had a great time. I don't think Jacob will ever forget taking his baby girl on her first backpacking trip. She seemed to really enjoy it. We did 8 miles with her on Saturday and she rode on her daddy's chest the whole way. Saturday night we got to see Auntie Lauren and Uncle Chad and camped with them. Dakota slept in a cardboard box lid in our tent. Yea...she's going to grow up one "experienced" child. Can't wait for more adventures.

Hunger Calls...no matter where you are. Thank goodness I had a "Hooter Hider".
Highpoint #31 for us, #1 for Dakota (not counting the 4 she did in utero)
Can't leave out big brother
My two best buddies

Some Cute Pictures

Daddy took us to the dog park and she really enjoyed watching the pooches run around. She was being quite the ham for the camera when I dressed her in this pretty pink dress from Martha. Too bad she had to spit up all over it.
Mommy and Dakota after church. This dress was her Auntie Lauren's when she was a baby and it looks precious on her.

Dakota is 6 weeks Old!

Well, Dakota will be turning 6 weeks tomorrow and she is growing and changing daily...and we are falling even more in love with her as well. Our new favorite thing is when she smiles at us...it melts our hearts! She is up to a little over 10 lbs and she can hold her head up by herself almost all of the time. She also began sleeping the whole night about 2 weeks ago which makes for a very rested mommy. We are on a pretty regular schedule and she is such a happy baby.

I know many of your are anxiously awaiting some pictures so here goes...I hope they make up for the absence.

This picture was taken of my sleepy girl a few weeks ago.
She loves her momma but I believe she one day will think her daddy is her hero

Dakota's first Labor Day. We enjoyed a pool party with friends. She was pooped.


These pictures were taken on September 5, her 1 month old day. My best pal Ryan made her the quilt she is lying on.

"My what big eyes you have!"

"The better to see you with."

Sally and Clarence came to visit and she showed off her big girl smile.

In other exciting news...Carie and Chris had their baby last Sunday, exactly 5 weeks apart (almost to the hour). They welcomed Sutton Christopher at 8:22. He was 9lbs 4oz and 21.5" long. Dakota has already met her boyfriend (and future bodyguard) and seems to agree with the arrangement. He wasn't awake long enough to get a peep at her but he has many days ahead to gaze into her pretty eyes. Congrats Carie and Chris and we look forward to all of the upcoming play dates.

I LOVE DAKOTA

I don't have but a second to post these pictures from weeks 2 and 3 of Dakota's life... but Jacob, Dakota and I are doing amazing. We LOVE her so much and she is such a blessing. Enjoy these photos. If we ever get internet and I don't have to run to the library to post pictures, you will get some more often.

The last two nights Dakota slept 6 hours straight. What a blessing!

Look how tall she is!!
Ready for a Ride!!
All Snuggled Up in her Bathrobe!!

She looks like a little bean. I could eat her up!
She loves laying on daddy's tummy and looking at him.
"My Daddy sure is Cute."
"I love my daddy!"
SO Cute.

My Heart Leaps for Joy...

When I look at my baby girl!!! Here are some more pictures of Dakota. We LOVE her so much. You can also read below for a very lengthy description of our first two weeks. Hopefully we will get better at posting once we get our schedule figured out...and hopefully one day we will get internet so I don't have to go to the library to post.

Dakota in her Cradle that her Papa made for her.
Dakota with her Vermont Teddy Bear from Aunt Patty. The first thing she got with her name on it!!
This is a funny face that she makes a lot. She sure looks confused and distraught but I can't help but laugh!
After bath time she loves being cuddled in her hooded towels. She gets the double chin from her daddy. :)
I'm so cute!

First of all, Thank you Carie for posting on my behalf when Dakota was born. It really helped get the news out and allowed me to share some pictures with everybody.

The first two weeks of Dakota’s life have been amazing. I am overjoyed with her and I cannot stop thanking God for the amazing blessing that He has given our family. Every time I look at her I want to praise Him and my heart beams at His graciousness in allowing me to be her mother.

I figured I would fill everybody in on the labor and delivery story so here goes…(excuse all grammatical mistakes as I am typing this like I talk).

Sunday, August 5th at about 3 in the morning I woke up feeling a little “crampy.” I slept off and on until 8 when the alarm went off to wake us for church. I told Jacob that I didn’t really feel up to going to Sunday school and that I would like to sleep a little longer. I can’t remember the last time that I skipped church because I didn’t feel well. He decided he would go work in the yard and told me if I felt up to going to church at 10:50 to let him know and he would come inside and get ready. I stayed in bed and realized that maybe I was having contractions. I grabbed a watch with a timer on it and started timing them for the next hour. They started at about 7 minutes apart at 8:30 and by the time an hour was up they were less than 6 minutes apart lasting about 45-50 seconds each. My doctor said to come in when they were 5 minutes apart. I went and told Jacob that I thought today was the day and that maybe we should consider getting ready for the hospital. We didn’t rush because I wasn’t in a lot of pain but I was definitely having consistent contractions and knew that if I was really in labor the contractions would get closer and stronger. I took a shower, shaved my legs, added a few extra things to our bags, packed Jacob some snacks, made Jacob shave (I told him he couldn’t be prickly when he met our baby for the first time), Jacob vacuumed and at around noon I decided it was definitely time to head to the hospital. I was at the point I had to stop whatever I was doing when a contraction came. We got there and they made Jacob wait in the waiting room while they took me to triage and asked me a lot of questions and began hooking me up to monitors to make sure I was really in labor. I was so thankful to hear the words from the nurse, “Today is Baby Day…let’s move you to your room.”

We got to our room at about 2 something and the contractions were getting a lot closer and stronger. I was uncomfortable but not sure if I was really in need of an epidural yet. I told Jacob I was going to ask for it at 4 because I knew it could take about an hour from the time I requested it to get it administered and for it to kick in. Well, at 3:45 in the midst of a pretty strong contraction, my water broke. And boy did it break. I’ve heard of some people just having a trickle…mine was like an explosion…it didn’t hurt…it just felt like a water balloon busted between my legs (nice description, I know). Well, after that all went down…I was in A LOT of pain and told them I was going to need that epidural….NOW. They worked as quickly as they could but those last several contractions before I got the epidural were extremely painful and I was almost in tears. Once the epidural kicked in…I was on cloud 9. I couldn’t feel a thing and it was WONDERFUL. I would say to Jacob, “I think I might be having a contraction.” And he would look at the monitor and say, “Yea, that was a bad one.” And we would laugh that I couldn’t feel them. To all my pregnant friends out there…GET AN EPIDURAL! They are wonderful and it made for a great day for me and Jacob. We just watched t.v. and played a game of Yahtzee. Each hour they would check how I was dilating and things were moving pretty fast. Over a centimeter an hour which is great timing. At about 8pm the nurse checked me and I was 8 cm. At 9 I met the doctor for the first time (unfortunately since it was the weekend my doctor wasn’t on call) and she checked me and said, “Oh, she’s complete. I can see the head. It’s time to start pushing.” So they got everything prepped and we started pushing. I still couldn’t feel anything (not even any pressure) so I had no clue if my pushing was accomplishing anything. They kept saying I was doing a great job but quite honestly I didn’t feel like I was doing anything. At 9:38 I gave a push and her head was free and then one more and her whole little body came wiggling out. It was really quite amazing. Then I heard them say, “IT”S A GIRL.” And I wanted to cry with excitement and joy…instead I just smiled really big and watched Jacob cut the umbilical cord and then they let me see her and she was really, really cute and I was just ecstatic. She was having trouble breathing because she had mucus caught in her throat that she couldn’t cry out and they took her away from us to get oxygen. I wasn’t worried though because God’s hand has been on us since the day we conceived and I knew He would take care of her. Jacob wanted to be with her so he went and kept an eye on her while I got “fixed up” and they monitored me for the next hour. By about midnight I finally got moved to my room and got to hold my baby girl and feed her for the first time.

She didn’t sleep well that first night but that’s ok…I couldn’t really sleep either. The rest of the week went really fast with all of our family coming in town. My dad, Martha and Sally got here around lunchtime on Monday. We were home early afternoon on Tuesday. Lauren arrived on Tuesday night. Dad and Martha left on Wednesday around lunch. Brad and Chad arrived Thursday evening and Clarence arrived Friday evening. Brad, Chad and Lauren left Sunday morning and Sally and Clarence left on Monday. Now it’s just me and Dakota at home. Jacob went back to work on Monday. He was sad to leave her and told me he wasn’t ever going to leave her again but I guess he realized that somebody has to make the money to pay our bills.

Dakota and I had a good week by ourselves but are still have a lot adjusting to do. We haven't quite gotten on a schedule and I haven't been that productive. I guess we will in time get all of that figured out. I was able to get out of the house yesterday (Friday) and have lunch with my group at work for a birthday. I surprised them and it was great to see my friends. Dakota didn't make a peep while we enjoyed lunch.

So…that’s a breakdown of our first few weeks with Dakota Eileen. We all love her so much and she really is such a good baby. She doesn’t cry much (except for the night I had baked beans and they gave her a tummy ache). She is finally eating really well and I can tell she is beginning to plump up. The first several days were pretty difficult and stressful with feeding her but now she and I have it under control and she is doing great. Honestly, that was the hardest part…harder than labor or delivery. Feeling like you are failing at feeding your baby is really hard but I prayed a lot about it…and just like everything else throughout our pregnancy and labor and delivery…God has heard my prayers and been gracious to us. He never leaves us.

I better go now…not sure if any of you are still reading this far because it is quite the book. Thanks to EVERYBODY for all of your prayers and phone calls and gifts and and dinners and thanks to our family for taking time off work and driving out here and special thanks to Sally for cleaning our house and cooking meals. Please continue to pray for us as we try and get in a routine and figure out how to make the best use of our days. God is too Good!!!

And pretty soon Dakota's boyfriend will be here...so be praying for Carie and Chris as they finish up the last couple of weeks of pregnancy!!!