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I just realized that when Darin blogged our announcement yesterday he didn't include the stats for you. So here ya go:
Danielle Louise Gemmer
born July 29, 2009
10:44 am
9 pounds, 2 ounces
20 inches
(I swore I didn't have another 9 pounder in my belly this time, guess I was wrong!)
And a couple more favorite pics from her first day with us.
Gram
And Gramps, too, but somehow we didn't get a picture of him.
This big sister came, bringing birthday cake and presents with her. (I think Dad has some pictures of her holding Dani, but I didn't get any.)
Gran drove happily from Lakewood in her air conditioned car.
Auntie Michelle
Cousin Jake
Mama Stace
And we even talked Papa Ty into holding his newest (not as fragile as she looks) God-daughter.
And dear Uncle Sky, who impressed the nurse with his baby handling skills.
Can't wait to see who comes by tomorrow!
baby Spud!
AKA
Danielle Louise Gemmer
After the gender questions and explanations, the most popular question about Spud's impending arrival centers around the big sister. Is she ready? Is she excited? How much does she know?
And those questions are hard to answer.
She knows there is a baby in Mama's belly. (If you ask here "where is the baby?" she'll point to my stomach.) She knows the baby's name (for now, hopefully this won't be too confusing) is Spud and she'll tell you that in Mama's belly is "bebe Spud". She loves to lift up my shirt and give the belly kisses. She also loves to play around with my very-outy belly button.
We've also had some babies around recently. Of course, watching MJ for the months we did this spring helped her get used to another little person needing Mama's attention. And hopefully Daisy loves having Spud around as much as she loves MJ.
And then we recently had a litter of kittens at camp and we've been to visit them a few times. We've talked about how the kittens eat "Mama's Milk" and that's how I'll be feeding baby Spud too. I know it'll be hard when feeding the baby takes up so much of my time, but hopefully introducing Daisy to the idea of nursing now will help. (Of course, for the first few weeks there will be lots of other people around to keep Daisy entertained while nursing happens...)
We've talked to Daisy about "Spud's bed" as we set up the bassinet and she's helped do laundry and get diapers together.
Last week at Target Daisy helped me pick out a birthday present for Spud. Of course, the toy cell phone that she picked out was of interest to her as well, so we'll see about how sharing it goes! The plan is to have her help me wrap it this weekend and then she can bring it to the hospital when she comes to visit her sibling.
Our pediatrician suggested to us that the best way to make the transition is to have Daisy help as much as she can. Bringing diapers to Mama, helping with burping, singing songs or entertaining Spud with Peek-a-boo are all little ways Daisy can be invovled. She loves to help so I think this is some great advice.
We're doing our best to be honest with Daisy about how much her life is gonna change. And we're praying about it a lot too.
But this little girl is so sweet and fun and a HUGE baby-fan, so here's to hoping she'll welcome the change.
(All pictures taken at Harbor Founatin Park on 7/23/07.)
This happened last time too. Daisy was third in a group of friends having babies.
Last Tuesday Darin's coworker and his wife delivered their first little guy. We went to visit on Wednesday and "baby Coco" as he's been nicknamed, still had no official name.
Super cute kid though.
And then yesterday my friend Tina delivered her little gal. Too bad they're living in California now. Here's little Addison-Danielle-Haven-Riley-Rae-Stevens.
Congrats to both of you! Now it's our turn!
Hey, at least we've got names picked out.
It's been a while, I know.
I got a voice mail from a Bellingham friend this week telling me she searched and searched my blog for the due date and couldn't find it. So I figured it was about time to update folks on the belly developments.
Here it is at 39 weeks:
It totally looks like I swallowed a basketball!
Those of you who were around for my Daisy pregnancy will notice I'm quite a bit smaller this time around. I think it has to do with my job as a Mom to a toddler rather than my desk job that allowed me to sit and be lazy all day. And my doc told me this morning it doesn't look like a 9-pounder in there. So I'm excited about that!
What? You don't believe I'm small? Check this out (just please ignore that awful look on my face):
Not yet convinced?
Here's a belly shot today:
And WHOA, one from a week before Daisy's due date.
So here are some updates:
"official" due date is July 26th.
Met my new doctor today. (The doctor I'd been seeing was an interim doc. So is this guy but he'll be my doc for delivery.) We both like him a lot better than my previous doc and got lots of questions answered.
I'm really hoping for a vaginal delivery this time, which is refered to as a "vaginal birth after caesarean" or "VBAC". But there are some risks involved, including tearing of the uterus. So we're cautiously moving forward. Here's the kicker: I have to go into spontaneous labor and there can't be any artifical methods of induction or labor stimulation. So not only do I have to go into labor myself, I also have to progress "correctly" or will be wheeled into surgery. We've known about this for a while and are happy to have surgery if I need to, but just didn't want to schedule it right off the bat.
Doc also told us if Spud doesn't decide to arrive before the 26th we'll be scheduling surgery. Which means, for those of you keeping track, Spud should be here before August for sure!
Doc did "check" today. Head is down but not yet in the pelvis. A little dilated but not too much effacement yet.
I'm still feeling good. Having a few contractions here and there. Muscle pains below the belly from holding the darn thing up. Tire a little more easily but still feel like I've got good energy. And LOVING all the strangers who tell me I'm looking good, as opposed to last pregnancy when all I heard was how huge I was. (I even had someone in the library last week tell me that from behind she didn't even know I was pregnant!)
Working this week to get a hospital bag together, clean our house, and start in on the baby announcements.
Anything else y'all are dying to know?
...a playground in our backyard!
And Daisy is a big fan.
And so is her mama, who can plop her big belly in a chair and enjoy watching her little one run around and narate her adventures.
And on our hot days we can stick that blue slide into the pool for even more summer fun! (In fact, it's got a hose attachment so you can really turn it into a waterslide.)
The first day we had it in the pool Daisy wasn't so sure about it. So she enjoyed climbing up from the bottom and doing a little belly-sliding down the bottom half.
One thing I'm learning as the mother of a nervous toddler is that sometimes she needs a little pushing, and other times I just need to back off. This was a back off time. And the next day, sure enough, she had a bit more confidence. Down the slide she went. She LOVED it, giggled as she climbed back out of the pool and shouted at me "again, again, again!"
This slide has quite a bit of oomph and looks like a lot of fun. I wish I could try it myself, but I'd probably break it and me trying.
And one more, just for fun. Not the greatest shot but yes, those are horses going by in the background. One of our new favorite parts of summer: hollaring "HEY-YO" to the riders as they pass by.
And, really, lastly, a video of my wild daughter going down the slide. (Click the link below if the embedded version doesn't show up.)
down the slide from Deanna Gemmer on Vimeo.
Mom and Dad are currently camping at a cool Thousand Trails park in Chehalis. They invited us to spend Darin's day off (this past Thursday) with them and my two neices who were spending a few nights. We really needed to get away from camp, so it was the perfect excuse.
Upon finally arriving Daisy's favorite activity was running up and down the road, with Macey in hot pursuit.
And Maya bested Darin in a game of ladder golf.
Even with that steely confidence he couldn't pull off a win.
Maya and Macey are convinced that our Spud is a MR and kept pestering me about it all day. Here, they're trying to catch a listen. (Well, this photo was staged for the camera after they were doing the same thing.)
We interrupt this story to bring you a sweet shot of my adorable kiddo.
After lunch it was time to hit the pool.
Daisy lasted a while in the big pool with Papa, but when her cousins befriended another girl she headed for the toddler pool.
Who knew two sippy cups could equal hours of fun? Especially when you can "surprise" Gran by pouring water on her!
While Daisy had a nap we took the girls to play mini-golf. Darin won back his dignity by beating us all at this game.
Daisy woke up, we played some farkle, ate some dinner, and then gathered around the fire for the part of the day we'd all been waiting for: SMORES!
Mmmm...gooey, sticky, blurry, S'more faces.
Darin has this whole theory on s'mores that involves "pre-roasting" some chocolate by setting it on the bottom graham near the fire. This gets the chocolate all melty before you put the marshmallow on it. Of course, the marshmallow must also be the perfect shade of golden brown. I always let him make s'mores for me because he does the best job, and frankly, doesn't really like them too much himself.
Here Daisy's helping him rotate his roaster.
Putting it all together. I love how patiently Daisy is waiting and watching.
And the money shot: first S'more!
Looks like someone got a hold of the camera that wasn't me!
And when Darin gets a hold of the camera, you never know what he's gonna do. Like play around shooting my dad's hanging-downy-spinner thingies. (Is that their technical name?)
But Darin still had one more adventure up his sleeve. Under the big water tower at camp there had fallen a bee's nest. And it had been bugging him all day. So he finally grabbed my Mom's fancy fire poker and went to collect some of it.
Let the science lesson begin.
Ooo...the sun on Macey's face is so pretty.
When the kiddos finally bored of the hive they took off for a walk with Gram & CC, and Darin picked up the camera again-this time to play with the macro lens.
We loaded up in the car way past Daisy's bedtime in hopes of her sleeping on the way home, but she would have none of it. Of course, our little picky girl was cranky about our music selections but we told her it was Mama & Papa's turn to choose and she should just go to sleep. Oh well, we got home around 10:00 and Daisy went right to bed and, thankfully, slept until almost 9:00 the next morning.
Thanks for inviting us down for all the fun, Mom & Dad. (And HAH-I got to blog the pics first!)
Do you read those airplane magazines? Usually some time during my flight I'm bored with the things I've brought and will pull that out to glance through. Luckily the issue of "Horizon Air" I thumbed through at the Idaho Falls tarmac had a great article about Western Washington day trips. We are always looking for quick summer day trips to get Darin away from camp on his days off. So the magazine made it into my carry on and last week as we were making plans for a day off I pulled it out again.
Under the trip to Bremerton it was suggested a stop at Harborside Fountain Park. The magazine mentioned something about fountains and "wading pools" which sounded perfect for a hot day. And since Bremerton is just like 20 minutes up the road, we could make a morning trip out of it and still get the little Miss into her own bed for naptime.
We didn't have exact directions so we ended up just finding some street parking and heading over to the Bremerton boardwalk. Of course, brilliant me thought it would be a great idea to bring the stroller because although Daisy wanted to walk, we could throw all our luggage in it. Unfortunately, there were quite a few steps up and down from the boardwalk as we made our way to the fountains.
Once there it didn't take Daisy too long to get wet. We did put on her water shoes but decided to just let her wade in her dress since we had brought along a spare.
These fountains are really cool. I think there are like 5 of them and they are designed to look like a naval fleet heading out to sea. But they also harken to two other northwest icons, whales and volcanoes, because they squirt these great tufts of water out their tops at certain intervals. Daisy was a little nervous about that at first, but quickly got used to it.
I must say, we all enjoyed the cool water. It was a hot day!
Even me and the big belly sat on the edge.
When it was time to move the car (darn 1 hour parking) we changed Daisy and headed over to Subway for some lunch. Then back to the fountains, but this time Daisy got on her swim gear.
The park was starting to get a bit crowded and it had a bit of a waterpark feel to it in that families were spreading out blankets on the patches of grass and kids were digging into coolers and snack bags in between dips in the pools. Subway was fun, but we will definitely join these families next time and pack up our own lunch and snacks. (And trust me, there will be a next time.)
Daisy borrowed a life ring from a little girl. (Note to self: bring one of those next time too.)
And Darin tried to help her lay back in it.
But the second she was in, she wanted back out.
But trying to sit in it by herself wasn't so successful.
And here she is chasing down the little girl trying to give her back her toy.
There were lots of tears when it was time to go, but thankfully just up the road was a ColdStone and there were delicious ice cream treats to be had by all. Not a better way to end a fun-filled water adventure if you ask me.
I, for one, can't wait to go back. A FREE, close, water-filled fun destination. The only downsides were parking (next time we'll just pay for a lot spot close by) and the lack of shade at the park (we're probably gonna just get one of those beach umbrellas they've got at Costco). Let me know if you want to come with us next time!
We had a great day: camp staff, games, and treats at the beach in the morning. A long afternoon nap. And a great BBQ at my sister's house in the evening. We skipped the fireworks, but did see some being shot at the Purdy beach as we drove home.
Hope your day was just as fun!
(I'll share more photos later this week, but this was quick and fun.)
I was reminded this morning that we have many people to thank for the freedoms we enjoy, but as a Christian there is no greater freedom than the freedom found in Christ through his sacrifice for us. And for that, I am truly grateful.
Admittedly, I really didn't take too many pictures while camping with Daisy and Darin's family last week. I was enjoying just kicking back and relaxing, and I still haven't quite got the hang of shooting in full-on sun. But I do have a few to share.
The drive over was ok. We stopped in North Bend to get out of the car and walk at a "park". Well, to Miss Daisy a "park" equals play area, and this park only had a trail and grass. So we had to make due with a game of find the coolest stick before getting back in the car.
Next stop was Cle Ellum for lunch at Subway where Daisy was just delightful. They didn't have any high chairs so she just sat in a big-girl chair and ate all her lunch. She did offer a running commentary on the people who entered the restaurant, though. I'm finding it amusing that every woman lately is a "mama" and every guy is a "papa".
The last leg of our trip I was hoping Daisy would nap, but that was just not to be. Instead I had a cranky toddler in the backseat that made concentrating on the curves of Blewitt Pass a little more difficult. And when we arrived at the campsite Daisy was having so much fun with her cousins and Aunts and Gran that a nap just wasn't gonna happen. But it was okay, because she stayed in a pretty good mood until bedtime.
Smart Gran even figured out a way to give Daisy her nightly bath.
The best part of family reunions are the kids getting to play with their relatives. Here Daisy and her cousin Quentin are enjoying some splash time in the pool.
They made up this game that involved them splashing in the pool, then running to the other end of the campsite and back, all the while shrieking like mad men. (Actually, they kinda sounded like seagulls.)
Here she is with Grandpa giving her cousin Israel's bike a try, but couldn't quite reach the pedals. Hopefully next year she'll have her very own ride-on toy like all the big kids.
And Gran and Daisy playing at the beach.
But by far Daisy's favorite person at the reunion was Darin's cousin Anna. (Not sure how that makes the two of them related.) Daisy would follow her around and ask about her 100 times if she wasn't. The two of them playing together was really very sweet.
We really had a great time camping; there's nothing like doing it with kids! And here's to hoping we can take a trip with Darin in the fall!
