The First Time...

Some of the "firsts" in Adam's life:

His first bath...

December 6th (don't worry, he was cleaned before this, but this is his first time in the tub)

No big deal, eh?  He already looks so small to me in this picture!

His first time on his playmat with dangly toys.  He loves this thing and is starting to get excited when he hits the various toys.

Phil and I admiring Adam.

Adam had his two-week check up on Thursday, December 12.  Some things to note:

1. He weighed 8 lbs. 13 oz.  at his check up.

2. He is becoming much more alert during the day, and loves to look at faces and different toys.  I think he wants to grab them, but hasn't quite figured that out yet.

3. He slept for three hours straight last night...heaven!

4. He is quickly outgrowing his newborn clothes.  I can't believe how much he changes each day.  His face is filling out, and he seems to be learning quickly about his world.  

Babies of the Twenty-First Century

Our friends Caleb and Stacey had their little boy, Hunter, on October 4, 2008.  We are very excited for Hunter and Adam to meet and become great friends.  Since Caleb, Stacey, and Hunter live in Minnesota, this won't happen for at least a month, so the boys have been sending each other messages via Facebook.  Aren't babies so technological these days?

Hunter's "text message" to Adam:

Adam returns with his own message:

Adam's First Week

Adam was born one week ago!  It has already gone so fast.  Here is our little man:

You can see how big he is compared to my Care Bear.  I got this bear when I was three years old, and now it is in Adam's room.

Some things you might like to know about Adam at one week:

1. He likes riding in the car and his stroller.  

2. He slept in his crib for the first time last night - Yay!  He still prefers to sleep in someone's arms, but is making good progress.

3. He is gaining weight well.  He weighed 8 lbs. at birth, 7 lbs. 7 oz. when we left the hospital, and 8 lbs. 4 oz. today.

4. My mom showed me a fun trick yesterday.  She held him while he was looking up at her and we both started talking to him.  He turned his head right over to me - he knows his mama!

5. He had his first shampoo today and didn't mind it at all!  He still hates having his diaper changed, though. 

6. He is perfect.

Getting to know Adam

Adam is four days old today!  We came home from the hospital on Friday and had his check up yesterday and he is doing great!  Eating a lot and pooping a lot :)  I can't believe how much he has changed even in these early days.  Here are some photos.  I wish you all could meet him!

Passed out after a feeding.

Human pacifier!  This has been key for keeping him calm during diaper changes.  He hates being undressed and cold!

This is one of my favorites.  A little smiley face while sleeping.

Napping on Grandma Ann.

Having my mom here has been such a blessing!  Adam loves his Grandma!

This is the outfit that Adam wore to come home from the hospital.  It was made by my grandma and is the same outfit that my brother, sister, and I wore home from the hospital when we were born.  Adam wore it with pride.

Hanging out at the hospital.

Father and son.

He Has Arrived!

Finally, he has arrived!  Adam Carl Swenson was born on November 26, at 8:02 PM.  He weighed 8 lbs on the nose and was 21.4 inches long.  Phil and I both really like the name Adam, and Carl was my grandpa's name.  Here are a few pictures and a short story for those of you curious about Adam's birthday:

Hi, I weigh eight pounds, and I can prove it!

I'm so glad daddy was with me right after I was born.  It is cold out here!

He had a little bit of a conehead when he came out, but it went away quickly  :)

Meeting mommy.  Such an amazing experience after carrying him for nine months.

Here is a short story of his birth.  I'll keep it brief and PG...for those interested, we can talk on the phone :)

Because of my high blood pressure, I was scheduled to be induced.  So, on November 25, Phil and I went to the hospital at about 7:30 PM.  Although they wouldn't actually start my labor until the next morning, they wanted me to come in the night before and spend the night so they could monitor how dialated I was and make sure I was ready to go in the morning.  At this point, I was a little nervous, not knowing what to expect, but Phil and I were also very excited and couldn't believe that it was finally time.  We had talked about this for so long!

In the morning, around 7 the nurses and Dr. came in to see how things were going and start my IV.  Then, around 9 they started the Pitocin, which is the drug that begins contractions...it worked.  The beginning wasn't too bad, though, and I was breathing through contractions and Phil and I walked through the hallways.  

Around 12:30, labor was progressing well and the Dr. broke my water.  Holy cow!  Without that cushion in there contractions came much faster and harder immediately!  I knew it would happen, but I thought it would be a little more gradual.  The good news is that the show was definitely on the road!

I waited as long as I could to get the epidural, since I didn't want labor to stop or slow.  But, with contractions coming hard, and right on top of each other, I decided to get the epidural so that I could rest and be ready to push when the time came.  It took them a while to get the epidural started, so I had a pretty rough time until 2:30, when they finally finished.  Phil and my nurse were amazing during this time helping me get through it.  

I was able to rest and let my body do the work until Dr. came in and told me I was ready to push - probably around 7:30.  At this point, I was very focused on what I had to do.  The Dr. called the pediatrician and told her that I was ready to push and she should come to my room in about an hour for the birth.  He had me do a practice push, and was amazed to see the baby right away!  Dr. was back on the phone telling the pediatrician that she actually should come now :)  Fifteen minutes later, Adam was born!  

Pushing was an amazing experience for me.  Phil watched the whole time as he held my leg and counted for me, and his amazement at the whole thing and his words between pushes were incredibly empowering for me.  

We are so excited to have our son!  I am slowly recovering and we are adjusting to the lack of sleep and days that revolve around Adam, but we can already tell that this is going to be the best thing we have ever done.    

Celebrating Baby in OH

Phil and I have been part of a newly-formed small group at our church.  It was started by our friends Andy and Susie, and we are all Airforce couples.  So, last night we left our house to go to Bible study as we usually do on Wednesday nights.  However, when we got there, we discovered that our friends had planned a little party for Baby Swenson!   

What a surprise!

Susie made yummy cake and cupcakes...YUM!

Since we already have most of the stuff that Baby needs, the theme was board books.  Since many of the girls in our group are moms, we got a lot of good ones - mother approved, child tested!

Here is Phil checking out his new reads.

Baby made quite a haul in books!

Don't worry, we also whipped out some Guitar Hero so the boys didn't feel too baby-showered up :)  Sorry, no photos of that, though.

This new group of friends has been such a blessing to us.  We've only lived here for about three months, and to already have peeps supporting us and praying for us as we welcome our son is so huge.  God is good!

Do it Rockapella!

Ok, so for those of you who don't know, I am obsessed with Rockapella. Many of you may know them as "the guys who sang the theme song on Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego." However, they have now become one of the leading forces in a capella music, and put on one of the best and most fun live shows ever. Blah, blah, blah...the point is - I HEART them. So, whenever they are within a 2 hour radius of our house, I am pretty much there. Upon our marriage, Phil was indoctrinated, and thank goodness he likes them too, so I have a date for each concert.

What do you know, we find out we're moving to Ohio and they schedule a concert about 15 minutes from our new house. So, Phil and I were, of course, there in the fourth row on November 15th. It was pretty much the best night ever, and a great date night for us right before the baby arrives.

After the concert, they were signing autographs, which they have never done at any of the other concerts I have been to, so I was pretty excited. I feel a little silly because Rockapella is, to me, what Zac Efron is to teenage girls. (I hope that's a correct analogy! Guy from Highschool Musical, girls go nuts over him???) So, I got all their autographs and Kevin Wright even talked to me about the baby and wished us luck. It was magical :)

So the down side to this whole story...I didn't have my camera with me! What?!?! Yeah, I was bummed. So, this is the only thing I have to offer you...

Update

Hi everyone!  I wanted to give an update on the recent developments around here.  A few weeks ago, my blood pressure started to go up, which is pretty common, especially in first pregnancies.  I was tested for preeclampsia, but the test was negative (good!).  So, they are just calling it a mild dose of pregnancy induced hypertension.  Just to be safe, I have been going into the Dr. twice a week so that they can monitor the baby and my blood pressure (as opposed to the normal once a week Dr. appt.).  Baby has  been looking great and my blood pressure has been fine - still a bit on the high side, but nothing alarming.  

Although going in twice a week is a bit tedious, it is actually kind of fun to be able to hear his heart beating away and see his activity (and starting today, some mild contractions!) on the monitor.  I also get to have an ultrasound every week.  They are actually checking the fluid level, but whatever, I get to see the baby!  He's so big now that you can't really see much, but it's still good.   

Even though everything is just fine and baby is still kicking away in there, they want to induce my labor at 39 weeks if I haven't gone naturally by that time.  Apparently, research shows that babies don't do as well after that in moms that have high bp, so they induce to be safe.  

SO...I am scheduled to go into the hospital on the 25th of November to start the process.  I'm not too crazy about the idea of being induced, honestly, but I am crazy about the idea of the pregnancy being over and Baby being here in the world with us!  This week Phil and I are getting all the last minute things done and having lots of good chats about our baby and becoming parents.  Phil has been amazing, by the way, taking over many of the household tasks and making me yummy dinners!  

We'll keep everyone posted here.  We know a lot of you have been praying for us and the baby for a while now, and we are so thankful.  Please keep the prayers coming during the next week!   

Captain Phil

The day we have been waiting for finally arrived on Monday, November 10, and Phil was promoted to Captain!  Yay!  I am so proud of him.  

Here is a shot of the new rank on his shoulder.

I made these rocket cookies for him to celebrate...aren't they cool?  Can you find the heart-shaped one?  That one was made special!

So, don't forget to give him a little salute the next time you see him!

I HEART my friend and her photos...

These photos were taken by my friend Susie.  I have always ("always" meaning the three months I have known her) thought she was such a talented photographer (check out her business's website and blog...it's amazing!), but I just LOVE these pictures.  I was over at her house and she just decided she wanted to snap some shots of the belly - seriously took all of about five minutes...she is so good!  She will photograph the baby after he is born, so stay tuned for more awesomeness. 

Thank you, Susie!

34.5

Either I swallowed a watermelon in my sleep, or this baby is getting big!  Here we are at 34.5 weeks.  

Wowzers!

Baby's Room

Many of you have asked to see what Baby's room is looking like these days, so I finally took a couple of photos.  It's pretty much ready now, minus a few things that still need to be set up. 

Here is the view when you walk in.  Please notice the curtain rod holding up the quilt.  It has little moons on the ends and is one of my favorite touches.  I know you all are very concerned about the cat.  We got off to a shaky start with the addition of the crib - she kept jumping in it!!  I can't blame her, it's a prime spot for cozy sleeping, but it will obviously not do.  We tried the tin foil thing, which caused her to proceed with caution, but she continued to go in the crib.  Our next step was to buy a Scat Mat, which is a plastic mat that gives off static electricity when you touch it.  It doesn't harm her, but just gives an uncomfortable sensation.  It only took a couple of zaps to do the trick, and she hasn't been back in since!  We'll still be very cautious when we add Baby into the mix, but right now we feel very relieved.  I highly recommend Scat Mats for expectant parents with cats.  The mat also works for training Grandmas...my mom got shocked the first time she went in the nursery!

His closet is around the corner to the left, you can't see it in this shot.

For this one, I am standing in the corner by the door to the closet.  The crib is on my left, off the camera.  You can see the wall hangings that Grandma Peg and I made while I was visiting MN, as well as the quilt on the back of the glider, made by my good friend from CA, Jen.  I love that Baby has many things around his room to remind him and me of people we love.

We're almost at 35 weeks, not too much longer!  The baby is head down and is sitting low in my tummy.  I'm very proud of him for doing his part to get ready for the big day!  

The Leibrock's Visit OH

This weekend, my parents and sister came to visit us in Ohio.  We had a great time, but as always, it went way too quickly.  Mom and I spend a lot of time in Baby's room getting clothes washed and things in order, so the next post will give you a peek in there.  Here are some of the other activities (besides a lot of Wii played by Grace and my dad) that took place.  

Saturday was our main day of activity.  We went to the Airforce Museum first.  This museum is HUGE and there is way too much to see in one day.  We did our best, but will probably be going again the next time they come out.  The museum houses every piece of aircraft used by the Airforce...ever.  My favorite part is the WWII stuff.  

Here are Grace and my dad ready for take-off.  Unfortunately, as you can see, they forgot their flight gear, so their trip was cancelled...    

After that, we took them on a little driving tour of the base, and then came back home and had our pumpkin carving extravaganza!!!  Phil and I had our pumpkins from Young's Dairy Farm and we bought Grace a pumpkin so we could all carve together while she was here.  

Dad helped Grace cut her top out.

Please believe me when I say that there were some killer sound effects to go along with this shot of Phil scooping out the guts.  I tried to tell him you can't put sound effects on the blog, but he didn't seem to understand...

Phil was very serious about his design.  He originally thought he would have the scariest pumpkin by carving a graph of the stock market crashing, but then decided that a crazy face would come out better on a round surface.

Everyone hard at work...pretty intense!

Me with my finished creation.  Please note that while I didn't put as much thought into my design as Phil did, I should get credit for the rounded eyes, as well as being 8 months pregnant.  Yes, I'm playing the pregnant card here.

This worries me a little...

Are you scared???

The carvers with their pumpkins!

Grace packed hers into the car to take home with her, but Phil and I are proudly displaying ours in front of our house.  Phil's is an especially great sight to come home to.

I also tried a new recipe for dessert, which I got from my friend Susie.  It's so good and so easy that I need to put it up here.  I didn't take a picture, but I should have because it looks so yummy!  Pioneer Woman Apple Dumplings are dangerously delicious served with vanilla ice cream on the side!

Baby Swenson's Minnesota Party

On October 5, when Phil and I were back in Minnesota for the St. Olaf reunion, my friends Beth and Shana threw me and baby a shower at my mom's house.  It was a great shower and also so fun to see people while I was in town.  Baby and I felt very loved!

Here are the hostesses and me.

Left to right: Shana, Me, Beth.  They both went to St. Olaf with me.

All of the Olaf Girls (minus Rachel who had to leave early to catch her plane):

Laura, Shana, Me, Beth, and Steph.

Shana made this totally cute diaper cake.  It was way cuter than the ones they sell on line!  It was a hit and everyone thought she should go into business.  I think there were 85 diapers in the cake, along with lots of other cute things for baby.

Here is a close-up of the cake, along with the scrapbook page I made for the ladies to sign.

We had yummy food and a cute cake with moons and stars on it, just like in his nursery.  Shana and Beth had sweet touches like having the ladies sign birthday cards that will be sent to Baby for his first five birthdays. 

Thanks, ladies, for a great day for baby and me.  You are all awesome!

Back row: Alana, Aunt Beth, Mom (Ann), Jill, Pat, Libby

Middle row: Laura, Me, Beth, Mother-in-law (Peg)

Front row: Steph, Shana, Grace (my sister), Rachel, Nancy

Um Ya Ya!

For those of you who don't know, I am a proud graduate of St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN.  We are the only college that has a fight song in 3/4 time.  For those of you who don't know what that means...just know that it's pretty awesome.  Here are many Oles singing the fight song at the homecoming football game - we were losing terribly at the time.

Look at all the Um Ya Ya...

Phil and I traveled to Minnesota for my class's five year reunion, which was severely hyped and took place on October 3 and 4.  It was very cool to be back on campus with close friends.  By the end of the day Saturday, I was totally exhausted, but it was totally worth it.

We started by meeting in the Fireside Lounge, just like old times.  Here are Phil and me waiting for more friends to arrive.  Notice Phil sporting his Olaf gear for me that day!

Next we had lunch.  I love St. Olaf in the fall.  

Pictured here are left to right: Me, Shana, Steph, John, Beth, and Laura.

After the football game (I won't mention the final score), the class of 2003 headed to Jesse James Lanes for bowling.  I bowled one game, which proved to be a poor decision while 7 months pregnant - I was so sore afterwards!  Whatever, it was totally worth it at the time!

Here are Laura and me at bowling.  Notice the buttons on our tummies - they say "I'm a future Ole."  How cute are we?!  Laura is due with her second baby in April.

Phil, again, sporting his Um Ya Ya.

My favorite picture - Phil tying my shoes after bowling!  It's hard to reach them, ok?!

This is Old Main, an icon of St. Olaf and the oldest building on campus.  While a student, I had far fewer good feelings about this building because #1 it was the farthest walk from my dorm and #2 my spanish classes were here.  Now, however, I think it is beautiful and nostalgic.  This photo was taken by Shana...well done.