Our Little Hippo

Ada is now two months old and is still bringing us lots of joy! She just had her two month checkup and weighed in at 10lbs. 5 1/2oz and is now 22" long. She is getting stronger and is able to hold her head up for longer periods of time. Ada's latest trick is rolling onto both of her sides. She's been smiling a lot more, but of course refuses to do it for the camera. This morning I even think I heard a few little chuckles when I was kissing her neck. Doug & I are settling into our new role as mom and dad, and are no longer waking up in the middle of the night nursing or rocking our pillows, phew! Now I'll get on with the pictures since I've been told that's all you really want to look at anyways. :)

Catching some zzz's

I was so excited to finally be able to use both of my hands. Ada has become quite the mama's girl so this we both agreed on.

Our friends the Chambers brought their girls over to meet Ada.

We took Ada to visit Nebraska City. She must not have been too impressed

because she napped the whole time.

Still sleeping in Neb. City...

We discovered that Ada is a squirmer when we found her outside of her sleep positioner and upside down.

Ada's first Halloween! We went trick or treating with her cousin Claire, Doug's brother Matt and his wife Anna. We only visited 4 homes and it took us two hours. We all agreed it's not as easy to get around quickly anymore.

Carving pumpkins

Boo at the Zoo with the Bulows

Dads Doug & Josh push their girls around the zoo. My how times have changed!

Hayli & I waiting for the train ride

One tuckered out hippo

Even Riley got into the spirit for Ada's first Halloween, dressed as Peter Pan.

Cousin Claire & Ada in Pooh costumes from Kiki (Grandma Foral)

Trying out her Bumbo chair

Friend Hayli made this for Ada.

(She's planning on selling them if anyone is interested.)

Life with Ada Grace

Hello to all of our family and friends. We apologize for not getting this out sooner, but this little girl has been keeping us very busy. Ada is now a month old and doing great. She arrived September 5 at 11:42 a.m. after a quick 7 1/2 hour labor. She weighed 6lbs. 3oz and was 191/2 " long.

I woke up Friday morning around 4:15 with minor contractions and headed downstairs. I was fairly certain I was just having false contractions, like I had the previous Friday. I did some reading and walked around the house to see if they were true contractions. When they didn't go away I went to take a shower. They started to get a lot stronger and closer together. Doug woke up around 6:30 and I told him that something might be happening but I wasn't sure. We frantically started to get ready to go to the hospital. We left when my contractions were one to three minutes apart at around 7:40. Once at the hospital we got checked in and found that I was 3cm dilated, which quickly turned to 5cm and then 8cm. Ada was posterior (facing up) which made me have horrible back labor. We tried different positions to see if she would flip, but being stubborn like her mom she refused. I started pushing at 11:20 and about twenty minutes later she arrived cone head and all. To my disbelief Doug announced that it was a girl! We both agree that it was the best surprise of our life.

Doug and I are loving our new roles as parents and finding it to be surprisingly natural. Doug took off our first week home and we had so much fun taking care of our baby girl. We have however found ourselves doing some strange things in the night which we blame fully on new parent anxiety and total sleep deprivation. One night Doug discovered that he had been sitting on the side of the bed rocking his pillow for several minutes, and I have woken up many times trying to feed my pillow, scary. During all of this Ada was always sound asleep in her bassinet.

This past week she started sleeping in her crib and waking up only once or twice in the night. We were excited to see Ada smiling at only a couple of weeks old, but disappointed to read that it was most likely just gas. Now when we smile at her she flashes her toothless grin back at us. She especially likes to smile at me in the morning when I sing to her.

Today we went to the doctors and had a great checkup. She now weighs 8lbs. 12 1/2oz. and is 20 3/4" long. We will continue to take lots of pictures and pass them on to you. Thank you so much for all of the prayers, love and support you've given to us over the last month. We feel extremely blessed to have Ada join our family and can't wait to watch her grow.

Ada's nursery

The hospital gave each baby Husker gear for game day.

Doug & I finished making the stork a week before Ada arrived.

Riley greeting his new baby

Ada's first bath at home

Ada visiting daddy at work

First stroller ride

Three weeks old

This is Ada's version of tummy time, catching some zzz's.

Getting ready for Baby Foral!

We are getting ready to welcome "our little hybrid" and decided it was time to create a blog so that you can all share these exciting times with us. We are due September 15 and have continued to resist the temptation to find out what it is. I'm now 34 weeks along and feel like I've been pregnant for years. We're both positive it's a boy, but what do we know. We have stayed busy this summer getting the nursery ready, reading our parenting books, attending Lamaze classes and getting the house baby ready.

Last week we got to see Baby Foral during our ultrasound. It was hilarious to watch it's mouth and tongue moving around constantly. It weighed 3lbs. 13oz. and was doing great! I discovered why my left side has been getting some hard hits when the doctor told us that both of it's little feet are on that side. We have enjoyed watching and feeling this extremely active baby moving around, except when I'm trying to fall sleep.

Doug has been staying busy at work and is enjoying riding his bike there and back with a total of 10.5 miles. He's spent a lot of time on the golf course and is becoming addicted to both playing and watching the sport. I promise to join him next spring when my belly won't get in the way of my amazing swing, ha. Doug's also been playing volleyball with his co-workers on Friday and taken a few business trips.

I've stayed busy tutoring two boys from my school twice a week. I've also been spending lots of time with friends that are already moms, asking lots of questions, so I know what to do when this baby gets here. Of course I've been doing quite a bit of nesting, organizing cupboards, closets and drawers, and doing crazy things like painting the garage steps. Doug has been a good sport each weekend when I show him the giant lists of things that we just HAVE to get done before September. I'm looking forward to taking this school year off to stay at home with our new addition.

It's been so much fun to watch our niece Claire growing and changing already since she was born April 27. Matt (Doug's older brother) and his wife Anna live in Omaha, and we can't wait for the cousins to meet this fall.

We will be sure to post lots of pictures when the big day comes, and ask that you keep us in your prayers, as we will do the same for you.

Uncle Doug with niece Claire

New mommy Anna Foral, Claire & Aunt Maddie

Doug golfing with friends in Des Moines

during our trip to visit college friends

Last day of school, 5 mo. pregnant

Second grade class at Rousseau

Doug with his dad Joe painting the nursery

Putting crib together, 7 mo. pregnant

Fourth of July at Mahoney State Park