Blizzard Pictures

Here are pictures from the blizzard last weekend. 

This is one of our windows upstairs... it's over half covered with snow.

 Our Front Porch..... normally we keep it clean.   But the pile just got too big.... it's up to the bottom of our living room window.

The snow pile in our front yard.

The roof.  Again a picutre of how high the snow piled up against the windows.

Another picture of the snow pile in the front yard.

Happy Blizzard from Carmen!

We ventured out this morning to get Carmen's newborn pictures done.   I can't wait to share them.... they turned out awesome!

Until then, we were messing around with getting a Christmas Picture of Carmen and here's what we came up with.........

Stay Safe and Warm!

More Pictures

By Special Request.....

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Carmen's Room

This is still a work in progress but I am so in love I had to share......

My sister Laura is working on a mural in Carmens room.  She has the monkey done and will also be doing a giraffe on another wall.   I will post a picture when that's done.

Until then because I think it's so awesome, I wanted to share a picture of the monkey.

Enjoy!

Thanks Laura!  We love it and we are sure Carmen will love it too!

Our first days at home....

Things are going well.  We are all still adjusting but overall doing well.   Last night was the first night we were able to get Carmen to sleep longer at night (she has her days and nights mixed up).

We had her first pediatrician appointment on Monday.   She was discharged from the hospital at 7lbs 15 ounces and weighed in at 8lbs 1 oz at the pediatrician!   Yeah!  All was well there and they said she is very healthy!   She's been a very good eater and her face is clearing up now too.  

Here are some more pictures......

Hanging with Daddy

 The wonderful gift baskets that were sent to us from Boeckermann, Grafstrom and Mayer.  Thank you very much!!!!!

Pictures from first days at home.......

Here are some pictures from when we got home.  You can see the scratches on her poor face..... luckily they are healing quickly and well......

Carmen Rose Benedict has Arrived!

Carmen Rose Benedict has arrived.  She was born on 12/1/2010 at 1:06pm weighing in at 8lbs 9oz and 20.5 inches long.  

All it took was for us to schedule the induction and she decided she wanted to arrive on her own. :-)

Due to the fact that Carmen was a week late, she had low blood sugar in the hospital.  They had to test her every couple of hours and since we couldn't get it high enough, they supplemented with some formula to help it regulate.  Luckily they were able to get it to a satisfactory level at the end of the first day and then we didn't have to worry about it any more.

Carmen was also born with quite long fingernails and did quite a number on her face. Since we didn't catch it right away, she was able to scratch her face in a couple of places.  Although it looks painful, she seems fine.  We have her hands covered now until her face heals and we are putting an antibiotic on it prescribed by her pediatrician.   It seems to be healing quite well and quickly.

We arrived home yesterday about noon and survived our first night at home!  We are all doing well!
Here are some pictures of her first fews days......

Here I am anxiously letting the epidural take its course! :-)

Proud Daddy!

For the first few hours of her life,  Carmen didn't cry.   In fact she made silly "sqwaking/squeaking" sounds.  Here is a video that we were able to capture of one of her little sqwaks.

Going Home!

Andy and I are loving every minute of being parents!!!

I will try to post pictures as often as possible!

Thank you to EVERYONE for the well wishes and thoughts!   We are truly excited for each and everyone of you to meet Carmen!

Update

Unfortunately this little one has decided to be quite stubborn. 

I had another doctor appointment today..... still not much progress.    Unless she decides to arrive on her own,  Friday is going to be the day.   I will be admitted to the hospital Friday night with the induction spanning between Friday night and Saturday morning...........  assuming this is what happens,  the very earliest she will be born is sometime on Saturday with the possibility of her arriving on Sunday.

Obviously we were hoping she'd make her grand entrance into this world by now, but she just must not be quite ready.......

We will continue to wait and provide updates when we have them.

Thanks for all the well wishes and thoughts!   We are extremely excited to introduce our new addition to each and everyone of you!!!! :-)

Mom's Help......

My Mom came over last night and helped me put up all my snowmen/Christmas decorations and Christmas tree.

I know it's still early, but it's something I normally do on Black Friday.   There's still a chance we will be at the hospital or just home from the hospital and it's just one of those things that nice to have done.

Pictures to come......
I even got yelled at......I put my snowmen on the top of the cabinets in the kitchen and wanted to help so I climbed up on the counter..... I was promptly told to get my butt down and let her do it!  Ha!

Thanks Mom for helping! 

Gopher Football 2010

Here's a roundup of pictures from the Gopher games this year.......  the highlight of the days were definitely tailgaiting since we know the Gophers didn't do so hot this year.

Thanks to everyone that came with us this year! It's been another fun and memorable year.

Ready, Set........ Wait!

Alright, so the nursery is ready,  the bassinet is in our room,  car seat is in the car, the bag is at least partially packed (a few odds and ends that are on a list to get thrown in the bag before we leave).

We are anxiously awaiting all the events to progress! Weekly Doctor appointment showed no progress........

I now have a pinched nerve in my back which has turned out to be very painful and uncomfortable.  I am hopeful that once the little one is born, these pains will go away quite quickly. 

Until then......... we wait!

Gopher Badger Football Weekend 2010

This is slightly out of order, but Andy, Laura and I went to Madison October 8-10 for the Gopher/Badger Football weekend.   We started the tradition of going to the game every year when Laura was in college.

Laura found some awesome tickets this year on Ebay.  We were on the upper deck, but pretty much on the 50 yard line.  Couldn't have asked for much better.    Laura's friend Julia joined us at the game as well.

It was a little bit more low key than we were used to..... maybe because I am pregnant,  or maybe because we are getting older, but we still had a lot of fun.   (Too bad the Gophers couldn't find a way to win ;-) )

 This one didn't turn out very well, but I still wanted to include it.

Thanks Laura for another fun and memorable weekend!