11 weeks

We have been pretty busy the past few weeks playing, learning, exploring the world and visiting dear friends and family. Lexie had a blast at Auntie Brenda's house last weekend. It was her first girl's night out. She tells me that next time she wants to try some wine to but I think that will have to wait a couple more decades. She had fun spending time with Kristy, Megan, Brenda and Katy as well as her Auntie Em and Grandma Duenwald...although the later two didn't get to hold her as much as they would have liked! Ladies, you need to share with the rest of the family sometimes! ;)

We had the Ackermann's up on Sunday and our dear Tina made us a fabulous lasagna dinner complete with cheesecake for dessert. That Tina sure knows the way to my husbands heart!

Tina, Addie and Lexie

We are really looking forward to the holidays. It will be so much fun to create new traditions and see how little Lexie fits into the old ones. She has been growing by leaps and bounds and will probably be firmly into the 6-9 month baby clothes within a couple of weeks. Thanks to all of the great hand-me-downs and gifts from friends and family we have a great variety holiday clothes in several sizes to wear...I think I am at risk of wearing out my camera!

Lexie hanging out with Daisy

Getting so big!

She is nearly always this happy!

The rest of the time she looks like this...

It's a ruff life!

Two months!

We have made it to 2 months and our little bundle of joy is growing by leaps and bounds! We had her 2 month check up at the doctors today and she was a little trooper. She had to have a few shots which inevitably lead to a few tears...but we made it through. Lexie now weighs 10 pounds 5 ounces (50th percentile) and is 23 inches long (75th percentile) so we have a long and lean, healthy baby!

Here are her first 3 "show how she grows" photos in order:

5 days old

1 month old

2 months old

It's a good thing that we decided to use such a large stuffed animal as our comparison because she is growing fast!

Halloween

Lexie enjoyed her first Halloween. Because it was better suited for outdoor adventures the Banana costume was shelved. Instead, she dressed up as a Bumblebee...

...and what a cute Bumblebee she was!

Lexie's dear friend Addie dressed up as a scarecrow.

The Bennett Twins were sure a cute couple of clowns!



Lexie spent most of the next morning recovering from the Halloween party and getting ready for the big game.



Here is Mark's reaction to the terrible Giants game.

Daddy was so sad about that loss that we decided to CHEER him up! Go Vikings!

Bigger every day!

Lexie is now 6 weeks old and we are consistently amused by her! She smiles at us at least once a day now and it is such an adorable smile! I have yet to be able to get a picture of it but trust me when I tell you, it's a heart-stopper. :) Our exciting event of the last week or two is that she has grown out of the newborn sized clothes and is now wearing the 0-3 month size! Very exciting! I am amazed at how quickly she has grown. Those newborn clothes look so small already.

Here is her 1-month birthday photo...



Lexie has been more and more physically active over the last couple of weeks. Her new favorite activity is lying on the floor and kicking her legs all around. I did manage to get a picture of that one!


We have been getting used to our new life with our beautiful baby and we are adjusting to some new routines. Other than general sleep deprivation and an increase is dishwashing and laundry, Lexie has brought a few fun new activites into our lives.

Every Tuesday evening Lexie and I have a standing date and my mother's house for dinner. Lexie loves this because she gets some good grandma time in on a regular basis.

Lexie likes to dress up for these outings and so far, Grandma has not seen her in the same outfit twice!

24 days old!

I can't believe that Lexie is 24 days old already. Time is sure flying by. We have been very busy getting to know our little angel and she has been busy growing. We have had lots of visitors here and the house and have been doing a little bit of visiting ourselves. Lexie's baptism was this past Sunday and Grandma and Grandpa Scheper and Grandpa Phyle came into town to meet her and to celebrate. Here are bunches of pictures of her first 24 days...

Mark's first time holding his daughter.
Lexie's first bath (at the hospital).

Mom and baby get some cuddle-time in.
Snug as a bug in a rug!

It didn't take Mark long to become a pro at this.
This picture really shows how tiny she was!
Here she is, ready to go home.
Pretty flowers from Auntie Bren!
1 week old!

Cousin Avery feeding Dolly and Brenda feeding Lexie.
The dogs don't mind that we don't sleep much anymore.

Visiting Grandma Duenwald.


Grandmas and granddaughters.

Avery and the bubbles!

Relaxing with Grandma Scheper.

Parents and Godparents at the baptism with Lexie.

The amazing baptismal gown that has been in the Scheper family for 4 generations.
Grandpa Phyle.

Grandpa Huber and Grammy Lisa.

I had better stop with those for now...Wow, it's been a busy 24 days!

She is here!

On Tuesday, September 8th at 4:05pm Alexandra Lucinda Scheper arrived! She was a healthy 6 pounds even and 20 inches long.
At about 2:30pm the day before I thought my water might have broken. After going to the hospital for a test and lots of waiting they told us that it was probably just my bladder feeling the stress of being nearly 40 weeks pregnant and sent us home. That night, at about 10pm, I was near tears in frustration because this "leaky bladder" was causing fluid to run down my legs. I didn't want to call the hospital again for fear of looking like an idiot so I tried to get some sleep. By about 2am I decided that I needed to call the hospital again. I figured either my water had broken or I was suffering from a very serious bladder issue that was going to require medical attention anyway so I might as well go back in.

When we arrived back at the hospital they tested me again and determind that my "water" had in fact broken at around 10pm. Mark and I personally believe that we were right the first time but had a poorly administered test. (Talk to me in person if you want the details on that part.) We were checked in and in the labor and delivery room by around 3:30am. I called my mom early and told her what was going on. It looked like things were going to be moving quite slowly so Mom and I agreed that she would wait until 6 or 7am to come in. That idea didn' last very long and she arrived within and hour or so of my phone call. No surprise there!

Mark was great throughout the entire labor and delivery process. I couldn't have asked for a better coach and partner. My mom and Emma were in the room with us through the whole process and were a blessing. They took some pressure off of Mark and helped me to remain...polite!

I made it until about 2:30pm without any medications besides the pitocin needed to get things moving. At that time I was given Nubane (I am sure that is spelled wrong) and that helped a bit. Just when I thought I was going to have to take something more they told me that it was time to push. After about a half and hour of pushing, my beautiful daughter was born!

She just woke from her nap so more to come later...

Tonight?

Has anyone else noticed that it is going to be a full moon tonight? Aren't the maternity wards at the hospitals supposed to be full on full moons? Maybe tonight will be the night. (Please let tonight be the night!)

Still pregnant

No real baby news yet...Bummer...I had my 39 week appointment with the doctor today. As I was telling her that I had been feeling some tightening on and off this morning, my body decided that a demonstration would be more effective and I had a braxton-hicks contraction right there on the table as she was measuring me. LOL! The doctor was amused and confirmed what it was...I was hoping that my water would break as she was checking for dilation but no such luck...A quick ultrasound confirmed that her head is down where it should be so all is well. The doctor also said that if the baby hasn't arrived on her own by my appointment next Thursday, that we will schedule an inducement for sometime during week 41...so the end is near!

8 days to go!

Well, she will have a sapphire as her birthstone for certain, now! This is a good thing since August's peridot is not the prettiest of gems. That is Emma's birthstone and even she agrees that the sapphire is better! :)

This waiting is not fun...I am sticking fairly close to home (and the hospital), just in case she decides to make her mother very happy and come early!

2 weeks to go!

Only 2 weeks to go...Will it ever end? I am SO ready for Lexie to be here...and to not be pregnant any more. I had a doctor's appointment today and got some great news. I am 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced! YEAH! I know that I could still have many days yet to go but at least I am making forward progress.

The nursery is all set up know, just waiting for our baby to come home. Maybe if she realized how nice her new room is she would get this show on the road. :)

My bag has been packed for a couple of weeks now and the car seat is installed and has been inspected by a very nice sheriff. She didn't even laugh when I showed her how Mark and I had tried to install it. The only part that we got right was having it face the right way. :) I guess that's why everyone says having an inspection done is a good idea.

Week 34

Only 37 more days until the baby is due! I am having a hard time realizing that very soon Mark and I will be responsible for a little person. I mean, really...the whole "responsible" thing is a scary prospect. If I am understanding this whole parenting thing, that means that we have to make all of her choices for her for the next decade or so...and deal with the consequences. Health decisions, moral decisions, educational decisions, financial decisions, social decisions...This is a lot of pressure. Considering the fact that I do this whole decision making thing for a living for the vulnerable adults that I am assigned to, one might think that I would be confident about this. After all, disabled adults have a lot of issues to be dealt with, right? But at work, if I screw up, the worst thing that could happen is that they take a case from me...and those people are already "grown up." If we make mistakes with Lexie, it could effect her personality/character and we (and she) would have to deal with those mistakes for the rest of our lives!

I know, I know...It will all be fine. I have been praying regularly that God gives us the wisdom and strength to be good parents to Alexandra and to guide us in making good decisions. And I know for a fact that I couldn't have picked a better man than Mark to be my partner for life, to help me raise our children. He is intelligent, kind, realistic and steady. All very important traits for a soon-to-be daddy. I am going to blame tonight's little panic-attack on hormones. Okay?

Here I am, in all my 34 week glory!

Marcia, Tina and Ryanne threw my Friend's baby shower this weekend and it was wonderful. We went with a "couples" theme so Mark and our male friends were in attendance and not subjected to some of the more traditional baby shower activities. We had a really nice time hanging out with our friends and celebrating our impending parenthood. We got a lot of great advise, wonderful gifts and several fun photos as a result of the day. Here are a few of the later:

My handsome husband!

Ryanne-the hostess with the mostess!
And various guests.

Family shower

My aunt Brenda and cousin Megan threw my family baby shower last weekend and it was wonderful! The weather was perfect, the food was fabulous and the company couldn't have been better. Megan came up with a great idea to have everyone decorate a baby bib with puff paint. They turned out to be really, really cute! I know I will get a kick out of them every time Lexie wears one!

Here is a pic of some of the bib decorating.

And here is my mom (Linda), me and my grandma (Jeanette).


The pregnancy continues to go pretty well. My feet are swollen daily and I get tired a lot faster than I did a few weeks ago but I can't complain...except about having to get up to pee every 2 hours at night! That is really getting old! Mark and I are looking forward to having our little Lexie join us. The nursery is 75% set up and we even have my hospital bag (mostly) packed.



Here I am, 33 weeks pregnant...

And here is Mark, after 33 weeks of dealing with a pregnant wife. (Yes, he is sticking is tummy out as far as he can in this picture)

Our dogs, Jackson and Daisy are excited about Alexandra's arrival as well. They have been around children quite a bit and have been really gentle and patient with even our youngest visitors, which makes us hope that the transition won't be too hard on them.

Daisy is looking forward to teaching her to play catch with the football.


Jackson is just hoping to have someone to share the couch with...



...because Daisy and Mark alway make him take the floor during nap time!