2 Month Check Up

Today was Liza Bear's 2 month Well-Baby check up, which meant yes, shots! She let out a few wails which turned into the silent cry and her cute little face got all red and then the tears came. Mommy got her calmed down in not too long of a time and overall, she was quite the little trooper! She also managed to poop all over daddy and her blanket after getting weighed! Our little girl is growing up fast! She now weights 11 lbs 5 oz and is 23 1/4 inches long. That's 5 lbs and 2 inches since she's been born! I had the afternoon off so she and I spend cuddle time at home this afternoon. We also got a lot of playing and a few smiles in! Even though I've only been back at work for 2 1/2 days, I  really really miss being home all day with her. 

Sleeping Beauty

My Owies

I survived!

Well, I survived my first day back at work, and I have to admit, even though I missed my baby girl more than anything, it wasn't as bad as I thought. I plastered the desktop on my computer, my desk, my bulletin board and my clipboard with pictures of my precious baby girl and every time I saw her big toothless grin smiling at me, I smiled and remembered what a precious gift was waiting for me when I got home!
My mother-in-law had come over during the day and started a roast with carrots and potatoes in the crockpot too so I didn't have to worry about supper when I got home either! All I had to do was snuggle with my little girl and hang out with my husband - what can get better than that?!

My cousin Laura and her husband Ted had a baby boy today! Nathaniel James Leonard. He was 3 pounds heavier than Liza when she was born and the same length. I've only seen pictures but it looks like he's a little chunker! Mom and baby are doing great! And he was born exactly 2 months after Liza Bear (Happy 2 month Birthday, Liza!!)

Wednesday is Liza's 2 month baby check-up. Hope she's growing great!

Running out of time...

Well, I'm quickly running out of my time at home with my precious Liza Bear. I'm not looking forward to trading my days of feedings, diapers, baths, playtime, reading books, and taking in those big toothless grins for dress clothes, nurses, doctors, patients and phone calls. I think being a mommy is the best, funnest job in the world and I would rather do that than anything every day. My first official day back will be Monday, October 11th, Liza's 2 month birthday. 


The family picnic at Grandpa and Grandma Swenson's on Sunday was a lot of fun! Liza got to meet the rest of her family members and of course they fell in love with her and I think Liza fell in love with her great-uncle Bruce! She couldn't take her eyes off of him and he got some of the biggest smiles I've ever seen out of her! Liza and I played it cool this week just hanging out and playing. Thursday I went to the Twins game with my mom and one of her friends. Grandma and Grandpa Filzen watched Liza because Brandon had to work and she actually got to travel to Marshall to watch Brandon's sister in Homecoming Court at Southwest State. That was the longest I had ever been away from Liza. It was hard to walk out the door but I think we both did ok. Brandon said that he could tell Liza missed me while I was gone...I'm still trying to figure out if he meant it or if he was just trying to make me feel better :-) Today Liza and I went to Lavonne's (The lady who will be doing her daycare) so Liza could meet her and the other kids at daycare. I think she had fun with the other kids!! They got a few smiles out of her even! That makes me feel a little bit better about taking her to daycare. Eventually I have to come to peace with the fact that I'm a working mom and daycare is just going to be a part of our life. I wish I just had one more month at home with her. She's starting to get to the age where she's smiling and cooing and responding to me and the things around her. I just don't want to miss any of her milestones.


Tomorrow we are having friends over and are grilling out because one of our high school friends from Wisconsin is home. I'm looking forward to it!


That's it for now! Going to go spend some time with my beautiful family of 3!

Of course I can't let you go without a few pictures of my lil cutie!

Busy, Busy Week

It has been a busy week at our house. On Saturday, Brandon had to work, so Liza and I went to the Clay Co. Fair in Spencer, IA to watch Grandpa Scott and Uncle Caleb show horses in the last show of the season. We rode down to Iowa with Mom and Dan so I didn't have to make the trek alone. It was about 45 degrees and pouring rain all day so Liza rode around in the stroller under lots of layers of blankets! She was so good though!
On Monday Liza and I met Grandma Ann and Brandon's aunts Chris and Patti for lunch at Applebees. It was good to get out of the house for a while!  
Yesterday Melissa, the Public Health Nurse came to weigh Liza. She now weighs 9 lbs. 15 oz! She's gaining an ounce per day which I'm told is super! She's starting to get a couple of chins and cute jelly roles on her arms and legs!
Today I had my 6 week check up and the clinic (Yes, my baby is already 6 weeks old - time flies too fast!). After that we ran lots and lots of errands. Liza was so good. She sat in her car seat and smiled all day. She was awake from 9:30-1:30, which is the longest stretch she's ever been awake during the day, and now she's snoozing away the rest of the afternoon. 
On Sunday my grandparents are having a potluck picnic at  their house which I am really looking forward to. I still have to figure out what to make to bring - any suggestions?! 
I finally got study materials for my LGSW exam.  Back to hitting the books!

In the meantime...enjoy these pics of my beautiful little girl!

Lots and Lots of Smiles!

Mom Turns 50!

This was a busy birthday week in our family! On Saturday the 11th, Liza turned 1 month old! It was also my mother in law's birthday that day. She and Scott came over for a while that night and visited Liza. My mom turned 50 on Tuesday!! Liza and I went out to supper with her to celebrate! Liza got both of her Grandmas the Willow Tree "Grandma" angel. They both loved them! 

Liza and Grandma on her 50th Birthday

Today great-aunt Melissa and Mike came to meet Liza. Grandma Ann also stopped by to see Liza before her and Grandpa Scott go to Iowa for the weekend for the last horse show of the season. If Brandon doesn't work on Saturday, we may venture down for it too!

BIG SMILES!!

Liza is growing leaps and bounds every day! She has now started to focus her attention on objects and follow them with her eyes. Daddy and Mommy have also started to see real smiles! We love those big toothless grins! She also is starting to talk to us. We love hearing what she has to say! We didn't get a weight this week but we can tell when we hold her she's getting bigger! I also want to know how much  she's grown in length. She is so long!! 

Liza discovered the animals above her swing!

I have about a month before I need to go back to work yet, but I am already really struggling about going back to work and leaving Liza at day care all day. I can't even bear the thought of dropping her off at day care. I have already shed many tears about this. Today I researched about how to start an in-home daycare. I never thought that that would ever be something I'd be interested in but the more I think about it, the more appealing it becomes. I don't think I will ever be able to do it, but a girl can dream, right? 
Any working moms out there reading this....how bad is it having to leave your kids at daycare? Does it ever get any easier? 

RaTtLe

Brandon didn't have to work today because of the rain so he got to spend the day and home with Liza and me! He spent most of the day on the floor playing with his baby girl which was so adorable I couldn't stop watching them! Daddy got Liza to do a new trick - hold and shake her rattle all by herself! She couldn't get enough of it and shook that rattle all day! Now we are just hanging out and watching the Vikings. It was a fun day at home as a family of 3!

Labor Day Weekend

Brandon, Liza and I had a nice, relaxing Labor Day weekend. Friday night we went over to some friends house to hang out. We brought Little Liza with us and there was another baby there that was born the same day as Liza. It was fun to find a playmate for her - too bad that baby lives in Iowa! 
Saturday Brandon landscaped the yard all day and we took a family trip to Mankato to go to Lowe's to get some more shrubs and plants for the yard. 
Sunday we got up and actually made it to 8:00 church. That is quite the accomplishment these days! Grandma Ann came over Sunday to play with Liza while mom and dad cleaned up the house because our friends, Matt and Heather came over the see the house and to meet baby Liza, of course! It was great to see them again and we had a great time! 
Grandma Barb came over today and watched Liza for the day so Brandon and I could get out and spend some time with just the 2 of us together. We went to Lambrechts so I could use my gift card from Ann for my birthday. We got some cool stuff for the kitchen and Grandma Barb's birthday present from Liza! We also did some Christmas shopping! Last year for Christmas Brandon and I and my brother and his wife did an ornament exchange. We found perfect ornaments for both of them at Lambrechts so we bought them! Then we went to Mankato, went out to eat and bought some things to put on the walls in the house so it actually looks like some one lives here. When we were in the mall, we walked past Motherhood Maternity and there was a cute pregnant lady in there trying on clothes and it really made me miss being pregnant! I might be ready for another little one sooner than I thought! Tonight I'm finishing up my thank you cards for all the baby gifts and doing birth announcements. Brandon and Liza Bear are studying.

Brandon and Liza studying

Liza's been up about every 2 hours over night the past couple of nights, so hopefully she lets me sleep a little tonight! That's it for now!

Turning 25

Today I turned 25! I spent the day at home with my precious little girl just hanging out. She gave me a great birthday present at about 7:30 this morning when she decided to have an explosive diaper that covered her, me and all her blankets! It took me about 45 minutes to clean up while she wailed her little lungs out because she was hungry. I couldn't feed her until I got all the poop off of us though! She was pretty good after that - even let me get a little bit of a nap in. When Brandon got home from work, he gave me a beautiful birthstone ring! I LOVE IT! I haven't been able to wear my wedding rings since I was about 20 weeks pregnant because my fingers got so fat and they still don't fit, so I'm glad to finally be able to wear a ring again. We went out for supper at the Lamplighter to celebrate. Now we are just hanging out as a family watching the news. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband, beautiful daughter and amazing family and friends. I love you all!




                                             My present from Brandon

My Beautiful Baby Girl

7 lbs 9 oz!

We had Miss Liza's 2 week well-baby check up today. She weighed in at a big 7 lbs 9 oz! The doctor was very impressed with her weight gain and gave her a big A+ for health which made mommy and daddy very happy! We still need to wake her every 4 hours over night to eat if she doesn't wake on her own for the next 2 weeks and then after that we can let her sleep as long through the night as she wants. After her appointment we met daddy at the mall for some lunch and then mommy, Liza and grandma Barb ran a few errands. When we got home, Grandma Ann stopped over and visited Liza for a while. Daddy got home from class tonight about 9:00 and he's spending some quality time with Liza. I love seeing Liza and daddy play together. Daddy loves his girls and we love him!

Baptism

We had a very busy weekend! We had Miss Liza's baptism this morning. She did so good! Not a peep out of her the whole service, not even when she got the water on her head - just made a couple funny faces and then was back to peacefully sleeping away. Uncle Bryant and Aunt Abigail and Aunt Abbey were Liza's sponsors. We had both Brandon and my families and grandparents over to our house for brunch following the church service. I was able to catch a nap in the afternoon while Brandon hung out with Liza and then we went to our neighborhood block party to meet all the neighbors. We didn't stay long with it being 91 degrees outside! Tonight our friends Richard and Jenny, Justin and Ashley, Jeremy and Amber and Mark came over to meet Liza. She's got so many people who love her!
Aunt Abi did a photo shoot with Liza this weekend and is working on our baby announcements. They look so great! Saturday night we went with my mom, Bry and Abi to Quality 1 Hr Foto and got family pictures taken. We got some GREAT ones of our new family of 3. I am unable to post them because of copyrights but may try to attach the link to view them online. 
Mom and Liza don't have much planned for this week. Liza has her 2 week (I can't believe it!) well-baby check up on Wednesday and I have a dentist appointment that same day. Brandon starts school again tomorrow and will continue to work when he can. Hopefully he'll have a little it more time with Liza and me and home now that school is starting. We kinda miss him a lot when he's gone! 
Here's some of the pictures from Aunt Abi's photo shoot...


My first bath in the tub

                                                                     Our Family

My Baby Girl's a Week Old Today!

I can't believe my baby girl is a week old today. Time is going by way too fast - I want it to slow down or even stop. Baby Liza is changing so much every day. Her face is filling out and her little personality is starting to shine through. She's such a mellow little girl. We hardly ever hear a peep out of her, except at bath time! Even when she's hungry she only makes a few squeaks. 

Liza and I are doing well at home by ourselves when daddy is at work. We've had lots of visits from both grandmas and today great grandma and grandpa Swenson stopped by along with a couple other visitors. Mommy always has Liza ready for daddy time when he gets home from work so daddy can spend as much time with her as he can when he gets home. She loves her daddy! 

Friday Uncle Bryant and Aunt Abigail are coming to meet Liza. Saturday we are having family pictures taken and then Sunday will be Liza's baptism. Bryant, Abi and Brandon's sister Abbey will be Liza's Godparents. I have to find time to clean my house before Sunday. You'd think I'd have plenty of time being home all day but taking care of a baby is a lot of work! I'm also hoping to get some highlights and an eye brow wax before Saturday, but that might just be wishful thinking....

growing girl

Baby Liza had a check up appointment today to see how she's been eating and we got a GOOD report. Liza is already back to her birth weight plus some in 5 days!! She weighed in at 6 lbs 12.2 oz. Keep it up Little Liza!!
Grandma Barb spent the day with us which gave mommy a chance to nap. Daddy went back to work today and Liza and I miss him A LOT! 

Baby Liza Beth

Liza Beth Filzen has arrived! She was born Wednesday August 11, 2010 at 5:36 AM. She was 6 lbs 11 oz and 21 1/4 inches long. We have a long and skinny little girl on our hands....and she is PERFECT! I can't believe how much I love her already and I fall more in love with her every time I look at her. She gave us a little scare during labor with her heart rates dropping dangerously low, but we made it through and both mom and baby Liza are perfectly healthy! 
We came home yesterday morning from the hospital. Things have been going well at home so far! Mom and dad have actually even been able to get some sleep! We have great family and friends who have brought us food and offered to help watch  Liza so mom and dad can sleep. 
Tomorrow the 3 of us will spend the day together and then unfortunately daddy has to go back to work on Monday. Mom and Liza will have long days alone together so if anyone wants to drop by for a visit - you're more than welcome! 
Thanks to everyone for all the congratulations and baby gifts! I love having a house full of pink!

Our 2nd Anniversary

Yesterday was our 2nd anniversary. We played it pretty low key. We went to church and then out for brunch and did things around the house. I even managed to get outside and assist Brandon in changing the oil in his truck! I had a craving for pizza or chicken nuggets for our anniversary supper, so we got BBQ Chicken pizza from Happy Joe's. Since the baby didn't come on our anniversary, we decided we needed to get ourselves another anniversary gift. We ended up buying ourselves a Bluray player. We spent the rest of the night curled up on the couch watching movies and laughing at the funny shapes my belly managed to make its way in to because the baby's running out of room in there! I think we may have actually settled on baby's names yesterday too!  Overall, I think our 2nd anniversary was perfect!

In other news...today is my due date and.....still no baby. I go back to see Dr. Gordon tomorrow at 2:45. Hopefully I've made some progress and he has some good news for us! We are both anxiously awaiting our new arrival. Hopefully the wait won't be too much longer! 

Something Cool....

So with it being our 2 year anniversary today, I started thinking about when Brandon and I first started dating, when he proposed, when we got married and where our lives are today, and I discovered something kind of cool about the dates that all of these things took place.

Engaged: 09/08/07

Married: 08/08/08

First Baby Due: 08/09/10

Ok, so maybe I'm the only one who thinks it's cool....?? Brandon and I will be together 7 years on my 25th birthday the end of August - boy does time fly!!

Recap of the Last Year

So I'm trying out this whole blog thing which is proving to be a lot more difficult for me than I had imagined. Brandon has already threatened to take my computer away if I keep whining because this whole thing is way to complicated for me :-) 

So, before I start in, a quick recap of our past year:

In May, 2009 I started working on my Master of Social Work degree at MSU, Mankato and graduated July 24, 2010. I applied and was approved to take my Licensed Graduate Social Worker examination by the Minnesota Board of Social Work. My next step is to contact the Association of Social Work Boards and schedule the exam. I plan to take the exam in October after MSU's MSW program gets accredited by the MN Board of Social Work so I don't have to worry about getting a temporary license for just a few months.  Plus, I haven't really had a whole lot of time to take it before then anyway!

On December 4, 2009 Brandon and I found out we were expecting our first baby! I'm actually due 2 days from now - August 9, 2010. I had a hunch that I was pregnant but didn't take the test until I was a week late because I wanted to make sure and not be disappointed by a negative test. We spilled the beans when I was about 9 1/2 weeks pregnant because we couldn't keep it a secret any longer! We did however make it through Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years without anyone finding out. We later learned that my mom had her suspicions. She thought it was odd that I told her I didn't want any wine because I didn't need the calories and then proceeded to consume massive amounts of food (ask Brandon, I could eat my first trimester!!). We decided not to find out the baby's sex before it's born. We have gone back and forth with many names and I still don't think we have settled on anything yet - but what's the rush?? Baby's only due in 2 days! Brandon has taken to the name Wolfgang Danger Filzen. So throughout most of my pregnancy, Baby F has been affectionately referred to as Wolfgang (Wolfie for short) and I'm hoping that that nickname quickly goes away after s/he is born!! :-)

Brandon and I had been living in a tiny one-bedroom apartment close to MSU's campus in Mankato. Although we complained about it constantly, it was convenient for both of us as we were both going to school at MSU and working in Mankato. When we found out the baby was on the way, we starting talking about where we were going to live. We looked at quite a few houses in Mankato, but we didn't find anything that really caught our eye. Brandon owned a piece of land in New Ulm so when we couldn't find anything in Mankato that we liked, we decided to build a house on the land in New Ulm. We started digging March 30, 2010 and moved into our house on July 3, 2010. Brandon and I (ok, pretty much just Brandon) did quite a bit of the work in the house ourselves. Brandon made custom cabinetry for our kitchen, bathrooms and designed me a gorgeous master closet. We (Ok, Brandon again, along with help from his family) did all the painting and Brandon did all the trim and finish work in the house. He did an excellent job. I have one talented husband! The baby's room is all set up - diapers, toys and all - now we just need the baby to go in the room!

I am adjusting to the 35 minute commute to work from New Ulm to Mankato. Some days I miss my 3 minute drive but some times the drive gives me time to unwind from work before I get home. Brandon is working at Mathiowetz Construction again this summer. He has been all over the state with his jobs already this summer - Maple Plain, Ormsby, Mankato and currently, Owatonna. He hasn't been too terribly far from home so if the baby comes during the day he'll get to the hospital on time! 

So, we are hoping and praying that Baby F makes his or her appearance very soon! 

Tomorrow Brandon and I celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary. I'm thinking a baby would be a great anniversary gift!