Our Sweet Baby Girl

What a wonderful time of year to share the joy of a new little girl. The announcement of our precious pink bundle of joy made Chanukah and Christmas even more special for us all.

For me, having a girl brings a flood of emotions. The rebirth of a mother-daughter relationship after loosing my mom when I was 10 is so magical and not something I can adequately put into words. My relationship with Lauri, Adam’s mom, has already healed so much of that link in my heart but this is another opportunity to gain a piece of what I lost so long ago.

I feel empowered by thoughts of raising a strong woman. So many of my daydreams are around the powerful relationship she will have with Adam. The moment we found out it was a girl a little twinkle in Adam’s eye appeared and it hasn’t left. He is going to be an anchor of love, friendship, guidance and support for her and I feel so thankful that she has him.

As a mother, I hope I can create the same type of relationship my mother had with us. She was always so honest, open and loving. She treated us as individuals as well as her children, which made her parenting skills very effective. She knew what made us tick and played to our best traits, and she constantly reminded us that there is nothing in this world we cannot do if we work hard and believed in ourselves.  Even when she was very ill she was the picture of strength and determination. I pray my daughter will have her spirit  - I have a feeling she will.

There are a million more feelings rushing through my heart/mind – too many to put into coherent thoughts for you but this much is for sure - this is blissful time for us indeed.

----------

Telling the Family

The first night of Chanukah is always a special evening. However, this year topped all others when it was announced Mia was coming home from the hospital. Her battle with meningitis was extremely scary.  Time felt like it was moving so slowly that week as we waited for calls and updates. Thankfully the good news that it was viral (vs. bacterial) came just in time to welcome her home on the first day of Chanukah – a true miracle. She is doing wonderful and even outgrew the Christmas outfit we got for her!

Not that the evening needed anything more to celebrate, but we jumped on the opportunity to tell everyone when Jonathan, Jaime and the kids Skyped Bill when we were on with Eric and Luci. We all lit the candles together, talked about Mia and the holidays and then we announced the news of our little girl. It was great to tell everyone at once, something we are unable to do often with half the family being in New York. Everyone yelled with excitement “I knew it!” “And you thought you could wait!” “I would have been shocked if it was a boy!” Phone calls and emails followed up the next day – it was a lot of fun.

With the Onders we had to opportunity to tell everyone in person on Christmas Eve which we hosted for the first time this year. Although it was extremely hard keeping the news from them it was well worth it! Special props goes to Adrienne who knew we had found out but waited until xmas eve. I don’t think I would have been that patient.

Brooke had been expressing a great deal of interest in finding out the baby’s gender from the very beginning.  Every time I would see her she would beg me to tell her! When I finally convinced her I didn’t know she would say things like “well, can you tell the doctor to call me?” haha. For this reason, we decided to wrap a big box up for her and Mckenna and fill it with treats, toys and a balloon which would pop up saying it if it was a boy or girl.  

Of course, being an Onder, I had to mess with them a little. When Brooke opened the box two blue balloons popped out saying “I’m not a boy!” Nobody noticed the writing and started screaming – “OMG it’s a boy!!!!” Since no one was going to find out on their own I told them to look harder and the screaming and freaking out that happened when people realized was amazing! Cindy caught it all on video – I will try to get a copy up on the blog soon.

I hope the season has brought you all the same amount of joy it has us. 

It was tight but we all fit! 

Last Christmas/Hanukkah without our little girl! 

It was a wild night - this is the best picture we could get! haha.

So lucky to have Kristy join us again this year - Hope this continues as our tradition (but with Jake next time!)

The onder girls

For me? Thank you Aunt Cindy! 

Fay-Fay and MaryAnne - looking good! 

Christmas day belly bump!

Hi my name is Julia...

I am constantly eating or going to pee. Welcome to month 5.

In more exciting news I am feeling the baby kick all the time now. Adam felt him/her for the first time 2 weeks ago but within the last few days he has felt little kicks several times. In the evenings he/she is particularly active and I am relaxed enough to feel them. However, sometimes I feel him/her at work and I get completely distracted and start daydreaming of our little one.

Henrik is doing well. We switched him to Prozac but he hasn't been on it long enough to see the full effects. He is still very anxious when we come and go and cries a lot but he has been behaving well and is more relaxed when we give him affection. Usually affection gets him very hyper and anxious so we are very happy he's calming down. We are confident this medicine will work once we get the dosage correct.

Here are some recent pictures of him.

Watching daddy playing hockey

Waking up in my new bed

 Getting some love from daddy

Basement Bathroom - Before and After

Thank God that nasty unusable bathroom is gone. One down, one to go.

Annual Christmas Tree Hunt

After a long day of holiday shopping at the outlets with Kristy and Karen, the Onders decided to meet for our annual christmas tree hunt! Henrik did GREAT and really enjoyed being out in the woods. We had a wonderful time and ended the evening with a pizza dinner back at our house - a special night. 

I'll post some pictures of our tree once we decorate it :) 

 

Our Sweet/Shy Baby

Little baby Zimmerman made the decision for us this time – he/she hid the goods from us so we don’t know if we’re having a little boy or girl. But what we do know is that our little one is growing right on track and everything measured perfectly for 20 weeks. Dr. Wolfgram even said that he rarely sees babies that are this symmetrical at this stage. We are very proud!

This would have been our last sonogram but since the baby was breech (which means nothing at this phase) they couldn’t measure the entire spine and we have to go back for one more sonogram. So the drama continues – will we find out the gender or not!?

The heartbeat was 144 which is pretty consistent for our little one. There is an old wives’ tale that girls have higher heartbeats (180s) and boys have lower (130s) so if you go by that this seems like boy behavior. And I will say that the baby looked like a boy today. I might regret saying that if this is a girl but oh-well. It looked to have big feet and a big head – sound like anyone you know (cough cough, Adam).

Here’s a little profile picture. I think it’s so cute that his/her mouth is open – so sweet! Cannot wait to hear the first cry come out!

So in love already.  

Excited for Today’s Sonogram!

It’s been 5 weeks since our last doctor’s appointment and I am very anxious to get a checkup. When I first learned we had to schedule appointments once a month I thought it was going to be overwhelming. Now I realize just how many questions can compile over 4 weeks (along with some anxiety) and now I look forward to our visits.

An extra bonus tomorrow is our 20 week sonogram. We are 21 weeks now but the office was closed most of last week for Thanksgiving. We haven’t “seen” our little guy/girl in over 2 months so I am REALLY looking forward to seeing a big change in her/his appearance. I am a little nervous and hopeful for healthy report but I am not going to worry until there is something to worry about.

Adam and I are STILL going back and forth on the decision to find out the sex. I was the one who originally pushed waiting until the big delivery but now I am dying to know! I’m not really sure why – I don’t feel the need to paint the room pink/blue or even buy a bunch of girly/boyish things…guess it’s just pure curiosity. At the moment I am leaning towards finding out but ask me in the morning and I might be singing a different tune.

Last night I had a dream it was a boy for the first time! All my other dreams have featured cute little girls. After my middle of the night bathroom trip I had another dream that Dr. Wolfgram wouldn’t let us get a sonogram saying we didn’t need one and this was just a regular visit – I was very upset. Haha.

Note about Thanksgiving – Adam and I had a wonderful time at Nick and Cindy’s this year. Adrienne came over to our place in the morning and we cooked for about 4 hours. We made most of the sides and Cindy and her mom knocked out the turkey (all 25 pounds of it) the stuffing and some other yummy starters. It was a good division of labor, nobody felt too overworked.

At the table were two very special guests – Will and Phil Putnam. What a treat it was sharing the holidays with them. They jumped right in and played with the girls, talked with the ladies while we finished cooking, indulged Nick by riding in his fancy car, and even joined us in a Wii dance competition after dinner. The night ended by Karen and Frank coming by to share some dessert and catch up with everyone. Adam and I were home by 8:30 p.m. and passed out (editor’s note: this is no different than any other night).

Saturday morning Nick planned an impromptu trip to Hershey Park where we stayed the night. They treated everyone as they did last year to thank us for helping them throughout the year. We all assured them that the kisses and hugs from the girls is adequate payment but they enjoy doing this – thank you again! We arrived at noon and went to a fancy “Lunch with Santa” party. In the evening we had dinner and ice skated – what fun! We had breakfast the next morning, left at 11:00 a.m. and were home by 1:00 p.m.  – a perfect little getaway.

Happy holidays! 

Mia Anna Zimmerman - What a Sweet Little Girl

Oh my - Eric and Luci have done it again. They have produced a beautiful bundle of joy. Mia Anna Zimmerman is one word – perfect! 6 little pounds of perfection. Head to toe adorable! My favorite part of her little face is her almond eyes. Open or shut they add a very unique look to such a tiny little baby. Her eyes along with her jet-black hair make her look like a little china doll.  You just cannot stop looking at her once you start.

I think I heard Mia cry four times they entire 4 days we were there – twice when she was getting changed, once when she first got into the bath and once when she had the hiccups and wanted to switch positions.  I still cannot believe how content she is.  I PRAY our baby was watching and taking notes.

Luci and Eric, along with their personal nurse Lauri, are doing great. They make bringing home a new baby look so easy.  Lauri of course comes highly recommended so we have reserved her services and love for April. Even Matty seems to love the new addition. I think he could do without sharing his mama but he’s handling it well. At least once a day he asks to hold her and gives very sweet little kisses. They look particularly cute when they are together.

The weekend was filled with great meals, baby bonding, trips to the store/park, and lots of laughs.  We got in as much quality time as humanly possible in 4 days and it was all so much fun. Thank you Eric and Luci for letting share in this very special time <3

Mia is a fantastic new addition to the Zimmerman family. We all love her so much already. 

Enjoy the adorable pictures below:

The first little kick! November 1, 2011

I guess I cannot be 100% sure because I’ve never experienced it before, but I believe I just felt the first little flutters of baby zim. The first little “bubble pop” caught my attention and I thought huh – that felt like how all the books describe as the first baby movements. Right after that I felt a stronger and more distinctive POP.  I felt it in my belly and very close to the surface. I feel pretty confident that this was a little hello from our sweet babe. Pretty exciting!

Our last doctor’s appointment on October 25^th went very well. Our little guy/girl’s heartbeat was at 135, I gained 7 pounds and after a little belly exam my doctor was happy with everything he saw. Below is a picture of our new 7 pounds; it’s not much but it’s our little baby bump! We also got all the test results back from the genetic screening – all is clear!

Our next appointment and ultrasound is scheduled for November 29^th. By then we’ll be 21 weeks which means we can find out the sex if we want (unless the baby is being shy). Although most of you know that Adam and I keep going back and forth on if we want to find out or not, we are pretty sure now that we don’t want to know. We would like to experience both knowing and not knowing and since we plan on having two little munchkins we can find out the second time around.

I finally broke down this past weekend and got some maternity clothing.  My shirts of course still fit fine but my jeans were becoming very uncomfortable. What started as a quick trip to Target ended with a visit to the awesome maternity store in Montgomery Mall with Adrienne. We had so much fun stocking up on pants, sweaters, etc…Mom and Dad Zimmerman got me a gift card to the maternity store once we hit the second trimester (thank you again!) so we decided just get a bunch of essentials. I cannot tell you how comfortable I am today in my work pants. Maybe that’s why baby zim said hello – he/she approves of this new comfort!

In other news, Luci’s baby shower was on October 23^rd and thankfully Mia decided NOT to crash the party, although she had us all on the edge of our seats. To be honest, we still are! I think we all sense her little presence and cannot wait to get that call from Olde Sporte. Adam is going to NYC this Thursday for a business trip so he might even get the good fortune of being there when all the action starts.  But hopefully not – we would all love for her to stay cozy for a little longer.

Luci’s shower was SO MUCH fun. She has an amazing group of super sweet girl friends who made the day very special for her along with a great show from the family – Ali, Elle, Randi, Amanda (with Rylie), mom and me.  Everyone made amazing dishes so after we ate like queens we enjoyed watching Luci open gift after gift of pink girly goodness! I forgot my camera at home (ugh) but I have one picture below which I think depicts the day perfectly – a glowing mommy surrounded by her gifts!

Overall life is wonderful and we are super happy! Upcoming posts – Henrik our wild and anxious dog and the Zimmermans finally remodel their bathrooms.

P.S. Happy Halloween! Since we can’t share pictures of our cute baby dressed up yet – here are some pictures of some other people's kids we think are cute ;)

Our baby  bump!

Luci's Shower

Be careful with that knife Nick!

Happiness is...

The Onder Girls 2011

Picture Perfect Halloweeen!

Time for candy!

The new kid on the block

One cozy little bear!

He could stay in that outfit all day!

Always better with a friend...