we got our daycare!! the one we wanted emailed us back tonite and let us know that she has a spot for addy! yippee!! i know it won't be easy to go back to work the first day, but i know addy will be in a very safe and loving environment that is as structured as i want it to be. here is her website so you can see what i mean about a good place for addy.
http://www.wedontwatch.tv/
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
eric & melissa's wedding
yesterday, my cousin, eric, got married to the newest addition of the felderhoff family, melissa! what a beautiful wedding and what a fun party! the only picture of the actual wedding i got was of eric watching melissa come down the aisle. oops!
dancin away!
the rest of the pictures came from the reception and mostly centered on you guessed it, addy! we had a great time--anytime the whole family is together is fabulous!!!
god-mama hollie and addy
lisa and dave
lisa and dave
kyle and me
mom and me
MOM!
yummy wine!
dancin away!
dusty and alan
grandpa and addy
could be my favorite pic of the nite! my uncles tim and mark, and my dad..now only if terry lee could have been in it too
grandma and addy
dusty, addy, and uncle dave
me and my daughter!
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
brother and sister
so sweet...duke is about the best big brother ever... :)
and this picture is just too cute for words..i couldn't help but take it! 
and this picture is just too cute for words..i couldn't help but take it!
the hunt for daycare...part 2
so.....we went to meet/interview the potential daycare for addy last nite. this lady was AWESOME! i was so impressed, she runs it like a teacher runs a classroom. everything was super organized and clean. she has a nice website, has a posted schedule, posted menus, writes semi lesson plans, licensed through the state, and a beautiful backyard. its a placewhere i know my daughter will be safe and loved and she will only be one of two babies. we were ready to sign up last nite, but she wasn't quite yet. she is waiting to hire an aide to help out and as soon as she does, she will let us sign addy up. she says she feels like she will have an answer for us in the next 2 weeks. i left a little disappointed because i was under the impression she was available. oh well. she made us feel like it would not be a problem and that she would get in touch with us in the next 2 weeks.
so until i hear from her, i'm going to act like we don't have anything in the works. we will be visiting a few other homes next week. BUT we really want to go with this first lady! so pray that we can go with her!!
so until i hear from her, i'm going to act like we don't have anything in the works. we will be visiting a few other homes next week. BUT we really want to go with this first lady! so pray that we can go with her!!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
the hunt for daycare...
it has begun...boooo. i don't want to think about putting her in daycare and going back to work, but i have to. luckily, i have found some great options in the past few days that are giving us hope. tonite is our first interview with a woman here in sachse who does her own in-home childcare. she is registered with the state and holds her license. i want addy at an in-home facility mainly because i don't want her to be 1 of 15 babies in a center, versus 1 of 3 at someone's home. plus, i have heard some horror stories lately about child care centers. dusty and i both feel that tonite could be the place we end up sending addy. we were both really impressed with her website and her tuition rates are right where we need them so hopefully she and her home match what we saw online! if not, i have found us about 4 or 5 other possiblities in the area as well that we will isit next week.
keep your fingers crossed for us!!
keep your fingers crossed for us!!
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
Our Birth Story
so i see a lot of people put down on paper their birth stories. its been 4 weeks since addy was born and i haven't done this yet, so i am going to do it now before i forget all the little details of those few days that changed our life forever. some of you may have already heard the story, but for those of you who haven't..enjoy!
it all started on june 17. i went to the doctor for my normal weekly check up. i hadn't been feeling quite right, in fact i threw up the nite before. i hadn't gotten sick like that since my first trimester. it had us both a little alarmed. when i arrived at the doctor's office, i started to feel dizzy and queasy. i told my doctor, and sure enough my blood pressure was reading dangerously high for someone as pregnant as myself. the visit changed from a routine check up to this sudden heightened sense of urgency. my doctor quickly got some paperwork together and told me i was headed for the labor and delivery triage area where they were going to run some tests and have me get another sonogram.
as i headed to triage, i called dusty and told him it could be "go-time". naturally, this was the ONLY appointment throughout this pregnancy that he couldn't come to due to work. would be our luck, right?! anyways, he left work immediately and headed from rockwall to dallas to be at my side. they hooked me up to all sorts of monitors, drew blood, and performed another sonogram. everything checked out wonderful, however, my blood pressure was no joke that morning. my doctor informed us how dangerous it could be to wait any longer due to the bp. we were scheduled to come in the very next nite, the 18th, to begin the induction process.
the next day was a complete blur just waiting for 6:00pm to roll around when we would head to the hospital. i was a ball of nerves, crying one moment and laughing the next. dusty was also full of nervous energy cleaning like a mad man--he didn't stop moving all day! we went to the hospital that evening where they admitted us to an observation room. they inserted something into my cervix that was to help "ripen" it. (i hadn't even begun to dilate at that point.) the nite was full of cramping and anxiety over the impending day.
the next morning, we were greeted by the nurses bright and early (6:45am) to begin the real deal. they moved us down to the labor and delivery room where we would stay the rest of the day. fairly quickly after being moved, i was given pitocin. in no time at all, i began feeling stronger contractions than i had been. about this time, my parents arrived. (the room was super nice, plenty of room for visitors all day long!) as the day progressed, my contractions intensified. for the first part of the morning, i was getting pain medicine every hour and a half or so injected into one of my iv's. it was great in the beginning but as the contractions intensified, the medicine didn't work so well anymore. what was supposed to last a good hour, was wearing off within fifteen minutes. all i remember about the pain four weeks later, is that i had never felt something like that before in my life. there is nothing you can do except close your eyes and try to breathe through it. by noon, the pain was becoming unbearable and we decided it was time for my epidural. thank goodness! the epidural was painless to receive and the relief was almost immediate. the hardest part of receiving it was the position they have you get in--hunched over, legs hanging off the bed, having to be completely still, all the while contracting like crazy.
from then on, i was being checked about every hour and a half to two hours to see how dilated i was. for the majority of the day i was stuck at 2 cm. nothing was moving. it was becoming hard on addy, so they placed an oxygen mask on me which i had to wear the rest of the day through delivery. when i was checked around 5pm, i had finally dilated some more to about 4 or 5 cm. and again, got stuck there. at 7pm, our nurse had the "talk" with us. she explained that because i wasn't dilating at the rate i needed to be, it was becoming increasingly hard on addy. her heart rate would drop in between contractions because her little body was working so hard and not getting anywhere. she informed us that if i hadn't dilated at least 2 more cm, that we would have to discuss other "options". by other options, she meant internal monitors (which can be dangerous) or a c-section. both choices were scary to me. after going through everything with us, she checked me. all of a sudden i was dilated to 9 cm! we couldn't believe it...i just knew i was headed for a c-section. it was time to push! my mom and dad gave me a kiss and left the room. it was surreal, we were about to meet our baby girl.
at 7:48pm, we began pushing. the pain began to return. i know it was probably nothing compared to what someone who goes natural feels, but all i know is that it hurt. at one point, i was in so much pain, that i threw up. as i was pushing, i was leaned over a bag hurling up all the fluid they had been pushing through me all day. this was about the moment where i thought to myself "i don't know if i can do this...c-section anyone?". but i muscled through it. they had me pushing three times for ten seconds each time during each contraction. i remember that in the beginning i was so wiped out in between contractions, i would just close my eyes and almost pass out. meanwhile, dusty and my nurse were talking about where we each live in sachse. (our nurse happened to be from sachse also.) i remember thinking "are they seriously talking about hwy 78, 5th st, and 544 while i'm in between these horribly painful contractions?"....geez!
a little less than 2 hours later, i was just crowned enough that it was time for the big show! my doctor came in and a slew of nurses began prepping all sorts of things in the room. i had a series of pushes where when i would finish with my 3rd push, they would ask me if i could go a 4th time--and i did, everytime! we finally got to a point where my doctor said we were one contraction away. this was it. could hardly believe it. along came the contraction and off i went pushing....4 pushes and 40 seconds later, little miss addy made her debut at 9:54pm!
it all started on june 17. i went to the doctor for my normal weekly check up. i hadn't been feeling quite right, in fact i threw up the nite before. i hadn't gotten sick like that since my first trimester. it had us both a little alarmed. when i arrived at the doctor's office, i started to feel dizzy and queasy. i told my doctor, and sure enough my blood pressure was reading dangerously high for someone as pregnant as myself. the visit changed from a routine check up to this sudden heightened sense of urgency. my doctor quickly got some paperwork together and told me i was headed for the labor and delivery triage area where they were going to run some tests and have me get another sonogram.
as i headed to triage, i called dusty and told him it could be "go-time". naturally, this was the ONLY appointment throughout this pregnancy that he couldn't come to due to work. would be our luck, right?! anyways, he left work immediately and headed from rockwall to dallas to be at my side. they hooked me up to all sorts of monitors, drew blood, and performed another sonogram. everything checked out wonderful, however, my blood pressure was no joke that morning. my doctor informed us how dangerous it could be to wait any longer due to the bp. we were scheduled to come in the very next nite, the 18th, to begin the induction process.
the next day was a complete blur just waiting for 6:00pm to roll around when we would head to the hospital. i was a ball of nerves, crying one moment and laughing the next. dusty was also full of nervous energy cleaning like a mad man--he didn't stop moving all day! we went to the hospital that evening where they admitted us to an observation room. they inserted something into my cervix that was to help "ripen" it. (i hadn't even begun to dilate at that point.) the nite was full of cramping and anxiety over the impending day.
the next morning, we were greeted by the nurses bright and early (6:45am) to begin the real deal. they moved us down to the labor and delivery room where we would stay the rest of the day. fairly quickly after being moved, i was given pitocin. in no time at all, i began feeling stronger contractions than i had been. about this time, my parents arrived. (the room was super nice, plenty of room for visitors all day long!) as the day progressed, my contractions intensified. for the first part of the morning, i was getting pain medicine every hour and a half or so injected into one of my iv's. it was great in the beginning but as the contractions intensified, the medicine didn't work so well anymore. what was supposed to last a good hour, was wearing off within fifteen minutes. all i remember about the pain four weeks later, is that i had never felt something like that before in my life. there is nothing you can do except close your eyes and try to breathe through it. by noon, the pain was becoming unbearable and we decided it was time for my epidural. thank goodness! the epidural was painless to receive and the relief was almost immediate. the hardest part of receiving it was the position they have you get in--hunched over, legs hanging off the bed, having to be completely still, all the while contracting like crazy.
from then on, i was being checked about every hour and a half to two hours to see how dilated i was. for the majority of the day i was stuck at 2 cm. nothing was moving. it was becoming hard on addy, so they placed an oxygen mask on me which i had to wear the rest of the day through delivery. when i was checked around 5pm, i had finally dilated some more to about 4 or 5 cm. and again, got stuck there. at 7pm, our nurse had the "talk" with us. she explained that because i wasn't dilating at the rate i needed to be, it was becoming increasingly hard on addy. her heart rate would drop in between contractions because her little body was working so hard and not getting anywhere. she informed us that if i hadn't dilated at least 2 more cm, that we would have to discuss other "options". by other options, she meant internal monitors (which can be dangerous) or a c-section. both choices were scary to me. after going through everything with us, she checked me. all of a sudden i was dilated to 9 cm! we couldn't believe it...i just knew i was headed for a c-section. it was time to push! my mom and dad gave me a kiss and left the room. it was surreal, we were about to meet our baby girl.
at 7:48pm, we began pushing. the pain began to return. i know it was probably nothing compared to what someone who goes natural feels, but all i know is that it hurt. at one point, i was in so much pain, that i threw up. as i was pushing, i was leaned over a bag hurling up all the fluid they had been pushing through me all day. this was about the moment where i thought to myself "i don't know if i can do this...c-section anyone?". but i muscled through it. they had me pushing three times for ten seconds each time during each contraction. i remember that in the beginning i was so wiped out in between contractions, i would just close my eyes and almost pass out. meanwhile, dusty and my nurse were talking about where we each live in sachse. (our nurse happened to be from sachse also.) i remember thinking "are they seriously talking about hwy 78, 5th st, and 544 while i'm in between these horribly painful contractions?"....geez!
a little less than 2 hours later, i was just crowned enough that it was time for the big show! my doctor came in and a slew of nurses began prepping all sorts of things in the room. i had a series of pushes where when i would finish with my 3rd push, they would ask me if i could go a 4th time--and i did, everytime! we finally got to a point where my doctor said we were one contraction away. this was it. could hardly believe it. along came the contraction and off i went pushing....4 pushes and 40 seconds later, little miss addy made her debut at 9:54pm!
it was the most surreal experience of our lives. suddenly we went from just the 2 of us to the 3 of us. this little person was our's. its been 4 weeks since that day and our world has been turned upside down in the most wonderful way. she is the love of our lives...love her more every single day. i cannot imagine anything more perfect than her.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
meeting the great grandparents
yesterday we drove up to muenster to introduce little miss addy to her great grandparents. addy is very lucky in that she has all but one of her great grandparents around and in good health for her to meet and learn from. they all just absolutely loved her and thought she was just about the cutest little thing they had seen! here are some pictures...
here addy is with her great grandma reinart, this is my mom's mother
also completely asleep...this girl and her hands!
here addy is with her great grandma reinart, this is my mom's motheraddy with her great grandma felderhoff, dad's mom (she had just woken up!)
we had a great time seeing everyone and wish i had taken more pictures. here is a picture of addy laying on her brand new quilt my grandma reinart's best friend, dorothy, made for our little one. isn't it pretty!
addy also got to meet great aunt patty, but i failed to take any pictures. we got to go to patty's boutique in town, Girlfriends--such a great store. addy will become a frequent customer there i'm sure! she already has a few things from there...great aunt patty knows good gifts!! ;)
it was sure a busy day and addy let us know it was a little much for her tiny little self. last nite was pretty rough. she only slept a total of 3 hours through the nite when she has been sleeping closer to 6--which daddy and i like better. i think all of the visiting and being in the car threw addy off of her schedule. we are back on track today though!
on another note, monday nite dusty and i went out to dinner for his big birthday. it was the first time i left her. my mom and dad were more than happy to help and keep her for a couple of hours. and yes, i did cry when we left her there...so freakin hard to leave this little girl. geez! i can't imagine what it is going to be like when its time for me to go back to work. i don't know what i'm going to do. the thought of it just makes my heart hurt. ugh. we will get through it, i'm sure..just don't want to!
here are some more recent pictures of my little angel...she is 4 weeks on friday! aaahhh! where does the time go?! 
she is completely asleep in this picture...we call it her "thug life" pose... :)
Monday, July 13, 2009
to my best friend
happy birthday to my husband...you are my best friend and the love of my life. thank you for being the best father this little girl named addy could ask for...thank you for being best "partner in crime" i could ask for. we are so proud of you and are so proud you are our's! love you love you love you.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
2 week appointment
Today was our 2 week appointment for little Miss Addy. Things couldn't have been better. She now weighs 8lbs 3oz. When we left the hospital, she weighed only 7lbs 1oz. In the last week alone, little missy has gained a whopping pound. Looks like the feeding is going well! I felt like it had been, but it was nice to have it confirmed. She also got measured. She was 19 3/4 in at birth and measured 21in today. She is growing like a weed!
They also took her blood. Yuck. I just about cried myself when they stuck her little foot with the needle. She screamed bloody murder and I couldn't swoop her up fast enough. As soon as they were done, I picked her up and she stopped crying immediately. Thank goodness!
She did great otherwise and was super calm throughout the appointment except for the drawing of blood. She was a good little patient. We go back in 2 months for her next checkup. The doctor said that she is "perfect" though!!
They also took her blood. Yuck. I just about cried myself when they stuck her little foot with the needle. She screamed bloody murder and I couldn't swoop her up fast enough. As soon as they were done, I picked her up and she stopped crying immediately. Thank goodness!
She did great otherwise and was super calm throughout the appointment except for the drawing of blood. She was a good little patient. We go back in 2 months for her next checkup. The doctor said that she is "perfect" though!!
Monday, July 6, 2009
On our own
Today was the first day that Addy and I were completely on our own...with the assistance of Duke of course! The majority of our first week at home, Dusty was here and if he wasn't my Mom was. Last week, Dusty was back at work full time, but we still had my Mom coming over every day at lunch for an hour or two to help me get some food or do some laundry. Today--just Addy, me, and the dog. Things have gone well..pretty proud of myself!
Our morning was good, pretty routine. Addy fell asleep around 11:00 so I thought it would be a good time to make myself a sandwich. As soon as I started to spread the mustard on the bread, she starts screaming. Ugh. I had to get creative...I had to eat because if I don't, I'm no good to her. I pulled out the sling that my wonderful sister in law made me and decided to give it a whirl. Trying to get Addy in there for the first time was tricky...she screamed...I was clumsy...but we did it. I headed back into the kitchen and finished the sandwich making. Within minutes, she was back asleep. The sling must be a similar feeling to her as the swaddling is. She actually napped until it was time for her next meal.
I decided that after I fed her, we would head out to the store. I needed some more easy to eat snacks that don't require any work to get ready and eat. Its hard to keep yourself fed with a newborn around. And when you're nursing, you're just as hungry as you were when you were preggers. We finished eating and got out the door. I got Addy all loaded into the car when I realized I needed to go back in the house for something I forgot except when I go to look for the key in our garage, it was nowhere to be found. Addy and I were officially locked out of the house. The only solution was to drive out to Rockwall to get the key from Dusty. Ugh. Off we went.
We got to Dusty's store and my cousin, Lisa, was there getting her car worked on. Lovely treat. We got to see Daddy and Aunt Lisa all in one trip! (and don't forget the all important key!) After leaving Dusty, we headed to Super Target in Rowlett. I hadn't been to that one yet, its pretty new and super nice. We got what we needed and headed to the house all in time for her next meal! I was super proud of us! We got home and she was in a sweet mood, which is unusual for her when she is just waking. Here are some pictures her sweet face:
It was a good day. I must say it was so great to be out of the house!! You can get a little stir crazy couped up all this time. Tomorrow our outing is her pediatrician's appt. Grandma is going with us! (Daddy has to work :( ) We'll find out if she has caught back up to her birth weight...keep your fingers crossed!
Here are a couple pictures of Addy with her Daddy from yesterday. 
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
New normal!
Things are starting to get a little more normal around here...little miss Addy and I are starting to figure out our little daytime routine. Thank goodness. As far as the nite time goes, we are still working out some tweaks. But, I must say it has improved dramatically over the last two nites. Monday nite, she slept from 12:45 until about 4:40. She and I woke up and ate some breakfast and then she was back to sleep by 6:00 and napped until 9:00 or so. Last nite, she made us work a little bit harder to put her down. I think it was 1:30 before she was actually ready to fall asleep. And then she slept until almost 7am!! Woo hoo! I felt like a new woman waking up as the sun was rising and not hours before it!
We have a wonderful resource who is our lactation nurse. She is there for us literally 24/7. We have met with her twice now and called her a couple of times at not so convenient times of nite. She answers and couldn't be happier to help us--thank goodness!! She has given us some great ideas to help us in the evenings, otherwise known at the Dominie household as Addy's witching hour. It can get brutal around here! Thanks to our lactation nurse and a little invention known as a breast pump, things are lookin' good around here. Dusty is able to help with feedings in the evening which makes both of us feel better. I'm able to feel more rested and he is able to feel more a part of his daughter's day to day life. Its quite nice!
And thanks to this little breast pump, I was able to have my first beer last nite in 10 months. I'll be honest, I had that moment all built up in my head that it would be the best thing to ever touch my lips. Not so. Instead, I felt racked with guilt that I was being selfish. I can hear all the eyes roll now. I know I know. Its silly to feel that way. But when your world turns into life as a mom and your only job is to make sure this tiny person is nourished, it becomes difficult to remember to treat yourself and to then feel good about it. (I'm working on it. ;)) So, I didn't really enjoy the beer as much as I thought I would. Maybe its because it was a Bud Light and it needed to be something a little better...maybe a Blue Moon with a lemon or a Dos Equis or a Pacifico...now we're talkin'! Maybe I'll have one of those for the big 4th of July this weekend!
Anyways...I'm absolutely loving being Addy's mom. Its definitely not an easy job, but so worth it! And Dusty is absolutely adorable with her...she looks so tiny in his big hands. We make a pretty good team!
Here are some more pictures...I already said that we can't help ourselves with the camera these days! Enjoy!!
Her face cracks me up here!
I think she looks adorable! Look how huge his hands are next to her!
Brother and Sister!
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