girl's night out

Ryan went to Texas for his step 2 exam on Saturday. I was lucky enough to have my parents in town. We spent the day buying stuff for our house projects and such. That night I woke up around 1:00 because I was having contractions. I took my medication and waited for it to kick in. Around 2:30 I started to wonder if the medicine was going to work. I called Ryan several times but never got a hold of him. I then decided that I needed to go to the hospital. I was really feeling these contractions and it was possible that I was in labor.

This is when the girl's night out began.

I woke my mom up and told her that I needed to go. My dad laid down in my bed in case Dennis decided that he would look for me in the night (which he does often). It was 3:00 when I woke up my parents and it was around 4:00 when we got to the hospital. Ryan called. He had been taking a nap at the side of the road. I told him that I was going to the hospital because of contractions and that I might be in labor. When we got to the hospital they had me get dressed and checked my cervix. I was dilated to a 3.8. They said that they weren't going to stop the labor because we were far enough along (35.4weeks gestation). I don't think they could have stopped it at that point anyway. They put me on the machines and find that my contractions were 3 minutes apart and quite strong (I knew that already). I decided that an epidural would be a good idea. I was not in the zone. They moved me to the next room when they checked me and I was at a 4. Two really strong constant contractions later I was at a 8. I could tell that it was transition, so I said, "she coming". The nurse said, "we have to know that." They then rushed me to the OR (because she was premie). My montra down the hall was, "OOOWWWWW- OOOWWWW" Just like a dog. In the operating room I heard my phone ring and knew that it was Ryan. The last he had heard was that I was going to the hospital and MIGHT be in labor. I had 3 big pushes and our baby girl was born at 4:39 am. While they were trying to get the placenta out, I called Ryan and told him that he had a daughter. I think I had to say it 3 times before it registered with him. I didn't talk long because I was having troubles with my placenta. It never came out. 30 minutes of rubbing and tugging and feeling... boy was I exhausted. I just wanted to close the doors and say that the party was over. They had to put me under and clean it out. I am glad that I was not invited to that after party.

Here we are still in the operating room saying our first "hello".

Here is my champ of a mother. I am so glad she was there.
Zola Maree Elizabeth Funk born January 29th, 2012 at 4:39 am, 4 lbs 14 oz, 18 1/2 in long

Healthy and Happy!


Ryan, Dennis and Grandpa came around 8:30 while Zola was in the nursery for vitals. Dennis ran in and immediately said, "hey, where's baby?". They headed down the hall to pick her up. (picture to come from my mom's camera) Dennis had a small cold so Daddy joined in and wore a mask with him. Dennis loves his baby sister.
Grandma and Grandpa with Zola.
We sure love our Zola. She is as sweet as could be.

33 weeks

Dennis was born at 33 weeks. It is hard for me to visualize a real, living baby just on the other side of my skin. Probably measuring around 4.5-5 lbs. If she were born now, she might look like these next few pictures of Dennis. Luckily, it's looking like we will not be having a baby... at least not today. :) By this time with Dennis, I was already leaking fluid for about a week and was in the hospital for a couple of days.
Here I am today: feeling very big but very happy to still have a baby in the oven.
Here were my ankles after work today. I have a lot of swelling! I was wearing lace up shoes with socks. I think I will have to invest in a pair of compression socks tomorrow. My medication makes me swell up pretty bad. Luckily, I have only 3 more weeks of meds! wahoo.

christmas day at the gun club

On Christmas day, after we open our presents at the cabin, we go to Aitkin, MN to the gun club where my Grandma throws a very fun party. Santa comes to this party as well... a more authentic Santa. The following pictures are not in order...

Here we are at the tail end of the party. James and I are cuddling on the couch as the final clean up is being done. I LOVE James... and I kinda think that he likes me too. I loved the fact that he would come running to me in a crowd of people and ask for me to hold him. He would notice when I would leave the room and he would come running after me. He started to cry when I went in the bathroom without him. This is a first for me. The only kid that has loved me this much is my own. I wish we lived closer.
Here is Dennis helping Grandpa clean the floors.
Dennis and James love each other too. I was quite surprised that Dennis remembered James as much as he did from summertime. When we got back home, Dennis said that James used to be a baby but now he is getting bigger.
Poses with Santa:

Russ, Rosalyn, and Noah
Reed, Larissa, Brooklynn, Kevin, and Norah
Randy, Chrissy, and James
Ryan, Rita, and Dennis
My mom and dad.
Here are some of the second cousins playing together with their new leapsters!
Dennis and James playing again
The kids were so excited for Santa to be there. I am pretty sure that Dennis believed that this was the real Santa. He was so excited to talk to him. He went right up and told him what he got that morning.

Santa brought him a Lego Fireman and Fire car. He was pretty excited. I am so glad that he likes legos so much that they are still fun to get even though he has a ton.
His Fireman is breaking down the door with his ax.
Thank you Grandma GG. We had a great time at the party.

mornings are silly with a 3 year old

Every morning Dennis LOVES oatmeal. That is the only thing he ever asks for. And, recently, he has been into the variety pack avoiding the plain old Maple Brown Sugar packets for two boxes now. Every morning he will eat at least 2 packets. This morning Dennis was having a hard time waking up, so I decided that I would cook it for him before he even got out of bed. My options were either peaches and cream or cinnamon roll. This was an obvious choice because he has LOVED the fruity kinds. I was expecting there to be a slight conflict because he likes to make his own oatmeal... as much as he can. When he got up, his complaint was not that he wanted to make it... but rather, that he didn't like that kind. I knew that wasn't the case, but winning battles with a tired Dennis in the morning isn't ever really worth it. So, I started to make his cinnamon roll (2 packets) and while it was in the microwave, I enticed him with the delicious bites that I was taking. I showed him the good little peach pieces and after refusing to try a bite only once, he said that he would try just one bite. He ate it and enthusiastically said, "I don't!" (meaning I don't like it) But quickly said, "let me try it again". I gave him another bite and got the exact same response. This went on and on until he started to get a glazed over look and was whispering "don't" and silently opening his mouth for the next try. He ate two whole packets minus the 2 bites that I ate. And LOVED every bite in denial. Then came his REAL breakfast of Cinnamon Roll... of which he did not finish.

This reminds me of another silly morning with Dennis that I think I forgot to record from several months ago.

Dennis got up in the morning pretty grumpy and said, "I am sick". I then asked him what was hurting. His response, "my feelings".

christmas randoms with new camera!

my best present

I have been saving up my money for a long time... and here I have my Nikon D3100~ Now, I just have to learn to use it.

The rest of my pictures from Minnesota are from this camera. Super fun.

christmas morning

Here is our lovely cabin Christmas tree. Dennis picked it out himself. It was short and VERY round. If we didn't trim the back side it would have taken up the entire room! Santa came in the middle of the night while everyone was sleeping and left a load of gifts!

This was his first glimpse of the morning loot.

Here is the few moments of happiness with his new soap until he finds out that it is toy story and not cars.

Here are the three boys in their matching pj's. Dennis was SUPER excited to be matching with them. They are forever going to be his favorite pj's.
Here James got a mini hockey goal. He is obsessed with anything that has a ball. Randy is trying to gear that love towards hockey pucks as well. James has two really clear words that he says all the time: ball and bottle. Super cute kid. I would take him home in a second.
Norah got a bike! She was such a doll the entire trip as well. She was very good at passing out the presents to everyone.
Dennis could hardly wait to open his big present from Grandma and Grandpa... When I finally let him open it, he was so thrilled. I wish I got it on video because he LOVED his present. He got a marble run.
Here is a picture of Dennis doing a warrior dance in celebration of his marble run. It even included a series of noises made with his tongue!
It was a good morning.