Lily Rayne

Lily Rayne born on 11/8/11 at 4:11 p.m.

She is 7 lbs. 5 oz and 20 inches long.

She is beautiful!

Labor Day

Hello!

Ali is currently in labor in Vail! She is doing well and has just received the fun pain meds. We managed to play a game of Sixteen before her contractions became too painful. Mommy and baby are healthy.

Thought and prayers for a safe and easy delivery.

Love, Jenna

The BUMP!

1 month (or less) to go!

Pregnant Road Trip Part 2

  

The week passed quickly and it is already Thursday morning. Rob and I get up early and start packing up all of our stuff. We have decided to take my Mom’s Hyundai and leave my 4Runner for Dad, Shannon, and Blaine. We were finally packed up and on our way; our first stop was dropping the dogs off in Kremmling along with the camping gear. This made it a tight trip for a little bit with all the extra animals and gear. Due to time constraints we decided to drive straight through to Sturgeon Bay, WI, this is a 20+ hour drive, it took us about 24 hours due to the frequent potty breaks and food breaks. We had 4 hour shifts and Rob, Mom, and I were going to switch so that one person would not get too tired or drive too much. During the night, four hours seemed a little longer and a little tougher so we switched more often.                We finally make it to the hotel about 12:30 in the afternoon.  We have about 2 ½ hours to sleep and get ready before we need to be at the rehearsal dinner for Jerry and Sandy’s wedding.  Mom opted out of going because she was too exhausted, not having slept much on the trip.  We went to the party and had a lot of fun.  I must say that being pregnant in the Midwest is not much fun in the summer.  The heat and humidity were awful while we were there and I tried to stay inside as much as possible because of it.  We had a great time in WI at the wedding, but it was a whirlwind of activity and before we knew it, we were on the road again to visit Rob’s family in IL.

                Sturgeon Bay to Mt Prospect was only about a 5 hour drive, so it was much better than the previous drive.  We got to Rob’s parents house and got settled and ready for the baby shower.  Ron and Gayle (Rob’s parents) put on an amazing party.  The girls had a lot of food and fun baby shower activities in the basement (with air conditioning), while the boys had some food and beer out in the garage (no air conditioning).   There were so many people there, and it was really nice to see everyone!  People were unbelievably generous and we ended up with lots of good stuff for our little baby!!  Thank you again to everyone who came to the party!!!!

                We stayed in IL until Wednesday morning.  It was nice to spend some time with Rob’s parents, but again since it was only a couple of days, it seemed we were bouncing around all over the place.  We tried to make sure my mom got to try all the wonderful Chicago food that I have been talking about.  Gayle had beef sandwiches at the baby shower, and they were wonderful.  We also had to make sure we made a trip out for real Chicago pizza.  We went to Gino’s East and were all impressed with how wonderful the food was. 

                There was a little downtime one of the days and we went birthday shopping for Rob.  Poor guy had been driving straight through to WI on his birthday, so it was nice that we got some time for Rob to enjoy his birthday a couple of days late.  He ended up getting some nice tennis shoes at REI.  While we were at REI the soon to be grandma’s saw some very cute things for our little girl.  We ended up going home with a few more baby clothes.  It was fun shopping, but by the time Wednesday came around, we had a LOT more stuff to pack into the car with us.  We had 3 bags full of baby clothes, towels, wash cloths, toys, etc.; not to mention a baby tub filled with baby monitors and other baby things to add to the luggage that we came out with.  The car was definitely getting a little squished, the trunk was full as was the back seat, with space for one passenger in the back and two up front!  Then, we were on our way to SD.

                The South Dakota trip was about 10 hours, not our worst drive, but also not that short.  We had to head back up through Wisconsin and then head west.  The bonus was we got to drive by Rob’s parent’s cabin in Necedah.  Rob and I stayed a night there last time we road tripped, but it was nice to show my mom the place!  We also had to make sure that we got some Wisconsin cheese before we left.  Other than the cheese and the cabin the drive was mostly uneventful.  We got into Platte around 8 and had some desert and did some visiting with Don and Gwen.

                The next day we did breakfast at Shorty’s and got to visit with more family.  While we were there we did some running around visiting people.  We had dinner (or as they say in SD, supper) at the Pizza Ranch one night and dinner at Cliff’s house another.  Both were great opportunities for us to gather with family and chat.  We also made the trek out to my cousin’s farm to see her new little baby girl.  It was so much fun to see and hold her little girl, and think about how very shortly I will be holding my own baby girl.  We also got to see Heather out in the field combining (for those of you who don’t speak farm, it is kinda like harvesting).  It was pretty cool to watch and see how they had everything perfectly coordinated to move all that they had combined to the right place.  Rob also got to have some boy time, he went fishing and golfing with my uncles, and I believe he did good enough to get a repeat invite next time we are out in Platte.  Don, Gwen, and Shelley, taught us a new card game called Sixteen.  Rob and I are now completely obsessed and play most nights of the week.

                Saturday was the day we decided to go home.  With another 10 hour drive that got us back to Littleton in the evening.  This was better, because Rob and I could stay the night at my parent’s instead of making the 2 hour trek back up to our house.  We stayed the night and then went up the next day.  I was so done being in the car by this time.  I was also very glad to see my puppies, I had missed them so much while we were gone.

                Biggest struggle for me during this car trip:  panty hose.  I was advised to wear panty hose while I am pregnant, to keep the blood flowing so that when I get older I do not get varicose veins. 

~Ali

Just for Fun - Babies Vs. Zombies

-Jenna

Pregnant Road Trip Part 1

              What to do in the summer?  There are many things we like to enjoy; camping, road trips, weddings, etc.  It so happens that this summer all the things we wanted to do ended up in a 2 week overlapping time period.  It was very fun and I was excited for all parts of our trip, however I was wondering how pregnancy would make this different from normal.  Turns out it was not that much different but there were definitely some things that made it more challenging.

                The first part of our journey was the annual camping trip with my family to Sylvan Lake.  We got there Sunday July, 10 and set-up camp.  Now the great part about being pregnant is that I am not allowed to carry anything too heavy or do anything too strenuous.  My job mostly consisted of sitting and watching (with only a little giggling at the madness that comes with setting up a tent), although, I did set up the bed.  Rob and I have a nice Coleman double mattress, which helped to make sleeping a little more comfortable.  However, I did notice that sleeping on an air mattress while pregnant does have some draw backs that it did not before.  The one thing that I noticed the most is that my hips hurt, it actually woke me up in the middle of the night.  So, overall, I decided that I will forgo sleeping on air mattresses while I am pregnant in the future.  Unfortunately, for this trip I have a week and a half of air mattress sleeping in me.  Making sure the mattress was really full did help to make it more comfortable.

                Camping was pretty low key this year; there were some of our regular camping activities that I could not take part in this year.  Caving was one of them, although the caves were closed so no one else got to go.  We also had a 3 mile hike, which leads to a very beautiful lake.  My mom and I went on the hike but only went for the 1^st mile.  The last mile of the hike is VERY steep, and I didn’t want to push myself too hard.  Mom and I took our time walking back down the mile to the car and then we brought books so that we could read while Dad, Jeff, Jenna, Shannon, and Blaine finished the rest of the hike.  It was the best exercise I got on the trip and it was fun for the dogs, Bunker and Fiji as well.  Mom, Dad and I also went on a little walk around the lake so we could let the pups have a little swim.  Wearing tennis shoes and walking on a relatively flat trail I managed to roll my ankle.  Luckily the fall was not too intense, with definitely no harm to the baby.  My ankle is still a little swollen, but it only hurt bad for about 2 days.  There were no more hikes for me after that.  Let’s hope I will have better balance the rest of my pregnancy!

~Ali

Baby Girl!!

We went to the doctor on Friday for our 20 week check up.  This is a very long and mostly boring appointment.  You spend about an hour getting an ultrasound, which sounds thrilling but there is really only about 5 minutes of excitement through the whole thing.  They spent the first 59 minutes doing measurements on the head, heart, body, etc.  Parts of this are stimulating, like when you can see the baby moving around and you can tell what parts are moving.  Mostly though, this part is just very uncomfortable, I did not realize that they pushed so hard on your belly.  The best part of the measurements was having my mom there, she has never seen an ultrasound of this quality and it was fun to watch her watch the screen. 

In the last minute or so they ask if you want to know the sex of the baby.  When I told them yes, my baby made sure she was in a position to make this very difficult.  At this point I break out in a sweat (at least I have my backup plan, read on to find out what that was).  We are throwing a reveal party for what sex the baby is TONIGHT.  It would be very embarrassing not to have an answer.  They ended up having to come from the butt up (of the baby) to get the picture.  The technician then says “Ultrasounds are never 100%, this is by no means a textbook picture.  It looks like it’s a girl.”  She tries to point out what she is looking at and why it means a girl, but I couldn’t understand it.  The reveal was very nonchalant as if she was telling us that it’s snowing in the mountains in the middle of December.  Luckily, the reveal at the party was more exciting, but more on that in a minute. 

After the ultrasound we get to go talk with the doctor.  He lets us know that the technician had written “possibly a girl.”  At this point I am not feeling a lot of faith in the fact that we are having a girl, and this is the last ultrasound we get unless there is something wrong with the baby (cross your fingers that we have no more ultrasounds).  The doctor then tries to make us feel better by explaining the ultrasound picture again (I still don’t get it).  The doctor told us that the technician probably wouldn’t have said it was a girl if she wasn’t really confident.  I guess this will just have to do; we may be surprised anyways at the birth even though we decided to find out.

I am attaching the picture, if you can understand the picture, sorry if you think it is graphic.  If you don’t understand how this is showing a baby girl, do not feel bad.  I had 2 different doctors explain it to me and I still don’t get it.

Here is the face; it looks a little scary straight on.

 

Here are some profile pics.

Now on to the fun part!!!  We had a party to reveal what our baby was going to be.  We had a lot of friends and family turn out for the party.  The anticipation was palpable as people started to show up and wage their bets on what I was having.  We asked everyone to dress in either blue or pink/red depending on what they thought we are going to have.  Rob announced that since my belly was steadily getting bigger we were going to use it as a billboard for our announcement.  I lifted my shirt and on my belly was written “It’s a GIRL!!”  The crowd goes wild.  This was a much more exhilarating reveal than the one that we got at the doctor’s office.

Our back up plan, in case we couldn’t find out if the baby was a girl or a boy, was stocking the party with puppies.  Our friend has a dog that had 8 puppies about 6 weeks ago.  We brought 3 of them down to the party, and they were a hit.  They were the best back up plan we could come up with in case our baby girl didn’t cooperate.  Luckily, we did not need them, but they were still a lot of fun.

~Ali

Grandma Jan - Words on having a boy or girl grandchild

I am so undecided as to if the baby will be a boy or a girl.   It would be fun to have a boy grandbaby as I had girls, but little baby girls have a special place in my heart.  Ali's baby bump looks like a girl but overall I think I am going to say boy.  Rob and Ali need a rough and tumble little fellow in their life as Rob is surrounded by girls (wife and dogs) and Ali will be a great mom to a little guy.  So Friday morning I'll be wearing a blue shirt (which Ali says I need to wear all day even if the Dr.'s appt. says differently) to the Swier reveal.  No matter what that baby will be spoiled by grandma.

-Grandma Jan

Pregnancy: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Well, the consensus is in.  Apparently most of you think that I am having an alien.  For your information my baby actually looks like a baby now, even though it didn’t before!  Hehe!  Here are my thoughts on pregnancy thus far.

The Good:

• Bigger boobs.
• People are more likely to give you food.
• You don’t get in trouble for wanting to sleep A LOT.
• You have a baby growing inside you!!
• When Rob talks to the baby.

The Bad:

• Your tired
• Your nauseous
• No alcohol
• No caffeine
• No feta, sushi, lunchmeat, etc.
• I haven’t really been able to tell if it’s the baby moving or if it’s just gas
• No 14ers
• Flexibility goes down

The Ugly:

• Increase in digestive issues, I could expand, but not sure you would like it.
• You get bigger and therefore need different clothes.
• Throwing up a good meal your loving husband just cooked.
• Stretch marks, not yet for me, but it’s only a matter of time.

Although The Bad and The Ugly seem longer, The Good more than make up for the other two.  It is a wonderful and amazing experience and I just can’t wait to meet the little bugger.  By the way, we are finding out the sex of the baby on the 17^th.  So wear blue or pink that day depending on whether you think it’s a girl or a boy.  If you voted for alien you can wear green.

How Jenna Found Out Ali Was Expecting

I was dead asleep. It was 5:00 a.m. and my alarm was not going to go off until 6:00. I woke with a start, was I having a bad dream? No. Why was I awake? Not only awake but WIDE awake. I felt incredibly anxious about something. Work? No work was fine. Errands? No I was pretty caught up. Hmmm, why in the world had I woken up and felt like something was about to happen?

My phone rings, the phone displays Ali. My first thought is worry (as it usually is). This must be the reason, I woke up for a reason and Ali was calling to tell me what that reason was. Hello!? Ali - "I am pregnant!" GREAT NEWS!

It must have been a sister connection. Her excitement had traveled across the distance between us and affected me. Crazy Boulder hippie nonsense? Probably. Maybe it was just gas....
-Jenna

First Baby Bump Photo!

Bump photo one! The baby is still about the size of a plum, but Ali's uterus is pushing out and making space.

Taken Sunday, May 8th -- Mother's Day.

Top Ten Baby Names of 2010

First observation. Top girl name Isabella, which I can assume the nickname would be Bella. The top boy name is Jacob....or Jake. Does this ring any bells with people? TWILIGHT! I am wondering why the name Edward has not made a come back as well. Isn't it interesting how popular names go in phases and how popular liturature and cinema influence baby names?

Girls
1. Isabella
2. Sophia
3. Emma
4. Olivia
5. Ava
6. Emily
7. Abigail
8. Madison
9. Chloe
10. Mia

Boys
1. Jacob
2. Ethan
3. Michael
4. Jayden
5. William
6. Alexander
7. Noah
8. Daniel
9. Aiden
10. Anthony

Time posted an article that isn't so sold on the idea that baby names are affected my movies and books. They say that Isabella has been on moving up the list since the 1990s. They do, however, agree that the boy name Cullen most certainly is from the Twilight series (Although it is number 485 on the popularity list).

This is Jenna posting (as this is a bi-authored blog) and I know Ali and Rob have been kicking around some names. I will not reveal any ideas until they are ready to share but they really aren't considering any of the names below. They are going for unique! Stay tuned :)

-Jenna

Pregnancy Questions

"Are you excited?" - Rob and I are ecstatic!!  We couldn’t be happier about having a little bundle of joy on the way.  Rob is especially adorable about making sure we are slowly prepping ourselves for the baby.  For example, getting baby souvenirs when we were in Disneyland so that Baby Swier knows he/she was in Disneyland with us! I am hoping he will have a faint memory of hearing the "It’s a Small World" song over, over and over again.

"What is pregnancy like?" -   This is the question that I heard the most when I was first telling people.  My answer, it’s like a hangover, you are tired and you are nauseous, only you didn’t have the party the night before.  I am in my second trimester now and I have heard that the tired and nauseous feelings will start to go away…still waiting.  Some days I do feel like it is getting better.  Today for example, I did not feel like taking a nap after lunch, which is good because I had a roomful of 2^nd graders who needed my attention.  Is a siesta too much to ask for?

"Is it a boy or a girl?" -  We don’t know yet, but we will find out.  I hardly have the patience to wait 5 months, much less wait the whole pregnancy to find out our baby’s gender.  We have about 6 more weeks until we can find this out, so go ahead and guess away.  We have heard so many different theories about how you can tell.  Since I haven’t gotten sick that much some think I am having a boy. On that note, most of my crazy pregnant dreams have been about baby girls, but who knows!  Rob and I have been calling the baby “he,” and just to even it out, Mom Knowles has been calling the baby “she.” 

~Ali