Vivi in a stocking

We thought it would be cute to put Vivi in a stocking and take a picture of her...She didn't find it so funny :)

Vivi's Room

Lance and I finished Vivi's nursery. Lance put all of the furniture together and hauled it in and I just decorated and picked everything out. Team Custer

Messing around with the camera

I have tried to figure out the different functionalities of a camera I have had for a few years. These pictures are the product of trying different buttons on the camera....I should just read the manual that I am sure that I lost.

Grandma and Grandpa leave

Grandma and Grandpa left to go home to get ready to enjoy some warm weather in South Padre Island. I took one last picture with them wearing my mom's hat when she was my age.

Vivi and Grandma

Grandma and Vivi playing...

A Charlie Brown Christmas

My mom went out grocery shopping only to come home with a mini Chistmas tree that she felt sorry for. It was the only Christmas tree left and it was small and standing alone so she decided to bring it home to our house...check it out..it is pretty cute.

Vivi's First Christmas

For Christmas Lance, Vivi, Mom, Dad and I all went over to Leah and Scott's house for Christmas dinner. Della and Drew were excited to see thier cousin Vivi and Vivi also met Santa Claus.

Meet the McDonald's

Grandma and Grandpa came up to meet baby Vivi.

Vivian Lee Custer

Vivian Lee Custer born December 16th 2008 at 10:25 a.m.

On Monday night (December 15th) at 10:30 I started to have back pain, which is not unusual. Through my entire pregnancy I have had back pain....Monday night it was getting worse, so much so that I ran a bath to make me feel better. After I got out of the bath, I crawled into bed but could not get comfortable. The back pain continued as I tried to walk-it-off. I woke up Lance around midnight and told him about the pain and had him call my doctor who happened to be on-call that night.

She asked what the pain was like in my abdomen and I told Lance to tell her that the back pain was so bad that I could not feel the pain in my abdomen at all. In fact, the pain was so bad I felt like someone could have sawed off my leg and I would not have felt it.

My doctor, Dr. Flom instructed us to go to the hospital to get checked out. We arrived and after walking forever from the emergency room entrance to the birthing ward, being admitted, I was checked and I was only 3 cent. dilated. The nurses wanted me to walk around the hospital for an hour to see if this would dilate me even further. After walking the empty halls of the hospital for 15 min I could not take the pain and returned to the birthing ward to lay down. After being checked again, the dilatation had not progressed so after consulting with my doctor we decided to induce labor even further. Dr Flom gave me Pitocin to induce labor and she manually had to break my water. The pain intensified and the anesthesiologist came in to give me an epidural. I was scared to have the epidural but it actually hurt more when they put my IV in my arm that the epidural was. After 10 min I was numb from the waist down and just had to wait for my cervix to dilate to 10 cent. This took a few hours. At around 9:00 the epidural started to wear off and I could feel true labor pains which were horrible. I know that everyone says that you forget the pain but I have not forgotten what the pain feels like yet. I was given more pain medication and and began to feel pressure. After being "pumped up" by Lance (picute attached of my punching in the air), I started pushing at 10:00 and delivered Vivian Lee Custer at 10:25 a.m.

I think Lance and I were in shock when they set her on my stomach. We could not believe that we were finally meeting the baby who kicked and sucked her thumb in my tummy.

Vivian is a beautiful baby girl who loves to cuddle and has a great temperament. She has a full head of hair and long fingers and skinny long legs. She loves to kick and push with her feet.

We all love to sit and just stare at her and watch all of her facial movements. It has been 10 days now since she was born and she has changed so much.

Holidazzle

Holidazzle is a parade that is put on every year by large corporations that runs for Thurs-Sunday for a month before Christmas. Every night different people volunteer to dress up in the costumes and parade down the Nicollett street in Downtown Minneapolis..check out the pictures of the kids dressed up as zoo animals in a cage.

On the streets vendors sell soup, hot chocolate and apple cider. You can also watch the parade from restaurants that are on the parade route. Lance and I met Sachin and Erin downtown at McCormick and Schmick's.

Bugaboo

Lance and I got a Bugaboo stroller off Craigslist and we had to watch the DVD instructional video. Elvis wanted to "simulate" what it would be like for the baby. Lance and I have not allowed Elvis near Vivi's stuff since he is twice the size of the baby.

Last Trip to Duluth

Thursday and Friday was my last trip to Duluth for work before I give birth to Baby Custer. Lance came up to Duluth with me and we went out to dinner with our friends that live up there Becky and Ryan. We all met at the Pickwick (http://pickwickrestaurant.com) on Lake Superior for dinner. The Pickwick has been there since 1914. The Pickwick has a great menu and old decor that has such a neat history.

When they make the cocktails at the bar they use an ice pick to break off perfectly square ice cubes. Lance thought it was neat and took some pictures off his phone of everyone including the ice.

18 days and counting!!

I have 18 days left until Baby Custer's arrival. I think we have all of the stuff we need for her, well we know she is definitely covered in the clothing department.

Here are some pictures Lance took last night. He loves my "sleeping outfit" it always makes him laugh when I put it on to go to sleep. I feel like I look like a middle age overweight man.

Harry and the United States Postal Service

Althought Harry has an estranged relationship with the USPS, he is actually going to be on our holiday stamp. Here are some pictures of what we are considering for our stamp.

Thanksgiving

Lance and I went over to Scott and Leah's house to enjoy Thanksgiving since we could not go to Omaha because we were not able to travel this far along in my pregnancy. Over at their house there was Lance, Leah, Scott, Della, Drew, Zack (who mostly slept), Zack (Scott's son), Erik (Scott's son), Beverly (Scott's mom), and another Zack who was Erik's buddy.

Lance and I brought back Della's American Girl doll that was at our house. We dressed her up in Baby Custer's clothes and I had Lance hold the disguised doll like a baby and bring it downstairs and tell everyone that I had the baby...his delivery must have not been so good because no one believed him.

We also used the doll to have a diapering "how to". Della had to show Lance the proper way to diaper a baby. I am glad that he had the practice. Here are some pictures from the day:

Thanksgiving Cont.