Merry Christmas to you!

The hustle and bustle of Christmas morning has passed and the house is now quiet. The lights on the tree are twinkling. It is raining outside and we are nestled into the couch cushions watching A Christmas Story (it's on for 24 hours). Mikayla is on her boppy lounger sporting her "Baby's first Christmas" outfit, Willie on his bed gnawing on his new favorite toy he got from Santa in his stocking. And Jon and I are toasting each other with rum drinks. Our hearts are filled with so much love and joy and we are so happy today to be spending our daughter Mikayla's first Christmas with her. What a wonderful gift she is to us. We are forever thankful and happy. While the four of us sit and enjoy the rest of the day we are also reminded what Christmas means. To us it means that we are happiest when we are with each other. The gift of love and friendship is worth more than anything material. With that said, we are thankful to have such great friends and family and we thank you all for making our lives more fulfilled. We wish you a Merry Christmas and we hope to see all of you in the new year, 2009!

Do you know your Birthstone?

My birthstone is Garnet and Jon's birthstone is Diamond (lucky)! The birthstone for November is Citrine; which is orange in color. Jon surprised me with a beautiful ring made from Mikayla's birthstone and diamonds. Do you know your birthstone?

Ho-ho-ho it's Santa Claus!

Today I took Mikayla to meet Santa Claus for the first time. She wore her red outfit that reads "Baby's First Christmas". We met Kelly and Grady at the North Pole (Superstition Springs Mall near JCPenny's) and waited in line together. Grady went first. He smiled the whole time. Then it was Mikayla's turn. At 5 weeks old she is still too small to sit on Santa's lap, so he just held her. Of course she was in a milk coma and slept the whole time. I should have tried to wake her a few minutes earlier and maybe then she would have been more alert. But she was wearing that cozy outfit and that made her really comfortable and sleepy too. At least she was not screaming her head off. And this Santa was great, even his beard was the real deal! Santa told me that Mikayla asked for an Ipod and a cell phone... she is all her daddy! Hope you are all on Santa's "Nice" list this year!

An evening walk

The season is upon us and the neighbors are festive. We took a walk in our neighborhood to look at the homes decorated with Christmas lights, AND to give Jon some lighting inspiration... he likes to become Clark Griswold during the holidays. Mikayla was in her stroller for the first time wearing her very cute jacket from cousin Laura, because contrary to popular belief, it does still get cold (at night) in Arizona in the winter! She fell asleep about half way around the block. And Willie was also along, he lives for w...a...l...k...s... Yes, we have to spell it out or he knows what's coming and starts to get antsy pantsy! Can't you just tell by the look in his eyes?

Mommy & Mikayla watch TV

Elf Yourself Disco Dunmars

Boppy Lounger (video)

Happy Thanksgiving

We wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving. We have much to be thankful for this year. We were blessed with a healthy baby girl this month whom has filled our hearts with so much love and joy. Together with Willie dog we are now a little family and it makes us very happy. We thank you for your love and support throughout the year and we wish you and your family a warm and festive holiday.
Happy Thanksgiving from The Dunmars

Family Photo Session

It's wonderful to have such a talented individual in the family. My cousin Colleen took these pictures and we absolutely love them! Thanks a million Colleen, we love you! If anyone is interested in having her take your family holiday photo let me know and I am sure it can be arranged!

Tub Time - Rated "PG"

Today my mommy gave me a bath because I spit up all over myself. I liked taking a bath for the first time in my blue bath tub. I'm still very small and slip over to the side. But I love the warm water... this is definitely better than the sponge bath. I didn't even cry this time.

Oh - and Rated "PG" means Parental Guidance Suggested because some material may not be suitable for children, i.e. nudity, but mom took care of the censorship! Thanks mom.

awe... Mikayla (slide show)

I've put together this little slide show of the past two weeks capturing the trip to the hospital, bringing home Mikayla and some precious moments at home. We are in awe of our little girl and have been taking lots of pictures (you know us... when don't we take a lot of pictures?)! We are still trying to get that perfect shot with her and Willie together, but neither of them can both hold still long enough for us to capture one. Willie is a great big brother dog. He hardly notices her but when he does he is extremely gentle and loving. I can't wait for the day when they can both play together! But for now we are having a lot of fun watching our little munchkin and seeing the changes in her every day. Yesterday at her two-week pediatric appointment she weighed in at 8 pounds, 10 ounces. She's gained one pound in two weeks, she's a good eater! The doctor says she is healthy and that makes us so very happy and very thankful. Jon is back to work. I know he really enjoyed having the two weeks off to spend with us at home. We are still exhausted, but gradually working our way into a daily/nightly routine. We even made time for date night. Jon took me out for Sushi and drinks. Jamie, thanks for the breast milk alcohol test strips, they came in handy that night!

Our First Week at Home

Mikayla is one week old and we have made it through our first week at home. I'm glad I caught up on all my sleep ahead of time, while on bed rest, because I'm definitely missing it now! We are both a little bit exhausted, but we are taking naps when she naps and we are doing great. Establishing a routine is not easy but with the help and advice from some great family and friends we've had the support and love to coach us through... the rest we'll pick up on our own I know.

Mikayla is a great baby, she is healthy eater with a big appetite (starting to get that double chin like mommy!) and she sleeps great too. Jon is amazed by how much she poops... he calls her a poop factory. And she likes to surprise us with mid diaper change poops too... sneaky little Rebel! She's had two sponge baths which she didn't really like as she was quite squirmy. And her umbilical cord belly button piece just fell off today. Yeah!

Willie Meeting Mikayla for the first time.

Our Drunken Sailor needs to burp!

Loving every second of sponge bath time!

Daddy to the rescue with a warm towel.

Mommy rubbing on a little J&J lotion after bath time.

We are excited for all of you to meet Mikayla. We are definitely up for visitors. If you'd like to come see us just give us a call so we can let you know what time she's awake.

Welcome Baby Girl Dunmar!

At long last...our precious baby girl has blessed our family with her presence. We are overjoyed and welcome her with love into our hearts. Without further ado... meet our bundle of joy.

Mikayla Rebel Dunmar

November 1, 2008

7 pounds, 10.8 ounces

21.5 inches

Counting down the days...

My belly is huge, baby girl has dropped into my pelvis and we are nearing our due date. We are on the home stretch... counting down the days. We are definitely anxious, excited and nervous too. Especially me... for labor and delivery. Up until now I thought for sure we were scheduling a c-section, but since that is no longer necessary I guess I'll have to wing it... AND get the epidural (thanks to all my friends for that bit of sound advice)!

I've got a few videos queued up... Labor & delivery, Breastfeeding... I feel like I'm cramming for an exam the night before. Don't worry, I won't give you my Dunmar Movie Review on those! (unless special requests are made)

We'll try to get a message out to you as soon as she is born. Jon will be making a few phone calls from the hospital and will send text messages or updates on Facebook. We'll definitely post the news and pictures here too as soon as I can get to the computer.

Only a matter of days now...wish us luck!

Baby's Nursery

We finally completed the nursery this week. Derek Krueger installed a small crown molding for us one month ago and Tony Bongratz completed the painting and border at the same time. We picked a color theme that was girly but not pink. It's called Mulberry by Kidsline and we saw it at Babies R Us. The baby's closet was finished on Wednesday 10/15 and the crib came on Friday 10/17. Jon bought a book shelf and put it together this past weekend and today we are looking at a completed nursery. We are ready to move baby in! Now we just wait for her arrival...