Hospital Picture

Here is a Link to the picture of Xander they take at the hospital. We will be posting more pics soon.

http://www.mayohealthsystem.org/mhs/live/page.cfm?pp=locations/BabyDetails.cfm&Edt=1&orgid=FSH&Pid=14757

Here he is!!

I guess I was so excited, I sent this one twice! 7:35 pm Alexander Edward Wuensch entered the world at 8lbs 7oz and 21 inches! ~Mark

7:35 pm Alexander Edward Wuensch entered the world at 8lbs 7oz and 21 inches!

10+ hours and no baby yet! Help!! ~Mark

No baby yet. They are going to restart the potosin and see what happens. ~Mark

The induction was started at approximately 8:45am and now we sit here and wait. On a side note, Drew Carey is no Bob Barker! ~Mark

August 27,2009

Going in to have small fry at 7am on August 27th. Watch for updates. Talk to you all later after our family grows in size. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers.

Boy is my Face RED!!

Hello all

We would like to apologize. I realized today that we have been receiving emails on our blog account. Until today I didn't know how to really check it. I DO NOW!!!! I am so sorry we have missed out on all your love an support, but on the plus side when we need it the most we have been able to sit and get a giant dose of it. We will be checking regularly so don't stop sending those emails, they have really made us smile and feel connected.

Love you all thanks for emails

Baby Update

Playing the Waiting game is a hard thing to do. It seems all we think about and every move we make right now we are all jumpy wondering if "now is the time". So yesterday Alanna and I took advantage of a much needed rain storm. Alanna and I played in the rain. She swam in puddles and jumped in them. We played ring around the rosey and Alanna fell into the puddles. I stood and enjoyed the warm rain. Something I haven't done since I was a kid. What an amazing stress reliever. Now I am wishing it would rain like that everyday.

Today we had a our last normal Dr. appt. Nothing has progressed as far as dilation since last week. So she told us that we need to do a fetal monitoring test on Monday to make sure the baby is still doing well and then if everything is good we will have an appointment to be induced on Thursday August 27th at 7am. That gives me 6 days to do it all myself. Anyone have a trampoline I could barrow?? So this is where we are. More waiting....but now we know when, at the very latest, we will have our Small Fry in our arms sometime Thursday. Keep us in your prayers mostly for peace of mind and good delivery. Lots of Love

Summer Activities

Here are some of the fun things we have done this summer. The picture of Alanna by the river is her last day of school. We visited some Fairs and Mark and Alanna went on the Ferris Wheel. Alanna started cooking this summer. The first thing she wanted to make was a lasagna. It turned out wonderful and tasted really good.

2 Days Overdue

We thought today was the day!!! August 19th Fool!! I started having contractions about 10 min apart at 4:30am and they became very sporadic around 10am. Looks like Small Fry changed his mind yet again. I don't think he realizes sooner or later he has to come out.

The Picture is of Alanna's hinder, Mark took her to the park this afternoon to burn off some of her energy. It had just finished raining and the slide was all wet. Poor kid is just stuck waiting and hanging out with her Mom who can't do much of anything. I feel bad. I wish I could go play outside and ride bikes and stuff with her. She is a great sport though. I love that kid. She just goes with the flow.

We are just waiting. Hopefully soon. We can update the blog from our phones so once we are moving and a grooving we will update. Take care.

Today is our due date. No baby yet! Check back we can update our blog from our phones!

No baby yet...but time for Maternity Leave

Today is my last day of work....today at 12:30pm I start my maternity leave and am off work until November 2nd. It feels a little strange to be going on maternity leave when there isn't a baby yet, but who knows maybe by Monday Small Fry will be here and then everything will be all crazy. As of my Dr. Appt yesterday I am at 2.5 dilated 50% effaced and about 3 for the baby being engaged. I am really surprised that I am that dilated and no baby yet. When I went into the hospital with Alanna in active labor I was only at 2. So maybe any day. My Dr is on call on Sunday so maybe I will get lucky and be able to have her help deliver. I have another appt scheduled for next Thursday and if we haven't had Small Fry by then we will schedule my inducement for the following week. She said that that don't let you go past 41 weeks and 3 days so hopefully baby will definitely be here by August 27Th at the latest. I don't know if I can wait that long. Oh well nothing I can do about it.

Alanna starts school in a little over two weeks, Tuesday September 2nd. She is so excited. She told me the other day she can't wait to go back she love school. She has her school supplies and her school bag packed she is almost ready. She is also really happy that I get to take her to her first day of school. I am too. Her project this summer has been Perler Beads. She makes these amazing pictures out of these beads on little peg boards and then we iron them. We want to put magnets on them and stick them to her bunk beds but we can't seem to find good magnets.

Everything is going well with Mark at work. He is pretty much like me at this point just waiting for Small Fry. He will get to take a couple weeks off once the baby comes so it would be really nice to have the baby NOW so we can have a couple weeks together..all home...at the same time when the baby comes.

Hope all is well with you. Hopefully we will have to update again really soon with pictures of our Larger family.

Everything seems to be going swimmingly or should we say sprinklery. Alanna is having a blast spending her summer at our friend Mandi and Troys instead of daycare. She gets to play with their two boys Riley and Logan. She is learning baseball and many other sports. She also seems to have Troy whipped in to shape when it comes to playing jump rope and chalking on their driveway. She enjoys hanging out with Mandi because they play alot of boardgames. Of course how it would be, Mandi has managed to get Alanna to try new food and hey guess what??? She actually likes it. What a goofy kid.

Alanna has lost yet another tooth. This makes a total of 7 and 5 of them have been since March. She has 1 that is still loose, hopefully this one will hang out a little longer.

3 1/2 Weeks to go before Small Fry arrives....well roughly. Crystal is still working and planning on working until the last minute arrives. We are hopping that the baby arrives close to the Due date as possible we would actually prefer a little late. Alanna has registration for school on 8/17 and 8/18 so we are hoping to be able to make it past those dates. Crystal has had some contractions and her doctor said that there is a little progression. She could feel Small Fry's head and that he of course is head down. We have come up with a couple names but those could all quickly change at time of birth.

We have had a few people ask if we have registered anywhere. Being the second baby we really hadn't thought about it but upon some prodding from friends who said we need to we registered at Target. The items on there are things we need in general not necessarily the exact item please feel free to use it as a guideline if you are interested.

We have visited a couple of the county fairs this summer. Alanna loves looking at the animals. At the La Crosse Interstate Fair Alanna tried to pet ALL the animals. I think she like the piggys and the goats the most. Mark and Alanna rode the Farris Wheel. She had a blast. We will update with pictures soon.

Well that's it for now. We will try and keep everyone updated as to the baby status. Keep in touch.

Love you all.

Birthdays and other Great Moments

Happy Birthday to us Happy Birthday to us!!

Alanna's 7th Birthday was on May 28th. We had a party at Crystal's Parents house. Alanna wanted a campout theme. With as much yard as they have and a nice fire pit they were nice enough to let 7 little girls and 1 boy spend a few hours running a muck. They played with a giant beach ball spent alot of time on the tire swing and roasted hot dogs (well Mark and I did the roasting). Then we had cake. Alanna doesn't like frosting and cake all that much so she asked for Dirt Cake. We made individual servings in flower pots and then put a flower in each one. All the kids got to take their Flower pot home. They loved it. Alanna had invited the girls from her class and her cousins Emily, Megan & William to her party. After the kid party was over we had Marks Sister Sarah and Marks Mom & Dad join us and Sara's kids for Marshmallows more hot dogs and Brats and More Dirt cake. It was a great evening and had perfect weather for a night under the stars. Crystal's Parents were able to find a Giraffe hat and books and gave it to Alanna for her Birthday she loves wearing the had and loves reading the books. Marks Parents gave Alanna a coat hanger with you guessed it, Giraffes on it and a really neat picture and frame about Grandparents and Grandchildren. Sarah and her family gave Alanna a card with a ....wait for it.... Giraffe on it and a some books one of which she is supposed to read to small fry...guess what is in the book. yep Giraffes. I think the theme has caught on.

Crystals Birthday was on June 2, but because of a meeting Mark had to attend that night for work we celebrated the Saturday before. We went to Carlos O' Kelly's for dinner and Mark told them it was Alanna's and Crystal's Birthday's!! No singing but we did get to share a dish of Fried Ice Cream. On Tuesday Crystal went and had cake at her Dad and Moms house. Chocolate overload. It had Chocolate cake, chips and Frosting on it. I was a wonderful night.

Onward with the summer. On May 29th Crystal's step sister Trisha gave birth to a baby boy named Kayden. We wish her well and congratulations. Coming up on June 19th Crystal's step brother Brandt will be getting Married!! We are very excited for them and look forward to yet another wedding this year. Coming up then the next day June 20th is the Annual Bakalars Family Picnic. We are looking forward to seeing all Marks family and cousins. We are especially looking forward to seeing the newest Graduates, our Nieces Brittany (from high school) Shannon (from middle school)and our Nephew Scott (from College) at the picnic. Hopefully!! We were unabe to make it to their Graduation party because of a work commitment for mark and a small pregnancy issue for Crystal. We Wish them all well and luck on their futures.

We only have about 10 weeks to go until the arrival of Small Fry. We are getting very excited and very nervous. Everything is going well and Crystal is feeling....well...pregnant. So far the summer has started out mild and hopefully it will stay on the mild side. We hear summer pregnancy can be a little uncomfortable. Oh well its all worth it in the end.

With the economy being as it is, Mark has been blessed once again working for a company that seems to be thriving. June first they added and addition on the the Dahl Family. They acquired the Mazda Line. So now Mark has to learn even more and has even more job security. Yay to the Dahl Family for knowing how to run a business. This position mark has in parts has opened him up to new possibilities and experiences. A few weeks ago he discovered he needed to replace the radiator in his car. He did it himself!!!! I am so proud of him for taking this on and it seems to be running really great. This week he needed a new battery. Last time he replaced a battery he had work install it.. Now he put it in himself!!! I am so excited that he is doing this now. He doesn't like it too much but hey, who likes working on their own broken cars, but he does it so well and it makes me very proud.

Crystal company is doing well. The freight business seems to be picking up. So all is well on that front. Keeping our fingers crossed and hoping it stays busy. Busy for us means the manufacturing companies are also getting busier this to us is a good indication that the economy it looking a little better.

Well thats it for now.
We love you all and hope to see you soon.

Alanna

Alanna has lost yet another tooth. Currently now she is Missing 3 on top, 1 on the bottom and has 2 more loose. The last one was lost while eating a giant Tootsie Roll!!! It just came out.

Alanna has discovered to joy of reading. Her favorite books are The Magic Treehouse series. That is a good thing because there are about 40 of them. She will start reading and finish one in a couple days. She reads everywhere. In the car on the way home, on the couch, in her bunkbed surrounded by stuffed animals, but I think our favorite spot is the tote she filled with pillows and blankets and herself and just crawled in to read. Reminds us of when she was little.

Alanna's last day of First Grade is June 9th. She has mixed feelings. She is excited to be done with first and moving on to Second grade but at the same time she has really enjoyed her teach this year and school. I having a feeling second grade will be just as much fun for her.

Hillbillies

Every May the men put on a Dinner and a program for the Women of the church for Mother's Day. Mark has participated the last 5 or so years. This year I actually remembered my Camera. It just so happened the theme was Hillbillies. The food was wonderful but the entertainment was even better. Alanna laughed and laughed and laughed at her dad. The Strange part is when Mark was in costume he looked like Larry the Cable Guy!! The did a skid about Hillbillies version of the Grecian Fountain. They were all dressed in togas and carried water jugs and the proceeded to spit water in the air as fountains. They also do a music program which is amazing. The men sound so awesome. My dad is in this part of the program. In the pictures he is in the blue flannel and the cowboy hat. Coincidentally this was also around the time that Alanna lost all the teeth accept the one and she looked like a Hillbilly so.......she wanted a picture with her hillbilly dad.

Easter

Hey there all, We have been a little busy. For Alanna's Easter break from school we went to the Como Zoo in Minneapolis and to the Conservatory for the day. After we walked all over the Zoo saw a few animals. Because it was early April all the Animals were not available but we were able to see the Giraffes. Which as everyone knows is Alanna's Favorite. We had such a nice day there. Then After all that walking we went to the Mall of America. We Walked around on EVERY floor. By the time we got back to the car Alanna and I were both waddling around because our feet hurt so much from walking. Here are a few pictures. From our Visit.

The Tooth Fairy is going broke

Alanna has lost her second tooth in two weeks!! And there are still more to come out soon. Looking at the the picture it is the top teeth. The tooth remaining is one of the very front teeth. I don't have a clue what it is holding on to but it seems to be just hanging out. The tooth to the left of it is also loose. So Alanna very possibly could be missing 4 front top teeth and 2 bottom teeth by the end of the summer. I think we are going to be living on Mac and Cheese and have to make her cheeseburger smoothies this summer. This is so much fun. We think she looks like a little hillbilly she thinks she does too. She finds it pretty funny. As you can tell from the picture she is very excited.

Hope all is well. We will add more soon. I just had to get this up. CMW