Bringing Chloe Home

We finally have Cloe home! We were able to take her home last night after Mom and Baby received the okay. Our first night at home was much better than the first night at the hospitals. Nobody came in to wake me up to take my blood pressure at 4am, and Chloe was able to get used to her new digs. Andrew also appreciated not having to sleep on a pull out hospital couch. We have pictures here from our second (and last) day in the hospital, and a few from this morning. She is getting cuter and cuter by the minute!


Donna (grandma) came and spent the morning with us, and got some good baby holding time in. Chloe is such a happy baby!

Here is Chloe in her going home outfit :) Everything was big on her :)

Once we got her all dressed and ready we had to get her car seat all checked out. She is so tiny in her little infant car seat! All set and ready to go home!

Here are her first pictures from home with daddy. We switched off time blocks all night, so we could each get some sleep. I came in to check on them in the morning, and this is what I found :)

Dad and baby rocking and relaxing to some Bob Marley.
Her hands are just so tiny. There is nothing more adorable than miniature baby hands.
More to come later. We are off to nap :)

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!

Hey All!

I won't waste much time on words, as I know that everyone really wants some pics!! Chloe Elise Romerdahl was born 4:48 pm on Friday, May 29th. She weighed 7 pounds, 1 ounce and was 20 inches long. Carmen did a fantastic job, and Chloe is a very healthy, and very, very beautiful little baby girl. Here are some shots I got throughout the day:

Brew Master Romerdahl

I thought I would share our newest beer with you all. Andrew is brewing up my favorite, a Hefeweizen, but he also added some coriander and orange peel, so it should have a little something extra to offer! He named this beer Chloe. Isn't it sweet that his first dedication is to his little (soon to be born) girl? It is still in the works, but should be on to clarification and kegging within the week. In other words, by the time it is finished I will be able to enjoy it!! I only took pictures of some of the steps. Making beer is just like cooking, except the outcome is a little more exciting!



Straining the grains. Mmmm at this stage it smells like baking bread!



Adding the malt.

Crushing the coriander seeds. Then after several more steps and additions.......


Brewing the beer! I made this beer cozy for Andrew to keep the beer at a more regulated warmer temp for the yeast, and to make a fashion statement on our counter. Pretty stylish if you ask me! I made a few of them, some in black and some in green.

Also for all of you wondering... it is Thursday evening, and still no baby :) We are busying ourselves with other things to hold off the anticipation! (thus the blog about brewing beer)Tonight we are going out to dinner. It may just end up being our last dinner with just the two of us! We are going to have to pick somewhere good!

More walking

Another beautiful sunny day in Anchorage!!



We of course spent the evening walking. I think that is what we will be doing every single day until we have the baby! It seems to be working although not as quickly as I had hoped. We went out to Earthquake Park and Point Waranzof. I love going out here because the planes take off right over my head. Some of the big cargo planes rumble the ground; they are so big it feels like I could almost reach up and touch them as they take off. I don't think I will ever get tired of coming here!



Just around the corner is the cliff that overlooks the inlet. We went down the dirt trail from here to the rocky beach. We walked out there for about 45 minutes. It was a great leg work out! Going down was much easier than coming back up!



We weren't the only ones who had a good time, the dogs loved it too! Shortly after we got down to the beach the dogs got to run free. It took some trickery to get them both back on leash but with some effort, we were able to outsmart the dogs.




Although we are walking with the hopes of starting labor, it has really been great to get out and enjoy all that Alaska has to offer in the summer. Although I could leave the mosquitoes, they were after us the whole time. So much for this sissy mosquito repellent. I was worried about chemicals and their affect on the baby, but I was given the free and clear today to douse myself in DEET (actually I am supposed to try and find the lowest % possible and wash it off as soon as I get home...but close enough). Watch out mosquitoes, here I come!

Fun Filled Weekend

No, we still have no baby news. But we did have a fun packed weekend! Much of our activities were centered around walking, and being active. We have been told this is the best way to encourage little Chloe to arrive. That and a few other things.... (for all you who think spicy food works...no luck here). We loaded the dogs up in the car and went for a gorgeous walk on the coastal trail Sunday. We lost track of time and ended up on a 2 hour trek! It was great!



Monday I ended up working for most of the day, but when I got off we hit the trail again. This time we stuck around the neighborhood. I thought last week would be the last belly shot, but I was wrong. This is week 40. I really really hope this is the last belly shot!!



On our walk we collected spruce tips to use in a winter beer. A few years ago Andrew made a beer with spruce essence (because we didn't collect spruce tips the spring before), and it sat around for months and months before we could get rid of it. I don't want to say it was horrible, but I definitely can't say it tasted good. This time around with natural ingredients we can't go wrong!



Look at the joy on his face as he enjoys nature and thinks of beer :)

Mmmm, can't you just smell the spruce from here? They smell like springtime!

It wasn't all fun and nature. Andrew did get some house work done over the weekend. He powerwashed the roof today. It seems we have a moss problem that needed solving. If you have never power washed your roof you should try it. I couldn't believe how much gunk poured off of it! I wasn't completely useless in this endeavour, I did hold the ladder and offer great moral support. I am keeping close to the ground these days.

Now that we have all of the baby stuff ready, we are looking around for other projects to finish. Of course I mean the proverbial we, as Andrew is pretty much doing all of the heavy lifting around the house these days. I just provide great company :)

Last Belly Shot?

This may very well be the last belly shot we take. Week 39. With the long holiday weekend coming up we are trying to think of something really fun to do. I say have this baby, Andrew says go to Girdwood.... Maybe we can fit both in! Just not at the same time. The sun is shining, and everything is fresh and green. It is enough just to take a walk and enjoy the best weather we have had in Alaska in what seems like 2 years. It is just amazing up here.

All ready......

So we are all ready to go here...just waiting on the one little thing...



We have the car seat all set up--Thank you Andrew!!!

We have our awesome stroller!! Thank you Mom and Dad!! It came in the mail this Sunday while Andrew was at work, and I couldn't wait for him to get home so I put it together myself! I just LOVE it!

The Bassinet comes out, and has carry handles so we can tote around our little munchkin wherever we go!

I organized all of her little clothes and packed up all of the items larger than 3 month size. She actually has too many clothes to fit in her dresser, thanks to Corey and Hetty for having great taste in baby clothes and giving all of the hand-me-downs to us!!

These are her adorable hand knit hats. The multi-colored one is by Amber, and the three on the bottom are by Donna! They are all so tiny and adorable! Luckily it is still chilly here in the mornings so we will get some good use out of them for a while this spring.

So like I said, we are all ready here....just waiting for her to stop sleeping on the job and show up already! Still 7 days and counting until the due date.

Any Day Now!

Our Bags are ready to go...pretty much at least! Now all we have to do is wait for the baby and hope we are ready!


We have decided to go green and use environmentally responsible baby products including diapers!! We are using Kissaluvs cloth diapers, which are super super soft and cozy, paired with Thirsties covers. With the cloth diapers also comes the cloth wipes. Those ones are homemade :) The colorful striped flannel on one side and blue terrycloth on the other are sure to make changing diapers a fun affair. And yes we do have back ups with some disposables too.
This is probably the only time this drawer will be so tidy, so I took a picture!


This is what the under layer (kissaluvs) diaper looks like. It is surprisingly easy to put on! Simple snaps make the fit perfect, and adjustable as baby grows.

And this is the outer layer (thirsties) diaper cover. We bought a few colors including orange, pink, purple, and green. They are so much cuter than those gross plastic disposable diapers. Our little girl will not only be green, but also be tres chic down to her diapers!